August, 2009 archive
Old Times 0
Thirty-five years ago, my friends and I left Zebra Pizza (probably long since closed for health code violations) and went up the Washington Monument.
The Park Ranger told us it was the lightest crowd he had ever seen, but, to us, looking down on the White House seemed to be the appropriate way to celebrate the moment.
Parallel Universe 0
Charles M. Blow on the anti-health care mobbery (emphasis added). Please follow the link for the full analysis:
I must say that this says more about them than it does about any forthcoming legislation. Belligerence is the currency of the intellectually bankrupt.
Trapped in their vacuum of ideas, too many Republicans continue to display an astounding ability to believe utter nonsense, even when faced with facts that contradict it.
I got nothin’ against demonstratin’. I’ve done plenty of it in my time. One of my favorite memories is of waving a picket sign in Richard Nixon’s face.
I got a lot against mobbery.
Jamie Sanderson has more.
My Cat Can’t Splet “http://” 1
You can’t make this stuff up:
Florida investigators say a man accused of downloading child pornography is blaming his cat.
Yeah. Right. 1,000 pictures worth.
H/T Linda for the link.
Yesterday’s Dustbiters 0
I got busy over at LQ last night and forgot to check who you can no longer bank on.
- Community First Bank, Prineville, Oregon
Crunch 0
The center lane and left lanes of Commons Blvd. are left turn only lanes. It you go straight, you run into a building.
Insurance Company Rules 0
From TerranceDC, who reminds us
It’s not money that’s “the root of all evil,” as the most common misquoting of particular bit of scripture would suggest. It’s the love of money that’s the “root of all evil.” Money itself is neither bad nor good. Money, or profit, is not the problem. It’s what we do with it, and what we do for it, that makes the difference. If it becomes our only reason for doing anything we are, as a country, lost.
Read his entire post. It’s three minutes of worth it.
Fire in the Hold 0
Frankly, I find her story more plausible than his.
Alternate Realities 0
Noz ruminates on how all the lies about healthcare got so much traction:
I think he has a point. The teabaggers screaming “read the bill” clearly have not.
I gave up on broadcast news a long time ago. Not just cable. All of it. Even the folks who try to do a good job (that is, who try to be accurate) don’t have enough time to be thorough. And it seems that the folks who have the most time (such as three-hour radio shows) have no interest in accuracy.
Full disclosure: There are some more or less sane NPR shows that I listen to via podcast, because they devote and hour to a story and really do dig into it.
Jobs May Be Looking Up 2
Atrios reports that the monthly job losses for July were less than projected.
Wonder whether any banks will bite the dust tonight.
What Your Health Insurance Premiums Buy 0
Hint: It’s not just denial letters from an army of insurance company bureaucrats.
The Only Congressperson with No Federal Healthcare Insurance 0
Naturally, he got shouted down by a mob of wingnuts at a recent townhall meeting.
Follow the link for details.
“I told her, ‘I’ve got a plane to catch. If you can make that same offer to everybody I’m representing, then I’ll accept it.’ Then I turned to walk out,” the Wisconsin allergist told me in one of two phone interviews this week. “It didn’t seem right. It didn’t feel right to me that I was being offered something that wasn’t being offered to the people I was representing.”
Via the Wayward Episcopalian
We Need Single Payer 1
or at least a public option:
Via MoveOn.
Paul Krugman on the AstroTurf Mobs 0
Read the whole thing:
Now, people who don’t know that Medicare is a government program probably aren’t reacting to what President Obama is actually proposing. They may believe some of the disinformation opponents of health care reform are spreading, like the claim that the Obama plan will lead to euthanasia for the elderly. (That particular claim is coming straight from House Republican leaders.) But they’re probably reacting less to what Mr. Obama is doing, or even to what they’ve heard about what he’s doing, than to who he is.
Physicians Confer 0
Over at Susie’s place. (It’s a hoot.)
The Best Healthcare in the World 0
If what you want to do is get to be a rich CEO type person. Watch it all the way through.
CEO takedown via TPM.
Twits on Twitter 0
The Coyote’s Byte suggests what we can do when Twitter is down.
My favorite:
Follow the link for the full list.
Rachel Maddow Looks beneath the Astroturf 0
Rachel Maddow: “Politically, the facts don’t really matter . . . .” “This is professional corporate-funded Republican-staffed PR. And it should be reported as such.”
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
I tried to go to the website, Recess Rally dot com, but it seems to be inaccessible. It did not 404, so it may just be whelmed or down.
It should be out. After all, Rachel Maddow outed it.
Via Brendan.