The New Media Journal | US Unemployment Jumps to 10.2%, Payrolls Fall

The New Media Journal | US Unemployment Jumps to 10.2%, Payrolls Fall: "Thousands of conservative activists converged Thursday on Capitol Hill to protest the Democrats' plan to overhaul the US health-care system, denouncing the legislation as a government takeover that imposes Canadian-style care on Americans.

Amid shouts of 'Kill the Bill,' Republican lawmakers and small-government activists derided the House of Representatives' $1.1-billion health-care legislation as an assault on the US Constitution and American freedom itself.

'President Obama has his own obsession with trying to ram this health bill through to create a socialist America,' shouted actor Jon Voight, one of several speakers who addressed a crowd that filled the west lawn of the US Capitol.

'We would be no better off than the European countries and Canada and New Zealand who suffer greatly from a poor health-care system. Their rationing system creates many deaths.'

The protest came as House Democrats prepared for a rare weekend session to vote on legislation central to President Barack Obama's domestic agenda. A separate version of health-care legislation continues to work its way through the US Senate...

Passage of the legislation, though, is far from certain. About 40 Democratic lawmakers are threatening to vote against the bill unless changes are made to restrict federal funding for abortions under any new government-run insurance plan.

That's potentially enough opposition to deprive Democratic leaders of the 218 votes needed for the bill's approval...

'We are closer to passing this reform than ever before,' Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House.

Despite Mr. Obama's optimism, grassroots conservative opposition to health-care legislation appears to be growing, not shrinking."