Majority want Supremes to decide Obamacare's future

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=218805

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

U.S. President Barack Obama campaigns for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, October 16, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS)

At about the time that a federal judge in Michigan cleared for appeal another legal challenge to President Obama's signature work, Obamacare, a poll revealed that more than half of likely voters believe the U.S. Supreme Court should review the law's thousands of pages.

The poll by Tea Party TV, a project of Pajamas Media, surveyed nationwide 1,000 likely voters and found that 53 percent of the respondents believe the high court should address questions raised about the law.

The assessment was done Oct. 10 by Pulse Opinion Research, an independent public opinion research firm using automated methodology licensed from the polling firm Rasmussen Reports. It has a margin of error of three points.

Critics of the law are questioning whether the government has authority to demand that consumers purchase a product like health insurance. If so, they ask, what other products could the government demand consumers purchase?

"The health reform bill has been at the helm of most debates this election cycle," said Vik Rubenfled, the polling director for PJTV.

"Our nationwide survey shows that 53 percent of the likely voters believe health reform's constitutionality needs to be addressed by the nation's highest court. It is interesting to find that nearly one in three Democrats feels the same way," he said.

It was in Detroit where U.S. District Court Judge George Steeh ordered several related claims in a challenge to Obamacare dismissed, clearing the way for an appeal.

Steeh earlier concluded that the government can order consumers to purchase certain products. The case was brought by the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of several residents who say they will be harmed by the demands of the law.

Steeh dismissed a related claim that the law violates the Free Exercise clause and Equal Protection, since it could force Americans to pay for abortions even if they have moral objections to killing unborn children.

Thomas More attorney Robert Muise has said the goal all along has been to move the case quickly up the appeals ladder to the Supreme Court.

Several other lawsuits also are pending in Florida, where a coalition of states is pursuing a challenge, and Virginia, where the state is contesting the federal demands.

The survey asked: "How strongly do you agree with this statement: 'The Supreme Court should take up the issue of the constitutionality of Obama's health care bill?'"

More than 42 percent strongly agreed, and more than 10 percent responded with "somewhat agree."

Thirty-one percent strongly disagreed, and about 10 percent somewhat disagreed.

The survey addressed other questions. It found 55 percent of the respondents support the tea party movement, and 41 percent of the respondents have been public in their support.

WND reported only days earlier on a study that revealed ABC, NBC and CBS virtually are ignoring the potential $4.2 trillion in tax hikes that could hit Americans Jan. 1, including many tax hikes from Obamacare.

The media study documents how the networks repeatedly have portrayed President Obama as a leader who is cutting taxes while ignoring the potential new taxes – of about $14,000 apiece or $56,000 for a family of four.

"Those potential tax increases are almost 20 times the size of the $214 billion temporary tax cuts Obama included in the stimulus bill. Tax cutter? Hardly," said a summary of the new report by the Media Research Center's Business & Media Institute.

The study looked at all 171 network evening news reports containing the terms "tax cut" or "tax cuts" from Sept. 1, 2008, to Aug. 31, 2010.

The report is published at the Business & Media Institute's website.

There also is move afoot in Congress to repeal Obamacare. The effort is led by U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, whose discharge petition would call for a new House vote on the proposal.

It needs 218 signatures of House members, and since that constitutes a majority in the 435-member House, the goal of the discharge petition likely would be accomplished, he has explained. The petition now has 173 signatures.

In a related effort, more than 45,000 voices from across America are offering their encouragement to members of the House who have yet to sign the discharge petition offered by King.

The campaign is a petition drive that urges members of Congress to repeal Obamacare because of several problems:

    * Whereas, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, approved by a narrow vote of the House of Representatives earlier this year, threatens to transform the U.S. health-care system from its roots in free enterprise and personal choice;

    * Whereas, the act is unconstitutional because of its unprecedented requirement that Americans purchase a service;

    * Whereas, the system the law would create is financially unsustainable, places personal medical decisions in the hands of bureaucrats and is likely to lead to rationing of health-care options;

    * Whereas, the act is likely to result in forcing some 87 million Americans to drop their current health-care coverage;

    * Whereas, the costs involved in complying with the law are likely to cost more Americans their jobs, inhibit the creation of new employment opportunities and suppress wages ...

The petition drive was launched by Joseph Farah, founder and CEO of WorldNetDaily, who said the results are worthy of note already.

"This is a very impressive petition, but it will be much more impressive at 100,000 or 200,000 or 1 million," he said. "We need people signing and spreading the news about this effort – news that has not been reported anywhere else expect at WND."

Now it's time for the public to turn up the pressure, he urged.