Tax THIS

I had planned to comment on the Supreme Court's Obamacare decision yesterday but had to attend a funeral. I now feel like I should say Kaddish for the United States of America.

I am disgusted. This is results-oriented jurisprudence at its absolute worst. Roberts' opinion rewrote the law, which its backers insisted all along was not a tax. Now, it's the largest tax increase in the history of, well, ever.

Nearly as bad as the decision are comments from Republican pundits casting this either as a master Machiavellian move by Roberts to make Obama and the Congressional Democrats look bad by having implemented the largest-ever tax increase, or that Roberts was fearful of having the Supreme Court being seen as a partisan political instrument. To those pundits: Please STFU. Only morons are buying your spin.

Fine, the Dems think that despite their prior protests that it's sufficient to justify Obamacare as a tax. I say that once the Republicans obtain control of Congress and the White House, we pass the following legislation:

1. 26 USC Section 53 et seq, the National Firearms Act of 1934, is hereby REPEALED.

2. Title 10 USC Section 311, Militia: Composition and Classes, is hereby ammended:
(c) Each member of the unorganized militia is required by this act to purchase and maintain in proper working order
(i) a rifle of the pattern then currently in use by the United States Army (heretofore "service rifle", and
(ii) no less than six magazines or ammunition feeding devices compatible with the service rifle, with a capacity of no less than twenty cartridges, and
(iii) a maintenance kit for the service rifle, and
(iv) no less than five hundred cartrdiges for the service rifle.
(d) Each member of the unorganized militia who fails to comply with Part (c) of this section shall be taxed no less than $1,500.00 for each year not in compliance, and such tax shall be collected by the Internal Revenue Service.

{Hat tip to Arfcommer "NagOrzo15-1" for the idea.)

Bad idea? If justifying Congress's forcing the individual mandate down our throats under the guise of a tax is acceptable, why not this?

The Window War Just Got Hotter

And this time, it looks like the left is kicking it up a notch.

Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor said Thursday that his Richmond campaign office has been shot at and that he's received "threatening e-mails"....

Cantor said "a bullet was shot through the window" of his campaign office. The incident happened Monday, Fox News has learned, the latest in a rash of apparent threats and acts of intimidation against members of Congress.

Link.

Cantor is a Republican, the House Minority Whip.

Most political violence in the US has historically come from the left.  E.g., the Black Panthers, SDS, and the Weather Underground. 

Most people on the conservative side of the aisle just want to be left alone to go on with their lives and to keep the fruits of their labor.   It's the leftists who want to seize property of the productive class in some misguided attempt at redistributive justice.  You can only push people too far before they snap.  If the progressives keep this up -- and I see no indication that they are backing off -- they will experience backlash greater than they can imagine.

Kipling Had Something to Say About This Mess

The Gods of the Copybook Headings
Rudyard Kipling, 1919

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four—
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

The Window War

The Window War is a piece of short fiction written by Mike Vanderboegh back around 1999/2000, about civil disobedience to Federal gun control.

Looks like it's becoming non-fiction.  Link.  Link.  Link.  Link.

When you put peoples' backs up against the wall, when you fail to listen to your constituents, when you fail to run the government according to the rule of law, be glad that bricks are the only things being thrown.

Thoughts on the State of the Republic

I had a couple of interesting conversations with coworkers over the past two days regarding the state of the Republic.

The first was with a moderate who leans a bit to the left, and who voted for Obama.  Quoting him, "I have lost all faith in government."  This is largely due to the partisan politics in D.C. and the way that the Democrats aren't behaving any better than the Republicans were (in his view) when they were in power.

The second was with moderate coworker who maybe leans a little to the right (I don't know if he voted for McCain or Obama).  I have a TV at my desk playing Fox News (yes, it's work related).  There was an onscreen blurb about how the Democrats were meeting behind closed doors yet again about the healthcare bill.  "I thought one of Obama's key points during the campaign was transparency," he said.  He also offered the opinion that the politicians will never do anything to make things better.  On top of that, he feels that until someone finally gets fed up enough to start shooting politicians, things won't improve.  Yes, this was a politically moderate, educated man saying that the only possible solution to our political ills is armed insurrection.

Bottom line:

If generally politically moderate Americans are saying this kind of stuff aloud (especially number 2 above), we are in really bad shape and in for some rough times ahead.  If the Democrats keep pushing an agenda which is diametrically opposed to what the American people want, the people will decide that the government isn't legitimate.  At that point all bets are off.

I pray that the Democrats in D.C. are unable to move forward with their agenda until November.  Hopefully they will then take a drubbing even worse than they did in 1994, and then don't ram something down our throats during a lame duck session.

Canada's Health System As A Model for The USA

Ahem.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States.

CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 60, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week.

The premier's office provided few details, beyond confirming that he would have heart surgery and saying that it was not necessarily a routine procedure.

Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale is scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday morning.

She's expected to provide more details about Williams's condition, as well as how the provincial government will function during his absence.

CBC reporter David Cochrane said Williams appeared to be in good health recently. He described the premier as "fairly active," playing pick-up hockey at least once a week when work permits.

Socialized medicine is just for the proles.

The Scott Heard 'Round the World

For the first time in my life, I am proud of Massachusetts.

Last night's election of Republican Scott Brown to fill the Senate seat vacated by Ted von Chappaquidick is not only a stunning rebuke to the Democratic leadership on their healthcare bill, it's a repudiation of their socialist power grab in general.

Message to Obama, Reid, and Pelosi re healthcare:



Walk away.  Just walk away.

Democrats Then and Now

A Democrat then (President Grover Cleveland's address to Congress, 12/6/1887):

When we consider that the theory of our institutions guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and enterprise, with only such deduction as may be his share toward the careful and economical maintenance of the Government which protects him, it is plain that the exaction of more than this is indefensible extortion and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice ... The public Treasury, which should only exist as a conduit conveying the people's tribute to its legitimate objects of expenditure, becomes a hoarding place for money needlessly withdrawn from trade and the people's use, thus crippling our national energies, suspending our country's development, preventing investment in productive enterprise, threatening financial disturbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder.

A Democrat (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, 2009) now, when questioned on where the Federal government gets its Constitutional authority for healthcare reform:

Are you serious?

Survivor of Socialism Has Warning for America

{H/T Alphecca}

The South Dakota Family Policy Council sponsored a speech tonight at First Assembly of God in Rapid City by Kitty Werthmann of Eagle Forum in South Dakota.

The presentation was entitled “Socialism vs Freedom” and was a part of the SDFPC “Heritage Under Attack” series.

Werthmann is the head of the South Dakota chapter of Eagle Forum, and was born in Austria. Werthmann lived for seven years under the Nazi rule of Austria, eventually coming to the United States in 1950 to become a naturalized citizen in 1962.

...

Austria had private health care prior to the Nazis, and the quality was good. But the government took over the health care system, and when health care became “free” the doctors quickly became overloaded by frivolous use of the system.  Surgeries of a more important nature, however, had waiting lists of about 18 months because of all the “hypochondriacs” abusing the system.

...

Welfare became a “huge apparatus,” said Werthmann. Everyone had access to subsidized housing, food stamps, heating subsidies and many other benefits until everyone–regardless of salary–reached the prescribed standard of living.

...

Austria also received gun control. Many people in Austria hunted, but the government said there were too many hunting and other types of gun-related accidents, and too much crime. So the people were forced to register their guns. The government then said the accident and crime problem didn’t improve, so the people would have to give up their guns.

“Keep your guns,” said Werthmann. “And buy more guns. And make sure you have plenty of ammunition.”

Now please go read the whole article.

Obama's Healthcare Lies

Fact-checking POTUS' speech to Congress:

It is a good thing that other congressmen did not follow Rep. Joe Wilson’s lead. If they yelled out every time President Obama said something untrue about health care, they would quickly find themselves growing hoarse.

Obama's speech did nothing more than continue his campaign of dissimulation.

Democrat Astroturfer Caught on Video

Busted!



Here's a direct link to it on Youtube.

Best Town Hall Clip Yet

Even Nat Hentoff is Scared of Obama

Nat Hentoff, not exactly a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, is scared of the Obama Administration.  He is right to be.

I was not intimidated during J. Edgar Hoover's FBI hunt for reporters like me who criticized him. I railed against the Bush-Cheney war on the Bill of Rights without blinking. But now I am finally scared of a White House administration. President Obama's desired health care reform intends that a federal board (similar to the British model) — as in the Center for Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation in a current Democratic bill — decides whether your quality of life, regardless of your political party, merits government-controlled funds to keep you alive. Watch for that life-decider in the final bill. It's already in the stimulus bill signed into law.

The members of that ultimate federal board will themselves not have examined or seen the patient in question. For another example of the growing, tumultuous resistance to "Dr. Obama," particularly among seniors, there is a July 29 Washington Times editorial citing a line from a report written by a key adviser to Obama on cost-efficient health care, prominent bioethicist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel). 

 Go read the whole thing.

More Astroturfing From the Left

First, we have a black man who created a fake Facebook account, posing as a white supremacist threatening to kill black people because Obama got elected.

Second, we have White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass basically admitting that they've reached a deal with Big Pharma to pimp Obamacare.

Third and Fourth, we have an Obama supporter falsely stating she's a doctor in support of Obamacare at a town hall meeting held by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), while at the same meeting Obama campaign activists share the front row with Dr. Fake.

So much for the transparency and high level of ethics the Democrats were supposed to bring to D.C.

"Keep your laws off my body!"

Obviously, the title of this post is a well known pro-choice slogan, which conveniently ignores the presence of a second person, i.e., the unborn child.

On the other hand, "Keep your laws off my body!" sums up my sentiment about the Federal government sticking its nose somewhere it doesn't belong: healthcare.

Who's Astroturfing?

I would like to see a documented case of opponents of Obamacare engaging in astroturfing.  The Obama administration and the leftist press are quick to slime their opponents as pawns of right wing interest groups or of the GOP.  Actually, the GOP lacks the ability to generate this kind of grassroots outrage.  But ramming socialism down the throat of the American public has resulted in many people gagging on it, and the outbursts we've seen in the past few weeks are the result of when you push people beyond a certain point.

In contrast to the inept/nonexistent grassroots by the Republicans, the Democrats are very good at rabble rousing.  Take this Craigslist ad for example:



(Click the pic for full size.)

That's a screen capture I took today of an ad placed on the Washington, DC Craiglist, titled, "DEFEND President Obama's Health Care Plan over August Recess! $500+/wk (Capitol Hill)." Link. (Which will probably expire sometime this month.)

Even better, the ad was placed by The Fund for Public Interest, a non-profit to which various left-wing causes  outsource their fundraising.  The FFPI has a bad history of poorly treating their workers.  Link 1.  Link 2. Link 3.

Isn't exploiting the workers a tactic of the capitalist bourgeousie? {/sarcasm}

Obamacare is going to SUCK if you're old or disabled

As quoted by the former mayor of NYC, Ed Koch, who is an Obama supporter:

Most alarming for people like me, who at 84 years of age recently needed a quadruple bypass and aortic valve replacement, are the pronouncements of President Obama's appointee, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who, according to a New York Post op ed article by Betsy McCauley, former Lt. Governor of the State of New York, stated, "Savings, he writes, will require changing how doctors think about their patients: Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath too seriously, 'as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of the cost or effects on others' (Journal of the American Medical Association, June 18, 2008)." He also stated, "...communitarianism' should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those 'who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens...An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.' (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96). " (Emphasis added.)

Link.

If this doesn't sound to you like the early 20th Century's eugenicists, who had a great deal of influence on the Nazis and Communists, you need to turn off American Idol and go crack open a history book.

Dems Looking to Tax Rich to Pay For Healthcare

More class warfare bullshit from the Demcrats:

WASHINGTON – House Democrats at work on health legislation are narrowing in on an income tax surcharge on the highest-paid wage earners to help pay the cost of subsidizing insurance for the 50 million who lack it.

...

As discussed in the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, the surtax would apply to individuals with adjusted gross income of more than $200,000 and couples over $250,000, according to officials involved in the discussion. Most spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

In addition, key lawmakers are expected to call for a tax or fee equal to a percentage of a worker's salary on employers who do not offer health benefits.

Rich people don't get that way by being unmotivated or stupid.  The motivation to earn large incomes presupposes that they will be able to reap the benefit.  Take away that and you reduce the incentive to earn that income.  Further, this sort of plundering will only encourage people to shelter their incomes in ways hidden from the Feds greedy maw, or give up on earning that "excessive" income altogether.

Don't think that Atlas will shrug if this passes?  Bet on it.

Healthcare SNAFU in Massachusetts

More proof socialism does not work.

To much fanfare from both right and left in 2006, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to require all residents to buy health insurance. A new state health insurance clearinghouse was created, with taxpayers subsidizing those who couldn’t afford to buy coverage. Then Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, promised that “every uninsured citizen in Massachusetts will soon have affordable health insurance.” Yet just two years later, Romney’s much-heralded “solution” — touted by many as the model for a national program — has become an embarrassing flop.

Just a year after the universal coverage law passed, The New York Times reported, state insurers were already jacking up rates to twice the national average. According to Dr. Paul Hsieh, a physician and founding member of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine, 43 mandatory benefits — including those that many people did not want or need, such as invitro fertilization — raised the costs of coverage for Massachusetts residents by as much as 56 percent, depending upon an individual’s income status. So much for “affordable” health care.

Link .