Red herrings

[erehwon2]

There have been a couple of red herrings sucking the oxygen out of the room over the last few days. But we really have bigger fish to fry.

RH-1: The raging about the Obama speech to schoolkids. We all know it will be innocuous in political terms, and in tone and content will neither pander nor "indoctrinate". Please keep in mind that the squeeky wheels in the media here are by and large the same folks who gave us the Creationist Museum in Buttfuck, KY.

RH-2: Van Jones was well within his rights to say what he did, and I thought it was fun to hear. If the shoe had been on the other foot, e.g. "major league asshole" and "go fuck yerself", the mouth breathers might have had a circle jerk over how tough their guys were (oh that's right, they did). I think Van Jones did the right thing resigning because it's true he signed a petition implying LIHOP, and there was no way that was going away. He did the right thing in shaking off the media and not letting himself distract from the real issues he was dealing with. The "asshole" thing was innocuous, but would be just the thing for riling up the mouth-breathers of the Beck/Limbaugh cult, aka the target audience of the so-called Republican party, aka true-believing assholes. Read Fromm's True Believer for details.

We have a few bigger fish to fry, really really big.

I'm not going to second-guess Obama's bicameral speech on Wednesday, but I hope against hope he will come out forcefully for MEDICARE 4 ALL. I hope he gets nasty, as a matter of fact, because the insurance vampires are MAKING A KILLING in more ways than one. The US has the most dysfunctional health care in the whole fucking developed world, pay a lot and get shit in return. There are better ways and while I'm a single-payer guy, I'd sure as shit settle for a public option (lousy name, by the way, MEDICARE 4 ALL makes a better bumper sticker). The public option is a great fallback bargaining chip.

I hope people can keep focused on HCR and not get sidetracked by non-issues and red herrings. Real HCR changes all the rules of the game. With the public option, you don't lose healthcare if you're laid off. You don't have to switch to a new, probably shittier insurer if you actually manage to find a new job. Costs go down. That makes our labor pool more competetive. BTW, Mexico has single-payer and damned competent professional medical staff.

There's a lot of nasty shit that needs fixing, but right now, this minute, the battle is raging on HCR and we cannot afford to lose it. The Repubs want to bring Obama down on it for fun, profit, and the 2010 run. They don't give a shit if we live or die. Fuck them, let's win this one. Dems: don't fuck it up. There's reconciliation right there in front of you staring you in the face. Use it or lose it.

I'm going to continue to chime in on this until it's resolved. It's too important, even the public option plus tight regulation of private insurers will be a huge step forward that will affect everyone. However, if we hear "trigger" and "co-op", they might as well just forget about the whole damn thing. So get loud, be proud.

There are other huge issues to deal with, I know, but right now the focus is on the chance to make a real change on a debate that has raged since the 1940's and can finally be resolved if the right people do the right things right now.

---------------------------

Coming up next:

After HCR is in the can, and it better get done, I would like to get back to the complete, unconditional, immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chapter 2: The debt culture, with particular reference to usury and college tuition, we all know what a scam and ripoff this shit is.

Chapters 3-187: To Be Announced, sticking to HCR for now.


Your Voice in the Wilderness,
Erehwon2

[lamp_shade]

1. Big kick and rec

[still_one]

2. The time for compromise is over. Up or down vote on healthcare. Take no more

bullshit from republican thugs and bullies

You don't stand up to them now, you are as bad as they are

[asjr]

3. I am waiting for our president to get really, really,

really angry and tell the naysayers where to go.

[Fire1]

5. That kind of anger is not in his character. You'll be waiting

a mighty long time.

[erehwon2]

7. Maybe so

But I wouldn't misunderestimate President Obama for a minute. True, he tended to ignore the August news cycles, with their inherent craziness. Think Y2k and Summer of the Shark. While he was letting the nutjobs get their yayas out, an amazing amount of self-defeating footage from the Beck/Limbaugh/O'Reilly love fest is now available for the derision it deserves.

Our President is neither idiot nor wimp when it comes to dealing with fools. I was a little worried that you can keep the powder dry only so long, but I think the misguided, paranoid wackos against HCR and everything Obama have pretty much shot their wad at this point. When I say I want him to nasty it up, I just mean he's got enough media ammo now to show the Deep-Fried Poptart crowd where they stand. Which is in a 7-11 eating deep-fried poptarts, while the rest of us get on with some of the biggest problems we face today. Fuck the August ideology, baby, it's Sepetember now and the boys and girls are back in town.

Before closing, I would like to observe my disdain for Ben Nelson of one of those really cold states and who wants a "trigger co-op, maybe down the road sometime" HCR. I insist he change his name. Because my name is Ben, and having suffered through a youth of being called Big Ben, Benjamin Franklin, Gentle Ben and constant references to that rat movie, I insist that he has not earned the title. Plus I have flaming red hair and freckles.

On the other hand, there's a man with the well-deserved name of Ben with whom I happen to agree. Ben Harper. If you have 3 minutes, do click on this or just copy it in and then click.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TILzJ-_4urk

Yours,
Erehwon2

[Fire1]

4. Kick and rec. It doesn't take much does it? n/t

[Frosty1]

6. K&R

:applause:

[Laelth]

8. We've already lost the "health insurance reform" debate.

What we can't afford to do is pass a complete government give-away to the health insurance cabal in the form of the individual mandate.

I don't want to "win." I want good legislation. I think Obama blew his first chance at health care reform by pushing for a weak plan. I think he should table the idea, for now, and push for single payer in 2011. The current system is unsustainable, and everyone knows it. Change will come. Let's not settle for a bailout of the insurance industry. Let's insist on the eradication of it.

I expect the Democratic Party will pick up 3 seats in the Senate and between 3-6 seats in the House UNLESS Congress passes a disastrous "insurance reform" bill. At this point, I would rather do nothing than to pass any of the bills under consideration in Congress.

:dem:

-Laelth

[WeDidIt]

9. .

:kick:

Here's to hoping Wednesday surprises me.