Beyond Defeat or Defiance; Redefining state-based health reform under Obamacare.

American Enterprise Institute   "But one way or another, taxpayer subsidies for new ACA coverage for at least several million Americans will start flowing out of Washington in 2014. The results of the 2012 election, as well as last June’s Supreme Court decision upholding the health law as constitutional, mean that Obamacare’s plans for even more doses of health care subsidies, regulations, and mandates cannot be fully stopped. However, changing the terms of how this happens and reshaping the future nature of our health system remain possible."
Related posts at this site:

• As debate about whether ObamaCare is a good idea continues, rejecting four major misconceptions about healthcare is crucial to any chance of our eventually emerging with a better system.
• More than Just Broccoli: The Real Slippery Slope of ObamaCare’s ‘Must-Buy’ Provision
• If You Don’t Buy Insurance, Will You Really Pay the Tax?
• Why Is the ObamaCare Tax/Penalty Needed at All?
• The law is unpopular among small business owners because it is not making employee health insurance more affordable.

The Brits are experts at government-run healthcare:

Elections have consequences and these are some that voters have coming

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Obama Claus Gives You 90 More Days To Collect Your $50,000 Reparations Check  "Circle March 25, 2013 on your calendar. That's the last day you can submit your claim form from this official U.S. government website to collect fifty thousand tax-free American dollars, courtesy of the Obama administration in its current multi-billion giveaway scheme. "

Senators Pushing for Online Sales Tax Next Year "Congress may not want to dump an online sales tax on Americans in the wake of Christmas, but they’re preparing to do so next year."

Lets see now, who is it that is in charge of the Senate?

Victor Davis Hanson;   Let the Real Fat Cats Pay Their Fair Share ...."For much of 2012, Obama waged a veritable class war against conservatives, as if they were all right-wing clones of Donald Trump and the Koch brothers. But modern Democrats — Nancy Pelosi, George Soros, Steven Spielberg, Brian Williams or Oprah Winfrey — are as likely to be very wealthy as are Republicans, who increasingly better represent small-business owners desperately struggling to become affluent.
"Next time around, Republicans might remind us of that paradox by nominating a small-business scrapper, who -- unlike millionaires such as Al Gore, John Kerry or Barack Obama — did not go to prep school and the Ivy League. And they might find better ways for those in academia, entertainment, sports, big law and the media to pay their fair share."

Thomas Sowell; Taxing the Poor  "Someone who is trying to climb out of poverty by working their way up can easily reach a point where a $10,000 increase in pay can cost them $15,000 in lost benefits that they no longer qualify for. That amounts to a marginal tax rate of 150 percent-- far more than millionaires pay. Some government policies help some people at the expense of other people. But some policies can hurt welfare recipients, the taxpayers and others, all at the same time, even though in different ways.

"Why? Because we are too easily impressed by lofty political rhetoric and too little interested in the reality behind the words. "

CNBC Anchor Challenges Dem Senator On Cliff Negotiations; Floor Traders Erupt In Cheers

Big Journalism  " “That’s all you want to do. That’s it. It’s your way or the highway. Raise the rates on the rich. No other way. Your way or the highway. That’s it. That’s where we are. Thank you, Senator.”

"That's how CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo (right) finished her interview with Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) last week as the two went back and forth over the fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington DC. It was the first time a Democrat has really been challenged over their lack of leadership in the negotiations.

"Conventional wisdom (and therefore the dominant narrative in the media) focuses on Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans being intransigent and not meeting President Obama and the Democrats for a "balanced approach." Bartiromo exploded that narrative by challenging Cardin on ANY alternative type of revenue stream that doesn't include raising tax rates. Cardin would not agree to any of them, thus destroying the idea that Democrats are embracing the "balanced approach." "

Video at the link.

"A Christmas Story" cast; where are they now?

A Christmas Story House
A great site for aficionados of the movie because of all the links and interesting trivia from then and now.



A Christmas Story cast reunion around the leg lamp at A Christmas Story Convention.
From left to right Ian Petrella (Randy), Zack Ward (Scut Farkus), Tedde Moore (Miss Shields),
Yano Anaya (Grover Dill), Dwayne McClean (Black Bart), Scott Schwartz (Flick), Patty Lafontaine (Elf),
Drew Hocevear (Elf) and Jom Moralevitz (Freight Man).
At bottom: Randy hiding under the sink.

The evil Scut Farkus, aka Zack Ward

Santa and the elves. Ho,ho,ho Patty Johnson (head elf), Drew Hocevar (male elf), and
Jeff Gillen(Santa)

"Like many others, Johnson, Hocevar and Gillen reached their thespian zenith with ‘A Christmas Story.’ Gillen created Great Southern Studios, a production company in North Miami Beach, Florida, and was its president until 1995, when he suffered a fatal heart attack. Patty Johnson and Drew Hocevar continue to live in Ohio, where both are employed as teachers."

Filming locations  , Actors pictures



Ann Coulter; Kwanzaa: Holiday Brought to You By The FBI

Karenga/Everett

Ann Coulter  " But it seems to be creeping back. A few weeks ago, House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., complained about having to stick around Washington for fiscal cliff negotiations by accusing Republicans of not caring about "families" coming together to bond during Kwanzaa. The private schools have picked up this PC nonsense from the public schools. (Soon, no one will know anything.)
"It is a fact that Kwanzaa was invented in 1966 by a black radical FBI stooge, Ron Karenga -- aka Dr. Maulana Karenga --- founder of United Slaves, a violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers. He was also a dupe of the FBI."

wtfpoliticalcartoons

.... "Kwanzaa emerged not from Africa, but from the FBI's COINTELPRO. It is a holiday celebrated exclusively by idiot white liberals. Black people celebrate Christmas. (Merry Christmas, fellow Christians!)
"Sing to "Jingle Bells":

Kwanzaa bells, dashikis sell
Whitey has to pay;
Burning, shooting, oh what fun
On this made-up holiday!

Quit Frontin on Kwanzaa  "For most Black folks, the holiday of Kwanzaa is one tied to Pan-Africanism and thus gets mentioned more in their living rooms on TV commercials than at family gatherings. I’ve decided we’ve been frontin’ on Kwanzaa for no real good reason. So here are some pre-emptive responses to questions and concerns."

Obama’s Cap-and-Trade Scheme for Cars

Heritage  "Ever since the Senate rejected President Obama’s cap-and-trade scheme in 2009, his administration has been hard at work to find other ways to implement a radical, environmentalist agenda.

"Obama made these intentions clear at a press conference in 2010 when he explained, “Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat. … It was a means, not an end, and I am going to be looking for other means to address this problem.” And this is a promise he’s doing his best to keep.

http://jtcontracelsum.blogspot.com/2009/03/hot-air.html

"With the help of the Environmental Protection Agency and other departments, this administration has relied on backdoor, behind-the-scenes tactics to impose stringent mandates in order to regulate what it has been unable to legislate. This tactic empowers unelected bureaucrats in Washington to implement rules that have far-reaching, negative impacts on our nation’s economy and the way we live our lives."....

Do we see a cartoon theme here?

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/obamas-freedom-manifesto-and-where-it-leads/

nbcnews.com Wait! What? NBC?

http://www.cagle.com/

And to finish this up: The winner of our Obama/Santa cartoon caption contest!

Homosexuals in the military demand special privileges

Washington Times  "The American armed forces exist to defend our nation, not to conduct social science lab experiments in which our troops serve as human subjects. Try telling that to this administration.

"The first anniversary of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Sept. 20, has come and gone. Now, there is mounting evidence that proves our warnings were not idle chatter. The threat to freedom posed by this radical sexual experiment on our military is real: It is grave and it is growing.
"Activists inside and outside our government who pushed the repeal have deployed a smoke screen around the fact that once the military was forced to exalt homosexuality in the ranks, the all-too-foreseen consequence reared its ugly head."
Via Mike Warner at Conservative Bloggers on Facebook

Christmas wishes from Tunnel Dweller's eldest son

These are Christmas cards done over the past few years by our eldest son Jeff, who is also the author of these past Tunnel Wall Thanksgiving articles, "Why this guy is thankful at this time of year" and "Things I Am Thankful For."

I feel they capture the relationship of Christmas with Easter very well, don't you? TD

Having posted these uplifting messages, tomorrow I will return to the usual thrust of the Tunnel Wall: alerting us to the liberal transformation of America (which God is in control of anyway). Somehow these two missions in my life brings up this conundrum posed by the apostle James:

Does a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? (James 3:11)

I'm sure that, along with the Prophets, blog writers in the time of Solomon posted concerns such as mine, but in the end they would all wind up in Babylonian captivity no matter what they wrote. The God of Creation had declared it to be so. The Tunnel Dweller

A Dave Barry Two-fer: Where to Christmas Shop and What to Shop For

Dave Barry on where to shop; Christmas Shopping; a Survivor's Guide  "These days, people say "Season's Greetings," which, when you think about it, means nothing. It's like walking up to somebody and saying "Appropriate Remark" in a loud, cheerful voice. But "Season's Greetings" is safer, because it does not refer to any actual religion. Some day, I imagine, even "Season's Greetings" will be considered too religious, and we'll celebrate the Holiday Season by saying "Have a nice day." "

And when you get into the mall, this will tell you what to buy. Or maybe not: Dave Barry’s Gift Guide   "But my point is, if you’re just getting started now on your holiday shopping, you have already missed the mall bargains. That’s the bad news. The good news is, you’re still in time for our annual Holiday Gift Guide, which features a collection of unique gift items that you are not going to find at the mall, because not even holiday mall shoppers are desperate enough to buy these items."

Let's begin, shall we?

‘ON THE GO’ CHARACTER INFLATABLE POTTY SEAT  "...you can simply inflate this potty seat, using your mouth, then put it on the toilet seat for your child to sit on. Then you simply deflate the potty seat and burn it, because you’re not going to want to keep it around, let alone reinflate it."

‘THE WOOFER’ WEARABLE SOUND SYSTEM FOR DOGS  "If there’s one thing that everybody agrees on, it’s that dogs do not make enough noise."...
NFL PRO TOASTER "But if you want to be a REAL fan, you need to show your support in the most meaningful way of all: with toast."
MEGA PLUMBER ACTION HERO "...we’re sure he’ll provide hours of quality entertainment for any child who enjoys fantasizing — and what child does not? — about unclogging drains."
POTATO-CHIP-GRABBING HAND "Is there anything worse than getting your hands greasy from using them to manually pick up potato chips?"....
ARTIFICIAL GRASS FLIP-FLOPS  "These are the official flip-flops of the United States Supreme Court."

TRAILER-HITCH-MOUNTED STRIPPER POLE "The big problem with conventional stripper poles is that they are attached to strip clubs, which are large heavy buildings and therefore difficult to transport."

 

SQUIRREL AND CHICKEN MASKS  "So you appear to be an attentive, interested, meeting-attending squirrel or chicken, no matter what you are actually doing with your face in there."

TOILET TATTOOS  "If you’re like most people, it has been a long time since you remarked: “That is certainly a visually interesting toilet seat!”"

INFLATABLE UNICORN HORNS FOR CATS  "Do you have cat lovers on your holiday list? If so, here’s a gift that is sure to make them say: “What?” "

EMERGENCY UNDERPANTS DISPENSER "This year, give the precious gift of peace of mind. Give emergency underpants"

We wish you a blessed Christmas, full of all the meaning it was meant to have

What is "Peace on earth, good will toward men"?  "On earth peace - That is, the gospel will bring peace. The Saviour was predicted as the Prince of peace, Isaiah 9:6. The world is at war with God; sinners are at enmity against their Maker and against each other. There is no peace to the wicked. But Jesus came to make peace; and this he did,

1. By reconciling the world to God by His atonement.
2. By bringing the sinner to a state of peace with his Maker; inducing him to lay down the weapons of rebellion and to submit his soul to God, thus giving him the peace which passeth all understanding.
3. By diffusing in the heart universal good-will to people - "disposing," people to lay aside their differences, to love one another, to seek each other's welfare, and to banish envy, malice, pride, lust, passion, and covetousness - in all ages the most fruitful causes of difference among people. And....

Acclamations of the Birth of Christ (Luke 2:1-20)

Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men?  "It was to be His sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead that would restore fellowship between man with their Creator and establish an EVERLASTING peace between the two parties."

A very special wish goes out to those who have suffered devastating loss recently, such as families of soldiers killed in battle and  those who feel the loss of our children in the Newtown school murders.
From Probe Ministries; Is Christmas Necessary?
"There is a historical/theological necessity that cannot be altered. If God had not become flesh, there would be no hope for mankind. There would be no birth of Christ, no death on our behalf, and no resurrection from death to life. Praise God He did humble Himself and become as a man!"

The Newtown murderer is, to me, a modern-day Herod.

British hospital apologizes to familes for appallingly negligent care

The UK; our role model for government-run healthcare:
Rick Moran  "It apparently got so bad at this hospital that doctors began to prescribe water because the staff was forgetting to give patients enough to keep them hydrated.
"It's not lack of compassion but rather simple incompetence that is the problem at this hospital. It runs from top to bottom; an obvious lack of supervision all the way to ignorant, lazy nurses.
"Is this what we have to look forward to with Obamacare? Eventually, I'm afraid that there are going to be similar cases in this country after government health care really gets rolling."