Pelosi: This Independence Day, Let's Celebrate Obamacare

Credit: Pete Souza/wikimedia

Forget all those ideas about natural rights and consent of the governed. This year, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wants to celebrate Obamacare.

Next week when we celebrate Independence Day we'll also be observing health independence.

This week marks one year since the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, it captures the spriit of our founders, the spirit they wrote in the Declaration of Independence: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Affordable Care Act offers just that—a healthier life, liberty to pursue a person's happiness, to be free of constraint, to be job-locked because they're policy-locked—so if you wanted to be a cameraman, a writer, if you want to be self-employed, if you start a business, if you want to change jobs, whatever it is you want to do, you are free, you have the liberty to do so.

So we've had Social Security, Medicare, and now health independence, and that's something our members will take home to celebrate over this Independence Day.

Pelosi's declaration came as the Obama administration continues to ramp up efforts to increase public support for the law, as the enrollment requirement is set to be implemented this October. A series of recent polls suggest a majority opposes the law, and many uninsured Americans don't know about the individual mandate. 

In recent days, there were reports that Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was soliciting the NFL in an attempt to advertise enrollment.

From Yahoo!:

As part of that initiative, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reported that the department has been "very actively and enthusiastically engaged" in discussions with the NFL and NBA. 

Interesting, then, that the NFL responded a few days later with this statement: "We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about PPACA's implementation."

Of course, the Obama administration's struggles to promote the law is the opposite of what they predicted would happen as full implementation approaches.

Click here for more Reason.com coverage of Obamacare.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Are you serious? What a fucking idiot.

[Juice]

And she's talking about Obamacare as if it were her actual wet dream of single payer or nationalization, not the fascist corporate welfare at the expense of the little guy thing we actually have in our faces.

[AlexInCT]

Wait until after the 2014 mid terms. Then the LSM will be able to report how many people seeking full time employment are now working less than 30 hours and how many people got pink slipped so companies could avoid bankruptcy by ACA regulations. You think the economy is bad now, wait till Jan 2014. They can't report this stuff right now because it would kill the left at the polls in 2014. Not that the other side winning will mean anything good for us at this time either. We are going to be shafted, and that's the end of that.

[PapayaSF]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my Congressional representative.

Seriously, can I give her to you?

[Loki]

Seriously, can I give her to you?

Only if I can use her as a human punching bag.

[PapayaSF]

Works for me.

[Duke]

What do you expect from someone who listens to dead people?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2W_TTcizWI

[Duke]

Deuteronomy 18:10-12:
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD?

Leviticus 20:27:
A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.

So...

[VG Zaytsev]

Well, in fairness to Nancy, she heard the dead at one of her abortion sacred rites.

[ant1sthenes]

Look, just because she considers abortion sacred doesn't mean she sacrifices children to Moloch.

[IceTrey]

This is textbook positive liberty. They literally have a different definition of liberty than we do. They are blind or willfully ignorant to the fact that their philosophy requires the initiatory use of force. This is the fundamental fight that must be won, negative versus positive liberty.

[Hugh Akston]

You have the freedom to be self-employed because Obamacare costs make it too expensive for employers to hire you.

[Aresen]

Next week when we celebrate Independence Day we'll also be observing health independence.

The words are English, but the meaning is pure Orwell.

[Ska]

Doubleplus good brother.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The only thing that gets me out of bed on rainy, dreary and dour days, such as this, is the slight possibility that Pelosi will live to see the day that she is marched down the street, led to the nearest tree branch or lamppost, and hanged.

I've given up hope that she will face the same fate as those two Israeli reservists who took a wrong turn in Ramallah and were literally torn apart by the bare hands of a frenzied mob.

A shame, really.

[fish]

he only thing that gets me out of bed on rainy, dreary and dour days, such as this, is the slight possibility that Pelosi will live to see the day that she is marched down the street, led to the nearest tree branch or lamppost, and hanged.

THREADWINNER!

[A Serious Man]

I'd rather see her given the Mussolini treatment.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Then he said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot. And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, "Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king's daughter." So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, "This is the word of the Lord, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, "Here lies Jezebel."'"

Not advocating it, just saying I wouldn't complain.

[tarran]

Personally, I don't like the flamboyant executions.

4 men, a roll of duct-tape, and a pickup truck with enough gas to go out into the desert is all that's required.

Of course, the problem with killing people like Pelosi is that their fellow mobsters use the killing as a source for propaganda that justifies ratcheting up their terror campaign.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Of course, the problem with killing people like Pelosi is that their fellow mobsters use the killing as a source for propaganda that justifies ratcheting up their terror campaign.

That's what a Nacht der langen Messer is for. When you exorcise a cancer you must remove all of the tumor.

[WhatAboutBob]

Maybe Pelosi meets Harry's code and Dexter will take care of her one night.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I think Pelosi rates the treatment of Concubine Qi by the Dowager Empress Lu during the Han Dynasty:

Emperor Hui (Liu Ying) kept Liu Ruyi by his side in the palace and checked for poison in any aliment delivered to him. Emperor Hui also brought Liu Ruyi with him wherever he went. In one early morning in the twelfth month of the first year of Emperor Hui, the emperor went on a hunting trip; this time Liu Ruyi was left alone because he could not wake up early. Emperor Hui supposed his mother would not plot against Liu Ruyi as several months had passed without any occurrence. Nevertheless Empress Dowager L? had an assassin force venom down Liu Ruyi's throat....She then had Concubine Qi's limbs chopped off, blinded her by gouging out her eyes, cut off her tongue and locked her in the latrine, and called her a "Human Swine". Several days after, Emperor Hui saw the "Human Swine", and after realizing that it who the "Human Swine" was, the emperor was so sick of his mother's cruelty that he virtually relinquished his authority and indulged in carnal pleasures

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I can dig it.

[Curtisls87]

Interesting. I actually have a copy of that photograph that my father picked up in Itally when he was in the occupational forces at the end of WW2.

[trichome]

Seriously, what a cunt.

(Only Debbie Wasserman-Shultz is worse. I even like STEVE SMITH better.)

[fish]

This year, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wants to celebrate Obamacare.

Sorry Nancy...I'm going to do some party planning to celebrate your death.....there will be party hats too!

[Heroic Mulatto]

liberty to pursue a person's happiness, to be free of constraint, to be job-locked because they're policy-locked?so if you wanted to be a cameraman, a writer, if you want to be self-employed, if you start a business, if you want to change jobs, whatever it is you want to do, you are free, you have the liberty to do so.

But, if you want to be a doctor or nurse free of stifling government interference, you're shit out of luck.

[fish]

But, if you want to be a doctor or nurse free of stifling government interference, you're shit out of luck.

Hey...they didn't build that.

[HazelMeade]

If you want to sell people health insurance that is prices according to risk, you're out of luck.

If you want to buy catestrophic-only coverage without all the preventive care add ons, too bad.

If you want to buy your employees coverage that doesn't include birth control, get lost, the country doesn't need you.

[Len Bias]

"If you want to buy your employees coverage that doesn't include birth control, get lost, the country doesn't need you."

Yes, the country desperately needs those people, because the country needs scores of people who don't need coverage for things like birth control in order to pay for people who do.

Otherwise, this bill fails. Hence the campaign begging people to buy insurance.

God, we are fucked.

[Heroic Mulatto]

People are under the sad delusion that serfdom doesn't exist in America. It is alive and well. The providers of the necessities of life, as deemed by society, have been enslaved by the government. You want to farm? In the name of "food security" the government will force you to grow certain crops and not others, lest the market price a certain food item to out of the comfort zone of the "proles". Likewise, if you chose to farm in a manner that your lord doesn't like, (such as raw milk), he will send armed agents to confiscate your property. If you show even token resistance, the agents have the authorization to use deadly force to get you to comply.

Housing, education, and now medical care have been fully enveloped by the state, and its labor force converted to serfs, collectively owned by the neo-Mandarin gentry that make up our political class.

[RickC]

Somebody on here about a month ago or so mentioned that they had compared what a serf owed his landowner annually to what we owe the government each year. When all taxes are included our indentured selves have a much higher burden (I always feel the need to add the caveat - those of us who actually pay all taxes).

Does anyone remember that? If so who was it and is that information easily accessible?

[Heroic Mulatto]

I would be interested in seeing the numbers.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Hard to calculate such a thing, since a) there were no bureaucracies tasked with keeping statistics on such things, b) many serfs were obligated to provide payments at arbitrary times in addition to what they contractually paid, and c) much of what serfs owed was in-kind payment (usually agricultural products).

[RickC]

Alright, so a little Google search and it appears indeed difficult to compare as serfdom varied so greatly depending on many factors.

I've just had this idea that we're probably not as far away from serfdom as we'd like to think. For instance, you can never really own land. You are in fact just renting it from the government for a period where other citizens recognize your right to use it.

According to the Tax Freedom Day website last year the day when the average taxpayer has cleared their debt to the government was April 18. That's 108 days. If a serf had to work 2 days a week for the landowner that's 104 days.

Not trying to make a huge point here but it crossed my mind that if you told a modern person they were a serf they would recoil in horror when in fact they just weren't that far from being one.

[pan fried wylie]

Does Wayne Brady have to slap a bitch?

[Skip]

If only we could get George W. Bush to endorse Obamacare, then the lefties would hate it.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Probably not. Someone trotted out Bush's battered corpse to get him to mumble something in support of PRISM and it hasn't seemed to do anything to the Obama shriners.

[A Serious Man]

This is even more idiotic than the commercials for those Independence Day used car sales you see from your local dealers.

[AlgerHiss]

Pelosi is not the problem: It is the garbage voter that elects this trash.

Could you imagine a conversation with someone that votes for this type of animal? The ignorance and shallowness would knock you down.

[Luddite]

It'll be painful, but I'll try to replicate a session:

LIV: "Hurr, Zimmerman! Hurr, The Voice! Hurr, Somefuckingrealitything!"

Us: "Have you heard about the 4th amendment violations occurring lately?"

LIV: "Hurr, Pawn Stars!"

Us: "How about the IRS targeting of conservative groups? Do you realize that the people in power are slowly, inexorably stripping the limitations on governmental intrusion on your rights from you - thereby making you less free?"

LIV: "Hurr, Kardashian!"

Us: "Nevermind fucktard."

The End.

[Aresen]

*shrug*

May I point out that they regard you as a "garbage voter" because you are "against the poor" and "only care about rich people?" You can point out the real harm that these policies do to the poor and the consequences of punishing the rich for creating wealth, but your words will fall on deaf ears. (One of my cow-orkers seriously proposed a 99% tax on the "One Percenters", who "own 99% of all the wealth.")

99% of politics is pure sports bar, with no reasoning involved.

[Luddite]

Indeed. The stupidity of the human mind is rivaled only by the depth of the universe it would seem.

[Greg83]

I love pointing out to people who bring up the 1% stuff that just by virtue of being a middle class American they are in the 1% worldwide, or very close to it.

If the average Vietnamese peasant could see the typical 3-bedroom U.S. house he would probably consider it a castle.

[Pro Libertate]

Charlie didn't get much USO. He was dug in too deep or moving too fast. His idea of great R&R was cold rice and a little rat meat. He had only two ways home: death or victory.

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Saigon

[PapayaSF]

^This, sadly.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

cow-orkers

+1 AFU

... Hobbit

[Luddite]

No. Fuck you, next!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about PPACA's implementation."

Maybe next they can get stop making their players wear all that silly pink gear for breast cancer awareness month.

[HazelMeade]

It's a strange conception of liberty in which people are forced to purchase products against their will.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Almost Marcusian in its attempt to subvert the concept.

[Juice]

"Consent of the governed" always struck me as a self-contradictory statement.

[Len Bias]

Declaring victory for ObamaCare at this point is as laughable as Bush declaring victory in Iraq in May of 2003.

Of course, withdrawing from ObamaCare is even less likely than ever withdrawing from Iraq.

FUCK.

[Juice]

We have a plan where you are forced to buy a certain product from certain large corporations or be penalized. It's called Independence.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The Affordable Care Act offers just that?a healthier life, liberty to pursue a person's happiness, to be free of constraint, to be job-locked because they're policy-locked?so if you wanted to be a cameraman, a writer, if you want to be self-employed, if you start a business, if you want to change jobs, whatever it is you want to do, you are free, you have the liberty to do so.

Then the wicked witch flew off in her broomstick, never to be seen again, and the peasants rejoiced.

THE END

[pan fried wylie]

"Thank god, it was all just a dream. And you were there, and you were there..."

[LynchPin1477]

Does she understand the meaning of the words she is using, or is she just that awful?

[Len Bias]

Both!

[creech]

Sham words from a faux American.

[Anonymous Coward]

Next week when we celebrate Independence Day we'll also be observing health independence.

Who the fuck is "we"?

The Affordable Care Act offers just that?a healthier life, liberty to pursue a person's happiness, to be free of constraint, to be job-locked because they're policy-locked?so if you wanted to be a cameraman, a writer, if you want to be self-employed, if you start a business, if you want to change jobs, whatever it is you want to do, you are free, you have the liberty to do so.

Amazing how not a word of this is true.

[Greg83]

Who the fuck is "we"?

LOL. I was at a speech by Gary Johnson recently and he said "When we invaded Iraq..." and that's exactly what someone shouted. The flustered look on his face was priceless.

[Anonymous Coward]

And Nancy Pelosi has a history of telling wild-assed, blatant lies.

[Michael]

The Affordable Care Act offers just that ? a healthier life, liberty to pursue a person's happiness, to be free of constraint, to be job-locked because they're policy-locked ? so if you wanted to be a cameraman, a writer, if you want to be self-employed, if you start a business, if you want to change jobs, whatever it is you want to do, you are free, you have the liberty to do so.

I imagine her arriving at this list by consulting her staffers about the kinds of things the hapless proles like to do for a living.

[Andrew S.]

On topic, it looks like the Treasury Department just pushed back the employer mandate by a year (to 2015)

http://www.treasury.gov/connec.....nner-.aspx

[PRX]

fuckers blinked. afraid of the collapse. dragging it out a year for electoral reasons.

[pan fried wylie]

Featured Photo

Truly a necessary feature of treasury.gov

[NoVAHockey]

Not that it matters but I'm not sure the statute allows that. Pretty sue the dates were set in the law.

[Hyperion]

There are literally millions of young people in the US running around smiling and laughing and enjoying life, having not a clue about just how hard that pole is soon going to be rammed up their ass with no lubricant.

3x the current cost of health insurance for someone their age, 3x something that they already could not afford, so they didn't buy it. But let's sing a tune about penaltaxes says Nancy.

Just throw yourself off a bridge already, you old fucking cunt.

[Hyperion]

There are literally millions of young people in the US running around smiling and laughing and enjoying life, having not a clue about just how hard that pole is soon going to be rammed up their ass with no lubricant.

3x the current cost of health insurance for someone their age, 3x something that they already could not afford, so they didn't buy it. But let's sing a tune about penaltaxes says Nancy.

Just throw yourself off a bridge already, you old fucking cunt.

[Hyperion]

Damn squirrels. But ok, throw yourself off the bridge twice, old cunt.

[EdWuncler]

Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago said that the Right shouldn't have a problem with Obamacare because at its core, it's capitalistic. That is such bullshit and it proves that the progressives have no fucking clue about free enterprise. The government is basically trying to install price controls while forcing employers and individuals to either purchase insurance from the health insurance cartel (a cartel mind you that is the result of the government) or the government cartel. Crony capitalism at its best. And then they have the balls to use the word choice. There is a choice but a really shitty choice. It's like someone giving me the choice of having the Chinese triads or the Crips shoot my kneecaps out. Either way, my kneecaps will be blown away.

[fish]

Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago said that the Right shouldn't have a problem with Obamacare because at its core, it's capitalistic.

Fuck Bill Maher!

Bill Maher is Krugnuts without the credentials. I always require a supreme court decision to establish the necessity of something I want from the free market.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Maher a couple of weeks ago said that the Right shouldn't have a problem with Obamacare because at its core, it's capitalistic.

Bill Maher's understanding of political theory is about as sound as his grasp of theology and comedy.

This is the same man who says the NFL is socialist (clearly not appreciating the difference between voluntary arrangments between teams and the government man shoving a gun in your face).

Here's how "libertarian" Bill Maher really is.

[darius404]

When people argue in a thread, I expect someone to be more-or-less right. Apparently that's not the case.
Every commenter at that video is an idiot in one way or another.

[Loki]

Pelosi: This Independence Day, Let's Celebrate Obamacare

I think I'd rather celebrate it by watching a few wannabe tyrants like her and her ilk swing back and forth from the end of a rope tied to a lamp post.

Drones inbound to my location in 3... 2... 1...

[Suthenboy]

I skipped most of the comments, so just in case noone said it already;
Will someone please throw a bucket of water on that bitch already.

[Inigo M.]

I still believe her statement, "We have to pass this bill in order to find out what's in it," has not been exceeded for sheer stupidity, but this new pronouncement does bring her awfully close to breaking her own record.

The best thing I can say about this former Speaker of the House is that she is living proof that literally ANYONE can have a successful career as a politician. Remember that Special Ed kid who used to lick the window when he rode on the short bus to school? He may just be your congressman now! And, sad to say, his IQ is probably right around average when compared with the rest of the politicians' IQs.

[DontShootMe]

talk about timing, right after Pelosi decides to celebrate Obamacare, big parts of it get delayed.
This'll be great for Shreek, nothing will ever be Obamacare's fault, because it will never be fully implemented.

Maybe this'll be like the Medicare "doc" fix. They'll just keep pushing back parts of Obamacare year after year.

[DontShootMe]

sigh, I don't refresh often enough.

[DontShootMe]

Linky

[widget]

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.):

...,to be free of constraint,...

She is succinct, sometimes.

[widget]

This is what Thomas Sowell calls the 'unconstrained vision'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyG1zmdh1pA

[lap83]

Does anyone actually like her? I suspect that even her "friends" only associate with her for what she can do for them.