Froth Slosh B'Gosh

Wingnuts Say The Darndest Things

The hysteria on the right over the Supreme Court upholding the ACA is a thing to behold, but for me, the winner of Teh Stoopid goes to Rand Paul who stated:

 "just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be ‘constitutional’ does not make it so."

Er, actually Rand, it DOES make it so.  That level of idiocy is going to be hard to top.

Also, Rush Limbaugh is so upset he says he's moving to Costa Rica...which has universal, taxpayer financed health care.

That Sound You Heard....

...shortly after 10 this morning was the sound of millions of wingnut heads exploding in unison.

The US Supreme Court has said President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare reform act is constitutional.

Congressional Republicans vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but I cannot see such a bill making it out of the senate.  Even if it could, it would never garner enough support to sustain an veto override.

Yes, you can expect more of these.  Here she is, watching a fishing boat come into harbor.

"Oceans Of Evidence"

Appeals Court upholds EPA, slaps down polluters.

A federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency had acted properly when it set the nation’s first limits on greenhouse gases.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the EPA’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and the environment was based on “an ocean of evidence,” saying the agency’s move to limit those emissions from cars and trucks was “neither arbitrary nor capricious.”
The ruling was a defeat for groups that question evidence that gases from burning coal and other fossil fuels trap heat in the atmosphere. The coalition of groups that brought the complaints against the EPA said restricting the emissions would be too expensive.

I suspect that this isn't the end of this particular saga.

The Future?

Kay at Ballon Juice shows us what health care may look like in the very near future if the Supreme Court strikes down the ACA...All you have to do is look at Texas.

Take a good look at Texas, because that’s the conservative vision for health care, realized. Those who have insurance will get top-notch care, and those who don’t will get a stern lecture on ‘healthy choices’ along with having to beg for a free diagnosis of advanced colon cancer.

One more thing. The next time you hear a media personality, uninformed babbling pundit or conservative politician repeating the tort reform mantra, you may also point to Texas. Some of the most radical “tort reform” in the country, in place since 2003, and ordinary people benefitted not at all. It was a lie, there have been endless studies proving it’s a lie, yet they all repeat it anyway.

Just Because

Just because I have a few holiday snaps to share.

Decisions Decisions

So the Supreme Court handed down two news making decisions yesterday.  First, they declared that mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders are unconstitutional.  Frankly, I do not find this decision all that controversial.  They didn't rule that a life sentence was unconstitutional (although I find life sentences for juveniles pretty barbaric) just the mandatory ones.  What I find truly distressing is that four of the justices (and we all know which four) think locking up teenagers forever, regardless of age or circumstances, to be a good thing.  I do like that the P-G quoted Allegheny County Common Pleas judge David Cashman: 

"I've never liked mandatory sentences because I don't think a mandatory sentence applies to all the parties," he said. "People are unique."

The second newsworthy decision was the Court gutting Arizona's "Papers Please" law.  Wingnuts like Arizona Governor Jan Brewer are trying to turn lemons into lemonade by noting that the court upheld the provision allowing police to ask people they reasonably suspect to be in the country illegally their immigration status.  What everyone fails to note is that the police have ALWAYS been allowed to check the status of those they believe to be in the country illegally. Being in the country illegally is not a criminal offense, it is a civil offense, and Arizona had no right to criminalize it.  Typically, Fat Tony Scalia had a meltdown over the majority's ruling.  Apparently, states are "sovereign" when they do what Fat Tony wants, but, as in Montana's challenge to Citizens United, they're not when trying to do something he's opposed to.

 

Meanwhile, as the Court gets ready to issue its ruling on the Affordable Care Act, polling shows that majorities of Republicans and Independents like what's in the act, with the exception of President Obama's role in getting it passed.

Ripping Away The Mask

OK, I really didn't want to blog about much about anything today, saving my comments of the Supreme Court for tomorrow, but this naked statement from from wingnut state rep Mike Turzai asserting that PA's voter ID law is all about suppressing the vote and NOT about preventing the nonexistant crime of voter impersonation fraud cannot go unremarked:

"Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it's done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done." 

And there you have it.  Voter ID isn't about preventing voter fraud, its about disenfranchising Democrats.  But we knew that all along, didn't we?

 

Swamped

Well, I came back from two weeks of vacation to a mountain of paperwork, so all I really want to do now is sit back, have a beer, and watch a little TV.  So instead, enjoy this picture of the Frothling waiting for lunch last week. 

Good Morning Serfs!!

Corporate profits up, wages down!