By Nathan Barton
Good morning. Are things starting to crumble even faster? The Fuehrer and his minions got another few kicks in the teeth this week. I feel so sorry for him!
Different sets of Nazgul made conflicting rulings on ObummerCare tax and subsidy provisions this week, setting the stage for the Nine Nazgul to decide the fate of one more piece of this large and gross Abominable Act. One said that subsidies have been paid out by the IRS (at the Fuehrer’s order, natch) in 36 states that do not have health care exchanges (for the transfer of stolen money, apparently), while the other group said that the IRS can pretty much do what it pleases because Congress is so brain dead that it passed an ambiguous law that can say anything that the Fuehrer and his thuggish cohorts want it to. (Here is the language that “The Hill” paper uses to describe it: “A pair of federal appeals courts delivered conflicting rulings Tuesday on ObamaCare, putting the law’s premium subsidies at risk in more than two dozen states. In the first decision, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 decision that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not permit the IRS to distribute premium subsidies in the federal ObamaCare exchange, meaning those consumers must bear the full cost of their insurance. … Hours later, a separate appeals court came to a far different conclusion in King v. Burwell, ruling that the IRS had the discretion to issue subsidies given ‘ambiguity’ in the language of the law.” Obviously, the White House and Dems in Congress are fighting to get this resolved in favor of the power to tax and otherwise abuse people.
Apparently, at least one tactic that the Fuehrer’s suit-and-tie-thugs will use is that the FedGov is “just another state.”
Culture wars: Now, isn’t this a fine kettle of fish? European countries are not obligated to allow two people of the same sex to “marry” each other. The European Convention on Human Rights “enshrines the traditional concept of marriage as between a man and a woman,” and there is ”no obligation on Contracting States to grant same-sex couples access to marriage,” the European Court of Human Rights ruled last Wednesday. Article 12 of the European Convention, which governs the Council of Europe, states that “men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and to found a family, according to the national laws governing the exercise of this right.” Of course, this foolish Convention still is not expressing liberty of marriage from government. But I am sure that our Tranzi and Liberal opponents are incensed at this. Seems like they made a serious mistake a few decades ago. So sorry for them.
Jay Lehr has a plan to replace the EPA. He is science director at the Heartland Institute, and has a five-year plan to replace the Environmental Protection Agency with 50 state agencies. Now, this sounds good, but my first thought is the driving the demon out and leaving an empty husk to be taken over by a legion of demons. Getting rid of the EPA just replaces ONE horror with potentially 45 or 50, UNLESS the free market is allowed to be reestablished so that businesses, consumers, and those that support them (like insurance companies) can decide what makes the most sense as far as protecting the environment. Getting the FedGov out is WONDERFUL, but ALL government needs to be removed from the equation, since politics ALWAYS trumps logic, science, and engineering – at least until the results are inescapable.
Can State Medical Boards keep competitors out? Funny, I thought that was the major REASON we have these boards. The excuse is that patients (the public) need to be protected from quacks and charlatans but the real reason (as for virtually every OTHER board of “professions” or qualifications) is to limit competition and keep the established “professionals” from having to compete with anyone else except under very limited and controlled circumstances. In this article, North Carolina’s state dental board began issuing cease-and-desist letters to hygienists (not dentists) who were whitening consumers’ teeth at spas and mall kiosks. As with so many other things, voluntary registration (including meeting standards for education, experience, testing, and customer/client feedback) would be far better than government-enforced “licensing” and monopolies/oligarchies running roughshod over both consumers and competitors. And that isn’t even getting into the argument over innovation and saving of money.
Even government reports that the price of beef and bacon (and most meat) is at an all time high, at least since they started tracking it back in 1980. Part of this is disease and weather (the big Northern Plains storm back in October 2013, and a really nasty pig virus that is highly contagious and being fought by putting down millions of them). But the inflation for which we can thank government year after year is the major cause that bacon is more than four times its price just 34 years ago.
Mama’s Note: As with so many other things, I don’t trust the government information, much less response to this “disease” thing. As usual, whether there was a real disease or not, millions of animals are undoubtedly destroyed needlessly. Over kill, literally, is the usual response to any disease threat, real or imagined. The many millions of feral pigs don’t seem to be having any problems. Take the brakes off and give people an opportunity to hunt them freely. Will help both with the groceries and the feral pig problem.
A couple of news stories from last week that I wanted to comment on, but overlooked. Both deal with “Home Front” issues. First, it seems that the number of U.S. Breweries is up 118% since the start of the Crash of 2009. Thanks to Margaret for this article. The economy – and government – has driven more and more people to drink. Of course, many of these are microbreweries, so the total QUANTITY has not gone up as much as you might think. And because inflation is driving up beer prices like everything else, even that increase is not as big as it appears. But beer (and other alcohol consumption) almost ALWAYS goes up during hard economic times, and did so even in the 1930s when it was illegal in the US. And yes, beer buying and drinking goes up even when it means that money is taken away from necessities like food and shelter.
It appears that 68 million Americans have criminal records. This is more than the entire population of France, and is not really that much a shock. That is about one in every four of us. Many people I know have one, and often for the most silly reasons. Traffic violations do not (except for things like DUI/DWI) do not count as criminal records (but failing to pay a fine will fix THAT problem, I’m sure), but even things like not mowing your lawn “properly” can easily let YOU join that number. Isn’t life on the Home Front FUN? (But indeed, for lovers of liberty and those who truly believe in our God-given rights, I have to comment: If you DON’T have a criminal record, why are you not trying harder?)
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About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.
The Price of Liberty 
Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-29C: Situation crumbling?
By Nathan Barton
Good morning. Are things starting to crumble even faster? The Fuehrer and his minions got another few kicks in the teeth this week. I feel so sorry for him!
Different sets of Nazgul made conflicting rulings on ObummerCare tax and subsidy provisions this week, setting the stage for the Nine Nazgul to decide the fate of one more piece of this large and gross Abominable Act. One said that subsidies have been paid out by the IRS (at the Fuehrer’s order, natch) in 36 states that do not have health care exchanges (for the transfer of stolen money, apparently), while the other group said that the IRS can pretty much do what it pleases because Congress is so brain dead that it passed an ambiguous law that can say anything that the Fuehrer and his thuggish cohorts want it to. (Here is the language that “The Hill” paper uses to describe it: “A pair of federal appeals courts delivered conflicting rulings Tuesday on ObamaCare, putting the law’s premium subsidies at risk in more than two dozen states. In the first decision, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 decision that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not permit the IRS to distribute premium subsidies in the federal ObamaCare exchange, meaning those consumers must bear the full cost of their insurance. … Hours later, a separate appeals court came to a far different conclusion in King v. Burwell, ruling that the IRS had the discretion to issue subsidies given ‘ambiguity’ in the language of the law.” Obviously, the White House and Dems in Congress are fighting to get this resolved in favor of the power to tax and otherwise abuse people.
Apparently, at least one tactic that the Fuehrer’s suit-and-tie-thugs will use is that the FedGov is “just another state.”
Culture wars: Now, isn’t this a fine kettle of fish? European countries are not obligated to allow two people of the same sex to “marry” each other. The European Convention on Human Rights “enshrines the traditional concept of marriage as between a man and a woman,” and there is ”no obligation on Contracting States to grant same-sex couples access to marriage,” the European Court of Human Rights ruled last Wednesday. Article 12 of the European Convention, which governs the Council of Europe, states that “men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and to found a family, according to the national laws governing the exercise of this right.” Of course, this foolish Convention still is not expressing liberty of marriage from government. But I am sure that our Tranzi and Liberal opponents are incensed at this. Seems like they made a serious mistake a few decades ago. So sorry for them.
Jay Lehr has a plan to replace the EPA. He is science director at the Heartland Institute, and has a five-year plan to replace the Environmental Protection Agency with 50 state agencies. Now, this sounds good, but my first thought is the driving the demon out and leaving an empty husk to be taken over by a legion of demons. Getting rid of the EPA just replaces ONE horror with potentially 45 or 50, UNLESS the free market is allowed to be reestablished so that businesses, consumers, and those that support them (like insurance companies) can decide what makes the most sense as far as protecting the environment. Getting the FedGov out is WONDERFUL, but ALL government needs to be removed from the equation, since politics ALWAYS trumps logic, science, and engineering – at least until the results are inescapable.
Can State Medical Boards keep competitors out? Funny, I thought that was the major REASON we have these boards. The excuse is that patients (the public) need to be protected from quacks and charlatans but the real reason (as for virtually every OTHER board of “professions” or qualifications) is to limit competition and keep the established “professionals” from having to compete with anyone else except under very limited and controlled circumstances. In this article, North Carolina’s state dental board began issuing cease-and-desist letters to hygienists (not dentists) who were whitening consumers’ teeth at spas and mall kiosks. As with so many other things, voluntary registration (including meeting standards for education, experience, testing, and customer/client feedback) would be far better than government-enforced “licensing” and monopolies/oligarchies running roughshod over both consumers and competitors. And that isn’t even getting into the argument over innovation and saving of money.
Even government reports that the price of beef and bacon (and most meat) is at an all time high, at least since they started tracking it back in 1980. Part of this is disease and weather (the big Northern Plains storm back in October 2013, and a really nasty pig virus that is highly contagious and being fought by putting down millions of them). But the inflation for which we can thank government year after year is the major cause that bacon is more than four times its price just 34 years ago.
Mama’s Note: As with so many other things, I don’t trust the government information, much less response to this “disease” thing. As usual, whether there was a real disease or not, millions of animals are undoubtedly destroyed needlessly. Over kill, literally, is the usual response to any disease threat, real or imagined. The many millions of feral pigs don’t seem to be having any problems. Take the brakes off and give people an opportunity to hunt them freely. Will help both with the groceries and the feral pig problem.
A couple of news stories from last week that I wanted to comment on, but overlooked. Both deal with “Home Front” issues. First, it seems that the number of U.S. Breweries is up 118% since the start of the Crash of 2009. Thanks to Margaret for this article. The economy – and government – has driven more and more people to drink. Of course, many of these are microbreweries, so the total QUANTITY has not gone up as much as you might think. And because inflation is driving up beer prices like everything else, even that increase is not as big as it appears. But beer (and other alcohol consumption) almost ALWAYS goes up during hard economic times, and did so even in the 1930s when it was illegal in the US. And yes, beer buying and drinking goes up even when it means that money is taken away from necessities like food and shelter.
It appears that 68 million Americans have criminal records. This is more than the entire population of France, and is not really that much a shock. That is about one in every four of us. Many people I know have one, and often for the most silly reasons. Traffic violations do not (except for things like DUI/DWI) do not count as criminal records (but failing to pay a fine will fix THAT problem, I’m sure), but even things like not mowing your lawn “properly” can easily let YOU join that number. Isn’t life on the Home Front FUN? (But indeed, for lovers of liberty and those who truly believe in our God-given rights, I have to comment: If you DON’T have a criminal record, why are you not trying harder?)
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About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.