What the Republicans have become

What do you call a group that incites violence, relies on fear, intimidation and lies to influence political and social change, has no respect for others’ opinions and holds a country hostage to its own twisted desires?

That’s right, terrorists.  The Republican party has become the Al Qaeda of American politics.

Let’s all send ‘em a message:

They don’t deserve the time of day.  The Democrats and President Obama should pass health care reform, with a robust public option, with or without their support, interference, intimidation, lies, hypocrisy or terrorism.

It would destroy them once and for all, consigning the lot of them to the dustbin of history.  Permanent minority status – that’s what they deserve.

Boneheaded “Birther” Bitch Bamboozled by Bogus B.C.

In case you missed it (and let’s face it, who hasn’t seen this by now), here’s radical nutcase Orly Taitz demonstrating why no one with more than room temperature IQ takes this “movement” seriously:

Wasn’t that fun?

I’m beginning to think the President actually should petition the state of Hawaii to release his “long form” BC, just to shut these morons up.  Not that it’ll help.  They’ll probably accuse him of forging that as well.

I couldn’t help but notice, in this interview Ms. Taitz is talking from Tel Aviv.  I wonder, does she have a green card?

Hmmmmmmm?

Healthcare Craziness

One of the perils of actually being employed during the worst economic disaster in 70 years is that you sometimes have to put up with some pretty stupid stuff at work.  Take, for example, this email recently spammed to the company on the company network by the owner of the company (names have been removed to protect the ignorant):

—–Original Message—–
From: XXX XXXXXX
Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:19 AM
To: All Outlook Users
Subject: HC disaster synposys (or: Healthcare Hell)

Just think about these for a second or two..
_______________
Following the mad recommendations of Peter Singer made in NYT’s Sunday
magazine, it pays to take a look at what is actually in the healthcare
bill.

It’s worse than you can possibly imagine. Somehow, it manages to be
Singer on steroids. Who wrote this bill. It has Singer’s footprints all
over it.

Peter Fleckstein (aka Fleckman) is reading it and has been posting on
Twitter his findings. This is from his postings (Note: All comments are
Fleckman’s) _______________

Here:

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS
that self insure!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill – THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides
what treatments/benes u get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill – YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!

Pg 42 of HC Bill – The Health Choices Commissioner will choose UR HC
Benefits
4 you. U have no choice!

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill – HC will be provided 2 ALL non US
citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill – Govt will have real-time access 2 individs finances & a
National ID Healthcard will b issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access 2 ur banks accts
4 elect. funds transfer

PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan 4 retirees and their families
in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange 2 bring priv HC plans
under Govt control.

PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill – Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs 4 priv. HC plans
in the Exchange

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill – Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt
will ration ur Healthcare!

PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill – Govt mandates linguistic approp svcs. Example
- Translation 4 illegal aliens

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN &
Americorps 2 sign up indiv. for Govt HC plan

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill – Specs of Ben Levels 4 Plans. #AARP members – U
Health care WILL b rationed

-PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill – Medicaid Eligible Indiv. will b
automat.enrolled in Medicaid. No choice

pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No
“judicial review” against Govt Monop

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill – Doctors/ #AMA – The Govt will tell YOU what
u can make.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into pub opt
plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay 4 HC 4 part time employees AND
their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not prov.
pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll

pg 150 Lines 9-13 Biz w payroll btw 251k & 400k who doesnt prov. pub.
opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll

Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesnt have acceptable HC accrdng
2 Govt will be taxed 2.5% of inc

Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from indiv.
taxes.
(Americans will pay)

Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access
2 ALL Americans finan/pers recs

PG 203 Line 14-15 HC – “The tax imposed under this section shall not be
treated as tax” Yes, it says that

Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Govt will reduce physician svcs 4 Medicaid.
Seniors, low income, poor affected

Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill – Doctors, doesnt matter what specialty u have,
you’ll all be paid the same

PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr’s time, prof judg, etc.
Literally value of humans.

PG 265 Sec 1131Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC
industries

PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven
wheelchairs

PG 272 SEC. 1145. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS – Cancer
patients – welcome to rationing!

Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals 4 what Govt deems
preventable readmissions.

Pg 298 Lines 9-11 Drs, treat a patient during initial admiss that
results in a readmiss-Govt will penalize u.

Pg 317 L 13-20 OMG!! PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells
Drs.
what/how much they can own.

Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating
hospitals cannot expand

pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have oppt to apply for exception BUT community
input required. Can u say ACORN?!!

Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 – Govt mandates estab. of outcome based
measures. HC the way they want. Rationing

Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority 2 disqual Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs,
etc.
Forcing peeps in2 Govt plan

Pg 354 Sec 1177 – Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs ppl!
WTF. My sis has down syndrome!!

Pg 379 Sec 1191 Govt creates more bureaucracy – Telehealth Advisory
Cmtte. Can u say HC by phone?

PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think
Senior Citizens end of life

Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills,
durable powers of atty. Mandatory!

PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides apprvd list of end of
life resources, guiding u in death

PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program 4 orders 4 end of life. The
Govt has a say in how ur life ends

Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An “adv. care planning consult” will b used frequently
as patients health deteriorates

PG 429 Lines 10-12 “adv. care consultation” may incl an ORDER 4 end of
life plans. AN ORDER from GOV

Pg 429 Lines 13-25 – The govt will specify which Doctors can write an
end of life order.

PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment u will
have at end of life

Pg 469 – Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs. Hello,
ACORN Medical Svcs here!!?

Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG. 1 monthly payment 2
a community-based org. Like ACORN?

PG 489 Sec 1308 The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which
means they will insert Govt in2 ur marriage

Pg 494-498 Govt will cover Mental Health Svcs including defining,
creating, rationing those svcs

Wow.  I sure am scared now.  This sounds pretty much like the status quo.  God help us if all those health insurance bureaucrats ever get replaced by government bureaucrats.  The sender didn’t have the guts or decency to include a copy of the actual bill, though.  We’re supposed to accept this screed as fact and get all panicked and worked up about nationalized health care.  What bullshit.

Friday Fun: a web roundup of the “Flat Birth” Society

Or, as I like to call it, the walk of shame for the lunatic fringe.  Here’s video of our nation’s most prominent conspiracy theorists expounding on their ridiculous lies about President Obama’s birth records.  Watch, pay attention, and remember:

Liz Cheney defending the Flat Birth Society

Lout Dobbs revealing his true colors

Senile Watergate criminal and Flat Birther G. Gordon Liddy getting ripped apart by Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews eviscerating Rep. Campbell about the Flat Birth crap

Sean “Waterboard Me” Hannity demonstrating he is, in fact, an idiot, a coward and a fraud

These people and all like them are liars and cowards.  Remember them.  The only antidote for their lies is repeating the truth, every time you hear one of them speak up.  Their arguments are devoid of reason or fact, and should be exposed every time they’re uttered.

Destroy them.  Treat them like the cockroaches they are, or this pathetic lie will continue to spread like a cancer.

It’s all about the hate

As MediaMatters.org points out, the flap about President Obama’s birth certificate isn’t about facts or proof; it’s about fear, racism and paranoia:

“Birther” of a Nation?

This has gone well beyond stupid.

In 2009, the Party of Lincoln officially has become, 150 years later, the party of Racists, Hypocrites and Liars.

I’m talking about the so-called “Birther Bill” introduced by Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla) earlier this year and co-sponsored by several prominent GOP lawmakers including Randy Neugebauer (R-Tex) and Dan Burton (R-Ind).  This bill, which frankly would not have been even conceived of had John McCain won the election last year, would require presidential campaigns to provide a “copy of the candidate’s birth certificate”.

President Obama has already done so, and for the record, of the two men in the race last year, he was the only one actually born on American soil, in an American state.  John McCain was born in Panama.  Both were born to American citizens, and since this country does not recognize dual citizenship, both are “natural born” citizens as required by the Constitution.  No other President’s birth records have been questioned so persistently, nor examined so thoroughly.  The only reason these “birthers” are objecting to Obama’s public release of his birth records is because they can’t handle the fact that a black man won.

Apparently they’re fine with black people being sports stars, singers, servants and sex objects, but leadership is a burden to be shouldered only by White Men.

These mindless racists are now demanding that President Obama release a copy of his “long form” birth certificate, a document I very much doubt any of them would be able to produce on demand.  And, as I’ve said before, it’s also something none of them would be demanding of John McCain if the election had gone the other way.  This has got to stop.  Even if he capitulates to their ludicrous demands and releases the long form, there’s little chance the “birthers” will accept it as proof.  Instead, they’ll no doubt go on believing it was “forged” or “faked” or otherwise falsified.

Not because there’s any proof of conspiracy, but because they’re idiots.  And racists.  And hypocrites.

Crazy like a Fox (News)

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of the American POW captured by the Taliban earlier this month.  He, like all POWs, deserves nothing less than our fullest efforts to bring him home.

I hope Lt Col Peters chokes to death on his own treasonous, cowardly words and rots forever in the pit of Hell.  He is giving aid and comfort to the enemy by his ridiculous lies and deserves the harshest possible punishment.

One Small Step

Forty years ago today Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin first set foot on the moon and ushered in a new era of human space exploration.  Last week NASA’s Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter photographed, in excellent resolution, the landing sites of the Apollo 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17 missions.

Apollo 11

Apollo 15

Apollo 16

Apollo 17

Apollo 17

Here’s hoping we go back, and go farther!

Meet Maj. Cook, right-wing nutcase of the day

I thought this crap had been put behind us.

It seems the “Obama wasn’t born in America” crowd has been actually gathering some steam lately, with a court ruling from a judge willing to examine the “merits” of the case (shouldn’t take long, since there aren’t any).  And now we have this:

Soldier balks at deploying; says Obama isn’t president

U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, set to deploy to Afghanistan, says he shouldn’t have to go.

His reason?

Barack Obama was never eligible to be president because he wasn’t born in the United States.

Cook’s lawyer, Orly Taitz, who has also challenged the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency in other courts, filed a request last week in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector for her client.

In the 20-page document — filed July 8 with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia — the California-based Taitz asks the court to consider granting his client’s request based upon Cook’s belief that Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Cook further states he “would be acting in violation of international law by engaging in military actions outside the United States under this President’s command. … simultaneously subjecting himself to possible prosecution as a war criminal by the faithful execution of these duties.”

Cook, a reservist, received the orders mobilizing him to active duty on June 9.

According to this document, which accompanies Cook’s July 8 application for a temporary restraining order, he has been ordered to report to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday. From there, the Florida resident would go to Fort Benning before deploying overseas.

Documents show Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, two years after it became a state.

A hearing to discuss Cook’s requests will take place in federal court here Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

It’s distressing enough to realize that there are still people out there stupid enough to believe this line of bullshit, but it’s even more disheartening to realize that at least one of them is in a position of leadership, responsible for training and mentoring young troops.  What kind of example is Maj. Cook setting for the young soldiers he might command?  What kind of judgement is he showing by clinging so tightly to such a ridiculous and obvious line of right-wing lies and smears?

None whatsoever.  He deserves to be court-martialed, demoted to Private and sent to Fort Leavenworth.  He’s a disgrace to himself, the Army, and his country.

If he wanted out of the Army so badly, it would have been better if he’d just told them he was gay.

Update (7/15/09): Major Cook’s deployment orders have been rescinded.  In a curious twist to this sordid tale, it turns out the “Major” actually volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan in May of this year, six months after President Obama’s election and four months after his swearing-in.  If he had these concerns about the legitimacy of his commander-in-chief, why didn’t he quit the reserves six months ago?  Why volunteer to go, and then make up this bogus claim about the President’s birth certificate?

I smell a rat.  This looks like a transparent ploy to put this ridiculous conspiracy theory in the national media spotlight.  Major Cook is a disgrace to the uniform.

Update 2 (7/15/09): Keith Olbermann reported last night in his “Worst Persons” segment that Major Cook has now lost his job as a Pentagon contractor.

The Torture Passes

Daddy’s little girl is all growed up and ready to start illegal wars in countries that didn’t attack us.

The Washington Times reports that Liz Cheney, daughter and primary defender of former Vice President and lying scumbag Darth Dick Cheney, has been making noises about running for political office sometime in the future.  Read on:

“It’s something I very well may do,” said Elizabeth “Liz” Cheney, a lawyer and State Department appointee who has worked on two Republican presidential campaigns.

Ms. Cheney, 44, has emerged as one of the strongest defenders of the effectiveness and legality of Bush-Cheney policies on enhanced interrogation methods. More recently, she and her father have become two of the most outspoken critics of President Obama’s position on terrorism and other national security issues, which has led Republicans to consider her a strong candidate for national political office.

Ms. Cheney told The Washington Times’ “America’s Morning News” that recent new reports that her father ordered the CIA to hide information from Congress and that a government probe could follow appears like political cover for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats who have accused agency Director Leon Panetta of lying.

“It gets more and more appalling every day,” she said. “I think they’re very worried about Speaker Pelosi.”

Oh, please.  This woman is even more detached from reality than her dickhead father is.  Anyone who thinks waterboarding isn’t torture and that the CIA tells the truth to Congress and the American people, is an idiot.

I hope she does run for office.  I hope she gets her ass handed to her.  I hope the weight of her father’s crimes and scandals comes crashing down on her head like a ton of shit.  I hope the entire Cheney family gets indicted for war crimes and sent to the gulag their supreme patriarch created.