Confirmed

The fake opposition was never there and never had a chance against Obama's pick. All the media spin and attempted Conservative racism/intellect BS amounted to jack squat.

"The U.S. Senate has confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in a 68-31 vote, as the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court."

Source: http://www.cnn.com/

Wanting To Save Babies, But Not Really

The US ranks 33rd in the world in infant mortality.

The Right Wing is anti-Universal Health and oppose successful child health care programs like S-CHIP care while categorically screaming about how evil abortion is. What they really mean is that they are just "pro-embryo" because they don't care about the child once it is out of the womb.

Think of how many infants could be spared an early death if the US just had a First World health care system?

Seniors: "I've Got Mine Now Get Off My Lawn"

Follow this logic:

Support for health care reform falls into two general groups, younger people who support reform and older seniors who oppose it. "Obama's plan is most popular among younger Americans and least popular among senior citizens," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.

Republicans are targeting the older groups for support by spreading false information and, among other things, that the federal government might try to kill them if Democrats successfully pass health care reform. Scaring the shit out of them is their way of fear-monger governing.

Keep in mind people over 50 are disproportionately people who already have guaranteed single-payer government health care. [They have the most experience with it but somehow don't realize they are using it.]

Add to the Republican "they want to kill you" meme, the fact that conservatives ultimately want to cut Medicare benefits and wanted to privatize Social Security. A dangerous proposition when proposed, but even more so in light of the recent Wall St. meltdown.

How does any of this make sense?

So in summation, Republicans are "using" the older population, who gladly use guaranteed single-payer government health care, to stop any reform by telling them that status quo increased costs are the only answer, that future reduced benefits are on their to-do list, and that any improvement to the system will only be used to kill them. And even if they could be used to help younger people and make the system more efficient to years to come, screw it.

Sadly, the seniors eat this shit up. The devil they know is the devil they like. You can hear them yelling, "Keep your government out of my Medicare!"

We need to get the GOP claws off Grandma and Grandpa. Getting old is tough enough, having some shuckster scare you for your votes is too much.

Washington Monthly

Republicans Thugs Through History

The Republican bullying you are seeing in Town Hall meetings regarding Health Care reform is nothing new. Rachel Maddow gives a history lesson in the "shut it down" style of thuggery the GOP is most proud of.

"It's not about making one side of the argument in an argument. It's making sure there can be no argument"

Source: http://www.realitychex.com/

Fake Balance In News

The media has a problem with presenting issues with a fake balance. The need to give an opposing viewpoint even if it does not exist.

via Paul Krugman:

"Long ago I said that if liberals said the Earth was round, while conservatives said it was flat, the news headlines would read “Shape of the planet: both sides have a point.” But I encountered a new wrinkle today.

I was tentatively scheduled to be on a broadcast dealing with — well, I won’t embarrass them. But first they had to find someone to take the opposite view. And it turned out that they couldn’t — which led to canceling the whole segment."

People see these talking heads on cable news would assume it's a 50/50 argument, but it's not. All it does is enable the Right Wing to kick up dust and confuse. "Fair and Balanced" is their Trojan horse. Sadly, sacrificing fact and truth for the sake of "balance" is not just Fox anymore. Their ratings have forced others to follow.

I suggest Ed Schultz or Rachel Maddow is you are looking for a good source for news. Keith Olbermann is you can handle his ego.

Source: Bob Cesca

Bill Clinton Takes Center Stage Again

Bill Clinton helps free 2 hostages from North Korea. After months in captivity in North Korea, journalists Laura Ling & Euna Lee arrive in Los Angeles.

Could you imagine Bush or Cheney doing something like this in 10 years?

Socialize Health Care Like We Did Firefighting

The Government runs a lot of things. I know this health care reform seems like a situation that Republicans want to scare you with, but just look how firefighting was once a for-profit private industry until the Government took over all fire departments.

I didn't realize this, but major U.S. cities had for-private enterprises competing for firefighting dollars. The first business to get to the scene and put out the fire got paid. As one might imagine, this led to systemic corruption and an ineffective system, and by the mid-19th century municipalities switched to a government-run, government-trained, publicly-financed system, which, not coincidentally, works very well.

Keeping this in context, Tina Dupuy, editor of Mediabistro's FishbowlLA, writes how the Republicans would spin a current day switch to Government run fire departments:

[W]e'd have socialism-phobic South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint on the TV every chance he could get saying things like, "Do you want a government bureaucrat between you and the safety of your home?"

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio would hold press conferences and ask, "Do you want your firefighting to be like going to the DMV? Do you want Uncle Sam to come breaking down your door every time some Washington fat cat says there's a fire?"

There would be 30-second TV spots paid for by the powerful firefighting lobby featuring stars and stripes graphics and the national anthem playing softly in the background with a booming voice-over trumpeting, "Founding Fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were volunteer firefighters. Support traditional values and oppose government waste. Tell your representative you want a bi-partisan solution to fire reform."

News programs would be interviewing sobbing people whose homes fell through the cracks and burned to the ground. "I don't want to see the government take-over firefighting, but I sure miss Momma's oil paintings."

And President Barack Obama would relay his childhood experience with a fire then point out the failure of the for-profit firefighting industrial complex that "threatens to bankrupt this country." And then those most in need of firefighting services would foam about his birth certificate and confuse Karl Marx with Charles Darwin on misspelled protest signs at events put on by covert firefighting lobbyists.

This is a great analogy. America is burning and Republicans just want the status quo to let it burn to the ground.

What is society for if not health care?

Source: Washington Monthly