In A State Of Agitation Against Congress

Grrr. These guys don't deserve to "represent" turds in a septic tank.

The Republicans in Congress are totally worthless. The Democrats in Congress are spineless, corporate sell-outs. Which is worse? The Republicans, obviously. Which is next worst? The Democrats, or I should say the so-called Democrats.

Good grief. You'd actually think these bozos, ne'er-do-wells, and halfwits would actually want to get something positive accomplished on health care. We are the people who vote, right? If they could just extricate themselves from the big insurance lobby's pocket for five minutes, and perhaps unpucker their lips, suctioned tightly against the backside of some fat cat, maybe they'd see their way clear to serve us, We The People.

I can't believe we can't get anything decent done in this country. Remember "Yes We Can"? Another empty slogan.

President Obama doesn't seem to be helping matters.

Grrrrr.

Anyone Could Be A Congressman

Being a Congressman has to be the easiest job in the world. Like Steve King, Republican of Iowa, in this video. It's easy because no matter how stupid you are, there's someone out there who thinks you're doing a great job.

Steve King is guilty of one outrage after another -- that in a more refined time would've been called faux pas -- and yet he keeps getting elected. He's in the news all the time, one phony baloney thing after another and there's no penalty to pay.

Who couldn't do this job? Just channel forth your inner stupid, stand back, and people love you!

People's Irrational Fear Of Health Care Reform

There was a cartoon in the paper that made light of "Obamacare," with that being the scariest costume that some kid could wear on Halloween.

I'm repulsed by something like that. There's nothing to fear from health care reform, as far as I'm concerned. If anything, we ought to be afraid they don't get anything done. Because the health insurance industry sure hasn't been doing us any favors.

As far as the insurance companies are concerned, we're walking ATMs. Whatever money they demand, we spit out, no questions asked. And every year it's the same, more money, less benefits. When I say "every year," I mean that literally. They are not doing us any favors.

So what are people so afraid of? That the insurance companies won't be able to kick us out for preexisting conditions? Yes, that's terrifying. That you'll be able to have your health care if you switch jobs. Oh, how scary. That there won't be these arbitrary lifetime benefit caps? Wow, I'm quaking in my boots.

How anyone can be on the side of the health insurance racket in this country, I do not know. Unless you're in their pocket and being provided for by them, like the Republicans and some Democrats. Or you're an executive there.

Otherwise, what have we got to lose, except being picked over mercilessly by these vultures?!

Dare We Hope?

The word on the public option, aka Medicare Part E, sounded promising today, listening to Keith Olbermann and his guests. He and the congressman he had one were optimistic.

It's hard to follow all the excruciating details on this thing. Personally I don't see what the hold up is. But hey, of course we know some of our beloved Congressmen (and women) are in the pockets of the big interests.

Still, maybe enough public support, anywhere from 56% to 71%, ought to hold some sway. I'd love to hold these guys' feet to the fire somehow. But what can we do?

We're hoping things work out for the best. It's a drag having a government that is so tone deaf. But this is what we have to work with now. Hopefully someday we can throw some of the scoundrels out and get someone more responsive to the people.

Congressman Refuses To Dignify Man By Peeing On Him

Here's one you don't hear everyday!

Rep. Pete "Peter" Stark (D-CA) heard from a constituent at one of the town hall meetings. The guys said to him, "Mr. Congressman, don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining."

Stark responded in the starkest terms, "I wouldn't dignify you by peeing on your leg. It wouldn't be worth wasting the urine."

Confidential to the constituent: Someone can be peeing on your leg and it can be raining at the same time.

The Public Option

Look at this poll from CNN. There's wide support for the public option in the health care reform legislation. But because of the execrable Republicans and some lily-livered Democrats, it looks like we're not going to get it.

The Republicans want to stick it to President Obama. That's their only agenda. They don't mean well for America, nor will they govern responsibly. I don't think they can, since they don't actually believe their job in government is for any positive difference. They're only concerned with sticking it to the American people. Go figure.

Then we have the Democrats, who if there was only one Republican left in Congress would be cowering in fear under their desks, afraid he might criticize them for something. So many of the Democrats are either gutless or in the back pocket of the lobbyists or health care industries, so they're not even representing us. It's criminal.

Whether President Obama even has the cajones to stick up for what he campaigned on and was touting back in March, we shall see. The signs out of the White House are not promising. I still like him, a lot, but he seems to be governing as a gutless wonder. I heard he would bring a gun to a knife fight. But I guess he didn't say he'd bring ammo. He pulls the trigger and you get a sign that says "Bang." Doesn't seem to scare very many.

We shall see what we shall get. If I had the power, though, I'm in the mood to run out the lot of them and start over. If that were only possible. Too many entrenched liars and crooks in there, like Chuck Grassley, Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, and on and on. Then we have the insane crowd, like Michelle Bachmann.

You think, this is Congress. Congress ought to have great people in there, patriots, our nation's best, working for us. And what do we get? Paid cronies of corporations, crooks, liars, crazy people without a lick of sense, halfwits, morons. And then there's the Democrats. And half of them seem like creeps too.

God Bless The AFL-CIO

The AFL-CIO is telling Democrats they will not be able to count on their support if health care reform legislation doesn't have the public insurance option in it.

The incoming president, Richard Trumka, said there are "three absolute musts": a public option, an employer mandate and no tax on employer-provided health benefits.

And I love this: Trumka said last month: "We need to send them a special message: it’s that you may have forgotten what the labor movement did to get you elected; but, by God, we never will! And if you stab us in the back on health care this year don’t you dare ask us for our support next year!

Let's review this one piece: "If you stab us in the back...this year don't you dare ask us for our support next year!"

Amen. Mark that well, Congressional Democrats: Don't you dare ask us for our support!

Reconciliation

I'm not up on the procedures of the Senate, but they say there's a procedure called "Reconcilation" by which we can get healthcare reform.

If so, do it. Whatever it takes. And, good grief, stop talking about it and do it.

It looks, though, like the Democrats want to wait till the middle of September for some reason. Perhaps to give the Republicans more time to lie through their teeth about everything under the sun. For supposedly being so "moral," the Republicans do a lot of lying.

Apparently however this procedure works, the Republicans used it themselves for the tax cuts of Bush's years. So they haven't got anything to squawk about, which of course won't stop them.

I don't really see any reason to wait till September. They're not going to come around. They're just looking for any way -- by hook or crook -- to kill healthcare reform and keep us in the back pocket of the insurance industry. (We know who Congress, a large part of it, represents. Crooks.)

Get it done. We've gone from "Yes We Can" to "Get It Done."

Blowhard Boehner -- Such A Liar

From Wall St. Journal:

"From day one, the White House has taken a go-it-alone approach on health care," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R, Ohio). "The administration rejected our efforts to work together, choosing instead to craft a costly government takeover of health care."

Right, and if you trust anything that comes out of John Boehner's lying mouth, you've made a huge mistake.

The "go-it-alone" approach is why the Democrats couldn't get this done before the August recess, I'm assuming. When they were trying in vain to work out a bipartisan solution.

And the Republicans' "efforts to work together" are like the lion tamer sticking his head in the lion's mouth. If the lion keeps biting the guy's head off it tends to ruin the act. This kind of "working together" we don't need.

I suppose their complete idiocy about "Death Panels" and "Pulling the plug on Grandma" was just more "working together."

Healthcare Bill DOA Without Public Option

Good, I guess. We put our hopes in President Obama to get this done. But if it's not going to be done right, with a public option, then I hope it is Dead On Arrival.

I'm trying to reserve judgment, not really knowing all the facts, but I'm seriously hoping President Obama knows what he's doing. So far I'm disappointed that he's allowing the Republicans to drag him around by his nose. It's his legacy, but we're the ones who suffer.

It's time for him to channel his inner piranha -- his inner George W. Bush, if you will -- and take charge. I don't remember five minutes during the entire Bush administration where they cared what the Democrats thought. Why do the Republicans even have a place at the table?

We desperately need a decent healthcare system in this country. What we have now is insane. But if President Obama can't get it done, we may as well wait for the next guy.

This Health Care Thing

I can't believe the way it seems, that President Obama is getting his ass handed to him. I say it seems that way. But maybe it's just because I get most of my news from the internet, where everything is super inflamed all the time.

I hope he knows what he's doing on this health care thing.

Personally I think he has all kinds of power to turn it around. But, in my opinion, and what I know is limited by an extreme amount of ignorance, I don't think playing nice is going to get it done. And I certainly don't think cozying up to the Republicans is paying off.

For instance, Sen. Grassley. The man is a snake. Why assume he's going to help the Democrats (the loyal ones) get a decent health care program? And the other Republicans, they're equally lost causes. They have too big an investment in this country's failure. They know their road to success is for Obama to fail, so they can crow about it. Then we'll have troubles, when these Republican criminals get back in office!

OK, I assume the Republicans are going to play nasty. But I don't assume the Democrats are going to. I hate these so-called Democrats who are derailing Obama's program. Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, other lesser-known ones, this screwball in the House from Arkansas, and others. I'd like to flush these guys down the pot and start over with fresh water in those states.

And Harry Reid. I don't know what's in that man's underpants. But he probably never needs new ones, because there's not enough heft and motion down there to wear the old ones out. Whether the man can accomplish anything is still up for debate.

Now it seems like the White House is wavering on the public option. They're open to compromise with these monkeys. Good grief. Does the President not have the power to kick some booty and get things done? Is it just my imagination, or did George W. Bush get virtually everything he wanted? (I know he didn't get to foul up Social Security, but that's just one exception that basically proves the rule.) The creep got the Iraq war approved, with Democratic appeasement!

George Bush for all his faults -- don't get me started -- knew how to get his way. President Obama needs to quit being Mr. Nice Guy. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Play hardball with these guys. Cut their legs out from under them. Use the power of the White House to bull your way through to a decent health care program!

What I'm seeing these days is ridiculous.

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.

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?

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.

Health Care

I'm grimacing. I'm not reading all these articles about Congress because it's all so depressing.

When Bush had a Republican Congress, they did what he wanted. I hated it at the time but that's what they did. Now Obama has a Democratic Congress, and they don't want to do what he wants. I hate that, because I want some stuff done while the doing is good. Like health care.

Now I saw a headline (I didn't read the article) that they're saying they can't come up with a package that would pass before whatever Obama's deadline is, in August sometime. That sucks. Let's get the thing done.

I don't know why it is precisely, except special interests and corruption, why these Congress critters from our party can't rally around the fact that we have an opportunity now to get this accomplished after all these years. But no, they're going to drag their feet, compromise, get some watered down version of the thing that won't come near to solving the problem, and that's what we'll be stuck with.

The voters will stick with you if you do the right thing. But if you dilly dally and screw it up, as sure as anything, they'll vote the Republicans in again. Get the stupid thing done!

Economic Stuff

The Republicans continue to sicken me.

I hear they're out there complaining about how slow the stimulus is as far as reviving the economy that their guy ruined. They're complaining about President Obama not being able to have everyone fully employed yet. They're nothing but complaints.

The weird thing about this is so far they're getting exactly what they wanted. We all know 100% the Republicans didn't want the economy to revive, and they still don't. So it's a bit of a theatrical act to have them on TV complaining when they're getting what they actually wanted.

They're essentially traitors to the rest of us. For their short term political gain they want the United States to go down the tubes. But then when problems continue on, they're right there with their continual crocodile tears. I for one am not fooled.

I believe we could back up the tape and see that the Republicans didn't think anything needed to be done to fix the economy. Maybe cut taxes, the same old Bush prescriptions that got us in this mess.

The guy from wherever, Boehner, what? Ohio? went back home and said the stimulus wasn't doing anything in his state. Like zero. Then they found out with was $50 million or something already, and he needed to admit he had it wrong. Stinking jokers.

As for the Democrats in Congress, I wish they would be on the same page. Why is it that we can take control of Congress and have our side fighting like cats and dogs? It's ridiculous. Get this stuff done. Fix the economy, get health care right, etc., and people will reward you. Some of these creatures need to be replaced, of course, but to do it is harder than saying it.

Obama's Reviews

I think Obama is getting pretty good reviews as president. I'm not reading any right wingers, because I know they can't be satisfied. Somehow they were satisfied with that criminal rat we had for eight years, but get a competent, honest guy in there and they can't be pleased.

It's getting to be the theme that the Republicans are obstructionists. I read it in my local paper today in an editorial. I like it when it takes root like that. We have a national crisis and all they can say is "No." It's funny, though, that now we have the spectacle of Republican governors who were opposed to the stimulus but are put in the position of not taking the money (against the likely wishes of their state) or taking the money (and looking like full blown hypocrites.) It's no coincidence that the Republican governors thinking about running for president next time are the ones dallying with the idea of refusing the money. I love it.

Personally I liked the idea someone in a comment floated that the law could have been written to send the money to whichever states had their representatives vote for it. As it is, they're reporting at Talking Points Memo, there are representatives out there who are taking credit for the extra cash for their districts even while they voted no! Something like that ought to be shouted from every rooftop. Look at these hypocrites!

To me, Obama is looking better everyday, and I already liked him a lot. And the Republicans are shrinking, shrinking, shrinking ... hopefully to the point that they wither and blow away entirely.

Obama's First Veto Threat?

Good grief. The Democrats in Congress rolled over for Bush for eight long years. There wasn't anything that bozo wanted that they weren't there to give. Spit polish his shoes, no problem. He had them in his back pocket and pulled them out occasionally to dangle them before the public. We ached and squawked and begged them to stand up "for once" to Bush. Come on, you morons, don't you know he's 28% in the polls! Get a backbone!

Now we have the rare pleasure of having a Democratic president and what are we constantly hearing? That the Democrats in Congress want the president to know they are a co-equal branch of government and that their demands must be met. If Obama wants something, let him come over here and beg. We'll listen to him whine for a while, then vote against him.

This is absolutely ridiculous. We have a Democratic president, or we soon will. The Democrats in Congress need to be on his side. Give him what he wants for a while. For crying out loud. Work with him, not against him. There's zero (ZERO) reason Obama should have to be threatening his first veto before he's even sworn in!

What is it about the Democrats? We have exactly what we want. Let's do something good with it, not disintegrate. Sickening.

McCain Scuzbaggery

You have to be a real scuzbag to use kind words people say about you and disguise that as endorsing you for president! That's what John McCain is doing in his latest ad, his seemingly unending journey down the low road.

In the ad he has people like John Kerry, Howard Dean, and even Barack Obama praising him. By the end it's pretty clear, the only people who don't want McCain for president would be his Republican base! All the Democrats are on board, that's for sure.

That's the way it would appear, until you give it a second's thought. We all know these people support Obama for president, so what's the deal? Well, as it turns out -- who knew? -- over the years, in normal human relationships, we say nice things about others! We're even friends and so we're friendly. We aren't walking around with a cloud over our heads, snarling at one another.

In the Senate, for example, it's "My Distinguished Colleague from Arizona," "My Good Friend from Massachusetts," "The Honorable Gentleman from Iowa," etc. It doesn't mean you would presume upon these ceremonial kindnesses and actual friendships to claim an endorsement where none exists.

But that's what "The Distinguished Scuzbag from Arizona" did. String together enough of these pleasantries, and, guess what, everyone loves you!

That's an interesting way to exploit your friends.

Good Advice

Bush was on TV, very defiant of Congress. He made what he called "a reasonable proposal" to have his aides go to Congress for an interview, but nothing more. Because he wants to keep it so aides will be able to keep giving him "good advice" without being hauled before Congress to tell what they said. My question would be, when has he ever gotten "good advice"? Or does he just reject it?

He definitely sounded like someone with something to hide. Otherwise, just put it out there. He said he didn't want to establish a precedent, but one of the reporters said there were already precedents of this very thing happening. He acknowledged that was so.