What Obamacare won't fix

In exchange for one of the largest tax increases in history, we will get…what?

Penalty or tax?  Some people don’t care, since they won’t pay it anyway

As illustrated on this Time Magazine flow chart (look under “Rules of the Mandate” at right), some people will be excused from paying the tax/penalty – including “undocumented immigrants” (a.k.a. illegal aliens), people in jail, or people who don’t work enough to earn a reasonable income.  These people, among others, will continue getting a free ride at taxpayer expense. See chart here

Here’s a closer look at two of those who will still be free-riding, courtesy of taxpayers

“Two homeless men in Fresno have called for an ambulance an average of nearly twice a day for more than a year, racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs and even more when they get to a hospital. They are Fresno County's highest-volume ambulance users -- "frequent fliers" as they are called in the business -- and their 1,363 combined trips made up 1.34% of all American Ambulance calls in the county last year.”  Read more here

And unions continue to block reasonable measures to cut costs

“The largest privatization venture undertaken by Florida’s prison system is in peril, and when the new fiscal year begins Sunday, it might be doomed, in another political victory for organized labor.”  Read more here

Over 2700 pages, and none of this was addressed? 

Obamacare: the final verdict is up to America's voters

Here’s a video on the impact of Obamacare, as described by two physicians

Is the Supreme Court verdict really as bad as some people are saying?  Read and decide

From the Wall Street Journal: “Reality could not have instructed President Obama more plainly: The last thing we needed, in a country staggering under deficits and debt, a sluggish economy and an unaffordable entitlement structure, was… ObamaCare…Even with this week's Court success, he failed... Regardless of any Supreme Court ruling, reality will pass its own judgment on the Affordable Care Act and it won't be favorable.”  Read more here

Not everyone is buying into the “silver lining” theories of some conservative pundits

John Yoo, also in the WSJ, on the disastrous consequences of Roberts’ about-face:  “Justice Roberts's opinion provides a constitutional road map for architects of the next great expansion of the welfare state. Congress may not be able to directly force us to buy electric cars, eat organic kale, or replace oil heaters with solar panels. But if it enforces the mandates with a financial penalty then suddenly, thanks to Justice Roberts's tortured reasoning in Sebelius, the mandate is transformed into a constitutional exercise of Congress's power to tax… Justice Roberts too may have sacrificed the Constitution's last remaining limits on federal power for very little—a little peace and quiet from attacks during a presidential election year.”  Read more here

But we still have a chance to reverse at least some of the damage

Georgetown University constitutional law Professor Randy Barnett (emphasis mine): “The election in November will now be about whether to replace Obamacare with market-based, consumer-driven health-care reforms that actually improve our health-care system, but it will also be about the Constitution. Voters can elect more ‘constitutional conservatives’ to Congress who will take the message of today’s ruling to heart: their powers are limited by Article I of the Constitution. Voters must also insist that the next president fill vacancies on the Supreme Court with ‘constitutional conservative’ justices who have the intestinal fortitude to withstand the intense political pressure that was brought to bear on Chief Justice Roberts after oral argument, beginning with statements by President Obama."  Read more here

We only have about 120 days to influence the outcome of this election. 
What steps are you taking NOW?

Terrorism...in the eye of the beholder?

It’s not a good time to be slashing our defense spending 

“BEIRUT, Lebanon – Amid declarations by Iranian officials that U.S. warships are ‘easy’ targets, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force said he has ‘detailed contingency plans to hit 35 U.S. bases in the region in the early minutes of a possible conflict.’  Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh boasted the U.S. bases around Iran are ‘within the reach of our missiles.’” Read more here

And those perennially under attack from Islamic terrorism are in ever-increasing danger

From Raymond Ibrahim of the Middle East Forum:  “Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, ‘Muslim Persecution of Christians’ was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes: Intrinsically, to document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians. 2. Instrumentally, to show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia…”  Read more here

So who is currently under increased scrutiny from the feds (via the DHS)?  Maybe you

 “A new study funded by the Department of Homeland Security characterizes Americans who are ‘suspicious of centralized federal authority,’ and ‘reverent of individual liberty’ as ‘extreme right-wing’ terrorists.  Read more here

Feel safer now?  Me neither.

Sobering words for Independence Day

On July 4th, some words from the man who penned the document we celebrate today


On the national debt

"I say, the Earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the Earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence." 
Thomas Jefferson, 1789

 On the dangers of federal power

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That "all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people." To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition."  Thomas Jefferson, 1791

On the ultimate outcome of federal direction

"Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread."  
Thomas Jefferson, 1821
 

What would Jefferson think of us today?

Climb on Board the Gravy Train

Your taxes are paying for TV ads and parties encouraging more people to go on food stamps

“While spending on the food stamp program has increased 100 percent under President Barack Obama, the government continues to push more Americans to enroll in the welfare program…  A pamphlet currently posted at the USDA website encourages local SNAP offices to throw parties as one way to get potentially eligible seniors to enroll in the program…The ads have been running since March and are scheduled to continue through the end of June — at a cost of $2.5 million — $3 million, CNN Money reported Monday.” Read more here

And winning a couple of million dollars need not stand in your way

“Leroy Fick [sic] won the $2 million jackpot in the 'Make Me Rich!' contest in June. Despite receiving about $850,000 in winnings, the Auburn resident is still using his Michigan Bridge Card, an electronic version of food stamps…department spokeswoman Gisgie Gendreau said that, under federal guidelines, if a person receives a lump-sum payment, the winnings are not counted as income. The money is considered income if the person receives regular, ongoing payments.”  Read more here

But even those who don’t qualify for food stamps can get still their slice of taxpayer pie.

For example:

“Tax cheats were given $1.4 billion in government-backed mortgage loans under President Obama’s economic stimulus, and the government doled out at least an additional $27 million in tax credits to delinquents who took the first-time-homebuyer tax break, according to a government audit released Wednesday.” Read more here

Do you ever get the uneasy feeling that we deserve what's coming?

Rumors confirmed: Roberts changed sides during deliberations

So Roberts flinched under pressure.  Will we?

At least one writer predicted that Roberts might flinch under pressure and look for a way out of presiding over another 5-4 vote.  So he opted to call the mandate's penalty a tax, as this writer predicted he might (why do the liberal justices never fall on a grenade to prevent a 5-4 split ruling?) 

From the June 25 LA Times, four days before the decision was published: “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has said he hopes to avoid momentous rulings that turn on a 5-4 vote, and both cases offer the justices options that have been overlooked…Lurking in the background is a way to decide the case on tax law grounds. No one can be prosecuted, punished or fined for violating the mandate. In fact, the word "mandate" does not appear in the law. In ‘practical operation,’ the administration argued, it's just a tax law.”  Read more here

And apparently, Roberts did an about face from his original position - did the political pressure get to him?  Did the President's inappropriate remarks prior to the ruling have anything to do with it?

From CBS News: "Chief Justice John Roberts initially sided with the Supreme Court's four conservative justices to strike down the heart of President Obama's health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, but later changed his position and formed an alliance with liberals to uphold the bulk of the law, according to two sources with specific knowledge of the deliberations..." Read more here

And what did Roberts accomplish with his betrayal? Obamacare represents one of the biggest tax increases in history, orchestrated and rammed through by a President who has repeatedly promised he would avoid taxing the middle class

“Taxpayers are reminded that the President’s healthcare law is one of the largest tax increases in American history.  Obamacare contains 20 new or higher taxes on American families and small businesses. Arranged by their respective effective dates, below is the total list of all $500 billion-plus in tax hikes (over the next ten years) in Obamacare, where to find them in the bill, and how much your taxes are scheduled to go up as of today…” Read more here

Has the Supreme Court ruling left you feeling defeated, or ready to fight?

Stuff we would rather not know

Ignorance might be bliss temporarily, but it does a lot of damage in the long run

What’s all this fuss about Fast and Furious? 

For an explanation about the issues involved, listen to the NPR interview with attorney John Hinderaker:  “This is why the ATF whistle-blowers who eventually brought the program to light thought it was not just misguided, but crazy: they could see no possible law enforcement justification for letting thousands of guns walk into the hands of drug gangs.” Read more here

How much is 15.8 trillion?  You don’t want to know

“Consider this: If you have a briefcase full of $100 bills, you'd have roughly $1 million. Few of us have ever seen that much money in one place, but we can at least imagine what it looks like. But a trillion dollars in $100 bills would weigh 22 million pounds!”  Read more here

And where did some of this 15.8 trillion go?  You don't want to know that, either

Did you know that low-income people can use SNAP (food stamps) to buy soda pop and candy?  But not multivitamins?  Well, it gets worse.  65-year-old convenience store clerk Jackie Whiton just lost her job for refusing to take an EBT card to pay for cigarettes.  The foster mother of the would-be cigarette buyer complained.  (If he’s old enough to buy cigarettes, does he need a foster mother?)  “Whiton said she does not object to using the programs for food assistance, but does not think a person should be able to use public funds to buy cigarettes. 'They can’t even buy toilet paper with the EBT grocery cards but they can buy beer and cigarettes with the EBT cash cards,' Whiton said, 'Go figure.'"  Read more here

What news stories bother you the most?