P.J. O'Rourke on Populism

P.J. O'Rourke on Government

P.J. O'Rourke on Liberalism

P.J. O'Rourke on Education

P.J. O'Rourke's POTUS Endorsement

Is this a joke or is the 2016 Presidential Election?

P.J. O'Rourke on the Zeitgeist

P.J. O'Rourke on Republican Schizophrenia

P.J. O'Rourke on Life

P.J. O'Rourke on Economics

P.J. O'Rourke on Economics

P.J. O'Rourke on Liberalism

Both Evan Sayet in Kindergarden of Eden (2012) and P.J. O'Rourke in "Give War A Chance" (1992) analogized liberals as five year olds.

Are they right on the mark or do they need to be schooled?  Perhaps they should get  "re-educated"?

Are liberals really like spoiled Kindergardeners?
	Yes
	No
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Some of Dr. Dean's Delayed Diagnosis of IPABs

Although  former Vermont Governor and 2004 Presidential Candidate Howard Dean (D-VT) has been out of the practice of medicine for a number of years in lieu of politics, the Doctors delayed diagnosis of IPABs is right on the money.

Recently, Howard Dean wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal in which he prognosticated:  "The IPAB will be able to stop certain treatments its members do not favor by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them."   For those who did not thoroughly study the 2,700 pages of legislation that comprised the ironically titled "Affordable Care Act", otherwise know as Obamacare, IPABs are the 15 member Independent Payment Advisory Board which the HHS Secretary Sebilus appoints that decides the amount that the government will reimburse physicians for medical procedures. 

This was  supposedly intended as a cost control mechanism for Medicare, but in reality will act as a rationing board.  The IPAB name implies that these opinions are advisory, but those opinions become the reality.

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Instead of cajoling vulnerable senior citizens to just "take a pill", the patient is cut out of the process by "Advisory Boards" which make certain treatments financially unviable, depending upon one's status.  When Sarah Palin labled IPABs as "death panels", she was roundly criticized as a scare monger who was stupid, don't cha know?  

A couple of years later,  Dr. Dean  diagnosed IPABs as rationing boards,  it makes  more sense, right?

Howard Dean suggested that: "Getting rid of the IPAB is something Democrats and Republicans ought to agree on."  Obviously, the former DNC chair has not gotten with the program to think that Obamacare is about improving healthcare in America.  It seems that it more about control.

Unless Tea Party House Republicans are successful in defunding Obamacare from the FY2014 budget, all Americans will be mandated to participate in the program or pay a tax.  Nevertheless, the IRS will be in charge of collections and monitoring all of the health information.  Recent reports have indicated that health records will be vulnerable to hackers and scammers.  In addition, the IRS has shown political partisanship in vetting Tea Party tax exempt applications and for surrepticiously sharing this information.  Why couldn't the Obamacare cost cutting extend to denying treatment to political opponents?

Allow me to dispense a rhetorical palliative to Obamacare opponents– as P.J. O’Rourke put it: “If you thought that health care is too expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”  Alas, the Affordable Care Act is doubling many peoples’ rates and may cost some their hides. 

 SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

P.J. O'Rourke on Democracy

“Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us. ”
~P.J. O'Rourke

P.J. O'Rourke on Government

P.J. O'Rourke on Literature

P.J. O'Rourke on Character

DC Metro: More Fare Thee Well?

 P.J. O’Rourke once observed “Giving money and power to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teen-aged boys”. This demonstrated with the latest proposal of fare increases for the Washington Area Transportation Authority. The DC Metro Board has proposed another 5% fare increase to help alleviate budget shortfalls for the system. This comes on top of the $109 million fare increases from July 2010 that included the dreaded 20 cent surcharge for peak-of-the-peak.

Urban planners and green enthusiasts have long touted the virtues of having railroads and subways to ease congestion and lessen the "environmental footprint". Few of these modes of transport are profitable. The reality is that most rail systems will be publically operated boondoggles which enrich municipal union workers at the expense and convenience of the public.



  READ MORE at the  website  DCBarroco

DC as the District of Calamity--It's a State of Mind

These are the surreal musings of a  political animal living between the beltways.  My favorite contact sport may be politics but by interests are not poll driven. I think outside of the box and beyond the next spin cycle. And I will caucus with a variety of special interest groups. 

Some consider the Nation’s Capital as “Fantasyland on the Potomac”. Other outsiders are “Fed Up” with the Federal City.  Personally, a better state of mind is thinking of D.C. as “the District of Calamity” (sic).

A tongue in cheek encapsulation of this political weltanschauung was made in the preface of P.J. O’Rourke’s book “Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire US Government”(1991)—God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.

God is an elderly, or at any rate, a middle-aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations.  He holds men strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well being of the dis-advantaged. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world.  God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God’s country club.
Santa Claus is another matter.  He’s cute. He’s non-threatening. He’s always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything that they want without thought of a quid pro quo. He works hard for charities, and he’s famously generous for giving to the poor.
Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: there is no such thing as Santa Claus.

Knowing the prevalence of Cocktail Party elected officials, I would qualify this quip by substituting the GOP with conservatives.