Insurance Mandate as a Tax?

I'm no constitutional scholar, but I have read the Constitution. It seems to me that our government is allowed to levy tariffs, and by the 15th amendment, an income tax. Now we have the administration claiming that the health insurance mandate is a tax, justified under the "power to lay and levy taxes." I don't see how this tax fits within the definition of a tariff or income tax. Maybe it's a tariff because you're importing all that fat and poor health.

Liberalism described-Duh!

Rewarding irresponsibility and punishing hard work and thrift. This is nothing new, it is the liberal (progressive) agenda since forever. The parable of the ant and the grasshopper is a description of progressives with them siding with the grasshopper. Sadly they are ascendant after the 2008 election. I think the worm will turn in the next election.

Hi. My Name is Barack Hussein Obama, and I am one Deluded SOB

President Obama is convinced that the BP oil spill is the equivalent of 9/11. The man is just grasping, trying to make himself somehow more important.

The oil spill is bad, but in no way approaches a terrorist attack that killed 3,000 people. This is a disaster, but the loss of life stands at 11. The comparison is ridiculous. The man lives his life as a victim; the Bush administration left me with this mess, the middle East is worse than it's ever been, the oil spill is like 9/11.

The scary thing is, what will he do when actually addressed with a real national security disaster? My guess is curl up in a ball and cry like the little bitch that he is.

Stupid Congressman (I know that's redundant)

Rep. Anthony Weiner(D-NY) gets gored in the hand by an angora billy. How much of a dork do you have to be to let that happen?

The whole point of this exercise was to decry the mohair subsidy. So what is this genius vowing to do? He is not going to wear wool until the subsidy is eliminated. The clueless dumbass doesn't even know wool comes from sheep and mohair comes from goats.

I'm glad he's a New Yorker and doesn't represent any intelligent segment of the country.

ADDENDUM: In the video, brainiac Weiner points to the goats ear tag and says, "look they even come with earmarks." How totally clueless can you be. If you don't know a damn thing, you should shut up.

ADDENDUM: This just in; Congressman Weiner (D-NY) is opposed to subsidies to pig farmers. He promises not to eat beef until the pork subsidies are stopped!

Crazy Aunt (not quite) in the Attic

Helen Thomas has been crazy for years, but this is nuts even for her. I guess when you get old enough, or drunk enough, you say what you truly think.

Jews back to Germany or Poland? That is insane. They have as much right to their homeland as the Palestinian occupiers. The Israelis were there 3,000 years ago. If the Arab nations really cared about the Palestinian's they would take them. But they provide such a useful reason for continuing the death to Jews hatred, that that will never happen.

Illegal? So what?

John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or whatever),said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

What?

Those of you who know me, know I think illegal immigration is not a big deal. These people are no more prone to illegal activity than citizens. Additionally, I believe they add positively to our economy. BUT; if your job is to enforce immigration law then when confronted with an illegal alien you must act. Here we have a federal official acting to nullify law that he is tasked to uphold. What the hell are we paying him for? Clearly not to do his job.

You're fired dumbass!

EU to be renamed Zombieland, Euro the Zombie

The Euro is a zombie currency. That would be really funny if it wasn't so true.

Internet Explorer?

I saw a web posting, "The ONLY thing Internet Explorer is good for is downloading Firefox and Google Chrome, and it's not very good at that."

Amen to that.

Tea Party - Too Popular for Comfort

Charles Postel opines on the Tea Party movement in a Reuters piece. This is a continuation of the liberal mind not being able to believe or grasp the obvious. (He is from San Francisco so he lives in a fever swamp of idiocy.) It is impossible for these progressives to understand that the movement is really just about limiting government and living within our means. Postel claims Tea Partiers are hostile to federal spending on jobs. That seems right, but that is a limiting and incomplete statement. They are hostile to federal spending for any reason that is unsustainable.

There is an anti-incumbent wave, and it is being driven by the belief that spending must be reined in. This is not just anger against Democrats. The Republicans spent like fools during the Bush presidency, and now the Democrats are doubling down. The Tea Party group seems to understand that it is not the President who budgets and spends, it is Congress, and they are willing to do something about it. Sen. Bennett of Utah lost at the state Republican convention after serving three terms, because he is a spender.

This is a sizable movement with the support of a large percentage of the general population. Continuing attempts to vilify seem to only build the movement. The liberal media doesn't understand that if they are against something, that is an indication to many that it must be a good thing.

A New Voice on the Supremes

Paul Campos writes a lengthy analysis of Elena Kagan as a potential nominee to SCOTUS.

It is worth a read. The takeaway is that her political views are unknown, but she is intelligent, has a good legal mind, and would be an asset to the Court. This is exactly what a nominee should bring to the table.

All of this political infighting over a nominees views on abortion in particular, or any other issue in general, is just bullshit. If a candidate is a qualified, quality jurist they should be seated.

The risk the Obama administration takes in appointing such a person is that they don't know where they will fall in their decisions. Any administration wishes to put Justices on the Court who will fit its particular political philosophy. This can result in a Souter appointment.

I say that if Pres. Obama appoints Kagan she should be swiftly confirmed.

Mike Myers has outdone himself. This is amazing.

Send lawyers

I just heard that the President is responding to the massive oil spill by sending a large number of government attorneys to Louisiana. That's just the right thing to remediate an oil spill. I guess you tie them end to end, and float them in front of the encroaching slick? I just can't imagine what other useful purpose they might serve.

Republicans=idiots

Just when the Republicans have everything in their hands they manage to do something totally stupid.

Why, oh why, would you stir up the immigration mess when things were going well. This is not a winning issue for Republicans and everyone knows it but them. This is as stupid as the Democrats kowtowing to the fringe of their party. Just when it looked like they would make huge gains in the House and the Senate, along comes the immigration bomb, and they reach down and light the fuse. It's like giving back all the gains made in the past 15 months.

There seemed to be a real opportunity to gain some ground, and roll back the legislative overreach, and spending splurge of the past two years. That will crawl back now, thanks to the Arizona law, and the other southern states jumping on the bandwagon.

Idiots!

Religiosity

I find this map interesting. Living in a a Baptist enclave creates certain attitudes that are hard to understand if you don't live in such an area. I am ambivalent about this, some of these accepted norms are useful, some are extremely stifling. Tolerance of heathens is minimal.

Studying this map certainly helps to understand attitudes, moral, social and political, in each area of the country.

TEA Party

The American Tea Party is important, Tea stands for Taxed Enough Already.

This is not a group of racist, homophobic, or whatever other slander the mainstream media and left wing nutcases have decided to use as a label. These are American citizens, your neighbors, who are fed up with an overreaching federal government. They hold a belief that our country should adhere to its fundamentals as expressed by our founding fathers in the U.S. Constitution and the Federalist Papers. There is nothing radical nor subversive in this belief. Quite the opposite, those who hold that the federal government knows best and should tax and spend in order to create a perfect government are the radicals.

Our country was not founded in order to create a perfect government, but rather, in order to assure individual rights and liberties. The Bill of Rights is not a bill of government empowerment, but a bill of individual rights that limit the power of government. The U.S. Constitution is a prescription for individual empowerment.

The history of the past 100 years is a flagrant disregard for the Constitution. Taking individual liberties and giving the federal government power to limit those very rights. This is an abomination.

Mark me down as a supporter of the movement to limit the central government. Additionally, I loathe the race baiters and demagogues, who seek to besmirch honest citizens who are merely exercising their freedom to congregate, and communally express their displeasure with the direction that our country is taking.

To hell with Democrats and Republicans alike, who think that the federal government has the RIGHT to circumvent the United States Constitution because it is to the benefit of the community. We are not a community, we are a nation of individuals who commune with those who we find agreeable.

Jamie's Book Reviews

Jamie's Book Reviews

Justice Stevens resigns

Am I the only one that thinks the genius appointment to replace Justice Stevens would be Pres. Clinton?

He is a moderate Democrat, not some uber-liberal tool of the left. He has experience from the state level to the federal level, so he understands how federal legislation affects state government.

The Party owes him for bringing them back to life. He was the only successful Democratic President since Truman. It would be respectful, and give him gravitas that he, being an impeached President, cannot attain in any other way.

Just a thought.

This is a problem

If only half of us pay taxes then the other half can vote themselves the use of our money.

I don't think we should be taxing people with relatively small incomes, but for half of the "tax payers" to not pay any income tax is a problem. This approaches the level of theft. If you can vote to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to provide benefits to yourself, without having any skin in the game, there is a problem.

Guam is a really small island

Don't ever think for a minute that you're not smart enough to be a Congressman. Watch this video, and be in awe of the minimum necessary to be elected.

Obamacare unintended consequence #2

So the insurers claim the bill does not actually require them to cover children with pre-existing conditions. The bill merely states that if they insure children they must cover all their healthcare needs regardless of the time of onset.

Apparently, in haste to pass a 2,700 page bill that they had never read, our uber-intelligent legislators forgot the difference between coverage and guaranteed issue. Meaning, coverage need not be extended to sick children, but if it is, then all illness is covered.

The important part of this whole discussion is the definition of insurance. Insurance-A means of indemnity against a future occurrence of an uncertain event. Note the term uncertain. It is not insurance if you are merely providing a reimbursement mechanism for foreseeable expenses. That would be a risk pool. There is nothing wrong with a pool. It is a good method for spreading the costs among individuals who must use a service. But, it is not insurance. And forcing people who do not have a certain future event, but an uncertain one, into the same "insurance" plan as people with pre-existing conditions is merely socialistic redistribution of money from one individual to another.