http://news.yahoo.com/…

First you paid to insure your car. Soon you may have to add health insurance premiums to that stack of monthly bills as well.

In a revamped health care system envisioned by senators, people would be required to carry health insurance just like motorists must get auto coverage now. The government would provide subsidies for the poor and many middle-class families, but those who still refuse to sign up would face fines of more than $1,000.

The details were unveiled Thursday in a health care overhaul bill supported by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fines would raise around $36 billion over 10 years. Senate aides said the penalties would be modeled on the approach taken by Massachusetts, which now imposes a fine of about $1,000 a year on individuals who refuse to get coverage. Under the federal legislation, families would pay higher penalties than individuals.

Called “shared responsibility payments,” the fines would offset at least half the cost of basic medical coverage, according to the legislation. The goal is to nudge people to sign up for coverage when they are healthy, not wait until they get sick.

In 2008, employer-provided coverage averaged $12,680 a year for a family plan, and $4,704 for individual coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual survey. Senate aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the cost of the federal plan would be lower but declined to provide specifics.

The legislation would exempt certain hardship cases from fines, which would be collected through the income tax system.

Tying it into the income tax is really really sneaky. It makes it very difficult to protest against. If the federal government wanted to fine me for not participating in the census they’d have to bring me to court. If this bill is passed the IRS handles the fine. It’s tied into your income taxes. If you don’t pay you don’t go to a normal court… but likely a tax court. You won’t be able to seperate the fine from the rest of their bill. It makes it easier for them to catch and easier to collect.

If they passed a bill requiring healthcare without this IRS enforcement of the fine I would seriously consider canceling my health insurance just to incure a fine and test the system. If it passes as currently is however only those who don’t pay income tax could really get out of this demand and if they ever got caught the fine would be the least of their problems.

Love how they talk about how much the fines will make them too. Scumbags.

Well I finally finishing Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression by Dr. Mary Ruwart.  Incidentally you can find an older version of this text for free online.  You have to give this book a lot of credit for being well organized.  There is a full index in the back as well as an appendix of citations.  Each chapter is broken into small sections with a one page chapter summary at the end.  In that respect, it kind of reads like a textbook.  I know I’ll use it in the future if I need to look up information on a particular topic.  The book also deserves credit for covering everything.  I mean that in the Cleveland quoting Peter Griffin, “Eeeeeevvvverythaaaang” sense.  I’ve never seen a libertarian book do such a good job of covering so many topics in three hundred some pages.

Most importantly it is writen from a compassionate perspective, which has caused me to by a few extra copies for my friends and parents.  No vulgar libertarianism here, just genuine concern for other people.  Dr. Ruwart cites numerous examples of how aggression hurts everyone, from the playground all the way up to wallstreet.  The language is simple, direct and quotes are included in the margins pertaining to the topics being addressed.

Now, this review isn’t just going to be a Ruwart love-fest.  There are a few things wrong with the book as well.  Let’s start with the most readily apparent, the cover.  It’s terrible and it’s turned a decent amount of people off from the book.  People I recommend the book to look at me like, “You want me to read that?  With the twin towers and the dove?”  I’ve considered putting a brown paper bag dust cover on it before I give it to people.  As much as it goes against conventional wisdom, people do judge a book by its cover.  I’m sure this book’s cover has hurt its sales.

As I stated earlier, it reads like a textbook.  Textbooks are usually packed with information, but not particularly engaging.  I could knock this book for not grabbing the reader, but I don’t really think that’s what it’s about.  I’d recommend that people read it slowly and pick topics they are already interested in to research.  Treat it like a textbook and it will serve you well.  Just don’t go thinking that it’s going to be riveting.

So to sum things up, I’d say this is a book you definitely have to own.  In time you’ll probably read all of it.  You may disagree with parts and you may find yourself quoting other parts.  It’s very well researched and organized so you’ll probably use it as a reference.

http://www.libertyconspiracy.com/…

Nothing like the classic MO of gubment taking peoples’ tax money to buy something the people aren’t buying ‘enough of” in the eyes of the politicians. Since there is an abundance of milk products out there compared to the demand, the price should be going DOWN for consumers. In a free market, such low demand forces suppliers to change their production levels, decreasing the supply to better reflect the demand, and allowing the farmers’ resources in time and labor, etc., to be better applied to other endeavors. In the end, the price and supply, and the application of effort, will reach a sustainable level both for producers and consumers, leaving not only extra time and resourcs for the farmer, but extra monetary resources for the consumer to devote to other products even while getting their milk products.

Here is a quote:

“The government has bought 238 million pounds of nonfat dry milk powder to help dairy farmers. In the spirit of wanting to help dairy farmers I bought a container of powdered milk. It doesn’t say whether it is imported or domestic!”

With the government stepping in, all that happens is that the politicians act as new bidders, raising the prices of the item, and forcing consumers to have to spend more on something, leaving them with LESS left over to spend on other products! This is backwards, a cave-man mentality that does not recognize productivity as beneficial.

Read the meandering thoughts of this Daily KOS writer (obviously, the site is hard-core socialist), and see how the writer even forces HIMSELF/HERSELF to pay more for something due to the mistaken belief that buying from foreign producers is destructive to the US economy as a whole.

One more note: If one follows the writer’s so-called logic, then perhaps one should only buy local, rather than buying products from over state lines. So if your state is a bad place for growing peaches, and they cost a lot more due to that, and you could get them from Georgia for less, you should NOT do so, pay more, have less left over, and enjoy that… expanding economy you have in your state? Hmmm… That’s right, it won’t expand, because you continue to devote resources to non-productive endeavors and dont’ haev anything left over to spend on new products. You have to work HARDER to get what you want, limting your ability to expand your economy. Ohhhh, yeah, you could also just hit yourself in the foot! That would be just as good.

This story was covered by FOX News on Sunday, June 7, and the reporter said that the federal govenment was “helping” farmers. Never mentioned the feds were HURTING consumers and making them work harder for the things they need.

Here are two articles that need dissectin’. Be Seeing You!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/6/731071/-Our-dairy-farmers-hur…

Another, before the legislation passed. What a surprise that Tom Harkin would be involved! Hark! We hear the sound of socialism!

http://iowaindependent.com/15385/cash-strapped-dairy-farmers-pin-hopes-t…

It didn’t work in the 30’s under Hoover and Roosevelt. It’s not going to work now.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/…

Goodbye, GM …by Michael Moore

1. Just as President Roosevelt did after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the President must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices. Within months in Flint in 1942, GM halted all car production and immediately used the assembly lines to build planes, tanks and machine guns. The conversion took no time at all. Everyone pitched in. The fascists were defeated.

We are now in a different kind of war — a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call “cars” may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet.

The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn’t give a damn about future generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true — that there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline.

President Obama, now that he has taken control of GM, needs to convert the factories to new and needed uses immediately.
Read More…

Leaves a lot to be desired but decent enough. The author appears to be some right wing type and so while he’s ignore some rather important components to his rebuttals (like serious market distortions caused by government regulation and allowing of property infringement) some of the factual points he makes are spot on.