fayfreethinkers.com

Dowd on Palin:

"Palin’s speech is classic casuistry.

After girlish burbling about how “progressing our state” and serving Alaska “is the greatest honor that I could imagine,” and raving about how much she loves her job, she abruptly announced that she was making the ultimate sacrifice: dumping the state on her lieutenant.

Why “milk it,” as she put it, when you can quit it? “Only dead fish go with the flow,” she said, while cold fish can blow out of town. Leaving Alaska in the lurch is best for Alaska. She can better “effect change” in government from outside government. She can fulfill her promise of “efficiencies and effectiveness” by deserting Juneau midway through her term — and taking her tanning bed with her.

“We need those who will respect our Constitution,” said Palin, who swore on the Bible to uphold the Constitution. She said she can’t fulfill that silly old oath of office in the usual way because she’s not “wired to operate under the same old politics as usual.”

Naturally, she dragged the troops in, saying that her trip to see wounded soldiers overseas “fortified” her decision to give up because “they don’t give up.”

She refuses to succumb to the “politics of personal destruction.” It’s no fun unless she’s the one aiming those poison darts, as she did when she accused Barack Obama of associating “with terrorists who targeted their own country.”

Sometimes, she explained, if you’re the star, you have to “call an audible and pass the ball” and leave at halftime, “so the team can win” somehow without you.”

LINK

"In a sad day for America, Al Franken is now a U.S. senator. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled he won the election by about 300 votes. Franken is a blatantly dishonest individual, a far-left zealot who is not qualified to hold any office, a man who trafficked in hate on his failed Air America radio program. If you want proof, check out Page 96 in my book Culture Warrior. With people like Franken on the Hill, this country is in deep trouble."
--Bill, O'Reilly

Sarah Palin's Greatest Hits

"I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out." (July 7, 2009.)

"It's all for Alaska." (Asked by Time why she resigned, July 7, 2009).

Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen (R) Says Earth is 6,000 Years Old

"Arizona state Senator Sylvia Allen (R) voices support for opening up uranium mining in the state. Sen Allen responds to statements by environmentalists by assuring them that the "Earth is 6,000 years old..." Twice.

Republicans say the darnedest things.

"...and that's exactly what's going on in Canada and Great Britain today. They don't have the appreciation of life, as we do in our society, evidently. And, um. Dr. Roe, a lot of people are gonna die, this program of 'government option' is being touted as being this panacea, the savior of allowing people to have quality health care at an affordable price- is gonna kill people." LINK

Under-5 mortality rate, 2007
Can: 6
UK: 6
US: 8

Life expectancy at birth (years), 2007
Can: 81
UK: 79
US: 78

****
"You know, all three of us spend a lot of time covering politicians and I don’t know about you guys, but in my view, they’re all emotional freaks of one sort or another. They’re guaranteed to invade your personal space, touch you. I sat next to a Republican senator once at dinner and he had his hand on my inner thigh the whole time. I was like, ehh, get me out of here." --David Brooks, republican, conservative commentator. LINK

"Mr. Franken left showbiz behind to prove himself a serious policy wonk as well as a devoted family man; Ms. Palin transformed herself and her family
into a reality television show. The entertainer became a public servant - and the public servant became entertainment." --Joe Conason

Franken working his magic in the senate. Finally, some overt, intentional comedy in government.

***
FRANKEN: OK. I -- we're going to have a round two, so I'll ask you some more questions there. What was the one case in "Perry Mason" that Berger won?

SOTOMAYOR: There -- I wish I remembered the name of the episode, but I don't. I just was always struck that there was only one case where his client was actually guilty.

FRANKEN: And you don't remember that case?

SOTOMAYOR: I know that I should remember the name of it, but I haven't looked at the episode. I...

FRANKEN: Didn't the White House prepare you for that?

SOTOMAYOR: You're right, but I was spending a lot of time on reviewing cases. No, sir. But I do have that stark memory because, like you, I watched it all of the time, every week as well. I just couldn't interest my mother, the nurse, and my brother, the doctor, to do it with me.

FRANKEN: Oh. Oh, OK. Well, I -- we -- our whole family watched it, and -- because there was no Internet at the time, you and I were watching at the same time. And I thank you, and I guess I'll talk to you in the follow-up.

SOTOMAYOR: Thank you.

LEAHY: Is the senator from Minnesota going to tell us which episode that was?

FRANKEN: I don't know. That's why I was asking. If I knew, I wouldn't have asked her.

LEAHY: All right. Well -- so, because of that, Judge, we will not hold your inability to answer the question against you.

Link

"Now, we know there are those who will oppose reform no matter what," Obama said. "We know the same special interests and their agents in Congress will make the same old arguments and use the same scare tactics that have stopped reform before because they profit from this relentless escalation in health care costs."


****
Beck: Does everybody wanna be Black?

Coulter: Liberals do because that's the official, the top victim status so that being Black trumps being an insect and ahhh, huh...

Beck: I think this has spiraled out of control...

Fox News

***
"Joe the Plumber -- you can quote me -- is a dumbass. He should stick to plumbing." --Megan McCain, John McCain's daughter

Coulter wrote: Liberals do because that's the official, the top victim status so that being Black trumps being an insect and ahhh, huh...

DOUG
For conservatives, insects are more important than Black people?

Maybe Coulter was being honest for once...

DOUG
Pat Buchanan favorably compares this concentration camp guard, John Demanjuk, to Jesus. And the GOP is trying to NOT look racist these days?

===========================


Jesus Christ, before and after
See here.

Pat "Love Those Nazis" Buchanan says:
"But if Germans wish to prosecute participants in the Holocaust, why not round up some old big-time Nazis, instead of a Ukrainian POW.

"Answer: They cannot. Because the Germans voted an amnesty for themselves in 1969. So now they must find a Slav soldier they captured—and Heinrich Himmler's SS conscripted and made a camp guard, if he ever was a camp guard—to punish in expiation for Germany's sins.

"The spirit behind this un-American persecution has never been that of justice tempered by mercy. It is the same satanic brew of hate and revenge that drove another innocent Man up Calvary that first Good Friday 2,000 years ago."

"...we don't have a left and a right party in this country any more. We have a center right party, and a crazy party. And over the last thirty odd years, Democrats have moved to the right, and the right has moved into a mental hospital." --Bill Maher

Bill Maher on the Birthers:

***
" Never underestimate the ability of a tiny fringe group of losers to ruin everything.

For the last couple of weeks, we've all been laughing heartily at the wacky antics of the "birthers" -- the far-right goofballs who claim Barack Obama wasn't really born in Hawaii and therefore the job of president goes to the runner-up, former Miss California Carrie Prejean.

Also, when Obama was sworn in as president, he forgot to give his answer in the form of a question.

And yet, every week, the chorus of conservatives demanding to see his birth certificate grows. It's like they're the Cambridge police, Obama's in his house -- the White House -- and they need to see some ID.

And there's nothing anyone can do to convince these folks. You could hand them, in person, the original birth certificate and have a video of Obama emerging from the womb with Don Ho singing in the background ... and they still wouldn't believe it.

Which raises the question: Why, in this country, is it always the religious right that won't take anything on faith?

So far, the reaction from Democrats is to laugh this off, and I understand why. If you seriously believe that President Obama is an African sleeper spy, get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead.

But we live in America, and in America, if you don't immediately kill arrant nonsense, no matter how ridiculous, it can grow and thrive and eventually take over, like crab grass or reality shows about fat people.

This flap might be a deluded right-wing obsession that is a total waste of time, but so was Whitewater, and look where that ended up. A handful of Republican operatives, enraged at Bill Clinton's unprecedented economic growth and budget surpluses, found a woman named Paula Jones, which led to a woman named Monica Lewinsky, which gave me enough material to eventually be able to buy a big house in Bel-Air. Which I'm still conflicted about.

More recently we had the Swift Boat allegations against John Kerry, in which Kerry was accused of volunteering to serve in Vietnam so he could jump in front of a bullet so he could get a medal and then throw it away to satisfy his urge to insult real Americans. This was so stupid that Kerry refused to even discuss it.

And we all know how well that worked out.

And once these stories get out there, they're hard to stamp out because our media do such a lousy job of speaking truth to stupid. Vietnam, Iraq and the Spanish-American War were all sold on lies that were unchallenged or even abetted by the media. Clinton got impeached and Kerry got destroyed in large part because the media didn't have the guts to say, "This is nonsense."

Lou Dobbs has been saying recently that people are asking a lot of questions about the birth certificate. Yes, the same people who want to know where the sun goes at night.

And Lou, you're their new king.

That's why it's so important that we the few, the proud, the reality-based attack this stuff before it has a chance to fester and spread. This isn't a case of Democrats versus Republicans. It's sentient beings versus the lizard people, and it is to them I offer this deal: I'll show you Obama's birth certificate when you show me Sarah Palin's high school diploma."

LINK

By Howard Dean:

***
The Media's Treatment of Palin's Outrageous "Death Panel" Claims

Former Governor Sarah Palin made some preposterous claims over the weekend which attracted mainstream media attention. She made up the term "death panel" and claimed that part of the health care reform bill now working it's way through Congress required that families with children with disabilities, or elderly people who are infirm, could be judged by one of these death panels, which could control their fate and decide if they would die. GOP leadership repeated this outrageous claim across the airwaves on the Sunday morning talk shows. The mainstream media gave this claim credibility simply by repeating it.

My wife and I have practiced medicine for over forty years combined. There is no truth now, nor has there ever been any truth to the idea that the government encourages euthanasia or infanticide.

Our country is in trouble. Claims like these are routinely refuted by people who know better, but they are recirculated because they are sensational, and the MSM purports to take a balanced position without a thoughtful assessment of the facts. Fox News actually has people on in support of these outrageously false claims.

In fact, these kinds of claims are lies. There is no nice way to say it. This kind of stuff is far beyond the usual politicians' tricks of shading words and imputing meanings that aren't there. To quote a famous American who began the process of ending the McCarthy era in the fifties I address the MSM: "At long last, Have you no sense of decency?"

Huff Po

Look at this quote from the Investor's Business Daily editorial:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

Ha!

Tim

Conservative intellectual Arthur Laffer on CNN Tuesday:

"If you like the post office and the department of motor vehicles and you think they're run well, just wait until you see medicare, medicaid and health care done by the government."

Pollingreport survey, The Postal Service rating:

Favorable.........................58%
Somewhat favorable............31%

.................................... =89%

Link

tmiller51 wrote:Look at this quote from the Investor's Business Daily editorial:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

DAR
Update on this:

***
"In fact, Professor Hawking lives in England, where he has been treated by their National Health Service. And by his own account, it saved his life.

"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," he told The Guardian. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."

The Hawking reference in the IBD editorial has since been removed, with this correction added: "This version corrects the original editorial which implied that physicist Stephen Hawking, a professor at the University of Cambridge, did not live in the UK." They don't acknowledge that the NHS has kept Hawking alive there."

Huff Po

As one fellow put it:
"Of course, that same Stephen Hawking who wouldn’t have a chance in the United Kingdom was in fact born in the United Kingdom, has lived his entire life in the United Kingdom and lives there still today, at the ripe old age of 67. (He was in fact hospitalized earlier this month.) Hawking is, you might say, living, breathing proof that these people [who say things like this] are first-class fools."

Link

"The tension between the business interests of the conservative-industrial-complex and the GOP is real.
There is a huge amount of money to be made by selling to a segment of the country that alienates the
critical middle that every party needs to occupy to remain a national force. And so the success of the
movement risks the failure of the party. And the failure of the party - its permanent isolation from power
- only fuels the resentment and alienation that make so much moolah. This is the GOP's Fox problem.
You ride that fox; it eats you in the end." -- Andrew Sullivan

Link

The Last Gasp of the Angry White Man

Excerpt:

"What we're seeing in these angry town halls these days is the last gasp of the angry white man.
He's not quite sure what he's angry about, but he knows he's angry. It's not the world he used to know.
He gets the disquieting feeling that he doesn't rule the roost anymore. And it's driving him crazy.

One of the chants at the town hall events was, "No national healthcare!" Okay, mission accomplished.
No one has proposed such a thing. So, I guess they can go home now befuddled at what they were yelling about.

The reality is that what they have been manipulated into arguing against is a public option that would give them
more choices, not less in health insurance. It wouldn't nationalize health insurance at all, let alone any part of the
rest of the healthcare industry.

But this isn't about health insurance. It isn't even about health care. You think those people are really this
animated about having less health care options and making sure it costs more for them and their family?
No, this is visceral for them. And it has nothing to do with their perceived choices on health care.
This is about the sinking feeling in their stomach that they are losing power in this country - losing control.
That the reigns of power are slipping out of their hands and they don't know what to do about it except yell, really loud."

The Smirking Chimp



"I got a letter the other day from a woman. She said, 'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare.'" --Obama

Darrel wrote:The Postal Service rating:

Favorable.........................58%
Somewhat favorable............31%

.................................... =89%

In fairness, the USPS is no longer an official government agency. They are, however, heavily subsidized with tax dollars. You'd think that all those anti-tax Republicans would hate it. "Why do I have to pay for other people's mail?!"

As U.S. health row rages, many seek care in Mexico

Excerpt:

"With Washington bickering over how to reform the system and contain its spiraling costs, many Americans like Ritz simply head to Mexico to get care they can afford.

The total number making the trip is unclear. But a recent study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research estimated that nearly 1 million people from California alone seek medical, dental or prescription services in Mexico each year.

Some making the trek have little or no medical coverage. Others like Ritz are on fixed incomes and want to avoid so-called co-pays and deductibles charged by U.S. insurers on top of policies that routinely cost from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand each month.

"The very wealthy can afford whatever they want, the very poor get it through aid, but the working and the middle-class have to struggle to pay insurance," said Ritz, who worked as a police officer in Chicago for 28 years.

"I'm very lucky to live near enough to Mexico to get good healthcare at a reasonable price," he added."

Link

"You know, I grew up in a religious family, in a religious community and it just doesn't make sense to me. It just doesn't work for me in the long run," Pitt said. "I never wanted to stop anyone else's religion and their beliefs until I started seeing it defining policy.... Like gay marriage. You have a group of people telling other people how to live their lives, and you can't do that."

"Well, to the three [Christians] that are watching, I just say you have to you really have to check what country you're living in because the freedom that allows you to practice religion is the same freedom you're stepping on. That's not right. And I want to add... if there was a nation of gay married couples that were telling you you couldn't practice your religion, I'd be speaking up for you, too... So, let's stop the nonsense." --Brad Pitt, on how religion doesn't make sense to him.