Public Enemy No. 1: Critics of ObamaCare

Connect the dots - what picture emerges?

Dot 1.

The ObamaCare Writedowns—II: Democrats blame a vast CEO conspiracy (Wall Street Journal, 3/31/2010).

"Presumably the White House is familiar with the Financial Standard Accounting Board's 1990 statement No. 106, which requires businesses to immediately restate their earnings in light of their expected future retiree health liabilities. AT&T, Deere & Co., AK Steel, Prudential and Caterpillar, among others, are simply reporting the corporate costs of the Democratic decision to raise taxes on retiree drug benefits to finance ObamaCare. . .

"Democrats have responded to these writedowns not by rethinking their policy blunder but by hauling the CEOs before Congress on April 21 for an intimidation session. The letter demanding their attendance from House barons Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak declared that 'The new law is designed to expand coverage and bring down costs, so your assertions are a matter of concern.' . . .

"The Towers Watson consulting firm estimates that the total writeoffs will be as much as $14 billion, and the 3,500 businesses that offer retiree drug benefits are by law required to report and expense their losses this quarter or next."

Dot 2.

Chávez's Gag Orders: It's a crime to criticize El Jefe. (Wall Street Journal, 3/31/2010)

"On Thursday military intelligence briefly detained the president of Globovision, the country's final remaining independent media voice. According to Attorney General Luisa Ortega, Guillermo Zuloaga is under investigation for criticizing Mr. [Hugo] Chávez at the Inter-American Press Association meeting in Aruba earlier this month for closing down independent media outlets. Mr. Zuloaga said press freedom had been lost.

"Ms. Ortega said that Mr. Zuloaga is being investigated for spreading false information and making comments 'offensive' to the president. The media owner was released but can't leave the country until the investigation is completed. He faces from three to five years in prison if convicted of making false statements."

Dot 3.

On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, by Mao Tse-tung

"In their political activities, how should our people judge whether a person's words and deeds are right or wrong? On the basis of the principles of our Constitution, the will of the overwhelming majority of our people and the common political positions which have been proclaimed on various occasions by our political parties, we consider that, broadly speaking, the criteria should be as follows:

1. Words and deeds should help to unite, and not divide, the people of all our nationalities.
2. They should be beneficial, and not harmful, to socialist transformation and socialist construction.
3. They should help to consolidate, and not undermine or weaken, the people's democratic dictatorship.
4. They should help to consolidate, and not undermine or weaken, democratic centralism.
5. They should help to strengthen, and not shake off or weaken, the leadership of the Communist Party.
6. They should be beneficial, and not harmful, to international socialist unity and the unity of the peace-loving people of the world.

"Of these six criteria, the most important are the two about the socialist path and the leadership of the Party. These criteria are put forward not to hinder but to foster the free discussion of questions among the people.

" . . . these six political criteria are applicable to all activities in the arts and sciences. In a socialist country like ours, can there possibly be any useful scientific or artistic activity which runs counter to these political criteria?"
[From the Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Foreign Languages Press: Peking, 1977, First Edition 1977, Vol. V, p. 388.]

Picture that is beginning to emerge:

1.
"The Revolutionary Tribunal (French: Tribunal révolutionnaire) was a court which was instituted in Paris by the Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders, and eventually became one of the most powerful engines of the Reign of Terror."

"The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial. The term was first recorded in the 1930s. There is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant  and that the actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as an impressive example and as a warning. Show trials tend to be retributive rather than correctional justice."

"A struggle session (Chinese) was a unique method used by the Mao era Communist Party of China to shape public opinion and to humiliate, to persecute and/or execute political rivals, or so-called class enemies."

"The term perp walk is an American slang term which refers to the police practice of intentionally parading an arrested suspect (or "perp", short for "perpetrator") through a public place so that the media may observe and record the event. The suspect is typically handcuffed or otherwise restrained, and is often dressed in prison garb."

2.
"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
[from: The United States Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776]


Robespierre, The Fool as Revolutionary: Inside the French Revolution