From Huffington Post regarding Obama’s birth certificate:

Asked directly by King if she actually thought Obama was born in Kenya, Cheney responded, “No, I’m not saying that.” But then she kept going. “I’m saying that people are fundamentally uncomfortable and fundamentally I think increasingly uncomfortable with an American president who seems to be afraid to defend America, stand up for what we believe in.”

Fellow guest James Carville seemed momentarily flabbergasted before responding, “These poor pathetic people are believing stuff just like Ms. Cheney tonight. She refuses to say this is lewd, ludicrous because she wants these people to believe this.

What an absolute trash bag this woman is. The Cheney’s, I’m sure, are very proud of themselves and their child-raising skills. They’ve sired a daughter that’s a chip off the old block.

This family really seems to get off on NEVER answering a question directly, insinuating falsehoods and, in no uncertain terms, allowing them to fester and grow. Dick Cheney did so very cleverly with the Al Qaeda/Iraq connection - wording his answers so carefully as to ensure that the not-so-sharp portion of society (a very large portion) concluded that there WAS direct connection to the two.

This practice is abhorrent. More than abhorrent. Thousands have died as a result of actions taken based on these kind of lies. Unfortunately, most of the news media doesn’t have the balls to call her on it so, like the Bush’s, the Cheney’s get a pass.

In Liz Cheney’s case, she’s attempting more than just question-raising about Obama’s birth home. She’s playing a not-so-subtle game of descrimination that she knows her far right constituents - those who still feel it’s unfair for a black man to have the same rights as they do - will lap it up.

These people are not worthy, nor responsibly capable, of holding any power in our society. They are bottom dwellers of the human experience and morally vacant, content to stir the pot of hatred for their own benefit, the rest of us be damned.

Verbal Paintball Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Liz Cheney

From Washington Post:

Lacking unity on an alternative agenda to Obama’s health-care plans, Republicans have instead focused on a strategy of rallying public opposition and wooing the conservative Democrats in Congress, whose votes will ultimately determine the fate of any health-care bill. That plan depends in large part on Congress going on break before it votes on a bill. On Monday, though, Republicans made clear that they see an opportunity to derail the legislation now.

Here are the current members of the Blue Dog Coalition (from House.Gov):

Blue Dog Leadership Team

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA-03), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip

Blue Dog Members

Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
Baca, Joe (CA-43)
Barrow, John (GA-12)
Berry, Marion (AR-01)
Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
Boren, Dan (OK-02)
Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
Childers, Travis (MS-01)
Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
Costa, Jim (CA-20)
Cuellar, Henry (TX-28)
Dahlkemper, Kathy (PA-03)
Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
Griffith, Parker (AL-05)
Harman, Jane (CA-36)
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (SD)
Hill, Baron (IN-09)
Holden, Tim (PA-17)
Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
Marshall, Jim (GA-03)
Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
Melancon, Charlie (LA-03)
Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
Ross, Mike (AR-04)
Salazar, John (CO-03)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
Scott, David (GA-13)
Shuler, Heath (NC-11)
Space, Zack (OH-18)
Tanner, John (TN-08)
Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
Wilson, Charles (OH-06)

Now, I’m not necessarily one to promote bullying or threats as a tactic of persuasion, but what we have here in the healthcare debate are a group of people who see obstructionism of this issue as constructive. I’m sure there are some that are genuine about getting a healthcare plan through, but, being a cynical person, I assume most of them are either owned by their healthcare lobby, motivated only by politics alone - or just plain cowards.

Whatever they consider themselves to be as politicians or human beings, we have a duty in this debate to brand them as obstructionists if they decide to become the Ralph Nader’s of this reform bill. As a blogging community we actually have the power to shape the votes of these folks - and the power to punish them if they don’t show the backbone necessary to do the job. Most posts from the Daily Kos alone show up on the first page of a Google news search for any particular subject - and I’ve found that lists like these are very closely monitored by Washington (one of my most viewed posts on my own blog involved republicans who voted against the stimulus but took the money. Every other visitor to the site was from either the Congress or the Senate according to my tracking software. One senator even enlisted a blogger to debate me on that particular subject and put in a good word for him).

Advertising, branding and PR are powerful tools. While we all need to call their offices and push them to pass this bill, we also need to threaten that we will duplicate this list on thousands of blogs and brand the proper people as “Healthcare Reform Obstructionists” or maybe “Hx’s”. (Come up with something more catchy, anyone. I don’t work for BBDO).

Going after the republicans on this one is a lost cause. They’re so thoroughly owned by special interests that their only action can be whatever is worst for us. Fuck them.

These folks above will turn this debate. Not Obama. Not Harry Reid (useless) or Nancy Pelosi. The republicans spent years strong-arming their fence-sitting members. We cannot shy away from doing the same here.

What this group needs to know is that no matter what they do in the future or have done in the past, their obituary will say “Obstructed healthcare reform, subjecting millions to bankruptcy and certain death.” They may feel their conservative stance on this issue in commendable. What they need to know is how long its tentacles are and how vulnerable they are to get caught in them. We ACTUALLY as a group have the capability to produce this kind of result.

Duplicate this list above and speak your mind on this.

Verbal Paintball blue dog democrats, healthcare reform, republican obstructionists

Many folks have huge issues with profanity on this site. I’ve witnessed comments - some on my posts, some on others - that discredit a post purely based on some of the language used. In fact, on Daily Kos I contemplated titling my post “Sarah Palin is a filthy, lying bitch” with that exact title (did it here). I thought the title, and my description of why I made that kind of statement, are part of the discussion. Didn’t do it because of the PC nature of that site. I felt bad about having to make that choice. I think the post explained in fairly clear terms why I would call her that. Most seemed to “get” that.

Here’s my feeling about all this. Cursing has it’s place. It has a raw emotion to it. It can sometimes wake up a reader at the very point they need it to. It’s not always used for lack of a better vocabulary or unnecessary shock value. Sometimes that shock value is absolutely necessary. While I appreciate the argument that cursing devalues your message - and I understand that many people cannot get past it when reading a post (and, as a consequence, disregards your post), I still feel it is a similar discussion as the one’s people had when debating whether showing simulated sex in movies or extreme violence enhanced or detracted from certain movies. I think it depends completely on the subject and the message - and the openness one has in giving it consideration.

Profanity, at least in my case, can denote a certain trust or lack thereof. I’ve lived in New York and Los Angeles. People in New York curse more. I trust the folks in LA less. When someone tells me to go fuck myself, I know where I stand with them. When they say “have a nice day” and tell others to fuck me over, I’ll give that less credence.

Words. William F. Buckley used words like “dithyrambic” and “tergiversation” to describe the actions of other writers or those debating him. I always thought to myself he could gain more ground by saying something more gutteral, such as “You don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about.” It’s not that I didn’t understand him, or felt that he was not expressing himself truthfully - I just felt that his arguments could have benefitted now and again by a display of raw emotion that curse words provide. It’s okay if some members of the audience are offended. Maybe they should be.

It really comes down to Freedom and Truth - the freedom for a writer to say whatever it is he wants to say, be it loving, hateful, smart or stupid - and the truth to not pussy-foot around what it is he’s trying to say with language that cloaks it. While I may not agree with a typical hate-filled rant, I am reminded of the value of freedom of speech and how recently we’ve had people in office who didn’t attach the same value I did to it. When I see a writer curse, I don’t ask whether the word offends me but whether it’s “supposed” to offend me and if it fits the discussion. A poster named The Eyewitness Muse had a recent article titled “f*ck, f*ck, F*ck.” Many posted about their distaste of the title. I read the article and found it to be completely justified. It was about the emotion and frustration he was feeling in firing an employee. Should he have censored himself and titled it something like “Oh, Beans!”? Don’t think so. Others might disagree. Doesn’t mean they’re right.

Sometimes it’s necessary to curse. When I refer to George Bush and Dick Cheney as “pieces of shit” it is justified. They are murderers. Someone needs to get angry about that and say something that resonates. Words have power. Curse words, used skillfully (and sometimes not so skillfully), have extraordinary power.

John Boehner, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are “scumbags.” Sarah Palin is “gutter trash”. Those who spew racism are “human garbage.” Michelle Bachmann is a “bitch” and Richard Shelby is a “prick.” Granted, some of these people give speeches and rants that might not use profanity (well, with the exception of Boehner), but their rhetoric is hurtful, divisive, ugly, and many times racist - hidden under the cloak of a smile and a few “kind” words.

Personally, I’d rather they tell me to go fuck myself. At least I’d know where I stand.

Verbal Paintball Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, profanity, rush limbaugh, Sean Hannity

From Huffington Post:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sharply criticized a national advertising campaign partly directed at centrist Democrats wavering on health care reform on Thursday.

Reid said the he was unaware of the campaign targeting Democrats but that it was a “waste of money.”

The ads are funded by a wing of the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, controlled largely by President Obama.

Asked to elaborate, Reid added, “It’s a waste of money to have Democrats running ads against Democrats.”

Don’t like the ads? Well, I have an idea for you, Reid, - you stupid, useless, ineffectual fuck - get the votes you need for healthcare. You have that, the White House (and, for that matter, the majority of the American people) won’t have to strong arm you about shit you should already be forceful on.

You see, Harry, the biggest problem as always is you. You have proven yourself in the last three years of Democrat majorities to be nothing more than a company man for the Senate. You would rather make compromises and deals behind the scenes, complain of insurmountable obstacles to votes or just plain throw your hands up in the air and claim sabotage than DO YOU JOB.

Remember Tom Delay? Asshole, right? He was - but he got the votes he needed by pushing the hell out of people and, when that didn’t work, he threatened them. Sure, he probably put more pork into a million bills than you guys have, but I hardly think any of you are pure. Bill Frist? Hell, he did your job better than you and ALSO got the votes he needed. The bottom line is that NOTHING gets done in the Senate - and you are to blame. Nobody else. Don’t look around and call the small minority of republicans the culprits. You have division in your ranks (blue dogs, etc.) and are unable to corral them for the right reasons.

Furthermore, you need to OWN some issues, not be a fucking pussy and water down bills so some of the useless republicans can vote for them. Fuck them. They fucked all of us for eight years. The American majority doesn’t care about them, only results - and you’re falling flat on that. Also, don’t give me this guff that the democrats don’t fall in line like the republicans do. It doesn’t wash. Your job is to get them to.

Simply put, if you can’t get the votes for healthcare reform, the senators with the courage to give their votes easily, those who actually care about the rest of us, ought to take you out behind the senate chambers and beat and kick you DeNiro-style.

Verbal Paintball harry reid, healthcare debate

From MSNBC:

When asked about a Republican alternative to the Democratic health-care reform plan, Boehner replied, “That’s the real crux of this — how do we help those who don’t have insurance get it and, secondly, this does nothing about the cost of health care in America. And if we are serious about fixing our health-care system we [have] got to go to the cost and the cost side is pretty simple. We have to do something about reforming junk lawsuits that drive up the cost of health care for all Americans.”

When pressed for more specifics like cost of the GOP plan, Boehner said, “We are continuing to draft our bill, and we hope to have it soon.”

Look for the GOP to continue to tie health-care reform directly into the issue of the poor economy. Expect more statements on fiscal responsibility, how health-care reform hurts small businesses and how it’s too much, too soon.

Here’s the real problem with the healthcare debate: it’s EVEN a debate.

Senators like Cantor and Boehner DO NOT CARE whether you have a shaky healthcare plan from a company that might not be around in two months. They could give a shit whether you have a pre-existing condition that precludes you from ever getting the kind of coverage that would cover it without constant challenges from the billing department and the potential that your healthcare insurer will drop you like a bad habit.

They don’t care about these kind of things because it is not their concern. They WANT to be ignorant on the issue. Listen to them. They have a million reasons at their disposal as to why the Democrats program won’t work and not a single good explanation of what will. They are OWNED by the same companies that have saturated the airwaves with commercials telling you that the Obama plan is “socialized medicine” and will set this country and your wallets back. Look at their faces. Look deep into their eyes when they spew this filth on the Sunday morning talk shows. Behind that indifferent stare is a brain that is gleaming with calculations of how much money will fill their coffers for their next campaign. It makes perfect sense to them to blame you and your lawsuits for the problem. In their world, that benefits them.

You see - you, the taxpayer, are collateral damage to these pieces of shit. Consider that strong language? Well, how would you feel if you had a parent or loved one about to collapse under an unjust healthcare system and the only thing standing in the way of them and the next generation getting some relief are these indifferent, callous fuckheads.

I’ve never been one to wish bad things on anyone. It’s ugly in concept, let alone actually applying it. Still in all, I’m reminded of George Wallace and Ronald Reagan. Wallace spent most of his life fighting to retain segregation and promoting hatred. During his Presidential campaign he was shot and paralyzed. By the time of his death he had renounced his earlier ways. Could it have been that as a paralyzed man he may have faced some of the adversity that blacks have faced in society - at least enough to give him a small amount of enlightenment? And as for Reagan, who helped cultivate the power of the recently demoted religious right - would have been so eager to support some of their issues, including stem cell research, if it could have helped him in his future. Ironic as always.

The best way to be out of touch in this world is to say “no.” When you find yourself promoting a way of life/work/thought that is mired in the past, built on lies or prejudices or narrow thinking, it’s good to understand that you are wrong before you even begin going down that path. There will also come a point when your narrow thinking diverges into discrimination - and possibly visceral hatred. Those who choose to hold onto the past, like the current crop of republicans regarding healthcare, can only get uglier and more divisive in their rhetoric. They don’t know this because they’re too caught up in hateful thought.

Cantor and Boehner will likely go home to their families tonight, sit at the dinner table, enjoy the simple pleasures of life and feel pretty relaxed and comfortable within their small little world. They can use us as “examples” and “chess pieces” because they have that luxury. But God forbid the real world enters their privileged little lives and either they or their loved ones have to face challenges that only the “little people” have to generally endure. What will they think then? Fortunately for them in the here and now, ignorance is bliss.

Verbal Paintball boehner, cantor, healthcare reform

From Huffington Post:

After its bonus payments ignited a firestorm of criticism earlier this year, American International Group Inc. is asking the federal government to weigh in on the insurer’s plan to resume paying millions in promised retention incentives next week, according to media reports.

AIG, once the world’s largest insurer, has asked the Obama administration’s compensation czar, Kenneth R. Feinberg, to approve the payments in order to head off any public outrage, The Washington Post reported Thursday evening.

The budget of my company’s clients have been cut in half due to the economy. We’re just hanging on, really, in hopes that things will bet better by the end of the year. Most people are in the same boat, well, except for Taylor Swift who seems to be doing very well.

Meanwhile, you have these shitbirds at AIG arriving at the rationale that they must pay millions out, once again in less than a year, to these pigs who:

a) can’t get by on half a million or more,

b) have so many offers from other tainted financial institutions that they can string along their current company for more of OUR money,

c) are simply the vessel to which companies like AIG continue to play loose and fast with other people’s money and align their own pockets, or

d) have compromising photos of all the top executives at this firm and can bribe them for whatever they want.

One of my old bosses was a guy who made it big as a commercial director many years back (he is now gone) and was driven EVERYWHERE around Manhattan because he no longer had a license nor did he need one. It was the first time I heard someone utter the phrase, “Once you step into the limo, you never step out.” The difference with this man is he actually worked his way into his position, arrogant as he was.

These paper pushers at AIG are speculators - bad one’s at that - and the failure of that company is incentive enough for NO ONE there to receive one cent more than their previous salary (if that).

I am so fucking sick and tired of these companies insulting my intelligence with this bullshit about how their “best and brightest” will fly the coop if they don’t plop down another million or more in front of them to keep them on. Here’s a word of advice: YOU DON’T HAVE ANY BEST AND BRIGHTEST! THEY ARE WITH THE FIRMS THAT DON’T NEED TAXPAYER BAILOUT MONEY! Your best and brightest are responsible for this mess, and this culture of throwing six to seven figures around like it’s monopoly money is an insult TO EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN WHO REALLY WORKS!

My wife and I live in New York. We make a combined salary of 185,000. We consider ourselves pretty lucky and relatively well-off, even though the national consensus is that we are simply middle class here in New York. Well, let me tell you something. We still take vacations. We still save for our kid’s college education. We still pay all of our bills without worrying (partly because we bought a house we could afford and not a McMansion we couldn’t to show off), we save for retirement and life is not tough - so this suggestion that these fuckheads can’t get by on their base salary (which could be anywhere from $150,000 to $650,000) is a big, steaming pile of crap.

Money is not money to these people. It’s poker chip. Status. A way to measure their shallow lives against that of the broker friend in the next cubicle who just got a summer home in Nantucket and asks you where you’re taking your summer?

The rest of us are paying our taxes and that money is finding it’s way into these people’s pockets - and mind you, they don’t appreciate the weight of that. All that matters to them is that they are getting as much as Jimmy over at Goldman Sachs because they can’t afford that new Lotus unless they do.

I’ll never fault someone who really earns their money, but most of these shitheads don’t. They do menial jobs that anywhere else would be considered middle management - and they’re fleecing us for all we have as we struggle to work through this year. Dicks.

Current News AIG, wall street bonuses

Far right. I know we don’t talk much, primarily because you think you know everything and consider me a fucking douchbag (your words, not mine). Nonetheless, let’s address the root of your credibility as it exists in ANY argument you may have now or in the future:

Sarah Palin, your savior, your standard-bearer, your 2012 candidate, has just quit her position as governor of Alaska because….well, we don’t know what because is. What we do know is that she couldn’t handle random bloggers creating photoshop files of her image. She’s threatening litigation against anyone who looks at her cross-eyed. She couldn’t deal with letting the public know the truth about anything, therefore trying to have operative during the McCain campaign lie about her husband’s secession membership. She just couldn’t handle the heat…so, naturally, she still leaves the impression to 75% of us that she had no business being part of a Presidential campaign or public office of any sort.

Mark Sanford? Well, once again, a Governor who just couldn’t seem to leave his personal preferences about gay marriage and other issues away from the Governor’s desk, a man who decided ON HIS OWN that the stimulus money would NOT go to those who need it in his state but would, instead, go to paying off the state debt…well, this man has cheated on his wife, lied to her and his children, lied to his staff and the state, and disappeared for a week without any ability for followup. It’s nice he’s in love, but his actions leave the impression for 75% of us that he has no business being in high office and would have been a terrible candidate for President.

John Ensign, Mark Foley, Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, Bob Barr, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Tom Delay, Ted Stevens, Scooter Libby, Helen Chenowith, Jack Abramoff…do I REALLY need to go on? I could list in detail the crimes and failures of these scumbags, but will it matter to you?

Yes, I’m talking to you - 25%ers - the people who cannot seem to let go of this idea that George W. Bush was a great President and the republican party of the last 20 years was great and true and honest. Do you REALLY want to have this argument anymore? We outnumber you. Our facts outnumber your innuendos, rumors and lies. Our level of accomplishments outnumber your idiots’ countless fuckups, illegal maneuvers and outright disasters. Our moral authority trumps yours. Our ability to act like functioning, responsible, intelligent adults outnumbers your ability to act like spoiled, nasty, ignorant, self-centered children.

Our President is doing the things that smart adults with a grasp of the weight of their decisions does - and is changing our world for the better (on the back of a disasterous economy YOU helped create and a continued obstruction your leaders (heh!) continue to push). Don’t like it? Don’t care for the change in our government? You think your opinions and strategies are still valid? Well, THEY’RE NOT! And, by the way WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW!? Take a good, hard look at the list about of the people you spent so much time throwing in our faces as the saviors of our political process, the incorrupable Elliot Ness’s to our radical, counter-culture Al Capones.

Let me state this in the clearest terms I can: YOU PEOPLE ARE FUCKING IDIOTS! YOUR CHOSEN REPRESENTATIVES AND POLITICAL IDOLS ARE EITHER FUCKING IDIOTS WHO COULDN’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOU OR ME - AND AREN’T SMART ENOUGH TO COUNT TO 2 or they’re MEDIA PUNDITS who play your emotions and push your buttons TO MAKE THEMSELVES RICH! They ALSO couldn’t care about you and, very likely, don’t even take your side of the argument seriously! Unlike us (that is, the 75% of real Americans out there), you are not SMART ENOUGH to understand that when someone bends you over and takes you up the rear without your consent they’re not making love to you. THEY’RE RAPING YOU! These heroes of yours are RAPING YOU and poking the rest of us in the process.

Go back to school. Read some books. PLEASE become something other than ignorant, stubborn lemmings who couldn’t recognize reality from an acid trip. Please. And if you absolutely won’t then go crawl under a rock and STAY THERE!

Current News, Politics Mark Sanford, republican losers, Sarah Palin

Palin’s return to her home state has been a rocky one. Beyond a flood of ethics complaints — most of which have been dismissed — the governor was forced to backtrack on her decision to reject federal stimulus funds, her pick for attorney general was rejected by an increasingly hostile legislature, and her personal life has continued to grab headlines.

Stapleton denied that Palin was leaving office because she’d decided her lightning rod status was a liability to the state — but conceded that the governor felt personally targeted. “I know you want to put that sort of negative word in there, but it’s not a ‘liability’ — it’s that she has a vision for the state…the best way and the best place to effect change at this point is outside her role as governor, because as governor people are just focused on bringing her down rather than building up the state, and that’s not who she is.”

And THIS was someone the right thought would be a great President? No, lady, the micro-focus on YOUR life is the result of your need to constantly be in the spotlight and remain “the victim.” You didn’t need to pick a fight with David Letterman, did you? No, you could have left that alone like any reasonable politician would. You just have an ego issue.

You could have ignored the blogger who created a photoshop file you didn’t like. Instead, you show yourself to be a petty, sensitive ass. And as far as the ethics issues are concerned, no one doubts that you tried to twist and manipulate your office to pressure those who didn’t agree with you. Thats NOT how a respectable elected official acts - but, then again, you seem to worship George W. Bush so that shows us right there how off-course your thinking is.

I’m so tired of people who cannot get their head out of their ass and then blame the rest of the world for their bad back because of it. She wants to resign? GOOD! Buh, bye Sarah. Don’t let the door slam you in the ass on the way out. Or better yet, let it.

Verbal Paintball Alaska, CNN, Sarah Palin

This country is fully of wusses: From CNN:

A new national poll suggests that a bare majority of Americans support President Barack Obama’s health care plan.

But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday morning indicates that most people are worried that their health care costs would go up if the administration’s proposals are passed and only one in five think that their families would be better off under the Obama plan.

Fifty-four percent say their medical insurance costs will increase if the Obama plan becomes law, with 17 percent feeling their costs will decrease. Around one in four say their costs will remain the same. And only one in five say their family will be better off if the president’s plan becomes law, with 35 percent feeling they would be worse off, and 44 percent saying they would be about the same.

It all comes down to taxes and fear, doesn’t it? Imagine if we lived in a country where EVERYONE realized that countries do not run on fumes and the majority’s gut reaction wasn’t based on being an absolute shivering little coward.

When you’re talking about healthcare reform, there is, of course, a million ways to skin a cat. The republicans - over two decades - have had ONE idea - let the insurance companies and the drug companies do their thing. Unfortunately - for anyone but the stupidest in our nation - this is the same as being lazy and not doing anything. Furthermore, it doesn’t work. We’ve had this approach for as long as we can remember and people are suffering because of it.

Clinton tried his best to make the change but got bogged down in a healthcare plan that the republicans could attack easily. Then he backed away from it and that was that.

While I don’t bow down to fear or the creeping psychology of it (I was in Manhattan during 9/11 and saw things no one should have to see), I do worry that this might be the last good chance in my relative youth for universal healthcare to break through. It goes without saying that it’s a necessity. Every advanced country has some form of it. Hell, we do too! (Medicare/Medicaid).

The ONLY thing that stands in the way are the fears of a large minority, the willingness of the republicans to take advantage of that fear and this fantasy some people have that this country that taxes are unnecessary. Hey PEOPLE! Don’t want anymore taxes? Watch your infrastructure crumble. See your parents and grandparents die because there’s no social security check in the mail. Watch millions of children and poor adults homeless on the street, dieing of things no one has died from in 200 years because hospitals won’t take them, and watch the republican’s largest supporters laugh at you as they clink their wine glasses together and pat each other on the back at how great the free market has worked for them.

Taxes won’t hurt you. Fear of the unknown will. Get a backbone and support Obama’s plan and think about what you’d be offered if McCain was president.

Current News, Politics cnn poll, healthcare reform, Obama, republicans

There is a pathetic excuse for a human being out there that seems to feel his narrow-mindedness has value. His name is Matt Barber from the Liberty Councel. Here he is commenting on the Matthew Shepard act recently (From District Chronicles):

Conservative Christian leaders are fighting a bill that would provide federal hate-crimes coverage to gays and lesbians, prompting questions of who, if anyone, should be protected by such laws.

With a Democrat-controlled Congress and a president who has indicated his support for the Matthew Shepard Act, time may be running out for the bill’s opponents. To stop the legislation, a few Christian leaders have suggested repealing all hate-crimes law, which would undo historic protections for race and even religion.

“The entire notion of hate-crimes legislation is extraneous and obsolete,” said Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs with the conservative nonprofit Liberty Counsel, adding that he believes hate-crimes laws are unconstitutional.

And, once again a few weeks back, on other issues:

A Christian college in India allows applicants to indicate whether they are male, female, or transgender when they enroll.

Matt Barber, cultural affairs director at Liberty Counsel, says Madras Christian College administrators must have misread the book of Genesis, believing God created male, female, and transgender.

“You know, this is just ridiculous and insane,” he contends. “It’s really sad that a Christian college is joining in and entertaining this leftist, secular, humanist delusion that is transgenderism.”

Way back when I was a younger man I wrote an opinion response in the New York Post voicing my opposition to a commenter who criticized Michael Dukakis for marrying a Jewish woman. At 24-years-old, this kind of religious descrimination sickened me as much then as it does now.

There’s little I despise more than a religious figure or religious “representative” quietly (or, sometimes, not so quietly) promoting racial intolerance in the name of God. Many of these religious leaders on the far-right are doing just that. From the old school group of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart to the current assholes holding onto that last handful of hate in a world that has less and less to do with them, their words and actions are embarrassments to the rest of the human race.

Fortunately, in this country, the people are on the other side of their nasty rants:

A 2007 Gallup poll showed a majority of Americans (68 percent) favor expanding hate-crimes protections. Majorities of frequent churchgoers (62 percent), conservatives (57 percent), and Republicans (60 percent) also were in favor of the legislation.

It is no doubt in my mind that this, along with much of the molestation trouble the churches have been publicly dealing with over the last 20 years, is what’s made organized religion less and less appealing to the audience it used to own. The average religious person might want to believe in God, but they sure as hell don’t want to do it in the name of hatred and narrow thinking. This is why the only “religions” that seem to be flourishing are the extreme ones of which include The Catholic Traditionalist Movement and Al Qaeda. So sad that the weakest minded of our world are finding each other.

And, as far as Matt Barber is concerned, this narrow-minded fuckhead may well find that if there is a heaven, there is also a hell - and his statements might make him the perfect candidate for that particular institution.

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