You'll Go to Prison If You Don't Buy This -- WTF?

I had problems with the federal government mandating individuals buy insurance when the initial "healthcare reform" bill passed. Today's news of an appeals court finding that provision unconstiutional made me very, very happy.

The White House's response to that act is (emphasis mine):

"The individual responsibility provision -- the main part of the law at issue in these cases -- is constitutional. Those who claim this provision exceeds Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce are incorrect. Individuals who choose to go without health insurance are making an economic decision that affects all of us -- when people without insurance obtain health care they cannot pay for, those with insurance and taxpayers are often left to pick up the tab."

Source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/08/obama-aide-health-care-ruling-wont-stand/1

So, let me get this straight, I choose not to buy something and the President wants that to be against the law.
 

~head explodes~

With that sort of logic, individuals who choose to not to spend their money on goods made in the USA are making an economic decision that affects all of us, so they should be put in jail too. That'll have a bigger impact on fixing the nation's debt problems more than putting someone in jail because they chose to buy groceries for the needs they have NOW versus a health problem they might have later.


No, this isn't the same as having car insurance or home insurance. In those instances I've chosen to buy a car or a house. In order for me to take the car into public, I have to have insurance in case I hurt someone. That insurance is as close as the public gets to having some recourse against my stupidity.

Mandating I buy health insurance is the same as making me pay for the "privilege" of being alive.

The Issue of Character

The morning after the National Screwing allows one to hobble into the loo to apply numbing paste and reflect on the issue of character. Protagonists and Antagonists exist beyond the pages (or e-reader screen). They cover the Web, TV, and our daily human-to-human interactions.

At what point did the characters we mock on "Reality TV" become the standard by which we want to be measured?

For the last 90 days, if you had a landline, you had political telemarketers. If you watched network television, you were blinded by political commercials. If you had a snail-mailbox, you were buried beneath direct marketing junk mail. If you had e-mail, you had political spam. If you had voicemail, a DVR, a shredder, and a delete button, you could escape the barrage with minimal damage to all but your hope for a nation of progress.

When did we stop demanding strength of character in our leadership and welcome obstreperous bullies into our lives?

If you didn't employ the items of self-defense, chances are you were introduced to politicians who out-evil any DC Comics villain. Take away the super-human ability to fling flaming asteroids at earth, and even Starro the Conqueror demonstrates more redeemable qualities than pugilistic politicians. From Horror to Sci-Fi, if a writer imbues a character with as little as three traits demonstrated by these verbal gladiators during election seasons, a reader would immediately identify that character as the villain. The tragedy is that these real-life Lex Luthors will represent you, your ethics, your morality, and, yes, your character to the nation and the world. Of minor consequence is their stance on issues that will will create guide-rails or barricades in your life. For a gladiator to win, they must decimate their opponent. If they behave that way during elections, imagine how they will behave in Congress. It is little wonder that pork-barreling accounts for 1/3 of most legislation and appropriations bills.

Exactly how does that void of personal character benefit our lives?

I'm not casting blame on the candidates alone. No. They are the face, the marionette directed by a hundred invisible hands. Were we, Joe and Jane Public, to treat our co-workers in a similar fashion, we would be part of the escalating number of unemployed. The United States is technically a republic, governed by law not popularity; however, We the People like to think we are a Representative Democracy. It is both disappointing and appalling to see the gladiators 41%* of us have elevated to commanders. [What happened to the 59% of Americans eligible to vote yet too self-absorbed busy to do so is a post for another day.]

Are the people working beneath the great white dome in D.C. representing 

American caricatures or American character?

*Voter Stats: http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2010G.html

Safe Sex in the Senate

We need one of these in the good 'ol USA. A party with enough representation in Congress to make the Right recall that they are supposed to be a party of law and the Left cling to the impulses of the majority. I'm thinkin' twenty-seven in the House and nine in the senate. Oh, and let's have a Sex-er on the Supreme Court too, that'll take care of certain redundant cases from wasting tax payer time and money.

Gay Marriage? Abortion? Sex Ed? Healthcare? Bring it on. The US Sex Party will tell the Man to keep his laws off your body and out of your bedroom. Oh, those feelings of distrust, envy, and deviance...get over them. Sex-ers are going to legalize prostitution and tax the hell out of it. They'll start with converting the southeast quadrant of the District into a model of success. Investors are already lining up. That $12.5 Billion debt? Psht.

Can you imagine Congressional backroom negotiations? Can you picture the verbose botoxed denizens of the Hill drumming their fingers, giggling, insinuating cooperation if there's a Sex-er staffer available to consult?

Better still, imagine the sudden uptick in grassroots political participation. After all, nothing ties our collective panties in a shibari knot faster than issues of sex.

Take a look at the Aussie's site:

http://www.sexparty.org.au 

Look at their policies. Check out the very last bullet.  I dare you not to laugh.

I told you Sex-ers would take care of the deficit.