Allow me to establish from the outset that what Rand Paul is trying is valiant, admirable, and needed.   However, simultaneously he is up against a massive institutional complex which has designed the architecture of dependency and need it to remain.

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system.
For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”  (link)

Some may dismiss what Rand Paul is actually trying to promote, I do not.
Beyond policy is something more important – engagement.
The greatest consideration a person or enterprise can give is the gift of understanding. As much as Rand Paul is offering policy suggestions to improve inner cities, he is engaged and listening.
However, one of the unfortunate realities he faces, which actually establishes the slope of the climb he is attempting, is the reality of dependency.
(more…)

Meaning the bottom 40% of tax filers got almost 10% of their income from other taxpayers.     – PAUSE –  Repeat.    4 out of 10 people filing taxes got almost 10% of their income from other tax payers.   – PAUSE – Repeat.   40% of people who filed taxes paid ZERO taxes and actually got more money than they started with.   
WASHINGTON DC – The top 40 percent of households by before-tax income actually paid 106.2 percent of the nation’s net income taxes in 2010, according to a new study by the Congressional Budget Office.
At the same time, households in the bottom 40 percent took in an average of $18,950 in what the CBO called “government transfers” in 2010.
Taxpayers in the top 40 percent of households were able to pay more than 100 percent of net federal income taxes in 2010 because Americans in the bottom 40 percent actually paid negative income taxes, according to the CBO study entitled, “The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2010.”
(more…)

Progressive liberals have a remarkable similarity to N Korean officials when it comes to disagreement and dissent.   Dear Leader is not to be challenged.

 CALIFORNIASTAN –  A California county has banned a veteran employee from criticizing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because a coworker who overheard the criticism was offended.
The employee is Norina Mooney, who has logged some 20 years of work experience with Santa Clara County, the epicenter of Silicon Valley.
According to Mooney’s attorneys with the Pacific Justice Institute, she made some water-cooler talk with a fellow employee about the high number people who have had their insurance policies canceled under Obamacare.
Later, a supervisor called Mooney into a private meeting and allegedly dressed her down for the attempt at chitchat because an unidentified person had overheard the small talk and been offended. (more…)

Tampon Earring Lady was back on TV this weekend telling folks that if you say “ObamaCare” what you really mean is “Niggers”.  Yup, the word police is trying to make “Obamacare” as racist as Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches.  
It’s True. I can’t keep up.
(Via Daily Caller)  MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry suggested the term “Obamacare” and the N-word are interchangeable, claiming both were “conceived by a group of wealthy white men who needed to . . . render [a black man] inferior and unequal and diminish his accomplishments.”
Harris-Perry opened her show Sunday morning with a sober monologue on President Obama’s push to rebrand his failing healthcare law:

HARRIS-PERRY: “I want to talk today about a controversial word. It’s a word that has been with us for years. And like it or not, it’s indelibly printed in the pages of American history. A word that was originally intended as a derogatory term, meant to shame and divide and demean. The word was conceived of by a group of wealthy white men who needed a way to put themselves above and apart from a black man, to render him inferior and unequal and diminish his accomplishments. (more…)

TreeHouse Exclusive – According to a letter received from a reader in California the CA ObamaCare exchange requirements require you to change your federal tax return filing status if you are married.
If you are married, and wish to qualify for health insurance, you are not allowed to file separate federal income tax returns.

I received this letter on Friday denying me eligibility for Obamacare simply because my wife and I filed our taxes as married filing separately. According to the letter to enroll in Obamacare via the California exchange it is mandatory to file jointly.

It is my belief that this is further proof that Obamacare is a massive wealth redistribution racket forcing all married couples to file under the more expensive joint option to raise more revenue that will be diverted to the general fund. [The conservative Treehouse has my permission to publish this letter] (more…)

Funny, I don’t remember President Obama, Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid saying if we wanted to keep our doctors we were going to have to just “pay more” for them. Well, that is, back when they were ‘selling’ this Obamacare “pass-it-to-find-out-what’s-in-it” legislation.

Looks like California is intent on driving people to ObamaCare whether they want it or not.   “Covered CA”  gives insurance agents contact information for thousands of people who checked out the website.   All Your Personals Are Belong To Us !
CALIFORNIA – Raising concerns about consumer privacy, California’s health exchange has given insurance agents the names and contact information for tens of thousands of people who went online to check out coverage but didn’t ask to be contacted.
The Covered California exchange said it started handing out this consumer information this week as part of a pilot program to help people enroll ahead of a Dec. 23 deadline to have health insurance in place by Jan. 1.
State officials said they are only trying to help potential customers find insurance and sign up in time. But some insurance brokers and consumers who were contacted said they were astonished by the state’s move. (more…)

(Via WSJ)  President Obama has found someone to blame for the Affordable Care Act’s rolling failures besides Republicans. ObamaCare is the government’s fault, not his.
On Thursday, Mr. Obama dropped by American University for a heart to heart with Chris Matthews, and the MSNBC host wondered who in the executive branch is responsible for the botched health-care rollout. Mr. Obama listed a few impersonal culprits including “cynicism,” “Washington gridlock” and “the management of government,” but he then drifted into another classic. (more…)

Signs Going Up In Drs Offices Across America! Thanks @BarackObama "You Can Keep Your Dr" #RedNationRising pic.twitter.com/iR25sFn1wo

— Red Nation Rising (@RedNationRising) December 7, 2013

Is the bloom off the ruse?   Still too early to tell, and the mellennials have repeatedly shown a remarkable propensity to be duped and manipulated (see: Sandra Fluke et al) so until we see consistency from Jon Stewart’s watchers, meh.
WASHINGTON DC – The Obama thrill is gone among America’s millennials, those aged 18-29, just a year after they helped the president win a second term.

A new and shocking poll from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics released Wednesday found that younger Americans are so disgusted with President Obama, Congress, and the troubled Obamacare system, that 47 percent support recalling the president and just 29 percent are planning to sign up for health insurance.
“A critical factor in the election and reelection of Barack Obama, America’s 18- to 29- year-olds now rate the president’s job performance closer to that of Congress – and at the lowest level since he took office in 2009,” said Harvard Institute of Politics Director Trey Grayson.
How bad? Obama’s approval rating among millennials is just 41 percent. Even young blacks are tiring of the president, with his approval rating among African Americans dropping from 84 percent seven months ago to 75 percent today.  (read more)