What a hole we've dug

Big money corporations have fixed bayonets and are launching a full frontal attack on healthcare reform. And another big money ideological interest is launching an attack on Sonia Sotomayor: the NRA.

Though she's shown not to be an enemy of firearm enthusiasts, the NRA is actually pushing democratic senators to vote against her confirmation. Senators with no spine or interest in the democratic process include junior senator Mark Begich (D-AK) and the perennially malleable Ben Nelson (D-NE).

I can see why the NRA is worried. After all, she is a non-white woman who is not of the Harriet Meyers ilk, and she is being appointed by the first black president who is also a Democrat. These traits illicit the response, "Lock and load!" from the NRA. But what is even worse is that she is NOT an "activist" judge, but strictly follows the written law. This could be a threat to ideologues who write their own interpretations of the law and Constitution.

Playing politics with health care

Hey Senator Jeff Merkley, would you represent my pathetic backwoods, "let the healthcare industrial complex screw me for the foreseeable future" state too?

The supposed good guys in the Senate are standing by and sitting on their thumbs, letting the "blue dogs" kill reform. They are complicit, and comfortably so because they also depend on big money from big pharma, managed health care and the insurance industry. If it were only the "blue dogs" then it shouldn't stop reform, because it only needs a majority vote. The right is hammering the public with fear mongering and strawman tactics like the citizenship meme. Why don't the dems hammer back with questions like, "So the GOP would like to push you farther into the pit of unsupportable heathcare bills?" Well, they would, but they are also in bed with big business.

A small number of senators from states with very small populations are taking away our choices and forcing us into a position as a captive market who must pay whatever the industry demands because there is no check on them--no supply and demand balance because there will always be a demand--we would rather not die right away. What are we going to do? We have no competing choice.

Today's Cheney

Here is a message to the Blue Dogs: dems who are in bed with the corporate healthcare overlords (e.g., Ben Nelson (D-Neb), Baron Hill (D-Ind) and Max Baucus (D-Mont)). Bought and paid for by the overlords and selling us down the river.

You suck. Not just suck, but you suck blue whale you suck so bad. I'm sick of you. So I'm going to have to offer you today's Cheney: Go f@#k yourselves!

My apologies

I just realized that I gave the soon to be former governor of Alaska the day's Cheney a while back. I'm afraid that it may have been too much for her, a politician who lives off being the victim of everyone from unknown bloggers, to Katie Couric, to the odd member of the Alaska state government trying to enforce ethics laws. I feel terrible in the possibility that my post pushed poor Sarah over the edge. So, it is with hat in hand that I must express my fondest and dearest apologies for my truly mean attack upon your distinguished career. But I have full confidence that you will pick yourself up, dust yourself off and again stir up hatred and angst among the dwindling GOP base. And once you get on your feet again, then please find time to go f#@k yourself.

Public Options

Why have the Democrats allowed the Republicans to redefine the debate once again? The "public option" is not about competition with insurance companies, it is about providing health care to millions of men, women and children who do not have access to health care because they cannot afford health insurance.

Look at what kind of jobs are being created in America, now and during the last decade. They are, by and large, not full-time jobs with benefits. Every year there will be more and more families without coverage, getting their healthcare at the ER, suffering with ear infections with no antibiotics. And yet our "leaders" want to worry about competition with private health insurance companies. One clue to the insurance industry: the people who would opt for the government plan are either uninsured and you're not competing for their dollars, or they are paying way too much for coverage. Once again, what is sold to the American public as a free-market economy is actually a corporate welfare state.

Use your public option and contact your elected officials.

Socialism! Beware!

Interesting how many legislators on both sides of the aisle are using the term "socialized medicine" and variations in order to shoot down the "public option" and in so doing, protect a huge industry and source of campaign contributions.

Question: What is the insurance industry and why does it need protecting? The most significant aspect of the insurance industry is that for any company, the claims going out have to be less than the premiums paid in so that it makes a profit. The best way for a business or organization looking for an insurance plan vendor is to find a plan that has the largest number of subscribers. Why? Because that way the company has the best chance of raking in more than it pays out, by virtue if it getting more people who don't file claims. And as the costs rise, this becomes more and more important. This doesn't mean that the costs will not rise as fast as any other plan, but everyone's premium will be lower than a plan with fewer subscribers.

So, in essence, the premiums of many support the claims of the few who undergo a costly crisis--and a CEO buys an island somewhere. But wait a doggone minute! Isn't the concept of many paying for the safety net of others a tenet of socialism? Only without the CEO and the island? Why aren't those legislators and conservatives up in arms about the way the mega-insurance companies are playing socialism? I mean really. I guess they don't mind because with the companies in charge, the costs can continue to rise unabated and so can the profits. And since corporations run the show, there is no transparency and we don't see where all that money is going. And the difference between our system and that of Canada and the UK, is that their contributions go to help all citizens, and ours go to support a private corporation, and the CEO and his island.

News Update

A Yemeni airliner crashed in the Indian Ocean with 150 on board. The Indian Ocean is expected to make a full recovery.

OMG! A linebacker for the Texas Longhorns was texting on his cell phone while driving and crashed into a building. Texas athletic department officials are concerned, but say that he will not be punished as long as he does not send text messages during the Oklahoma game.

Tuesday is the deadline for American troops to leave Iraqi cities and towns. And for the first time, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld are right, we are being treated as liberators.

Loud ad man Billy Mays passed away. Apparently his sleepless neighbors got a hold of some Mighty Putty.

Thousands gathered at the base of the mountain to see that Steve Jobs is back on the, um, job. He had to upgrade his liver to the new iOrgan. Unfortunately it will go out of style in two months and need to be replaced by the iOrganPod. He’s scheduled to have a third surgery in December to receive the long-awaited iOrganNanoPodThingy, the smallest liver ever, amid great fanfare.

And, in health care news, the health care industry is spending $1.4 million per day on lobbying. Which means that, yes, after they defeat any reform that would actually help us, we are going to have to pay even more to cover this cost. But that’s OK, because they need that money to develop new and better lobbyists--because we demand the best lobbyists in the world.

three moose for sister sarah

Isn't it obvious? Palin bagged the Alaska gig so she could take a seat on The View.