Littlestuff Weekender-8-13-2011

From the Reuters Newswire yesterday the 11^th Circuit appears to get “most” of it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law suffered a setback on Friday when an appeals court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require all Americans to buy insurance or face a penalty.
The U.S. Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, ruled 2 to 1 that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Americans to buy coverage, but it unanimously reversed a lower court decision that threw out the entire law.
The legality of the individual mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare law, is widely expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Opponents have argued that without the mandate, which goes into effect in 2014, the entire law falls.
The law, adopted by Congress in 2010 after a bruising battle, is expected to be a major political issue in the 2012 elections as Obama seeks another term. All the major Republican presidential candidates have opposed it.
Obama has championed the individual mandate as a major accomplishment of his presidency and as a way to try to slow the soaring costs of healthcare while expanding coverage to the more than 30 million Americans without it.
The White House voiced confidence the law would be upheld. "We strongly disagree with this decision and we are confident it will not stand," Obama aide Stephanie Cutter said in a statement.
Because it conflicts with another appeals court ruling that upheld the law, the Supreme Court is expected to take it up during its term that begins in October with a ruling possible just months before the November 2012 presidential election.
Legal experts said it was impossible to predict how the high court will rule but agreed that it may be a close vote by nine ideologically divided justices, with moderate conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy as the possible swing vote.
SPLIT DECISION
Twenty-six states together had challenged the mandate, arguing that Congress had exceeded its authority by imposing such a requirement. But the Obama administration had argued it was legal under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
A federal judge in Florida sided with the states and struck down the entire law, leading the administration to appeal.
A divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit found that it did not pass muster under that clause or under the power of Congress to tax. The administration has said the penalty for not buying healthcare coverage is akin to a tax.
"This economic mandate represents a wholly novel and potentially unbounded assertion of congressional authority: the ability to compel Americans to purchase an expensive health insurance product they have elected not to buy, and to make them repurchase that insurance product every month for their entire lives," the majority said in its 207-page opinion.
That opinion was jointly written by Judges Joel Dubina, who was appointed to the appeals court by Republican President George H.W. Bush, and by Frank Hull, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.-----end of citation-----

In other court news, the Supreme Court of Ohio slapped down Rothenberg vs. Husted wherein a challenge was filed against certain Healthcare Freedom Amendment petitions because they were :1) partially completed ;2) erroneously listed payers as employers. The Court determined that the (my paraphrase) complaint addressed minute issues that had no bearing on the validity of the signatures that were submitted. Therefore, the signatures, as validated by local boards, could be included in the total necessary for placement on the ballot. Good news for the good guys.

Congress is on recess, and the Vacationer-in-Chief is at Martha’s Vineyard, so a lot of our action this week is court-based. Here’s another one. The Libertarian Party of Ohio filed suit in Federal Court in the Southern District of Ohio, LPO vs Husted, case #2:11-722. Basically, the suit challenges certain provisions of HB 194 regarding ballot-access requirements for political parties. I urge you to go to   www.lpo.org  . The story about the suit is on the front page. HB 194 now has two challenges pending. The other is the requirement for picture I.D.

Moving from the suffocating atmosphere of the courts, we now merrily trip into the silliness of Presidential politics. Eight GOP hopefuls stood shoulder-to-shoulder in Ames, IA Thursday night and suffered through inane journalist questions, a lack of ample time to present a case and the “buzz” created by Rick Perry and Sarah Palin. No striking winners….no “shot-the-wad” losers.  On Friday I got the distinct impression that some folks fear the Ron Paul campaign may be gaining momentum. Limbaugh and Levin both tore into Congressman Paul re: his statements on Iran. I don’t listen to Hannity, but I assume as a good little lap dog, he probably followed suit.

Tuesday’s radio show will feature Michael Johnston, Vice Chair and Political Director of the Libertarian Party of Ohio, as he brings us up to speed on their lawsuit in Federal Court versus Secretary Husted and HB 194.  Tuesday, 16 August, 6:00-7:00pm, 1370 WSPD.  www.wspd.com for those who like streaming.

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com       or        www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

The Mouse and the Elephant

Ohio Senate Bill 148 passed on a party line vote. Twenty three Republicans decided to restrict voters’ choices in future elections and ten Democrats voted against the bill for a variety of reasons…primarily because the early voting window was narrowed. Third party candidates must gather an extraordinary number of signatures to qualify for the Ohio ballot. Usually because most third party candidates and supporters have real jobs and are not full-time career politicians, outside professional petitioners must be hired to accumulate the necessary signatures. In the realm of hardball politics, time and money are precious commodities. If the third party candidates do manage to attain ballot access, they have already expended an inordinate amount of physical and financial capital. The mouse must scuff and scurry to get in the game because the cowardly elephant is afraid of the smaller creature. It should be noted that the elephant is typically a gelding until it is time to intimidate the mouse.

In past years I rode the elephant as it studiously looked after its own interests while stomping on the little folks as it made its way across the land. The elephant entered into a pact with the donkey whereby whenever either of them became too afraid of the little folk, they would band together to isolate the diminutive ones until the supremacy of the pachyderm and ass could be assured. The elephant and the ass direct themselves according to two prime principles: survival and power. For the two self-serving critters all other principles and values are mere baggage. Sometimes the donkey brazenly brays his misbegotten disdain for standards of constitutional conformity and simple liberty, but the elephant never fails to laud the ideals of freedom, frugality, and fundamental principles. The ass is stupid, and the elephant lies.

Now comes the mouse to claim his place among society’s critters. A modest creature the mouse desires to live in a land of principles and liberty. He wishes that the other critters would allow him to be what he is…a mouse, but they insist on making him conform to their preferences. The donkey and the elephant assume that because of their large sizes, they have the power to force the other animals to do it their way. So, the two grey beasts trumpet and bray to intimidate the others. They change the rules so frequently that the other creatures are constantly hustling to conform. They conspire to make life difficult for all the other creatures of the Creator’s world. In extreme cases when they feel threatened, the elephant and the donkey do not allow the others to roam the wildlife sanctuary. They force the other creatures to roam outside on the periphery of the society.

Whenever the mouse can find an opening into the center of it all, he is amazed at the elephant’s reaction. The massive animal cowers in the corner and refuses to engage the mouse in any meaningful way. The mouse is puzzled by the elephant’s over reactive, cowardly behavior. After all, the elephant professes to share many of the mouse’s values about how the wildlife area should be governed. Why is he so afraid? The donkey runs away when the mouse appears, and the mouse is mystified because the donkey claims to believe that the animal kingdom should not require everyone to behave the same.

It was a moment of epiphany for the tiny rodent. The legal and regulatory mistreatment that he suffered because of collusion between the donkey and the elephant (who was the primary abuser) was a mere symptom of their fear and inadequacy. They were afraid that the mouse would live according to his principles, and they could not tolerate the comparative scrutiny. If the mouse were to assume a role of leadership within the animal sanctuary, the elephant and the donkey would be exposed as dishonest frauds. It wasn’t really the mouse that the elephant feared. It was the little critter’s integrity that made the elephant tremble. The donkey is always stupid.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com    or   www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com