OBAMACARE MANDATE could lead Washington grocery workers to picket line. The unions supported ObamaCare, they got what they supported, and now they're against it?

AUTUMN LEAVES: the fall begins.

The first of this year's series of photos documenting the change of season. I'll post a photo weekly until the trees are bare.

UPDATE: I posted about the first noticeable leaf fall here.

OBAMACARE: 1-800-T-O-T-A-L-F-A-I-L.

BATTLEGROUND TEXAS misfires. But on the other hand, I suspect that if they'd have known about the wheelchair, they'd have assumed him to be a Democrat and supported his campaign....

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane: members of the self proclaimed 'reality-based community' are finding out that their reality isn't real. Neither are reality shows on television.

VIDEO: Allentown mother forced to choose between ObamaCare and feeding family. Watch for more -- many more -- reports like this to surface soon.

JOHN’S STORY: Post-1960s, Parents Struggle to Hospitalize Mentally Ill Children.

FROM MY EMAIL: A comment supposedly posted on the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare Facebook page:

I actually made it through this morning at 8:00 A.M. I have a preexisting condition (Type 1 Diabetes) and my income base was 45K-55K annually I chose tier 2 "Silver Plan" and my monthly premiums came out to $597.00 with $13,988 yearly deductible!!!

There is NO POSSIBLE way that I can afford this so I "opt-out" and chose to continue along with no insurance. I received an email tonight at 5:00 P.M. informing me that my fine would be $4,037 and could be attached to my yearly income tax return.

Then you make it to the "REPERCUSSIONS PORTION" for "non-payment" of yearly fine. First, your drivers license will be suspended until paid, and if you go 24 consecutive months with "Non-Payment" and you happen to be a home owner, you will have a federal tax lien placed on your home. You can agree to give your bank information so that they can easy "Automatically withdraw" your "penalties" weekly, bi-weekly or monthly! This by no means is "Free" or even "Affordable".

Be afraid. Be very afraid!

Since it came by email and I don't have a Facebook account, there's no way I can verify the statement, except to say that the penalty appears correct ($96 or 1% of your income, whichever is greater).

I am suspicious of the 'repercussions', however. My understanding of the law is that the only step the government can take is to reduce your federal income tax refund by the amount of the penalty ... so that all you need do is to make sure you owe the government and not conversely. I do that as a matter of routine.

DAMNING WITH FAINT PRAISE: "ObamaCare ... will be judged a 'success' as long as it doesn’t destroy America."

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane: any advertisement with 'weird' in the title is axiomatically worthless.

GOOD: Business Groups See Loss of Sway Over House GOP. Maybe not in the short term, but in the long term they'll be grateful to the Tea Party conservatives.

MARK STEYN on petty despotism.

THE SUN THAT DIDN'T ROAR: another example of science malunderstood. Something for climate-changers to think about.

NOT ANY MORE: Can Should you trust the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)?

FROM AN EARLIER POST, this question was raised:

Let's say you come home from work and find there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood and your home has sewage all the way up to your ceiling. What do you think you should do ... raise the ceiling, or remove the shit?

If you're a liberal, the answer is obvious: demand a new home in another location, compensation for inconvenience, and abandon the old home to decay. But clean up the shit? Never.

CRUZ TO HECKLERS: I’ve taken more questions today than Obama has all year.

IS OBAMA'S debt ceiling 'catastrophe' just another scare tactic?

[A] memorandum by Moody’s, one of the three leading credit rating agencies:

We believe the government would continue to pay interest and principal on its debt even in the event that the debt limit is not raised, leaving its creditworthiness intact.

The debt limit restricts government expenditures to the amount of its incoming revenues; it does not prohibit the government from servicing its debt. There is no direct connection between the debt limit (actually the exhaustion of the Treasury’s extraordinary measures to raise funds) and a default.

In other words, if Moody’s is to be believed, rather than the catastrophe predicted by the politicos, failing to raise the debt limit would be more akin to an accounting inconvenience for the green-eyeshades in the bowels of the Treasury Department.

In other words, yes.

TEA PARTY VS. OCCUPY WALL STREET:

Which do you think might have the higher viewer ratings?

HEH: Federal Judge Orders National Park Service to Reopen Park. McLean is in Fairfax County, Virginia, the third richest county in the U.S. Might that be the reason the National Park Service decided to back off?