On a Scale of One to Four...

The outrage was indignant and vociferous. Someone had suggested that in the quest to contain healthcare costs under the omnibus government program to be known as Obamacare, there would be rationing of services and judgments would be made regarding whether anticipated future longevity would merit expenditures. The media dubbed the bureacrats, "Death Panels."

That would never happen, we were assured. That was outrageous when everyone knows it is the Republicans who are pushing grandma's wheelchair off the cliff!

But this week we saw a hint of the future. We watched as government somehow mandated a compromise on a religion's moral position cloaked in a right to prepaid contraceptives. We were told that the Messiah himself would absolve the Catholic Church of any responsibility for enabling behavior which they are unalterably opposed to. He would further mandate that a private company would dispense goods and services for free without payment and in opposition to the desires of the customers of that private company.

No women were going to be denied access to contraceptives if the Church prevailed. They simply would have to find another means of funding the product. They could violate the Church teaching but they didn't have to make their religion complicit in their behavior. Today we heard Sen. Nancy Pelosi assert that "98% of Catholic women already use birth control." That clearly is the sort of statistic we can call an "anal extraction." She pulled it out of her butt. It is obvious that 98% of Catholic women wouldn't be in need of contraceptives. Some are too old, some are too young, some are infertile and some are celibate. You don't have 98% of Catholic women sexually active and desiring contraception. It is a ludicrous statement.

The Wall Street Journal takes the contraception issue and extends it to help us understand the future under governmental healthcare. It illustrates very clearly the choices which will be made based on efficiency, practicality and bureaucratic whim.

Mandated Tests Take Funds From Necessary Procedures

There are inevitably going to be inequities in life. Some people will have skills and talents that others will not. Some will have advantages and privileges denied to others. Some will be successful and some will fail. Some will merit and some  will not deserve rewards.

When government steps in and guarantees all things to all people all of the time, it is like a Pelosi statistic. It is patently false. It can't be done. It won't be done. Many will lose and those that receive won't get what they think they are going to get.