Dupes

Our lefty friends celebrate the health care heist. They’ll want to hide that from their kids, a few years down the line. As a parent, no use being made out to be the fool.

Jack Welch, former CEO of GE and perhaps the most respected business leader ever, said in a recent interview that this thing’s a disaster, and will cost all of us a fortune.

But the run-of-the-mill left? They don’t understand, not a clue what their party has done to them. They’ve been taken.

BO just said, "Hey there pal, we’re going to take a buck or two of yours and give it to someone else." But our friends here in Marin County think this is great stuff.

This is not a plan about covering the uninsured, or the poor. We already do that (Medicaid, BadgerCare, emergency care).

It’s a lie to say it pays for itself. Our lefty friends pay, via the half-trillion in new taxes.

It isn’t about making health care affordable. The bill does nothing about the cost of health care. Tort reform? Scares the left to death.

Medicare’s actuary says our costs will rise even faster than they are rising now. Thank you.

This bill is a scam. No one we know personally will experience one red cent of savings because of it. They will all pay more.

Why are the lefties in a state of delirium? Their own gov’t just said to them, "Hey, did you know that you are an incorrigible slob? No? Well, you are. From now on you troglodyte, you cannot choose to buy coverage but must buy it. Washington will design the plans. The prices will be controlled. The doctors will be told how to practice. "

OK?

Robert Craven

Flip Side

No sooner had we warned in our Mar/20 sketch, Rule Of Law, why the Dem’s tactic would not pass muster with the Judiciary than Nancy abandoned that tactic 12 hours later (come on Nancy, you’re no fun). That subversion of the Constitution was abandoned when it became clear that the Supreme Court would not put up with a law that had been "deemed" to have passed. So instead, BO and Pelosi relied on time-tested, gestapo, strong-arm tactics of bribes and threats to intimidate the frail to succumb. That worked.

And we cannot only blame the left. These clowns are opportunists, sure, knowing a vehicle to the promised land when they see one. But where were the Republicans, years back? Plenty of folk had a cure for our health care costs; we’ve listed most of these, past blogs. It sure would have been a lot easier if they’d have shown a little initiative.

Now What?

"Don’t worry," our lefty pals tell us. "You’ll get used to it," citing (to them) obvious precedence. But Medicare and Soc Security passed by overwhelming bi-partisan majorities. This health scam pass is lopsided in the extreme. That’s why they should worry.

Already? Pelosi’s favor ability rating at 11% yesterday? Maybe you should worry a little bit dear girl (and change your lipstick, please).

Well, no one’s about to dump their wheel chair into the Boston Harbor. But, we’ll experience the equivalent ongoing. Perhaps 2/3's of Americans will support some form of repeal, believing that a free-enterprise-fix is preferable to the dumbing-down impact of gov’t intrusion.

The first changes under the new health care law will be easy to see and not long in coming: There'll be $250 rebate checks for seniors in the Medicare drug coverage gap, and young adults moving from college to work will be able to stay on their parents' plans until they turn 26. Then what? What about next year, and beyond?

As National Review editors note, this legislation "will increase taxes, increase premiums, and increase debt, while decreasing economic growth, job growth, and the quality of health care." Oh, that. And the WSJ adds, "This week's votes don't end our health-care debates. By making medical care a subsidiary of Washington, they guarantee such debates will never end. And by ramming the vote through Congress on a narrow partisan majority, and against so much popular opposition, Democrats have taken responsibility for what comes next—to insurance premiums, government spending, doctor shortages and the quality of care. They are now the rulers of American medicine."

And that folks begets optimism. Easy - the masses don’t want this deal. So we are stuck with some form of government control of a good portion of our economy, for a while. Fine, because at the same time we are rid of a flagitious collection of bottom dwellers, the likes of which, believe me, we will never see again in our lifetimes. Without them (Nov elections) we will begin to cleanse.

When BO signs this bill, he signs his and his party’s death sentence.

Heck folks, let’s celebrate!

Robert Craven

FLUKE

A majority of Americans finally understand the consequences of the proposed health bill.

We don’t mean premiums, nor coverage expanded to the 32MM currently without, nor denial due to preexisting conditions nor dropping the sick. We don’t mean BO’s buy-offs and special deals. We don’t mean that if you don’t have health insurance you could go to jail. These are not consequences; these are side-effects, offshoots, adjuncts to BO’s effort.

For the first time in my lifetime (1947 - ) the stars aligned perfectly for a radical element of US society; the far-left gained traction. No one would ever have predicted as much. Historians will consider this development a fluke.

This segment of the US population has only distaste for American society, for America’s history, for America’s place in the free world.

They are out to conduct a great leveling.

We will learn tomorrow if they succeed.

Robert Craven

Rule Of Law

We are witnessing, first hand, a power grab. Not behind closed doors. Right in our face.

Obama’s tactics fast-forward the warnings of economists Hayek and von Mises, those of the founders James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, and the 18th century Scots Francis Hutcheson and Thomas Reid. Wilson, Morris, Hutcheson and Reid illuminated the notion of a "natural law" as a source of natural rights - the right to property, life and liberty, in the days it wasn’t taken for granted. We moderns understand this as the "rule of law;" that is, the basic rights which those elected, those who are the servants of the electorate, must secure for us (or they’re fired). These laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair. They are both beacon and anchor.

Wilson, Morris, Madison and others went further at the 1787 Convention. Thus, finally written into the Constitution was the notion of the separation of powers - the checks and balances we moderns take for granted. This tool insures that corrupt individuals, especially governing officials, can not oppress the people, can not violate the rule of law through legislation. The idea was to ensure that the new government actually followed the consent of the governed.

They explained that failing the checks on government, officials would naturally ignite a wave of control over things both economic and social, ignoring the rule of law. Hayek warned further that such erosion would lead eventually to some form of totalitarian regime, the soft variety (US) or the hard variety (Stalin, Mao, Hitler). History of course vindicates this view.

This my friends is where we are today.

In a recent interview BO dismissed Constitutional procedure. Come again? In an even earlier interview he labeled the sometime messy workings of democracy "unfortunate." This is no surprise to most of us as Obama has nothing in common with the Founders, or, with most Americans so why would he care about that dated document.

And in fact the tactics being used by the Democrats to force legislation violate at least the spirit of the Constitution. From the Heritage Foundation, "At a bare minimum, article I, sec. 7, cl. 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires that before it becomes law "(1) a bill containing its exact text was approved by a majority of the Members of the House of Representatives; (2) the Senate approved precisely the same text; and (3) that text was signed into law by the President." Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417, 448 (1998)." That’s all we need. Options that the Dems are trying this weekend violate the Constitution’s requirements of bicamerialism and presentment.

Re-read our comments, esp Planners - A Threat To Liberty. Better yet, read Wilson. With that you will have a handle. And it means that if you are a Democrat you have a considerable amount of soul searching ahead of you (primarily because you have lived a phony existence). But even if you don’t bother, the Judiciary will do it for you.

Robert Craven

Real Stand Up Guys

We’re proud of our lefty friends. They discovered a year ago that a few Americans are uninsured. The fact that half of these are either illegal or, simply happy that way, is beside the point. The left is always out to protect you against your self. And not only that, our pals are willing to pay for it, bless their little hearts.

That’s right folks. If this health blight passes 1) our premiums are going up and 2) our taxes are going up. These are the two things that will change. But our pals at the nursery are real stand up guys - they figure, fine, that’s the price we’re willing to pay. They’ve thought this thing through.

From our friend the economist Walter Williams, "For Congress to guarantee a right to health care, or any other good or service, whether a person can afford it or not, it must diminish someone else's rights, namely their rights to their earnings." Sure. Think the govt. has a slush fund somewhere for goodness sake?

Williams continues, "The fact that government has no resources of its very own forces one to recognize that in order for government to give one American citizen a dollar, it must first, through intimidation, threats and coercion, confiscate that dollar from some other American."
I see, but again, no problem as our lefty friends have thought this one through.

Williams isn’t telling them anything when he states that, "If one person has a right to something he did not earn, of necessity it requires that another person not have a right to something that he did earn." They know that Williams. What’s wrong with you? They’re just down right generous with their funds. Think they just talk the talk here in Marin County? Not these guys.

There are a few of these saintly folk around and we’re just so dog gone proud to be able to do our little bit to honor them.

Robert Craven

Marin County

We have pondered - how in the world did so many come so completely unhinged in so little time?

Marin County was normal a few years back, or, just barely left-of-center. But now there are more lefty extremists per square foot in this county than there are fleas on my favorite dog Kona. We mean big-time liberals - liberal with everyone else’s money but their own, rabid environmentalists for example unless of course that creek full of salmon just happens to be getting in the way of their new driveway. So nothing unusual with the left here on that account - all of ‘em talk the talk.

But back to our central consideration - why are there so many of these little darlings in this county?

One of the most astute observers of the political scene today is Victor Hansen, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution (plus a man in ownership of a list of other honors that if detailed would fill this space). Hansen surmises that a good part of the answer is weather and geography. In this most temperate of climates, "It is as if nature offers no reality check to human naVveté, no reminder to the would-be utopian that, yes, there are rigorous impediments like snow and constant storms that transcend man’s ability to ensure the good life with tenured, high-paying government jobs, lavish payouts."

In other words," he continues, "a communitarian statist morphs out of control in a place like Mill Valley in a way he would not in equally liberal Minneapolis. The sun multiplies the therapeutic efforts of the state; in addition, the natural bounty that good weather and geography bring can, for a while at least, cover the results of human foolishness."

That’s a good long way to our explanation folks. The weather and geography have always been here, it’s just that it became fashionable. These types are driven by fashion, and so here they came.

Plus let us add that political choice in this county is more glandular than cerebral. Lefties here don’t understand the implications of their view but even if they did, they wouldn’t care. There’s enough of them in this county to give them effective mass; that is, they can be quite content reassuring each other at the nursery counter or the salon, of their wisdom - the blind, holding hands together in the dark.

They live as if in a cocoon but they know it. They know they’re an outlier; they know they’re not held responsible for real-world results. They get a pass just as handicapped folk get a pass. If not, and they actually cared for their kids, they’d have to change. They’re free to make noise because no one, no normal person, no regular American takes them seriously.

But they get a kick out of it.

Robert Craven

Living By Example

A dear friend from grad school days sent us a release from the Canada Free Press. It was about Michelle. She held forth a while back, saying that, "The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped educational system, someone is going to have to give up a piece of the pie so someone else can have more." OK, that’s perfectly consistent with BO’s agenda of redistribution; we all understand that. And we assume Michelle is not a flake, has been living by example, so fine, that’s her view.

But wait! Just before she said that, on Oct/15/2008 Michelle snacked at the Waldorf, room service for one that is, at 2 pm. For her snack she had lobster, Iranian caviar and some kind of champagne we never heard of; the bill was $447.39. Now that’s giving up to be sure, the poor thing. Hey, but she was a private citizen you say, not the first lady so throw her some slack?

Well, Michelle's now at the WH. She has 22 people on her staff to whom we pay a sum total of $1,591,200 annually, not including make up artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright (my goodness, if Johnny's a "first," how many more?).

OK, that’s at least 22, compared to Mamie Eisenhower’s one (1) paid for out of Ike’s salary / Jackie, Rosaline and Barbara Bush’s one (1) each / Hilary’s three (3) naturally, and Laura Bush, one (1). From one (1) to twenty-two (22) for someone with no official executive duties under the constitution? Does this simply smack of the need for luxury, as did the $447.39? No, the conclusion none of us can escape is that Michelle is living perfectly by example, that of a confirmed statist, and the wife of a confirmed statist, neither of which has ever seen a branch of government they would not embrace; in this case, Michelle simply created her very own.

Robert Craven