The Observation Deck

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/insurance/2010-04-29-healthirs28_CV_N.htm

The IRS processed more than 230 million tax returns last year, paid 127 million refunds and received about 68 million phone calls. The agency is responsible for enforcing a tax code that, at 71,000 pages, makes Anna Karenina look like a comic book.

Starting in 2014, the agency will have another task: making sure all Americans have health insurance. Under the law, Americans who can afford health insurance but refuse to buy it will face a fine of up to $695 or 2.5% of their income, whichever is higher. More than 4 million Americans could be subject to penalties of up to $1,000 by 2016 if they fail to obtain health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office said last week.

Asking for proof of legal residence in the United States is the first step to Nazism and concentration camps.

Asking for proof that you have health insurance, that's just fine...move along, nothing to see here.

I don't think any law enforcement officers are gonna be pulling you over because you happen to look sick and asking you to show proof of health insurance lest you be taken into custody and deported.

Brian Pedaci wrote:I don't think any law enforcement officers are gonna be pulling you over because you happen to look sick and asking you to show proof of health insurance lest you be taken into custody and deported.

As I understand it, AZ law enforcement won't be able to pull people over for "looking illegal". If someone is caught speeding and can't produce a valid driver's license, then there will be questions as to the person's status.

The law states they can ask for papers if they have reasonable doubt as to someone's status. Not just when they if they have no valid drivers lic.

So what is reasonable suspicion that you are not legal?

And to Brian's point. They are not going to be asking you for proof of insurance because of the color of your skin.

Wanna see how quickly Republican support for mandatory carrying of ID cards can turn into paranoid handwaving freakouttery?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100430/cm_huffpost/557721

I have to believe that this is a positioning ploy by the Democrats, like when Charlie Rangel floated the idea of reinstating the draft. It's got to be all about getting the Republicans to stand in opposition to something they've championed in the past.

It is all very tiring. Just one question Roy, Do you support the new AZ law?

I used to play on an amateur soccer team in California. Most of the team was latino; two of us weren't. It was fairly common for immigration to visit our practice field, and when they did, all the latinos would disappear, leaving the two of us standing there with a bunch of soccer balls. The agents would chase the latinos, but rarely caught any. The funny thing was the other non latino would stand with me, and we were never chased or questioned. The other guy standing with me was an illegal immigrant from England, white skinned and immune from suspicion.

I suppose the police in Arizona will have training on how to avoid the appearance of profiling. but I'll bet they will stop a lot more jaywalkers than they used to.

I'm no expert on criminal law, but apparently in this country, when the local police pick up someone suspected of doing a real crime, and find that he is illegal, they cannot hold him until the federales pick him up, if they even do. I think this law is an attempt to repair that weakness in our law enforcement system. Unfortunately, from what has been reported (which may very well be inaccurate), the law seems to go too far toward totalitarianism.

Jim DeVito wrote:It is all very tiring. Just one question Roy, Do you support the new AZ law?

I shouldn't have to. The federal government should be enforcing the laws currently on the books regarding illegals (regardless of country of origin, I might add).
Since they choose not to, Arizona has found it necessary to do something.

Thank you for not answering my question. I now where you stand.

By the way. I thought the government was the cause of the problems not the answer.

Jim DeVito wrote:Thank you for not answering my question. I now where you stand.

By the way. I thought the government was the cause of the problems not the answer.

Then I will clarify. Yes, I support Arizona's new law.

The Federal government is a large factor in the cause of this particular problem, by failing to secure the border, to deport those who enter (or remain in, in the case of expired visas) the country illegally and to impose stiff fines against those companies that exploit illegals in what amounts to little more than slavery.

Securing the border is part of their Constitutional mandate, as it pertains to the common defense of the country.

Make illegal immigration more difficult (because its illegal).
Make legal immigration easier.

Of course he supports that law Jim, we knew that.

As for the workload of the IRS, wouldn't it be nice if they were underwritten by one red cent from EXXON and other companies that are damaging the earth. Wonder what Blankenship paid, he is an underwriter of the TeaParty. OH THE SHOCK OF IT!

Will - I saw that same story in a book by Grisham I think.

My quote regarding the IRS has nothing to do with their workload, but the fact that legal citizens are going to be subject to a kind of "papers please" mentality by 2014 (unless health care gets overturned) and many of you seem fine with that.

However, since you bring up how EXXON and other companies that are damaging the earth, let's sidetrack, just for a moment, and look at the big picture. I could paraphrase George Carlin's stand-up regarding environmentalism, which I have posted numerous times, but instead let me look at this scientifically:

The total volume of the Earth (you did say the Earth before) is 1,083,206,246,123,080,894,852 m^3. That's more than 1 sexillion cubic meters.
If we completely and utterly destroyed, no, vaporized 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) cubic meters of the Earth, that amounts to 0.0000001% of its total mass.

However, since you mention Exxon, let's look at one of the worst environmental disasters ever, the Exxon Valdez.
The earth's oceans are approx. 1,300,000,000,000 km^3 (1.3 billion cubic kilometers) and the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident dumped 10,800,000,000 (10.8 million) gallons of crude oil into the Pacific. Converting to cubic kilometers...0.40882 km^3.
0.4 km^3 vs 1.3 billion km^3.

WE are no threat to the planet. We are, at worst, a threat to our own survival on this planet. Whether that be nuclear war, global warming/cooling (whichever is in vogue as the hot-button issue this year) or something currently unforeseen.

The greatest threat to this planet is the eventual transformation of our sun from a main-sequence star into a red giant. This is not due for roughly 5 billion years.

Roy Pitchford wrote:WE are no threat to the planet. We are, at worst, a threat to our own survival on this planet. Whether that be nuclear war, global warming/cooling (whichever is in vogue as the hot-button issue this year) or something currently unforeseen.

The greatest threat to this planet is the eventual transformation of our sun from a main-sequence star into a red giant. This is not due for roughly 5 billion years.

Damn Roy. I compleatley agree with you! Uber environmentalism is at some point selfish. The Earth will be just fine after we kill each other.

That said we should still keep it pretty nice for our kids.

Will Brown wrote:I think this law is an attempt to repair that weakness in our law enforcement system. Unfortunately, from what has been reported (which may very well be inaccurate), the law seems to go too far toward totalitarianism.

Current federal law (since the 1950's) requires resident aliens to carry their immigration papers with them at all times and produce them when asked by legal authorities.

New found requirement in OBAMACARE:

All businesess of any kind must send a 1099 to the IRS for all transactions totaling more than $600 per year.

New idea contained in Democratic plan for immigration "reform":

All Americans must have a national ID card and produce the card whenever asked. The card will also contain biometric information to help further identify the individual.

Question: If it is Nazisim to ask for immigration papers what is the new ID requirement?

Jim DeVito wrote:

Roy Pitchford wrote:WE are no threat to the planet. We are, at worst, a threat to our own survival on this planet. Whether that be nuclear war, global warming/cooling (whichever is in vogue as the hot-button issue this year) or something currently unforeseen.

The greatest threat to this planet is the eventual transformation of our sun from a main-sequence star into a red giant. This is not due for roughly 5 billion years.

Damn Roy. I compleatley agree with you! Uber environmentalism is at some point selfish. The Earth will be just fine after we kill each other.

That said we should still keep it pretty nice for our kids.

1. We have a lot of work to make it NOT pretty nice for our kids. Roy writes as he looks out across a seemingly endless sea of green trees from his condo window.

2. Then you would agree that saddling our kids with a massive debt, such as the one both Bush and Obama have/are creating for us, would be a bad thing??