Below is video from the Health Care House Call activities yesterday on Capitol Hill.  Tens of thousands of Americans descended upon Washington, D.C., Thursday and are staying through the weekend to tell members of Congress in face-to-face fashion that they’re opposed to government-run health care.

Missourians who traveled to Washington, D.C., to share that message with members of Congress in face-to-face fashion informed me tonight that the House switchboard will operate through the weekend since Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is keeping the House in session for a vote on health care set for Saturday Sunday].

UPDATE 11/07/09 at 8:25 a.m. Central: I learned this morning that three members, highlighted in RED below, need extra attention as they’ve been identified by MoveOn.org as potential votes against ObamaCare.  Be sure to call them first.

For information about how to reach any of the Blue Dogs listed below, click here:

Blue Dog Leadership Team

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration Phone (202) 225-2801 Fax (202) 225-5823
Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA-03), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip

Blue Dog Members

Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
Baca, Joe (CA-43)
Barrow, John (GA-12)
Berry, Marion (AR-01)
Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
Boren, Dan (OK-02)
Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
Childers, Travis (MS-01)
Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
Costa, Jim (CA-20)
Cuellar, Henry (TX-28) Phone: (202)-225-1640| Fax: (202)-225-1641
Dahlkemper, Kathy (PA-03)
Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
Griffith, Parker (AL-05)
Harman, Jane (CA-36)
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (SD)
Hill, Baron (IN-09)
Holden, Tim (PA-17) Phone: (202) 225-5546 | FAX: (202) 226-0996
Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
Marshall, Jim (GA-08)
Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
Melancon, Charlie (LA-03)
Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
Ross, Mike (AR-04)
Salazar, John (CO-03)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
Scott, David (GA-13)
Shuler, Heath (NC-11)
Space, Zack (OH-18)
Tanner, John (TN-08)
Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
Wilson, Charles (OH-06)

If not now, when?  Make the calls!

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.)

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-Mich.) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail.  The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

In response to the JCT letter, Camp said:  “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail.  It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”

Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:

H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1]

*****

If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…” [page 2]

*****

Criminal penalties

Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses.  Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]

When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties.  The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.

“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration.  Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates.  Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Camp.

According to the the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill would cost $15,000 in 2016.

###

EDITOR’S NOTE: All of the information above was taken directly from this news release.

During a question-and-answer session Tuesday afternoon with students at Missouri’s College of the Ozarks, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich dropped a bombshell: He predicted the rise of a third party by 2012 if Republicans don’t get their act together (The video below captures exactly what Gingrich said March 29).

After seeing how Gingrich threw his support behind liberal Dede Scozzafava — and not the true conservative, Doug Hoffman — in the race for New York’s 23rd Congressional District seat, I can only conclude that he’s trying to make his own prediction come true.

If conservatives have their way, a third party will “rise” by 2012, and it will have Gingrich as its only member.

“We join the agriculture, manufacturing, trucking, and other energy employers in opposing this bill.  We support a straightforward re-authorization of the current federal security standards which have been a success since they were enacted three years ago.

“If the bill passed by the House today became law, it would go beyond the current protection requirements and endanger jobs and increase the risk of our operations.  The bill would create a mandate for government-selected changes to our operations, which is not consistent with a risk-based approach.

“The Senate has the opportunity to get this right by passing a straightforward reauthorization of the current robust federal standards when it takes up the legislation.”

Again, it’s time to CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS in Washington, D.C., and demand they work to stop this bill in its tracks before the Senate can approve it.

Five months ago, hype about the soon-to-be-released disaster film, 2012 (trailer below), prompted me to publish a piece under the headline, How Would the Governments of Our Planet Prepare Six Billion People for the End of the World? Today, I came across more “buzz” about the film set for release Nov. 13 that prompts me to write about it again.  I guess their PR machine is working, but I digress.

In a Digital Spy report published Monday, I learned that Roland Emmerich, the filmmaker behind 2012, admitted that he feared coming under attack by Muslims — think Fatwa — if he included a scene in which the Kaaba, a cube-shaped building at the heart of Mecca that is the center of Muslim prayers and the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage.  And then I learned more:  In place of the Muslim holy place, Emmerich said he decided to substitute a well-known symbol of the Christian faith — the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro — in place of the Muslim holy place.

Surely, Emmerich knows that Christians around the world will riot in the streets and call for his head on a platter if his film shows the destruction of a symbol of the faith.  Doesn’t he know?

Sarcasm concluded.

Hat tip:  Weasel Zippers

In a piece published today at NBCChicago.com, writer Robert A. George captured the flavor of what I was thinking yesterday after watching the president walk up to the podium and, inexplicably, share three minutes of lighthearted banter with members of his audience before finally addressing the subject of a shooting massacre that took place at Fort Hood yesterday.  Watch the video above to see it for yourself.

For other BMW posts about the Fort Hood shootings, see the links below:

Army Major Played Role in Presidential Transition

‘The name says a lot, doesn’t it, senator?’

Breaking News:

UDPATE #1 11/6/09 at 11:55 p.m. Central: Fox News is reporting that the shootings took place on the 8th floor of the Gateway Center at 1000 Legion Place (right) in downtown Orlando.

UDPATE #2 11/6/09 at 12:03 p.m. Central: The Orlando Sentinel is reporting 2 dead.

UDPATE #3 11/6/09 at 12:05 p.m. Central: Fox News is reporting that bodies have been found on the 8th and 10th floors of the Gateway Center building.

UDPATE #4 11/6/09 at 12:14 p.m. Central: My Fox Orlando reports the following businesses are inside the Gateway Center:

• Alternative Service Concepts LLC
• Batts Morrison Wales & Lee
• Engauge Communications
• Hirschy Development
• Jacobs Engineering Group Inc
• Natures Table Cafe
• Orlando Movers
• R w Beck Inc
• Reynolds Smith & Hills Inc
• Servant Investments Management LLC
• Shuffield & Lowman
• Sunshine Network
• SunSports
• Tews Company Staffing

UDPATE #5 11/6/09 at 12:45 p.m. Central: Law enforcement officials in Orlando say they are looking for a suspect by the name of Jason Rodriguez, 40, who is a former employee of one of the companies inside Gateway Center.

UDPATE #6 11/6/09 at 1:22 p.m. Central: WOFL’s Shannon Butler, speaking on Fox News Channel, just reported that Orlando Police Department officials have arrested the suspected shooter.

UDPATE #7 11/6/09 at 9:11 p.m. Central: I should have updated this early, but news reports like this one are now saying that Rodriguez is suspecting of killing one and wounding 5.

He served as a low-ranking enlisted man in the U.S. Army during World War II, and the stories appear in his 1992 autobiography, Some Events in One Life: Mine!

Please know he captured these stories as a means to provide his children and theirs context for his participation in one of history’s most harrowing events, World War II, not for any commercial gain.

Links to each of the installments, 12 in all, appear below:

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part One

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Two

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Three

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Four

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Five

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Six

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Seven

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Eight

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Nine

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Ten

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Eleven

My Father’s War Stories From World War II — Part Twelve

Major Hasan’s name appears on the page numbered 29 (page 32 of the pdf) of the document, Thinking Anew — Security Priorities for the Next Administration.

Founded in 2003, The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) is, according to the “About Us” page on its web site, a nonpartisan “think and do” tank whose mission is to build bridges between theory and practice to advance homeland security through an interdisciplinary approach.

What does it mean?  Perhaps, nothing.

Hat tip:  Gawker

SEE ALSO: ‘The name says a lot, doesn’t it, senator?’