Healthcare Law Upheld: "A Dark Day for American Liberty"

So Obama's Healthcare Law has just been upheld. Amazing. 

I have to agree with Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli on this one: "This decision goes against the very principle that America has a federal government of limited powers; a principle that the Founding Fathers clearly wrote into the Constitution, the supreme law of the land," Cuccinelli said in a statement. "The Constitution was meant to restrict the power of government precisely for the purpose of protecting your liberty and mine from the overreaching hand of the federal government.

"This unprecedented decision says that Congress has the authority to force citizens to buy private goods or face fines -- a power it has never had in American history, and a power King George III and Parliament didn't have over us when we were mere subjects of Great Britain," Cuccinelli continued. "Since the federal government itself could never articulate to the court a constitutional limit to this power, Congress has gained an unlimited power to force citizens to buy anything."

The decision means the historic overhaul will continue to go into effect over the next several years, affecting the way that countless Americans receive and pay for their personal medical care. The ruling also handed Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in requiring most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty.

Full article here.

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I fail to see how the federal government can force citizens to buy any product from any private company and the Surpreme Court could consider it constitutional. Even more baffling is that the Supremes  are upholding it as a tax... even though Obama himself specifically argued that it was NOT a tax!

Even more reason why Obama needs to go. Four more years of Obama and that will give him even more leeway to stack the court with liberal/leftist judges, who will make more liberal/left-leaning decisions, which will just hasten America's descent into God-knows-what. The New America is gradually taking shape right before our very eyes, and it's kinda scary to think what this New America will look like when we let the liberals in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of  government get their way. 

Ironically,the swing vote here was from a supposedly "conservative" justice, John G Roberts Jr. Now If you cant even count on conservative justices to be truly conservative on important decisions like this, what will happen down the line when they retire and are replaced by decidedly more liberal justices? God help America, that's all I can say on that. God help America. 


It'll be interesting to see... will this decision help or hurt Obama's reelection campaign in the long run? Will it energize his supporters to vote him into for another term? Or will it mobilize his opponents to make sure he doesnt stay in the White House past next January 19th? Of course, only time will tell. It's gonna be a wild and interesting ride, that's for sure. 

Is it time for Universal Healthcare in America?

While the debate has raged on for years, I've been on the fence on that issue for a while now, but the more I think about it, the more I start to think that it's simply an idea whose time has come.

The British newspaper The Independent makes a compelling case in this article:

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Obama's healthcare plan

The brutal truth about America’s healthcare

An extraordinary report from Guy Adams in Los Angeles at the music arena that has been turned into a makeshift medical centre

Saturday, 15 August 2009

They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of

Publish Post

these Americans had walked miles simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others had brought their children for immunisations that could end up saving their life.

In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an "evil and Orwellian" example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.

The LA Forum, the arena that once hosted sell-out Madonna concerts, has been transformed – for eight days only – into a vast field hospital. In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around the venue for the chance of getting everyday treatments that many British people take for granted.

In the first two days, more than 1,500 men, women and children received free treatments worth $503,000 (£304,000). Thirty dentists pulled 471 teeth; 320 people were given standard issue spectacles; 80 had mammograms; dozens more had acupuncture, or saw kidney specialists. By the time the makeshift medical centre leaves town on Tuesday, staff expect to have dispensed $2m worth of treatments to 10,000 patients.

The gritty district of Inglewood lies just a few miles from the palm-lined streets of Beverly Hills and the bright lights of Hollywood, but is a world away. And the residents who had flocked for the free medical care, courtesy of mobile charity Remote Area Medical, bore testament to the human cost of the healthcare mess that President Obama is attempting to fix.

Christine Smith arrived at 3am in the hope of seeing a dentist for the first time since she turned 18. That was almost eight years ago. Her need is obvious and pressing: 17 of her teeth are rotten; some have large visible holes in them. She is living in constant pain and has been unable to eat solid food for several years.

"I had a gastric bypass in 2002, but it went wrong, and stomach acid began rotting my teeth. I've had several jobs since, but none with medical insurance, so I've not been able to see a dentist to get it fixed," she told The Independent. "I've not been able to chew food for as long as I can remember. I've been living on soup, and noodles, and blending meals in a food mixer. I'm in constant pain. Normally, it would cost $5,000 to fix it. So if I have to wait a week to get treated for free, I'll do it. This will change my life."

Along the hall, Liz Cruise was one of scores of people waiting for a free eye exam. She works for a major supermarket chain but can't afford the $200 a month that would be deducted from her salary for insurance. "It's a simple choice: pay my rent, or pay my healthcare. What am I supposed to do?" she asked. "I'm one of the working poor: people who do work but can't afford healthcare and are ineligible for any free healthcare or assistance. I can't remember the last time I saw a doctor."

Full article here.

When Will The Barbarism End?

An article I found recently on NPR.com deals with the continuing prevalence of female genital mutilation, or female "circumcision" as others call it. I've known about the practice for a while, but it shocked me to see that the female circumcision rate is over 90% in some African countries.

We who live in the developed Western world are so blessed. Sure we've got our own share of issues, but I'd rather live here than anywhere else.

Thank God for the work that several organizations like Amnesty International are doing to draw attention to this barbaric practice.

From the article:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11767534

'An Evil, Vicious Practice'

All Things Considered, July 6, 2007 ·

Egypt is strengthening its ban on female circumcision in the wake of the death last month of a 12-year-old girl undergoing the procedure.

Female circumcision has been illegal in Egypt for years, but the death of Bedour Shaker in the Minya district of Upper Egypt has brought to light how widespread the practice remains.

Many say it will take years to reverse local customs that support the practice, also common in other parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Bedour died, reportedly of an overdose of anesthesia, in a clinic where a doctor was performing what for many Egyptian women is still a rite of passage in the 21st century — the removal of parts of the genitalia, usually including the clitoris.

Her death and the unusually heavy publicity it generated have re-energized opponents of the practice.

"I hate to say that, but it helped us immensely. It's an awful custom. It's an evil, vicious practice, really," says Moushira Khattab, Secretary-General of Egypt's National Council for Childhood and Motherhood.

Khattab says that as depressing as they might seem, the latest figures on female circumcision in Egypt actually represent a noticeable improvement.

"Seventy percent are victims of this practice," Khattab says. "But the good thing is that this percentage reflects a decline in the prevalence. [The percentage] used to be in the 90s."

As recently as 2003, a UNICEF survey found that well over 90 percent of Egyptian women who were or had been married had undergone circumcision.

The reason for some optimism, advocates of eradicating the practice say, lies in changing attitudes among young girls. The latest figures for girls ages 10 to 18 show circumcision rates down to 63 percent in rural areas, and down to 43 percent among urban girls. Among girls who attend urban private schools, the figure drops to 9 percent.

Eradicating the Practice

The battle against female circumcision is more complex than it may seem at first glance. It's not, as many assume, necessarily linked to conservative Islam. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, the practice is virtually unheard of. Egyptian scholars say female mummies showing evidence of clitoral excision date back to the 16th century B.C., long before either Christianity or Islam arrived on the scene...

Full article here

Universal Health Care? Hmm...Not So Fast

I've recently been becoming a pretty strong proponent of some form of nationalized health care coming into being here in America. It seemed like maybe it' s just an idea whose time has come. All the Democrat candidates for president are pledging to bring in national health care if they get into power, which seems likely right now. Hillary Clinton, in particular, has long been a major proponent of government-run health care. This is going to be a key issue of discussion during the 2008 campaign, so I'm sure we'll be hearing much more on this issue.

But now I'm not so sure. John Stossel of "20/20" had a powerful 1 hr special on ABC last night called "Whose Body is It Anyway?"that really made me think. The promo is available on Youtube. Stossel interviews Michael Moore, and picks apart key assertions from Moore's documentary "Sicko". Moore has been known for distorting the truth in his documentaries, so its no surprise that pretty soon we see that he's don the same thing in "Sicko" too. I'm convinced that those who advocate socialized medicine have not been telling us the whole story; and make no mistake, there is another side to the story that needs to be told. .

The ABC special is something I wish every American could see before deciding on nationalized health care. Our system now is far from perfect, but it still might be better than what the proponents of socialized health care want to change it to. We as Americans had better make the right choice, because if we change it to a government run plan, theres no turning back. And that might not be a good thing.

The promo video is below.

And by the way, those who keep telling us how wonderful Cuba is, with their "free health care", might want to check out this site: TheRealCuba.com

Robert Bazell of NBC has another persepective on the issue here: "Deciding Who Lives And Who Dies"