LT Saloon

Going Back to the Cliff Again…

Okay, it is official.  The Senate voted on the Health Care Reform bill and it passed by a landslide.

I will repeat that for those Conservatives that pass by here –

The Senate passed its version of the Health Care Reform Act by a landslide.

Sure, it was only 58 Democrats and two Independents voting for it, while not one Republican did.  But with a victory of 60 percent, that is by definition a “landslide”.

Now it can be easily argued that eight of those Democrats are actually Republicans who just call themselves “Blue Dog Democrats”, and one of those Independents is just a douche bag.  You could if you want to try and point out that this was really a “bi-partisan” effort.

Of course that would only be an excuse for how badly this thing turned out.

Yesterday, I was all ready to cross my fingers and hope that things could get cleaned up a bit in conference.  Today, my only hope is that the Progressives of the House scuttle the entire thing by NOT BACKING DOWN ON THEIR DEMANDS.

Here is the thing:  The “Blue Dogs” of the Senate are not going to waiver.  Why?  Because they haven’t been bitch slapped by the Senate Democratic Leadership.  They saw what happened when Lieberman became the first spoiler and got his way, then Ben Nelson went and did his thing.

Nothing happened to them.  They got what they wanted and came out of it in one piece.

You can bet if the House put their version of a Public Option back in, or any of the other things that the Progressives pushed for,  the Senate Blue Dogs would torpedo the entire bill.

But if the Progressives of the House just go along with the Senate version and rubber stamp it. we are even worse off than NOT having this “must-have” legislation.

I say, “Go For Broke, House Progressives!”    Load the Public Option or better yet just open up Medicare to all and then draw the line in the sand.  Take it or leave it.  Either we get something worth while, or don’t get anything at all.

The point is, between 60 and 70 percent of the American people WANT either a public option or Medicare.  Poll after poll tells us this.  What they DON’T want is this Senate bill as written.

People WANT and end to the anti-trust exemption the insurance companies currently enjoy.  They WANT competition in the insurance industry.  While they don’t want to be turned down for “pre-existing conditions”, they also don’t want to be forced to pay five times as much because of it — just so the private insurance companies can increase their profits.

There is nothing in the Senate bill that actually LOWERS the cost of health insurance.  If anything, there is nothing that stops the industry from jacking the price up.

The only logical step is for the Dems in the House to push for THEIR version of the bill and nothing less.  If the Senate blows it up, then we know who to blame for it.

In Being Talked Off the Cliff…

The other day I was angry.  Pissed off enough to say “fuck them all”.  Now I am just weary.

I am still upset over the provisions of the Health Care Reform bill as it is about to pass out of the Senate.  Untouched, it will be a complete disaster, and create an undue burden on all of us.

However, this is just a foundation, it still has to go back to the House where there is still a bill that is much more palatable than the Senate version.  Something is bound to be changed in order for the House to go along with it.

But I am not counting on it.

Granted, the final bill is not the dream bill that most progressives envisioned at the beginning.  In fact, it is pretty damn thin in the areas we think it should matter the most.  But I am reminded that this is the first significant piece of social legislation that has gotten this far in decades.  And it still contains a LOT of things we’ve needed.

But is is no where near complete.

I am also reminded that Social Security and Medicare were also very weak and lacked some very important features when initially passed.  But the hard work was getting something like that passed in the first place.  It took some time after that to beef them up and make those programs what they are today.

The same thing goes for this current Health Care Reform bill.  It is just the foundation in which to build upon.  The hard work is really over — and THIS is what the Republicans are so afraid of.  With the Health Care Reform act in place, it becomes a budgetary item that can be added to with a simple majority.  Most of the provisions of this bill don’t come into effect until 2014, meaning that in the mean time,  Congress can build up the walls and roof on the foundation and start adding the furniture.  They will no longer need the “super-majority” in order to add to the foundation.

WE THE PEOPLE have work to do on this too.  We sit back on our lazy asses and complain because Congress isn’t doing what we want them to.  We complain because Obama isn’t doing what we want him to do.

Here is the problem:  we aren’t getting our message out to Congress or the President.  We aren’t PUSHING them to do what we want, we are only sitting back and letting them have their own heads.

FDR didn’t start out as a progressive kind of guy — he accomplished good things because the PEOPLE PUSHED HIM INTO IT.  Left alone, any politician is going to drift aimlessly.  The only way these people are going to hear us is if we start yelling at them.  Show up in droves, don’t just sit back at a computer and send emails or call on the phone.  MAKE A SCENE.

I hate to say it, but the teabaggers had at least THAT part right.  The Vietnam war didn’t end because people stayed at home.  They took to the streets.  They made noise.  They demonstrated.  We’ve lost a lot of that, thinking that Twitter, blogs, and forums are a substitute for plain old fashioned “boots on the ground”.

The other day I blamed our politicians.  Today I give them partial blame, but I blame US more for not pushing them.

This Senate Health Care Reform bill is crap as it sits, but it isn’t the end of the line.  It is the beginning.  Now it is up to us to take this dreck and turn it into something great.

The Real Pro-Death Party

A caller named “Abraham” got through to C-SPAN during an interview with Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and asked Barrasso if Coburn’s call to prayer had backfired on Republicans–on Tuesday it was Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), not Sen. Byrd that failed to appear at a health care vote.

“We got our vigil together and took sen. coburn’s instructions and prayed real hard that Sen. Byrd would either die or couldn’t show up at the vote the other night. how hard did you pray, because I see one of our members is missing this morning. Did it backfire on us? Did one of our members die?!”

Unsubscribing the Democrats

I don’t know about you, every day I get maybe eight or ten emails from different Democratic organizations and even from the “President” himself.  (Although, barackobama.com isn’t actually affiliated with the president)  Most of the time they tell me how great a job they are doing and how they need more money to “stop” the Republicans from doing the things Republicans naturally do.

Tonight I got one of those emails written in the first person by Obama.  This is some of what he told me:

DJ –

Early this morning, the Senate made history and health reform cleared its most important hurdle yet — garnering the 60 votes needed to move toward a final vote in that chamber later this week.

This marks the first time in our nation’s history that comprehensive health reform has come to this point. And it appears that the American people will soon realize the genuine reform that offers security to those who have health insurance and affordable options to those who do not.

I’m grateful to Senator Harry Reid and every senator who’s been working around the clock to make this happen. And I’m grateful to you, and every member of the Organizing for America community, for all the work you have done to make this progress possible.

After a nearly century-long struggle, we are now on the cusp of making health insurance reform a reality in the United States of America.

As with any legislation, compromise is part of the process. But I’m pleased that recently added provisions have made this landmark bill even stronger. Between the time when the bill passes and the time when the insurance exchanges get up and running, insurance companies that try to jack up their rates do so at their own peril. Those who hike their prices may be barred from selling plans on the exchanges.

And while insurance companies will be prevented from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions once the exchanges are open, in the meantime there will be a high-risk pool where people with pre-existing conditions can purchase affordable coverage.

A recent amendment has made these protections even stronger. Insurance companies will now be prohibited from denying coverage to children immediately after this bill passes. There’s also explicit language in this bill that will protect a patient’s choice of doctor. And small businesses will get additional assistance as well.

These protections are in addition to the ones we’ve been talking about for some time. No longer will insurance companies be able to drop your coverage if you become sick and no longer will you have to pay unlimited amounts out of your own pocket for treatments that you need.

Under this bill families will save on their premiums; businesses that would see their costs rise if we don’t act will save money now and in the future. This bill will strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the program. Because it’s paid for and gets rid of waste and inefficiency in our health care system, this will be the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade.

Finally, this reform will extend coverage to more than 30 million Americans who don’t have it.

These are not small changes. These are big changes. They’re fundamental reforms. They will save money. They will save lives.

And your passion, your work, your organizing helped make all of this possible. Now it’s time to finish the job.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

Well, not being in all that great of a mood to begin with, and having a discussion with a friend of mine about all of the “accomplishments” so far, I decided it was time for me to disconnect from the emails that simultaneously blow sunshine up my ass and then ask for donations to support the fight against the eeevil opposition.

I started to unsubscribe from these emails.

When I went to unsubscribe from “Barack Obama’s” latest email, I thought I would first reply to it.  After all, “he” did take the time to email me.  So I typed up this little quickie and sent it off to him:

From: DJ Allyn <xxxxx@xxxxx>
To: info@barackobama.com, admin@barackobama.com
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:13:55 -0800
Subject: Re: Where we stand

From where I stand, I am extremely disappointed.  This isn’t “reform”.  Neither was your economic reform bill. I see no “change to believe in”, I just see business as usual.

I still see the same players on Wall Street doing the same things they have been doing.  I still see the same insurance industry except now you have literally authorized them to commit mandated robbery on us.  I see us still in the same wars we were when Bush was in office — except now you are expanding one of them.  I see you surrounded by the same financial experts that got us into this economic mess to begin with.

I don’t see any leadership.  I don’t see any direction.  You make some beautiful speeches but that is about it.  I don’t see you twisting any arms to get things done.

I am afraid that your presidency is only going to last for one term and that will be a shame.  At the rate things are going, Democrats are going to lose the House in 2010 and the Senate AND the presidency in 2012 because you tried be “bipartisan”.  I hate to break this to you, but YOU were the only one wanting to act bipartisan.

So I am unsubscribing from your email list, just as I am unsubscribing from both my Senator’s email lists, and the DLC and DCCC list.

I am just sick and tired of getting these emails telling me how great things you are doing and I don’t like being pestered for more money from you because you think you deserve some sort of “reward” for what you’ve done so far.

I suspect that I am not the only one who feels this way.  Maybe if you take a look at how many people are unsubscribing lately you might re-think things.

DJ Allyn

Of course they don’t receive reply emails.  Apparently they don’t really care what we have to say, and just don’t want to hear it.  It took about ten seconds for it to bounce back to me

So when I went to actually unsubscribe, it asked me why I was unsubscribing.  I pasted my response in that field.

Going Nuclear

It is clear to me that there are two options the Democrats have to operate on.  The first option is the route that they have been going on — propose legislation and have the Republicans (along with a few who might as well be Republicans) threaten to filibuster.  This forces every piece to have sixty votes in place just to bring it to an actual vote.  Because of this, the Democrats are forced to give up many of the key proposals they were put into office for in exchange for the right to vote on something.

By the time something like the Health Care Reform legislation gets to that point where sixty people give their permission to even vote, it is NOTHING like what was originally proposed.  In the case of the HCR bill, what started out to rein in out of control health insurance costs by providing competition and affordable health care to everyone, has turned into exactly the opposite, thanks to the abuse of a wholly undemocratic and antiquated procedure known as the filibuster.

It is time we did away with the filibuster.

Yeah, I know, some day the Republicans will have control of the Senate and if there isn’t a filibuster in the toolbox, they can pass some chunk of legislation that we don’t like with a simple majority.

But wait a minute…  Why, that’s democracy!  If one side has just one more vote than the other side — they win.  It seems a lot better than what we currently have now, with one side completely abusing the process.  It has become the tyranny of the minority.

If Democrats won the 2008 election, why in the hell are we letting the minority run the show?

We need to do away with the filibuster now.  Unfortunately, it would take 67 votes to change the Senate rules and there just isn’t that many  Senators who will go along with it.  After all, it is the ONLY thing that the Republicans have to make Democrats look bad — and they are going full bore with it.

But there is a much easier way to forever do away with the filibuster — and it only takes fifty votes.

There are fifty votes in the Senate right now for a health care reform bill that includes a “public option”, a buy-in for Medicare, an anti-trust measure for insurance companies, regulations that prevent them to raise premiums on “pre-existing illnesses”.   The Votemaster at Electoral-Vote has the following scenario imagined:

After some debate on the health-insurance bill, Reid could recognize a Democratic senator who called for an immediate vote on the bill. Some Republican would surely raise a point of order claiming that Senate rule 22 prohibits a vote unless 3/5 of the senators agree to cut off debate. The Senate’s presiding officer, Vice President Joe Biden, would then ask the Senate Parliamentarian, Alan Frumin, whether the point was valid. Frumin would say it was, but Biden could overrule him and call for an immediate vote anyway. Some Republican would surely object to this ruling from the chair and ask the Senate to decide. If a simply majority of the Senate agreed with the ruling, the vote would take place. In other words, when the meaning of a Senate rule is in dispute, the presiding officer makes a decision, which the full Senate can sustain or overrule. Changing Senate rules requires 67 votes, so that is not going to happen any time soon. It is possible that Reid didn’t want to go this route because he was worried that in some future Republican-controlled Senate, the Democrats might want to filibuster something and he could then appeal to the Republicans saying: “We could have gone nuclear on you in 2009 and didn’t, so please be nice and don’t go nuclear on us now.”

That means the Democrats could put back in all of the provisions they were blackmailed into taking out. Republicans raise a Point of Order based on Rule 22 and Joe Biden asks the Senate Parliamentarian whether the point is valid and the Senate Parliamentarian will say that it is.  Biden then uses his authority to overrule the Senate Parliamentarian and the vote is taken allowing for a simple majority to pass the legislation.

If Reid and other Democrats are worried that if they “Go Nuclear”, that the Republicans will surely use it against them when they have power, they are being awful naive.  Of COURSE they are going to use it the next time they gain control.  If Democrats don’t use the nuclear option now,  the Republicans are SURE to use it when they get back in.

This way we can get our Congress back to where it should be.

Back Up and Regroup

After almost ten months of being sickened by the sausage-making of the health care “reform” legislation,  I have come to the conclusion that Congress needs to stop, run the 2000+ pages through a shredder, and then go home for the rest of the year.

When they come back in January, the first thing the Democratic caucus needs to do is to go behind closed doors and make some tough decisions.

The first order of business should be for both houses to elect new leadership.  We’ve tried the Harry and Nancy show for too long with little to show for it.

The second order of business should be to kick  Joe Lieberman out of the Democratic Caucus, strip him  of his committee chairmanships,  relocate his office and staff to the boiler room of the Capitol Building,  and reassign him to one or two meaningless committees with no seniority.  Additionally, any and all pork that would benefit his state should be completely stripped from any current or future proposed bill until the man is no longer a Senator.  Connecticut elected this weasel, they should pay the consequences.

Next,  start pushing for term limits,  public campaign financing,  and to change the rules on filibusters so that if someone threatens a filibuster,  they actually have to go through with it — nonstop, with no breaks.  Also limit the number of filibusters per side to three per session.  The purpose of the filibuster was to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority, but in recent years it has become a tool for the tyranny of the minority against the majority.

There needs to be party discipline.  It doesn’t have to be as rigid as what the Republican Caucus has, but if you are going to call yourself a “Democrat”, you should at least adhere to the basic Party platforms.

We The People need to send our elected Democratic representatives a strong message also.  We are part of the problem also.  If you really want to effect how a Democratic Congresscritter is to act, cut off his or her ATM cash supply.  Stop giving money to the DCCC, the DLC or the DNC.  They will give money to any candidate who just calls himself a “Democrat”.  That is how we wound up with Republicans in our Party in the first place.  Instead, if there is a candidate you like, give your money to that candidate specifically.  Cut out the middleman.  That way,  these people are answerable to YOU, and not expecting a money line simply because the stick a “D” at the end of their name.

I don’t care if some Congresscritter has been in office for a few decades and has seniority.  He or she has probably been there too long anyways.  I would rather have term limits of no more than two terms for any federal office than have someone become part of the furniture.  I don’t buy into that idea that a person has to “learn” about the traditions and procedures and how things are done in Washington for a few years before they can be effective.  That is the fucking problem in the first place.  Maybe they should move the Capitol to Nebraska or the middle of Arizona.

It was a huge mistake to try and do something with health care (or anything else) without first fixing the big problems with the system first.  Sure, Democrats had a “majority”, but only after doing some twisted math.  Thanks to the DCCC, the DLC, and the DNC, we opened our tent up to a lot of Republicans who could never have been elected as Republicans, but could easily be elected as Democrats.

Glenn Beck is a Communist

Well, he hasn’t denied it yet, so using his “logic” it has to be true.

Not too long ago, Glenn “I’m Just a Clown” Beck came up with a real crazy and convoluted reading of the art that was commissioned in the 1930s for the Rockefeller Center.

http://ltsaloon.org/media/beck_rockefeller_reasoning.flv

But let’s take a look at something more recent, and a lot less convoluted, shall we?

By now, you are familiar the Teabagger march on September 12, 2009, when almost 60,000 people magically became up to 2 million people?  Let’s take a close look at the logo for that march, shall we?

Notice the clenched fists?  Does it remind you of anything?  (Red.  Clenched.  Fists.)

Yeah, you’re right, it looks a little Communist, doesn’t it?

Ignorance to the point of hatred

On Tuesday, September 8th, President Obama is scheduled to address students via satellite about the importance of education to prepare them for the challenges of the future.

But some ignorant parents — spurred on by the likes of the Limbaughs, Hannitys, and Becks of the Right-wing noise machine — don’t want their children being “indoctrinated” by this black, Socialist/Communist/Marxist/Muslim/Racist person masquerading as a US president (who, absent actual proof or evidence, might not even be a citizen).

This scheduled speech has sparked a controversy across wide swatches of Conservative land in this country.  Parents have called schools to let them know that they will keep their kids home rather than “expose” them to the words of the president.

Some schools have caved in to the complaints of the parents.

“It’s one of those things, you probably can’t please everybody,” said Roland Hernandez, superintendent of Waco Independent School District.

Waco ISD classes won’t be tuning in, Hernandez said, because watching the speech live Tuesday would interrupt the day and lessons that have already been planned.

“I think there are just too many things going on during the week as it is,” he said.

Also, some parents called the district threatening to keep their children home Tuesday if the speech was shown.

“Kids need to be in school,” he said. “We don’t want them staying home for something that’s going to last the entire day.”

So help me out on this:  Texas, with probably one of the worst academic records of the country — and for that matter, the world — has suddenly found that it has too many things going on that it can’t hear a message designed to get kids involved in learning?

Seriously?

These parents are acting as if they are protecting their children against the H1N1 swine flu.  Instead, the infection they are afraid of is Barack Hussein Obama and his influence he might have on their children.

The man is the President of the United States!  A man that an overwhelming majority of people in this once democratic country voted into that position.  But you have ignorant people who listen to the insanity of “clowns” such as Glen Beck coming out saying things like this:

Nina Whitworth called Cedar Ridge Elementary School on Thursday, concerned that the speech would be seen by her six foster children. She was told Cedar Ridge planned to watch the speech. When Obama first took office, Cedar Ridge kindergarten classes held an inaugural ball complete with costumes and masks of Obama and his entire family.

Whitworth was pleased to hear back from the school later that day that, per the district, plans had changed.

“I don’t stand behind him in some of his beliefs,” Whitworth said about Obama. “My concern was I didn’t want people telling my children stuff if it goes against our values.”

Whitworth doesn’t know yet if she’ll let her children stay in the classroom if their teachers decide to use the speech in a lesson. She’ll just have to see what the president says Tuesday.

“If it doesn’t go against our values or I don’t think he’s trying to put ideas in their heads that shouldn’t be there, I wouldn’t have a problem with that,” she said.

Whitworth likens watching the speech at school to teaching evolution.

“I don’t believe in that, and I wouldn’t want it shared with my children,” she said.

Here is a woman that has never bothered to find out for herself what this speech is about.  She is just lazy enough to let those “trusted folks at FOX News” do here thinnin’ for her.

How the hell do you get through to people like this?

Nina is a simp. This isn’t the first time a sitting president has addressed school children to impress upon them the value of getting an education.  John Kennedy did it.  Ronald Reagan did it, and most recently George H. W. Bush did it.  (Nobody would ever have taken “W” seriously if he had tried it)

Nina claims that teaching her children that getting a good edukashun goes against her values, and she doesn’t want this black devil to put ideas into their heads?  That telling her children to be good students and get an education is akin to being taught evolution?

This isn’t about any of that.  This is about hatred.  Pure, blind hatred, and it is indicative of where the Republican Party has ended up.  These are the same people who had no problem with the previous administration handing everything over to Corporations to run the affairs of this country, but suddenly want to secede from the country because a majority of people wanted to restore a social safety net.

I just don’t get it any more.  Maybe we should allow Texas to leave the Union, and invite all of the bigots of the Republican Party to move down there.   Maybe then we would have the incentive to build that fence.

I just get a headache these days arguing with bigots.  There is no getting though to them.  It is just a lot easier to give them Texas and isolate them.  Let them pull themselves up by their own bootstraps in the Christian Taliban Republic of Texas without the help of the US Government that they find so evil.

DJ’s Quote of the Day

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, acknowledged that the court’s approach stretched the statutory text, but he said the court should avoid deciding hard constitutional questions when it could.

Let me get this straight:  The Supreme Court, which is supposed to decide disputes in law based upon the Constitution, “should avoid deciding hard constitutional questions when it could.”?

Are you kidding me?

The Faux Outrage of Sarah Palin

I am sure you’ve probably seen or heard Sarah Palin on the various talk shows lately, first to tell us how wrong Obama has been about the economy, and then about her outrage over a joke David Letterman made earlier in the week about her daughter getting “knocked up” by Alex Rodriguez while attending a Yankees game.

David, of course was referring to Sarah Palin’s oldest daughter, Bristol Palin, who became pregnant at the age of 17 by her casual teenaged boyfriend.  Lately, Bristol has been all over the television talking about her pregnancy, and her sex life.

The rub in this case is that while David assumed it was Bristol who attended the Yankees game in New York, it was actually the younger daughter, Willow, who is fourteen years old and presumably not engaging in casual sex with anyone yet.  (but who knows?)

Sarah Palin, not one to let a chance at having more face time in front of a camera, has jumped all over this outrage even though she knows (as does everyone else with half a brain) that the joke was NOT directed towards her fourteen year old daughter, but her older adult daughter — the one making all of the appearances on TV to freely talk about her sex life to anyone who will listen (or cares).

Sarah Palin called the remarks a “very convenient excuse” that took him a couple of days to present. “It was a degrading comment about a young woman. I would hope that people really start rising up and deciding it’s not acceptable. No wonder young girls especially have such low self-esteem in America when we think it’s funny for a so-called comedian to get away with being able to make such a remark as he did and to think that that’s acceptable,” Palin said.

I am thinking that the fact her daughter got knocked up at seventeen, then paraded around with the dimwitted boyfriend during the election has a little more to do with fucked up parenting skills than it does about a joke presented by a late-night comedian about a joke of a governor and her family.

Besides, all of this “outrage” coming from a woman who tells us that the President of the United States is a terrorist/Muslim/Communist/Socialist who pals around with terrorists,  and probably wasn’t born in the US.

Please go back to Alaska and stay the hell up there.

Oh, and Mr. Letterman?  Please resist the urge to talk about the Palins from this time forth.  All you are doing is giving her more face time in front of a camera.