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Obamacare Ruling
http://noisyroom.net ^ | 6.28.12 | Garry L. Hamilton

Posted on 06/28/2012 1:31:58 PM PDT by Whenifhow

I’m doing my best not to speculate too much on this.

Ever played Bridge?

You bid the hand in such a way that certain things are communicated to your partner, and then you trust that your partner will understand the bidding and play correctly. During play, you play your cards both in response to what the opposition plays and in such a way as to take advantage of your partner’s position.

Bridge is a complex game with a significant trust component.

I believe Roberts is playing Bridge here.

I’m guessing (yeah, I said I’m trying not to speculate) that his reading of the liberal justices was such that if he sided with the manifest majority, and struck down only the funding vehicle, the law would survive and be shored up through other, more devious measures.

By correctly classifying the funding vehicle as a tax, he has played a card that exposes the liberal reality and invites a response from Congress as well as the electorate.

By acknowledging that the *electorate* is responsible for its political choices and therefore its politicians and therefore, ultimately, its laws, and by making it clear that bad law and bad policy may not, in fact, violate the Constitution, since the Constitution was not written with the explicit injunction that “legislators may not write stupid laws,” he plays the card that clarifies the path to eliminating not only the heinous Health Care Sabotage machine, but also the fools and crooks who gave it to us.

Roberts is looking across the table at us now.

He has to trust that the electorate and Congress will look at the cards and play correctly to win the hand and ultimately the game. He can’t signal us with a kick under the table or tap out a strategy with his pen or convey in any fashion what he meant by his play.

Play now moves to us.

He has given us clarity: Obama lies, taxes rise. Repeat that loudly.

He has stated the uncomfortable truth: SCOTUS can’t save you if you insist on voting in stupid legislators and evil presidents; your salvation lies entirely within your own hands.

It must have been tempting to side with the other conservative justices and strike down the vulnerable parts of the law, but that just allows the now injured monstrosity to limp along, doing massive damage as it tramples the economic structure of the nation.

In Bridge, there’s a play error known as “trumping your partner” where you play a card in “trumps” to win a trick that your partner would have won anyway because your opponents have no higher value in the suit he played. It’s an error because you give up a play that would have won a later trick with that same card. It can make the difference in winning the hand.

Let us not trump the Roberts decision with a bunch of emotional chaff that hands the ultimate victory to the fools and crooks.

Our play is simple, really: change out the president, change out the bulk of the Senate, increase the House majority. Hey, I said simple, not easy.

With the right legislators in the chairs and the right president in the Oval, the whole damned Health Care Sabotage law can be expunged. That, and a whole host of other fires this administration has started can be extinguished.

SCOTUS can’t save us from stupid. That’s our job.

Consider it a “shovel ready” job and start digging.

Update: Did Roberts just give Obama the bird? – UPDATED

“I believe Roberts is playing Bridge here”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: genius; healthcare; scotus
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1 posted on 06/28/2012 1:32:01 PM PDT by Whenifhow
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To: Whenifhow

this man is delusional.


2 posted on 06/28/2012 1:36:19 PM PDT by Nifster
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To: Whenifhow

I disagree completely. Even if we follow a sensible twist on Romney’s advice: repeal Obamacare, and replace the liberals in Congress, and even if ObamaCare never returns, this decision will do exceptionally grave damage to the concept of a federal government limited by the Enumerated Powers.


3 posted on 06/28/2012 1:39:20 PM PDT by Pollster1 (A boy becomes a man when a man is needed - John Steinbeck)
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To: Whenifhow

If it’s a tax, then they’re taxing us for being alive. How is that Constitutional?


4 posted on 06/28/2012 1:39:50 PM PDT by Fantasywriter
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To: Fantasywriter

Art 1, Sec 7 Constitution: 2 raise revenue (taxes) MUST originate in House OCare originated in Senate! Sup Court miss that?

Challenges to Ocare coming!


5 posted on 06/28/2012 1:46:16 PM PDT by Whenifhow
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To: Fantasywriter
If it’s a tax, then they’re taxing us for being alive. How is that Constitutional?

Exactly. They have only said that it's a tax. They have not said that it's a Constitutional tax. And under the Anti-Injunction Act I don't think they can until the tax is assessed against someone and that person challenges it.

6 posted on 06/28/2012 1:46:24 PM PDT by KevinB (We'll stop treating Obama like a dog when he stops treating us like a fire hydrant - Fred Grandy)
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To: Whenifhow
I don't know if Roberts is an air head or brilliant, but Obomacare just turned into the democrats TRILLION DOLLAR TAX INCREASE.

The tax payers are not going to be happy - especially the college kids that voted for them. They're going to get stuck paying for this massive freeloader bill. They're going to be forced to pay big time so the democrat base can sit back, relax, and enjoy the free ride.

As soon as the American workers - even union members - find out this is THE biggest tax increase in American history, they're going to start thinking differently about supporting the tax and spend the democrats.

7 posted on 06/28/2012 1:46:47 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Whenifhow

Consider this.

Ezra Klein: The Political Genius of John Roberts

By voting with the liberals to uphold the Affordable Care Act, Roberts has put himself above partisan reproach. No one can accuse Roberts of ruling as a movement conservative. He’s made himself bulletproof against insinuations that he’s animated by party allegiances.
But by voting with the conservatives on every major legal question before the court, he nevertheless furthered the major conservative projects before the court — namely, imposing limits on federal power. And by securing his own reputation for impartiality, he made his own advocacy in those areas much more effective. If, in the future, Roberts leads the court in cases that more radically constrain the federal government’s power to regulate interstate commerce, today’s decision will help insulate him from criticism. And he did it while rendering a decision that Democrats are applauding.


8 posted on 06/28/2012 1:51:07 PM PDT by Linda Frances (Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness)
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To: concerned about politics

So, is Obamacare a capitation (or direct tax) layed upon every American head? Or is it a [progressive] income tax? Who collects this tax?


9 posted on 06/28/2012 1:54:45 PM PDT by nonsporting
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To: Linda Frances

Similar article here

Chief Justice Roberts Is A Genius

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2900590/posts


10 posted on 06/28/2012 1:55:26 PM PDT by Whenifhow
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To: Linda Frances
reputation for impartiality,

Screw his "reputation." This isn't suppose to be a popularity contest.

11 posted on 06/28/2012 1:57:22 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Whenifhow

Roberts was told “get it right or Obama will be nominating a new Chief Justice soon”.


12 posted on 06/28/2012 1:57:36 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: nonsporting
So, is Obamacare a capitation (or direct tax) layed upon every American head? Or is it a [progressive] income tax? Who collects this tax?

Insurance companies for now - everyone who can pay MUST pay. The "fine" or "tax" goes directly to the IRS.

Business will probably drop their coverage because it's cheaper to pay the fine. That will cause the insurance companies to go bankrupt. Government care will be the only care available after that. That's why the fines are so low. They're creating another "crises" by driving insurance companies out of business.

13 posted on 06/28/2012 2:06:08 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Whenifhow

Art 1, Sec 7 Constitution: 2 raise revenue (taxes) MUST originate in House OCare originated in Senate! Sup Court miss that?

Challenges to Ocare coming!


Exactly. This puts the power into the hands of the legislators. Roberts forced democrats to admit they are taxing people.

Jay Cost
Big picture: Today’s ruling on the Commerce Clause was a win for the right
First, the Roberts Court put real limits on what the government can and cannot do. For starters, it restricted the limits of the Commerce Clause, which does not give the government the power to create activity for the purpose of regulating it. This is a huge victory for those of us who believe that the Constitution is a document which offers a limited grant of power…

Conservatives have a shot at getting the best of both worlds: having the Supreme Court use Obamacare as a way to limit federal power while also using the democratic process to overturn the law. I didn’t think we could have one without the other, but now maybe we can.


14 posted on 06/28/2012 2:06:16 PM PDT by Linda Frances (Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness)
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To: KevinB
Exactly. They have only said that it's a tax. They have not said that it's a Constitutional tax. And under the Anti-Injunction Act I don't think they can until the tax is assessed against someone and that person challenges it.

Bingo! I was waiting for somebody to say what you did, so I could add this: If it's a "tax," then the case is not ripe yet. It will be ripe as soon as somebody pays the tax, and that hasn't happened yet. It will happen in '14, and that's going to be the challenge that kills the bill (unless mooted by Congress and a new President).

15 posted on 06/28/2012 2:12:53 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Obama considers the Third World morally superior to the United States.)
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To: concerned about politics

I’m trying to look for a silver lining.

I don’t care about his reputation either & I don’t think he cares about his personal reputation. The left will say Roberts is there hero, UNTIL, obama wants to do something that Roberts has just limited. Wait until they wake up and realize that Roberts skunked them. Roberts agreed with every argument the conservatives brought up.


16 posted on 06/28/2012 2:19:31 PM PDT by Linda Frances (Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness)
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To: concerned about politics
Business will probably drop their coverage because it's cheaper to pay the fine. That will cause the insurance companies to go bankrupt. Government care will be the only care available after that. That's why the fines are so low. They're creating another "crises" by driving insurance companies out of business.

You mean "Government Insurance" (not care) will be the only insurance available.

Insurance companies go away. (I've not used medical insurance for many years, choosing instead to pay for services rendered.) Most everyone pays the "penalty" and chooses their own health care paying the old-fashion way, not insurance, but fee for services rendered, eliminating the insurance middleman altogether.

I would not want to be employed by a medical insurance provider at this point.

17 posted on 06/28/2012 2:19:43 PM PDT by nonsporting
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To: Linda Frances

Update: Senate GOP Will Use Reconciliation in Attempt to Repeal #Obamacare! http://herit.ag/o2S

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/06/28/senate-gop-will-use-reconciliation-in-attempt-to-repeal-obamacare/


18 posted on 06/28/2012 2:22:00 PM PDT by Whenifhow
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To: KevinB
Good analysis. It's clear the Roberts court couldn't care less if it's constitutional or not. Roberts let the cat out of the bag when he said it's not his job to save us from the poor choices of the electoral majority. If the majority votes in an ineligible POTUS, that's their/our problem, not the court's. If the guy the majority voted in imposes an unconstitutional tax, tough twinkies. The Roberts court has washed its hands, a la Pontius Pilot. After all, the downside of ObamaTax will never touch John Roberts; he and his family are exempt.
19 posted on 06/28/2012 2:25:55 PM PDT by Fantasywriter
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To: Whenifhow

Its a poll tax....

The capitation clause of Article I of the United States Constitution, reads “[n]o capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.” Capitation here means a tax of a uniform, fixed amount per taxpayer.[5] Direct tax means a tax levied directly by the United States federal government on taxpayers, as opposed to a tax on events or transactions.[6] The United States government levied direct taxes from time to time during the 18th and early 19th centuries. It levied direct taxes on the owners of houses, land, slaves, and estates in the late 1790s but cancelled the taxes in 1802.

“A poll tax (head tax or capitation tax, per U.S. English usage) is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount applied to an individual in accordance with the census (as opposed to a percentage of income). When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax (and vice versa, if a poll tax obligation can be worked off). Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments from ancient times until the 19th century. There have been several famous (and infamous) cases of head taxes in history, notably a tax formerly required for voting in parts of the United States that was often designed to disenfranchise poor people, including African Americans, Native Americans, and white people of non-English descent (e.g., the Irish). In the United Kingdom, poll taxes were levied by the governments of John of Gaunt in the 14th C., Charles II in the 17th and Margaret Thatcher in the 20th century.

The word poll is an English word that once meant “head” - and still does, in some specialised contexts - hence the name poll tax for a per-person tax”


20 posted on 06/28/2012 2:30:36 PM PDT by mo (If you understand, no explanation is needed. If you don't understand, no explanation is possible.)
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