As of Friday, nine people know the outcome of the states’ lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Congress’ inaptly named “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” a/k/a Obamacare. The Justices voted at a closed-door conference, but we won’t know what they concluded until June. They and their clerks will spend the time between now and June… more
On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court, heard oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the individual mandate, the single most talked-about provision contained in the health care “reform” act passed by a deeply divided Congress in 2010. Listening to the audio and reading the transcript was a textbook example of the “echo chamber effect,” which, in… more
Editor’s Note: For an overview of the health care case oral arguments at the Supreme Court, click HERE. “Nothing is certain but death and taxes,” they say. Unfortunately, there’s some UNcertainty about what is, and is not, a tax at the U.S. Supreme Court, and Monday we all got a chance to listen in on… more
I’ve been fascinated in listening to the oral arguments at the Supreme Court (click HERE for basic information about the argument schedule and subjects to be covered). But, I’ve also been frustrated. It’s as if I am a child, out in a corridor, listening to a conversation coming from inside a room. It’s a strange… more
“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” ~ James Madison, 1829 So, all quiet on the health care front? Definitely not. There were recent news reports about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to consolidate and hear several health care law… more
Ben Nelson is Deserving of Darts for two important reasons: 1) Health Care Law: Providing the 60th vote for cloture on the health care law and the attendant “Cornhusker Kickback” 2) Hypocrisy: Saying he voted “No” on the debt debacle because he was concerned about cuts to the Medicare program In November 2012 – Ben [...]
Author’s Note: This article was originally drafted in mid-June, before the debt ceiling debacle even began to unfold. I have revised parts of the article to reflect events which have occurred in the interim, but I want to point out that the deal Congress just passed with respect to the debt ceiling is yet [...]
The article about Medicaid coverage for prenatal care in Nebraska that was published in the Sunday, July 24th, Lincoln Journal Star is so full of bias, unsupported conclusions, and half-baked analysis it’s difficult to know where to begin to respond. I’m going to take a stab at it anyway over the next few days. But [...]
Considering that most of the wheeling and dealing involved in government goes on behind closed doors, more likely than not most of what we Americans hear and see playing out in the media is maneuvering. These P.R. battles seem to provide politicians the ability to “throw some red meat” to their respective bases of support. [...]
This is Part 5 in an ongoing series about the concept of nullification by states; the idea that individual states can declare a federal law or regulation unconstitutional, and therefore, refuse to implement it. See FOOTNOTE section for links to Parts 1 – 4 and additional supporting information.1 (See the far right sidebar for making [...]