It has been quite some time, Gentle Reader, since we addressed the issue of political robot design, but recent events have forced us to return to the subject once again.
As you undoubtedly are aware, three high profile ‘bots from Robotican™ Labs have recently experienced major failures.
It was originally thought that the problems were isolated to the Robotican™.1 Congressional Series of Devices...but it is now known that the failures also extend to the.2 Gubernatorial Series as well.
In today’s story we will examine what is known about these failures, how they may impact other devices in Political Service, and what solutions might be available to address these issues.
It seems like everywhere you look these days, someone’s trying to spread...The Fear.
All around us...in every town...on every corner...a massive Army Of Fear is standing by, according to the Messengers, ready at a moment’s notice to obey the dictates of some unappointed Czar or another.
Just ask Glenn Beck: concentration camps for the white people, jackbooted stormtroopers ready to snatch the guns from your cold dead fingers...Socialist Government-Controlled Healthcare That Threatens Your Not Socialist Medicare...it’s all coming, my friends—and unless we organize, as a community, to return to the values of the Founding Fathers, The Government, meaning that awful Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and George Soros and all the other Evil Community Organizers, will win.
There’s no government, we’re told, like no government.
You know who would find all of this fear of self-government just entirely bizarre?
The Founding Fathers.
In today’s conversation we’ll consider the fundamentals of American patriotism, we’ll ask one of those Founding Fathers how he saw the role of Government—and we’ll toss in a few words from Abraham Lincoln, just for good measure.
LANGUAGE WARNING: Today’s story is uncharacteristically blunt, and from this moment forward we will be using lots of inappropriate language in making our points.
It is by now fairly well known that Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s White House Chief of Staff, had a bit of a blow-up with liberals who were ready to start running ads against “blue dog” Democrats who were working very hard to shut down the health care reform effort.
Now we’re not gonna get in the middle of that argument today; instead, since we’re finally getting a chance to talk, I figured me and Rahm could get a few other things out of the way that have been on everyone’s mind for the past year or so.
I think he doesn't ask tough questions when McCain, Cheney or other Republicans are on his program. I am, however in 100% agreement with his commentary today. Until the issue he discusses changes, we're just putting good bulbs in a bad socket.
As most of you are well aware, last week was a snow week in Washington, DC, and the odds are pretty good that there‘s something like that going on for you as well.
Our good friends in the conservative community have seized upon the moment as proof that this whole “global warming” thing is just a big scam perpetrated by the likes of Al Gore and his Legion Of Weather Nazis; their mission being only to deprive the American people of their Constitutional right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of a Ford Super Duty F-450 King Ranch Edition with the Heavy Service Suspension Package, Snow Plow Prep Package, Transmission Power Take-Off Provision, dual alternators, and supplemental cab heater.
To drive the point home, last week Senator James Inhofe’s family went to the time and trouble to build a little igloo on the National Mall for our amusement.
But here’s a question: just what has the weather been like in other places—for example, in my part of the world...or in the Senator’s home State of Oklahoma?
It’s a good question—and the Senator won’t like the answer.
I was supposed to begin the long-delayed series of PTSD stories I’ve been planning, but before we begin, I need to tell y’all about something that just happened in my house.
For us it wasn’t a matter of life or death, but it is the kind of story that explains, perfectly, why we need to reform the health care system we have today—and for that matter, it’s also a great explanation of why a single-payer system would be a giant step forward for everyone in this country, whether you’re insured today or not.
It’s also hilarious and sad and frustrating, all at the same time—which makes today’s story a pretty good allegory for the current American way of doing health care.
So follow along, have a good laugh…and at the same time, take a minute to consider what could be, and how much less irritating things should be.
As a result of a recent event involving an aircraft and underpants Representative Peter King (R-Not From Iowa), the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, has again come forth to bring his expertise on questions of international terrorism to the national debate.
King, a Congressman who represents a district that straddles New York’s Long Island (NY-3), previously served as the Comptroller of Nassau County and a member of Hempstead, New York’s Town Council, which wouldn’t seem to be the kind of résumé that would give you much credibility in this arena—but Mr. King is a special case.
You see, Mr. King knows a great deal about terrorism...from the inside...because for many years the personal cause that drove his life was to be an active and public supporter of a terrorist group.
And that’s why, today, we’ll be connecting the dots between Congressman King and the Irish Republican Army.
I like to look at facts in debates like these. In this case, a government agency has issued a report showing that, in 2008, the private sector controlled costs MUCH better than did government.
Essentially we're looking at the bottom line. In this case, the growth rate of costs for medicare and other government-run healthcare programs increased dramatically, while at the same time the overall growth rate for healthcare costs decreased. Which means that private sector growth rate decreased even more dramatically.
In other words, private sector consumers stand a better chance of lowering health care costs than does government.
With this evidence, WHY aren't their any private-sector reforms in the ObamaCare bills? It seems like they would have the potential to be effective...
I need a job, so I must run for governor. Some months there are a few days I didn't have food. I pay all my bills first and what is left over is for food.
I will do a good job because I don't want the people of Alabama to fire me. My qualifications are four ex wives, so you know that I know how to interact with people on a personal level. Perhaps the fact that my fifth is successful will fortify my claim.
I smoked pot during my youth and I inhaled; yet I soon learned to eat pot because to inhale any kind of smoke is bad. When you eat pot the effects are more profound.
I am bribe proof. I didn't like my parents telling me what to do. You think I'd listen to the hospital lobby, the legal drug lobby, or the trial lawyers?
I was kicked out of Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College for publishing a little rag called The Saint. It contained too much satire, poetry, and social comment.
I will appoint people from all parties, including the socialist and libertarian, also some non party folk. I will present a state constitution modeled on the U.S. Constitution as amended, but specific to our state.
I learned during youth that lying and stealing hurt folk; folk will find you out.
I was a Republican but I recovered from it. I am not a Democrat. You catch the party virus once, recover, you have antibodies for life. I am not even an independent.
My house has the only menorah in the neighborhood.
The ladies from that most persistent Christian sect don't come around anymore.
First time they came, I said politely, I am not interested. Apparently they misunderstood and returned the next week.
I shorten the story. They came seventeen times in two years.
I told them that I was a Jew. That was a terrible mistake. They came twice in one week.
I finally rid myself of their visits. The last time I said to them that I was not interested in a religion that said god came literally in a mortal woman, impregnated her.
I cleaned my language somewhat here. To them I said the F word. You should have heard and seen their faces.
I write this on the anniversary of that last visit. I can not celebrate Christmas in peace now.
We strive to be, if anything, a participatory space around here, and I’ve had a question come to my inbox that is very much deserving of our attention.
To make a long story short, our questioner wants to know why, on the one hand, despite the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, also known as the “stimulus”), unemployment in the construction industry continues to increase, and, on the other hand, why there is such a giant disparity, on a state-by-state basis, in the cost of saving a job?
They’re great questions, and, having done a bit of research, I think I have some cogent answers.
There has been a great wailing and gnashing of teeth over the past day or so as those who follow the healthcare debate react to the Stupak/Some Creepy Republican Guy Amendment.
The Amendment, which is apparently intended to respond to conservative Democrats' concerns that too many women were voting for the Party in recent elections, was attached to the House's version of healthcare reform legislation that was voted out of the House this weekend.
The goal is to limit women's access to reproductive medicine services, particularly abortions; this based on the concept that citizens of good conscience shouldn't have their tax dollars used to fund activities they find morally repugnant.
At first blush, I was on the mild end of the wailing and gnashing spectrum myself...but having taken a day to mull the thing over, I'm starting to think that maybe we should take a look at the thinking behind this...and I'm also starting to think that, properly applied, Stupak's logic deserves a more important place in our own vision of how a progressive government might work.
It's Political Judo Day today, Gentle Reader, and by the time we're done here it's entirely possible that you'll see Stupak's logic in a whole new light.
Over the past few days we have been talking about Washington State's Referendum 71, which was voted on this week. If passed, the Referendum will codify in law certain protections for same-sex couples.
In the first story of our three-part series we discussed Washington's unusual vote-by-mail system; in the second we examined the pre-election polling.
Today we talk about what happened Election Night at the R-71 event and where the vote count stands today...and where it might end up when we're all done.
We have lots of geeky electoral analysis ahead-and as a special bonus, we have video of the event, including an exclusive interview with Charlene Strong, the woman who became one of the icons of the pro-71 campaign.
It's a lot to cover, so we better get right to it.
So we are now finding out the answers to some of our questions about which members of Congress actually represent We, the People...and which ones represent, Them, the Corporate Masters.
We have seen a Democratic Senator propose a policy that would put people in jail for not buying health insurance and a Democratic President who has taken numerous public beatings from those on the left side of the fence for his inability to ram something through a group of people...and yes, folks, the entendre was intentional.
But most of all, we've been asking ourselves: "why would Democratic Members of Congress who will eventually want us to vote for them vote against something that nearly all voting Democrats are inclined to vote for?"
Today's conversation attempts to answer that question by looking at exactly how money and influence flow through a key politician, Montana's Senator Max Baucus-and in doing so, we examine some ugly political realities that have to be resolved before we can hope to convince certain Members of Congress to vote for what their constituents actually want when it really counts.
So it's the day of the big speech, Mr. President, and we got trouble with a capital "T" right here in Health Care City.
What are you gonna do? Do we follow the traditional Democratic Party legislative process of passing...something...at any cost, assuming the entire time that the Left and the Netroots will "go along with the program", or is there a risk that the calculus doesn't work as well today as it did in 1994 and 1996?
Well, lucky for you, I'm a fake consultant, and I know a few things about your "target market", so before you answer that question...we need to talk.
We are coming down to the home stretch on healthcare, and we have seen the results of the first couple of rounds of crazy that have been sent forth in an effort to stop the process.
In addition to the Town Halls, opponents are flooding the email inboxes of America's "low information" voters with no end of lies. Those emails are getting passed around and around and around, and by now some of them have probably appeared in your inbox.
But it's summer...and who has time to respond to this stuff?
Well, guess what, Gentle Reader: I've already done the hard work for you.
Today's story is an email response that you can send right back to your "inbox friends". It's a reminder of some of the frustrations that we all share in this country and some explanations of what's being proposed...and a few words about socialism, to boot.
So get out there and copy and paste and forward and reply, and let's see if we can't fight the madness, one email at a time.
Watch, listen and learn. Dr. Dean explains the public option for dummies, and the difference between politics and policy. The gop is playing politics with our lives.
We've all been hearing the "Town Hall Meeting" stories the past few days, and the images presented have been of gatherings where you might see some current or former official "death panel" for the benefit of the crowd, where the few people who shout the loudest bully the rest into silence, and where threats of physical intimidation are part of the debate.
I attended one of these meetings, and based on what I saw I'm here to tell you that it is possible to hold an event that features none of the images previously described.
Instead, what I say was an event where people asked their questions, the Congressman answered-and from time to time the angry members of the audience got their shout on, too...but not in a way that was able to ever take control of the venue.
There were helpful lessons that can be applied by others who want to have these meetings, and today's conversation examines what can be done to make them work for you, too.
Boy, to hear them tell it, Americans are rising up in unison to resist Obama's Socialist agenda. On CNN this morning there was a brilliantly conceived and orchestrated interview with a woman named Katy. Our girl, Katy, explained several times that she doesn't know much about health care, or politics, or government or history, but nonetheless wants her totally uninformed views noted and broadcast by the media. And of course, since increasing the ignorance of the electorate is the apparent goal of our media, she got a full airing of her air-headed views. Hooray once again for the media we have!
As I type this, I am still watching CNN (You probably ask "Why?") as they show a Town Hall meeting with Sen. Grassley, (R-Iowa). The brilliant talking heads marvelled at how comparitively well behaved the crowd was at this event, and how reasonable the discourse was. Well, DUH! The morons are not going to disrupt a gopper's meeting. That might give the idea that there is some balance here.
(Read the first comment, as well as the diary. - promoted by mooncat)
WASHINGTON (FNS) - In a startling development related to the recent disruptions of town hall meetings, FNS is now able to confirm that the Obama Administration, with the assistance of Unilever Group and Queen Beatrix, both of the Netherlands, PepsiCo, Skull And Bones, and the Bilderberg Group, is unleashing a secret plot to dispatch fleets of unmarked aircraft and helicopters to prevent teabag protesters from having access to teabags.
The goal of the plot: to disrupt protesters' plans to save America from the destruction of our health care system.
FNS reporters have been following a trail of information that includes airport noise abatement records, classified documents, and the testimony of insiders, some of whom are now willing to be publicly identified.
We'll begin our story by reporting on three events that occurred the evening of Friday, August 8th.
