The Madness of HCR

I hope they finally pass health care reform this week simply so that we can stop hearing about it. But let's be clear about one thing: What passes this week will be more of a necessary political victory rather than being a necessary policy victory. Yes, there are some nice little chestnuts in there, including a legislated end to discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. But, let's be honest. The thing is useless without a public option. Here's the thing about regulative legislation: It requires enforcement. And this is a country that now sports a political party that, when it acquires power, immediately begins doing everything it can to strip the federal government of its enforcement powers. A public option would be a control above and beyond the purview of regulation and enforcement. It is a true market solution to the problem of escalating premiums. A public option would force insurance companies to become more competitive, to slash overhead, to stop paying their CEOs $57,000 an hour. And it would be far more difficult for Republigoats to jab sticks between its spokes. This is why they don't like it. It is too disruptive to their ongoing mission to cripple government. It is too organic and too effective. And that, ladles and jelly-spoons, is why we probably won't have a public option! Yay!

There's Always Home Schooling

Home schooling has, traditionally, been a resort of conservatives. This trend is likely to change now. For the record, if you're a Thom Hartmann listener, you've known for quite some time that the Tejas Bored of Edumacation could possibly decide to gut its curriculum in favor of "conservatism." You also understand that the bizarre changes made to that state's curriculum actually affects that of at least half or more of the country. Since Tejas is one of the biggest customers for textbooks, their curriculum decisions affect more than just Tejas. My favorite part of the story, I think, is thus:

The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum's world history standards on Enlightenment thinking, "replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin."

"Replacing" him? "Replacing" him? There's only enough room in a kid's head for so many historical figures? Here's another one, a head scratcher considering point #1:

Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state." "I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state," said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. "I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution."

So, if you're convinced that a separation idea doesn't exist, why do you need to banish the dude who first said it was in there? Brainiac. There is so much more to this lovely story. Of course, there is the insistence in the new curriculum that the United States is a "republic" (because, you know, "democracy" sounds too much like that other political party) (and by the way, the United States is actually a "constitutionally limited representative democratic republic"). Here. Giggle at this:

Board member Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, objected to a standard for a high school sociology course that addressed the difference between sex and gender. It was eliminated in a 9-to-6 vote. She worried that a discussion of that issue would lead students into the world of 'transvestites, transsexuals and who knows what else.'"

When the mighty Frank Zappa said on "Crossfire" that he feared this country was becoming a "fascist theocracy," Bob Novak, who liked to reveal the identities of covert CIA operatives in the newspaper, scowled at him, oh wait, that was just his normal face, and said, oh, come on, Mister Zappa. What do you think now, Bob? (Oh, wait. You don't think anything. You're dead.)

Sex Scandals Are Still Fun

Nothing like a good sex scandal involving politics or priests. Now it's my own congressman putting on the most embarrassing denial since Larry Craig claimed never to have been gay. I am not especially enjoying this one, but on the whole, try as the GOOP will to make the current round belong to the Democratic Party, we win these battles. The real tragedy of Eric Massa (who I know personally) is that he was a damn good congressman, a hard working Progressive who took principled stands on tough issues… like Afghanistan and single payer health care. He, like Larry Craig, is in many ways a victim of a culture that causes many citizens to suppress their true selves. If Eric Massa ran again as a gay man I would be there running with him. Eric made a few big mistakes in bowing out… pointing fingers at Nancy and Rahm, for example. But he also pulled off a major coup… getting on Glennn's Moron Show for an entire hour. Once inside the viper's nest, he gave Beck nothing useful and managed to score a couple of points. He said a good first step towards fixing Washington's problems would be for the GOOP to stop lying about the facts. He also suggested there would be no real solutions until we had real campaign finance reform. No one has ever been able to say anything quite so true on Fox News without being censored or shouted down. Beck, who is preprogrammed by his handlers to spew facist silliness for hours at a time… was left speechless. Johnny Boner is trying to make Massa's story read like 2006, when it was discovered that the GOOP leadership had been covering up Mark Foley's forays into the Senate Page's dormitory for years. Massa has not been on the Hill for years, and the matter was sent to the Ethics Committee as soon as it was clear that there was really an issue to be investigated. Of course, Massa is gone and Larry Craig is still in the Senate. So is David "Whore House" Vetter, and John "Man your Wife is Hot" Ensign. (There is an investigation ongoing about Ensign's payoff to the cuckholded aid, but none into his groping of his staffer's wife.) On the whole having them stay around is a net gain for the good guys. Every time Vetter takes a stand, we can remind the world that he likes to get his bone polished by whores. Larry Craig does not speak out for fear of someone talking about his wide stance (which is, face it, a weirder story even than tickle fighting). John Ensign gives us a wonderful way to remind the world of the evil conspiracy of C Street, where Ensign was living when he was boning the lady. C Street is owned by The Family, a Christofacist Sect that has the support of many top politicos, and which helped cover up Ensign's little problem. (Allegheny Mark Sanford also found comfort there, and its members have been involved in promoting homophobic genocide in Africa.) At any rate, we close out the week with two new sex scandals in the GOOP. California State Senator Ray Ashburn, a notorious gay basher and supporter of Proposition 8, was caught drunk driving with a young man in his car after leaving a gay bar. One hardly needs to say more, except that this guy actually came out and admitted he is gay. (Maybe Massa should take note.) Equally interesting is the disclosure by Utah House Majority Leader Kevin Garn that he once went skinny dipping with a 14-year-old girl. He did not bone her, but he and his wife did pay her $150,000 to keep her mouth shut. The child (now 40) and Mr Garn have now gone public. (I believe he is the son of former Senate Banking Committee Chair Jake Garn whose drive to deregulate got us where we are today. ) Seems to me that Mr. Garn's real lack of judgement was paying the bribe, not not boning the child. Another one bites the dust, one way or another.

Exhuming McCarthy

I do not spill much digital ink on the obviously crazy person called "Glenn Beck." It's not that I think it is beneath this space, or that I'm trying not to contribute to his spotlight. It's more that I don't think I could add anything more; that I would find it difficult to provide additional, useful insight on the guy. I did purchase a domain name that I really should be more active on: glennbeckistan.com. Considering that Sen. Byrd has recently used the phrase, perhaps I should get on it. I dunno. Does BB really need another frakking blog? And wouldn't that mean I'd actually have to watch this madman? I am grateful, though, for a few things regarding Beck. For starters, it is tempting as this post title shows to compare him to Joe McCarthy. Plus, you get to lift from a really bitchin' R.E.M. song. But there is a stark difference between Beck and old Joe: Glenn Beck does not chair a Senate subcommittee. Thank goodness. Second, a striking similarity between the two, in that Beck is starting to trip over his own shoes as did McCarthy. McCarthy was just fine so long as he was investigating the State Department or Hollywood. Then he decided to go after Commies at the Pentagon. The Army said well the hell with this and decided to hold some hearings of their own, going after McCarthy and his chief counsel on unrelated charges. The Army didn't get anything on Joe himself, but he certainly didn't look good on the TV, especially as under fire from Ed Murrow as he was. He was censured and rendered a lame duck in office until he died. One can only hope that Beck has also gone after the wrong leviathan, taking on the churches for any promotion of the great evil that Beck says is "social justice." The problem with Beck though is that his position offers him a very comfy cushion of non-accountability. But who knows. Maybe the churches can finally shame this shameless bastard into shutting the hell up.

New Digs

Looks nice, doesn't it?

Administrative Note

I'd like to give Dreamhost another shake. So if you have a few problems with the site today, it should straighten up shortly.

WE'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!

Imagine that. I have gotten to quote the finest television program ever created twice on this blog's title in two days. What do you know. Anyways. Out in Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert has signed a law under which a woman can be charged with murder for having a miscarriage. That's right. A woman can be jailed and charged with murder for losing her baby. See, there was this Utah teen who got knocked up and then paid a friend $150 to beat the crap out of her. This attempt at homemade abortion failed. But, of course, a bunch of conservative white guys decided they needed an app for that. So they passed the "Criminal Homicide and Abortion Amendments," and they hope to pass it along as model legislation for other states. Now I'm not about to argue that I think that a pregnant woman should have every right to ask a friend to punch her in the gut. However, I would argue that this was an act of a young woman who did not feel that she had many other options. I betcha if you grow up in Utah, getting pregnant puts a bit of a mark on your forehead. Anotherwords, I'm saying that perhaps the state of Utah isn't the kind of place that's forgiving and/or accepting of a young woman who happens to get knocked up. You know. Maybe she wasn't no Juno MacGuff is what I'm saying. As we have discussed previously, laws that prohibit abortions are bad and do not work. Presently, there is a woman in Nicaragua—which has out-and-out banned all abortion—who has an aggressive cancer but is prohibited from seeking treatment because she is pregnant. The woman is, by the way, already the mother of a 10-year-old girl. Her country has decided that she will not get to see her daughter turn 11. The law in Nicaragua—created to guarantee that President Danny Ortega would have the church's political support—has had a general chilling affect on health care for women, as Amnesty International has reported. Doctors are reluctant to treat even healthy pregnant women, fearing they might be held liable if something happened. And problems with access for pregnant women translates directly to problems with access for women generally. I will say it again for the benefit of all of my "anti" readers: There is no law in the known universe that can actually prevent a woman from having an abortion. If saving cute little babies is your actual intent, then empowering women, not disempowering women, is the only logical way to actually achieve that end. Throwing a little girl in jail because she asked a friend to punch her in the stomach does not actually save the baby in question. Creating a culture where women feel safe and powerful, that is how you save the cute little babies. And laws like the one they just passed in Utah achieve the exact opposite of that. Trust women already. Jeez.

Thank You Speaker Pelosi

On May 8, 2009, this blog correctly diagnosed the health care crisis in these Untied States of America. We argued that the real problem with health care in these Untied States of America is that, in order to have access to health care, you have to have a job. Untether one from the other, I wrote, and you'll not only drastically improve health care, but you'll also create at our society's very foundation a more innovative, more entrepreneurial nation. Last evening, appearing on the Rachel Maddow Show, a leader of the Democratic Party at long last picked up and ran with this argument.

Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer, a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance. Or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risks, but not be job-locked because a child has a child has asthma or diabetes or someone in the family is bipolar. You name it, any condition is job-locking. Think of a situation where we can be internationally competitive because we don't have this weight on us that other countries, that other businesses really don't have in other countries because they don't have this expense of health care which will all be reined in, those costs, under this bill.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Yowsa.

It may surprise nobody to learn that much of my college career was spent as editorial page editor for the student newspaper. I was a prolific columnist and a ranting raving editorial writer. During I think my third go-round at the job, the editor decided I kind of needed an anchor because, as you can see here, I'm somewhat of a lefty. I had a staff of two, one politically neutral and one a conservative Republigoat. Thing is, the conservative Republigoat was actually a fairly reasonable guy. I know! And he and I could actually talk about stuff! I know! And in the process, we managed to put together a pretty bitchin' editorial page. Anyways, last evening, I reconnected with this fella via Facebook. And guess which current president he voted for in 2008? Seems that Bush II pissed this guy off so badly that he's voting Democratic these days. I hope I'm not writing anything out of school here. But. I am saying. There is hope.

Yes, Virginia, There Are Homosexuals

Hey, Virginia. Meet me at camera 3. What the hell are you so surprised about? August 30, 2009. The Washington Post and Shitty Corporate Mouthpiece reports:

At age 34, two years before his first election and two decades before he would run for governor of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell submitted a master's thesis to the evangelical school he was attending in Virginia Beach in which he described working women and feminists as "detrimental" to the family. He said government policy should favor married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." He described as "illogical" a 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing the use of contraception by unmarried couples.

Nobody in Virginia should now be surprised that the McDonnell administration is moving to undo protections against discrimination for gay people in the state. Nobody. Not to mention, nobody should be surprised that McDonnell's horrible, shitty, no-good ideas that he trumpeted on the campaign trail to fix Virginia's transportation infrastructure aren't going anywhere. They were horrible, shitty, no-good ideas, and I told you they were goddamnit. There is nothing surprising about this Republigoat governor. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. He ran as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Why is everyone acting so surpised that he's a god-damned wolf?

The Washington Post and Shitty Corporate Mouthpiece

Why do we here at the Serious Poo-Poo Institute of Technology (S.P.I.T.) refer to the hometown newspaper by its full formal name, The Washington Post and Shitty Corporate Mouthpiece? In part because The Washington Post and Shitty Corporate Mouthpiece has recently hired this asshole as a columnist.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Marc Thiessen Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Say what you like about Bob Novak, who used to enjoy publicly identifying covert CIA operatives in the newspaper. But at least he came from a time when, generally, news columnists had to have an actual background in journalism. I like to think there was a time when a former presidential speech writer and would be laughed the hell out the delivery entrance, resume in hand, of any decent newspaper. The Huffington Post has embedded the rest of the interview.

Cylons Look Like Us Now

The lead story in today's edition of The Washington Post And Shitty Corporate Mouthpiece is all about the arrest of a petite white blonde Amurkin lady from Pennsylvania of all places who was apparently plotting a little jihad of her own. Now, the impression I get from the story is that she was just some frakking moron who probably couldn't blow up a balloon. Most of these cases are like that. Face it. Anyone possessing any modicum of intellectual power does not consider murder, or bombing, or flying planes into buildings to be a reasonable avocation. You can tell me until you're blue that the Unabomber was a child prodigy and all that, I don't care. He was still a damned moron. Anyway, I don't know why this story merits attention above the fold on the front page of The Washington Post And Shitty Corporate Mouthpiece. We here at the imaginary think-tank Crack Whores for Good Government have said ever since September 2001 that "fighting" "terrorism" was a stupid vapid stupid dumb stupid notion, especially if one for some reason elevates as more deadly the brand of terrorism exercised by brown people who do not eat meat of the cloven-footed beasts. Terrorism is any moron with a bomb and a dream. Why is this such a shocker now?

Noodling Around

Q: Dear Aaron. Are the homemade noodles at the Heidelberg worth the $3.50? A: Hells yeah.

Let Your Fingers Do The Walking

Have just called my senators and my congressman regarding health care reform. I find it helps to open with a question for the staffer you're talking to. My question today was, where is so-and-so on health care reform right now? Answers from senators Webb and Warner's staff were the same: The senator voted for the Senate version of the bill but has not issued a statement regarding reconciliation. I then told the staffers that I support efforts to pass the bill using reconciliation and encouraged them to sign on to the Bennet letter. My congressman, Jim Moran, of course is representing his district well, being on the record for the reconciliation process. I told the staffer that I supported that position and also thanked the Congressman again for voting against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. I thank him for this every time I see him or contact his office. Every time. If you're in Virginia/NoVa and feel like giving these nice people a call, here are the numbers: Sen. Webb: 202/224-4024 Sen. Warner: 202/224-2023 Congressman Moran: 202/225-4376

New Rule

Some of our four or so of our regular readers may find the following statement to be a bit abrasive. But, there you go.

New rule: Anyone who says, "there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans" doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about.

I know that progressive commie liberals such as myself aren't exactly squirting themselves at this point regarding the Obama presidency. But a person who somehow reckons that a McWeirdsmile presidency would have been just as good as what we have today? I'm sorry, that person has gefilte fish between his ears.

Dear Congressman Jim Moran,

Just a picky style note for you sir. It's only "VISA" when you're referring to the credit card. "Visa" in regular sentence case will suffice when you're referring to the permissions people require to cross borders. Thanks. BBB

Save The Post Office! Pass Universal Health Care!

PB has noted yet another of what are surely many surprising consequences of a universal health care system: More reasonable alternatives for women in labor. Here's another one, courtesy of my favorite radio talker, Thom Hartmann. The U.S. Post Office, you see, is mandated to pre-pay health care benefits for its retirees, a cost of approximately $5 billion a year. Part of Postmaster General John Potter's plan to cut costs is to end this mandate. Of course, as U.S. News & World Report notes, such a move would require approval by the union and by Congress. Fat chance. A single-payer system, though, or a Medicare buy-in or outright expansion would nip that $5 billion cost right in the nuts, now, wouldn't it?

Amazing How That Single Payer Thing Works

In the USA, any woman who once has a Caesarean birth automatically gets a Caesarean the next time she has a baby. That's because it has been declared by the medical establishment to the best i.e. safest way to do it, even though it is much more expensive, and not a great choice for the mother, and often not even necessary. There is a hospital in New Mexico that does not routinely do Caesareans second time around, and in fact has the lowest Caesarean rate in the country. The hospital is successful because it uses midwives, it has doctors close at hand at all times, and it does not have a profit motive for doing Caesarean births. The hospital serves Native American communities (mostly Navajo and Hopi) an it is entirely funded by the federal government. It's a single payer system, and it works to hold down the cost of services while maximizing the benefits to the patients. You can read all about it in the NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/health/07birth.html?scp=1&sq=hopi%20hospital&st=cse

Dear Mister President

You gave a rousing speech this afternoon regarding health care reform. It was on television and everything. Congratulations. How many people do you reckon actually saw it? When your predecessor wanted to conduct an illegal, immoral, and unnecessary war, what did he do? Did he give a rousing speech in the afternoon? No. He put on a suit and appropriated the airwaves in prime time. He looked America right in the eyes and told her why he was taking her to war. And he got what he wanted. Does this give you any ideas, Mr. President? Hmmmmm?

YEs. YOu Did Read It HEre First!

From the New YOrk Post, no less: The video that unleashed a firestorm of criticism on the activist group ACORN was a "heavily edited" splice job that only made it appear as though the organization's workers were advising a pimp and prostitute on how to get a mortgage, sources said yesterday. The findings by the Brooklyn DA, following a 5½-month probe into the video, secretly recorded by conservative provocateurs James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, means that no charges will be filed. Many of the seemingly crime-encouraging answers were taken out of context so as to appear more sinister, sources said. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/acorn_set_up_by_vidiots_da_x16IroTf4AsXCI19nttFLL#ixzz0hGbfcyhR

I Don't Know...

...why we should suddenly expect the profession of "air traffic controller" to be taken seriously following Ronald Raygun's treatment of it in 1981. That is all.

Arizona's Only Half Bad Housing Plan

The Arizona legislature has a novel plan to forestall home foreclosures. They want to allow foreclosed homeowners to stay in the house for an additional year as renters. Not a bad idea, but it has its faults. First, we should point out that Arizona is home to more foreclosed houses than almost anyplace but Las Vegas. It is worth pointing out that underwater housing and foreclosures are problems tied to poor personal decisions, and the people who made those decisions are now demanding that someone bail them out. Don't get me wrong. I think one of the only ways out of this mess is to prop those people up, but I also bet that they will vote for some right wing teabagger nut this year, not for the party that has done the most to bail them out… the Democratic Party. Now lets consider the consequences of allowing the displaced to stay in place as renters. What this means is that people will be paying money to the bank for a year without getting any credit for the payments. So the debt will continue on the bank's books, even though the borrower is still making some form of payment to the bank. This looks like a politician's trick to me. Get the masses past the election without being thrown out of the house and without squeezing the mortgage holders. Everyone is happy all around. Here is a better plan. Pass a moratorium on foreclosures. Nothing will force the mortgage boys to the table faster. They want to foreclose because it's the only way they know to get the junk off their books. The fact that it will clog the market with junk is of no consequence to them. Neither is the fact that it will leave many people broke and homeless. Put an end to foreclosures indefinitely and demand that mortgage companies develop a plan for working out each bad loan. You make the people happy and actually force the lenders to sit down and talk rationally with the borrowers. That is a much better result.

In A Name Part II

National Journal is one of those smug inside-the-beltway rags that carries on the corporate right wing banner for official Washington. They asked me (via email) to take a survey on the promise that I would be contributing to the public debate. The survey turned out to be a marketing survey aimed at figuring out what makes NJ so fucked up. At the end of the survey, they ask for party affiliation. Are you a member of the Democrat Party or the Republican Party? Now we know why they are so fucked up.

What's In A Name

We need to stop calling it the "estate tax" and start calling it the "democracy tax." 'Cause that's what it is.

A Cup A Cup A Cup A Cup A Cup

Oh dear gods. I mean, I guess it was inevitable. I mean, so long as there's a group of wackos running around calling themselves the "Tea Party Movement," there might as well be a damned "coffee party" as well. I've just heard about the thing on the Thom Hartmann show since I haven't gotten around to perusing the whole damned issue of today's The Washington Post and Shitty Corporate News Outlet. But apparently, yes, there is a coffee party. And though I've just heard of it, it annoys the living hell out of me. Creating a "coffee party movement," you see, only further legitimizes the "tea party" assholes. It just smacks of sour grapes; it yields the "tea party" franchise to the Obama-as-Hitler sign holders. This "tea party movement" is stocked with morons who seriously believe Glenn Beck and Bob Basso's portrayal of Thomas Paine as a neo-con. It is stocked with people who do not actually understand what the Boston Tea Party, the historical event they claim fuels and inspires them, actually was, that it was a protest not just against government or taxes, but against the slimy collusion of government and a top-heavy multi-national corporation. These people, fueled by corporate dollars, at the beck and call of their own worst interests, these folks should not be legitimized by a smarmy copycat, by a group that says fine, you build your pillow fort in the bedroom, I'll just move to the living room, so there. And the message the group has chosen, that they want legislators to work better together and blah blah blah, well. Could the timing be any worse considering the massive fault lines that were revealed from the Blair House on Thursday? As E.J. Dionne points out beautifully today in the aforementioned The Washington Post and Shitty Corporate News Outlet, partisanship is broiling here in Washington, and to discount it is to fail to understand contemporary politics. The fact is that the two political parties in the United States disagree violently about the role of government and are currently duking it out over the subject with ball peen hammers and sharp-toed boots. Handing the "tea party movement" a de facto legitimization and calling for cooperation in Congress isn't going stop the hammering, raucous battle—certainly not so long as a Republigoat can look you in the eye regarding HCR and can seriously say, ya know, screw it, let's trash it and start over, what do you say?

You Saw It Here First

We gladly take credit when other writers take up notions we here at KIAV have been advocating. Thus, we point out this NYT Op Ed suggesting that we find a permanent home for the Olympics. Find the KIAV Original, A New Olympic Game, posted on October 3, 2009.

Did I Say Tax The Churches?

Politicians are such scum. They can't do the hard business of balancing their budgets (not that I think this is the time to balance budgets) so they are now looking for new tax victims. The New York Times reports today that in many states nonprofits are the new victims. Hawaii has a bill that would slap a one percent excise tax on charities, and Kansas has a proposal to make them subject to sales tax. Charities now have to pay the street light fee in Minneapolis. The sheer stupidity of these policies is obvious. Nonprofits feed the poor, train the unemployed, provide health care and generally do the good deeds that need to be done to keep the poor and crazy together in tough times. They mostly operate through donations, or other public sources like state and federal grants. Is it not counterproductive to take with one hand the money we give them with another? What is really idiotic about this in all cases is that they have exempted the churches from these taxes. While I will concede that there are some churches that do real charitable work, most of them are useless. They spend their money to hire preachers and support their palaces of worship. They harbor pedofiles and obstruct health reform legislation. They promote hatred of gay and lesbian citizens. Few if any feed the poor, provide health care or do anything else useful. Let me suggest a constructive solution. Tax the churches. Grant them reasonable deductions for actual charitable works, but tax them on any money they collect to support the rest of their substantial infrastructure. Perhaps this new tax structure will provide an incentive to them to perform actual works of charity.

Liars

There are like a thousand lies going around in the punditsphere these days regarding health care reform. Let's have a look at one now. They're saying that there is no public support for health care reform. They're saying that nobody has protested in support of health care reform. Not true. Or don't we count May 2009, when doctors and nurses showed up at the initial hearings, demanding to heard on single payer and were tossed out summarily on their asses? This lady sure was a protestor for single payer. So is this lady. Beside that, such statements, as none other than David Gregarious made this morning on "Meat the Press," give credence to a "protest" "movement" that was largely funded by the insurance industry itself but claimed inexplicably to be "grass roots," that also vigorously promoted and utilized racism regarding the President of the United States, and that also was cheer-led strongly by the ongoing propaganda concern known as Fox "News." It is unfathomable to me that now that the shitty corporate media is bowing to the conventional wisdom that these "protests" had any credence whatsoever. What an incredible load of bullshit. Americans want reform. They just don't want this bullshit.

You Choose

I am surprised I have not run into Angie the Anti-Theist on Twitter before. But she is awesome. Angie's backstory is interesting enough, reared as a fundamentalist, now an advocate of atheism. But her latest stand, her decision to talk about her RU-486-aided abortion on YouTube and Twitter and such, is a hell of a thing. I am a fan. Listen to Angie Jackson explain her choice—as if she owes anyone such—and then tell her you'd force her to carry a pregnancy to term. I think both she and her family will be very pleased that she made the decision to end her pregnancy.

This is something we don't hear very often—testimony from the women. To most people on either side of this issue, the women are faceless; it's just a bunch of slogans and protest signs. Well. Here's a face. And she chose to lose a zygote rather than to risk not being there for the kid she's already got. It was the right choice. More important, though: It was her choice. And that is the way things need to stay. Thanks, Angie.

What It's Really All About

I want to take a moment to remind everyone what the "health care" "reform" "debate" is really all about. Because it's not actually about health care. It's not about doctors or hospitals or insurance or insurance companies or Steven Hemsley or pre-existing conditions or anti-trust or socialism or a government takeover or any of that. It's not even about you or me. This is about which political party will be in power for the next fifty years. Republigoats have baldly admitted this. You must recall in July 2009 when South Carolina GOOPer Jim Demented said this:

If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.

The fact is that universal health care is a good idea. The Republigoats know this. They know that universal health care is such a good idea that if the Democrats were to deliver on it, the Democrats would have a lock on the nation's political power for generations. It would be nice, of course, if all of our Democratic legislators were hip to this.

About That Unconstitutional Mandate

The GOOP contention that a mandate for every citizen to have health insurance is unconstitutional is, like everything else the GOOP says, complete bullshit. What is amazing is that anyone, even the teabagger morons, can't see through this. There are, after all, other, very similar mandates. Everyone is required to pay taxes. Everyone is mandated to participate in Social Security. Nearly every state mandates that car owners have car insurance. Some states, notably Massachusetts, mandate that every citizen have health insurance. (Scott Brown, the until-recently messiah of the whacky right, voted for mandatory health insurance in Massachusetts). And, as I may have pointed out here before, anyone who lives in a flood plain is mandated by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT to have flood insurance. Only one company underwrites flood insurance in the USA. It's called the Federal Flood Insurance Program… yep. Uncle Sam. Maybe someone should remind Sen. Chuck Gassey (GOOP- IA) of that next time he starts raving about unconstitutionality of the federal mandate. (Which, by the way, was first proposed in the United States Senate in 1993 by… THE GOOP, in particular by Chuck Gassey.)

But The Government Already DID Take Over Health Care

You don't remember when that happened, do you? When big government took over health care? You know. The only time that Chimpy ever cut a vacation short? To sign S.686? "A bill to provide for the relief of the parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo?" Ringing any bells? Thanks, @mattemmer.

Bumpersticker of the Year

Smirking Chimp—which is on the tail end of its annual fund raiser—reports eyeing the bumpersticker of the year:

Tea Parties Are For Little Girls With Imaginary Playmates

Heh.

Cool!

Lizz Winstead is in for Ed Schultz today.

Drat. Kentucky Wins, 82-61

The Huffington Post reports that Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky is an asshole. Surprised?

Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky, is single-handedly blocking Senate action needed to prevent an estimated 1.2 million American workers from prematurely losing their unemployment benefits next month. As Democratic senators asked again and again for unanimous consent for a vote on a 30-day extension Thursday night, Bunning refused to go along. And when Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) begged him to drop his objection, Politico reports, Bunning replied: "Tough shit."

Actually, I kind of like him.

Bunning says he doesn't oppose extending benefits—he just doesn't want the money that's required added to the deficit. He proposes paying for the 30-day extension with stimulus funds. The Senate's GOP leadership did not support him in his objections.

Again, where the fuck was Jim Bunning and the rest of these defecit "hawks" (this term is especially offensive to the greatest junior welterweight boxer in the world) when Gorge Dubya Boosh was Preznit?

And at one point during the debate, which dragged on till nearly midnight, Bunning complained of missing a basketball game.

Okay, that I can totally understand dude. Totally.

"I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9:00," he said, "and it's the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina since they're the only team that has beat Kentucky this year.

Not that it matters anyway because eventually your Cocks may have to face the Jayhawks, so, you know. Tough shit.

The unemployment rate in Kentucky is 10.7 percent.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. That is all.

Health Care Summit Blues

I cannot begin to say how disappointed I am with the Health Care Summit. Not that I expected any real compromises and resolution to happen. But I did not expect the GOOP to be allowed to run rough shod over PODUS and use the opportunity to shine up their stupid mantra on health care, and that's what happened. The White House was unprepared, or unwilling, to challenge the GOOP talking points. "Lets start with a blank sheet of paper," was an easy one to knock down. We started with a blank sheet of paper a year ago. Max Baucus sat down with a team of GOOP and right wing Democrats to write a health care bill. The result was the abortion we have today. What makes the GOOP think we can do any better by starting over again. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Do they think we are crazy? John McCaine got a wonderful opportunity to preach his mantra about the evils of pork barrels and compromise precisely because the Senate Bill is a Christmas Tree covered with pork chops. There is an answer to McCaine and the President never made it. John McCaine campaigned for president on health care reform and offered a plan that represented at least a step forward on the subject. Where was John McCaine when the Senate needed one vote to make the deal work? The pork and the compromises were necessary to get the votes the senate needed. Why wasn't McCaine John in the mix instead of on the sidelines saying no? The singular most disappointing performance I saw was Hairy Reed talking out of both sides of his mouth at once on the subject of reconciliation. With an aghast Steney Hoyer looking on, Reed explained that we were not gong to use the "controversial" reconciliation method of getting the bill passed. Then he said we were. It is hard to understand how this happened. The best case scenario is that the President naïvely believed that we would go in there, take their best shots, and prove to the American people that they are idiots. Sort of a political rope a dope. If that's true, then the President has a lot more to learn than he should have to learn at this juncture in his career. It should also mean that if his staff is any good, they lost a fight to get him to do otherwise. Maybe his staff is incompetent. Maybe they advised him that the rope a dope is the best way to go. Maybe, and this is the scary part, POTUS is a process-based ideologue who really has a tin ear for political nuance and believes totally that the process, if left to its own devices, will produce the correct result. If that is true, then a sure sign is that he is not listening to his advisors (who sat ominously silent during the entire summit), or at least not listening to them when they say things he does not agree with. The truth is that process does not produce correct results on it's own. It requires a kick in the head from time to time. It has the be led by a person who knows where he or she is going and is not going to be deterred by nuisance opposition. That's the kind of leader we need. Do we have one?

Can you imagine...

...the previous President going toe to toe with the opposition for six hours live and on television?

Health Care Summit

I am trying to be knee-deep in health care summit geeky goodness today, but this damned job keeps interfering...It is odd to think though that this thing is happening just blocks from where I am sitting...more later perhaps...

Now Let Us All Praise NPR

They often annoy me for sloppy interviewing, breathless hero worship, mostly of GOOPers, and frequent gross violation of the standards of good journalism, but I have to give then credit today. Two reports cover controversial territory, provide good facts relevant to current issues and reflect the best in enterprise journalism as it should be practiced. Julie Rovner reported on the frequent use of Budget Reconciliation over the years (most frequently by GOOPers) to pass controversial measures. Most of the use of Reconciliation by Democrats has been used for HEALTH CARE REFORM. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124009985 Likewise, KUDOs for Peter Overby who has more than once raised questions about "The Family" a Christofacist movement intent on taking over the nation if not the world. Overby reports on the illegal use of a 501(C)(3) property tax exemption for "The C-Street house," a crash pad maintained by the secretive cabal for the convenience of evangelical politicians and their clandestine lovers. http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=124031022&m=124031013

Now Let Us All Praise NPR

They often annoy me for sloppy interviewing, breathless hero worship, mostly of GOOPers, and frequent gross violation of the standards of good journalism, but I have to give then credit today. Two reports cover controversial territory, provide good facts relevant to current issues and reflect the best in enterprise journalism as it should be practiced. Julie Rovner reported on the frequent use of Budget Reconciliation over the years (most frequently by GOOPers) to pass controversial measures. Most of the use of Reconciliation by Democrats has been used for HEALTH CARE REFORM. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124009985 Likewise, KUDOs for Peter Overby who has more than once raised questions about "The Family" a Christofacist movement intent on taking over the nation if not the world. Overby reports on the illegal use of a 501(C)(3) property tax exemption for "The C-Street house," a crash pad maintained by the secretive cabal for the convenience of evangelical politicians and their clandestine lovers. http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=124031022&m=124031013

With Liver Tea...

From Wikipedia:

In 1940 the Supreme Court, in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, ruled that students in public schools could be compelled to swear the Pledge, even Jehovah's Witnesses like the defendants in that case who considered the flag salute to be idolatry. A rash of mob violence and intimidation against Jehovah's Witnesses followed the ruling. In 1943 the Supreme Court reversed its decision, ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that "compulsory unification of opinion" violated the First Amendment.^[6]

From today's The Washington Post:

The mother of a 13-year-old Montgomery County middle school student is demanding an apology from a teacher who had school police escort the youngster from her classroom for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Also:

The ACLU asked in a Feb. 5 letter that the teacher personally apologize to the student, promise to respect her rights in the future and discuss the incident with the class so it can become an educational opportunity.

No, wait. I know. I know. FIRE HER. States are just looking for excuses these days to RIF educators. Violating a ruling by the United States Supreme Court sounds like plenty of reason to me. By the way. The fella what actually penned the pledge? He was a SOCIALIST. Put that in your pipe and shove it up your ass, Glenn.

If It's Friday, It Must Be FARTHAMMER!

Charles Farthammer this morning begins his column for some reason by burying a reference to a person, referring to "[Jimmy Carter's] own White House counsel." Mr. Farthammer should really be more clear, especially since President Carter had two men in that position. The person referred to in today's column is the late Lloyd N. Cutler, by the way, not Robert Lipshutz. In case you were curious. Here is the opening of the Farthammer Opus, followed by a smarmy comment from your friendly neighborhood blogger.

In the latter days of the Carter presidency, it became fashionable to say that the office had become unmanageable and was simply too big for one man. Some suggested a single, six-year presidential term. The president's own White House counsel suggested abolishing the separation of powers and going to a more parliamentary system of unitary executive control. America had become ungovernable. Then came Ronald Reagan, and all that chatter disappeared.

Yes, and then came George W. Bush, who really put that "scuttling the separation of powers" stuff to the test. Farthammer's point today, of course, is that there is too much whining about the structural weaknesses in American government, when, in fact, the real problem is that Obama is a socialist commie trying to shove a radical socialist commie program down America's throat, and, by golly, America is a center-right country, and if I hear America described as that one more time I'm going to vomit.

The rage at the machine has produced the usual litany of systemic explanations. Special interests are too powerful. The Senate filibuster stymies social progress.

Yes, Charles, buddy. Look at the chart! It is crystal clear that the filibuster is being sorely abused by the Republigoats in the Senate. It needs to be reformed, and there is no reason not to do so.

If only we could be more like China, pines Tom Friedman, waxing poetic about the efficiency of the Chinese authoritarian model, while America flails about under its "two parties . . . with their duel-to-the-death paralysis."

Well. Tom Friedman is an idiot. On this we both agree. Cheers. Another excellent point you make on which we agree, Mr. Farthammer sir.

Leave it to Mickey Kaus, a principled liberal who supports health-care reform, to debunk these structural excuses: "Lots of intellectual effort now seems to be going into explaining Obama's (possible/likely/impending) health care failure as the inevitable product of larger historic and constitutional forces. . . . But in this case there's a simpler explanation: Barack Obama's job was to sell a health care reform plan to American voters. He failed."

Yyyyyyyyyyyep. But he did NOT fail because of what you wrote next:

He failed because the utter implausibility of its central promise -- expanded coverage at lower cost -- led voters to conclude that it would lead ultimately to more government, more taxes and more debt. More broadly, the Democrats failed because, thinking the economic emergency would give them the political mandate and legislative window, they tried to impose a left-wing agenda on a center-right country. The people said no, expressing themselves first in spontaneous demonstrations, then in public opinion polls, then in elections -- Virginia, New Jersey and, most emphatically, Massachusetts.

Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. Obama has failed because Americans voted for bold change in 2008. What they got was a rather milquetoast, slow-motion retreat from every opportunity to create actual reform. That's why it has failed, Mr. Farthammer sir. Not because it was too "radical." But because it was not enough so. Well, look. I shall enjoy continuing to read your column every Friday, especially in coming years as the United States faces more and more difficult economic times due to out-of-control health care costs and insurance company CEOs who continue to suck money bags out of their firms the size of Denver. That shall be the world that you and yours have created. Not me and mine.

Duh Der Doy Duh

The Washington Post today editorializes about Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's seeming inelegance on budget issues early in his term. One note in particular caught my eye:

We'd ask the same question about his much-vaunted transportation plan. The governor said he would raise hundreds of millions of dollars to build roads by selling off state-run liquor stores. But at his urging, a bill in the legislature to do just that was killed last week. The probable reason? Profits from such liquor stores go directly into the state's coffers, to the tune of about $100 million a year. Mr. McDonnell, having promised to tackle Virginia's transportation funding crisis in his first year in office, still has time. What Virginians have yet to see are viable ideas that will yield cash for a transportation budget whose construction funds are just about gone.

I had previously seen estimates of $180 million a year, actually. It appears we're not the only ones here at the imaginary think-tank of Crack Whores for Good Government who noticed that Virginia had heard a man offer to gut a golden goose and decided it sounded like a pretty cool idea to them and made that guy the Governor. As The Washington Post basically said today, how are you going to fix transportation in Virginia now, Bobby?

Short Comment: DUH!

A New York Times-CBS News poll released on Feb. 11 revealed that only 44 percent of adults support the idea of "homosexuals" serving openly in the military, while 58 percent favor allowing "gay men and lesbians" to serve openly.

Me Neither

Utah Senator Chris Buttars Doesn't Want The Gays Stuffing It Down His Throat All The Time

Filibuster Buster

It is my opinion that you can't or shouldn't just "get rid of" the filibuster in the Senate because the tactic was actually born rather organically in the legislative process and in the larger rules of the Senate, which does not allot time for debate as does the House. Since the rules allow for unlimited debate, of course you'd stand up and talk for as long as you can to drag down legislation you don't like. Reform is needed, however. And there are some really good ideas out there about how to do it. The first notion is the sad news that filibuster reform will not be enacted in this session of the Senate or the next. As The New Republic points out, you've got to accomplish it now for a term in the near future, say, 2017. After all, neither party is going to accept filibuster reform while it is the majority party. If you kick that can down the road a little, then we don't know which side will be on top when the new rules take effect. So don't look for filibuster reform anytime soon. The only way it will work is if we kick the floe out to sea a little. The best idea of course is to blow up Senate Rule XXII. Created in 1975, this is the rule that allows a senator to simply announce that he's filibustering and then he gets to go home and have a nice cup of cocoa. Screw that. Make them stand there and talk and pee in their pants if they want to filibuster. I mean, one reason there's cloture inflation (see chart) is because there is literally no cost associated with the procedure. (Of course, the other reason there is cloture inflation is because Republigoats are assholes.) Tom Harkin has another interesting idea for filibuster reform. Continue to allow a procedural filibuster, but change the rule so that each successive vote requires a smaller threshold for cloture. So your first vote requires 60, but the second only requires 57, then 54, and so on, until you achieve cloture. This would still somewhat protect the minority's power in the filibuster in that they could still hold up key legislation for a month or so, but the logjam (or lawjam, as some suggest) would eventually be broken. Good ideas, all. Then again, isn't our Senate immune to good ideas?

Just So You Can Say You Heard It Here First

I also think Bayh has dropped out of the Senate to position himself to run for the Presidency in 2012. It's a long shot but he may have a suspicion that the GOOP will wear down Obama and make him vulnerable to attack from his own right wing. In the alternative, he may see himself as the best GOOP candidate in 2012. In any case, he is a politician with actual governing experience and a nationally recognized brand name. He is not to be counted out.

Are They All Bozos On This Bus?

Is Max Baucus a dumbass or just a WOLFE IN SHEEEP's CLOTHING? Here he is, chair the powerful Senate Finance Committee and he offers up a jobs bill that looks like a relic of the Raygun years. Chock full of tax cuts for the rich, negotiated it with the GOOP as though that was surely the very best thing for all of us. Back when the world was talking about the value of bipartisanship this may have been a good idea, but today even Hairy Reid, not the sharpest tack in the Senate Cloak Room, decided it was not a good idea. Here is the funny part. Maybe somebody needs to tell Baucus. The Democrats have the majority of the seats on the Finance Committee and the Chair is supposed to use his majority to get legislation out that is consistent with the Democratic Party Platform. Someplace in the Platform is something about no tax cuts for the rich, I am pretty sure. Now comes Chris Dodd. Chair of the Banking Committee. Also a powerful position where you are supposed to use your considerable majority to at least get a proposal out of committee that is consistent with the promises your party made in its platform. Remember how they promised to reform the financial services industry that was so screwed up by the Busches and such? In December, Dodd took the House-passed financial institutions reform bill and parceled it out to four bipartisan study groups that were supposed to develop legislation. ANYTHING HAPPEN YET, MR. CHAIRMAN? No. Right. Nothing happened. So Chairman Dodd now announces that he is working directly with Sen. Bob Corker to write a proposed bill. Corker, a GOOPer from Tennessee, is a "serious thinker" on this subject, Dodd says. Does anyone want to bet that we are not going to see a serious proposal to reregulate the banking industry come out of this? Senate Majority? Who has a Senate Majority? The Insurance industry represented so ably for years by Chris Dodd?? The rich guys on Wall Street who benefit from the tax cuts Baucus was so willing to pass out? The Health Insurance Boys? There is no Democratic majority in the United States Senate. There will be even less of a not majority after we lose about five seats in the elections next November. Here is the good news. Evan Bayh will be gone. Chris Dodd will be gone. We may lose Blanche Lincoln. Hairy Reid is likely to be gone, too. I will not miss any of them. My fantasy is a few good losses will wake up the Senate Leadership, get a majority leader with some brass knuckles and common sense. Straighten up, fly left. If we don't it won't matter much. We will be right here where we are, in the hands of a bunch of dumbass bozos who either don't know how to use the authority they have, or use it well to suit the interests of the people who really own them.

Happy Birthday to the League of Women Voters

If you're on Facebook, stop by and become a fan of the League of Women Voters. This fine organization will be 90 years old tomorrow. Let's remember that this is an organization with, well, balls. In 1976, 1980 and 1984, the nonpartisan organization sponsored the presidential debates. In 1988, the group's board voted to withdraw becase, they said, tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee were making too many demands of the debate format. From the press release of Oct. 3, 1988:

The League of Women Voters is withdrawing sponsorship of the presidential debates...because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter. It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.

It is a shame LWV is no longer running the debates. But this statement—issued after it became known that the Bush and Dukakis camps were secretly negotiating their debates' terms—kicks ass. Via Feministe.

Why Is Gerard Alexander Such An Asshole?

I am not sure if I even got a The Washington Post on Sunday. If I did, it was buried in snow. So I was only recently made aware of the abomination the newspaper printed, via Media Matters for America. Gerard Alexander, an associate professor at the University of Virginia, wrote an opinion piece titled "Why are liberals so condescending?" It is a stunning work of art. Gerard begins:

Every political community includes some members who insist that their side has all the answers and that their adversaries are idiots. But American liberals, to a degree far surpassing conservatives, appear committed to the proposition that their views are correct, self-evident, and based on fact and reason, while conservative positions are not just wrong but illegitimate, ideological and unworthy of serious consideration.

Yeah? So?

It's an odd time for liberals to feel smug. But even with Democratic fortunes on the wane, leading liberals insist that they have almost nothing to learn from conservatives.

Gerard. Buddy. There's nothing conservatives about American conservatives anymore. Barry Goldwater would have been tossed out on his ass in Minneapolis and called a "faggot," and I daresay that your vaunted Ronald Raygun would be made to wear a funny hat and sit in a corner.

Many Democrats describe their troubles simply as a PR challenge, a combination of conservative misinformation—as when Obama charges that critics of health-care reform are peddling fake fears of a "Bolshevik plot"

Um...they're not? I could continue, I suppose, but that's not the point. The point is, actually, that The Washington Post is a piece of shit of a newspaper. First there were the "salons," when it was exposed that the paper was planning on selling access to editors and reporters and other luminaries. Then, it published a piece by an obviously biased source as news. And now, as it turns out, WaPo actively sought out this piece of shit opinion column by Gerard Alexander. What the hell is going on over there?

Health Care Again

If the USA were the libertarian, take care of yourself society some people like to think it is, we would not have a health care issue. In that fantasy world, hospitals would throw out people who could not pay. Let them die in the street. Bloody gun shots, pneumonia, children who swallow rat poison. No tickee, no washee. Pay the money or die. What the hell. We are a market economy. The bastards who cannot pay don't need to live. I can imagine the Fixxed News Channel… indeed every joker with a Brownie… if that happened. There would be endless outrage. Hearings would be held, politicians would bloviate. No one would defend the heartless hospitals which are only protecting their economic interests as they are wont. We all want to have heart, but no one wants to pay for the consequences of heart. Instead, here is what happens. People who cannot pay for health care get it anyway. The hospital grosses up the cost of everyone's care and passes the costs for the uninsureded on to the rest of us. Remember that the uninsured do not include the indigent, who are covered by Medicare. Thus, the people who are getting free health care are people who have jobs and can afford to buy some form of health insurance. These slackers are now represented by the dumbass teabaggers who defend the right of people not to be forced to buy government insurance. Couple thoughts: First, there is another model for forced federal insurance. If you own a home in a flood zone, you are required by federal law to buy flood insurance. The law was passed for the same reasons we now seek mandatory health insurance. Homeowners (mostly rich people with very expensive summer homes on the ocean) would get wiped out by flood or hurricaine and have no insurance. People would whine to Congress that they had lost everything (especially the rich people on the Carolina Coast) and Congress would subsidize their rebuilding. Mandatory flood insura ce was the way Congress finally dealt with this problem. After 1993, you could not whine that you did not have the option. Second, along with removing the antitrust exemption perhaps we should make hospital bills exempt from bankruptcy and assign... sell... all hospital debt, whether or not in bankruptcy, to a government agency that can collect on it and force the debtor to buy health insurance.

Quoth

Nothing is more frightening than an empty vessel in power. —Chris Matthews

R.I.P. Jack Redux Again

According to a source close to Mr. Murtha—confirming a report in Politico—doctors inadvertently cut Mr. Murtha's intestine during the laparoscopic surgery, causing an infection.

Wasn't someone here just recently blogging about "malpractice reform?"

R.I.P. Jack Redux

KIAV transcript from this evening's episode of Hardballs with Chris Matthews. Chris. Take it away.

Jack Murtha who died today was an American patriot. He quit college to join the Marines and fight in Korea. We were fighting the Communists, and he didn't want to shirk his duty. He did the same thing as an officer, earning two Purple Hearts when America became involved in Vietnam. He bravely and single-mindedly carried on a family tradition of military life going back to the Civil War and the Revolution. And, for 37 years, Jack represented his western Pennsylvania district in the U.S. Congress. He was a close friend and supporter of my old boss, Speaker Tip O'Neill. He was a leader in standing up for the economic interests of our home state of Pennsylvania, and he was always there for the good fight, and he was so much fun to have around, in good times and bad. Jack Murtha was what Tip O'Neill liked to call a street-corner guy, someone who never lost touch with the people who elected him. He loved this country and looked out for its interests. He fought bravely in war and fought just as valiantly against a war in Iraq he believed was not in our country's interest. Jack was old-school. Let's see if the new-school types can match him in patriotism and looking out for their people and keeping this country great. For generations, he presided over the Pennsylvania corner in the House of Representatives, you could see him up there, surrounded by the members who looked up to him for leadership, for the inside word on what was coming legislatively and to carry out the gung-ho bread-and-butter American values he was brought up with. My prayers and good wishes are with his wife, Joyce, and the Murtha family, and the thousands of Jack Murtha fans in Johnstown, Altoona, and those hard-working communities out there in the mountains of Pennsylvania. I loved Jack Murtha. God bless him. U.S. Congressman Jack Murtha.

R.I.P. Jack

I have an uncle who is a die-hard, and I mean die-hard, active Republigoat in Jack Murtha's district. But he'd always put Murtha signs out. To the point that he had to tell his local party leaders to go to h-e-double-hockey-sticks when they gave him crap for it. I think that says what needs said about Congressman John Patrick "Jack" Murtha, Jr., who died today. I think that said uncle identified with him as a fellow Marine and as a fellow bona fide Johnstown-area dude. I think he also knew that Murtha represented his district regardless of what capital consonant came after his name. You'll hear from Murtha's detractors today, about ABSCAM, about some airport, they'll say he was corrupt and what the hell ever else. But I know that Murtha only came up on my radar after he became a genuine military voice that called tons of shenanigans on Gorge Dubya Boosh's Dirty Big War. I don't care what else the man did or didn't otherwise. He did that. His voice among a few others affected a real horizon change on Iraq. For that and for his service, Murtha was a true American hero. God bless you, Congressman Murtha.

Taking Notes

Dear Prudence Palin... This is a notecard. Note cards are handy tools for public speaking. You can write notes on them that you intend to use while you are speaking in public. Showing up with a few of these can even make people believe that you have thoroughly prepared for your presentation. A speaker with note cards can appear to be collected and can even rely on them as a bit of a crutch. But all anyone who ever writes anything on her hand ever looks like she's doing is cheating. Listen. If a note card like the one above was good enough for President John F. Kennedy...don't you think it might be okay for you, too?

Weird

As I've mentioned before, Facebook is an effective way to learn how different I am from many of the people with whom I grew up. There are, fortunately, a number of folks there who are down. Some of them, though, just take my breath away. Last evening, one of my former classmates was complaining about the amount of money the federal government has spent on Super Bowl advertising to promote the census. I was tempted to chime in but did not. If I did, I would have to ask the poster and his several assenters: Did you bother to find out exactly how much such advertising cost the federal government? The fact is that advertising on the Super Bowl this year was a bargain. Rates fell this year from around $3 million per 30 seconds in 2009 to $2.5 to $2.8 million per 30 seconds in 2010. This is to advertise on programming that pulls a 40 rating and a 60 share, reaching 80 to 90 million Americans. That is a bargain. And it's a drop in the bucket when you consider the total amount appropriated to promote the census in advertising: $340 million. Which, when you consider the enormous resources that are allocated by the process of the census—which is, by the way, a constitutionally mandated process—is in itself chump change. The census literally determines how trillions of dollars are spent. I think spending $340 million to convince people to sit down with an ink pen and fill it out is worth the dime. But it's not worth the fight. It's just not. These are folks whose minds have been so thoroughly pithed by the likes of Michele Bachmann Turner Overdrive that they view an innocuous and constitutional (see Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3; it's in there, really) process like the census with partisan suspicion. These are the same people who were shitting themselves because the President wanted to speak to school children. So I am afraid there is no use in laying out facts before them. It is a shame.

What's Good About Medical Malpractice

I have argued here before that we should never agree to "malpractice reform" until the medical profession comes up with a way to police itself and remove incompetents from its ranks. Thus, the case against said "reform" has gotten a lot stronger in the wake of a recent criminal prosecution in Texas. In Kermit, TX, Anne Mitchell is charged with a third degree felony for blowing the whistle on a doctor she believed to be incompetent who was practicing at the local hospital where she is a nurse supervisor. Ms. Mitchell sent an anonymous letter to the State Medical Board suggesting a review of five cases where she believed the doctor, Rolando Arafiles, Jr., had engaged in "a pattern of improper prescribing and surgical procedures," according to the New York Times. She has lost her job, cannot get another, and faces prison and fines. As I have pointed out earlier, the medical profession does not adequately protect the general public from medical incompetence, and prefers to shield its members from outside criticism. This leaves malpractice as the only realistic tool for policing the medical profession. Now we have the full force of the state's prosecutorial apparatus brought to bear on a woman who believed it was her duty to inform the medical board. "We are just in disbelief that you could be arrested for doing something that you had been told your whole life you were obligated to do," Ms. Mitchell said. That might be true in a rational universe, but there is nothing about the medical profession's obsession with self protection that is rational. I say we better hang onto that medical malpractice practice a while longer.

Attention, Republigoats...

Why aren't you hitting the Obama administration on its lukewarm support of veteran caregiver stipends? Just curious.

Quote Of The Week

When you've got a government regulatory agency, it has to be a government cop on the corporate beat. And it's got to act like a cop. Joan Claybrook. Former chief, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (during the Carter administration)

Might the 2000-sies Be Attributable to Genetics?

Barbara Bush is only one of two women in American history to be both First Lady and First Mama, the other being Abigail Adams. Her maiden name is "Pierce." Why yes, that does make her a direct descendant of Franklin Pierce, one of the most ineffectual chief executives ever and the only incumbent President EVAR to be denied a re-nomination by his own party—why do you ask?

Definitely Question their Motives

I am not in favor of supporting any religious events, charities or rituals, so I am never in favor of the President of the United States attending the National Prayer Breakfast. That is especially true now. I don't care how many presidents attended in the past, it is now clear that the event's sponsor, the Family, is a dangerously powerful, darkly secret conspiracy against individual freedom. We should not give it more power by blessing its events. None the less, if he had to go (and I expect President Obama would rather avoid the drama that would accompany not going) it is good that he turned it into his event… a lecture on the need for civility in government discourse, strong words in defense of gay rights. Good for that. Now let me be uncivil. The President said that we cannot discuss policy if we continue to question the motives of the opposition. In dealing with the GOOP, I am not sure that is true. In particular, the President concluded: "We may disagree about the best way to reform our health-care system, but surely we can agree that no one ought to go broke when they get sick in the richest nation on Earth. We can take different approaches to ending inequality, but surely we can agree on the need to lift our children out of ignorance; to lift our neighbors from poverty. " I am fairly certain the GOOP doesn't give a damn if people go broke because they got sick and I am certain they don't care about lifting children out of ignorance and neighbors out of poverty. These boys are not their brothers' keepers. They are the people who saw the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina as an opportunity to make money. I am sure their primary interest in Haiti today is development of new resort hotels. They are ruthless money grubbing worshippers at the altar of capitalism. To make their system work best they need lots of people living in ignorance and grinding poverty. Ignorance is particularly useful to them because educated people can see through their lies. Morons, the unwashed masses I pretend to be writing to all the time, are stupid enough to believe that the Constitution only grants rights to American citizens, that it guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion, and the endless string of lies about the current government that cement together what is becoming an effective assault on our future. If you can keep stupid people living on the edge of poverty you can keep them frightened and malleable. It is no coincidence that the quality of life for the average American middle income earner declined significantly in the Busch years while the percentage of the wealth held by the top two percent got bigger and bigger. It is no coincidence that the GOOP is fighting hard to maintain that trend by standing in the way of healthcare reform and Obama's new stimulus plans, such as the jobs bill. The model for the GOOP is the British Empire which sustained itself on the sacrifices of an impoverished underclass that found it better to fight the Empire's wars than starve to death on the streets of London. The GOOP vision for our future looks more like George Orwell's 1984 than Augustine's City on a Hill. We should always keep that in mind when we think their motives don't count.

Stand Your Ground

Putting up your dukes for fair trade doesn't always mean the end of the world:

Canada has reached a tentative deal with the United States to end a dispute over "Buy American" provisions that had strained bilateral ties, the two trading partners announced on Friday. Under the agreement, which is designed to settle months of wrangling over what Canada saw as U.S. protectionism, both nations will open up parts of their internal markets to the other's companies. Washington said it was happy with the deal because U.S. companies will finally gain access to long-closed and potentially lucrative public works contracts in Canada's 10 provinces and three territories. In return, Canadian companies will be able to compete for projects in the 37 U.S. states already covered by the World Trade Organization government procurement agreement.

By the way. How about them unemployment numbers. Eh?

Balls Recovered at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

WASHINGTON (ABP)—First Lady Michelle Obama didn't remember shoving the shoebox-sized box marked "Barack's Balls" under the bed while the family hurriedly unpacked on or around Jaunuary 20, 2010. But she was certainly glad for the day last week when an earring backing fell to the floor and brought her to the ground to peek there. "I peered right under there, and there it was, that little pink box! I couldn't believe it," said Mrs. Obama. "He'd been all over the place looking for it—er, for them—for months! 'Michelle,' he'd say, 'Where the hell are my balls?' And I'd say, 'I don't know, Barack, where were you when you last had them?' And he'd say, 'Denver.'" Mrs. Obama returned the balls to her husband the afternoon before the State of the Union Address. "He reinstalled them and then he started walking differently, even!" she said. "He said, you know, I think I'm going to tell that Supreme Court a thing or two tonight! Screw those people!" For a moment, Mrs. Obama said she thought there was another President in the White House. "All he needed was a cowboy hat and you would have thought it was Dubya," she said. "His swagger was getting pretty fierce until I swatted him in the ass and reminded him about the Olympics. He may be a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and all, but even he couldn't bring the Olymics home! That brought him down a peg or two." Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that the President has recovered his balls. "Oh, he's quit happy to have them back," said Gibbs. "The President hasn't felt right without his balls. Now he's much more comfortable. Republicans and 'moderate' Democrats had best beware. And, for that matter, you need to watch it when the man turns around. His balls are pretty hefty, and if you're not careful, the President might just whack you in the thigh with his balls." Having attended both the Republicans' and the Democrats' retreats with his balls and the National Prayer Breakfast to boot, it is hoped by some that Obama will not be seen in public without them again. "Maybe we'll do something with them for April Fools'," said Mrs. Obama. "But I don't think they're going back in that box again." Then, she added, with a sideways smile, "And, thank goodness for that!" -30-

Sofa King We Todd Did

Does it bother anyone else that Rahm Emanuel has had to apologize to "advocates for the disabled" for using the word "retarded," but he hasn't had to apologize to his own political base, to whom he was referring when he used this slur? It is also bothersome to note that Prudence Palin has seen fit to liken use of this word to the use of another certain pejorative term historically used in reference to African-Americans. We're sorry, Prudence, but there is no word in the American lexicon that carries more cruel weight with it than that one. Or did I miss it when they turned hoses on the developmentally disabled?

Wrong Wrong Wrong and Wrong Again A liberal blogger such as myself would not have a complete day without embedding this video of Rachel Maddow, who is, really, the best damned thing on television this side of Battlestacked Galactica, debunking the hell out of Sen. Susan M. Collins, who is no relation to Sophie B. Hawkins.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This country has lost its damned mind. When a United States Senator can stand in front of a television camera and just say such egregiously wrong things, I mean...come ON New England! Ya'll have GOT to send us somebody who isn't...you know...THIS. Well. We here at the imaginary think tank that is the Serious Poo-Poo Institute of Technology (SPIT) are just looking for a couple of stupid lawmakers to work hard against in the mid-terms. Sen. Collins just came up on the radar.

Don't Study, Don't Wait

It would be nice to believe that Harry Truman effected integration of the armed forces with a single executive order issued in 1948. In fact it was three years before the Army reported the complete integration of basic training and five years before it could report that it had integrated 95 percent of its ground forces. But integration happened in a methodical way, in the middle of a war, and eventually it was completed. Not a bad piece of work considering that the rest of the nation, particularly that part of the country where most military bases were located, practiced a rigid form of apartheid. That is, of course, the point. In 1948, African American soldiers were fully segregated from the white military community. The outside culture preached racial inequality and the segregated nature of apartheid was fully accepted in most American communities, north and south. (Truman's 1948 order responded, in part, to the brutal lynching of two WWII veterans and their wives by a Georgia mob.) Integration was a very tall order, particularly in the middle of a war, and it got done. In 2010, when considering the integration of the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered community into normal military life, we start from the fact that the community is already integrated. There are an estimated 13,500 GLBT soldiers, sailors, marines and airpersons in uniform now. They went through basic and advanced training at great expense to the Defense Department all while living side by side with straight counterparts. They now live together daily. Gay sailors shower with straight sailors, lesbian Army nurses shower with straight Army nurses. It is sheer bullshit to argue that the integration will be difficult and complicated. The great unfairness about DADT is not that it prohibits integration or even opportunity. THe unfairness is it leaves every GLBT service person wondering when he or she will be called out and expelled for being who he or she is. Moreover, the greater community can't seem to understand what is wrong with eliminating DADT. Even conservatives are not opposed as a matter of doctrine. It was Barry Goldwater who said he was more interested in whether a soldier could shoot straight than if he was straight. Of course the GOOP will do what it can to make a political issue out of it. John McCaine is insulted that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has thought for himself and supports eliminating DADT even though he did not consult with the Great Senator. Sen. Sexy Champlaiin of Georgia says the military will not be able to regulate tattoos if gays are let out of the military closet. Sen. Jeff (Henry Gibson) Sessions says it's better to leave well enough alone. Adm. Mike Mullen had the right answer for all that. "It's about leadership," he said. So, let's get on leading now. We do not need to wait a year for another study. Let us allow these good citizens to get on with the business of defending us without further harassment.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

There is an earth-shattering paragraph in today's The Washington Post. And here it is:

Before the war, the equilibrium between Iraq and Iran was a principal geopolitical reality within the region. At that time, the government in Baghdad was a Sunni-run dictatorship. The Shiite-dominated, partly democratic structure that has emerged from the war has not yet found the appropriate balance among its Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish components. Nor is its long-term relationship to Iran settled. If radicals prevail in the Shiite part, and the Shiite part comes to dominate the Sunni and Kurdish regions, and if it then lines up with Tehran, we will witness -- and will have partially contributed to -- a fundamental shift in the balance of the region. <\blockquote> This is the man one could call the Father of All Neocons admitting that one consequence, unintended or not, of the U.S. incursion into Iraq was the unsettling of a secular Sunni government in favor of a radical Muslim Shia one that has more in common with Iran than with us. Yet, somehow, Henry Kissinger manages to lay that shit at President Obama's feet. Wow.

John McWeirdsmile. Still a Disingenuous Asshole.

DADT hearings today. Here's something what happened. The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, who you might remember also held that post during the administration of Chimpy McCokespoon, came out (no pun intended) in support of ending DADT. He referenced the statement of the President of the United States during the SOTU, saying:

The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change but how we best prepare for it. We received our orders from the commander-in-chief, and we are moving out accordingly. However, we can only take this process only so far, as the ultimate decision rests with you, the Congress.

Sen. John McWeirdsmile, a twice-failed presidential candidate, was deeply disappointed with Secretary Gates' statement. He said:

I'm deeply disappointed with your statement, Secretary Gates.

Then he said:

Your statement obviously is one that is clearly biased without the view of Congress being taken into consideration...I'm happy to say that we still have a Congress of the United States to repeal don't ask don't tell, despite your efforts to repeal it in many respects by fiat.

Let's read again what Gates actually said.

The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change but how we best prepare for it. We received our orders from the commander-in-chief, and we are moving out accordingly. However, we can only take this process only so far, as the ultimate decision rests with you, the Congress.

John McWeirdsmile is either a disingenous asshole, or he's a fucking moron. I never thought I'd have crossed fingers for this but: Godspeed, J.D. Hayworth.

You Have The Right To Remain Stupid

Guess who else was read his Miranda rights upon his arrest for attempting to blow an aeroplane out of the sky?

The Old Formula Never Worked

One aspect of Faith is that it seek a moment when perfection has been achieved. The nature of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Science is the art of drawing reasonable conclusions from replicable experiments. This explains why scientists think religion is crazy. It also explains what is wrong with conservatives. Like any religion, the conservative faith has its mantra. Small government, balanced budgets, tax cuts, family values. And like any faith based system that has failed to achieve nirvana, conservatives insist it didn't work because they did not have true faith. The only reason the magic moment did not happen in the Busch years is that Busch was not a true conservative, they now insist. Of course he was probably the truest conservative since Hoover. Busch, backed by a GOOP based Congress, reduced the size and the effectiveness of government. He substantially slashed taxes, giving rich people the best years of their lives. Busch increased government effort to establish religion by "faith based initiatives" and used the Justice Department to fight religious discrimination (as opposed to racial discrimination). He set back stem cell research in the US by a generation and forbade the use of federal funds to promote safe sex, preferring to teach abstinence. Not to mention he was a hawk's hawk. He got tough with everyone and would have rather bombed hell out of the opposition than talk to them. The only aspect of the conservative mantra that Busch did not live up to was that he spent money like a drunken Air Force reservist. Starting out with money is his pocket, he created the largest debt in history. Conservatives insist The Raygunner was the real conservative whose eight years of service brought us a political nirvana we should all aspire to. Raygun was a scumball and a fool, but he was not otherwise a conservative. The government had 61,000 more employees when the Raygunner left office than it had when he was sworn in. (Clinton cut 374,000 federal jobs). Raygun never balanced the budget, leaving GHW Busch with a record deficit (which he, in turn, left to Bill Clinton). The Raygunner largely cut taxes for individuals, including wealthy individuals, he also implemented the largest corporate tax increase in history. Although he got a lot of his policy advice from an astrologer, The Raygunner could have cared less about establishing a religion. On the whole he was hands off on social issues. The truth is the Raygunner was a pragmatist, and he knew conservatism did not offer a way to govern. Conservatism does not work. This is not because it has not been tried, but because if government is intended to maintain peace and ensure domestic tranquility, conservatism does not work. Conservative principles cannot regulate a stock market and conservative governments, with their blind faith in free markets and scorn for regulation are the primary cause of economic meltdown. Conservative governments substitute war for negotiation and thus require a substantially higher investment in the military budget. Conservatives have no respect for government and so they put incompetents in charge and the government does not work when you need it to. Balanced budgets are a good thing, a fact demonstrated by Bill Clinton, but in times of economic collapse the government must act as the engine of the economy. Failure to do so is the highest form of economic malpractice, a fact that we learned from Herbert Hoover. A fact that even that Moron George W. Busch finally understood. But while it is fairly clear that FDR's failure to pour more money into the economy in 1937 ended the recovery and created a new depression, the GOOP wants to go there again. If you want to balance budgets, you must raise taxes or cut spending. You can't cut spending in hard times. History has already proven that but the GOOP wants to cut taxes and spending. The President has presented a pragmatic, fact-based budget with a comprehensive plan for long term budget control. The GOOP is standing on the sideline like an ancient witch doctor mumbling the mantra and whistling I the wind.

Yep.