There is a lot to address this morning, and only some of it is appropriate to the morning story.
The news was electrifying. I was mulling it over all morning and into the afternoon. My physical recovery is continuing, and I can hobble around without the crutches when I forget to pick them up. It is awesome. Accordingly, I felt good enough to get cabin fever pretty bad yesterday, and the mental wrestling with the Supremes and the Stolen Valor afterthought to the health care thing.
I had taken a shower (yea!) and looked OK and was reasonably presentable. I was feeling pretty good, too and starting to do chores again. I managed to struggle down to the Bluesmobile and liberate my dry cleaning from the trunk where it was placed two weeks ago. All the laundry was done, the house looked pretty nice, and so I decided to treat myself and go to Willow on the crutches.
Old Jim was the only regular there- except Jon-without and the Lovely Bea who came in as I was about done. John-with apparently had the vapors over the health care verdict. Jim and I had the usual and goofed with my Bizzarro World family.
I shared the Flying Monkey thing with Jim, since I understand part of the Affordable Care Act provides the IRS with 17,000 new employees. That cartoon is one of the lighter appreciations for the curious outcome from the Supreme Court yesterday.
That is one way to look at it. Like Jim, I have three friends (at least) who have to be happy that their pre-existing condition may be covered after all. If the law survives, that is, but now the issues for the election are clearly defined as they can possibly be. Maybe that is what the Chief Justice wanted.
My personal opinion is that Justice Roberts acted to preserve his court’s authority and legitimacy. The Court is intrinsically the weakest of the three co-equal branches of government, and this might just be as fundamental an opinion as Marbury vs Madison. In exchange for handing the Executive Branch a victory (of sorts) he also ensured that the Court would not be the lightning rod for mass discontent, and the diminishment of the institution he serves. Since the Constitution of late appears to be one of the “nice to have” options in the Government, he may just be trying to salvage the best deal he can.
Recall the last time this sort of stand-off went down between Justice and Executive? Liz-S, a known attorney, commented on the relevancy of Marbury v. Madison at the bar. But I am getting ahead of myself as usual.
(The bar staff at Willow reacts to the implications of the Roberts decision vis s vis Marberry and Madison, et al. The eyes have it. Photo Socotra.)
More recently, FDR’s “pack the court” threat to over-run the Supremes on the mid-1930s made compromise between that era’s conservative majority and the Executive literally a matter of the court’s survival. I firmly believe that Justice Roberts was fighting to save his institution. I do not know what the threat was- some clandestine threat from the White House, or a simple political decision to not put the court in the crosshairs of the impending election. I think it is similar to what Fed Chair Bernanke did with the “faint praise” continuation of Operation Twist rather than a full out renewal of Quantitative Easing, which would be construed as a political life-ring to Mr. Obama.
There is a lot here that I do not know. I am going to give Roberts the high road on his approach- but I have also read some purportedly smart analysis that claims that a “tax” requires only a majority vote in budget reconciliation rather than a “penalty” which requires 60 votes in the Senate. Not that we do budgets anymore, but that is the claim.
I am not smart enough a parliamentarian to know the difference. I guess we will see as this unfolds.
I checked my old records. Even though I have a health care plan, it looks like there is an additional 3.8% tax that is going to smack me for FY-2013. Add in the expiration of the Bush Era tax cuts and that is a significant change. I guess the Flying Monkeys need more cash.
The outcome is predictable. Rather than pay my fair share, I think I will Occupy Retirement. That will be sort of what the Bureau of Labor Statistics does- I don’t want to hurt anyone, so I will just drop off the back end of the system and not get counted as anything at all.
But you know, don’t worry, be happy. It is hard to take this completely seriously. We all have other factors in play.
I have been hyperventilating about the people I know in the path of the fires out West. Most are OK, though my pals Patrick and Tina lost the house they just bought for retirement by the Air Academy north of downtown Colorado Springs.
That is a real immediacy and a pretty stark contrast with the slow-motion train wreck that is Washington these days.
I have to say, between the Court and the Inferno and the long recuperation, life is grand. I sipped some rich flavorful Dazbog-brand Colorado-Russian roasted coffee. A shadow flickered past my window, and I sat bolt upright in the wheelchair.
“Holy shit,” I thought. “That was strange. Don’t the winged monkeys normally fly out of our butts?”
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com