And You Know What? Chicken Butt!

Voters dressed in chicken costumes are banned from Nevada polling sites this year. Were poultry costumes at the polls ever really a problem?

Well, apparently chicken suits have been the favorite form of ridicule directed at Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden, a millionaire casino executive famous for suggesting that poor people barter chickens for checkups.

Of course, Lowden claims she never said it, but she said it and the videos show it. Which reminds me of a comment Bill Maher made on his show on Friday: lying is obsolete. Yep, Lowden should learn that she can't deny her own words when they've already been set to a disco beat on YouTube.

Speaking of wacky election candidates -- Orly Taitz. Did you know the birther queen is on the California Republican primary ballot for California's Secretary of State? And so far her best attack against her African American opponent, Damon Dunn, is that she says he's ineligible...

And you know why? Chicken thigh.

Almost a Law

Over the past year I've had my doubts, but it finally happened. The House has narrowly approved the healthcare bill.

And although I've watched Schoolhouse Rocks a hundred times, I'm kind of fuzzy on the next step in this process. The Senate still must vote on a reconciliation package. Then comes the part where President Obama signs the bill. Then I guess we celebrate... in 2014, when most of the legislation kicks in. Some of the bill's benefits, though, will be immediate.

Of course, not everybody will be celebrating. The racist, bigoted, xenophobic teabaggers have gone (even more) batshit insane at the top of their lungs this week. I think it's now obvious to everybody (except Fox News) that teabagger anger has nothing to do with healthcare or even taxes. Teabaggers would rather die than live in a country that provides any kind of welfare to blacks, Hispanics, the poor, the disabled or anybody they deem inferior to their ignorant white asses. Makes me embarrassed to be white.

And yet the strangest twist in the last year has to be the confederate flag toting teabaggers equating President Obama to Hitler. Well, maybe it's not strange. Comparing your political rivals to Nazis is completely predictable, but the wingnuts don't know history so well. The Nazis aren't really remembered for healthcare, you know.

I could almost laugh except these paranoid teabaggers did influence the debate... in the worst way possible. Republicans brought no viable alternatives to this piece of legislation because, well, they couldn't be seen making deals with people who wanted to kill grandmothers. What would Rush Limbaugh have said?

But in the end, all that angry shouting proved ineffectual. The bill passed. Teabaggers feel defeated and impotent. Now they are making blatant threats of violence as they become even more unhinged.

Kind of ruins that hopefulness we should all be feeling right now.

It's Ugly Out There

I wish this was a post about the weather, but it's more like a post about the atmosphere... the ugly atmosphere surrounding health care reform:


(YouTube Video)

Gang mentality is a horrible thing to watch, but the ignorant-assed teabaggers have gone too far this time mocking and throwing money at a man sitting on the ground holding a sign saying he has Parkinson's disease. These teabaggers are disgusting and stupid. Do they really think this man is stealing their money? Why don't they get mad at Wall Street and war profiteers instead? And who would take a baby to one of these shoutfests?

I cannot rationalize the behavior in that video and I will not listen to anybody who tries.

Even the people who the narrator commended for "thoughtful, reasoned opinions" were ignorant. One woman was repeating the tired Fox spiel about the bill being jammed down our throats and how nobody really knows what's in the bill. Well, you can read the damn thing online, and since we've been debating all aspects for a year now, I hardly say it was jammed... more like spoon fed in itty-bitty baby bites.

Maybe if the above video goes viral we'll find out who those jerks are. But the cynic in me knows that once those teabaggers are identified, they'll then be glorified by the wingnuts. Joe the Plumber meet Bob the Bigot. That's the way it is today.

Theodore C. Olbermann, 1929-2010

Keith Olbermann's father died today.

I guess this won't seem like much of a blog post, but it felt necessary. I have been following Keith's comments about his ailing father, and his reports have always been intertwined with his passionate call for health care reform. I thank Keith for sharing his personal story, because every struggle was a reminder how, even with health insurance, one illness can be a hardship. Without health insurance, it could break a family. Keith was lucky enough to have the resources to take care of his parents, but he never lost sight of the many who can't afford basic care.

Last week, as his father lay unconscious in the hospital, Keith presented a much needed lesson on living wills. Such clarity has been missing in the recent hyperbole over "death panels."

Keith, you have my condolences. Rest in peace Theodore.

Pimp My Ride

Health care reform won't be worth crap if it doesn't cover a steampunked chair with vodka and cranberry juice pumps. Seriously, I have to call Kaiser and see if they'll cover this:


(YouTube video)

An Even-Tempered Apology

I guess 50% calm and 50% furious makes him "even-tempered." This is what the real Rahm Emanual should be saying:



It also goes to show that with a bit of creativity, we can avoid the offensive r-word. Babies? Turncoats? Harpies? Hilarious!

Well, At Least They Talked

It was an 80 minute therapy session American-style. Last night, President Obama faced 140 House Republicans who think that the President is a far-left socialist/communist/fascist. Needless to say, it got a little testy at times:

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

If this entire political rehab session doesn't go down in history, then certainly Obama's "Bolshevik plot" quip will. I applaud Obama for fighting the whiners who still push the 75-year-old "socialized medicine" smear against health care reform.

This is the right way to debate major issues, and President Obama has the intellect and patience to stand up there, answer questions, reach across the aisle, and hold everybody accountable. I can't help but contrast this with Bush's prefabricated townhall meetings stuffed with supporters in order to give a false impression of public approval. Bush didn't have the brains or balls for real confrontation.

Neither did the House Republicans last night. Apparently, they have a few regrets about letting the cameras roll. They tried to bully, but they came across as meek and thin-skinned. That's not good for the poll numbers I guess.

But hearing Republicans regurgitate their talking points reminds me of the sad fact that we are now stuck in 4-year campaign cycles complete with divisiveness and scheming. That's not good for any of us.

Senator in the Centerfold

Get used to this picture, because I'm going to post it every time I mention Scott Brown. He's the Republican who won the Massachusetts special election to replace Edward M. Kennedy in the US Senate, in case you haven't heard.

He's kind of a Sarah Palin with about the same amount of gray matter but more testosterone, and he wants you to know that he drives a truck, and his daughters are available.

This would all be kind of funny except it's going to be even harder to pass health care reform now. Fox News pundits have gleefully proclaimed that "health care is dead!" Predictably, the spiteful, privileged, conservative, rich men are happy that the rest of us will suffer. I wonder if they laugh when they read the obituaries?

I don't know if health care is dead or if it's just on life support, but the Massachusetts vote is not a referendum on reform. This is a vote by one small state that already has their own health care reforms in place. And paradoxically, among the Brown supporters who are against the Senate health care bill, 23 percent thought the bill went "too far" -- but 36 percent thought it didn't go far enough and 41 percent said they weren't sure why they opposed it.

There are still ways that Democrats can pass a health care reform bill, if they can grow some balls and realize Republicans are going to piss and moan the whole way through.

Also, Scott Brown would like you to know one other thing: that sexy bod is only for the ladies.

Imprecatory Prayers

I'm not a big fan of religion, and the concept of an imprecatory prayer -- an invocation of evil -- is the exact type of poisonous bullshit that has driven me away. It doesn't fit with my idea of spirituality and enlightenment. Pray, if you're going to pray, for all people, even your enemies, to be well, happy, and peaceful. If they are well, happy, and peaceful, then, you know, they won't be your enemies any more.

When Rush Limbaugh was hospitalized last week, many blogs quickly responded with hate-filled comments. During his radio career, Limbaugh has sowed many seeds of hate. Crooks and Liars notes some of Limbaugh's most vile diatribes towards sick and dying individuals, and also reminds us about the wingnuts who had their own imprecatory prayers for President Obama.

So it doesn't surprise me from a quick glance at Twitter that many people wanted Limbaugh to die. A few would have preferred that he recovered, walked out of the hospital, and then got run over by a bus. Of course, there is always a place for dark humor, but I think the ideal happy ending would have had Limbaugh transformed by his near-death experience, realize his errors, repent for his sins, and devote his life towards helping the downtrodden.

Obnoxious-jerk-becomes-a-better-person is a way better storyline than obnoxious-jerk-drops-dead. I've always been a sucker for stories like A Christmas Carol and Groundhog's Day.

But that's not the way it's going to be for Limbaugh. He is using his experience to conclude that America doesn't need health-care reform. Of course, he fails to mention that Hawaii, where he was hospitalized, has already instituted many of the reforms that are needed for the rest of the country. Also, nobody has ever claimed that multi-millionaires like Limbaugh have any trouble getting health-care.

But the biggest lie that Limbaugh is promoting is that this entire fight over health-care reform is because there is something wrong with our medical professionals, our technology, our facilities, or our ability to treat the ill. That is not the reason for the battle. The reality is that the uninsured do not have the same access to quality health-care. They might get the same emergency room care as Limbaugh, but the long-term care isn't going to be there or it will bankrupt them.

But Limbaugh will remain callous towards the plight of others. So I wish that he be well, happy, and peaceful, but should he suddenly take a turn for the worse, then Thursday's precondolences still stand: oh well.

Medical Mobster Protection Money

Keith Olbermann said it all last night. This health care bill is a perversion of what government is supposed to be:

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

Yesterday I learned my health insurance fees would increase by $95 per month starting in January. The increase is because I turned that magic age of 40. The ridiculous rates I pay are because I'm "major risk" with a pre-existing condition -- "pre-existing conditions; you know, like being alive." I'm on no medications at all, and I haven't been hospitalized in 29 years... but still, the medical mobsters can stick it to me. The government won't, in any meaningful way, step in and protect me.

I think there is now one condition that afflicts us all -- debilitating apathy.

Virtual Bribes

Sweet sweet bribes. If you play any of the cutesy Facebook games, you've inevitably been tempted to take the shortcut to the top: fill out a little survey from sponsors or sign up for an online service and earn some quick virtual cash. These fake bucks buy virtual items in games like Mafia Wars and Farmville.

I know firsthand that these games are ridiculously addictive, and some players (not me though!) agree to exchange a little time and privacy for an in-game bonus.

But beware. Health insurance industry trade groups are gaming the system. Take one of their surveys and, upon completion, they automatically email your Congressional Representative:

"I am concerned a new government plan could cause me to lose the employer coverage I have today. More government bureaucracy will only create more problems, not solve the ones we have."

How many people heedlessly filled out these surveys not understanding the consequences or the issues at stake? We don't know. However, a director for the Blue Cross-Blue Shield group said the coalition of insurers has generated nearly 2 million e-mails and letters to Congress since early summer.

Another factoid I'd like to know is how many Representatives are using these letters as evidence of actual opposition to healthcare reform.

The number of people playing Farmville is phenomenal: over 26 million daily users and in excess of 69 million monthly users. And to the insurance industry, that must look like an endless supply of suckers.

Fraud News

Does Fox News just not care anymore? Are they not even trying to be real journalists? Why does it take a comedy show to reveal that Fox's Sean Hannity used film footage from a completely different protest to make the GOP's health care rally appear more heavily attended?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

The news media is in a downward spiral. Nine months ago I wrote about Sean Delonas' vile racists cartoons printed in the NY Post. At the time there was a disingenuous controversy over whether the illustrations were intentionally racist. Well, stop the presses. Sandra Guzman, a former NY Post editor fired after speaking out against the cartoon, is now speaking out against the racist and misogynistic atmosphere at the Post. In addition to her shocking allegations of sexual harassment, she had this to say about the atmosphere in the newsroom:

In the complaint, Guzman said that multiple editors knew that the cartoon was offensive, but didn't do anything about it. It was, she alleges, par for the course when it came to the paper's coverage. Guzman alleged that she had once learned that the Post had planned to run a cartoon in the newspaper depicting Jews as sewer rats. She also alleged that "Charles Hurt, the Post's Washington D.C. Bureau Chief and a high ranking journalist at the newspaper, had confirmed to Ms. Guzman that the Post had such a policy in place, telling her that the Post's 'goal is to destroy Barack Obama. We don't want him to succeed.'"

This is the fraud and paranoia that Rupert Murdoch builds his empire upon.

An All-Time High

Support for legalizing marijuana has reached an all-time high in the US according to an October Gallup poll. Yes, the American public is slowly coming to its senses. And maybe the government too...

After writing many blog posts on the failure of drug prohibition, I have something good to report:

Pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for federal prosecution in states that allow medical marijuana, prosecutors were told Monday in a new policy memo issued by the Justice Department.

Under the policy spelled out in a three-page legal memo, federal prosecutors are being told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

Well, that's a far cry from federally decriminalizing marijuana, but it's a slow and cautious step in the right direction. We won't be prosecuting sick people who have found relief in the Cannabis plant and happen to live in one of the fourteen states with medical marijuana laws.

Also, it's evidence that President Obama is not just like Bush.

Crucified Upon a Cross of Blue

Tonight Keith Olbermann delivered an hour-long special comment on health care reform. I think he covered everything: all the fears, all the fear-mongering, all the fraud, all the fraudsters, and a big dose of reality. Kudos, Keith.

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

We also learned the reasons for Keith's recent absences from Countdown. His elderly father has been in the hospital... Clearly, this battle for health care is personal to Keith. And though Keith is a rich guy and can pay all the medical bills, he sees how it can break a family. If you've always been healthy, and your family has always been healthy, you really need to listen.

Sacrificing an Acorn

The attacks on ACORN began last year when Republicans accused the organization of voter fraud. This month, however, the opposition has turned into a full assault after a few low-level ACORN employees were caught on tape giving some really stupid advice to a guy in a badass pimp costume.

Well, tally another win for Fox's Glenn Beck. Apparently he can set the agenda for the entire country and swiftly take down a community organization whose mission is to advocate for affordable housing, affordable healthcare, higher minimum wages, and better schools. ACORN was also against predatory lending before it was cool.

In other words, ACORN's mission was staunchly against the interests of big business, and that's why nobody wants to be friends with them now. The media hates them and Congress hates them too.

So last week, while Congress was busy defunding ACORN for their transgressions, I stewed over all the other corrupt government contractors who have defrauded tax payers and are accused of rape and murder. Why can't we defund them?

Oh wait... We are?!

When our government shoots fish in a barrel, they like to use a bazooka:

The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.

In other words, the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops.

Hysterical! I don't mind sacrificing an ACORN if it means we also defund the likes of Blackwater and KBR.

In a sane country, the Defund ACORN ACT would be declared unconstitutional as it is clearly a bill of attainder. But these days, the insanity doesn't end at Fox.

A Public Service Announcement

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Kafkaesque

Apparently being exposed to things that don't make sense enhances our "cognitive mechanisms."

This recent research comes from psychologists at the University of California in Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia. Test subjects who were asked to read A Country Doctor, a surreal short story by Franz Kafka, performed better on grammar learning tasks than test subjects who read a bowdlerized version of the story.

The story, by the way, is about a doctor who desperately needs to get to a dying boy, and is carried away by magic horses to a house where he is stripped naked and put in bed with the patient, but then the doctor escapes through a window in order to save his servant girl who is being molested by a man they found in the pig pen.

And only now did I remember Rose again; what was I to do, how could I rescue her, how could I pull her away from under that groom at ten miles' distance, with a team of horses I couldn't control. These horses, now, they had somehow slipped the reins loose, pushed the windows open from outside, I did not know how; each of them had stuck a head in at a window and, quite unmoved by the startled cries of the family, stood eyeing the patient.

Damn, if that's not a metaphor for the Baucus Bill and its 500 amendments!

That's what the Baucus Bill has become -- a punchline. Max Baucus is, of course, the Democratic Senator from Montana and current chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Finance. That's where our so-called health care reform is coming from.

A few months ago I didn't know who Baucus was, but now I've come to see him as a corporate-entrenched legislator with some seriously glaring conflicts of interest. He received $3 million from insurance and healthcare lobbyists between 2003 and 2008. I guess it's only appropriate he gives something back to his true supporters.

This "gift" straight to the insurance companies is in the form of the "individual insurance mandate" which will cost some families as much as 13% of their income. Ironically, one major reason for reform is to save families from medical bankruptcy...

And now that Baucus has lost the support of many Democrats, and Republicans weren't going to support a reform bill anyway, I guess you can say the legislation really is bipartisan. Everybody hates it.

Look, the cost of health insurance is out of control, and the only way we can have meaningful reform is with an affordable public option. I think people are finally coming to support this basic idea. Healthcare doesn't have to be bizarre and illogical. It doesn't have to be Kafkaesque.

Shockingly, even Bill O'Reilly supports the public option now.

Reading, Writing, and Teabagging

"You know tomorrow Glenn Beck’s army of zombie retirees are descending on Washington. It’s the million moron march. Although they won’t get a million of them of course because many will be confused and drive to Washington State." — Bill Maher, 9-11-2009

Crooks and Liars posted 10 lessons for teabaggers. I just had to repost them here:

1. President Obama Cut Your Taxes
2. The Stimulus is Working
3. First Ronald Reagan Tripled the National Debt...
4. ...Then George W. Bush Doubled It Again
5. Republican States Have the Worst Health Care
6. Medicare is a Government Program
7. Barack Obama is Not a Muslim
8. Barack Obama was Born in the United States
9. 70,000 Does Not Equal 2,000,000
10. The Economy Almost Always Does Better Under Democrats

(Visit C&L for the details of those lessons.)

I think maybe there is a connection between lesson 9 and lesson 10. If you're challenged by basic math, you probably should keep your hands off the economy.

Anyway, enough with these dumbass teabaggers. Did you know there have actually been coordinated rallies in support of health-care? I guess FOX is not equally infatuated with these people:


Notice how all their signs make sense and are on the same topic? No confusing hodgepodge of McCarthyites, birthers, Ayn Randians, 9-12ers and other crazies. Also, more of these people are smiling.

We're Number 37

We're number 37, and some people want it to stay that way. The idiots on parade this weekend should have sung this song loud and proud:


(YouTube video)

Shh! The Adults Are Talking!

I didn't want to write about any more idiot town hall shouters, but I didn't know they'd be invited to President Obama's Congressional address last night.

Yeah, I'm sure you've heard. Representative Joe Wilson, R-SC, shouted "You lie" during President Obama's health care speech. Christ, what an asshole.

In the aftermath, Democratic leaders have called for a censure of Wilson, Wilson's Democratic challenger has raised over $200,000 since last night, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized Wilson.

Ironically, Wilson's childish outburst came right after Obama chastised the politicians and commentators who are making wildly bogus claims about health care reform:

Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.

So Wilson's outburst was one more lie punctuating the president's remarks, because Wilson's outburst was, in fact, more misinformation coming from the Republican party. It is not hard to fact check: In the Senate Finance Committee working framework for a health plan, which Obama's speech seemed most to mimic, there is the line: "No illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits."


And I will duly note Wilson's prompt apology. Funny, it seems to be a good week for Republican apologies. But Wilson wants us to believe his heckling was all spontaneous. I'm skeptical.

To the Republicans, theatrics are all they have. Theatrics amount to distractions. And notice how everybody is concentrating on the dumbass heckler and not the content of Obama's speech?

The discussion should be about Obama's plan. We deserve an honest and intelligent debate just like we deserve health care reform.