Painful Irony ...
November 9, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Remember? Reagan bade Gorbachev: tear down this wall. And tonight, Ossie (from the old East) Angela Merkel repeated to all of us the truth that Americans have know since 1776: "freedom is not free." "We have to fight to maintain it and never forget the past. " "Where there was once only a dark wall, a door suddenly opened and we all walked through it: onto the streets, into the churches, across the borders. Everyone was given the chance to build something new, to make a difference, to venture a new beginning."
More ominously, November 9, 1938 was also Kristalnacht. The final closing of the curtain of freedom in Germany, the night hundreds of synagogues were burnt to the ground. The night that was the start of a 51 year nightmare for East Germans.
What Merkel was remarking on, the freedom of choice granted to Europe by Americans, the freedom of choice granted by Americans to the world, is too precious to lose. And that, my friends is EXACTLY what is happening right now in America. Through the aegis of the Democratic party and our "President" Obama, we are in the process of flushing that precious freedom -- choice -- down the sewer of failed thought, Socialism.
How terribly, terribly ironic that the beacon of freedom which once shone so brightly, America, is now dimmed and tarnished. All the while haters of freedom, of choice, work diligently from within to extinguish that light that is the birthright of every American: seeking to still freedom of thought, ability to practice one's religion without governmental interference, the right to work and prosper without the arbitrary confiscation of the fruits of one's labors. Worse still, our "President" and his wife are primary among those working so hard to instill that hatred and encourage the rejection of principles, ethics and morals that made this America, the land of opportunity and light.
As the curtains closed in 1938, curtains just as grim, just as dark and just as threatening are making the final glimmerings of our great society vanish into the gloom. I am speaking of the Obamacare bills. It is the manifestation of Obama's agenda to bend Americans to the yoke of impersonal government, to crush individuality and competition, to establish a welfare state.
Make no mistake, the passage in the House of a bill that would damage our society irreparably is a crisis of the first order. Pelosi's bill will do that and more. Seniors are going to be extraordinarily ill-served, young people burdened by unbearable loads and hard working Americans stripped of a reason to persevere in the American dream.
The claim is that 36 million Americans will have health care that they otherwise would not have enjoyed .... Of those, young single Americans will be forced to spend between 17-20% of their gross income on health care plans they do not want or largely need. In return, tens of millions of illegal aliens will receive health care they did not pay for, and which will burden our children for their whole lives to come, all because these criminals managed to violate the laws of our country and enter surreptitiously in the dark of the night. Obama will "save" people who do not have health care because they choose not to work will benefit and honest hardworking Americans will be forced to have "approved plans" or face increased taxation, fines and, incredibly, incarceration -- from which the illegal aliens are exempt....
"Approved plans?" It is anyones's guess what these might look like as we will not know until 18 months after the passage of the bill when the Secretary of Health will tell us what those are: the direct analogy is being forced to take a mortgage on the house and then 18 months later being told what the rate and points will be. Blue Cross? Their plans will have to be approved, too. And if Obama's socialist goons determine that your plan is too generous (that is, making the government's option look too parsimonious), then these "Cadillac" plans will be surtaxed. In effect, while you can go private ... you will have to accept a plan that looks like the public version.
This is the complete takeover of health care, coupled with added twists guaranteed to shape what our society will look like, where people will work and for how much. Company plans will have to conform to regulation or companies will be fined and taxed in punishment. Accordingly, it will be simpler to funnel employees into the government plan and pay the extortion to support it. More than $500,000 in payroll ... then it applies to your company. Don't forget to include yourself in that payroll ... so how small is the company that can escape the net?
Dishonest? Obviously. But so are the deals Obama cut with AARP and AMA to get their support: the AARP is the largest supplier of Medigap insurance, the hole between where Medicare stops and the bill comes in. The AARP makes lots of money already on this ... and when you take $400 billion-odd out of Medicare, that market just got a lot bigger.
The AMA ... under the current law, physicians face a 21% accumulated cut in reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. So Obama just promised not to lower the boom: voila, instant support. You see, the law reads that there must be an annual cut of 5-6% in Medicare reimbursements, but Congress just rolled over the cuts, leaving reimbursements at the current level ... and a 21% overhang outstanding. Obama said, "do it, or else."
Hardly ringing support. Does this sound like the Gotterdamerung? Maybe not in the abstract, but the Obama/Pelosi agenda is to to bankrupt us, socialize us and reshape our society into a failed and discredited model that nobody wants. $1 trillion over 10 years? A closer estimate may be as much as 10 times that. And that means a dollar worth nothing, no jobs (unemployment continues to rise), no investment, no future. Thanks, Barry O. Thanks, Democrats, you would have found kindred spirits in the 1930's.
More ominously, November 9, 1938 was also Kristalnacht. The final closing of the curtain of freedom in Germany, the night hundreds of synagogues were burnt to the ground. The night that was the start of a 51 year nightmare for East Germans.
What Merkel was remarking on, the freedom of choice granted to Europe by Americans, the freedom of choice granted by Americans to the world, is too precious to lose. And that, my friends is EXACTLY what is happening right now in America. Through the aegis of the Democratic party and our "President" Obama, we are in the process of flushing that precious freedom -- choice -- down the sewer of failed thought, Socialism.
How terribly, terribly ironic that the beacon of freedom which once shone so brightly, America, is now dimmed and tarnished. All the while haters of freedom, of choice, work diligently from within to extinguish that light that is the birthright of every American: seeking to still freedom of thought, ability to practice one's religion without governmental interference, the right to work and prosper without the arbitrary confiscation of the fruits of one's labors. Worse still, our "President" and his wife are primary among those working so hard to instill that hatred and encourage the rejection of principles, ethics and morals that made this America, the land of opportunity and light.
As the curtains closed in 1938, curtains just as grim, just as dark and just as threatening are making the final glimmerings of our great society vanish into the gloom. I am speaking of the Obamacare bills. It is the manifestation of Obama's agenda to bend Americans to the yoke of impersonal government, to crush individuality and competition, to establish a welfare state.
Make no mistake, the passage in the House of a bill that would damage our society irreparably is a crisis of the first order. Pelosi's bill will do that and more. Seniors are going to be extraordinarily ill-served, young people burdened by unbearable loads and hard working Americans stripped of a reason to persevere in the American dream.
The claim is that 36 million Americans will have health care that they otherwise would not have enjoyed .... Of those, young single Americans will be forced to spend between 17-20% of their gross income on health care plans they do not want or largely need. In return, tens of millions of illegal aliens will receive health care they did not pay for, and which will burden our children for their whole lives to come, all because these criminals managed to violate the laws of our country and enter surreptitiously in the dark of the night. Obama will "save" people who do not have health care because they choose not to work will benefit and honest hardworking Americans will be forced to have "approved plans" or face increased taxation, fines and, incredibly, incarceration -- from which the illegal aliens are exempt....
"Approved plans?" It is anyones's guess what these might look like as we will not know until 18 months after the passage of the bill when the Secretary of Health will tell us what those are: the direct analogy is being forced to take a mortgage on the house and then 18 months later being told what the rate and points will be. Blue Cross? Their plans will have to be approved, too. And if Obama's socialist goons determine that your plan is too generous (that is, making the government's option look too parsimonious), then these "Cadillac" plans will be surtaxed. In effect, while you can go private ... you will have to accept a plan that looks like the public version.
This is the complete takeover of health care, coupled with added twists guaranteed to shape what our society will look like, where people will work and for how much. Company plans will have to conform to regulation or companies will be fined and taxed in punishment. Accordingly, it will be simpler to funnel employees into the government plan and pay the extortion to support it. More than $500,000 in payroll ... then it applies to your company. Don't forget to include yourself in that payroll ... so how small is the company that can escape the net?
Dishonest? Obviously. But so are the deals Obama cut with AARP and AMA to get their support: the AARP is the largest supplier of Medigap insurance, the hole between where Medicare stops and the bill comes in. The AARP makes lots of money already on this ... and when you take $400 billion-odd out of Medicare, that market just got a lot bigger.
The AMA ... under the current law, physicians face a 21% accumulated cut in reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. So Obama just promised not to lower the boom: voila, instant support. You see, the law reads that there must be an annual cut of 5-6% in Medicare reimbursements, but Congress just rolled over the cuts, leaving reimbursements at the current level ... and a 21% overhang outstanding. Obama said, "do it, or else."
Hardly ringing support. Does this sound like the Gotterdamerung? Maybe not in the abstract, but the Obama/Pelosi agenda is to to bankrupt us, socialize us and reshape our society into a failed and discredited model that nobody wants. $1 trillion over 10 years? A closer estimate may be as much as 10 times that. And that means a dollar worth nothing, no jobs (unemployment continues to rise), no investment, no future. Thanks, Barry O. Thanks, Democrats, you would have found kindred spirits in the 1930's.
posted by Zaphod at Monday, November 09, 2009
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