Thursday, November 18, 2010

A Federal Placebo



            The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a placebo, a sugar coated pill to sedate the masses. When passing the PPAC, the Obama Administration announced “healthcare for everyone” like the United States was some utopia. The Department of Health and Humans Services claims that the overhaul strengthens Medicaid and provides health insurance coverage to everyone. That is not quite true.
            The healthcare overhaul does not “provide” health insurance to everyone; “requires” people to purchase health care insurance within the next four years or be subject to a penalty in accordance with Section 1501 of the PPAC. In response to this, insurance companies have increased their job-based coverage. This adversely affects businesses, as they now have to provide more expensive healthcare benefits to all employees. As a result, one organization attempted to bring the PPAC before the Supreme Court last week. The Pacific Justice Institute, in Baldwin v. Sebelius, 10-369,objects to being compelled to comply with the act because the act imposed increased costs on it by preventing it from denying health care insurance coverage to part-time employees.” But not all businesses are facing this dilemma.
            The Department of Health and Human Services has granted waivers to over one hundred unions and companies since the healthcare bill was passed. Knowing the Obama Administration, I wouldn’t be surprised if the waivers were arbitrarily given to the unions and companies based on party ties – most unions contribute campaign funds to Democrats. Now that the Republicans have taken back the House of Representatives, the healthcare bill will undoubtedly come under strict scrutiny. Senator Mike Enzi (R – WY) has already revealed his intention to use the Congressional Review Act to hinder the implementation of “problematic” or vague sections of the PPAC.
            Now, to address the issue of strengthening Medicaid – it doesn’t work, so strengthening isn’t going to improve anything. Let me explain. Medicaid has turned to privately managed health care plans, like Healthcare USA, which attend to their profits more than to patient’s needs. USA Today recently reported a story about a woman who had to drive five hours to get therapy for her knee because the orthopedists in her area were not covered under her Healthcare USA plan. When she got a brace for her knee, Healthcare USA wouldn’t cover it. Healthcare USA and its competitors are shams. Unfortunately, it is predicted that the enrollment in these managed-care plans will increase by 30% due to the new healthcare law.
Starting next year, Republicans will have more authority in Congress. They are the majority in the House. They cannot be filibustered on the Senate floor. And after witnessing the federal and state-level onslaught, the Democrats will have to keep a low profile lest they anger more voters before next election. However, this regained authority will not allow the Republicans to eradicate the PPAC entirely, but maybe they can amend the bill or pass a new bill nullifying specific sections of the PPAC.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

The Treachery of Considering Sharia Law

Last Tuesday, a controversial amendment to Oklahoma’s state constitution prohibiting state courts from considering Sharia law when deciding cases passed with an amazing 70 percent of the vote. Critics of the bill – Muslims and liberal bloggers – are calling the measure a pre-emptive strike. I must agree with them, that it is a pre-emptive strike, but that is exactly what the country needs. They are also saying that the bill is unnecessary, because Sharia law is not being considered by courts. This is a lie.
            In a recent New Jersey trial court decision, S.D. v. M.J.R., a judge applied Sharia law to a case of domestic abuse between a Muslim man and wife, ruling that the husband could not be held accountable for the rape of his wife under Sharia law. The judge reasoned that the defendant’s actions were “consistent with his [religious] practices.” If rape is a normal practice in a religion, then maybe the practice of that religion and the imposition of its laws should be prohibited.
In 2008, the immigrant couple were wed in Morocco in an arrange marriage. After coming to the United States, the husband began to pinch, beat, and rape his wife. The wife stated in court that she “felt he was enjoying hurting” her. Evidence was brought into the trial proving that the husband had told his wife, “You must do whatever I tell you to do. I want to hurt your flesh” and “this is according to our religion. You are my wife; I can do anything to you.” The defendant’s Imam testified that, under Sharia law, a wife cannot refuse her husband’s sexual advances. She apparently refused, so he raped her. As justification, he told her that, “I am doing [this] to correct you.” I hope our Department of Corrections does not apply these standards to the treatment of their women inmates, because I’m sure the ACLU would be all over the government if that was the case. Luckily this horrendous ruling was reversed by a New Jersey appellate court, so the Sharia victory was short lived.
It may not always be this way, though. Sharia law may be used as a standard in more courts if laws, like the measure in Oklahoma, are not passed to prevent it. These laws also need to be enacted immediately, as the Muslim in the presence in the legislature is likely to grow in the coming years. As of now, there are only two Muslim Representatives in Congress – Andre Carson (D – IN) and Keith Ellison (D – MN). This, however, could change with the growing Muslim population; therefore, it is paramount we thwart Muslims in their pursuits of political and legal power in America. In 2008, former U.S. Representative Virgil Goode (R – VA) stated that to avoid more Keith Ellisons from being elected, that we cannot allow “persons from the Middle East to come to this country.” I feel that he is right, because the less Muslim politicians, the least likely it will be that Sharia law is considered in American courts.
Judges have ruled in the past that prayer in school is an affront to the Constitution. But now they have ruled that adopting a religious law that promotes violence towards innocents is the correct way to proceed. And they are doing this while Muslim politicians are being elected in non-Islamic states. Laws prohibiting the consideration of Sharia law, the influx of more Muslim immigrants, and the spread of Islamic power are vital if we are to halt the perfidious spread of Sharia law into American law.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Real American Express

This past Saturday, I attended the Republican Rally on campus. The rally was replete with refreshments, American flags, and great candidates. Of those candidates, one really enticed me with his speech. His name was Joe DioGuardi. A CPA that had been in Congress during President Reagan’s second term, Mr. DioGuardi was our lone, but well qualified, senatorial candidate at the rally. Halfway through his speech, he pulled out his Congressional voting card. He held up the card and said, “My friends, take a good look at this card. This is the Most Expensive Credit Card in the World.” He was right; the government increases the national debt without ever being held accountable.
After the rally had ended, I conversed with Mr. DioGuardi about reckless spending at the federal level and his time in office under Ronald Reagan. As he was leaving, he invited me and a few others back to his RV, where he gave us copies of his recently revised book Unaccountable Congress: It Doesn’t Add Up. I read the book as soon as I returned to my dorm room. It exposed the true extent of the national deficit – $56 trillion if Medicare and Social Security debts are included. That means each of us owes $569,330 because of the irresponsible spending of 535 individuals (I’m glad Mr. DioGuardi informed me of this). It also illuminated the problems with Congressional budgeting, spending, and accounting, touching on issues such as healthcare and Social Security. Mr. DioGuardi’s book allows the average citizen to see through the “smoke and mirrors” of the appropriations process.
Unaccountable Congress does an excellent job underscoring the contemptible Congressional budgeting processes and inadequately designed bailouts. However, I would like to focus on a matter mentioned in passing in “Chapter Six: A House of Ill Repute” that is plaguing every level of government – personal spending. Spending on personal luxuries has become a pastime of the members of Congress whom Mr. DioGuardi refers to as “spendaholics.” Nancy Pelosi is the latest culprit of this wasteful spending. Pelosi spent over two million taxpayers’ dollars in the past two years on travel expenses for her and her family. Thousands of dollars were spent on her expensive friends Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker. Fine dining also accounted for tens of thousands of tax dollars. This wasteful spending needs to stop.
Now, there may not be a company to cut Congress’s line of credit, but we the people can monitor its spending. Mr. DioGuardi’s organization, Truth in Government, exposes the poor budgeting and spending practices prevalent in Congress. The organization’s website, truthingovernment.org, is constantly being updated with the latest news and information concerning fiscal issues. The information shows why Social Security reform, which has been ignored for too long, is imperative. Why repealing Obama’s Healthcare Bill should be of a high priority.
If Congress continues to increase the national debt at the rate it has been, China will soon overtake us as the number one superpower. The threat that China poses is great, as their economy is irrefutably more stable than, and arguably as powerful as, ours. Social Security will be non-existent. Taxes will have to be increased to keep up with defense spending. The hazardous spending needs to stop. It is our job as citizens to pressure the lawmakers, especially those in Congress, to rein in the monstrous budget we are facing. If we don’t, the deficit will indisputably have terribly adverse results on future generations, including our own.