Hey everybody! It's hump day Friday! Today's Beastiable is Senator Ted Cruz(mel). He has said and done beastly things for many years now, and so he has earned his turn as one of Les Beastiables.

NOTE FOR NEW READERS: This series features a new Les Beastiables cartoon every Wednesday about 1:45 PM Eastern. We indulge in a little Franglish because the French are tres classy. But I digresse.

For serious discussion of the issues, please join me below the break. Then you'll be able to "cleanse your palate" with a cute photo before you leave.

Predictable Ole Ted is threatening to shut down the government again, this time over Planned Parenthood, who provably is not selling baby parts; but hey, let's use it as an excuse to shut them down anyway.

Prior to this, Ted shut down the government in an all-out effort to repeal Obamacare. It didn't work, and when his constituents had suffered enough from the government shutdown that they finally complained, the government reopened.

Are there legitimate reasons not to like Obamacare? Of course. Is it perfect? Of course not. So what would an ethical person do? Well, what people really hate is the individual mandate, so let's get rid of that. But if you do that, and keep in place that insurance companies must accept everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions, then you're mandating that insurance companies go bankrupt. Eventually no one would have insurance and a lot of people would die.

So obviously, without an individual mandate, you have to pay for health care with government funds. I can think of only three ways to do that: Divert funds from elsewhere, raise taxes, or increase the debt and deficit.

Republicans were already so upset about the debt and deficit that they let us too near the fiscal cliff, at which point our credit was downgraded, costing us tons of money. So if they back off on that now, they'd look like irresponsible hypocrites. Not that that always stops them.

So divert funds: I would vote to take the money out of the military budget. We need to stop trying to make the rest of the world into USA 2.0, and we have the largest military budget in the world by far. So vastly shrink the military and pay for healthcare. Of course that would not go over well with defense contractors who support political campaigns of the very conservatives who want to "improve" health care, but the money is there.

So raise taxes: This might be the ones Republicans would choose if they really wanted to do anything about health care. They have some cover, since the Supreme Court said the individual mandate is exactly "like a tax". If they taxed us about the same amount that we already pay for health care anyway, it's no difference to our pocketbooks, may simplify things, and let them tell the complainers, "we have gotten rid of the mandate".

So which is it, Senator? And why not go ahead and do that? Devise a better replacement for Obamacare and put it out there for all to read and comment upon, then once you have a better program in place, the Dems will let you repeal Obamacare. But you have to have the program before, not after.

I will admit that Senator Cruz has come up with a "replacement plan," announced this past winter:

Cruz's bill, called the Health Care Choices Act, would allow people to buy health insurance across state lines, long a Republican health policy goal. It would also repeal Title I of ObamaCare, which would undo much of the law, including the mandate to buy insurance, the insurance marketplaces and subsidies to help people afford coverage.

So the only difference between Ted's proposal and the bad old days is that now the states wouldn't be able to regulate insurance companies trying to take advantage of the states' citizens. Not even close to a better alternative, Ted.

Please join me in my mission to expose the stupid and ugly in our public figures. Beastliness remembered is beastliness held accountable. You may find other things about Ted Cruz equally as bad or worse compared to the beastly things I've chosen. In other words, your cringeage may vary. Please feel free to discuss.

As promised, just for fun is a photo of a camel. I like the super-furry ones!

Please consider this an open thread. Feel free to comment below on this or other topics and post your own links.

Please support our cartooning and lampooning by recommending, republishing, tipping, commenting, and spreading the word about Les Beastiables via social media. Also visit the Les Beastiables Amis page and consider joining the Cercle d'Amitie!

See previous cartoons at Les Beastiables Cartoons.