LiveBlog for Tuesday, October 27, 2009
• Howard Kurtz, media columnist for “The Washington Post,” calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about his latest column, “Armchair Quarterbacks.”
• Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Humorist Charlie Pierce , author of “Idiot America” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to riff on the news of the day.
• Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.
• Health care legislation heading to the Senate floor will give millions of Americans the option of purchasing government-run insurance coverage, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced yesterday. Reid said individual states would have the choice of opting out of the program.
• The government will release figures this week expected to show that the economy has emerged from its recession and is in the early stages of recovery. But the following week, the government will issue another set of figures expected to show unemployment continuing to rise toward and possibly above a clearly recessionary 10 percent.
• An al-Qaida linked group claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad that killed at least 155 people ahead of January’s elections.
Tags: Al Qaida, Charlie Pierce, Chris Murphy, Earl Blumenauer, Harry Reid, Health Care Reform, Howard Kurtz, Iraq, Recession, Unemployment
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 2:42 am and is filed under liveblog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
SARAHNNITY AWARD
i’ve just been chrono-mapping a deliciously juicy online schadenfreude tour. as a direct result, i’ve found that the category of highly pronounced inconsistency of standards deserves a name, and that name is “sarahnnity”.
dennis miller famously praised his dear leader, diarrherun, for failing to show evidence of any sort of cerebral potentialities in the face of dire criticism. according to miller, this lack of electrical development is an asset, and even an admirable trait. alas, in reality, such obsequious grasping is not compatible with any sort of mental serenity, but only with the lame substitute known as sarahnnity.
today’s guests will include the author of “idiot america”. – thoe there are plentiful alternate examples, surely no example excels in potency, the simultaneous pushing of the two directly contravailing memes:
1) that per claim of sean hannity, 8 years of corporate wealthfare left the american economy is thriving, and….
2) that sarah palin could ever appear on the same page as competence. – more specifically, that in hannity’s allegedly thriving economy, palin’s half a million dollars of debt is somehow evidence of a brainwave.
thus, combine two directly contrary standards into one incident or one moment, and anybody who claims to experience reconciliation with both can be said to have “sarahnnity”.
the exact online schadenfreude moment in question was an early portion of this segment of a chronicle of major “self-pawnage”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP4JxZqXCQo&feature=related
it was that eloquent statement, “if you can keep your head while all else are losing theirs, then you have misunderstood the situation”, that reminded me of dennis miller’s world record suckuppery in praising diarrherun’s rather grandiose and time-tested cognitive inertia.
even as recently as 1986, there were elements of political influence in russia that tried to discourage publication of “the gulag archipelago”. – today, it is required reading.
sort of like transitioning from a cheney whitehouse to an obama whitehouse. imagine how that would feel.
Gooood morning all.
This is a hi/bye I think (hi flombaye). Way too much stuff to do and it’s been no fun around here with the backup of work because of last week’s fire. For whatever reason it doesn’t smell any better than it did on Thursday when we got let out.
Anyway. I’ll probably be monitoring once in a while, but that’s it.
1: sorry, incorrect link there…. thoe that is a part of the same chronicle, here is the link that implodes dennis miller’s attempt at a free ride: “venomfangx vs thunderfoot”, supplied by “soybean001″ on 8>9>19:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atkcJNbrDRw
Good morning, flombaye, and the rest of the gang. Another “hi/bye” for me today.
I caught the last half-hour live yesterday. The new ‘audio crack’ is indeed the text-to-voice reading of ‘John Boehner’. I laughed every time I heard it.
Have a great day, everyone!
Morning, all.
Good morning, BloggenMooksters.
I’m recovering from a flu like illness, complete with fever, nausea, joint and muscle pain. It’s been a misery, but I think I’m turning the corner now. Meanwhile, my whole body aches from being in bed.. (whine, whine).
GOOOOOOOOOOOD Morning!!!!! I am back after a work-related hiatus (stuck at a client site for the last few weeks). Hope there are a couple of you who still remember me.
6: WALKENIZED sympathy:
would you like some fine aged gouda to go with that expression of discomfort ?
7: “Hope there are a couple of you who still remember me.”
were you the one with the big tusks ?
Since the strength of a “Public Option” is derived from the number of people in the pool paying into it, when people who are offered bad insurance from their employer, and the only people that can get it are people that can’t get insurance any other way, the program is going to be top heavy with the sickest patients and with so few people paying into it, it will be doomed to failure.
After just a few years, the Republicans that crippled it will be able to point to how much it is costing the government and declare it a tremendous failure. Grrr!
Morning bloggers!
#10, that’s probably not true – access to the exchange will be weighted to the self-employed and smallest businesses, not necessarily the sickest.
Public Option MUST be available to ALL as the ONLY way to reduce costs!
Sign the Petition
Yes, but no one watches Fox but the loons.
Fox’s weekly viewership is 3 million. That is, 1% of the population might watch Fox at some time during the week. Who cares what Fox says? The media is so incredibly self-involved.
#13, I agree; just pointing out that the exchange criterion is not health, but availability of employer-based insurance.
#12
The Right had already added restrictions to keep small businesses from “flocking to the Public Option”.
And businesses in “opt-out” states don’t get that choice.
Kurtz is THE example of a VILLAGER!!
How DARE the WH question FAUXNEWS???
Where were they when Bu$h shut down the news for years post 9/11??
#16, they can’t flock to it immediately IF they’re already offering insurance. If they’re not, their employees can access the exchange.
By 2016 or so, under HR3200, it opens up far more broadly.
#18
If the GOP hasn’t repealed it by then (like they’re promising).
All you said is true, but all those exceptions & restrictions will result in… just as I said… being “top heavy” with the sickest patients.
#19, how will it be top-heavy with the sickest? The overwhelming majority of people without insurance are so because they don’t have employer coverage, not because they’re sick.
Lets see…
Bu$h and Co. PAID for GOOD stories in and about Iraq…
Bu$h and Co. had PAID male prostitute(s) pose as journalists…
Bu$h and Co. put propaganda into the media through hacks (Judy Miller)….
Bu$h and Co. kept all opposing views in “free speech zones”…
Kurtz and the Villagers have plenty of Corporate Induced Amnesia…
#19, and the sickest patients are already on Medicare; since the elderly are the overwhelming majority of health care costs as is.
Good morning all!
“completely toothless public option” – but my teeth want to opt in, what am I going to tell them?
#23, tell your teeth to vote out those Republican canines from their state legislature.
#22
Pete, Medicare and TPO will eventually merge, sharing budgets. TPO offers more benefits & services than ordinary Medicare, so there is no point in two government insurance plans with one offering less than the other.
I hope you are right on the majority of members coming from small business in states that chose to “opt-in” rather than people denied care. But the restrictions Republicans have put in the bill might very well counter than. Let’s hope not.
Hey Chris and Steph…can you ask one of these congress critters what’s up with the senate bill 1699, unemployment benefit extension? Whats the hold up? Sen. Durbin is pushing a vote for it, but it’s been ignored by the MSM since it got stalled in the Finance Committee. I know health care is important but they are always saying they can do 2 things at once, so what’s up?
#25, how will they merge budgets when Medicare is paid out of FICA witholdings, and the PO is paid out of premiums?
And because states have to opt-out, rather than opt-in, the numbers that will do so will be similar to those that opted out of the stimulus money; and the choice to do so will be a major political issue.
I am in favor of opt out on the public option. I expect the Confederate states of America to opt out. Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee will again represent the opt out states. South Carolina will again go first. Maybe then we can we simply allow them to succeed from the Union, as Lincoln should have done. My question is, should we send a team down there to rescue Mike Malloy? Is there anyone else worth rescuing?
Texas will never opt out. It is a few years from going blue.
Opt out is worse than no opt out. But opt out is far, far better than co-ops, triggers, or nothing at all.
I love Bitchfest beer!
30 — Agree. The opt out thing isn’t good, but it works OK for me, because I’m In MA. My thinking is that it will sharpen the distinction between having the public option and not having it, and in the long run it will precipitate the move towards a single payer system because people will see the advantage of it much more clearly.
Oh, and…
G’marnin’ Bloggoes!
Pete,
Moron Governor Good Hair has threatened to “secede” over the Public Option. And when we tried to vote him out, the GOP financed two additional candidates to split the vote four ways so that Perry won with just 39% of the vote.
This is also why/how the GOP will strangle TPO using every “loophole” Harry Reid gives them.
28 — worth noting that those states are majority republican, not unanimously republican.
Texas is one of the most urban states in the country. All Texas’ urban areas went for Obama with significant margins. Of the rural areas, the Southwest parts of the state are largely Hispanic, a fast growing population that is solidly Dem.
Don’t cry for Texas, ProducerChris. The good ol’ boy system and bad redistricting has a lock on state politics, but that lock is slipping. Denying the self-employed and small businesses the PO would push the state to the Dem column. I guarantee it.
#34, Governor Good Hair has favorability ratings similar to those of hemorrhoids.
All this dancing around what really needs to be done – nationalize ALL health insurance.
Won’t the Republican governors and legislators simply “opt out” to satisfy their corporate owners?
Some of the poorest people in this country are in Red States that will “opt out”, leaving millions of people with no insurance.
Maybe they’ll vote these people out, but how many will die in the years in between?
#35, and that even among rank-and-file Republicans, support for the PO is 47-47 w/ 6 undecided.
ProducerChris, the trigger was designed so that it would never be pulled. Long before the trigger threshold (which excludes subsidies from the calculation) would be reached, people who couldn’t afford insurance would be subsidized out of the treasury. So the more insurance cost, the more taxpayer dollars would go into subsidies, but the trigger threshold would never occur.
#39, only in states where their corporate owners are insurance companies. Other businesses are actually kinda tired of being soaked by insurance companies.
36: reminds me of a wonderful oxycontin-fueled comment. – rush pointed out with glee that obama is only liked in the places where people live. there are actually vast spaces that are against obama.
To the Republican Party, profit is the prime directive and must be protected and expanded, regardless of the circumstances..
#37
Yes, but thanks to term limits, he’s not running again. And the front-runner to replace him is Kay Bailey Hutchinson… another hard-right wanker.
South Carolina is the most right-wing state in the country. Its governor refused the stimulus money. How well did that work out? Its equally right-wing (but more pragmatic) legislature overrode the governor.
#45, um, Perry and Hutchinson are in a fierce primary BECAUSE Perry is running again. And Hutchinson is conservative, but not loon-conservative (though she’s running that way in this primary).
37: “Governor Good Hair has favorability ratings similar to those of hemorrhoids.”
the FOX interpretation:
“perry has been described as not easy to ignore, and firmly positioned to remain in the seat.”
“Hi/bye” is the new black around here. In fact I now suspect that “hi/bye” is code for the new, long-anticipated replacement for twitter, facebook etc – something the hip kids and early adopters will migrate to, leaving the rest of us old fogeys in the dust of our “so last year” social networking tools and sub-Sparta liveblog. Maybe Chris will mock us on the air for being five minutes behind the times – from his AM radio pulpit.
Yeah, that’s right. AM radio.
Hi/bye.
How is Haqnnity handling the fact that Glenn Beck now makes more money than he does? Will he have to get a part time job as a waitress as he did back in the day when he was getting his GED?
Have you seen the bigger piggies,
in their starched white shirts?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105×3964310
I’m back, haven’t been able to get here the last few days…
jumped right back into the marinade… like Momma says when
you wallow in this stuff all the time it gets difficult
some days…
49 — PJ Squeezy — doing anything because the cool kids are doing it is the lamest. IF the cool kids are doing it, count on me to go another way.
50 Did not realize Sean had done his pilgimage!
!
Sorry Lavort but you’re way off on this. The opt out is a good compromise as opposed to nonsense like co-ops or triggers. If some states (the south) want to opt out, let them. And when/if the public option starts working in the states that do have it, the others will come around. Very similar to how this worked in Canada many, many years ago. Get with the program!
#47.
Oops, you’re right. Mea culpa. He initially said he would be stepping down.
Perry was Bush’s Lt. Gov and has been running this state (into the ground) since 2000.
The micropopulous states that will opt out will become even more micropopulous. It’s a quality of life issue, and those that want to live will go where healthcare is affordable.
I look at it this way, I dont like the opt out. Wisconsin has a gov election coming up. It looks like to going tobe a Republican who is going to win. Now if that happens we will NOT have the publican options We will opt out. Then what, I move to a different state. We losse more jobs. I think i would rather have a trigger then this opt out.
#56, well insofar as the Texas Governor (whose power is small compared to the Lt. Governor) can run a state into the ground. The position is, to some extent, a figurehead. Mainly his power comes through appointments to various commissions.
52: “jumped right back into the marinade…”
truly an outstanding band. who can really resist dancing the vogue to “reflections of my life” ?
53: stuff like that just bogs my in a conundrum; where i come from, i was “the cool kids”.
#58, the trigger will never be pulled.
The trigger goes when insurance can’t be had for less then 13% of the median state income, not counting subsidies.
But if subsidies kick in below 13% (and they do), then this condition is never reached. Instead, we’re stuck with junk insurance we can only afford because vast sums are transferred from the public treasury to industry coffers.
This is why the trigger is a fraud. There’s a cost-control trigger on Medicare Part D which hasn’t come into effect for similar reasons.
54: you thott the buckles on the shoes were just for drill baby drill ?
The other day I was speculating that the Marvel Super-Hero
Squirrel Girl was inspired by Stephanie Miller.
“Escaping the taunts of her fellow school students regarding
her physical mutation, Los-Angeles born Doreen Green fled
into the nearby woods where she quickly discovered her affinity
for squirrels.
Squirrel Girl carries a utility belt comprising multiple
pouches that contain nuts to give as snacks to her squirrel
friends. These are known as her “nut sacks”
Her powers and abilities: a furry, prehensile tail roughly
3–4 feet in length; sizable buck teeth[!], which are strong
enough to chew through wood; and enhanced agility and
strength, enabling her to jump between trees with ease.”
On further reflection, there is no way. Stephanie broadcasts
from LA, she wasn’t born there. While she suffered taunting
at school regarding her physical deformities, she did not run
away to the woods to be raised by squirrels, but by wolves.
While she is reputed to have expertise in handling nut-sacks,
she is not known to share this avocation with rodents. Dogs
maybe, but not aboreal rodents.
While Stephy is known her spectacular tail it’s not believed
to be 3-4 feet long and prehensile. Nor is she known to chew
wood, unless very drunk, and she only rarely jumps between
trees with ease.
http://www.geocities.com/druj_nasu/
59: so it looks like we have consensus in favor of an ozzy osbourne comeback.
Here’s a cat video for you Jim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHrJDniAgis
Ken/Shane-O! Who is your female voice artiste?
66: monte louise core !
Nod, nod, wink wink!
Say no more!
“Damned Dirty Apes” by Drexel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ0R7m22tcQ
great video, yes I know these guys, they are
out of Dayton, OH
enjoy
I understand that. But when a republican is in office we in wisconsin and other states will be screwed
I would love some video of Jim doing some of his voices. “Levi” probably looks awesome.
elton john tried to warn us about pilots reading porn.
“when levi sells, they’re soon marooned in town.”
Congress are whores, money rules… only if the people
force this thing will it happen in any good way… otherwise
the insurance companies will write the bill, like they did
with the Prescription Drug reform
You can still buy play girl, I am sure it will be a good seller cause of his ” celb stats” I just wanna see if they make him larger!
LOL
“smoking’s not that bad for you; i’ve been smoking for 30 years, and my lung feels great !” – stephan julius lucas
#14: “Fox’s weekly viewership is 3 million. That is, 1% of the population might watch Fox at some time during the week. Who cares what Fox says? The media is so incredibly self-involved.”
Can you say “media echo chamber”?
Wow, an REM song followed by a caller from Athens, GA. Prolly coinkydink.
Which is worse? The possibility that some small red states will not get a PO, or that NO ONE IN THE COUNTRY gets a PO, while still being forced with individual mandates to buy junk insurance.
You know something is bad when even Haggis can’t stomach it.
Faux is the mouth of Sauron.
Republicans for Voldemort.
Frodo Failed; Cheney Has the Ring.
Unless we kill all the lobbyists and make elections publicly
funded and take away Corporate Personhood we’re f#%ked
Stephy gonna buy up some land in Montana
“Royal Teton Ranch”
then she can play Amy Semple Mcpherson with all her dogs…
and a pony
Sixties revival: Steph starts a new cult in the Hollywood Hills; refugees from opt-out states flock there in groovy painted school buses with their children and dogs.
Is it really only Tuesday?
Morning bloggos. Scientology is different, so is Tom Cruise but I have to say that I enjoyed him in Valkryie. You forget it’s him after awhile and get caught up in the story.
83 — yep. No Hal Sparks ’til tomorrow.
80 I want some Haggis, some Fin and Haddie
and some Scottish meat pies
and maybe a wee dram
Ackroyd’s Scotch Bakery is about 10 miles from here…
Northwest Airlines Pilots flying distracted
Freak we got McDonald’s closing all over town
and everything else
half this burg is boarded up
#86, indeed. Was at a Highland Games all weekend and still managed to not get any of the above – was too busy doing the living history thing and competing with the pipe band.
86: aside from the royale with cheese, such culinary threats as these are the reason most people dread scot decisions.
Mornin. I’m taking a sick day, so I can listen to the whole show, except for the first hour which I slept through.
ha! I take that Simpson’s Superheros drop as a shoutout
hiya Momma, Chris! Jim! Mrs Taylor…
#80: $cientologists will give “hunting the haggis” a whole new meaning.
Really Olympia?
How do these people live with themselves?
Charlie, you mispronounced “yarbles”
Hi bye to Shaf and Trojan.
#6—sounds like flu to me.
#10—Your theory that all the people who don’t have insurance now and will crowd into the Welfare Pt. E plan is erroneous. I would qualify for this new medicare that is for the poor who don’t fall into another category. I am very healthy. All I need is a refill of some meds once every 3 months and I’m good to go.
Likewise many young adults who are not poor enough for medicaid but still need health care will fall into the Medicare E.
Just because people don’t have insurance doesn’t mean they are all lepers.
Just hope there is a huge backlash against these senators who deny their constituency.
#17: “Kurtz is THE example of a VILLAGER!!” – aargh, don’t do that, I just had a flashback to ‘Nam when Marlon Brando was squatting in the jungle.
Mainers who are really Mainers wouldn’t move. They’d just suffer like they already do, except all the Massholes would leave, so the misery would decrease. another advantage of the opt out.
Not only did the teabaggers organize here but we have NO progressive radio – NONE! It sucks!!!
Sorry crew, but if you think the fight against a NATIONAL Public Option was vicious, just multiply that on a state-by-state basis when a Democratic challenger promising to “opt-in” runs against a Republican incumbent governor that opted out.
The Insurance Lobby will pour so much money into those state races, that those of us stuck in Red States will be lucky if we see a Public Option in our states in our lifetime.
And…Cheney had 5 deferments from the draft. He’s also a coward.
Off the charts!
98—I don’t think most people will move if their states opt out. But the sick will. They will move as soon as they get some bad disease.
That turns the opt-in states into safehouses, much like the North was safe for slaves.
That’s a great way to look at the opt out states: slave states. Slaves working for the insurance companies.
Rupert is a brawling journo? That’s high praise for him – way too high.
Love the 16rpm reference … and “clown college”.
#100, however, because states have to affirmatively opt out, keeping the PO is the default position, and will have the benefit of inertia.
There was a lot of ideological noise about refusing stimulus money too. Nothing came of it.
103 — I’m talking specifically about lots of folks I know from Maine. Unemployment doesn’t make ‘em leave, higher property taxes because of the outta state people buying up property at ridiculous prices doesn’t chase ‘em out. they love the 6 feet of snow every winter, they love it enough to stay through “mud season” and black flies.
They won’t be happy not to get a public option, but they won’t leave. The ones who will leave, the summer people? The real Mainers will say “Thank God they’re gone!”
#105.
Sorry Pete, that analogy doesn’t work.
There is no lobby with a multi-Billion $ financial stake in blocking stimulus funds.
100—Excuse me. Obama won and filled his war chest with a majority of donations from individuals, not companies. Moreover it is individuals who made millions of phone calls to voters on his behalf and on behalf of other Dems in the race.
Additionally, it is thousands of individuals using the Internet and other tools that created companion organizations to go along with MyBO.
The insurance companies can bankrupt themselves with donations to 50 states and guess what? In most places the people will find a way to fight against them. They may not always win, but they will fight.
How do you think we got where we are today? Because no matter how rich the rich become they are outnumbered.
88 Alma Highland games here
89 you haven’t lived til you’ve had the meat pies
Momma: Bootylicious indeed
101—-Cheney is among the lowest forms of human life. Greedy and a coward. What a guy!
#107, do you really think state chambers of commerce (which actually are connected to small businesses, unlike the national organization) will tolerate being soaked by the insurance lobby?
It’s not business against people here. It’s one industry against all others. The only states where the insurance lobbies will be dominant will be states where those industries are dominant (Nebraska, for example).
They gave them something so that they can support Obama in the next election, the progressive parrots (ala Stephanie)
hang on by the threads guys!
This is the systematic destruction of the Republican Party….
And these guys were too stupid to realize it….
its amazing how these dummies were running around calling Obama a Socialist and a Communist and a Muslim and a Facist yadee yadee yadee
— and they have single-handedly TURNED this country into a ONE PARTY STATE…
OMG!!!
This is the systematic destruction of the Republican Party….
And these guys were too stupid to realize it….
its amazing how these dummies were running around calling Obama a Socialist and a Communist and a Muslim and a Facist yadee yadee yadee
— and they have single-handedly TURNED this country into a ONE PARTY STATE…
OMG!!!
Say saskatoon saskatchiwan 10 times. Think Joni Mitchell was born there.
ProducerChris, I lived in Texas for 30 years, and I live in Virginia now. I’m not afraid of opt-out.
#108
Sorry Spiffy.
“Bankrupt” themselves? You don’t seem to be aware just how much money is at stake here. The money they’ve spent fighting TPO is still but a fraction of how much they make, and in the end, they succeeded in keeping it out of the Red States.
Might we get it “eventually”? Maybe. But as I said, “probably not in my lifetime.”
There are cost increase caps in the existing bills. I think they kick in immediately.
I can almost smell the chardonnay.
110 Cheney is the most successful Cowboy Capitalist
Ayn Rand Ragnar Benson I got mine skrew you…
he’s really an anarchist, the most grasping amoral
wolf in the world… The Law does not apply to Evil
Dick. He stomps the terra, doing what ever he wants
no one even slows him down. He will die soon and go
straight to hell, where he’ll be raped by the devil.
or so we can hope. There will be no justice for him Here…
#117, they haven’t kept it out of the Red States. All they’ve done is create 15 more battlegrounds on which they’ll have to fight.
And there is no way governors, acting alone, will be able to opt out. It will almost certainly require the state legislator as well.
119 hee hee that’s Boxed Chardonnay
#121, state legislature, that is.
#114 – you’re right, but they refuse to acknowledge that. For some reason it was okay under the Bush cabal.
117—What is TPO?
When I said the term “bankrupt” I was using hyperbole.
But here’s the other thing….this legislation is going to open up new customers to all insurance companies because they will be able to sell across state lines now, right?
They still have to be accountable to shareholders, right?
So if they can turn a profit with the new markets, why are they whining?
We need a new live blog commercial. I can almost repeat this one verbatim!
115
“Moose Jaw saw a few, Moosomin too
Runnin’ back to Saskatoon
Red Deer, Terrace and a Medicine Hat
Sing another prairie tune
Sing another prairie tune
I been hangin’ around libraries
I been learnin’ ’bout books
I been talkin’ to playwriters
I been workin’ on words, phrases”
Burton Cummings at one time…
Oh good the crack head is off the couch and leaving, I get
the house to myself… hey, turn off the TeeVee and clean up
the… oh never mind. Have some more ice cream and put the
empty carton back in the freezer
125—-They will be getting a few million new customers. So is it the media who is ignoring this fact, or is it the conservatives who are actually trying to get people to feel sorry for Big Business???
Like the f-ing banks, Health Net needs us to weep for them?
114 I don’t think the elite care. They will squeeze the Republican
Party dry and cast it off without a thought. They have been
destroying America for years and years, why should they worry
about a political party? They have no regard for their minions.
#121
Pete, you’ve forget just how politics is run in the Red States. Where were those “state chamber of commerce” ads in the Red States countering the misinfo on TPO?
I attended one of those “Town Halls” and was called a “Communist” by brain-dead Republicans while the Local Representative told a cheering crowd how he would “NEVER” support “a government takeover of healthcare”.
You’re applying Logic in a Logic-free zone.
121—-I feel sorry for people who live in an opt-out state. However, I do think it’s wise to allow individuals the choice to move when they get very ill if they want to.
Opt-in states could even create temp housing for the sick. Maybe this would help a state such as Michigan, if it becomes opt-in, to bring people into that state to live and spend money there if only for 6-months to a year while they are getting treatment. And maybe when they move to get well the people will choose to stay there forever because they were treated so well?
I just turned on the desktop weather thing, and I find that there is a winter storm warning for tonight. We’re supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow tonight. This will be our first snow of the year.
We are living through a classic mafia bustout
the US has served it’s purpose and the transnational
elite are now selling us off for pennies on the dollar.
the dollar… they are busting that out too.
I don’t feel sorry for the red state folk over the ‘opt out’ health care plan. You get what you vote for. Just remember your gay neighbors aren’t married and you can have any gun you want.
131, that’s a good idea. We should fund temp housing for sick people in swing states. We should encourage rational people from red states to move to swing states.
Stephy is engaged to Russ Feingold… now that’s funny,
having to explain how she has her whole List
#134
Please see post #34.
#132 – we’re still waiting for rain way down in Southern CA and you guys have already moved onto to snow!!
#130 state CoCs and small business associations have little to no clout on the national level. They’ve been crowded out by the USCoC (which is connected to the state and local chapters in name only).
Those “town halls” were staged Fox/AHIP events. Polling indicates they do not reflect the rank-and file Republicans (who are equally split on the PO), not to mention indies who are majority for it.
#134…. I think I agree with you…
To heck with the Red States….
Actually I’m busting up laughing at them…
Fair and balanced doctrine? Folks might think it’s something sponsered by Cluster fox.
He just copy’s/pastes the screed Steph. They know where to go to get the talking points.
141 Fair and Balanced would entail smashing Flush’s head in
with a large rock
Hannity too
130—I attended a town hall here in CA and was also called names. The people against health care reform lied to me. They gave me false “facts” and when I researched them afterwards I found that they lied. They told me they’d be happy to exchange emails to “discuss” these issues further but gave me false email addresses.
This is an element we have living in our country now. They are ignorant, misinformed, prejudice, keep to themselves, and falsely claim they have never received any help at all from the gov’t. to get where they are today.
However, during the Civil Rights fight we had an element like this–even larger—living in the country but we won.
During the 1930s FDR was dealing with an element like this and yet, caring about people won.
During Vietnam we had an element like this throughout the nation and yet, we still finally got out of that “war”.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” —Margaret Mead
(I though Ghandi said that quote but I guess i was wrong.)
steph’s brother sounds like the guy in post 3.
“Goose stepping” is Republican code for the Nazis, of course.
Mr. Chuckles Kraut-Hammer can go to hell
#139.
Pete, local CoC’s could have run local ads to sway public option to pressure their legislators. They didn’t spend a dime to do so here in Texas.
Fox “News” (nor any media) attended the “Town Hall” I attended (and doubtful AHIP bothered to involve itself in something that was already so slanted in their favor.)
As I mentioned in #34, it doesn’t matter if they’re not in the majority. Perry was able to “win” with just 39% of the vote, remember?
It’s tough Steph. I have a lot of relatives that are right wingers so we have agreed not to get into political/religious debates.
134—I propose that the opt-out states will suggest that people just shoot the sick of they want to say money.
Is that over the top? I can just hear some dope talking to the TV and saying that.
#67 – that was Mrs. Ken in Cleveland… she did a great job, I think. Kinda sounds like Jenny McCarthy (lucky Ken!)
Craphammer has weekly columns in both my local papers. Every time I see his column, I thump his picture until it’s torn. Just a little symbolic expression of my desire to slap him.
150–Ooops. Save money.
Is Steph’s brother jumping up and down on his couch? Is he accusing Steph of being “glib,” and “repressed?”
Bret Hume, bite my ass.
#148, who do you think bussed the town hall people in? AHIP did.
Local organizations do not spend political money on national battles. They spend them on local ones.
And the chances that opt-out will be in the hands of one man (Perry) are just about zero.
Mugged by right wing morons..
149: sounds both civil and practical.
i’m with you.
social darwinism:
it’s not just a good idea, it’s the law.
Mugged by reality?
This post is for Jim: Church of Scientology is convicted of fraud in France. Ha ha.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-scientology28-2009oct28,0,2776884.story
144 Amen Spiff
we have no choice but to keep trying
“Trying to find out what the hell is really going on behind
the blizzard of lies put out by the 24 chief conspiracies
on this planet is hard work, long hours, and low pay;
and if by chance you do find out part of it, the fanatics
of every ideology will jump all over you with spiked heels”
Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminati Papers p. 90
#156.
No busses at the Town Hall I attended. No one was “bussed in”.
Did it happen in other states? Certainly. Most of them blue. They didn’t need to “bus” anyone in the Red States.
Hedgecock is nothing more than a male bird in the bush. Remember a bird in the hand is worth many in the bush. So screw Bush!
152 great post Ivan. Craphammer is perfect, so is the
idea of beating up his ugly mug in the paper. At least
it’s better than nothing
154: clearly, what steph’s brother meant was “kliban-possessed”.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.goofbutton.com/images/kliban_kliff.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.goofbutton.com/2008/08/kliban_kliff.html&h=700&w=518&sz=244&tbnid=oStvjEhHIjml2M:&tbnh=140&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkliban%2Bcartoons&hl=en&usg=__-eoliFnwcqR8kXBF3VhqxQM0C5E=&ei=LxDnSv3BEoLIsAPz-bGnBQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image&ved=0CA0Q9QEwAg
Here’s a good news story about free mental health care for Vets so they don’t have to wait in long lines at the VA:
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13648186?source=rv
Hannity is
So
Damned
Annoying
Confused? Unlike you Sean?
160: france is repressive and gay.
The Home for Young Hussies and Trollops
Steph’s Alma Mater
The network of record? Watched by 1% of the population?
171: record mendacity.
Pervertimento for Bagpipes, Bicycle and Balloons
something PeterW has played no doubt
173: you make smokey robinson cry.
#173, I can never find a balloonist with that in his repertoire.
175: the trick is to look beyond the balloonatic fringe. it turns out that falcon butters heene was outside the box. ask for his insights.
If that’s a problem, then Medicare rates for rural areas need to be adjusted. Weakening the PO by getting rid of the Medicare link is not the solution.
We have the same problem here in Western Colorado, doctors can’t make it on medicare rates. Last year my town ran out of doctors who were willing to take new medicare patients. The city had to do some kind of subsidy to get doctors to take medicare patients again.
169—Well apparently only repressed, gay people can spot fraud. More power to ‘em.
got a hardball tweet ? – like charlie brown did at every house ? what a crappy halloween.
Medicare may pay less than private insurance, but it also costs doctors less. They don’t need to spend the money on office staff to be constantly negotiating with and filling out appeal paperwork with hostile insurance providers when they’re doing a medicare claim.
And like Bagdad Bob saying all is well even as Saddam’s kingdom collapsed, you still have the right wing noise machine saying all is well when it comes to the GOP.
why does obama hate the troops so much ?
182: it’s just a flesh wound.
#57, #150: “The micropopulous states that will opt out will become even more micropopulous. It’s a quality of life issue, and those that want to live will go where healthcare is affordable.”
So this could be a way for certain states to get rid of their tired, their poor, their huddled masses yearning to be insured – and save themselves a whole lot of money on social services and healthcare (not to mention lose a lot of inconvenient voters)? That could be a dangerous precedent.
Matt from Dee Town
Represent!
Time to get going – everyone have a good day bloggos!
Well I gotta run. Have a good day everyone.
now Jim from Deetroit
187 188 No Sparta for you… or anyone else today
I don’t mind drs making $290K, I do mind them making
millions
Afghan is not a war
it’s a debacle
a ruin
a quagmire
a disaster
“there’s the proof that obama is dishonest, folks. you heard how intense that cheer was. it shows how many fake soldiers he hired for this photo op.” – rush, later today
maddow would be better than gibbs and repressive combined.
And here it is in Scottie:
Is Steph’s brither jumpin’ up an’ doon oan his cooch? is he accusin’ steph ay bein’ “glib,” an’ “repressed?”
Every time I hear this War crap from Fox, I remember this: it was the Bush White House who banned Helen Thomas when she had the temerity to ask what the he** he was doing in Iraq.
Well goodbye y’all, have a day.
And remember: hi/bye. Everybody’s doing it.
So Gingrich is now a moderate Republican??
When did this happen?
195: there is plenty of blame to go around. – i could not imagine, as a reporter called upon after that, not demanding a follow-thru.
poptarta
PS: “Check out da Ali G translator! Just type in wot ya want to say, an’ da whoohoo.co.uk translator will convert hit into Ali G speek!”
encarta
have a great aftershow evveyboddy
And here’s Michelle Malkin in Scots:
Hollywuid hearts Obama. Obama hearts government-directed national service. ‘at is wa ye won’t be able tae change th’ tv channel aw week withit gettin’ lectured abit th’ need tae gie aff th’ cooch an’ dae somethin’. (after yer favorite shows ur ower, ay coorse.) creeped it? ye shoods be. the entertainment industry, inspired by obama’s $6 billion expansion ay government volunteerism spendin’, is coordinatin’ plot lines an’ ads tae push public service. “the message will be nearly ubiquitoos,” reports th’ los angeles times, “startin’ in th’ morn wi’ programs sic’ as ‘today’ an’ ‘the view,’ an’ ‘en echoed oan soap operas, prime-time series an’ late-necht shows.” first quine michelle obama, a relentless americorps promoter fa publicly extolled th’ tinseltoon initiatife lest month, will bunnit aff th’ week wi’ an appearance oan “the jay leno show” oan friday.
Someone above asked about the anti-abortion amendment and another said it was no big deal because abortion is still legal. Here’s the thing–this amendment says that private insurance companies cannot cover abortions. Currently they can if they like. I wonder what all the free-market, anti-regulation, pro-insurance-companies-can-do-what-they-want conservatives think about the government telling them that they CANNOT provide coverage for abortions. Shouldn’t they be outraged? I mean, if they weren’t hypocritical.