Obama to Write Own Reconciliation Friendly Health Bill.

Earlier today I blogged about the growing momentum in the Senate to pass a health care reform bill through the reconciliation process.

I wondered if Obama would throw sand into the gears of the non- bipartisan  reconciliation process.

I wondered if our President, would place bipartisanship above the need to pass real reform when he goes on national television to talk with the repubs on the 25th.

I need not have wondered.

From the New York Times:

“Democratic officials said the president’s proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority.”

Full story here.

Whew ! The president is on board with getting it done the only way it can get done.

Now let us all hope that his proposal is not a watered down cave in to repub demands.

I doubt it will have a public option, despite the public’s support for it.

Right-Wing Terrorist Crashes Plane into IRS Building.Teabagger Hate Bears fruit.

HuffPo has the story here.

Initial official reports are that this does not seem to be an act of terrorism, but the investigation is far form compleat and any pronouncements are premature. But what should it be called when a man, Joe Stack, goes Kamikaze in order attack our government for political reasons if not terrorism?

The Kamikaze Terrorist  Joe Stack  left a long rant on the internet that leaves no doubt that this was political violence. Here is an excerpt of his statement.

“We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.”

Full Joe Stack statement here.

From this quote the connection to the teabagger movement and its pro-revolutionary, “The American government is illegitimate”, rhetoric is unmistakable.

Right wing terrorism has once again hit America. Hopefully this will be a wake up call for those teabaggers that through their acts and language incite violence.

Hopefully this will be a wake up call, but more likely it will embolden wing-nuttiest of them.

Some questions come to mind. For all of you right-wingers that have advocated shredding our Constitution and torture because, “THE TERRORIST ARE TYING TO KILL US”. Do you still advocate government wire taps, no habeas corpus , and torture for suspected terrorists ? Or is that approach only OK if the terrorist are Muslims?

Just asking.

Update…The FBI is ordering that the full political suicide statement by Joe Stack the Kamikaze terrorist be taken down off the web. I have it safely archived.

Update 2…. I think this name is gonna stick : Joe the domestic terrorist.

Senate Has Votes For Pubic Option in Reconciliation, Will Obama Stop Them?

Ryan Grim pens an article in today’s HuffPo that will excite anyone still holding out hope for comprehensive health care reform. In it Grim reports of the growing movement to adopt the Senate bill with the public option or expanded medicare added, and then pass it in the reconciliation process. According to Grim’s sources there are now 51 yes votes in the Senate. One more than the 50 needed.

So what could upset the process? As Grim explains, an unelected parliamentarian:

“Because of the rules surrounding budget reconciliation, the process that would allow health care reform to move through with 51 votes, any Senator may bring up an amendment to the package. An opponent of the amendment will then likely make a point of order and argue that the amendment violates the “Byrd Rule”** and is out of order. If the parliamentarian sustains the point of order, the amendment would need 60 votes to pass. But if he deems that it complies with the rules of reconciliation — that it has a substantial effect on the budget and is germane to the legislation — then the amendment passes with a majority vote.”

Imagine the most important legislation of a generation being axed by an unelected Senate referee. The Dem base will be livid. Anger, when properly appealed to, produces voter turn out.  The calls for killing the filibuster will grow louder and have more weight, setting up a potent campaign argument for keeping a dem majority to “kill fill” on the opening day of the next session.*

The best case is getting comprehensive health care reform passed, be even in defeat, This is a no lose situation for the dems strategically. Hopefully they will have the brains and the guts to push this to a conclusion.

But all of this could be made moot by one man, President Barack Obama. On the 25th of February, Obama will meet with repubs in a televised health care summit. Obama potentially could make it very dangerous for dems to go this very partisan route. Obama has been an advocate of bi-partisanship to a fault. A huge fault. And this summit is supposed to be all about bi-partisan solutions.

Will Obama, heavily criticized by the left for not putting himself into selling health reform, now kill meaningful reform on the altar of bipartisanship just as he finally does put himself in the center of the debate?  How horribly ironic would that be ?

*”…the “constitutional” or “nuclear” option revolves on the argument that, on the first day of a new Congress, Senate rules, including Rule XXII,
the cloture rule, do not yet apply, and thus can be changed by majority vote. Under this argument, debate could be stopped by majority vote as well. A Senator would
move the adoption of a new rule or set of rules. The new rule or rules would be
subject to a majority vote, supporters argue, because the mechanics of cloture as set
out in Rule XXII, which requires a supermajority to invoke cloture and end debate,
would not yet apply and the Senate would be operating under general parliamentary
law. One variation would be a claim that on the opening day of a Congress a simple
majority could invoke cloture on the motion to take up a resolution that proposed a
rules change, or on the resolution itself. Again, this scenario would rest on the
proposition that Rule XXII was not yet in force and did not control action. Senators
also could seek to have the 60-vote threshold declared unconstitutional, either for
cloture in general, or only as it applies to Senate consideration of presidential
nominations, or perhaps a subset of such nominations, such as of federal judges.
This scenario might take place in at least two different ways. The presiding officer
might make a ruling from the chair, or a Senator could make a point of order from
the floor that the supermajority requirement for cloture is unconstitutional.”

From Congressional Research Service report for congress Changing  Senate Rules: Entire report here. Highly recommended, but wonkish.

** “Byrd Rule” link added by me, link not in the original.

The Stimulus Worked. We Need More.

This morning’s headline over at Huffpo: “It Worked, Every Major Economic Research Firm Says Stimulus Added at Least 1.6 Million Jobs.” Right now It links to a N.Y. Times story that say 2.5 million jobs were added.

No Kidding. Of course it worked. When 800 billion dollars are spent on a wide range of projects it is going to create work. It does not matter who spends it.

When faced with the real numbers repub/cons will claim that those 2.5 million jobs are not “real jobs”. The will spout dogma that goes like this: “Government jobs are not real jobs because once the government money runs out the jobs are gone.” Put an other way impermanent jobs are not real jobs. According to this “logic”any job is not a real job, not just government jobs. But it would be especially true of nonstandard jobs. Construction workers don’t really have jobs because once the construction project is done their job is gone. In fact according to The Iowa Policy Project, a nonpartisan think tank, 26 percent of the U.S. workforce had jobs in 2005 that were in one way or another “nonstandard.” and impermanent. That includes independent contractors, temps, part-timers, and freelancers. (pdf here)  According to Republican math, that totals about 36 million jobs that are not “real”  jobs.

The sister repub/con dogmatic denial of reality slogan is “Government has never created one job”. This is favorite slogan of Republican politicians, Senators, Governors, and House reps, who receive a government pay check. (Just once I would like to see one of the media’s talking heads ask a repub pol  if his job is a real job.) The government employs over 4 million teachers in “fake” jobs. The post office employs 650,000 people in “imaginary” government jobs. On top of those the Feds employ 2 million more people and  State and local governments cut pay checks for 8.3 million more. In all the government directly provides at least 15 million jobs, that according to Republicans can not exist.  Add this 15 million to the other 36 million jobs that Republicans say can not exist and we get 51 million impossible jobs!

So now you understand the some of the “thinking”  behind why repub/cons do not believe government spending creates jobs. And why despite what the numbers tell us, and despite what any reputable economist says, the government can not create real jobs. And 2+2=5.

Now if we could just get the “liberal” Media to stop repeating that 2+2= 5 we just might start getting more of the jobs spending we need.

Because even though the stimulus spending worked it was not enough, Unemployment is still at 10%, and it is running out.

Sarah Palin Hides Behind 19-Year-Old, Makes Bristol Political Pawn

Bristol’s comments are now ,sadly, fair game.

I blogged yesterday about Sarah , the use of the word retarded, and The Fox show Family Guy‘s obvious baiting of her. After making the obvious prediction that if Palin protested that this would become a big story, I went so far as to hope that she took the bait. Now I am sorry she did. For some reason I was too blind to realize the likelihood that she would abuse her kid by making her a political shield . A politician using their children to score political points is just ugly .

Sarah Palin has once again shoved one of her children into the political spot light. This time it is her daughter, the 19-year-old single mother, Bristol Palin’s turn …again.

Sarah Palin responded the controversial episode of Family Guy in a FaceBook post. She Responded by asking her daughter Bristol what she thought about it and then having Bristol publish her opinion. Here it is. First Sarah then Bristol.…

“People are asking me to comment on yesterday’s Fox show that felt like another kick in the gut. Bristol was one who asked what I thought of the show that mocked her baby brother, Trig (and/or others with special needs), in an episode yesterday. Instead of answering, I asked her what she thought. Here is her conscientious reply, which is a much more restrained and gracious statement than I want to make about an issue that begs the question, “when is enough enough?”:

“When you’re the son or daughter of a public figure, you have to develop thick skin. My siblings and I all have that, but insults directed at our youngest brother hurt too much for us to remain silent. People with special needs face challenges that many of us will never confront, and yet they are some of the kindest and most loving people you’ll ever meet. Their lives are difficult enough as it is, so why would anyone want to make their lives more difficult by mocking them? As a culture, shouldn’t we be more compassionate to innocent people – especially those who are less fortunate? Shouldn’t we be willing to say that some things just are not funny? Are there any limits to what some people will do or say in regards to my little brother or others in the special needs community? If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed. All they proved is that they’re heartless jerks. – Bristol Palin”

Why would any mother invite her 19 year old daughter , a single mother, to step into political controversy. What the hell was she thinking?

I know what she was thinking. She was thinking:

“How am I gonna get out of this trap? Well, ya know,  first I called for Rahm Emanuel to be fired for using the word retarded and then, I  flip-flopped like a frog on acid, and I defended Rush Limbaugh for using the “R” word forty times ! Because Rush was using satire. Wink!

I am so cute, eh !”

“But now how can I go after the Family Guy like my cult will want me to, without them liberal bloggers ask’en me that darn question they are already ask’en ? You know the one : “” How can Sarah complain about family guy satire when she already gave Rush a pass because he was only using satire?”"

“Think Sarah , Think, Don’t let them godless liberal socialist get the best of you girl….God please help me.  Tell me what to do.  It is in your hands Lord,”

I know I will have Bristol answer for me…!!!!  I can hide behind my 19 year old single mother daughter !

Thanks God, you did again.“  Darn it, I am sooooo cute.   

OK so I really don’t know what made her take the awful irresponsible act of shoving her 19 year old girl into a political fire fight. But she did. And now, even though I don’t like it, Bristol’s comments are fair game.

And I have a question for her.

Bristol you said, ” As a culture, shouldn’t’ we be more compassionate to innocent people – especially those who are less fortunate? Shouldn’t we be willing to say that some things just are not funny?

But your mom said, when defending Rush Limbaugh’s use of the “R” word forty times in one sitting, “…I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh was using satire to bring attention to what this politically correct.”

Bristol, basically your mom said it was OK for Rush to use the word retarded because he was being funny to make a point.  Bristol , do you think It was OK for Rush to demean the mentally disabled because he used satire? Will You hold Rush to the same standard that you hold The Family Guy ?

Here is another question . What do you think of someone who  is not “willing to say that some things just are not funny.” When it becomes politically inconvenient. Like the former governor of Alaska did ?

If you have not already seen the videos of the above mentioned The Family Guy or Sarah flip-flopping, or the audio of Rush denigrating special need people you can access them right here on the upper right of the blog.

Tom Tomorrow’s Take on The rise of the Corporate-American

The rise of the Corporate-American

Posted using ShareThis

Will Sarah Palin Be Offended by The Family Guy’s Satire ?

Sarah Palin Thinks it is Funny When Rush says Retard… part two.

As we already blogged about , On Sunday February 7th , Sarah Palin did a stunningly hypocritical flip-flop, telling Chris Wallace that it was wrong of Rahm Emanual to use the “r” word, But it was funny, “satire”  when Rush used the “r” word. (Video top right, Schizophrenic Sarah.)

Palin has a cult like following. It is always personally entertaining for me to watch how, time after time, they twist their perception of reality to conform with their Conservative Madonnas insanity. This incident was not a disappointment. Comment sections all over the web were littered with the  bizarre twisted rationalizations by the Cult of Palin for their masters messed up encyclical. Enter The Family Guy.

Last night on The Family Guy, Chris, goes on a date with a mentally disabled girl. Over the course of the date She tells him :“My dad’s an accountant, and my mom’s the former governor of Alaska.” It seems clear that the shows creator, Seth MacFarlane, is baiting a trap for Palin. I think he would love to get into a highly public war of words with Palin. All this story needs to erupt into a huge headline grabber is for Palin to protest.

Will Sarah take the bait? We can only hope. But her cult has preëmptively swallowed it. The hook is in deep. They are at this moment out in numbers spinning their hypocritical victimhood  on the threads of the major sites. Sooooo funny.

Joe the Plumber goes off on McCain, says he ‘screwed up my life’ – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room

{{desc}}

via Joe the Plumber goes off on McCain, says he ‘screwed up my life’ – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

Joe the plumber is having a pity party for himself. Always the victim, now he is blaming McCain for his woes. He has realized that McCain was using him…Joe is not too quick.

Hey Joe, how about talking responsibility for something, anything in your life? It was your decision to open you big mouth and call out Obama to his face in defense of those poor folks making over $250,000 a year because Obama wanted to raise their taxes by 3%. I am sure all those folks in the top 5% income bracket appreciated that coming from a chronically unemployed want-a- be plumber like you.

And no one from the McCain campaign held a gun to your thick skull to get you to become an over night celebrity did they? That was your decision. Right Joe?

GOP: Shameless Cowardly Flip Floppers.

Republicans, Doubleplusgoodhypocrites! 2+2 = 5 style.

Paul Krugman in his latest New York Times op ed “Republicans and Medicare”, eviscerates the GOP for their stunning use of doublethink surrounding medicare cuts. He points out that during the healthcare debate Repubs fear-mongered that the Democrats were going to kill granny by cutting 500 billion from the program.* Now that they have kicked health care reform to the edge of the grave, the GOP is proposing Medicare cuts of 650 billion. And they are back to proposing killing Medicare altogether. Grannies are trembling under their shawls across America.

Will the “liberal media” dwell on this the way they did when it was dems who wanted to cut medicare? Will the press brand the GOP as Grannie killers?…..  No.

*( The real number was 400 billion and the money did not come from cutting services, but from ending the government give away to insurance companies set up in the Bush era medicare D legislation.)

GOP: Transparency is a Trap !

In another masterful display of doublethink, The Repubs are calling the televised health care meeting between Obama and the Repubs a trap. It is a meeting that GOP demanded ! Jon Stewart is not pleased. To watch Jon Stewart do what he does so well  just go to my vids in the right column and click on “The Apparent Trap “…. It is classic.

Doublethink is a Newspeak term defined in George Orwell’s Book, 1984

“Doublethink: To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which canceled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget, whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself…”

Time for the Democrats to Get Loud and Fearless and Smart About Ignorance.

Bob Cesca over at Huffpo Says “It is Time for Democrats to Get Loud and Fearless”.  I agree.

Democrats can and should get loud and fearless. But it will always be hard for us to play the game up to the level of the Republickers*. The Republickers have one major advantage. Ignorance. They are armed with the willful ignorance of their intelligentsia, and the plain ol’ ignorance of their Joe the plumbers and Sarah Plains. In both cases ignorance is the strength of the Republican party.

We have only to look at very recent history to make my point. When Obama came out with his plan to “freeze spending”, even though it was immediately clear that the plan was economically of no consequence, that it was a cynical effort to pander, and that it was a publicity stunt to counter Republicker lies about the deficit, us Dems and libs went ballistic. The media stars on MSNBC were forlorn and angry. The left-wing blogosphere was buzzing with the Obama betrayal. Paul Krugman, Joan Walsh, Robert Reich , Andrew Leonard and Huffpo slammed him. The comments in threads on liberal web sites were about Obama disappointment.

Now Imagine if a repub prez made the proposal instead of Obama.

Every repub politician would be publicly praising the proposal, On Fox the talking heads would be celebrating. Wing nut blogs would be going into overdrive touting it. Right-wing think tanks would be publishing studies to make his economic ant hill of a proposal into a mountain of positive expectations. Comment threads all over the internet would be flooded with Teabaggers , Becker heads and Ditto heads parroting the right-wing meme. And of course Dems would be slamming it too. But not nearly as passionately. Because after all, in truth the actual policy is pretty meaningless. And it is the same kind of doublethink bull the Repubs sling all the time. So what is new?
Advantage Republickers.
Ignorance is the strength of the Republican party.

Are the qualities that lead us to become liberal people, the same qualities that keep us from fighting fire with fire?

Are willful ignorance and progressive thinking mutually exclusive ?

Are you a lib or a dem ? Has my use of the word “Republicker” and my gross generalizations about them made you angry or uncomfortable?

If so, advantage Republicker.

We on the left in today’s America have our own strengths. Chief among our strengths is TRUTH. As Steven Colbert famously said, “Reality has a liberal bias”.
The enemy of truth-telling is the inherent uncertainty of everything. Communicating truth is a complex and subtle proposition. It takes time. It takes an audience willing to pay attention to layers of back and forth arguments. We saw how the truth works for us when Obama spanked the repubs recently on TV.

We can get loud and fearless. We have to get loud and fearless. We should be screaming the truth. But we should acknowledge, that our chief strength is harder to get loud and fearless about. We have a much harder means to implement than the Republickers.

Still when we can find it in ourselves to wallow in the muck,  when we can embarrass and belittle the Republickers and Con-jobs, we should do that too. We Dems need to grab some of that electoral low hanging fruit that responds to simple base attacks. We need to change convention and socially acceptable behavior.

Please my fellow kind hearted Libs, if you can’t let yourself sling mud and spin outrageously biased memes, don’t give those of us that can do it crap. We are just trying to move Professor Overton’s window…

*(pronounced RE-PUB-LICKERS, e.g. people from New York are New Yorkers)