When will we ever learn | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    Several years ago we were treated to the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.. What's not to like about something that sounds that good. Patient Protection; Affordable Care. Wow!!

    Obamacare will pay for itself (whatever that means). Premiums will drop by $2500.00 per family. Health care benefits will increase. Health care costs will go down. You can keep your insurance and your Doctor. Those were the promises. Such a deal!!

    It is difficult to understand how it was that they forgot to mention reduced work weeks. A lot of folks are also getting reduced work weeks as a result of Obamacare. Wow, improved health care benefits and a reduced work week. But wait. It isn't a shorter work week at the same salary. It's a shorter work week at a commensurately reduced salary. (Look at the bright side. That may help improve the unemployment picture as new people are hired to make up for the reduced hours being worked by the "old" employees.) And adding insult to injury, the health care that our employer used to pay for (or contribute to) will suddenly become our own responsibility - our responsibility alone. So how does that fit into the promised lower cost of health insurance?? And how does it fit into keeping our old health insurance company and coverage?? Suddenly all that "free" stuff starts sounding a little suspect.

    I'm not bringing all this up to argue against the Patient Protection & Affordable Health Care that was promised, and promised, and promised, and is now being touted by our Cabinet Secretaries in their commencement speeches reportedly as requested (demanded??) by the "White House" (whomever that is) . It's not so much that we bought off on it. It's more like some of our politicians got "bought off" for it. Think of the "Louisiana Purchase" (Not Jefferson's) and the Cornhusker Kickback (and there were a lot more bribes involved in getting this monstrosity passed). I'm bringing it up as an example of how little regard they seem to have for our intellect. They lie through their teeth and expect us to believe them - and, unfortunately, a lot of folks do.

    The politicians seem to be trying to pull the wool over our eyes again. This time with the "Marketplace Fairness Act". This is a proposal that will force some on-line merchants to start collecting sales tax. This law is going to level the playing field for all those struggling merchants who are forced to withhold sales tax from purchasers by forcing the on-line merchants to do the same. Well, that's what we are being told. It will make things fair for the "big box" merchants who are losing business to the on-line merchants. Do you suppose the true motivation is fairness?? Is there a chance that the motivation is to give the big box folks an even greater advantage than they already enjoy through their greater buying power?? And, by the way, how does the cost of "shipping and handling" we pay (whether it is listed separately or not) for our on-line purchases fit into this equation?? It remains to be seen how increasing the cost of on-line purchases is going to help the middle class working folks.

    Surely there were no lobbyists involved in proposing (and writing - and probably naming) the Marketplace Fairness Act. Of course not. Just as there were no lobbyists involved in writing (and perhaps naming) the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act. We know both of those are true because the Anointed One told us when he ran the first time that he was not going to allow any Lobbyists anywhere near the White House. So what happens, his staff reportedly meets the lobbyists at some out of the way Georgetown coffeehouse. Couldn't possibly be so their names would not show up on the White House Visitor Logs. Of course not. Two more glaring examples of how much (little??) we can trust those folks we are paying to do our business. I suppose you could interpret this as keeping his word. (Well they didn't come too close to the White House; except for all those who have been hired into the Anointed One's bloated administration.)

    The point is that we need to view with a jaundiced eye all these good sounding appellations which would seem to be designed to make us think that the accompanying legislation is really going to do something good for the public. The fact of the matter is that the legislation almost never accomplishes what the name suggests. The "ins" seem to be more than willing to mislead us. And that seems to be doubly true of the "ins" in the current administration.

    Another case in point is "Benghazi" and the ever changing Administration explanations about what "really" happened; a clear demonstration of the Anointed One's idea of honesty and integrity.

    And now we have the IRS reportedly aiding and abetting in the "war" against the Tea Party and other conservatives. And a Prez who says that IF the allegations of IRS misbehavior are true what they are doing is really bad. He gives us the "IF" after the person in charge of the IRS office in which all the untoward behavior allegedly happened not only acknowledged it but also apologized for it. IF, indeed.. And now that the Acting Commissioner of the IRS has been fired (or was it retired just a little sooner than planned??) everything should be just fine.

    And now we have Eric Holder and his troops allegedly checking up on one of the Prez' long time "water carriers", by obtaining Associated Press telephone records. Of course Holder tells Congress that he knows nothing about it because he has assigned responsibility to his deputy. That's a better dodge than even his boss invoked. His boss' spear carriers continue to tell us he can't comment because the issue is under investigation. Deep Throat, where are you when we need you?? Likewise Woodward and Bernstein...

    It seems to be taking a long time for the Mainstream Media and a whole lot of others to finally figure out how much (little??) trust we can put in the current administration. The real question is: "Will the DOJ's telephone record search intimidate or infuriate the mainstream media??" Let us hope it is the latter (finally).

    Oh yeah. Almost forgot. Has anyone seen a Schedule A from any of the Washington Town Council members or the County Commissioners?? I didn't think so. Do you suppose not one among them is quite as generous with their own money as they are with ours. Or perhaps their support of the folks they support with our money is only important to them when it comes to trying to create the impression that they really believe in helping the needy??

    D'ya think??