Category Politics

Mar 23 2015

Poliquin Appointed to Terrorism Committee

TMCV just recently received word that Bruce Poliquin has been appointed to a bi-partisan task force that will be investigating funding for ISIS and Al-Qaeda in an effort to cut off funding to these terrorist organizations.  Poliquin states, “Congress must do everything possible to stop ISIL and Al-Qaeda from receiving funds to carry out their malicious plans.”  Poliquin has a proven record here in the State of Maine for a dogged determination in the investigation of financial miscarriage and illicit activities.  This is welcome news. TMCV hopes that Poliquin will continue to pursue truth with steadfastness he showed as State Treasurer.  The full presser can be read here:

Mar 23 2015

Mirage

 

In the latest engagement of Justin Alfond’s Traveling Carnival of Democrat Oddities, Novelties, and Behaviors Bizarre, the former Senate President is demanding that a House leader be sanctioned for criticizing the President of the United States so that the Senate can “move on”. This begs the question: When did criticizing, mocking, or rudely depicting the President or the opposing Party warrant a stoppage of legislature? A quick study of such behavior will reveal the “many” times that Justin Alfond has called for such similar and heinous behavior to stop so we could “move on”….or…not. In actuality, this quick study reveals that Mr. Alfond has a heavy infection of selective outrage.

While the Maine chapter of the NAACP are in the wings reminding us all that what Dr. King really meant by his famous speech is that the pigmentation of an individuals epidermis holds a direct correlation on whether that person can be criticized or not, let’s take a trip down memory lane on the other times that Justin Alfond has stepped forward to wax eloquent on the moral virtuosity of abstaining from rudely criticizing those in political power:

Ah nostalgia…remember the time Justin gathered together his political pluck to publicly chastise then Senate President Libby Mitchell for posting pictures of herself with images depicting President George W. Bush as a terrorist? You’ll remember that Maine Media was ablaze with how Alfond rebuked the Senate President for her behavior and reminded everyone that we needed to “move on” from this kind of behavior. Amazingly despite the sanctions that Alfond called for, Mitchell was still able to run for Governor. Remember that? Do you, because I’m having a hard time finding record of that anywhere…

Oh…Oh…and who can forget when Justin was so frothing mad at Cynthia Dill for asking her blog followers to trade their rice cookers in for 38 specials so they could deal with Republicans, publicly desecrated a war veterans memorial, ridiculed the supporters of those with Aspergers Syndrome, and mocked people with weight problems. You can just imagine the public rebuke she incurred from Alfond when he went to the media about that, scathing to be sure…I guess. Well…it’s really hard to know….because….well…there is no record of him saying anything. I guess you can “move on” really quickly when no one acknowledges anything.

But, hey, don’t forget the time Chuck Kruger (D-Thomaston) posted that he hoped Dick Cheney met the same fate, as Saddam and that he also hoped that there were cell cams. Alfond was so incensed he couldn’t “move on” forrrr…at least…thirty seconds.   Such moral virtue! Why is it, that despite the freezing temperatures out, I’m hearing the sounds of crickets?

And then there were clown noses!!! Remember, how Alfond just uncorked on those two Democrats for wearing clown noses when the voters came to attend a public hearing on a bill. Without any prodding from Republicans, he just publicly let them have it for insulting Maine voters….like that. I don’t think those two have ever recovered from the sanctions put on them. Do you remember that…. because I don’t either?

Justin Alfond’s calls for moral virtue have all the truth and sincerity of a desert mirage. One has to look only as far as the history of his own leadership to find the proof of his blatant hypocrisy. Justin Alfond needs to dispense with sideshow and carnival act, clown noses and all. It’s getting very old and bizarre.

Mar 20 2015

One Health To Rule Them All

 

In the last post, I likened the Independent Payment Advisory Board to the Ringwraiths in Tolkien’s epic fantasy trilogy. The reader may find this humorous but consider a secret order of rule makers given autonomy by one individual, the President, with the sole purpose of implementing his agenda shielded from any question or interference and the analogy takes on a more serious nature. The fact that IPAB wields so much power with no oversight, checks or balances should strike dread into the very core of every American.

As one delves deeper into the language of the ACA, the sinister design of IPAB begins to emerge from the shadows like the black wraiths on Weathertop surrounding the poor hobbits. The writers of the ACA were not just content to make IPAB a law unto itself. They crafted the language in such a way as to allow for this regulatory board, with all its autonomy and unrestrained power, to have the potential to move from a 15-member panel to one unelected controller and finally even transferring its power over to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

As stated in our last post, the ACA calls for 15 healthcare and financial professionals to sit on the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The President appoints them. This is where the details of the membership start to take some strange twists.

The term for a board member is two years. At the end of the term, the President may or may not choose to reappoint the member. The President is not required to fill the vacancy.

All that is required for IPAB to pass a ruling is a simple majority of the sitting members. One should pay close attention to the phrase “sitting members”. ACA does not require IPAB to maintain 15 members in order to function; in fact, the language in the ACA allows for IPAB to operate with only one member on the panel. The ACA even goes so far as to say that in the event that there are no members of IPAB capable of performing their duties the power of the panel is transferred to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Now couple this with what we learned in our earlier post that if IPAB is not repealed before 2017 it could never be repealed. Not only can it not be repealed but also the edicts and rulings IPAB decrees cannot be altered or challenged from any branch of the government or the people of the citizenry. Marry that with the troubling potential that this inordinate amount of power has the potential to be vested in one unelected individual. IPAB has the power, if not repealed, to rewrite the Constitution through statute, warns the Cato Institute.

But you might argue that these are simply precautionary measures.   Really? When has the government shied away from declaring an emergency or special situation? The markers have been laid and the roadway paved to a destruction of what the framers of the Affordable Care Act called “too much democracy”.

One always knew when reading Tolkien’s classic that the powers the Black Riders wielded was given to them for as long as they served the purpose of their master, which was always to bring all under his control. One has to wonder if the goal of the writers of the ACA was from the beginning to centralize all power under one authority with no avenue of challenge. Have we really gotten to this? “One health to rule them all, One health to find them. One health to bring them all and with our care we bind them.”

Mar 19 2015

Scary, Scary IPAB

 

Americans knew that when they were told that they needed to pass the healthcare law in order to see what was in the healthcare law, we were in for some deep piles of “youknowwhatssits”. Now that the Affordable Care Act has been passed, we are now learning that the healthcare monstrosity has moved into the “just wait a while and you’ll never be able to repeal it” phase. The Obama administration is hoping you’ll just “wait a while” until 2017 and here’s why.

Language within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a fifteen member regulatory panel called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The President of the United States appoints these members. This regulatory board has been given unprecedented autonomy in its legislative power in that the proposals issued from IPAB must be implemented immediately. If the President and the two chambers of Congress cannot come up with a measure that matches, not revokes or countermands, but matches the “proposal” of IPAB within a severely limited amount of time the edicts-Let’s call them what they are-from IPAB must be immediately implemented by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, according to the language in the ACA.

IPAB effectively bypasses any oversight from Congress and cannot be subjected to a veto from the President. There are no checks and balances; in fact, language in the ACA prevents IPAB from ever being repealed after 2017. The ACA goes even further to state that any ruling from the IPAB after 2017 cannot be altered, challenged, or revoked in any way.

So after you’ve wiped the spittle from off the front of your shirt from screaming and frothing, “How can this happen in the United States!!!” let’s take a step back and discuss how this happened in the United States. The simplest explanation is that the intent from the very infancy of the ACA was to bypass and circumvent the checks and balances our government. Peter Orszag, who was a chief architect for President Obama when ACA was passed, said the reason for the failed implementation of government run healthcare is that there is “too much democracy”. Orszag and the President petitioned the writers of the ACA to create IPAB and insure that it was impervious to the obstructions of government oversight. By severing the panel from a system of checks and balances and filling it with unelected members with no accountability to the public, the ACA has insured that IPAB is a law unto itself.

This secretive but all-powerful order of health regulators invokes images of Tolkien’s Ringwraiths, The Black Riders, bent upon the implementation of their dark agenda at all costs and woe to any that oppose them. In a recent article from the Cato Institute, Diane Cohen and Michael F. Cannon contend that IPAB is indeed independent but “in the worst sense of the word. It wields power independent of Congress, independent of the President, independent of the judiciary, and independent of the will of the people.”

The citizens have no recourse against the rulings of IPAB. They cannot challenge any ruling in a court of law. IPAB has the autonomous power to levy taxes and ration healthcare for US citizens, even if these citizens have private healthcare. In truth, actions from IPAB are not legislative but decrees and edicts, which cannot be questioned.

Our next post will expose how that, without repeal, IPAB has the potential to give one unelected official the unfettered power to levy taxes and regulations, appropriate funds, and to have control over the legislative process. Thankfully Maine’s Congressman Bruce Poliquin has co-sponsored a bill with Congressman David (Phil) Roe of Tennessee to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Maine’s Congresswoman Chellie Pingree must join with Congressman Poliquin to repeal this travesty to American freedom. As Cohen and Cannon have warned, IPAB is not just unconstitutional; it is “anti-constitutional.”