Don't Dare Disagree With Steve Driehaus

Here's a frivolous lawsuit that just won't die. ex-Rep. Steve Driehaus has been suing the Susan B. Anthony list for defamation over a billboard they ran in his district. He was a pro-life Democrat who supported Obamacare and they targeted him with this

I was under the impression this was dropped months ago, but no, a federal judge has ruled there's no evidence Obamacare funds abortion, in spite of the White House admitting that it does and, in fact, just added insult to injury when Kathleen Sebelius ruled that all employers and all insurance companies must pay for contraceptives, even abortifiacient methods. (There may be an exception for literal Churches, but not for religiously-affiliated social action groups such as Catholic Charities.Way to respect the free exercise rights of your citizens, Boys!

The President of SBA List, who is threatened with jail time under the Ohio statute if convicted, is a personal friend, so naturally that's my first concern, followed by the chilling implications for free speech for the rest of us. Telling people what's in a bill a politician voted for is not protected speech? Way to respect the free exercise rights of all Americans, boys! 

The judge, who apparently read no newspapers during the prolonged fight over the Stupak amendment, claims he can't find any evidence Obamacare funds abortions, but I just googled "obamacare covers abortions" and came up with 393,000 results, including the fact that the CRS reported the bill permitted abortion funding and the House amendment which would have banned abortion funding was stripped from the final bill. If you strip a funding ban from a bill, it's because you intend the funding to exist!

The judge's assertion that there's no money "appropriated" for abortion is either colossally ignorant or willfully dense. Let him tell us how much is "appropriated" for hip replacements or anti-statin drugs in the bill. Does he think anything not explicitly mentioned isn't covered? Because it would be interesting to discover we just passed a massive, economy-crippling entitlement entitling us to nothing whatsoever (except contraceptives, thanks to our esteemed HHS Secretary). I bet even Grandma doesn't know that's what's in the bill!

On a side note, it is sort of amusing that the judge thinks accusing someone of supporting abortion funding is defamatory. I would like him to elaborate on that, please.