There is a grain of truth in this nonsense. Obamacare is so bad that if it does stand, and goes into effect, historically the Democrats will wear this albatross around their necks (not one Republican voted for it). All other entitlement programs had broad bi-partisan support. That alone should give you pause. It will make health care more expensive and less effective.It is intended over time to drive private insurance out of the market and to become a single payer system. You may say (if you are a Progressive) "Great, what is wrong with that?" The problem is the government is so over extended now, Medicare is completely underwater, Social Security is just getting by, that we really cannot afford this. And what you will end up with is "free" health care that does not cover transplants, cancer treatments, chronic diseases, etc. The damage the Democrats will do to the country in the process will be enormous.
Whatever actually happened in the Martin case — and we still don’t know the whole truth of it — it’s a bad thing for an unarmed kid to get shot.But the liberals insisted on portraying this incident with a certain slant: Saint Trayvon, innocent martyr to racism, with George Zimmerman portrayed as being incited to violence by right-wing talk radio. Neither basic element of that narrative was accurate...
Funny, I do not recall any feminists or advertisers expressing outrage over that? Is there a different standard for Republicans like Rush Limbaugh vs. Democrats like John "Sly" Sylvester?
The left is expending more than just money. It is frittering away credibility and the power of intimidation... if the left throws every single weapon it can at Wisconsin Republicans and yet cannot prevent a conservative agenda from becoming law, then the left must know that it is vulnerable everywhere to conservatives who do not back down. If this last desperate effort of the power-mongers of leftism fails, then their whip may become a wet noodle, and the whole corrupt syndicate of leftism may completely unravel. Watch Wisconsin.
Democrats are starting to hit the panic button, as this Washington Post article makes clear. While a few publicly say that a Supreme Court rejection would make for good politics for Barack Obama and other Democrats in the fall election, most understand privately that losing the entire bill or even just the mandate would be a huge political embarrassment...
There enough to pity on both sides. Zimmerman doesn’t sound like the sharpest knife in drawer. The kind of guy who believes what reads in cereal boxes. I never really felt for Trayvon until I saw the Drudge picture of him wearing the grillz. The gold teeth — dental jewelry — probably of the kind you can buy for $19.95.
There is something inexpressibly sad about a 17 year old guy whose idea of flair is grillz. It’s like cheap hair cream and costume jewelry, a confession of innocence within a package of malice. I have a son of about the same age and even though he’s accounted smart and though perhaps I was myself accounted smart at that age, what does a man know at 17? Enough to hurt somebody else. And maybe he would have become some kind of thug, and maybe he would have turned away and maybe joined the Marine Corps or something, but nobody will know that now.
On the level of individual human beings the thing was a tragedy for both. And I, for one, am glad I don’t have to judge one man or the other. That’s what judges and juries do best.
But the whole media food fight went on without needing to refer to details. This entire brouhaha happened on the level of narrative, myth, kuryente — whatever you want to call it. Everybody already knew what they needed to know.
The whole thing will die down in a couple of weeks and Trayvon will still be dead. Maybe Al Sharpton will have a few more bucks in his pocket. What will he do with it, what does a man like that do with money anyway? Other than that, the world will keep on turning as though it never happened.
How has humanity made it this far, I wonder? And for that I don’t really need to look as far Trayvon or Zimmerman. Sometimes I only have to look as far as my own heart. But I remember that for reasons that escape me, all the great religions hold that we are not a lost cause. There must be some good in us, I guess, but as Michael Shaara once wrote, “if man is angel, then he’s a killer angel”.
Ann Althouse has been predicting that Obamacare being tossed helps Obama get re-elected. I am not so sure about that and I disagree with her reasoning. I am sure Obama would try to spin a loss at the Supreme Court that way (vote for me or they will nominate radical religious conservatives to the Supreme Court and take all your rights away...). Most people do not like Obamacare, so if the Court does tosses it it will only infuriate that segment of voters who were very much for this (and they were already voting for Obama anyway). Most people would be relieved. Paul Heroux at the Huffington Post has an article that Republicans might not as urgent on voting for a GOP candidate if Obamacare is off the table...
If the Court takes down the entire Act, it would do Obama a great favor, which is why I'm predicting the Court will do just that. That was my prediction a few weeks ago, reading, not the the existing doctrine, but "the political forces at play and assessing the Court's vulnerability to those forces."
If Thomas, Scalia, Roberts, Alito, and Kennedy vote to strike Obamacare down, does anyone (other than Ann) really think they are doing so to help Barack Obama? And if this helps Barack Obama, why aren't his allies on the left of the Court going along with striking the law down? Update II: Sotomayor, et tu? Well this is interesting (could Ann be right?)
Ann is also raising her conspiracy theory (which is Team Obama's Solicitor General is intentionally throwing this case). I am skeptical. Obama and his lefty backers do not want Obamacare to fail. Update: Yet if you go through her comments, they are suggesting the Court might strike the mandate, leaving us with a single payer monstrosity. There is, however, no severance clause in Obamacare. I agree a partial strike down would be a giant mess. Let's hope the Supremes do the right thing and kill this.
In the words of Joe Biden, however, Obamacare getting struck down would be a big F'n deal. Here's hoping for good things to happen.