Obamacare FAQs . . . Answered by Mr. Smartypants

Q. President Obama said, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. If you like your doctor you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.” I do, so why can’t I?

A. The answer is quite complicated, so please bear with me. You’re just an American citizen, a part of the masses, an absolute nothing to the grinding wheel of big government, big egos and big lies. You simply don’t deserve the truth about anything. Suck it up and keep paying your taxes.

Q. But . . . I believed him.

English: Barack Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A. Cry me a river, moron. If you actually believed that government could be more efficient than a private sector which has competition and therefore a need to be efficient; that an added layer of federal bureaucracy somehow made healthcare less expensive; and, that millions more people could be insured while the average American family saved $2,500 per year then you should donate your brain to science – they’re always looking for unused specimens.

Q. Is my personal information safe on Healthcare.gov?

A. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Stop it! My ribs are killing me and I've laughed so hard that my face hurts. Listen, the government can’t even keep secret the stuff the government wants to keep secret. Do you really think President O wanted Angela Merkel to know her personal cellphone was tapped? Do you think he wanted us to know that Eric Holder’s little gun-running scheme resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent Mexicans? What about Benghazi? The IRS scandal? Safe? Your personal medical records would likely be safer posted on your Facebook page than in the hands of Joe Biden.

The only thing that might save your little tidbits of information is that the website is so poorly designed hackers might never be able to find the database. Plus the data is apparently compressed and stored on the aging hard drive of an IBM PS/1 with 640k of RAM - insert your own joke about a five-and-a-quarter inch floppy.

If you continue to live in the United States and think you might possibly have health problems in the future, follow this sage advice: Begin a life-long love affair with exercise, low-carb foods, and a doctor. 

Q. Will Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius be fired because of the poor roll-out, or as some call it the train wreck, of the healthcare.gov website?

A. No. Actually, she’s going to get a super-secret Barack Obama medal. You see, the failure of the website is preventing people from seeing the even more serious failures of Obamacare, such as the increased premiums and elimination of small business policies. They're not even discussing the two million people who are already losing their insurance coverage. And that is far, far beyond a train wreck – it’s more like a train wreck combined with a stock market crash, your daughter dating

I Am NOT the Property of the State

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today’s Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decision regarding the so-called Affordable Health Care Act is why this nation’s founders firmly declared that our rights come from our Creator and are not subject to the oft ill-conceived whim of any individual or group of people. Those groups include the SCOTUS.

If the government can require Americans to purchase things, then there is no limit to its control of our personal private property. We have seen, time and again, that the federal government – particularly this administration and its elected supporters -  will use any available method to coerce the American people. This would effectively end personal property.

The end of personal property is the beginning of slavery. This ruling means that individuals can be taxed into submission to the state.

That the SCOTUS was willing to consider the mandate as a tax to make it fit within the now-grossly-distorted confines of the United States Constitution, is outrageous. That this abomination of liberty-killing legislation ever passed is solely on the heads of Democrats in Congress. They are my sworn enemy and I will not forget.

I am NOT the property of the state and November is coming. I will make the Statists pay and ballots will flow like blood on November 6^th. It is ON!

Why 2012 Is Even More Important Than You Think

The Supreme Court of the United States
Image via Wikipedia

- Courting the Future of Our Nation: The US Supreme Court in Obama's Hands -

You think you're taking the 2012 elections seriously. You're already paying attention. You're months ahead of your neighbors and friends. This makes you, my friend, an opinion leader. So you need to grow into your burdensome responsibilities.

Four more years of a Presidednt Barack Obama and a US Congress that, regardless of majority, hungers for re-election at the expense of good policy may cause repercussions for decades.

What if the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) approves Obamacare? Four years to implement this resounding death knell for American business and it will be too late to make the needed corrections without a chain reaction of tumultuous results. Are you counting on the SCOTUS to save our bacon? Look, I don't care what your local Constitutional expert says, there have been enough questionable decisions in the past few years that I am dubious, e.g. Kelo vs City of New London, Connecticut.

And speaking of the SCOTUS, how many appointments will be made in the next four years? Are you ready to see an Eric Holder court? Four of the nine justices are septuagenarians. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg will be 79 in March just a few days after Justice Antonin Scalia turns 76 and just four months before Justice Anthony Kennedy's 76th birthday.

Brief Reviews of the SOTU, Oil Prices, Latest CBO Report and More

Here are a few thoughts on some interesting topics that might not make an entire blog, but are of interest. Think of it as a tour of some issues.

While libertarian and master science fiction author Robert Heinlein’s statement, “There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him,” was made years ago, I have yet to see a better description of President Obama’s health care legislation. The Nanny State attempts to justify its existence by telling perfectly competent citizens what to do, but cannot hide its own addiction to money.

Many pundits are complaining about a lack of specifics in President Obama’s speech, but state of the union addresses are not for specifics. Note that the speech lasted over 70 minutes while the President gilded generalities. For him to make the specifics of our horrific economy sound better than the reality would have taken days, a swarm of government lawyers, a thesaurus, an unabridged dictionary, a willing suspension of disbelief and a pocketful of hallucinogenics. Be glad he stuck to generalities. Life is too short for boring fictions.

The latest Congressional Budget Office’s report on the deficit came out this morning and projects a 2011 deficit of $1.5 trillion. This is 50% higher than the original projection of $1 trillion. As expected, the extension of the Bush tax cuts is being blamed rather than reckless spending.

The timing of the release of the CBO report is interesting. If the report had been available yesterday the President might have been forced to pay more attention to the federal deficit – especially the part where he advocated keeping our current spending levels for the next five years.

During the SOTU, President Obama specifically mentioned those tax cuts in relation to the deficit, “And if we truly care about our deficit, we simply cannot afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans.” It seems like the President, but not the media, had access to that report before his speech. Did the CBO temporarily withhold their report at the Administration’s request? Hmmmmm.

Obama did call for a simplification of our tax codes, but nothing specific. Here is my suggestion for a reasonable goal: Americans with average intelligence and high-school diplomas should be able to complete their own tax returns without assistance and be certain they paid the least taxes legally possible. This is a goal that is attainable several ways, including a switch from an income to a consumption tax.

We are in the worst economy since the FDR Administration. The mainstream media has covered nearly every aspect of this except for one thing: Where is the nearly endless coverage of the homeless we had during the Reagan and Bush administrations? There is 9.4% unemployment, there is a major housing crisis and the only homeless person we hear about is former radio announcer Ted Williams because he has “a golden voice”.

Are we to believe that there are fewer homeless people than under Republican administrations? The media would have you believe so because of their lack of coverage. Just remember that the easiest way to alter the public’s perception are the decisions on what stories are covered. Some might call it self-censorship. I do.

Three dollar a gallon gasoline looks bad now, but I predict that in six months it will look good. Growing political unrest in the Middle East like that in Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt and Yemen; the continued blockage of oil production in the US; and, the failure to pursue currently available fuel alternatives all will contribute to the increasing petroleum prices. Oil speculators will take advantage of this opportunity to reap profits and push prices even higher.

The possibility that the Federal Reserve System might bail out deadbeat states needs to be halted. We already know the Fed lends money to prop up foreign banks while our own economy is in trouble. It’s past time to audit the Fed and I’m still waiting for someone to tell me why that’s a bad idea.

Finally, do you remember when Democrats accused Republicans of favoring Wall Street over Main Street? The Dow hit 12,000 today. Democrats will likely claim credit and use Wall Street as a proxy for the economy to claim we are better off. Personally, I believe the stock market surge that began in August was because of the apparent, then-upcoming, GOP majority in at least one house of Congress. Let’s hope the market is right and the GOP can slow or halt government expansion.

The SOTU on Truth Serum

My fellow Americans, tonight I’m going to be straight forward and rather than hold a political rally or berate the judicial branch of government, I’m going to stick to the state of our union.

Let me begin by discussing our foreign relations. We’re involved in two wars in which we are not fighting other countries, but are fighting against religious zealots who wish to destroy our nation, our culture and our right to religious freedom. They cannot defeat us on the field of battle and have chosen to sacrifice innocents through the practice of terrorism.

Their way of winning is to control our actions through fear. With that in mind, I am asking that we develop less intrusives means of screening potential terrorists at our airports and increase interdiction at our borders.

In the past, I gave deadlines for our withdrawal and had to retract those promises because reality is a harsh mistress. The war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan are different. In Iraq, the people have shown a real interest in freedom. Many Iraqi policemen have been killed by suicide bombers, car bombs and IEDs. Still, they continue to sign up to be policemen and serve their country. For this reason, we will continue our commitment to the people of Iraq, but they need to understand that we cannot remain in Iraq over a long period of time. Americans will leave Iraq when we believe it can remain stable on its own.

I know many of you want us to withdraw from Iraq immediately, but we cannot afford to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. To leave now would jeopardize all we have accomplished and leave a free Iraq at the mercy of internal terrorists and oppressive theocracies such as its neighbor Iran.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai has shown himself to be an opportunist and a coward, unable to commit to the freedom of his people. Karzai has continued his relationship with members of the Taliban, narco-terrorists and drug warlords, such as his own brother. A free country cannot be built on the foundation of such a corrupt state. We will not begin withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan at this time; however, because we need to invade northwest Pakistan where we are fairly certain that Osama bin Ladin is hiding like the coward he is.

While we do not wish to destabilize our ally Pakistan, we also know that the continued presence of bin Ladin will definitely cause the collapse of that government. We are asking the Pakistani government to clear all of its troops from that region until such time as we are convinced that bin Ladin is dead, captured and in our hands, or located in another country. In addition, we ask that civilians offer no resistance if they do not wish to be harmed. We have been patient long enough and we will bring all available resources to bear so that this criminal will be brought to justice.

In the area of trade, free trade only works if it is free on both sides. Our trade agreements with China now hinge upon the opening of China’s markets and proof that they are cracking down on the multi-billion dollar piracy of American trademarks and copyrights, especially intellectual properties such as software, music, movies and patents. This must end or we will close down our markets completely to goods of Chinese manufacture. Currently we have a $200 billion trade deficit to China. They need us more than we need them.

On the domestic side, we are in trouble.

We are approaching our debt limit of $14.3 trillion dollars. Over the past decade we have spent a tremendous amount of money in an attempt to make the country prosperous. That idea, which I was convinced was a good one, has failed. We must allow the private sector to grow. In order to do that, I am proposing three things.

First, I want to meet with a committee of committed deficit hawks from both sides of the aisle. We will consider all things, with the exception of the commitments we have made retirees and those within 10 years of retirement. We will look at all government subsidies and sweetheart deals. As a sign of commitment from our party, I will ask for the repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act, and related laws, which cause our government to spend far more money than necessary to appeal to our union friends.

Second, I will form a group similar to the Grace Commission to examine regulations and see which ones can be either revamped or repealed to make it easier to do business in this country. We have handcuffed business and asked it to carry far too large of a burden in unnecessary regulations.

To show my sincerity, as of now I am withdrawing my Executive Order restricting the drilling of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, I am asking Congress to withdraw some of the more onerous, previous restrictions on all offshore drilling. I will also ask Congress to come to a compromise about Anwar. We will separate the areas of interests to tourists and reasonable environmental concerns, while allowing small footprint drilling for oil.

Also, concerning energy, I am asking the energy companies to construct three additional oil refineries. We will waive any unnecessary regulations while maintaining necessary controls to protect the environment. In exchange, I ask the oil companies to construct at least two of the three away from areas likely to be impacted by hurricanes.

I will also ask the auto manufacturers to lend us a hand. The American people were generous with their assistance and now we need help. I ask that 50% of all internal combustion engines made in the US, be altered to accept concentrated natural gas as fuel. This will result in lower uses of petroleum and we have natural gas in abundance.

Finally, regarding energy, I will ask Congress to consider a law rewarding retail manufacturers for installing energy stations for electric automobiles in their parking lots. The technology is available to allow consumers to swipe a credit card so that their vehicle can be charging as the customer shops. Enough of these retail outlets across the nation will increase the viability of electric cars and decrease our dependence on foreign oil.

Third, this is a much longer term solution, but I will ask for another committee to review our income tax situation. For individuals, sole ownership businesses, partnerships and S-Corporations any person of average intelligence with a high-school diploma and a decent command of the English language should be able to complete a tax form and have 100% certainty that they have accurately completed their forms and paid the proper amount.

In exchange for this, I ask the following from conservatives. All farm subsidies to C-Corporations should be ended as of the end of this fiscal year. Credit Card companies will not be limited in the interest rates they charge, but they cannot change the interest rates on money previously lent to consumers, so that prior balances remain at the same rate of interest. Penalties for late fees can be increased to help compensate for this loss of income.

I also ask for a bill to subsidize medical schools’ expansion and interest free loans to students in medical schools. In return, while I do not favor making malpractice lawsuits go away or capping damages, I do favor limiting them to situations where real malpractice or negligence can be shown. This should help lower doctors’ insurance rates while simultaneously allowing the protection of patients.

Finally, I ask for a real review of our health care system. Republicans and Democrats agree that the current system is broken, but disagree on the solutions. Let’s find the common ground and enact those laws so that improvements can be made.

Thank you and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

The Modern Prometheus

A very famous literary work subtitled “The Modern Prometheus” showed what happens when good, far-reaching, intentions are combined with arrogance to the point of hubris. For now, let’s just remember that in Greek mythology, Prometheus was a son of Zeus who befriended mankind by stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mankind. He made things much better for man but was severely punished.

Last year, Democrats rushed through a health care plan with more holes than Swiss cheese used for target practice by a platoon of sharpshooters carrying Thompson Submachine guns. It wasn’t just the GOP that the Democrats, particularly the US Democrat House leadership, brushed aside; it was also a large portion of the American public. Now that there is a GOP majority in the US House and now that most folks have figured out that there are a lot of problems and a lot of additional expenses, the Democrat tone has changed.

“Let’s sit down and work this out. I’m sure we can come to an agreement. We both know that you like some of our ideas. There’s no need to throw away all of this work.” Reasonable words, soothing words, and words that when put into context are, oh so very, easy to reject.

It’s about relative power in relationships and about timing. It’s also about a few assuming that they know what is best for the people of this country, better than the people themselves.

If Democrats wanted to compromise on government health care or to even debate government health care, that opportunity was last year. As you remember, Democrats had absolutely no interest in allowing Republicans to debate, much less amend, their 2,000 page bill. The Reality Check Moment was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi standing in front of reporters telling the nation that in order to know what was in the mysterious, impenetrable health care act, it would have to be passed first. Pelosi might as well have said, “Trust us. We’re from the government and here to help you.”

Oh, wait. Sorry. That IS what she was saying. Nancy Pelosi is no longer a joke. She has specialized. She has actually become the punchline to a joke. Congratulate her when you see her, will you? It's a big step up for her.

I won’t go into the many other examples that show Democrats were in suicidal haste to pass their bill. They are easily found and there are far too many to list. What is clear and incontrovertible is that Democrats made no actual effort to even consider other ideas. There was no offer to compromise or to debate.

When President Barack Obama met with Republicans, he rejected all of their ideas because he said that they were not “revenue neutral”. This means that the GOP did not play games with numbers the way that the Democrats did.

Now we know that Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf was not pleased with the manipulation brought forward by the Democrats. The CBO is often cited by Democrat leaders as a “neutral” body whose econometric models are without political bias. The problem for the CBO is that when they construct an econometric model they are restricted by the assumptions given them by Congress. What that means is, "Garbage In, Garbage Out."

If congressional leaders say, “Our model needs to assume that the economy will grow by an extraordinary rate for the next ten years, then that – though it is ridiculous – is what the CBO must do. If the CBO is told to assume that Medicare money can be spent multiple times, in multiple places, then that is what the CBO must do. This is why Doug Elmendorf raised a ruckus about the assumptions made by the Obama administration and by Democrat congressional leaders – he did not want the CBO to look like fools. I don’t blame him.

So the GOP, rather than mine through more than 2000 pages of regulations, looking for the occasional nugget of gold will likely want to scrap the whole plan. Most Americans agree and that is why the Democrats are sweetly asking for a compromise now that the health care plan has passed.

The Democrat line is that people need Obamacare whether they know it or not. While the Democrats claim to be Prometheus, bringing a great benefit down from Mt. Olympus, others of us will look upon them instead as “The Modern Prometheus” and understand that hubris is no substitute for knowledge. We remember that “The Modern Prometheus” was the subtitle for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s great work, “Frankenstein”. The Democrats have indeed released a monster among us that must be stopped.

When You Wish Upon a Star

President Barack Obama is about to define himself with his first state of the union address. I don't mean politically. We know that President Obama likes big government. In fact, we know that he prefers the machinations of the government over the deliberations of the citizens. By anyone's reasonable definition, Barack Obama is a Progressive.

Barack Obama is about to define himself in a fundamentally more important way, in terms of his ability to be honest with the American people. Will he address real issues in a meaningful way, offering solutions that are most likely to work? Or will he cherry pick issues, and frame those in ways that fit his philosophy of government intervention, more spending and less individual freedom?

Will Obama take responsibility for his own mistakes or will he continue to blame predecessor George W. Bush? Tellingly, within the last few days, Obama has referred to “the last eight years” negatively; conveniently forgetting that the last of those years was the first year of the Obama Administration. President Obama continues to blame the now-retired George W. Bush, who is probably not simply retired but would be best described as “happily retired.”

I would like to see Obama meaningfully address unemployment, the housing market, homeland security, government bailouts of private industries, health care reform and the lack of promised transparency surrounding health care reform. I'd like to see him do so with candor and honesty, parceling out blame and credit fairly and honestly. I fully expect to be disappointed.

Heathcare - Words and Numbers

From September 6, 2009

First, please pardon the misnomer, but if I had entitled this “Insurance Reform” would you have read even this far? Yet, the attention of the American people is rightly focused on “Healthcare Reform” even if they know the wording is wrong. The real topic isn’t healthcare; it’s insurance, and this verbal sleight of hand needs to be examined because it brings complete misunderstanding to the subject.

So, when liberals - including our President - state that 45.7 million Americans “are without healthcare” that is simply wrong. There are 45.7 million residents without health insurance. As you and I both know, those two things are staggeringly different.

Where did the number of 45.7 million come from? It’s based on a 2006 Census Bureau report of a survey which assumed that if you refused to answer the questions on insurance (2.5 million projected non-respondents nationwide) that you had no insurance. Also, if you had no health insurance for any part of the year, even if you had health insurance at the time of the survey, you were also deemed to be uninsured. We’ll take this information into account later.

Three Men of Massachusetts: The Meaning of Scott Brown's Election Win

Scott Brown's upset victory in the Massachusetts US Senate race is the current political story of 2010, but it also challenged some cherished long-time beliefs in the Bay State. Brown, a socially liberal Republican, opposed Obamacare because it was not good for his state economically. Massachusetts's current state heathcare system would gain little from nationalized medicine and pay dearly. By proposing what was best for his state, Brown dashed liberal dreams and halted the career work of his predecessor, Ted Kennedy.

Democrats in Washington and Boston reverently mentioned Ted Kennedy's name as though it were a holy mantra capable of staving off a public that had learned far too much about a healthcare plan crafted in cabal-like secrecy. Kennedy's widow, Vicki, and the remainder of the Kennedy clan were trotted out and displayed like the catch of the day to remind the public of its obligatory loyalty to the left. Yet the Kennedy name, even when combined with its far-left liberal tradition could not keep the Massachusetts people from rejecting further nationalization of medical care.

It is worth noting that those voters whose primary issue was healthcare did favor Democrat Martha Coakley by a thin margin over Brown. Brown made up that ground and much more on economic issues. Jobs and the Massachusetts economy trumped national healthcare.

Scott Brown may have put an end to Ted Kennedy's work on national healthcare, but he reinforced former US House Speaker Tip O'Neal's (D-MA) famous political maxim, "All politics is local."

O'Neal recognized that while people may occasionally rise above self-interest, that's not the way to bet. In the end, people voted for their own interests.

We won't understand what Brown's victory means until we know how the two parties react. Either party is capable of taking this outcome and making its own future – and our country's future – worse.

On the Republican side, Republicans must remember that though they have won all three statewide offices during the Obama year, they must earn the respect of voters. Constitutionalists are already reminding GOP officials that if they begin imitating Democrats, they will lose the support of the grassroots. If Republicans forget this simple lesson, then we may see the rise of third party candidates who will claim voters the GOP abandoned in favor of larger government.

The potential Republican disaster is less likely than the tsunami of rejection curling over the heads of the far left. Democrats have more power than the GOP, but this is about leverage and they will inherit far more of the blame for failure to respond to the desires of the American public. When Nancy Pelosi called Tea Party goers, “astroturf . . . un-American . . . fake” and made accusations of swastikas at Tea Party rallies, she shoved a pair of her Pradas past her tonsils and has yet to remove them.

Many liberals are blaming Democrat Martha Coakley for this loss, but factors beyond Coakley's ill-timed vacation were far more important to the outcome. Coakley was elected Massachusetts Attorney General in 2006 so she is not a stranger to a statewide election. But she was a stranger to the “help” she received from Washington.

Famed communications expert Marshall McLuhan's quote, “The medium is the message,” applies here. The medium delivering the Democrats healthcare package was not open, transparent government. Instead, people were treated to sneaky, preferential backroom deals cut with US Senators and unions while even some of our elected representatives were locked out of discussions. The message from Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi: “We will not tell you what we will do, but we will do as we please.“