Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

[AshburnerX]

Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?

 

[Covar]

Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?

Isn't that the point of having armed security guards?

 

[GasBandit]

Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?

I reiterate ... then why not get the DOD to send over actual army troops?

 

[Troll]

Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?

I reiterate ... then why not get the DOD to send over actual army troops?[/QUOTE]

Because I find poorly trained rent-a-cops with large guns to be more frightening than trained soldiers? Keeps people in line better that way, you see.

 

[AshburnerX]

Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?

I reiterate ... then why not get the DOD to send over actual army troops?[/QUOTE]

You seem to think that all branches of the government act in collusion with one another. If this were the case, the CIA, FBI, ATF, NSA, TSA, PSA, and ASPCA wouldn't all be having dick waving competitions all the god damn time. Why would the DoD waste soldiers for the DoE when they currently have dozens of on-going conflicts all around the world where they would actually be useful?

Look, I'm not trying to justify the purchase of the shotguns. Even I'm scratching my head over it. I'm just trying to think of SOME reason they'd be buying them, no matter how far out the reason actually is.

 

[GasBandit]

Democrats now want to attach student loan reform to the healthcare bill.

With the uncertainty over the government's plans for our healthcare system, recent surveys show that big employers plan to shift a larger share of healthcare costs to their workers next year.

Nearly one-third of physicians say that they will want to leave medical practice after health reform is implemented.

The reason is that both the Democratic Party and President Obama have mutually reinforcing blind spots that have rendered them incapable of seeing what's crystal clear to every other sentient being in the country: This was the wrong bill at the wrong time.

Here's an explanation as to why the US can't inflate its way out of debt.

High-speed Internet has apparently become a "right," according to the Obama administration and the FCC.

The Obama Justice Department quashed an FBI investigation of ACORN? I wouldn't be surprised.

Experts say that Ronald Reagan gets the shaft in history textbooks.

Obama and the Democrats are ready to regulate video game systems, all in the name of being green.

Internal emails suggest that Obama's Energy Department worked closely with the wind industry lobby to discredit a Spanish report that criticized wind power as a job killer.

The Heritage Foundation says that new polls show Barack Obama trending towards the likes of ... Jimmy Carter.

Apparently the word "hoodlums" is now racist and activists are calling for the resignation of a Florida school board official for using the word to describe disruptive students.

Congressman Alan Grayson introduces a bill that would allow people to buy into Medicare.

 

[JONJONAUG]

Experts say that Ronald Reagan gets the shaft in history textbooks.

For context, this "expert" is the same guy who wrote A Patriot's History of the United States, which is pretty much all of the whole "the United States is the best nation in the world and can do no wrong" mindset condensed into a single book.

Somewhat related: This recently just got passed in the Texas state legislature (Secondary link here)

With childlike glee, McLeroy flipped through the pages and explained what he saw as the gaping holes in Darwin’s theory. “I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say,” he declared at one point. “Evolution is hooey.” This bled into a rant about American history. “The secular humanists may argue that we are a secular nation,” McLeroy said, jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis. “But we are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan—he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.”

Views like these are relatively common in East Texas, a region that prides itself on being the buckle of the Bible Belt. But McLeroy is no ordinary citizen. The jovial creationist sits on the Texas State Board of Education, where he is one of the leaders of an activist bloc that holds enormous sway over the body’s decisions. As the state goes through the once-in-a-decade process of rewriting the standards for its textbooks, the faction is using its clout to infuse them with ultraconservative ideals. Among other things, they aim to rehabilitate Joseph McCarthy, bring global-warming denial into science class, and downplay the contributions of the civil rights movement.

AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.

The vote was 10 to 5 along party lines, with all the Republicans on the board voting for it.

The board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the state is one of the largest buyers of textbooks. In the digital age, however, that influence has diminished as technological advances have made it possible for publishers to tailor books to individual states.

In recent years, board members have been locked in an ideological battle between a bloc of conservatives who question Darwin’s theory of evolution and believe the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles, and a handful of Democrats and moderate Republicans who have fought to preserve the teaching of Darwinism and the separation of church and state.

Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. The standards were proposed by a panel of teachers.

“We are adding balance,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”

Battles over what to put in science and history books have taken place for years in the 20 states where state boards must adopt textbooks, most notably in California and Texas. But rarely in recent history has a group of conservative board members left such a mark on a social studies curriculum.

Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state’s large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, “They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”

“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.”

The curriculum standards will now be published in a state register, opening them up for 30 days of public comment. A final vote will be taken in May, but given the Republican dominance of the board, it is unlikely that many changes will be made.

The standards, reviewed every decade, serve as a template for textbook publishers, who must come before the board next year with drafts of their books. The board’s makeup will have changed by then because Dr. McLeroy lost in a primary this month to a more moderate Republican, and two others — one Democrat and one conservative Republican — announced they were not seeking re-election.

There are seven members of the conservative bloc on the board, but they are often joined by one of the other three Republicans on crucial votes. There were no historians, sociologists or economists consulted at the meetings, though some members of the conservative bloc held themselves out as experts on certain topics.

The conservative members maintain that they are trying to correct what they see as a liberal bias among the teachers who proposed the curriculum. To that end, they made dozens of minor changes aimed at calling into question, among other things, concepts like the separation of church and state and the secular nature of the American Revolution.

“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”

They also included a plank to ensure that students learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”

Dr. McLeroy, a dentist by training, pushed through a change to the teaching of the civil rights movement to ensure that students study the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the nonviolent approach of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also made sure that textbooks would mention the votes in Congress on civil rights legislation, which Republicans supported.

“Republicans need a little credit for that,” he said. “I think it’s going to surprise some students.”

Mr. Bradley won approval for an amendment saying students should study “the unintended consequences” of the Great Society legislation, affirmative action and Title IX legislation. He also won approval for an amendment stressing that Germans and Italians as well as Japanese were interned in the United States during World War II, to counter the idea that the internment of Japanese was motivated by racism.

Other changes seem aimed at tamping down criticism of the right. Conservatives passed one amendment, for instance, requiring that the history of McCarthyism include “how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.” The Venona papers were transcripts of some 3,000 communications between the Soviet Union and its agents in the United States.

Mavis B. Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, introduced an amendment requiring that students study the reasons “the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring the government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion above all others.”

It was defeated on a party-line vote.

After the vote, Ms. Knight said, “The social conservatives have perverted accurate history to fulfill their own agenda.”

In economics, the revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, among the usual list of economists to be studied, like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. They also replaced the word “capitalism” throughout their texts with the “free-enterprise system.”

“Let’s face it, capitalism does have a negative connotation,” said one conservative member, Terri Leo. “You know, ‘capitalist pig!’ ”

In the field of sociology, another conservative member, Barbara Cargill, won passage of an amendment requiring the teaching of “the importance of personal responsibility for life choices” in a section on teenage suicide, dating violence, sexuality, drug use and eating disorders.

“The topic of sociology tends to blame society for everything,” Ms. Cargill said.

Even the course on world history did not escape the board’s scalpel.

Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”)

“The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which these revolutions were based,” Ms. Dunbar said.

Texas: Thomas Jefferson didn't exist, the Treaty of Tripoli was never signed by John Adams and ratified unanimously by the Senate, MLK isn't that important, evolution is a sham, and Joe McCarthy was right.

Seriously, what the fuck Texas?

 

[Troll]

Re: Stupid Texas

It's okay. Any teacher worth a damn will see through this shit, block out the stupid parts of the curriculum, and teach students properly. It's what I would do.

 

[Troll]

do you live in Texas?

Not anymore.

 

[GasBandit]

70% of the new jobs created last year were in Texas. Ya'll just hatin'.

 

[sixpackshaker]

Re: Stupid Texas

It's okay. Any teacher worth a damn will see through this shit, block out the stupid parts of the curriculum, and teach students properly. It's what I would do.

It's what I did.

---------- Post added at 03:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:26 PM ----------

do you live in Texas?

since Texas has one of the largest school systems, the textbooks approved here, are what gets sold in other states.

 

[Troll]

do you live in Texas?

since Texas has one of the largest school systems, the textbooks approved here, are what gets sold in other states.[/QUOTE]

Right. Other states and even individual schools can opt to have their own textbook made, but it's vastly more expensive to do so. Most schools are stuck with whatever large states like Texas, California, New York, and Pennsylvania commission.

 

[GasBandit]

No Democrat-Controlled Congress Has Balanced a Federal Budget in 40 Years; No Republican President Has Balanced a Federal Budget in 50 Years

Dead Congress Walking. Democrats are afraid of the voters and mad at each other.

Nancy Pelosi is still trying to come up with the votes, but here are 35 House members who are up for re-election in swing districts and guess what ... polls show that their districts oppose Obamacare.

A veteran Senator talking about Washington: "This place is dysfunctional, and it's not going to get any better."

Senator Jim Inhofe on the floor of the Senate yesterday called global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people" and claimed that Gore is now "running for cover."

Rep. Paul Ryan outlines what real reform should look like in this healthcare debate.

Here's the truth about health insurance premiums and profits.

It's still ACORN, just under a different name.

Who are the Tea Party's least favorite Republicans?

"Freedom or Die" .. would you consider that phrase threatening? An airport screener thought so.

In 2008 -- only two years ago - the CBO predicted that the Social Security surplus would disappear in 2019, and the Treasury would have to start redeeming those bonds then. They got that a bit wrong. ... that day is already here! And it is 2010.

If you've been paying attention you will know that the plan up until the last few days was for the House to simply pass the Senate Bill as it stands and send it to the President for his signature. Then the House and the Senate would get together and agree on some fixes to the new law and pass them by majority votes in both chambers. Well ... that's not working any more. House Democrats are frightened. So the new Pelosi Plan is to have the House and the Senate pass the fixes without the House actually voting on the Senate bill. Buried in the fixes - which would be rammed through the Senate with 51 votes - would be a little clause which states that the House will have been "deemed to have passed" the Senate bill. So ... ta da! The Senate bill and the fixes become law without the frightened House members actually having to vote on the Senate bill! Can you smell the absolute desperation here?

 

[Dave]

Hell, *I* oppose Obamacare now! they took everything out of it that would have fixed anything and the only thing that's left will benefit insurance and pharmaceutical companies more than it will the people. They need to back the fuck off and make something workable...but they won't. They've been hearing too much that they haven't done anything (which they haven't) so they want to do something. Like dumb activity is better than no activity at all.

I still align more to the left than the right, but these fuckers are not doing their bloody jobs.

 

[Krisken]

For an unbiased view on what is in the healthcare bill as of the end of February-
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...ealth-care-reform-simple-explanation-updated/

 

[AshburnerX]

For an unbiased view on what is in the healthcare bill as of the end of February-
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...ealth-care-reform-simple-explanation-updated/

From that article you linked.

There would be new taxes on prescription drug manufacturers, the makers of medical devices and indoor tanning salons.

Wut? This almost seems like a case of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking.

 

[Covar]

For an unbiased view on what is in the healthcare bill as of the end of February-
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...ealth-care-reform-simple-explanation-updated/

From that article you linked.

There would be new taxes on prescription drug manufacturers, the makers of medical devices and indoor tanning salons.

Wut? This almost seems like a case of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking.[/QUOTE]

So the Healthcare bill will lower costs by taxing the drugs people need and the equipment doctors use? Wow, now I'm sold on this.

 

[Krisken]

For an unbiased view on what is in the healthcare bill as of the end of February-
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...ealth-care-reform-simple-explanation-updated/

From that article you linked.

There would be new taxes on prescription drug manufacturers, the makers of medical devices and indoor tanning salons.

Wut? This almost seems like a case of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking.[/QUOTE]

So the Healthcare bill will lower costs by taxing the drugs people need and the equipment doctors use? Wow, now I'm sold on this.[/QUOTE]
That and the money saved by streamlining healthcare and reducing the errors created in the healthcare process.

I like how you said that though. Like saying "I paid $240 on my car." and acting like that is all you paid on your car. It leaves out all the other ways in which it is being paid for.

 

[GasBandit]

Barack Obama is threatening to withhold support of Democrats who fail to support his healthcare bill. Maybe that's what they want, from what we've seen of what happens to democrats Obama supports lately.

New Jersey's New Governor, Chris Christie, is creating a privatization commission. I love it. Unions will hate it. You'll hear the screams across the country.

See what qualifies you as a "real American," according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Has it ever occurred to these people that Americans disagree with the process AND the substance?

Thomas Sowell breaks down the talking points versus the reality of Obamacare.

So ... what happens after Obamacare passes? Here's a step-by-step look at what happens to our healthcare industry.

Hope and change: U.S. employers won't hire enough workers this year to lower the jobless rate much below the level of 9.7%.

Our corrupt attorney general Eric Holder appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and had this to say: "We will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden." Well .. maybe he isn't all bad.

The New York Times cuts 100 jobs, but quadruples its CEO bonus to $2.3 million. Where are the outraged calls for salary caps from the statists this time?

Al Gore helpfully explains that weather is not climate, except when it is. And climate change is not global warming, unless it's getting warmer. Otherwise, you should be very afraid of weather. Got all that?

A new study shows that if the Democrats pass their healthcare reform bill, nearly one-third of doctors would quit practicing medicine.

What's all this business about Obama not wanting us to fly the US flag in Haiti?

A case for charter schools from the Wall Street Journal: One study of 29 countries found that the level of competition among schools was directly tied to higher test scores in reading and math.

Is the rise of Rand libertarians good for progressives? Warning - frothing moonbattery inside.

 

[AshburnerX]

Is the rise of Rand libertarians good for progressives? Warning - frothing moonbattery inside.

The term "Rand Libertarian" is idiotic. Ayn Rand hated Libertarians with just as much passion as she hated leftists... but then again, Ayn Rand hated EVERYONE who didn't follow her philosophy to a T, so that's not too surprising.

 

[GasBandit]

In the midst of the debate over healthcare reform, the Senate passed the jobs bill which will now go to President Obama to be signed into law.

New York State is going to freeze $500 million in tax refund payments. Wouldn't work out so well if you decided to freeze your payments to the government.

Obamacare will increase unemployment, insurance premiums, the deficit and our debt, according to the Heritage Foundation.

Even the AP fact checkers say that the cost of healthcare insurance premiums would rise under Obamacare.

Does your family earn around $100,000 a year? You are going to be hit the hardest by Obamacare. Here's how.

Investors Business Daily says is best .. the Democrats are well on their way, placing us on a road to serfdom.

House Rules Committee Ranking Republican David Dreier says he is committed to doing "everything I possibly can" to prevent Democrats from using "deem and pass."

Rep. Paul Ryan says that Obama's proposed 2011 budget will "literally crash the U.S. economy."

Obamacare may be Obama's signature domestic policy, but ask any House Republican who is really driving the issue and they will tell you it's Nancy Pelosi's.

Here is a list of the Senate's proud porkers.

Once healthcare is in the books, the Democrats already have their next agenda item waiting in the wings: climate change legislation. What is included in this climate change legislation? They are floating the idea of levying a carbon tax on each gallon of gasoline, which would be passed along to consumers at the pump.

It took George Bush over four years to run up more than $2 trillion in debt. It took Barack Obama 421 days.

All you productive members of society, get ready to shrug ... tax "fairness" has reached its tipping point.

From the New York Times: States' Rights Is Rallying Cry for Lawmakers.

The Massachusetts health system is actually somewhat similar to what Obama has proposed on a national level. How is that working out for Massachusetts?

This week the Senate voted against reauthorizing the DC voucher program.

Barack Obama apparently has a new partner in Washington: Al Sharpton.

General Stanley McChrystal wants Osama bin Laden to be captured alive. Attorney General Eric Holder wants him dead. Discuss ...

The Daily Caller is ranking the 100 conservative friendliest counties in America.

Chris Matthews believes that MSNBC is better than FoxNews because MSNBC debates all sides of the issues, "left versus center-left."

 

[AshburnerX]

Does your family earn around $100,000 a year? You are going to be hit the hardest by Obamacare. Here's how.

That's quite misleading, considering that according to these charts from the Census Bureau, earning around 100k CLEARLY puts you into the Top 10% of American incomes. Mind you, it's from 2001 and adjusted for 2006 dollars, but it is more than fair to claim that wages have not risen dramatically over the past ten years. That is NOT Middle class... that's very clearly upper class. Try again Gas.

General Stanley McChrystal wants Osama bin Laden to be captured alive. Attorney General Eric Holder wants him dead. Discuss ...

I'd wage the most prevailent American opinion is going to be we want him alive, so we can kill him later. Publicly. Hell, if we really wanted to make it all "America FUCK YEAH!", we'd put it on Pay-Per-View with the proceeds going towards finally building something on Ground Zero.

 

[GasBandit]

That's quite misleading, considering that according to these charts from the Census Bureau, earning around 100k CLEARLY puts you into the Top 10% of American incomes. Mind you, it's from 2001 and adjusted for 2006 dollars, but it is more than fair to claim that wages have not risen dramatically over the past ten years. That is NOT Middle class... that's very clearly upper class. Try again Gas.

Are you comparing family income to individual income? I think you are.

 

[Dei]

That's quite misleading, considering that according to these charts from the Census Bureau, earning around 100k CLEARLY puts you into the Top 10% of American incomes. Mind you, it's from 2001 and adjusted for 2006 dollars, but it is more than fair to claim that wages have not risen dramatically over the past ten years. That is NOT Middle class... that's very clearly upper class. Try again Gas.

Are you comparing family income to individual income? I think you are.[/QUOTE]

I was going to say, my family of 4 is sure as fuck not upper class.

 

[AshburnerX]

That's quite misleading, considering that according to these charts from the Census Bureau, earning around 100k CLEARLY puts you into the Top 10% of American incomes. Mind you, it's from 2001 and adjusted for 2006 dollars, but it is more than fair to claim that wages have not risen dramatically over the past ten years. That is NOT Middle class... that's very clearly upper class. Try again Gas.

Are you comparing family income to individual income? I think you are.[/QUOTE]

Census reports generally only ask for the income of the family's total, not individually. According to this document, the median household income in the US is $52,029 (as of 2008). That seems quite a bit lower than most conservatives seem to harp about.

 

[JONJONAUG]

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter...s-says-house-democrats-trample-procedures-he/ - Politifact explains Deem and Pass/Reconciliation as it pertains to the Health Care bill.

 

[JONJONAUG]

General Stanley McChrystal wants Osama bin Laden to be captured alive. Attorney General Eric Holder wants him dead. Discuss ...

Alright, let's discuss how he doesn't want him alive.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/eric-holder-predicts-us-w_n_501350.html

\\\"Let's deal with reality,\\\" Holder said. \\\"The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom.\\\"

Pressed further on that point, Holder said: \\\"The possibility of catching him alive is infinitesimal. He will be killed by us or he will be killed by his own people so he can't be captured by us.\\\"

Oh wait he never actually said that at all.

There is no way the Attorney General of the United States would say that he wants bin Laden dead instead of alive.

 

[GasBandit]

Health Care Reform Cost Estimates: What is the Track Record?

The CBO has already revised its estimates of discretionary spending provisions in the Senate bill - adding more than $50 billion to the price tag of reform, cutting in half the potential alleged savings of the Senate bill. If Congress passes the Senate healthcare bill, according to the CBO analysis, American families will be required by federal law to buy a federally approved health insurance plan that will cost a minimum of $12,000 per year.

Democrats may not be too fond of the healthcare insurance industry, but they must be pretty fond of the drug industry.

Walgreens will stop taking new Medicaid patients in Washington state as of April 16.

The chances that Obamacare will improve the public health .. about the same as the chances of me and Angelina Jolie.

The latest from George Will: Why Can't Uncle Sam Learn?

If federal government workers don't pay their taxes, should they be fired? One Rep. thinks so.

The truth about people who consider themselves "green."

Bernie Madoff was beaten in prison. Awwwwwww.

Obama hung in effigy by right wing fascists. ...This just in, the teachers union is now considered part of the fascist right wing.

Arizona State Park Budget in 2007: $66 million. Revenue from State Parks in 2007: $266 million. Arizona Legislature in 2010: Close 'em down, they cost too much.

Court rules that trolling is not protected by the First Amendment. Guess I'd better head for the border.

222 Democrats vote to rip Article 1, Section 7 out of the Constitution.

 

[GasBandit]

So, of course the big political news of the day is the passage of the senate bill... There's a separate thread for that going already, and I make my contribution here.

On the day Democrats finally get their healthcare bill passed, Rasmussen polls show that 26% of Americans strongly approve of Obama's job as president ... but that is compared to the 42% of people who strongly disapprove of Obama's job as president.

Rectal-cranial inversion moment of the day from Rep. Alcee Hastings on healthcare reform: "We make up the rules as we go along."

Now that Obama has beat the health insurance companies into submission, now it is time to get back to bullying Wall Street.

As we know, Greece is in a heap of financial trouble. (We will be there soon if we keep this up). But what is Greece doing in this time of crisis? Turning to the private sector and privatizing services.

According to Rahm Emanuel, "fringe groups" have taken control of the GOP. Pot, kettle?

Obama is reasserting his desire to hold unconditional talks with Iran.

This one in Grand Junction, CO: Billboard of Jimmy Carter Saying 'They Can't Call Me The Worst President Anymore!'

 

[Dave]

BEAT THE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES INTO SUBMISSION?!? Are you fucking HIGH? THEY are the biggest winners in this mess! Government forcing people to get health insurance? The insurance guys I know are all laughing their way to the bank! They LOVE this bill!

 

[Krisken]

BEAT THE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES INTO SUBMISSION?!? Are you fucking HIGH? THEY are the biggest winners in this mess! Government forcing people to get health insurance? The insurance guys I know are all laughing their way to the bank! They LOVE this bill!

If it makes you feel better, Dave, your son who is going to college can remain on your insurance until he is 26.

 

[Dave]

It does make me feel better, actually. But that doesn't mean that this bill isn't good for the insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

 

[Dei]

Well sure, it's good for them now, until costs go up and Congress tells them they can't raise premiums.

 

[GasBandit]

BEAT THE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES INTO SUBMISSION?!? Are you fucking HIGH? THEY are the biggest winners in this mess! Government forcing people to get health insurance? The insurance guys I know are all laughing their way to the bank! They LOVE this bill!

The fees for not getting health insurance are still less than the cost of health insurance.

 

[GasBandit]

Republican attorneys general in at least 12 states are warning that lawsuits will be filed to stop the federal government's healthcare reform bill from encroaching on states' sovereignty.

From Victor Davis Hanson on the passage of Obamacare: We've Crossed the Rubicon.

The best paragraph from the above:

Do Democrats realize that we really have crossed the Rubicon? In the future when the Republicans gain majorities (and they will), the liberal modus operandi will be the model—bare 51% majorities, reconciliation, the nuclear option, talk of deem and pass, not a single Democrat vote—all ends justifying the means in order to radically restructure vast swaths of American economic and social life. Is someone unhinged at the DNC? They just blew up any shred of bipartisan consensus when their President polls below 50%, the Democratically-controlled Congress below 20%, and health care reform less than 50%. Usually unpopular leaders and their unpopular ideas seek the shelter of minority rights and prerogatives. What will they do when they are in the minority—since they’ve entered the arena, boasted “let the games begin” and shouted “by any means necessary”?

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this is the first time in the history of the country that the federal government has ever ordered American citizens to buy any good or service.

House and Senate Republicans are preparing bills to repeal Obamacare legislation approved Sunday by the House. I'm not holding my breath on there - a veto-proof majority is even harder to get than a filibuster-proof one.

From Fortune Magazine: 5 next steps for health care. Odd, reading down that list, I thought that was what this trillion-dollar monstrosity we just passed was supposed to do? Oh, wait, I forgot... it wasn't actually about reforming health care at all.

Passing Obamacare was continuously compared to the passing of Medicare and Social Security. But is that accurate? Not even close.

The Wall Street Journal breaks down how to prepare yourself for the coming healthcare (and tax) changes.

From the UK: Congressional healthcare vote was a dark day for freedom in America.

From Rep. Paul Ryan on the healthcare vote: Healthcare is really the issue that speaks to the relationship between the citizen and the government in America.

America, meet Dan Benishek ... the man running against Bart Stupak in November. Bart Stupak's "deal" with Obama gave the Democrats the votes they needed to pass Obamacare.

Leading up to November, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee is demanding answers from the White House about whether it offered Rep. Joe Sestak a job to drop out of his state's Senate primary against Arlen Specter.

As of right now, the future of our corrupt Attorney General Eric Holder remains uncertain.

The legal director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is joining the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as a senior adviser for its office of civil rights and liberties. Guess it's time to go Greyhound, hm?

Finally some good news ... the national group ACORN is folding. But is it really gone? Remember a few pages ago, when different branches were changing their names to disguise who they were...

Next up: climate change legislation!

The latest ridiculousness from the global warming movement ... flowers are losing their scent due to climate change.