A Congeries Of Indulgences

Hey, give me a break! Have you any idea how hard it is to come up with new titles for these "Assorted" posts?

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T. L. Davis echoes my evaluation of the "MyRA:"

The announcement of the MyRA, a diabolical ruse to entice the average working poor to invest in government bonds, is only a precursor to the nationalization of all IRAs and 401ks. Fortunately, it will probably be implemented with the smooth efficiency of Obamacare and rattle enough cages early enough that resistance can be brought to bear.

Let's stipulate that there will be resistance. How effectively will working-class Americans, most of whom earn their livings at a Fortune 500 employer, be able to resist? FedGovCorp won't put the screws directly to workers, but to their employers, who will face massive penalties for failing to comply with "MyRA" policy. Should the economy remain stagnant at the working-class level -- and that's where the stasis has been stubbornnest so far -- what could the typical worker do to resist?

Governments always favor giantism in the private sector. It concentrates the State's targets for coercion and bribery. Imagine how little Hitler could have done, had the German economy in the Thirties been composed of hundreds of thousands of small, family-owned businesses. Unfortunately for the world, the German economy was dominated by large organizations. That gave Hitler a natural grazing ground.

It's a scary scenario -- and the folks under the hammer are the least likely Americans to possess the wherewithal to "go Galt."

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An American version of apartheid is upon us:

The image below was sent to me by a reader who went for a visit to a physician, and was told that she could not be seen unless she filled out this race and ethnicity questionnaire, and put her name on the form.

She initially refused, but they insisted that it was required or she could not see the doctor.

The form does indicate that it is mandatory under Section 4302 of Obamacare.

Section 4302 is explained by HHS as follows:

Overview of Section 4302 of the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes several provisions aimed at eliminating health disparities in America. Section 4302 (Understanding health disparities: data collection and analysis) of the ACA focuses on the standardization, collection, analysis, and reporting of health disparities data. While data alone will not reduce disparities, it can be foundational to our efforts to understand the causes, design effective responses, and evaluate our progress.

Section 4302 requires the Secretary of DHHS to establish data collection standards for race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability status. The law requires that, once established, these data collection standards be used, to the extent practicable, in all national population health surveys. In response to this statutory requirement, this implementation guidance outlines the new minimum data collection standards for race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status for implementation in HHS, along with a description of the data standards development process, the rationale for each data standard, and instructions for their implementation.

No government in history has ever classified its subjects by race except for one reason: to award higher privileges to some racial groups and lesser ones to others. It foretells the death of equality before the law better than any other development, with the possible exception of national firearms registration.

Stay healthy, my friends. (No, I'm not particularly "interesting.")

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Historically, the most unpleasant politicians are the most vulnerable to correction, particularly at the local level. However, when one falls, one must be careful about who will take his place:

One comes, one goes. Dancer for God enthusiast and newly elected Brookhaven Town Councilwoman, Valerie Cartright, will introduce herself to Three Villagers at the Setauket Civics February meeting. Doubtless, she will expound upon her enthusiasm for such exciting public policies as: “incentives to the public for purchasing homes in integrated communities” and removing such impediments to racial integration as “exclusionary zoning.”

Particularly interesting will be how she intends to implement these policies in the Three Villages.

As Ms. Cartright arrives, that chubby cherub, ex Councilman Steven Fiore-Rosenfeld will be saying his goodbyes. Alas, kindly Councilman and loving family man that he was, Steve does seem to have annoyed some people.

Social justice could soon be visiting the white burghers of the Three Villages in the form of newly elected Brookhaven Town Councilwoman Valerie M. Cartright.

Councilwoman Cartright will be sharing her exciting plans for Brookhaven Town District Number One, of which the affluent Three Villages is a part, at the February meeting of the Civic Association of the Setaukets and Stony Brook.

It will be interesting to see if she enlightens attendees on her keen interest in what is essentially coerced racial integration.

One of the ways in which Ms. Cartright has given expression to her very progressive political views is by first interning with and then serving on the Board of Directors of Erase Racism Now.

The mission of Erase Racism Now is to:

To expose forms of racial discrimination and advocate for laws and policies that help eliminate racial disparities, particularly in the areas of housing, community development, public education and health.

While its vision is:

Transformed, integrated communities in which no person’s access to opportunity is limited by race or ethnicity.

Erase Racism Now has sought to demonstrate not merely actual racial discrimination in the Long Island housing market. As it notes, Long Island “is one of the most racially segregated regions in the country.”

Rather than ascribing this fact to what it dismisses as “so-called”, “self- segregation,” Erase Racism Now contends that:

These factors point to structural impediments for blacks to housing choice and to quality education.

I live in Brookhaven Township -- and I'll tell Miss Cartright straight out that it's politicians and activists of her sort that are manufacturing genuine racial animosity among Americans of good will. Indeed, it appears I'll be attending a few Town Council meetings, specifically to keep her on her toes.

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Finally for today, Say Uncle provides a brief squib that's worth any Constitutionalist's time and hard thought:

In a scary trend, that militarized raid I mentioned yesterday was done because an occupant of the home had a carry permit:

Finally, think of the implications if this were the policy everywhere. It would mean that if you’re a gun owner, the police could cite that fact in and of itself as justification for them to violently tear down your door, rush your house with guns and point those guns at your family — even if their warrant is for a nonviolent crime, even if it’s for a white collar crime, even if you’ve dutifully registered your gun with the government. In fact, given that Ross’s permit is how the police knew he was armed in the first place, especially if you’ve dutifully registered your guns with the government. If I were a gun owner in Des Moines, I’d be asking some questions.

See, they couldn’t just knock because the guy had a gun permit. And, you know, permit holders commit more murder than police. Oh, no, wait.

Long term readers will remember the case of Anthony Diotaiuto, who took several 9mm rounds from a subgun in the chest because the police knew he had a gun permit.

Governments do not collect information just to hug it to their bosoms. It's always for some purpose -- and the purpose is never the protection of the rights or interests of private citizens. Accordingly, he who voluntarily provides a government with such information is making war on himself.

Here in New York, where Emperor Andrew Cuomo is straining to persuade his subjects to register their "assault weapons," resistance has been fierce. New York's shooting sports enthusiasts have been on to Cuomo from the start; after all, we had his father for a warm-up act, and the Dishonorable Chuck Schumer to teach us how relentless leftist gun-grabbers really are. But in places such as Iowa, where government's hand has been somewhat lighter, the lesson may not yet have been learned.

Don't act against your own interests. No government is truly your friend or protector. Nor should any employee of a government, uniformed or otherwise, be assumed to be more disposed toward the defense of rights and justice than he is toward the defense of his own career. (For the single people out there, that means: "Don't date an IRS agent." The rest of you are on your own.)