Tag Archives: Constitution

News

Obama flip-flops on health care mandates – now it IS a tax

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Here’s the deal. In order to get the health care bill to pass, Obama had to trick people into thinking that it was not going to result in higher taxes.

So, you would see him on ABC News before the bill was passed saying that forcing people to buy things they don’t want is not a tax:

OBAMA: No. That’s not true, George. The — for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase.

…

OBAMA: My critics say everything is a tax increase. My critics say that I’m taking over every sector of the economy. You know that. Look, we can have a legitimate debate about whether or not we’re going to have an individual mandate or not, but…

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you reject that it’s a tax increase?

OBAMA: I absolutely reject that notion.

So forcing people to buy health insurance and fining them if they don’t is NOT A TAX, he says.

And so the bill was passed.

But the thing is, the government can’t legally force people to buy health care coverage – it’s unconstitutional! And people are suing them for having passed an unconstitutional law. So now the Obama regime has to argue in court that it really is a tax in order to escape court challenges that they overstepped their bounds by passing a health care mandate.

The American Spectator explains. (H/T Hot Air)

Excerpt:

In order to protect the new national health care law from legal challenges, the Obama administration has been forced to argue that the individual mandate represents a tax — even though Obama himself argued the exact opposite while campaigning to pass the legislation.

Late last night, the Obama Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the Florida-based lawsuit against the health care law, arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction and that the State of Florida and fellow plaintiffs haven’t presented a claim for which the court can grant relief. To bolster its case, the DOJ cited the Anti-Injunction Act, which restricts courts from interfering with the government’s ability to collect taxes.

The Act, according to a DOJ memo supporting the motion to dismiss, says that “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person, whether or not such person is the person against whom such tax was assessed.” The memo goes on to say that it makes no difference whether the disputed payment it is called a “tax” or “penalty,” because either way, it’s “assessed and collected in the same manner” by the Internal Revenue Service.

It actually is a tax, and just another one of the many ways that Obama broke his campaign promise not to tax the middle class. How else is he going to pay for the trillion-dollar deficits he is creating? He has to raise taxes – or devalue our savings with inflation. There is no third way. The money has to come from somewhere – and if you tax the rich you just end up losing jobs.

Commentary

Do gun-free zones prevent multiple-victim public shootings?

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Article by John Lott in National Review.

Excerpt:

It wasn’t supposed to happen in England, with its very strict gun-control laws. And yet last week, Derrick Bird shot twelve people to death and wounded eleven others in the northwestern county of Cumbria. A headline in the London Times read: “Toughest laws in the world could not stop Cumbria tragedy.”

But surely this was an aberration. Because America has the most guns, multiple-victim public shootings are an American thing, right? No, not at all. Contrary to public perception, Western Europe, most of whose countries have much tougher gun laws than the United States, has experienced many of the worst multiple-victim public shootings. Particularly telling, all the multiple-victim public shootings in Western Europe have occurred in places where civilians are not permitted to carry guns. The same is true in the United States: All the public shootings in which more than three people have been killed have occurred in places where civilians may not legally bring guns.

The article has a list of MVPSs in Europe. They all occur in gun-free zones, where guns are prohibited by law.

When a government bans guns, the only people who have guns are criminals. And they know that there is no one to stop them when they open fire. That is why violent crime more than doubled in the 4 year period after the UK banned handguns.

Videos

Naturalized citizen from Trinidad running as Republican in Alabama

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Check out this campaign ad for Les Phillip. (H/T Lex Communis)

Here is the background information on Les.

Excerpt:

Les Phillip was born May 29, 1963, to Randolph and Elvina Phillip in the tiny Caribbean country of Trinidad – Tobago. The Family moved to St. Croix before immigrating to the United States.

After the plane ride from Trinidad to St. Croix, young Les was given a glimpse into his future. While traveling, he told his mother that he wanted to be a pilot. His mother accommodated her son’s aspiration by requesting that the pilot of their aircraft meet Les and explain to him what it would take to become a pilot someday. The pilot told Les to excel in math and science and fly in one of the branches of the U.S. military

In 1971, the Phillip family came to the United States and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. Les graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, a public school, in the spring of 1981. That summer, he would pursue his childhood dream and enter the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. There, he met his wife, the former Merle Ford of Montclair, New Jersey. At the age of 26, Les achieved his goal and earned his Naval Aviator wings.

Over the next eight years, Les became the proud father of three wonderful daughters. He left the service in 1993 and pursued a career in the private sector. He and his wife currently own a business located in Madison, Alabama.

Les Phillip became involved in politics in 1984, just six years after becoming a naturalized citizen. While in the Naval Academy, he began developing his political identity, studying a pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution that he received via an advertising campaign. He soon realized how far the government had moved away from the design laid out by the founding fathers of our country.

After becoming a parent and working in the private sector Les became concerned with the daily struggles of middle-class America. He came to the realization that life is not just about where you are going but what you leave behind to your children and grandchildren. The simple idea that his children might not enjoy the same America that he and his parents longed for in 1971 is what inspired Les to become a public servant.

This is the way it is supposed to happen – talent immigrants coming to America to become Americans. If only the public schools did not bash America so much at taxpayer expense, we would have a lot more like him. We should change the laws to allow more legal immigration, so we get all the good ones!

On a side note, I’m sure he must be a fan of the famous Windies international cricket team. They made 303 runs for 6 wickets today against South Africa in 50 overs. I like games with a set number of overs (like innings) more than the multi-day “test match” games. Although the Windies are struggling from the departure of Brian Lara, Chris Gale is coming on strong… but he is no Sachin Tendulkar yet! Yes, I am also a fan of cricket, on and off, but my Dad follows it more closely.