Watering Down the Watered-Down

The Democrats are at it again. In order to further appease the minority Republicans and Blue Dogs, as well as their paymasters in the insurance industry, Dems have further watered-down the already watered-down public option...by privatizing it. So we've gone from dreams of single payer, compromising out to a public option, compromising further to a public option that allows states with Republican governors to "opt out", and finally to a plan that just forces poor people back into the private insurance market.

Thanks, Democrats. You're really turning this country around.

Guv'mint-Run Healthcare Administered to Protestors of Guv'Mint-Run Healthcare

I have a weak spot for delicious irony. And this story reads like it's straight out of The Onion...When US Rep (and noted victim of The Crazy) Michelle Bachmann organized her "press conference" and encouraged teabaggers, birthers, and other friends of Orly Taitz to attend, the last thing she probably expected was a Spinal Tap moment:

But, as with a similar rally by Democrats a week before, unpredictable things tend to happen in the wide-open spaces of the Capitol's West Front. Minutes into the rally, a breeze toppled the American flag from the stage.

More ominously, a man standing just beyond the TV cameras apparently suffered a heart attack 20 minutes after event began. Medical personnel from the Capitol physician's office -- an entity that could, quite accurately, be labeled government-run health care -- rushed over, attaching electrodes to his chest and giving him oxygen and an IV drip.

...

By the time it was over, medics had administered government-run health care to at least five people in the crowd who were stricken as they denounced government-run health care. But Bachmann overlooked this irony as she said farewell to her recruits.

"You," she said, "are the most beautiful sight any of us freedom fighters have seen for a long time."

Stonehenge anyone? The stupidity continues:

The lawmakers set the tone early, when Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) asked for the Pledge of Allegiance because "it drives the liberals crazy" to hear the "under God" part (his bravado was premature, for he left out the word "indivisible").

My goodness people...if you're going to pull pseudo-patriotic martyrdom bullshit, at least get it right. But this part really bugged me:

The actor Jon Voight, standing with the lawmakers, said of Obama: "Could it be he has had 20 years of subconscious programming by Reverend Wright to damn America?"

Yes, Jon. And Reverend Wright made you abuse and abandon your super-hot daughter too. Oh, and I think he was probably behind those two hillbillies who almost raped you and made your buddy ned squeal like a pig too. You know them boys was on guv'mint-run healthcare, dontcha? Sometimes I think Ronny Cox got the rawest deal in that movie...he was the best of 'em, you know.

Cue the Dead Kennedys...

Finally...our errant empty suit press release mayor has dropped out of the governor's race. Newsom claims he's dropping out of the race to focus on being mayor and on being a daddy. I think he's dropping out because he was getting his ass kicked by a guy who hasn't even declared yet...

Meg Whitman won't win this race (thank goodness). That leaves us with one inevitable possibility:

Reagan. Wilson. Davis. Schwarzenneger. Feinstein. Brown (both of 'em). Whitman. Why is it that California is saddled with bad choices?

Leiberman Sells Us Out on the Public Option

No surprises here. Joe Lieberman, who's in the pocket of the insurance industry, will not vote with Democrats to cut off debate on health care reform if it includes even a watered-down public option. I always figured it'd be dirty Joe who shot down any chance at real reform.

Almost At A Loss For Words...

US Fundamentalists Out to Destroy Ugandan Gays...

This story has been a bit of a sleeper in the US press, but it's scandalous enough to merit some attention. A powerful and connected group of anti-gay fundamentalist bigots, called The Family (or The Fellowship), converted Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and has been advising him as he tries to implement even more official repression of gays and lesbians:

Uganda already punished gay intimacy with life in prison. But, apparently that was not harsh enough, with this bill penalizing anyone who “attempts to commit the offence” with up to seven years in jail. Additionally, a person charged will be forced to undergo an invasive medical examination to determine their HIV status. If the detainees are found to be HIV+, they may be executed.

These troglodytes are the very same people pushing theocracy at home, but getting tripped up by their own worldly desires:

The Family, of course, recently made headlines because one of its key members, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) had sex with his best friends wife, while they were working together. Another member, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), used one of the Family’s Washington properties to try to broker a deal to buy off the furious husband, who has since gone public with the Ensign scandal.

This is the face of biblically-inspired government, people. And it should make you think twice before ever voting for a fundamentalist again.

High Court to Hear Skilling Case

We're continuing to reap what we sowed by letting the Bush Administration run rampant for 8 years. The Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal of Jeffrey Skilling's conviction on fraud charges relating to his role in the collapse of Enron. If they overturn Skilling's conviction, the two main actors in the Enron ponzi scheme will have gotten away with their crimes. With two Bush appointees on the court, I won't be surprised if it happens.

Sheriff Joe Stripped of Xenophobic Powers

JoeP will love this one. The federal government has ended an agreement with Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio that gave him and the agency power to enforce federal immigration laws. The two year agreement, created under the previous administration, authorized Arpaio's deputies to arrest people suspected of being undocumented, check their immigration status, and turn them over to the feds for deportation. But Arpaio took things a step further, setting up his own concentration camps:

Arpaio's aggressive tactics include the jailing of illegal immigrants in tent cities surrounded by barbed wire in the middle of Arizona's searingly hot summers, the reduction of meal costs to 20 cents per day, the use of pink jail clothing for men, and chain gangs for women inmates.

Arpaio also came in for criticism when he appeared on the Fox reality show Smile: You're Under Arrest.

This publicity-seeking assclown humiliates people, treats them like livestock, then has the nerve to go on "reality" television? Let's hope the feds under Obama continue to have to good sense to sever all ties with this buffoon.

No Wonder They Hate Science

Is it any wonder the Catholic Church hates science? Damn scientists keep using logic and reason to undermine their dogma. First it's evolution. Now it's the Shroud of Turin. This must be stopped.

Toll Pass Scams

I recently made a whirlwind trip to New York for Anne's parents' 50th wedding anniversary. I rented a car out of JFK, since that was more cost-effective than a taxi to Westchester county. While driving, I noticed that there was a resin box mounted to the windshield containing an EZPass toll transponder. I was driving, and couldn't exactly read the microscopic terms of service on the box, so I just went through the EZPass lane on the way out. I figured Hertz would add the EZPass toll to my rental bill. Wrong.

I just looked up my credit card charges, and found one for $15.50 from WWWPLATEPASSCOM. I was curious what that was, and after some googling I found this. Platepass is apparently a company that specializes in parting you with your money in exchange for not providing a valuable service. The toll on the Whitestone bridge is $4.57 for EZPass users and $5.50 for cash users. I used the EZPass one way, and paid cash on the way back the next day. So Platepass not only charged me the full cash toll, they tacked on a $10 "service" charge...all without giving me a real opportunity to read any of the fine print. And if they did happen to charge me on the way back, when I used the cash lane and paid cash, then there's something wrong with their resin box...it doesn't block the transponder signal. Yet another opt-out scam.

There have been many stories of people ending up being charged for driving on toll roads when they didn't even drive on one. My advice: if you get a rental car with a toll transponder in it, pull up to the booth on the rental car lot, take the transponder out, and tell them you don't want it. If they give you trouble, return the car immediately and go to another car rental agency that doesn't carry this.

Oh, and please report Platepass to the Better Business Bureau in your area.

Et Tu, Alan Thicke?

I always knew Kirk Cameron was an idiot. This proves it. And a video blogger has a classic response to it:

True Patriots Hang Jack-Booted Census Worker

Idiocy...sheer idiocy:

When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drawing on years of experience warned: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery and had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

Next up in Kentucky: lynching people because they file tax returns.

Fundie Pastor Prays for Obama to Die...Parissioner Takes Gun to Obama Town Hall

They're showing their true colors. After the vitriolic bullshit and lies about death panels, government-funded abortions, and other right wing make-believe, the troglodytes are frothing at the mouth almost enough to destroy themselves. After an astroturf teabagger shill brought an AR-15 to an Obama town hall meeting, it was revealed that his pastor prayed for Obama to die and go to hell, making it a cetral theme of his sermon:

The sermon, which was titled "Why I Hate Barack Obama" and also contained virulent anti-gay themes...

Once again, these people have nothing meaningful or insightful to say, so they revert to idiocy, hate, and outright lies to prevent reform. They're the real America-haters.

Barney Frank and the Teabaggers...

Barney Frank lays into an idiot teabagger during a town hall meeting.

With Democrats Like These, Who Needs Republicans?

The Blue Dogs are watering down health care reform, eliminating subsidies for lower-income folks to buy coverage, strengthening the mandate to buy insurance, and all but eviscerating the public option...the very safety net people who can't afford a plan would rely upon to meet the mandate. They're also looking at ways to tax benefits provided by employers, which will drive down disposable income during the worst recession in anyone's memory.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Sanford Likes His Business Class Seats

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford claims to be a frugal fiscal conservative. But he sure likes his airline hospitality, according to AP. The governor spent thousands in state funds to fly in business and first class on domestic and international trips.

I wish I could fly first class everywhere. That would be fun.

Paranoid, Delusional, Massochistic Fantasies

There’s a paranoid delusional state among wingnuts these days. It’s both frightening and amusing at once. Today I saw a bumper sticker on a pickup truck in St Louis:

I’ll keep my guns, my freedom, and my money.

You can keep the change.

One part of me wanted to find the owner of the truck and try desperately to provide him with a dose of reality. But I doubt it would have taken hold.

Some wingnuts have this fantasy that Obama and his minions are coming for your guns, with the ghosts of Mao Tse Tung and Lenin in tow. Despite legions of evidence that such a thing just won’t happen, they hold fast to this idea of the ATF knocking down their front door, killing their family, and taking their guns. They also hold fast to the laughable notion that an armed population can somehow hold the government in check…with its tanks, its planes, armed unmanned drones, cruise missiles, and vast treasure. Laughable. But somehow the fantasy lives…it’s almost like they want it to happen; they want to be martyrs for the cause.

The right has fed on paranoia and fear for the better part of a century now. They get some of their power from red scares, xenophobia, and myths resulting from paranoid fantasies. That’s ultimately self-destructive. Too bad they end up dragging the rest of the nation down with them.

Over 6000 Years Old!

Thanks to Keith Olberman for this one. Today's worst person in the world is State Senator Sylvia Allen from the great state of Arizona. While speaking in favor of approving a permit to mine uranium, the distinguished State Senator reminds us that the Earth is over 6000 years old...and predates all those pesky environmental laws.



You heard right...we need to mine Uranium, which has a half-life of 4.47 bilion years and is used to carbon date artifacts from the earliest human civilizations (8000 years ago) and to do so, we need to get around those environmental laws that weren't around when the Earth was created 6000 years ago. Classic.

Getty Brothers Blog About Being Rich

The Chronicle has given two Getty brothers a blog so that they can write about what it's like to be rich. Thanks to SFBG for scooping this so I don't have to link directly to a worthless rag like Chron. You just can't make this stuff up:

...We're more famous for being rich than we really are rich. But we have enough to belong to the leisure class, meaning we get to spend very little of our time doing anything we don't feel like, and we have means to sample, if not to gorge on, pleasures that most people, sad to say, won't likely ever share in -- things like yacht trips and safaris, ludicrously expensive wine, and private jet travel. You can be richer than we are, but you can't live a whole lot better without mere ostentation.

Please tell me this is all just a big joke. Two idiots who inherited an oil fortune, funded the political career of Gavin Newsom, and are generally a drain on society...what is it they have to offer?

We Cannot Simply Turn the Page

A cogent, thoughtful piece from Frank Rich today in the New York Times. As much as President Obama wants to move the country forward and deal with our common, pressing problems, the specter of the Bush Administration's misdeeds will prevent him from doing so:

TO paraphrase Al Pacino in “Godfather III,” just when we thought we were out, the Bush mob keeps pulling us back in. And will keep doing so. No matter how hard President Obama tries to turn the page on the previous administration, he can’t. Until there is true transparency and true accountability, revelations of that unresolved eight-year nightmare will keep raining down drip by drip, disrupting the new administration’s high ambitions.

Rich details several scandals that have only recently come to light, including Donald Rumsfeld's bible-laced daily briefings to Bush on the Iraq war, framing it as a modern day crusade. Rich makes it clear that the Bush Administration broke the law, and that they must be held accountable for this country to move forward.

I've been saying this all along...we can't just let bygones be bygones. When Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, his apologists claimed that his motivation was to keep the nation from tearing itself apart over Watergate. But the net effect of his pardon was to let abuse of power go unchecked, emboldening future administrations to flout the law. Think of it this way: if the American people had held Nixon accountable and sent him to jail for ordering a third-rate burglary, would George W. Bush have brazenly violated domestic and international law to torture and spy on people? I think not.