We're Short On Livestock

Let's see....Mr. Yenta spent one full week in the hospital. He had an MRI, EKG, ultra sound and probably some  other tests. His regular doctor called in a cardiologist and a neurologist. And now he says he needs a different ultra sound and at least one more specialist. The pharmacist is seeing a lot of us. Now I'm supposed to go for an x-ray of a problem area and pretty soon the doctor is going to notice that I'm late getting a mammogram. After checking with the very handy chicken converter it seems clear to me that if we didn't have insurance we'd have to buy the farm.

Pat Robertson, meet Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi

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 Why wasn't Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi invited to opine on the real cause of the attacks on 9/11/01 with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Where was he when blame was placed for Katrina? OK, I admit that I don't watch the 700 Club. Was he invited on? Maybe after the earthquake in Haiti? I'm just asking because he and Pat Robertson seem to have a lot in common. James Dobson would fit right in, too.

A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear immodest clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

Has a familiar ring, doesn't it?

"What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?" Sedighi asked during a prayer sermon Friday. "There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes."

It's always been hard to understand how extremely conservative Christians don't see how they are just the same as extremely conservative Islamics. The name you use to call on your God of intolerance is not the point. Fundamentalists are fundamentalists, no matter what the creed.  

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Happy Tax Day

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It's tax day. Many protests are planned. Us - we're getting a refund for the first time since we had a dependent minor. That's more than a decade. Let's see what might have changed. Income - about the same. Maybe a teeny bit higher, but basically the same. Our deduction situation - exactly the same. So what could be different about 2009? Well, Barack Obama became president in 2009. Passed some tax relief for the middle class. I guess that must be the difference. Gee whiz, where can I go to protest that? On the way to the hospital, that is.

Has Everyone Gone to the Tea Party?

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It's true that life is currently consumed with trips back and forth to the hospital and consulting with doctors and I have no idea what's happening in the world. That much is true, but there was still something that made me go "Hmmm"  I pretty much only travel the route to the hospital when we have someone there, but that's happened plenty in the last decade. I go past a Planned Parenthood office and there has always been one, two or three protesters outside with the usual signs. And now I've passed the place on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, every one of them featuring fine weather for protesting and there's no one. Nada. Not one angry soul hoping to harass some hapless female going in there for services - of which abortion is only one. Mentioning this  to someone who passes a different Planned Parenthood office on her route to work caused  her to realize she hasn't noticed anyone there lately either. So where'd they go? Nothing's changed recently and they were so dogged in the face of vast public indifference to their existence for so long. I can only conclude that they have probably taken up teabagging. The teabaggers have taken to setting up at local Post Offices, presumably to harass people who want to buy stamps, when there isn't a big event happening.

It does seem very  likely that the Tea Party draws from the same group of sadsacks of disontent who were around anyway, with time on their hands since their income so often derives from SSI.

Breaking News - Conservative Republican Fails To Fan Flames of Hatred

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It's got to be a sign of the times when Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) hands out reality checks and it's big news. Lots of things happened today and some of them happened to the Republican party, but this morning that story was all over the web because unlike scandal, this was a singular sort of event. Thing is, being a very, very conservative Republican we have to wonder if Senator Coburn is feeling a little lonely right now. Not because he spoke his mind and maybe pissed off some Teabaggers or some Fox anchors. But it's got to be lonely being an arch-conservative who wants to keep a foot in reality right now, because the most of the breed departed on the USS Delusion by the time Caribou Barbie had spent a few weeks on the campaign trail in '08. Any stragglers were driven to madness by the election of Barack Obama. There's really nothing lonelier than being the one semi-sane person in a caucus full of lunatics.

Sarah Palin Wants Tea Baggers To Harass Drivers?

That ditzburger has got to be kidding this time, doesn't she? She wants Tea Baggers to stop cars with Obama stickers and ask them how that hopey changey thing is going for them?  I'll tell you what - if one of those fanatical loony tunes ever, ever tries to stop my car I will surely call 911 and I just hope things don't get out of hand to the point where it might seem necessary to ram into him or her before the cops arrive.. As far as I'm concerned those people are dangerous and very possibly armed and I don't want any of them within fifty feet of me. As to the hopey changey thing, it's going just fine, thank you,  you low information psycho-bitch from hell. We got a start on health care and some improvement in the student loan situation and that was just what happened  last week.

There, that feels better. And a good Pesach to all.

New One On Me

I don't know if this one is going around. I heard it in the local drug store, not the media. I walked in while one of the pharmacists, the counter clerk and a customer were discussing yet another reason that Health Care reform is no good. Not enough Primary Care Physicians. The pharmacist wondered  with 32 million more people in the system who would take care of them? The counter clerk said it wouldn't matter because it would take six months to get an appointment. The customer said it was scary, was what it was. Just scary. 

Scarier than having a huge portion of our population without access to health care? Scarier than being priced out of the insurance market? I guess that was the idea. 

The Misinformation Age

I followed a link on Facebook and got drove through a backwater on the Information Superhighway.  Even the name of the group is born of delusion - 304,059,724 against Obama's Healthcare takeover. A question for physics majors out there -  Does ignorant really travel faster than informed or does it just seem that way?

G.E. Still Hearts Ronnie.

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G.E. is sponsoring the Reagan Centennial. And you might have noticed they're running TV commercials about it. A lot. I particularly enjoy the part where he would talk  to G.E. employees and inspires them. Of course, once he became president he could inspire even more workers. The picture on the right depicts President Reagan saying inspiring things about air traffic controllers.

 Dick Meister remembers Reagan's attitude toward working people the way I do, only better. If you'd like your memory refreshed read his Ronald Reagan's War on Labor. 

Glenn Beck, meet Bruce Springsteen

Glenn Beck got hold of the lyrics to Born in the USA and, like other conservatives before him, was chagrined.  It happens over and over and demonstrates what must be obvious to everyone by now. Conservatives don't listen. Or read. Most albums used to come with lyric sheets. Springsteen is, of course, one of the most consistent, outspoken progressives in rock music. But then, who can a conservative rely on, musically speaking? Well, there's always good  Ted Nugent. They've got Ted on their side all right. There are a few others in the world of rock music but not a whole lot of the important ones. The conservative will find greener pastures in the world of country music, but it's certainly not monolithic so even there, they'll need to listen to the words to be sure.

Conservatives need to give it up and chill with some nice Lawrence Welk. Rock music is inherently free-thinking and it was the idealogical forebears of Glenn Beck who saw that in early rock and roll and tried to kill it in its cradle. To put in high school terms -  which seems appropriate - rock music is the always alluring Rebel and the Glenn Becks of the world are the Hall Monitor. And the Hall Monitor was pretty much beneath contempt.

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Birth Certificates

The birthers have been competing with health care for the news cycle this week. There was the nutcase at the townhall meeting in Delaware, Chris Matthews' bravura performance as he insisted on calling a whacko a whacko, and the shameful performance by Lou Dobbs in fueling this conspiracy theory. A lot of these people, including Dobbs, seem to be hanging their argument on the theory that the birth certificate that the President has produced and posted is somehow a short form and incomplete. The crazy lady in Delaware listed a whole bunch of things that are on hers that don't appear on Obama's including the hospital where she was born and the doctor's name. Lou Dobbs referred to a "long form" document. 

With all this noise I decided to have a look at what we have around the house in the way of birth cerficates. I don't have mine. I had an official copy with raised seal but had to provide it to someone for some purpose or other years ago and haven't had a need for it since. Mr. Yenta has his. We were both born in New York State in the same year - 1949. Our copies would never make it with these people. Document reproduction was not very good in those days and both were just barely legible even though they include the raised seal, making them "official". . I do believe that mine listed the hospital. His doesn't. No doctor's names on either of them. I also have my son's. It's the only copy we've ever had and it's what he's used for everything he's ever needed one for. It has less information than the president. It has the date of birth. No time listed. The president's has the time on his. It lists my name and Mr. Yenta's, but makes no mention of our ethnicity. It lists the state New York and town of his birth and is signed by the town official in charge of those things and there's a local regisration number and the seal.  No hospital, no doctor. I'd like to ask Mr. Dobbs if that makes my son "undocumented" as far as he's concerned, because if so, I'd suspect that the same would apply to millions of native born Americans. Or is this only a problem with African-American presidents?
"

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It's About the Country! And Stuff.

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Poor, misunderstood Sarah.

The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the “politics of personal destruction”. How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it’s right for all, including your family.

She did this for her country. Presumably because Sarah Palin being governor of just one state past the end of the month was damaging to the USA. I guess. Your guess is as good as anyone's. As of this morning there's still no one who seems to have any idea what she was talking about, except that not quitting would be the quitter's way out. Sarah Palin is no quitter, except for quitting her job, of course.

Sarah will keep busy. She has a book to sell and fortune to be made of her fame before it goes stale. What she does not have, as far as her lawyer is aware, are federal indictments coming up any time soon. Best not speculate about any rumors floating around out there or he'll sue your ass. Even though the Alaska constitution guarantees free speech. I'd have thought that the federal Bill of Rights had that covered, but apparently up there they rely on Alaska's constitution for such things. Repeating such rumors is probably defamation of character, unlike, say, referring to Barack Obama as "palling around with terrorists" which is just artistic license.

The important thing is that no one who is not up for re-election should stay in office because they'll inevitably goof off and not do the work. That new standard is going to create some sticky situations in the case of any office involving term limits. If you follow the logic, it goes like this:

• If you're a lame duck you should leave office.
• If you're limited to two terms, which is common enough, your second term is all lame duckitude, so if re-elected you should quit.
• Campaigns are expensive, exhausting and they eat your soul. So, why bother standing for re-election if you're quitting.
• If you're not standing for re-election then you're now a lame duck, ala Palin, so you need to quit.

Seems to me that logic is going to cause quite a few politicians to wonder, "Why run in the first place?" Well, clearly so that you can be plucked from obscurity to run for national office and thereby develop a national fan base and massive earning potential, also. You betcha!

Frank Rich on Hate and the People Who Enable It

Frank Rich has a must read, must spread column on the kind of rhetoric that is ramping up the hate in those who feel most threatened by Obama's presidency. It includes a call to conservative leaders to show some responsibility in light of recent events.

The question, Shepard Smith said on Fox last week, is “if there is really a way to put a hold on” those who might run amok. We’re not about to repeal the First or Second Amendments. Hard-core haters resolutely dismiss any “mainstream media” debunking of their conspiracy theories. The only voices that might penetrate their alternative reality — I emphasize might — belong to conservative leaders with the guts and clout to step up as McCain did last fall. Where are they? The genteel public debate in right-leaning intellectual circles about the conservative movement’s future will be buried by history if these insistent alarms are met with silence.

It’s typical of this dereliction of responsibility that when the Department of Homeland Security released a plausible (and, tragically, prescient) report about far-right domestic terrorism two months ago, the conservative response was to trash it as “the height of insult,” in the words of the G.O.P. chairman Michael Steele. But as Smith also said last week, Homeland Security was “warning us for a reason.”

Ironically, some conservative leaders did demonstrate some guts and common sense that bit of bravery might also serve to begin digging them out of the deep, dark hole they're in -especially if said conservative leaders are also closely identified with the GOP. At the moment, serious people can't take most Republicans or conservatives seriously. Their fortunes might start to change if they began acting like adults.

Old Bigot Prefers Old Bigotry

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In yet another blatantly racist attack on Sonia Sotomayer, Pat Buchanan attributes every her every accomplishment to affirmative action and opines,

One prefers the old bigotry. At least it was honest, and not, as Abraham Lincoln observed, adulterated "with the base alloy of hypocrisy."

In other news salmon swim upstream to spawn and the sun rises in the east. So, let’s review. Pat thinks Sonia Sotomayor is not smart enough for a SCOTUS appointment but Sarah Palin is fit to be president.

He, of course, also prone to hanging around with a very bad crowd, as his speaking invitation to a white nationalist demonstrates.

It’s time to retire him from MSNBC and mainstream media.  His xenophobic, racist ideology is showing bigtime and should not be legitimized as part of the national discourse . Please let’s leave the unabashed racists to themselves.

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Sorry Wingnuts - He's All Yours

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Of course the people who make their livings off of the worst instincts of the right wing base are anxious to deflect any blame for the most recent murder by a far right extremist. And given their propensity for opposite logic it’s not a big surprise that they’ve decided that Von Brunn is a leftist.

Ironically, the voices of vitriol – Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly, right wing bloggers and the rest might be less responsible for this individual’s actions than the other murders that have taken place in recent months. It’s complicated. Von Brunn’s world view intersects with the birthers and tea baggers who are encouraged by the right wing punditizers. He would meet kindred spirits at any Palin rally. But still and all,he’s 88 years old. He’s been who he is for a long, long time. He’s done reckless things before, even serving time in jail. It’s just possible that something as simple as having a black president could have sent him out to do this murder. That doesn’t mean they don’t have real responsibility for the violent climate that’s been emerging since the election. Their rhetoric is dangerous. And they should be very afraid that  a critical mass of people will finally call them on it. Much more of this and that could happen.

By people, I mean the Republicans that line up to genuflect to them. I mean mainstream media which treats them as voices on one side of the political spectrum instead of the irresponsible shock jocks that they are. That includes the media that we mostly like. Why does Frank Gaffney get a platform on Hardball, for instance? The things he’s said recently should completely marginalize him, and yewe pretend he has something to say? When it comes to Limbaugh and Beck, maybe we’re all guilty. They’re such trainwrecks that it’s hard to look away, but perhaps we should all try.

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Fire In A Crowded Theater

How many people have been killed in the last few months by domestic extremists? Well, I was about to write a post about that very thing but turns out TPM poster known as The Commenter Formerly Known As NCSteve pretty much covered all the ground I had in mind.

So my question is this. How many more murderous rampages by enraged rightists--whether executed or merely in the planning stage--are we going to have to endure before the traditional media is willing to acknowledge and address the obvious? How many people are going to die, and how highly placed will the victims have to be, before someone connects the dots and starts calling out the ever more violent, hateful and apocalyptic rhetoric of the likes of Coulter, Malkin, O'Reilly, Hannity and Savage as bearing some responsibility for creating this climate of insanity?

Raving mad rhetoric has been mainstreamed by right wing radio, cable news and, of course, the intertubes and to some extent even by elected officials. This rash of killings is not, as was posited on Hardball tonight, completely separate from any political party. It is lunacy that is absolutely predictably inflamed by talking points that are treated as just another point of view.

It’s clear that having our first African-American president, the economic climate and the repudiation of conservatism has combined to send some lunatics right over the edge. There’s no question of shutting down freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean that the kind of hate speech that’s become so commonplace shouldn’t be much more seriously marginalized by mainstream media and strenuously criticized by mainstream political figures – Republicans and Democrats alike.

Also, I’m just wondering if Shep Smith (and others who receive them) are turning over those untold number of hate filled e-mails to the appropriate authorities? I assume that the Secret Service is already spending a fair amount of time at Free Republic where the legitimacy our our duly elected president is questioned with regularity. I just hope they’re taking every thread like that very seriously.

*Updated to add quotes and clarity

Can We Learn Anything From George Tiller’s Murder?

When I read about the murder a few hours ago, I was going to post something to the effect that the apologists should be making statements shortly. There was always a script for it. Pro-life groups would condemn the act and after about 24 hours or so there’d be  a“but” attached to the condemnation. It’s always something to the effect that the victim of the murder was, after all, someone who took innocent life, but killing is never, ever acceptable. Well, things are moving a lot faster these days and not everyone is quite so delicate about it.Statements have been pouring out from pro-life groups, abortion rights groups and everyone else who will make a statement.  Randall Terry, for one, does not seem to feel constrained to express any condemnation other than to regret that Dr. Tiller was not afforded time to meet his Maker.

Grandpa Eddie reminds us of that report that had some right wing panties in a bunch. The one that referred to home grown terrorists. Sounds like it was right on to me. He also provides a retrospective of violent acts of terrorism targeting abortion providers.

Fitness for the Occasion makes the very simple, but insightful, point that things like this are the problem with calling abortion murder.

So, there are lessons about domestic terrorism, lessons about rhetoric and how not to use it, and I’d hope there is a lesson about thinking hard about how a public message might affect persons who have serious mental health issues.

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Sonia Sotomayor v Bigotry

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It's kind of redundant to post about this at this point. Every blog that even dabbles in politics is writing about, most better than I could. BUT - just how blatantly bigoted to the Republicans think it's a good idea to be? Do they think that their base of white, angry, frightened senior citizens is going to...um...grow over time? They're exquisitely expressing fear of ethnicity and gender all over the freaking place. Rush says she's an "angry woman". Although I'm not seeing it, I don't really see where he's in a position to criticize anger. It's made him a bundle. Although, of course, he also says that Obama has a chip on his shoulder. Transference much, Rush? Obama surely does have a lot on his shoulders. Not many people can legitimately claim to have the weight of the world on their shoulders, but the POTUS can and when you add all the shit left behind by the Bushies it's a wonder he can stand up, but he does. But you never see a sign of a chip.

This whole "reverse racism" thing might have seemed like a good idea for stirring up the low information, white, male, unemployed demographic, but they're taking it way too far like they've done with everything else and allowing everyone to see exactly what they're about.

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Governor Perry Says He's Not A Rebel, No, No, No

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Now Rick Perry writes that he never advocated for secession. And he never will. It was just a case of twisting his words. He's clearing it up now. He's just understandably upset over Democratic deficit spending, as opposed to Republican deficit spending which is just fine.

My only question is whether this is something he'll have to apologize to Rush Limbaugh for. Or is it Hannity who's in charge of secession related apologies?

The Mentally Stable Need Not Apply

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Acting Globally

I don't really know very much about Governor Huntsman of Utah, other than what I've read recently. The graviment of that is that he's that increasingly rare bird - a Republican and not demonstrably mentally ill. Therefore, he might be able to make a credible run for the presidency in 2012 and apparently was considering doing so. It's early, but it was serious enough for the Michigan County Republican Party to cancel an appearance by Huntsman because of his not being enough of a mouth breathing, knuckle dragging bigot support for civil unions. And now he's going to China to be an ambassador. Ambassador to China is a hugely important job at this moment in history and he seems to be well qualified for it. It's also about as far away from Republican Party politics as he can get.

I was thinking about doing a longer post, speculating about Huntsman's motivation for accepting this post, but it turned out that Steven Benen had already posted exactly what I was thinking, only better. This might be the sort of of post-partisanship that President Obama was talking about. A rival goes to the other side of the world and Jon Huntsman gets to take himself out of action while he sees if the Republican Party is ever going to have room for normal people again. And of course, the crazies don't have to go to the trouble of running off another moderate. They've got enough to do with expelling Charlie Crist and Colin Powell.

Acting Out Locally

Meanwhile, here on Long Island, the teabaggers were at it again. They had what looked to be a pretty lively event on tax day last month, so they decided to do it again for Armed Forces Day. I haven't been able to find any coverage of it online as yet. The only reason I knew about it was that my sister passed it on the road today. She said it was as charming as all these things, with signs that said "Waterboard Pelosi" mixed in with other assorted complaints. I'm not surprised that we have some wingnuts in our midst. Not in the least. Hell, there's a couple down that have matching "Sarah Palin 2012" stickers on their cars already. If that's not scary stupid, I don't know what is.

Still, I was curious about our local teabaggers so I checked them out in the Google and found a Meet-Up site where some of them could be found. There's a message board. There are practical discussions about logistics of their events and stuff like that, but keep going and the crazy rears its head. My favorite was a birther post about an April Fool's joke that they ate up like it was dipped in chocolate. They may live in the area, but they haven't moved into the reality based community.

Speaking of which, where's our daily Cheney? I haven't heard anything new from him for two days now. Have I just missed it?