Free Republic

Separation Of Powers: Chief Justice John Roberts, a George W. Bush appointee, chose the case of the century to turn to the left. The lesson is loud and clear: Only elections can stop Big Government. In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court's monumental 5-4 decision preserving ObamaCare will be parsed and picked to death by everyone from constitutional scholars to irate Tea Party activists. But however extensive the faults within the chief justice's ruling are, it's right on the money in issuing this warning to the nation: "It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of...

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court upheld the president’s signature health-care reform in a 5-4 decision. The court ruled the most controversial aspect of the law, the individual mandate, as constitutional, labeling it a tax and within lawmakers’ power. So now that the legal uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act has been eliminated, it’s time to delve into the tax implications and when they go into effect. ,,,, Excise tax: This 2.3% tax on manufacturers, producers or importers on the sold price of a medical device is intended to help cover the cost of the sweeping legislation, but some...

DENVER – A 33-year-old man is in custody for allegedly killing a two-year-old girl in a hit-and-run Tuesday evening. Omar Gonzalez faces charges of Felony Hit and Run Resulting in Death and Felony Abuse/Criminal Negligence Resulting in Death.

Jill Makinson-Sanders, 61, wore the novelty costume to support the campaign to win protected status for the Lincolnshire banger when the Olympic flame came to Louth, Lincs., on Wednesday. Instead of wearing her traditional mayoral chain and robes to greet the torch at 7am, the councillor dressed up an 8ft-tall pink sausage costume. Mum-of-two Sandra Ellington, 38, said: "She probably thought she was being quite fun and quirky - but it backfired a little bit. "People couldn't take their eyes off her because it looks so rude - her outfit certainly gained a few titters among the crowd. "It's something...

The Republican Plan B is to repeal Obamacare on Day 1 of a Romney presidency. Good luck with that. First, today's Supreme Court decision will make it a lot harder to elect Mitt Romney. President Obama has just been handed a fearsome election weapon. 2012 is no longer exclusively a referendum on the president's economic management. 2012 is now also a referendum on Mitt Romney's healthcare plans. The president can now plausibly say that a vote for the Republicans is a vote to raise prescription drug costs on senior citizens and to empower insurance companies to deny coverage to children...

In the 1990s as Yugoslavia broke up a series of conflicts erupted that are often called the Third Balkan War. In fact what this was amounted to a series of regional conflicts that were in essence several different civil wars. In the middle of this region lived a young man we shall call Selco who simply was happy to have friends and a job along with playing in a local rock band. Something that could have come right out of Americana. Then almost overnight the entire dream became a nightmare. The region was in the middle of a war, there...

“Simply put, Congress may tax and spend.” With those historic words, the Supreme Court forced upon the United States a bleak dawn of a brave new world in which the federal government cannot be checked in its march toward totalitarianism. In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court upheld the joint venture of the President and Congress to force every American, regardless of ability or desire, to purchase a qualifying health care insurance plan by 2014 or face a tax penalty for failure to comply. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the Court, held while the “individual mandate is not a valid...

  June 29, 2012 Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles, Vigil   Reading 1 Acts 3:1-10 Peter and John were going up to the temple areafor the three o'clock hour of prayer.And a man crippled from birth was carriedand placed at the gate of the temple called "the Beautiful Gate"every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple.When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple,he asked for alms.But Peter looked intently at him, as did John,and said, "Look at us."He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.Peter...

With the United States Supreme Court ruling to uphold the President Barack Hussein Obama health care law, this decision for all purposes President Obama today handed over the November 6, 2012 United States presidential elections to Mitt Romney. Besides the United States of America having a broken economy, this decision by the USSC has for all purposes nailed shut the coffin for the Obama era of the White House. Frankly, I was never all that crazy for Mitt Romney, but this decision today pretty much has handed him the White House because it will not only make the United States...

The TEA party movement was born of the threat Obamacare posed to us. It will send the enthusiasm on our side sky high. It will do very little to excite the Left – hey, they won, didn’t they? The Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling has placed the weight of pulling America’s wagon on middle class people. In the short run, Democrats will be delirious, and their cheerleaders in the media will be insufferable – in the short run. They will all act as if they have forgotten what happened in the elections of 2010 – but we will remind them in...

Despite claims to the contrary, the SCOTUS has ruled the ACA imposes a "tax". With the SCOTUS ruling, this is ironclad. What's also ironclad is that -per the Constitution- ALL taxation legislation MUST begin in the House. The ACA began in the Senate. Since such a tax isn't really illegal until it's collected, the moment the IRS tries to do so someone will file against it. quote: Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution states "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." With that wording, the Mandate is definitely shot down but considering that it's...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney reacted to the Supreme Court's Obamacare decision by saying that, "if we want to get rid of Obamacare, we're going to have to replace President Obama." "Let’s make clear that we understand what the Court did and did not do," Romney said today, speaking in Washington, D.C. "What the Court did today was say that Obamacare does not violate the Constitution. What they did not do was say that Obamacare is good law or that it's good policy." Romney added: "Obamacare was bad policy yesterday. It's bad policy today. Obamacare was bad law yesterday. It’s...

Taxation: The high bench has confirmed that ObamaCare's individual mandate is a massive tax on the American middle class. But let's not forget the 20 other new taxes that are embedded in the law. Though President Obama never sold it as a tax hike, the Supreme Court ruled the mandate is exactly that. Unfortunately, the majority argued it's legal under Congress' taxing authority. Forcing citizens to buy health insurance "is absolutely not a tax increase," Obama insisted in 2009. Earlier, he assured the public that raising taxes on the middle class to support his health care plan was "the last...

Thinking out loud here, but am I now being taxed for breathing as an american citizen if I don't have health insurance?

~Favorite Summer Songs~ Under the boardwalk - The drifters Oh, when the sun beats down And burns the tar up on the roof And your shoes get so hot You wish your tired feet were fireproof Under the boardwalk Down by the sea, yeah On a blanket with my baby Is where I'll be (Under the boardwalk) Out of the sun (Under the boardwalk) We'll be having some fun (Under the boardwalk) People walking above (Under the boardwalk) We'll be falling in love (Under the boardwalk, boardwalk) In the park you hear The happy sound of the carousel You...

What's their purpose anymore ?

Nancy Pelosi Botches Brian Terry's Name While Addressing Congress on Holder Contempt Charges By Noel Sheppard Created 06/28/2012 - 4:31pm House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), while speaking on the House floor opposing the contempt charges of Attorney General Eric Holder, actually botched the name of slain border patrol agent Brian Terry. As she expressed condolences to his family, Pelosi called him "Brian Tay, Tay, Terry" (video follows with transcript and commentary): NANCY PELOSI: I think we all also agree, I think we all very, very much agree that we are very sad and seek justice for the family of...

A robot populates a room with imaginary human stick figures in order to decide where objects should go to suit the needs of humans.  Courtesy of Personal Robotics Lab If you hire a robot to help you move into your new apartment, you won't have to send out for pizza. But you will have to give the robot a system for figuring out where things go. The best approach, according to Cornell researchers, is to ask "How will humans use this?" Researchers in the Personal Robotics Lab of Ashutosh Saxena, assistant professor of computer science, have already taught robots...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly three years after he died, Nancy Pelosi was thinking of Senator Ted Kennedy and his long fight to expand U.S. healthcare on Thursday when the Supreme Court upheld the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul. Pelosi, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives when healthcare reform was finally passed by Congress in 2010, made a call to Kennedy's widow Victoria Kennedy shortly after the Supreme Court decision. "Now Teddy can rest," Pelosi told Kennedy, whose husband had called overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system "the cause of my life."

“This decision I would go as far to say is lawless. Absolutely lawless!” Listen to his First Segment from June 28’s Show