Last night, for the bagillionth time in the last nine months, my president made me proud. It's like Obama is on some sort of quest to make me proud of my country again or something...

I hope you watched the speech on healthcare to Congress last night. I hope that any questions or fears were allayed and I hope you went to sleep feeling a little better about our possibilities of solving this decades old dilemma. Most of all I hope something positive comes from this.

If you watched, you were treated to the latest in Republican self-implosion techniques as Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted "You lie!" and "Not true!" during the speech. I thought my head was going to explode! Since when is it okay for members of Congress to shout down a president during a speech? I don't care what party is in power--it is not appropriate.

Thanks Joe Wilson for adding another shovel of dirt on your party's already heaping grave. You guys are making this effortless.

Big ups to the members of the GOP who all but broke a leg to rush out of the chamber and denounce their colleague with demands for apology. However, they weren't fast enough to keep up with Wilson who blazed a trail reminiscent of the Road Runner before them. Wilson has issued an apology, but that may be little comfort to his party today as they try to distance themselves and defend him all at the same time. Should be an interesting news cycle, no?

Anyone spot Eric Cantor outside the chamber pourin' one out for his homies? Anyone? Nobody.

won't be surprised to see this headline soon

President Obama Breathes, Controversy Ensues.

How insane are things going to get? At what point will the conservative base not jump on everything Obama does? I mean it is really getting ridiculous.

He's not American. He's a socialist. He supports staying in school. He wears pants. He breathes air. He has eyes. He gets haircuts. He doesn't get haircuts. He's black.....

Oh I get it.

fucking sarah palin....

I'm so frustrated about the health care debate, or lack thereof. I should say instead that a debate on health care is trying to occur but some loudmouthed, fear mongering, flag-waving nationalists are hijacking the effort.
I follow a few politicos on Twitter and have been keeping up with how their town hall meetings have been going in the last few weeks. It seems to me that the few minutes of outrage (fake or otherwise) is surpassing and overshadowing the progress that is being made during these efforts. Poor Claire McCaskill from Missouri. Prior to her town hall this week I know she was trying to diffuse any possible ruffles by speaking in terms that were extremely inclusive and giving the benefit of the doubt to the rabble rousers. Her efforts were in vain, and the few minutes of turmoil at her meeting were promptly featured on the news. You can feel the frustration in her post to tumblr: "I'm sad that way too much time has been spent on those 3 minutes and not enough time on the other 117minutes."
I think that is how most of us feel. The squeaky wheel needs to shut up. If the squeaky wheel had a valid, logical argument then okay! squeak away, but it doesn't and therefore should be banished to the junkyard. When squeaky wheel has a real squeak it may come back. Okay..done with the wheel analogy.
And then there is Charles Grassley from Iowa who from one side of his face supports and helped craft the bill, and from the other side of his hypocritical face he says this:


He is even using the very words that the president used in his own town hall meeting earlier this week. Unconscionable and reckless.
Grassley's comments came ballsilly (yes I said it) AFTER Obama held his own town hall meeting refuting the "death panel" claims stirred up by that piece of crap that we just can't get off our shoe, Sarah Palin:
"Let me just be specific about some things that I've been hearing lately that we just need to dispose of here. The rumor that's been circulating a lot lately is this idea that somehow the House of Representatives voted for "death panels" that will basically pull the plug on grandma because we've decided that we don't -- it's too expensive to let her live anymore. And there are various -- there are some variations on this theme.
It turns out that I guess this arose out of a provision in one of the House bills that allowed Medicare to reimburse people for consultations about end-of-life care, setting up living wills, the availability of hospice, et cetera. So the intention of the members of Congress was to give people more information so that they could handle issues of end-of-life care when they're ready, on their own terms. It wasn't forcing anybody to do anything. This is I guess where the rumor came from."

It's times like these that show our intelligence. Dissent is patriotic. Freedom of speech is essential. That speech should however, be informed, intelligent and not based on fear and sour grapes.

SPIN ALERT

It's going to be easy to jump on the "Hillary is such a bitch!" bandwagon today as the media plays this interchange over and over.

Before you make a snap judgment, take into consideration that Hillary was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a place notorious for it's views on women and rife with sexual violence against women.

Is it any wonder Hill snapped back when a translated question, turned into what her husband, Bill, thought of the topic?

"You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?"

"My husband is not secretary of state, I am"

"If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion,"

"I am not going to be channeling my husband."

Taken out of context and forgetting the fact that the poor student's question was translated incorrectly, this interchange looks bad for Hillary to be sure, but it also feeds the Right's need to squash a strong Democratic woman. You know, not at all like the Congo....

edit: 4:21pm Fox News website lead

fun with the nutwings

Make sure you print yours today!
Oooh! Don't forget to carry it in a baggy! And dust off your tinfoil hat too!

At any given time you can tune in to this site and feel the love I have for Rachel Maddow. I mean let's be honest---she is awesome.
Last Thursday night on her MSNBC show she proved her awesomeness again by very nicely putting Pat Buchanan in his place as he had yet another case of Racist Tourette's.
Just look at how Rachel takes Uncle Pat's arm and guides him ever so gently into the venue that makes him all tingly inside: bigotry
The segment ran over 10 minutes, but honestly it is pure joy to watch and I won't even mention her adorableness, sigh.

Update on one of last week's posts:

You'll all be relieved/excited to know that the nut-job church featured in this story has no plans for taking the sign down, in fact, more will be erected featuring more button-pushing topics such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Something tells me I will be linking back to this story a lot.

Want to get good and pissed off at the Righties? Uhm yea, like you need a reason? Here is a good one. Oh, but first you may want to sit down, and have your blood pressure meds on the ready.
Pathetic.
Disgusting.
Sad.
Did I say pathetic already?

This week's Time Magazine cover says:

"Unfaithfully Yours

Infidelity is eroding our most sacred institution. How to make marriage matter again."

Hmmm...all this time I thought it was the gays that were eroding marriage. Isn't that interesting. So it's infidelity, huh?

I guess this means that I can go ahead and make my 16-year-monogamous-lesbian relationship legal now and get all those great benefits, right?

Is it me, or does this sound like sour grapes? Sore losers? Big cry babies? Oh that's right, we are talking about Faux News after all.

So is Fox still running with this whole "fair and balanced" schtick? You can hardly argue anything but the opposite now that this story has broken.

Let's just put the shoe on the other foot, mkay? Had MSNBC, or CBS even, decided to turn down the freakin' President of the United States for air time just because they were sick of pre-empting life-changing shows like "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" or "Don't Forget the Lyrics!", we would have heard about it for weeks to come a la Rush and Bill.

Gotta hand it to Fox for staying true to their belief of feeding the masses all the bullshit they can digest. Apparently, when there is a lack of crap to shovel you just take your ball and go home.

*note: I realize that they also chose not to run one of Bush's speeches in November of 2001. I'm sure he didn't have anything important to say two months after 9/11 either. "American Idol" or an update on the biggest national tragedy of the decade? what to do, what to do...

Keeping pace with their history of reporting a load of crap,

Fox News boasts this lovely headline today on a "story" that

grabs the headline, but consists of just five sentences:

Is Obama the Divider-in-Chief?

I think my favorite part of this layout is the tag line "Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:" Yes, that is exactly what I would call this drivel. Fresh. New. Steaming even.

Hold on a second...are we supposed to believe that the GOP is really concerned about bipartisanship or the lack thereof? Since January 21st, it seems that the main objective of the Goofy Old Poots is to block any kind of efforts at bipartisanship. They have done nothing to work together, make strides, listen openly, or even attempt to make decisions based on what is good for the country. tap tap...psst...bipartisanship doesn't mean you get your way. It means you compromise.

So today they are claiming that the Obama administration is going to kill bipartisanship if it uses methods to push legislation through via the fastrack. I hate to break it to you bunch of blowhards, but there were no bipartisanship efforts to kill. You've made sure of that. Nice try.

this just in: to prove my point further

Most likely while the first link in this post was being reported to the press via some grandiose announcement, the second link was actually making news. Worried about bipartisanship, huh?

It's about time!

Can we please run this during American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy, and Survivor? Someone besides fellow MSNBC geeks like me need to see this and connect the dots!

It strikes me as odd that the very men and women that helped escort our economy into the restroom and let George Bush give it a big ole' swirly are the same people that are bitching and moaning every second about the awfulness of Barack's plan. Clearly and obviously, the Republican plan didn't work and I don't recall hearing a peep when W asked for money over and over for a baseless war. Sounds like someones mad about losing their tax cuts.

Is it just me or does the GOP look like a bunch of crazy, clueless, loons? Exactly how far do they have to go and how much do they have to go against the recovery plan before their base starts to wake up? I mean, is anyone in the Republican party, meaning real-life voters, willing to say they support this bunch of lost buffoons who feel it is more important to vote 'no' on everything and throw the well-being of the masses out the window?

When it comes right down to it, someone who is struggling to make ends meet or keep their house is going to take help from ANYONE and it won't matter which party they represent. I think it's safe to say that voters, if in dire straights are going to start experiencing the political equivalent to a "Come to Jesus" moment. I like to call it a "Come to Barack" moment if you will.

All of the sudden times are hard and only one person can help you out of the muck.

Ohh I am dancing around a touchy subject for most. I can hear you groaning. I've not only mentioned Barack Hussein Obama, (D) in the same sentence as Jesus (gasp) but I've also likened him to having or inflicting similar moments on the people.

Call me a pot-stirrer and button pusher. I'm cool with it.

I had a little awakening/understanding yesterday while listening to The Stephanie Miller Show on Air America.

Abortion is the political equivalent to medicine's cure for cancer.

If the Republicans are ever able to overturn Roe vs. Wade, they really won't have much to use to mobilize their masses in future elections. The big scary 'A' word will be gone.

I hear you saying it, the next focus would be the gays, but that fight seems like it is a bit too easy. point: Every time an election comes up some state is voting to take away some right, overturn some decision, and shove us back into the dark recesses of a musty closet. Baby step by baby step, they make headway on the gay issue, but reproductive rights stay fairly intact. They don't take a beating every time a voting booth is opened.

I'm meandering all over the place, but my point is that if you take those two topics away, specifically abortion, then the Grand Ole Party has nothing with which to draw the hillbillies of Appalachia down the mountain to flip the switch that keeps them in power.
If you kill the monster in the room, you're left standing in the room alone with no one watching.

That's my 2 cents. Feel free to leave me yours.

The Right Wing View

Elizabeth Hasselbeck is the love child of George W. Bush and Phyllis Schlafly

won't be registered at Wal Mart

After telling someone in conversation that we were going to LA soon, she asked me disgustedly, "You're not going out there to get married are you?" My immediate response was, in my opinion, the only thing I could say: "No, but what if we were?"

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me tell you that I have rarely seen such a display of what we here in the south call, crawfishin'. All of the sudden this person was all "Oh well I was going to say "You better tell me if you do!" in a fashion that would suggest that she had already bought a wedding gift.

Herein lies the problem with so called open-minded conservatives that want to keep one toe in the progressive/liberal pool (the vast majority of people living here): you can't pretend to embrace liberals and be open to change all the while listening to Brush Lintball and driving around town with a Rudy 08 sticker on your minivan. It will catch up with you eventually, and when it does you will feel just a stupid as you sound.

Do you find it funny that the YouTube Democratic debates came and went without a hitch,and no scheduling problems for the candidates came up...noisily excuses about conflicts with fund-raisers...no blatant running and hiding behind the first excuse available?

Now that it's the GOP's turn to debate in this new progressive venue, all of the sudden they are busier than bees and can't seem to find time to squeeze this in! Hmmm.

In the meantime, the Democratic debates were very enlightening and insightful. I rather enjoyed seeing the candidates think quick on their feet if not squirm a bit! Take a few minutes to check out the highlights. You too might learn something too about the people vying for the highest seat in the nation.