Always shouts out something obscene

I'm sure we've all heard about Joe Wilson, the Republican from South Carolina, who crossed the line last night during President Obama's speech to congress by shouting "You lie!" after the President pointed out that the new healthcare proposal would not offer benefits to those in the United States illegally.

Not surprisingly, the right wing blogs are hailing him as a hero, and I'm sure the dittoheads are doing the same. I guess the point they are missing is, regardless of whether or not one agrees with the President or think he is "lying" (like half the stuff that flowed out of Bush's mouth), during a speech to congress where the President has been invited to speak, something so rude and uncivil is a complete no-no. Why do the right wingnuts not see any Republicans rushing to his defense, whether they agree with him or not? The reason is, of course, it was a breach of decorum, pulling an event that is supposed to be one of mutual respect and reason down to the lowlife "shout-downs" of the town hall meetings we've seen as of late.

I've seen dittoheads leaving comments like "Now the Dems see what it is like when they called Bush a Nazi". One big difference, amigo... none of them yelled that out while Bush was addressing congress.

I respect the conservative's right to disagree and voice concerns about the whole heathcare debate. But sadly, much of what they put forth as arguments are just "facts" that have no basis in truth, only what they've been "told" is going to happen or is written into the bill. The big pharma and insurance companies like the status quo... they are making mind-staggering profits, and they really couldn't give a rat's ass about people and small companies not being able to afford their skyhigh premiums, and their message to ill people seems to be "just go crawl off into the desert and die. You simply represent a monetary loss to us".

As for the particular issue in question, here is a link to a CNN site that attempts to logically decide if something is true or not: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/27/cnn-truth-squad-will-health-bill-pay-for-illegal-immigrants-an-update/

And even if one doesn't agree with their conclusion, at least they have tried to sort it out by actually READING the bill, and not just saying "Well, Rush Limbaugh said...".

And speaking of Rush, I find it amusing that the dittoheads would put much weight on his opinion of healthcare. For one, he is of the "I've got mine, the hell with everyone else" school of thinking, he is richer than God and doesn't HAVE to worry about healthcare... he could afford to buy a whole hospital. Do you really think he gives a crap about one of his little guy listeners who gets laid off of work, loses his healthcare and his wife gets ill and can't find insurance because she has a pre-existing condition? That is, if they could even afford it anyway.
I would have far more respect for the other side's argument if they had some kind of alternative other than "keep things just as they are", which pretty much everyone (right and left) says simply cannot continue without the whole system completely falling apart.
One last question... if they are against illegal aliens getting healthcare, why are they not angry with the CURRENT system? Because we are ALREADY paying for their care with higher premiums and taxes due to them using the very expensive E.R. facilities for their standard doctor's visits, which would be way cheaper with a nurse practitioner. This isn't some "lib" point of view. This is the reality of the here and now.

Again, if they have a better idea, we'd all love to hear it.

Hush-hush, keep it down-down, voices carry

Always gotta love a good "moral family values" Republican story:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Sept. 9) - A Republican state lawmaker from Southern California resigned Wednesday amid growing outrage over a videotape that caught him bragging in graphic detail about having sex with a female lobbyist and another woman.
Assemblyman Mike Duvall, whose votes on family-oriented legislation received high marks from conservative groups, said in a statement the furor over his comments had begun to divert attention from the work his fellow lawmakers were trying to finish during the final week of their session.
Duvall is married and has two adult children.
In a recording of a legislative hearing, Duvall can be heard talking about a recent sexual escapade with a woman he says is 18 years younger.
"I'm getting into spanking her," Duvall is heard to say on the videotape.
The other man asks if she likes it, too. Duvall responds: "She goes, 'I know you like spanking me.' I said, 'Yeah, that's 'cause you're such a bad girl.'"
The 54-year-old lawmaker made the comments about the affairs to another lawmaker during a break in a committee meeting at the Capitol over the summer, and they were caught on a microphone at his desk.
The lawmaker then brags about an affair he is having with another woman.
"Oh, she is hot! I talked to her yesterday. She goes, 'So are we finished?' I go, 'No, we're not finished.' I go, 'You know about the other one, but she doesn't know about you!'" Duvall can be heard saying in an apparent reference to his affair with the lobbyist.
Duvall received a 100 percent rating from Capitol Resource Institute, a conservative advocacy group, for his votes on legislation considered pro-family during the 2007-08 legislative session. The institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Duvall's Assembly office was locked Wednesday afternoon.
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, asked the Assembly Ethics committee to investigate. She also removed Duvall from the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, which considers utility regulations, and the Assembly Rules Committee.
Duvall was elected in 2006 to represent an Orange County district that includes Fullerton, Anaheim, Placentia, Orange, Brea and Yorba Linda. Before that, he served six years on the Yorba Linda City Council. He also owns an insurance agency.
The lawmaker was vice chairman of the utilities committee, which had been considering one of the more hotly contested bills in the current legislative session. The bill, which is still being debated, would require utilities to generate 33 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020.
Many utilities oppose it.
On July 6, Duvall was one of five Republicans to vote against the legislation, which is sponsored by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto.

It should be pointed out that the lobbyist involved has been reported to be a woman named Heidi Dejong Barsuglia (also married), who works for Sempra Energy, one of the utilities opposed to the legislation. Ironically, on her California access lobbyist web page it says she passed an Ethics Course in 2008.

It must be the same one the "family values" Republicans take.

Why?

Why is it that the men who most want war refuse to go?

Why is it that the men who rail against gays, get caught in the closet,(and sometimes the public water closet?)

Why is it the men who proclaim family values have mistresses? And accuse their opponents of being gay? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Why is it that the men who are destroying health care reform already have health care?

I understand that these qualities aren't limited to the male gender, but I truly don't understand how crazy got to be the new normal.

Tell me...
Why
Why?



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

Zip-ah-dee doo-dah, zip-ah-dee day

Some cracker-ass cracker self-identified teabagger left a racist comment at our friend Oliver Willis' blog:

In case you can't read the image, here's the text:

The socialists will pull the first trigger. We rightwing extremists will pull the last.

Signed,
Bitter Clinger.

PS: Massa Obama must be proud to know that the slaves on his government plantation are so devoted. ding-ding-ding. Uh oh! Massa O is calling! You’d better step-n-fetchit, bootlick.

The groan inducing PS, offered up in what the author must see as high humor, is especially cringe-worthy if you know that Oliver is an American of African descent. Thus the image Bitter Clinger is trying to create is a black slave in captivity of a black President! Clever!

Actually it's really sick and stupid. And the guy proudly used his actual email.

Oliver merely googled it and found this treasure trove of Teh Stoopid™:

419 Hawthorne Ave
Johnstown,CO80534
970-567-0698

Not surprisingly Shaun Conley is listed as a Tea Party event coordinator for “1776 Tea Party” in Colorado.

And here’s Shaun Conley – who sent me a racist threat – discussing his role in organizing a tea party protest in Colorado:

Shaun Conley, a Johnstown plumber, took on the task of organizing that peaceful protest, which will be at Bittersweet Park, 16th Street and 35th Avenue, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., with the help of Pelzer and others.

“I wouldn’t say I organized anything. I’m just a cog in the wheel that got this started,” said Conley, 41. It got started when news of the stimulus packages came out, and when those packages reached $1 trillion, Conley couldn’t stand it any longer.

“We don’t have $1 trillion,” Conley said, but he really became agitated when he learned the federal government intended to go ahead and print the money.

“That’s just going to lead to double-digit inflation,” he said. When he learned of the American Family Association’s movement, he contacted the group to get some information and ended up becoming an organizer. He originally planned for perhaps 250 to 500, but he said the event has drawn interest from all over and could reach 1,000 or more.

Some commentors have criticized Oliver, accusing him of going full-Malkin on an opponent. But I disagree, and here's why:

Malkin revealed personal info of people who had done NOTHING to her except for disagree with her.

Conley, however, made a racist comment with a veiled, implied threat of violence against Oliver. Had OW hired a private detective to find Conley's info, then I'd call foul. But since Conley's info is freely available on the web, OW, while doing a thing we typically don't do, was simply pointing out that this dude, who proudly calls himself a rightwing extremist, made no effort to cover his tracks or be anonymous.

For that, I score this game" Oliver Willis: 1, Shaun Conley: 0.

Labor Day: Joe Hill

On this Labor Day, let us take a moment to commemorate Joe Hill, the early labor leader, rabble-rouser and songwriter who remains an inspiration to union members and workers throughout the world.

He was born Joel Hagglund in Sweden on October 7, 1879, the fourth of six children. His parents loved music, often leading the family in song and passing their musical interests on to their children. When Joel was nine his father, a railroad conductor, was killed in an accident and the Hagglund children were forced to leave school in order to support the family. Young Joel found employment in a rope factory, and later became a fireman on a steam-powered crane. His mother died in 1902, and soon after Joel and a younger brother emigrated to America.

Landing in New York, Joe Hill worked his way across the country performing a series of odd jobs, eventually settling down for the time being in San Pedro, California. There, he joined the Industrial Workers Of The World and became active in the union's organizing efforts. The IWW's goal was to unite the working class worldwide into "One Big Union", and Hill became known throughout the West for his dedication towards that goal. In 1911 he went to Tiajuana as pae of a band of radicals seeking to liberate Baja California from Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. The next year he was active in a coalition that fought a decision by San Diego police to close the downtown streets to meetings, and later that year participated in a rail workers' strike in British Columbia. Back home in San Pedro, he was arrested in June 1913 while participating in a dockworkers' strike; in Hill's words, he was "a little too active to suit the chief of the burg".

Hill's biggest contribution to the labor movement was as a writer of songs that inspired workers throughout the country fighting for their rights. He would take the popular melodies of the day and outfit them with original lyrics that sought to inspire workers and spur them to organize for their rights. In this manner, Hill wrote "The Tramp", "There is Power in the Union", "Rebel Girl", "Casey Jones: Union Scab", and "The Preacher And The Slave", which coined the term "pie in the sky".

Early in 1914 Hill was working at the Silver King Mine near Salt Lake City. On January 10, butcher and retired police officer John G. Morrison's shop was attacked by two armed men covering their faces with red bandannas. Morrison fired his pistol and wounded one of the attackers, who in turn shot and killed Morrison and his son. Later that night, Joe Hill showed up at the door of a local doctor asking to be treated for a gunshot wound he said he received while in a fight over a woman. Police searched Hill's hotel room and found a red bandanna; that, along with the wound and his reputation as an IWW organizer, was enough to have him arrested for the murders of the Morrisons.

At his trial, Hill steadfastly maintained his innocence in the murders. He refused to name the woman whose company he had been in that evening, which would have provided him with an alibi. Some have speculated that Hill risked a murder conviction in order to preserve the reputation of a married woman. The prosecution's star witness, Morrison's 13-year-old son Merlin, who had originally told police "That's not him at all" when he first saw Hill, testified that Hill was the murderer. The jury only took a few hours to find him guilty.

A worldwide effort began to exonerate Hill. Helen Keller, AFL president Samuel Gompers, the Swedish minister to the United States, and President Woodrow Wilson all spoke to the governor on Hill's behalf to no avail. To the last, Hill claimed that the state of Utah was framing him due to his IWW activities. In one of his last letters, he wrote to IWW leader Bill Haywood, "Goodbye Bill: I die like a true rebel. Don't waste any time mourning, organize!" Joe Hill was executed on November 19, 1915; his last request, reportedly to the firing squad, was "Fire!" Hill's body was transported to Chicago, where more than 30,000 paid their respects. Afterward, his body was cremated, and the ashes sent to labor leaders around the world and in every state except Utah.

Over the years, the labor movement's great songwriter has himself been commemorated in song. "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", written in the 30's, became something of a standard, and has often been performed by Pete Seeger, Paul Robeson, and Joan Baez, among many others. During the 60's Phil Ochs, in the manner of Joe Hill himself, wrote lyrics that celebrated Hill's life and set them to the melody of the folk ballad "John Hardy". Billy Bragg, one of the most socially conscious performers of our era, brings the memory of Joe Hill back to life.



Hill's final will and testament has long been a source of inspiration to activists throughout the world:

My will is easy to decide
For there is nothing to divide
My kin don't need to fuss and moan
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."
My body? - Oh. - If I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again

This is my Last and final Will
Good Luck to All of you.

Happy Labor Day.

(Crossposted at Pole Hill Sanitarium.)

Call Me Irresponsible

I've seen several websites alleging that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990.

Is it irresponsible to speculate that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990? According to Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal, "Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to."

I rest my case.




Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself

Let's Talk About Sex

UN Guide for Sex Ed Generates Opposition

A set of proposed international sex education guidelines aimed at reducing H.I.V. infections among young people has provoked criticism from conservative groups that say the program would be too explicit for young children and promote access to legal abortion as a right.
[...]
“In the absence of a vaccine for AIDS, education is the only vaccine we have,” said Mark Richmond, Unesco’s global coordinator for H.I.V. and AIDS and the director of the division that coordinates educational priorities. “Only 40 percent of young people aged 15 to 24 have accurate knowledge” of how the disease is transmitted, he said, even though that age group “accounts for 45 percent of all new cases.”
[...]
A draft issued in June has been attacked by conservative and religious groups, mainly in the United States, for recommending discussions of homosexuality, describing sexual abstinence as “only one of a range of choices available to young people” to prevent disease and unwanted pregnancy, and suggesting a discussion of masturbation with children as young as 5.

“If you ever have a situation where kids need to be taught earlier than their adolescence, this is not the way to do it,” said Colin Mason of the Population Research Institute, an anti-abortion organization based in Virginia. “It’s very graphic and encourages practices like masturbation, which conservative Christians and others feel are wrong.”

Where to begin!? I'll start here: IF they believed in abstinence, which they profess to believe in but don't practice, (e.g. Palin's daughter and ex-future son-in-law), then masturbation is a perfect outlet. Heck, even some infants figure it out on their own. It's not just natural, it's part of our coding, as is sex.

I'll make up my own stats here, (like Megan McArdle does), and say that 80% of men & women masturbate. The other 20% lie about it.

So what these christains believe, contrary to human behavior and all facts, is that no one should have sex, be told about sex, or even think about sex. Until they're married in a christain church, and even then they're not supposed to enjoy it.

No pun intended, but f**k that!
Sex is good, sex is healthy, and if it isn't you're not doing it right. (Insert (no pun intended) mandatory safe sex practices here.)

The church of If It Feels Good It Must Be Bad doesn't care that these repressive beliefs will result in the suffering and deaths of multiple thousands of people. They only want to impress their views on the world while trying to keep their own repression 'of god's will' a secret.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

School's out for summer

Back in the '70s when California was thinking about passing a motorcycle helmet law, bikers complained in Libertarian terms:

Gummint make me do it-bad!

It spoils my freedoms.

I don't need no stinking helmet.

Ever the helpful liberal, I had a modest proposal:

Fine, you don't want to wear a helmet? Then if you go down and bust a dent in your head so big I can see your feet through it (h/t Pam), then you will get NO taxpayer-funded medical care. No paramedics will lift a finger, no ER doc will order an MRI. Zip. Nada.

You will bleed out and die. You will lay in the road, possibly even begging to have your life saved. But it ain't gonna happen. Because you took yourself out of the risk pool by not following innocuous and helpful rules.

While that may seem harsh to those who find me a gentle fellow, I don't think it is at all. If proud Libertarians want their personal liberty that bad, they should have it, with all the attendant consequences.

Same fight happened with proposed seatbelt laws. My proposal: don't wear a seatbelt, don't receive triage. Same deal.

But now we have a new breed of phony rebels, those who are outraged that the black President Hussein Obama X will speak to kids at schools, because he may try to convince gullible child-types to eat their Wheaties or something:

Sailor linked to some of the crazy in his fine post below, so no need to copy his work. But here's my proposal to the conservatarians who are in such a snit because the President wants to talk to kids:

You don't want to have your kids listen to the President of the United States? Because WTF is wrong with you, are you stupid, or just dumb?

Then fine, take your kids out of school and have a patriotic day with them, since watching the black President talk to the people isn't patriotic. Take your guns & kids and go to a waterpark and ride the Slide into Socialism.

Splash in the Pool of Populism, play in the Communist Cove. It's all OK. but when you get back, there'll be some changes.

Remember No Child Left Behind? Well, your child has been left behind. Because if your school district isn't good enough for you, then you're not good enough for it.

All federal funding for your district has been rescinded, the dough has been pulled, the $$ is gone. And you should be happy, because you never really liked the Department of Education, with its fancy Secretary of Education (who isn't even a woman most of the time like a proper secretary).

Nope, you hater of all things socialized like roads, police, firefighters, military, Medicare. You want to grow a pair and act all adult?

OK, go!

Somehow, I think the point might be lost on them, however. Logic requires thought. I mean, you know what I'm saying . . .

We Don't Need No Education

What's the latest wrongwing crazy? President Obama is giving a speech to the nation's school children. They are going nuts over it, and not just the crazies, but their leading politicians. Some schools are refusing to air it, parents are taking their kids out of school during it, and all because

the President will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.
[...]
The Department of Education offers educators a menu of classroom activities—created by its teachers-in-residence, the Teaching Ambassador Fellows—to help engage students in the address and stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education.

Now I understand this is a different approach than the previous WH resident, who's contribution to education consisted of "is our children learning" and continuing reading "My Pet Goat" after being informed hijacked airliners were being flown into the twin towers.

But seriously folks, it's a special level of crazy, bat-$hit crazy, to find some socialist, Maoist, communist indoctrination conspiracy involved in this. Jeebus, it's a 15 minute speech with optional suggestions for classroom activities designed by teachers!

We shouldn't have a terror-threat color coding, we should have a crazy republican coding for danger to the country.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak