A Liberal's Hit List: Aug 17, 2009

Arlen Specter Says Wingnut Town Hall Protesters Don't Represent America

Monday, August 17, 2009

By David
Crooks and Liars

Sen. Arlen Specter has faced angry protesters at his town hall meetings about health care. But Specter says that the protesters are not representative of most Americans. "I think we have to bear in mind, although those people have a right to be heard, they're not really representative of America in my opinion. We have to be careful here not to let those town meetings dominate the scene and influence what we do on health policy," Specter told ABC's Jake Tapper....(Original.)

Rachel Maddow Unmasks DICK Armey's Radical Opinions that Medicare is Tyranny

By Susie Madrak
Crooks and Liars

On this morning's Meet the Press, Rachel Maddow backs former congressman Dick Armey (head of the Freedomworks lobbying group) against the wall and lets everyone know exactly what his radical opinion is on Medicare:

MS. MADDOW: Do you really think that there’s a major uprising of seniors wanting to get out of Medicare? I know you’re suing the government for your right personally to get out of Medicare.

REP. ARMEY: Right.

MS. MADDOW: But do you really think that’s the problem...

SEN. COBURN: Is it...

MS. MADDOW: ...that Medicare—that seniors hate Medicare and they want out?

REP. ARMEY: No, I didn’t say that. Most seniors—I was talking to my minister the other day. My minister says, “Dick, I’m so fortunate I’m in Medicare.” I said, “Bless you, my, my friend that you get to be in it if you choose to be so.” But if you give a government program and you let me choose to be in or choose to be out, that’s generosity. If you force me in, irrespective of my desires, that’s tyranny. Now, if Medicare’s $46 trillion in the red, with no idea how we’re going to pay for it, why, why do they not let people who don’t want to be in out?

MS. MADDOW: This is...

MR. GREGORY: Let me—I want to get it...

REP. ARMEY: I mean, that’s...

MS. MADDOW: Just—I—very briefly.

REP. ARMEY: This, this, this defies logic.

MS. MADDOW: This is a really important point. The anti-healthcare reform lobby thinks that Medicare is tyranny, OK?...

Dejando claro que hace y no hace la reforma del

Sen. Kent Conrad of Blue Cross & UnitedHealthcare says Public Option is Dead

Fox's Talking Hemorrhoid, Wallace, Resuscitates Debunked Rationing Bogeyman

Rachel Maddow Slaps Down DICK Armey: MoveOn Never Compared Bush to Hitler

Orrin Hatch Cites Lewin Group, Jake Tapper Points Out Lewis Group Owned by UnitedHealthcare

In a Fit of Actual Journalism, John King Corrects Rep. Price's Lies on End-of-Life Counseling

Freepers, Birthers, Morons of all Stripes, You Didn't Get Mad...

By walldude
Democratic Underground

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

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

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

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

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

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city drown.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.

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

You people have all lost your fucking minds. You are selfish, greedy, obnoxious, narcissistic, and frankly... stupid. Your pathetic little misspelled protest signs are embarrassing. Maybe you ought to find the smart person in your midst and let them make up all the signs, cause man, you look like a bunch of idiots. Also you're ugly and your mother dresses you funny....(Original.)

Selling Children into Prostitution - Christian "Blackwater" Values

By Larisa Alexandrovna
at-Largely

The latest horror show from the Blackwater saga illustrates how absolutely dangerous white supremacy is when empowered with federal dollars and the power to kill.

Instead of being run out of all civilized society, Erik Prince's huge donations to the GOP earned him massive federal contracts and the backing of the US government as his employees raped children under the banner of an American flag.

White power politics is not a matter of free speech when used by the state as a tool of war. It is a war crime. Erik Prince is a war criminal. The fact that he and his black-booters are part of a private entity does not exempt their crimes under the Geneva Conventions. Why? Because Prince and his black-booters were employed by and empowered by the US government. The actions of Prince and the black-booters are carried out under the banner of the American flag. Their crimes are our crimes, especially since we - the tax- payer - paid for them. So, have a stiff drink and read the latest horror of this warped version of the so called Christian army:

"Since the revelation earlier this week of allegations by two former employees of security firm Blackwater that its owner was complicit in murder in order to cover up the deliberate killing of Iraqi civilians, explosive charges have continued to emerge.

Perhaps the most shocking of those charges — quoted by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Thursday from the employees’ sworn declarations — is that Blackwater was guilty of using child prostitutes at its compound in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and that owner Erik Prince knew of this activity and did nothing to stop it.

The declarations describe Blackwater as “having young girls provide oral sex to Enterprise members in the ‘Blackwater Man Camp’ in exchange for one American dollar.” They add even though Prince frequently visited this camp, he “failed to stop the ongoing use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes, by his men.”

The Swiss Menace

By Paul Krugman
The New York Times

It was the blooper heard round the world. In an editorial denouncing Democratic health reform plans, Investor’s Business Daily tried to frighten its readers by declaring that in Britain, where the government runs health care, the handicapped physicist Stephen Hawking “wouldn’t have a chance,” because the National Health Service would consider his life “essentially worthless.”

Professor Hawking, who was born in Britain, has lived there all his life, and has been well cared for by the National Health Service, was not amused.

Besides being vile and stupid, however, the editorial was beside the point. Investor’s Business Daily would like you to believe that Obamacare would turn America into Britain — or, rather, a dystopian fantasy version of Britain. The screamers on talk radio and Fox News would have you believe that the plan is to turn America into the Soviet Union. But the truth is that the plans on the table would, roughly speaking, turn America into Switzerland — which may be occupied by lederhosen-wearing holey-cheese eaters, but wasn’t a socialist hellhole the last time I looked.

Let’s talk about health care around the advanced world.

Every wealthy country other than the United States guarantees essential care to all its citizens. There are, however, wide variations in the specifics, with three main approaches taken....(Remainder.)

Free Speech Protection Does Not Cover Death Threats

By Larisa Alexandrovna
at-Largely

Hal Turner, the lunatic right-wing radio talk show host/blogger said this on his hate radio show:

"Let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges deserve to be killed," Turner wrote on his blog on June 2, according to the FBI. "Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions."

And then he did this:

The next day, Turner posted photographs of the appellate judges and a map showing the Chicago courthouse where they work, noting the placement of "anti-truck bomb barriers." When an FBI agent appeared at the door of his New Jersey home, Turner said he meant no harm.

Turner's lawyer says the following in his defense:

"He gave an opinion. He did not say go out and kill," defense attorney Michael Orozco said last week after unsuccessfully seeking bail. "This is political hyperbole, nothing more. He's a shock jock."

If it was his opinion only, why did he provide a map showing the courthouse and where the anti-truck bomb barriers are located?

If I were to say that "I think Rush Limbaugh should be dead," no matter how ugly a statement that may be, that in fact would be my opinion. If I said that and then provided a map to his home, including the location of the security station for his condo development, that would be more than an opinion. That would be me asking someone to make my wish come true. For the record, I don't want Limbaugh dead or anyone else for that matter. But you see my point, right?...(Remainder.)

New U.S. Envoy Takes Up Post

By Brian Knowlton
The New York Times
Photo: Matthew Staver (Bloomberg)

WASHINGTON — As Charles H. Rivkin prepares to take up the storied position of U.S. ambassador to Paris, a choice niche once occupied by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, he finds himself a particularly interesting case study in the long debate over America’s practice of appointing political favorites rather than diplomatic professionals to choice ambassadorships.

At 47, Mr. Rivkin is the youngest American envoy in Paris in 56 years. His father was a well-regarded diplomat, but the son has carved out his place in life in Hollywood. And, of course, he raised over $500,000 for Barack Obama in Southern California last year, and the palatial residence on the swanky rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré is his reward.

To judge by a story from 2002, Mr. Rivkin may inject new and different life into the palatial but ritualized world of Parisian diplomacy.

In 2002, Mr. Rivkin, something of a Tinseltown wunderkind, was chief executive of the entertainment world’s Jim Henson Company. For a Christmas movie featuring the world-beloved Muppets, a Henson crew filmed Kermit and Snoop Dogg rapping together.

Mr. Rivkin soon found himself in a media firestorm, having to defend the casting, in a kids’ show, of the ex-convict and former gang member. “Snoop is a pop-culture icon,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “We respect him as an artist." In the end, however, the scene was cut because, a Henson statement said, it “did not advance the story line.”...(Remainder.)

White House Appears Ready to Drop 'Public Option'

By Philip Elliott
Associated Press via Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – Bowing to Republican pressure and an uneasy public, President Barack Obama's administration signaled Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system.

Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession probably would enrage Obama's liberal supporters but could deliver a much-needed victory on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.

Officials from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind when they returned to their districts for an August recess. Obama had wanted the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured, but didn't include it as one of his core principles of reform.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that government alternative to private health insurance is "not the essential element" of the administration's health care overhaul. The White House would be open to co-ops, she said, a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory.

Under a proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private industry, not unlike the way electric and agriculture co-ops operate, especially in rural states such as his own....(Remainder.)

James Carville Says Let the GOP Kill Health Care — Then Run Against Them

By Daniel Tencer
The Raw Story

Democratic Party strategist James Carville offered up a new strategy for Democrats to follow in their battle to reform health care: Let the GOP defeat it, then defeat the GOP at the ballot box.

At a roundtable discussion with Republican consultant Mary Matalin and host John King on CNN's State of the Union, Carville argued that if the Democrats can come up with an agreement that is supported by most Democratic members of Congress, they should let the GOP filibuster it, thereby killing health care reform and effectively painting the Republicans as being the party that opposed fixing the system.

That, Carville implied, would backfire on the GOP in upcoming elections.

"Put a bill out there, make them filibuster it," Carville said. "Make them be what they are — the party of no. ... And you know what? Run on it. Let them kill it. Let them kill it with the interest group money, then run against them. That's what we ought to do."

From CNN's Web site:

"What about this?," Carville said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, "Suppose they pass a House bill that can get 56 Senate Democrats." Then, Carville suggested, instead of using reconciliation, a special budgetary maneuver in Senate procedure that frustrate GOP attempts to mount a filibuster, Democrats should call for a vote. "And make [Republicans] filibuster it. But the old kinda way is that they filibuster it and make'em go three weeks and all night and [Democrats] will be there the whole time.

"Then, you say, 'They're the people that stopped it. We had a majority of Democrats. We had a good bill. They stopped it.'"

NewsBusters.com: Just Another Screaming Baby in the Store

By James Hipps
Gay Agenda

Being singled out can be a good thing I guess. I mean some people love the attention even if they’re being singled out for their stupidity.

On occasion, because it’s good to know what the right-wing crazies of the world are up to, I’ll pop in on a site called NewsBusters, which really should be called truthbusters, because I’ve never read such vile, dishonest, trash in my entire life. (I hesitate greatly to link to the joke of a site…you’ll see why in a bit.)

Why do I bring this up? Because, here is the problem with the right wing nuts of the world. They have these pundits, who’ll print or say anything to get attention. They’re like a spoiled rotten two-year-old that screams in the middle of the grocery store, making an ass out of themselves, embarrassing the hell out of their parents (in this case the parents being the GOP) with the hopes they’ll get their way.

What they accomplish is amazing. You know, you’ve been in a grocery store when a child throws a temper tantrum. The whole store notices. They get the attention of every shopper and employee. For some reason the parent, usually a bit red faced, tends to ignore the fact their child is making a complete ass of theirself, not to mention, they make the parent look like they don’t have the skills to train a dog to sit, let alone raise a child. Every one in the store tenses up. People all around are thinking, who in the hell let that screaming kid in here? It’s disruptive, it’s annoying, and it makes your trip to store even more unpleasant. It also gives other brats the idea they can too act this way and get the eyes of the world placed upon them. All the attention they just don’t get at home is right there. All they have to do is make act like a stark raving lunatic....(Remainder.)

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