Health Reform! Woot!

Fine-freaking-ally! At last!

No public option, no single-payer—but at least some good things. The rest will follow.

As Rachel Maddow said "Government is for fixing problems." And this problem is finally getting a start on its fixes.

Unfortunately only half the government is governing—the Democratic half. Certainly the Republicans aren't helping. On the other hand, they are doing everything they can to abort it. Kind of ironic, considering the basic Republican position on abortion. And worse, they are not only not trying to calm down the weird and violent idiots they have inflamed all year long, they are continuing to fan the flames.

Now there are threats against the Congressmen who voted for the health bill. And no , NO, Repubican has unequivocally come out and said that the behavior is unacceptable no matter what. They keep fudging their statements with comments about how the Democrats have done things to call this behavior upon themselves, or how understandable it is that people are angry to the point of violence.

And they are delaying and screwing around and preventing any thing getting done in committee or on the floor. This is the most shameful behavior I have seen in elected, supposedly grown-up, individuals in the 50 years I have been paying attention to politics.
Move-on.org is sponsoring a letter to the Republican leaders calling on them to disavow the mob behavior.
You can sign it here, if you're so disposed:

http://pol.moveon.org/condemnhate/?r_by=19573-592655-FpjRCax&rc=paste

It is still mind-boggling how the Repubes have gotten so many people confused and angry so that they are against something which will help them. It's disheartening to see how many believe lies, and how many are willing to denounce democracy when things don't go their way.

Eh, I shouldn't be surprised.
that's it for now.

I'm ba-a-a-ack

Geez, I let myself go.
Too much Dreamweaver and web stuff, too much salsa—the dance kind, not the nacho chip kind.
Also I'm lazy.

But not that much has changed since January.
Republicans are still dissembling and being hypocrites, Democrats are still being cautious and uncertain.
They coulda had a health care bill months ago but no, they have to try to accommodate Repubes who don't want to play anyway; and then the Dems also have to deal with members of their own party who only have a summer home in reality.
Like Stupak from Michigan who was going to hold up the health care bill til the abortion funding with federal dollar parts were taken out. Minor problem: there ain't no such parts. The bill specifically says "shall not" when the mention of federal dollars going to abortion comes up. He finally was brought down by Pelosi and others who sort of pointed this out and made him look stupid. I guess he thought if Lieberman could get attention by grandstanding, then it would work for him.
He forgot that Lieberman is a weasel extraordinaire and knows how work the system.

And don't you just love Rep. Eric Massa from New York—I think New york pols are trying to supplant the South Carolina pols in the curmudgeon's affections (I'm not even going to try to get to Gov. Patterson tonight)—resigning under allegations that he groped a male staffer. Then he goes on Glen Beck's show and totally humiliates ol' Glen because he won't say what he was supposed to. He said he not only groped the guy, he tickled him til he couldn't breathe. Then he urged Americans to stop calling each other names. Like "socialist." Also he urged Americans to agitate for campaign finance reform.
Whoa, three strikes and you're out buddy. Don't ever cross a tea-bagger's doorstep again.

In short, The details change, but the picture remains the same.

Finally Obama is starting to get antsy and prod his Democratic minions into actually doing something. he must not have spent enough time in the senate to realize what a hide-bound and basically cowardly institution it can be. I just hope it's not too late for health care.
At least Anthem Blue cross gave the plan a good boost by obscenely boosting its own insurance rates again. It's a textbook example of what is wrong with our current system. Great timing folks. A grateful nation thanks you.
I wonder if they have a lot of ex-congressmen running that company.

I dunno, I try to be amusing here, because laughter's the only way to stave off despair in the face of the stupidity, avarice and inanity in government and society, but sometimes it gets hard.
One needs some good news once in a while.
All I got is Massa on Glen Beck's show. What's this world coming to?

State of the Onion, state of the Apple

First layer of the onion:
Obama swung a few punches finally, in the State of the Union address. If the Republicans are going to oppose everything he proposes, they better start governing by proposing something themselves. Except the word "No."

Second layer: What the hell are those asshats on the Corporate Court, wait, I mean, Supreme Court thinking? Corporations are individuals with the same rights as me? Gimme a break. I've ranted about this before. Corporations are made up of people, but they are not people themselves and they DO NOT have the right to protect their corporate interests in the political arena.
If the Dems (and, let's be fair, some Repubs who are equally dismayed) don't do something to change this, your next senator won't be the senator from your state, but the senator from Pfizer, or Exxon. Some wag ( I wish this were my own idea) suggested future congressmen having jumpsuits with the logos of their campaign contributors on them, like race cars. And just as intelligent.

Second and a half layer: Annoying Justice Alito enough so he JUST HAD to express his displeasure publicly. Oh sure, he didn't know the camera would be on him. Well, it's possible, but he should have been aware the cameras would hone in on him after Obama's remarks. But I don't think so.
All I can say is: Hey Alito (and your conservative buddies) thanks for negating my vote. And what happened to the conservative ideal of "no activist judges?" If ignoring a century of judicial decisions is not activist, I don't know what is.
I WARNED PEOPLE! I was at a meeting, back in double ought, of people where someone opined that there was no big difference between G. Bush and A. Gore. I said then, "Two words, Supreme Court." It's mind-boggling how people forget this. Those asshats on the Roberts court are going to decide the fate of future generations. You want Roberts, Alito or Thomas deciding if your vote counts, or if your daughter should be able to get an abortion if she's been raped—do you? I sure as hell don't.
I think the Supreme Court decision was un-American. Is there any way to impeach these wingnuts and get them the hell out of there?
I'd like to blame this all on George Bush, but it was the unthinking masses who elected him who have created this mess. Poor George didn't really have much to do with it. I think it was Karl Rove—too fat and homely to make it as a politician himself, he had to find a convenient patsy, enter G.W. Bush..
Cheap shot on Karl Rove? Well, I'm too homely, probably too fat, not to mention short, to make it as a presidential candidate myself. So as a fellow "can't get a girlfriend" nerd, I can criticize him at will.

Third layer: telling the Dems not to "run for the hills." God bless Obama for that. I've been ranting on the "feckless Democrats" for some time now. And I'm pleased to see that Frank Rich of the New York Times also uses the word "feckless" to describe Dems. Check out tomorrow's NYTimes. C'mon, it's one thing to feel a little sorry for the guys who got beat, but you should till move on to do what you want to do after that.

The Republicans didn't waste too much time feeling sorry for Democrats when they were in power.

Enough. Moving on…

Even more anticipated than the state of the union address was the Apple event earlier on Wednesday. I confess I was looking forward to this more than the State of the Union myself. Hell, i've been unemployed for two years, I KNOW what the state of the union is.

So every one (every one who counts—i.e., Macintosh Kool-Aid ingesters) was wondering and theorizing and hoping that Steve Jobs (Kneel when you say his name!) would announce, finally, the tablet computer they'd been hoping for.
And you know what? He did. Except it wasn't. Everyone who had something they thought should be on it was disappointed because that item wasn't on it. Doesn't matter what.
As soon as the long desired tablet was finally announced, the fanatics threw up their hands and cried woe. Actually it seems a lot like the Israelites waiting while Moses was on the mountain. Don't you just love the Wall Street journal cartoon that read "the last time a tablet caused this much excitement it had commandments written on it?"
Ya know, I think it's a neat device, but I don't see a use for it in my life right now. Other people see it in their lives, and I hope they rush out and buy one. Apple has 50 billion dollars in its bank account, and it could always use more. I like Apple, not only because it creates the best software in the world, but the hardware it puts that software in is so beautiful.

They could use some help in the marketing department though. Ipad? Is the next, larger one going to be the Maxi-Ipad? Will there be a special name for iPads that you use on heavy business days? Gimmee a break.

Still, if the sales figures come in like Apple and I think they will (that Kool-aid and reality distortion field is STRONG!), people will forget about the name, like they did for the iPod and iPhone. Of which millions, MILLIONS, have been sold. Why o why didn't I buy Apple Stock when it was only $16 or so bucks a share?
I have a friend who doesn't like Apple, but still owns an iPod. Make room for the iPad, Merrie, two years from now you will own one. Really, it's perfect for someone in your situation.

It's not perfect for me, but I'd buy one anyway, because I love the kool-aid. Mmmm, mmm, good.

Random thought: Toyota has been in the news lately, and it has brought to the surface a question that has been festering in my mind for some time now: Does Toyota have a Department for the Creation of Stupid Car Names?
Just asking. Yaris? Venza? Corolla? What the eff is a Yaris? I had a Corolla station wagon once, and I still don't know what it means.
And what ever happened to "station wagons?' And what does "station wagon" mean anyway? Geez, you start asking these questions and next thing you know you're up all night in a cold sweat trying to find answers. Sorry I brought it up.

I am of the generation that came of age with Bel-Airs, Fairlanes, Falcons, Mustangs and of course, Corvettes.
REAL names.
Yaris? No no no no no.

That's just not right.

On "Wait, wait, don't tell me" today, Peter Sagal, talking about the Pope's saying priests should be more active on the internet, said that priests and bloggers are a lot alike in that both of them dress badly and don't get much sex.
I am offended to have my wardrobe criticized so cavalierly.

Okay, I'm about out of steam for the night. One of these days I have to rant on modern art. But not now.
Sleep tight, my two readers.

Internet nonsense

I got to get off politics for a while.
So I'll get on to something else that annoys me. And it's the forwarded emails I get all too often.

Before I start, I want to acknowledge that not all forwarded emails are garbage. You may have friends, as I do, who know what you're interested in or what will amuse you, and will not send you junk.

Then there is the other stuff.

I have a relative who likes to provoke me by sending me things she knows will annoy me. I'll deal with her later. But I want to talk about the things she forwards, and the other emails I get from people who send them in all seriousness, and what we can know about them.
And how you can save yourself aggravation and the effort of reading them.
Get used to the idea that there is nothing you can do about them. Except not forward them to some other hapless soul.

This particular item started off with something like "If you cross the border illegally into North Korea you get 12 years at hard labor."
In all caps.

Of course it was easy to see right away where this was going, so I just scrolled immediately down to the bottom and I was right. After listing what the writer thought would happen by crossing several country's borders ("if you cross the Afghan border you will be shot." Oh really? Tell it to the smugglers and Taliban who practically have highways leading in and out of the country), he/she/it finished off by listing all the supposed benefits of crossing into ours, like health care, driver's licenses etc.
The whole thing was full of partial truths (especially about the benefits of coming to the US) and outright fabrications or guesses, based, if based on any fact at all, on single recent news items.

But I'm not going to talk about that. This is about form, not substance. Actually, there is no real substance to this kind of form.

Savvy internet cruisers already know that ALL CAPS means bullpucky is in the message. All cap emails come from folks who are angry and fearful and otherwise helpless (or just plain evil or in need of attention) and think that shouting is the way to make other people listen to and believe them. Trust me, these folks are not trying to engage in a conversation. As witnessed by the lack of signature, return address and back-up documentation for the statements contained in the email. And the all caps.

I wonder if these people know what it means to engage in a conversation.

And these always start of with FW: or Fwd: FW:—meaning your friend or acquaintance forwarded an email that was forwarded to her/him and (s)he is passing it on. Forwarded emails have a long life, it seems. And are almost always useless.

There are some FWs that are collections of jokes, and I even got one that was amusing, once. But mostly they have some usually extremely far-right asshat political point to make, as above, or they are building on some fear or trying to create some fear in the recipients. These latter usually start off with the notorious, nameless "I."

"I want to warn you about a new danger from over-the-counter fiber supplements. My neighbor's daughter was taking XYZ fiber supplement when she was suddenly stricken with an attack of zombie syndrome and rushed to the hospital. We'd never heard of this before, and our doctor, Doctor Ima Doofus, told us it was something the medical profession was trying to hide to avoid panic…blah blah."

"I want to alert you to a new study which shows that watching cooking programs on TV will cause terrible gastrointestinal problems and make you fart like a pirate."

Etc.
There will be no names, no documentation. I did get one that was purportedly from a doctor with a name but it still checked out as fake according to Snopes.com, even tho it appeared the doctor was real. Just terribly misquoted and statements distorted.

Snopes is a good resource for checking out these things.

I said these often have right-wing political lies and distortions. I want to know, what is wrong with all those Obama-loving socialists who are supposedly threatening the country? How do they expect to take over without sending their own forwarded ALL CAPS emails to counter the right wing? C'mon guys, you're falling down on the job.

I digress.

To review:
1. If your email is forwarded, be suspicious, especially if it's from someone you know is likely to fall for internet bullpucky. You'll have to look at it of course—for the same reason we have to look at automobile accidents we happen to pass by.

2. If you open it and it is in all caps, be aware you will be wasting your time reading it. Really, you'll hate yourself in the morning.

3. If it is written by the nameless "I" you will know that it has been written to create FUD—Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Or delusion. Move along, there is nothing to see there.

4. If it's trying to scare you in some way, assuming you've gone so far as to try to read it, it's 99% certain to be junk.

5. If you've read it and are starting to be unsure about its validity, in spite of what I have told you (you aren't listening, are you?), check it out with Snopes.com or some other reliable source. One with references you can check to determine the truth or lack of truth in the message.

And whatever you do, DON'T FORWARD IT TO ME!!!!

That goes for both of you reading this.

That's all for now.

Shame on Massachusetts

It's a travesty. The seat of a senator who fought for health care for 40 years has been given to a man who vows to defeat it. This is a man, one of whose campaign ads started, "I'm Scott Brown. (zoom from close-up to distance) This is my truck." Give me a truckin' break. He also did the nude centerfold thing some years ago for Cosmopolitan magazine. Admittedly he was a hunk. But still, this is conservative family values?

Young people who plan to go into politics, take note—posing deshabille in magazines may be the wave of the future.
And, let me take this opportunity to say that this would be a better country if more women would go into politics.

Uh, no connection to the magazine thing. Honest.

I don't know what was going on in the brains of the people who voted for him. Especially since they have one of the best health care systems in the country.
Martha Coakley pulled a Hilary Clinton and thought she could coast into the senate seat like Hillary thought she could coast into the Democratic nomination for president. The state's Democratic leadership played the fool as well.
I also blame the feckless Democrats in the Senate. They spent too much time trying to play nice with people who had no intention of playing nice back. People who call the president a liar while they themselves spout total falsehoods about "death panels" and other baloney. The Dumbo- I mean, Democrats should have used reconciliation to pass a health care bill with 51 votes a long time ago. The the right wing "can't have that commie Neegrow in the white house" crowd wouldn't have spent so much money pouring money into this state to get a Republican voted in. I just signed a petition to the Senate leadership (and forwarded it to a few people) to do the reconciliation thing. It read in part:
"Voters did not elect President Obama and a Democratic supermajority in the House and the Senate so that health care reform could be written by the likes of Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson.
I signed a petition telling President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid that the Senate must use reconciliation to pass a better health care bill with a strong public option. I hope you'll follow the link below and take action, too."
Here's a link if anyone is interested:
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/po_reconciliation/?r_by=7410-2283445-4QdHh9x&rc=mailto1

I was right. I won't run out of things to complain about this year.

Haiti

It's impossible to be snarky in the face of this tragedy. Who cares what some feckless politician in South Carolina says or does when so many people are dead, are injured, or homeless?
To turn on the news, on the radio or TV, is to be ready to shed tears.

What I have heard: Iceland (Iceland for Christ's sake, they were almost bankrupt because of the financial disaster last year) got there early with a plane of supplies. The Russians sent planes. Cuba allows the US to fly through their air space. Canada sent help. China sent a team of trained personnel. On my Facebook page, the Macintosh computer sales and service company Small Dog Computers, offered to match any donations, to the best to their ability. They raised over $15 thousand dollars. In my inbox, an email from Cheap Joe's Art Supplies had a link to a relief agency. And of course the United States is doing its part. As well it should, as our histories are so entwined.
I just have one question: why, dear God, does it take the deaths of thousands for the nations of this earth to join together in the resolution of a common goal? And why can't we keep that level of cooperation up after the crisis has past?

It is sort of bittersweet to hear that Marines are being sent to Haiti for aid. In the past the Marines have been sent to maintain order, mostly to support the ruling class which would not threaten the financial forces which were getting profit from their exploitation of the country.

We supported "Papa Doc" Duvalier, with his TonTon Macoutes, as he plundered and oppressed the country for years because he was anti-Communist. Some of what that country is today is because of what we, as a country, have done in the past.

So it is right and just that we are going in to help now. The Haitians are lucky that we have a president who is attentive to these situations and who realizes the extent of the disaster.

If you know of a way to send help to Haiti, thru Doctors without Borders, the Red Cross, or whomever, please do.

Get naked at the airport

There's a nice wave of hysteria and concern over the December 25th "underwear" bomber. All the stuff we've done since 2001 and there is still a chance for some malefactor to slip through. I suspect we can never eliminate all threats. There is such a thing as "human error." Something pretty hard to eliminate completely. But now security people are trying to see what else they can do to discover bombs and weapons. Like more thorough screening of airline passengers.

So it seems that in order to prevent terrorism we may need to expose ourselves in full-body scans. I expect to see a lot of giggling among TSA people at airline check-ins. I think a better idea would be we all just take our clothes off on arrival and check-in naked. Sure, it'll be ugly at first, unless you're lucky enough to be there the same time as a college women's soccer team, OR a college men's soccer team, choose your preference. I suspect people will be as dismayed at seeing me naked as I will seeing them, most of 'em anyway. But, you know, this may be the answer to the nation's obesity program. I don't plan on flying soon, but I'm going on a diet. I want to be buff if I'm ever flying at the same time as that women's soccer team.

In the meantime, the Repubes are nakedly belligerent and stupid over the underwear bomber. Obama waited 24 hours before he responded! Publicly anyway. This is horrifying. Never mind that Pres. Bush took six days to say anything about the shoe bomber back in the day. Stuff like that is okay for republicans, but democrats, especially black democratic presidents,are held to a higher standard. It's getting pathetic the straws the anti-Obama crowd is grabbing at. There is also the "he doesn't use the word 'terrorism'" crowd. They have been shown up by both Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow playing a montage of clips showing Obama saying "terrorism."
Do tell.
It would be so nice if there were a principled opposition party in this country.

That's enough for now. It's cold and I want to go warm up my feet.

My three readers will have to wait for more later.