Polite discussion time is over. You are either working towards a single payer system or you are a terrorist. This is Political Action Entertainment- Your Co-Pay for today’s visit is 25 dollazzzzz. For Really. Drop a Co Pay once a month here- http://operationitch.wordpress.com/about/donate
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The health care debate sure has Americans talking. Seems like each administration has its own mason Dixon line diving the Regressives from the Progressives- and health care reform is that issue.
Former Presidential hopeful, proud denier of the theory of evolution, and radio blowhard Mike Huckabee joined the fray recently when he said recently honored the death of Ted Kennedy by saying
“that, under President Obama’s health care plan, Kennedy would have been told to “go home to take pain pills and die” during his last year of life.
“[I]t was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don’t have as long to live might want to consider just taking a pain pill instead of getting an expensive operation to cure them,” said Huckabee. “Yet when Sen. Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 77, did he give up on life and go home to take pain pills and die? Of course not. He freely did what most of us would do. He choose an expensive operation and painful follow up treatments. He saw his work as vitally important and so he fought for every minute he could stay on this earth doing it. “
But let us not even argue any of Mike Huckabee points. I will grant you all of them- let us shift the hypothetical argument by accepting the fairy tale world that Huckabee dwells in.
Then let me ask you this: What country would you rather live in?
COUNTRY A
The country where most of us would choose what Senator Kennedy did- an expensive operation to prolong life another year- while 1 in 6 American have NO INSURANCE- And without insurance, could they very well Mike FUCKABEE, choose like Kennedy to live out their final days in a similar manner? In country A some people much younger than Teddy die quietly because they have no insurance.
Or COUNTRY B
Or would you rather live in a country where everyone is covered- even if it meant that we would have to spend wiser, die more gracefully- and yes- I’ll say it again, more cost effectively- even if that meant that when one – when diagnosed with a terminal illness- at the advanced age of 70 something would have to make a cost efficient choice so that all of the 50 million without health care would have it, could have it?
I don’t want to brush over this lightly- I know this is hard to swallow. But people are dying for this. Something on the average of 20 thousand people a year. Dead because they had no health insurance.
That is more than 6x the number of people who died in 9/11.
So listen, if you knew that some foreign country would kill 20 000 American Citizens next year, you would most certainly tell me to support the troops and turn a blind eye to the billions spend by our department of defense- to avoid such a catastrophe.
And yet we see the culprit right here- our own greed- our own aversion to anything that resembles socialism- you – all of you mindless Mike Huckabee’s, you Sarah Palin soccer moms, Glenn Beck and your 9/12 minions- your reactionary zeal, your mindless lockstep zeal against healthcare reform is killing us.
You might as well bow towards Mecca, hop on a plane, hijack it and fly into the Sears tower.
6 times.
Because that is what you are doing to you own citizens you homegrown terrorist freak shows- you are killing us.
So clearly- there can be no more polite debate. Anyone opposing single payer is a terrorist.
Barack Obama went from becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review (1990) to becoming the first black president of the United States of America so quickly, that it is not a stretch to say that we have only known him as a candidate. His life, for the last eighteen years, has been one carefully modulated and expertly managed campaign. Even when he held such underachieving slacker status positions such as United States Senator, his votes, his appearances, his public statements- and even the shirtless beach photos – have all been part of the larger campaign. As a candidate, perhaps no one has ever been as good as Obama. He has been so good, in fact, expectations of his presidency are rivaled only by an Evangelical Christian’s expectation that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Like Christ, Obama is now a myth. The man will never walk in step with what we think of him, because we have projected so much onto him. Yes, it does speak well of his campaign that it was able to leverage the desperation of so many who were so horrified of our own inaction these past eight years. We needed a savior to rescue us from the shame brought on because we had, collectively speaking, done nothing after George Bush stole the 2000 election save for prop up a cottage industry that fed us a steady stream of clever anti-Bush t-shirts and bumper stickers for us to brandish on the sidelines as our President proceeded to treat the constitution as a pesky little obstacle in his way as he waged his comic book battle of good vs. evil, now let loose from the safe confines of his little village idiot of a head and leaving a trail of blood soaked deserts and unknown blowback in its wake.
There are some who will give Obama high grades for a longer than average honeymoon period simply because the man has replaced will be remembered by history as the worst president to ever hold the office. Alfred E. Newman would have been an improvement on Bush, the subliminal thinking will go, and Obama is surely better than Alfred E. Newman. But for many, the bar is set unreasonably high. Like Christ, many praise Obama as a revolutionary. I’m more inclined to agree with Ashley Sanders, former spokesperson for the Ralph Nader campaign, who described the change that Obama has sold us as
a hazy feeling that Obama (despite all evidence to the contrary) was the peace candidate, the environmental candidate, the Black candidate, the people’s candidate. The whole production borrowed ideas that were actually dangerous to Wall Street, gutted them of danger, and resold them as ideas that were dangerous to Wall Street. It used spectacle to create the illusion that an infinity of similar options was the same thing as a meaningful choice, as real change or authenticity. It was the triumph of ideology: getting people to vote against themselves in the name of themselves.
The whole thing smacked of buying punk clothes at Hot Topic.
As Americans, we know not where to get punk clothes but at Hot Topic, and are so entrenched in ad culture that we would not know a revolution unless it was being sold to us. Here is what is being sold to us in the first week of the Obama presidency: Obama has swept into town and takes swift action in reversing the criminal culture of torture and rendition and secret prisons by issuing an executive order to shut GITMO. This much is true. Read the rest of this entry ?
Rachel Maddow has the video, and takes Warren to task for the hypocrisy of saying that it’s unfair to call his views hateful while simultaneously accusing his critics of hate speech. Moreover, as Rachel notes, Warren flat-out lies about his comments comparing gay marriage to pedophilia and incest:
Pro-choice groups in America are lobbying President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team to remove all restrictions on abortion instituted by President Bush and the Republican led-Congresses over the last eight years. A 55-page lengthy policy paper, “Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration,” was sent to the transition team and posted to its Change.gov Web site this week. It was ripped from the page in less than a day.
More than 60 groups supporting more accessible and readily available abortions for women and girls signed onto the First-100-Days policy plan. They ask for $700 million for programs under Title X (family planning) of the U.S. Code that includes abortions. They also want to strike a rule change at Health and Human Services that went into effect Aug. 26. It prohibited states and other recipients of federal funds from penalizing heatlh-care workers who refuse to provide abortions because of religious or moral beliefs or risk losing federal funding. The rule change came after Catholic Charities’ hospitals in California were forced to provide abortions. Pro-choice groups cried foul when abortion was defined as a “form of contraception,” the same code language that state governments were using to force hospitals to provide them in the first place. Read the rest of this entry ?
PBS jump to most recent post
Officials arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Tuesday on allegations of soliciting bribes for President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat and other claims. Reporters detail the charges to Ray Suarez.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a scandal-plagued Democrat who, among other things, was preparing to appoint a senatorial successor to President-elect Barack Obama, was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents on what can only be described as breathtaking charges of corruption.
Needless to say, this is more than just another bust of another allegedly crooked governor of a state that has sent a good many of chief executives to prison — including Blagojevich’s predecessor, Republican George Ryan.
What are the ramifications?
First off, Obama is going to face questions about Blagojevich, a fellow Chicago pol with whom the president-elect served in the Illinois statehouse during from 2003 to 2005, when Blagojevich was governor and Obama was a state senator. The president-elect is not saying much beyond a standard “it’s a sad day for Illinois” lamentation.
Obama would appear to be on pretty solid ground, as he was never particularly close to the governor. But the right-wing echo chamber will go wild about the fact that the two were in the same room with one another dozens of times and knew hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the same people — including unsavory characters such as Chicago fixer Tony Rezko. (*****SEE VIDEO BELOW THE FOLD*****) Read the rest of this entry ?
In 1992, David Halberstam wrote a new introduction for the 20th-anniversary edition of “The Best and the Brightest,” his classic historyof the hubristic J.F.K. team that would ultimately mire America in Vietnam. He noted that the book’s title had entered the language, but not quite as he had hoped. “It is often misused,” he wrote, “failing to carry the tone or irony that the original intended.”
Halberstam died last year, but were he still around, I suspect he would be speaking up, loudly, right about now. As Barack Obama rolls out his cabinet, “the best and the brightest” has become the accolade du jour from Democrats (Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri), Republicans (Senator John Warner of Virginia) and the press (George Stephanopoulos). Few seem to recall that the phrase, in its original coinage, was meant to strike a sardonic, not a flattering, note. Perhaps even Doris Kearns Goodwin would agree that it’s time for Beltway reading groups to move on from “Team of Rivals” to Halberstam.
The stewards of the Vietnam fiasco had pedigrees uncannily reminiscent of some major Obama appointees. McGeorge Bundy, the national security adviser, was, as Halberstam put it, “a legend in his time at Groton, the brightest boy at Yale, dean of Harvard College at a precocious age.” His deputy, Walt Rostow, “had always been a prodigy, always the youngest to do something,” whether at Yale, M.I.T. or as a Rhodes scholar. Robert McNamara, the defense secretary, was the youngest and highest paid Harvard Business School assistant professor of his era before making a mark as a World War II Army analyst, and, at age 44, becoming the first non-Ford to lead the Ford Motor Company. Read the rest of this entry ?
Barack Obama has assembled a team of rivals to implement his foreign policy. But while pundits and journalists speculate endlessly on the potential for drama with Hillary Clinton at the state department and Bill Clinton’s network of shady funders, the real rivalry that will play out goes virtually unmentioned. The main battles will not be between Obama’s staff, but rather against those who actually want a change in US foreign policy, not just a staff change in the war room.
When announcing his foreign policy team on Monday, Obama said: “I didn’t go around checking their voter registration.” That is a bit hard to believe, given the 63-question application to work in his White House. But Obama clearly did check their credentials, and the disturbing truth is that he liked what he saw.
The Public News Network • Operation Itch Contributor
The president elect announced his plan to sign an executive order that would compel retailers give African Americans an additional 20% off on purchases on the Friday after Thanksgiving every year. Wal-Mart vows to fight back.
Pardon the metaphor, but Obama is trying to put lipstick on the pig that is US foreign policy. His national security team looks no less hawkish than the team assembled during Bush’s second term. If I may ask, how is Hillary Clinton signing a communiqué or Robert Gates asking for more defense funding a “new dawn” exactly?
Ah, but the buck stops not with them but with Obama. The 3am call is his, not Clinton’s, to make (even though one can almost hear her rehearsing Alexander Haig’s famous “I’m in charge now” line in her head). Still, Obama’s familiar-looking team of national security fixer-uppers does not inspire confidence. Nor do his vague answers to detailed questions on specific policies. “We’re going to have to bring the full force of our power, not only military but also diplomatic, economic and political, to deal with those threats not only to keep America safe, but also to ensure that peace and prosperity will exist around the world,” he told reporters. Obama seems to think he can wish away the world’s evils with his eloquence and charm.
If you haven’t seen it already, check out the op-ed by former Sens. Daniel Coats and Charles Robb in the Washington Post today, entitled “Stopping a Nuclear Tehran.” It is the summary of a report issued last month by an organization called The Bipartisan Policy Center (at whose website you can find the full report), and it amounts to a roadmap to war with Iran to which a senior Middle East adviser in the Obama campaign — namely, Dennis Ross — has apparently signed on. Read the rest of this entry ?
Let’s hold off on the victory lap, cool? Obama is warning Democrats to not get complacent as they head into the home stretch. He should be warning them to “not act like Democrats.” This is one party whose capacity for losing should never be underestimated. Here are seven ways we can imagine it all going to hell.
Keep Joe from buying lotto tickets. And from becoming a plumber, for that matter.
6. Obama bumps into his neighbor, Bill Ayers, at a 7-11.
The last thing we need are headlines screaming “Terror Slurpees!” The campaign had better have a GPS device implanted in Ayers’ ass to keep those two from crossing paths at the dog run.
5. Bill Clinton decides to speak from his heart.
If he goes off script and says what he’s really thinking, big trouble. Clinton should be surrounded by sycophants stroking his ego at all times. Obama should never let him arrive at an appearance without sending a “You’re My Only Hope” fruit basket to greet him.
4. John Kerry says anything.
Remember his hilarious “If you do bad in school you go to Iraq” quip just a few days before the 2006 election? No one hand this guy a mic. In fact, lock him up in a safe-house and keep him under guard until November 5th.
3. The Obama campaign gets complacent…about Palin rally attendees.
He should be campaigning from inside a Pope-mobile until November 4th. Hell, keep him there until 2016.
2. Jeremiah Wright decides now is the perfect time to debut his new sermon titled, “No Seriously, God Damn America.”
Trinity Church had better be strictly enforcing their “no flip cameras” ban.
1. People finally wake up and realize THAT OBAMA IS A GODLESS RADICAL COMMUNIST SOCIALIST TERRORIST INTENT ON DESTROYING EVERYTHING WE HOLD DEAR!!! (please forward to ten friends)
If Americans start listening to what poorly designed, un-spellchecked, racist direct mail brochures tell them, it’s over.
FREE DEBATE – SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER 2008
Columbia University
Call C-SPAN to make sure this will be broadcast live – when you call please please please PLEASE be very nice.
Call Obama at 866-675-2008 or Call John 703 418-2008 ask them to show up, their chairs will be nice and warm – tell them this could make all the difference.
TAKE YOUR DEBATES BACK!
The Free and Equal Elections Coalition (FREE) and the Columbia Political Union are pleased to announce that a Presidential debate will be held this coming Sunday, October 19th, 2008, on the campus of Columbia University.
ALL SIX of the Presidential candidates who appear on enough state ballots to acquire the 270 Electoral Votes needed to become President are invited. They are as follows (listed in alphabetical order by affiliation):
Constitution Party Candidate: Chuck Baldwin
Democratic Party Candidate: Barack Obama
Green Party Candidate: Cynthia McKinney
Independent Candidate: Ralph Nader
Libertarian Party Candidate: Bob Barr
Republican Party Can John McCain
The Columbia Political Union will present the debate from 8:00pm to 10:00pm in the Altschul Auditorium, located at 417 International Affairs Building. The debate will be moderated by Pacifica Radio’s Amy Goodman, the host of “Democracy Now!”. CSPAN will cover the debate, and live radio broadcasts are expected.
“The Columbia Political Union is committed to energizing political discourse on Columbia’s campus,” said Allon Brann, Columbia Political Union Publisher. “As a non-partisan organization, we work to provide students with opportunities to encounter and engage with political ideas across a wide ideological spectrum, and on a wide range of issues.”
“It is with these goals in mind that we have organized this Presidential Debate: to give all candidates– either within or outside of the political “mainstream”– the opportunity to speak directly to students about their goals on the issues they deem critical for this country.”
“We have invited all eligible candidates, and it is our sincere hope that all will participate, to ensure the substance and rigor of the dialogue which we believe is crucial at this time.”
Certified letters officially inviting each candidate have been sent to the respective campaigns.
The Free and Equal Elections Coalition and the Columbia Political Union await the response from the candidates. All candidates’ supporters are encouraged to contact the Presidential campaigns and urge them to attend.
The Columbia Political Union seeks to enhance involvement in the political process, domestic and international, and draw every member of the campus community into an ongoing discussion of political ideas.
FREE is a coalition of political parties, independent citizens and civic organizations formed to promote free and equal elections in the United States.
Conservatives are on the march against the community organization ACORN, accusing its massive voter registration effort of fraud and faulting Obama for having any connections to the group. As we reported this morning, ACORN doesn’t necessarily mind the attention.
But what exactly is ACORN? Actually, it’s many, many things. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now has dozens of affiliated entities, from a home-buying assistance corporation to community radio stations to liberal research and training institutes. The giant web of ACORN organizations, primarily based in Louisiana, has been funded by a mix of labor union money, government grants (which really drive conservatives crazy) and charitable contributions from large foundations. See below for a breakdown of funding sources.
Plus, Project Vote—the voter mobilization organization that works closely with and draws its leadershipfrom ACORN—paid ACORN and an affiliate $5.4 million in 2006. But where does Project Vote get its money? Normally it’s hard to tell, but we obtained a 2006 tax return showing the nonprofit’s funders, including: $4.5 million from the charitable trust of the investment management firm Vanguard; $425,000 from the Bauman Family Foundation, which also gives to the League of Conservation Voters and People for the American Way; and $396,000 from the liberal phone company Working Assets.
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