A lot of hay is being made that should Scott Brown win the election and become Massachusetts’ new senator, he will need to wait 10 days before being sworn in and elegible therefore to vote against the health care bill. Curiously, Senator Harry Reid has assured the country that he will not delay the swearing in any further (as was feared by many conservatives), and that he expects that such a “Senator” Brown will be a working Senator moments after he is sworn in.

So does that buy the country enough time to filibuster the health care bill to death?

The bill itself is allegedly nearing final form, although evidently a lot of Democrats are now balking at the Nebraska Medicaid amendment—but this could be easily written out. Let us give this a couple more days, meaning that the final form occurs on the same day as the Massachusetts special election.

Once finalized, the bill goes to the Congressional Budget Office to work out the financial impact to he bill. The good news is that this could take days, and likely will. Let us say five.

After this, Sen. Reid has promised that the bill will be posted online for 72 hours. This is three days.

Potentially, Sen. Reid could then immediately call for cloture and begin a final vote. If that happens, Senate rules require that voting take place no sooner than one hour after the start of the next business day. As a result, this adds one more day to the process.

Does that buy the country enough time to filibuster the health care bill to death?
Nine days. For America to really dodge a bad deal, here, our best hope is that (a) Brown wins the election, which is now become quite plausible (although anything less than a big win will result in a recount delay), and (b) the CBO takes longer than five days to work out the cost implications.

This is also quite possible, since the CBO will be viewing this secret bill cold—that is, for the first time. As a result, the more the bill has changed and includes these sweet deals, the longer the CBO will need to investigate the financial impact. But we need both cases to be true, as every day matters.

And for those few who still favor the bill and long for its imagined benefits, seriously question why the deliberations and negotiations are being done in total secrecy. Why hide this, if it provides such a panacea to the people?

This is entirely our fault. They made the mistake of putting the original bill on line, and the Czar read it from end to end. And found it to be a horrific mess. They dare not risk the Czar doing that again. And so it must be hidden from your scrutiny.

That alone should warrant a No Vote from anyone with the faintest vestige of serving his or her country.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.