THE FOUNDATION
"There is no country in the world where so many provisions are established for them; so many hospitals to receive them when they are sick or lame, founded and maintained by voluntary charities; so many alms-houses for the aged of both sexes, together with a solemn general law made by the rich to subject their estates to a heavy tax for the support of the poor. Under all these obligations, are our poor modest, humble, and thankful; and do they use their best endeavours to maintain themselves, and lighten our shoulders of this burthen?" --Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor, London Chronicle, 1766TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Constitutional Protection
The House Ways and Means Committee voted Wednesday to urge Attorney General Eric Holder to pursue criminal charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner. The House Oversight Committee will vote Thursday on contempt charges as well. Lerner, of course, played a key role in the IRS's political targeting of Tea Party and Patriot groups. She infamously began testimony before a Congressional committee with opening remarks unilaterally declaring her innocence but then switched to pleading the Fifth during questioning from House members. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer declared his support for Lerner, saying that she was right to plead the Fifth because "the Constitution gives you protections against big government." How galling. Lerner -- and for that matter, Hoyer -- are the very embodiment of Big Government. To add insult to injury, Lerner has hid behind the Constitution to protect herself from the consequences of violating it.Comment | Share
'Equal Pay' Fails in Senate
Senate Republicans successfully blocked so-called "equal pay" legislation that's a key part of Democrats' election strategy of class and sex warfare. Democrats claim that women are paid less than men (they may be at the White House, anyway), but as we wrote Wednesday, that's largely a bogus claim. Naturally, the facts don't stop Democrats from pushing for a federal "solution" to the "problem." Along with their proposed minimum wage hike, Democrat policies will only slow economic growth further for everyone. As Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "[W]hen it comes to American women over all, what we've seen over the past five and a half years is less income and more poverty. That's the story Senate Democrats don't want to talk about."Comment | Share
Moran Wants Housing Stipend
Last week, Rep. Jim Moran complained that "members of Congress are underpaid." A salary of $174,000 per year -- good for top 5% among earners -- is ostensibly an unsuitable compensation for "the board of directors for the largest economic entity in the world." This week, the Virginia Democrat offered a proposition to help alleviate that burden: a housing stipend. According to Heritage Foundation's Katrina Trinko, under Moran's plan, "Any lawmaker whose home is further than 50 miles from the Capitol would be eligible for a $25 per day stipend when Congress is in session. By Moran's math, that would total $2,800 per lawmaker who accepts the stipend annually." Aside from the fact lawmakers have a variety of options to help curtail D.C.'s high cost of living, Trinko offers a more pertinent question: "Why should taxpayers have to give lawmakers -- who can't even balance the federal budget -- even more of their hard-earned money to subsidize those lawmakers' lifestyles?" Simply put: They shouldn't.Comment | Share
Ice Cold Facts
The effects of man-made global warming are reaching epic proportions. Just how bad has it gotten? Consider this: The Great Lakes are still 52.9% ice covered, which is 1,000% above the average. Dating back to 1980, no other year comes even close. Worse, according to NOAA measurements, "Global Sea Ice Extent is 959,000 above the 1981-2010 mean. That is ranked 4th for the day. And that is 4.61% above 'normal.'" Additionally, "Antarctic Sea Ice Extent is 1,403,000 above the 1981-2010 mean. That is ranked 1st for the day. And that is 23.74% above 'normal.'" It's also this young year's 30th daily record. Clearly, we've got work to do. Like stocking up on blankets.Comment | Share
Bad Brew in Florida
Legislators in Florida have identified a serious problem in their state: Microbreweries who sell directly to customers. Craft beer makers are understandably outraged at the idea that they should have to first sell their beer to a distributor and then buy it back before selling to customers. But new Republican-sponsored legislation does just that. The beer doesn't even have to leave the brewer's premises; just process the paperwork and pay the middlemen. Obviously it's nothing but a payoff for distributors. Evidently "Big Beer" is sour-faced about the competition they're facing from smaller (and better in our humble opinion) brewers and lobbied for the ridiculous law. That's what happens with cronyism -- both sides become drunk on power.Comment | Share
For more, visit Right Hooks.
Don't Miss Alexander's Column
Read You Might Be a Conservative If..., a follow-up on his similar essay on liberals.If you'd like to receive Alexander's Column by email, update your subscription here.
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OFFER A VOTE OF PROTEST
While politicos in Washington are playing games with our money, our lives and our Liberty, we're dead serious in our efforts to advocate Essential Liberty and Rule of Law -- and we need your help to balance our budget. Unlike the government, we depend solely upon the voluntary contributions of people like you to keep The Patriot Post coming each week."Thank you for the fine work of your entire editorial staff. Our country has fallen so far from what our Founding Fathers had fought and worked so hard to bestow upon us. I feel ashamed for what we have done (or not done) to the greatest country on earth, but I think it can be summed up how we got here by Benjamin Franklin: 'The religion of ignorance is the beginning of tyranny.' Thanks to The Patriot Post and your fine work, I'm educated every week and can communicate to the people around me about what is really going on. Wake up America." --Kent in MissouriHelp us reverse our nation's march toward insolvency and set the conservative agenda for years to come. Please support our 2014 Patriots' Day Campaign with a donation of any size today. We have about $64,000 left to raise by April 19th.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
The ObamaCare Enrollment Trifecta
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Since the March 31 deadline, Barack Obama has been touting 7.1 million sign-ups. That claim is astonishing because for weeks after the October ObamaCare rollout, the White House couldn't pinpoint any exact enrollment data, until eureka! At 12:01 am on April 1, that 7.1 million figure was ready, available, and, most important of all, unquestionably factual. Yes, most definitely factual.
Or, perhaps not.
According to a RAND study released this week, as of March 28, "3.9 million people are now covered through the state and federal marketplace -- the so-called insurance exchanges." Also, from September 2013 through March 2014, Medicaid rolls went up by 5.9 million, and 8.2 million enrolled in employer-sponsored plans. Granted, the RAND study ended three days before the enrollment period closed, so the 3.9 million figure undoubtedly grew. But on March 27, one day before the close of the study, the Obama administration was already claiming more than six million sign-ups.
Meanwhile, how many millions lost their policies due to ObamaCare? And how many more lost policies because they could not afford the cost increases foisted on them by the Unaffordable No-Care Act?
Given Barack Obama's downright abysmal track record for telling the truth (just remember, if you like your plan, you can keep it), RAND seems to have more credibility. Further challenging White House claims of victory, the RAND study found that only 1.4 million of those who signed up via ObamaCare exchanges were previously uninsured. And then there is the all-important and unanswered question of how many of those who signed up actually paid. Insurers say that number is perhaps 80% of sign-ups, but, conveniently, the White House doesn't have those numbers.
Of course, ObamaCare requires not just that people sign up but also that the right people sign up: namely, young and healthy individuals who will largely foot the bill for everyone else.
Another epic failure.
According to a "first look" analysis conducted by Express Scripts, those who signed up for insurance in January and February through the ObamaCare exchanges were actually more likely to use specialty medications to treat conditions such as pain, HIV, and depression. In fact, while 0.75% of prescriptions in commercial insurance plans were for specialty medications, the number was 1.1% for ObamaCare exchange prescriptions, a difference of 47%. As the study notes, "Increased volume for higher cost specialty drugs can have a significant impact on the cost burden for both plan sponsors and patients."
Since ObamaCare prohibits insurance companies from rejecting applicants based on pre-existing conditions, and since companies adjust their rates based on covered populations, this means even higher premiums are looming for everyone.
Of course, it's possible that a stampede of young, healthy individuals rushed to enroll for coverage in time for the March 31 deadline, and if this is the case, then the scenario may change. Possible, but unlikely.
Far more likely is that many young, healthy individuals opted out of enrolling, or at least put it off, thinking they could enroll at any time.
Wrong again.
Now that the enrollment period has ended, most people won't be able to buy insurance until the next open enrollment, which begins Nov. 15, 2014. This is true both inside and outside the exchanges. That's right, the marketplace -- which is anything but -- is closed.
This would be particularly ironic if the aim of ObamaCare were to get more people insured, as the claim went. When we understand, however, that the goal is and always has been full government control of the individual, then it makes disturbingly perfect sense.
Comment | Share
U.S. Nuclear Cuts Announced Just as Russia Flexes Muscle
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Read the rest of the story here.
Another Report Debunking 'Global Warming'
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Read the rest of the story here.
For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Victor Davis Hanson: The New Inquisition
- George Will: A Recourse to Budgetary Inaction
- Jeff Jacoby: Unity in the Death of Colleagues
- Burt Prelutsky: Reading the Polls
- Rebecca Hagelin: Tax Tyranny
OPINION IN BRIEF
Historian Victor Davis Hanson: "We are in a new Inquisition. Self-appointed censors try to stamp out any idea or word that they don't wish to be aired -- in the pursuit of a new race, class, gender and environment orthodoxy. ... Unfortunately, the Obama administration has been part of the problem, not part of the solution. ... All of that them/us rhetoric has given a top-down green light to radical thought police to harass anyone who is open-minded about man-caused global warming, or believes that gay marriage needs more debate, or that supporting Israel is a legitimate cause, or that breaking federal immigration law is still a crime and therefore 'illegal.' Our civil liberties will not be lost to crude fascists in jackboots. More likely, the death of free speech will be the work of the new medieval Torquemadas who claim they destroyed freedom of expression for the sake of 'equality' and 'fairness' and 'saving the planet.'"Comment | Share
Congressman John V. Lindsay (1921-2000): "Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order."
Columnist Burt Prelutsky: "I know I should celebrate the fact that 59% of the electorate think Obama is doing a lousy job, but that means that 41% don't see it that way. How can I feel good as an American knowing that 83% of the people believe that our country is weaker and less powerful than it was six years ago? For one thing, that's not a situation in which I ever want America to find herself, but for another, it means 17% think we're stronger and more powerful since Obama took office, and they can't all be smoking pot in Colorado."
Comedian Conan O'Brien: "In a recent survey, 84% of Americans were unable to locate Ukraine on a map. When he heard this, Vladimir Putin said, 'That's easy -- it's in Russia now.'"
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform -- Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen -- standing in harm's way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.
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