posted October 04, 2009 02:57 PM         

Health Care Reform WITH a Public Option

To:
Sen. Max Baucus
October 4, 2009

Dear Senator Baucus:

When I was in the U.S. Army many years ago and based at Ft. Carson, CO, I had the opportunity to visit Cheyenne Mountain. It truly is an amazing feat of engineering. You have probably already surmised that Americans' problems will soon result in social unrest and maybe even uprisings in parts of the country as more and more people become unemployed, lose their homes, and go hungry. My brother strongly suggests that you implement a program immediately to evacuate all American elitists to fortresses such as Cheyenne Mountain and others for their safety. We wouldn't want to lose our best and brightest! The world could come to see such fortresses as castles, similar to those in early European history. Wouldn't that be fun? You could knight one another and give each other awesome-sounding titles!

- As Mother Nature continues to increase Her attempts to right the wrong that the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath have done to Her, you must already be aware that our country, and the world, is in for some amazing works of Nature. We are seeing them already - hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, droughts. Wow, I sure hope American's elitists have a plan for all this because I'm sure that the rest of us don't. Mostly, we pray. And now that we are losing our homes, health care, food, and are becoming bereft of hope for any improvement in our situations, prayer is all we have left. I'm sure that God is making arrangements for us because He already knows that you sure aren't.

- I hate to be a killjoy here but as our country's enemies watch in amusement as Congress makes a mockery of President Obama's attempt to assure affordable, available health care for all of our citizens (realizing, of course, that a healthy population is much harder to destroy) they are sure to be formulating plans to go in for the final killing blow if health care reform, including the public option, is not signed into law. A homeless, hungry, sick population is ripe for the kill and everyone knows that the BRIC countries, as well as others, would love to take precedence over the distribution of the world's resources. Why, one of the extremely highly populated countries might even decide on a first strike on our country. Hey, they probably think exactly like you do and that would be - might makes right. Countries like China, India, and others have lots and lots of extra people who would take up the gun to strip us of our goodies including our food, lumber, oil, gas, and coal. If they are stronger than we are - and Heaven knows that our relatively small, over-worked, military forces are already overwhelmed - Nature will take their side and the fittest will survive. Oh, did I say fit? I meant to say healthy, well-fed, and housed but that takes us back to that pesky problem of finding a way to provide medical care to the millions of us who don't have it now, won't have it soon, and are getting older by the day.

- You know, terrorists all over the planet are watching too. They are anticipating a field day as they see our empire fall before their eyes. Hey, Allah was right after all and the Jihad is at hand. Just as many Christians secretly believe that Jews deserve the thrashing they have gotten over the centuries for refusing to take Jesus into their hearts AND killing him AND being known as the keepers of the Book as well as the money, the radical terrorist Muslims probably believe that the Christians are behind the times, too. Muhammad was the last of the prophets to visit earth, wasn't he? So what is wrong with all the Jews and Christians that they can't accept him? If the radical Islamic terrorists have their way we will all have the same offer their ancestors had - accept Islam at the point of a weapon or die. Well, I've never been that fond on my wavy hair and who needs to see my middle-aged figure anyhow. I might go out and try on one of those burkas. Fashion always precedes policy. But renounce Gid and my Jewish faith - never.

- About those annoying public policy programs that were forced upon the elitist Americans such as my brother many years ago, they simply have to go. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and others are wasting too many of our country's resources. We will need those scarce resources to take care of all the issues I have mentioned above. And, again, Nature is against humanizing Homo Sapiens. Face it; the "fittest" of our breed in America already have what they need. They manipulated, stole, or in a few instances earned it away from everyone else. So why on earth would they need social programs meant for the less fortunate in our population - or even the members of our society who cling to their outdated moral, ethical, or spiritual values that preclude being en elitist? Well, have you ever seen a lion pause to consider the feelings or the right to exist or the value of an antelope before going in for the kill? I haven't. The fittest of our species don't either. Their Darwinian natures allow them to dismiss all those silly notions and - go in for the kill. So let's just get rid of those programs entirely and roll around in the piles and piles of dollars we will save!

- I heard that Cheney recently said, "deficits don't matter." Cool! Does that mean that the American elite can feel safe from threats to their fortunes? Threats such as higher taxes to benefit society as a whole, or lower capital gains to spread the wealth around a bit or just plain bigger bills in order to reduce our country's deficit? My brother is sure hoping so! Hey, he worked hard to go to college for 12 years to get his degree on the G.I. Bill, grants, and low-interest Federal loans. Now that he's got his degree, has used it as a stockbroker to work a mere 7 years to amass lots and lots of dollars from trusting clients, and stashed them safely away, he is eager to keep them! He is obviously the type of American we want to elevate, continue to educate, keep healthy, and house in luxury. Don't you think? So all those folks who unwisely chose to become the Vegans of the social order such as teachers, shopkeepers, nurses and such are in reality just losers. If they haven't already realized that capitalism requires them to put aside their stupid liberal, love the planet, help their fellow man ideals then, again, they just shouldn't survive. Let's hope they all get the swine flu or something.

- Lastly, let me mention crime. It is on the rise, have you noticed? All those homeless, poor and hungry are becoming restless. I've heard that they have even massed and camped out in front of the homes of the wealthy elite as well as public officials. If they had at least some access to affordable health care we could probably mellow them out with pills or something so that they don't riot and turn to crime. But that would probably cost the health insurance companies way too much and mean that the pharmaceutical companies would have to lower the prices of their products to affordable levels. Who wants to do that? In the big scheme of things, the only customers they really care about are the elite anyhow - and the huge world population outside the U.S. that is actually willing to pay for health care. Forget these poor Americans - the world is the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies' oyster! So if 47 million Americans are currently without affordable health care, baby boomers are retiring in high numbers daily, private companies are ditching their retirees pensions and retirement health care plans more and more and the number of long-time retired and then uninsured Americans is sure to grow, private IRA and other retirement savings are in the toilet all over America which means no one will be able to afford the high cost insurance options now being offered by the insurance industry, prescription medications will not be taken by those who need but cannot afford them, millions of Americans will not visit the doctor to obtain preventative care including inoculations against deadly and prolific diseases, and Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are almost bankrupt, why should you care? You will have your castle full of everything you need and lots of cash from the companies who adore your elitist vision.

- I, on the other hand, will continue to argue with my elitist brother against ALL that you and he stand for in the hopes that one day something will TRIGGER a human response other than greed in you. I find your attitude stupid, frankly, and lacking in the basics of common sense. A hungry, homeless, sick person has nothing to lose. A similar population TRIGGERED the French Revolution, remember? Maybe it is time for you and your cronies to admit that emulating the attitudes and behaviors of Louis XVI is going to bring you and our country to ruin. It is time for you all to step down from your thrones and show the country that you have at least a shred of decency left in you by supporting and passing a vigorous public option in the health care reform bill. If you don't, history should tell you what will follow and it won't be pretty.

PASS THE HEALTH CARE REFORM LEGISLATION INCLUDING A VIGOROUS PUBLIC OPTION!

posted October 04, 2009 05:05 PM         

You know my sense of humor, this made me laugh..

All those homeless, poor and hungry are becoming restless. I've heard that they have even massed and camped out in front of the homes of the wealthy elite as well as public officials. If they had at least some access to affordable health care we could probably mellow them out with pills or something so that they don't riot and turn to crime.

posted November 07, 2009 10:24 AM         

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”

Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:

“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1]

- - - - - - - - -
“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…” [page 2]

- - - - - - - - - -
“Criminal penalties

Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]

When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties. The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.

“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Camp.