MoveOn Targeting Blue Dogs

MoveOn is targeting Blue Dog Democrats who vote about the health care bill.

MoveOn has produced a hard-hitting ad that will be unleashed in the districts of any Blue Dog Dems who vote against the House Dems’ health care bill in committee today — a warning shot that’s intended to preview the broader ad campaign that will target Blue Dogs who continue to block reform throughout August, I’m told.

Thank goodness for MoveOn. This is exactly what should happen. If we can't depend on Democrats to uphold Democratic values, then what good are they?

This article is on the House side. But the same thing goes for the senators. These creeps like Max Baucus and Ben Nelson, what are they good for? What's it even matter if they're Democrats if we can't tell the difference between them and the Republicans? Flush 'em.

Republicans Hate Medicare

It's beyond me why anyone would vote for the Republicans period. What are they for that is of any benefit to anyone? (Time's up.)

But aren't older folks a reliable bloc of voters? I thought they were, and I'm getting up to about that age myself. I know I vote on health care issues, retirement issues, social justice, education, and all that stuff the Republicans don't think we need.

To vote Republican is to hurt yourself and the country. Witness the shenanigans they're going through during the current health care reform debate. They're obstructionists first, last, and always.

Here's an interesting article. The Republicans, in addition to hating and wanting to take away Social Security, now are after Medicare.

Weird, isn't it? The question remains, Why would anyone vote for these guys?

Birtherism

I guess the whole birther thing has had its ascendancy and is now burning out. It's kind of too bad since it's good to have the GOP deeply sidelined with conspiracy theories and wacko stuff.

I'm thinking it's about done because of Bill O'Reilly's report on the subject, reading his viewers' mail and rebutting them. I'd never seen a Bill O'Reilly video in which he seemed to be coming down on the sane side of an issue. The guy's such a loon. But in this case, he seemed positively level headed.

I don't watch his show, so this may periodically happen.

Now the nation's biggest loon seems to be Lou Dobbs. Didn't he start out as a normal guy a few years ago? Then he went on to deride Mexicans and he hasn't been the same since. I believe his first hobby horse, that I can remember, was outsourcing of jobs. Whether that's still a concern of his, frankly I won't watch his crappy show anymore so I don't know. The whole immigration hobby horse became old fast. We'd see it while flipping channels.

It's kind of like Maury's show, except Maury has nothing but DNA tests for paternity. We ought to do a mash-up, the Maury Dobbs show, DNA tests for illegal aliens. Or a mash-up of Lou Dobbs and Jerry Springer, fights with burly guys in black shirts breaking them up.

You know, if you record a Jerry Springer show and listen carefully to the bleeping, it's Morse Code for "Why are you wasting your time watching this crap? On the other hand you could be watching Lou Dobbs, so you may as well stay right here."

Now I hear that O'Reilly is going to have Dobbs on his show, maybe he already did. Now there's a match up. Get the Springer guys over there, see which one would win in a fight.

I'll tell you someone else I can't stand. Whoever Dobbs' minions are on his show, his correspondents. At least when I used to see it, it was hilarious. They were so afraid of disagreeing with Lou that they became nothing but parrots for whatever he says. "Rawwk, Mexicans are bad!"

Egypt and Fox

Here's why we're having so much trouble with the Iraq war. We're not even in the right place! Clearly we've invaded Egypt, land of the Pharaohs. Home of the great breakfast cereal, Phar-O's.

I'm not really that great at geography either. I can pick out the North Pole and the South Pole in a reasonably consistent manner. If you turn the globe upside down, though, I get confused. And I can also find my own hometown, which, unfortunately they never have on the globe.

By the way, that's what I hate about globes. They don't strive for accuracy, which is obvious because they leave off so many towns. According to the globe people there are about 10 cities in the entire United States. And I know that's wrong because I personally can name at least 20.

A great catchphrase -- like "They're Grrrreat" -- for the breakfast cereal of Egypt would be: Phar-O's! They're Phar-Out!"

Democrats and Democrats

Good grief, we have a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress. Can we please get some Democratic legislation passed?

Are our guys so seriously on the take that they're willing to screw over We The People? This is going to be a problem with long term consequences if that is so.

We wanted the power so much, for everything to be in Democratic hands. But if we botch this ... the Republicans will be the prime beneficiary.

Try your level best, you idiots, to get it right.

In Palin News

Today was Sarah Palin's last day as governor of Alaska. She sought the trust and responsibility of office from Alaskans, then with no definite plans in mind quit with a year and a half to go in her term. Some think someone with this kind of behavior is fit for higher office.

That's a laugh. Which reminds us, she's a national joke and can't resign that position.

A 1949 Nickel

I noticed a 1949 nickel in my change today. I don't usually look through my change, but I noticed it when I took it out of my pocket at the exercise place. I don't want all that change rattling around (and weighing me down) while I'm doing my best to exert myself on the machines.

So there it was, right on top. With the outlines of everything on it being clear from all the dirt at the edges from over the years. It's hard for me to believe this coin's been out there kicking around for 60 years, but who knows the story!

1949 is before my parents were married. I don't know if they even knew each other yet. Curly from The Three Stooges was still alive. (These are the big historic markers for me, what was going on with my parents and what Curly Howard was up to.)

So a 1949 nickel is an oldie but a goodie. I don't know whether to put it on my shelf (why would I do that?) or just let it go back into the wild. I probably will do that, in order to give the next guy something to think about too.

Obama's Regrets

President Obama says he regrets the language he used when he said the Cambridge police handled the arrest of Prof. Gates "stupidly."

Of course who am I to criticize? I winced a little when he said it, not that it seemed untrue, but presidents aren't supposed to tell the truth so directly. He needed to be more moderate, like "It's an ongoing case and we'll be closely watching both sides, blah blah blah."

He has a nice remedy for the parties involved, to invite them to the White House and perhaps to share a few beers. That's good.

As for the president making a mistake of sorts, imagine if it were Bush. He never made a mistake, at least none he himself ever recognized. So we're miles ahead with Obama no matter what he says.

Still, in my perhaps less newsworthy opinion, it's extremely stupid that a guy can be arrested while going into his own home, simply for that, no matter how must bluster he might've aimed at the officer in his home. That's freedom of speech. And as far as I'm concerned, when the officer saw it was a guy who lived there he should have apologized and left the premises immediately. To protect and serve? Isn't that what the police are to do? Not nitpick and harass.

But hey, I don't know all the facts. But it looks pretty stupid on the surface.

Our Idiot Congress

It's so hard to believe that these worthless halfwits are the guys and gals we choose by a democratic process to represent us.

They can't get anything done in an efficient and thoughtful way. You've got special interests, they're in their back pockets, they're scratching each other's back, they're currying favors, and, oh, the silver tongued devils can explain themselves. If you've ever gone to your senator's public meetings, they have enough explanations (and usually the crowd's on their side), given that they can allude to a lot of hearings and crap that you of course didn't attend.

This thing with health care reform, I want it done. I'm sick of having thieves and bandits in charge of our health care. But Congress isn't much better.

President Obama's on the right track. He seems clean. But these other guys, and this includes our Democratic side, blue dogs or whatever the morons call themselves, I don't know who they think they're representing.

Harry Reid, is it just me or is this guy worthless?

President Obama Tonight

The guy continues to amaze me. I think he's a great president.

I don't understand at all the opinion polls that show that he's losing some favor with the American people. It makes me wonder what they're expecting. He was given the worst problems since the Great Depression from the Bush administration. It's going to take some effort to clean it up.

And they complain that his stimulus isn't working fast enough. Which is an interesting complaint, since the Republicans' prescription for what ailed us was to do nothing. How doing nothing would be proactively any better than doing something, that's a head scratcher.

I wonder if the Republicans use that logic if one of their houses is on fire. Should I call the fire department? Why bother? The fire will go out eventually. But wouldn't it be worth the effort to save your house, if possible, or at least some of your stuff, or keep other houses in the neighborhood from burning down? It seems like that's what we have a fire department for.

Anyway, the President was on tonight and I watched big chunks of it. Good stuff. The man's still got it. He is as smart as they come. And he seemed to have some confidence that this health care reform would get done and that it would be a positive thing. When it came to George Bush, if he said the same thing I wouldn't have believed him. If George Bush offered a child a shiny quarter he'd be lying. But not Obama. He's believable and decent.

Spank The Wacko

Chris Matthews spanks this idiot wingnut congressman, John Campbell (R-CA). Good grief, it's no wonder there's problems in this country and problems with the Republican party when we have scurves like this in positions of power.

Wow, just do us a favor and resign. Maybe we need a bill that congressmen need to pass a basic threshold of sanity and decency to serve. What woodwork do these wackos crawl out from?

President Obama was born in Hawaii, which became a state in what? 1959, something like that.

From Cronkite To Beck

Walter Cronkitemania is sweeping America now that he's passed on. Fans are lined up outside the Staples Center. His old CBS newscasts are number one on iTunes.

It's weird that once upon a time we had a few TV channels and respectable guys on the news. We really looked up to these guys, Huntley and Brinkley and Cronkite, etc.

If they would've told us one day we'd have 24 hour a day news we would've been as happy as clams. That would have been awesome.

But how has it turned out? We have 24 hour a day news channels and they're wall to wall crap. You can't stand to turn it on because it is wall to wall crap. With just a few exceptions.

We have this scurrilous knave, Beck, who symbolizes all that's wrong with the whole scene. I don't personally watch him (ever) but I've read about him on blogs (and seen a few minutes of clips), so I know he's trash.

Quite a descent. Like that famous evolution progression in reverse. We are Devo.

Seriously, get rid of the news channels and have an hour or half hour every night like we used to. It would truly be progress.

Democrats

It's so frustrating to think we have Democrats in Congress who are dragging their feet on health care reform.

To think, we finally get a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, and they suddenly decide to dilly dally around. It's disgusting.

We need to get this thing done.

The insurance companies need to be severely spanked. They're bandits.

Album Cover Designer Dies

Tom Wilkes, 69, an artist who designed some famous album covers, died.

I don't remember the name but I recognize some of his work, including the cover for George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" album.

Other famous ones include "Beggars Banquet" and "Harvest."