Bachmann tweeted:

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According to a report by CBS News in July, the then-33 unsuccessful attempts by House Republicans to repeal the law had used up around 80 hours of time in Congress, or two full work weeks, at a cost of around $48 million.

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Hobby Lobby Stores and a sister company, Mardel Inc., sued the government, claiming the mandate violates the religious beliefs of its owners.

In an opinion issued Wednesday, Sotomayor said the stores fail to satisfy the demanding legal standard for blocking the requirement on an emergency basis. She said the companies may continue their challenge to the regulations in the lower courts.

Company officials say they must decide whether to violate their faith or face a daily $1.3 million fine beginning Jan. 1 if they ignore the law.

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Blame Obamacare and abortion. We heard, early out of the gate, from Mike Huckabee, who didn’t wait for the funerals to start blaming the liberal banishment of God from schools and government, including “tax-funded abortion pills,” by which the Personhood proponent meant birth control. “We dismiss the notion of natural law and the notion that there are moral absolutes and seemed amazed when some kids make it their own morality to kill innocent children. We diminish and even hold in contempt the natural family of a father and mother creating and then responsibly raising the next generation and then express dismay that kids feel no real connection to their families or even the concept of a family.”

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It’s an old story, the latest chapter of which came to light a few days ago with a small item in Politico : “Elizabeth Fowler is leaving the White House for a senior-level position leading ‘global health policy’ at Johnson & Johnson’s government affairs and policy group.”

A familiar name. We had talked about Liz Fowler on Bill Moyers Journal in 2009, during the early stages of Obama’s health care reform. She was at the center of the action, sitting behind Montana Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee at committee hearings. Bill noted, “She used to work for WellPoint, the largest health insurer in the country. She was Vice President of Public Policy. And now she's working for the very committee with the most power to give her old company and the entire industry exactly what they want: higher profits, and no competition from alternative non-profit coverage that could lower costs and premiums.”

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The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed on to workers.

Employee benefits lawyer Chantel Sheaks calls it a "sleeper issue" with significant financial consequences, particularly for large employers.

"Especially at a time when we are facing economic uncertainty, (companies will) be hit with a multi-million dollar assessment without getting anything back for it," said Sheaks, a principal at Buck Consultants, a Xerox subsidiary.

Based on figures provided in the regulation, employer and individual health plans covering an estimated 190 million Americans could owe the per-person fee.

The Obama administration says it is a temporary assessment levied for three years starting in 2014, designed to raise $25 billion. It starts at $63 and then declines.

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As Greenwald noted:

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To the Right, of course, the end of Hostess is just another great opportunity to bash unions. Although perhaps it’s a sign of progress that even Fox News decided to soft-pedal this line, talking up the conciliatory position of the Teamsters while blaming the recalcitrance of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union for the closure. The idea that this is all about greedy unions is idiotic beyond belief, but sadly something we apparently still have to talk about. So if you don’t believe me you can go read Sarah Jaffe or Diana Reese.

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Papa Johns has been targeted by the left for a boycott, for simply articulating that ObamaCare would hurt profits and force cutbacks in employee hours. Stand up to this nonsensical and illogical action and support Papa Johns this Friday!

Forbes' Caleb Melby points out, however, that Schnatter's underlying logic doesn't make sense when you look at the numbers:

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"It's going to force my employees to go out and get a second job," Metz admitted to the Mail, saying he felt he had no choice.

Metz has also considered adding a 5 percent surcharge to customer bills, but has no plans to implement this idea.

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Obama, Romney argued, had been “very generous” to blacks, Hispanics and young voters. He cited as motivating factors to young voters the administration’s plan for partial forgiveness of college loan interest and the extension of health coverage for students on their parents’ insurance plans well into their 20s. Free contraception coverage under Obama’s healthcare plan, he added, gave an extra incentive to college-aged women to back the president.

Romney argued that the Obama’s health care plan’s promise of coverage “in perpetuity” was “highly motivational” to those voters making $25,000 to $35,000 who might not have been covered, as well as to African American and Hispanic voters. Pivoting to immigration, Romney said the Obama campaign’s efforts to paint him as “anti-immigrant” had been effective and that the administration’s promise to offer what he called “amnesty” to the children of illegal immigrants had helped turn out Hispanic voters in record numbers.

“The President’s campaign,” he said, “focused on giving targeted groups a big gift—so he made a big effort on small things. Those small things, by the way, add up to trillions of dollars.”

"They cannot stop being disrespectful and dismissive," Cynthia Tucker, a professor at the University of Georgia, slammed Romney's call on MSNBC. "They cannot speak of us as Americans, as voters."

Romney added that the donor group could be the basis of a future network that could wield some influence in the Republican Party. He said there was potential to hold annual meetings over the future direction of the GOP including the next presidential candidate, “Which, by the way...will not be me.”

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The nine lawmakers were responding to a survey from the conservative advocacy group the Campaign For Liberty, and responded "yes" to the question: "Will you support legislation to nullify ObamaCare and authorize state and local law enforcement to arrest federal officials attempting to implement the unconstitutional health care scheme known as ObamaCare?"

Gov. Scott Walker has until Friday to decide whether he'll create a health care exchange in the state as mandated by the law, or let the administration handle it.

Rep. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he still believes the law is not constitutional, despite a Supreme Court ruling to the contrary. "Just because Obama was re-elected does not mean he's above the constitution," Kapenga said.

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Racist language to remain in Alabama Constitution -- but perhaps with good reason:

Alabama voted against a measure to remove references to segregation in its state Constitution, which includes the line, “separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children.” Amendment 4 would have removed the racist language, but, its opponents argued, it carried with it a series of other, largely tax-based contentions. As the New York Times reported in advance of the vote:

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On Tuesday Californians will vote on whether genetically modified food sold in supermarkets will have to be labeled. In an effort to defeat the ballot measure, food and agribusiness giants including Monsanto, Nestle, Dupont and Pepsico have together spent over  $45 million, the Guardian reported Monday.

Although supported by anti-GM and anti-Monsanto activists, Proposition 37 only goes some way to inform Californians about the genetically modified foods on the market. The measure does not cover restaurants and does not require GM labels on meat from animals fed GM corn. However, many pundits believe that if Proposition 37 passes in California, it will lead to national mandatory GM label requirements.

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The Romney-Ryan campaign has offered a bewildering and often contradictory array of positions on the issues, which makes predicting what a Romney agenda might look like exceptionally difficult. What's more, we'd see a very different Romney administration if Democrats retain control of the Senate. Silver gives them an 88 percent chance of doing so, projecting Dems to hold 52.4 seats in the next Congress (it's highly unlikely they'll win the House).

But if Romney were to sweep the toss-up swing states — which he has to do in order to win the White House — that would require a strong GOP turnout and a stronger showing in those Senate races.

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Last week, Romney told the editors of the Columbus Dispatch that “We don't have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don't have insurance.” Romney is right again, but in a very perverted way. Most of the time people who die because they are denied health insurance spend their last days in the hospital after getting very sick in their houses or apartments.

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“We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have insurance, we just say to you, ‘Tough luck, you’re going to die when you have your heart attack,’ ” he said.

“No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital. We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance," Romney continued.

According to a 2009 study by Harvard Medical School, 45,000 people die each year, mainly because they lack health insurance. People aged 64 and under who don't have health care insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who do have insurance, the study found.

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If the experiment is a success, the company overall could come to rely more on part-time workers. Those new employees would likely not enjoy the same health benefits that all employees currently do. "Today we offer health care to all of our employees," said Rich Jeffers, [a spokesperson for Darden]. But under the Affordable Care Act, which sets minimum standards for the health care being provided, "we can't offer that."

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Researchers enrolled 9,256 adolescents and women from the St. Louis region who were at risk of unintended pregnancy, such as those who had used abortion services in the past. For three years, the women were counseled on effective birth control methods. While IUDs and implants were emphasized (as pills require strict adherence), they were also provided with this birth control at no cost.

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Daniel Lippman reports:

Under Medicaid -- which has about 60 million recipients -- states are not allowed to cut dental care for children. But for adults, dental care is an "optional service," according to federal reimbursement guidelines. But medical experts say proper dental care is a core part of overall good health and warn that it will cost more to treat these people in the long run.

... In 2007, Washington state was spending more than $30 million annually on its adult dental Medicaid program. In recent years, however, the state has cut those benefits, and in 2011 it axed non-emergency dental care for all Medicaid-eligible adults except those with developmental disabilities, long-term care patients, and pregnant women. Of the 488,000 Medicaid-eligible adults in the state, only 38,000 are still eligible for non-emergency care, according to data compiled by the Washington State Dental Association.

Obamacare will aim to ensure that all children and young adults under 21 have dental coverage, but the plan's requirement to obtain healthcare does not apply to dental and vision coverage for adults.

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