Now the Gray Lady Is . . . SATAN!?

The Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, fired back at the growing controversy surrounding Pope Benedict XVI’s inaction in the face of a generations-old sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Holy See to its very core leading into Good Friday and Easter weekend by -- blaming the media. The target of the Vatican’s ire is none other than my favorite newspaper, the venerable New York Times, a.k.a. the Gray Lady. Rather than addressing the truth, the Vatican has decided to manage the crisis with the oldest losing ploy in the world: spin and blame the messenger. Evidently, the Vatican has made a calculation that the best defense to its generational sexual abuse scandal is not a mea cupa followed by internal soul-searching that leads to meaningful reforms of the priesthood, but to attack the media, particularly the Times, for its sharp criticism of the Pope.

Ever the butt of good-natured jokes, from Rolling Stone (“All the News that Fits”) to Jon Stewart, it’s not as if the the Times has butted heads with Titans before (the Pentagon Papers) and lost. The Vatican cannot win this particular fight and should have realized the futility of attacking arguably the world’s most influential newspaper. The fact that the Pope’s apologists have chosen to attack the Times' reporters and columnists by name, in a veiled attempt at intimidation, will not work in a secular world of excommunication-resistant laws.


In a resentful riposte to the Times, Cardinal William J. Levada, current prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, singled out for discredit the reporting of Times senior columnist Laurie Goodstein and others: “I do not have time to deal with the Times’s subsequent almost daily articles by Rachel Donadio and others, much less with Maureen Dowd’s silly parroting of Goodstein’s 'disturbing report.'” Without getting into the weeds of the Times’ excellent reporting, the central question boils down to this: When did Pope Benedict, then-Cardinal Ratzinger, know about the sexual abuse by Fr. Lawrence Murphy, the Milwaukee priest who abused some 200 deaf children in an archdiocesan school from 1950 to 1974, and what did he do about it? It’s not that complicated.

The Vatican’s fiercest critic, Christopher Hitchens of Vanity Fair, fired a shot across the bow when he wrote:

This grisly little man is not above or outside the law. He is the titular head of a small state. We know more and more of the names of the children who were victims and of the pederasts who were his pets. This is a crime under any law (as well as a sin), and crime demands not sickly private ceremonies of “repentance,” or faux compensation by means of church-financed payoffs, but justice and punishment.

In response to the growing criticism the Church has now doubled down and gone Medieval. Noted Italian exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, says the press criticism is “prompted by the devil.” Really? And who is the patron saint of pedophiles? Fr. Armoth may be well advised to redirect his unusual skills to exorcising the cancer of pedophile sexual abuse from the Catholic Church, because, as they say, denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. This crime is so heinous that the slightest hint of a coverup will be catastrophic for the Church. It is time the Vatican came clean. Enough is enough.

Michael Steele Has Been Awfully QUIET This Week

Where is the RNC’s gift that keeps on giving to Democrats? Ever since Bondagegate slithered onto the national scene this week, the usually media happy Chairman Steele has been conspicuous by his absence from any place a microphone or camera may be present.

Is he busy massaging GOP assets at CLUB VOYEUR? Has he been abducted by aliens, or did Tony Perkins’ warriors for Christ drag Steele off to an undisclosed location for an intervention that may last till November? Still, the chances of him voluntarily falling on his sword by Friday are next to nil; he likes his perks too much, he told Perkins. Private jets, lavish hotel suites, bondage parties . . . Oh, and that fundraising thing, not so good.

Sister Sarah, Dominatrix, RNC Bondage: The GOP’s Black Leather Fetish

Was Sarah Palin’s bizarre sartorial faux pas at a McCain rally merely an accident of her execrable taste in clothing? Or was it a calculated choice of campy wear to spark synapses in the wingnuts’ reptilian fascist brains? Sarah Palin has proven her ability to wring every last government dole dollar from her adoring Teabagger fans, but fashion plate she is not. So when she hopped onto the stage to Gramps McCain’s frozen smile sporting a black leather biker jacket, the first thing that came to mind was “WTF?!”

Sister Sarah is as déclassé as can be, but this is over the top, even for her. The right wing’s subliminal sartorial messenger struck a decidedly kinky or fascist, pose, depending on which way one looked at it. Or both. Consider how often the right wing has linked Palin with the BDSM scene as a dominant fantasy. Just Google “Palin dominatrix” and you’ll get about two million hits. Prominent wingers have been queueing up for the kinky pleasures of being her sex slaves. At the risk of tossing your meal (NSFM), who could ever forget the revolting ejaculations of National Review’s Rich Lowry:

“I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.”

Not to be outdone, wingnut pansy Jonah Goldberg injected his own Freudian version of “Jonah’s Complaint:”

“First, let me just get it out of the way: I think she is a tremendously sexy woman. How this will effect the race, I have no idea, but it’s just got to. It’s not an issue of glamour so much as a kind of Paglian chthonic sexual power. Set in that context, her unabashed embrace of her fecundity and motherhood as a kind of qualification makes a lot of sense…Palin exudes sexual confidence and maternal authority…It makes a lot of men uncomfortable, but that’s because it’s the kind of female power they are most often subject to, and most often fail to successfully resist. I spent much of my life taking orders from women a lot like Sarah Palin — women like my mother and my Iowa public school teachers…When a woman like Sarah Palin says “jump,” I am inclined to deferentially inquire into the requirements of this jump.”

Sorry. I should have warned you to have barf bags at the ready, even if only for dry heaves. I know you were excited, Jonah: It’s “affect” and not “effect.” These panting bloviations aside, Sarah Palin has become the object of black leather fascist fantasies of reptilian wingnut males, a festishist's dream come true, as well as of the women who see in Palin a real “role” model of how to behave around their men-folk.

Fashionista website STYLEITE missed the forest for the trees when, instead of focusing on the politics (OK, it’s not their thing), said “we want to take a moment and ask Sarah, who on earth told you to wear that jacket?” All those Rich Lowry and Jonah Goldberg Palin wankers out there, that’s who! STYLEITE continued, “Palin’s zipper biker jacket that she paired with a chandelier earring and her token librarian glasses seemed highly inappropriate and, frankly, ugly.” Well yeah, but her target Teabagger/fascist audience isn’t exactly fashion-conscious.

Face it. Conservatives have problems with women, particularly strong women. They are uncomfortable with women’s growing professional assertiveness. Conservatives were bypassed by the feminist movement, which they regard as a liberal plot to emasculate them. Conservatives pay lip service to what they will derisively sneer as “politically correct” conduct between the sexes, which compels them to treat women as equals (but really not so equal) under the law. Until they exit their regulated environments with OSHA regulations and watchdog HR departments and go home to their bunkers, trailers, and suburban enclaves, before heading out to the Teabagger rally, perchance to catch a glimpse of Sarah Palin, where they get to be themselves.


Come to think of it, the GOP elites have had a disturbing flirtation of late with the Party high life and BDSM master-slave sexual inclinations. RNC Chairman Michael Steele is traveling in style: private jet and lavish hotels, and a $2,000 tab charged to the RNC for a GOP party animal’s excellent adventure at a BDSM lesbian bondage theme strip club in West Hollywood. Niiice. Call it the Palindrome: Black leather biker gear for the GOP’s biggest draw, dominatrix Sarah Palin.

Finally there’s David Ito, the career L.A. SEC supervisor who was surfing porn at the office for more than 1,800 times over a 17-day period on his government issue computer at the height of the GW Bush economic collapse. To date, porn warrior Ito has not been disciplined for literally jerking off your 401k. In fact, he received a promotion. Clearly, the SEC is not up to the task of its enhanced responsibilities enforcing expanded financial services regulations. Not as long as Ito, well . . . you know.

Go, family values. Get thee to a nunnery. Oh wait, that’s not safe either. Okay, vote for the Tea “Party” candidate. Democrats are loving the three-way split. Um . . . not ménage-a-trois.

When Vice Presidents Curse: There IS a Difference

Healthcare Toon Time

This One's for You, Ted

Today, after voting for the Reconciliation healthcare reform bill, the Senate observed a minute of silence in memory of Senator Edward Kennedy, who championed healthcare reform and made it the cause of his life.

This Is How Conservative Think Tanks Treat Heretics

You know how conservatives always talk a good game about liberal intellectuals stifling the free exchange of ideas in so-called “elite” institutions such as universities, think tanks, and research organizations? It was practically an article of faith in conservative circles that the big bad liberal “elites” literally censored conservative “free thinking.” This is, of course, absolute hogwash.

Anyway, the proof is in the puddding. Enter David Frum, whose incisive criticism of fellow conservatives made him “a high-profile critic of Republican legislative leaders.” At least that’s what Arthur C. Brooks, president of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, said to Mr. Frum over lunch, before asking him to stay on as a non-salaried fellow at the Institute. That’s like the boss telling an employee, “You’re such a valued worker that I’ll have to ask you to work for free!”

Naturally, Mr. Frum refused. And he was forced out. We trust that Brooks picked up the lunch tab.

Coultergeist Does Canada, Gets That "Deer in the Headlights Look" (Is Back for More)

Lesson No. 1, boys and girls: Fox News progeny must stay close to home; taking side trips to educated countries, like Canada, is bad for your health.

Lesson No. 2: When you make it a career to make stuff up (Palin, Coultergeist, Malkin, O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, Rove, Morris, Carlson, Limbaugh) in the network that rewards lies-per-seconds records, it's not a good career move to be interviewed by someone who actually knows their facts and isn't afraid to embarass you.

Believe it or not, I felt sorry for the Coultergeist. Even Freakazoids have feelings!

Johnny Come Lately and the Right’s Twisted Vision of America and Hatred for President Obama

Finally, four days after repeated instances of violence and vandalism erupted against the home of one lawmaker’s brother and regional offices of House Democratic members who voted for healthcare reform, after phoned, mailed, shouted, faxed, signage death threats were made against individual House Democrats, after angry protesters hurled vitriol and racist invective against legends of the civil rights struggles John Lewis and James Clyburn, after homophobic epithets were screamed at Barney Frank and xenophobic language shouted at a Latino House Democrat, after an African American House member was spat on by a rabid Teabagger egged on by sign-waving Republicans outside, after Texas Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer yelled “baby killer!” from the House floor at Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, who then received multiple death threats –- and after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Democratic Whip James Clyburn emerged from their Caucus meeting with Congressional security to denounce the incidents of violence, the climate of incivility, and report on the widespread threats –-

Only then did . . .

House Republican Leader John Boehner, with Eric Cantor, see fit to condemn the violence:

“I know many Americans are angry over this health care bill, and that Washington Democrats just aren't listening. But, as I've said, violence and threats are unacceptable. That's not the American way. We need to take that anger and channel it into positive change. Call your Congressman, go out and register people to vote, go volunteer on a political campaign, make your voice heard -- but let's do it the right way.”

Democrats are not satisfied with the late Republican condemnation of violence, including a severed gas line in the home of Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello’s brother, who has four children. His address was posted online by the Teabaggers. The FBI is investigating. This is the result of a widespread campaign of lies, smears, and misinformation by a recklessly irresponsible (yes, it is an oxymoron) wingnut right:

• 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist. The belief that Obama is a “domestic enemy” is widely held—a sign of trouble yet to come.

• 57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim;

• 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was “not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president;”

• 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is “doing many of the things that Hitler did;”

• 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama “may be the Antichrist.”

There is a name for this -- the “Obama Derangement Syndrome,” defined as the “pathological hatred of the President posing as patriotism has infected the Republican Party” from the violent fringes of its Teabagger storm troops. This hatred has now expanded to encompass all of the Democratic Party. This is a short list of those who bear direct responsibility for the incidents of violence, vandalism, and now as Rep. Bart Stupak affirmed, “domestic terrorism:”

• Teabaggers (rebels without a clue, many packing heat);

• Republicans who incited this violence with lies and misinformation, and never condemned the racism, the Hitler signs, the gun signs, the Nazi concentration camp signs right in front of their faces;

• Dick Armey, leader of the astro-turf FreedomWorks Teabaggers;

• Michelle Bachmann, who called for an investigation of “un-American” Democratic members of Congress;

• Sarah Palin with her “death panels” lie, crosshair icons to “target” Democratic legislators, and incendiary language “LOAD UP;”

• Texas Gov. Rick Perry talking up “tyranny” and secessionism;

• Birthers and their campaign to delegitimize President Obama;

• Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, Fox “News,” Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, right wing hate radio, Bill O’Reilly, Karl Rove, Dick Morris, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Gretchen Carlson -- the entire wingnut anti-Obama propaganda machine;

• Joe Wilson, for calling the President a liar, breaking a longstanding tradition of civility in the well of the House, and then raising money off of it;

• Frank Luntz, a modern Joseph Goebbells, the GOP propaganda minister;
  

• RNC and Michael Steel for turning a blind eye to its worst excesses; and on and on and on.

As one Ohio Democratic Congressman who was targeted by the Republicans’ storm troopers said of a careless remark by John Boehner after confronting him: “Words and actions have consequences.” Indeed they do. You cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater. Ever.

Texas Textbooks Become Campaign Issue Where they Belong, Unfortunately

Bill White, the Democratic candidate for governor in Texas, has called on Governor Rick Perry to ask (can the governor order them to?) the State Board of Re-Education to send the politicized right wing social studies curriculum they recently voted on back to committee. How this will help Mr. White politically in a predominantly red state is unclear, but by making it a campaign issue the Democratic candidate elevates its profile nationally. This is one of those issues that the more people -- parents, educators, voters -- become aware of the more concerned they become. And the more difficult it becomes for Governor Perry to try to defend the ultra-conservative political bias being injected into an educational curriculum.

This is what happens when a group of right wing extremists ram through the Texas Board of Re-Education a political and ideological document masquerading as a social studies curriculum. It has become clear from the controversy surrounding the rewriting of history by commission (there is no “wall of separation” of church and state) and omission (Thomas Jefferson) among many other offenses, e.g. against the contributions of non-whites to our nation’s history, that the Board is seriously dysfunctional, a national disgrace and international laughingstock. A Board member who opposed the changes, said they amounted to a “whitewash.” As if education isn’t enough of a problem the Board’s actions, unchalleged, will do the most damage precisely to the education of children who would rely on these biased and deeply flawed textbooks.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that two of the right wing Board members were voted out, as the public became aware of what was going on, yet will remain to cast a final vote on the changes in May, after a comment period. They have no intention of recusing themselves, and will be voting for final adoption of the changes as lame ducks. This, by itself, is a fatal flaw in the system since it is clear that at least two votes will be cast by defeated Board members who were in effect fired from office by the voters for making these changes.

The more the public becomes aware of this issue nationally, because it has national implications as Texas standards are widely adopted by other states, the greater the public alarm and pressure to reverse, or at least limit these changes to Texas.

Hey Boehner, Teabaggers, TAKE THIS! YES, WE CAN.

Vice President Biden: “This is a BIG fucking DEAL!”

Author of Republicans' “Waterloo” has Plan B: Repeal the Bill

Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, seeks to revive his “Waterloo” prediction -– “it’s Waterloo all right: ours,” wrote conservative David Frum -– by introducing a bill to repeal healthcare reform. DeMint, not the brightest bulb in a party populated by dimwits and troglodytes, is infamous for his trenchant prediction that healthcare reform would be President Obama’s Waterloo and “break” him.

Extending the Napoleonic metaphor to its logical conclusion, DeMint seems determined to fate the GOP to “exile” in the Isle of St. Helena with another volcanic blunder of Mount St. Helens proportions for Republicans. As any fifth-grade civics student outside Texas could tell DeMint, even if the Republicans succeeded in their repeal scheme the President would veto it.

Good luck, Senator DeMint, getting enough votes to override:

• A prohibition on pre-existing condition exclusions;

• Insurance for 32 million uninsured Americans;

• A prohibition on dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;

• Closing the prescription drug donut hole for seniors;

• Tax credits for small businesses to purchase coverage;

• Eliminating lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;

• Requiring plans to cover an enrollee's dependent children until age 26;

• Preventive care services and immunizations without cost-sharing;

• Internal and external appeals process for consumers to appeal new insurance plan decisions;

• Premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures;

• Public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs;

• Enhanced fraud, waste, and abuse screening;

• Medicare expansion to underserved rural areas;

• Medical loss ratio of 85 percent or more for Blue Cross/Blue Shield to take advantage of IRS tax benefits;

• Better early retiree health benefits for persons aged 55-64 to reduce coverage costs;

• Better consumer information on the Net;

• A two-year temporary credit to encourage investment in new therapies for the prevention and treatment of illnesses.

Democrats will be “deelighted!”-- to borrow Teddy Roosevelt’s effusive expression of optimism -- to stand in opposition to the Republicans’ Dickensian plans. T.R. was the first president to propose universal healthcare, and he never backed down from a good fight. Democrats head into the November mid-term elections with the historic accomplishment of healthcare reform -- the missing third leg (after Social Security and Medicare) in the Democratic Party’s great progressive platform, as President Obama said, “after a century of striving,” with the winds of change at our backs.

Healthcare reform is now the law of the land.

Healthcare Roundup: From Teabagger Viciousness to Democrats Making History, Again

Besides the filthy racist signs, there was this incitement to violence and treason (see sign below). Hopefully, the FBI and Secret Service are investigating and questioning these Teabaggers. Free speech doesn’t mean yelling fire in a crowded theater.

As if the treasonous and violent signs weren’t enough there were the racial slurs hurled at African American Congressmen John Lewis, a legend of the civil rights struggles, and James Clyburn, another being spat upon, shouting "faggot" at Barney Frank, and “go back to Mexico!” at a Latino Congressman.

Is there any rational person in this nation who would find such behavior acceptable? How about the Republican “rep” as an effective opposition party (joke) what’s left of it, with GOP Reps. egging these lunatics on and then saying, oh it's just a few bad apples, as they head into the November mid-term elections?

It's far more than a few bad apples, and it goes without saying that the Republicans have a moral responsibility to condemn this ugliness in the harshest of terms, just as the leaders of the so-called “Tea Party” movement do. 
Not that it’s going to happen. The new Republican “robo-call” might as well be a generic apology. Like the one issued today by Texas (is anybody surprised?) Congressman Randy Neugebauer after yelling “baby killer!” at Congressman Bart Stupak from the cesspool that has become the Republican side of the aisle in Congress.

I’ve seen four-legged basement claiming racehorses, non-winners for life, that are a classier bunch than these “Tea Party” animals and their Republican acolytes.

The Republican rhetoric got ever more outrageous as their frustration and desperation mounted. One congressman defended the Teabaggers’ conduct by claiming the healthcare bill would take us on a path to totalitarianism. Ayn Rand Objectivist Paul Ryan (pictured below) said the bill is a “fiscal Frankenstein,” (noo, he is) and wacko Marsha Blackburn said the bill, which expands the private marketplace for the insurance companies, means “dependency on the federal government and the death of freedom.” Right. The United States remains the only country in the world in which for-profit insurance companies deliver healthcare. They’ll be regulated, but their profit margin will hardly be affected.

Finally, kudos to Nancy Pelosi, whose place is secure in history beyond being the first woman Speaker of the House, but also, more importantly, one of the greatest Speakers in the history of Congress. Love her or hate her, no one will ever doubt her incredible results-oriented leadership style after Sunday’s historic vote. In a splendid symbolic move, Speaker Pelosi and the entire House Democratic leadership proudly walked the Teabagger gauntlet to demonstrate they would not be intimidated by the viciousness of the clueless haters.

This is only a beginning, but a good beginning -– a foundation to be built upon. It’s a proud day to be a Democrat. Once again, we’re on the right side of history, and Republicans are on the outside looking in, with envy, anger, and that loser’s hangdog expression.

Quotable: David Frum

“Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s. ... So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.”

David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush

I agree with Mr. Frum. He is an astute enough student of history and politics to have realized the Republicans were playing a dangerous ideological all-or-nothing game with the President. By vowing to oppose every initiative of the President’s, even those in which common ground could be found; by whipping up their angry fringe, the Teabaggers, which in my view they and the punditocracy have grossly overestimated; and by playing infantile process games of obstruction, the Republicans gambled everything on Jim DeMint’s catchy but recklessly self-destructive prediction of President Obama’s “Waterloo” -- and lost.

Deal with it, Republicans. And try cutting the Teabaggers loose. You stoked that ugly flame; now you own it. David Frum may be a minority of one -- or three -- in the GOP.

The President's Victory Lap

Runner-Up: THE VICTORY TWEET

Tweet of the Day: LIFE ON PLANET EARTH AFTER HOUSE PASSES HEALTHCARE REFORM

This just about sums up the Republican/FOX Democratic DOOM/Apocalypse after the Democratic House of Representatives passes the healthcare reform bill, Don’t ya think!

Alternate nightmare: Red sun rising, red dawn, red sky . . . blue state, flying monkeys everywhere?

THE CLOSER

What a tour de force. This was, for me, the most moving speech I have seen President Obama deliver. Like Lincoln, the President appealed to the better angels of our nature, and reminded the people’s representatives why they first got into politics starting out, and most of all, why they became Democrats. Because, he said, there was a moment “I realized if I wasn't willing to step up and be true to the things I believe in, then the system wouldn't change.”

The President continued:

“Something inspired you to get involved, and something inspired you to be a Democrat instead of running as a Republican. Because somewhere deep in your heart you said to yourself, I believe in an America in which we don't just look out for ourselves, that we don't just tell people you're on your own, that we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community, and we are willing to look out for one another, and help people who are vulnerable, and help people who are down on their luck, and give them a pathway to success, and give them a ladder into the middle class.”

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

For the first time in his presidency, President Obama clearly and eloquently articulated why we are Democrats, and not Republicans. Party identification matters, and the Democratic Party was reminded of its roots as the party of the people and of transformational social legislation: Social Security, Civil Rights, and Medicare. While outside the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party screamed ugly epithets at Democratic lawmakers and spat on one black Congressman, inside the halls of Congress the Democratic Congress found its voice anew, inspired by a young president from Illinois who was, himself, inspired by a great Republican president of another era.

Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, has always been among President Obama’s favorites:

“I am not bound to win, but I'm bound to be true.

I’m not bound to succeed, but I’m bound to live up to what light I have.”

Cracking the Whip on Wavering Democrats

Quotable: Bart Stupak, the Whiner

“How’s it been? Like a living hell.”

So whined Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan, whose rigid rejection of language in the healthcare bill that prohibits public funds for abortion, still isn’t good enough for him –- while making the rounds and getting lots of TV face time, extending his 15 minutes -- and even getting a sympathetic ear from Chris Matthews, who seems to be Stupak’s sole remaining friend in the vicinity of Capitol Hill, as Stupak’s imaginary coalition keeps peeling off. Unfortunately for Bart, “Harvey” doesn’t have a vote.

Stupak remains intransigent despite several Catholic organizations coming out in support of the bill, including: The Catholic Health Association; the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in a statement, signed by Religious Sister of Mercy Mother Mary Quentin Sheridan, president of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious; and Network, which represent 59,000 Catholic sisters.

Believe me, Bart, take Rachel Maddow’s advice: You really don’t want to get on the wrong side of the nuns. Neither, for that matter, should the ultra-conservative Catholic Bishops.

Texas Textbook Outrage: What you Can do to Help

I am departing, for a moment, from my usual irreverent posts to make a serious public outreach request. As you may know by now, the Texas Board of Education has voted initially, on a strict party line vote, to adopt an extremist right wing curriculum that will undermine the teaching of science and social studies education by, among many other things

• Claiming that evolution is a lie and the separation of church and state is a myth;

• Rewriting history to promote political agendas; and

• Censoring authors, important historical figures, and ideas that don’t fit into their own narrow worldview.

How you can help: There’s a great organization in Texas doing yeoman work to get the word out and oppose this outrage: the Texas Freedom Network, whose mission statement is to advance “a mainstream agenda of religious freedom and individual liberties to counter the religious right.”

About the Texas Freedom Network:

Founded in 1995, the Texas Freedom Network is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization of more than 30,000 religious and community leaders. Based in Austin, the Texas Freedom Network acts as the state’s watchdog, monitoring far-right issues, organizations, money and leaders. The organization has been instrumental in defeating initiatives backed by the religious right in Texas, including private school vouchers, textbook censorship and faith-based deregulation. 

As the resource of record on the religious right in Texas, the Texas Freedom Network has become a trusted source for producers and reporters from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, National Journal, TIME, all major U.S. broadcast and cable news media, the BBC and the American Bar Association Journal. Texas Freedom Network spokespeople have appeared on ABC World News Tonight and Nightline, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, Dateline NBC, FOX News and The O’Reilly Factor, 60 Minutes II, MSNBC, and National Public Radio.

Texas Freedom Network Outreach Coordinator Judie Niskala informed me that the “Just Educate” petition is TFN’s newly launched campaign to reform the Texas State Board of Education:

“As the only body monitoring and advocating at the SBOE in Texas, we feel it is important to not focus on one subject, but the overall dysfunction of this body. This petition will be used to demonstrate the widespread support for SBOE reform to the legislators during the next legislative cycle (unfortunately the Texas legislature only meets every other year, the next cycle will be January 2011).

Signing this petition will also add you to the SBOE Rapid Response team, which will keep you updated on relevant, timely action you can take. Being in Illinois, you will not be able to attend the next SBOE meeting for public testimony in May, but shortly the amendments and revisions will be online available for public comment. As soon as this happens TFN will send an alert and place information on how to comment on our website.

Finally, Texas Freedom Network will continue to educate members on the happenings at the board (our blog is a great way to remain up-to-date on the most recent goings-on), and we will continue to mobilize members when there are opportunities for public involvement. Most integral is to continue to keep what is happening in the public’s mind, so we can continue to put pressure on the Board. Due to public awareness, recent primary elections represented a major step forward for public education -- at least two of the members of the far-right faction will no longer be serving after the election in November. (find more information here.) TFN will be releasing a C3 voters guide for the general elections, to allow people to know where each candidate stands on the issue. It is through public awareness and pressure that we will be able to reform this board.”

Please sign the petition, join the organization, or subscribe for future information and updates. Texas Freedom Network is doing terrific and important work. You can contact TFN at:

Texas Freedom Network
P.O. Box 1624 // Austin , TX 78767
512-322-0545
www.tfn.org

Memo to Governor Rick Perry: Please Fulfill Your Promise to Lead the Texas Secession From the Union

Considering the recent rewriting of U.S. history in textbooks by right wing Christian and states’ rights fanatics on the Texas Board of Re-Education to, among other things, place Jefferson Davis on a par with Abraham Lincoln; delete Thomas Jefferson from a list of great Enlightenment thinkers; promote the falsehood that there is no wall of separation between church and state and that the Founders were not Deists but, instead, viewed America as a “Christian” nation, thus rendering our social studies curriculum into an ideological, Christian Right, Southern-centric political manifesto; and

Considering your clear, multiple and consistent statements favoring secession of Texas from the Union, that (a) “if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot,” and (b) Texas has a right to secede based on the false historical premise that “when Texas entered the union in 1845 it was with the understanding it could pull out.”

Sidebar:

(Not true, according to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Texas negotiated the power to divide into four additional states at some point if it wanted to but not the right to secede. Ah, but who’s fact-checking.)

We, the people of the Blue states and rational Red states, who oppose your schemes to politicize our children’s education, and will use every available legal means necessary to prevent this Texas poison from spreading beyond your borders, including court challenges and concerted multi-state campaigns to get our states off the Texas list,

Strongly urge you to cease-and-desist your second civil war against America, and fulfill your campaign pledge to Texan secessionists, i.e., making it your first priority to lead the movement for Texas to secede from the Union. And should your secessionist aims be thwarted by the courts or Obama’s evil socialists, ramming stimulus funds and healthcare reform down your liberty-loving, tyranny-hating, beer-guzzling throats,

You will have the solace of knowing there are unreconstructed Confederate allies in a far-off tropical land who are prepared to receive you with open arms, should you (happily, for us) decide to follow GOP Party Boss Rush Limbaugh’s advice, and leave the country forthwith. Rush will be in Costa Rica, the new playground for pedophiles, and a country with universal healthcare, but you; You will be heading further South, to that great collossus of South America.

Behold! The Confederados community in São Paulo, Brasil:

“ Actually we’re the most Southern, and only, really, truly unreconstructed Confederates that there are on Earth because we left before, right after the War, and we never pledged allegiance to the damn Yankee Flag!”

The Confederados in Brasil



Brazil’s Gray Ghosts



Festa dos Confederados



Confederate Party in Brasil

Teabaggers Mock Man With Parkinson's; Chris Matthews Rewrites History

This video, shot by the Columbus Dispatch in front of Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy's district office, includes a segment in which a man with Parkinson’s is mocked and scorned by Teabaggers, one of whom throws dollar bills in his face. Chris Matthews of Hardball, in fine fettle this day (Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Chris!) offered the unfounded fantasy that Ronald Reagan “would have sat down to talk with this guy.”



Chris’s “Reagan Democrat” flirtations are not only annoying, but what’s worse, place him in the Texas Board of Re-Education fiction-over-fact camp. Chris’s promo says he’s a real tough interviewer who will notice “turbulence” and a “weakness” in the interviewees’ arguments, at which point he will pounce. Most of the time, though, I’ve seen him going over that metaphorical waterfall. He should have been tougher with that Texas Board member, the so-called “strict constructionist” who was cloyingly earnest, bemoaning the “trampling on the rights of the minority” while she had proceeded to do just that time and again. It’s not a question of “patterns” (the guy from the Dallas paper was woefully unprepared), it’s about not introducing falsehoods, such as the claim the Founding Fathers were Christians (why didn’t you ask her directly, Chris?) who did not intend there to be a “wall of separation” between church and state (Jefferson’s words) because it is not specified in the Constitution. Remember, Chris, that Board member said she was a “strict constructionist.” That’s CODE for, if it’s not in the Constitution, e.g., the separation of church and state, it doesn’t exist. Therefore, Jefferson is OUT.

That’s the bottom line. As for Ronald Reagan, the president who destroyed our nation’s industrial base and opened the door to the ascendancy of the religious extremists we see today rewriting our history in Texas, I am convinced he will go down in history as one of the worst, most destructive presidents ever. (That is, if our history is written by historians and not right wing hacks with a political and ideological agenda.) It’s one thing to exaggerate Reagan’s presidency (without the “a” to spell Don “SPEED IT UP” Regan) with false encomiums from the right, such as, he “won” the Cold War; it’s another to mythologize the man with nonsense, as Chris has done.



Here’s what I know, Chris: I have a friend who called Reagan Satan because his sister died of AIDS and Reagan did little for those afflicted with this horrible disease, much less even acknowledge it, mentioning AIDS by name only once during his entire presidency. As for your homily about him sitting down with the sick, these quotes come to mind:

“I'd like to harness their youthful energy with a strap.”--Concerning student demonstrations in California, 1966

“Welfare recipients are a faceless mass waiting for a handout.”—1966

“The time has come to stop being our brother's keeper.”--Concerning welfare budget cuts in California, 1967

Oh sure, most of these quotes were made during Reagan’s “Dark Period” as governor, not as the genial dunce who wrecked our country for generations, perhaps forever, destroyed our nation’s industrial base, depleted our middle class, and poisoned our politics with the extremism of the wingnuts. One good thing Reagan did: He radicalized Michael Moore, who was at Ground Zero, America’s rust belt, when the Reagan plagues of the 80s were unleashed on America’s working class.

Reagan didn’t change his stripes as president, he only got better speechwriters. And a cutthroat butler, Don Regan, the power behind the throne who bossed him around with astonishing disrespect, if not for the man, then for the office. This is a quote from Reagan, the president, in which he made light of AIDS:

“[M]aybe the Lord brought down this plague” because “illicit sex is against the Ten Commandments.”

This “Dark” Reagan that the Pollyanna-ish Chris Matthews, with his rose-tinted glasses, refuses to recognize would have certainly taken the side of the Teabaggers. Only in a slightly more dignified fashion, perhaps, which isn’t saying much.

This Is What Democrats Should have been Telling the Public All Along

This is from Rep. John B. Larson, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. These are the healthcare provisions that will take efect IMMEDIATELY UPON PASSAGE OF THE BILL. Why haven't the Democrats been driving these points home to the public sooner?

“As soon as health care passes, the American people will see immediate benefits. The legislation will:

• Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;

• Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;

• Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;

• Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;

• Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;

• Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;

• Require plans to cover an enrollee's dependent children until age 26;

• Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;

• Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;

• Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

By enacting these provisions right away, and others over time, we will be able to lower costs for everyone and give all Americans and small businesses more control over their health care choices.”

Quotable: Dennis Kucinich

“Given all the times I’ve voted against the President, going aboard Air Force One I thought proper attire was a parachute.”

Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, announcing this morning his decision to vote for the healthcare bill. Dennis flew on AF1 with the President on the way to a rally yesterday for healthcare in Strongsville, Ohio which is in Dennis's district. During the rally, when the President was introducing Congressman Kucinich, someone in the audience yelled out, “Vote YES!” The President laughed, turned to Mr. Kucinich, and said, “Did you hear that, Dennis?” Then he asked the audience member to repeat it . . . just in case.

Dennis Kucinich is the strongest proponent of single-payer in Congress. His opposition to the bill has always been principled and the most substantively critical on the Democratic side. But he recognizes this is a first step, and Congress will revisit this bill again and again to improve it, much as it did with Social Security.

Way to go, Dennis!

W., the Texas Cheerleader: "Is Our Children Learning"?

Quotable: Limp Johnny Boehner and "Compassionate" Connie Mack

“There is no way to hide from the biggest vote they will ever cast.”

No shit, Sherlock. The House Republican Leader showing his penchant for stating the obvious. The Republicans’ concern for the well-being of Democrats who vote for healthcare reform is touching, but that is what elections are for. The President has every right, just as Reagan did, to get an up-or-down vote on his major policy initiative. There is always November.

Bring it on, TEABAGGERS!

“I feel sorry for you.”

Florida Congressman Connie Mack, to Democrats sitting across from him, after misrepresenting the effect of the healthcare bill on a woman suffering from breast cancer. Connie, save your crocodile sorrow for the thousands of women who die every year from breast cancer because they have no health insurance.

Monumentally repugnant JERK.

How Would You Like Dr. Frankenstein for Your Coroner?

This hilarious political attack ad takes the prize as the craziest of the bunch. It was from Dwight McKenna, running to unseat nine-time Orleans Parish, LA incumbent Frank Minyard by depicting him as Dr. Frankenstein harvesting organs with his loyal sidekick, Igor. (Is help really this hard to find with double-digit unemployment?) And how could the voters know they had nine times voted for the monster coroner? Is Orleans Parish Zombieland? Questions, questions . . .



Whoever came up with this ad will surely find work for the RNC, just in time for the mid-terms!

Who Says We Don't Have 50 Senate Votes for the Public Option

The public option has consistently polled as the most popular proposal of all the separate components of healthcare reform, which when polled separately get consistent support from the American people. On the Dark Side, the killer insurance industry has lobbied ferociously to keep the public option out of a final healthcare bill. It might be only a sliver, according to President Obama, but it will save hundreds of billions of dollars from the deficit. Isn’t it plain common sense that anything the insurance companies oppose so fiercely has to be good for consumers? The fact is, the votes are there:



So why is it so difficult to get an up-or-down vote on the public option? There are a couple of reasons and they may well intersect. One is that Nancy Pelosi’s headcount may be affected by blue dog DINOs who are shills for the insurance industry. The other is that the White House may have cut a deal with the insurance companies several months ago not to push for a public option. What is not clear is exactly what the White House expects to get in return?

The insurance industry lobbyists have descended “like locusts” on Capitol Hill trying to defeat this bill. Obviously, they would rather not have healthcare reform pass, but if they are going to be regulated, they sure as hell do not want the people to get a taste of HOW GREAT, COST EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT a Medicare-like healthcare option will be for Americans, because it will spell, if not the death, a great diminution of their influence. Late word from a NYT source is that it wasn’t the insurance companies the White House cut a deal with but the Hospitals associations because a public option would give the government more negotiating power on prices. The insurers continue their no-holds-barred opposition while the hospital associations have given their qualified support. Such is the world of Big Money lobbying.

The bottom line is, the public option is good public policy and would be great for consumers, but a threat to the bottom line of hospitals and insurers. That’s what it’s intended to do: foster more competition and efficiencies in the system, while lowering the costs for individuals.

If the Teabaggers Did Nirvana . . .

This is a musical tribute to the know-nothing tradition in American politics so bizarrely promulgated by the Teabaggers and ineptly exploited by the Republicans. This great parody by "Weird Al" Yankovic cuts close to the truth of the day:



What is this song all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out
How do the words to it go?
I wish you'd tell me, I don't know
Don't know, don't know, don't know, ooh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...

Now I'm mumblin' and I'm screamin'
And I don't know what I'm singin'
Crank the volume, ears are bleedin'
I still don't know what I'm singin'
We're so loud and incoherent
Boy, this oughta bug your parents
Yeah!

*belch*

hing!

It's unintelligible
I just can't get it through my skull
It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss
with all these marbles in my mouth
Don't know, don't know, don't know, ooh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...

Well, we don't sound like Madonna
Here we are now, we're Nirvana
Sing distinctly? We don't wanna
Buy our album, we're Nirvana
A garage band from Seattle
Well it sure beats raisin' cattle
Yeah!

moo..

baa...

And I forgot the next verse
Oh well, I guess it pays to rehearse
The lyric sheet's so hard to find
What are the words, oh nevermind
Don't know, don't know, don't know, ooh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...

Well, I'm yellin' and we're playin'
But I don't know what I'm sayin'
What's the message I'm conveyin'?
Can you tell me what I'm sayin'?
So have you got some idea?
Didn't think so
Well, I'll see ya
Sayonara, sayonawa
Ayonawa, hodinawa
Odinaya, yodinaya
Yaddayadda, yaaahyaaah
Ayiyaaaaaah!

Quotable: Thomas Jefferson on Education (or Lack Thereof)

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

“Freedom [is] the first-born daughter of science.”

Thomas Jefferson, banished by historical revisionist Winston McLeroy Smith at the Ministry of Truth, a.k.a. the Texas Board of Re-Education.

Keith Olbermann's Dad has Died

Our condolences and thoughts go out to Keith Olbermann and his family on the passing of his father. Keith, who anchors Countdown on MSNBC, is one of the truly good guys in broadcast news and opinion journalism. His commentaries during the course of his father's illness on the need for healthcare reform were powerful and heartfelt. And when Keith promoted the free health clinics in several states with an outpouring of contributions from his audience, he did it without fanfare, contributing $30,000 out of his own pocket which he never publicized. We got to know Keith's mom and dad through the son's commentaries. He was proud of them and one sensed the parents had much to do with the good and generous person we know Keith to be.

Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Greatest Political Document in History, Cut by the Texan Fascists

That’s right, the author of the Declaration of Independence, Virginia’s Constitution, and America’s transcendent Renaissance man was simply too un-Christian for the dentist McLeroy and the religious extremists on the Texas Board of Re-Education. The violence committed against our nation’s glorious history and some of our enduring historical icons by these Nazi bastards is so immense that one doesn’t even know where to begin. This must NOT be allowed to stand. Educated people throughout this land must rise up against the Medievalist Religious Right and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Quotable: Adolf Hitler’s Ghost Gives Texas Board of Education the Nazi Salute

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round."

Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler-- p. 376

What Makes America Any Better Than a Totalitarian State

. . . when this is allowed to happen:

AUSTIN, Texas — A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.

These right wing bastards do not know the FIRST or LAST thing about their nation’s history, run their mouths about the “tyranny” of the state, and then use the FASCIST STATE OF TEXAS to ram this religious fundamentalist garbage masquerading as history and social studies down the throats of our kids, parents, and teachers for decades to come. And then we ask ourselves why OLDER generations of Americans are generally better educated than YOUNGER generations.

This should NOT EVER be about left or right, or any political agendas. It should be about HISTORY and FACTS and WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. What can be more utterly despicable and undemocratic than that a right wing dentist, who is not a teacher or historian or academic, and who was defeated for reelection because he is an ignorant extremist, should DECIDE a FANTASTICAL social studies CURRICULUM FILLED WITH LIES for the rest of the country.

Exposing Teabagger Racism

Teabaggers are playing a shell game in their recruitment efforts by sidestepping social issues such as abortion and gay marriage because, as one Teabagger leader said, “focusing on economic issues lures Democrats.” First, it isn’t working. Second, it’s like being “a little pregnant” or Hitler trading his Nazi Party swastika for a coat and tie while embracing Hindenburg to appear mainstream to the German people. (Hitler made it happen.)

There’s no “Tea Party” here, as these low-information rank-and-file voters prefer to be called. They’re Teabaggers today, tomorrow, and forever. There’s nothing more vile, obscene, and pornographic than unvarnished racism. Whether it’s manifested by the corporate tools of Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks or xenophobic “Tea Party Patriots,” racism is on full display at Teabagger rallies and demonstrations. (And for those who say the RNC’s use of the Teabagger poster of President Obama isn’t racist, consider this: What would you call portraying our African American president with a painted WHITE face? If you can’t see the connection, then you need to revisit your own attitudes about race.)

This is the face of Teabagger racism, as documented by a Latino watchdog group, Cuéntame, which literally means “Tell me.” Click at the top of video 2 to see part 3 and so on:

Setting the Record Straight: Sean Penn on the U.S. Military's Role in Haiti

“I believe this was a strictly HUMANITARIAN action on the part of the United States military, and an incredible one.”

Actor Sean Penn on the U.S. military’s role in Haiti, giving credit where credit is due while discussing Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez on the Bill Maher show. (Neither Penn nor Maher could pronounce the man’s name properly, as would be expected.)

While in Haiti, Penn gave an interview to Geraldo Rivera of Fox “News” in which he said: “People are suffering and a lot of people are doing their best –- the U.S. military and human aid groups –- to help them.” Penn continued, “the military is doing the most extraordinary job” and the “positive reporting, reporting of positive actions by the United States ... I can say has been unbelievable, unbelievable -- and meant and felt.”

I only post this because you wouldn’t know it from reading the far left blogs; it would clash with the narrative promoted by Chávez and Fidel (not all Cuban media) of the U.S. military as an “invasion” force, setting President Obama up as some sort of de facto ruler of Haiti backed by U.S. military might.

This particular fantasy has roots in the checkered history of the U.S. relationship with Latin America, but it’s simply not true, except to those who believe every anti-American declaration coming from the usual suspects.

Sean Penn has been generous with his time and consistent in the interviews he grants, whether he is speaking to Cuban or Venezuelan media or to Fox News. He has recognized the “incredible” humanitarian role played by the U.S. military. But he cannot control how his interviews are edited by Fox or Venezuelan and Cuban media. Nor can he control the selective way the far left uses his words to attack the United States. At least Bill Maher’s interview was LIVE.

If anything, as Haiti president René Préval came to Washington seeking a renewal of direct U.S. aid to Haiti, the relief efforts have been decentralized. Of the $2 billion in assistance, mostly to aid groups, the UN and development agencies, fully half of it has come from Americans. Ironically, Penn opposes the U.S. scaling back its military presence in Haiti from a peak of 20,000 on February 1 to about 8,000 in the coming days, which puts him at odds with the purveyors of the military “invasion” fantasy.

Quotable: Eric Massa on Rham Emanuel

“I went into the showers...I'm sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird and here comes Rahm Emanuel not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn't going to vote for the president's budget. Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?”

Resigning ex-Congressman Eric Massa, slamming Rham Emanuel, as “an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive.”

I don’t know about you, but the image of Rhambo getting naked with Eric Massa, trying to browbeat him into voting with the President seems admirable in a strange and funny kind of way . . . well beyond the call of duty. I’m warming to Rham already. And I can’t wait to see what SNL does with this material!

As for Eric Massa’s long goodbye: It’s sad and pathetic. Even Glenn Beck apologized to his audience for giving Massa the entire hour of his show. Beck got nothing except Massa’s admission of inappropriate behavior, and a lot of irrelevant weirdness inbetween.

Updating the New Political Lexicon

This was posted by Steve Benen as part of an ongoing update of our current political dictionaries. Fell free to add your own entries:

Obstructionism, for example, only refers to Democratic minorities opposing Republican proposals.

Tyranny is found when an elected Democratic majority passes legislation that Republicans don't like.

Reconciliation describes a Senate process that Republicans are allowed to use to overcome Democratic “obstructionism.”

Terrorism refers to acts of political violence committed by people who aren't white guys.

Bipartisanship is found when Democrats agree to pass Republican legislation.

Big government describes a dangerous phenomenon to be avoided, except in cases relating to reproductive rights or gays.

Treason refers to Democrats criticizing a Republican administration during a war.

Patriotism refers to Republicans criticizing a Democratic administration during a war.

Fiscal responsibility is a national priority related to keeping our deficit in check, which only applies when Republicans are in the minority.

Parliamentarian is a seemingly independent official on the Hill who Senate Republicans are allowed to fire when the GOP disapproves of his/her rulings.

Government-run healthcare doesn't refer to popular government-run health care programs like Medicare.

The heartland is the most wonderful place in America, even if no conservative pundit would be caught dead living there.

Serving your country is honorable if you're a Republican, but a subject of derision when Democrats do it.

My contributions:

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a seemingly independent agency that is called "god" by Republicans when it scores their bills favorably and "partisan" when it says Democratic bills will reduce the deficit.

Start over means scrapping the healthcare bills passed by the House and Senate, including Republican obstruction of any efforts to restart healthcare reform before, and after, the 2010 elections.

Medicare is government-run healthcare for angry white seniors at town hall meetings and Tea Party rallies, and no one else.

Socialist is any Democrat who supports healthcare reform and regulation of the worst abuses of insurance companies, including a ban on preexisting conditions and lifetime benefit caps, requiring insurers to spend at least 80 cents on the dollar delivering healthcare, and covering 31 million instead of 3 million uninsured Americans.

Al Quaeda terrorist is any one of seven Justice Department attorneys who have in the past provided legal representation for individuals accused of terrorism.

Fear is what Republicans sow when they want to kill bills or raise money.

Reactionary is what the RNC calls a member of its donor base who contributes less than $30,000.

The Evil Empire is a term Republicans use for President Obama’s Democratic Party, a.k.a “democrat party” within GOP leadership circles.

Nuclear option is what a Republican minority calls democratic majority rule.

Limited government means exploding the debt with tax cuts for the super-rich, privatizing Social Security to the devices of Wall Street, killing Medicare and throwing seniors under the bus with a token voucher, and doubling the Pentagon budget while waging perpetual wars (three) that are unpaid for.

George Orwell is author of the Republican political manifesto, "1984."

Now you!

Sarah Palin Compares Self to G-O-D

Writing notes on palm . . . GoddoneIt TOO! says Sister Sarah:

“But then somebody sent me the other day, Isaiah 49:16, and you need to go home and look it up. Before you look it up, I'll tell you what it says though. It says, hey, if it was good enough for God, scribbling on the palm of his hand, it's good enough for me, for us. He says, in that passage, ‘I wrote your name on the palm of my hand to remember you,’ and I'm like, ‘Okay, I’m in good company.’”

Clinically termed the “narcissistic personality,” in non-psychiatric language this is called the “God Complex.”

“A god complex is a colloquial term used to portray a perceived character flaw as if it were a ‘psychological complex.’ The person who is said to have a ‘God complex’ can act so arrogantly that she might as well believe she is a god or appointed to act by a god. It is also often called the Messianic complex.”

Source: Wikipedia

Quotable: Sarah Palin on Canadian Healthcare

“ We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn't that ironic? ”

Sarah Palin, viralizer of the “Death Panels” myth, confessing her staggering, unashamed hypocrisy during her first Canadian appearance.

Unlike the Palins, who are despicable freeloaders, the reality of it is that Americans desperate for healthcare who do not have the millions the Palins do, “hustle” across both borders to get critical healthcare. Americans make frequent trips to Canada to purchase the same maintenance medications (hypertension, cholesterol, you name it), and go to Mexico for high quality surgeries such as hip replacement, at a fraction of their U.S. cost.

Sarah Palin is such an evil woman (in the Biblical sense), that if she truly believes in God she’s got an express ticket punched straight to Hell.

Quotable: Dan Rather

“This will be the history of the Bush-Cheney Administration as told to Hans Christian Andersen”

Dan Rather, on the yet to be released George W. Bush and Dick Cheney memoirs