By GottaLaff
Lawrence O'Donnell takes Jim DeMint down... and out... with facts:
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"The penalty for not paying the tax penalty... is nothing... There isn't a real individual mandate in this bill, because there isn't a real penalty for violating an individual mandate.
The Republicans.... reeeaallly like scaring you."
By GottaLaff
Another day, another revelation:
The chairman of the House Democratic Caucus acknowledged on Friday his office had received multiple threats related to the passage of healthcare reform last week.
However, Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) declined to provide details about the threats, noting only during an event at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center that his office has "reported them to the appropriate authorities."
"We just don't go into the nature of them," he said, as reported by the Hartford Courant. "We report them immediately. There's a procedure you follow and that has been done."
But if you listened to the party of bedwetters, you'd be convinced there was a mooslim under every bed. Via Taegan-
Nate Silver notes that from October 1999 through September 2009 there has been one terrorist incident per 16,553,385 airplane departures.
Furthermore, "the odds of being on given departure which is the subject of a terrorist incident have been 1 in 10,408,947 over the past decade. By contrast, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are about 1 in 500,000. This means that you could board 20 flights per year and still be less likely to be the subject of an attempted terrorist attack than to be struck by lightning."
By GottaLaff
Today's Washington Post has an interesting piece on skyrocketing sales of guns and ammo (12 billion—that's billion, with a b—rounds sold in the last year, up from 7 to 10 billion in an ordinary year).Money line of the WaPo piece:
Interesting choice of words. And per the post, he's a guy who chooses his words carefully."I think it's Katrina. I think it's terrorism. I think it's crime. And I also think that it's people worrying about [whether] they'll be attacked by politicians," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. "They're suspicious, and justifiably so."
Couple LaPierre's comment with the assertion by North Carolina GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx that healthcare reform is a greater threat to the United States than "any terrorist right now in any country."The message all around? Be scared.
Oh, I'm a little scared, alright, but of people like LaPierre, not of our politicians.
Well, okay, except for Foxx, Bachmann, the 30 Rushpublic accessories to rape, The Boehner, [fill in the rest].
... and of those fools who take seriously people who think they're still politicians ::coughPalin!cough::
If you're not reading The Plum Line, you should be. Greg consistently finds the nut-
The poll tested a range of attacks and asked whether they were “legitimate” or a “disortion” and a “scare tactic.” The results:* Sixty-three percent said the claim that “death panels of government officials would decide how much medical care ailing individuals will receive” is a scare tactic, versus 30% who said it’s legit.
* Fifty-nine percent said the claim that “health care would be rationed” is a scare tactic, versus 35% who said it’s legit.
* Fifty-two percent said the claim that “health care would become socialized medicine” is a scare tactic, versus 43% who said it’s legit.
* Sixty-one percent said the claim that “government money would be used to pay for abortions” is a scare tactic, versus 33% who said it’s legit.
* Fifty-eight percent said the claim that “government money would pay for health care for illegal immigrants” is a scare tactic, versus 37% who said it’s legit.
By GottaLaff
Thank you once again for a thoughtful, relevant, and thought-provoking piece, 42bkdodgr. I, for one, am paying attention.Two Dangerous Women
In the past year, we have all laughed and shaken our heads at the remarks made by former Gov. Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann. Some of the classic remarks by Gov. Palin included “Death Panel” "I told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that Bridge to Nowhere.", "As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border”... and her thought that some areas of the country are more pro-American than others.
Classic remarks by Rep. Bachmann include wanting her constituents to be, “armed and dangerous"; “AmeriCorps will establish re-education camps"; “There are anti-Americans in Congress”; “You Da Man”.
There are too many silly and ridiculous remarks made by both of these women to review here. Both have been the subjects of parodies on Saturday Night Live for their statements and remarks made during press and media interviews. So you may wonder why I consider these two women dangerous.
Gov. Palin and Rep. Bachmann are using tactics similar to those of Joseph McCarthy by questioning the loyalty of members of Congress, and that only people living in a certain part of the country are true Americans. McCarthy use to wave a paper with a list of names he said were communists working in the State Department. Individuals from all walks of life were called before Congress to testify about their loyalty to the country and to name names. Many careers and lives were ruined by the so called “Red Scare” period.
While you may think Palin is a lightweight when it comes to the issues of today, she is a force to be reckoned with. Palin has attracted over 800,000 followers to her face book account, and on August 26th, while praising Glenn Beck, asked her followers to watch his show. That night, Beck had over 3 million viewers, his highest number of viewers to date.
In the past, others were laughed at when they began their political careers that only ended in disastrous results for a country and the world. Never take anyone lightly; you never know what may happen.
No, really, you think it's a parody then teh stupid explodes all over you.
Now conservative opponents of health reform have found a new threat: home nurse visits to low-income parents. "We are setting up a situation where Obama will be invading parent's [sic] homes and taking away their children," one columnist warned on RightWingNews.com. That something as harmless as home nurse visits has become a target of conservative ire is surprising because of its longstanding popularity with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. But health reform advocates are scratching their heads at the attacks for another reason: funding for home nurse visits was largely included in health reform legislation to accommodate social conservatives.ADDED- So, I'm cruising thru the stations where I see this chryon on Fox (paraphrased from memory)- GOVERNMENT NURSES IN YOUR HOME: INDOCTRINATION OR GOOD RX?
(snip)
But that was before conservative anxiety over health reform reached its boiling point. In mid-July, Lindsey Burke at the right wing Heritage Foundation drew attention to the home visitation initiative, calling it a "troublesome provision...that would bring state workers into the homes of young families." Action hero and conservative activist Chuck Norris picked it up from there, penning a column sounding an alarm about "Obamacare's home intrusion and indoctrination family services, in which state agents prioritize houses to enter and enforce their universal values and principles upon the hearts and minds of families across America."
As with voluntary end-of-life-care counseling, optional home visits have morphed into "mandatory home inspections" in the words of health reform opponents, who charge that the provision is part of a "stealth agenda" to judge conservative parents unfit and remove their children into protective services. It's an unexpected evolution for a pioneering conservative idea.
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The White House has released a new website, the "Reform Reality Check," the latest "fact-check" sites, aimed at debunking some of the more egregious characterizations of the still-amorphous health care reform effort. It is a signal that the Obama Administration is settling in for a long slog against its conservative critics, a fight not just for the opinions of the great American mass, but for the actual facts about what health care reform will and will not do.
By GottaLaff
The Bush Administration’s FBI sent 18 agents in body armor to the home of a man who revealed details of the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, according to a little-noticed account of the whistleblower published Thursday.
Thomas Tamm, a former Justice Department lawyer in the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, revealed details of the wiretapping program to the New York Times in 2004. In 2007, FBI agents raided his Potomac, Maryland home.
Tamm wasn’t there. His college-aged son, wife and young daughter were — but their father had never told them of his leak to the Times.
And what did the 18 agents do? Treat the family politely? Nah. Take care to avoid frightening a child out of her wits (are you listening "pro-lifers"?) with guns (that can kill children as well as adults)? Uh-uh. Act in the least bit respectful to their fellow Americans? No way:
“They asked me questions like ‘Are there any secret rooms or compartments in the house’?” Terry Tamm, his son, told Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff last December. “Or did we have a safe? They asked us if any New York Times reporters had been to the house. We had no idea why any of this was happening.”
Abrupt, surprise attack and intimidation are so much more fun. Who needs genteel foreplay? It's more important to scar kids for life and take as long as possible to do that, while brandishing deadly firearms:
“They were all wearing body armor, they were all well armed,” he told the audience, according to Wired. “They asked my kids if we had any secret rooms in the house … or whether I had any weapons. They were in my house for over seven hours.”
“I’m sure before that time my phone was listened to,” Tamm added. My wife “will never feel the same in my house … She really felt that her security had been victimized.”
But the ObamAdministration will come to the rescue... won't they?
Dear ObamAdministration: Do the right thing. Love, LaffyAfter the 2007 raid, Justice Department prosecutors tried to convince Tamm to plead guilty to revealing classified information. He refused. To date, he’s had a criminal indictment hanging over his head — but authorities have yet to charge him with a crime. [...]
Now that President Obama has taken office, however, Tamm seems more likely to elude jail. Prosecutors told the Bush lawyer-cum-whistleblower last year that they’d delay a decision on whether to charge him until this year. It’s unknown whether the Justice Department will continue to pursue a criminal charge.
By GottaLaff
Here's an article on the kinds of things other than assassination attempts, vandalism, and break-ins that Dr. Tiller and his staff have had to endure for years. It's about Troy Newman, the head of Operation Rescue (once Operation Rescue West; the group split), who moved to Wichita in order to shut George Tiller's clinic down:"There's only one problem: Tiller is a hard man to find, let alone intimidate. After more than a decade as one of the anti-abortion movement's favorite targets, he keeps a low profile, drives an armored car and lives in a gated community in a house with a state-of-the-art security system. More pointedly, he has made it clear that he's not susceptible to scare tactics. In 1993, Tiller was shot in both arms by an anti-abortion protester. He returned to work the next day.
Newman is well aware of Tiller's resilience. That's why Operation Rescue is going after clinic workers like [clinic's administrative assistant] Sara Phares. The employees have no guards posted at their homes, no cameras monitoring their yards. If Newman can provoke enough of them to quit, his job will be done. He'll effectively shut Tiller down."
"A week later, hundreds of Phares' neighbors received an anonymous postcard of a mangled fetus. This is abortion! read the big block letters. "Your neighbor Sara Phares participates in killing babies like these." The postcard implored them to call Phares, whose phone number and address were provided, and voice their opposition to her work at the clinic. Another card soon followed. It referred to Phares as "Miss I Help to Kill Little Babies" [...]
Before long, protesters from Operation Rescue showed up at her house. They parked a tractor-trailer across the street, plastered with twenty-foot-long images of dismembered fetuses. From its speakers came the kind of sweet, tinkling music that lures children from their back yards in pursuit of Dreamsicles. [...] Since 1994, there have been five assassination attempts on abortion providers at their homes. A few days after the protest, Phares' husband got out his revolver, loaded it and taught Sara how to use it. [...]
The protesters display their signs for passing cars. "Phares' Choice," one proclaims, over a picture of tiny, bloody body parts. Another reads, "Sarah Phares, Abortion Profiteer," misspelling her name and giving her address. The image on Jeff Herzog's sign is particularly disturbing: a fetus being grabbed by forceps, its mouth open in a Munchian scream."
Much more here.They also go through employees' trash, and offer rewards for incriminating information. They stop children on sidewalks and tell them their neighbors kill little babies."Newman and his small staff of zealous pro-lifers are buzzing with the news that the clinic's office manager has quit -- a result, they believe, of their name-and-shame campaign. The manager had been accosted by a neighbor in a grocery store who recognized her from an Operation Rescue flier that featured her photo. "You're that baby killer!" the neighbor screamed at her. Then Newman, through investigative methods he'd rather not reveal, discovered where the woman's husband works. "We think that's what clinched it," he says. "He probably realized we were going to picket his workplace. I imagine he's the major breadwinner in the family, and he didn't want to risk his job."" [...]
By GottaLaff
Because I know you don't get enough insanity in your life:
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"So it's Barack Obama's fault that some in the right wing are using Nazi symbols to rile people up...
Name one statement, that's not from Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity, from President Obama that has given ...people 'legitimate fear'... You're not entitled to your own facts.... You don't have [the] right to inspire some of the crazies out there to do something violent."
It never scared me before. Via Taegan-
The New York Times notes "that 'socialist' has supplanted 'liberal' as the go-to slur among much of a conservative world confronting a one-two-three punch of bank bailouts, budget blowouts and stimulus bills. Right-leaning bloggers and talk radio hosts are wearing out the brickbat. Senate and House Republicans have been tripping over their podiums to invoke it. The S-bomb has become as surefire a red-meat line at conservative gatherings as 'Clinton' was in the 1990s and 'Pelosi' is today."
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