Battlefield Report—the War on Obamacare

• We learned that St. Obama has feet of clay.
• Barry's Heroes hit a grand slam, clearing the bases. The Good Guys got skunked.
• The Good Guys suggested several improvements (delaying the individual mandate for one year, eliminating the medical devices tax, making Congress and the Executive branches submit to Obamacare just like ordinary citizens), but Barry's Heroes successfully turned back all of these skirmishes.
• Guardians of National Parks and Monuments were given explicit instructions to make the gov't shutdown as painful as possible to citizens.
• Unity of Barry's allies in the Senate trumps disunity of the Good Guys in the Senate and House.
• The carpenters who built https://www.healthcare.gov/ , CGI Federal, have political connections to Barry's command staff, and were awarded a no-bid contract. My good sirs, please look up the meaning of 'Crony Capitalism'.
• The Exec for the Good Guys is relieved: surely the rookies Generals have learned their lesson, that theirs was a fool's errand, had no chance, and should not have been attempted in the first place.
• Few have noticed that this was but the opening volley in what is sure to be a long, protracted, and costly war against Barry's Heroes.

My good Generals' Cruz and Lee [no, no, not that Lee—think 'Utah'], please accept this report in good grace. I must now return to my post.

The GOP Surrenders...again

We hope you have enjoyed this encore presentation of The Republican Kabuki Dance. For those who may have missed an installment, here is the...

Plot Synopsis

Act 1

The Wise General announces his wish to build a castle. It will include cylindrical solar cells on the roof, a golf course, a cigarette factory, its own Buffalo Wild Wings franchise, and an exercise cycle being used as a coat rack.

Act 2

The Stupid Nobles, tired of having their gold stores raided repeatedly by the Wise General, are fed up. They decide to barricade themselves in the gold vault by blocking the door with furniture. Smirking, the Wise General announces, “very well, then: with no gold, there will be no food for the children”. He loads up all the rice into the bed of his natural-gas powered Silverado and drives to the Archer-Daniels-Midland refinery where every last grain is converted to ethanol for E85 fuel.

Act 3

The Royal Nobles rush out of their Ivory Castle, and pound on the door, “open: you have no chance of winning, besides not having an endgame”. The Stupid Nobles respond, “over our dead bodies”.

Act 4

One of the Royal Nobles goes back to castle and returns with his toolbox: he takes the door off its hinges. The Wise General triumphantly strides into the vault and begins shoveling gold into the waiting pockets of his flunkies.

Act 5

Beaten and dejected, the Stupid Nobles shuffle home, hoping at least to be greeted by throngs of peasants, whose gold their were protecting. Sadly, they were all too busy in their homes feeding their children with rice.

The Moral of the Story

If you are going to play clog-the-wheels, use brand new furniture from IKEA.

This performance will repeat on Friday, Feb 7, 2014.

The 14th Amendment...does not say what you wish it to say

First, the full text of Section 4:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

HISTORY

The 14^th Amendment to the US Constitution was hotly contested, hence its rather circumspect language. See, in the Constitution, words mean exactly what they say, no more and no less. This amendment was adopted in 1866, in the wake of the Civil War. Mostly, this one was designed to ensure that blacks were citizens with the same full legal rights as whites, an idea that was revolting to the South and even some in the North. Section 4 was included to ensure that states south of the Mason-Dixon Line would regard debts incurred by the Lincoln government fighting the war would be recognized as legit for all.

“Questioned”?

In the past several days, I have heard any number of “opinions” about the meaning of this word, and therefore its implication. Problem is, this sentence has never been litigated up to the Supreme Court, and its correct Constitutional meaning has never been determined. In particular, I am not convinced that reneging on Treasury debt is the same thing as 'questioning the validity' of same: it just means you are a deadbeat, but not necessarily contesting the legitimacy of the debt. It might mean that, but this has never been determined. If I am not correct about this, please do put the Supreme Court case reference in the response box below, won't you?

Section 5

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

OK, this is the funny (i.e. strange, not funny ha-ha) about this. It is the House, not the Executive, that is tasked with enforcing this amendment. Therefore, if Barry tries to enforce this part, is it Constitutional?

Treasury Default? Bring It On, Barry!

Forgive my lack of manners, but IMHO the current occupant of the Oval Office is an arrogant SOB. He seems to have not yet learned that all things in politics are negotiable: here, if he takes one step back, he goes twenty-three steps forward. He reminds one of a spoiled adolescent: he cannot understand why he simply cannot have his way. He is driving the car off the cliff, figuring he can blame the steering wheel for not obeying his verbal commands.

I say, let us teach this teenager a lesson. In the words of the script of The China Syndrome: scram the bastard (I paraphrase). It is time he learn his precious first step towards "single payer healthcare" (read: government will control medicine 100%, including doctors, your insurance and co-pay, and at what age they will no longer be willing give grandma a hip replacement)  has to take a significant hit. In other words, do exactly what he fears and do it in spades (reference to the card game Bridge; Google it). If Republicans worry about the negative PR, then run a commercial: a young girl in a pretty dress and a ribbon in her hair, saying "Pwease Mr. Pwesident, sign the bill? Pwetty Pwease?"

Yes, yes, I know: wailing and gnashing of teeth. Global death and destruction. Volcanoes will rise and flood our amber waves of grain with molten lava, and skeletons will rise from the grave and steal the “Michelle Obama” school lunches from our hungry children. Frogs will rain from the sky, and the locusts will darken the sun. There will be a global financial panic, and we will be using chocolate donuts as currency.

C'mon, gimme a break.

In fact, forcing a default by the US Treasury should be a good exercise: what will happen, exactly? No one seems to know, but everyone is predicting doom and gloom.

OK, let us find out.

Are you game, Barry?

the Obama Political Doctrine: my way or the highway

In today's episode of the Federal Follies, our protagonist has stated:

• I will not negotiate the Debt Ceiling
  
• I want a “clean” Continuing Resolution (CR)
  

Rather remarkable, if he can get away with it. You see, everything on Capitol Hill is negotiable, and nothing ever comes out clean. This is the life's blood of politics, ever since the dawn of civilization.
He and his advisors have made 2 astute judgments: that House Republicans will eventually cave anyway so why give an inch, and that if there is a government shutdown the other side will get the blame just like they did in 1995. I am not so sure that I disagree with these judgments.

See, Obama has accused House Republicans of an “idealogical crusade”, yet it is he who is doing same. If they do not play by his rules, he is taking his ball and going home.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled government shutdown.

Questions About the Government Shutdown

If 800,000 Federal employees are “non-essential”, why do they have jobs at all?


If it is the end-of-the-world, why are Social Security checks still going out?


If the government is shutdown, why are meat inspectors and border agents still on the job?

Questions About Obamacare

If Obamacare is such a great deal, why is it mandatory?


If Obamacare will save us money, why is everyone calling it Obamacare instead of its real name: the “Affordable Care Act”?


If $billion$ corporations can get a one year extension on penalties, why not working families?


If the websites to buy it are so important, why not hire IBM or Oracle or Amazon or Google to design them, rather than federal bureaucrats?


If the the new health insurance policies are so good, why are so many health insurance companies withdrawing from Obamacare?


If Congress cannot stop Obamacare by defunding it, why is the President fighting so hard against it?


If Obamacare is suppose to help people get insurance, why are so many losing theirs?


If Obamacare is reducing insurance premiums, why are they going up in some states?