President Seems Ready to Cave to Corporatists and Hooligans

There are growing indications that in order to appease the town hall hooligans and small state anti-healthcare reform conservative senators, names like Republicans Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi and Democrats Kent Conrad and Ben Nelson, as well as Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, whose name the President uttered a gazillion times in his Montana town hall, the Obama administration is retreating from its insistence on a public option to ensure true healthcare reform competition, favoring instead a potential insurance company annual sweetheart giveaway of some $60 billion.

Doctor Howard Dean, who pioneered state-led comprehensive healthcare reform as governor of Vermont, and as chairman of the DNC presided over the Democratic Party's comeback, called a public option "indispensable." Democrats in Congress who favor a public option were quick to push back. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., who is co-chairman of the Middle Class Caucus said: "Leaving private insurance companies the job of controlling the costs of health care is like making a pyromaniac the fire chief."

Whether or not the so-called co-op idea will fly remains to be seen. Many analysts say it is a toothless non-competitive false "alternative" to insurance industry control of the marketplace. The fact that opponents of healthcare reform are lining up behind this craven "compromise" should be reason enough to view it for what it is: a poison pill intended to kill meaningful healthcare reform.

When Kent Conrad says there aren't enough votes to pass healthcare reform in the Senate, he means 60 votes. That may be true, but he makes exaggerated claims that healthcare reform cannot be done "right" with 50 + 1 votes on reconciliation. Of course it can. Better to "do it right," as everyone agrees, by implementing it in stages -- with a public option -- over 5 years and return to finish the job after the President's re-election, than to be stuck with a bad industry reform bill that hands over control to the insurance companies, offers no competition, and does little to curb costs.

President Obama may yet get his co-insurance company victory that assures his re-election, but at what cost to the country? Frank Rich of the New York Times wrote:

It’s a measure of how out of touch G.O.P. leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are that they keep trying to scare voters by calling Obama a socialist. They have it backward. The larger fear is that Obama might be just another corporatist, punking voters much as the Republicans do when they claim to be all for the common guy.

Can you say "Pyrrhic victory," Mr. President?

I love Illinois...

Assclown former governors:

Assclown politicians screwing with a great university:

Gov. Pat Quinn urges all University of Illinois trustees to resign
Governor's statement follows recommendation of panel investigating admissions scandal

Assclown baseball fans:

Cubs fan accused of tossing beer on Phillies outfielder says he's sorry, seeks forgiveness

Illinois, the Land of Lincoln Assclowns.

Time to Pull the Plug on Gramps Grassley

Today there was a story in the New York Times entitled “Obama is Taking an Active Role in Talks on Health Care Plan.” It should properly be titled Obama in Bipartisan Health Care Wonderland. At what point does the White House say, enough is enough, the Republicans, in particular Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi, aren't negotiating in good faith. It's time to move in another direction? Examples:

NYT: Mr. Obama and his top aides have immersed themselves in the Senate Finance Committee process. The president talks to Mr. Baucus several times a week, people briefed on their conversations say. Mr. Obama has also held a few calls with the panel’s ranking Republican, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa.

Gramps Grassley: Well, listen, the government is not a competitor. The government is a predator. And what you're going to have according to the Lewin think tank that specializes in health care. You're gonna have everybody opting out of private health insurance into the government-run insurance. [Sen. Grassley on MSNBC, 7/16/09]

The Lewin Group, as was mentioned here, is a wholly owned subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group which, according to Senator John Rockefeller, used Lewin's skewed data to "under-reimburse its own policyholders." Its "data" has been roundly debunked by nonpartisan fact-check groups.

President Obama (inexplicably) at his New Hampshire town hall event: Senator Grassley is one of my "Republican friends on Capitol Hill" who is "sincerely trying to figure out if they find a health care bill that works." 
The President then went on to gratuitously paint the two right wing Republican Senators, Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi, as somehow profiles in courage because they are under extreme pressure from their party not to negotiate with Democrats.

Oh Please. First of all, Mr. President, if we get a bill that is minimally acceptable to Democrats, that is, one that includes a robust public option, these right wingers won’t vote for it. The only Republicans who might vote for an acceptable bipartisan compromise are the two moderate Yankee holdouts, OIympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine. The sooner the White House accepts this reasonable expectation of reality the better it will be for us to achieve meaningful healthcare reform.

As if to underscore this no-brainer insight, Gramps Grassley the very next day at his own town hall event threw the President under the bus, stoking the cruelest of lies spread by Sarah 'Caribou Barbie' Palin about so-called “death panels:”

Sen. Chuck Grassley said "In the House bill, there is counseling for end of life...You have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life, you should have done that 20 years before. Should not have a government run plan to decide when to pull the plug on grandma." [Iowa Independent, 8/12/09, emphasis added]

A “moderate” is someone who is generally nonideological politically. Both Grassley and Enzi are steeped in conservative ideology, and they’re not going to budge. They come from sparsely populated states and rely on corporate contributions to a much larger extent than Blue staters. Grassley looks, acts, and speaks like a cumudgeony old man who would be more comfortable in Calvin Coolidge’s America.

A moderate Senator Grassley is not. Senator Grassley has a 100 percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee, 84 percent rating from the American Conservative Union, 100 percent rating from the Family Research Council, and 100 percent rating from Eagle Forum. Conversely, he has a 0% rating from the American Public Health Association (APHA) indicating a non-public health voting record.

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the sharpies at the White House, Rham Emanuel and David Axelrod, the President of course, and a phalanx of healthcare policy wonks, don't know what Chuck Grassley's really up to. It's not that hard to figure out.

First, Gramps Grassley is not interested in negotiating in good faith with Democrats on the Finance Committee to craft a bipartisan bill. His interest, as an agent of the health insurance industry, is to obstruct and delay sufficiently to scuttle every one of the Democratic bills that have passed committee and introduce the largely nonexistent and anti-reform Republican "alternatives."

Here's What Grassley said at his town hall: "By sticking my finger in the dyke I have an opportunity to give the grass roots of America to speak up, and that's a good thing."

Really? Seed money for this "Astroturf" opposition has come from ultra-right wing health industry interest groups that coach town hall disrupters on where to go, what lies to scream, and where to position themselves. The powerful right wing lobbyist and former House leader Dick Armey is chairman of one of these groups, Freedomworks, with its coterie of Republican House staff and think tank retreads. Some of these groups have the gall to label themselves "nonpartisan."

All of them, it should be noted, are overwhelmingly white, as are the town hall ranters, injecting a disturbing culture wars/racist undercurrent to these protests, including the Nazi signs, the gun-toting participants, and the hate speech from right wing media. They're a vocal minority, but they don't represent the progressive coalition that voted President Obama into the White House.

Second, Gramps Grassley has not been shy about his objective to kill the Democratic bills:

Grassley’s tweets:

Republicans know need for healthCareReform That's why there are at least 4 Republican bills There is one bipartisan_Wyden-Bennett GiveLookSe
7:27 AM Aug 9th from txt

Misinformatio accuses me of supportin ObamaCare NOT TRUE I M at table making sure Govt takeovr doesn't happen,protect patience,and taxpayers
12:19 PM Jul 24th from txt

PTL BluDogs Keep barkin Pelosie bill is Govt takeovr of healthCare Breaks Obama promise"keep what u hv" Puts Wash Burocrats in chrg MUSTSTOP
9:01 AM Jul 24th from txt

President Obama decisively won the election of 2008 with a mandate from his supporters to change the nation's direction and do big things, including universal healthcare. Part of the President's mystique has been an overreliance, in my view, on the misguided belief that the current crop of Republicans in government can be redeemed and bipartisanship is possible.

It has even become an article of faith among some of the cognoscenti that universal healthcare reform cannot be achieved without bipartisan support and 60 votes. I could repeat what President Lyndon Johnson, who rammed through transformational Medicare, Medicaid, voting rights and civil rights legislation would say to this, but I wouldn't want to turn this post into a town hall rant.

Suffice it say that big Republican names (not as a monolith but close) have historically opposed every single piece of progressive legislation in the 20th century, from social security, to civil and voting rights, to Medicare/Medicaid. Names such as Bob Dole (who boasted in 1996 that he opposed Medicare as Grassley is boasting of obstructing universal healthcare today), Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan opposed Medicare in 1965 as vehemently as misguided Medicare recipients are coached with lies to oppose the President's healthcare plan.

Indeed, some of the ignorant blowhards ranting and raving at town halls today, many of whom are on Medicare, could have been channeling Ronald Reagan when he said: “[I]f you don’t [stop Medicare] and I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”

Right. Seniors are really living in hellish gulags and warehoused in Florida retirement homes as a result of 44 years of health and security in their golden years from the Kennedy-Johnson Medicare program and FDR's social security. Has anyone paused to consider that these, and every other piece of progressive legislation in the past century, were Democratic Party programs and only Democratic Party programs? Have the ignorant Medicare recipients ranting from right wing talking points at town hall meetings about fictitious "death panels" forgotten that when it was the Republicans' turn, Newt Gingrich proposed slashing Medicare or privatizing it so that it would "wither on the vine," or that George W. Bush used his razor-thin electoral loss and selection by the Supreme Court to push through a scheme to privatize social security? Had that occurred, the Medicare ranters at town hall meetings would probably not be alive today once Bush's casino economy collapsed in on their meager privatized savings and threw them all under the bus.

Is ignorance an excuse for hypocrisy? No, because while hypocrisy presumes an informed distortion of the truth, ignorance of the facts cannot be excused when those facts are available for anyone willing to check. As anonymous (so as not to incur the wrath of the mob?) said, "a closed mind is a good thing to lose."

There's nothing that says a president with 60 votes, or ten to spare, can't pass a healthcare bill without a single Republican vote. In my estimation, the stakes for Republicans of saying "NO" are much higher. By the time the 2010 elections roll around, it's reasonable to assume, based on current trends and the stimulus package kicking in, that the economy will be on a sharp upswing. People will feel better, consumer confidence will be up, and a united Democratic Party will have delivered universal healthcare reform with many positive results as it is implemented, and none of the dire consequences always predicted by the demagogues and naysayers on the Republican side.

The notion that two, or even three Republican votes, translates into bipartisanship and gives skittish Democrats including the President political "cover," is ridiculous, especially when we have to surrender our principles. For what; three Republican votes, while the Bohners and the Grassleys stand laughing on the sidelines and prepare to demagogue the issue in the midterms anyway?

Better for Democrats to unite and pass healthcare reform as a Democratic bill, just as social security, and Medicare, and voting and civil rights were -- with Republican support yes, at a time when bipartisanship fit its dictionary definition, but Democratic initiatives.

If the President were to channel a little of Bobby's "ruthlessness" and LBJ's legendary arm-twisting horse trading, here's what he should do. Draw a line in the sand and give the Republicans an ultimatum. "This is as far as I'm willing to compromise; you can get on this train now, and be constructive, or you can stay behind at the station as the Democrats steer this nation into a future of promise, opportunity, and quality, affordable healthcare for all. Your choice." To the Blue Dog Democrats, the President should simply say: "Not supporting this plan is untenable for the Democratic Party. Stand with me, and I'll go all out and work for your re-election. Stand against me, and you're on your own."

That should do it.

A point I made in the “Dear Mr. President” post of July 30 and emailed to the White House on the off chance the President would read it, bears repeating, not for any stellar insight but because what was clear as a cloudless day then is even more crystal clear today. And it represents, I believe, the sentiments of the President's progressive base:

With all due respect, Mr. President, we didn't vote for change, we didn't hand you huge majorities in the House, and a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate, to have the fate of meaningful healthcare reform for all Americans decided, or rather destroyed, by Senator Chuck Grassley, who is a shill for the insurance industry.

The last I heard, we had an election. We won and Gramps Grassley's party lost. Big time. I can only hope the President won't decide, for the sake of expediency, to sell progressives down the river -- after we've come so far with him -- for a chimera called bipartisanship.

As a wise philosopher one said....

A great thinker, pictured below:

once said "What a maroon!"

This would be oh so applicable to the former governor/disgrace of Alaska who stood by her ridiculous "death panel" claim. As other great thinkers have said, Madame Ex-Governor/Liar/Dimwit, etc.:

Well, guys, what's going to happen?

I have been incommunicado, was WAAAAAY downstate fishing with my 82-year old father (who God bless him, wants to kick Hannity's ass--and I think he could do it.)

So the prez has gone all in on health care, but as per usual, the wingers are better organized and better able to frighten the old folks (except for my pop). Do the Dems have the spine and the votes to tell them to shove it? Does the prez cave and take a crap bill to get "a bill?" It's cliffhanger time.

Carlos, horses on Sunday??

Every Day an Ignorant Blowhard Shouts Down a Town Hall Meeting …

14,000 AMERICANS LOSE THEIR HEALTH CARE and

Stephen Hemsley, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Group (remember, they posted a staggering profit of 155% this year!) makes $819,363.10. Yes, EVERY DAY. Ain’t laissez faire capitalism GREAT?


It’s about PROFITS:

Health insurance profits rose 428% between 2000 and 2007. How? Well, by denial of coverage for expensive lifesaving care and by kicking sick people off the rolls. Another favorite health insurance company ploy in REAL RATIONING is to steer people to high deductible insurance plans, and pared-down catastrophic coverage only.

Result:

During the same period, as health insurance company profits went through the roof, the number of uninsured Americans rose by 19% from 38.4 million to 45.7 million, while the number of the underinsured rose exponentially.

Rationed care for profits:

The average health insurance CEO pay is $11.9 million. Now, is there any doubt why the health insurance industry is fighting with bare knuckles and hooliganism to prevent the facts from getting out? In tight economic times, this is one hell of a gravy train to give up.

Can anyone really blame them?

Mr. President, how could you believe any differently? Perhaps it’s a lesson learned that a community organizing model which brings disparate groups together in common purpose -– from the local community to small businesses and corporations -- does not always translate to the BIG STAGE where literally TRILLIONS of dollars and one-sixth of our economy are at stake.

And the wingnuts call our President a socialist? Ha! Any socialist worth his or her rose would have seen through the corporate schmoozing ‘why can’t we all get along, oh yeah, we’ll cooperate’ schemes in a Chi-town second. Senator Bernie Sanders had their empty promises sussed from the get-go.

Ah, if only the people knew how truly mainstream our President really is.

Even so, I can understand scared and confused seniors from the “greatest generation” not feeling reassured by offhand comments like “we’re not messin’ with your Medicare.” That’s a surprising tin ear, Mr. President. On this one, seniors are looking for an ironclad guarantee -– which should be a no-brainer for a Democratic president.

Time to get back to fighting trim or should I say, campaign mode, Mr. President. I hope you’ll come out swinging for the American people beginning tomorrow at your New Hampshire town hall event.

Here’s a video that should drive the obscene profits for TRUE RATIONED HEALTHCARE message home to anyone willing to think and listen and learn:

"The Health Insurance Racket:
Getting Rich by Denying Americans Care

UnitedHealthcare CEO Stephen Hemsley owns $744,232,068 in unexercised stock options. CIGNA’s Edward Hanway spends his holidays in a $13 million beach house in New Jersey. Meanwhile, regular Americans are routinely denied coverage for the care they need when they need it most.

Welcome to the American health insurance industry. Instead of helping policyholders attain the health security they need for their families, big insurance companies get rich by denying coverage to patients. Now they’re sending lobbyists to Washington, DC to twist the arms of lawmakers to oppose reform of the status quo. Why? Because the status quo pays."

Rush Limbaugh Stokes Flames of Hatred and Violence: Compares Democrats to Nazis

Reacting to Rush Limbaugh’s latest hate speech comparing the Democratic Party to Hitler's Nazi Party, Rep. Steve Israel, Democrat of New York, condemned Republican Boss Limbaugh's stoking the flames of hatred and simmering violence in Democratic town hall meetings. Limbaugh's radio show rant alleged similarities between the Obama Administration’s health care logo and the Nazi symbol: "[President Obama's] healthcare logo looks DAMN LIKE the Nazi logo." Then he posted a morphing graphic (below) on his website to further this insanity:



The TRUTH is the medical symbol in the Obama Administration’s logo -- IN ITS ENTIRETY -- is common to medical organizations as far back as the late 1970s. Many medical organizations, notes a medical website, use

“a symbol of a short rod entwined by two snakes and topped by a pair of wings, which is actually the caduceus or magic wand of the Greek god Hermes (Roman Mercury), messenger of the gods, inventor of (magical) incantations, conductor of the dead and protector of merchants and thieves. It is derived from the Greek karykeion = "herald's staff", itself based on the word "eruko" meaning restrain, control.

It is interesting to see that most organizations using this symbol are generally either commercial or military (or American).

Walter J. Friedlander surveyed 242 logos or insignias of American organizations relating to health or medicine in which the caduceus or staff of Asclepius formed an integral part dating from the late 1970s to early 1980s.”

So much for hate speech with the BIG LIE comparing the Obama healthcare logo and/or Democratic Party symbology with the Nazi Party.

Using Limbaugh’s twisted illogic, the following symbols are dead ringers for the Nazi Party logo. Notice, for instance, the eagle head, wings spread out, turned to its right:

1. U.S. Air Force Symbol

2. Boys Scouts of America symbol

Rep. Israel, who is Jewish and founder of the Institute on the Holocaust and the Law, responded forcefully to Limbaugh’s hateful screed that Democrats, like the Nazis, were against big business, “and of course we all know they were opposed to Jewish capitalism.” Said Mr. Israel:

“I do expect my Republican colleagues to denounce his comments. The Holocaust taught us that silence in the face of evil expression becomes acquiescence to evil. And what Limbaugh said is pure evil.

Today, there are survivors of the Holocaust with tattoos stenciled on their arms who are registered Democrats. And he's treated them with vile contempt.”

As usual, Limbaugh’s statements and analogies are historical fantasies. The fact is the Nazi Party received its major private sector boost from Big Business interests and not from average voters. In this respect, the Nazi Party is a mirror image of the Republican Party, whose main constituency has traditionally been Big Business. The Nazi Party, at its zenith, was only as popular as the Republican Party, with 44% of the vote in the election of 1933.

But of course, this is where the comparisons end. Or do they?

GOP leaders from John Boehner to Mike Enzi have expressed sympathy for mob behavior in Democratic congressional town hall meetings. The GOP has been spreading the myth that the carefully orchestrated Astroturf uprisings are actually individual expressions of concern from average citizens, when in fact such thuggish behavior is driven by corporate interests and powerful lobbyists such as former Republican leader Dick Armey, with threats of violence aimed at intimidating proponents of healthcare reform -- a tactic straight out of the Nazi Party's Brown Shirts playbook.

It should be noted that the GOP’s self-described “maverick,” John McCain, is one of the few voices on the Republican side to publicly oppose mob rule in town halls:

“Town hall meetings are an American tradition -- we should allow everyone to express their views without disruption -- even if we disagree!”

How soon before the danger of escalating violence in this corporate-driven mob assault on Democratic town hall meetings -- with Republicans joking about their fellow Democrats being hung in effigy and Limbaugh spouting hatred into his mega-microphone -- turn the unruly mob into a lynch mob? At the very least, Republican Congressman Todd Akin (MO) who made this lynching joke, "different people from Washington, DC, have come back to their districts and have town hall meetings, and they almost got lynched" (LAUGHTER), should be censured by the full House.

But most important, when do Limbaugh’s violent fantasies cross the legal threshold of yelling “FIRE!” in a crowded theater? Perhaps it will take a visit from the Justice Department and the FBI for Limbaugh to dial back his hatred.

The stupid, it burns

In a conversation between Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck, Beck apparently said that Obama's presidency is "the worst time in the Republic."

Just checking, but worse than the Civil War, when nearly half the country left the Republic and the country almost tore itself apart? Really?

My Kenyan Birth Certificate

http://kenyanbirthcertificategenerator.com/

Laffing, redux

Obviously, the silliest thing about the Arthur Laffer quote below is the meme that Medicare and Medicaid aren't already government-run, which just show how stupid they think we are. There's a second point to pick on, though, and that's the crack at the Post Office. I know that they're an easy target, but for the most part, they're a (private) agency that takes almost any item you give them and gets it to any other address in the country, often in a couple of days, and most items cost less than 50 cents. For any company, that's remarkably time-efficient and cost-efficient. The employees may be somewhat annoying at times, and the lines don't always move quickly, but if a new health care system was that efficient, we'd all be grateful.

The DMV, though, is a different story entirely. Of course, that's state-run, not federal, so it's still a sign of idiocy.

Rachel Maddow PSA: Exposing the Scripted G-NO-P Thuggishness

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

These people are incredibly pathetic tools; do they really think that such thuggish behavior is going to pull the wool over the American people's eyes? Do they think the American people are really as stupid as they are, despicable bottom-feeding morons? Pfft.

Moneyed special interest corporate agitators are as old as this republic. So, how much is the insurance industry corporate lobby paying their storm troopers? A check would be nice. Walk-around, scream and shout money? Travel expenses from and to their survivalist bunkers? Brown bag cash? Because if they're not getting paid, boy are they ever addle-brained pathetic tools on steroids!

Thanks, Rachel, for this point-by-point exposé of the insurance industry corporate lobby, the real entity behind this faux "grass roots" scripted right wing town hall thugghishness.

Fox News => Talking Point => Town Hall Disruption => Crank Cycle

(Thanks for this, Telemann.)

AMERICA’S MOST TRUSTED NEWS ANCHOR, Jon Stewart , brilliantly exposes the “Crank Cycle:”: Faux News plants the seed, a viewer pollinates the point, and an outrage-generating ecosystem is created. View video here.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Master Rebators - The Crank Cycle
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

We're not Laffing with you, we're Laffing at you

Arthur Laffer, developer of the mathematically trivial and utterly meaningless Laffer Curve:

"If you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they're run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government."

How to Make a Rightie's Head Explode

Score one for the Big Dog!

North Korea's official news agency says leader Kim Jong Il has pardoned two American journalists and ordered their release following a request from former President Bill Clinton.

Not a Hall of Famer...

But still, it is Corner Time.

One of our favorite loons, Nancy J. Thorner of palatial Lake Bluff gives us this:

Why was there no mention of tort reform? The insane cost and arbitrary rewards of our malpractice system is forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine--what the Tribune calls unnecessary medical treatment--for fear of getting sued. Tort reform would yield tens of billions in savings, yet there is no mention of tort reform in any of the proposed health-care reform bills.

Umm...Nancy?

"Tort Reform" has nothing to do with bringing down medical costs. It serves only to protect insurance company profits. From the jury system to review boards to several levels of judicial scrutiny to sanctions for frivolous litigation, we have more than adequate safeguards available to ensure that malpractice recoveries are just that--appropriate recovery for damages suffered.

So Nancy.....

New G-NO-P Strategy: Send in the Thugs

The Republicans finally unveiled their strategy to enlighten the American people on alternatives (read sarcasm here) to the President’s healthcare priorities and the bills that have cleared the House and Senate: Send in the screamers to drown out debate, information, and Q&As, do everything to disrupt the healthcare town hall meetings; in short, carpet-bomb the body politic with fear and loathing.

In the kickoff August follies, the thugs crawled out of their rocks and bunkers to assault healthcare town halls from Texas to Pennsylvania, trying to drown out questions and debate from solid majorities of attendees with legitimate concerns. At a Texas town hall for Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the G-NO-P storm troopers screamed the oh-so-original Nancy Reagan Republican solution to drugs, sex, and [everything else except tax cuts and military spending]: “just say no!”

Irony of ironies, these know-nothing thugs conceded their only point: Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation. But in their whacky wingnut world, the uninsured are the undocumented like, well … President Obama. Rep. Doggett said the thugs were outsiders summoned by Texas Republicans and the familiar corporate lobby Tea Bag networks now working for the "health"-for-obscene-profits industry with orders not to participate, but to scream and disrupt. According to a leaked memo, the thugs were urged to “yell,” “stand up and shout,” and “rattle” the members.

At a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania featuring the classy HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and Senator Arlen Specter, about 40 thugs put this strategy to the test. They lined the aisles trying to drown out questions from the 400 persons who had come to participate in the healthcare debate with shouts of “abortion,” “socialism,” “rationing,” the usual ignorant rants from those who didn’t take the time to educate themselves on what’s in the legislation.

The HHS Secretary and the Senator navigated through the disruption and answered all questions. In this crazed incarnation of a G-NO-P led by right wing radio nuts, slogans and screams replace ideas and debate.

One sign read: "Go Home, ACORN." Huh ...? Bring it on, know-nothings.

Soylent Republicans

So now the Republicans have sunk to scaring seniors by threatening them with euthanasia. Seriously. An innocuous Medicare provision that lets the program PAY for seniors to discuss end of life issues with professionals is now...The president's health care plan...is PEOPLE!!!

Dear Mr. President:

In watching your recent town hall meetings on healthcare, it seems to me that you're losing the pro-healthcare reform message to the forces arrayed against it -- significantly the insurance industry, with its $1.4 million daily investment aimed at spreading fear and misinformation among vulnerable populations, such as our seniors.

I wish you'd hone your message. For example, why haven't you mentioned the waste, fraud, and abuse of the insurance industry? Twenty cents out of every dollar is spent by insurers on non-healthcare delivery; lining the pockets of CEOs and shareholders, and on advertising to defeat your plan. The other day you were at AARP. Their Medicare supplement is insured by UnitedHealth Group, which posted a 155% profit and had agreed to a $400 million settlement with the AMA and New York Attorney General for defrauding its customers over a period of years. The Lewin Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of UnitedHealth, has been dishing out misleading statistics in talking points to Republicans in the House and Senate, including Senator Grassley, slamming your public option.

The White House response: crickets.

Sure, you've spoken of the public option in town halls, but not once have you specifically pushed back against your opposition: the health insurance industry and Congressional Republicans. Why?

Rather than giving Congress a clear direction on your priorities, drawing a line in the sand, you have allowed the tail to wag the dog. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus is prancing around the Senate halls like a Maharajah with his loyal sidekick, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. Their closed door meetings of the so-called Group of Six have resulted in the evisceration of key Democratic provisions and priorities of yours, most notably the public option. All of this to peel off two or three Republican votes so that it can be called bipartisan?

With all due respect, Mr. President, we didn't vote for change, we didn't hand you huge majorities in the House, and a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate, to have the fate of meaningful healthcare reform for all Americans decided, or rather destroyed, by Senator Chuck Grassley, who is a shill for the insurance industry.

I'm among a growing number of Democrats who are outraged by Senator Baucus's capitulation. We believe Senator Baucus should be divested of his chairmanship. Senator Rockefeller favors this as well. We hear of all the hard work the Senator is putting into this effort, the long hours. The problem is, he's not working on behalf of the American people; he's working for the insurance industry. Are we really to believe it makes no difference that Senator Baucus is the second highest recipient of insurance industry campaign donations, behind Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell?

The other day I saw a photo of the Group of Six: Senators Baucus, Grassley, and Snowe were chortling, while the Democrats around the table looked grim. This was in the wake of the news the Group will slash the public option and other Democratic priorities. Not surprisingly, Aetna stock rose 12% on this expectation. One observer noted that insurance industry CEOs would be exchanging high fives in their corporate boardrooms.

I know you're a student of history, Mr. President, and if I could suggest a role model in this fight, it would be Bobby Kennedy. One reason that Bobby could bridge the great divides in American society, communicating as easily with inner-city blacks and latinos as with white conservative hardhats and rural voters is that he didn't pander to any of these groups. He told it to them straight, he didn't back down, and he couched his message in clear moral terms. When he said something was unacceptable, people knew he meant it.

We're losing this fight, Mr. President. If you don't push back against the powerful anti-reform forces, we will not get meaningful healthcare reform for all Americans. Honestly, I'm tired of hearing of the $80 billion the pharmaceuticals pledged to "give back" to us. They're not philanthropies. They stand to reap windfall profits (as do the private insurers) from a $1 trillion healthcare reform package without a public option that can negotiate down prescription drug prices and ensure competition.

In getting out your message, Mr. President, my advice is to take a page from Ronald Reagan's playbook. One thing he did to great effect communicating to the American people was to personalize his message. When you mention the "heartbreaking" letters you receive from people with life-altering health crises, rather than speak of them generically, I wish you would read some of these letters in your speeches. The American people relate well to personalized accounts that humanize the issue.

We can still win, Mr. President, and you have our support. But we need you to hone your message, to be more specific about the reforms and the opposition's lies, to be more like Bobby.

Sincerely,

Carlos

Now that Walter Cronkite Cronkite has left us …

Why is a comedian rated America’s most trusted newscaster?



This is why:


Congratulations, Jon, for bringing us news we can believe in with a Cronkite (liberal) bias, and … humor. Unlike the phony meme black T-shirt/blue flak jacket (to match his eyes) AC360 franchise, Jon Stewart wears his heart on his sleeve. Lesson learned, Coop?

While we're in the file cabinet...

This one is from the "Things You Can't Make Up" file.

Apparently suffering from irony deficiency, Sen. David Vitter (R-La) said in response to charges by Sen. Voinovich (R-Oh) that southern conservatives were dragging the GOP down that "I'm on the side of conservatives getting back to core conservative values...there are a lot of us from the South who hold those values, which I think the party is supposed to be about. We strayed from them in the past few years, and that's why we performed so badly in the national elections."

Really, Dave? And how does paying, umm, "professional" women to dress you in diapers fit in with those "values?"

From the "Well Duh" File

So Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, pictured below



is going to vote against Judge Sotomayor. I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

Sorry, haven't been around much. I've been very busy lately, working hard to help the people of Alaska.

BIRTHER CONGRESSIONAL LIST - FIRST INSTALLMENT

Submitted as a public service to promote good government, here is an incomplete list of "Birther" Republican Congresspersons, who are on record as subscribing to the wingnut conspiracy theory that President Obama is not a natural-born citizen. Please share this information with the voters from their respective districts who will have the last word on whether these nutjobs win re-election. Hey, there are some nice 30 second TV and radio spots here for their opponents, too!

In fairness, Rep. Trent Franks deserves our respect for answering a simple question directly, honestly, and correctly, regardless of his ultra-conservative views.


REP. CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS (R-WA)
REP. CHARLES BOUSTANY (R-LA)
REP. TIM MURTHY (R-PA)
REP. AARON SCHOCK (R-IL) WISHY WASHY!
REP. DAVE REICHERT (R-WA)
REP. TOM “ROCKY”/”CHARIOTS OF FIRE” PRICE (R-GA)
REP. THADDEUS McCOTTER (R-MI) WEAK DODGE!
REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY (R-NE)
REP. GREG HARPER (R-MS)



REP. TRENT FRANKS (R-AZ) YAY! WE FOUND AN HONEST RIGHT WINGER!!!

What’s Wrong with this Picture?

After the President said that the Cambridge police Department had acted “stupidly” in arresting distinguished Harvard professor Louis Gates in his own home, he made more conciliatory statements today that both the white police seargent and professor Gates had “overreacted.” The President is correct, politically, in dialing this back.

But here’s what I don’t get. Did anyone see the Massachusetts police unions press conference today? (See picture below.) I happen to think the picture is at variance with the AP story lead on this, by Bob Salsberg, which was widely distributed in the mainstream media:

“CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A multiracial group of police officers today stood with the white officer who arrested a prominent black Harvard scholar and asked President Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick to apologize for comments the union leaders called insulting.”

“Multiracial group of police officers” –– really?


When the camera pans out to include the entire group, there are a whole lot of ethnic white middle-aged men (sorry, but these guys come across as Archie Bunkers to me) with two African American men and two women that I could see –– tokenism at its best. One of the women was hidden behind a wall of plump beer-and-donuts white guys, and the other was a P.R. step ‘n fetchit responsible for tapping microphones and making sure everyone exited stage right. None of the black officers or women onstage spoke or were introduced as leaders in their organizations.

Is it me, or was this lineup of Massachusetts' finest long on obesity and white ethnic homogeneity and short on diversity and promotional opportunities for women and minorities?

Chris Matthews (mixed feelings about this guy) made an awful analogy, when he said had it been a black police officer and the “GREAT” white Henry Kissinger who was arrested in his home, the black officer would have gotten all kinds of grief for treating such a “distinguished” academic in this way.

Not from me, he wouldn’t. My hope is, the black officer would be arresting Kissinger on an order of extradition to a ballsy country, like Spain, or to the World Court at the Hague, which the Obama Administration had rejoined as signatory, to be tried for war crimes.

The black officer might not get an invite to the White House for a beer with the President, but he wouldn’t lack for invitations from those of us who believe no one is above the law.

The Dumbass Hall of Fame

Our newest inductee of this special and elite section of the corner is Peter J. Riga of Houston, Texas. In an inspiring work of pure genius appearing in today's Chicago Tribune, our newest Hall of Famer pens that

History is both revealing and obscuring. Walter Cronkite was a superb TV anchorman--calm, collected and intelligent. The one time he deviated from his position was a disaster. When he came back from Vietnam and told the American people that Vietnam was a stalemate that we could not win, that was a turning point of public opinion. Even then-President Lyndon Johnson said that view from Cronkite lost America the conflict in Vietnam. That was precisely when we were on the verge of victory in Vietnam and Cronkite turned public opinion massively against the war, which then became unsustainable for the president. In other words, Cronkite was indirectly responsible for our defeat in Vietnam, which history will show.

Mr. Riga, I have little to add to your perceptive grasp of history except to point out the obvious, that you are a pathetic and delusional little man.

And oh, by the way...

,

Those Obamas were clever birth conspirators

Imagine the depth of the conspracy, when the Honolulu papers printed the phony birth announcement!!

Matthews Exposes Whacko Birther Wingnuts

I'm not a big Chris Matthews fan, but every so often he's pitch perfect, as in this instance:



Anyone up for the circus, free of charge? Look up your local Repugnant town hall meeting and show up incognito, which means dressing like Joe the Plumber with an American flag in each hand. Be sure to bring a copy of President Obama's birth certificate. When the Birthers disrupt the meeting screaming that Obama is not a citizen, stand up and demand to be heard by waving your American flags. As soon as the dumbass Birthers cede you the microphone, proceed to mock them by producing the President's birth certificate and reading its contents aloud. Then call for all red-blooded Americans to stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance while you make your getaway.

One more thing. Today, Lou Dobbs of CNN -- aka Faux News Lite -- picked up on this garbage, venting his ill-concealed racism by calling President Obama "undocumented."

Sotomayor and the 2nd

One opinion that the Repubs seized on in the Sotomayor hearings was Maloney v. Cuomo (link). In that decision, she authored an opinion that was absolutely correct in holding that the Heller 2nd Amendment decision did not apply to the states. If you are completely conversant with 14th Amendment incorporation, or aren't interested in legal geekiness, you may stop reading now.

In The Paper Chase, the imposing Prof. Kingsfield tells his first year students that "You come in here with a skull full of mush, and you leave thinking like a lawyer." I used to think that was crap until I realized that I think like a lawyer. That is what makes explaining 14th Amendment incorporation, which to me seems so easy and obvious, seem so difficult.

First of all, something that there is NO argument about. That FACT is that the so-called Bill of Rights applies BY ITS OWN TERMS only to FEDERAL matters. We have wacko sites that give you headlines that "Sotomayor Ruled That States Do Not Have to Obey Second Amendment." Yup. That woman hates you gun freaks who demand the right to vaporize deer with shoulder mounted rocket launchers. The LAW on this, which Judge Sotomayor followed, was absolutely correct.

On incorporation--the first 10 amendments apply only against the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Beginning in the late 19th century, the Supreme Court decided that certain rights described in the Bill of Rights could be "incorporated" or made applicable against the states. Never has the Supreme Court decided so w/the 2nd--that was not an issue given that DC was federal and the 2nd applied.

The question is not whether Heller is binding but rather whether individual gun ownership is a fundamental right that should be applied against the states.

Sorry, been under the weather

Methinks the whole damn Love Boat crew has been sick!

Anyway, some scattershot thoughts on the Sotomayor hearings.

Nothing surprising really happened in light of the absurdity of having someone with Jefferson Beauregard Session's record leading the inquisition questioning and what that said about the party. It turned out to be exactly what I expected, the Repubs using the forum to rile up their base on brown people.

That said, the GOP and the Dems both screwed with it. The GOP tried to rally their base, the Dems failed to aim at the twisted direction of the Roberts court.

And THEN the Republicans dragged out one of the Bush administration's tired old tricks, using people in uniform as props. Exactly WHY were the firefighters there? [as an aside, it should be noted that Mr. Ricci is a very litigious fellow. Whenever he feels wronged, he calls one of those pesky "trial lawyers" the Republicans loathe. he is a serial litigator.] Litigants do not appear before appellate court judges. His case before Judge Sotomayor's panel was strictly a paper affair. The judges saw the district court record, read the briefs and heard the lawyers. Period. They would not have seen Frank in person, unless he was in the spectators' benches. He had nothing to add to the hearings except "I'm white, and I'm in uniform. She's not in uniform and she's brown!"

We have also seen the end of confirmation hearings as evaluative and informational inquiries. Now they are just a circus.

First, both sides grandstand, with the liberals equating her to Oliver Wendell Holmes and then the conservatives, after greeting her with some nice platitudes, ask why she hates America and has puppy smoothies for breakfast. Conservatives ask if we can kill this "little baby," liberals ask if an ex-con child rapist meth addict should be able to buy a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher under the 2nd, and of course the judge rightfully says that she can't speculate on future rulings.

Spector came close to an opportunity during his ever-so-predictable "why doesn't the court hear more cases" rant but wandered off into asking about one specific one. Of course she can't answer that, Senator. She wasn't there. She didn't read the briefs, wasn't in on conference how could she say that any particular case could have been heard.

Senators, STOP WASTING TIME and leave the community theater to me. Sen. Spector, ask her and future nominees about their GENERAL PHILOSOPHY of court docketing. What KINDS of cases need to be heard? What are your philosophical criteria in the abstract for seeing a case as decision-worthy?

And to the rest of you, leave your pet issues behind. Ask about judicial philosophy, her views on 14th amendment incorporation, the proper balance of federalism, etc.

For the love of God, ask questions that might actually be answered.

The Word is REPREHENSIBLE, Senator Hatch. Can You Say It?

In light of the following exchange between Senator Orrin Hatch and Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in which the Senator indignantly condemns an ad campaign by People for the American Way against the New Haven firefighter litigants, compelling Judge Sotomayor to call the ad -- sight unseen -- “reprehensible,”



Senator Hatch is invited to revise and extend his remarks regarding this utterly despicable anti-Sotomayor ad by the wingnut group with the incongruous title of “Committee for Justice”:



Senator Hatch’s mild rebuke of such right wing garbage, calling the spot “pretty harsh” and “not the type of ad I would run,” in a statement released by his office, is inadequate and offensive. The ad is an outrageous pack of lies.

The word is “REPREHENSIBLE,” Senator. Can you say it?

Perhaps Sen. Hatch’s reticence to condemn the ad in the strongest terms and in person has to do with the fact that he headlined a 2003 fundraiser for CFJ in which he raised $50,000 for the group.

Context is everything.

End this Session

So the Republicans have decided to make Jeff Sessions, too racist to be confirmed to a judgeship by a Republican Senate



their point man in the Sotomayor attacks.

His parents

must be so proud.

That crazy radical activist judge!

When you say ""I can walk in the shoes of the people who are affected by what the Court does" and I can "bring something different to the Court," that is just wrong. That is irresponsible and shows the judge is prejudiced.....right?

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Oh, wait--Clarence Thomas said that.

We've been Dicked. Isn't that "Special?"

C'mon, Mr. Attorney General. Do your job. Protect and defend the constitution. Name a special prosecutor NOW.

Absentee

I'm hoping to come back around here soon, but I'm back in the hospital again. This time it's for a slightly different reason, and when I finish recovering from this surgery, I'll essentially be back to normal. 'bout damned time.

In other news, we have good health care, so this whole process is something we can afford. I've gotten quality nursing and medical advice, I get supplies when I need them, and everyone is nice. There are tens of millions of Americans who don't get this, and that turns a very hard experience into something unbearable.

Happy Bastille Day!

I know Bastille Day isn't until Tuesday, and I know Lula doesn't eat things that used to have faces, but I think she gets a kick out of my cooking posts. Here is tonight's French feast, accompanied by Parisian jazz from the 30s (Django Reinhardt)

BASTILLE DAY MENU

Escargots Provencal
Snails in the Style of Provence

Salade Française du Marché avec Chevre
French Market Salad with Goat Cheese

Paquets de Veau avec de la Sauce à Vin Blanc
Veal Packets with White Wine Sauce

Gateaux Peter
Peter's Special Chocolate Cake

Yahoo's Demographic: 70% YAHOOS!

Seen on the Yahoo main page today:


I dropped the following comment in their electronic suggestion box for comments on how to "improve" their service:

Re: Judge Sotomayor confirmation survey

Do you realize that 70% of your users (or those who answered the survey) are ignorant YAHOOS? Is this something you people are particularly proud of? Just wondering … I don't know why such numbers surprise me, but they do. I suggest you post a follow-up survey:

"Have any of the 70% (morons) who voted not to confirm Judge Sotomayor actually READ any of her decisions?

- YES

- NO

- I'm a YAHOO (functionally illiterate); I just vote as I'm told"

Rove, aka Turdblossom, Testifies on Prosecutor Firings

Former Bush White House official Karl Rove was questioned by House Judiciary Committee lawyers Tuesday on any role he may have played in politically motivated firings of U.S. attorneys. - msnbc.com politics

Robert Strange McNamara, Butcher of Vietnam, Is Dead

He was so utterly reviled in his time that a meek hippie artist from Martha's Vineyard tried to kill him and nearly succeeded. The architect of the Vietnam war died with the knowledge that every attempt he made at redemption was met with ferocious pushback from those who had witnessed the ghoulish consequences of his folly. They would not permit him to rewrite the history of the men and women and children who perished in Vietnam. There would be no whitewash. And no sympathy for a broken, delusional apparatchik.

The commentary (excerpted below) by Joseph Galloway is an eloquent reminder that the strong feelings McNamara provoked in those who witnessed his role as the architect of America's tragedy in Vietnam have not diminished over the years, nor on the occasion of his death:


Reading an obit with great pleasure

Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." —Clarence Darrow (1857–1938)

Well, the aptly named Robert Strange McNamara has finally shuffled off to join LBJ and Dick Nixon in the 7th level of Hell.

McNamara was the original bean-counter — a man who knew the cost of everything but the worth of nothing.

Back in 1990 I had a series of strange phone conversations with McNamara while doing research for my book We Were Soldiers Once And Young. McNamara prefaced every conversation with this: "I do not want to comment on the record for fear that I might distort history in the process." Then he would proceed to talk for an hour, doing precisely that with answers that were disingenuous in the extreme — when they were not bald-faced lies.

Upon hanging up I would call Neil Sheehan and David Halberstam and run McNamara's comments past them for deconstruction and the addition of the truth.

The only disagreement I ever had with Dave Halberstam was over the question of which of us hated him the most. In retrospect, it was Halberstam.

Hitler Reacts to Sarah Palin's Resignation

"There is absolutely nothing I want to do in Indiana."

Johnny Depp as Dillinger gave us the title quote, but I have to agree with him!

While visting the mother-in-law in Fort Wayne this weekend, I went to the neighborhood bare bones fitness center/gym. They had 8 TVs in front of the treadmills. Four were tuned to Faux News and the other four to Nascar. I kid you not.

CNN's Castellanos Mired in 20th Century Cold War

Heard on CNN from their regular right wing Cuban-American contributor, Alex Castellanos:

"President Bush looked into Putin's soul, and President Obama blinked. The less Russia has to worry about nuclear deterrence, the more aggressive they will become on their Western Front."

What? In the space of a couple of sentences, this right wing agitprop talking head managed to interject three Cold War clichés: Obama "blinked" (Cuban Missile Crisis), "nuclear deterrence," aka MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction), and "aggressive on their Western Front," which conjures up all sorts of Cold War imagery of an aggressive Russian bear surrounded by a wall of satellite states. It's worth noting that Castellanos is an old school right wing Cuban-American. These types are UberHawks who still believe the U.S. would be justified in invading Cuba.

The neocons count on the short attention span of the American people. Lest we forget, this kind of talk is what got us into Iraq. Who can remember when the neocon lunatics were drafting white papers in the 90s calling for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, based on the flimsiest of pretexts? Despite their sometime halfhearted mea culpas, the neocons remain true believers. We're bogged down in the quagmire of Iraq, thanks to the neocons, and now Castellanos invokes Cold War fantasies of a resurgent Russia with the old battle lines drawn. Never mind that Russia and the U.S. concluded an agreement to allow U.S. military aircraft ferrying weapons and supplies to Afghanistan to fly over Russian territory.

Neocons such as Castellanos are certifiably insane. Haven't they done enough when they were making disastrous foreign policy in the Bush White House? Now Castellanos is sniping from the sidelines making absurd Cold War statements -- one more reason to hate CNN.

The last of the 20th Century Cold Warriors, Robert MacNamara, is dead. He spent his waning days a tortured, pathetic soul trying to justify his tragic mistakes in Vietnam.

Get with the program, Castellanos. In case you've been sleepwalking for the past 40 years, this is the 21st Century. Really, it is.

Don't go away mad, just go away

She stepped down in part because the national media attacked her? I hope that people remember that if that moron runs again in 2012.

Happy Independence Day!

I do this every year, but TODAY is the actual anniversary of independence. On July 2, 1776, the 2nd Continental Congress adopted Richard Henry Lee's resolution that these colonies "are, and of right to be, free and independent states." [The actual declaration document was adopted on the 4th--I guess the 4th of July either had a better ring to it or a better press agent. Besides, you'd have to change all the white sale flyers]

As John Adams, the leading light of independence, wrote to Abigail:

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."

So you all have my permission to take today off!

From the Governor

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Office of the Governor

I am sure that everyone in this great state knows of my recent actions. I have embarrassed myself and damaged my family, this office and this state. After careful and prayerful reflection, I have made the difficult decision to stay in office and continue to say really stupid shit.

Thank you.

Governor Mark Sanford

No More Excuses

Does John Cornyn know something we don't? Because that's the message he sent out after Al Franken finally won his seat and his day in court. Clearly, Repug Sen. Cornyn is counting on the Dems reverting to their historic spineless form, hence his mocking challenge. What's he got to lose?

The truth is, the Democratic Party shouldn't be cowed by Cornyn's trash talking, simply because Cornyn happens to be right in this instance.

Elections have consequences. The Democrats have a SUPERMAJORITY in the United States Senate for the first time in a generation. The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled, Norm Coleman has conceded, and Mr. Franken goes to Washington ... AT LAST.

Sixty votes. Count 'em, 60: SIX-ZERO.

Got that, President Obama? Got that, Harry Reed? Excuse my French, but SCREW THE REPUBLICANS. (No more than they're screwing themselves, anyway.)

Time to pass Healthcare reform, RE-REGULATE WALL STREET, and start implementing a green energy economy.

Is there reason to be optimistic? Sadly NO, not as long as there are six or seven ConservaDem DINOS tiptoeing through the tulips in the Senate, while President Obama persists in his tired appeals to "bipartisanship" only to have the Repugnants slam his policies like a piñata.

Time to stand and deliver, Mr. President -- if you must, make the jellyfish in the Democratic Party GROW A SPINE.

Obama-Be-Bobby. We'll see.

Will MN finally have two senators? - YES

MN Supreme Court rules unanimously (the real kind, not the Limbaugh kind) in favor of Franken. Will Pawlenty finally sign the certificate and declare this debacle at an end, or will he hold up the GOP standard and continue disenfranchising his state?

Apparently, Coleman conceded. Now we've got 60. Let's get something done.

Sotomayor and the Supremes

In the bizarro world that the gelatinous Rush Limbaugh inhabits, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Circuit Judge Sotomayor is a racist.

What a joke.

Title VII discrimination law is a VERY complex area in which the previous Supreme Court precedents on disparate impact were muddled at best. Judge Sotomayor did NOT write the opinion (which admittedly was rather brief given the complexity of the matter and the importance of the case) which 1) AFFIRMED the district court's holding, 2) was consistent with controlling, while murky, precedent, 3) was left undisturbed by the 2nd Circuit sitting en banc (and Rush, that doesn't mean where you go to cash a check) and 4) would have been affirmed by FOUR Supreme Court justices, while the conservatives and Kennedy actually re-wrote the law in their opinion.

The case shows one thing, and one thing only--she is a jurist sitting smack dab in the middle of the American legal mainstream.