The frazzled, frothing, obstructionist Republicans had set aside the date of June 28 as the day they would finally decapitate the Obama administration, but a funny thing happened on the way to the guillotine. The Tea Party dominated GOP had scheduled a House vote to declare Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress just hours after the Supreme Court was due to strike down Obamacare, delivering the old one-two punch to the president's chances for a second term. Minority leader John Boehner had warned his troops that there would be no celebrations, and "no spiking the ball." Instead, they got sacked in their own end zone and the other team did the celebrating. If I say that the conservatives' ace reliever walked in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, I will have made three separate sports analogies in one paragraph.
Everyone on both sides expected the Supreme Court to hand Barry his hat and overturn his major legislative accomplishment, but somehow Chief Justice John Roberts developed a conscience and not only sided with the court's "liberals," but wrote the majority opinion upholding the legality of the Affordable Care Act. It's worth noting that of the five votes in favor of retaining Obamacare, three were from women. The Tea party had set up a battery of microphones to bleat their delight to the lame-stream media, but instead they ran from the courthouse steps screaming, "It's a tax! It's a tax!" like Charlton Heston at the end of "Soylent Green" shouting, "It's people! Soylent Green is made from people!" Later in the day, the GOP-produced Eric Holder passion play was spoiled when outraged Democrats refused to participate in this particular farce and walked out, leaving the right-wing centurions to hammer in the nails alone. Thus, for allegedly withholding documents concerning a botched operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms called, "Fast and Furious," Attorney General Eric Holder, not John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, or Janet Reno, became the first sitting cabinet officer in American history to be held in Contempt of Congress.
California Representative Daniel Issa, the leader of this posse, sputtered, "Very clearly, (the ATF) made a crisis and they are using this crisis to somehow take away or limit people's Second Amendment rights." Translating from the overtly hysterical, the ATF supposedly allowed guns to be smuggled to Mexican drug cartels so the resulting carnage would so horrify this country's citizens that the confiscation of firearms would begin, triggering the Second American Revoltion. The nearest equivalency I can think to compare would be if we sold cheesburgers and pizza to the Canadians and became so grossed out over their morbid obesity, our entire country went on a diet. This effort to humilate Obama on the same day that his health care legislation was due to be struck down would have been declared transparent on its face had it not contained a kernal of truth. A Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry, was murdered with a gun purchased by a suspect that the ATF office in Phoenix was tracking. Journalist Katherine Eban has written an article for Fortune Magazine entitled, "The Truth About the Fast and Furious Scandal," which offers a definitive account of the tragic episode. Eban concludes, "The ATF never intentionally allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels," and quotes IRS Special Agent Linda Wallace, who investigated the case, as saying, "Republican senators are whipping up the country into a psychotic frenzy with these reports that are patently false."
As for the historic decision upholding the Affordable Healthcare Act, I was all set to rail about this overtly politicized Supreme Court and how, once again, a conservative majority did the bidding of the Republican Party. I was going to reference Bush v Gore and Citizens United as the first two nails in democracy's coffin, and overturning Obamacare was the third. I was prepared to draw paralells between the Roberts Court and the courts of the 1930s which thwarted FDR's New Deal and was absolutely convinced another 5-4 decision along party lines was forthcoming. This convincingly proves that I don't know squat. Only, I'm in good company. Constitutional scholars and Court watchers were all expecting the law to be struck down but never imagined that it would be John Roberts that would save the bill. Now, instead of comparing Roberts to Warren Burger in the seventies or Earl Warren in the sixties, he turns out to be more like the conservatives' nemisis, David Souter, who considered resigning rather than serve on a court that could approve Bush v Gore. Judge Roberts' principled stand motivated the Executive Director of Families USA, Ron Pollack, to write, "It has taken close to a century to enact meaningful healthcare reform. Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the law, it will become a living reality for all Americans very soon."
So the battle lines have been drawn. Mitt Romney promises to "Repeal and replace Obamacare," only he doesn't say with what. The individual mandate was, after all, Mitt's baby. Now he treats it like a bastard lovechild. In Massachusets, meanwhile, 98 percent of its citizens are covered because of Romneycare's individual mandate, highest in the nation, and they seem to like it. I don't particularly like the government telling me that I have to buy something either, but health insurance is something I have long tried to purchase, but have been denied. The mandate is the only way within the current system that healthcare becomes affordable and available to all. Let's face it, health insurance is just another racket invented by greedy capitalists to skim cash from hospitals and the lucrative medical testing industry. Ever wonder why your aspirin costs ten dollars a tablet in the hospital but only seven bucks a bottle in the gift store? Insurance companies are the ones that are getting in-between you and your doctor, but it's a revenue producer, so the corporatists have to convince you with lies that, "Obamacare is a govenment takeover of healthcare," and that the government will now dictate your medical preferences. The government is only enriching the insurance companies by providing them with 33 million new customers, but that's better left unsaid. Currently, this is the way the game is played. If you want decent healthcare you need to buy insurance, at least until the people wake up and ask, "Why?"
15 comments:
Is it ok to say I love you as a comment? If not, please alert me to this faux pas and I will then send another comment saying I love you and I don't care what's correct. Nice piece, RJ. Made me laugh.
Well, that is one take through the lens of a liberal. My pet theory is that our entire federal government is in bed with the globalists. Universal health care is one of the elements of Agenda 21which is the master plan for the implementation of the coming world government. But, I know that I may as well be talking to myself on this blog. We will let reality be the final arbiter. Let's see if Obamacare is the panacea that you believe it to be. Here is what you can count on. It will be ever more inefficient and it will be ever more expensive...everything that the government touches turns out this way. Slack-jawed, mouth-breathing bureaucrats who can never be fired will run everything pertaining to Obamacare. Eventually the expense will drive businesses to cast it off ultimately forcing everyone out of private insurance and into government health care. There will be severe doctor shortages resulting in long waits to see a doctor and there will be rationing. In the end there will be a two tiered health system...a 'gold-plated' one for the very wealthy for whom cost is no objective and a shabby inefficient nightmare of a system for at least 95% of the rest of us. Even liberal commentators have admitted to all of this, buy they take the position that we will just have to accept the good with the bad. In the end a health system that worked beautifully for 85% of the citizenry will be trashed for the 15% who can't pay for it. The wealthy will continue to live with the very best of health care. This includes the members of the three branches of government who have exempted themselves from Obamacare. If it is so great why doesn't Obama want to participate in it? Ever thought about that? You are right about the capitalists, but you are slow to realize that the uber-capitalists are the propagators of your beloved socialism which will eventually destroy the middle class. They will live in opulent luxury while the rest of us live in egalitarian squalor. Obamacare will just turn into the next example of this egalitarian squalor. Time will tell. Reality is the final arbiter and will override all of the chin music from both the left and the right. We have front row seats, so let's enjoy the show as it unfolds before our eyes. If Obamacare turns out to be as wonderful as you think it is and if we are still alive, I will grovel at your feet and admit that you are a latter day prophet.
Speaking of entitlements, I recently saw a Youtube clip in which a young, attractive black woman sitting in a well furnished home enumerated on her fingers all of the various welfare programs to which she subscribed. At the end she asked what has become one of the great modern rhetorical questions, 'Why in the world would anyone want to work in America when you can get all that you need for free?' That was a damn good question. Tens of millions of average Joes work just to pay their bills. Why not let the government do that? I am going to start a campaign to encourage everyone to quit being a sucker for the capitalist pigs and to jump into the entitlement hammock. Can anyone give me a reason to refute what this welfare queen proposed? All you have to do is fill out a little paper work and voile!...you can retire at the age of 21 if not sooner. But, what happens when there are not enough workers to support all of the welfare kings and queens? Take away the dumpsters and the bears will eat you alive. Things could become crazier than seven hells. Greece is just a small, relatively tame foretaste of what socialism devolves into after you have spent everyone else's money. Society will end up devouring itself because no one is any longer producing. But, this is where forced labor comes in to save the day. Come to think of it, maybe that is a good reason to refute the welfare queen.
My biggest concern in regard to Obamadoesntcare is related to the unintended consequences that are bound to appear. Aside from the obvious issues regarding expense, rationing, and doctor shortages, there will be others. In fact there will be lots of surprises along the way that no one can predict. Like the 'crazy as an outhouse rat' Pelosi said, 'We have to pass the bill in order to find out what is in the bill'. Incredibly, the very ones who voted for the bill didn't know a damn thing about what it contained. What if it says in the fine print that the first born of every family must be sacrificed to Moloch? Don't forget that Social Security and Medicare were sold to the public as being very inexpensive and that they would remain so. Now these two entitlements are about to sink the ship of state. We stay afloat by printing money and by borrowing $.40 on every dollar that we spend from China. We are walking on very thin economic ice. We are already bankrupt, but the smart money says that that is just the tip of the iceberg when the shit really hits the fan. Obamadoesntcare has already been re-figured to cost twice as much as the lying thieves who forced it on the country originally said. Everyone knows that it will cost much, much more than even that. Obamadoesntcare will probably wind up being on a par with Third World health care. Your future neurologist may greet you with a chisel and mallet and say, 'What up dog? I is yo guvmint brain sudgeon'. To remedy the drastic shortage of doctors the government will probably provide quicky training courses in every medical specialty and take every applicant who has a pulse. In regard to Roberts, the scuttlebutt on him has been for some time that he would wind up being the snake in the grass. Don't forget that he was Dubya's pick and both Dubya and his father are globalists. Dubya was more in the closet, but his father publicly sang the praises of a one world government. There is no way to prove this, but I'll bet that Roberts was paying his dues to the globalists. Most of the members of both parties are globalists. That is the big joke on conservatives whio trust the Republicans. The Republicans are inept, ineffectual, and cowardly...a lot of bark and no bite. They play like they are conservatives, but they are not. When America goes down, the Republicans fingerprints will be all over the corpse. Like I said before, no use in arguing about things that no one knows about right now. All we can do is watch the train wreck develop. The good news for you guys is that a one world government is a sure thing. It's just a matter of time and your fondest wishes will come true. Evil America will die. But just wait to see what it is replaced with.
Can anyone offer a plausible explanation for why Eric Holder didn't turn over the documents that Congress asked for and say, 'Knock yourselves out. You won't find a single impropriety here'? Innocent people (or organizations) have nothing to hide. Why create a circumstance in which the public is going to think that there must be some sort of smoking gun in regard to something in those documents? Democrats would feel the same way if the shoe were on the other foot. Remember the crook Nixon? Why not end all the speculation and regain the public's trust by simply turning the documents over? And, it is doubly curious that the White House jumped into the fray and implicated themselves with Executive Privilege in regard to the matter. Something has to be going on. So, what is it? No bullshit spin, please...simple questions, simple answers. Or, are you going to close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears and give your boys a pass? It could affect the way people vote in Nov. People need to trust their government. That is becoming increasingly harder to do.
You guys should be jubilant. America as a costitutional republic is all but dead. Four more years of Obama will finish her off and he is as good as elected already. Americans are tired of the responsiblities associated with freedom, so they are giving up the ghost. And, without war or bloodshed. We will soon be the U.S.S.A. They have decided to go willingly as sheep to the slaughter. It was a long time coming and will be a long time gone. This makes me glad that I am old.
My personal take on Chief Justice Roberts decision is that word came down from on high that The Powers That Be and their cronies and toadies will be better served if the court upholds the half-assed bill. “Losing” this one merely instills more of a sense that political system works, even though it is completely fixed and controlled. The Big Biz and banksters win either way. It is for them a show, a propaganda, a ruse, a ploy for maintaining the status quo and cultural paradigm of self-interest and self-regard.
Until we come together to share and provide the basic needs of our fellows, we remain stuck, confused and suffering, in our own fear, greed, hatreds, and jealousy.
Think of the frogs in the pot of water. Express too much greed (heat) and the frogs might start noticing and jumping out. The more gradual the heat rises the less chance anyone will notice we’re being cooked.
Performs, I agree with much of what you said in the first paragraph. I too believe that the fix was in from on high, but for different reasons. The status quo won't be maintained. Roberts' ruling gives the feds a carte blanche to enforce their will upon the American people ad infinitum using their taxing authority. We will move progressively toward totalitarianism and global Marxism. America as a constitutional republic is dead. Eventually, this will become apparent to all. The wind has been taken out of my sails since I now reaize that it is all over. It's time to get a comfortable seat and watch the horror show unfold. The unicorn chasers and the naieve have a shock in store for them. It is not out of the question that a coalition consisting of China, Russia, and other despotic states will invade America when we become too weak and impoverished to adequately defend ourselves. I just hope to be out of here before things get too horrific. History tells us that it is getting to be time to tighten our chin straps. Similar scenarios have occured throughout history. Americans are hypnotized by the 'normalcy bias'. They can't conceive of really bad things happening to their country. History say that tyranny and evil play no favorites. They are equal opportunity destroyers. It is America's turn to experience untold horror. We shall see.
The brotherhood of humanity is not something that requires great efforts to create, but is an eternal fact that awaits one’s recognition of it and whole-hearted alligence to it. Though we may stray far into delusions and perverse relationships, redemption is ever available, awakening the feelings of love from heart to heart...
“And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.” to crown is to honor, respect and to hold in highest esteem. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech laid the gauntlet at our feet. He dreamt of the day when a man would be judged “not by the color of his skin but the content of his character”.
A civil society chooses character, not money or power as the screen for whom to honor. Good, honorable, righteous people who love their neighbors as themselves can be found in every town, county and city in this great nation.
Goodness is color blind. It is an important part of our heritage. It enables us to look at one another from the inside out. It is goodness on which true brotherhood is based from the roaring Atlantic Ocean on the east to the glorious Pacific Ocean to the west.
All are invited to this brotherhood of the good. We have a choice to join the fraternity and to teach our children that embracing good and rejecting evil is what protects their future.
When I see Ray Charles sing, I don’t see male or female, black or white, Greek or Jew, slave or free. I see a musical genius. I see a native son who recorded this amazing anthem as a gift for the ages. “America the Beautiful” indeed. Thank you, Mr. Charles.
full article:
http://bestsmallbizhelp.com/2011/06/america-the-beautiful/
I wonder if you can sell that to China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. They don't care about being nice guys. Go to Iran and see how quickly they will behead you.
The Republicans are freaking out over Obamacare. Why doesn't someone ask them why they didn't solve the health care problem back when they were in power? This is one of the reasons why I said that they were a bunch of inept, incompetent, ineffectual boobs. Tell them Anon said so.
The future...
America doen't have what it takes to maintain her existence in this world of hard ball. America will eventually be vanquished. The only questions relate to who will do it , how, and when. My bet is that some sort of coalition between China, Russia, and some of the Muslims states will do it. My bet for how it will happen is that they will begin with an EMP attack, followed at some point with a nuke on Washington, and New York, and perhaps some other stategic cities. This will be followed by a massive land invasion during which everyone with an IQ over 80 will be liquidated. The rest will become slaves for the new ruling entity. When all of this is going to happen is anybody's guess...it could be tomorrow or 50 years from now. The question then becomes how will the booty be divided up. My bet is that Islam will have to be eradicated, because they will never turn anway from their goal of a global Caliphate. They are either wiped out or they will continually fight to take the whole pie. In other words, they won't compromise. This leaves China and the Russians. My bet is that China will prevail in the end. I shudder to think of the kind of totalitarian world governement they woulld come up with. Google 'death of a thousand cuts' to get a clue.
My friends, your dystopian fantasies are an awful lot of fun to read.
I'm not saying that this exact scenario will happen. I am saying something like it will happen. America has become too wussified to survive. Half of our population are lazy, welfare-guzzling, mincing fairies. You can count on a totalitarian, Marxist world government someday when the badass, hardball players take control. If you think that these guys have our best interests at heart or that they will play nice, you are deceived. And, you can count on a humongus de-population program. We are in the foothills of our demise right now. My dystopian view is based upon our incredibly dystopian culture, upon history, and the ability to extrapolate from where we are now. Take your rose colored glasses off and quit chasing unicorns.
“My dystopian view is based upon our incredibly dystopian culture, upon history, and the ability to extrapolate from where we are now.”
There is some reasonableness to your view, Anon. However, maybe you are in need of “glasses”, as your I-sight is failing to recognize that the scary phantoms are only phantoms, part of the Dream.
There are two aspects of humanity that you choose to reject or ignore. One is that all human beings are redeemable. All of us have strengths and weaknesses, vices and virtues. The paradox is that man will not change while in pursuit of worldly ambitions, but will inevitably change when urged by circumstances, particularly suffering, to face the truth from the false within himself.
Although the world may always have some number of folks acting as lazy, welfare-guzzling, mincing fairies, and bad ass, hardball players, none of them is either strictly that, nor will they ever remain that. The pendulum and Karmic laws attend to it.
The Redeemer, the Savior will deliver us from our false selves and our self-created misery.
You are right, Anon, to think that suffering is on the agenda. It is part of the Lesson Plan.
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