The Party That Cried Wolf....

Today was President Obama's feared address to the school kids of America. I wish I could blog about how Obama was superb, and motivational as expected...but that would be lying. The sad fact is, Obama wasn't expected to give a morally sound, non-political, purely motivational speech as he did this morning, it was supposed to be "something Chairman Mao would do" --or at least he wasn't from the right.

But lo and behold, Obama's speech turned out to be harmless after all. I spent the day searching for a single conservative response to the speech that in effect proved his "socialist scheme". Of course, as I was looking I knew I wouldn't find anything, but I thought it would be worth a try. What you did have however, are conservatives claiming, this is a harmless motivational speech. Even the extremes didn't have anything "indoctrination" to say about it. Glenn Beck was silent as far as I know--which was highly disappointing. Limbaugh had no more to say about the "socialist scheme" either...although that did not stop him from spewing some nonsense about how he KNEW Obama did not mean a word of what he said.

However, one thing which surprised me was that there was no apology from the GOP, let alone a single person claiming responsibility for what they spew. Now I am not talking about Beck, or Limbaugh, or any other conservative in the media...it is their job to spew nonsense as part of the Conservative media. However, the elected officials that cried wolf on Obama's speech is another matter entirely. These people are elected to lead the people, and they should take full responsibility for spreading notions that ended up being false. However, the unfortunate truth is they didn't.

Which begs the question...will this idea of the GOP crying wolf eventually turn their constituents off their far-fetched notions? There really hasn't been an event where the GOP's bold faced lies were proven wrong so clearly and quickly. I feel the incessant stream of crap that comes out of the GOP along side with the false-proven indoctrination ideas, those on the moderate right will start to dissociate themselves with those on the extreme end. Eventually what will happen is one of two things...1) the moderate intellectuals in the GOP will take a stand against those on the extreme end and restore the integrity of the GOP (as they did during the Cold War). 2) the GOP will forever be known as the girl who cried wolf.

Paints a pretty picture huh?

Huffington Thanks Beck For His Smear Campaign.

That's right, Arianna Huffington, founder of the notably liberal Huffington Post, thanked Glenn Beck for his vicious smear campaign of Van Jones in her latest blog. Now, now, before you start throwing your wine glasses at your computer screen, it is not what you think. Huffington, despite claiming the contrary, was shedding a positive light on a bad situation. Huffington argues in her blog that despite Jones' being the best qualified person for the position, she feels the the job was not the best position for Jones. She argues that Jones' unique mind and great charisma was ultimately put to waste behind a desk, and that he would be better utilized rallying troops and furthering "green" movements. Ultimately she argues, Glenn Beck running this smear campaign on her long time friend, was for the best.

She is wrong. I don't disagree that Jones' was better suited for a job that utilized his incredible ability to influence minds and further a cause. There is no question in my mind that man who was listed in Time's Magazine 100 most influential people in the world, would be better utilized influencing people rather than punching numbers.

But while Van Jones' may be a good guy, that is better suited away from a desk, as Arianna relentlessly points out in her blog with countless bumper sticker quotes and high achievements, Arianna seems to be missing the big picture. The message sent from the resignation.

The question is not, and never was, is Van Jones suited for the job, or if the job was the best fit for Jones, or even if Jones is really a communist. The question always was is how war can the GOP cross the line and get away with it? How far will the Obama administration let elected officials and political pundits on the right distort the truth and spew nonsense? Will those on the left take a stand and say "enough with your bullshit."? The answer to these questions is no. At least that's the message the left is sending to the right.

This whole thing is bigger than Van Jones, because like Huffington points out, he is better utilized in a job away from the desk anyways. Because if that was the only issue, Arianna would be spot on. But, again, its not.

As the saying goes, you give someone an inch, they will take a mile. And that's exactly what the conservatives have been doing. Over and over the Obama administration, and the left in general have been really giving conservatives a pass over and over when it comes to hypocritical statements, far-fetched notions, and bold faced lies. And those on the right, eagerly accept the lenience on the left and begin their marathon of bullshit. Even those on the left who are supposedly "rock hard" and "immovable" buckle at the conservative incessant wave of smears. Van Jones was supposedly the strongest of the left, one of the few who advocated being "assholes" like the conservatives. So much for that... To make matters worse, it wasn't just Van Jones that ultimately buckled, it was the entire Obama administration that let him fall. Gibbs declined to defend Jones, and the administration as a whole let Jones' go without objecting to his resignation.

Think about the message that sends to the right. If the strongest of the liberals folds to the likes of Glenn Beck, it really is no surprise conservatives are trying to bring down Obama's entire agenda with, really, nothing more than a more elaborate smear campaign. I know what some of you are thinking to yourself right now, only the extreme right really believes these smear campaign crap. Only those on the extreme right is really "mistaken" enough to believe such far fetched notions of fascist communists and indoctrinations. To which I have two questions. The first is: If it is really those only those on the right that believe what comes out from conservative pundits, then why does Jones feel the need to resign and why does Obama not object to it? It is not like the extreme right, or even the moderate right for that matter is the majority. Really what the smear campaign came down to was Fox news. Secondly, what do you think the perception is of Jones and the Obama administration is to those moderates who are really to smart to believe the far-fetched lies of the GOP? The answer is simple, its the same thing me and you are thinking right now. The left is too weak. If Van Jones and the left can't handle Fox news, who can they handle? Ultimately what happens are things like Obama's decreasing poll numbers. People begin losing faith in the administration, and in the left in general.

So, while Arianna makes the best of a bad situation, this is still nothing more than a bad situation. The only thing that will fix it, is a new spine for the left.

If you want to say batshit-crazy stuff and still be treated as a respectable participant in the national debate, you'd better be a Republican

Mark Klienman provided those words after hearing of Van Jones resignation--and it seems at this point in time in history, he could not be more correct.

For the past two months we have heard nothing, absolutely nothing, but intentionally flawed, disingenuous, dishonest, ridiculous arguments and claims about the President and his agenda. And that's putting it mildly. These out-of-this-world ideas, as stated by this blog, and many other news organizations, have not only been circled by pundits and constituents, but by actual elected political figures on the right who have seemingly escaped any political danger that their radical statements normally would constitute. Yet, the luxury of a political immunity, or whatever you want to call it, is really not the case for Van Jones, the White House's Special Advisor for Green Jobs (which is really nothing more than publicly obscure position in the administration).

So the question becomes two-fold: 1) how does the Special Advisor for Green Jobs make it out of obscurity and into the public spotlight? 2) And what could he possibly do and/or say that would force him to resign.
The first answer might not be shocking. Glenn Beck. I anticipate much of you reading this just sighed in disappointment. Yes, Glenn Beck hand picked this man out obscurity in effort to further his "Red Scare" agenda. Beck did his research and found out that a little over 15 years ago Jones became involved with Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (S.T.O.R.M) after graduating law school. S.T.O.R.M is radical left wing group that, in short supported urban Marxist politics. So Beck hammered away for weeks at Van Jones with the usual Socialist Banner. If your asking yourself, how the hell did Beck get wind about Jones? The answer is simple. You may recall hearing stories of advertisers such as GEICO pulling their ads from his show. Well, Jone's former organization, Color Of Change, were the ones advocating advertisers boycott Beck's program.

After Beck "exposed" Jone's political past, Jones became underfire for essentially three things. First, of course was his past. The second was for a particularly uninhibited statement he made at the Berkeley Green Energy Conference regarding why Dems have such a hard time being effective with a majority in congress, when republicans were dominant when they were in control. His response was,

The answer to that is: They're assholes. That's a technical political science term. And Barack Obama's not an asshole. I will say this, I can be an asshole. And some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are gonna have to start getting a little bit uppity

While the statement may be true or not, it probably wasn't the most politically correct one. However, what really hit home his affiliation with the "truthers". "Truthers" are people who believed Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks before they happened. Jones basically singed the 9/11 truth statement which, in short, calls for the public's attention to unanswered questions that may suggest that 9/11 was deliberately allowed as pretext to war. However, after lethal criticism, Jones released a statement saying that he didn't fully read the petition and the statement does not reflect his opinion of the war. In fact he issued numerous apologies and explanations in the past week and a half in attempt to squash any radical notion about himself. That was before he resigned.

Eventually, Jones had too much and resigned saying,

"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide. I have been inundated with calls - from across the political spectrum -- urging me to 'stay and fight.' But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future."

I really am not sure who I am more disappointed in. On one hand, I am upset at Van Jones for resigning and the Obama Administration having no objections to Jone's resignation. So your getting a little pressure from the right over, really, stupid crap. While you may have been a distraction then, your even more of a distraction now, and your making yourself, and the Obama administration look weak. People start to wonder if there may have been truth behind the claims, or if Obama really cant handle the heat--which is almost worse because it undoubtedly calls for more nonsense from the right. I thought you said you could be an Asshole like the republicans and take control...were you trying to prove you didnt mean what you said to get you out of trouble?

The Obama Administration not objecting to Jones resigning does not help either. Again it implies that the people had the right to question the motives of Jones as part of the Obama administration, just as Robert Gibbs did when he declined to defend Jones in a press conference.

On the other hand, however, I am upset at conservatives who called for his resignation for their hypocrisy and, really, their silly irrelevant notions.

Honestly, if we take a look at what is pissing so many conservatives off, it really is irrelevant to his job as Special Advisor to Green Jobs. He has past ties, over 15 years ago, to the radical left. Big deal. One, that was four presidential terms ago, and has absolutely nothing to with his job on the Environmental Council.

So he spoke candidly about Republicans, calling them assholes. To be honest, what he said wasn't too far from the truth, especially when you look at how much the use of a filibuster has increased since Dems took congress. Not only was it fairly truthful, but it really isn't worse than senators and elected conservative officials allowing, or even promoting connections between Obama totalitarian dictators.

And then he signed a petition that implied Bush deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen so he could use it as a pretext to the war. First off, he denied the fact he held the views reflected in the statement. Secondly, how can conservatives through an uproar over a radical claim like that, when conservative senators have brought up, endorsed, and promoted claims relating to "death panels", "birthers", and "socialist indoctrination". Are "truthers" crazier than any of these claims?

Either that, or Republicans have some sort of immunity over far fetched, batshit notions.

The truth behind the "death panels"...

(Note: This blog will be discussing section 1233 of H.R 3200. To ensure that everything in this blog concerning the bill is true here is the link to the actual bill)



First off, as you read this I suggest you play this music. The most epic evil, horror, music ever.


And now...the truth behind the death panels. Who is behind them?




Betsy McCaughy.




Who is she? And why should she start such a horrible rumor--such a ridiculous and utterly false concept?

Lets take those one at a time. Betsy McCaughey, besides being a succubus (a little humor), she is the director of medical device company called Cantel Medical Corp; former lieutenant governor of New York; she is a senior at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank. How conservative are we talking here? The Capital Research Center, a non-partisan, independent, group that seeks to rank non-profits and documents their funding, allocates Hudson as a 7 on its ideological spectrum with 8 being "Free Market Right" and 1 "Radical Left."

Yeah, that conservative. Here is the kicker, guess where they get their funding? Pharmaceutical companies, drug store chains, and biomedical companies. Yeah, the same group of people who oppose a reformed health care because of a fear the government will regulate prices on their drugs.

Now the basis of this lie didn't start with the H.R 3200, but rather with the stimulus package and its provision on heath care spending. She threw a fit on Fox and CNN and misquoted the provision to say the government will, "guide decisions at the time and place of care", drawing the implication that the government will decide what your doctor will do, even if it means euthanasia if your treatment is too costly. Of course this fear of a government take over carried over to the health care reform and...viola you have the "death panel" origin.


What did H.R 1 really say? That the government will "provide appropriate information to help guide the decisions at the time and place of care". So what is this saying? The government will provide information, that doctors can access at any time, to help them in their decision of treatment. Because too often corporations, like the pharmaceuticals that funds McCaughey, give falsified or skewed information to doctors which result in unnecessary prescriptions, and unnecessary tests that make the health care system inefficient more expensive.

These corporations are the same corporations that shot down the health care reform in 93', the same corporations that are responsible for the skyrocketing premiums and plummeting medical salaries. These people are the reason why we dont have universal health care like france, or italy (they top the chart for health care)-- the reason we have people being denied coverage on fatal illnesses. They are the reason we need reform!

Dont belive me on her motive of recieving funding from pharmaceuticals? You dont have to. Read McCaughey letter to Pharma Ceo Alan Holmer,

"Asking Pharma (a pharmaceutical company) to fund my work at the Hudson institute, because my writings on health care policy can make a substantial difference in the public opinion and in the nation's capitol."

And she sure has, people actually believe old people will be put through euthanasia. She has made a substantial difference not only in the public opinion but also in the nation's capital. We have Sarah Palin bolstering ridiculous comments about a death panel that decides whether or not a person should have the right to life. But its not just wacky right wing would be politicians, its actual politicians. Sen. Grassley told his constituents they "have a right to be feared." He actually endorsed this ridiculous nonsense of McCaughey and sold it to the public!

What the "death panel" is referring to is section 1233 of the health care bill. What section 1233 suggests is "end of life counseling"--no not for the way you want to die, but for how your treatment will go to reduce costs for senior citizens and medicare alike. End of life counseling has been no new thing in our health care system. In fact when the section was added to the bill, guess how many objections there were? None. Not one. Not even from a republican. In 2007, in fact, a few republicans helped suggest and cosign a bill entitled "Medicare End of Life Counseling Act"....Go figure.

So lets outline how this stupid idea began:

First came the stimulus revision and McCaughey's outlandish comments

Secondly, on July 16, she goes on ex. Senator Fred Thompsons radio show and butchers section 1233 of H.R 3200...lighting the match for the "death panel" comments calling the bill bill "a vicious assault on elderly people" and that it will "cut your life short."

Third: July 24 she wrote a collumn pretty much outlining the same thing, tugging on heart strings by a hypothetetical situation of a Grandma with Parkinson's disease not getting treatment by "Obamacare"

Next comes Rep. Michele Bachman who almost recited the article verbatim at time on the House floor.

And then, the shit hit the fan...and all over none other than...Sarah Palin. Who on her facebook wrote the infamous "death panel comment"

And now...Sen Grassley and his endorsement of McCaughey's ideas. And these are just people of politics.

We are not even talking about the crap Beck, Limbuagh and Drudge.com have been spewing.

Now, the damage has been done, thanks to McCaughey. People like her helped shoot down universal health care in 93' with terms like "socializied medicine", "death panels", "government take over", and they are trying to shoot it down again when we need a health care reform the most. With premiums skyrocketing and the the US health care system rank plummeting...this is not the time for greedy corporate puppets and stupid politicians trying to shut down health care. The very idea is scarier than the music your hearing right now...

4 Examples As To Why Guillible (Not Dumb!) Old People Shouldn't Listen to Glenn Beck...Or Rush Limbaugh

As many of you, I have been following this debate on health care. As I am watching the news, it seems every time I flip to FOX news someone like Glenn Beck or one of his minions are talking about some bogus government take-over of health care or some other ridiculous nonsense. Oh, well, who listens to Glenn Beck anyways?

Unfortunately...a lot of people. A lot of gullible (not dumb!), misinformed (not dumb!) old people. Recently I have come across a lot of statements made by senior citizens worried about their health care, medicare, or their life that are incredibly disturbing. So, here are top four example as to why gullible (Not Dumb!) old people shouldn't listen to Glenn Beck...Or Rush Limbaugh. Those with weak stomachs...please don't read on.


4) Obama recently received a letter from a concerned elderly citizen. According to Obama, obsurd statements not unlike this one were tossed around:

'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare.'"

Now I am going to let the government take over of health care baloney go. While I dont necessarily agree with it, there are bigger, more mistaken remarks. ...Don't touch my Medicare? Are you kidding me? For those of you scratching your heads wondering why this is such an absurd comment...Medicare is administered by none other than the United States Government! "I dont want a government run medicare program!" Give me a break.

3) While Obama was having his town hall meeting in a grocery store an elderly lady actually inquired (and half accused) that under the new Health Care plan older American citizens "will just be put out to pasture"

Put out to pasture? To this persons credit, she did begin this statement with semi-legitamite concerns over whether she will be able to keep her doctor. The preface to this statement is the only reason this isnt a number 2 or 1. Yes, Obama, the evil Muslim, Kenyan Citizen, wants to kill all the old people because they are too costly! That fiend!


2) At a town meeting in South Carolina held by Rep. Robert Inglis (R), a women, very emphatically got up, made all sorts of dramatic noises and movements to attract attention and said this remarkable demand:

"Keep your government hands off my Medicare!"

I belive we went over this one already. Medicare is a goverment administered program. Perhaps Bill Maher put it best. To say something like "Keep you government hands off my Medicare!" is like " driving cross country to protest highways."

The Republican Congressman (Inglis) holding the meeting even had enough. Aparently he tried to explain the truth to the confused citizen by saying "Actually, sir, your health care is being provided by the government."

The best part? The person wasn't having any of it! She didn't believe a Republican Congressman over someone like Glenn Beck! Good Grief!

1) On July 28, Obama heard from another elderly woman who said this incredibly mistaken (not dumb!)

"I heard there is a clause in there that everyone that's Medicare age will be visited and told to decide how they wish to die"

Okay...maybe some of them are dumb. But then again it doesn't help that people like Sarah Palin are saying with the proposed Health Care will kill her down syndrome baby. So, thank you "Renegade", for reducing the intellect of elderly Republicans everywhere.