After more than a year of hot debate, National Healthcare became the law of the land with the stroke of the Presidential pen.  With it, however, America has become a more deeply divided nation.

With the historic inauguration of President Barack H. Obama, “change” came to America.  Gaining both the Presidency and overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, the Democrats became well positioned to institute the liberal/progressive agenda that their core constituency has long awaited, with national healthcare as its crowning jewel.

Despite public opinion polls demonstrating popular disapproval of the legislation, the national healthcare reform bill swept through the House of Representatives with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi leading the charge.  Amidst the cheers and accolades of the bill’s supporters, the President felt vindicated having achieved his bid to become the first President to legislate national healthcare reform.

Despite Republican attempts to derail the bill, its passage has created a rift in our government with trouble in River City.  Vowing to repeal should the balance of power shift as a result of the 2010 mid-term elections, the Republicans are currently employing various tactics to force the bill back to the House for a revote.

Increasing numbers of Americans, after witnessing the power struggle in Washington, are wondering if the path that the Democrats have chosen is the right path for America.  Many questions are unanswered and the lack of transparency in the language has not been addressed.  All we know is a number of people in the country who do not have healthcare will ultimately be required to secure coverage or face a penalty issued by the IRS (Income Removal Service).

The ultimate question, however, is how burdensome taxes will become to pay for this legislation.  With a struggling economy and high unemployment, on whom will the burden fall?  Sources indicate that the heaviest tax burden would fall upon the wealthy.  But, who defines the word wealthy and how is it defined?  

Another thing of which we are certain is that some people will be exempted from the mandate.  Included among this latter group are illegal aliens, prisoners, the present Administration, and the good ole boys in the social club we call the U.S. Congress.

However there is a bright side to this, as it is estimated that the IRS will have to employ a minimum of 10,000 new agents to do the job.  The primary requirement for employment will be that those selected will have to be ruthless, because some of them may be chasing their relatives.

This bill is highly complex with a good portion of the mandates not taking place until 2013.  Some aspects of the new law, however, will take effect immediately.  According to Speaker Nancy Pelosi “pre-existing conditions and being a woman” happen with the stroke of Obama’s pen.  And, now that the bill has passed, the Speaker announced, “now we will know what exactly what we voted for.”

To summarize the passage of this historic piece of legislation, the losers are the wealthy and the big winners are the illegal aliens and the prisoners who will get free healthcare, because they are not citizens or subject to the mandate to purchase coverage.

If you think we have problems with our borders now, wait till the rest of the world hears the good news. We may have to change the sign on the Statue of Liberty to:

“Give me your tired, your poor, and your sick (with or without pre-existing conditions),

Your huddled masses, yearning to get free healthcare…” 

The title of this article is also that of a Gold hit record by Elvis Presley, and within its content may lie a message for all so-called law abiding citizens!

Most Hollywood films about life behind bars have been far removed from Elvis’ phantasmagorical version of round-the-clock music and wardens partying with the inmates.  Movies like The Fortune in Men’s Eyes as well as hit series such as Oz were scripted and shot to portray the seediness, isolation, and violence of incarceration.  Fellow inmates place worms (or worse) in the chow and rats in the cells of those they wish to brutalize.  Vicious guards, such the one depicted in The Long Green Mile really do exist, and prison administrators may be blind to their antics.   And, of course, that seemingly innocuous phrase, “Don’t drop the soap!” is anything but innocent when cried behind bars in a prison shower.

The general public has been conditioned to understand that jail is so much more, and so much less, than one long vacation with three squares a day and regular exercise.  Those of us who are lawful citizens never dream that we might one day wind up “a-breaking rocks in the hot sun” beside hardened criminals.   However, the inane mandates issued by our government may soon cause John and Jane Doe — a lot of John and Jane Does, in fact — to meet the hanging judge and be sent up the river to one of these institutions.

Under the Obama-care insurance directive, if you do not drink the Kool-Aid … oops, I mean, buy into the plan … you will be fined a considerable amount of money.  Under these dictates, what is an impoverished person to do?  If you cannot afford the insurance, you certainly cannot produce the fine.  Ergo, you’ll wind up at the mercy of a hanging judge!

If enough of us find ourselves in pinstriped pajamas or those lovely orange overalls favored by inmates involved in road work, trust me, we won’t be enjoying the perks that say, Martha Stewart was privy to during her State-paid “vacation.”

The good news for the nation, however, is that there will be a lot less of us out on the streets and a lot more of us workin’ on those chain gangs.   This outcome will solve America’s food stamps, PAAD, and homeless problem in a right jiffy.  It may throw a good number of illegal aliens behind bars, but heck, the illegal folks will think they’ve died and gone to heaven in an all expense paid “hotel” surrounded by barbed wire.

But what is to befall the Gramps and Grannies among us: the largest segment of our population now living on Social Security?  Will special considerations be given to senior citizens, a la the recently closed luxury hotel a.k.a. GITMO?  Or will your 89-year-old grandfather truly have to watch his step in the penal showers?  (Remember, we’re not talkin’ about handrails here.) Will your 76-year-old grandmother be allowed to hang onto her knitting needles and thus protect herself from a similar awful fate?

Will you find yourself baking triple layer chocolate cakes with files embedded therein, and if your elderly loved ones discover the files, will they know what to do with them?  Will they scratch their heads and mutter, “Gee, this looked so easy on The Three Stooges and I Love Lucy!”

God help them if they recall I Love Lucy — particularly the episode where Lucy, dressed as some loony-bin version of Superman, was forced to step out onto the ledge of her apartment building.   Maybe the seniors will take this notion into their noggins, join the pigeons out on the ledge, and attempt to break out of The Big House in this manner!   Are prison shrinks trained to deal with such situations?  How old are these so-called professionals anyway? Do most of them even remember the famous battle cry, “Babalooooooooo!”?  It should be a licensing requirement!

If seniors take over the prisons, dentures will replace the worms in the chow.  To take revenge upon their fellow inmates, Granny and Gramps will commit unspeakable acts, such as pilfer Depends™, futz with the volume on hearing-aides, and jury-rig canes (walking sticks, not the reeds that produce sugar … duh!).  To keep them in line, prison wardens will force the unruly old folks to watch the gyrations and hear the shrieking so-called performances of “artists” such as Adam Lambert and the Pussy Cat Dolls … ad nauseum.  Hmmmm … Gramps would probably dig those Dolls: a backfiring if ever we saw one.  Speaking of backfiring, suspect items would be removed from prison menus nationwide, and this would include any member of the bean family.  Nix-nix on the tacos while we’re at it.

A brisk “inside” black market trade will spring up, in which Viagra™ and Prilosec™ will replace cigarettes, booze, and other illicit recreational substances.   And imagine the pandemonium at the DMV when crocheted blankets and cookies baked from scratch replace the license plates normally stamped out by less, uh, long-lived inmates!

To waylay these nightmare scenarios, perhaps one of our statesmen in the hallowed halls of Congress will present a bill (without earmarks) for Les Miserables of America.  Perhaps, they can find a loophole out of Obama’s dictate so as to ensure “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as Granny and Gramps live out their golden years behind bars.  Come to think of it, I kind of like Elvis’ version of prison.  Imagine the chaos that would ensue if our jails were overrun by a plethora of seniors high on Vics Vap-o-Rub™.  Oh, what a sight and sound they’d offer, snatching up chairs and guitars and harmonicas, grabbing the wardens ’round their waists for an arresting version of  “Jailhouse Rock!”

We should invite the bloodthirsty, ratings-ravenous media in to film such riotous acts.  Special showings, replete with popcorn and bonbons, can then be viewed in The House, The Senate, and of course, The Oval Office.  (These, of course, will be free of charge to The Powers That Be; the general public will pay normal theater prices, of course, of course.) The seniors can bring their performances of “Jailhouse Rock” to rousing conclusions with a special, much-cherished, and decidedly unmistakable gesture.  This gesture is well recognized, and well utilized, among those of us in America who consider ourselves disenfranchised, and indeed, imprisoned, by the choices this Administration has made