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?!?!

The Mystery and Seduction of Egypt

Mystery surrounds the ancient Great Sphinx of Giza that, even today, inspires endless debate and speculation.  It is fitting that it sits sentinel in Egypt.

After Mubarak's departure today, who will assume legitimate leadership roles in Cairo?  How will American foreign aid be "distributed?"  Apparently no one in the White House is willing to say whether the Muslim Brotherhood will get its mitts on our filthy American dollars.  That unwillingness, in itself, leads me to raise both eyebrows, and to harbor even deeper displeasure not only that Barack Obama sits in the Oval Office, but also that he will not rule out sitting at table with jackals. 

These filthy American dollars of which the White House is so loathe to discuss are in addition to the current $1.3 billion we already pump into Egypt's military.  If we turn off the aid spigot, who will step in to fill the bucket again?  Friend or foe? 

Do we truly even have any friends abroad anymore?

The Egyptian Army is probably the safest option to maintain a semblance of stabililty in the region for the time being, but who among the opposition parties has the big picture in mind as the youth of Egypt keep the Bacchanalia of Freedom alive in the streets?  Who among the opposition parties has enough trust in (and the trust of) the Army to be able to work with it come election time?  Who among the opposition will adhere to the fragile notion that Israel does indeed have the right to exist?  Who can resist the seductive lure of caliphate?

A solution to this modern Egyptian mystery is going to be difficult to wait out.

The NORKS are Back in the Sandbox

Tensions are rising on the playground formerly known as Korea.

As South Korea finished up a joint Naval exercise with the U.S., the NORKs stuck out their collective tongue and fired a 130-missile raspberry at the South to punctuate its displeasure with the exercises.

Dear Leader must be suffering a series of TIAs. Or a second, very bratty, childhood. I can literally hear him shouting, "Nanny nanny boo-boo!"

And we know that the U.N. is sooooooo very effective in dealing with brats.

With the NORKs' propensity to act out on American holidays, Labor Day could prove interesting.

Perspective

Yep.

A Thanksgiving Before Healthcare Reform: From the Land of the Pilgrims

I have a cousin who lives just outside of Boston. He's a very bright guy -- an architect -- who is less than pleased with the Massachusetts plan for healthcare. He hints that having to file an additional form with one's tax return (to assure that you're contributing your appropriate, fair share) is about as much fun as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as my Mama used to say, and just about as useful.

The following are excerpts from the weekend's email correspondence:

"Following up on earlier emails re: the health-care mess, I thought you might be interested in this excerpt from a fairly recent Boston Herald article:

Wading into the contentious national health-care debate...[Massachusetts State] Treasurer Timothy Cahill blasted the state's landmark plan and warned President Obama that a similar scheme could bankrupt the country.

"If universal health care is breaking us, what's it going to do to the federal government?" Cahill told the Herald yesterday.

The treasurer...said the state's universal health-care plan...focused on insuring all state residents first and controlling costs second. As a result, Cahill said, the plan has been a major drag on the state budget.

"Health-care spending has exploded, and unless the federal government continues to reimburse us, we cannot afford it," Cahill said. "But who's going to bail the federal government out? Probably us, the taxpayers."

A report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation, a business-based organization that supported health-care reform,
found that Bay State spending on the health-care overhaul has increased by about
$88 million annually since the law was passed.

Out of the $10 billion spent on health care in the state's fiscal 2010 budget, $1.7 billion is spent on health-care reform.

It reminds me of a quote by Thomas Jefferson: "If I could not go to heaven but with a [political] party, I would not go there at all."

I replied:

"Thanks for the update. I shudder to think what's to become of you in Massachusetts if this debacle passes at the national level. You might just as well open a vein with a direct line going into the tax coffers."

His observation:

"People will continue leaving the state in droves -- but once the feds wade in, there'll be nowhere to run to."

Giving the IRS yet more responsibility and authority, plus ineffective actual healthcare delivery. How's that for an uplifting start to the week before Thanksgiving.

"Nowhere to run to." New Zealand, maybe? 1981?

UPDATE: I'm going to have to try to figure out what happened to the quote. I hate computers on Mondays.

Congressional Blue Dogs Double Down on Tyranny

On this day that we observe the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's collapse, my mind keeps mulling over and over the concept of "tyranny." And the light bulb in my head keeps popping to life over one word: Congress.

The Constitution has become to Congress what stoplights are to New Orleans drivers: no more than a mild suggestion; and the first pavers of the yellow-plated brick road to the EmeraldGreen City of communism were laid last weekend by 220 members of the House of Representatives. Including mine.

Where is a Wizard when we need him?

(The cartoon was stolen from a Facebook buddy -- we can't lose all sense of humor now can we. At least, not yet.)