(no subject)

[somedaybitch]

today's NYT: 'A Basis Is Seen for Some Health Plan Fears Among the Elderly.'

an interesting tidbit even i didn't know:

Moreover, if a bill becomes law, no one can say for sure how it may be applied or extended. The 1965 law that created Medicare prohibited “any federal interference” in “the practice of medicine or the manner in which medical services are provided,” or in the operation of any institution providing health care.

and from today's WaPo: two former Justice Department lawyers discuss the Constitutionality of mandated health insurance.
the piece has multiple court cites linked in the body.

"The federal government does not have the power to regulate Americans simply because they are there." Significantly, in two key cases, United States v. Lopez (1995) and United States v. Morrison (2000), the Supreme Court specifically rejected the proposition that the commerce clause allowed Congress to regulate noneconomic activities merely because, through a chain of causal effects, they might have an economic impact.

and

The other obvious alternative is to use Congress's power to tax and spend. In an effort, perhaps, to anchor this mandate in that power, the Senate version of the individual mandate envisions that failure to comply would be met with a penalty, to be collected by the IRS. This arrangement, however, is not constitutional either....Like the commerce power, the power to tax gives the federal government vast authority over the public, and it is well settled that Congress can impose a tax for regulatory rather than purely revenue-raising purposes. Yet Congress cannot use its power to tax solely as a means of controlling conduct that it could not otherwise reach through the commerce clause or any other constitutional provision.

emphasis mine

then there's the Whole Foods CEO. guy writes - whether you agree with it or not - a thoughtful editorial about health care reform. and then folks start calling him a murderer, a "right wing libertarian", and an "underminer of the President".

Mackey's op-ed is linked in the above.