THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† Stimulus Sting: The New York Times is not kidding with the observation, “Everybody is looking for stimulus money.” First, stimulus checks went to prison inmates. Then, Floridians who were wanted on outstanding warrants had their hands out (which made it easy for authorities to cuff ‘em and bring them in). Now, the mob wants its cut of the “tidal wave of federal dollars”:
Federal and state investigators who track organized crime believe that some members have geared up to take advantage of the swift and enormous cash influx - if they have not already - looking, as the old Sicilian expression goes, to wet their beaks.
Nimble, innovative and with a seemingly boundless appetite for the taxpayer’s dollar, the mob’s more sophisticated cadre has plundered municipal, state and federal coffers for generations.
So the F. B. I. office in New York has conducted an extensive analysis of the money flowing into the area to create a blueprint of its vulnerabilities, a process, an official said, that is being continually updated. …
Because the money is being widely dispersed - flowing to federal agencies, then to states and localities and then to contractors and smaller groups - opportunities for fraud abound at a level rarely seen. …
“It’s coming out without the internal controls in place,” said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. “It’s like putting a bank robber in a toll booth.”
So how does President Barack Hussein Obama top himself? With healthcare “reform” - another humungous, half-assed government program.
† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: The New York Times reports that “for many people squeezed by the recession, a jury summons holds a new fear: financial ruin. … While no one keeps overall statistics on juror excuses, those closest to the process say that in many parts of the country an increasing number of jurors are trying to get out of service, forcing courts to call an ever larger pool of jurors to meet their needs.”
† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, Is Obama Already A Lame Duck?): The Washington Times’ Matthew Mosk reports that “a core group of Democrats reacted angrily to signs that the White House was getting ready to abandon a public insurance plan as part of its health care bill. But anxiety is growing in other areas, too. Environmentalists dislike the watering down of climate change legislation in the House. Anti-war activists are unhappy with the president's escalation in
Consequently, “President Obama, once considered as politically agile and deft as a gazelle, is now looking increasingly like a deer caught in the headlights,” observes FOX News contributor and nationally syndicated radio host Monica Crowley in a Washington Times op-ed:
The president's agenda is in deep trouble, and now it appears not even the silver-tongued, savvy political Merlin himself can salvage it. …
Mr. Obama has been particularly perplexed by the revolt against his ideas, for two main reasons:
First, he (like the rest of his party) misread November's election results as a mandate to impose a far-left agenda without debate. The American people, however, still believe in the quaint idea of robust discussion before ideas are turned into law. They also make up a country that remains ideologically center-right. …
The second reason involves Mr. Obama's lack of political combat experience. He has never been hit before. Until the health care blowup, none of his significant political opponents ever really landed a punch. During his early
His agenda is sinking into quicksand, and it's only a matter of time before he also grows overwhelmed and heavy from a battle to which he is unaccustomed.
Obama has already turned the reins over to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to craft the mighty legislation that would become the cornerstones of the temple in which his supplicants would worship his Greatness and Munificence unto eternity. As setback after setback causes The One to become increasingly disengaged from the hard work of governance, nothing will remain ‘round the decay of the colossal wreck of his presidency.
† Updates To Previous Posts (fourth item, There's No Such Thing As Free Healthcare): Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA) is curtailing state-subsidized health insurance coverage for 31,000 legal immigrants to help close a budget gap. Under the new plan immigrants will have to pay out-of-pocket for dental, hospice and skilled-nursing care, reports The New York Times:
Although their health benefits will be sharply curtailed in some cases, Mr. Patrick portrayed the new program as a victory, saying the services that the affected group tends to use the most will still be covered. …
The new plan, which will cover permanent residents who have had green cards for less than five years, will cost the state $40 million a year. Some of the affected immigrants will be charged higher co-payments and will have to find new doctors, said Leslie A. Kirwan, Mr. Patrick’s finance director.
Still, Mr. Patrick described the new coverage as comprehensive and said it could be a model for less expensive state-subsidized benefits as health care costs continue to rise. Under the 1996 federal law that overhauled the nation’s welfare system, the 31,000 affected immigrants do not qualify for Medicaid or other federal aid.
Just like private employers and private insurers, the government giveth healthcare coverage, and the government taketh it away – which means that healthcare coverage is neither a “right,” nor “a core ethical and moral obligation.”
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