This is the one when they talk about Chat-roulette..

Doing it Ben Folds style. With less penis of course.

-Cheers

Seems vaguely appropriate right now....

I still have significant problems with the administration on a host of different issues, but this weekend was an affirmation that we can still do big things that don't involve blowing up brown people.

And that is some "Change" I can get behind.

-Cheers

Republicans going America all over your ass.....

Blatantly stolen from "It's always Sunny in Philadelphia", but I think it is appropriate. If you haven't seen the episode, it basically stems from Charlie deciding that he needs to show people what America is really about. Basically this boils down to a lot of screaming platitudes at people and vomiting.

If you actually watched the proceedings last night, you could fairly describe the republican behavior similarly. Lot's of screaming of platitudes with out much substance and a whole mess of histrionics.

It was fairly despicable, to be completely honest. But when it all comes down to it the bill passed and the fixes passed as well. Ezra Klein does a good round up of what this means here.

In closing I do not much like Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), but he doesn't deserve to be called a "baby-killer". I will support his primary challenger, because I don't agree with his politics, but I will not attack his principles. I think he was tragically wrong in his reading of the bill and on his stance on reproductive rights. But I will not disparage that he may be standing on principle.

Anyway, now we make it better. Hopefully we have taking our first step into a slightly better and fairer world.

-Cheers

History in the making....

Well today, like it or not, things will be resolved. The House of Representatives is set to vote on the Health Care Reform package, congress has been debating for the last year.

We have reached the endgame here folks. Not the end mind you. This will begin the arduous process of transforming our broken health care system. There will be additional fixes and changes to bolster this crippled system.

So in the often over and mis-quoted, "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

The democrats could still mess this up. Dooming their forecasts for several election cycles. People will accept mendacity and outright prevarication, but a lack of leadership is hard to forgive. Especially when you have asked to lead.

I could go over all the things that have been done wrong in this process, the lack of a public option, taking single payer off the table so early, preservation of the private insurance model, or giving any credence to republican cooperation, but that does not have any bearing now. For good or for ill, we only only have this bill in front of us. We can not compare it to some sort of platonic ideal form.

So here it is Democrats, this is your chance to show your mettle. But I will let the President take it from here.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

-Cheers

Douche-bag(s) of the week

What with all the health care sturm und drang (if Tyler can use interrobang, I can use that phrase!?), I am not wanting for ample targets to chose from. However these two individuals went above and beyond, even putting these fellows to shame.

Mocking an 11 year old child whose mother had died. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck thought that simple because this child thought that maybe, if his mother had been able to afford insurance she might not have died. And for that thought this is the sort of response this child gets:

Limbaugh:
"Now this is unseemly, exploitative, an 11-year-old boy being forced to tell his story all over just to benefit the Democrat Party and Barack Obama …And, I would say this to Marcelas Owens : 'Well, your mom would still have died, because Obamacare doesn't kick in until 2014.'"

Beck:
"That's the George Soros-funded Obama-approved group fighting for health care…Since all of the groups are so concerned and involved now, may I ask where were you when Marcelas' mother was vomiting blood?"

And if you and your ilk weren't allowed to spew your venom, perhaps the Clinton plan would have passed and this young boy would still have is mother.

So for attacking an 11-year old you get to be the Douche bag of the week!

On a separate but equally infuriating issue. The Tea Party, comes up from time to time in my posts. Well David Frum (no progressive by any stretch of the definition) had some interns do a survey of the tea partyers while they were in D.C this past week. The results were interesting to say the least.

In general, suffice to say, they do not know what the fuck they are talking about. That may have been a bit crude, so I will let Bruce Bartlett take it from here (also not know for his liberal policy views, as he was a serious Reagan economic adviser).

The first question that was asked concerned the size of government. Tea Partyers were asked how much the federal government gets in taxes as a percentage of the gross domestic product. According to Congressional Budget Office data, acceptable answers would be 6.4%, which is the percentage for federal income taxes; 12.7%, which would be for both income taxes and Social Security payroll taxes; or 14.8%, which would represent all federal taxes as a share of GDP in 2009.

Not everyone follows these numbers closely, and Tea Partyers may have been thinking of figures from a few years ago, before the recession when taxes were higher. According to the CBO, the highest figure for all federal taxes since 1970 came in the year 2000, when they reached 20.6% of GDP. As we know, after that George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress cut federal taxes; they fell to 18.5% of GDP in 2007, before the recession hit, and 17.5% in 2008.

Tuesday's Tea Party crowd, however, thought that federal taxes were almost three times as high as they actually are. The average response was 42% of GDP and the median 40%. The highest figure recorded in all of American history was half those figures: 20.9% at the peak of World War II in 1944.

To follow up, Tea Partyers were asked how much they think a typical family making $50,000 per year pays in federal income taxes. The average response was $12,710, the median $10,000. In percentage terms this means a tax burden of between 20% and 25% of income.

[...]According to calculations by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a congressional committee, tax filers with adjusted gross incomes between $40,000 and $50,000 have an average federal income tax burden of just 1.7%. Those with adjusted gross incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 have an average burden of 4.2%.

It is one thing to engage in a debate, but I personally think you should at least know what it is you are talking about before you engage....

-Cheers

Letting your nerd out....

A friend sent me this link, it is described as a way of giving people a sense of scale about the universe.

So kind of nifty.

Also got God of War 3 and a PS3 the other day. To say I am enjoying it, just doesn't do it justice. Don't be shocked if you see "around town" and "buddy" pictures of me and my PS3. I've named him Clark. We are going to be best buddies.

But here is a trailer so you can see how I intend to spend my time.


-Cheers

Blogging blackout...

I'm sure some of you have been wondering, with Health Care Reform teetering on the cusp of passage (or failure), that I would have loads of thing to say.

Well I do, but seeing as every time I launch into epic rants about HCR, the political fortunes of it seem to swoon. So as a different tact, I will just post some small items here.

Conflicting points of view Ezra Klein and Glenn Greewald explore different rationales for the HCR debate.

I have gone back and forth on whether to support the health care plan or not. But this video has to be one of the man reasons why I do.


There has been a lot of uninformed "debate" on this topic. But this is just naked and repulsive self-absorption. The sheer lack of decency these people show to someone who is obviously infirmed is jarring.

After watching it, I was left with one feeling. I did not want to live in a world like the one they must. If passing an imperfect bill mitigates the suffering of some of our fellow citizens then that makes this country a little better, and this world a little better. On something this large and this important to the national character I have not choice but to support the reform legislation currently on the hill. It is better then what we have now. Not what I want, but better then the status quo. Letting these people "win", is the worst thing we could ever do for our country.

I will fight the good fight on torture, civil liberties or educational reform, but on this matter the choice is a very simple. It is either this bill or nothing. That is it. When you are arguing against this bill, you are arguing for a continuation of the system we currently have. It really is that simple.

That is the choice we have left. Do something to ameliorate the current situation or do nothing for another 15-20 years.

-Cheers