Tweet Of The Day - Bryan Fischer

FLORIDA: Activist Judge Kowtows To GOP Agenda, Strikes Down Health Care Law

The right wing loathes those activist judges who are always imposing their agendas on the American people. Except when those judges are GOP appointees and do their bidding.

A federal judge in Florida has struck down the Obama administration's requirement that nearly all Americans buy health insurance, and questioned the constitutionality of the entire health care law. "I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate," wrote U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, the second federal jurist to rule against law that Obama signed last year. Two other judges have sided with the administration on the issue that may well wind up in the Supreme Court. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sakd the decision confirms that "the health spending bill is a massive overreach and Democrats 'exceeded the bounds' of Congressional authority." Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, praised the ruling, saying that "Congress does not have the legal authority to tell Utahns and other Americans that they must buy health insurance or else."

It's totally legal and fair to require people to carry auto insurance. But not health insurance, cuz that's totally communist!

Obama: Your Granny Is Safe

Europe Vs. America

(Source)

SAN FRANCISCO: Federal Judge Signals Intent To Overturn Portion Of DOMA

A federal judge in California has ruled that state employees may sue the federal government for excluding their partners from a long-term health care program.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland denied an Obama administration request to dismiss the suit Tuesday and signaled that she is likely to overturn provisions of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples. But Wilken said the 1996 law actually changed the status quo by "robbing states of the power to allow same-sex civil marriages that will be recognized under federal law." She also rejected arguments that the law's sponsors put forth in 1996, that the legislation was necessary to promote procreation and preserve heterosexual marriage. The couples sued in April over the California Public Employees' Retirement System's refusal to enroll the spouses in a federally approved long-term care plan. State employees can buy coverage at below-market rates, use pretax dollars to pay premiums, and deduct future benefits from their taxes. The California agency has refused to sign up same-sex spouses because the Defense of Marriage Act denies federal tax benefits to any state that covers them.

U.S. Life Expectancy Declines

Newly released data from the federal government show a slight decrease in life expectancy for residents of the United States. According to the report, West Virginia is the worst state for mortality, with a death rate there that is almost 1.5 times greater than Hawaii, where people are living the longest.

Data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics showed that life expectancy for most American men was 75.3 years in 2008, down by one-tenth of a year from 2007. Women also saw a drop in the number of years they can expect to live, from 80.4 years to 80.3 years, the data show. Black men, on the other hand, bucked the trend and reached a record-high life expectancy of 70.2 years in 2008, up by 0.2 years compared to 2007. They were still the shortest-lived Americans, though, with life spans around 10 years less than white women, who have the highest life expectancy, followed by black women and white men. The pattern of white women enjoying the longest lives and black men the shortest has held true for nearly three decades, but life expectancy for all groups has generally increased over those 30 years.

Alzheimer's is now the sixth-leading cause of death. Overall, the United States now ranks 49th worldwide for life expectancy. In 1950, the U.S. ranked fifth.

Texas GOP Mulling Medicaid Withdrawal

The Texas GOP, which swept into the state legislature with overwhelming numbers last week, is mulling a complete withdrawal from Medicaid, a move which could leave millions of Texans without any health care coverage.

“With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a situation where we cannot reduce benefits or change eligibility” to cut costs, said State Representative Warren Chisum, Republican of Pampa, the veteran conservative lawmaker who recently entered the race for speaker of the House. “This system is bankrupting our state,” he said. “We need to get out of it. And with the budget shortfall we’re anticipating, we may have to act this year.”

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization, estimates Texas could save $60 billion from 2013 to 2019 by opting out of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, dropping coverage for acute care but continuing to finance long-term care services. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which has 3.6 million children, people with disabilities and impoverished Texans enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, will release its own study on the effect of ending the state’s participation in the federal match program at some point between now and January.

The Texas state budget currently faces a $25B shortfall. The answer to that problem, of course, is to cut taxes and let those lazy sick people die.