So nobody is going to write up today's SCOTUS decision? You're leaving it to the simple lizard who is more or less beneath good and evil?
Well, Chief Justice Roberts and the SCOTUS majority deserve this dino's praise for taking the nonpartisan high road: apparently, he saw the Court's job as consisting mainly in finding a reasonable way to square the ACA's mandate provision with the constitution, and along with four other justices, he did so. If you call it a tax instead of insisting that the Commerce Clause backs you up in "regulating" this kind of commerce, it's okay. I think the Administration can live with that, though I suppose it's a spot embarrassing to call the enforcement mechanism a "tax" on people who refuse to pony up for some health insurance. Same goes for the Medicaid part of the ruling, which was sterner.
The point is, the legislative branch of gubmint had passed this thing, and Chief Justice Roberts didn't see it as his prerogative to find easy ways to crush it. He seems to have rewritten or reconceptualized the ACA somewhat to make it fit his reading of the constitution. The SCOTUS looks pretty damn good today, thanks in large part to one John Roberts, Bush 43 appointee. He is hereby declared an honorary dinosaur. That's the highest award I can bestow on a human. It's sort of like getting a Congressional Medal of Honor. The majority's decision was wise, and they deserve praise for it. They won't get it from the ultrapolarized 'Baggery, of course, but it should be obvious why that's the case.
I think people will become more positive about the ACA as more of its provisions come online. It isn't perfect and a lot of us would prefer something more thorough, but it's certainly going to move us closer to where we should be. I watched the president's brief announcement after the ruling, and as usual he impressed me. He comes across as decent, earnest and thoughtful, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about any of his most dedicated opponents.
... and I hear hereby declare Chief Justice Roberts an Honorary Cephalopod, which maketh him both inky and slimy.
ReplyDeleteI found Obama's short speech to be a breath of fresh air concise informative and spot on, while Romney's lame ass mutterings were exactly what you would expect he is such a tool.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree on all counts of inky and slimy.
ReplyDelete1)- http://rationalnationusa.blogspot.com/2012/06/cheif-justice-roberts-shoes-himself-to.html
2) - http://rationalnationusa.blogspot.com/2012/06/real-meaning-of-scotuss-aca-obamacare.html
One man's decent, earnest and thoughtful is another man's radical Muslim Indonesian Communist -- and always will be.
ReplyDeleteCapt. Fogg,
ReplyDeleteNow that the law's been given a rating of "mostly okey-dokey," the nation's idiots will commence shouting themselves hoarse with cries of "socialism" and death camps and Roberts-is-a-librul-throw-da-bum-out. I found the way Roberts handled the case wonderfully sane and mindful of the SCOTUS' true mission, which is why, of course, the GOP-Zombies and general morons aren't happy with him. They thought he was one of them, and then they realized he knows how to read something more sophisticated than a stop sign. When you live in a country where the population of hopelessly deluded fools teeters around the 50% mark, you can be sure that "no good deed goes unpunished."
I wasn't expecting a new birth of sanity and we probably will have rampant apoplexy. I had a dinner conversation Wednesday and I guess I'm a few friends shorter than I was - one was ranting about how Obama is allowing - or maybe causing - the US to adopt Sharia Law and the proof is that a New Jersey woman last year was temporarily denied a restraining order against her husband. The other guy told me Obama's tax policies have caused 47% of us not to pay any taxes and therefore they're parasites on the economy.
ReplyDeleteBoth these people are wealthy and successful men who now think I'm a communist. I think I have to see it as insanity rather than idiocy.
Meanwhile my medical bills have soared past $100K.
I find it appalling that one would dare be so ugly to ZOMBIES. Comparing them to the GOP is just wrong on so many levels. At least the zombies don't actually have a working cerebrum and cerebellum. Allegedly the GOP does.
ReplyDeleteIt is a wonderful thing when the SCOTUS does right by America. TWICE last week with this AND the Arizona law.
Now if they would just do away with Citizens United...
I have wondered about Justice Roberts and how he would behave in his new role and I am very gratified to see him taking his role and Protector of the US Constitution so seriously. I am pleasantly surprised to see him breaking ranks to do what is right instead of toeing the party line. He can hang out in my tree any time!
ReplyDelete