How the Supreme Court's 'ObamaCare' ruling will affect you

This is a great article by one of the real experts on the subject. Senator Bill Frist probably knows more about the Affordable Healthcare Act than anyone else including, the Secretary of HHS.

The nation's highest court is about to judge the president's signature legislative achievement — and it's not just politicians who are invested in the outcome
Is the new health care law constitutional? You might think it doesn't matter — or at least, that it doesn't matter to you. But the fact is, the Supreme Court's decision on President Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) will almost certainly affect you directly.

How, exactly? For one thing, the court's decision could play a key role in determining our next president and possibly your next congressman. If you are poor, the ruling may decide whether or not you have coverage. If you are not poor, it will impact how much you pay for health care. If you own a small business, it might determine if you must purchase health insurance for your employees. And if you work for a large business, it may determine whether you still receive your insurance from your employer. If you're a doctor, it will likely affect your reimbursement. If you're a patient, it will determine your benefits.
On March 26, 27, and 28, the Supreme Court will hear extensive oral arguments on the constitutionality of the ACA. This is the culmination of 26 states filing suits in federal district courts and opinions from seven federal appellate courts. A final written opinion likely will be delivered in June, 18 months before the individual mandate kicks in and just five months before the presidential election.

Read more here.

What I think about the Occupy Wall Streeters

I've waited several months, content to watch and learn as much as I could about the latest group to capture national attention: Occupy Wall Street. I've watched the news reports on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC. Sometimes, I must admit, I have felt like I was living in three different worlds, the one Fox News portrays, the one the other liberal networks choose to show, and the world I actually live in.

Here are my thoughts about the people who make up Occupy Wall Street. Some are sincere, some are just lost souls, some are professional agitators. But the truth is, none of them know exactly what they are demonstrating against.

They say they can't find jobs.

I suspect that's been true of most of our generations. I know when I graduated from high school in 1963, jobs were really hard to come by. I looked for work from June of 1963 until March of 1964, when through the efforts of an older sibling, I was lucky enough to finally get a job with a little bit of a future.

Times were tough for my family, nine kids, a dad who worked two and three jobs, a mom who stayed home to raise the kids. We grew up in the projects. Dad died when I was in 10th grade, leaving Mom to face the responsibility of providing for me and my 10 and 13 year old brothers. She only had an 8th grade education, but we survived.

They complain about the huge amount of their student loans.

College wasn't even a thought, but when my younger brothers got old enough and wanted to go, my older brother and I found a way to help them. I didn't start college until I was 29, and I did it working full time, and taking out student loans.

Yeah, it took a long time to pay them back, but that was just the luck of the draw. Sometimes, a person has to decide if something is worth sacrificing for.If you want it bad enough you will lose sleep, skip a few meals, and sacrifice any way you have to in order to achieve your goal.

They say the middle class is being destroyed and the wealthy are getting wealthier.

Well, maybe so. It took me a long time to make it to middle class. Funny thing, all of my siblings finally made it there too. None of us are rich, but most of us are doing ok. In fact, most of us are now retired and living the good life. But we don't begrudge the rich their wealth. It doesn't matter how they got their wealth - it's theirs not ours.

They say capitalism doesn't work.

They don't know what they are talking about. It works better than any other system the world has come up with. We have seen first hand what other systems are like - remember communist Russia - Nazi Germany? I'm not willing to throw away capitalism because of a few rotten eggs.

But in the end, I don't think the Occupiers have any idea about what they want. They just really want to make noise. Where are their solutions? What do they stand for?

Musings

The Republican Party is at a crossroads. I like to think that we have a big tent and accept people of different philosophies and different backgrounds and different religions. We always have. Now, we must come together as a party to accomplish a very important task - sending President Barack Obama into retirement!

Does any Republican doubt that President Obama is a danger to the country we all love so much? His policies have caused us to incur record deficits, have led to socialized healthcare, bailouts of big auto, banks and other private sector entities, stimulus spending that threw money at companies that didn't know what to do with it, or spent it as recklessly as the Administration did.

Our party is going through a rough period. As the battle for the nomination continues, all of the candidates are attacking each other mercilessly. They are giving the Obama campaign machine fodder for all of 2012. It seems that the big divide in our party is between (1) those who just want a candidate who can beat Obama (2) those who insist on a candidate that fits the "conservative" mold.

I guess my question to my Republican friends would be why can't we all focus on electing a Republican President? Life is about compromising. I know that we don't always get everything we want in life. Neither do we in politics. One thing has become apparent to me as this primary season unfolds. Turnout in each Republican primary has been low. If we don't get our act together and united behind one Republican after the Convention, we might as well concede the election right now to Barack Obama and face the fact that the America we love will be gone before 2016 rolls around.

I'm not willing to accept that! Are you? Tell me what you think.

I'm Back

Well, after a lengthy sabbatical, I'm back to posting on a regular basis on Musings of A Whiskey Rebel. I hope you can visit my site often and tell me what you think.