Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Quiet semantic secession
Continuing the theme of oddness in modern life. Here's a significant event that happened in Wash four years ago, which should have made a big splash. It didn't. It's also a PERFECT example of Semantic Secession. Snatching a good thing out of Satan's hands by changing its name and definition. Best of all, it WORKED!
From Seattle Times as pointed by GetReligion. The article is mainly about the success of Christian MediShare plans, and it's written in an unexpectedly positive style. Along the way it mentions a familiar evil figure who tried to create chaos as usual, but was stopped by an UNUSUAL event.
But critics of the groups, including Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, say they’re concerned that health-care-sharing plans offer an illusion of insurance but none of the guarantees of regulation. “The part that makes me apprehensive just thinking about consumer protection is who stands behind this if you’re making your payments,” Kreidler said. “They don’t have any way of knowing for sure that their bills will be covered.” Kreidler issued a cease-and-desist order in 2011 to force Samaritan Ministries to stop operating in Washington state on the grounds that the group was acting as an unauthorized insurance company. Within days, however, the state Legislature passed a bill declaring the health-care ministry was not, in fact, insurance, and Gov. Chris Gregoire signed it into law. Since then, 29 states have enacted similar safe-harbor laws declaring that the practices are protected and don’t qualify as health insurance that falls under regulatory authority.Kreidler's part in this is normal and expected. Kreidler is a massively evil Inquisitor who goes to extreme lengths to destroy heretics. If he sees any speck of goodness in the world, he will try hard to EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE it. The legislature's part is NOT normal. Standing up to a monster with a 'D' on his shirt takes serious guts, and the state legislature is NOT gutsy. Especially when the opposing interests are lowly Untouchables like Christians. This may be the only case on record when the legislature showed courage. Gregoire's part is closer to normal. She has plenty of guts, and she is eminently sane. Again the oddest part of all is that the legislators didn't advertise their rare courage. A normal politician would naturally see Untouchables as icky, but he would also recognize that they are the majority of his constituents and a source of votes and money. I checked the archives of the local "newspaper"; found that they had cheered Monster Kreidler's destructive act, but completely omitted the legislature's brave counterforce. Normal. ¶ 1:19 AM
