At first, I thought Natasha Chart’s post at Open Left was about the health care “reform” debacle. Perhaps she intended that, or perhaps it is a sad coincidence that her open letter to activists entitled “What Makes Someone a Dirty F*ing Hippie” features a photo of a UN delegate being punched in the face by riot police in Copenhagen.
It’s a short letter, but I’ll excerpt the end.
The governments of the world and the United Nations would like you to know that if you’re too sympathetic with the oppressed, care about democracy, and value people more than money, you can go ahead and do absolutely everything right like we told you that you had ought to do.
And we will still punch you in the face.
You’re welcome,
Your Overlords
My crystal ball is at Santa’s being tricked out with a new iPhone so I can say “hello” to AT&T tomorrow,* but I have this strange feeling that the tea party movement on the right is not going to be the only boisterous group in the coming months and years.
People want things to change for the better, and if the monied and powerful insist on resorting to parliamentary tomfoolery (and brute force when necessary) to stop meaningful change, then the social contract is being violated. Can anyone argue that all those millions of people who voted in historic numbers in 2008 just wanted to be fucked over some more?
The health care “result,” should it stand, is an illegitimate one, because the will of the people has been perverted and manipulated by the same con artists that profit from the current system. The town mauls in August were directed and whipped into a frenzy by corporate interests who think nothing of playing with people’s very existence if it helps the bottom line. The fact that some right wing fools were willing to do their bidding only proves that there are right wing fools, and the fact that a handful of U.S. Senators are craven liars only proves that being in the world’s most exclusive club says nothing about a person’s character.
I’d say it’s pretty much like repeatedly trying to drive a cork back down into a bottle of champagne that is placed over low heat. Whether we’re at a low simmer yet depends, I can’t say. Events sometimes have a way of overtaking even those who are sincerely trying to do good. I guess we’ll see what happens down the road. But don’t expect us to say that a shit sandwich is delicious, because it’s a shit sandwich, and everyone knows it.
*note to AT&T: I don’t actually use your service any more, so in reality I can’t say hello to you tomorrow
Well, that crazy guy in Italy got a good whack at Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi reportedly cannot understand why anyone would hate him.
Berlusconi supporters are already using the incident of a mentally imabalanced person throwing a statue at the Primw Minister as an excuse to clamp down on political opponents of Berlusconi.
Build the fucker a Popemobile.
I heard the statue was a replica of Milan’s Gothic Cathedral, and sales of that shot up after the attack.
you’re an idiot devoreberg (or a liar). you think all those healthcare ptotestors went because the insurance co’s told them to? moron.
“People want things to change for the better”
See Jon, this is where you went wrong. Only 99.8% of the people — i.e., the 99.8% who don’t count for squat — want things to change for the better. The 0.2% of the people who have all the money and all the power like things just the way they are. In other words, you assumed the world is a democracy. It’s not — it’s a plutocracy.
@3 If you read this book you’ll understand who the teabaggers are and how they got that way.
http://www.amazon.com/Idiot-Am.....038;sr=8-1
You think Jon’s an idiot? I’ll tell you what an idiot is. The teabagger who yelled at his congressman, “Keep the government’s hands off my Medicare!” is an idiot. The teabagger who showed up with a gun at Obama’s speech is an idiot. The teabaggers who think “public option” is socialism are idiots.
“Events sometimes have a way of overtaking even those who are sincerely trying to do good.”
The Bastille and Winter Palace, among others, come to mind. Yes, sometimes the powerful screw over the peasants one time too many, and when that happens, history has a way of taking on a life of its own.
I don’t necessarily agree the health care bill as it presently stands is an “illegtimate result”, though. Remember, in any legislative process, you start with the ideal and end up at the lowest common denominator. In this case, we started out with no Republican votes and no Democratic or independent votes to spare, which ensured it would be a subtraction process, not an addition process. When something is all you can get, something is still more than nothing, and this bill does expand coverage and put restrictions on arbitrary insurance company practices, so it’s still way more than nothing. In a lot of ways, it’s not good enough, but the reality is that we never had enough votes to pass “good enough,” so we may have to settle for this or nothing.
I saw in today’s news that Leiberman hinted he may run for re-election in 2012 as a Republican. I think many of us understand at this point that what we actually have in the Senate right now is a coalition of 58 Democrats, 1 independent, and 1 closet Republican; and because we need 60 votes, the Republican is going to write this bill and when it passes it will be a Republican bill. Tailor your expectations accordingly. The solution is to win more Senate seats so we don’t need the votes of Leiberman, Nelson, Snowe, and the other Senators who have done so much to water down health care reform to the bare minimum. Basically, these senators want to pass a bill that does as little as possible just so they can say they did something about the health care crisis.
The single most important feature of whatever bill passes the Senate is that every Republican voter will have voted against it. That’s an albatross we can hang around the GOP’s neck for the next 50 years.
@9
The single most important feature of whatever bill passes the Senate is that every Republican voter will have voted against it. That’s an albatross we can hang around the GOP’s neck for the next 50 years.
that’s such a stupid statement. the majority of americans will celebrate the defeat of the bill.
Bernie Sanders, more power to you.
Don’t think I saw that coming.
@10 To quote Forrest, stupid is as stupid does.
I don’t recall anyone appointing you to speak for the “majority of Americans.” But this will be an easy argument to resolve, because given a straight party-line vote on health care reform, the 2010 congressional elections are sure to be a referendum on the issue. If you’re right, Republicans will gain seats. If you’re wrong, Democrats will gain seats.
“You think Jon’s an idiot? I’ll tell you what an idiot is. The teabagger who yelled at his congressman, “Keep the government’s hands off my Medicare!” is an idiot. The teabagger who showed up with a gun at Obama’s speech is an idiot. The teabaggers who think “public option” is socialism are idiots.”
People who use the term “teabagger” are idiots.
Consider the health care ‘debate.’
We had right-wingers frothed up by corporate interests to provide tension against reform.
That didn’t really work. Everyone eventually understood it to be astroturf, so the legitimate debate continued, and the Legislative branch moved ever closer to the perilous outcome of meaningful health care industry reform.
Then we had lefties convinced by the Obama administration that incomplete is good enough (and digby got to invent the term ‘veal pen’). Again, this didn’t go over very well, but at least no one was bringing guns to the rallies.
And then Joe Lieberman decided to be the one guy in front of the tank at the Tiennenman Square protest. Cuz, like, Medicare is socialism, dontchaknow! China was socialist, too! Someone needs to stand in front of that tank!
Seriously, tho, Lieberman. Just say it out loud: ‘Lieberman.’ It’s like a curse uttered by an old gypsy woman.
So basically the point here is that you have corporate interests who really, really, really hate the idea of ceasing to make a profit off the fear, infirmity, sickeness and death of Americans. They rile up the dimbulb right-wingers, and when that doesn’t work they play their hand and show that they’ve bought Congress, and that Rahm Emannuel is their go-to guy.
So here we are.
“The single most important feature of whatever bill passes the Senate is that every Republican voter will have voted against it. That’s an albatross we can hang around the GOP’s neck for the next 50 years.”
The problem with winning by losing is that YOU HAVE TO LOSE.
Besides: In 50 years, the coastlines will have risen 5 feet, the US will be overrun with climate refugees, jails will be run by Halliburton, Eric Prince’s cyborg clone will be President, and Iceland will declare war on us because they know they can win.
re 13: People who call themselves teabaggers are idiots.
The teabaggers have learned their lesson and have taken the name of their new spokesman, Barney Felcher.
They are now a movement known as tha Felcherites.
This is a movement that can handle a little ridicule and still come out shrimping.
@13 You just did.
@9 Roger, I suspect you intended to say, “every Republican Senator will have voted against it.”
Right….but that’s assuming anything actually does get passed. Also, at this point it’s unclear that if anything does, it won’t actually have been twisted into nothing more than another handout to Big Pharma, combined with a mandate for insurers to collude across state lines and further cuts to Medicare.