Savage Republican

Today is April 15th, as we are required to voluntarily pay under threats from the IRS.
As I wrote a few years ago, the 16th Amendment was offered as “only a tax on the incomes of the rich.” (Sound familiar at all?). Today, we make kitten and puppy stew to have those original tax rates back.
Tax Freedom Day (when the average worker has worked long enough to pay all his taxes) is usually around the middle of April. This means that you work nearly a third of a year just to pay the taxes you owe. Notice I said pay the taxes you owe. The Cost of Government Day which usually is in the first or second week of July is now out another month to August. (COGD means the total cost of government including taxes, regulations and the full burden on the economy government at all levels place on the taxpayer).

From Reason magazine: “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society,” said legendary Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. As students of Buck v. Bell could tell you, Holmes had a habit of being monstrously wrong, but if he’s right about taxes and civilization, it’s certainly worth asking whether we’re getting what we pay for.” Oh. So America is a club and taxes are dues. Or does that mean we were not civilized until the 16th Amendment?
And so, from Reason magazine, I present a short video for your edification on Tax Day.
Smile and be happy serf (even though a serf was much freer as he only had to provide 20-25% to his overlord. Didn’t we go to war with a small island nation a few years back over a 3% tax on sugar?)

From Hot Air (be sure to read the comments at this link at Hot Air):

On 9 March, I had an eye opening encounter with the American health care system. I got up early and traveled to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for the first time in my life for a 7:30 a.m. appointment. Lots of paperwork at the office at St. Mary’s Hospital-in addition to all the paperwork I filled out prior to the appointment. But, this was Mayo Clinic. At about 8:30 I had a 45 minute medical evaluation with the department head. We discussed prior treatments, current available treatments. He wanted to eliminate some concerns and explore a couple of possibilities. To that end he said he wanted an EKG, a blood draw and an MRI. He sent the requests out to his scheduler, Todd. Within 15 minutes, I had the EKG, blood draw and MRI all scheduled for that day. And all scheduled around a 1:00 p.m. audiology test I had scheduled for the same day. So, off I went. Going to Mayo Clinic and Methodist Hospital (right across the street). Todd and given me an itinerary and provided a map that he highlighted including where to park. If I ran into problems, he said to ask at any of the Information desks.
Now, Mayo is huge. The tests are run assembly line. But, everyone I ran into was friendly and efficient. And remember, Mayo is always ranked top five in so many categories.
And during lunch (yup, I had time for lunch too!), it occurred to me: ObamaCare in any form is a disaster; what was happening to me at Mayo, this day, could never, ever happen under ObamaCare. Mayo as it is would cease to exist.
And my resolve against the collectivists, progressives, lefties, RINO’s was ratcheted up-markedly.

Have a Question about Robert’s Rules?
Wondering what to have in your BPOU or CD convention rules?
Always wondered what a Point of Order is?

Ask away in the Comments and I will do my best to Answer.

Today is the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
A small group of survivors braved the bone chilling cold to remember and give a human face to the past.

And at the opening in 1940:

And how was it that men could do this? Because they had the power. The evil in their hearts could roam free. It was just this type of government that the Constitution was meant to prevent (“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”-George Washington).
After the war, Germans were horrified at what they loosed on the world. Their protests were that this was not possible. After all, they were richly civilized people. They were the people of Beethoven, Bach, Handel and Goethe. Even Luther! But…

The best quote as a warning I can come up with today comes from none other than Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain)-“History doesn’t repeat itself. But it sure does rhyme!“
“It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.” John Philpot Curran

I just read where one of the people who hid Anne Frank and her family passed away at 100. Miep Gies worked in Otto Franks office and agreed to hide and help the family for 25 months from 1942 to 1944. It was Mrs. Gies who found Anne Frank’s diary in the aftermath just after the raid. From the stories I’ve read, she decided not to read the diary and kept it in full anticipation that she’d be able able to return it to the young diarist.
Anne Frank and her sister Margot died of typhus two weeks before her camp was liberated in 1945.
That being said, I remember coming across the only known movie film of Anne Frank showing a curious twelve year girl looking out a window at a wedding celebration.
Click on this link to view the short film (embedding has been disabled, much to my regret)

Always remember, this young girl died because of a government that had concentrated power, exactly what the Constitution was meant to stop.

Mr. William Franklin Wanner’s life is over.He’s accused of molesting a ten year old girl a number of times. Even assuming that he’s found not guilty, his life will never be the same. (Video footage seemingly corroborates the girls testimony. That being the case, adios.) But that’s not why I’m writing. What prompted this entry was the end of the one sentence sixth paragraph: after describing that he’s affiliated with Wanner Engineering, we also find out that he” has been a significant contributor to local and national Republican candidates.” Oh. And why is that significant to the story in any way, shape or form? I forgot: it’s the Star Tribune. Subtle smears against Republicans, Christians, etc are pro forma. This one isn’t very subtle.
I’ll keep monitoring the story for comments secure in the knowledge that that fact will be used by the commenters.
P.S. After 17 seconds of reflection, it occurs to me that another reason for the inclusion is to have all those candidates who received contributions from Wanner give back the money.

First of all, the obligatory “Happy New Year”. I happened to have slept through it, but…
I came across this headline yesterday:” Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients“.Arizona-land of the snowbird and frozen tundra retirees. Arizona, where Phoenix is the kidnapping capitol of America. So, I read on. I discovered that Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic are non-profit (Mayo and Cleveland are ranked #2 and #4 ,respectively, in the nation). The article goes on to report that the Mayo Clinic Organization lost $840,000,000 treating Medicare patients last year, $120,000,000 of that in Arizona. The article goes on to say that there has been a 20% payment gap (for Medicare) nationwide, for at least a decade. Now, as a businessman, 20% means that in a non-profit atmosphere, that disparity is eating into your overhead recovery. In other words, you’re not only not making money, you’re losing money on each patient. And from the article, that’s been going on for over a decade. OK, multiply 10 x 20% = 200%, meaning that 2 full years of revenue, not profit, but revenue have been lost over the past decade. Now, how does a business make up the difference? Only two ways: increase revenue and/or cut expenses. It ain’t rocket science. Well, if you are offering a service with so many hours in a day and so many providers, you can charge more for those who pay in order to cover your losses (sound familiar yet? Now, you have another clue as to why aspirin in a hospital costs $10). Eliminating a non-profit or a pure cost item is eliminating an expense. Therefore, Medicare gets dropped. Yet, the Obamacare package is going to cut Medicare reimbursements by approximately $500,000,000.
So, where do Medicare retirees go now? What next? The article states that 92% of American doctors participate in Medicare, but that only 73% are taking new Medicare patients. I’m 60. I’m on the front edge of the wave called the Baby Boom. We will bankrupt the system that is now underfunded by tens of trillions of dollars. What will happen when the Baby Boomers behind me flood and overwhelm the system’s ability to even come close to adequately funding the Medicare Plan? When you have the likes of Boxer, Feinstein, Franken, Klobuchar, Schumer, Jackson Lee who can’t even give money away are now in charge of health care?
There will absolutely have to be rationing of health care. There is no way around it. The laws of economics are like the laws of physics- they are inevitable. There will be bureaucrats sitting someplace in a conference room. They will decide what treatments will be offered to what types of patients. Yah, that’s right, people will have to die for lack of treatment for lack of money, aka the bureaucrats will therefore compose “death panels”.
The truth hurts.
Oh, and you, me, everyone else-the good news: we can opt out. The bad news:but we’ll be fined and/or be put in prison.
Bring it on…

P.S.- Seems even countries where there is complete and absolute government control experience the immutability of the laws of economic.

I happened to walk past the TSA office at MSP airport earlier this month.
I noticed that they have only one poster on the wall as you enter office.
Something to help them remember the most important thing about the TSA.
On side say “We are TSA” and the other side.
“We are Security” – Nope
“We are Safety” – Nope

Here it is –

“We are Diverse”
That is what they want their people to focus on.