Obamacare upheld. Stolen Valor struck down.

Packer said:
This doesn't exactly answer your question. I don't think the President should have done much of anything. What the President and Congress should not have don was create tremendous amount of uncertainty about what the government was going to do. Even if it isn't desireable, the known can be dealt with much easier than the unknown.
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That pretty much summed up what I was trying to say, misplaced focus.
 
LineInTheSand said:
I beg to differ. Reinforcing it's a tax is the talking point that should get the most attention. Repeating that it's a tax on the middle class will bring that point home. Constantly airing the ABC interview from 2009 with Obama arguing that it wasn't a tax, but then having statements from his solicitor general, and then John Roberts justifying it as a tax.... that's going to stick with people.


Get rid of your non-taxed BAH, step outside of the military with it's very generous benefits, and you see 25-30% of your paycheck already going to federal taxes (and then likely some state taxes), the idea of a new tax is very very unappealing.
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To clarify, I was trying to say that the President arguing for Obamacare with unconstitutional reasoning will not likely gain traction among the average viewer. The tax angle is much more useful to the Republicans.

I agree with CC that the system created by the PPACA is a BIG CF. The chances of it working are close to nil. The chances of it creating a situation where a single-payer system is suggested as a solution are high.
 
scoutpilot said:
What did the President fail to do about the economy that he should have or could have done?
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1. Eliminate ALL capital gains taxes.

2. Eliminate all taxes on all overseas income earned by domestic companies when they bring it back into the USA for investment.

3. Eliminate the Dept of HHS, Dept of Education, and the Dept of Housing & Urban Development. All of their employees, gone, out the door.

4. Immediately halt all farm subsidies (as well as oil & gas) and all payments to artificially prop up commodity prices.

5. Immediately halt all funding to all foreign nations. Make them come to us and ask for funds--specific needs, not general welfare payments.

6. Legalize all drugs and tax them as they do alcohol.

I got more, or is that enough for you?
 
Luigi59 said:
1. Eliminate ALL capital gains taxes.

2. Eliminate all taxes on all overseas income earned by domestic companies when they bring it back into the USA for investment.

3. Eliminate the Dept of HHS, Dept of Education, and the Dept of Housing & Urban Development. All of their employees, gone, out the door.

4. Immediately halt all farm subsidies (as well as oil & gas) and all payments to artificially prop up commodity prices.

5. Immediately halt all funding to all foreign nations. Make them come to us and ask for funds--specific needs, not general welfare payments.

6. Legalize all drugs and tax them as they do alcohol.

I got more, or is that enough for you?
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Sounds like a lot of tasks that actually are acts of Congress...
 
Luigi59 said:
1. Eliminate ALL capital gains taxes.

2. Eliminate all taxes on all overseas income earned by domestic companies when they bring it back into the USA for investment.

3. Eliminate the Dept of HHS, Dept of Education, and the Dept of Housing & Urban Development. All of their employees, gone, out the door.

4. Immediately halt all farm subsidies (as well as oil & gas) and all payments to artificially prop up commodity prices.

5. Immediately halt all funding to all foreign nations. Make them come to us and ask for funds--specific needs, not general welfare payments.

6. Legalize all drugs and tax them as they do alcohol.

I got more, or is that enough for you?
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Go for it, it's early Friday evening and you've only just begun to hit your stride. Here's a couple more to get you back on track.

7. Bring back slavery (this time not based on race or color)

8. Proportional voting for Congress (the Elvis impersonators party could probably elect two or three Congressmen.)

9. Outlaw root beer (it's neither root nor beer and it tastes awful).
 
Luigi59 said:
1. Eliminate ALL capital gains taxes.

2. Eliminate all taxes on all overseas income earned by domestic companies when they bring it back into the USA for investment.

3. Eliminate the Dept of HHS, Dept of Education, and the Dept of Housing & Urban Development. All of their employees, gone, out the door.

4. Immediately halt all farm subsidies (as well as oil & gas) and all payments to artificially prop up commodity prices.

5. Immediately halt all funding to all foreign nations. Make them come to us and ask for funds--specific needs, not general welfare payments.

6. Legalize all drugs and tax them as they do alcohol.

I got more, or is that enough for you?
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"The Floor recognizes the Congressman from the State of Texas, 14th District...."
 
EDelahanty said:
Go for it, it's early Friday evening and you've only just begun to hit your stride. Here's a couple more to get you back on track.

7. Bring back slavery (this time not based on race or color)

8. Proportional voting for Congress (the Elvis impersonators party could probably elect two or three Congressmen.)

9. Outlaw root beer (it's neither root nor beer and it tastes awful).
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Have you been drinking? Little early on a Friday, don't ya think?

Slavery? Where in the hell did you come up with that one? :screwy:

Root beer? Um, ok. :rolleyes:
 
scoutpilot said:
Sounds like a lot of tasks that actually are acts of Congress...
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As is everything the President does, and did, or can do. That's not news to anyone.

The President sets the agenda, submits the budget, promotes programs and ideas. All of those suggestions can be suggested, promoted, and detailed as a plan by the President.

How about this - what did he do about the economy that wasn't done by Congress?
 
Darn it luigi. Now you've pissed me off. Normally I can disagree with you so often and enjoy it. But your recent post listing what should be done, I agree with you 100%. That's no fun. I guess we have more in common than we thought. I would add quite a few "dept of" to the list. But u r right on. And yes, most of what u listed is stuff that should be done in congress, but part of the presidents job is to lead. Just like he lead his healthcare law, he should lead for what's on your list and quite a bit more.

Unfortunately, he and the past few presidents seem to want bigger government, not smaller. So we'll probably not get any of those things. The federal government should only be involved with inter state and inter national issues. ALL other things should be taken care of at the state level.
 
We should charge anyone who wears medals falsely a "tax" and then it would be constitutional according to Chief Justice Roberts.
 
Justice System failing us

The Supreme Court had to tell if it was constitutionally right or not, technically it is since they're considering Obama care is a "tax". However, the court didn't say that it was a good policy. So it can be legal, but not morally right.

It's a shame that they struck down the stolen valor act. Soldiers are laying down their lives for this country and earning their medals with their own blood. Where as someone can now falsely claim they earned one without even serving. What has society become? :thumbdown:
 
CrossCountryRunner12 said:
It's a shame that they struck down the stolen valor act. Soldiers are laying down their lives for this country and earning their medals with their own blood. Where as someone can now falsely claim they earned one without even serving. What has society become? :thumbdown:
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I'm actually fine with them striking that down. Is it right to pretend you earned something you didn't? No. Should society shun people who do? I would. That said, the actions heroes take aren't taken for a medal.

I have two medals. Neither of my medals are worthy of someone faking, but if they did, it wouldn't devalue what I did to be awarded those medals. Because someone puts on a Medal of Honor, it in no way lessens what people did who earned that award.

Would I shed a tear for someone reminded, which physical force, that he was wrong? No. It would still be illegal, but it's not the federal government saying it so... I have less of an issue with it.

I have my DD-214. I have my award write ups. And most importantly I have my honor. The actions of others can never affect that last one, honor.
 
In the age of Google all it will take is someone with a phone and the idiot will be exposed as a fraud. HERE'S the official list of MoH Recipients. If there's not a data base for the other medals perhaps DoD needs to build it (pretty long list I'm afraid - so maybe only from 2000 on...)

Also, lying on an application is cause for termination.

I think between those two this problem will fade away before to long.
 
From an editorial in the Connecticut (New London) Day July 2, 2012.

Awful, not criminal

The U.S. Supreme Court made the right decision this past week when it ruled the Stolen Valor Act of 2006, as written, is an unconstitutional intrusion on the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech.

The act made it a crime to falsely claim to have been awarded military medals. This is a slippery slope for the government to head down. It would have been a dangerous precedent to give Congress the "authority to compile a list of subjects about which false statements are punishable," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy in the majority opinion.

"The mere potential for the exercise of that power casts a chill, a chill the First Amendment cannot permit if free speech, thought, and discourse are to remain the foundation of our freedom," wrote the justice.

Given such authority, perhaps Congress could make it a crime to state falsehoods about a former revered president, or to falsely exaggerate deficit projections, or to inflate a resume. These may seem like farfetched scenarios, but the ability to speak freely, contentiously and, yes, even outrageously is among the most important of liberties. Though this law was well intended, the possibility that the precedent it set could begin to erode a right that so many have fought and died for would be a terrible irony.

The better alternative is to combat such dishonorable speech with the power of truth. Expose those who would try to bolster their own reputations by such false claims to the ridicule and derision they deserve. The Pentagon could help by streamlining its computer records to make it easier to check the validity of such claims.

Ironically, those who truly earn such honors seldom boast about them. So if you hear someone bragging about military medals, be suspicious.
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