Heal Health Care Now: Doctors Speak Out for Reform

This is awesome... 450,000 doctors have joined with Brave New Films to make this video and come out with one voice to speak in unison for Health Care Reform. Is your Doctor on the list?

This is great and needs to go viral quickly. What better way to refute the lies the rethugs are putting out there? Come on everyone, post this to your site, pass it around in your emails, twitter it, FaceBook it, share it everywhere you can.



Here is the web site link... Heal Health Care Now.

Glenn Beck Calls Pres. Obama a Racist, Lets Boycott the Advertisers

Glenn Beck is an idiot. Plain and Simple. I have never liked him, don't watch him and will never watch him. He has done some really stupid things, but I believe this is one of his worst.

In case you aren't familiar with what he has done, here is the video of it:



Yes, this is from Media Matters, because I refuse to link or post anything from Fox News. Now, the head of Fox News makes a statement and says, this is Glenn Beck's opinion and not the opinion of Fox News. Well, way to go.. What the heck does that mean?

This is just unacceptable. But, Beck is not the only one, he is just the latest. We hear this from Limbaugh all the time. The only problem is that Beck did this not only on Fox & Friends early Tuesday morning, he repeated it on his radio show later on in the day. So, that's a double dose of the mess.

Now today, on MSNBC, the best thing I have ever heard from someone came out. Well, I believe Keith Olbermann has suggested it before. Here is what Donnie Deustch had to say:

Deustch: He called this president a ‘racist’ and a ‘hatred of white people’, okay? This has to stop. Here’s the only way this stops. The reason this man does this, this Glenn Beck does this, is because it attracts viewers, it creates controversy…

If you’re an African-American or white American who’s tired of this kind of talk, write to the CEO’s of those companies and say: ‘you know what, put it somewhere else on Fox News, I’m not saying take it [your advertising] off of Fox News, take it off this man’s show.

The following advertisers were listed by Deustch on air:

General Motors
Campbell Soup
Chrysler
Proctor & Gamble
Pfizer
Kellogg
Walmart
Kraft Foods
Nestle

Here is the video of the segment with him, Tamryn Hall and Jonathon Capehart discussing this and where he makes the suggestion. Watch it and watch how Tamryn is shocked by his suggestion.



Even Joe Scarborough, who I never agree with said it was over the top, from his Twitter page:

Conservatives attacked the Dixie Chicks for saying much less about President Bush than what Beck said about President Obama.
about 9 hours ago from web

JoeNBC
Joe Scarborough

I agree with Donnie, this has to stop. However I think we should tell them to quit Fox all together.. but I see his point. Baby steps. The only way to get this stopped is to pull the advertising. This has been done before. So, get your pencils out, get your emails ready and start writing.

There is a diary at DailyKos which lists all the contact information for the sponsors and you can get to it by clicking on the link here. It is a great post and has all the information I have here plus the contact info. Check it out and get the address and lets get this done.

Send each of the advertisers an email, keep it polite, keep it simple and keep it fairly short. Let them know you don't appreciate the hate speech from Beck, that you will not support it and that if they continue advertising on his program you will stop buying from them until they do. That they need to remove their advertising from his program and move it to other programing at Fox. Thank them and end it there. But we have to make sure we send enough to do some good.

Killing Health Care Reform

I see people trying to kill Health Care Reform in all ways.

There are the lies from the Republicans that are being told, such as in the comments of my last post, about euthanasia, raising taxes on everyone, and just on and on. There are more, all you have to do is just look around and you can see them. The "socialized medicine" is a great one, putting the government between you and your health care is another one.

One of the many things that has been used to help the Republican's is the talking points from Frank Luntz's Memo on how to kill Health Care. They have used it to distraction to obstruct, lie and misinform people about everything involved in the process.

The media is complicit in this.. they allow them to tell their lies and never once challenge them, or they call them on part of it, but let them squirm and tell another one to cover up the one they just told.

From Media Matters: CNN's Dana Bash did not challenge Rep. John Boehner's false suggestion that the health care reform bill being considered by the House contains a tax on all small businesses. Nor did she challenge Boehner's claim that Democrats are proposing to "nationaliz[e] our health care system here."

Again Media Matters has this: Donald Lambro falsely claimed that President Obama said that equipment and tests used to "diagnose, treat or otherwise care for" patients "don't make Americans any healthier."

I think you get my meaning.. this is just a part of it and it is taking a toll. We have to start pushing back and pushing back hard. These Republicans need to hear from each of us.

I get tired of hearing from people who say, it won't do any good to call my rep he or she is a Republican. Well call them anyway.. let them know you don't want what they are trying to sell.. Your call will still be counted. The only way we can get this point across and support the public option the president and we want is to push back hard.

Letting them control the message is killing Health Care Reform.. and we are letting it happen by sitting here complaining and not doing anything. Start calling and writing letters, emails something.

The bill that looks the best so far to me is HR 3200, from what I have read of the others this one has all the best features, a strong Public Option and mandates for business, plus breaks for the small businesses. This is what we need. This is what we want.

Benefits From Health Care Reform, in Black & White

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has helpfully produced a district-by-district breakdown of how HR 3200 (the America's Affordable Health Choices Act) will affect Americans. This is one of the best things I have seen to be used as an argument FOR this bill. Why it isn't out there more is beyond me.

It breaks it down by state and then by district so that you can see how each Congressional District will be impacted as far as small businesses and senior citizens.

Take my district here in Missouri. Here are the stats for it.

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 4th Congressional District of Missouri: up to 14,900 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 11,100 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 1,150 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $135 million in uncompensated care each year; and 72,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance. Congressman Ike Skelton represents the district.
• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 14,900 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.
• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 11,100 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.
• Health care and financial security. There were 1,150 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.
• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $135 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.
• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 92,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 14% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 72,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.
• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 1,100 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 99.6% of taxpayers in the district.
This analysis is based upon the following sources: the Gallup-Healthways Survey (data on the uninsured); the U.S. Census (data on small businesses); the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (data on the Part D donut hole, health care-related bankruptcies (based on analysis of PACER court records), and uncompensated care); and the House Committee on Ways and Means (data on the surtax).

Does that not show how beneficial this would be for my small rural area.. We have no major cities in my area.. The largest city here is about 6,000 people. We are a farming area with very little manufactoring.

This Chart is probably one of the best selling points out there.. Even for the Republicans. This should be screaming from every front page of the newspapers I think.

Please share it with everyone, post it on your sites and lets get this word out there.

h/t to Show Me Progress for the link.

Bill Moyers Journal . Rage on the Airwaves

Last night, July 24th, Bill Moyers presented this piece about hate speech. He is not saying the hosts are guilty, it is the ones pulling the trigger who are guilty, but words do have consequensces, and the talkers should remember that.

He says he will be attacked and I am sure he will be, by the talkers for calling them out. They like playing the victim, just as they did when Dr. Tiller was killed.

We have to try to do something about this. Just recently we here on the left, (bloggers and just people in general) started a writing, emailing and phone calling campaign to get Pat Buchanan off MSNBC and so far it has worked. We can do it with these other people if we all band together, but only if we

1) stop listening or watching them ourselves.. even if it is just to see what they are saying,
2) start writing, calling, emailing the advertisers of the shows and letting them know we won't stand for this hate speech any longer.

It is the advertisers who will stop it. Not Fox News, not EIB or any other station or broadcasting network..they don't care, the advertisers are where the money is, and once they start losing money, by hearing from us and then by us NOT BUYING the products they sell, then we can do something about it.

That's what it will take. But it is up to you, and you, and YOU!

more about "Bill Moyers Journal . Rage on the Air...", posted with vodpod

President's Weekly Address July 25, 2009

This week the President wants to address Health Care, our questions and Small Businesses. You can send in your questions and comments by going to this website.

The GOP Health Care Plan

First let me introduce you to Roy Blunt. This is just in case you don't remember who he is or don't know him.

From Wikipedia we have this:

Blunt has been married twice. He married Roseann Ray in May 1967, and with her had three children: Matt (the former governor of Missouri), Amy Blunt Mosby, and Andrew Blunt. Amy and Andrew are lawyers and lobbyists. They divorced after 35 years of marriage. Afterward, he married Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for Kraft Foods,on October 18, 2003.

That's a little about his personal life... As you see he is a fine example of the GOP, first as a Christian Conservative, he had an affair with, then divorced his wife and married his favorite Lobbyist. I removed the names of the grandchildren and the adopted son of Roy and his 2nd wife because I don't believe minor children should be involved in this.

Next we get into his political life.. and again I go back to Wikipedia, yes I know this can sometimes be unreliable, but in this instance, they are very accurate in their depiction of Mr. Blunt. So, back to the telling:

Blunt entered politics in 1972, when he was elected county clerk and chief election official of Greene County, Missouri (whereSpringfield is located). Blunt was the Republican nominee for Missouri lieutenant governor in 1980, but lost to Democrat Ken Rothman. He served as Greene County clerk until 1984, when he was elected Missouri secretary of state — the first Republican to hold that post in 50 years.
He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Missouri in 1992, losing the Republican primary to Missouri Attorney General William L. Webster.
From 1993 to 1996, Blunt was president of Southwest Baptist University, his alma mater.
Blunt was first elected to Congress in 1996, when incumbent Representative Mel Hancock honored his pledge to serve only four terms. Blunt's district, one of the most Republican districts in the country, is located in the Ozark Mountains of southwestern Missouri, a district that includes Springfield and Joplin.
Upon entering the House, Blunt served on the International Relations Committee, the Committee on Agriculture and the Transportation Committee. In 1999, he gave up seats on the latter two committees and joined the powerful Committee on Energy and Commerce. He has also served on the Republican Conference Steering Committee since his election to the House. That committee determines to which committees Republican Members are assigned and elevates members to positions of ranking member or chairman.
After only one term, Blunt was appointed as chief deputy whip, the highest appointed position in the House Republican Caucus. In that capacity, he served as the Republicans' chief vote-counter. When Dick Armey retired and fellow Texan DeLay was elected to succeed him, Blunt was elected to succeed DeLay as majority whip.
On January 8, 2006, one day after DeLay announced that he would not seek to regain his position, Blunt announced he would run to permanently replace DeLay. On January 14, 2006, he issued a release claiming that the majority of the Republican caucus had endorsed him as DeLay's successor.However, when the election was held by secret ballot on February 2, 2006, Boehner won on the second ballot, with 122 votes to 109 for Blunt. In November 2006 he was elected by the House Republicans to their second highest position for the 110th Congress, the Republican whip, defeating Representative Shadegg of Arizona handily.
Since he was first elected in 1996, Blunt has been reelected five times without significant opposition. In the 2004 House election, he received 70.4 percent of the vote.Blunt's political action committee is the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund.

Okay, I think we are up to snuff on Mr Blunt.. oh, except for one thing.. He stepped down from the Whip position earlier this year... and let his 2nd in command step up.. you know who that is.. that fresh faced young man who likes Brittney Spears.. Eric Cantor.

So, now, we are all up to date, and you know who Mr. Blunt is and how important he thinks he is.

Now, lets tell a story.

Earlier this year, the president said he wanted to have a meeting in the White House and start a forum to get people together, Doctors, Hospitals, Nurses, the AMA, and every other interested party including Democrats and Republicans to sit down and discuss Health Care Reform. The first meeting was had and it kicked off the final result we see now working it's way through Congress now. We call it making sausage and although it is messy and nasty it is a process and it has to be done.

Well, the Republicans have said all along they didn't like the plan that the president and the democrats in Congress had put forward, even though there are 160 amendments that are from the republicans. So, starting on February 4th Roy Blunt, stated this:

"Through this working group, Republicans will develop real solutions to improve our health care system.."

That was the first promise made.. notice that date.. February 4th, 2009. Now, from Fired Up! Missouri comes this listing of the Timeline of Roy Blunt's broken promises of real Health Care Reform from the Republicans and the GOP. And this is just a partial list. But, now, they want to say, wait, what is the rush, why are we in such a hurry, we need to slow down. Not just Roy Blunt, but all the Republicans.

So, here is the list, and the links to back up each claim of a promise made. You can check them out and see what promises they made. How can anyone still trust these people? They lied us into a war in Iraq, they have ruined our economy and finally we are starting to see some come back with it, but only through the efforts of our president, and now they want to derail Health Care.. We can't let them.. You have to help push back on this.. Call your Senator or Representative this week and let them know how you feel, even if they are a Republican, call them and tell them. Yes, it may not help but it will make you feel better and it will still get your point across.

Here is the list..Don't forget the one I listed above, just look at the broken promises from the Republicans:

 

Broken Promise, March 8: "Republicans will lead the effort to make health care work for Americans. We'll also lead the fight against any proposals that undermine your ability to get the treatment the doctor you choose recommends."

Broken Promise, March 12: "The group is crafting policy proposals to increase Americans’ access to quality, affordable health care..."
 
Broken Promise, May 11: "We’re looking forward to crafting bipartisan legislation to improve health care for all Americans.”
 
Broken Promise, May 11: "Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.), who is helming the House GOP’s healthcare task force, said Monday that he wants to provide his colleagues with an alternative reform proposal before Congress recesses for Memorial Day."
 
Audacious Statement, June 2: "No report or headline can take the place of a comprehensive plan - and that is what we have yet to see from the White House..."
 
Broken Promise, June 8: "House Republicans plan to unveil their own alternative healthcare legislation in the coming weeks and Blunt pledged that it will cost substantially less than the Democratic proposals."
 
Broken Promise, June 11: "GOP offers constructive options to improve access to health care"
 
Broken Promise, June 16: "House Republicans will unveil their version of healthcare legislation on Wednesday, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday, timing the release to coincide with the start of the Senate markup...The lead architect of the bill is former Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)."
 
Broken Promise, June 17: "When the details are drafted in the coming weeks,they would present a plan that 'costs far less than the Democrats’ [plan] and provides better results for the American people.'"
 
Broken Promise, June 17: "We believe we can come up with a plan where every person in the uninsured has access to insurance."
 
Broken Promise, June 25: "We'll continue that outreach [to Democrats] whiledrafting our own legislation..."
 
False Statement, July 5: "As for Blunt, he said he's focusing on policy changes he believes in, regardless of the political consequences."
 
Broken Promise, July 8: "As we approach this debate on health care, there are Republican principles that have been out there a long time that are going tofollowed this week by legislation..."
 
False Statement, July 10: My plan is "actually much more detailed than their [Democratic] plan has been." 
 
False Statement, July 14: "This week we outlined a thoughtful reform proposal that expands access to quality care at a cost our nation can afford.”
Blunt has unambiguously committed himself to producing a plan that is "actually much more detailed" than other pieces of legislation.

How is he going to talk his way out of this one? Well, let me show you... Here is his statement from the other day....This was on July 10th. We are still waiting on something, anything.

Republicans who had promised last month to offer a healthcare reform alternative are now suggesting no such bill will be introduced.

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said, “Our bill is never going to get to the floor, so why confuse the focus? We clearly have principles; we could have language, but why start diverting attention from this really bad piece of work they’ve got to whatever we’re offering right now?”

Blunt, who is running for Senate, is chairman of the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group. Cantor made similar comments to The Hill in June, saying Republicans would eventually offer legislative language on healthcare reform.

Now, who are the others in this Health Care Solutions Group.. well let me show you..

Other members of the task force include: Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas), Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Charles Boustany (R-La.), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.), Michael Burgess (R-Texas), Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), Wally Herger (R-Calif.), Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), Tom Price (R-Ga.), Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and John Shadegg (R-Ariz.).

I think most of those names are familiar to everyone. Some of those names really stand out. Big talkers all.. That's all it is too, big talk. I guess you could say, All Talk, No Action.
But then, we find that often with the GOP... All Talk, No Action.. Or in the words of a great American... All Hat, No Cattle

Jon Stewart Takes on "Teh Birthers" Calls it the "Born Identity"

Jon Stewart weighs in on the craziness that is teh Birthers... and calls his segment "The Born Identity". It is great, it is funny, and at the same time it shows how ignorant and stupid they are all at once.

No wonder he was just given the new "Most trusted news man in America" mantle, in a Time Magazine Poll.

I won't repeat some of the same videos and links that Jon shows in his piece but here in my state of Missouri, we also have had a bill, that has gathered some signatures and one name is pretty well known.

Cynthia Davis, yes, that Cynthia, who wants children to go to work so they won't be hungry, says elderly and disabled people 55 and older will get a job if God wants them to so there is no need for the training money in the Recovery Package, now is a "Birther". Give the little lady a hand.

FiredUpMissouri gives us this:

In 2009, Davis signed on to a lawsuit alleging that President Barack Obama is actually an Indonesian man named Barry Soetoro who has illegally usurped the American presidency.

Now that is just one of many things they say about the esteemed Ms Davis... but that's for another day. This lady is really trying to give Michelle Bachmann a run for her money, trust me on this one. Anything you want to know about her.. just click that link and there is lots of info right there on her, like her child wandering the highways, fathers are not natural nurturers, and several other stupid things she has said or done..but since she is only a local legislator, she doesn't get the play that Bachmann does.

Now, Cynthia is not the only one who is on this bill here in Missouri. On her barely-coherent website, Orly Taitz lists legislators Mike McGhee (R-Odessa), Reps. Tim Jones (R-Eureka), Casey Guernsey (R-Bethany) and Cynthia Davis (R-Pluto). Yes, Orly Taitz, Dentist, Lawyer, and Real Estate agent.

A recently posted biography of Taitz gave a very detailed look inside her mind and inside the obsession of her so called "exposure of a usurper". Where she comes up with it I have no clue. I think it is all about money, and the fact they are preying on the fears of the few who can't stand the thought of a black man in the White House.

Here is what she says is her mission to destroy and expose Barack Obama:

She calls Obama a “usurper” and an “arrogant jerk from Africa and Indonesia.” She called a judge an “idiot.” And she calls anyone who stands in her way an “Obama thug.” Taitz has built a sizable following on her blog; in the comments for each post at orlytaitzesq.com, you can read a few more names for people whom Taitz doesn’t like: “traitors,” “Muslims,” “terrorists.”

In the past eight months, Taitz’s face has become one of the most recognizable of what its adherents prefer to call the “eligibility” movement, and her actions have been some of the most controversial. Her end goal is simple—to remove Obama from office—but her methods have sometimes put her at odds with other anti-Obama activists. And that’s not to mention the legion of Obama supporters who have assembled evidence claiming that Taitz is, at best, a liar and, at worst, treasonous...

Aside from World Net Daily, more traditional conservative media sources—not to mention politicians—have condemned the birth-certificate question as a waste of time. In January, talk-show host Michael Medved classified Taitz and the other eligibility attorneys as “crazy, nutburger, demagogue, money-hungry, exploitive, irresponsible, filthy conservative imposters.”

Here is an update from OCBlogs about Orly Taitz that I just found.

Even if you read every one of the 4,000-n'-something words of this week's cover story about Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq., our local dentist crusading to have Barack Obama removed from office, you still won't have gotten the full Orly story. She's a busy woman with many pots cooking. So here are a few more Taitz tidbits:

-snip-

More Obama crimes: Taitz spends a lot of time talking about a few perceived presidential transgressions that didn't make it into my article. Her seeming favorite piece of evidence against Obama: According to online database Lexis Nexis, there are 25 different "Barack Obamas" in America, each with a different social security number. What's that mean? In Taitz's mind, it's evidence of forgery, identity theft and duplicity on the part of Mr. Obama. In someone else's mind, though, it might not be that interesting. After all, eight people ran as "Barack Obama" in Brazil's election last year, and there's been a boom of Barack-named babies recently. Plus, there's a good chance that at least 24 people nationwide have pulled a Santos E. Halper and jokingly filled out some of their docs with the president's name.

Taitz also has major suspicions about the fact that when the Illinois Bar application asked if the applicant had ever used an alias, Obama didn't fess up and put down his childhood moniker, "Barry Soetoro," (though there's little evidence that Barry was a legal alias for him, nor that that was what the application was asking for). She think his selective service registration information is forged, even though there's no doubt they he is registered for selective service. And as for that infamous Certificate of Live Birth: Taitz's objections range from the fact that the certificate's file number was redacted in the original scan posted by the campaign, to the "fact" (details) that FactCheck.org, who verified the veracity and physical existence of the COLB, is affiliated with Obama.

Speaking of the COLB, it's worth noting that Obama's short-form certificate -- the one eligibility-questioners say is inadequate -- is the only certificate now issued by the State of Hawaii.

She's a traveler. It can't be understated how often Dr. Taitz is on the road. Off the top of my head, I know that she has visited Washington D.C., Washington state, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. She says she has gotten more than 10 state representatives to sign on to her cause, but the one I talked to -- Mike Ritze of Oklahoma -- was very complimentary of Orly but was still mulling whether to become a plaintiff.

About that "service" thing: There's a quote from the cover story saying Taitz "doesn't file anything... she drops stuff off." That's largely a reference to Keyes v. Obama, the case Taitz has pending in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana. In order to sue a person, you have to serve them the papers from the suit in person. Taitz tried to have one of her volunteers serve Barack Obama, but she ran into some difficulty when secret service and the White House fences wouldn't let her get close enough. Still, she dropped off the materials with a mail clerk (didn't get his name, though). Now, the court has notified Taitz that she hasn't properly served the defendant as pursuant to federal rules governing how to sue a government official. In response, on Sunday Taitz submitted up a motion asking the court to reconsider, accept her previous service and render a default judgment against Obama. "It seems to the Plaintiffs unfair and unjust that a Judge could merely set aside a party's default on a whim..." Taitz wrote in her motion. "..the Court has "merely" ordered the Plaintiff to start litigation all over again, as if the past six months had never happened or were no more important than six grains of tidal sand in the surfs at Malibu."

She's a fan of Israel. That's where she met her husband, after all. Taitz has served as a delegate for AIPAC, the most influential pro-Israel lobby in America. Taitz sees AIPAC as "apolitical," but doesn't deny that she has great concerns about Obama's policies towards Israel. There's been speculation in the "anti-birther" blogosphere that Israel is the core reason for her Obama antipathy, but it's probably not so simple to boil her motivations down to one cause. It should be noted, though, that the "eligibility" movement contains both Jewish activists like Taitz and people like famed anti-semite Andy Martin and James W. Von Brunn, the white supremacist who shot up the Holocaust Museum.

She has a black belt in Taekwondo. And if you don't believe her, she published the certificate.

Like I said, they are all nuts, over the top, crazy. The birth certificate has been shown on line for over a year. It has been examined, touched, felt, certified, even by the Republican Governor of Hawaii, and it is still not enough. That is why I say it is about money and race. No other reason makes sense, when everything else that could be done has been done and it is not enough for these people.

But, Jon Stewart shows how ignorant they really are. Of course the ones who need to see this won't watch it.. but that's okay...I love it and so will the ones who do see it.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Born Identity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

California One Care, Our Insurance At Work

This is what we have now, or sometimes it seems that way. Nonnie @ Hysterical Raisins dropped this off for me in the comments and I had to share it will you all..

I hear the Joke yelling about he bill we have not covering everyone and how much it is going to cost, how it will raise everyone taxes and I yell at him, Hey Stupid, THERE IS NO BILL YET!

Because, there isn't any bill at this time, they are still working on them. There is a bill in the House they are working on with the 3 committees that is in Mark UP, and they are tinkering with it.. Very Good Bill....

The one from one committee in the Senate, I believe the HELP committee, is okay, but it isn't the best. That is the one they are talking about that is supposed to cost so much and doesn't cover everyone. It was't even complete. How can you look at something or judge something that is NOT FINISHED? But that is what they are trying to do.

The other committees from the Senate haven't even submitted their bills yet, and until they do, then reconcile them with the HELP bill, there is nothing really to talk about. This is all just process. As they term it...Making Sausage.

But, to hear the Washington Media tell it, and the "insiders" this process is over and the President is failing badly... I say, Don't count them out yet...

But, ENJOY, and Thanks NONNIE.. This is great..

Remember Sanjay Gupta? Who Thought He Would Be a Good Surgeon General?

Not I, said the little red hen....lol I said he was a corporate tool and would always be..well the proof of it showed this week even more than before.

Rick Sanchez along with most of the media has also shown their true colors in this run up to the final laps in the Health Care Debate. He had Gupta and a representative from my own state of Missouri, Roy Blunt on his show Monday to discuss Health Care and the Republican version of it. Yeah, there is supposed to be one.

Now just keep reminding yourself that Gupta was supposed to be the Surgeon General pick at one time. I never liked him, never thought he would be a good pick, never believed he was the choice of the White House. I thought all along it was a publicity maneuver of CNN.

One of the things you have to remember is how he tried his best to destroy Michael Moore and the movie Sicko. Which has now been proven to be 150% true. That link is just one and takes you to Krugman's blog, there has also been the Moyer's interview with Wendell Potter formally with Cigna Ins. Co. in which he says the movie was exactly right and Michael Moore was spot on.

The PBS piece is worth watching and is very informative about the Health Care Reform. Potter was also on the Ed Show last week, and said some of the same things.

But, the point is.. Gupta was a bad pick if he was ever the pick for Surgeon General and he just reinforces it when he shows himself in this video as an insurance shill.

Of course Roy Blunt is just as bad, but then he is married to a lobbyist and is paid off by them and as a republican is not wanting anything to do with any kind of Health Care Reform that would be good for the people in America. Anything they (the republicans) want has to be good for them and getting them back in power, and making the president look bad in the process.

I got this video and the transcript of it can be found at Crooks & Liars/Video Cafe.

This Sums Up My Feelings Lately.. Thanks Lisa @ That's Why

I was on my rounds of the blogs I read and found this at That's Why posted by Lisa... her blog is really great and she is a wonderful writer.

I have been dealing with lots of things lately, I hinted at some stuff last week and I am sure some of you have noticed I haven't been posting as much as I used to.

I am having some issues with my family, and with my health and have really been stressing over both. Of course stressing just makes everything worse...lol So it is that viscous circle..you feel bad so you worry, so you feel worse..makes sense doesn't it..lol

Anyway.. this is Not Safe For Work... but it is funny... It has a country type sound..but it is great. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It is called I Could Be Wrong, by Tim Wilson.

This Has To Be the Funniest Thing I Have Seen In A While

The Chasers.. They take on John Yoo and Dick Cheney in a way I have never imagined.. It is so funny... H/T to GottaLaff and Paddy for the shorter version and then I found this one.

It is the funniest thing I have seen. Really over the top and unbelievable.

Dr. Jon LaPook Interviews Pres. Obama

Dr. Jon LaPook is the CBS medical correspondent. I normally don't watch the broadcast television interviews but I caught this on Huffington Post and read his write up. I was struck by his wording in that he felt it wasn't just an interview, but a conversation and that Pres. Obama was really listening to him and was curious.

I have read this from others and it is one of the things I have always admired about our president. He listens to all viewpoints and asks questions of people and learns from them. That's one of the marks of a good leader.

I hear people say that he is not forceful enough. But you know, force doesn't always have to be shown in public. Force doesn't always have to be shown as iron will, sometimes it is gentle pressure that moves things as much and more willingly than brute force.

I honestly believe our president uses gentle pressure and works behind the scenes much more than we know, much more than we see to get things done. We yell, we scream, he isn't doing enough, he isn't forceful enough, he needs to get angry, he needs to do this and that. But look at what he has done.

With the gentle pressure he is applying and has applied behind the scenes, we are now seeing the beginnings of Congressional Hearings for Torture, Hearings into the Bush Administrations Crimes, the AG is now talking about a Special Prosecutor, the Recovery Bill was passed, Lilly Ledbetter passed, SChip passed, there are signs we may have DADT & DOMA overturned soon (I know not soon enough for some, but hey at least it is getting done), we are looking at a serious Health Reform Bill in the very near future. And I know I have missed some very important stuff..

All this from someone that a lot of people have said was not experienced enough, was too young, didn't get angry enough, couldn't connect with the voters, isn't an American, isn't patriotic enough, doesn't wear a flag pin, the troops don't like him, throws a baseball like a girl, wears Mom jeans and the list could go on as to what has been thrown at him over the last few months. Just trash talk.

But, folks we have a leader. Yet, I see a lot of people saying he isn't a leader..because he doesn't come out and yell and scream like McCain. Well, I like him just the way he is and I will keep him thank you very much.

Now, just in case you didn't see the interview with Dr. LaPook, here it is so you can watch it. And if you want to read the afterthoughts the doctor had and wrote up in Huffington Post.. you can find them here.


Watch CBS Videos Online

President's Weekly Address July 18, 2009

The President is really hammering everyone this week. Those who say he isn't going to get Health Care.. step back and watch...cause it is so happening.

He has drawn his line in the sand and he has drawn it deep and long.. The bully pulpit is speaking and people are going to listen... like it or not.

Walter Cronkite Has Passed

Walter Cronkite 1916 - 2009, 92 years old. He was a Missouri boy... One of the great ones. There will never be another one like him. He was once voted the "Most trusted man in America" and I can believe it.

He was the man who was seen in more homes at night than any other. Most people got their news from him. I remember hearing the words from him saying that Pres. Kennedy was dead. It wasn't true until I heard it from him.

Here is a tribute put together by CBS, I hope you enjoy it.




The White House has just released President Obama's statement on the death tonight of CBS newsman Walter Cronkite at age 92:

"For decades, Walter Cronkite was the most trusted voice in America. His rich baritone reached millions of living rooms every night, and in an industry of icons, Walter set the standard by which all others have been judged.
"He was there through wars and riots, marches and milestones, calmly telling us what we needed to know. And through it all, he never lost the integrity he gained growing up in the heartland.
"But Walter was always more than just an anchor. He was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day; a voice of certainty in an uncertain world. He was family. He invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down. This country has lost an icon and a dear friend, and he will be truly missed."

My Letter to MSNBC

I just sent this E-Mail to MSNBC.. I don't know if it will help.. but it can't hurt and if enough of us do it, or call them, maybe it will start to sink in that we are tired of this and they will get the message.

That's what happened to Imus, that's what got him off the air.. phone calls and emails to them.. So it's time to declare war on Buchanan.. Anyone care to join me?

The EMail address is viewerservices@msnbc.com

*************************************************************

I have been a loyal viewer of MSNBC since it's launch and rarely is my television turned off your station except on weekends when you have your dock blocks on. I start my day with you and end my days with you and even sleep with your station on.

However, I have been seeing something lately that is beginning to really bother me. Pat Buchanan has always been some what behind the times, and I have felt he was still in the 50's and 60's many times. There has most of the time been a sublety to his comments and it was ignored for the most part by others, but he has gotten worse.

There have been the articles he has written for Human Events, and there are the blog posts he writes that are nothing less than racist rants. He has attacked the President repeatedly, for his race, his religion and his policies. His policies are one thing. I can deal with that. But he needs to stay away from the racial attacks and the religion.

Now, since Sonia Sotomayor has been introduced as Supreme Court nominee Pat has gone off the deep end. There have been too many things that he has said and done for it to be excused. You have cancelled others who were on your network and said less than he has, yet you continue to give this man a platform.

Last night finally Rachel Maddow challenged him for some of the things he said in an article he wrote for Human Events. The things he said were just out and out lies about Judge Sotomayor, and they were offensive and racist. It was not the first time, it was not the last time.

I was also amazed today to see that Carlos Watson brought Bay Buchanan onto his show and then was surprised when she started spouting out just lies and racist rants in much the same way that Pat has been doing. He finally had to just cut her off and call her out about it. At least he did do that. But this is exactly what I am talking about. Why is this allowed to go on? It must stop.

I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way. You must do what you feel is right in this manner, and I must do what I must do. I refuse to listen to this racist man any longer. I will no longer watch anything in which he is given a voice, no matter what it is.

Thank you for allowing me to give voice to my concerns to this matter. I hope you will take this into consideration and do something about it.

Annette Sousley

Rachel took on Pat Buchanan for his Racism about Sonia Sotomayor

Tonight was a first.. Rachel Maddow took on Pat Buchanan over his racist remarks about Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court nominee. Pat has been relentless over his comments about her since before she was nominated.

Finally someone has decided to challenge him for his racism and his hate speech. The reason Rachel had decided to take Pat on was his posting of this blog posting yesterday.

How to Handle Sonia is the post Pat wrote about it.. part of it says:

How, then, to handle Sotomayor?

As Republicans have never brutalized a Supreme Court nominee -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg got 96 votes and Stephen Breyer 87 -- they need no lectures on decency or decorum.

What they must do is expose Sotomayor, as they did not in the case of Ginsburg, as a political activist whose career bespeaks a lifelong resolve to discriminate against white males to the degree necessary to bring about an equality of rewards in society.

Sonia is, first and foremost, a Latina. She has not hesitated to demand, even in college and law school, ethnic and gender preferences for her own. Her concept of justice is race-based.

Testifying to Democrats' awareness that America does not want liberal justices for whom affirmative action is holy writ, Sotomayor is being promoted as a practitioner of judicial restraint who faithfully follows the Constitution and the law.

Yet here is a judge who ruled that New York state, by denying felons the vote, violated their civil rights.

There is much more..but I will let you read it if you want. There is one more thing you might be interesting in.. If you are tired of Pat and his racist talk and want to complain.. here is the number to MSNBC.. 1-212-664-3499 MSNBC viewer comment line. Do what you feel compelled to do..

Here is Rachel and Pat.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Pres. Obama and the NAACP 100th Anniversary Speech

Today was the 100th Anniversary of the NAACP and President Obama spoke. He was brilliant. This is the man I adore and love to listen to. This is the man that inspires and rouses people to follow him and want to emulate him.

No, I don't mean to worship him, or blindly stumble along after him like the followers of SP.. that is not what I mean.. I do have a brain and I do think for myself.. So do all the rest of the people who are inspired by the speeches of Pres. Obama.

Just listen.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is Something To Be Proud Of... Can't Help It, I Cried.

I have no words... Just watch this and see if you aren't as proud as I am.. We helped get this done. Brings me back to Nov. 4th...

The Party of No and The Way They Work

This is bipartisanship in action, but it is also the way the GOPers are obstructing at every turn.

Monday when the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee were meeting to try to get their bill together to present Sen. Dodd was presenting the amendments for acceptance and vote, and he stated the Democrats were willing to accept 64 amendments from the Republicans without a vote, and turned to Sen. Enzi from Wyoming, the ranking Republican to see if that was okay with him.

Watch this video for the shock and disbelief of Chris Dodd:



The entire purpose of the Republicans is to obstruct, delay and deny Pres. Obama's agenda, and the will of the people. The only thing they want is back in power. They believe by doing everything they can to stop this Health Care reform from going forward it will cause the President's agenda to fail and therefore the rest of us to suffer.

By causing this it just shows me how little they care about us, the people of the United States. They only care about themselves and what they see as getting their way, getting back in the majority and getting back into power.

We, have to stop this from happening. Keep track of these things, remember these things, and next year, or next election, when you are getting ready to vote, remind yourself and others, exactly what happened.

Oh, and you could pick up the phone and call some of these people and tell them what you think too. It may not change their vote.. if they are republican it probably won't... but it might make you feel better... I know every time I tell Kit Bond what I think it does me.

h/t video cafe

Health Care Reform Bill From House

The House has introduced their version of the Health Reform Bill. How happy am I? It includes a Public Option just as we all wanted and as the President wanted. It also states it will insure 97% of the uninsured.

You can find the full text and the bill by clicking on the link highlighted here:
Health Reform Bill

I haven't read all of it, but have looked it over briefly, so far so good. I know there will be changes, modifications and tinkers done to it before the final product is written.

This is only the House version. We still have to see the version from the Senate. But at least we are making progress. I guess they got the message from the President yesterday when he said there would be something done.

Suck that everyone, who said it wouldn't get there.. suck that all of you who said the President wasn't involved.

Just a Quick Post..On My Way Out the Door

Something you may want to read....I am on my way out the door today will be back later.. but have a couple of things you might want to read today I found.

In 2003 Jeffrey Sharlet went into the house on C Street and lived among the Senators and Representatives who reside there and study the Bible and God. He wrote about it in Harper's Magazine before he wrote it up in a book and here is where you can find it. The story is chilling to say the least. The list of characters is mind boggling too.

Among those who resided there included both Democrats and Republicans....yes, so far all we have heard about were Republicans...don't be fooled..it wasn't just Repubs.. here is who he says was there when he was:

Senators Don Nickles (R., Okla.), Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), Pete Domenici (R., N.Mex.), John Ensign (R., Nev.), James Inhofe (R., Okla.), Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), and Conrad Burns (R., Mont.) are referred to as “members,” as are Representatives Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), Frank Wolf (R., Va.), Joseph Pitts (R., Pa.), Zach Wamp (R., Tenn.), and Bart Stupak (D., Mich.).

Scary thought isn't it... I am sure there were more, but that's all he mentioned in this article. I am looking for his book, but haven't been to the bookstore as of yet.

Also there is an Op-Ed in the Washington Post today...by Sarah Palin... yeah.. believe it or not. However I don't believe in anyway she wrote it.

It is well written, and contains real sentences...lol Now, I am not saying I agree with anything it says.. just that it is there... If you want to read it.. The link is here. But, it is a slam at the Cap and Trade bill that was passed by the House and is slamming Pres. Obama.. anyone who thinks this woman is not running for president in 2012 is deluded... she is so running... If she can raise enough money and get enough people behind her.

Okay, there are my suggestions for your reading pleasure for the day... Hope you enjoy them...lol

Have a great day, I will be back with you all later on.

The "Young Republicans" Elect a New Leader Saturday

Saturday the so called "Young Republican's" branch of the GOP, that is the part of the party that is 18 to 40, elected as their leader 38 year old Audra Shay.

Ms. Shay has shown herself to be a very strong and capable leader and quite fitting with the party as they have developed over the past few months. Recently she has shown her true nature on her social networking sites and her personality has really been shown fully true.

One example is this little gem which was posted recently on Facebook:

Specifically, a thread where one of her friends posts that “Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist… Muslim is on there side [sic]… need to take this country back from all of these mad coons… and illegals,” and Shay responds eight minutes later with: “You tell em Eric! lol.”
“This is an outrage and I CAN NOT believe this nation has him as our leader! It makes me sick!” She posted a few minutes later: “My disdain for Obama is directly proportionate for his disdain of this country.”

From The Daily Beast: After this showed up several Young Republican colleagues urged Shay to remove herself from the election at the group’s convention in Indianapolis—a request Shay, the favorite going in to the vote, has pointedly refused. Instead, she said that she was responding to an earlier post from her friend, and labeled criticism against her “political attacks” which “proves that my opponents will stoop to the lowest levels to steal this election from the jaws of victory.”

But, this is not the first time she has posted such stuff, so her saying that this is just in response to a friend just doesn't wash.

Now, The Daily Beast has obtained more troubling details about her online musings—despite clear attempts by Shay to scrub her social-networking pages clean. Specifically:
* In October 2008, in the wake of news that an effigy of Sarah Palin was being hung outside an affluent Hollywood home as an offensive Halloween decoration, Shay replied, returning to the “LOL” style that she employed after the “coons” comment: “What no ‘Obama in a noose? Come on now, its just freedome [sic] of speech, no one in Atlanta would take that wrong! Lol.”
She picked up the thread again the next morning with a clarification and a new insight. “Apparently I could not spell last night. I am wondering if the guys with the Palin noose would care if we had a bunch of homosexuals in a noose.”
* Posting and endorsing a conspiracy-theory video that attempts to prove that Obama believes he can only “ensure his own salvation” and “fate” if he helps African Americans above whites, complete with Barnum-esque captions (“LISTEN AS HE ATTACKS WHITE PEOPLE”).
* Numerous posts in which Shay says that President Obama is “anti-American” and has “disdain of this country.”

But, this is not the worst part of this story really. Not only is she willing to smear the President with her racist talk, she is also not above smearing her opponents in order to win. Here are some of the things that she did to win the Leadership Role.

Here is one quote that I thought was very telling, “They just took a vote that may have set the party back 30 years,” said the co-founder of HipHopRepublican.com, Lenny McAllister, speaking from the floor of the Hyatt convention hall. “They just voted for a candidate who has a demonstrated tolerance for racial intolerance. She has joked about lynching and then claimed to be a victim. As a black man, I still don’t see what’s funny about that.”

Shades of Lee Atwater, remember him? This is what was put up against her main opponent who sounds like she might have had a head on her shoulders and may have been a reasonable person and someone that might have a future ahead of them. Her younger opponent, Rachel Hoff, became the reform alternative to Shay’s candidacy, but as Hoff got traction, an ugly online whisper campaign against her began. An anonymously-built temporary website mentions Hoff’s alleged involvement in improperly notarized absentee ballots for South Dakota Senator John Thune, but quickly stoops lower. Next comes the real scandal.. She, (Hoff) supports Civil Unions for same sex couples. Horror of horrors for the GOP.

Unfortunately, it doesn't end there with Hoff: As one of only a very few Young Republicans nationwide in favor of Civil Unions, Rachel Hoff attempted to convince the YRNF in 2007 to adopt a stance IN FAVOR OF CIVIL UNIONS. Although Rachel was not wearing a dress like her female counterparts, but her typical suite (sic), her attempt was met with ridicule and frustration. It was overwhelmingly shot down and left the idea in many delegates minds of: Why would Rachel Hoff support Civil Unions?

That's an actual quote from the web site.. with the Block letters and all caps and the suggested whisper of Why would she support civil unions. In other words, trying to suggest she might be "teh GAY" and we all know that would be the death knell for a Republican.

It sounds like a very contentious time was had for all. A lot of very scared people and some were afraid to vote the way they wanted because they couldn't vote privately. Yeah, no card check...lol

The process, it turned out, took about eight hours, and it was dominated by a parliamentary maneuver to cast ballots privately, rather a verbal roll call. (The irony that the “true conservative” slate was pulling a card check and fighting secret ballots, while they vociferously support mandatory secret ballots for unions, seemed lost on them.) Pandemonium ensued. Fistfights nearly broke out between the two camps, and a Hoff supporter from the Oklahoma delegation, who was handing out fliers protesting Shay’s Facebook comments, had to be physically removed. The high-stakes, high-tension vote reflected an awareness of its now-national implications, and the physical drama between the competing slates' supporters recalled the smoke-filled early-television convention of 1952, featuring skirmishes between Robert Taft's conservatives and Eisenhower's centrist supporters. “I believe that people were intimidated,” said North Carolina delegate John Ross. “Without a secret ballot, many people did not have the opportunity to vote their conscience.”
In the end, Shay, dressed in a sundress, trumped Hoff, who was dressed in a business suit. Calls for party unity were announced and ignored as many of Hoff’s slate then resigned their races rather than lose along factional lines or serve alongside Shay. Already there are talks of reformers, in protest, breaking off to form a new branch of the Young Republicans dedicated to restoring the GOP’s long-lost reputation as the Party of Lincoln. “I am not disappointed, I am not disgruntled–I am disheartened,” said Lenny McAllister. “As I look around the convention I see a room full of many honorable Republicans who want to move this party forward. But Audra Shay is not a leader, she is a divider. It’s a terrible message to send at a time when we have an African-American president and growing diversity across our country.”

So, ironically it seems they are just following the lead of the rest of the GOPers we saw at the Free Republic site just another bunch of racists and if she has her way that's going to continue. But, maybe the group there in the last will split off and start another party.

If they are smart they will. There is room for a group of people from the Republican party who are smarter, wiser and not racist. They are truly the party of Lincoln. That's who they should be following, not Reagan, not Bush and not this Audra Shay and the ones they have in D.C. now..

Once Again the GOPers Show How Far They Have Fallen...UPDATED!!

This week while the First Family was out of town there was a picture of Malia wearing a T-Shirt with a peace symbol that had the GOPers in an uproar. Now why this picture set them off, I have no clue. But it did.



Now you tell me, what about this picture is so bad or so strange that could cause them to attack this child? But attack they did. Just look at some of the comments from "Free Republic".

"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion."

And it gets better, or worse I guess I should say..

The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."

Though this may sound like the sort of thing one might read on an Aryan Nation or white power website, they actually appeared on what is commonly considered one of the prime online locations for U.S. Conservative grassroots political discussion and organizing - and for a short time, the comments seemed to have the okay of site administrators.

Moderators of the blog left the comments - and commenters - in place until a complaint was lodged by a writer doing research on the conservative movement, almost a full day later.

"Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?" wrote one commenter.

"They make me sick .... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin' mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin', and especially 'lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin' my peeps," wrote another.

Yes, you are reading this correctly... They left it up and never said a word..but then I am not surprised, are you? We have been seeing more and more of this lately and I am sure it will just continue.

But, hey, Palin is the only one whose children get attacked right? No one says anything about the Obama kids right?

At least that is what she would have everyone believing, and what the media has been spouting this last week and a half. How terrible she has been treated, how terrible her kids were attacked. No one ever attacked the Obama children, no one ever attacked Michelle. No one ever dared say anything against "The Chosen One", as Palin put it.

Finally the owner of the site decided to say something and step in.. His comment is toward the last of this section.

Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate.

A note on the front of the blog reads, "Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government," but one comment on the thread read, "This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution," while another read, "I never actually wnated [sic] to be a pistol before but..."

After attention from other blogs, the thread was suppressed and placed under review, but before long it was returned to the site intact, and attracted a new series of racial slurs when the original complaint email was posted publicly to the site, with the sender's email address intact.

"The writer has a point," wrote site owner Jim Thompson sarcastically. "We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig."

The emphasis is mine, just so you can see what he said for sure, yes, Jim Thompson is the owner of the site, and you see he was being fully responsible for everything that was said. There is more...

"I agree Jim," wrote commenter, by the nickname NoobRep. "The kids didn't pick their commie pinko pansy of a father. Nor did they choose to be put into the spotlight. But Obama/Soetoro is fair game and so is his witch of a wife."

"Poor kids. I hope they're not 'punished with a baby'," wrote another. "Hopefully they won't deal cocaine like the Kenyan."

"DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our [White House] is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over."

Only after significant negative attention from a host of left wing political blogs did the maintainers of the Free Republic site place the thread under review for a second time, before finally pulling it.

Yes, finally, enough people started yelling they decided they better pull it down and at least pretend they were looking at it, and take it down maybe for good this time. Who knows? But, wait..there is more, if you can stand it.

In the wake of the controversy, some Free Republic posters complained about the vitriol.

One poster by the name of "fullchroma" wrote, "To Jim Thompson: The recent uptick here in racist vitriol, aimed at Barrack, Michelle and their children has made me wonder if I belong. My objection to Obama has nothing to do with skin tone. Is the ugly stereotype of Conservative racism true?"

Another, going by the name of TChris, wrote, "Free Republic is a political discussion forum. It SHOULD be beneath us as a group to stoop to such juvenile tactics as I see increasing here lately. Do we REALLY have to insult Mrs. Obama's appearance like a clique of nasty 14-year-old girls?"

But such opinions were not shared by all. Said Roses of Sharon, "Poor libs .... Too late, the battle has been joined."

So, yes, there are a few people on the right side out there that do have some morals and ethics about them.. but they are few and far between, and as you can see, they get attacked and cursed at for even bothering to have an opinion that is differing.

But, never fear.. I didn't find this in any of the newspapers or on any of the sites in the USA, no, this had to come from a Canadian site.. Only someone in Canada would be strong enough to call foul.. our media here in the USA can't call out the GOPers...

UPDATED
The author of the article in the Vancouver Sun was Chris Parry, as was pointed out to me in the comments, so thank you Mr. or Ms Parry for your honesty and your integrity. I meant no slight by not giving you credit, I was not aware that I had to call your name. Thank you again for having the bravery most of your colleagues it seems your American counterparts don't have.

The President's Weekly Address

Weekly Address: Recovery and the Jobs of the Future

The President explains how the Recovery Act helped end our economic free fall, and how his agenda is helping to set a new foundation for our economy. From health reform, to energy, to creating the jobs of the future, the President’s proposals will make our economy stronger for both the current generations and our children, all in a way that will get our deficits under control.

The Road to Recovery and the Party of NO

Sometimes the road to recovery is longer and harder than we expect it to be. We live in an instant society and we expect and want things yesterday. That's what people have expected from our government in this recession.

You know it took us about 20 years to get to this point, really. This mess all started when the champion of the right came into power. Saint Ronnie started this downhill slide when he created this trickle down economics mess and the deregulation and it has just grown since then. Yes, we have had some good times during the years since then, when we have had some recovery in there, or like when Bill Clinton was in office and he actually turned things around by using some common sense and overturning some of the tax cuts Sir Ronnie put in.

Then Georgie came in and undid what Pres. Clinton was trying to fix, and here we are. Now, 6 months into Pres. Obama's 1st term, people are wondering why he doesn't have it fixed yet and why things aren't getting better yet. Well, folks it takes time.

Today in my email from Think Progress they pointed out 3 myth's about the Recovery the Right Winger's are pushing.

MYTH #1 -- ELECTORAL CONSIDERATIONS ARE DRIVING THE DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS: This myth popped up most prominently in a USA Today story yesterday, with the headline, "Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08." According to this USA Today analysis, "Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain." Naturally, the right wing immediately picked up this report as evidence of malevolent political manipulation by the Obama administration. Fox News host Stuart Varney devoted an entire segment to it, and Sean Hannity blasted it out to his nearly 30,000 Twitter followers. If they had read the whole story, however, the likes of Varney and Hannity would have discovered that there was nothing there. In fact, in the second paragraph of the piece, reporter Brad Heath wrote, "Much of it [the stimulus funds] has followed a well-worn path to places that regularly collect a bigger share of federal grants and contracts, guided by formulas that have been in place for decades and leave little room for manipulation." These formulas are largely based on where the need is greatest. Adam Hughes of the non-profit OMB Watch said that "it would be almost inconceivable for [the spending imbalance] to be the result of political tinkering."

MYTH #2 -- NO NEW JOBS HAVE BEEN CREATED: "How can we sit here and claim success when people are hurting out there?" House Minority Whip Eric Cantor compassionately complained on MSNBC last month. "We already know, as of now, at the rate that we lost jobs last month, over eight people a minute in America are losing their jobs. That's eight families without a paycheck." Similarly, in a New York Daily News op-ed he wrote, "To put it generously, the $787 billion bill has not been the 'temporary, targeted and timely' job-creating machine the public was sold." House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has called the recovery package nothing short of "generational theft," and declared, "When it comes to slow-moving government spending programs, it's clear that it doesn't create the jobs." These claims are false. In fact, the recovery act is creating jobs right in their districts. And it's important to remember that the purpose of the legislation was also to save American jobs. Even Boehner has had to admit these facts. In a little-noticed press release, the Minority Leader highlighted the Obama administration's recent order that the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) redirect $57 million to shovel-ready projects. He said that he was "pleased" that the funds would "create much-needed jobs." A few weeks later, when Boehner was back to lashing out at the stimulus, the ODOT actually came out and criticized him. ODOT's spokesman called Boehner's inaccurate statements "disappointing" and pointed out that the agency had just approved "six more stimulus road projects, which will cost about $43 million." Cantor's hypocrisy has also been highlighted by the media, who have noted that he is a backer of using stimulus funds to bring high-speed rail to Virginia because it would create...jobs.

MYTH #3 -- THE RECOVERY IS A TOTAL FAILURE: The Republican National Committee released a new web ad yesterday, declaring the stimulus a "failure." But leading economists agree that it's too early to make any such determinations. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that "about a quarter of the money would be spent by year's end, and that about 75 percent would flow by the end of 2010." In other words, as Center for American Progress Senior Economist Heather Boushey has explained, "the largest job gains from [stimulus] spending were projected to occur in the late fall through 2010." So far, the spending appears to be on track. The health care and education sectors, both of which received stimulus money, have shown net job gains since the recession began. Furthermore, Obama noted that infrastructure projects were always going to take "six months to eight months to get that money actually into the ground because that's the nature of big infrastructure projects."

President Obama's administration has been doing everything he can to push the realities of the $787 billion stimulus package, in the face of aggressive Republican misinformation. Vice President Biden, for example, traveled to Ohio yesterday, forcefully backing the recovery bill and asking for patience from the American public. "Remember, we're only 140 days into this deal. It's supposed to take 18 months," he said. Only $60 billion of $175 billion allocated to federal agencies so far has been paid out. Earlier this week, President Obama took time out of his trip to Moscow to discuss the recovery. "There's nothing that we would have done differently," he told ABC News. "We needed a stimulus and we needed a substantial stimulus." The republicans, who overwhelmingly voted against the recovery act in Congress and have still offered no new ideas, are now trying to sow public dissatisfaction. In fact, the "plans" that republicans have been offering are largely the same ones that put the country into the current economic mess. To create confusion, the GOPers just resort to sloppy attacks and make up lies. What else is new from them party of no?

Ensign's Story is Falling Apart

John Ensign thought he got away free. First Marky Mark came along and confessed his dying love to the girl from Argentina, then Michael Jackson died. Then Sarah Palin resigned. John Ensign thought he had it made.

The guy he cuckolded had written a letter to Fox News but they held it and didn't put it on the air and no one really picked up on it, since Sanford was such good press for a while.

Then with all the other news to take his name off the front page, and if he kept his head down, mouth shut and just stayed quiet maybe he could squeak by and no one would notice him and he would be okay.

Not so fast there big boy. Doug Hampton isn't quite done and he isn't ready to just ride away in the sunset quite so easily and quietly. He is now talking and he is talking to Jon Ralston on Face to Face.

Here is what there lead in says:

He's been labeled an extortionist and had his story ignored by FOX News. Now, the man whose wife had an affair with U.S. Sen. John Ensign (Nevada-R) is telling his story exclusively on Face to Face. Jon talks with Doug Hampton in the first of a two-part interview

You can access this video interview here. That is part one. Here is part two of the video interview.

You can also read more about this at Politico, where they are looking at the Tom Colburn end of it. This is getting really more and more complicated. It seems he was very involved to and knew about it for over a year and either condoned, helped cover it up, or tried to stop it, I am not really sure.

He supposedly told Ensign to write her a letter to break it off and then pay her off to stop it, get rid of her or something. In order to clear it out of everything. He really needed to make sure it didn't interfere with his career.

According to Rachel Maddow tonight the group of them live together in a house which is registered as a Church in Washington D.C. and that is where one of the meetings between Hampton and Colburn took place.

From Politico:

Sources familiar with the facts say that Hampton and Coburn confronted Ensign in February 2008 at a Christian fellowship home on Capitol Hill where Ensign, Coburn and several other lawmakers live.

-snip-

Hampton told Ralston that Ensign subsequently gave well over $25,000 to his wife, former Ensign campaign treasurer Cindy Hampton, as severance pay for her political work. Both Hamptons were on Ensign’s payroll from Dec. 2006 until April 2008.

-snip-

Hampton also supplied Ralston with a copy of what he said was a handwritten letter from Ensign to Cindy Hampton, dated February 2008, in which Ensign suggested that he wanted to end the affair.

“This is the most important letter I’ve ever written,” Ensign wrote. “What I did with you was wrong. I was completely self-centered + only thinking of myself. I used you for my own pleasure, not letting thoughts of you, Doug [or the couples’ children] come into my mind...I betrayed everything I believed in and lied to myself over + over. I justified my actions because I blamed my wife.”

Ensign refused to comment on the new revelations Wednesday, telling POLITICO: “See what we said before.”

Late Wednesday night, Ensign spokesman Tory Mazzola issued a statement in which he said: “In response to today’s television interview, Sen. Ensign said Doug Hampton was consistently inaccurate in his statements.”

As you can see this is just getting good...Rachel also said that now CREW is getting involved. So it may really get interesting now.

There isn't a video of it up yet on Rachel's site.. will have to check it out later. Here is a listing of her guests though.

Jon Ralston, host, Face to Face and Las Vegas Sun columnist
Jeff Sharlet, contributing editor at Harper's Magazine, author of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power"

Jeff Sharlet is the guy who stated the house was listed as a church and had infiltrated the house for a while. It was something the info he had on it. I want to see what else he found out.

Here is the link for the CREW web site that shows the complaint against Ensign, if you would like to check it out and watch it to see what happens.

This could prove very interesting before it is over with. I think we just are going to have to watch and see.. then again it may all come to nothing.

But, you have to remember, his parents are Casino moguls. That's gambling money. Yes, it is legal in Nevada, but still.. for his parents to be paying them money, just looks funny... like untraceable.



You know what they say... where there is smoke....

Sarah Palin's Lies...UPDATED!!!!!!!!!

There is a recurring lie going around that Sarah Palin and the state of Alaska is paying out over $2,000,000 for the ethics investigations she was involved in. Oh, and the other lie is that there were 15 of them, actually there were 18.

Greg Sargent @ the Plum Line Blog has a great piece up about it and debunks a huge portion of it with some great reporting. This is something that has never really been done with Palin.

No one bothers to challenge anything she says. They take what she says at face value and go on, just repeating it and no one ever bothers to fact check it. Remember the "bridge to nowhere" that she kept saying she said no to...then we all discovered..well she didn't really do that. So why would anyone now be surprised that she is less than truthful about anything else?

Here is part of what Greg found out:

But David Murrow, a spokesperson for the Governor, said in an interview that much of this money was budgeted to the lawyers in advance and would have gone to them anyway, even if state lawyers hadn’t been defending against these ethics complaints.

In response to our questions, the Governor’s office provided us with a detailed breakdown of the millions Palin has claimed has gone to defending against ethics complaints. It does list roughly $1.9 million in expenditures.

But Murrow, the spokesperson, acknowledged to our reporter, Amanda Erickson, that this total was arrived at by adding up attorney hours spent on fending off complaints — based on the fixed salaries of lawyers in the governor’s office and the Department of Law. The money would have gone to the lawyers no matter what they were doing. The complaints are “just distracting them from other duties,” Murrow said.

In other words, while these lawyers might have been free to do other legal work for the state, the ethics complaints have apparently not had the real world impact Palin has claimed, and didn’t drain money away from cops, teachers, roads and other things.

Similarly, TPM reports that there are only three ethics complaints outstanding against the Palin administration in any case — which, combined with the above, casts serious doubts on one of her chief stated reasons for quitting.

Murrow has not responded to folllow-up questions asking him to explain how this squares with Palin’s claims. We’ll update you if he does.

He also adds an update that shows this has now been picked up by ADN and they then contacted the Governor's Office to question them further. Sharon Leighow, Palin's personal spokes person answered with this bizarre explanation:

Asked about that, Leighow said staffers from multiple state agencies had to set aside their normal duties. State lawyers were also pulled off cases, she said.

“Important legal issues involving the state’s interests were delayed in order to respond to these complaints. That means lost value to the state, which is measurable in dollars,” she said.

Now, I am not sure about you, but that really raises more questions than it answers, if staffers were stopped from doing their regular jobs, just to help with these ethics violations... how was anything getting done in Alaska?

But lets look further into this $2 million meme, and the best place I found for that was in Alaska. There is a lady there who broke it down, turned it inside out and studied it better than anyone else could ever do it.

She has more information than anyone could ever want, with charts, graphs and backup galore.

She starts off by saying the first thing we need to do is examine Palin's speech, and the factual errors in it:

There’s actually a number of errors of fact in this brief passage of Palin’s speech, but this post will be long enough if I focus on the one I’ve emphasized: Palin’s claim that $2,000,000 taxpayer (or rather, oil revenue dollars — this is Alaska, after all) have been spent on responding to ethical complaints against Palin.

Problem? Just two days before, on July 1, the Anchorage Daily News, the Juneau Empire, and the Associated Press all reported on figures released by the Alaska Personnel Board about the actual costs of its investigations into ethical complaints against Palin & members of her administration. The costs were considerably less than what Palin claims: $296,042.58. [Ref #4, 5, 6, 7] Big difference. Here’s what that difference looks like:

She then includes the chart diagramming what the difference between almost 300,000 and 2 million is... lol As I said she turns the entire thing inside out and backwards. This is one thorough lady.

She goes on to remind us of this:

What’s more, nearly two-thirds of that amount was attributable in no small part to an ethics case Palin filed against herself. As explained by Patrick Forey in his Juneau Empire story,

[T]he timing, scope and other factors of the single largest expense appear to fit the case Palin filed against herself that cost $187,797 to investigate. That’s almost two-thirds of the total $296,042 of all Personnel Board investigations in the last two years.

The self-reported complaint was a means to have a legislative investigator’s findings in the “Troopergate” case reexamined by a Personnel Board investigator. She said publicly that her self-reported complaint was without merit. [Ref #6]

As I said this lady is good... you just have to read her post on this to see the entire thing. She also has the spread sheet that Palin later gave to AP trying to back up the $2 Million which is falling apart all over the place and Mel takes it apart too.

The 2 Million Dollar Meme can be found here, and after you read it and discover how dishonest Palin was in her story, then you can go check out the other story about the spread sheet she gave the AP to try to back up her story about the costs incurred in the ethics investigation. However I don't know how she can claim every item and every FOIR was for the ethics complaints against her. It just doesn't always work that way.

She has another spreadsheet addendum story here.

Here is probably the money quote from her post and from the article in ADN by Sean Cockerham who is a pretty good writer and has been doing a good job of holding Palin's feet to the fire lately.

Now, finally, we come to my very most favoritest of all the claims made by Palin’s staff in Cockerham’s article:

Another significant chunk of the $1.9 million that Palin talks about is what her administration says is over $415,000 worth of staff time in the governor’s office.

Perez said that represents an estimated 5,773 hours of staff time doing tasks related to public records requests and ethics complaints, whether it be Palin’s spokeswoman answering questions about complaints, staffers making copies, or time the head of the governor’s Anchorage office, Kris Perry, spends reviewing documents.

“Kris Perry, at least half of her time is spent dealing with ethics complaints and public records requests,” said the governor’s spokeswoman, Leighow. [Ref #3]

Let’s do a little math:

5,773 hours of staff time divided by 40 hours per typical work week = 144.325 weeks
144.325 weeks divided by 52 weeks in a year = 2.775 years of staff time

2.775 years of staff time — without even any holiday or annual leave! — to address these public records requests?

Do you believe that? I sure don’t.

Did you see that... 2.775 years of staff time... That's almost more time than she has been in office...lol and all of this took place since Aug. 29th she says. Not possible.

As I said this is a great break down of the entire Palin story, Mel is good, very good. She has picked it apart, put it back together and really told the story of exactly where it is.

Check it out and see the truth.

UPDATED**************************************************************************

After Countdown tonight when Keith had Margaret Carlson on and she debunked the rest of Palin's story about the legal fund I have to add this video which tells about John Coale who started the SarahPAC said all the legal fees had been paid from there. So she has no outstanding bills, and the $500,000 she keeps throwing around is just bogus.

Watch this and see.

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