The Raleigh Dim-wit

            Well, whaddaya know. The North Carolina legislature passed a whole bunch of laws that I agree with.  I'll list just three.

            One law caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits at $500,000. Tort lawyers will no longer be able to persuade pliable juries to award millions of dollars for things like pain and suffering. This will help control runaway costs of malpractice insurance that are, of course, passed on to the rest of us.

            The legislature had to override Governor's Perdue's veto to get this law passed.

            A second law reins in state government bureaucrats' power to issue regulations that go even beyond federal government regulations that we all know are already out of control. Doing business in North Carolina is difficult enough without our state government making it even tougher.

            The legislature had to override Governor Perdue's veto to get this law passed, as well.

            A third law requires city and state governments to verify job applicants' legal status before hiring them. Shouldn't they have been doing that already?

            Governor Perdue apparently didn't have an answer to that question.         

            The governor did make the news in one other area, though. She is quoted as saying, "I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover."

            How do we characterize such a statement? Stupid, naive, ignorant, brainless, unhinged, laughable? All of the above, I think.

            Anybody who voted for this dim-wit should be embarrassed. Fortunately, there is no chance that the next North Carolina gubernatorial election will be suspended.

The Orlando Debate

For whatever it's worth, here is my evaluation of the Republican candidates following their debate in Orlando last night.

Winners:

1. Romney. Handled himself with aplomb, especially when fending off accusations from Perry. This guy is appearing to be more and more solid.

2. Huntsman. I expect his poll numbers to rise. He has the right perspective on domestic affairs and is by far the strongest on foreign affairs. A sleeper.

3. Cain. All his answers were right on. I'm not so sure his business expertise carries over into international affairs.

4. Gingrich. The brightest of them all. He proved it once again. Too bad he has so much baggage.

Losers:

1. Bachmann. A lightweight on every level. Her hour is past.

2. Paul: I love his acumen. If only he could get off his campaign against the Fed. His anti-war stand scares me.

3. Santorum. He has passion. No question about that. But is he a realist?

4. Johnson. I'd love to give him one year in the White House to clean up Washington. Otherwise, he is too scary for me.

5. Perry. I was a fan of his even before he declared. Now that I've seen more of him, I have to conclude that he is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Good record on jobs in Texas. But there has to be more than that to restore my initial opinion of him.

Codes Galore

            If you have any doubt that Obamacare is out to micromanage health care in this country, take a look at the latest medical billing system devised by the Health and Human Services Department called the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision.

            Most people who receive statements relating to medical care that is charged to insurers might notice codes associated with every diagnosis, treatment or hospital inpatient procedure. These are meant to improve payment strategies and care guidelines. Right now there are 18,000 of these codes.

            Now get this: the latest revision has expanded the number of codes to 140,000. There are codes  to specify precisely which part of one's anatomy is hurt or diseased; codes for where a patient got hurt (there are nine of them for mobile homes alone); codes for what caused the injury; codes to indicate how many times this injury occurred; and of course codes for the diagnosis and the treatment. Here's how it might work:

PATIENT:  I need help, Doc.

DOCTOR: What's wrong with you this time?

PATIENT:  I broke my nose.

DOCTOR: I'll have to look up that code. Is this the first time you broke your nose?

PATIENT:  No. It's the third time.

DOCTOR: I'll have to look up the code for the third time. Where did it happen?

PATIENT:  At my home. My motorhome.

DOCTOR: There's a code for that, too. Exactly where in your motorhome?

PATIENT:  I ran into the flag pole outside.

DOCTOR: There's a code for that as well. What caused you to run into that pole again?

PATIENT:  I was being attacked by a chicken.

DOCTOR: I have a code for that, too, and one for fixing your nose.

PATIENT:  What should I do after that?

DOCTOR: I have the perfect treatment plan for you.

PATIENT:  What's that?

DOCTOR: Move the pole.

PATIENT: You have a code for that, too?

DOCTOR: No. But when HHS finds out that for the third time you broke your nose running into the flagpole outside your motorhome while being attacked by a chicken, they'll come up with one. You have to understand that when it comes to the government, there is no such thing as a limit to absurdity.

Noise for Quiet Cars

            Ever since the government got into the car manufacturing business with its bailout of GM and Chrysler, it has salivated at the chance to tell Detroit how to build cars.

             I couldn't believe my eyes when I read about this beauty of a directive: By the end of next year it seems car manufacturers of hybrid and electric cars will have to add noise to their vehicles because they are too quiet. The reason is that blind people rely on sound to know if a car is coming. And pedestrians too consumed with their cellphone conversations might not check for oncoming traffic before stepping off the curb.

             I kid you not.

            So manufacturers of quiet cars are now scrambling to come up with the right sound to alert people trying to cross the street. A bird's tweet? A jet's roar? An engine's growl?

            To top it all off, the government is thinking of requiring quiet cars to have noise-makers at the rear as well as the front, because blind people need to know when a car has gone by.

            But I'm not finished. The warning noise will come on automatically whenever a quiet car slows below 20 miles per hour. Can you imagine the annoyance of neighbors in a peaceful suburb who will have to endure these warning sounds whenever a "quiet" car rolls down the street or into the driveway next door?

            I'm all for making sure the blind can cross the street safely. But since moving to North Carolina nine years ago, I haven't seen a single blind man trying to cross the street. I'm sure I can say the same for most people living outside of urban areas.  So, rather than mandating that manufacturers install on every quiet car hundreds of dollars of equipment that may never serve their intended purpose, might there be a more sensible and economical way of warning pedestrians?

            How about a horn? Doesn't every car have one of those?

Perry's Ponzi Scheme

            Rick Perry has been blasted for calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. How could he have said something so stupid?

            Let's see. A short definition of a Ponzi scheme is an operation that is fraudulent because it pays returns to investors not from actual profits earned, but from money paid by subsequent investors.

            Hmm. Social Security pays retirees not from an empty Social Security Trust Fund, but from current Social Security payroll taxes on current employees and their employers. Where did all that Trust Fund money go? Why the government took it to fund other things. Like the stimulus package, for example. So there is no money to pay future retirees. In the real world that's called an unfunded pension liability.

            Sounds like a Ponzi scheme to me.

            To make matters worse, President Obama is proposing to cut payroll taxes yet again, to the tune of a $175 billion tax holiday.

            Not to worry. The Anointed One says Social Security will still receive every dollar it would have gotten otherwise through a transfer from the General Fund into the Social Security Trust Fund.

            The General Fund? Isn't that the one that's $14 trillion dollars in debt?

            Sounds like a double Ponzi scheme to me.

            Rick Perry didn't say something so stupid after all.

What Would Bierce Say?

            The wicked wit Ambrose Bierce defined a Christian as "one who follows the teachings of Christ insofar as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin."

            Were he alive today, Bierce might have offered this variation: a White House ideologue is one who professes faithfulness to the Constitution insofar as it is not inconsistent with his socialist agenda. You get the same formulation if you substitute the words "will of the people" or "the rule of law" for "the Constitution."

            It is simply amazing to me how this administration repeatedly thwarts all three.

            The Constitution calls for a clear separation of powers. Specifically, it places lawmaking responsibility on Congress. But when Congress doesn't pass legislation desired by the administration, our chief executive uses regulatory agencies to achieve his goals. The National Labor Relations Board and the Environmental Protection Agency don't need Card Check and Cap and Trade legislation--they just make rulings and issue regulations to get what they want.

            A majority of Americans did not want Obamacare, but President Obama and a veto-proof Congress shoved it down our throats just the same.

            Arizona passed laws to protect its citizens from the invasion of illegal aliens and drug smugglers, but the Department of Justice blocked their enforcement. And when Congress didn't provide a clear road to amnesty for illegals, President Obama decided to do it himself, beginning with halting deportations required by law.

            Is it any wonder our government gets such low ratings from the citizenry? Do we not recognize the truth in the cynicism of an Ambrose Bierce as applied to today's leaders?