Archive for category political
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Obama Asks House to Vote on Health Care Bill
Triumphant Democrats steered landmark health care legislation to the brink of passage in the House late Saturday night, spurred by a summons from President Barack Obama to “answer the call of history” and expand coverage to millions who lack it.
Because if he asked them to “answer the call of reason” no one would vote for it.
I’ve already switched out to CFLs in most of the house – mostly because they’re so damn cheap.
(video)
According to Rassmussen polls.
It doesn’t surprise me one bit. We believe what we believe for a reason. I don’t doubt that we’ve all drawn our lines in the sand and short of some earth-shattering revelation on how to fix health care, none of us is really going to move that line very much.
There’s some interesting numbers and info in the article; definitely worth a look.
That’s what I think everytime I read an article where someone claims conservatives (or whoever) needs to work together with liberals (or Obama or whoever) to get this health care reform passed.
I’m tired of those people behind health care reform using this language to make it seem like those against are doing something wrong. There’s nothing to work together on. I think health care reform is a bad idea. I’ve listened to your ideas and seen your best laid plans and I still feel that way. Why should I work with you on creating a course of action that I disagree with?
I am working on what I feel is the best solution – and that’s not changing from a bad system to a worse one. Why won’t the liberals work with the conservatives on achieving that goal?
I dunno why I keep going back to the politics. I guess I’ve got nothing better to blog about (my son being sick, the in-laws finally leaving, the middle school band meeting that was nothing more than a sales pitch to rent/purchase instruments) so here’s a pretty fair and detailed article that I really wanted to share.
What can I say? I just don’t like it. I think we’d be replacing one broken system with another broken system.
Maybe, just maybe, no system is really 100%? Maybe all healthcare systems have flaws…big ones even? Maybe our broken health care system is pretty darn good as far as health care systems go? Who knows? It’s just a thought. My instinct tells me this may be the case.
I’m afraid at this point that Obama is so set on changing things at any cost that he’ll let something through that really sucks just to get something through and say change was made. It already feels that way…kinda.
Come to think of it, those other topics would probably be better blog posts.
Hey, look! Another douchebag congressman who doesn’t understand he’s supposed to be representing the people who chose him to…well, represent them.
Seriously, this would be a lot funnier if it weren’t so scary.
Sorry to be so political today, but I just happen to come across these things. This one is a real eye opener:
Yes. A US Congresswoman actually said, “I’m not going to give those people a forum.” For real. She really said that. Louise Slaughter doesn’t care what the people she represents think – she’s not going to give them a forum to speak to her.
Unreal.
Regardless of how much I agree or disagree with any of the ideas in this video, I found the idea of this guy taking someone else’s video and offering a point-by-point retort to be pretty entertaining:
Please don’t post telling me what’s wrong with this video – I don’t care. (smile)
The original video without the interruptions is right here.
From the article:
The Congressional Budget Office’s mid-July “score” of the main House health-care bill puts the price tag at about $1 trillion over the next decade. But ten-year budgets, as even the CBO has warned in the past, are not reliable for assessing entitlement programs. Most of the spending in the House plan is phased in over several years, making the ten-year cost look deceptively small. Extending the budget window by just three years doubles the program’s cost to over $2 trillion.
And that’s just a start. The most comprehensive view of a program’s projected shortfall comes from calculating the present value of all of its future outlays and subtracting any new revenue sources. The House plan has a present-value shortfall of $13.6 trillion. That’s the amount of additional money that must be set aside, in today’s dollars, to put this program on a sustainable course.
I’m just not understanding how anybody thinks this is a good idea on any level.
I originally saw this on Tyler’s blog:
“… Although I’ve gotta say, when I hear critics talk about out of control spending I start scratchin’ my head. I can’t help but remember, those same critics contributed to a $1.3 trillion deficit that I inherited when I took office. [applause]… I mean, seriously, I’m now president, so I’m responsible for solving it, but I don’t think we should have a selective memory. You hand me a $1.3 trillion dollar bill and then you’re complaining 6 months later because we haven’t paid it all back. [applause] A debt, by the way, that was partially the result of two tax cuts that went primarily to the wealthiest few Americans, and a Medicare drug program that wasn’t paid for. These are the same folks who are now complaining about health care, we can’t afford health care. You pass a prescription drug program and didn’t pay for it! Handed the bill to me. [Obama laughs]…”
… .. Nobody is talking about some government takeover of health care. [applause] I’m tired of hearing that … These folks need to stop scaring everybody. [applause and cheering]… .. …”
- Obama in Raleigh, North Carolina (rough transcript)
What does that even mean?
Pass my health care bill because I inherited a deficit? It’s ok for me to spend too much on bad ideas because those guys did too?
And what does that second part about takeovers and scaring people even have to do with the first part about the old guys spending and handing Obama the bill?
What’s the message supposed to be in that quote? Seriously, I’m not being facetious. Would one of my liberal friends take a moment to explain it to me either on my blog or on Facebook when it gets syndicated over there.
And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire.
It’s a start. I particularly like the “I love you, but…” nature of how it’s phrased. I think too often we hear about how we have to try to understand this or that or these people ot those people or whatever…and that’s true, but it’s nice to see someone mention that it’s a two way street. We (as Americans) are way too hard on ourselves sometimes.
What the fuck is this? I honestly though I was reading an old April Fool’s story at first. Jesus Fucking Christ!
Actor Kal Penn joins White House team
Why exactly is this necessary and when did Hollywood get such political power and influence? We’re so fucked up as a people.
Yeah, I’m posting it here even though you’re probably sick of seeing it already. It’s worth a chuckle.
And for the record, as long as idiots like Al Sharpton start yapping about racism anytime someone makes fun of our African American president (even if it has nothing to do with race – or hell, even if it does in the name of good natured humor) then we will never truly be equal…or make any of the final progress needed…or anything productive really.
Fuck you, Al Sharpton (and anyone else who takes offense to this comic under the racism umbrella including animal rights people – because I know some fuckwad out there is offended at making light of the chimp being killed) – thanks for taking those two steps back everytime the rest of us step forward.
Arrrgh!
I posted a while back about how I hate the projections that the various news outlets do.
Tonight not only confirmed my hatred, but also my apathy towards the system in general.
Many states were being projected the moment the polls closed. The news outlets were just waiting for the clock to run out so they could call the winner. And in pretty much every case in the history of journalism (with the exception of Florida in 2000) they’ve been correct.
When you know who won a state the moment the polls close, it’s hard not to think the whole system was bought, sold and decided a long time ago.
Seriously, when those paying attention can say, “Not a vote has been counted, but we all know who’s winning this one” then I’m more convinced than ever that the systems of election are just a formality.
Hell, if you’ve been watching this race the last few weeks is anything that happened tonight surprising in any way?
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On the bright side, at least the Democrats were smart enough to not let Hillary anywhere near this thing…and an Obama win blocks her out for 2012 too.
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And just for Jeff (smile), I found it interesting that CNN discussed quite a bit about the Generational aspect of this election with Gen Y really coming out and voting and how Obama was a part of Gen Jones and falling between the Boomers and Gen X and a general changing of times. I do believe Gen Y made this happen for Obama – they’re the new Boomers ( actually rreferred to often as Echo Boomers – and now I ‘get’ it). Those of us inbetween are destined to be adapters – we had to play into the Boomers society and in the future (starting now really) we have a generation with the numbers to influence everything and we’ll be playing into the society they create in the next decades.
I think that way because I don’t feel I really identify with either. The Boomers were our stodgy parents & authority figures and the Gen Y Trophy Kids (as I’ve said) feels a lot like a spoiled generation to me.
I dunno, just a side thought that kinda flowed as I typed.
From Carrie:
Why did I vote today?
Because I can. There was a time in this country when I would not have been allowed to vote. A time when I would have had to sit at home and wait to hear what the men decided. There are many countries today that do not allow their women to vote, speak, or be seen in public.
Regardless of the noise associated with the election. Regardless of how broken the political system has become in America. I have a voice. I am an intelligent woman. I choose to participate because no one can tell me whether or not my vote matters. It matters because it matter to me.
I voted today and it felt great!
That’s good stuff.
I think most people fall right into that category – they vote because it feels good and they feel like they’re doing their part and making a difference in the world around them.
We can debate all day about whether or not it’s true, but we can’t debate that feeling.
It’s entirely valid.
I can’t shake the feeling that it doesn’t seem to matter if I vote. I feel fine with it. I feel good knowing I didn’t go fight the crowds to play into the machine like a good little rat collecting my cheese. I’ll feel good about voting when there’s something to feel good about voting for. I have in the past and will in the future.
We can debate all day about whether or not there’s truth in that too, but we can’t debate that feeling.
And to elaborate as to why I don’t feel good about it:
McCain will essentially hold the rudder steady…and I’m ok with that. But that gets us nowhere except where we’re headed. And that’s not necessarily a place we need to visit.
Obama seems to want to randomly spin the wheel for the sake of spinning it. If we’re going nowhere fast, then spin the wheel and see where we end up. Change for the sake of change. And that’s even sillier than holding steady.
I can’t and won’t be responsible for supporting either of them…and it feels good knowing I can throw a big middle finger to the system and still complain on this very blog tomorrow when you guys pick another in a long line of losers. ;)