Wealth Re-Distribution, 2.0

Tomorrow is Primary Election Day here in the Natural State, and you know what that means -- lots of robo-calls and bad political ads.

One ad has been running on the local talk radio station featuring Hillary. In it, she affects this nasal, whiny accent and tells supporters how "she loves to brag on Arkansas" because our Legislature was foolhardy clever enough to pass a bi-partisan "Public Option" for health insurance that moves thousands who previously didn't qualify for Medicaid, and whose income was too high to give them premium subsidies, onto the Medicaid rolls and they will now be insured.

(Arkansas is among the states that declined to set up a "State Exchange," opting instead for the "Private Option" which accepts federal funds to allocate to Medicaid and it subsidizes premiums charged by private insurers. So, potay-toh/potah-toh. The Governor purportedly wanted the "Arkansas Works Program"  [Private Option] to focus on encouraging citizens to go to work and enjoy employer-provided insurance rather than relying on government to insure them. I'm not so sure that's working out.)

What the Medicaid expansion advocates don't tell us is that, under Obamacare, once a body has accepted any Medicaid benefits, he's deemed to be a Medicaid participant for life. For-ever!

One might not think that's a problem when he's a twenty-something and hasn't acquired diddly-squat to pass on to his heirs, but it's a different story when he moves on to the next plane of existence and his estate is being probated.

Guess who gets his share first, before any heir or legatee?

How'd you guess?!  Of, course --  it's Uncle Sam!!

Can you say "the ultimate surreptitious re-distribution of wealth?" Of course you can! It's called "asset forfeiture," and it's been around for awhile, but Obamacare gave it a shot of steroids.

A wonderful article from 2013 that Pepper found in Science Decoded boils the issue down to one articulate sentence:

Dr. Jane Orient, the Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, put the risk/reward tradeoff succinctly. “People will think this is wonderful, this is free insurance. They don’t realize it’s really a loan, and is secured by any property they have.”

What an awful thing for your government to do to you. Restoring the Estate Tax was bad enough, but putting these two together is nothing short of confiscatory policy that slaps around the Fourth Amendment.

Don't let Uncle Sam tell you it's raining on you.

Overload. Heading to the Deck.

So.

Human jackals are looting the crash site of the MalaysianAir passenger plane, shot down with missile fire by who knows.  There is escalated ethnic cleansing of Christians in Iraq by ISIS, without comment from the Obama administration.  On the same day, within hours of one another, two federal Circuit Courts issued conflicting rulings on Obamacare's individual mandate and premium subsidies, thus suggesting an expedited hearing by the Supreme Court on the law's future with a scary, unpredictable CJ Roberts in the fold. And my babiest baby has yet to recover emotionally from having to put her precious pup, Zeus, down.

And, it appears that chipmunks love to devour green cherry tomatoes.  Even those planted in containers. Alvin has ceased to be cute.

Have I mentioned how very peaceful is the view from my back deck when the trees are leafed out?

Thankfully.

Score Update: Free-Market Medical Care 1, Single-Payer System 0

Advocates of single-payer healthcare systems like they have in Canada argue that they are the way to go. There is never a problem with shortages of providers or long waits for treatment.

So, how come the loopy Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, hopped a plane to Chicago to enter rehab instead of checking into a facility in Canada?

It does give one pause.

Presidents' Day PTSD

Presidents' Day will probably never be the same after 2016.  If there are future presidents.  I mean, other than the Emperor who occupies the White House at present.  I just don't see him willingly packing up and moving on. There's still a lot of Hope and Change to be bulldozed out there, and he is so very skilled at operating the bulldozer.

In just a few short years he has managed to throw a sixth of the nation's economy into turmoil with a few deft strokes of his magic Executive Order pen.  I ran into an old friend at last week's wedding who recently retired from the health insurance biz. She says she left just in time -- clients have been increasingly asking her what's going to happen to this or that provision under Obamacare, and what's the cost going to be for this or that policy, and the only answer she could give them was, "I don't know.  I don't know.  I don't KNOW!!!"

Apparently neither does the White House. Nor Congress.

So, on this Presidents' Day, to let the current occupant of the West Wing know what we think of him, I think we should encourage him to stay in good health by exercising.  Toward that end, we should send him a little gift -- how about a warm-up suit made by a small American company that sells its products in France?  Here is the label that provides cleaning instructions:

Don't you think he'll love it!

Quick!  Someone hide the keys to the heavy equipment!

Fluffy Tuesday

Did you watch the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics?  You know -- the flashy production that's going to land at least one Russian lighting engineer in the Gulag because a ring failed to light up?  Yeah -- this is a great comparison:

And, this just in:

Sad, sad fact.

Your Government Thinks You're a Dolt

So.  NPR characterizes the Obamacare/Sebelius contraceptives regulation as follows:

This past week, President Barack Obama offered a compromise to his controversial requirement that faith-based institutions provide contraception in employee health plans. Under the new rules, religiously affiliated employers will not be required to offer free contraceptive coverage. Churches were already exempt. Instead, insurance companies would have to offer and pay for contraception.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, while a bit wobbly at first, has now firmed up and declared the mandate to be a "nationwide government coercion of religious people and groups to sell, broker or purchase 'services' to which they have a moral or religious objection," and "an unprecedented attack on religious liberty."

Last week, while some in the liberal press were heaping praise on Obama as the Great Compromiser, I was scratching my head.  I never saw a "compromise" in the proposed regulations; the only shift I saw in the requirement to provide free contraceptives was in pocketbooks -- providing contraceptives moved from the employer's own purse to the employer's checkbook as he writes a check for insurance premiums, then to the insurer's pocketbook which is filled as he cashes the premium check, whose amount has gone up to cover the insurer's "hidden" increased costs.  Everyone will still have access to "free" contraceptives; however, we must bear in mind, as my Daddy taught me -- there is no free lunch.  Anywhere.  Ever.

When the headlines and pundits were screaming that Obama had won, and brokered a "save" for his mandate, there had been no actual "save."  There had not been any distinctive change at all to Government's dictate that we all not only purchase insurance, but that we also purchase insurance that covers what Government decrees.  Contraceptives will still be paid for by everyone through their premiums, even if they're not broken out by line item.  Trust me on this one. 

Did some people actually believe that, simply because there will not be birth control vending machines onsite at workplaces, those employers and employees won't be paying for them anyway?

I really don't have a dog in this hunt because I'm not terribly passionate about reproductive issues.  But -- come on, people!!!!!  Listen, and think!!!  This is little more than the next step by progressive liberals in their quest to protect us all because they know what's best for everyone, and simple people shouldn't be burdened with having to make their own decisions and choices.  And simple people certainly shouldn't be influenced by religious views because religion tends to be a little too steely in its dogma, and simple people certainly shouldn't be snookered into making a decision based on what their churches teach them.

The Supreme Court cannot hear the challenge to this whole tyrannical scheme too soon to suit me, but how much money will have been wasted, how many tears shed, and how much more divided will the nation be by the time an opinion is rendered?

If we still have a nation.

Sorry.  Today is a doom and gloom day.

Justice Kagan Sullies the Supreme Court Bench. Badly.

Article III, sec. 1, of the U.S. Constitution establishes the federal judiciary.  The requirements aren't much -- one needn't even be a lawyer to qualify as a federal judge.  There are only two simple requirements:

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

So, to become and remain a federal judge (or Justice) for life, one need only (1) behave him/herself and (2) get paid.

In my opinion, if she continues to refuse to recuse herself from the Obamacare case, Justice Elena Kagan will meet only one of those two simple requisites for service in the federal judiciary.

In her role as Solicitor General, Kagan became so inextricably intertwined in efforts to pass the Act that she cannot possibly be able to remain impartial in hearing arguments against, and deciding on, its constitutionality. Because such an appearance of impropriety falls well shy short of "Good Behavior," Justice Kagan should be Impeached, convicted by the Senate, and removed from the bench.

Yes.  I contend that such egregious behavior amounts to nothing less than "high crimes and misdemeanors."  The woman clearly perjured herself during her confirmation hearings by denying any participation in the Obamacare process, and her threatened participation in the Obamacare case is an oozing blemish on the face of the Supreme Court. 

Where's the Clearasil?!?!