I Would Rather Talk About Obamacare, Thank You

My latest letter designed to annoy the Foxwatchers who also read the Hays Daily News.

A co-worker told me that Obamacare is “messing up the country”, I replied that making health care available to more of our fellow citizens is actually “fixing up the country”. I was struck by how nice it is that we were discussing the minutia of the insurance industry, as opposed to subjects that concerned us in the near-recent past.
It has been some time since we analyzed the plummeting Dow-Jones index. We no longer have to discuss the body bags returning from Iraq. Despite the wishes of some of our Senators, we do not currently have to talk about body bags returning from Iran or Syria. This is undeniably a good thing for everyone.
Most people would rather have our most pressing issue be health insurance rates; as opposed to when we were concerned with collapsing buildings and the resulting thousands of casualties. We should be happy that we no longer have to talk about the economy shedding thousands of jobs each month.
Given the alternative topics from recent history, I am glad to discuss the changes taking place in our health care system; changes which will make health care better. Recent newspaper coverage leads me to believe the Hays Medical Center shares my outlook concerning the future of American health care, as they expand buildings and services. I am glad Senator Moran was in town to see this optimism first hand.


Published Dec 15, 2013

We Need Representation

The following letter was published in the Hays Daily News, another in a series of letters wherein the Think Tank For Freedom in America to Think (In A Tank) tells the world how to behave. We suggested the headline, Damn, Tim Huelskamp Sure Does Suck, but the newspaper had their own ideas.

The agreement ending the recent government shutdown included a provision that a conference committee will meet to work out a budget, based on the differing budget bills passed in each of the houses of Congress. This is the process described in the Constitution, which differs from the recent practice of passing Continuing Resolutions that just extend an old budget bill. This House/Senate committee should produce a bill that work to satisfy the citizen’s needs and concerns (national debt,  economic growth, individual liberties, etc., etc. etc.). This important budget bill will then be voted upon by the entire Congress, including our Representative in the House, Tim Huelskamp.
Tim’s voting history and public pronouncements tell us that no budget will be austere enough, no budget will cut your Social Security enough, no budget will close national monuments enough. His input will be neither sought nor considered, because everyone knows Congressman Huelskamp will vote “NO”. That means that we, the voters of the 1st District of Kansas, will not be represented in this budget process; just as we are no longer represented in the House Agriculture Committee.
We don’t like it when drug peddlers are in the Sheriff’s Office, we would not want an arsonist running the Fire Department, and we would not select an atheist to be our parish priest. So why did we elect a person who dislikes government and is a person who believes the “government is the problem”? Should we be surprised that Washington has problems when we sent a government-hater to help run the place?
Let’s send someone who believes government can work for us and will endeavor to make sure government will work for us; as opposed to sending someone who believes in obstruction, destruction, and vandalism.
No word yet from any of Rep. Tim's many offices.
This letter points out a problem, but does not lay out any possible solutions. Who could better represent us in the House of Representatives? I don't know.
In this respect, I am similar to the GOP, with their "Repeal and Replace" suggestion for health care. Replace Obamacare with what? We don't know.

The Tim Huelskamp Small Business Award

Representative Tim Huelskamp, in a recent column, observed National Small Business Week by calling on the government to “get out of the way” of small business owners by reducing tax and regulatory burdens. To further recognize those small business owners who spend hours at the kitchen table reading the complete IRS tax code and the entire printing of Obamacare regulations instead of doing what they do best, running their business; I am awarding The Tim Huelskamp Small Business Award to Farrukh and Bushra Baig, owners of 7-Eleven franchises in New York and Virginia. They along with seven others have been indicted for fraud, identity theft, and concealing illegal immigration. They receive this prestigious award for having the courage to lead us into a system of decreased taxes and regulation, by refusing to knuckle under to time consuming federal rules; including those mandating paying a minimum wage, or the ones requiring that employees be actually paid for the work they do, or the ones outlawing undocumented workers from stealing the identities of deceased Americans. I am sure Rep. Huelskamp, along with me, thanks these brave job creators for showing us what a small business Nirvana this country could become, just as soon as the Government gets out of way.

Pat Roberts, Jerry Moran, and the Guy at the Co-op

Senators Roberts and Moran have been working for us on Second Amendment issues in Washington. There is a bill in the Senate that would allow/direct the President to confiscate all privately owned firearms. I looked for the bill number but could not find one; I'm sure the bill exists because a guy at the co-op told me so.

Our Senators also voted against the background checks bill because the Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms without ever having to fill out any paperwork. That last part is actually in the Constitution; I learned that from the same guy.  

P.S. For those who have no ear for sarcasm; yes, if you disagree with me on this issue, I am comparing you to Scut Farkas.

Obama Wants You to Dispaly the American Flag: will his evil never end???

President Obama, in an Executive Order, declared May 1, 2012 to be Loyalty Day, a day when Americans are encouraged to display the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The first Loyalty Day was declared by President Eisenhower in 1959 and has been repeated each May 1 by every President, including Ronald Reagan and two George Bushes. Loyalty Day neither new nor is it evil. I only became aware of this holiday when, in the Hays Daily News, a reader disparaged Loyalty Day because it occurs on May 1 and because Barak Obama is somehow involved. There is no UN Communist Socialist Kenyan drone plot involved; a conclusion I was able to reach with three minutes of research on the internet, while simultaneously watching an episode of American Pickers.

How to Handle The "Debt Ceiling Crisis"

Nowadays we like to label everything a “crisis” and there is another one on the way, “The Debt Ceiling Crisis”. Sometime next month the federal government will no longer be able to pay the bills Congress has run up because we will have reached the debt limit, a number established two years ago when we had a “Debt Ceiling Crisis”. Unless Congress acts, it presumably will fall to the President and/or the Secretary of the Treasury to decide what bills to pay, what promises to keep, and what obligations to ignore. This process is complicated by the fear of the national debt: “it’s immoral to make future generations to pay for our spending“; “debt makes us slaves to the Chinese“; I am sure you’re familiar with the rhetoric. But in this situation Congress, not the President, has authorized (promised) this spending but now seems reluctant to actually pay it’s bills. No one has been publicly specific about what spending will be curtailed so that the federal government won’t have to sell any more bonds, so I’ve come up with the probable money saving actions the Secretary will employ.

We have talked about closing national parks before, so that’s a certainty, but it not nearly enough savings to make a difference. Since this “Debt Ceiling Crisis” is being caused by Congress’ deliberate inaction, Congress should get some of the burden. It seems wrong to stop the paychecks of the Members of Congress but we should stop paying all their support staff. The elevator operators, the committee staff, the security guards should punch out and go home. They will be more comfortable at home because the government should turn off the heat, water, and lights in Capitol building and the Congressional office building.

Here are some easy immediate spending reductions the Secretary of Treasury could make right away: stop making F-35s. Park the ones all ready delivered and put them in mothballs until Lockheed-Martin figures out how to make them work right. These studies can’t be on the military’s dime, Lockheed-Martin made us believe the planes would work, so they can pay for it. We could also cancel all KC-46 contracts. This would save our children $4.6 billion; for that amount we could buy a lot of duct tape to keep the KC-135 tankers flying.

It is immoral to make future generations pay for our Navy; they won’t get to ride our present-day ships and submarines, so stop construction of all Navy and Coast Guard projects. No new submarines, aircraft carriers or destroyers. Send all the shipyard workers home; Uncle Sam won’t be paying the bill.  You may say , “Won’t that raise the unemployment numbers??  Sen. Moran says” Government does not create jobs” , so how would it be possible for government to destroy jobs? So as any Republican would tell you, the answer is “No, the ‘Debt Ceiling Crisis’ will not increase unemployment.”

A large proportion of US government spending is checks sent to Medicare/Medicaid providers and Social Security recipients, so sending out these checks would push us over the debt limit. We will have to stop paying all retirees, civilian and military. Forget about the fact that the people getting this money paid into the system throughout  their working lives; the Federal Government should not be held to it’s Social Security promises. The Republicans in Congress will like this result; they are working to get rid of “the social safety net”; more impoverished elderly people would be seen as a good outcome.

Furlough all air traffic controllers and TSA inspectors. We just can’t afford to pay those people any more. I know we hired them and promised to pay them, but hey, we’ve reached an arbitrary number called “the debt ceiling”, so that promise is also null and void. This debt-saving measure would of course shut down all civilian air traffic. The only thing allowed in the air would be Air Force planes armed to shoot down criminal planes (any plane in the air would be in criminal violation)  This ban on flights would include emergency medical flights (this aspect would be acceptable to the GOP, as only poor people have to get airlifted to the hospital)

Shut down the Border Patrol; it would be immoral to make our kids pay for our present-day immigration policy.  Put a big iron gate across all roads leading to Canada and Mexico. Paying customs agents will also put us further in debt, so we will shut down inspections of all cargo in all American ports; no ships in or out. Except Coast Guard ships on combat patrol to sink any criminal craft. (any boat in American waters would be in criminal violation).

Meat is inspected by the USDA, we have to borrow money from our children to have untainted meat. Of course, the downside is… no inspections- no meat. The upside is…short supply will make prices go up, which makes more profit for Wal-Mart and Kroger; and isn’t that what is most important, more money for the “job creators”?  Don’t worry, there will be foreign noninspected black market beef available for you city folk, (remember, there will be no one patrolling the land borders), we rural people all know farmers and ranchers who will sell us cattle right out of the pasture (we could go on the internet and learn how to butcher the cows). The farmers will be needing money because any payments for crop insurance, price support programs, etc. etc. will have to be suspended; again, because paying those bills will cause us to borrow from the Chinese.

Most government debt is not really held by China; Americans and American institutions, like mutual funds, investment banks, and hedge funds hold most of the bonds. To not pay these corporations(which are people, after all) would cause international monetary problems so complex that only learned people can predict them, so I would say we should continue to pay the interest on the national debt; rich people/corporations should never be inconvenienced; so when it comes to the debt ceiling, we poor people will shoulder the burden, we always do.

Some of you, like my right-wing friends, seem to think the only function of the Federal Government to take away firearms and give money to undeserving poor people. Congress is on the road to making a debt ceiling crisis that will be both horrific AND educational.

Unless Speaker Boehner allows a debt limit extension to come to the House floor and Sen. McConnell does not filibuster the bill in the Senate, ordinary functions of government could cease. We can hold out hope that Congress does what is best for America. Republicans laudably want to cut the federal budget, but now is not the time to do that; they have the upcoming “Sequestration Crisis” and the “Continuing Resolution Crisis” where they can change the budget amounts spent by the government through the ordinary legislative process, you know, like in the Constitution.