Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

I didn't mean to spend nearly my entire day reading up on health care reform, but that's how it happened.  And, at the end of all that reading, I've made up my mind: the Senate reform bill is not the root of all evil.  In fact, while it's got lots and lots of room for improvement, it's actually not looking too horrible. 

The man who conceived the public option's not thrilled, but he still believes in the bill (h/t).

TNR's Jonathan Cohn chased down some numbers, and likes what he sees.

Paul Krugman's not joyful, but relieved.

But, as it turns out, it isn't those sober analyses that turned me from meh to hey, why not.  It was Jane Hamsher and her 10-point crusade against the reform bill that turned the tide.

Jonathan Cohn knocked her points one and three out of the park.

Ezra Klein knocked out all ten.

If all that prose is too dense, Igor Volsky made up a nice, colorful chart.

And Daily Kos blogger deaniac83 read over the list of ten, investigated, and decided that the bill must pass.

At about this point, I threw up my hands and said, "So be it.  Let it pass.  On to conference!"

Now, mind you, I have quibbles.  Many quibbles.  And that is why I'm looking forward to conference, and why I hope Jane Hamsher and her ilk keep charging with spears at the ready.  Y'see, an enraged crowd of powerful progressives attempting to kill the bill dead will probably haul the thing further to the left than we might have expected, and that is very much to the good.  In fact, if Jane Hamsher ran for Senate, I'd work for her campaign, for the simple reason she's wisely insane.  Can you imagine her playing chicken with Lieberman and Nelson in the Senate?  I don't think she'd be the one dodging in the end.  And having a crazy, implacable progressive kicking up a fuss would be a fine bargaining tool for Senators and a President who might want something a little bit more leftish but don't want to blow their centrist cover.  "Well, we would've made it less progressive, and we'd really like to give in to you, Ben and Joe, but... Jane might rip our faces off and feed them to Tom Coburn if we concede any more to you.  So, you see, we can't.  So sorry." 

That's the kind of progressives we need to work like hell to elect, my darlings: the ones that know that the art of negotiation means a) make insane demands and b) don't back down from them until you've gotten what you actually wanted.

And it'll be more important than ever to elect them after health care reform passes, because we're gonna want improvements.  We ain't gonna get them with a Con majority or the current batch of Conservadems and cowed Progs.

Incidentally, those of you who think the public option's dead if reform passes without it need to talk to Sen. Harkin.  Then redouble your efforts to get better Dem butts in those Senate seats.

But even if we don't manage that, and have to live with what we get for a bit, the Senate bill's not actually all that bad a beginning.  Seriously.  And I say that as someone who's had to make the decision between health care and putting food on the table in the past.  If my cushy union job goes adios, and this legislation is law, I'll have a better net than COBRA.  So if you ask me what's in it for me, that's it: I'll no longer have to worry that my pre-existing conditions and the high cost of health care will mean I'm SOL if I'm bounced back to retail.  That's a comfort.  And it's good enough to get started with.


Another factor in convincing me that this bill's worth passing is how shit-scared it makes Cons.  I mean, it's seriously to the point where they're praying for Sen. Byrd to die.  That's pretty fucking pathetic.  And now, here they are, knowing they've lost but obstructing till the bitter end just cuz.  Fine by me.  It gives Hamsher and her mob of howling progressives time to scare the Dems into shuffling left.  Besides, maybe they'll drive more of their own legislators from their ranks.  And that's a happy thought.

Do you know how pathetic Cons have become?  McCain's having to snivel lies that Dems never reached out to Cons (uh, Gang of Six?  Constant fucking phone calls to Snowe?  Delayed for months while you fucknuggets played coy?  Heeelllloooo!).  Oh, and whining that Teddy Kennedy would've wanted a bipartisan bill (betcha he wouldn't have minded a unicorn, either, but in the end he'd settle for a pony).  Huck feels that Ben Nelson betrayed him (funny thing we have in common with the Cons, there - Ben Nelson betrayed us, too!). 

I'm amused.  I can't wait to see the looks on their dear little faces when they lose this fight.  And they will lose.  Oh, there'll be sturm und drang and more histrionics from the Ben and Joe floor show, there may even be a progressive march on Washington complete with flaming torches, but in the end, health care reform shall pass. 

And then the work of turning the starter home into a castle will begin.

Evil Kittehs

It's one o' those nights.  Need a laugh.  So do you.  I'm sure you do.  But first, I do hope you realize your cat's probably plotting to take over the world right at this very moment:

Step one: defeat the dog:

Where the obsessive-compulsive drinking ritual fits in to the scheme, I have no idea:

Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Mwah.  Brain fried from day of reading about health care reform shenanigans.  Well, that and continuing to read about acoustics while watching a bunch of crime shows on teevee, and then fighting holiday shoppers so I could get some kibble at the grocery store, and in the midst of this who should show up but a very late Aunty Flow?

So the energy, it is lacking.  I can't even whip up a suitable cackle when I see something this blisteringly stupid:

Human Events, a relatively prominent right-wing magazine, selects a "Conservative of the Year" ever December. In its new issue, the publication extends the honor to former Vice President Dick Cheney. The article that accompanies the award was written by none other than John Bolton, the man Bush/Cheney tapped to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

It's a strikingly silly piece, characterizing Cheney as a powerful political force, striking fear in the hearts of the president, his team, the media, and the political establishment. Bolton characterizes the failed former V.P. as a champion of all that is good and right -- you know, stuff like torture -- which has made Cheney the victim of mean Democrats and journalists, who've made "assaults on his character, his judgment and his performance in office."

Cheney's quiet, inner-directed motivation is simply impervious to the attacks orchestrated against him by the Chicago machine-style politicians at the White House, a fact also plainly visible to his fellow citizens. And it is yet another important reason to have confidence that Cheney's solid policy analysis will yet prevail in the national political arena. Of course he is the conservative of the year!

The same piece, by the way, insists that Cheney may be reviled by the insider types, but outside of D.C., Americans appreciate the former vice president's background as "a very experienced, very dedicated patriot." (There's ample evidence to the contrary.)

The article ran in print, which made it difficult for Bolton to dot the i's with little hearts.

But stepping back from this reality-bending love letter, it's worth noting the larger context -- the fact that the "Conservative of the Year" is a wildly unpopular, almost clownish former vice president, who pops up on Hannity and Limbaugh from time to time, does not speak well of the state of conservative/Republican politics.

No, it really doesn't.  And if I had more vim and vigor right now, I'd be jumping up and down laughing my ass off.   This is funnier than if they'd chosen Sarah Palin.

And Cheney, proving his creds as Con o' the Year, struts his stimulus stupidity:

Today, Human Events named former Vice President Dick Cheney the “conservative of the year,” publishing a laudatory essay on Cheney by former UN ambassador John Bolton. “Cheney knows that the personal attacks on him, as offensive as they are, in reality constitute stark evidence that Obama and his supporters are simply unable to match him in the substantive policy debate,” wrote Bolton. But in an accompanying interview with Human Events Editors Tom Winter and Jed Babbin, Cheney demonstrated that he doesn’t want to actually engage in a “substantive policy debate” by claiming that there haven’t been “any results” from President Obama’s stimulus package...

They're broken records, all stuck in the same groove.  How very pathetic.

So, John Bolton hearts Cheney, but it seems the American public at large doesn't heart the Bush/Cheney years at all:

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Americans are entering 2010 with a negative view of the events of the past decade, which was largely marked by President Bush’s tenure from 2001-2009:

According to the poll, a combined 58% said the decade was either “awful” or “not so good,” 29% said it was fair, and just 12% said it was either “good” or “great.” [...]

Asked what they thought had the greatest negative impact on America this past decade, 38% cited the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 23% picked the mortgage and housing crisis, 20% said the Iraq war, 11% chose the stock market crash, and 6% said Hurricane Katrina.

But 37% said it lost ground on the environment, 46% said it lost ground on health and well being, 50% said it lost ground on peace and national security, 54% said lost ground on the nation’s sense of unity, 55% said it lost ground in treating others with respect, 66% said it lost ground on moral values, and a whopping 74% said it lost ground on economic prosperity.

I may have to revise my opinion of the intelligence of the majority of the American public.  I was afraid far more than 12% would've rated the Bush years the bestest ever, but it appears my fears were unfounded.  Good on yer, my fellow Americans.

And for your reward, thee shall have a good laugh at Bush's expense:

A self-styled Nevada codebreaker convinced the CIA he could decode secret terrorist targeting information sent through Al Jazeera broadcasts, prompting the Bush White House to raise the terror alert level to Orange (high) in December 2003, with Tom Ridge warning of "near-term attacks that could either rival or exceed what we experience on September 11," according to a new report in Playboy.

[snip]

The man who prompted the December 2003 Orange alert was Dennis Montgomery, who has since been embroiled in various lawsuits, including one for allegedly bouncing $1 million in checks during a Caesars Palace spree. His former lawyer calls him a "habitual liar engaged in fraud."

Working out of a Reno, Nevada, software firm called eTreppid Technologies, Montgomery took in officials in the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology and convinced them that technology he invented -- but could not explain -- was pulling terrorist-produced "bar codes" from Al Jazeera television broadcasts. Using his proprietary technology, those bar codes could be translated into longitudes and latitudes and flight numbers. Terrorist leaders were using that data to direct their compatriots about the next target.

But Montgomery's "technology" could not be reproduced, and the Playboy piece explains how he fell out of favor after word of what was going on spread in the CIA:

The federal government was acting on the Al Jazeera claims without even understanding how Montgomery found his coordinates. "I said, 'Give us the algorithms that allowed you to come up with this stuff.' They wouldn't even do that," says the first officer. "And I was screaming, 'You gave these people fucking money?'" ... 

A former CIA official went through the scenario with me and explained why sanity finally won out. First, Montgomery never explained how he was finding and interpreting the bar codes. How could one scientist find the codes when no one else could? More implausibly, the scheme required Al Jazeera's complicity. At the very least, a technician at the network would have to inject the codes into video broadcasts, and every terrorist operative would need some sort of decoding device. What would be the advantage of this method of transmission?

A branch of the French intelligence services helped convince the Americans that the bar codes were fake. The CIA and the French commissioned a technology company to locate or re-create codes in the Al Jazeera transmission. They found definitively that what Montgomery claimed was there was not. Quietly, as far as the CIA was concerned, the case was closed. The agency turned the matter over to the counterintelligence side to see where it had gone wrong.

Former Homeland Security adviser Frances Townsend defended the use of Montgomery's "intelligence" in an interview with Playboy, telling the magazine, "It didn't seem beyond the realm of possibility. We were relying on technical people to tell us whether or not it was feasible. I don't regret having acted on it."

Excuse me while I channel Stephen Colbert for a moment: "The Bush regime - big bloody buffoons, or the biggest bloody buffoons?"

Ed Brayton Praises Police: Dana Hunter Taken to Hospital with Heart Failure

If you're a regular reader of Dispatches from the Culture Wars, you know that Ed Brayton gleefully exposes every bit of police corruption that comes his way.  He's merciless.  And so, this post rather took me by surprise.

It starts out normally enough:

Dozens of convictions for drunk driving are suspect now that a routine audit of a crime lab in Colorado Springs showed that the results of those tests were typically overstated by the lab's testing.

And so I read on for the smackdown.  Instead, I got this:

The good news is that the local police and prosecutors seem to be taking this seriously and looking to do the right thing:

"We're not going to be relying upon any questionable blood alcohol content results," he said. "The District Attorney's office and the Colorado Springs Police realize how serious it is and we're acting accordingly."

"We don't want to treat anybody as guilty if they're not," he added...

And then he gives them kudos.  Kudos!

I don't know if my world will ever be the same again.

Oh, and Colorado Springs?  Kudos to ye for caring more about truth than convictions.

We're On Our Way

To what, I'm not quite sure yet.  But the Dems in the Senate held together this morning to defeat the Cons' filibuster of Harry Reid's manager's amendment.  The bill's got a long road ahead, but it's possible it may pass.

Cujo's hating it.  And I'm meh.  I think Cujo got the impression I support the thing just because.  How, I don't know - I've been linking to arguments for and against, and my main argument is not that we should pass any bill, no matter how bad it is, but that we shouldn't let progressive setbacks keep us from fighting for better Dems to represent us.  As for the bill itself, I'm wanting to see some improvements before the end.

I do know that this bill's already seen some meaningful changes, and it will see more before its final passage.  McJoan's got an excellent rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly in this current incarnation. Howard Dean's backed off calls to kill the bill and is sounding more hopeful about what we might be able to do in conference. 

Personally, I believe we should have single payer.  We ain't gonna get it.  Failing that, I'd like a public option.  We're probably not getting that.  And without the public option, either subsidies need to be higher or the mandate should probably go altogether.  But am I calling for them to kill the bill without that?  No.  What I'd ask for is higher subsidies.  And I'd like to know that this "exemption for those who can prove they can't afford coverage" is actually a meaningful protection for those who may not qualify for subsidies and can't afford their premiums.  If we can't pull the bill a lot further to the left by pressuring Reps and Senators in conference, then I'd at least insist on that.  And the percentage of income that goes to health insurance should be a fuck of a lot lower, much more in line with the House bill, if not even smaller.

Cujo seems to think those of us who support the bill, or at least don't despise it, have never been poor.  Hate to break it to him, but many of us have.  And those days when I didn't have health care because my $6 per hour job didn't offer benefits were horrible.  I wouldn't have been able to afford a coverage mandate.  Fuck, I could barely afford my (mandated) car insurance.  But newsflash: under this bill, I'd qualify either for Medicaid or subsidies.  Under this bill, my teeth may not have rotted nearly away, and I'd have been able to go to the doctor when I got sick.  And under this bill, my pre-existing asthma wouldn't disqualify me for coverage.  Those are no small things.  That's why I can't put myself firmly in the "hell no" camp.  Especially not before we see what comes out of conference.

So, no unqualified celebration in the cantina tonight.  But at least we're on our way to conference.  If anyone's got any blackmail material we can use on kings Lieberman and Nelson to keep them in line if the House manages to insert progressive priorities back into the bill, now would be an excellent time to pony it up.

Catching Up on Health Care Reform Stupidity

I assured you I'd give you a little something on Sunday, and here it is.  It's what I can manage at the moment.  There will be more later, as energy levels and chores allow.  Word o' advice to the guys who might be thinking it'd be awesome to be a woman: it ain't.   And that's all I have to say about that.  Let's talk about health care reform instead.  (I'd be a lot more excited by it if it had a hysterectomy-on-demand amendment.  Gah.)

Whelp, it looks like me might just possibly see the Senate actually vote on a health care reform bill by Christmas Day.  Harry Reid's filed for cloture - well, I should say clotures, because there's lots.  The Senate, my darlings, is nothing more than a glorified political obstacle course.

So that means he's got the votes, right?  Well, mebbe.  If King Lieberman doesn't pitch another fit, and they'd better hope he doesn't, because Queen Snowe still thinks things are moving too fast for her poor little self to handle, and has therefore refused to answer the call of history.  That's it.  The sum total of her excuse.  "It's all happening so fast!"  The poor dear - apparently, debating health care reform since the days of Truman, and debating it in its current incarnation for nearly a full year, is just too much for her.

At least Lord Nelson's finally decided to vote for cloture - as long as none of those dirty peasants in the House muss up his shiny little abortion compromise.

Meanwhile, Stupak's working with Cons in an attempt to murder health care reform in its cradle.  Cons just want it dead.  Stupak cares more for blastocysts than living (or, for that matter, dying) people.  It makes for a rather strange and disgusting marriage, especially since the Rabid Religious Right's been invited into the marital bed.  I'm with Susie: "I am so tired of living in a country where a group of religious extremists get to hold our rights hostage..."

Cons are awfully damned proud of themselves for digging in their heels.  Why, Tom Coburn thinks they're just doing what Americans want - being the Party of No.  They must only be listening to "real" Americans, because that vast majority of folks who're pissed off because they wanted single payer or the public option or at the very damned least the Medicare buy-in can't possibly be real.

It turns out they're such piss-poor chess players that they're responsible for getting us something far more progressive than we might have ended up with.  Awesome, eh?

So, what will we get with the Senate bill?  Steve Benen sez it's no mansion, but at least it's a halfway decent starter home.  Digby weighs in with a somewhat different, thoughtful opinion.  The CBO gives it a middling-passing score.  Howard Dean hopes that the conference committee can fix what the Senate fucked up.  It ain't great, but it's something, and it can be built on - if we stay on top of it. 

And on that subject, what both Steve Benen and Matt Yglesias said is important, so I shall quote it here:

Matt Yglesias had a good item on this, noting that "the crucial question going forward is whether it will be possible to further improve this legislation."

I think it's very possible, but only if the people who are disappointed by the shortcomings of this bill take appropriate action. First and foremost, that means working as hard as possible to produce as good an outcome as possible in the 2010 midterm elections. Recall that before 2006, SCHIP expansion couldn't pass the Senate. And before 2008, SCHIP expansion could pass the Senate but couldn't get signed into law by the President. Elections have consequences. Starting in January 2011 we might have new progressive senators representing Ohio, New Hampshire, and Missouri or we might have new conservative senators representing Nevada, Delaware, and Connecticut. This is a very big deal. Has Ned Lamont been able to beat Joe Lieberman back in 2006, this might have had a happier ending this year. Elections have consequences. [...]

[Y]ou accept compromises and then keep on working to build more political power. You do it by contacting members. You do it by urging friends and colleagues to contact members. You do it by donating to and volunteering for good candidates. You do it by turning out and voting for the better candidate in the race even when that candidate is disappointing. You do it by urging viable candidates to mount risky primary challenges against incumbents who don't reflect the real possibilities of their constituency. You do it by staying engaged, and working hard.

I think this is an excellent bill, all things considered, but whether you agree with that or not the most important thing is what does the progressive community do going forward to enact even better bills in the future.

The country can either go forward or backward. Those who wanted key provisions in this health care bill that were ultimately scuttled -- a public option, Medicare expansion, etc. -- can still achieve those goals, but not by throwing their arms up in despair or by deciding to register their frustration by staying home.

Got it?  If not, read it a few more times.  We are not going to win progress if we give up in disgust, folks.  

And now, on a lighter note, clowns.  More specifically, the spectacular clownishness of Rep. Tom Price.  Enjoy.

Unplanned Night Off

Don't ask me about today.  Really, just don't.

Bloody snowstorms. 

No, it's not snowing in Seattle.  But it's snowing on the East Coast, which closed a call center, which led to a domino effect of chaos that eventually knocked me over out here.  Therefore, the cantinera ain't making it in due to snow. 

I'll make it up to ye on Sunday, my darlings.  In the meantime, go write me up something for COTEB.

Deck the Halls with Holly-Shaped Holly

Truth in advertising, I guess:

And I'd like a star-shaped star for my tree.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

Same ol' suspects are being dumbshits.  Ben Nelson's apparently jealous of all the attention Lieberman's getting, so now he's digging in his heels.  Again.  Expect histrionics from Lieberman, but they won't be on Al Franken's watch - Al isn't putting up with his bullshit.  I wish more Dems would shut Lieberman down like that.

The Senate had better not make any plans for Christmas.

If anybody's wondering why so many women hate Rush Limbaugh, here's a clue.

The Big Dog's come out in favor of reform.  Let's see if his bark is loud enough to make Lieberman and Nelson roll over.

And, if you click on no other link in this paltry post, click through and read this one.  Seriously.  Just do it.  In fact, I'm going to stop right here so you have time to go and read.

What George Said

I've been meaning to write a post like this.  Thankfully, George pretty much summed up my thinking:

Barack Obama took office in a country on fire.  He has right-wing loonies - congressmen and senators - trying to trip him up at every turn, telling lies about him, telling lies about his legislative agenda, and aided by media that thrives on idiot “we’re just askin’ questions’ equivalency.  The deficit was (and still is) headed for geosynchronous orbit, two wars going on, the judiciary and key government agencies packed with Reagan/Bush/Bush appointees.  You wanna blame somebody?  It’s all those people in the voting booth. 

So no, I’m not happy with everything Obama has done.  I had high hopes but you have to take anything a candidate says with a grain of salt.  But we can NOT let really stupid, dangerously ideological people take office.  It’s easy to lose sight of the damage they can do.

I know some among you won't agree.  But I'll say to you again what I've always said: no matter how much the Dems piss you off, the solution isn't to let the Cons take back power.  The solution is to fight tooth and nail for better Dems.

We didn't get the perfect progressive champion when we elected Obama.  But we got something a fuck of a lot better than McCain.  The fact that our national standing went up overnight, that we avoided a reprise of the Great Depression, and that we have a man at the helm who can bloody well think is reason enough for me to sleep soundly at night.

Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Pretty thin gruel today, my darlings.  Which is probably for the best, because between the PMS and the Neverending Day o' Frustration at work, I'm pretty much wiped.

Still, there's a few items of interest.  Guess who CPAC's having to dinner:

In February, the Conservative Political Action Conference will get underway in D.C., and because CPAC has become the right-wing event of the year, the conservative movement's heavy hitters are anxious to be a part of it.

But let's note who, exactly, has become part of the conservative movement. For example, the 2010 CPAC gathering will be co-sponsored by the hyper-conservative John Birch Society. While JBS was, not too long ago, considered far too ridiculous for the American mainstream -- even Republicans considered Birchers a political pariah -- the bizarre group has slowly been welcomed into the fold as conservatives have become more extreme.

When Glenn Beck embraced the Birchers two years ago, Alex Koppelman reminded us, "The JBS is, after all, the group that believed fluoridated drinking water was a Communist mind-control plot. Oh, and its founder, Robert Welch, once accused Dwight Eisenhower -- and no, we are not kidding -- of being 'a dedicated conscious agent of the communist conspiracy.'"

And now the John Birch Society is co-sponsoring CPAC. When I talk about radicalism being mainstreamed by the right, this is what I'm talking about.

I remember, back in the day, when even rabid Republicans would vehemently denounce the JBS.  They wanted nothing to do with the insane pieces of shit.  Now, the insane pieces of shit are du jour.  This tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the current state of the Con party.

(Do click through and read the rest of the article.  There's potential for some hilarity brewing - you don't want to miss it.)

Teabaggers, meanwhile, are coming up with ever newer ways to let the country know how fucktarded they are:

This morning, Washington, DC residents have may seen a plane with a giant banner bashing President Obama flying overhead, courtesy of the Danville, VA Tea Party Patriots:

The group’s project coordinator, Susan Lee, raised funds during the last two months to fly a plane over Washington, D.C. morning traffic today with a nearly 100-foot-long banner reading “OBAMA STOP DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY” in five-foot-tall letters. [...]

Back when I was a kid, the local crazies usually just ranted in front of the grocery store.  Now they've taken to the skies.  Nowhere is safe.

And, finally, we report that a waahmbulance had to be called to Copenhagen:

Republican lawmakers who accompanied Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the climate talks in Copenhagen say they learned something about the speaker in Denmark: she's a Mean Girl. Citing slights like "not being helped in setting up their own media briefing," Republicans are smarting after being subjected to Pelosi's unique brand of bullying.

On the National Journal's Copenhagen Insider blog, the five GOP members of the delegation reel off the ways Pelosi has maliciously attacked them:

[It] includes not being invited to attend a press briefing today featuring Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and five other Democratic leaders; not being helped in setting up their own media briefing; and initially not getting access to top U.N. climate negotiator Todd Stern.

[snip]

Pelosi is such a terrifying bully she apparently has kept the GOP's own media staff frozen with fear, according to another Democrat who spoke to NJ:

A House Democratic aide also said that Republicans didn't struggle with Democratic staff to get a room for their press conference; they made a late request to the U.N. "They had press staff out here since the weekend and seemingly have not done any planning," the Democratic aide said.

Obviously, it's all Nancy Pelosi's fault that the Cons are a bunch of incompetent fools.

These people just make me tired...

Bleach. I Need Bleach.

I feel so dirty just thinking about acknowledging this.

John McCain is actually doing something I approve of.

He and my own dear Senator Maria Cantwell are trying to bring back Glass-Steagall. 

I don't know how long this momentary lapse of insanity will last, but hopefully it'll be long enough to actually pass this shit.  But you know John.  He'll probably be against his own bill inside of a week.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go soak myself in Clorox.

Your Daily Dose of Health Care Reform Stupidity

This shit's a huge mess.

I'm too tired and frustrated to sort through this shit.  Today's takeaway lesson is this: Dems have managed to strip everything the public liked about the bill, all to satisfy King Lieberman, who is now trying to talk the progressive talk with Dana Bash and sounding just like a ratfucking Con instead.  There's a huge argument right now over whether the bill's worth passing or not.  Whichever you believe is right, we know what Bernie Sanders thinks: he's out.

So then there's the individual mandate, which a good argument can still be made for.  A good argument against it can be made, too.  I'm sorry, but without the public option, the Medicare buy-in, or some fucking form of competition, I see it as an undeserved reward to insurance companies who, even now, are determined to fuck over their customers.  One can understand why Howard Dean dressed Mary Landrieu down so thoroughly for forcing us to suck up to the insurance companies.

One thing to remember, though, my darlings: none of this bullshit would've been possible without the Cons.  They are the ones whose obstructionist tactics have caused a 60-vote requirement.  Without that, King Lieberman and his merry bunch of fuckwits would have no power.  And now, of course, the Cons are willing to harm the troops for the sake of delay.  They're willing to fuck every soldier so they can relive their glory days of August.  I thought that was tantamount to treason?  IOKIYAR, I guess.

And really, what else can we expect from the party of Glenn Beck?  It's not as if they feel the need to be honest, after all.  In fact, repeating outright lies is utterly fine with them.

So, yeah.  Democrats are hapless idiots, Conservadems are bloody stupid, but they're not the gist of the problem.  No, it's Joe "Closet Con" Lieberman and the entire fucking Con caucus who are the truly evil little shits in this battle. 

Now we wait to see just how far Dems have to be pushed before they go to war. 

So You Say Your Friends Got Blown To Bits...

...half your face got blown off, and now you have inescapable nightmares, flashbacks, and all the other symptoms of PTSD?  No sweat!  Just think positive, man!

I mentioned before that they were looking at this "positive thinking" program for vets with PTSD - something that seems like a way to cut costs rather than treat vets' trauma.

Now psychologist Bryant Welch says the program has no scientific validity:

Johnny had been with his platoon when they were attacked by enemy fire and pinned down for the better part of two days. Much of his face was blown off. His two closest buddies died gruesome and agonizing deaths while lying on top of him.

As a psychologist, my work with him was not medical. It was to address the psychological trauma, then newly labeled as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD], that haunted him and to help him "grieve" that much of his life had been blown away along with his face.

The pain of his surgeries was nothing compared to the night terrors that undercut his every attempt at sleep. The flashbacks that occurred daily put him back in the jungles of Viet Nam and the noises in the hallways became the sounds of advancing Viet Cong. Nurses and doctors could suddenly become menacing figures who he believed had captured him and were about to torture him. He was terrified to take his medications and unexpected noises could leave him shaken for hours.

Emotionally, on the best of days Johnny fluctuated between agitated depression and complete numbness in which he was unable to feel at all. He felt cut off from his family and felt enraged and misunderstood when they tried to "cheer him up." Johnny was not actively homicidal, like some of the PTSD vets on his psychiatry ward, but he was consumed with thoughts of suicide.

[snip]

As a psychologist who has treated many serious cases of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, it was a jaw dropping experience to learn that under a new $119 million military program these young men and women who have sacrificed so much will have their PTSD addressed with a superficial, psychological treatment based loosely on Norman Vincent Peale's Power of Positive Thinking, known in this generation's iteration as "positive psychology" or the "psychology of optimism.

There is no evidence that the techniques of positive psychology can prevent or ameliorate the effects of PTSD. When its adherents' attempt to extrapolate simplistic studies done on normal junior high students to military combat troops struggling with military traumas they are misleading the military, the public, and, most importantly, the troops.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.  As someone who suffered a mild case of PTSD many years ago, I can assure you that the power of positive thinking isn't what got me through.  You can't use optimism and positive thinking to haul you up from those depths.  Oh, I'm sure there are very rare exceptions - there's a freak in every bunch - but for fuck's sake, telling someone who goes through a horrific trauma to be optimistic and have a positive outlook is the most ridiculous fucking thing I've ever heard.

If our government pulls this shit on the troops, they deserve to be prosecuted for intentional infliction of extreme emotional distress.

Happy Hour Discurso

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