Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Headlines - March 24

THIS is classy
 
Ever since health care reform passed, we've seen Republicans acting like high school mean girls who have just seen the boys dump them in favor of the girls from the science fiction club.

On the other hand, we can go back and look at the vitriol that was spilled during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary race, with it's
"Shame on you, Barack Obama!"s and its PUMAs screeching about "inadequate black male.". I liked Hillary Clinton a lot more than I ever had before when she did whatever was possible to silence the PUMAS at the convention. But this one photo makes her more admirable than perhaps she ever would have been as President. It was her own husband, and indeed her own self, who were unable to get past the hatemongers of a Republican Party that hasd hopped on the Sally Quinn bandwagon of regarding them as hillbilly usurpers of the patrician Bush dynasty and pass health care reform. Health care was Hillary's signature issue and the first weakness the predators of the Gingrichites sensed in the last Democratic president.

So her utter joy in congratulating Barack Obama in this photo shows us how classy one can be even when you don't get exactly what you want when you want it:

 
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Hitler reacts to party of no ideas' no ideas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQGBYY6HVMs&feature=player_embedded
 
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And They Say Republicans Have No Ideas

 

Showing the GOP propensity for brilliant innovative political strategy, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert has proposed halting the "Federal power grab" that is health reform by going back to 1913 and repealing the 17th amendment, which calls for electing senators by that pesky entity known as "the people" - though Media Matters notes that would mean no Scott Brown. The circus is definitely coming to town.  

"The usurpation of the rights of the states and of the people perpetrated by the U.S. House last night is blatant, arrogant, and cries out for action. A potentially bankrupting 'mother of all unfunded mandates' needs to be stopped."

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Well, that didn't take long. 12 state Attorneys General sharing a brain with Birther Queen Orly Taitz have filed suit to determine whether the new health insurance reform bill is constitutional.

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Sticks & Stones May Break My Bones But Threats Will Never Hurt Me

You may remember not too long ago when the banksters were insisting that they just had to have their bonuses and their GIGANTIC salaries because otherwise they just wouldn't be able to get anybody to work in banking any more. If, in fact, they lost as much as a single percentage point, they'd all go John Galt on us and we could just see how hard they worked screwing their investors and wrecking the planet, and when we were overwhelmed and bloodshot and wringing with sweat, then we'd understand how important they were and come crying back to them, begging them to take over again.

Turns out all that whining and threatening was kind of well, bullshit: http://casadelogo.typepad.com/factesque/2010/03/sticks-stones-may-break-my-bones-but-threats-will-never-hurt-me.html#more

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Dear Sen. Vitter,

You're in trouble. No matter how hard you try to sound like one of us true patriotic Teabagger-Americans, we'll always remember you paid a naughty-lady to change your diapers. You're going to lose unless you come up with something big soon.

Look at the tactics your colleagues in the House are using. Rep. Joe Wilson became a conservative hero by yelling "you lie" at Obama, and Rep. Randy Neugebauer won compelled birth advocates' hearts by calling Rep. Stupak a "baby killer."

You need to do the same thing but bigger. As Justice Alito learned, simply rephrasing one of the earlier screeches won't do. Your outburst must carry more shock value than the previous incidents or you'll fail to catch the teabag spotlight.

That's why you should stand up in the well of the Senate and call Sen. Reid a "cocksucker."

Think about the power of the word. What kind of sick pervert would put a live rooster's head in his mouth? Can you imagine the shame Reed would feel? More importantly, can you imagine all the national coverage you'd get? I can almost hear Teabag Nation cheer in unison as you tell Larry King: "Yes, I called Sen. Reid a cocksucker, and I stand by my words."

I hope you'll consider it. It's really your only hope.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot

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"There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year," McCain said. "They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it."
 
This was so off the wall he even managed to totally piss off Harry Reid:
 
"For someone who campaigned on 'Country First' and claims to take great pride in bipartisanship, it's absolutely bizarre for Senator McCain to tell the American people he is going to take his ball and go home until the next election. He must be living in some parallel universe because the fact is, with very few exceptions, we've gotten very little cooperation from Senate Republicans in recent years.
 
At a time when our economy is suffering and we're fighting two wars, the American people need Senator McCain and his fellow Republicans to start working with us to confront the challenges facing our country—not reiterating their constant opposition to helping working families when they need it most."
 
That was beautiful.
 
 
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According to Rush Limbaugh, the next step for our Marxist/communist president is to cancel free elections. Either that, or he's going to grant mass amnesty to undocumented immigrants in order to get their 2012 votes.

Talk-radio icon Rush Limbaugh today suggested the existence of U.S. elections is now threatened by a move he expects President Obama to pursue – a mass amnesty for illegal aliens – following the passage of his massive health-care reform plan. "The next big push will be amnesty for ... millions of illegal immigrants who are here," he said on his radio program. "Obama's gonna need their votes in 2012. The Democrats are going to need their votes in every election from now on – if we have elections, and I'm not joking. "The Constitution has just been ripped to shreds, so why is anything safe?" he said. "We need to defeat these bastards. We need to wipe them out. We need to chase them out of town. But we need to do more than that. We need to elect conservatives. If there are Republican primaries, elect conservatives and then defeat the Democrats – every last one of them – and then we start the repeal process."

Limbaugh was speaking from his new studio in Costa Rica, where he promised to move if the health care reform bill passed. Oh, wait.

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According to a Harris survey to be released tomorrow, 24% of polled Republicans say they believe the president is the anti-Christ.

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The Secret Service is investigating several death threats made to the president on Twitter following Sunday's vote to approve the health care reform bill.

"ASSASSINATION! America, we survived the Assassinations and Lincoln & Kennedy. We'll surely get over a bullet to Barrack Obama's head," wrote one Twitter user, who goes by the handle Solly Forell, and identifies himself as a conservative blogger and "'authentic' African American." Soon after the first post, Forell tweeted another message actively encouraging someone with a "clear shot" to kill the president. Another Twitter user who called himself THHEE_JAY and was identified as Jay Martin, tweeted "You Should be Assassinated!! @Barack Obama." Martin, who is black, followed his tweet, writing "If I lived in DC. I'd shoot him myself. Dead f***ing serious." As of Monday morning Martin had 1,575 subscribers to his feed and Forrell had just 321 -- both modest by Twitter's standards. Forell's name is attached to several makeshift conservative blogs, Anybody But Barack Obama2012 and the Audacity of Hype.

Twitter removed the posts but the users' accounts remain. Freepers are claiming that the posts were plants by the left to make the right look bad. A little late for that.

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Within An Hour Of Its Signing, Virginia AG Cuccinelli Has Filed Suit To Block HCR Bill

With the ink from the president's pen still wet on the document, Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli has filed the first (PDF) of an expected many suits to block health care reform from being implemented in his state.

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Over the last two days, the GOP and their friends in the media have ginned up the rage and anger over health care reform (HCR). John McCain and other wacko Republicans have nonsensically told us that outside the Beltway everyone is steamed about this, and that the GOP will have no problem hanging this around Democrats' necks and repealing it.

Too bad public opinion proves them all liars. Just like every damn thing the GOP has said on the subject, this too is flat out delusional and not borne out by the facts.

Americans by 9 percentage points have a favorable view of the health care overhaul that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, a notable turnaround from surveys before the vote that showed a plurality against it.
By 49%-40% those surveyed say it was "a good thing" rather than a bad one that Congress passed the bill. Half describe their reaction in positive terms, as "enthusiastic" or "pleased," while about four in 10 describe it in negative ways, as "disappointed" or "angry."

This is a 12-point swing from just two weeks ago, when 45% favored HCR and 48% disapproved. Now, nearly half of those polled say the bill should only be a down payment, and that more needs to be done.

The largest single group, 48%, calls the bill "a good first step" that should be followed by more action on health care. An additional 4% also have a favorable view, saying the bill makes the most important changes needed in the nation's health care system.

If public opinion can swing 12 points simply by Obama and the Democratic congress getting something done over continual GOP obstructionism, what does that say about the depth of so-called public anger against the actual bill? Over the last two days, the non-GOP media has continually explained in detail what the bill actually means for Americans, which may be the first time in this whole debate that the public has focused on the facts behind the bill, rather than the pathetic GOP rhetoric. With a greater understanding of what the bill will do, almost half of the public want Congress to go farther, which is consistent with the results of the Scott Brown election in Massachusetts.

Moreover, if public opinion on an issue can swing that much by Democrats ditching bipartisanship and running over the GOP mob, then shouldn't that be the template for the remainder of 2010?

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The Pope is planning to visit the UK. He shouldn't be welcomed; he should be turned away at the border as an undesirable fraud. There is a petition to sign to let the government know what people think. They make a good case: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/03/say_no_to_that_old_rascal_pope.php
 
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gohmert
 
Having solved the health care issue, Rep. Gohmert (R-TX) introduces a resolution endorsing an Israeli military attack on Iran.
 
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All you conservative 'constitutional scholars':

Nowhere in the constitution does it authorize the Federal Aviation Administration or the Center For Disease Control either, so I guess they're out too. The fact that the founders weren't psychics or time travelers is a real problem for us, apparently.

...And for those who say it's unconstitutional to force people to buy insurance, they do it with auto insurance every day. And yes, I know it's regulated by the individual states, but how do you think the feds got them to comply? By withholding highway funding. Any states that try to opt out of HCR will be pressured by the loss of federal funds they probably can't do without.

Grab 'em by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow. HCR is a done deal.
 
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I heard somewhere, while they call Roosevelt's initiative the "New Deal", they're gonna call HCR the "Big Fucking Deal".
 
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President's Grandmother Disappointed That
Only 24% of Republicans Believe Her Grandson
May Be the AntiChrist
 
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Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) said that his "baby killer" outburst against an anti-abortion Democrat - WTF? has drawn a "tremendous outpouring" of phone calls, emails, and financial contributions "telling me, 'Congressman, thank you for taking a stand.'" He said he had "no idea" how much money he had raised off the comment, but said, "this is not about money."
 
Nuttenbauer is also a birther.
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Dreams can come true
 
Sarah Palin finally gets her dream job, on a cable show

History's Greatest Monsters, starring Sarah Palin.

All Sarah Palin ever wanted to be in her whole life was a teevee host. This is Documented Fact, and the whole "politics" thing simply grew out of her failure to get a full-time spot on the local news in Anchorage. It didn't work out, of course, because Sarah Palin was too dumb and untalented for the local news in Anchorage. MORE »

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Protesting health care reform, GOP attempts to bring Senate hearings to a standstill by blocking all proceedings
 
There is a little-known rule in the Senate stating that hearings can't happen after 2:00 p.m. each day without unanimous consent. However, every day, at the start of business, the Senate generally agrees, by unanimous consent, to waive this rule and continue with the necessary business of holding hearings. Here is the rule: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/23/senate-unanimous-consent/
 
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Vandals hit at least five Dem offices nationwide, threaten to 'assassinate' children of pro-reform lawmakers.
 
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A 90-minute discussion between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not include the customary public handshake  at the beginning, which means that World War III (AIPAC vs. ACORN) will commence shortly. Guardian
 
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The most important thing about the healthcare bill is that it begins to address economic inequality, which is why fat-cat Republican plutocrats hate the shit out of it. New York Times
 
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Unhinged nutbar out-stupids himself

Glenn Beck shouts "How dare you" to John Lewis for comparing himself to civil rights marchers. That's noted civil rights activist John Lewis.

"Know what this is?" [Beck] asked, showing a photo from Sunday on the screen, before flashing to a picture of a civil rights sit-in. "They locked arms, because they wanted to compare themselves to the civil rights activists. How dare you! Look at these people! They refused to get up!"

The picture he showed from Sunday, the one that so outraged him, featured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walking arm-in-arm with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Who, of course, was a
leading civil rights activist in the 1960s.