Friday, September 21, 2007

Her Highness Hillary the Hilarious

  • Since Hillary has fired the opening salvo by referring to Vice-President Cheney as Darth Vader, name-calling is now the order of the day. Jaba the Hut?
  • If she is the Wicked Witch of the West, that would make Bill the general of the flying monkeys.
  • How about Nurse Ratched?
  • When will Norman Hsu turn up face down in Fort Marcy Park?
  • KFC’s new meal combo: The Hillary Special: Two large thighs, two left wings and two small breasts.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Health (S)care

I have a simple request regarding the concept of federal mandates or provision of health- care and/or health insurance. Would someone kindly cite the empowering language in the U.S. Constitution (as amended) which gives the Federal Government authority and power to provide or mandate healthcare and/or health insurance and furthermore to use any federal tax money for such activity. I have read through the Constitution and amendments and can find no such positive authority, short of a new amendment. Finding none, it seems that the Tenth Amendment is the controlling legal authority in this instance and only the States would have such power. Any light that shed on this murky conundrum would be greatly appreciated. And by the way, don’t throw up the infamous Interstate Commerce Clause. Sorry, no cigar. It would seem that this question applies equally to Medicare and Social Security as well.

Full Disclosure

I think it would be great if Congress were required to specify at the beginning of each bill, unique topic within each bill and each amendment to a bill passed and sent to the President for signature; the exact language from the Constitution and its Amendments explicitly authorizing and empowering the Federal Government to engage in those activities. Furthermore, such disclosure should include ellaboration by Congress on the quoted Constitutional text so as to explain its understanding of why and how that language does indeed empower and authorize the Federal Government to engage in those activities. Full disclosure is required on a can of peas, why not Federal legislation?