CapnBlues: so this is actually good for romney, isn't it? It puts fuel back on the fire of that debate, which gained a lot of traction for the GOP in 2010.

That's what I was thinking.

Why was this even a question? The government has required me to pay for Medicare for like the last 45 years!

Phinn: The government can't force me to buy insurance, but they will try to tax me if I don't.

Eh.

For one, the Left has tried to get away from its Tax-and-Spend label ever since Clinton, but now it will have to own it. That's sorta nice.

But more importantly, the federal government is so inept at collecting taxes from people like me, I will NEVER have to actually pay it.

Really, anyone with two brain cells to rub together can avoid all federal taxes. It's really not that hard.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again.

Tax and spend is better than borrow and spend, and the reasons should be obvious.

Eventually, with borrow and spend, no amount of tax revenue will cover the increased cost of servicing the debt and the interest payments.

With tax and spend, you get some real motivation to cut spending, because you're actually paying for everything, everything! the citizens are demanding.

Borrow and spend is the ultimate in kick the can down the road policy making.

MediaAreAllHacks: I'm still always shocked by how ridiculously stupid and uninformed most Americans are about their own health care.

A question: Would you tell the hospital to turn away someone dying because they couldn't pay?

If you answered yes, you're a sociopath. Seek help.

If you answered no, you believe in socialized medicine. Now we're just talking degrees of it. The American government spends more on health care than any other country in the world (per capita). Then of course you all have to pay for health insurance too. So fully socialized medicine would allow lowering taxes.

This.
There's a reason most hospitals have religious names, they were started out of a need to tend to the sick, not as a way to be profitable.

ignatius_crumbcake: Two Free Republic headlines got the outcome wrong. The comments are hilarious as they go from smug to petulant as they realize it was wrong:


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2900385/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2900380/posts

Thread pulled. Those folks be cowardly!!!

Kuroshin: WombatControl: 3.) Obama is now responsible for a major middle-class tax increase. After saying that he wouldn't raise taxes. Repeatedly. This will be in every Romney attack ad through this election season. It should be in them now.

From now on, it's not "ObamaCare." It's the "Obama Health Care Tax". Let's have the President own his massive tax hike right through to November.

My taxes have not been affected. There has been no tax increase.

There has been a new, punitive tax created, but no tax increases for anybody.

No, all you've done is created a tax on people who can't afford to have health insurance. Those same people won't be covered under Medicaid because the forced expansion of that program was struck down.

Now they still won't have any form of heath coverage but will be taxed because they don't have any form of health coverage.

Good luck with that in November.

/Conservative who opposes Obamacare, but the ruling upholding the tax was correct.

Thunderpipes: TwistedFark: bdub77: WombatControl: Legally, this was a piss-poor decision. Yes, the Commerce Clause end of things was upheld, but the SCOTUS basically saved Congress by doing something that Congress never intended to do. That's judicial activism. If Congress had intended the mandate to be a tax, they could have done so directly. SCOTUS inferred that's what they did, which is not the proper role of a judge.

Politically, anyone who wants to argue this is good for Obama is kidding themselves. This is the worst outcome for Obama. (The best being the bill being upheld under the Commerce Clause, the second best being the bill being totally struck down.) Why is this the worst outcome?

1.) This just energized the living fark out of the GOP base. It was ObamaCare that motivated the Tea Party in 2010. Now it's going to do the same in 2012.

2.) It just took away their "RomneyCare" attacks. (Yes, the whole "RomneyCare" bit was incoherent to begin with, but it's less coherent now.)

3.) Obama is now responsible for a major middle-class tax increase. After saying that he wouldn't raise taxes. Repeatedly. This will be in every Romney attack ad through this election season. It should be in them now.

From now on, it's not "ObamaCare." It's the "Obama Health Care Tax". Let's have the President own his massive tax hike right through to November.

Doesn't matter. Americans got health care. This is a win for the American people, not just Obama. Obama will now go down as the first president who got Americans health care. His legacy in that regard, not to mention countless other things he's done as president, will solidify him as one of the greats.

And yes I expect him to fully whip Romney's ass in November.

I'm not much of a political fan boy, but I have to agree in regards to Obama's legacy. He's managed to accomplish quite a bit in this term - and a fair bit more than I can recall any of the last 4 President's doing.

He sure has. No President in history has run up the deficit l ...

Aren't you forgetting someone...

Jon Snow: YoungSwedishBlonde: Holy farking shiat, Roberts upholds Obamacare? My mind is full of billions and billions and billions upon billions of f*ck.

It was originally a conservative alternative to more liberal policies.

[i.imgur.com image 477x158]

The fact that people are in disbelief just shows how absurdly partisan the Roberts court has been acting of late.

Wasn't the individual mandate the conservative idea of healthcare? I actually think that would have been a nice place to start, actually.

Adolf Oliver Nipples: Three things:

1) Can we finally put to rest the notion that the Supreme Court was rigged for Republican initiatives? It's tiresome, and in reality the butthurt that usually comes from SCOTUS decisions is because it's your particular ox that's being gored, not because they're ideologically fixed and conspiring to fark Democratic initiatives.

2) The Congress could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by simply calling it what it is, a tax. It was always a tax, and calling it something else was always a big charade. We need to get over this tax-averse attitude we have in this country if we wish to maintain any semblance of the standard of living we currently have. We can't continue to live off of other peoples' largesse for much longer.

3) Congratulations to Barack Obama on his reelection. This essentially sealed the deal, the rest is just pro forma screaming.

THIS THIS THIS

/Air Force One will do a Victory lap around the US in November.

Waldo Pepper: so what if you are healthy and simply pay for whatever doctor visits you need at the time you are penalized by the government for not buy a product/service?

So if you get really sick, do you promise to commit suicide rather than force the government to pay for it? Because I can handle that.

According to NPR, Obama will address the nation around noon.

Theres a shocker.

Healthcare stocks are up... market is crashing.

WTG Obammy... nice one to fark up this country

Seems like the left got the result they wanted (law and mandate upheld), while the right got the reasoning they wanted (Congress doesn't get a blank check to pass laws under the commerce/necessary and proper clauses, and can't force states to comply with a federal regulation by threatening existing federal funding.)

I'm not happy that Roberts fell for a bait-and-switch on the tax argument, but aside from that, not much to criticize. And just because a law is Constitutional doesn't mean it's a good idea.

CommieTaoist: Cons: But all those uninsured are driving up healthcare costs and straining our hospitals!
Libs: Fine, everyone must have insurance.
Cons: BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR!
Libs: What are you talking about? Insurance is primarily bought from private corporations, you guys should have wrote this stuff.
Cons: La-la-la, we can't hear you, la-la-la.
Libs: Come on, grow up.
Cons: Wait, we know, this is a new tax!!!
Libs: It's not a tax on the rich, you should be happy. Plus there is no "tax" or fine if you have health insurance, something that is good for everyone.
Cons: Durr, socialism! Impeach Roberts!

I've heard of moving goal posts, but on some things I envision them mounted to the back of a car going round and round a NASCAR oval.

LordJiro: retarded: Good Lord, the freepers are having aneurysms:

"John Robert's poison legacy: Mexican takeover of America, and Socialist dictatorship. IMPEACH this traitorous bastard."

Oh lord, I would love love LOVE to see the Republicans impeach Roberts. Talk about not thinking their cunning plan all the way through.

They've already primaried out a number of their Reps for compromising and working with "the other side." Many of those Reps are in districts that have centrist populations, which won't take kindly to a teabagger lunatic when November rolls around. The GOP/teabagger party isn't exactly known for thinking long term on much of anything.

Holy shiat, on mpr they're talking about civil war over this.

optimistic_cynic: How is this different from the insurance provider making those same decisions?

The decision isn't based on the profit motive, but since it's a conservative talking about it, that's somehow a worse thing. Because health care only works when people get bonuses from letting you die.

This is the same court that upheld Chicago v. McDonald. I am certain that those who approved of the former ruling will approve of this ruling and that whose who believed the former ruling to lack any merit will disapprove of this ruling.

MurphyMurphy: Benjimin_Dover: His campaign promise that he would not raise taxes on anybody earning over (what was it?) $250,000 has now just been verified by SCOTUS as a lie. He just raised taxes on the poorest of the poor. I wonder if Roberts intentionally gave the Repubes a campaign issue to hammer on Obama with.

awww did the politician do something seemingly deceptive to advance his agenda?

That stinks. And the agenda was helping ppl to boot! I mean, lying to start wars that kill hundreds of thousands of people, sure, we all understand that. But lying to make people more healthY? DISGUSTING.

Lying stinking fartbama.

Now go vote for Rmoney who will not lie to you.

They all lie, doosh. That has been my point all along. Nice try. Try reading. It helps.

Thunderpipes: No. By accepting the cash now, states make themselves responsible for more of the costs later on. Smart states will absolutely refuse this. It does not benefit them at all to participate. It will further hurt state budgets to expand. Christ, how dumb are liberals, really?

The guy you are attacking is a Republican.

What is going on??

Thunderpipes
Still scary. Means Congress can regulate your behavior via taxes.

Cue the paranoia. ZOMG, Congress is giving me a tax break for havign a child, now I have an irresistable urge to knock up every fertile woman in sight!

Vote Republican? Obama can impose a tax on you.

Secret ballots, how do they work?

Buy an American car? Obama can impose a tax on you.

As opposed to placing a tax on imported cars, like some kind of tariff?

Bonus: good luck defining "American car": A Chrysler built in Canada? A Honda built in Ohio?

Christian? Obama can impose a tax on you.

Taxes are on transactions, not ideas. You could start taxing churches, perhaps, but I'm not seeing how this ruling makes that possible where it wasn't before.

I love the simple-minded slippery slope arguments. "The gubmint is telling us we gotta have seat belts in our cars? Next thing you know they'll be telling us what we can drive. The gubmint is mandating background checks for gun purchases? Its the first step in takin' away all our guns, the ones the Constitution guarantees us!"

News flash: Before this ruling, the government had the right to tax you, and now they still do.

This is bad news...for Obama.

He has just been declared a liar to the American people, in that the mandate "wasn't a tax", and that he "wouldn't raise taxes on the middle class".
Well folks, the middle class just got the largest "tax" increase in history, and Obama should earn PolitiFacts PANTS ON FIRE rating.

Either way this was going to get ruled, it was going to galvanize the ruling's opposition. The SCOTUS may very well have just handed Romney a victory in November.

Wow, freerepublic is losing its collective shiat right now

JerseyTim: Oh my god, you guys. Two federal agents just knocked on my door and handed me a letter telling me I have to appear before a death panel next Tuesday. PRAY FOR ME!!!

Hey, we TOLD you not to let your birth certificate lapse.

Kuroshin: MasterThief: Silver lining based on SCOTUSBlog: The mandate was not a legit use of the commerce clause, but it was OK as a tax.

So yes, Obama and the Democrats did, in fact, raise taxes on the middle class. After repeatedly promising not to.

Not mine. I have health insurance.

So yeah, not really.

/a really weird way of doing things - punitive taxation...

uh ya, really

i have health insurance now through my employer. it is a small company, less than 20 people.

now they are going to drop our insurance cause they can't afford it.

so now i get to buy a product only where my government allows, or get taxed if i don't.

/the lib jack off fest here is priceless in it's ignorance.

//what's the lib equivalent of a tea-bagger??

ialdabaoth: Ok, look. This is simple.

If someone can't afford to stay competitive, why do they deserve to compete?

If someone can't afford to keep working, why do they deserve to work?

If someone can't afford to stay healthy, why do they deserve health?

If someone can't afford to stay alive, why do they deserve to live?

You get what you pay for. If you can't afford to pay, well... I suppose it's polite to pretend that it was nice knowing you, but you aren't much use anymore, are you?

And if you disagree with all of the above statements, great! Politics takes money. If someone can't afford a lobbyist or a campaign, why do they deserve to have an opinion?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Don't like it? Leave. You're not an American.

Obama said it wasn't a tax.

The Supreme Court says he lied.

Romney's donations box just got even bigger. Obama is going to have make more trips to George Clooney's house to try and keep up.

make me some tea: RichieLaw: What is this I don't even

/But seriously. I am so effing shocked right now. That this conservative court would uphold this, and that ROBERTS would be the swing vote.....just no words....

Yeah, I'm rather floored too. I really expected them to shiatcan the thing.

As I said in the other thread, though...

This is not a victory for liberals. This is a victory for Obama, the health insurance industry and their lobbyists.

I would disagree. Even though it is not single-payer it has extended coverage to millions and gotten rid of that bullshiat pre-existing condition nonsense. That, in and of itself, is a victory for everyone.

Glenn Beck: "Europe has Nazis and Communists!!!11 We have Obama!!!"

schattenteufel: Teabaggers in a nushell:

-Republican raise taxes to pay for foreign wars? No Problem! Lets give our boys the best toys to pertect our freedums!

-Democrats raise taxes to pay for healthcare of American citizens? THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!

(me? I'm against both parties. I just hate Teabaggers.)

You got that wrong:

-Democrats raise taxes to pay for healthcare of American citizens? THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!

-Republicans lower taxes and try to fight two foreign wars off the books to try to hide the actual costs of those wars, and then try to cut social programs after the fact to cut down on the mountains of debt those wars caused -- WE'RE OKAY WITH THIS!

This is all just b*llshiat ! Fix health care ? Don't charge me $20 for 2 Tylenol when I am in the possible, and give me a bill for $12,000.00 for an over night stay. Fix that, the farking price gouging!!!

Because the original was asked to leave, I'll step in for the day.



Impeach Roberts.

*

Did Roberts wake up next to a horse head one morning?

*

America is gone.
The most horrendous monster of a law that the world has ever seen has now been cemented into place.
There may still be a nation named America but we can now kiss goodbye to prosperity as we used to know it.
Minimum 16% extra tax, and that's just for starters.
If only "the poor" would be asked to pay their fair share, but I suspect that will never happen.
Everybody pays for everyone else = "the rich" (anybody who pays taxes) pays for everyone who don't.
In order to "save" 30 million uninsured (allegedly) the other 280 million are now to be strangled, slowly.

*

Look on the bright side.

At least we can now run ads until the election saying Obama and the Democrats have imposed the largest tax increase in American history.

They can now run ads of death panels.

They can now run ads of legislation that will increase premiums.

They can now Throw Grandma off the cliff and blame the Democrats.

*

We are all now officially slaves owned by and for the U.S. Federal Government.

*

This just in on the News Wires:

"Supreme Court Consumes Bath Salts and in Zombie-Like Attack Eat the Constitution".


Anyone who has health care with an employer just lost it today. Your employer will pay the fine and you will be dumped into the health care pool. Your salary will go up little to none, but your taxes will go up big time to pay for all the deadbeats. The hard working poeple just lost big time! I just hope the unions also are subject to be dumped in the pool with the rest of us!

*

I have never been more ashamed of my country. Today my country is dead to me.

Long live Texas!

*

Roberts is a GD'd Traitor! Thanks for nothing, W.

*

Roberts betrayed us.
Kennedy wanted to strike the whole thing down.

Kennedy said the whole thing is unconstitutional which it is.

Bush should have picked Janice Rogers Brown.

We need a 2nd revolution. This is tyranny

*

John Robert's poison legacy: Mexican takeover of America, and Socialist dictatorship. IMPEACH this traitorous bastard.

*

This is why elections count. To all the imbeciles who stayed at home and allowed this socialist would be dictator to become president; how do you like the new taxes that are being crammed down your throat?

Nobody knows how hard they are being hammered by this outrage. We have been effectively raped by our own government.

*

The only problem that Liberals have with the history of chattel slavery in the America is that the slaves were privately owned.

*

The law was not written or constructed with the mandate as a tax. If the mandate is a tax then the law should have to be rewritten and sent back through the process. Written as a mandate the law is now invalid. Try to get it through as a tax.

If not, then slaves have risen up throughout history. It might be time for civil disobedience and whatever else needed to remove the entire population of politicians from their perches. Enough of this crap. If representatives no longer represent us then let them be removed.

This next one nearly killed me:

It's time to start viewing the federal government with hostility.

*

This is fascism. Welcome to the Fourth Reich.

*

The Confederate States of America doesn't look so bad now, does it?

*

"This is why elections count. To all the imbeciles who stayed at home and allowed this socialist would be dictator to become president; how do you like the new taxes that are being crammed down your throat?
They are as culpable as the blithering morons who pulled the lever to elect this dictator."

How about imbeciles who supported the architect of Obamneycare as the GOP nominee? They should be happy today. Their guy's ideas won.

*

This is going to bring about a revolution. Got your guns ready?

*

Roberts should say it like it is: congress passed the law, not me. Be mad at congress, not the court.
BULLshiat....he was a Stealth Marxist all along

IMPEACH ROBERTS

*

If the Constitution was not a dead letter before today, it is now. There are no longer any constraints whatsoever on the power of the government as against the individual, nor does it recognize any.

We are indeed, for all intents and purposes, slaves of our government, to dispose of as they see fit.

And I for one will act as any slave would; they will only get the bare minimum out of me. It's off to Galt's Gulch.

*

In shock. Who knew Roberts was a lib..and a coward.

*

No only disgusting, but this ensures Obama will win in November....
Roomey will win now

*

"...but this ensures Obama will win in November...."

On the contrary, this has awakened a sleeping giant. Now, anyone who does not get out and vote against Obama is officially an enemy of the United States.

*

OBAMACARE = SLAVERY

repeat often to everyone.

OBAMACARE = SLAVERY

that is out talking point.

now vote out every single democrat.

*

Will somebody please ping me wrt location, time, etc., of commencement of our rioting.

*

I will not vote ever again for the GOP rather I will vote for the most liberal/socialists/leftists etc candidate from now on.
Voting any other way will not matter as it will be a waste of time and a vote.....

Above post is totally emotional reaction....

This next one makes sense since their entire economic policy is based on the dreams of a 13-year old...

A 4th grader can see that this is not Constitutional.

If the government can do this, what the F can't it do to us?

*

When and Where is the first anti-slavery rally?

OBAMACARE = SLAVERY

*

If the GOP is smart...
I see a flaw in your statement.Ed: so do I

*

RIP America.

*

Could John Roberts have been "blackmailed"? It may not be as farfetched as it sounds!
I think my husband and I are going to sell our home and his business. We are going to buy a camper and become gypsies! I am NOT giving one more damn dime to any of these marxists!

*

We now have to demand of any elected Representative and Senator that they will not get our vote unless they promise to repeal this monstrosity...or our freedom is lost forever.

*

Sorry to say, if you think this is ever going away, you're tilting at windmills. There is no way this is ever being repealed.

*

"prepare yourselves.."

My fellow American, we have been preparing for a civil revolution since 2008!

The freeloaders will not give up theirs without a serious fight and God willing, the good American people will give them a fight they won't soon forget. the fighting won't end until the American people take back their Constitutional government.

The adverse decision from SCOTUS is exactly what our forefathers feared in creating another government when they wrote the Constitution in the first place. Their fears have come true, unfortunately, the American people will have to again pick up arms to repel another oppressive tyrannical government.

Prepared, you bet your a$$!!!!

*

So, the federal government CAN mandate commerce, they simply need to represent it is a negative tax: Do this or else get taxed. So much for the US Constitution.

Since the federal government refuses to obey the constitution we should too! REVOLT!!!

Now that the Affordable Care Act has been found constitutional in its entirety, will republicans go back and actually read the bill?

vegasj: Theres a shocker.

Healthcare stocks are up... market is crashing.

WTG Obammy... nice one to fark up this country

/sigh

Jensaarai: Well, there ya go. We now have Democrats firmly cheering for a Republican healthcare bill, and Republicans can continue feeling persecuted.

you know I dont think 99% of the people understand that. The republicans came up with the mandate about 3 or 4 years ago and now they are against it. idiots.

/may not be related
//or IS it?!?
///nope.

Thunderpipes: When your employer's group coverage goes up in price, and it will, you will be taxed, directly or indirectly, Moran.

Insurance costs have risen every single year since I started paying them, and that was decades ago. Blaming insurance premium increases on Obamacare is like tatooing I'm Stupid on your forehead.