I want a house. I want a plane. I want to travel. I want to not worry about paying my bills.
Seems to me that's what American society is rapidly becoming...I want, I want, I want. But to turn a phrase, "Who's paying for this, Morris?"
Middle Class America was once the so-called "American Dream". Study hard, work hard, and you can live a decent life and maybe make it a little bit better for your kids.
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6 comments(Latest Comment: 03/31/2012 22:34:30 by BobR)
A young man is walking along, minding his own business. He disappears and turns up dead days later. His killer or killers are defended by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The perpetrators of the true crime are let off the hook, and all because the victim was "different". This is a story that has been played out hundreds of times in America, and now is being seen again in the case of Trayvon Martin.
This week among the flurry of SCOTUS arguments was the topic of the individual mandate and it's constitutionality. Arguments have been made for and against it. Lost, once again, in the shuffle is the actual mandate and its cost. Lost in the debate are the number of people that will be affected by the mandate slated to go into effect in 2014. This is all making the assumption that the Supreme Court declares the Mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act Constitutional.
I would like to reclarify what the mandate is. Basically, if you or your family do not have insurance by a set time you will be required to buy an insurance plan or pay a penalty.
Q. I don't have health insurance. Will I have to get it, and what happens if I don't?
A: Under the legislation, most Americans will have to have insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty. The penalty would start at $95, or up to 1 percent of income, whichever is greater, and rise to $695, or 2.5 percent of income, by 2016. This is the individual limit; families have a limit of $2,085 or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater. Some people can be exempted from the insurance requirement, called an individual mandate, because of financial hardship or religious beliefs or if they are American Indians, for example.
On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was walking home from the store to his dad's house. Self-appointed block "captain" George Zimmerman decided in his mind that this boy was a criminal and pursued him, despite direct directions from the non-emergency 911 operator NOT to do that. Supposedly, a scuffle occurred and Zimmerman shot Martin, claiming self-defense. Had Zimmerman been an actual police officeer, this may have been just another white-cop-shoots-black-youth story, and gotten little press.
But Zimmerman was a private citizen, and Trayvon's parents were not about to let Zimmerman get away with murder (literally). And so - in the interim, the case has turned into a national discussion about racism (both casual and institutionalized), assumed guilt, and what constitutes self-defense and justifiable homocide. So let's take a closer look at these things...
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40 comments(Latest Comment: 03/28/2012 22:46:25 by Raine)
We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com:
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,915 Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,022
We find this morning's cost of war passing through:
$ 1, 316, 092, 375, 000 .00
We'll get right into the political aspect of the war today. Like last time around, candidates are trying to make war a political issue. But it's far more cloudy than the last time around when there was a pretty clear division between the candidates.
a federal tax law that says, in essence, that a taxpayer cannot challenge a tax, at a minimum, until it comes into effect.
If the Supreme Court eventually rules that the individual mandate triggers the AIA, the court will have effectively punted the constitutional debate concerning the individual mandate down the road. It will have found that no challenge to the mandate can be brought until it goes into effect, which is after 2014.
The AIA, enacted in 1867, says “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person.” It was passed to protect the government’s need to assess and collect taxes as expeditiously as possible with minimum interference from the judiciary.
Be afraid, be very afraid. Dick Cheney now has a heart. Now, if only he had courage and a brain! Also, the capacity for honesty, compassion, love, tolerance, and justice; but sadly, those things are not for sale, no matter who you are.
But, let's be happy for Dick, after all he needed a new heart because as he said back in Jan of this year, the pump that worked perfectly fine and kept him alive made it "awkward to walk around."
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8 comments(Latest Comment: 03/26/2012 00:46:41 by Will in Chicago)
Hi Everyone. Our delightful stretch of weather is coming to an end....cold front is expected tonight, and temps will be back to more “normal” levels overnight tonight. While I could write about the weather, and how alarming it is to see things budding and opening at this stage of the game, we’re not going there today.
We’re all familiar with Aesop’s fable of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse. Neither visit ended well for our furry friends. This past week, working in the city, I’ve been pondering whether I’d have to call myself a City Trisec or a Country Trisec.
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8 comments(Latest Comment: 03/25/2012 01:25:26 by TriSec)
