Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) filed a constitutional point of order against the legislation Tuesday, arguing that the mandate that all U.S. residents purchase health insurance or pay a penalty is unconstitutional. [California Healthline]

Ensign said that the federal government does not have the power to force individuals to buy a specific product. “(I)f one of my constituents in Nevada does not want to spend his or her hard-earned income on health insurance coverage and would prefer to spend it on something else, such as rent or a car payment, this requirement could be a taking of private property under the Fifth Amendment,” Ensign said.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) also said Monday that a provision in the bill that would levy fees on insurance companies — but would provide exceptions to benefit not-for-profit insurers in Nebraska and Michigan — “will not stand the test of the Constitution” because it “cannot be considered equal protection under the law.”

Some legal experts disagreed with Ensign and Hutchison, arguing that the mandate is constitutional because Congress is permitted to “regulate commerce… among the several states.” In addition, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment does not apply to Congress (CQ Today, 12/22).

Interesting constitutional question. Congress can pass any bill they want, constitutional or not. At any rate, the case is not yet ripe. A challenge could only be filed by someone who was penalized for not purchasing insurance, and the fine (or tax) portion of the overhaul won’t kick in – if the bill becomes law – until 2014 as the measures now stand.

We won’t know for sure until the United States Supreme Court decides it.

The U.S. spends more for war annually than all state governments combined spend for the health, education, welfare, and safety of 308 million Americans.[Greenchange]

the total budget for what the Pentagon calls “defense” in fiscal year 2010 will be at least $880 billion and could possibly top $1 trillion. That’s more than all the state governments collect.

“[A]ll American local governments combined (cities, counties, etc.) collect about $500 billion in taxes. Add that to total state tax take and you get over $1.3 trillion. This means Uncle Sam’s Pentagon is sopping up nearly as much money as all state, county, city, and other governmental units spend to run the country.”

Keep in mind the FBI, the various intelligence agencies, the VA, the National Institutes of Health (biological warfare) are also spending on war-related activities.

Sounds like the United States is just one huge war machine.

Census 2010

Christmas is over and New Years is immediately ahead. When March arrives the Census 2010 will be underway. Ran across a website which points out that scammers work their magic during the census. The census is a constitutionally mandated function of government. The census is important. It has a direct impact on the amount of money states and counties receive from the federal government. It has a political impact because it affects the number of political districts in each state. For example, Nevada may wind up with four Congressional Districts rather than just three. All depends on the population of the state, which the census seeks to count. Finally, people, like me, that engage in genealogical research finds all kinds of information from each Census about their ancestors. The last census available to genealogists was the 1930 census.

The 2010 Census forms will be mailed out to you. You are required to fill out the form and mail it in to the Census Bureau. Some will, some won’t for various reasons. If you follow the rules you won’t even see or hear from a census taker. If you don’t mail your census form in you will hear from them, probably knocking at your door.

There’s good reason to believe that 2010 could be a bumper year for crooks who try to trick you either out of your possessions or personal information they can use for identity theft.

None of us want to be taken by Census scammers. I ran across a site that provides some tips to prevent you from being victimized. Thought I’d share it with you.

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