GOP sides with hate over compassion

Yesterday - A second federal judge ruled President Obama’s health reform law is unconstitutional. Florida Judge Roger Vinson – A Republican appointee – claimed the government has no constitutional grounds to require its citizens to purchase health insurance. Judge Vinson’s ruling is similar to another Republican appointed judge in Virginia who last year also declared the individual mandate within Obamacare unconstitutional. That’s now 2 judges who’ve upheld the health reform law – both appointed by Democrats - and 2 judges who’ve struck down the law – both Republican appointees.

Ultimately – the fate of the politically charged health reform law will be decided by the US Supreme Court – where Conservative judges hold a 5-4 majority. Oddly – unlike Virginia judge Henry Hudson who ruled that only one provision of Obamacare – the individual mandate – was unconstitutional – Judge Vinson argued the entire law was unconstitutional because the individual mandate could not be separated from the larger bill. The basis of his argument comes straight from an amicus brief filed by the Family Research Council – an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled as a hate group.

So basically – you have a Republican federal judge ruling Obamacare is unconstitutional and borrowing his legal opinion from a known hate group. And the GOP claims this is writing on the wall for the health care law to be repealed. I’d argue it’s writing on the wall – that the GOP sides with hate over compassion. Attending to the basic health care needs of an entire population is a life and death issue. Yet the GOP profits off making it a political issue.

Comments

dnarnadem 12 years 18 weeks ago
#1

I've already stated this and it will happen. The GOP and Corporate interests are courting the extreme Right-Wing Supreme court Judges - Alitto, Thomas and Scalia: Roberts probably so. This whole farce by the GOP to Repeal this bill and all these State Lawsuits is to get the Supreme Court to Rule against the HealthCare Bill as Un-Constitutional. Scalia already has shown his hand by attending a "Closed-Door" session with Tea-Party radical GOP representatives. Why Closed-Door? Why Secret? Why only GOP representatives (Only 3 Dem)? These "Bought" judges have attended many other closed-door "Right-Wing" meetings and "Fund-Drives" - Why?

The Supreme Court is "Tainted". And their power to affect American Lives is way much stronger than either The President and both Houses 0f Congress. And it is dangerous for American Democracy.

This is being played out across America. The American people must protest against this Radical take over of our courts. Why do you need judges and courts if the judge or court has a certain political/social ideological agenda before one is even tried? Justice must be "Blind" and indifferent to the merits of the case. What is increasingly happening in America is an erosion of this fair and un-biased judicial system.

And now we are seeing "Judges" making decisions based on their particular "Religious", Economic" and/or "Political" beliefs and agendas. This is no longer a Democracy but leadership by Judicial activists. That is why the Corporate/Bank and Super-Rich are courting and buying Supreme Court judges - they know that the real Power resides with these Judges - no matter what Congress passes or what the President signs, the Courts can always rule as Un-Constitutional. (Next up are ALL the pet agendas coming from the Right - Abortion, Prayer, Education, Environment, Corporate Regulations, etc. Guess how these radical Supreme judges will vote? WE all now know about Citizens United.) If you own the judges you own the issue.

This has to be stopped. And the 3 worst offenders on the Supreme Court must be reigned in and even investigated by "Impartial Judges". Something rotten is happening in the State of the USA!

mathboy's picture
mathboy 12 years 18 weeks ago
#2

On Fox News, Megan Kelly just said that the Obama Administration is "going after" the judge that declared ObamaCare unconstitutional. She did not elaborate, leaving the viewers to imagine gross abuse of power by Democrats, instead of, say, an appeal in court, which follows the rule of law.

ptpete 12 years 18 weeks ago
#3

The simple fact that emergency rooms treat anybody, with Ins. or without Ins. since that is the moral thing not to mention so-called Christian value. So how is it fair for a person not to have Health Ins. to get service when needed and who's costs get charged to those who have Health Ins? Is that being Self Responsible that the Republicans keep screaming about when it comes to Mortgages? I know maybe people in need should go to that Republican Church on "E: street and ask those make believe Christians who live there TAX FREE by the names of Sen Jim Dementia, Sen John Ensign and Sen. David Vitter for charity. Are we sure its a church or is it a private strip club? Hum.

KAK1958's picture
KAK1958 12 years 18 weeks ago
#4

What makes the proponents of vouchers for medicaid or medicare patients think that private insurance companies will even sell policies to these folks? In the case of medicare, I once read that an individual Blue Cross policy for a 65-year-old is $5000/month. If that's accurate, those vouchers would have to be pretty damn generous. As we hit our 70's and 80's, insurance companies will be less willing to sell a policy at any price. It would be no different for a medicaid recipient with major health problems. If these people are denied policies or can't afford them, society is still going to end up footing the bill so what's the difference.

ottomine's picture
ottomine 12 years 18 weeks ago
#5

Paul Fell who can be founnd at www.paulfell.com doesn't call health care reform Obamacare but he calls it the Afordable Care Act or ACA. I think it is an excellent idea. Paul is Nebraska's cartoonist and he and his co-workers put out Monday through Friday a couple of cartoons and an opinion on events happening in America and the world

Blue Mark's picture
Blue Mark 12 years 18 weeks ago
#6

Here's a law from 1792 where the Federal government required citizens to buy products from private business: The Militia Act of 1792

"That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective states, resident therein, ... shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch with a box therein to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball: or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder."

Jeffthinx 12 years 18 weeks ago
#7

Haven't we been through this arguement before? And didn't we wonder how this mandate could be unconstitutional when the mandate to buy auto insurance is not unconstitutional?

james from franklin's picture
james from franklin 12 years 18 weeks ago
#8

Can the people override the decision of the Supreme Court if we rally against it? Is there anything we could do as a people to stop this? This is so scary- we are being taken over by corporate. When will they think they have enough? They have already destroyed our planet. Do they want us groveling in the dust too?

nordlie1 12 years 18 weeks ago
#9

When the bill first passed I remember hearing that it could not be repealed no matter what "they" tried. Frightening to think Obama's Supreme Court could override it but yet still...did he leave this door opened for Republican Repeal? Seems to be siding with them all along.

richrobey's picture
richrobey 12 years 18 weeks ago
#10

I do believe the requirement is unconstitutional. Having said that, I also believe we need a national health care option. If it is integrated into Medicare and run with the same efficiency, it wil put the health care billionaire predators out of business. Pricing struture for a government plan would be based on income.

Also, if we would enforce anti-trust laws, health care would become more competitive and therefore more affordable. Private companies should not be afraid to compete with the government. After all, their mantra is the inefficiency of government. Let them prove they can do better by delivering a higher quality product at a better price.

We do have socialism in this country....corporate socialism for the Fortune 500 companies and big dollar contributors to the re-election campaigns of our "public servants".

speakeasy's picture
speakeasy 12 years 18 weeks ago
#11

NO.

james from franklin's picture
james from franklin 12 years 18 weeks ago
#12

I am tired of people like the Koch brothers funding an art museum with a big donation or giving to some big hospital wing to make the public think that they are these grandeous humanitarians when actually they are the biggest polluters of this planet that history has ever known. The Koch brothers have this man named Tim Phillips working for them. His job is to spread lies and controversy about everything from the Affordable Care Act to that Global Warming doesn't exist. He gets paid mega bucks for this. I am tired of people like the Koch brothers being able to buy the Media and our Government to make all these lies seem absolutely true to the public. Please let us wake up. Government has always had its faults, but this new demention of Corporate take over is destroying us financially . enviromentally and right down to our very own minds and bodies. They have got to be stopped by educating the people of what they are doing and how they are doing it. Please, Thom ,please keep ranting and raving and educating the people of the USA!

Palindromedary's picture
Palindromedary 12 years 18 weeks ago
#13

I am liberal, in most things, and I voted for Obama. But that farce of a health care bill deserves to go to hell, right along with the wimps that sold us out, because it did not include an alternative to the private healthscam insurance companies. The Democrats deserve to have this thing rammed right up their back sides because they didn't have the cajones to back their brazen pre-election convictions they sold us on. This health care bill was not "change we can believe in" it was a sell-out. If in Egypt, why not here?!!!

When people start dying off in numbers and starving to death, then, maybe here. It won't be long till that happens...unless the rich take heed and see what could happen here. The health care bill, as it is now, would force us to pay these criminal "insurance" companies at their ever increasing rates. If we at least had a public option then it would have made all the difference. But that would have forced real competition with the criminal insurance companies...something they have, over the years, managed to monopolize. Too big to fail...monopoly...something our government had previously worked to prevent. Our problems will not be overcome by the ballot box. It's too rigged and criminally controlled by the vested interests of the wealthy. If in Egypt, why not here?!!!! Our system is just about as corrupt as Mubarak's...only we still have the failing pretense of a "democracy".

johnuw93's picture
johnuw93 12 years 18 weeks ago
#14

I don't think the constitutional challenges will go anywhere. The SC will have to think about what else might be affected by an adverse ruling. They also would be inclined to side with the interests of the big corporations that are quite pleased with the individual mandate. In a better world, the Court would indeed rule the individual mandate unconstitutional and Congress would deliver single payer instead.

Senator Graham and others have introduced legislation to allow states to opt out of the individual mandate, the employer mandate, and the expansion of Medicaid. That would pretty much gut the legislation. I doubt such a bill would get by the Senate, but we have to hope Obama would not sign it if it did.

As for the argument made up the list that the people rejected the health care reform bill, to some extent, true. But the reason is that a big share of us wanted single payer, or at least a public option. Polls showing opposition to Obama's corporate-friendly reform are no endorsement of the Tea-Baggers.

delster's picture
delster 12 years 18 weeks ago
#15

Healthcare is far from being rammed down the peoples throat in America. In fact most uninsured Americans are afraid to go to the emergency room for treatment. Yes they are obligated to treat you but they are also obligated to get your billing address and send you a bill more expensive than normal because it is ER. I know this to be true by personal experience. I am a self employed advertising professional and have been for 30 years. My wife was a stay at home mom until she returned to school and received her RN degree. Our coverage was AETNA and since my wife has a history of cancer we selected what we thought was undeniable fool proof coverage (very expensive). My wife became sick lost her own HMO with the hospital she worked for. After a few years of not feeling well and not being diagnosed accurately my wife of 41 years was discovered to have extensive cancer that required an aggressive treatment program of several surgeries, radiation therapy, and chemo. We started getting bills from hospitals, clinics and doctors that were completely denied by AETNA. We appealed to the Insurance commissioner who did nothing to help us. He was a conservative Republican probably on the take. We got attorney's and made ourselves more financially vulnerable. At about this time we were in over our heads and headed towards bankruptcy on a rocket sled. I don't believe we are an isolated story. Health care reform will not break the bank

as much as the military industrial complex which is already significantly larger than every other nation including our closest military competitor. What will we gain by bankrupting our citizens individually for healthcare ? Makes no Sense. Chile is sounding better every day.

jmolive's picture
jmolive 12 years 18 weeks ago
#16

I agree with johnuw93. This Supreme Court won't vote this individual mandate as unconstitutional. Four of the five might descent but one of the conservative judges will vote the other way because they know what their corporate taskmasters really want, and that's the individual mandate so they can get all the healthy young people paying premiums. The insurance giants aren't stupid. They could see a single-payer crises coming as more and more people couldn't afford their product. They're getting just what they want with a few minor exceptions. This whole debate has been nothing but a clever ruse by the insurance companies. We should be taking bets on which conservative judge will take one for the corporate team.

wmstoll's picture
wmstoll 12 years 18 weeks ago
#17

I don't understand your point. If those without insurance are getting served in the emergency room, and the cost is being absorbed by those with insurance, isn't that the same as those with insurance paying taxes to redistribute income for insurance to those that do not have it.. Seems like net gain is 0, and don't expect the emergency room to be any less busy.

wmstoll's picture
wmstoll 12 years 18 weeks ago
#18

Logic is outstanding here. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the Family Research Council as a hate group, therefore, the Family Research Council is a known hate group. Something doesn't compute.

mariamia's picture
mariamia 12 years 18 weeks ago
#19

Would you like to be in the position of getting healthcare only when you are going to an emergence room? Already very sick?? Is your heart as solid as granite?

Boomer_1's picture
Boomer_1 12 years 18 weeks ago
#20

I was listening to Thoms rant tonight on health care . His discourse was very slanted and misleading. he hawks a plan written by the insurance companies (anyone believe we are going to come out ahead in that?) then continues to show on a graph that the number of uninsured will actually increase. That may be true if the Republicans did nothing but repeal the present plan. Anyone seriously believe at this point they would repeal the present plan and do nothing else? Please. I'm not a big Republican fan either ( I didn't vote for either of the major parties for president) but this disinginuous nonsense from both sides is really exasperating! It really is true they are both giving us the hose. Two wings of the same Demopublican bird.

gerald's picture
gerald 12 years 18 weeks ago
#21

Thom offers great information and he makes more sense than the majority of our fascist-Nazi citizens.

Dr Knowone's picture
Dr Knowone 12 years 18 weeks ago
#22

I am pretty much in agreement with richrobey

Beowulf Sorensen's picture
Beowulf Sorensen 12 years 18 weeks ago
#23

Thom, Here in Puddle City many of us are proud to believe that the mandatory insurance gouge is not a solution, but a sorry "bend-over" to an industry that does not provide care, that feeds [30% overhead for CEO salaries?] off the blood and money of the ill. I support single payer; I reject the faulty 'logic' that these rationiers, these parasites should exist in America.

I attended the Town Hall meeting that Gov. Dean and Rep Blumenauer held at PCC in July, 2010. I could NOT get an invitation because I support Single Payer. We were locked ou; although enough of us infiltrated to cause the sham of a town hall to be disrupted.

Like the illogic of the Right, who love Gov. Bush's deficits; the current brou-haha relies on the people to rekindle American socialism and force idiots like the Koch Brothers-who are not normal Americans with their over $35 Billion wealth, to understand that Single Payer is the logical way to limit costs and remove industries that "care" only for profits! Mr Baucus, who stated that "France and Germany, Japan and Taiwan are not America" missed the point! America's medicine and care are infected with a terminal case of greed and little compassion. We're not number one: this is not football, we're victims of health, education, banking, and marketing that is a short term ONLY Wall Street wet dream.

Maybe, as my friend Teresa says, "loving America leaves me thinking I should see other people."

MannyN's picture
MannyN 12 years 18 weeks ago
#24

I don't think hate has anything to do with it. If we allow the government to force us to buy something, where does it end? The wording is so messed up. Everyone can get "health care." It is against the law for hospitals to turn people away. The issue is with "health insurance."

gerald's picture
gerald 12 years 18 weeks ago
#25

I favor health care or Medicare for all Americans because I am a Democratic Socialist. We need more Socialism in this country. We could pass a bill into law that says Medicare for all but individuals and families can opt out of the Medicare if they wish. I do not want people in any plan that makes them feel uncomfortable. I AM VERY, VERY COMFORTABLE WITH MY MEDICARE PLAN. LONG LIVE MEDICARE!!!!!

leighmf's picture
leighmf 12 years 18 weeks ago
#26

Alas for you lawyers, doctors of the Law. Do what is just and right or bring down Robert Fleming Coal Mine 1F and Carlyle Omuta Coal Mine 17F upon your own Heads.

XXXXX

jnkesrouan 12 years 18 weeks ago
#27

Polls show 55% oppose Obamacare. Thom called the Judge's decision undoing the will of the people. Gee really, how exactly is that. Did we the people get to vote on this. NOPE, it was imposed on the entire country by one party, despite the fact that almost every poll in the country showed that the majority of Americans, although they wanted health care reforms, didn't want Obamacare. The results of the fall elections amply demonstrated THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. Pubs have been accused of being the Party of NO well the Dems are the Party of Ram it Down Your Throat, or the Party of We Know What's Best For You. On the subject of constitutionality Thom. In 1920 when Americans wanted to pass a national law like banning alcohol nationwide, it was done by Constitutional Amendment. In the 1930s the process of Federal lawmaking was changed to passing Congressional Acts. And now to pass Obamacare a budgetary tool called "Budget Reconciliation" was used, that's how far we've gotten away from the Constitution. Here's a suggestion THOM go read Senate report 93-549 and then come back and tell me this country doesn't operate outside the Constitution by using Emergency Powers, this State of Emergency was continued on Sept 14, 2001 by GW Bush and has been in effect ever since, Obama extended it in Sept of 2010 source wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Emergencies_Act . This abuse of power started with FDR, was continued by every other Democratic and Republican President. Thom it's why since WWII Congress no longer "Declares" wars, a President can simply go to war by "Resolution" and a Resolution is not a law. It is also why Executive Orders or Presidential Decrees have the full force and effect of law.

anotheRedhering's picture
anotheRedhering 12 years 18 weeks ago
#28

get out the torches and pitchforks. that just might send a message.

(I'm not suggesting violence; I am advocating PR imagery. we need to sell our message without any confusion. to an aristocracy it doesnt get much clearer than that.)

dnarnadem 12 years 18 weeks ago
#29

I am simply amazed at the Anti-Health Care "Obamacare" rhetoric coming from the Right!

They all Repeat ad naseaum what they are hearing from "Fox Noise" and their ilk. They just don't get it.

There are a few "Propagandists" filling their brains full of Fears and outright lies.

In short this is a complete take-over "Agenda" by the Healthcare Industries to stop and repeal the Healthcare Bill at "ALL COSTS"! They are spending hundreds of Millions to get this overturned. If the Healthcare law stands, the Healthcare Industry stands to lose Billions. And my amazement is that these “For-Profit” Insurance companies are succeeding in convincing millions of Americans that they do not need Healthcare insurance! Such is the power of “Propaganda”, “Big Money”, and the Big Lie!

Why would anyone want to reject affordable Health insurance for themselves, their children, their wives, and immediate family, for no insurance at all? All in the name of ‘I don’t want Government to tell me what to do?’ Mind boggling right? But yet these anti-healthcare advocates would rather die than be able to get affordable healthcare. Just Amazing.

In any family, when a life-threatening disease or accident occurs, not having healthcare Insurance can bankrupt families - literally. Homes, life savings, properties, poof, all gone like the wind. And yet these people have been brainwashed by corporate interests to believe that they do not need this life saving Insurance. Astounding.

Here is a challenge for these anti-Healthcare advocates – when you are denied coverage for any reason, try getting compensation from the Healthcare Industries who have convinced you that you don’t need Healthcare Insurance in the first place. For a fact I know you will not get any. It is one thing when one is healthy to refuse Healthcare Insurance, it is another when a member of your family or yourself has to die or suffer pre-maturely because you don’t have that Health Insurance to save them. And no, the Emergency rooms of any “for profit hospitals” will not cover and pay for any long term life threatening health conditions – you are totally on your own.

If not for anything else, think of your family and your children before you deny life saving Healthcare Insurance for them. It just might save yours and their lives!

wdharper's picture
wdharper 12 years 18 weeks ago
#30

Thom, I do not like disagreeing with you, because you are usually so thoughtful and compassionate. But the Obamacare (I don't liek that name) healthcare package is wrong, beccause it is forced on the people. What would be better would be for the government to have , ahumm, what eveyone, including you wanted in the first place.... socialized medicine. That way, you wouldn' have to be forced to buy it separately, it would be included with your taxes, which would certainly go up, some. But in the long run, the costs of medicine would stabilize, just like they have in other countries with socialized medicine. We have to find a way to get the big industries off our backs, and the medical industry is one of the biggest.

richwingerter's picture
richwingerter 12 years 18 weeks ago
#31

The Republican mandates are unconstitutional*, as well as being a stupid idea economically. It was a serious mistake in strategy to include these because the courts will rule them unconstitutional and that will undermine any gains we made in healthcare.

The silver lining in this is that after they rule this unconstitutional we can finally get on to solving the real problem with healthcare: it costs way too much. We pay about 17% of GDP in this country, while Europe pays between 9 and 11% and China & India are paying 5% (for admittedly poor healthcare). These are our competitors.

To have a competitive healthcare system we need to get costs under 15%. That would require taking about $650 billion a year out of current costs (to get to 15% and cover everyone in the country). The only feasible way to do that is to get rid of corporate waste--profits, outrageous executive pay, and other costs--that currently costs us hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

The government should have simply said that it would pay for all necessary healthcare, and would increase the income tax across the board to pay for it. This would be perfectly constitutional and beyond court review. It would also be much fairer than even the PPACA system, which pushes people into for-profit healthcare insurance. That will simply increase costs because the cost structure in for-profit healthcare are higher than in public systems.

One of the biggest sources of cost in our system is the administrative cost from our adversarial system of payments. The providers must keep extra staff to research the plethora of plans and fight for payment, whereas the payers have to keep staff to deny coverage. Since there are literally tens of thousands of plans, we get enormous overhead costs. Public health systems generally have about 3-4% overhead, where we are paying maybe 30% overhead for runaway administrative costs and other corporate waste. A fully public system would eliminate administrative costs by reducing the number of plans and making it much easier to know which treatments are covered. It would eliminate the adversarial system.

Democrats did an extremely poor job with the package we got and they are rightly being sent back to do it over. We should welcome that and put our energy into getting a real improvement: publicly-funded healthcare.

* People that have not bought healthcare insurance are not participating in commerce. This is in contrast to the cases that many people cite, in which (for example) farmers grow crops and therefore are taking an action that is part of commerce. The Commerce Clause was stretched to cover these precedents to begin with, and it is pretty clear from them that going this extra step to allow non-activity to be part of commerce is an additional stretch. Frankly, stretching government power in this way is bad for liberals and we should not support it. Nor is it necessary. The government does not have to mandate that individuals buy from private enterprise in order to cover everyone. They can simply pay it out of general revenue and bump up all the brackets by about 2%. That's the right way to get what we want and Democrats should have done that in the first place. As I've argued for a couple of years, now.

Boomer_1's picture
Boomer_1 12 years 18 weeks ago
#32

"In short this is a complete take-over "Agenda" by the Healthcare Industries to stop and repeal the Healthcare Bill at "ALL COSTS"! They are spending hundreds of Millions to get this overturned."

Can you cite a supporting reference for that statement that is something other than someone else's opinion?

dnarnadem 12 years 18 weeks ago
#33

This is MY opinion based on facts. Anyone with half a brain and aware of the endless AND vile attacks against our President, Liberals, Progressives etc etc, by the Republican party and Tea Party advocates since day one, can figure this out by a modicum of logic alone.

The repeal of the Health Care Bill is solely a Republican mandate and agenda (Repeated on Fox Noise everY 10 minutes). The Tea Party has this as one of the MOST important issues in their "Take Back Our Government" mandate (All Republican Representatives voted unanimously to Repeal THE Healthcare Bill). The Big Insurance companies fund ALL Republican Lobbyists and all of the Neo-Conservative groups like Karl Roves' "American Crossroads" and other such neo-conservative groups (Easy to check the Contributions). In turn funneling money to Tea Party groups (that also not difficult to check). And of course the invitation and the attending of conservative political funding functions by Supreme Court Justices (Scalia with Cheney and behind closed door secret meeting with the recently elected Tea Party Representatives (Funny no Democrat group?), Alitto attending closed Door fund raising dinners, Thomas whose wife worked the Tea Party circuit)! This is fact.

The repeal of the Healthcare Bill is a Republican agenda only. I don't see too many Democrats trying to repeal it. Fact.

And as with everything else that the Republican agenda is trying to push, the sole motive is to defeat Pres Obama and make him a "ONE TIME PRESIDENT - Sen O'Connel's phrase!" and basically have him fail at the expense of the well being of all Americans. "Citizen's United" opened the floodgates for billions of dollars to flow in secret to special Interest groups whose sole purpose is to regain control of all three houses of our government AND the Supreme Court. This is no secret. Being stated ad infinitum on all right- wing Radio stations, Fox Noise and all other neo-conservative own media outlets.

My Opinion is based on Facts.

To the American People - When is This Republican controlled Congress going to start creating Jobs? All that is happening is endless partisan bickering and whining. They need to get their hands dirty and start creating jobs for the American people. All I hear, however, is the mindless whining and finger pointing! Fact.

james from franklin's picture
james from franklin 12 years 18 weeks ago
#34

Obama's health care is constitutional do to the fact that insurance is commerce, therefore congress has the right to regulate commerce. By the judge in Florida who said they couldn't throw out the mandate without throwing out the whole bill made it such a large part of that bill, that there is no way they can repeal it. It is a no brainer because insurance is commerce and congress can regulate commerce. So to the right wing side who is doing this for political reasons, Ha! Ha! You lose.

stradric's picture
stradric 12 years 18 weeks ago
#35

@Boomer_1: "Anyone seriously believe at this point [the Republicans] would repeal the present plan and do nothing else?"

Anyone who has been paying attention for much of the last 30 years probably thinks that. The simple reason is because the republicans are the party of the top 1% and the top 1% can pay for healthcare out of pocket. You couldn't name a single republican representative that wants to provide health coverage to the poor and working class. All they want is to provide the health insurance industry with more profits.

delster's picture
delster 12 years 18 weeks ago
#36

Health care is truly one of the most basic human responses all people receive from birth either by their family members or interested compassionate care givers. It is one of the most cherished gifts one gives to the dying members of your family. It is a right of civilized individuals living in a society dedicated to evolving into a more perfect government. It is the very first indication of the moral conscience of any society. Health car begins in the home out of love and concern for family and friends and often times complete strangers. It is one of the first services we provide to people of suffering nations as an indication of encouragement and compassion. Americans are by nature a compassionate people motivated by morality. From a band aid to chicken soup we all feel in some way we must alleviate and help heal the suffering of others both emotional and physical. It is a responsibility of being human, and perhaps to a higher calling than simply being human. When it comes to caring for needs of people beyond our novice capabilities, I would like to believe that as a society that cares for one another by instinct would be delighted to set up a plan to strengthen our nation by caring and healing the ailments of it's citizens. As a society we can foster an environment to nurture and enrich our culture enabling

greater creativity, security and production, or we can pursue what continues to be problematic for most with little resolution for the future. We can not have a large society with a miniscule government because we inherited a very large and complex set of problems. We have to ask our selves what we attribute our priorities for accomplishment. Is it to be an imposing threat to world peace to satisfy greed or is it to enhance our symbol of freedom and peace. When we get it right I believe others will follow. When we don't others will pursue.

anotheRedhering's picture
anotheRedhering 12 years 18 weeks ago
#37

They sold it door to door as a home security system. Media advertised it in talk and in print. Repugnants bought into it and mandated that we had to buy Iraq. Repugnants mandated that we had to buy Afghanistan.

jdupuis's picture
jdupuis 12 years 18 weeks ago
#38

I never like being told that I have to buy any kind of insurance. I think the Insurance companies, which are who the care bill forces us to purchase insurance from, need to go sell their products in the countries where they purchase real estate with profits from the present American policy holders.The private Insurance companies have been spending our premium dollars over seas in the Pacific Rim for decades wile denying payment to their customers especially when whole towns have been wiped out by natural disasters. They claim that they don't have the funds to pay off homeowner claims. They deny coverage and charge outrageous premimun for health insurance coverage and then refuse to pay out causing people much hardship. I say let them sell off their real estate holdings, pay everyone that they have cheated in the past and then see if anyone wants to buy their insurance products. Why should our government force us to do business with any companies? That's not democratic governance. Mandatory is not for me. However I have always been for single payer health care. Single payer plans have been working well in other countries and can work here too. Anyone who wants something more or better than a single payer plan can always buy supplemental insurance ( from private insurance companies ) or pay for their own care above the common plan.

American-Patriot's picture
American-Patriot 11 years 11 weeks ago
#39

The difference between the GOP nominated judges and the DEM appointed judges is the GOP judges follow the constitution and the others are activist judges that rule like they would like it to be, making a mockery of the constitution..

American-Patriot's picture
American-Patriot 11 years 11 weeks ago
#40

The SCOTUS has not ruled on auto insurance, and it is a little different.

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Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO
From Screwed:
"Thom Hartmann’s book explains in simple language and with concrete research the details of the Neo-con’s war against the American middle class. It proves what many have intuited and serves to remind us that without a healthy, employed, and vital middle class, America is no more than the richest Third World country on the planet."
Peter Coyote, Actor and author of Sleeping Where I Fall
From Cracking the Code:
"Thom Hartmann ought to be bronzed. His new book sets off from the same high plane as the last and offers explicit tools and how-to advice that will allow you to see, hear, and feel propaganda when it's directed at you and use the same techniques to refute it. His book would make a deaf-mute a better communicator. I want him on my reading table every day, and if you try one of his books, so will you."
Peter Coyote, actor and author of Sleeping Where I Fall