Barack Obama’s weak-sauce health care legislation does a couple of good things but completely evaded the whole issue he campaigned on, which is health care for all Americans. But even a couple of regulations — such as health care executives no longer being allowed to perform Satanic rituals on the fresh corpses of children denied coverage — might not be covered explicitly in the pro-slavery Constitution of the late 1700s. And that’s why the Supreme Court has finally agreed to wage war on Obamacare, probably in March of next year. Will the “pro-American” Supreme Court majority agree to ban health care completely? It’s an important election-year political battle, so if you’ve got a pre-existing condition you should try hard not to die before then, because politics is interesting!
The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide the fate of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, with an election-year ruling due by July on the healthcare system’s biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years.
The decision had been widely expected since late September, when the Obama administration asked the nation’s highest court to uphold the centerpiece insurance provision and 26 states separately asked that the entire law be struck down.
Because the biggest provisions of the law don’t take effect until 2014, the Supreme Court’s fringe-right multimillionaires have a rare chance to completely erase the whole “Obamacare” fiasco before it actually happens! [Reuters]
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I'm sure that Scalito and Roberts will take a cautious, nuanced look at this legislation. Then they'll laugh, piss on it, and set it on fire. Thomas will look up from his nap, give a small belch, and go along with whatever they want.
That's being unfair to Thomas. He'll actually sit there sullenly through the entire arguments, take a huge dump on stare decisis and then declare that since antibiotics weren't in the Constutition they damn well better not be in any American hospital neither.
Any chance porky Scalia and his porky mini-me both keel over from a heart attack before March?
When does Scalia go hunting with Cheney again?
If they did, Barry would feel it necessary to appoint replacements who reflected the conservatard viewpoint and pick Grover Norquist or G Gordon Liddy.
No. They have government health care.
Just one would suffice — no need to get greedy.
Unrelated to this post.
Baconz is sad today. It's the last day for the McRib.
(this comment is 100% snark free)
Was there actually any pig rib meat in it anyway?
It was made out of a special meat given to us from aliens (whether as a gesture of good will or an act of malicious contempt to mankind, no one is sure).
It's made from illegal aliens?
50/50
It was made out of inside ass. Literally. 100%, grade A anus.
McRibs are people, my friend.
I have to give them credit for not wasting any part of the animal. Seems more ethical than breeding chickens that are 75% breast, etc.
WOAH there Guppy.
What's wrong with anything that's 75% breast? Huh? Huh? you can't answer that.
Because that only leaves 25% for ass. What do you have against ass?
You know what cheers me up on down days? A nice fall ride on a vintage bicycle.
Nothing like fresh air and exercise to burn away bittersweet memories (and residual lard) of McRibs gone by.
is that your bike?
Yep. It's a 1972 Lambert, for any of you vintage bike geeks out there.
I ride a crappy GT soft tail. It's got sentimental value though.
A lightweight steel bike! I volunteer at a bike co-op. That is one sweet ride. So jel over here. I have an old Concorde Freedom deluxe ( i like to call it a tank because it weighs a ton) and a Fuji.
If we all rode bikes, we'd be better!
What's in the box?
Nice picture. Unfortunately it reminds that I have some lawn raking to do.
Here's hoping that when it makes a triumphant return there is some fucking bacon on it. Perfection topped perfection, ya feel me?
I BYOB (bring (my) own bacon) everywhere. Even to baptisms.
Bar mitzvahs too?
EVERYWHERE
Of course. What if, during the ceremony, everyone in the room decided all at once to convert to some pork-permitting religion? Missed opportunity, right there. And you'd have nobody to blame but yourself.
I bring my own mayonaise, which I make from bacon fat.
http://uncrate.com/p/2008/11/baconnaise.jpg
no more "artisanal pork log" for you. RIP McRib.
If only McDonalds would offer the McRib at different times of the year in different states, rather than all at once across the country. Then we could live a nomadic existence following it, moving from place to place as the Plains Indians are said to have followed the buffalo.
As also the dreadlocked tribe of trustafarians followed their meandering and mediocre gods, the Grateful Dead.
Here for you, Baconz, are the reasons why the volatility of pork prices lead McDonald's to not offer the McRib year-round:
http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/11/10/3665…
I am pretty sure Americans eating pounds of corn-syrup-infused mystery pig anus is VERY related to American health care.
MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE LIBEL!!!!!!!!
The Chinaman is not the issue!
That's okay, the world ends December 21, 2012 any way.
and not a fucking moment too soon.
(I'm having a bad day)
You are having a bad day. Imagine poor Mitt Romney. He's compromised every belief he has, squandered his money, is still not trusted by the majority of the GOP, and yet if he does win the Presidency, the world will go kablooie before he even gets sworn in.
Yeah, but even if he does all that and he loses, he's still richer than Croesus.
I got 50:1 they rule down party lines….Any takers?
Anthony Kennedy?
Take moneys from the poors and give it to big, rich, health insurance corporations? 200,000 shares in Cigna say the SCOTUS won't overturn that big-business gravy train.
I figure SCOTUS will rule 5-4 against Health Care and then demand Obama be sacrificed to the gods of Galt Gulch…or something like that.
Think how much healthcare costs will plummet when everybody's dead!!!
Actually, according to the laws of supply and demand, they might skyrocket if the doctors and insurers die first.
You optimistic view ignores the non-living surcharges the insurance companies are sure to levy. Or the "are you sure you are dead" fees.
This is bad news for Ron Paul's eyebrow-transplant specialists.
self-accredited eyebrow-transplant specialists.
Down here we have those dark wooly caterpillers. RP could just put a couple on his bow, botox them and, "viola!", instant eyebrows.
What's the point of being rich if the poors can get the same access to health care that I can?
Great–so Justice Kennedy will have the final say on this. Looking forward to (still) having no healthcare coverage already…
Thank god they will save me from the tyranny of health insurance, that's all I have to say.
But you have the freedom to remain without healthcare and die of a treatable illness, you commie!
Thought that said "…save me from the tranny of health insurance…" Which is a whole other nightmare. But still less scary than Scalia.
Oh goody! A chance for pro-life conservatives to say you are on your own once the amniotic fluid dries.
What you're saying is that I have to do a whole new budget to actually pay out-of-pocket for the twelve or so abortions I was planning to have?
I call bullshit.
Unwanted pregnancy is easily avoided with the help of Planned Parenthood. OH WAIT. Nevermind, you better do that new budget.
Well, we all know if you get 5 abortions, you get one free. So, there's that.
Strict constutionalists will, however, allow black people to have 3/5 of a health plan.
Tyranasaurus Healthcarus was dead before it was born.
Ha! The government can't force us to take care of ourselves! The Right wants the healthcare system Antarctica has: none.
Actually, penguins probably take care of each other better than we do. So I'll take it.
We need more capitalist market-driven health care like China has!
When will you learn, Amerikuh?
Who is "DSF"?
I think it's Double Satan Fucker. Though I could be making that up..
Ah. Everything is in order then.
Is he/she/it/them the recently so-productive Wonkette Jr??
But think of all the Death Panel jobs lost!
Obamacare will only apply to corporations with pre-existing conditions when that crowd gets through with it.
American workers will finally be free to enjoy the same competitive advantages and opportunities for unburdened growth as their compatriots in Mogadishu.
Hail to thee, DSF. Never fail bring the buttsecks.
Scalia is looking forward to this because he can reuse part of his opinion in Bush v. Gore: "Yes, I know this opinion appeals to an unbelievably broad principle that I've never mentioned before and I'll never mention again. A principle that, if consistently applied, would undercut almost all my jurisprudence in this area. But it applies to this case and this case only so don't get any ideas, you smartass bastards."
Some thoughtful commenter here made the argument that when SCOTUS snuffs Obamacare it'll actually be a good thing because it will somehow force us into the happy utopia of a single-payer plan. Would whoever it was please do so again? Cuz it's seeming less and less likely.
Congress would be more likely to pass a resolution recognizing the positive contributions pornographic actresses have made to society than ever pass a single-payer plan.
The Jenna Jameson Act of 2012, passed by unanimous consent!
Reaffirming "In Boobs We Trust."
Now, that's a change we can believe in.
I am assuming Justice "Pubes" Thomas will recuse himself due to his sleeping with this woman?
http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/the_lips…
You're mistakenly assuming that in Thomas' view, sleeping with a woman would somehow give her influence over his thinking. Women are property to be used as men see fit. It's going to take a while to get that enshrined in precedent and law again, but Clarence is a relatively young man. He's already convinced himself that affirmative action is wrong, even though he was perhaps its most notable beneficiary.
A black man growing up in the rural American south has a lot of payback to give.
The right to fuck over anyone making less than your or with a different skin color is a God-given Amurikin right, damnit! Right up there with the right to hit cher wiminz and carry a gun at all times to shoot anyone looking at yer funny or takin yer jerb.
What's the big rush?
A talk radio personality with weight and drug problems.
Please nobody ask about the little Rush.
Now that a majority of Americans supports an individual mandate, it's obviously time for the imperial potentates of the court to snuff it before it begins.
God bless the will of the people.
Gotta kill ObamaCare before it takes hold. If you wait till the provisions take effect people will start to like it. That's what happened with RomneyCare.
And Medicare. And Social Security. And unemployment compensation. And the progressive income tax. All of which the Right-tards fought ferociously against and still want to undo. Then they'll start on Amendments XIII and XIX. Just because women can vote now doesn't mean it has to be that way, anymore than chattel slavery — which is in Jeesus' Bible, after all — has to be illegal forever.
One more reason to put myself in a medically-induced coma until the end of the 2012 elections.
Any suggestions on the pharma/household appliances/craft beer combo necessary to do so??
Considering that, of the dozen of of federal courts that have ruled on the Affordable Care Act, all but one have found it constitutional, including rulings by some of the most conservative federal judges, I wouldn't worry too much on this one.
Also, I for one welcome our new mysterious initials-only overlord.
And you expect the Supreme Court not to fuck you up the ass with your own conventional wisdom because…?
Considering that the law is almost WORD FOR FUCKING WORD the exact same as the GOP-proposed answer to Hillarycare from the early 1990s, can we please stop calling it "Obama's health care law?"
The law should more accurately be called "The Health Care Plan Republicans Crafted Back Before They Became Nuttier Than Elephant Shit."
I know, I know — reality is optional for the GOP and about 99.98% of the media (.02 for Krugman). But a guy can try …
Ah, but the Republican of today has a response to that consideration. [No joke, I've heard this in person several times, and seen it several more times on blogs.]
"Look, we never intended to pass that plan. That was just a fake plan we dishonestly crafted as a rhetorical aid to derailing Hillarycare. So it doesn't count."
Yeah, I've heard/read the same basic argument.
And while I'm not supposed to do so (as a good little dirty fucking hippie peacenik dude) I hate hateHATE HATE Republicans because of shit like this. I mean, all politicians play games to get elected, gain media attention, etc., but they're not even trying any more … and haven't for quite some time.
Of course, if we had a real-life, actually-functioning-as-intended media in this nation, they'd never get away with that kind of shit. But we don't, so they do.
**sigh**
Is it bad that I'm beginning to hope the world really does end in Dec. 2012? 'Cause starting over doesn't sound like such a bad idea any more …
It's absolutely insane. What Obama proposed was almost 100% the 90's Republican plan for health care.
Instead of this GOVERNMENT TAKE-OVER OF THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY, I much prefer the old Republican plan to provide tax penalties for people who won't buy coverage, subsidies for the poor to buy private insurance, helping people with pre-existing conditions get coverage, and increasing competition by letting individuals shop for plans online.
Wait…what?
So this Supreme Court thing, is that the death panel everybody's been talking about?
A group of people in black robes sounds right, but I think they will need a few scythes to complete the stereotype.
Ok, whatever, but when is the Supreme Court finally going to take up Traffic Stop Slavery??
Who knows, if Obamacare does get overturned, maybe the current pool of GOP candidates will orgasm so hard they'll pass out and be unable to run.
If you have already allowed SCOTUS to choose a President how can you not trust their judgement on this issue? Oh… nevermind.
Given that 2012 is going to filled with the Iranian War, global famine, pig flu plague and finally the destruction of the earth by an invisible comet, I'm sure this will be at the bottom of the Cain/Palin Administration's list.
I wonder what constitutional argument the court will roll out to justify fucking over millions of Americans in the name of evil. Publically-funded cancer treatment violates of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment? Sending a heart attack victim to the hospital constitutes illegal search and seizure as defined in the Fourth Amendment. Cheap AIDS drugs violate the Commerce Clause? Can't wait to find out.
I, for one, am looking forward to our conservative friends in the media decrying this as activist judges undoing the work of democratically elected representatives of the people and legislating from the bench.
Unfortunately, your Unbridled Optimism is a pre-existing condition, and therefore not covered.
Barry should argue ask for a change of venue. Mexico and Cuba still have independent judiciaries.
I love to see Dr. Paul practicing his love on the women of amerka, there, without no dadburn mal-prac-tice lawyers gettin' involved.
AKA Dungloe Street Fighters.
Group of youths who terrorize the small, usually peaceful village of Dungloe in Co. Donegal.
?
Um, that was no fun while it didn't last?
Edit: Well, without the original post, this one doesn't make much sense.
Future headline — Supreme Court Kills Obamacare on 5-4 vote.
Activist judges, all. STOP LEGISMATING FROM TEH BEMCH
BTW, OMG, IMHO: Fuck this healthcare plan, its a sellout to the insurance companies. Single-Payor Medicare For All, or GTFO, motherfuckers. Thats how you go hardcore.
Great!! What's the game plan?
I think Michelle Bachmann should argue the case. The Court just loves arguments based on incoherent anecdotes filtered through "common sense" from graduates of the Oral Roberts School of Law and Biblical Paleontology.
C'mon guys! I'm sure that THIS time Barry and the Dems will fight for us. Christ it just kills me that we get four more years of teatard rule by proxy.
Well the centrist justices will be all for it, and the conservative justices will argue that they have no right to use that newfangled judicial review to be activists and decide on the Constitutionality of whatever laws Congress passes, so it'll be approved unanimously. But then again I just drank two bottles of cold medicine.
SSSSSSHHHHH!
COULD YOU GUYS KEEP IT DOWN IN HERE?
I'm trying to teach Pandora what kind of Musak I like…
I'm assuming that the Justices will refuse to use their government provided health care until after their decision to avoid a conflict of interest?
Dominic Strauss Fahn?
Downtown San Francisco?
Dr. Scholl's Footpads?
Drunken Socialist Fag.
(It's Wonkette, after all :)
If it gets killed, then YAY! We'll get a big fat reimbursement check from the insurance companies that fucked us hard in January with drastic premium hikes.
No, wait…
What an awful country.
Medicare Part-E (Everyone) is rumored to cause SCHWING!!!!!!…
This is all because corporations never get sick…
Just remember, if the Romney inspired individual mandate goes down, no one questions that single payer is constitutional.
Oh, they will.
If this court fucks us as I expect them to, I'll offer to marry one woman to provide her with healthcare through my pension. I'll be 60 next year, so you won't have to put up with me forever. Hate to be all one-way about it, but only one woman, I'm not a Mormon, and I'm terminally hetero…
I think there is a very good chance that the healthcare reform will be shot down. They should have made it a tax and had universal coverage. Making it mandatory to buy private insurance is unconstitutional. Let's try 2009 over again, this time with more feeling.
My only fear is the politics of this immediately before the election. I agree; it needs to be shot down, but it'll mean a Republican president who won't do shit or will probably make things worse.
Let's go to a truly fair and constitutional system: If you need healthcare just be sure to buy a lottery ticket when you're in the liquor store every afternoon…
A decision to uphold ( I know, I know) would put Obamacare on the fast-track. A decision to strike down would open the door to Medicare for all. Medicare has never been successfully challenged in the courts. This will be interesting.
Spoilers: they've agreed to hear the anti-injunction argument which if they uphold it means they will defer any judgement on the healthcare reforms until 2015. Given none of them want to make a decision this close to the election, put money on it this will be the result.
I don't believe it's 50% meat. That seems a little high.
Are you a downhiller? I get a lot of them in my hotel when they have races at Dry Hill, just west of town.
I took my no-suspension Kona Lava Dome there and scared the hell out myself going down one of the 'beginner' trails.
Yeah, pretty lightweight until you load it down with racks, and lights and wood trunk, Brooks saddle, wood fenders all that nice custom crap. I decided to kit it out as my Randonneur since I scored a CF/aluminum composite Trek 2100 ($75!!!!) as my new daily rider. The geometry on the Lambert is definitely better for the long haul.
Check out this one . It still has the gold-lugged handlebars and original DeathFork! You should totally buy this and build it up.
Unless you already have too many bikes (like me).
Of course, in NYC, our bike math formula is:
20 lb bike + 20 pound lock & chain = 40 pound bike.
Downhilla, representing!! Spent the Summer learning to shred at Bromont with the local teens. Thank dog for body armor.
No. I'm a city commuter. Just learned how to ride on a Mt.
I stand corrected.
So, what we need is something that is 75% breast and 75% ass?
Fox math!
What about her brain…
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAHA. Some times I make my self laugh.
And Satan created Kardashians.
Extremism in the defense of bacon is no vice.
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