... generally speaking the notion that party defectors should be stripped of their seniority and other perks is often embraced by grassroots activists on both the left and the right. But in recent years it hasn't typically result in any action on the Hill.Why would the Congress respond to public opinion when they work for wall street and the health insurance industry and the rest of the Corporate Bandits. We only elect them. All they need is enough money and media backing and the right kind of publicity and we will vote for anyone they want.
Public Option Opt Out Denies Help to Those Who Need It MostIf we could get Congress to pass and Obama to sign national Medicare 'public option' to begin as soon as possible, not years from now, then the states that opt out
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): It may bother them that conservative women are happy and don't need government in order to be successful in life," ... "I have a great husband, great kids. I had a great career as a federal tax attorney. And I don't need government to be successful. And it seems like they have a stereotype for women and I don't fit in their stereotype. [emphasis added]Though she doesn't need no stinkin' government she does live off of it --directly and indirectly.
Palm tree planted by the long forgotten?
But never fear, lest a nice little out of the way place to stop between Tucson and points North and East, the Phoenix instinct to cover the desert with cement is alive and well. Yes, I realize that there are many in Tucson who would like to catch up with the abomination that Phoenix has become. But Phoenix has a big head start and unless they stop growing, Tucson cannot catch up. Together though these forces will fill the corridor(s) between these two cities with ugliness.
This is the view in the opposite direction from the sign above.
Tell that to the 45,000 Americans die each year because of the US 'health' insurance industry.Per capita health care spending (2007):
United States: $7290
Switzerland: $4417
France: $3601
United Kingdom: $2992
Average of OECD developed nations: $2964
Italy: $2686
Japan: $2581-- Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler via Corrente
You may have noticed that a lot of Liberty Counsel's claims are flat-out lies. Don't let that disturb you! There is, after all, nothing in the Bible/Torah about lying.
-- ARE YOU "THE UNKNOWN LIBERAL"? Pick me, pick me! at Amygdala
A whopping 83 percent see unemployment as either a fairly big or very big problem; and 81 percent say the Obama administration hasn't done enough to deal with it.
And there just aren't a whole lot of things that more than 80 percent of Americans agree about.
Not coincidentally, large majorities of voters also see the government's economic policies as helping banks and Wall Street -- while few see themselves or average working families in general as benefiting.
So why isn't political Washington fully engaged in addressing the unemployment problem? For the same reasons it can't seem to get much of anything done these days: most notably the abject lack of boldness from the Democrats and persistent obstructionism from the Republicans.
Democrats have been particularly terrified for decades now of doing anything that can be said to actually cost the government money. (Republicans, ironically, have no such scruples.) So our modern ruling party has found itself boxed in by its own president's support for "pay-as-you-go budget rules". And the fact is that very serious concern about the deficit -- even now, when it's the least of our troubles -- is considered a hallmark of serious thinking in Washington. Those who don't toe the line are written off as crazy, wild-eyed radicals.
-- Washington Doesn't Get It: We Need More Jobs by Dan Froomkin
Hardin Official Fights 'Outlandish' APF Rumors
Who is in Unity 09? According to Ben Smith:
Sarah Palin, ABC News interview, September 10, 2008:PALIN: For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable and we have to keep...
GIBSON: You believe unprovoked.
PALIN: I do believe unprovoked and we have got to keep our eyes on Russia, under the leadership there.
and
John McCain, presidential debate, October 7, 2008:
[Putin] has exhibited most aggressive behavior, obviously, in Georgia. . . .We have to make the Russians understand that there are penalties for these this kind of behavior, this kind of naked aggression into Georgia, a tiny country and a tiny democracy.
Not only do our high visibility politicians and media 'luminaries' make the facts up but they have no apparent hesitation in excitedly encouraging the US to actions that they state as absolutely wrong, unChristian, evil, contemptible (pick most any negative adjective you like) when others engage in such actions. How do McCain and Palin reconcile the above words with US actions in Iraq and the current build up of excitement over Iran that is eerily similar to that that preceded the invasion of Iraq? The answer is that they don't bother nor attempt to reconcile the incomprehensible position. They do not have to justify nor explain. All they have to do is speak the same lies over and over.
