Huevos

You may or may not have heard today about the hullabaloo surrounding comments made yesterday by Florida Congressman Alan Grayson. In a nut, Grayson stood in the well of the House chamber and said:

The Republican health care plan for America: Don't get sick. That's right, don't get sick. If you have insurance, don't get sick. If you don't have insurance, don't get sick. If you're sick, don't get sick...but it's not quite a foolproof plan so the Republicans have a backup plan in case you do get sick.

If you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly. That's right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.

Well, needless to say, the Republicans went batshit crazy over this aspersion. They demanded an apology, so Grayson gave them one:

Tsunami Warning!

Did you hear about the tsunami that was due to hit the Central Coast? Funny thing is, when you click the Tsunami Information link at the County Emergency Services webpage, you don't actually get any information at all. Not sure if that should make me feel safer...or make me feel like it's time to head for the hills!!

Rock on!

Do the Math, Fools

Charles Schumer's public option amendment went down 13-10. Baucus says because the Dems don't have 60 votes in the full chamber, he can't support sending the bill out of committee. What the fuck is that all about? If he and Conrad had switched from "Nay" to "Yay," the public option would pass Finance 12-11 and health care reform would be headed into mark-up with every version featuring some form of public option. From there it's a short drive to 51-vote passage, and then you make the Republicans filibuster. Haven't these guys ever heard of an "upper-down vote?"(sic) Truth be told, what they are afraid of is having to vote with the Republicans to filibuster the public option in an open hearing on the floor of the Senate. America is watching, you calculating bastards.

Found on Craig's List

Extremely rare throne for sale...[click on image for larger view]

Specious Argument

How ridiculous is our public discourse?

Earlier today, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) claimed that the U.S. health care system is just fine -- if you don't count injuries from gunshots and car accidents.

"Are you aware that if you take out gun accidents and auto accidents, that the United States actually is better than those other countries?" Ensign said during Senate Finance Committee debate over the public option. ("Those other countries" included France, Germany, Japan and Canada.)

Well, that settles it.

What's the Point of 51 Votes?

With Democrats like Ben Nelson, who now says it will take 65 votes to pass health care reform, what's the point of the 51-vote majority? For progressives, achieving our policy goals is like chasing the brass ring in a nightmare...no matter how far we stretch, we're never going to grasp the prize.

Washington Monthly has more...

Historically, legislation that enjoyed say, 57 votes in the Senate, reflected a pretty popular bill. But the political world has not yet come to grips with the unusually small Republican minority, so the expectations are skewed.

And that's what makes Nelson's public comments so foolish. By his logic, health care reform legislation isn't "legitimate" unless some opponents of health care reform vote for it. Nelson is deliberately creating an environment in which the biggest progressive policy achievement in a generation won't be impressive enough, because conservative Republicans didn't like it.

Public Option Fails Senate Finance Vote: 15-8

This sort of political calculus is nothing short of an abomination...

The Senate Finance Committee rejected by a vote of 15-8 an amendment to the Baucus bill from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) that would have added a robust public option provision.

Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Tom Carper (D-DE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) joined with all the committee's Republicans in defeating the amendment.

Senator Max Baucus (D-Republican): "We can't get 60 votes for a public option so I have to vote against it."

Yossarian would be proud of this logic: "And Baucus still can't vote for it because without his vote it won't reach 60 votes and since it won't get 60 votes he can't vote for it." [h/t DKos]

Told Ya So

It's not like I haven't been saying for years that this was going to happen one day...

Just before Willingham received the lethal injection, he was asked if he had any last words. He said, “The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for twelve years for something I did not do."

Ghost Writer?

I'm not so sure I believe Sarah Palin really wrote colored in the pages in her new book all by herself. I'm sure the wingnuts will send her straight up to #1.

Fuck Lasorda!

And people say Phillie fans are tough...

Birthermercial

Yes, this is a real infomercial -- a "birthermercial," if you will -- running in 11 Red State television markets across the country.

Are you prepared?

I'm really hoping this prediction is for 3:32pm Eastern time, because I still haven't watched my tivo of Chuck Liddell on Dancing with the Stars.

Spell FAIL: The Daily Double

I guess this guy was in a real hurry when he made his sign...

Compassionate Conservatism

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that will prevent nearly 700,000 low-income children from losing health insurance.

Schwarzenegger signed the bipartisan bill Tuesday in the state Capitol restoring funding to the state’s Healthy Families program, a government-funded health insurance plan for children from low-income families.
The governor and lawmakers slashed funding for the program in July as part of closing a projected $24 billion deficit. The state froze enrollment and would have been forced to end coverage for 670,000 children starting in October."

From the comments section following the above article in the local fishwrap...

Better get your money out of the insurance companies (higher premiums and fee on insurers) before Obama puts them out of business. Perhaps you can get Acorn to help you out. Wonder how many are under age illegal female workers. Maybe you can ask Antonio Villaraigosa, (LA Mayor) aka Tony Villar.

They've truly got nothin'.

Something Terrible is Happening

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Why They Call It a "Public Option"

When they find themselves presented with real-life, on-the-ground stories of actual medical misery and desperation, Republicans have only one position to fall back on: The Public Option. Oh, they won't call it that, but that's what they mean.



Problem is, most of the "programs" Eric Cantor is talking about require the victim patient to be destitute and/or bankrupt.

Own your own home...? Say goodbye to that residence before you'll see any free brain surgery.

Own a profitable business...? Not for long if you want Medical to pay for your chemo.

Have savings enough to put your kid through college...? Bring Junior home to help out with the bedpans if you want those charitable dialysis treatments.

Our health care system is F-U'd up, and when pressed on the matter, what does one of the top leaders of the congressional Republican caucus advise this poor woman to do...? Apply for a government program to treat the "indigent."

The bottom line is this: You should not need to be "indigent" to get help from your government.

The Greatest Canadian of All-Time

No, it's not Wayne Gretzky. It's not Alexander Graham Bell and it's not Celine Dion either.

In 2004, Saskatchewan legislator Tommy Douglas, who introduced universal public healthcare to Canada, was voted "The Greatest Canadian of All-Time."

Yeah, the must really hate that disastrous health care system they've got up there in Canada.

At FOX News It's Always 1861

The Stars and Bars.

Street Scene: Breakfast!

On the way to work in the morning I walk past the local AT&T headquarters. Today, at about 10 minutes before 8am, two AT&T hardhats drive up simultaneously in their work trucks. One jumps out and shouts to the other, “Park that thing and let’s go to breakfast!”

And they say government workers are underworked and overpaid.

California Sun

Sesame Street Legislation

In case you thought the Republicans had any real interest in serious health care reform, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch can probably clear that up for you...

Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah has an idea to improve the tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans proposed by Democratic Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana: exempt such policies in states whose names begin with the letter “U.”

Throw the Book at Him

I can't believe I was among those who were duped by this cad...

"...Mr. Young says that he assisted the affair by setting up private meetings between Mr. Edwards and Ms. Hunter. He wrote that Mr. Edwards once calmed an anxious Ms. Hunter by promising her that after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band."

[emphasis added]

The New Source of Socialist Evil

Saul Alinsky's been dead for 37 years, but that hasn't stopped the wingnut fringe from painting him as the architect of all that's wrong with the "new" Left agenda. Funny, I'd heard they think we're all socialists, but Alinsky's described on his wiki page as "one of the great American leaders of the non-socialist left." Much like Bill Ayers and George Soros, I'll bet 98% of all wingnuts had never even heard of Saul Alinsky until FOX News began using him as a cudgel against Obama.

Obama's Sunday Show Tour de Force

For those without the time or the inclination to watch the insufferable Sunday morning talk shows, The Bobblespeak Translations does all the hard work for you...Here's a taste of Bobblespeak liveblogging from Meet the Press:

Gregory: what unpopular things will you do?

Obama: I’ve already made alot of tough choices

Gregory: like you finally told those dirty public option-loving hippies to fuck off - and I loved it!

Obama: no I didn’t liar

Gregory: ok so what will you do people will hate?

Obama: I’m going to force people to buy health insurance

Gregory: yeah but that’s easy - health insurance is cheap

Obama: no it isn’t

Gregory: [ blow drys hair ] sorry what?

Obama: and I conceded on tort reform and many other Republican ideas

Gregory: but when are you really taking on the dirty leftist hippies???

Obama: maybe you haven’t been paying attention but I gave the GOP everything they wanted!

Gregory: but you haven’t resigned!

Obama: um,, no

Gregory: or put hippies in internment camps where they belong!

Obama: give me another six months

Gregory: is Jimmy Carter right that all your opponents are racists?

Obama: no - some of them are just out of their fucking minds

Gregory: but just to be clear are you saying there is no racism in America or that everyone in America is a racist?

Obama: Rahm Emmanuel told me you were a moron

Gregory: but you’re blackness is so controversial!

Obama: this is catnip to idiots like you

Great Moments in Media Interviews

CNN's John King was discussing Afghanistan with Barack Obama yesterday when he came up with this gem:

"So you've been President for eight months now, why are you still looking for a strategy?"

Goodbye Carrie Jean, We Never Really Knew You Well At All

While Carrie Jean Prejean tells you that she thinks it was "God's plan" that she field Perez Hilton's question about gay marriage, there's really only one thing you need to remember about her answer: It was a complete word salad hash of unitelligible bullshit. You've all seen the video, but just take a read of what she said:

"Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other, um...we live in a land that you can choose, same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what?...In my country and in my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think, that it should be between a man and a woman."

Good Lord, she's dumb as a rock. Um...hello...Americans can't choose one or the other, you fool, and that's the fucking point.

Just go away woman.

Blair Witch Outtake?

In case you don't recall the source of this [alleged] parody...
click here.

Plagiarism

Turns out Glenn Beck stole his act...

Contrary to What You May Have Heard...

ACORN is not the enemy.

Every Picture Tells a Story

New Lexicon

We should start calling what we've got now "unsurance," since that seems to be its actual function.

They Walk Among Us

One man's take from the comments section of my local fishwrap...

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Bill O'Reilly is a journalist. Keith "Bathtub Boy" Olbermann is an entertainer. Chris Matthews tries to be a journalist, but he lets his biases prevail in his reporting. ABC, NBC and CBS are more concerned about ratings and entertainment that they have forgotten how to report the news. FOX is now the standard in news coverage and the people who want to hear news instead of media bias or (sic, "are"?) switching their brand of news coverage. What does this have to do with health coverage? Simple, anybody that wants to know what this health coverage plan is about and what it is going to cost, will not turn to Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams or Katie Couric to find out, they will more than likely find the truth on FOX. [emphasis added.]

Wolf Blitzer: Dumbest Man Person in America

If you're like me, 7pm is appointment television time for the nightly Jeopardy! telecast (except when I'm down at the bar celebrating "halfway to St. Patrick's Day" or some similar important holiday). Well, last night featured the greatest Celebrity Jeopardy! episode in the show's long history, with former Conan O'Brien sidekick and notable doofus Andy Richter laying waste to the field and racking up $39,000 in regular and double Jep money, and then adding another 28-grand in Final. Dude was an absolute beast with the buzzer.

Wolf Blizter, on the other hand, crashed and burned in epic fashion, finishing up with minus-$4,600. When they gave him an extra $1,000 just to keep him in the game for Final Jeopardy, he blew that too. This man was once the face of the "most trusted name in news?!?" No wonder we're all a bunch of uneducated idiots. Just to put the icing on the cake, with Wolfie looking like things couldn't get any worse, Alex docked him some extra cash for saying "Julia Childs" instead of "Julia Child."

EPIC....!

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

It seems the teabaggers are still trying to push the whole "Two million people attended our rally in DC!" thing.

Well, here's an interesting measure of attendance: rideship numbers on the DC Metro. In a nutshell, ridership for Saturday September 12,2009 was 437,624, while ridership for Saturday September 13, 2008 was 362,773. You can view the DC Metro report here.

The numbers show an increase in ridership (for the second Saturday in September) of 74,851 people. Most reliable crowd estimates for the DC Teabag Party say anywhere from 60,000-70,000 attendees, which is correlates quite nicely to the measured increase in Metro ridership.

Meanwhile, ridership on Jan. 20, 2009 (Obama's inauguration day, attended by at least 2 million people), was 1,120,000. If there had been anywhere near the numbers the teebaggers are saying, it would be reflected in the Metro ridership numbers.

Case closed. Next topic?

Et tu, Cos?

Funny, I’m pretty sure lots of Republican gasbags hitched their wagons to Bill Cosby’s curmudgeonly “pull up your sagging pants” rhetoric when he was calling out “thug life” gangstas in the African American community. Wonder what they think of old Bill now?

What are we waiting for?

Don't you think it's about time we launched impeachment proceedings against our illegitimate, socialist, Kenyan-born, alleged president?

ADDING: I forgot...he also wants to kill your grandma! Evilness.

The Daily Show Returns

After what seemed like a month-long hiatus, The Daily Show is back...and not a moment too soon.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mad Men
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Democrat Punked by Republicans

Yeah, I know, it's a dog bites man story, but stop me if you've heard this one before...Democratic senator delays health care reform all summer long while negotiating with recalcitrant Republicans on his committee in a dogged effort to craft a "bipartisan" bill both parties can get behind.

After ceding most of the political moment to Town Hall Teabaggers for the entire month of August, said senator finally unveils his chopped-up, pared-down, sliced-and-diced bill -- ostensibly acceptable to moderates in both parties -- but mostly featuring compromises that gave away everything the liberals wanted it to include.

Once the bill was released, every single Republican on the committee said he or she would not, could not and never would vote for it. To their credit, several Democrats on the committee are also voicing displeasure with the measure, noting that it's compromises did indeed giveaway the most of liberal components of the bill. So now, idiot but self-important Montana Democrat Senator Max Baucus stands alone, with a piece of shit bill that no one likes.

It's a laughable, if predictable, punking.

That Was a Souvenir, Sweetie...

She's got the right idea, but Dad needs to clarify that it's the opposing team's home runs you're supposed to throw back, not your own team's foul balls.

Shout Out

Dies y seis de Septiembre...

Happy Birthday to the Biggest man I know!

The Jackass Tape

OMG!!!!!!!!! Obama called Kanye West a jackass!

Listen here.

"Don't Pee on My Leg"

California Congressman Pete Stark gives Barney Frank a run for his money in the constituent smackdown Olympics...

CONSTITUENT: "Congressman, don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining."

TEABAGGER AUDIENCE: "Woooo! Hoooo! Hoooo!" [wild cheering]

STARK: "I wouldn't dignify you by peeing on your leg. It would be a waste of urine."

TEABAGGERS: "Boooooo!"

More Evil from the Insurance Companies

Hadn't heard about this one before...

Insurance companies have used the excuse of "pre-existing conditions" to deny coverage to countless Americans. From cancer patients to the elderly suffering from arthritis, these organizations have padded their profit margins by limiting coverage to patients deemed "high risk" because of their medical condition.

But, in Washington DC and eight other states, including Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming, insurance companies have gone too far, claiming that "domestic violence victim" is also a pre-existing condition.

Please Kill Me

I'm reading a book right now that is so chock-a-block full of classic little quotes that I've decided to offer up the choicest nuggets on a semi-regular unscheduled basis. I'm talking about Please Kill Me, The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. This is the book that finds the germination point for all that came after.

I'm only in the earliest of years, but suffice to say that, while the Velvet Underground was doing their thing in New York City in the mid-1960s, the match that lit the flame of punk rock was struck in Detroit, Michigan, circa 1968, by four lads rowdy hooligans who went by the name MC5.

Iggy Pop, also from Detroit, was their protege. The MC5 called the Stooges their "little brother band." If you wanna know more, buy the book. But here's Iggy recounting his first visit to London in about 1970:

"All I liked to do was walk around the streets with a heart full of napalm. I always thought 'Heart Full of Soul' was a good song so I thought, What's my heart full of?

I decided it was basically full of napalm."

Way-Back Machine

Remember when all the civil libertarians and freedom-loving Republicans marched on Washington to protest the Bush administration's policy of spying on American citizens by tapping into their phones and reading their emails without probable cause?

Me neither.

Czarn't They Ashamed of Themselves Yet?

The latest right wing outrage has the crackpot sheeple wringing out their hankies over all these so-called "czars" that President Obama has appointed. One lady I saw was upset because the very term itself comes from "communist Russia." Meh...not so much. Adding to the absurdity of this latest wingnut hissy fit is the fact that George W. Bush had more "czars" on staff than Obama (46-to-35), and the first president to appoint a "czar" of any kind was St. Ronald Reagan.

They can manufacture the stoopid, but we don't have to buy it.

My Hero!

The teabaggers' chant sez it all: "NO PUBLIC OPTION!" I guess not in your world you fools. "NO PUBLIC OPTION!" Sounds like the synopsis of a Joseph Conrad novel, or the refrain to a Sex Pistols song....

Federer Hits a Winner

Roger Federer may have lost the US Open for the first time in 6 years yesterday, but even that doesn't diminish the beauty of this amazing shot...

Don't Steal Bikes

Street justice is a brutal but effective form of punishment. "Don't steal bikes. bro. WHAM!"

Bike Thief vs Street Justis from triple on Vimeo.

[h/t baughb]

Behold a Pathetic Bunch of Losers....

...who may very well derail health care reform and perhaps even the Obama presidency, unless YOU stand up and speak out. Call your congressperson, call your senator, call your President...call somebody and make your voice heard...please, or these eejits will most certainly win.

Jim Carroll: He was Sixty When he Died

Holy crap, I'm just now reading Please Kill Me, the history of New York punk, and Jim Carroll plays a large role.

Jim Carroll, the poet and punk rocker in the outlaw tradition of Rimbaud and Burroughs who chronicled his wild youth in “The Basketball Diaries,” died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 60.

Don't Like the Republicans

I made a point earlier that I thought if the Democrats pass a bill that mandates insurance coverage for all Americans without including a public option that they would get "slaughtered in the next mid-term elections. I didn't mean to imply that's what I want to happen, only that they will deserve it. Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled congress were elected in large part because their health care reform platform appealed to millions of new or otherwise underinvolved voters. If they blow this thing, what incentive do those people have to make their way to the ballot box next time around?

First Grade Art Show

A compendium of teabagger protest signs....


Always keepin' it classy, right wingers!






So proud of his stoopidity.







Still with the birth certificate thing?







Grammar challenged, as always.












Death panels are REAL!!






Made for each other.









And my personal favorite...somebody floated a trial ballon hinting that right wing loon (and fake blood on the sock pitcher) Curt Schilling might be interested in running for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. Yeah right, and it you believe that's gonna happen I have a harbor in Boston to sell you.



[h/t baughb]

Shorter Serena Williams

That wasn't very ladylike.

The Teabagger National Anthem

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Just endured the always painful experience of watching the Sunday morning news shows. By all accounts, and naturally there was not one advocate on any program for the liberal position, the Public Option is going to be off the table by the time this godforsaken health care reform legislation gets to the President's desk later this fall.

Consider this: while there are certainly other worthwhile components of the measure (i.e. closing the Medicare donut hole, ending lifetime caps and eliminating rescission and pre-existing condition exclusions), the yin and yang of this thousand-page bill was a requirement that all Americans buy health insurance and have access to the public option. One without the other makes no sense. The reason we have so many uninsured already is because people can't afford health insurance!! Now, the idiots in Washington are readying themselves to get rid of the public option...but retain the requirement -- under penalty of fine, no less -- that everyone buy insurance. If that doesn't amount to the biggest giveaway to the insurance companies in the history of the Republic, then I don't know what does.

What's the point of having a Democratic majority if we can't pass our legislative priorities on our terms? I'm telling you, if Congress passes -- and the President signs into law -- a bill with a universal coverage requirement but no public option, the Democrats are going to get slaughtered in the 2010 mid-term elections.

And it will be what they deserve.

This Man Called President Obama a Liar

"The United States has never promoted, Democrat or Republican, the use of chemical and biological weapons anywhere in the world."

Remind me again why we care what these people think say?

I suppose Joe Wilson has never seen this.

Bad Timing Dept.

What damn fool was dumb enough to schedule a Coast Guard training operation -- complete with reports live ammo fire -- on the Potomac River in Washington, DC, on September 11?!?!!

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Coast Guard training exercise in the Potomac River near the Pentagon sparked confusion amid Friday's commemorations of the Sept. 11 anniversary. Media reports that shots were being fired in the river sent FBI agents scrambling to the scene and led the nearest airport to briefly ground flights.

Not like anybody's hyper-sensistive on a day like today or anything. I thought Michael Brown was out at DHS.

Baseball Purist

PHILADELPHIA— After Monday night's game against the Florida Marlins, several of Chase Utley's Phillies teammates told reporters that the All-Star second baseman might be growing "obsessed" with stretching properly and singing in key during the seventh-inning stretch. "He insists that if you don't stretch every major muscle group at that exact moment in time, you risk pulling something," said shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who claimed Utley often forces the entire team to re-sing "Take Me Out to The Ballgame" if they don't perform the song in correct four-part harmony the first time. "Give me a break, man. I don't always feel like eating Cracker Jacks in the middle of a game." Rollins added that he was looking forward to Thursday's game, when he plans to finally inform Utley that the "noise meter" on the Citizens Bank Park JumboTron is not real.

Whoops!

Paso Robles, CA police chief loses loaded, unregistered, semi-automatic handgun... says she left it on the front seat of her unlocked car in front of her home.

False Equivalency

I'm getting really goddamn tired of people equating liberal loathing of George W. Bush with the Republican/teabagger contempt for President Obama. Look, George Bush lied us into a war of choice and screwed up just about everything he ever touched as president. The justifications for protests against the march to war are not the same as for the teabaggers' outrageous antics, at town hall meetings or during a presidential address.

Barack Obama is seeking to untie a Gordian knot and extend health care coverage to even the neediest of Americans. George Bush couldn't have given a rat's ass about any of that.

Just ask these guys.

Spell FAIL of the Day

The above sign appeared at a Joe Wilson Teabagger Party in South Carolina.

Great minds and all ....

ADDING: If I'm not mistaken, isn't that a camouflage three-corner hat that Medicare eligible teabagger's wearing?

Predictable as the Sunrise

That racist buffoon Joe Wilson got fluffed by Sean Hannity on FOX last night.

Good old Barney Frank had a nice take on this whole kerfuffel:

I’d say what Wilson did was a mark of their frustration and you know, Barack Obama is a big boy. I think I must say that any Republican, particularly a Joe Wilson who’d want to get into a debate with Barack Obama is tugging on Superman’s cape and pulling the Lone Ranger’s mask, but if that’s what he wants to do… free country.

Ground Zero Ceremony

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Tom Tomorrow

[click on image for larger view]

Just Wondering

Not sure whether this is truly ironic or only Alanis Morrisette ironic*, but isn’t it interesting that Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) feels free to yell, insanely, “YOU LIE!” at the President of the United States from the floor of the House of Representatives, while that other Joe Wilson (D-Niger) writes a scholarly piece systematically dismantling the lies in the Bush Administration’s march to war – without ever using the work LIE – and he’s excoriated for his temerity, marginalized as a left-wing nut and sees his wife’s career destroyed in retaliation?

Teabaggers rule!

[*Meaning, of course, that it is not necessarily ironic if "rains on your wedding day."]

Teabagger Spell FAIL of the Day

I don't know about you, but I'm against Amensty too.

Lost in Translation

I hope some of the teabaggers watched last night's speech, because you know none of them is going to read it, and Sean Hannity's translation will go something like this:

"Socialism...fascism...illegal immigrants...YOU LIE...death panels...Medicare cuts...deficit...rationaing...death panels...Hilter... lie...lie...LIE!! My first guest tonight, that brave congressman from South Carolina, Joe Wilson."

And here's the douchebag himself, captured in mid-heckle:

This is Your Wake Up Call

Kick out the Jams...!

To Do List

Call your congressperson and give 'em what for.

Go team!

Most Ridiculous Story of the Day

Sometimes you just have to wonder how many people signed off on an item like this...

The US Forest Service issued and then retracted a Labor Day warning advising hikers to “beware of campers in national forests drinking Tecate beer, eating tortillas and playing Spanish music” because “they could be armed marijuana growers.” A high-ranking Forest Service official in Colorado also identified people speaking Spanish and eating Spam or Tuna as “warning signs of possible drug trafficking.”

Clearly the Feds have ever met a marihuana trafficker, or they'd know those people eat Doritos.

The Speech

In case you missed it, here's The Speech.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

They're Pissed He Saved the Sinking Ship

Watch how the Republicans don't stand up when the President notes that "...we have pulled the economy back from the brink."
Well, why would they stand up, they'd only just finished rearranging the deck chairs when Obama got elected.

Sarah Palin, I'm Talking to You

How Respectful...

Who let a teabagger onto the goddamn floor of the US Congress?

You know what LBJ would've done to that fucker? Yep, that's right.

Protocol Problem at the US Open

Don't get me wrong, I've been cheering for Melanie Oudin at the US Open as much as anyone else has, but to interview her first after her 6-2, 6-2 loss to Caroline Wozniaki when they've only interviewed the winners on court after matches all week long was in poor taste. Maybe they could have interviewed her after Wozniaki but come on, give the winner her moment in the spotlight on par with Serena and Roger. Even Melanie seemed to understand the breach of protocol, as she could be overheard saying "Right now?!?" when she was asked for an interview.

That's a Big If...

One of Mike Duvall's constituents comments on today's breaking scandal:

"If you take the desires of the flesh out of the equation, he is an absolutely remarkable man, a good civil servant."

So other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like the play?

Memo to All Some Health Care Reform People

It's the Hippocratic Oath, you two-faced profiteers, not the hypocritic oath.

Can't Afford to Wait: The Artist

My buddy The Artist...who can't afford to wait.

Beware the Hot Mic

And...another one bites the dust. Sanctimonious hypocrite Republican Assemblyman Mike Duvall of Orange County, CA has been caught hiking the Appalachian Trail. Duvall, it seems, was giving the business to two "hot" female lobbyists and was so proud of himself he bragged about it -- in extremely graphic detail -- to a colleague on the dais while waiting for the start of a legislative hearing. Only thing is, the MICROPHONES WERE ON!!



Remember, this is one of those no-tax-increases ever, family values sphincters who has been hanging the state of California out to dry over the economic abyss forever now. There really ought to be a law against this sort of thing.

Hope you enjoyed your career douchebag.

UPDATE: Hah! That didn't take long.

Programming Note

Barack Obama's Presidential Address on Health Care Reform will be televised tonight at 5pm Pacific time / 8pm Eastern. Will Obama's legendary rhetorical skills be enough to seal the deal? Will the President stand firmly on the side of the Public Option? He damn sure better, that's all I've got to say. Tune in to find out.

Little Known Fact

When Jesus divided up the loaves and the fishes and fed the 5000, the teabaggers staged a protest against socialism.

More from the Lunatic Fringe

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is at it again...

In an interview with The Daily Beast, embattled South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford said that "everybody is assigned their own secret-agent mission in life" while reflecting on his political and personal missteps.

"At times the tricky part, the hard part, is finding out what that secret-agent mission is," Sanford said. "Some of us do it early, some of us do it later in life." He also describes himself as a "wounded soldier" who "took [himself] off the battlefield."[empasis added]

Message from a Fart Smeller Smart Feller

Hammer Time

You've come to the right place.

Street Scene: Who Knew?

Overheard while walking by the bus stop near my house:

"I seen ravens chasin' hawks. They're the only ones that can. Blue jays will try but they don't stand a chance."

Chicken Breathers

I grew up down in Cambodia, CA. Went to high school over in Oxnard, CA. Could always get me a decent burrito down on A Street and was fairly comfortable venturing into La Colonia as long as I had a buddy with me.

How does this all fit into the health care debate, you might ask?

Well, my pal Joe at work tells me the story of his son-in-law, who's a firefighter down in Oxnard. It seems those guys go out on so many medical emergency calls -- as opposed to fires -- that they actually have a firefighter slang term for them.

They call them "chicken breathers," as in...
"...Chee can't breathe...."

More on the same topic here...

Among the hidden costs of the health care crisis is the burden that fire departments across the country are facing as firefighters, much like emergency room doctors, are increasingly serving as primary care providers.

About 80 percent of the calls handled by Engine Company 10 are medical emergencies because the firehouse serves one of the city’s poorest areas, where few residents have health insurance, doctors’ checkups are rare, and medical problems are left to fester until someone dials 911.

Choosing Sides

Where do you stand?
[h/t T]

We Can't Afford to Wait

My friend Wilky runs ultra-marathons. He's better at some things than you and I; mostly running 50 miles or more without fucking stopping to puke or have a beer or rest or visit Momma...or whatever it is you or I might think to do. He can run further than I can drive a car. He's a damn freak of nature, I tell ya.

Well, Wilky ran into a little bad luck on a 32-mile trail run recently...hit a rock or something and tore his ACL. Not good. Bad news. Even worse: No Health Insurance. Dude works hard, works out harder. He was my designated driver going to the KISS concert. He lives a decent life, goes to school, cares about others, and now he's SOL.

We need Universal Health Care!

We can't afford to wait!!

Self-Criticism

I'm nothing without my teleprompter.

The Public Option

Setup: Man joins military to get government health care coverage for his family.

Result: You can probably guess how this story turns out.

Fascist Commie Muslim Nazi President

First he looks for a way to extend health care to the unwashed masses, now he's advising children to hit the books, study hard and stay in school.

Next thing you know he'll have the trains running on time.

Power in the Union

Happy Labor Day!!

Lois Capps Town Hall Meeting

Last night I went to the Lois Capps Town Hall Meeting on health care reform. It was held at a beautiful, brand new local church -- hold the jokes about the lightning bolts, please. The reason said church is brand new is because the old one got burned to the ground by some paranoid local homophobe arsonist who didn't like the fact that the congregation welcomed gay people without condemnation. [And there's a special place in hell for you, firebug Church-burner. If there is a Hell.]

So the evening began well enough. As we waited in line outside, one of my compatriots commented that the average age of the crowd was fast approaching Medicare eligibility. I commented that the cute 20-something Capps staffer taking tickets at the front door was probably the youngest person in the whole place. As I handed her my ticket, she noticed my standard uniform Obama t-shirt and remarked, "Hey, I really like your shirt!" Well, things were certainly off to a good start.

We found our seats, second row. The entire row in front of us was already occupied by a wingnut crew sporting stern looks and tight sphincters lips. We settled in, endured a harmless, non-denominational prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance and then got down to business.

We were asked to submit our questions in writing, which didn't sit well with the wingnuts, who weren't really there to learn anything, only to be angry about something they don't understand and to yell and scream and say "NO!" The moderator did a good job of keeping things under control.

Lois spent about 20 minutes going over the highlights of the bill: how it will close the Medicare Part D "donut hole," how it will eliminate pre-existing condition discrimination and frivolous policy rescissions, how it will get rid of lifetime payment caps, how it will extend health care coverage to even the least able among us, and how such an ambitious program will all be paid for. Lots of grumbling and head-shaking from the people with their fingers in their ears, but the lid stayed on the powder-keg.

Lois was join by two other people in a sort of panel discussion, and one of the two, Dr. Rushdi Abdul Cader, an emergency room physician at Sierra Vista Hospital in SLO, provided some of the most compelling arguments I've heard yet for universal health coverage (at best) and the so-called "public option" (at minimum).

He spoke about working pro bono in South Central LA and seeing uninsured patients suffering (and dying) from Third World maladies. He spoke about how caring for the poor and the needy is not just a public welfare obligation, but is also our moral obligation as compassionate human beings. Despite his eloquent plea for mercy and compassion, the wingnuts reacted as if he were promoting a Soviet-run apparatchik, rather than health care reform. The grumbling built and then the wingnut sitting directly in front of me, in the front row, in full view of the doctor, began mouthing the words, "I don't care...I don't care...I don't care...I don't care..." "Well, sir," the doctor said, "You may not care, but I do, and I believe many in this church do, and it is our moral obligation to fix this system before more people suffer and die." Bravo, good sir, bravo.

Interestingly, it was during this exchange that an elderly couple, clearly in their 80s, got up from their front row seats and worked their way to the back of the church. I remember thinking at the time that they must be some of those, "keep your government hands off my Medicare" people. But then, in one of the classic "Is there a doctor in the house?" moments I've ever seen, a young woman hastily approached the stage and summoned Dr. Cader with a "Come quickly, right now!" motion of her hands. The woman had taken ill and needed medical attention in the lobby of the church. Dr. Cader rushed from the dais to give her care and stayed with her until she was taken to....the Sierra Vista Hospital emergency room.

When it became clear to the wingers that they were not going to allowed to blow off any steam, a couple dozen of them got up and walked out in a childish huff. Clearly they were not there to learn anything, only to be juvenile and disruptive. Good riddance to them, I say. No one was going to convince them of anything new anyway.

Yet another classic moment came when Congresswoman Capps was discussing the issue of tort reform. "It's important," Lois said, "that if you are harmed by a medical procedure you have redress through the courts." And then came one of the most idiotic wingnut heckles I've heard yet in this whole debate:

"You just go to another doctor and have them fix it!!"

Ahem. Not if you're dead you don't, my good man.

So anyway, I thought the meeting was very well run, dignified and informative. Lois Capps made a great argument for why the status quo is unsustainable and this reform proposal, with its public option, is an absolute must if our nation is to move forward on the road to economic stability. I'm sure you'll hear differently from the constipated conservative party, but that's their problem, not ours. Lois Capps was re-elected with 65% of the vote; she knows who her constituents are.

On the way out of the church after the meeting there were a dozen or so anti-reform picketers trolling the parking lot. One guy had a sign that said, "Say NO to Obama care." As I walked by I could see that he'd noticed my Obama t-shirt. "Don't worry," I said, "We'll even take care of you when you get sick."

UPDATE:
A friend who was also at the Capps Town Hall offers this wonderful illustration of compassionate conservatism (with a side of racism):

An incident that you may have missed just before the walkout. A woman who looked quite ill was helped out of the room and the doctor who had just given his presentation regarding his clients in emergency rooms rushed to her aid when a call came forth... "Is there a doctor in the house?" An obviously disgruntled man, who did not agree with the doctor's ideas, said loudly, "I wouldn't let that doctor touch me." A person behind him said, "Well then you might die."

SNAP!
[h/t Linda W.]

Compassionate Conservatism = Zero

Republican Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins laughs in the face of a desperate single-mother with no health insurance who has the audacity to ask why the government can't guarantee health care for all its citizens...

Why the Public Doesn't Understand

At minute 1:40 of the clip below, CNBC business "expert" Maria Bartiromo asks 44-year-old New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, "If Medicare's so good, why don't you have it?"

Comment at the link:

"Joey Ramone was right about a lot of things, but he was (sadly) wrong about Maria Bartiromo."

Oh Puh-leez...

Could disgraced Appalachian Trail-hiker Governor Mark Sanford get any more delusionally self-righteous?

"I feel absolutely committed to the cause, to what God wanted me to do with my life. I have got this blessing of being engaged in a fight for liberty, which is constantly being threatened."

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