According to the Congressional Budget Office, the least expensive non-group health care plan created by Nancy Pelosi’s bill would cost $15,000.00.

Better still are the draconian penalties for failing to pay. 

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R), released a  letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation, or JCT for short.  The letter confirms that a person who, at any point during a given year, fails to buy health care as mandated by HR 3962 could face higher federal taxes, be sent to prison for five years, fined $250,000.00, or a combination of the three.

Here are just a few poignant excerpts from the JCT letter:

“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.”

“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…”

Criminal penalties

“Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses.  Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:
Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.”

The full letter is HERE. 

It’s a good read and, since Pelosi has now broken her pledge to put the health care bill online for 72 hours prior to voting, it’s about the only way you’re going to find out what’s in it.

- Robert Laurie

 

Uh-Oh.  Looks like there’s more bad news for Acorn and, by extension, the President.

Louisiana Attorney General, Bobby Caldwell has issued and served a warrant allowing authorities to raid Acorn’s New Orleans offices.  Investigators were  have seized dozens of computers and large carts filled with paper records.

According to published reports, the warrants were issued in connection with tax evasion and embezzelment cases.  The hard drives and documents will be scanned, copied, and then returned to Acorn officials.

So far, investigators say that Acorn has been cooperating, but you have to wonder how long that will last.  I mean, how are they supposed to set up brothels and advise the sex-slave trade  if they don’t even have computers?

Full story here.

- Robert Laurie

Louisiana Senator, David Vitter, had introduced a bill that would have required the US Census to identify non-citizens in the 2010 count.

Senate Democrats can’t have any of that and, yesterday, blocked the bill from reaching a vote.  Clearly, when they’re counting the people living in the U.S., asking them how much they make, how big their homes are, their race, their religion, how many cars they have, and how many toilets they own, Dems wouldn’t want a pesky little question like “Are you a U.S. citizen?” getting in the way.

Democrats claim that they don’t want the measure passed because they’re afraid the government will use it to prosecute those who are here illegaly.  The obvious follow up question: “if they’re here illegaly, they’re committing a crime, so why wouldn’t we want to prosecute them?” has gone unanswered.

Of course, the real motive behind counting illegals, and the reason Obama was so desirous of Acorn’s shady involvement, is simple.  The number of Senators, as well as political redistricting, are based on the numbers generated in the Census.  More illegals counted, means more Democrat leverage when they start the gerrymandering.

It’s especially important as it’s looking increasingly likely that redistricting may be the only way Dems can stave off Congressional losses….

…not to mention Barack’s increasingly likely status as a “one-termer.”

- Robert Laurie

Barack Obama and his Democrat-controlled Congress now preside over the highest unemployment rate since 1983.  Despite the President’s claim that failure to pass the trillion dollar stimulus package might “result in unemployment rates going as high as 8%,” he is now faced with a jobless number much higher:  10.2%

It hasn’t been this bad since Reagan was cleaning up Carter’s mess.

If you count people who have taken part-time work, or given up the job hunt altogether, the unemployment rate has now reached a staggering 17.5%. 

As if the news wasn’t bad enough, unemployment is rising faster than predicted, and most economists claim that things are going to get substantially worse before they get better.

None of this seems to bother the Dems, who’ve been dividing their time between an unreadable health care bill no one wants, cap & trade legislation that will cost even more jobs, and the all important NFL head injury hearings.

So, remember, this Sunday, when Pelosi’s gang of criminals vote to take control of 1/6 of the US economy, you should be grateful.  After all, you can’t get insurance through your employer if Obama’s policies have cost you your job.

- Robert Laurie

By the way, here in Detroit, the unemployment rate has been sitting at 15.2% for a couple of months.  It’s at around 20% if you count the people who’ve stopped looking.

So, America, we’re pretty damn jealous of your 10.2.

There are new details coming in from Fort Hood, but the specifics of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s rampage are different depending on where you get the information.

Some networks are reporting that the shooter had been making comments and internet posts that would align him with the radical Muslim camp, while others are sticking with the “crazed lone gunman” theory.

Initially it was reported that the gunman had been killed.  We now know that, while he was shot several times, the wounds were not fatal.   At the moment, he’s being kept alive on a ventilator.

According to eyewitnesses, as he opened fire the shooter was screaming “Allahu Akbar!” – an Arabic phrase meaning “God is Great!”

Beyond that, details are still sketchy, and the investigation continues.

- Robert Laurie