As ObamaCare (Hillary claims it as Hillarycare!) Implodes, A Walk Down Twitter Memory Lane from Marathon Pundit

John Ruberry does a great job on his blogs--this is one of his best ever. OS suggests you go there, and keep a pdf of this page, as those tweets will likely disappear--soon.

The richest one of course, from Hillary's lips to your ear--from 16 February 2016:

"You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare." #DemDebate

The Bad News, The Really Bad News, And The Really Really Bad News About The ObamaCare Failure To Launch...

The folks at CNBC aren't known for being wild-eyed crazy Teeeeee-Party, 'baccy-chewin', cousin-marryin', mouth-breathin', Newt-lovin', Neanderthals: i.e., in the eyes of Obama, anyone who thinks this whole ObamaCare thing is not a great idea.

So, when they have this to report, it may be worth reading:

First, the bad news:

As few as 1 in 100 applications on the federal exchange contains enough information to enroll the applicant in a plan, several insurance industry sources told CNBC on Friday. Some of the problems involve how the exchange's software collects and verifies an applicant's data.


"It is extraordinary that these systems weren't ready," said Sumit Nijhawan, CEO of Infogix, which handles data integrity issues for major insurers including WellPoint and Cigna, as well as multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates.


Experts said that if Healthcare.gov's success rate doesn't improve within the next month or so, federal officials could face a situation in January in which relatively large numbers of people believe they have coverage starting that month, but whose enrollment applications are have not been processed. 

This, folks, is a formula for chaos, with thousands of patients hitting the door of the doctor's office needing care, claiming to be covered, because after all, they signed up, or were signed up they think, for ObamaCare. Think about it. How many people do you encounter at the local fast-food joint, the convenience store, pass by on the road as they man the traffic flag at a construction zone, etc. A lot of these folks struggled to get through high school, or didn't manage to. Now, they are adults, struggling to survive, and they need medical care! They are just as human, just as deserving to not live in chronic pain, or with untreated diabetes or cancer, as any university president. They go through the struggles to attempt to sign up, think they've done it, but information is missing, or the miserably designed system malfunctions, or their application is lost by an insurer, or, or, or....

The Really Bad News:

One insurer reported a better, but still stunningly low, rate of enrollment applications containing enough data to process for coverage. 

"It's about half of what we've received," a source at that insurer said.

"We're getting incomplete data—about half of the applications we haven't been able to process," said the source, who used the term "corrupted" to describe the batch of applications received. 

Which means, in real terms, that applicants will have to be contacted individually to complete applications (how many employees, how many hours, who pays for them?), sending them back to the starting gate in many cases. And, remember, the system has already proven it cannot handle traffic...

The Really Really Bad News:

Experts said that if the lag in processing enrollments continues on a large scale, insurers expect the federal government to tell them that they must provide benefits to people even as applications are still being processed. 

"In talking to some of the insurers, they pretty much assume that even if there are issues, the feds will say, 'You know what, it's your problem, they've signed up,' " said Koritala. 

In other words--insurers will be compelled to pay claims on patients that may or may not actually be included in their coverage! Hmmm....at what point will they be able to say 'No' to patients who never complete their applications, or imaginary patients created by dishonest providers, or patients created by identity theft, or patients who never pay premiums because they don't know their coverage status, or....

And, who pays for this? Where does the cash flow come from to actually issue paychecks to all those employees hired to complete those enrollments, and claim checks to all those providers?

Now, let's contrast these facts with Massah Obama's comments last week that Republicans don't want Americans to have health care, heartless souls that they are.

If someone were to devise a system designed to bring health care to a halt for everyone in the country, it would look like the Byzantine disaster that Duh Prez insisted be launched last week.

Yes, the US could really use an efficient, sane, cost-effective way of making sure as many people as possible have health care that doesn't bankrupt their families.

And no, ObamaCare is not the means to accomplish this. That's what we wild-eyed crazy Teeeeee-Party, 'baccy-chewin', cousin-marryin', mouth-breathin', Newt-lovin' Neanderthals have been saying all along.

Memo To All You Academics Who So Passionately Supported Obama In 08 and 12: You Are About To Be Rewarded For Your Loyalty

Adjuncts and grad students will see their hours significantly cut in order to avoid creeping up against the 30-hour-per week definition of Full-Time Employment under ObamaCare. 

No health insurance for you, and your income just got slashed.

Suckaaaaahs!!!

In the meantime, this is the year that Mr and Mrs OS, who are self-employed and in very good health, have seen their health-insurance premium (for very modest coverage) exceed their mortgage payment. And taxes are rising simultaneously.

We told you so, over and over and over, and you called us 'racist' and worse.

Don't blame us, you nit-wits.

Take a long look in the mirror, and contemplate what has befallen you, your families, your neighborhoods and the world at large. Look at the bodies stacking up from Northern Africa to the Turkish border, the 16+% unemployment rate amongst youth in this nation, the 26% ACT 'ready-for-college' pass rate amongst high-school seniors, and ask yourself if you chose wisely, and why you continue down this path, and where it might lead.

Chickens do come home to roost...this time in your 'hood.

Sense of Events: The Religious Left's Chickens Come Home To Roost

The great Donald Sensing does it again, with his long memory and talent for stylishly telling the simple truth.

It has now, alas too late, dawned upon the great-and-good of the United Methodist Church that their cries for universal health care for all were heeded by their hero, Barack Obama. As a consequence, they and their clergy and church employees are about to get hammered by Obamacare.

The hypocrisy of the UMC's leadership on this issue is breathtaking. The UMC supported and lobbied for passage of Obamacare hammer and tongs, so much that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi specifically thanked the UMC for its work in getting the legislation through Congress.

But now, as Obama's own minister once said, the chickens are coming home to roost. Unless amended, Obamacare will make health insurance unaffordable for Conferences to fund. Wow, who could have seen that coming!?!?

Now, they want their own special deal. You know, like those evil corporate interests against whom they rail.

Just toooo rich. The best outcome will be that no deal is forthcoming, and the laity get to see first-hand where their clergy have led them, i.e. over the cliff.

When that happens, OS predicts he will hear the sound of checkbooks snapping shut in every pew of Methodism. Then, real change will come, just not the transformation envisioned by all those leftists who decided to hide out in pulpits for the past forty years or so...

BILL WHITTLE: Sarah Palin was Right, and Remember The Days When?

The NHS, About To Arrive On The Shores Of America

Frances Coppola always provides an interesting perspective, a professional classical singer in the UK with an MBA.

She tells this cautionary tale, a tale of rationing of care, a tale of a system set up to serve appearances, even if a few patients are (in the words of the chilling movie 'Hospital') simply 'forgotten to death'.

Had she not been, in her own words, 'stubborn and bloody-minded', she may not be alive today to tell the cautionary tale.

So, let us not claim that we have not been advised as to what awaits us.

ObamaCare Under The Gaze Of The Supreme Court

OS has been traveling--a lot.  Moh', latuh on all that.

It was good to come home and find Doug Mataconis' coverage and insights on the case now being argued before the Supremes.

So many millions of words are now spewed to us daily, on any subject. Mataconis does have the gift of sorting through it all. In general, he does not have a particular political axe to grind, which is admirable.

Therefore, OS refrains from any words on the subject for now, and refers his patient readers to the link above.

OS does wish to note that we as a nation, as inheritors of the great Common Law tradition of England, are blessed to still have a Supreme Court where these great controversies can be argued, instead of having them settled by royal fiat and/or blood running through the streets.

We need always take care that this great inheritance remain healthily in place.

Atlanta Circuit Court Rules Key ObamaCare Provision Unconstitutional: Will It Matter To A President That Seeks To Rule By fiat

The Wall Street Journal reports on the ruling.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that Congress exceeded its constitutional powers when it required individuals to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty.

"This economic mandate represents a wholly novel and potentially unbounded assertion of congressional authority: the ability to compel Americans to purchase an expensive health insurance product they have elected not to buy, and to make them re-purchase that insurance product every month for their entire lives," Judges Joel Dubina and Frank Hull said in a jointly written 207-page opinion.

The ruling marked the first time a Democratic-appointed judge has found part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Judge Hull was appointed by Bill Clinton, while Judge Dubina is a George H.W. Bush appointee.

The decision directly conflicts with a different ruling issued in June by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati that upheld the law. The disagreement between the circuits makes it a near certainty that the Supreme Court will eventually step in and provide the final word on the law's constitutionality.

Several legal challenges are working their way through the nation's courts, but Friday's ruling came in the highest-profile lawsuit of them all: a case brought by 26 governors and attorneys general, almost all of them Republicans, from states including Florida, Ohio and Texas. The National Federation of Independent Business and two individuals were also plaintiffs in the case.

Stephanie Cutter, an adviser to President Barack Obama, said in a statement, "We strongly disagree with this decision and we are confident it will not stand."

In other words, we'll ignore it, and go full steam ahead on what we want to do anyway. No one has stopped us yet. If the Supreme court rules against us, we'll just keep going and dare Congress to yank the money away and impeach Himself.

There is a Constitutional crisis or two bearing down upon us, as in the days of Nixon. The difference is, Nixon did understand that he could not defy the Supreme Court, and the Senate Republicans of the day (like Howard Baker) paid him a visit to make certain he wasn't considering that course of action.

In this day, Obama's contempt of the Constitution itself is well documented, and there is no Democrat in either House or Senate with the stones to stand up to him.

There were those who, rashly at the time it seemed, claimed that ObamaCare was not so much about health care as about the shredding of the Constitution in the process of seizing power. They may have been prescient.

It is now up to the states to resist, separately and together, and for the citizens of the states to make certain their legislators understand their concerns.

Judge Rules The Health Care Law Unconstitutional, And Obama Sez He Has No Intent To Comply With The Ruling

Obama has crossed the Rubicon.

The White House officials said that the ruling would not have an impact on implementation of the law, which is being phased in gradually. (The individual mandate, for example, does not begin until 2014.) They said that states cannot use the ruling as a basis to delay implementation in part because the ruling does not rest on "anything like a conventional Constitutional analysis." Twenty-six states were involved in the lawsuit.

In other words, 'We disagree, therefore we order the States to ignore the court's ruling. We're in charge, and the law is what we say the law is.'

Wowee...

Denninger has a view on this behavior.

Obama's just gonna double-down and bluff his way through, using the power of the Executive Branch to force his will upon an unwilling Republic and its citizenry.

It's Obama's MubarakMoment.

Heaven help us.

Indiana's Governor Daniels On ObamaCare And Indiana's Future

An essay and video from Governor Daniels here.

Indiana is still afloat. In fact, we’ve fared better than most. We continue to meet our obligations without raising taxes, and the reserves we carefully built and protected will get us through the downturn.

But as if we did not already have enough on our plates, the passage and implementation of Obamacare presents us with a whole new set of challenges and a costly to-do list.

I note with special sadness that first and foremost amongst the bill’s consequences will be the probable demise of the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP). This program is currently providing health insurance to 50,000 low-income Hoosiers. With its Health Savings Account-style personal accounts and numerous incentives for healthy lifestyle choices, it has been enormously popular and successful.

Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, soon to cover one in every four citizens, will not only scoop up most of HIP’s participants, but will also cost the state between $3.1 and $3.9 billion over the next decade. It is hard to see how my successors as governor will be able to avoid a steep state tax increase to pay for it. Meanwhile, our medical device companies and small businesses will shed jobs as they wrestle with the taxes and penalties levied to help finance Washington’s “reforms.”

Now, this man is:

1. Not running for President.
2. Not a funny-looking guy on a motorcycle with American flags flying on his way to a Tea Party rally.
3. Not a guy living in Momma's basement who obsesses about Obama's birthplace or religious affiliation.
4. In other words, not Astro-Turf that the White House can dismiss.

He's responsible for running one of the largest states in the Union, with a budget larger than a lot of small countries. Geographically, Indiana stretches from the outskirts of Chicago (oh, joy!) to the southern reaches of Kentucky, where the accents and culture are very Dixie. It is a huge industrial state, a huge agricultural state, smack in the middle of the United States. Indiana is not Wyoming.

If we wonder why jobs are not being created, we would do well to read his words.

The 'Slider Effect': White Castle Predicts ObamaCare Will Result In Job Losses

Again, ya'll: Don't take OldSouth's word on these things. Check with the people on the ground. It's beginning to feel like ThePeopleInChargeOfSuchThings are deliberately attempting to push the culture (and the economy) over the cliff.

This item in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

HT to Marathon Pundit.

Henry Waxman Has Second Thoughts About His 'Invitation': The Impact Of ObamaCare On Business

In recognition of our government's benign intentions toward its citizens and businesses, a brief meditation on Henry Waxman(D) of California and Bart ('I'm outta here!') Stupak (D) of Michigan.

Their Dream came true. ObamaCare became the LawOfTheLand one bright Sunday afternoon. Next day, a number of large corporations, the ones who create jobs and wealth, also complied with other federal law, and restated their projected earnings in light of ObamaCare. It was pretty distressing. Caterpillar projected a $100 million dollar hit, and firms like ATT projected dings of up to a billion dollars.

So Waxman and Stupak then went into Chicago Mode. It goes like this: Guys in suits walk into the place of business, and say, 'Dis here's a nice little business you got going here! It would be a crying SHAME (wouldn't it, Vito) if someone were to show up one night and BURN IT TO THE GROUND!! What you're gonna need to do is get yourself some fire insurance (right, Vito?). Yeah, fire insurance. Vito here, he'll be by to collect premiums every Friday afternoon. He don't like no late payments on premiums. Neither do I. It makes me UPSET!'

Well, Waxman and Stupak weren't quite that blatant, but they did send letters around to a lot of execs at a lot of firms, like the one they sent to the President of Verizon.  The language was almost as charming as Gino and Vito back in the 'hood:

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on April 21, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building to examine the impact of the new law on Verizon and other large employers. We request your personal testimony at this hearing. 

To assist the Committee with its preparation for the hearing, we request that you provide the following documents from January 1,2009, through the present: (1) any analyses related to the projected impact of health care reform on Verizon; and (2) any documents, including e-mail messages, sent to or prepared or reviewed by senior company officials related to the projected impact of health care reform on Verizon. We also request an explanation of the accounting methods used by Verizon since 2003 to estimate the financial impact on your company of the 28% subsidy for retiree drug coverage and its deductibility or nondeductibility, including the accounting methods used in preparing the cost impact released by Verizon this week.

We ask that you provide the requested information by April 9, 2010. For purposes of this request, the term "senior company officials" includes all company officials at the level of Vice President and above for the company or any subsidiary. Attachments to this letter provide additional information about responding to Committee document requests and testifying before the Committee.

Youse guys need some FIRE INSURANCE, so you better 'SPLAIN YOURSELF!

Well, as the date approached, it dawned on our two intrepid Congressmen:  What if the lawyers and accountants all showed up and made presentations that would enter the Congressional record that ObamaCare was a financial nightmare for business?

Word came down today that hearings were cancelled. Nothing rescheduled.

They'll be extorting some other way to be sure, just don't want to be caught doing it in the light of day.

That's not The Chicago Way.

Bart Stupak, The Vote That Put ObamaCare Over The Top, Announces His Retirement

Drinking the morning coffee, attempting to wake up, and this tidbit just flashed across the screen.

On one hand, no sympathy is felt, especially after he co-signed the letter 'inviting' the execs of Caterpillar, ATT and a few others to come to his committee and 'explain themselves', complete with an exhaustive surrender of records, down to emails. This because they obeyed the law, and restated their earnings in the wake of the passage of ObamaCare.

On the other hand--he is an Obama casualty, by his own hand. He bravely held the line against ObamaCare, knowing that it was morally flawed, and let himself get suckered in with the promise of an executive order (that has no force of law).  What was he promised? With what was he threatened by the masters of The Chicago Way?

And, then there was that 700K of airport improvements dropped out of the federal helicopter just before his vote. Those funds had been competitively applied for some months ago, and their granting was most likely unrelated to his vote. But, the timing of the announcement certainly emitted a terrible odor.

He was hounded by the left for standing up for life, but his caving in only began the negative reaction. He would stand for re-election totally stripped of any semblance of integrity, in a rural upper Michigan district that is only barely Democrat. If you don't live in a place like that, be assured that rural folk in those environs view this behavior with hostility. When he went home, reports are that the reception was pretty unfriendly. Conservatives around the country were eagerly awaiting the opportunity to donate to, and work for, his Republican challenger.

OS predicts:

1. The right will be blamed, at least for a couple of days. MSNBC will become all-Stupak-all-the-time, and he'll be a regular guest face for Chris Matthews and company. He won't just slink away, with talking points to score.

2. Bart will be owned by Obama for the days that remain, having been pimped. He will discover his Inner Leftist, and the joys of politburo life. He'll be an honored guest at some very nice fund-raiser parties, the poster-child for ObamaCare.

3. After he leaves office next January, he will be quietly moved into a comfortable government or think-tank job, where he can continue to do The Beloved Leader's bidding, at least for a couple of years. That will give him and his bride (who suffered greatly from the experience) time to reassemble their lives, decide where and how they wish to live in retirement. He'll be cast as martyr for the leftist cause, write a book, hit the college lecture circuit, cheer-lead the faithful for 2012. He'll make a bunch of money, land in some poly-sci academic job, and disappear, with his pension and Congressional health-care package.

4. Ten years from now, he will be a footnote or a question on a trivia quiz. In the interim, he will discover that Obama and company cared not a moment for the pains he endured. The other eleven Democrats he took over the cliff with him will be completely unremembered, as they enter private life much less well-cared-for.

The problem with ObamaCare is not just the end product, but the horrific process used to produce it. Stupak is just one example.  Most of the last bits of goodwill from Obama's inaguration have now melted away, and it will be a difficult matter to restore it. By June of 2007 G.W. Bush had managed to destroy the Republican party base that propelled him into office in 2000 and 2004. Obama risks doing the same to his faithful followers, less than eighteen months into a first term.  What replaces two decimated parties of long standing is anyone's guess.

ObamaCare Isn't The Solution, But A Solution IS Needed

Easter lunch was enjoyed with neighbors this year. The lady of the house is a legendary cook, so an invitation to her table is always a delight, and gratefully accepted.

It has been a rough 2010 at their house. The man of the house, Billy, has spent at least as much time in the hospital as out since January 1, at death's door more than once, suffering a series of bizarre ailments, with multiple surgeries needed to save him. And, these aren't the garden-variety avoidable ailments, like AIDS or cirrhosis or lung cancer, linked to stupid lifestyle choices.

Billy's about sixty years of age, a vital man of business who designed and built the better part of his own very attractive house. A lot to live for, and given the spry health of his ninety-two year old mother, a long time yet to live, if he survives this crisis.

Problem is, he's uninsured, because as a cancer survivor from some years back, he is uninsurable. Even if he were insured, the treatment keeping him alive costs USD 9,000 weekly, and is considered 'experimental', therefore not covered by insurance.

That's apart from the hospital and doctor bills he also faces. He's facing bankruptcy, and negotiating with the hospitals and providers to cut deals for cash.
He entered 2010 with a cushion of cash on hand, now almost depleted...

Billy's no freeloader, and has not yet turned to the state for help. He's grateful to be alive, but apprehensive about what lies ahead.

Just because ObamaCare isn't the solution, the problem is nonetheless genuine.

Obama And The Heritage Foundation

It will be amusing to see ObamaBob try to spin his way out of this one.

Himself was caught in a blatant howler, in a quiet interview setting with a sympathetic reporter, not working off his adrenaline in front of a crowd; claiming that great parts of ObamaCare originated in the bowels of the Heritage Foundation.

The Heritage Foundation, to put it mildly, is not amused!

It's as if our President has spend an entire lifetime just assuming that everyone will believe what he says, 'cuz he says it! Where did he get this idea planted in his head?



Words have meaning. Ideas matter. Presidents who behave like this create massive problems for the world. This is not the Illinois statehouse. This is the White House, and adult behavior is expected.

Charts Tell Their Stories

It's an ugly, dark secret, but OS has a Facebook account. He does not live there, like some he knows, but he checks in about every other day.

He has a friend who is so very excited about last week's events, and shared a link the to BBC's announcement.

It has a nifty chart embedded, showing the growth in medical costs in the US, and then comparing them to other nations' stats. Very nifty, very informative, very seducing to someone who doesn't have a grasp of history.

(You'll have to hit the link to see it, it won't lift out directly.)

It shows health care spending (and inflation) on a moon shot since about 1970. Things happen for a reason. So, what happened shortly before the moon shot?

Well, Lyndon Johnson, that paragon of statesmanship, signed a bill into law establishing Medicare, promising it wouldn't cost very much, and that it would save us money over time. At about the same time, Medicaid was mandated at the state level, with the same promises. Anyone who objected was heartless and stupid. Lawyers discovered that there was money to be made in medical malpractice litigation. The doctors' insurers started charging premiums to reflect the new realities. Then, as a result of deficits run up by Washington, trying to run a welfare state, a war in Vietnam, and keeping the lid on in places like Europe and Korea, there was a run on the US Treasury's gold supply. Nixon felt obliged to abandon the gold standard, and we went to a fiat currency. A general inflation, lasting for over a decade, erupted. No restraints ever were placed upon either government spending or medical litigation. Inflation abated in other sectors, never in the health-care sector, because that part of the economy was now effectively under the sway of Congresses and White Houses, all looking toward the next election.

Moon shot!!

Of course, none of that info is in the BBC chart.

Here's another chart, courtesy of Karl Denninger:

Another, more serious moon shot. And, in reality, the first one helped in great part create the second.

My Facebook friend is young and idealistic. He would have loved last week's pep rally at George Mason University. He's not old enough to understand the tragic inevitability of the math that awaits him in his lifetime, and that of the children he hopes to raise. He can't, he's not old enough.

He can't connect the dots between this generation's expansions of spending and entitlements, and the moon shot to come. 

Sadly, the dots will connect for him and his children.

A Glimpse Of Good News: Tanner (TN-8) Voted No

Well, whaddaya know.

He actually voted against this turkey.

Here's the tally of ayes and nays, which will be a good reference doc for the fall.
HT to all those who screamed bloody murder about the attempt to avoid an up-and-down vote.

Tanner knew the numbers were bogus, and that anyone running as a Dem in his district would be doomed if he voted 'aye'.

In any case, a word of thanks to Rep. Tanner.

Stating The Obvious In Sydney, Australia

It never ceases to amaze how closely the world watches how the United States acts. They scratch their collective heads in wonder at our self-absorbed folly, our refusal to take into account how our refusal to act responsibly impacts the entire world.

These words from Paul Sheehan in the Sydney Morning Herald express that concern well. 

As I wrote this column, and as you read it, the United States had reached the climax of the most contentious and sweeping attempt at social engineering in more than 40 years, a process that has degenerated into the abattoir of politics: bribery, chicanery and bloody-mindedness.

A deeply divided Congress mirrors a divided nation. The majority of Americans are opposed to the changes. Bipartisanship has become roadkill.

In contrast to the soaring rhetoric and uplifting symbolism that carried him to the White House, Obama has engaged in old-school, bare-knuckle, divisive politics wrapped in an impossibly complex 2700-page bill loaded with accounting tricks and dirty deals.

If he can see it, why can't we?

We have long been the envy of the world, and at times its hero. OldSouth's departed father spoke with such affection of his time spent in New Zealand in the 1940's. The locals could not do enough to make 'The Yanks' feel welcomed. Twice within one hundred years, Americans were viewed as the liberators of Europe, the saviours of civilization.

If you read this from overseas, know this: The anger of the US populace toward the political leadership is palpable, and growing. This latest debacle has only stoked the fires. This week, the offices of members of Congress were flooded with people begging their representatives to vote 'no', just as they flooded their offices with calls in fall of 2008, begging them to oppose the TARP bailout. In each case, they were met with deaf ears. The TARP was history's largest bait-and-switch fraud. This latest measure is worse. Responsible conservative voices, including this one, increasingly feel compelled to remind one and all that violence is NOT NOT NOT an acceptable course of action, that the political process and ballot box are the only way to go.

It's beginning to be that bad. The economy is not recovering, even if the stock market is. And taxes on employers just rose, as of today.

If you're reading from within the US, it's time to act. Budget some small amount every month, if you can, and send it to conservative candidates who are taking on the Obama machine. Every ten dollars helps, and donation is now a simple process.

A good first target for removal from office is Bart Stupak, who sold his soul for a meaningless executive order, and 700,000 dollars in airport improvements.

What Obama Didn't Talk About At The George Mason University Pep Rally

It was inspiring, wasn't it, the President givin' it up for all those screaming adolescents. They were lapping it up, all those promises of free health care, and staying on Mom-and-Dad's policy until age 26. So was he. A regular love fest. What more could one desire than moments like these?

However, JDA passes on that there are things about these kids' futures that Himself didn't mention. Like how the IRS becomes every family's new best friend.

What he didn't mention, and what they evidently haven't been told yet, is that every utopian scheme, however well-intentioned, and wherever sourced in the political spectrum, always requires a massive increase in governmental control. They all end in tears, and/or poverty, tyranny, and often-times in war.

Just ask folks in the UK how well the welfare state is working. Or how well it worked in places like Poland and Hungary before they freed themselves in 1989. Or how well it worked in Gemany in the 1930's and 40's.  

It's especially charming that illegal immigrants are exempted from all these requirements to conform to the law of the Brave New World. They will, however, receive health care at taxpayer expense: No te preocupa, chavo; mi casa es tu casa....

And, so at this point, OS  has decided to break with his new-found commitment to civility, and post the most descriptive illustration of this legislation he has found to date:

Votes (And Souls) Up For Auction This Week...

OS mused earlier about the process of auction of Rep. John Tanner's (TN-8) vote.

His Washington office isn't answering the phone, and now maybe we know why.

From today's Human Events:

Most interesting rumor from the Hill yesterday: Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) who announced his retirement from Congress has been promised the job of NASA administrator in exchange for his vote, and Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), another retiring Democrat, has been promised an appointment as U.S. Ambassador to NATO in exchange for his vote.

Why, as we say here, isn't that special!

He'll get a very nice job in a very nice part of Europe, where he can hide out until the rage blows over about selling his soul and vote to Obama.

This is positively banana-republic sort of stuff. One of Mexico's most odious presidents was a character named Echeverria, who in the 1970's arbitrarily devalued the peso against the dollar, on a weekend, after the banks had closed. Of course, he had hoovered up on dollars, and when all those businesses opened on Monday, they found they were bankrupt, 'cuz a lot of loans were written in dollars, but paid in pesos.

Isn't that special!

So, our friend Echeverria and his friends were able to move in and appropriate a great portion of the country's wealth in short order. All the dollars sitting in everyone's Mexican bank dollar accounts had been seized, 'compensated' at an exchange rate that bore no relation to reality. It was a fire sale, and Senor Presidente was buying.

After he finished his term, he was appointed ambassador to UNESCO, and cooled his heels in Paris for a while. Every time he came home to visit, the newspapers announced his visit the week after he left. He returned to resume colorful life of crime, which continues unabated to this day. No one north of the border ever paid much attention, and besides, he was pro-Allende, anti-Israel, anti-American, and ranted leftist cant on a regular basis.

You know, the sort of despot the American left loves the best.

OS knew several people who would have happily shot the man on sight, had they been able to get within range. Normal, gentle, otherwise upstanding citizens. Little did OS know, back in his misspent youth, that he was visiting his future.

Isn't that special!