For reasons that remain a mystery to me, I had no internet this morning. Awesome.
Open Thread
by John Cole| 93 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
by John Cole| 93 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
For reasons that remain a mystery to me, I had no internet this morning. Awesome.
Comments are closed.
RedKitten
If all else fails, blame the pets.
joes527
I think it is a punishment for what this site did to the internet last night.
Kyle
Expensive and unreliable internet service just proves that we have the best internet service in the world.
USA! USA!
Martin
WordPress has a mental telepathy module? Cool.
@joes527:
Also this.
donovong
I am pleased to be able to be the first person in this thread to state that Joe Lieberman is an asshole.
Kryptik
I just can’t stand this country sometimes.
You can ratfuck the entire country on a simple majority vote, but when you try and actually get people help, out come the budget concerns and the soshulisms, and even when you can point out that the worries are bullshit, the goalposts are moved and you’re fucked all over again.
We’re never passing anything, and people who are contending that ‘this is better than nothing at least’ have not internalized the key message of this whole goddamn health debate: The Blue Dogs are Lucy. No matter what you do, no matter what you give up, the ball will be pulled, you’ll be flat on your ass, and the only way to win is to not play.
If you play, the goalposts will keep moving, the ball will continue to be pulled until you have nothing left to actually offer.
Fuck. I need to figure out how to move to Canada. Not because I’m fed up, but because I’m honest to god scared that I’m going to die poor and sick because I’m being fined for daring not to afford health insurance premiums that get jacked up by half every year.
SteveinSC
They were saying today, last night, whenever, that it takes 67 votes in the Senate to change the rules, i.e. cloture. Is that true? I saw last night someone saying it only takes 51 to change the rule on cloture. Inquiring minds want to know. Also fuck Lieberman.
GReynoldsCT00
we missed you, welcome back
Axe Diesel Palin
Perhaps we can get the hackers who dug up the climategate emails to find and release the missing Bush administration emails.
lamh31
First off, it seems to me that Christopher HItchens is a doucebag who always seems drunk, but still, when he’s on…he’s on. Watch the following video ya’ll, and see Joe try to run to commercial before Hitchens lays the bomb. Oh, and Eugene Robinson, God love him, but the stuttering completely takes away from any point he’s trying to make. He should speak slower, and just use ah, and uh, like Obama and Michelle does (and I don’t mean that in a bad way).
Christopher Hitchens Slams Palin: ‘A Disgraceful Opportunist And Real Moral Coward’ (VIDEO)
lamh31
This whole HCR debate is so frustrating. Someone correct me if I’m wrong here, but Harry Reid, and some of us on the left has to shoulder some blame for this new fiasco on HCR, including the “lack of leadership” that some see from the White House.
Does anyone else remember that after the summer from healthcare Hell, the White House’s plan seemed to be to try and keep Olympia Snowe on board, pushing a trigger instead of insisting that Reid push a public option. But Reid (looking at his own election prospects, and not the true nature of his caucus) made his statement about the PO being apart of the Senate Bill. I distinctly remember many on the progressive blogs backpatting Reid, and the calls of “good ole Harry”, but no one seems to remember that the other story out of that was that the White House (who was dealing in reality at that time, THERE WAS NEVER 60 VOTES FOR THE PUBLIC OPTION) was not as sure as Reid that he could hold his caucus, so they basically said “okay Harry, you say you go 60, then it’s on you and you betta be right”.
Well guess what, he was wrong, and some on the left knew he would be wrong (and were called Obamabots, or the like cause of it), but no, some of us wanted to see what we wanted to see in terms of the make-iup of the Dem caucus, and we ignored the spinelessness of many of them. And if anyone dared say that there was no way Reid would truly have 60, that if we had gotten Snowe on board earlier, as the White House wanted to do, then we might have gotten a better bill because Snowe, unlike Lieberman, may have been invested in the bill’s succeess.
Nope, progressives, Reid, the “leadership-less” WH, or whoever…we were all hoisted by our own patards!
danimal
So, how do Holy Joe and his GOP allies vote against health care now?
They all claimed to like the bulk of the legislation, but had problems with a public option/Medicare buy-in/single payer trojan horse. “Everyone agrees to 80% of the bill,” according to GOP talking points from not too long ago. With the objectionable 20% now stripped out, the spin factory is going to need a third shift to come up with some type of justification for obstruction.
Without a single-payer boogeyman, the GOP is screwed.
Tom Hilton
I’m torn between pity and envy.
Zifnab
The internet gnomes strike again!
1) Sabotage John Cole’s internet access
2) ???
3) Profit!
Punchy
Do you still have ComCrap, or have you moved on to Time (Dont)Wannah? Perhaps you’re using T-Mo’bills? Does VerRaisin (prices) have internets cant-nections?
I could do this all day.
chopper
my internet has been in and out for 3 weeks. what suck is, i work from home. time warner cable in NYC is teh suck.
so yesterday, after the 15th call about my service, they told me they could get someone out to check things out next tuesday.
so i threw the wife and kid in the car and shlepped down to DC where the office is so i can work for the week.
life is grand.
Keith G
It’s cold and rainy in Houston today. A winter fog has been hanging over the coastal bend of Texas. Spent the AM speaking with my older sister about her quite loving husband, Daniel Farley, who passed away Sunday.
He was a tough, good-hearted man who grew up in that part of Ohio that is formed by a northwestern edge of the Appalachian Plateau. As many of the regulars here can attest, strong people are formed by those hills. He was buy nature a conservative guy who married into a family largely peopled by liberals and didn’t bat an eye at my coming out as a teenager in the late 70’s. He was always an ally.
Hitchhikers Guide to Politics
From “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
Substitute as needed for “Sirius Cybernetics Corporation”
“The Encyclopedia Galactica fell through a wormhole in time, and its entry for the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation is “a bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came.”
How true is THIS:
“Thus the president and the entire executive branch’s purpose is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it. But only a handful of people know this fact, and only six of them know who actually wields power.”
dr. bloor
You spent the whole morning not reading about how Lieberman is waving his dick at the whole country?
Wish I could figure out how to break my internets.
Elie
@Kryptik:
Be sure that you take your job with you (to Canada) and/or come with 250 K in the bank (if you want citizenship that is)
My husband and I actually thought about this and explored the options back in 2004, and it turned out disappointingly more difficult than we thought..
Canadians are not happy to give jobs to Americans unless the Americans are coming with something they do not have or some rare skill. If you reside in Canada as an American, you have to return to America (not hard) every six months and get your passport stamped. I don’t think there is an easy buy in to their health care system if you are not a citizen and becoming a citizen is challenging, given my understanding from that time.
If others know differently, please correct me.
Martin
@lamh31:
What aspect of it is a fiasco? The bill itself which really does improve things, or the optics of the whole thing?
Sorry, but I’m really getting tired of the folks that are more interested in waving the donkey foam finger than actually getting reform done. Remember when everyone was excited about SCHIP passing? Yeah, this is like 25x better, and everyone is pissed about it. So, it’s not 50x better, does that mean it still sucks? No, pass it and move on and we’ll do another bill in 2 years.
Incertus
Did you see that covered the hijinks here from last night? I love it when this place breaks parts of the internet.
Makewi
@danimal:
From a purely political standpoint it’s the Democrats who are screwed. A 53% opposition to ObamaCare means there isn’t much down side to obstruction of this dog turd.
gbear
Reason # 487 that I like my new junior senator from MN. It’s even a joy to call his office – the phone-answering interns will give you a high five if they like your opinion.
Comrade Mary
You just know that Tunch and Lily’s ears’ weren’t singed when the Net went out, because it’s a matter of public record that John G. Cole swears like a primary school teacher.
jeffreyw
Hard to get inspired to cook anything today. Maybe I need some recipe ideas.
dr. bloor
@Martin:
Problem 1: Joe’s not done yet. The mandated coverage stays without cost-controlling public options. Joe likes that. They slipped in annual spending caps for the insurance companies. Joe likes that. The medical loss provision is still there. Joe doesn’t like that. Guess what happens next?
Problem 2: At this clip, the health care bill that will be written in two years may be written by Republicans, which at least gives Obama the option of vetoing it, if it doesn’t seem too unbipartisany an act for him. Even if the Dems still have congress, their margins will be shaved to the point of uselessness.
danimal
@Makewi: Nope, not going to fly. The remaining parts of health care reform are extremely popular. The GOP is going to have to defend recission and denying pre-existing conditions, stuff that all Americans hate about the current system.
The right has built up the “single-payer socialized medicine” issue so much that they are left without a coherent reason to oppose the measure anymore.
BFR
@dr. bloor:
I’m just wondering when Nelson’s going to pull the same stunt over abortion.
ellaesther
@Incertus: (I agree — but psst! Incertus! Check the previous post!)
lamh31
Martin,
I mean the optics of the whole thing. I’m in the “bill will actually improve things” camp. I never truly believed that Reid had 60 votes, not from all I read at the time, and I just remeber being on the ‘tubes and reading alot of the progressive blogs, who up until the point where Reid all of a sudden became a PO champion, believed that Reid was spinless and had no chance of holding his caucus. But he showed them a picture of the candy in his van, and they wanted so bad to believe that he had it in the bag, which anyone with realistic expectations knew he did not. The realist included the White House who was lambasted for not beating the PO drum loudly enough.
R-Jud
@jeffreyw: I would help you out there, but I am giving up and opting for Indian takeaway tonight. Our local place is finally doing phaal.
Chat Noir
Saw Sherrod Brown last night on Countdown. God love him for keeping a positive attitude in the face of recent Senatorial silliness. He looked exhausted and slightly defeated.
And then Ron Wyden on Rachel Maddow’s show: same thing (he keeps saying “the cake’s not fully baked!”).
And I love Bernie Sanders. Can you imagine a Senate full of statesmen like that? Life would be so much better in this country if we had more people like that serving in Congress. You know, actually trying to pass legislation that will actually benefit a whole lot of Americans, not just the rich folks.
This whole year feels like it’s been a roller coaster.
kay
@Martin:
Expanding S-CHIP took five years. Conservatives fought it tooth and nail every step of the way. This is not ancient history. The turning point came when governors got on board, but President Bush ignored them, and vetoed anyway.
It’s wildly popular and cost-effective and humane. They hate that.
Anyway, it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t fast. Once we were over the period where conservative activists were slinking around in the shrubbery peering into kitchen windows, it sped up a little, so that was helpful.
ellaesther
What always kills me is how completely at loose ends I feel when I expect the internet, and there’s no internet.
If, say, I’m on vacation somewhere where I do not expect the internet — fair enough!
But if I’m sitting down in my own wee little home office and there’s no internet? Like — what’s up with that?
And I’m 45 — I spent a fair number of years without this technology! I guess we’re all Borg now.
Elie
@ellaesther:
I know!
And since the internet is now how I get the majority of information as well as work, I really feel isolated….
Makewi
@danimal:
Do you have something to back up the claim that a particular piece of the bill in question is “extremely popular”? Not in generic terms, but specifically as applied to THIS bill.
kay
@danimal:
If conservatives had any answers on health care they would have enacted them.
All they did was make Medicare more expensive (Medicare Advantage) and add a massive new entitlement.
I actually believe they broke Medicare deliberately to stop broader reform.
Morbo
All you console gamers out there: Amazon’s Gold Box Deal today is Assassin’s Creed 2 (both consoles), and they’re having PS3 deals all day. Hint: John Cole’s link in the upper right corner.
Kit Smith
My friend with Comcast always loses his link when it drops below 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit. Comcast waits until it’s warmer to schedule a truck roll, and then the techs can’t ever find anything for some odd reason. Hooray for Uverse!
JMY
I was reading the Huffington Post (unfortunately) and the article stated that many progressives – including Kos – want to kill the bill. That is the worst thing that could happen right now and stupid to think that it would be beneficial to kill legislation that despite all its flaws, will have an impact.
Makewi
@kay:
Your simple mindedness when it comes to your political other is charming in a, “so that’s how the average German didn’t complain” sort of way.
General Winfield Stuck
I am Green Balloons with envy!!
Ash Can
I would speculate that it might be due to the RNC exacting revenge, but there’s no way those technological savants would figure out how to do something like that.
kay
@Makewi:
It was almost fun, towards the end, because conservatives wanted to pass it, but President Bush wouldn’t let them break ranks.
They were sorta whiny and apologetic. “Ashamed” might be taking it too far, with that crowd, but I sensed some yearning to be free and independent actors.
Max
@Martin: Thank you. It pisses me off that some “liberals” want to tank the whole thing, when there is A LOT in the bill that will help people… Um, no pre-existing conditions!
Social security didn’t look like social security when it was first passed, and neither did medicare.
But no, lets do a purity test. I really don’t understand people.
dr. bloor
@Ash Can:
They’re still trying to figure out how undo the Dastardly Damage that the Evil Ned Lamont allegedly did to Joe Lieberman’s website during the ’06 election.
Heh. Ned Lamont. Remember him?
Kryptik
@dr. bloor:
That’s my whole issue right now. Regardless of what’s in the bill or not, it seems like it’s pointless to even consider ‘what if this passes’, because it’s become obvious that Joe really doesn’t want to pass ANYTHING. He’s going to find something to nitpick on, and tantrum, and getting ‘principled conservative’ votes from the likes of Collins and Snowe have been worse than pulling teeth.
We need to find a way to get past the goddamn artificial 60 vote mandatory before we can do anything.
freelancer
Phil Plait just posted his Top Ten Astronomy pictures of 2009 over at his Bad Astronomy blog at Discovery. Absolutely stunning photography:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/12/15/top-ten-astronomy-pictures-of-2009/
gnomedad
@lamh31:
I don’t think Palin and her ilk are even trying to hide their contradictions. They’re just providing doublethink fodder for the rubes who are too unimaginative to do it on their own.
kay
@Makewi:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — President Bush vetoed the children’s health insurance bill today, as he had promised to do, setting the stage for more negotiations between the White House and Congress and sparking unusual dismay from some prominent Republicans
President Bush made an appearance in Lancaster, Pa., after issuing his fourth veto, of the children’s health insurance bill.
Mr. Bush wielded his pen with no fanfare just before leaving for a visit to Lancaster, Pa. The veto was only the fourth of Mr. Bush’s presidency, and it may have spawned the most anger, not just from Democrats but also from some members of Mr. Bush’s own party.
I think “no fanfare” means “with shame” but that might be too generous.
He was afeared people would like it.
Sentient Puddle
@Morbo: Shit, and I just bought Assassin’s Creed II at full price on Sunday.
Pretty damn happy with it though. If there’s anything I don’t like about the first that wasn’t fixed this time around, I can’t remember it.
cd6
Almost time for the 787 first flight. Look at it roll around, lookin badass.
Lets get this thing in the air! Go 787 go!
The Grand Panjandrum
@Max: Only Republicans and conservatives have purity tests. Liberals, progressives and Democrats don’t. It’s different because … well, just because.
freelancer
@Sentient Puddle:
Still a worthwhile purchase at $60. I’ve been playing it for like 10 hours total and I’m only 1/6 of the way through the game.
danimal
@kay: Kay, here in CA, the governator actually cut hundreds of thousands of kids off of SCHIP as part of his solution to our budget mess. It was necessary to preserve the “no new taxes” coalition.
A couple of months later, the SCHIP program was quietly restored with a tax increase and hundreds of thousands of kids kept their health insurance.
The point–after all the bluff and bluster from the Makewis of the world, the GOP is terrified of health care reform because they know their opposition is a political loser. They can obstruct and confuse people for a while, but the underlying reforms really are incredibly popular.
Kryptik
@Max:
My personal worry about not doing it right the first time is that….well, look how much teeth pulling it’s taken to get even where we are now. Getting better is probably requires even more Dems that we have now, and Dems that aren’t Blue Dogs. That’s not a given, and Republicans have already vowed to immediately gun for a repeal the moment they get a majority (which will probably be helped by said Blue Dogs).
I don’t have much hope for getting 60 non-Blue Dog Dems to actually improve things later down the line.
BR
I’m calling my senators and representative telling them to pass this health reform bill as fast as possible to leave as little time for more obstruction and then to pull a stealth move and introduce a public option bill as soon as the president has signed the current reform bill.
(The public option bill needs to be a stealth move that happens after the president signs this bill, otherwise Lieberman will block even the current health reform bill.)
Makewi
@kay:
He did state why he vetoed it, but I think your policy of just assigning the motivations you think are appropriate is just fine. Trying to see both sides of an argument is hard.
donovong
@Makewi: For some reason, seeing your comments appear here again suddenly made me think of “ass rabies.” Funny, that.
Makewi
@danimal:
Generically speaking “reform” is wildly popular. Just like more money for education is wildly popular so long as you don’t increase taxes by a dime on coffee or anything like that.
Boo.
Makewi
@donovong:
Maybe you should see someone about that. Or have a good cry.
jenniebee
Just got push-polled about HCR, they opened with taxpayer funded abortion and by question 4 had gone full-on Godwin. “The world said ‘Never Again’ after six million Jews were killed in the holocaust…” at which point I hung up. The phone number traces back to a cell phone in DC – 202 870-5892, but I can’t find info on who owns the cell.
lamh31
Lieberman is an complete idiot! Did he really believe that anyone other the the Repubs would see this as a “princpled” stance?
Oh…Wait, I guess he did
Martin
@dr. bloor:
The public option doesn’t control costs – it expands coverage. The only way to reduce costs is through regulation.
And spending caps are just realistic. Medicare has them and we praise Medicare. The reason you need the caps is because the care providers can order up anything they want and know they’ll get paid. Until we’re willing to tell the care industry as a whole (insurance down to hospitals) that they will take care of this person and everyone will eat part of the cost (aka single payer), then caps are necessary.
The only reason that Democrats are looking shaky in 2010 is because Democrats are freaking out and can only see negatives. This is a good bill. Lieberman won’t be able to make it a bad bill, just a slightly less good bill. But nobody cares about the bill, they just care about putting Lieberman in his place. That’s stupid.
I hate the Yankees but I’m not about to boycott baseball because of them, which is effectively what the Democratic base is calling for here.
Third Eye Open
@Makewi: How does it feel to wake up every morning to realize that you’re simply entertainment? Unpaid entertainment at that.
Chat Noir
@Max:
This is what Sherrod Brown said to Keith Olbermann last night: it’s a good bill, not a great bill. I agree to get something passed, signed into law, then try to improve it from there, similar to Social Security and Medicare.
Martin
@lamh31:
The Democrats should have focused on getting the bill passed ASAP. Time kills legislation. Shove it through, concede whatever you need to Democrats that doesn’t move people backward, and get the fucking thing signed. Democrats spend too much time trying to get it perfect which gives the GOP tons of time to distort the record. I’m pretty sure this is why Obama is saying to give Lieberman what he wants – nobody can come along and blackmail a bill once it’s passed. Pass it already.
Svensker
Frenchmen in kilts and t-shirts (and plastic gold helmets!) doing Celtic rock. And dancing like great gawps. After a morning thinking about Joe Lieberman, this cheers me the hell up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqL3U2DjbSI
licensed to kill time
@kay:
I’d just like to tell you how much I value your comments. They are always clear and logical and well-reasoned. I always learn something from you and I value your contributions here.
Your good-faith attempts to engage certain trollish commenters here are admirable.
When I see Makewi here, on the other hand, all I get is a sour, sick feeling from its posts. I don’t know why this person continues to engage here as it brings zero to any discussion. Once in a while it acts semi-sane but soon reverts to sourness, namecalling and bitter drips of poisonous talking points.
What a sad way to go through life. Sour bitter makewank.
Napoleon
TPM is running a link to a story that TNR is letting 1/3 of its staff go.
Makewi
@Third Eye Open:
I’m the one being entertained. For example, someone like ltk giving kay props for making a “reasonable” statement like the GOP opposes bills because they would do good and are popular is a hoot. That is considered the height of reasoned discourse here, so I’m just tailoring my comments to match it.
chuck
From LGF:
__
chuck
All I know is that Makewi really likes pie.
http://ok-cleek.com/blogs/?p=2149
Third Eye Open
@Makewi: Then quit being such a sourpuss. Do you really have nothing better to do than to pretend that you care, one way or the other, about what happens to those who fall through the cracks in the Healthcare system? We have one side fighting for the status-quo, which predicates its model on denying the people who need their services the most. The other side couldn’t find their ass with both hands. I would say only one of these groups is being nefarious. I will let you guess which one it is. In the meantime, go get laid, or pop some pills, or handle some snakes–whatever it is that makes you less of a self-important douche-bag. I bet God thinks you’re funny.
licensed to kill time
For the record, I think kay’s comments (note the plural) are excellent. Naturally this troll has to set up yet another strawman to flail away at.
The point, it went ————-> thataway.
Beauzeaux
@licensed to kill time:
I have to second the praise for kay’s comments. There are several commenters I enjoy reading here, but kay is at the top of the list – always informative and well reasoned.
2th&nayle
@dr. bloor: Reminds me of the story about the guy went into a bar and sat down next to a patron who appeared to be fairly hammered. After a couple seconds he caught a whiff of something terrible, and it seemed to be coming from the man seated next to him. He said, “Damn fella, you smell like you’ve shit yourself.” The stinky man replied, “I did.” He asked him why didn’t he go to the restroom and clean himself up? The drunken man replied, “I’m not though yet.”
KCinDC
I’ve been ignoring the depressing health care news today and following the DC city council’s vote on marriage equality, which is good news. It passed the final vote 11-2 and will be signed by the mayor soon. Then we just have to hold our breath and hope that Congress keeps its nose out.
Makewi
@Third Eye Open:
Yes, yes, I know, it isn’t just a disagreement over policy or methods, it’s that one side is nefarious. That is why I love you guys so much. For the dogged determination to ferret out the witch and try to light it on fire.
Third Eye Open
@Makewi: well, I guess I could have used these instead: abominable, atrocious, base, corrupt, criminal, degenerate, depraved, detestable, dreadful, evil, execrable, flagitious, flagrant, foul, glaring, gross, heinous, horrible, infamous, infernal, iniquitous, miscreant, monstrous, odious, opprobrious, outrageous, perverse, putrid, rank, rotten, shameful, treacherous, vicious, vile, villainous, wicked … But somehow, it just seemed superfluous. You don’t need to be a witch to oppose reform of the Healthcare system, just an a$$hole. On the other hand, I do not have independent confirmation that Lieberman and Nelson weigh the same as a duck.
freelancer
Fuck your guyzez troll fight! ORAL ROBERTS is Dead! Yaaaaayyyyyyyy!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34435346/ns/us_news-faith/
Makewi
@Third Eye Open:
Your cut and paste skills are a thing to behold. I’m heartened to know that you are a bit simple in your formulations, makes all the nastiness associated with actually listening to the witch’s arguments completely unnecessary.
A little advice though. Dunking the witch before trying to apply the torch makes the job harder.
Sentient Puddle
@freelancer: His f’real name was “Oral”? I feel like this is some sort of parody or something…
Third Eye Open
@Makewi: Oh Noes! You mean, my dastardly trick to make you believe that I am, in-fact, the source for all Thesaurus.com’s synonyms, has failed? Fuck, folks; we got a thinker over here!
Makewi
@Third Eye Open:
Thinking is overrated. Better that you have taken the everyone who disagrees with my position is evil approach. I think it’s working well for you. Let me know if you ever get that witch to light.
asiangrrlMN
@freelancer: Huh. I thought he was dead already. Isn’t he the one mostly to blame for our current crop of batshitcrazy insane rightwingnutters?
@Keith G: My deepest condolences to you and your family on the passing of your brother-in-law. He sounds like a good man. I am sending a white light to guide him on his journey to the other side.
Third Eye Open
@Makewi: No, I actually prescribe to the objective claim that, “If you value the stock price of Aetna more than you value the life of fellow taxpayers, you might be a sociopath.” It doesn’t fit on a bumper-sticker well, but ‘dems da breaks.
asiangrrlMN
@gbear: I’m with you on our junior senator. He really is a breath of fresh air.
Elie
@licensed to kill time:
totally agree
Makewi
@Third Eye Open:
Don’t let anyone tell you that making ridiculous comparisons and then attributing them to your opposition is dishonest tactic. All the cool kids are doing it.
You know who denies more claims then Aetna? Medicare.
Elie
@Martin:
Amen to that.
sigh
Third Eye Open
@Makewi: Y’know who spends 98% of each Healthcare dollar on services? Not Aetna. So, like I said, how does it feel to be simply entertainment?