Vintage Paul Ryan - Smack Down On 71 Year Old For Speaking Truth To His Lies

This video has been making the rounds lately, and I believe it was about a year ago. Notice how disgustingly smug Paul Ryan is as he cracks a joke at the expense of the elderly gentleman.



This is a 71 year old man who has paid into Social Security and unemployment insurance all his working life (well, so he says ... but let's just assume it to be a fact or else he would not have taken the stand he did) and his complaint is about the "new age" politicians that keep wanting to cut/gut his Social Security and end unemployment as we know it. The constant drumbeat of the right wingers in re-labeling these services as "welfare" and "hand-outs" when they are, in fact, money taken out of working people's pay checks and put away for that rainy day, makes me sick to my stomach. And ironically, there are actually stupid people out there that believe this rhetoric ... until, of course, it comes to THEIR Social Security and unemployment benefits. In fact, it is even more ironic that many of our old farts in Congress actually get their Social Security and other government benefits (like health care), but continuously refuse to give up theirs while they say the rest of the American population MUST give up theirs. Bull shit.

And notice how the police or security guards treat the old man for just saying what he wants to say, and you can hear them yelling at him to "get on the ground." For god's sake, what is wrong with our country that a 71 year old man is not allowed to voice his opinion and has to be taken away in handcuffs, no less?

Why Our Postal Service Suffers Needlessly

I really want to make sure that my readers understand just what the attacks on the U.S. Postal Service are about, and why they are constantly facing a default on payments they have to make, and just how those payments, exclusive of all other government entities, were forced on the Postal Service, by our Congress, in a serious attempt to eliminate out government sponsored mail service in order to replace it by a private service. (Please remember that this is a primary goal of most Republicans in office, and many of those newly elected Republican governors in 2010 have been dismantling public sector jobs and replacing them with private contractors, from schools on down to police and fire departments).

In 2006 there was a congressional mandate that the U.S. Postal Service pre-fund future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years, within a ten year period. This, of course, is not mandated for any other public agency. That amount, approximately $5.5 billion a year, $21 billion total, is exactly what is causing the financial problems within the postal service.

Take a moment to digest that. Congress mandated the USPS to PREPAY retirement benefits FOR THE NEXT 75 YEARS WITHIN A TEN YEAR PERIOD! This is/was absurd. Can you imagine if you or your company (let alone any other government institution) was required to pay ahead of time 75 fucking years worth of proposed retirement benefits, and to pay that amount (75 years) in 10 years?

This is why the postal service is going broke. Please support the American Postal Workers Union.

Large Corporate Taxes Paid Vs. Lobby Expenses!

Interesting post over at Think Progress regarding the top corporations taxes paid compared to what they paid for lobbying of Congress.

(shaking head) And you have to constantly ask me the stupid question of why the Occupy movement exists?

Anyone Remember How To Pass A Bill?

Comedy or truth? You decide.

American Current Wars Account For Majority Of World's Refugee Crisis

From Think Progress:

America’s wars are forcing Afghans and Iraqis to flee their homes in greater numbers. According to a recent U.N. High Commission for Refugees study, nearly one half of the world’s refugees are from Afghanistan and Iraq, 3.05 million and 1.68 million, respectively. But neither the United States nor much of the developed world bears the burden of the 10.55 million refugees under the UNHCR’s purview globally. Instead, Pakistan, Iran, and Syria serve as the top host countries. The Economist has charted the numbers:

And why, I ask again, are we not putting war spending cuts into the picture on this debt ceiling craziness going on in Congress?

I seriously hate the fact that our so called elected leaders in the past 12 years have completely isolated America from the rest of the world, and have their fingers in their collective ears. We have children running our country, for God's sake. These people feel the world is still flat, and that they can just keep running in one direction and will never fall off that deep end. Me, (as well as millions of other Americans), I see that deep end, and our current government is on the precipice. God help us all.

"Please, sir, I want some more."

Well, it's that time again, where the Republicans in Congress are informing everyone else that unless entitlement programs are cut, they will not raise the debt ceiling, which is, of course, a must.

One really has to wonder after all these years of unpaid for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why any American at all would say yes to cutting their own Social Security benefits, or Medicare. If this was a lesson for elementary school children, cutting defense spending would be the first and only choice. Millions and millions of people will be affected by the Republican plans. Turning America into a third world country, with despots running every state, and an oligarch in the White House, is not how I thought I'd spend my retirement years. Hell, what retirement, eh? According to the Republicans, just work longer. Easy for them to say (and many Democrats too) as they only receive government benefits on top of their million dollar fortunes that got them into Congress in the first place. Don't take their government health care away from them, just take it away from the rest of America. Let's not fund the infrastructure of America, let's give this money away to defense contractors blowing shit loads of cash in Iraq and Afghanistan for their infrastructure, which by the way, is still looking like shit despite the years and billions that have been handed over to foreign countries. Let's continue to support financially countries like Saudi Arabia and Libya, but let's not feed our own citizens. Let them die in the streets of hunger, or freeze to death in the winter because they simply do not have enough money to pay to heat their homes. How many deaths have we had so far that fit that particular scenario, eh? (And, no, I'm not Canadian, but it just seems a fit word - eh?).

People, wake up. The Horatio Alger myth is no longer an option for our young kids. There is no ability to pull yourself up from the proverbial bootstraps and make yourself wealthy. The only options are to be worker bees or be the queen bee. And since there are only a limited number of queen bees but tons and tons of worker bees, you can pretty much count yourself out of the running of queen bee. Most of Americans will never be anything more than a worker bee. And then you die, thanks to Republican (and blue dog Democratic) policies.

What I really truly do not understand is why the wealthy in America (those very, very, very few), and especially the wealthy politicians, feel the need to not share the wealth? Especially considering the Christian motif that generally surrounds those that espouse the "I am rich and you are not" policies keeping the poor in their place. It is the opposite of Christ's teachings to hoard wealth. That's common knowledge -- among everyone, even those who aren't Christian! But in God's name, and American patriotism, the rich politicians bury this country under needless debt so they can continue to hoard the money built off the backs of the rest of America. Compassion is a dirty word in politics -- when did that happen?

It's heartbreaking to see this country go down the tubes as a whole. I can't say I never imagined this happening, though. I realized back in the 1980's that the destruction of the world as we know it would be a financial meltdown, and it would start and end with the United States. People back then thought I was crazy. Hell, we were still fighting the imaginary Communist Russians and fearing the rise of power in China. Now Russia has been broken up into smaller countries, and China has more money than God, and owns most of America.

The rich have sold out this country. But that still isn't enough for them. They won't rest until this country reverts to what it was 100-200 years ago. "Please, sir, I want some more."

Get used to that phrase. And get used to the answer as well, my friends.

Rep. Weiner On The 9/11 Health And Compensation Act

This is an amazing video. Rep. Weiner (D-NY) completely coming unglued on the House floor and yelling at the Republican's policy of lying about why procedurally they have to vote "no" on bills, and calling them out for their phoniness and general attempts to cover their tracks.

I love the part when someone (a Republican, I am guessing) tries to interrupt him (out of order) while he's speaking, and first he yells he will not yield to allow the other party to comment, and then tells the guy to SIT DOWN ... "THE GENTLEMAN WILL SIT."



H/T to AMERICAblog.

Hope Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Only Anger

The funny thing is, our government, in toto, is actually very much uninterested in what Americans want. It is as if politicians have allowed politics to actually be a job, a job unfortunately, one has to lobby to keep either every two years, every four years or every six years. So, the job of a politician is to lobby, and from the first day after they are elected, they lobby their entire term to stay where they are. This, sadly, has become quite known to many Americans (although that 24% of the stupid people don't even have a clue about this).

It has become maddeningly magnified by how waste, bad governing, and inattention to the constituency is just part of the daily job. And since lobbying is the job, in and of itself, any duty that, say, our congressional leaders owe to perform on the platform they ran, or govern in the manner in which they told those that elected them they would, once on the job, all that goes out the window as the politician has begun his actual job, lobbying.

Waste is an interesting topic. One of the reasons the government can never trim the waste is because those that cause the waste pay the politicians the most money to be able to continue to waste. So when The Washington Post does a three piece spread (here) concerning the "secret government" that virtually controls American lives (by "spying" illegally and legally), no politician jumped on it. The point of the piece was that this vast "secret government" which started out to be of national security importance, has turned into an unmanageable and poor functioning apparatus of the government such that hundreds of billions of dollars are being wasted.

Now, in this time of recession bordering on depression, and the mantra of the entire Republican party centering on "balance" with regards to budgetary ideology, you would think that someone would address this form of waste. Unfortunately, for Americans, our politicians figure that "waste" is helping those out of work, those unfortunate "teachers" who educate the majority of American children (because none of the politicians whose job is lobbying actually have children in public schools, so they don't care that teachers just don't make enough to live on), or in any jobs bill, or further stimulus package, or proper health care (remember, many of our elected lobbyists are actively lobbying funds to repeal the help to average Americans for affordable health care).

No, and that is because the people affected by those choices are American people, not the corporate people, a class we now have thanks to the Citizen's United decision. Even though actual American people are the only ones that can line up outside a voting booth, and put a mark down for a candidate, the corporate people have control over which politician will be elected, and what that politician's agenda will be. And so, as for the Washington Post expose, the very people involved in the "secret government," like AT&T and other surveillance giants, pay far too much money in kickbacks and in seeing that the lobby job of our politicians is carried out, such that the elected lobbyist would not actually try to cut this source off, regardless of how much American tax payer money is used to funnel the money to them. Nary a peep from our representatives in Washington except how irresponsible the Post was for actually doing the piece. No waste here. Move along. Nothing to see.

The sad part of this is that it is not exclusive of the Republican party. Democrats, Independents, and yes, some Progressives, once they get the "job," they realize that it is not to do the bidding of the real people that elected them, but to do the work of the corporate people who will see that they are still in their job and who will fund them quite handsomely to stay there.

The corporate people running the war that is destroying the lives of the real people in America will never give up their free line at the soup kitchen of the American government's tax monies. No sireee. And, thanks to all the tax breaks many of these corporates get from that same soup kitchen, the relationship is so symbiotic that neither side really is able to cut the other side off, for risk of dying.

It has come to that. We had that one moment of light that "a change is gonna come" feeling, in 2008,


when led by a grassroots coalition made up mainly of American people networked through the Internet, elected the first African American president, and overwhelmingly placed the Democratic party in charge. But after 18 months, and an upcoming "two year" job election by our elected lobbyists on the horizon, the focus from day one of Obama and the rest of the Democrats, Independents and Progressives the real people put in charge, things have not only not changed, some of stayed the same, and many have become worse. There are a small cadre of real people and corporate people that have something on the line in trying to highlight what the 2008 elected lobbyist actually did for the real people, but most of us already know what was done to us, because our collective asses really hurt.

And many of us with sore asses just won't get up come this November to stand in a line and punch a hole, when we already know we are screwed. Hell, the gas money alone to get to the polling place could probably feed a family of four at McDonalds.

At some point, this recession will turn into the depression, as the haves continue to hoard, and the have nots continue to be mislead, mistreated, maligned and ignored.

Hope doesn't seem to live in America anymore. But, anger, certainly is on the rise.

Addendum: Funny, after I put up this piece, AMERICAblog links to this article by Judy Woodruff, who addresses the same sentiments in my post, but takes the "change" part and gives it more "umph" as well as links and actual "changes" that have not come about, or just barely made a dent.

When "it" is in the air, "it" is in the air everywhere.

Obama's Reaction To "Ant" Comment

From Obama today:

“We’re on the verge of passing the most comprehensive financial reform since the Great Depression—reform that will prevent a crisis like this from happening again. It’s reform that will protect our economy from the recklessness and irresponsibility of a few. Reform that will protect consumers against the unfair practices of credit card companies and mortgage lenders. Reform that ensures taxpayers are never again on the hook for Wall Street’s mistakes.

“But most of our friends in the other party are planning on voting against this reform. In fact, just yesterday, I was stunned to hear the leader of the Republicans in the House say that financial reform was like using a nuclear weapon to target an ant. That’s right. He compared the financial crisis to an ant. The same financial crisis that led to the loss of nearly eight million jobs. The same crisis that cost people their homes and their lives savings.

“Well if the Republican leader is that out of touch with the struggles facing the American people, he should come here to Racine and ask people if they think the financial crisis was an ant. He should ask the men and women who’ve been out of work for months at a time. He should ask the Americans who send me letters every night that talk about how they’re barely hanging on.

“These Americans don’t believe the financial crisis was an ant. They know that it’s what led to the worst recession since the Great Depression. And they expect their leaders in Washington to do whatever it takes to make sure a crisis like this never happens again. The Republican leader might want to maintain a status quo on Wall Street. But we want to move America forward.”

What Is The Point Of A Majority If You Can't Get Anything Accomplished?

While I certainly can't speak to Bennett's motivations or state of mind, I think his observations about Republicans are critically important. The party that once liked to throw around the "party of ideas" moniker has become devoid of almost all thought. Indeed, in most GOP circles, ideas themselves are suspect -- they're probably the result of some kind of egg-head intellectual who reads books instead of watching Fox News.

Bennett has to be frustrated that his career his is ending because members of his own party were outraged that he tried to solve problems by working with other senators (i.e., his job). But the more important point is that the development itself is evidence of a Republican Party with a kind of reflexive sickness -- an allergy to substance, problem-solving, compromise, and reason.

Interesting point from Steve Benen.

I was reading an earlier piece at Benen's site, The Washington Monthly, concerning the lock step approach to governing adhered to by the current Republican party by threatening members who "stray" from their ideological viewpoints with such things as taking away chairmanship of committees, among other things. While that has been common knowledge by most people, whether in politics or not, what comes to mind, as was noted in the article I read, was why the Democrats don't take the same type of approach. The point was made that if the Democrats HAD taken this road, most of the agenda that Obama tried to pass WOULD have passed. Instead, the inept Democratic party caved in all the time on everything that the Republican party did not like since Obama came into office and the Democratic party took over Congress. And even WITH the caving, the Republican party stayed together on it's "NO" votes, regardless of how much the Democrats gave them in concessions.

Imagine how much better the economy and life would be right now if only the Democrats figured out that they ain't gonna get no bipartisanship votes. We stormed the White House and Congress in 2008 for the sole purpose of overriding the bullshit that had been passing for government the past eight years under the Bush Administration, and right after that, the Obama Administration started playing pussyfoot with the other side. The end result is the complete mess we have today. Nothing major by way of any reform ... all half ass crap that doesn't go far enough to change the direction this country is heading in. And, of course, the failure of Obama to even attempt to try to push through the more progressive concepts he (supposedly) ran on. In fact, it is quite clear that Obama is distancing himself from the man we all rooted for during the campaign.

And for what? That is my big question. No one on the Hill that has an "R" next to his name likes him. Many, in fact, despise him, still think he's not an American citizen and is a Muslim! And the Blue Dogs ... well they mostly just shit on him, like good little doggies.

What is the point of a fucking majority if you can't get anything accomplished?

Barney Frank's Pipe Dream

A panel commissioned by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is recommending nearly $1 trillion in cuts to the Pentagon’s budget during the next 10 years.

The Sustainable Defense Task Force, a commission of scholars from a broad ideological spectrum appointed by Frank, the House Financial Services Committee chairman, laid out actions the government could take that could save as much as $960 billion between 2011 and 2020.

Measures presented by the task force include making significant reductions to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which has strong support from Defense Secretary Robert Gates; delaying the procurement of a new midair refueling tanker the Air Force has identified as one of its top acquisition priorities; and reducing the Navy’s fleet to 230 ships instead of the 313 eyed by the service.

Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen! We can't even get this government (or the past one) to stop giving our taxpayer money to Arab nations while American's starve to death, are homeless by the thousands and FUCKING UNEMPLOYED IN THE MILLIONS! Good luck getting the military contractors and their war machine on board with this, Barney!

Well, Halter Did Not Fare Well

Blanche Lincoln's victory will be widely painted as a crushing loss for the left. Labor poured a huge amount of cash into the race, and there's no quibbling with the fact that this is a disappointing defeat.

But make no mistake: Progressive activists and labor mounted a challenge that was barely months in the making, and rallying behind Bill Halter, came within a hair of unseating a longtime incumbent who had the backing of the entire Dem establishment and the two most recent Dem presidents.

No matter what you read about this, the Halter challenge was a show of force by the left. Period. If you don't belive that, ask yourself why Lincoln suddenly found herself backing a tough-on-derivatives proposal in the Senate, why Obama had to cut radio ads and robocalls to save Lincoln, and why Bill Clinton had to come into the state to instruct voters not to listen to unions in order to save Lincoln's hide.

It remains to be seen who on the left will lift a finger to help Lincoln from here on out. More on this tomorrow, but for now, it's clear that the Dem establishment threw its weight behind a candidate who polls show is less likely to win the general election -- and Dems may have just lost themselves a Senate seat.

From DailyKos quoting Greg Sargent.

I admit that not defeating Blanche Lincoln was a tough loss for we progressives, but as the quote above aptly states, it took the entire Democratic machine in Washington to head off we netroots, and she was fighting for her life -- an incumbent being challenged by someone hardly known, and who forced her to change a few stances, and brought out both Obama AND Billy boy.

This doesn't change the fact that if the Democrats in Congress don't start acting in the fashion that they were elected to act, they will continue to face uphill battles for seats they have, in the past, thought were rightfully theirs.

Peace, out.

Still The Party Of No, And "No," They Haven't Really Educated Themselves On What They Are Saying "No" To

BACHMANN: We’re, we’re, we’re hoping that President Obama’s policies don’t succeed, exactly as you said. And of course, David Axelrod unfortunately seems to be wanting to smear people who disagree with the president. We’ve seen that over and over at Tea Party events, at gatherings where people say, “look, I don’t like this idea of out of control spending and accumulating deficits that our kids have no possibility of paying back.” And to think that those of us, we who disagree with that very ill-thought out idea are being smeared, I think that’s really wrong.

H/T to Think Progress.

You know, I am just so fucking tired of hearing and reading this crap. "Out of control spending and accumulating deficits" are what the REPUBLICAN PARTY did to this country for eight years -- and Obama is still making this country pay for two wars, while they (both Repugs and Democrats) still talk about initiating a third war with Iran.

Not one fucking word out of these guys and gals' mouths about the money going down the crapper for these wars. Nada. This country is not mad because of "out of control spending and accumulating deficits" caused by the Obama Administration. Yes, they are being told that it is Obama's new policies that are fucking them over, but that's because those that attend the teabagger events are morons who don't know their ass from a hole in the wall, and believe whatever FOX tells them. I don't have any excuses for those in Congress that just outright lie to the American public. I have no idea why they say what they say, and why the media just lets them lie and lie and lie.

If anyone in Congress is FUCKING SERIOUS ABOUT STOPPING THE OUT OF CONTROL SPENDING AND ACCUMULATING DEFICITS, just stop the damn wars! Why in God's name are we putting our country's money into two countries? Why are we bankrupting our country and forcing our citizens out of work and into homelessness? Why are we even arguing about having HEALTH FUCKING CARE for every American citizen? WHY?????????

It's not a Democratic thing. It's not a Republican thing. As an American, we should be wanting, no demanding, our government stop these wars and give us back our money to be used for Americans' needs. God knows there are many needs here, and the billions and billions of dollars lining the corporate schmucks' pockets that benefit from war spending is disgusting.

Ms. Bachmann, if you want this to stop, just vote no next time on the war spending bills. That is where the "out of control spending and deficit accumulation" is coming from, and get your foot out of your mouth and learn something about the fucking government that's called your "job," bitch. Do something constructive instead of lying like a snake on a daily basis and supporting the ever-so-popular non-grassroots teabaggers. Spouting off at the mouth that you want Obama policies to fail is just so third grade.

And while I am on my rant, this is a MUST READ, all of it:

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

[snip]

You finally got mad when.. when... wait for it... when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all OK with you but helping other Americans... well fuck that.

Republicans In Congress Backing Down?

Great line:

Political momentum has shifted so fast over the last week that it has given Republicans whiplash.

Read the rest of the article. It's worth it.

2010 Might Be Another Banner Year For Democrats, After All

You know, I was pretty sure I was just going to sit out the 2010 election this year because, as most of my readers know, I am not a fan of Obama anymore, based on his lack of progress on his promise of changing America. And, I'm not buying any logic that being president is "hard work," either.

Also, I was pretty sure, based on what most of the liberal and progressives were touting on their websites, that we all felt the same way, and were willing to let the Republicans take over the majority, even if it was by default.

However, unexpectedly, for all of us, the teabaggers came along. They don't really bother me, except for their lack of knowledge about government and their deep reverence for all things Fox. But, they are a problem for the Republican party, because the teabaggers hate many Republicans, if not most, as well.

So, if you add that to the mix, plus the recent actions in the Senate by the whining Republicans who are refusing to let government do its job (never mind the fact that all the Republicans in Congress have en masse voted no on every bill, regardless of how much the Democrats, much to liberals' and progressives' chagrin, catered to their needs and wishes), it's not looking so bad for the Democrats this 2010!

The teabaggers represent a MINORITY of Americans. Fox news (as well as the right wing hate talk radio shows) coupled with all print media (right wing or liberal) and TV (cable and non-cable) only reach approximately 10% of the 300+ million Americans. See my post here from 2008 that indicates 90% of Americans do not get their news views from quote main stream media unquote.

There are more registered Democrats than Republicans, and the base of the teabagger movement is close to 100% Republican in origin (give or take a few percentage points). Which, pretty much rules out any effective takeover of Congress in 2010 by the Republicans!

The party of no, of violence, of intolerance, of hatred, of racism, of bigotry, of homophobia, of war, of religiosity, of lies, of deception, of greed, of white power (I could go on, and on, and on) will most likely not be representative of this country come 2010. They simply don't have the numbers, despite what the main stream media tries to say to the 10% that watch/read/listen to them. And, with Jerry Brown in the mix for Governor of California ... (grins) I guess I might have to just go to the polls in 2010 after all!

Why Do The Interests In Iraq, Afghanistan & Pakistan Override What Belongs To America?

Courtesy of Infoplease

From Prison Planet:

The cost of fighting the war in Afghanistan will overtake that of the Iraq conflict for the first time in 2010, Pentagon budget documents showed Thursday. On top of the basic defense budget of 533.7 billion dollars, the White House is requesting a further 130 billion dollars for overseas missions, including 65 billion for Afghanistan and 61 billion for Iraq.

As for military contractors:

The military is increasingly relying on private security contractors as President Obama ramps up the war in Afghanistan, with contractors now making up as much as 30% of the armed force in the country, a just-released congressional report shows.

In the period roughly tracking with President Obama's first nine months in office, the number of Defense Department armed security contractors soared 236% -- from 3,184 to 10,712 between December 2008 to September 2009. The number roughly doubled between June and September 2009 alone.

I could go on and on with articles, but I think my point is made. Our military budget and our wars have taken money from the American public and wasted it on frivolousness. Never mind the false "terrorism" meme the right and some on the left tout to support such expenses, the fact of the matter is that whatever we do or pretend to have accomplished "over there" has not had any impact on people over "here" feeling any better about the people over "there." The right wing nut jobs have labeled all Muslims as terrorists, so what is the point? Are we suddenly going to convert them all to White, and Christians, to boot? Hell, no!

The irony of spending money on infrastructure in Iraq based on the American government's destruction of said infrastructure, at the expense of spending money on AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE is not lost on me, nor is it lost on millions of Americans. The irony of our congressional leaders refusing to put money into AMERICANS hands by not passing bills that support and give money to American citizens (with the stupid proviso that said bills and money need to be accounted for and paid for before they can be passed) while at the same time, funding for Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is not paid for, and is balanced on the backs of the American people.

It's been seven years now. Seven fucking years of wasting money in the middle east, while we see our country going down the tubes financially at the same time our government (from the president on down) refuses to help our own country. States can't meet their budgets, we have unemployment in double digits, the banking industry is in ruins, Wall Street is sucking the life out of this country while only a handful reap any rewards, and our government sits on its hands and shakes its head, citing terrorism as a priority over American prosperity.

Hypocrisy, meet the American political system.

John Murtha, 1932-2010

Rep. John Murtha, the tall, gruff-mannered former Marine who became the de facto voice of veterans on Capitol Hill and later an outspoken and influential critic of the Iraq War, died Monday. He was 77. The Pennsylvania Democrat had been suffering from complications from gallbladder surgery. He died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., with his family at his bedside, the hospital said.

RIP.

Let The C-Span Cameras Roll

I personally do not think we are getting any real "reform" of health care with the proposals that are coming out of the Senate and the House. First off, the things that Obama promised Americans he would push for, and the reason he and others who ran on similar health care reform plans, are not in the "reform" bills currently put forth by the House and Senate. There is, however, the final discussions that will bring out the final bill, and the current debate is whether or not C-Span cameras should be allowed to film it. I believe it should be filmed. Whenever I watch congress in action through the C-Span cameras, I am completely amazed at what passes for congressional actions. Generally, the seats are empty, and the speakers at talking to practically no one, they say such ridiculous things, most of which are never printed in newspapers or aired over television, and they really do expose the American public of just how dysfunctional our way of democracy has become. So, airing the debate over the finalization of the alleged health care reform will most definitely show Americans just how their elected leaders feel about them. And I am quite sure the American public will be disgusted by what they see, which is why congress and the Obama administration are trying NOT to let the cameras in. If this is supposed to be the signature legislation to come out of the Obama administration, and if the elected representatives that hammer this bill out are to be seen live, as they actually work at their job, America will finally get a glimpse of this dysfunction, and perhaps, a call for a new party will finally start to make sense to them.

John Podesta says it well:

Open government and citizen access to information is a first principle of liberty in a democracy that has to be defended — even when it’s unpopular or deemed unhelpful in the short term. It is my experience that corruption in government begins at the moment when officials in power believe no one is paying attention. The scrutiny of traditional journalists, citizen journalists, and other interested Americans serves as a powerful disinfectant for our legislative process and restores confidence in our participatory democracy.

Critics have argued that the presence of cameras is likely to produce political posturing and grandstanding by politicians. And indeed, with the cameras rolling, Republicans have said health care reform is a bigger threat than terrorism, claimed that seniors would be told to “drop dead,” and even called the President a liar. But I’m glad cameras were there to capture those demeaning comments. They have helped all Americans gain a better understanding of the unwillingness of some on the right to engage in a rational debate.

The presence of cameras has also produced some beneficial outcomes. For instance, C-Span cameras exposed House GOP efforts to silence members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus when they tried to speak on the floor. The cameras also shamed Senate Republicans when they tried to filibuster the debate by forcing the reading of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ single-payer amendment.

Democrats have nothing to fear from an open debate. They are working to expand affordable coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans, lowering premiums, ending the insurance industry’s denial of pre-existing conditions, and ensuring women will no longer be charged much more for the same coverage as men. When the House and Senate meet in the coming weeks to discuss this historic legislation, I would humbly urge them to let the cameras roll. We can handle the truth.

Members of Congress should not forget that they are representing actual Americans who stand to be either benefited or harmed by the choices they make. It’s my view that if the American people are allowed to bear witness to the conference negotiations, the most important health care reform in decades will be stronger for it. And the American public will rightly feel that they helped bring it about.

Can someone just make these Republicans just shut the fuck up and stop lying to Americans?

I am having a hard time trying to find the Republican adults in congress. When I read things like Orrin Hatch saying that health care reform threatens the two party system (which, by the way, to me, is not a bad idea - not in having a one party system, but in not having any party at all, fuck the platforms and partisan ruling), and Jim Inhofe's decision to have his "gang" just not show up for the hearings on the clean energy bill so nothing can be passed, or Virgina Foxx's statement that health care reform is a greater threat to Americans than terrorism, I just don't get it. What is wrong with these people?

John Boehner puts out a document that quotes FactCheck.org as stating that the health care plan will include massive cuts to medicare benefits to seniors, and when representatives at FactCheck.org call and tell him they never said that and to take it out of his document, he refuses?

And these people actually believe that if they fuck up Americans, that Americans will vote for them in droves in the next election!?!?

I am completely at a loss to understand this new culture of "no," especially when you consider that Republicans of the 80's and 90's actually supported certain things that they now claim are going to push America into either a communist country, a socialist state, a Nazi run government, etc. Of course, the battle among the Republicans as to who can be the nuttiest is taking a toll on true conservative Republicans that actually could spark a decent debate over the future of this country, because the right wing fringe nut jobs are forcing issues that have absolutely no bearing on the needs of this country. They are, in essence, eating their own (think NY's Dede Scozzafava, the Republican who dropped out of the race because of the likes of Limbaugh, Palin, Beck, et al [hmmm, none of these people are really politicians] who want to "purge" the Republican party of its moderates, and stock it with bat shit crazy nut jobs), and they think this will actually get them more votes? Have these people not done the math? They lost by huge numbers in 2006 and 2008, and they believe that by being even nuttier and more obstructionist, that more (not less) people will identify with them?

As a point of irony, I read today that Doug Holtz-Eakin, who was a top McCain presidential adviser during his campaign, will soon lose his insurance! And because he had an operation on one of his kidneys, he falls into that category of "pre-existing conditions" that today's insurance companies are denying coverage for! But, of course, McCain opposes the current health care overhaul because he believes the current private coverage available to Americans is just dandy!

Then, of course, there's Michelle Bachmann with her rallying cry of "don't take away my healthcare," as if overhauling our current system will somehow result in taking health care away from Americans. She's such a twit, it's hardly worth the time it takes to type these words. It's an "overhaul" of the system, you know, that private one that gouges Americans, charges them up the wazoo, denies basic needs and coverages, but it is in no way taking away any one's healthcare, bitch.

Then there is the blatant irony of Republicans saying they oppose health care reform because it will add to the budget deficit, while with a straight face, they add to the budget deficit with war financing! And to add insult to injury, Americans are supposed to finance reform in the Middle East, but Republicans are opposed to Americans financing reform in America.

I don't see how you can be an American citizen and root for people in government whose sole contribution on behalf of their constituents is to refuse to play ball. At some point you have to stop, scratch your head, and say, "what the fuck?"

And the most bizarro part of all of this is the fact that the Republicans have no plans to offer the American people except to keep on saying that the past eight years were fabulous, and nothing went wrong until Obama was elected president! (Of course, there is still that buzz that everything went to hell during the Clinton years [ummm, can you say budget surplus?] while Bush put this country on the right path).

While I am in bitch mode, how about the new trend recently with the insurance companies raising their premiums before 2010, some as high as 32%?

Wages are stagnant (my salary hasn't changed in nearly 20 years), millions are unemployed, many more millions have no insurance, people are homeless and starving in this country, but our Republican lawmakers are putting on a full court press that the Bush years were the best we've had, and changing anything is just simply going to ruin America.

Can someone just make these Republicans just shut the fuck up and stop lying to Americans?

Anyone???????

UPDATE: From the mouth of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, regarding the line drawn in the sand as to who can be a Republican:

Well, you can’t be for card check, you can’t get endorsed by ACORN, you can’t support the stimulus bill, you can’t be for bank bailouts, that would be a starting point, Chuck. But if you’re for all those things, you’re probably not a Republican.

H/T to Think Progress.

Never Mind Saving Money For Seniors, Government Can't Lower Prescription Costs ... It Would Not Be Fair To Big Pharma!

One of the things about our government's deal with big pharma is the fact that it disallows the negotiating of fair prices for drugs. This became even worse for seniors when in 2003, as part of the Medicare prescription drug program, the "donut hole" was created, wherein at a certain point for seniors, they reach a maximum amount that is paid for by the government. Then they have to pay for their prescription drugs out of their own pocket until they reach the end of the "donut hole" and the government will pick up the payments again. This, as reported for years, has resulted in seniors having to pay more for their prescription drugs in this new program, then they had to pay before this program was enacted and was alleged to save money for seniors in the long run. No, it did not, but what it did do is line the pockets of big pharma at (as usual) the expense of those least likely to afford the huge pay-off, senior citizens.

Now, during the health care reform negotiations, a provision to change the 2003 plan, putting the seniors from Medicaid and back into Medicare, which will then allow for the negotiation of lower prescription drug prices, one illustrious Democratic Senator feels this change would be unfair ... to big pharma! H/T to Crooks and Liars.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) proposed ending what some Democrats have called a windfall for the pharmaceutical industry – and he picked up strong support from his party.

[snip]

As part of the 2003 Medicare prescription drug program, more than 6 million low-income seniors were shifted from Medicaid, which allowed the government to negotiate a deep discount for drugs, to the Medicare program, which did not. This has resulted in the government paying about 30 percent more for drugs, according to an analysis by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Ca.).

Nelson’s amendment would shift these beneficiaries back to the Medicaid program, resulting in $86 billion in savings that could be used to close the donut hole for senior citizens.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said the Finance Committee should honor the deal with the drug industry. To suddenly double their obligation from $80 billion to more than $160 billion would not be “fair,” he said.

(shaking head, hitting it on keyboard). There was more furious discussions over this, which included a comment from Senator Grassley (R-Iowa):

This prompted one of several heated responses from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who defended the Medicare program, which was passed under his watch, and deflected responsibility for the pharmaceutical deal.

“If this is a bad deal, then you ought be embarrassed with the president for sitting down with these folks,” Grassley said.

As the article explains further down, Grassley had his timeline re: presidential sit down mistaken. But, hey, what's new about that? Republicans, since Obama became president, have taken the liberty of mostly spouting lies about everything and anything, however minuscule it is concerning.

It just plain pisses me off that representatives in our government, that are elected by the people to serve the people's interests, find that it is unfair to corporate interests to actually produce a plan that would save money for their constituents. They are more worried that their corporate sponsors will have their billion dollar yearly profits trimmed down a bit, but have no moral compass whatsoever concerning the unfairness to the grandmas and grandpas that go broke thanks to the "donut hole." (Let's not forget the hypocrisy of the Republican talking points and fake concerns about the non-existent "death panels" in the health care reform package).

Where is the real change we Americans voted for in the last election? When is our government going to finally buck the stranglehold on it by corporations? When is democracy finally going to replace capitalism as the operating government policy? When, goddamnit?