Orrin Hatch started shooting his mouth off again in his signature way: Try to sound like a soft, accommodating “team player” on the healthcare issue - then tell us how you really think. Here are a few words (USA Today):

“This is too big for political gamesmanship,” says Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a member of the Senate health committee. “The partisan part of me says, ‘Oh, I hope they do that; they’ll have to live with every stinking problem that comes up’ ” in a system passed without significant GOP support.

and a few more:

Mr. Hatch predicted that such an approach would meet the same fate as President Bill Clinton’s plan for universal coverage.

“If the Democrats go ahead with a purely partisan bill,” Mr. Hatch said, “you saw what happened on Hillarycare, and this will be just as bad.”

and lastly:

“If we go to a government plan, the government will be setting prices. They’ll be telling people what they can do. They’ll be injecting themselves between your doctor and yourself,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, calling a public plan “tremendously costly.”

and, so, Orrin Hatch will vote against the bill - but that’s nothing new. This prick would have voted against it anyway. All he’s doing now is providing the “easy out” for himself - and doing so by trying to make Obama and the democrats be the villians here.

None of this would mean anything if Hatch weren’t a flak for the Healthcare insurance lobby.

You see, Hatch makes a shitload of money from the same people Obama is trying to put some controls under. The same folks who charge $50 for a pill that costs them 50¢ to make (even after insurance and money going back into research). He’s got a reason to vote against this bill - but if you listen to his rhetoric it’s as if it’s all our fault the bill won’t get passed.

Fuck him and the horse he road in on.

Verbal Paintball Add new tag, Orrin Hatch

Many years from now, a post like that of the following will be a nice little relic of this era, a time when many fearful people stood behind a President who lied to us for eight years and used the good will after a terrible U.S. tragedy to set in motion an agenda that was morally corrupt before it even began. Many of the true believers will not show their face in daylight - and, like Peter in the story of Christ, will deny they ever believed in George W. Bush and his ilk.

But this is not the future, yet. Here’s a few pathetic points from HughS at Wizbangblog.com:

A US leader should not embrace the language of appeasement while we are at war for many reasons, not least of which is that it sends the wrong message to our enemies.

and another one from a second pathetic loser, Shawn Mallow:

One of the tidbits Obama shared with us yesterday was his assertion that the United States is “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” Huh? There are estimated to be between 5 to 7 million muslims in the US, about the same number of Jewish Americans. In contrast, we have about 60 million Christians. But, during his European apology tour, he made it a point to state we are not a Christian nation.

and a few comments by idiots who have no concept of reality:

I’m so tired of the president of this nation going around telling the world we tortured people. He is an embarassment to our nation. - WildWillie

In making that foolish statement Obama has confirmed in the minds of Muslims that the United States did torture and linked it to Guantanamo Bay. - Mac Lorry

Obambi isn’t smartest tool in the shed though he was smart enough to fool the dhimmi masses. When the kool aid wears off, it will be one ugly fall from grace for the King. - Kat

Surprisingly, you don’t see a whole lot of counter-argument on this site by the far right-wing. It may be because they don’t have the education, intelligence or articulation capacity to cross swords with anyone here at Daily Kos. It might also be due to the fact that an actual debate might threaten their tenuous hold on this fantasy world they embrace. I’m caught between wanting to shake them and say, “What the fuck is wrong with you, man! Wake up!” and just simply telling them how pathetic they are. Much like the apprehended terrorists, they consider anything contrary to their reality a deadly threat worthy of a fight. Sad.

Years from now, when all this is history, many of them will agree with us, just as many who favored Vietnam have, somehow, revised their own histories to suggest they were never as adamant about the war as we remember them to be. In their revisionist histories, they will tell us they always had doubts about George Bush, knew the Iraq war was based on fear-bating and never were as stupid as we know they are now.

Sorry, idiots. Your ignorance and fear has cost lives. It’s set us on a course that our current President has to spend his entire term fixing. It’s made our fight alot more difficult when it didn’t need to be. We know you’re hard, tough guys now about this and, in the future, when you finally concede that you’re wrong, we’ll forgive you your ignorance - but let it be known that we won’t forget who you were then.

Current News, Politics George W. Bush, republican ignorance

One of the most significant lessons I learned in life was working at the deli counter at King Kullen when I was young. For two summers between college I had two different managers. One was Don, the other Donna.

Don was great. He dealt with everyone on a personal level, supported his crew when they made mistakes, and rather than getting angry or irritated, he was patient and redirected us when necessary. As a result, everyone wanted to please Don. We were all there on time, didn’t slack off, and also had fun.

The next summer, I got into the deli on time at 8:00am. By the time I put my apron on, it was 8:01. A woman whom I had never seen before tells me she is the new manager and then proceeds to berate me, at the top of her lungs, for being late. Flabbergasted, I told her I was there on time. She screams that on-time means having the apron on before 8:00. This was Donna. She ran the deli like she was running a military unit. She was harsh, covered her own ass and generally indifferent to others. While she eventually gained respect for me I never had the same for her. Those of us who worked there couldn’t stand her - and in a crunch she’d be lucky if any of us lent her a rope.

The lesson I learned was very simple. It’s easy to be an asshole and sometimes very complex being a good person - not just in managerial positions but throughout life. Which path do you take? The easy one or the hard one? That depends on the fiber of the person.

This brings me to Spencer Pratt, the arrogant, callous prick from The Hills and I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Here’s a little description from EW.com about his behavior on the second show:

Heidi Pratt, as she prefers to be known now — had the imagination to apologize for her husband’s egomaniacal, pathetically lame reality-show ranting by saying, “My husband is a very new Christian,” and therefore deserves to be forgiven.

and another regarding Spencer’s personal philosophy:

“If people aren’t hating on you, they don’t care, and if they don’t care, that means you’re not doing anything right.”

Every time I see this skeleton with hair my blood boils, but it’s not just because he’s an asshole and I don’t like assholes. It has more to do with his absolute embrace of the idea that being a prick and being ruthless (too strong an adjective for people like this) is the right way to be in order to achieve success and deal with everyone in life. Secondly, how people like him have distorted Christianity to serve their selfish, self-centered world. At first I questioned who this guy’s parent’s were that he would have such shallow values since my view of the world is very simple:

We’re all on this earth together. Empathy and charity are good things, not signs of weakness. Achieving success as a decent person is much tougher but in the long run is a worthy strategy and essential to the complement of your success. We live in a world completely out of balance, where some of us live well and others in squalor - and it’s not always because of their own doing. Lifting others up is a good thing. That sorry excuse of survival of the fittest is an easy, cowardly attitude for those who’ve never had to struggle.

Spencer Pratt never learned any of this. He’s quick to complement himself on his indifference and how he manipulates others but, hey, being the dark side of one’s self is, well, easy. It requires no balance. It is very concrete. All you need to do is the opposite of what you’re taught. It’s the cowards way.

Sure. Some of this is him playing to the camera, but hardly all. This may be a result of his upbringing, but as a 20-year-old he’s only really known the Bush years - and the culture and distortion of religion that George W. Bush brought to this country is the very doctrine people like Spencer Pratt embrace. Thank God we’ve elected someone who reminds us that the world isn’t only about US. Some people - the dead-enders like Spencer - will never learn this and will continue to believe they are the better of us.

Verbal Paintball arrogance, Bush administration, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, The Hills

From CNN:

Regina Dinwiddie, a 54-year-old grandmother, said Roeder once confronted a doctor at a Planned Parenthood center, telling the physician, “Now I know what you look like.”

“Scott came out and told us that he had done that, and we all said, ‘Scott, you better leave or they are gonna get after you,’” Dinwiddie said. “Next thing, all these people come rushing out of the place, all worried. Scott was standing up for what he believed in.”

Dinwiddie said Tiller’s slaying was “absolutely” justified.

“He forfeited his life by taking the lives of innocent children,” she said.

And in Iowa, Dan Holman, of the anti-abortion group Missionaries to the Preborn, told CNN that Tiller’s death was something to “cheer.”

“I was cheered by it, because I knew he wouldn’t be killing any more babies,” Holman said.

While Scott Roeder, a cowardly, insignificant scumbag, physically shot Dr. George Tiller, these people are the one’s who truly helped pull the trigger. Intelligent people can disagree about abortion - I even have issues with late-term abortion - but in the end this has to be a woman’s choice. We do not live in Gattaca.

What amazes me about those mentioned above and the hundreds (or thousands) like them is their indifference to human life unless it suits their agenda. That, in and of itself, makes their campaign bankrupt. Dinwiddie, for one, is just as pathetic as Roeder. In fact, she was the first to receive a federal injunction for her interaction with abortion clinics (Christian Life Resources):

On January 26th, Regina Dinwiddie became the first person in the United States to be issued a preliminary FACE injunction to stay away from abortion clinics. This injunction bars her from coming within 500 feet of any western Missouri clinic. U.S. District Judge Joseph Stevens issued the decree.

A future hearing will determine whether to issue a permanent injunction against the woman.

This case may potentially go before the U.S. Supreme Court as a first test of FACE’s constitutionality. Dinwiddie signed the justifiable-homicide petition and threatened violence against clinic workers and patients in the past.

Dan Holman is another one who seems to have no use for lives he doesn’t find worthy (ArmyofGod.com):

It is doubtful that anyone would object to Hill using deadly force to stop 2 men from killing a room full of pre-school children. Objections to the use of force from pro-abortion proponents are understandable; they do not recognize the humanity and worth of the pre-born.

To me, this is less about the actual issues for these people than to find some way to justify their pathetic lives. Most of them wallow away in anonymity, have destroyed their own lives in one way or another, or haven’t found the tools to plod through tough times like everyone else. So, as a result of never being heard, they channel their hate and frustration into something like this. They participate in a culture that finds death to people they don’t even know uplifting, but most of them have very likely never adopted a single child in pursuit of their ideals. They feel the need to tell us how to live our lives and cannot fathom that freedom of choice is part of our American institution.

In my opinion, they are no better than Nazis or the KKK. And it doesn’t matter whether a follower believes only SOME of what these weak hate-filled people espouse. We don’t condone someone’s following of al qaeda simply because they don’t agree with the killing part.

Verbal Paintball abortion activists, abortion rights, Dr. George Tiller, Regina Dinwiddle, Scott Roeder

A few words from George W. Bush during his speech in Michigan (CNN):

“The first thing you do is ask, what’s legal?” he said. “What do the lawyers say is possible? I made the decision, within the law, to get information so I can say to myself, ‘I’ve done what it takes to do my duty to protect the American people.’ I can tell you that the information we got saved lives.”

And a little bit about how to handle foreign policy and rogue regimes:

“A lot of times people want to give out the carrots,” he said. “My attitude is, you give out the carrots when the behavior changes.”

He was courteous to Obama, but that’s not the news here. My question is this: If you are so vigorously defending the interrogation techniques and the necessity for them, why mislead the public about them? If they are NOT against the law, why use your lawyers to find a work-around? Here’s this prick in 2007 answering questions for the press:

The President’s words: “We stick to U. S. Law and our international obligations.” Well, that’s just a large, steaming pile of bullshit. The Geneva Convention - part of our obligation in international law, states in Part III, Section I, the following:

No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.

Maybe it’s me, but there’s no lawyer-speak in this statement. It’s so straight-forward a gorilla could understand it. The simple truth is: EVERYBODY UNDERSTANDS THIS. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous.

So, once again Mr. Ex-President, if you were so confident that your program fell within the law and was necessary to our safety, why mislead, why lie, why keep it in it’s entirety from Congress? And even if you want to tinker with the meaning of “torture”, wouldn’t waterboarding fall within the description of a prisoner not being “threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind?” Surely, the prisoners of Abu Graib were a tad uncomfortable when they were “threatened” by dogs - and maybe a little bit “insulted” when guards, oh, what’s the word….INSULTED THEM.

Look. I’m no fan of these people. Anyone who attacks this country really doesn’t deserve a whole lot of mercy if I were the one dishing out the punishment. But that is why we have law, so angry whackos like me can’t make my actions against these type of people personal. And our government is supposed to be held to a higher standard.

Bush knew what he was doing. That’s why he mislead. No amount of defense for these actions will soften the fact that our President broke the law and lied to the country.

Verbal Paintball Geneva Convention, George Bush, torture

You just can’t stop the march of stupidity. Here are a few choice posters on the CNN Ticker regarding Bush’s new exciting speaking engagement at the Economic Club of Michigan:

Yep. These people must be so proud that they’ve learned nothing from the past eight years. What we have here are in it’s purest sense “lemmings.” They don’t think for themselves, they believe party comes before country and they’ll be bitter for the next 8 years as Obama gets to work fixing the mess they’ve been complicit in. So…Brian, Tate (who so graciously posted twice), LIP, Doug F, Party of No, and Greg Smith - please continue to wallow in that excrement you call your brains. You’re obviously not using it to think.

Current News bush, idiot republicans

From Huffington Post:

Keith Olbermann interviewed conservative radio host Erich “Mancow” Muller tonigh about his experience being waterboarded.

Mancow reaffirmed that the practice was indeed torture and said that his “psychological state” going into the experiment was that he was “laughing at it. I was willing to prove, and ready to prove, that this was a joke, and I was wrong. It was horrific. It was instantaneous. And look, I felt the effects for two days.”

Mancow also revealed that his friend Sean Hannity “called me and said ‘it’s still not torture.’”

While Mancow is familiar to us as the joker of the republican party radio set, the one thing that seemed to separate him from the rest of the narrow-minded masses was his willingness to concede now and again to common sense. In this case, common sense hit him right in the face with a bucket of water.

What’s not surprising at all is Sean Hannity’s need to maintain his fantasy world. This guy reminds me of every ignoramus I every met from Long Island who believes being pushy and confrontational replaces actually having an intelligent debate. What’s more, he’s also got a face you want to punch 50 times in a row. Sadly, people like this get far more encouragement throughout their lives to continue this inane form of stupidity. I’m sure he had alot of wrestling friends in high school who thought the same way. Now he’s got an audience of dead-enders who prove daily how laughably stupid they are.

Listening to the exchange above and Hannity’s stubbornness, it reminded me of an equal degree of stubbornness he displayed when first meeting Al Franken, which Franken described in his book “Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them”:

When I first met Hannity, I had no idea who the hell he was. It was 1996, in a green room at Fox News. I had just finished my first appearance on The Factor to promote Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, and was about to pick up my coat when I was confronted by what appeared to be an angry, Irish ape-man.
Hannity did not like the title of my book “I don’t believe in making ad hominem attacks,” he said, thrusting his jaw in a characteristic display of simian aggression.
“Oh. That’s why I titled it Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot. It’s an ironic comment on the fact that Rush makes ad hominem attacks all the time. You see?”
Evidently not. “I’ve never heard him make an ad hominem attack.” As I would later learn, this was in keeping with Sean’s seasoned ability to lie and believe it. Or at least just lie.
“Really? How about when he called Chelsea Clinton `the White House dog’? Would that qualify?”
This was a very famous incident. On Rush’s TV show in 1993, shortly after Clinton took office and years before Buddy joined the First Family, the show put up a picture of Socks, the cat. “Did you know that the Clintons not only have a White House cat,” Rush said coyly, “but they also have a White House dog?” Then, on screen came a picture of a thirteenyear-old Chelsea.1 Sean was ready for that one. “That was a mistake. A technician accidentally put up the wrong picture.”

I can’t tell you how many people I know like this. People who push aside facts and logic when it doesn’t fit their world view. Heck, we had a President just like this. It’s the kind of mindset you find in a spoiled child of 5 years old. Then again, I don’t mean to insult a 5 year old. Even they know when they’re lying.

Verbal Paintball Al Franken, Mancow, Sean Hannity

Some nice thoughts in a Los Angeles Times article by Ann Powers regarding the larger message of this year’s American Idol:

Lambert and Allen might be the most unlikely pair on television this year, but their bond has helped make this singing competition more than just entertainment, no matter which man wins.

“It is fantasy,” said Ross. “Out there in the real world people aren’t getting along so comfortably. The guy who sings musical theater and dresses flamboyantly isn’t necessarily going to be bonding with the jock types in high school.

But sometimes a mirror image has the power of pointing toward a future reality. It’s not sufficient in itself but it adjoins to another bunch of things that seem to be happening in our society, old prejudices falling away.”

As the writer suggests, the wider acceptance between those of “assumed” opposing viewpoints, such as Evangelical Christians and Gay Americans, is the new norm, and thank goodness for that.

It may be me, but I’ve always thought most people in general are accepting of others and the opposition are the exception to the rule, but you’d never know it sometimes by what you see in politics. The Republican party has made a business of promoting the divide between Americans on this issue. The entertainment media, fortunately, has not listened and have spent decades showing us what we already see - it’s life and it’s no big deal. Gay and straight people aren’t standing around defining themselves by their orientation when they’re shopping at the supermarket. Younger people, used to openly gay students in their schools, are probably embarrassed and stupified by the need for government to want to make these definitions at all.

As suggested in Salon, this is an unfortunate turn for people like Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann, Marilyn Musgrave and others. If the Republicans don’t have homosexuality as a wedge issue, who do they really represent? We already know it’s a party followed by insecure, homophobic, intellectually-challenged cowards (and those who tolerate them) - but get rid of the homophobic and the gay haters and the few lingering idiots left are hardly worth building a movement around - unless you consider ignorance a virtue.

Nonetheless, this drive away from division and hatefulness is the welcome residue of the new Obama administration. I’ve always equated the Bush administration to the poisonous atmosphere I remember from one of my worst jobs, a place where employees were pitted against each other and the head of the company was bipolar train wreck; when you’re there, immersed in this kind of place for a very long time, you can forget what the world was before it and what the possibilities are beyond it. It was only when I got the will to leave and pulled myself out of that fog that I realized how completely unrepresentative it was of a normal working environment. As a country, those who couldn’t see how horribly divided we’ve been and don’t remember that things were not always like this are finding themselves out of the fog and in a better place for the first time in a long time. Republicans, unless they really change, will try to divide us again. We should make sure they never get the chance.

Current News, Lifestyle, Politics Adam Lambert, American Idol, gay politics, Michelle Bachmann, Republican haters

John McQuaid from Huffington Post makes a few good points about Cheney’s re-emergence and how pathetically self-serving it is:

Besides embellishing a legacy, the current Cheney campaign seems aimed at one thing: setting up Obama for the stab-in-the-back treatment in the event of another terror attack. Please. Terrorism is a serious problem. It requires real strategic thinking. Such posturing may be catnip to the press, but it’s virtually irrelevant to the world we live in, and unhelpful to the hard work of protecting us.

I live next door to a 62 year old man who doesn’t speak to me because I told him not to throw his beer cans on my property. His age is important because it illustrates that even at a point in his life when he should have learned a few things about politeness, the treatment of others and common sense, he’s obviously failed to take anything from these lessons.

Dick Cheney is the same type of person. He’s ALWAYS right. Anyone who disagrees is either naive or not as committed as he is. Anyone who wants to have a real discussion of complex issues doesn’t deserve to be in the same room with him.

This prick spent 8 years acting like a scared child, reacting to difficult circumstances with a concrete mindset and dividing this nation not out of belief but aggressive necessity. It was his way or the highway and, I’m sorry, that’s not acceptable in this country. When you show as much disregard for the people who elected you - and even the one’s who didn’t - you have no invitation to speak to us again. Most of the country HATES you and rightly so.

What Dick Cheney needs is not a soapbox that the media happily gives him but a strong, hard punch in the mouth. Maybe a few. His actions have resulted in countless unecessary deaths and pain for more families than can be counted. What this elderly child needs is to feel a bit of pain himself and a few good punches would do that. It won’t immediately force him to keep his beer cans on his side of the property but, over time, it might deter him from throwing them in the first place.

Current News, Politics Dick Cheney, Obama, terrorism

From CNN:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney defended the Bush administration’s national security record Thursday, and argued that President Barack Obama is responsible for weakening the country’s ability to combat al Qaeda and other extremists.

Cheney argued that the Bush administration “didn’t invent” the authority exercised in the war against al Qaeda and others. He said it was clearly granted by the Constitution and legislation passed by Congress after the September 11 attacks.

He also said the use of controversial “enhanced interrogation techniques” was a success that saved thousands of lives.

At the same time, Cheney argued that Obama’s decision to release Bush-era interrogation memos was a reckless and unfair distraction in the fight against extremists.

Fuck this lousy, arrogant treasonous piece of shit. Dick Cheney is no longer our Vice President and thank God for that. His efforts to insert himself into a conversation he has long since proven unskilled at is nothing more than annoying. Furthermore, this misleading bullshit about the congress giving them the authority to do anything they please is getting tired. You lied to us and them about the nature of this war so their votes are uninformed and your argument false.

Here’s a few things to chew on, Dick: Where were when our country was attacked? Are you not aware that 9/11 happened on YOUR watch? Of course not. This prick wants to sour everything and hobble our current President because he’s a belligerent, angry man.

We don’t care what your opinion is on Obama and the majority of us simply want you to go back to Wyoming or Ohio or wherever it is you claim you represent.

Asshole.

Current News, Politics Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, Gitmo