$3,800 Fine If You Don’t Get Health Insurance

The newest version of the health care takeover bill making its way around has a provision to fine families up to $3,800 for not obtaining health insurance. The geniuses working on this plan figure that they can solve the problem of people not being able to afford health insurance by fining them. This is like a bank charging you $35 for an overdraft check. They fine you what they know you don’t have. For those who can afford it and choose not to get it, power to them.

There are plenty of things wrong with this whole idea. The first is the idea that you can be forced to buy health insurance.

The plan from Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana would make health insurance mandatory, just like auto coverage.

Auto insurance is only mandatory if you decide to get a vehicle. If you do not want to pay for car insurance you have the option to not get a car. In other words, you have the freedom to choose whether or not you want to incur this expense. Health insurance is quite different because you have no choice in the matter. You can opt out of car insurance by not driving. The only way to opt out of health insurance is to stop living. While that might make the government happy, it will not be good for you. While we are on the comparison to auto insurance perhaps we could make health insurance like auto insurance in that you have to pay for routine check ups. You have car insurance but it does not cover new tires and oil changes. When you go to the doctor you should have to pay for the routine stuff. That would lower the cost of premiums.

I also note that even with the mandatory requirement for auto insurance (if you have a car) there are still plenty of people driving around without insurance. A huge number of them are ILLEGAL aliens and they have a lot of accidents. Perhaps if they wanted to charge fines for not having insurance they could do it in the auto insurance arena. That would be much more productive.

Another issue here deals with our basic freedoms. We have the freedom to choose (just ask any pro abortion zealot) and should have that freedom when it comes to health insurance. You have every right NOT to buy insurance. My only thing in that regard is, if you get hurt then you pay the bill out of pocket or over time but you have to pay it. If you don’t then they get to come take your stuff to satisfy the bill. I really don’t care if you lose all your worldly possessions because you decided not to get health insurance but I will fight to my death defending your right to take that decision.

The last thing here is the heavy handed approach the government is taking. What it is basically saying is; “Either you will do exactly what we want and buy something that we say you have to have or we will heavily fine you.”

I have stated many times that this is about control. The health care bill is not about health and it is not about care, it is about government control over your life. They will make a rule that you have to buy insurance or you will be fined. Later on they can say that if you don’t have a certain kind of insurance you will be fined. Then they can change some other rule under the threat of a fine.

What next? Will they fine you if your Body Mass Index (BMI) is too high? Will they fine you if your cholesterol is elevated? Will they decide that every American must join a gym and attend three times a week or be fined?

Where does it end?

Can someone explain why we allow the government to do this? Why do they have a say in how we live our lives? Why are so many willing to let them have near total control over their lives?

I would also like to know how it is that a woman cannot be denied an abortion. States keep working on anti abortion laws but liberals are against all that. They are even against parental notification. It is not the role of government, they say, to impose these things on women thus denying them their right to choose. So what gives government the right to choose for the rest of us? What gives it the right to take decisions on our behalf and to force us to do things we might not want to.

Where is our right to choose?

We need to defeat this health care bill completely. They need to start from scratch and keep it simple by fixing what is broken and leaving the rest alone.

They also need to stop attempting to violate our rights by fining us for choosing how we live our lives and what we do and do not buy.

Vote them all out in 2010. We must end the redundancy of incumbency.

Big Dog

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Liberals Looking For Control

The country is looking at the upcoming flu season with worry about the H1N1 (swine) flu and what an outbreak might mean. Will it be as bad as the 1918 Pandemic that killed millions? Will it fizzle out? Will the vaccine that is being rushed trough cause as many problems as the flu?

There are many questions and the government is trying to determine the best course of action.

In Massachusetts that course of action includes a violation of the rights of the people who live in that state. The Legislature is considering a bill that would give government unchecked power to violate citizen’s rights based on a public health emergency as determined by the politicians in charge. Some of the troubling items the state is considering include:

  • to require the owner or occupier of premises to permit entry into and investigation of the premises;
  • to close, direct, and compel the evacuation of, or to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated any building or facility, and to allow the reopening of the building or facility when the danger has ended;
  • to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated, or to destroy any material;
  • to restrict or prohibit assemblages of persons;
  • to require a health care facility to provide services or the use of its facility, or to transfer the management and supervision of the health care facility to the department or to a local public health authority;
  • to control ingress to and egress from any stricken or threatened public area, and the movement of persons and materials within the area;
  • to procure, take immediate possession from any source, store, or distribute any anti-toxins, serums, vaccines, immunizing agents, antibiotics, and other pharmaceutical agents or medical supplies located within the commonwealth as may be necessary to respond to the emergency;
  • to require in-state health care providers to assist in the performance of vaccination, treatment, examination, or testing of any individual as a condition of licensure, authorization, or the ability to continue to function as a health care provider in the commonwealth;

[emphasis in original] World Net Daily

It is not difficult to see that some of these measures violate Constitutionally protected rights. Another issue is what constitutes an emergency? With a law written in such a fashion, the government of Massachusetts could declare an emergency in order to control the population. A public health emergency could be declared to prevent people from assembling for an anti government health care rally.

There are certainly contingencies that need to be in place but no law should take away Constitutionally protected rights. If this is going to happen then they should declare martial law and be done with it.

This proposed law is a chilling reminder of what an unchecked government can do. Massachusetts is a liberal state so where are all the liberals who supposedly oppose violation of their rights? Where is the ACLU?

Imagine how this would have played out if a state with a conservative legislature and Republican governor had proposed the same kind of law.

Elections have consequences and Massachusetts has elected a liberal majority that will do whatever it can to control people.

That is not freedom.

Big Dog

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Falling Fast

Well, to paraphrase the Who, We’ve been screwed again, this time by the Waxman- Markey Bill, or what they euphemistically call “Cap and Trade”, which, in the interests of honesty, should be called “Cap and Tax.” And also in the interests of full disclosure, Nan Pelosi has a huge stake financially in stocks related to this bill. Think she’ll make some money? I suspect she will vote yes.

What about Ed Markey, who also has a bunch of green stocks riding on the passage of this bill- ooh- let’s not forget the wooden indian, Al Gore, who says he makes nothing off off this, but has so much in stock options that he could become the first Hypocritical GREEN billionaire ( I am sure there are many regular hypocritical billionaires).

The biggest problem is that this is just one of the mistakes, miscues, faux pas, SNAFUs, whatever you want to call it, that Hussein and hiz posse are cramming down our throats- all without actually READING the bills they are voting for. It really does not get more stupid than that. Truly. You could shoot all of these people in the head and not hit a thing that would impact their lives in a negative fashion.

TARP, Stimulus 1, Stimulus 2, bailout of AIG,bailout of Chrysler #1, bailout of Chrysler #2, bailout of GM #1, and bailout of GM#2, ” continuing budget” of 600 billion- how ignorant do they expect us to be here? This is our money- OUR MONEY! These people work for us, and yet they vote themselves a raise in this economy? And then ask for an 8% increase in budget expenses?

NO!

General George S. Patton Jr. once said, “Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politician.” I concur, although I reserve a special place in hell for those Republicans who have abandoned their supposed ideals and voted with these liberals.

Now comes Socialized Healthcare, and if you believe even one thing Hussein tells you, you are brain- dead, plain and simple- the truth is 1)- We do not have the money. 2)- private industry ALWAYS does it better (and on their dime, not yours), and 3)- the money that has already been allocated for the other programs has either NOT been spent, or not been spent wisely. Where are any assurances that this (even IF we could afford it) would not follow the same wasteful path the rest of this money has gone?

There are none, indeed, they are talking about Stimulus 3- as if they can pull more money out of their a$$- excuse me, OUR A$$es. There is no more money, and I, as a taxpayer, refuse to authorize any more money to be spent.

What this is about now isn’t really even money anymore, it’s about control. Control of the way you live, the temperature of your home, the mileage of your car, the “education” (what should rightly be called the indoctrination) of your children, the way you live your life, what you eat, what you smoke or drink, the health of your healthcare, and so on. If there is a part of your life that they can tax, and control, they WILL do this, because “Progressive Liberals” believe that they know better than you what is right and proper for you and your families. Why? Because they are arrogant, and believe that they are smarter than you.

The best way for us to show them that they are wrong is to vote them all out- on their butts. Our Founding Fathers did not intend for “politician” to be a career choice, but instead, a service to one’s country, brief, but honorable, and then back to the real world. Now, however, we have politicians who have never held a real job, one where they have to sweat, and ache, and actually budget their money, and make the hard decisions that everyday citizens have to.

Instead, we have a “privileged class, one that rides around in free cars, eat free meals, go jetting off to far- away countries, not always on government business, but just because they can. Can you? These people work for about a half a year, and then “go home to their constituents”, or not, as the case may be. In many cases, these political snobs do not care to mingle with the masses they seemingly despise, so they have “compounds” in which they sequester themselves in luxury, while the rest of us pay for it.

We are slowly but surely enabling a class of “rulers” who have inordinate power over us. The Constitution is supposed to protect us, but then this is assuming that the people we elected will obey the Constitution, and from what I have seen so far, this administration’s sole intent is to get around the restraints of the Constitution by legislatively passing deceitful laws designed to avoid the Constitutional Crisis of confrontation.

This administration is all about controlling you, and controlling your life and your money. It’s time to begin to take back control.

Attend a Tea Party this July 4- talk to others, and listen to other’s points of view- learn about the Constitution- the administration is counting on you to stay ignorant, and complacent. If you spend all your time in front of your flat screen TV, when you wake up, like Rip Van Winkle, you might find that things have changed.

Remember, sometimes CHANGE is for the worse.
Blake
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Iran Provides a Good Lesson

” When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another….”
This is the beginning of our Declaration of Independence, one of the seminal documents of the past three centuries regarding government and its powers and limitations over the people government presides over. The other major document, The Constitution, delineates the powers and the limits of those powers the government may impose.

One of the rights the Constitution provides is Freedom of Speech- a “right” the Iranians are really trying to exercise, through networking, the Facebook and MySpace sites, twitter, and text messaging. Because the Iranian government is a totalitarian regime, and seeks to control their people, they have been busy censoring these various messaging mediums as soon as they can.

Luckily for the Iranians, this is tantamount to plugging holes in a dyke with a finger- it won’t hold for long before another hole springs up.

These people are truly brave- here in our country, if you protest, you might be called a bad name- there, you might be shot, or worse. What’s worse than being shot? Would you really want to know first hand? I doubt it- I know that I would not, but these people risk worse than being shot just by protesting their governments stolen election.

Shortly after Neda Agha-Soltan bled her life out on the Tehran pavement, the man whose 40-second video of her death has ricocheted around the world made a somber calculation in what has become the cat-and-mouse game of evading Iran’s censors. He knew that the government had been blocking Web sites like YouTube andFacebook. Trying to send the video there could have exposed him and his family.

Instead, he e-mailed the two-megabyte video to a nearby friend, who quickly forwarded it to the Voice of America, the newspaper The Guardian in London and five online friends in Europe, with a message that read, “Please let the world know.” It was one of those friends, an Iranian expatriate in the Netherlands, who posted it on Facebook, weeping as he did so, he recalled.

nytimes.com

Yep, these Iranian thugs of the government would have gone after not only the people texting and taking videos, but also their families. What a free and fair government they are. This is stifling free speech on a grand scale, over the little matter of a stolen election. Jimmy Carter would have said it was a fair and free election, but Iran is one country where he has not the fortitude to travel to, even if they would let him.

What is truly disheartening, is the fact that despite all of Hussein’s high and  mighty rhetoric on freedoms that he espoused in Cairo, there has not been a statement coming from the White House that could be said to even remotely have a spine to it.

I understand that Hussein has a calculating mind, but it seems that he wants the current regime to stay in power, thus the limp- wristed commentary he has issued. Perhaps he has more in common with the current dictators than first appears to meet the eye. I hope not, but there could be at least a statement of solidarity with all who seek freedom- but nooooooo.

At least the Internet, and all its permutations, make free speech more possible, and not less so, and this is a good thing- now, if only the President might use his personal bully pulpit, employ his freedom of speech, and at least get his butt off of the fence long enough to say something substantial about a peoples struggle for freedom.

Perhaps he could use his powers to Twitter.
Blake
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Free Choice isn’t Always the Right One

There is an assault on our rights of free choice here, in the name of health care, as the government is busy making a list and checking it twice- they’re darn sure going to ensure that you are nice, because liberal busybodies that they are, they just have to get in your face with their version of “what is right” in their minds. They might be right in their intent, but we are Americans, and we should still have the option to make “bad” decisions. This is a part of freedom, as well as a necessary part of a learning curve.

One of the most persistent parts of this assault on our freedom of choice has been the battle against tobacco. Tobacco has been the boogeyman since 1964, when the Surgeon General came out with the report linking tobacco with lung cancer, emphysema, and other side effects and diseases. In addition, this product is addictive, with nicotine the primary drug in the tobacco, so it becomes extremely difficult to rid oneself of the habit.

This business, however, is legal, much as the liquor business is legal, and the tobacco business employs millions of people throughout the growing, packaging, and shipping process. People for whom tobacco has been a way of life for literally generations. It’s all they do- all they know how to do.

Lord, the whole state was built on tobacco,” Roddie Hancock, 56, a cafe owner in Bailey, said as he swatted flies buzzing over the counter where he sold bread pudding and chew bread. Hancock grew up on a small tobacco farm and picked leaves as a child. He said folks here “don’t want the government having anything to do with tobacco.”

To make this point, Sharp, who is president of the North Carolina Agribusiness Council, traveled to Washington two weeks ago. He said he was shocked to hear that people deluged politicians’ offices urging passage of the bill to highlight the health effects of smoking.

“Even in the caves of Afghanistan, they understand that cigarettes can be dangerous,” Sharp said. “Everyone knows that.”

Everyone, including Sharp. He said he quit smoking five years ago — it was too unhealthy and expensive — but still keeps a black ashtray on his desk, next to the adding machine and jar of blister-fried peanuts.

washingtonpost.com

Tobacco is already taxed beyond belief, and the mindset regarding the tax is a bit troubling- people who advocate the tax say that it will cut down on smoking, and cause people to quit, which means less tax money for the government coffers- so how will they make up for the shortfall? In addition, we as a people are losing the right (some would say good to this) to make bad decisions- this is a necessary part of freedom here- not everyone is capable of making the right decision. It might even be said that what is right for one is not right for another.

While I personally have quit cigarettes four years ago, after having tried for forty years, I still have a problem with the government coming in and saying that they care about the people while taxing the snot out of a legal product.

The $89 billion tobacco industry will be required to disclose the ingredients in cigarettes and other tobacco products and will face severe limitations on how they are advertised and promoted.

The legislation stops short of allowing the FDA to prohibit tobacco or to eliminate nicotine, the addictive drug in tobacco.

Congress has been battling for more than a decade over regulating tobacco, coming close several times but faltering in the face of procedural hang-ups or opposition from the tobacco lobby or the White House. Over the years, changing social attitudes toward smoking have helped transform the suggestion of regulating tobacco from controversial to common sense.

washingtonpost.com

Next, will be the hamburger and fries you like to eat, and of course, the amount you eat. What you eat will become more healthy, whether you like it or not. Obesity will be the next target, possibly with some tax on certain foods on a menu. If you exceed a certain amount of calories, you get a food tax above and beyond the present sales tax. Or if your body fat index exceeds government guidelines, you pay more for health insurance. We already have this with regards to smoking tobacco, and your obesity will play into insurance costs.

What a shame- look, as I have said, I quit smoking, but I do like to eat, and sometimes I like to eat cheeseburgers and fries- should I be penalized for choosing this legal food? We should still have the freedom to do so without governmental interference. The same should be true with smoking- yes, it is a bad even harmful habit, it is distasteful and, as my daughter observed, stinky- but it is still legal, and the free market should make the decision on this product.

Restaurants should be able to decide whether they are smoking or non- their patrons will make the decision for them, and economics should dictate what bars and restaurants do in their business. People should retain the right (or the stupidity) to make bad decisions- this is how most of us learn in life. Very few people actually learn from the mistakes of others, and so what this becomes is a constant Darwinian “learning curve”- if your mistake is not too severe, you survive and learn.If the government keeps you from making these mistakes, you might never learn from them.

And that’s no way to become adults in this world- you have to learn what it is you have done wrong, before you can do it right.
Blake
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