Howling at the Moon

One Year After Obamacare (Part 3)
Independent experts have shown that the cost of health insurance will rise faster than it would have without the law. The Congressional Budget Office expects the price of a family policy in the individual market to be $2,100 higher by 2016 than it would have been had the law not passed. In at least 20 states, it's now impossible to buy child-only health insurance because of Ms. Sebelius's onerous new rules. (Grace-Marie Turner, Alex Cortes and Heather R. Higgins, WSJ, 3/7/11)

There’s Reality and Then There’s……
In reality, state employees have paid 1.5 percent of their salaries toward health insurance since 2007, in addition to co-payments and deductibles, and since last spring, many local government workers, including teachers, do as well. (NYT, 3/10/11)

The Republican smear piece in the New York Times today focuses on inaccuracies in the statements of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  Christie apparently has said that state workers pay nothing for health insurance. Those crusading journalists at the Times have uncovered the shocker that, in fact, they pay 1.5%!  Never mind that most private sector workers would consider 1.5% to be “nothing.”  This is Pulitzer Prize territory for sure.

Frightening If True
The problem with Mr. Obama isn't that he functions far outside the Democratic mainstream. The real problem is that mainstream itself, a toxic stew of dysfunctional and discredited notions that have flopped reliably whenever they've been employed. (Michael Medved, WSJ, 3/9/11)

Thought-provoking piece by Medved. Obama is not a radical. He fits perfectly within the framework of the modern Democrat party. Now that’s scary!

Read Carefully
The bill makes significant changes to most public-sector union rules, limiting collective bargaining to matters of wages and limiting raises to changes in the Consumer Price Index unless the public approves higher raises in a referendum. It requires most unions to hold votes annually to determine whether most workers still wish to be members. And it ends the state’s collection of union dues from paychecks. (NYT, 3/10/11)

Read carefully and then re-read. This is what the Left is howling about in Wisconsin. Are they kidding?