Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

No Justins, No Peace

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Fight them, without becoming them!

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Oh, And By The Way

Oh, And By The Way

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Medicare and scientific research, two things Republicans want to cut to give Donald Trump another tax break or corporations another handout, are right this very moment saving my father’s life. There is a reason we fund these things. Anyone who wants to argue with me about the validity and necessity of funding both of these endeavors can quite simply go fuck themselves. Hard.

This is why we fight.

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  10. 10.

    BigSouthern

    When I was 13, I had open-heart surgery to remove a tumor on one of my valves. I was something like the eleventh person ever recorded with that tumor in that location. Because of the insurance my father got as a DOD employee, I think we paid a grand total of $100-something out of pocket for the surgery, the hospital stay, all of it.

    I was old enough to understand what was happening to me, and understand the science behind what they were going to do, and be freaked out by the understanding that I’d be medically dead for some order of time while they worked on my heart. But as the years went by, I came to understand a couple other things.

    The biggest one is that I am not special. And that the reason I lived shouldn’t be as arbitrary as “my dad was able to get really good insurance through his employer.” Universal, comprehensive coverage should be available to everyone.

  11. 11.

    Roger Moore

    Also, too, medical devices and drugs are one of our big export industries, and they depend very heavily on government funded research. If you actually care about a working economy, you really need to support this stuff.

  13. 13.

    Kay Shawn

    Absolutely. When my mom was hospitalized, I could not imagine adding worry about paying the bill to all the health worries we were having with her. It’s just obscene we don’t have universal health care. Yes, why we fight!!!

  15. 15.

    Hungry Joe

    We’re social animals. We’ve created an advanced, highly technological civilization. So we all pitch in and support a health-care system that looks after everyone. Every. Single. Person. Rich, poor, smart, dumb, young, old … doesn’t matter. Everyone. This so seems basic to me, so face-palmingly obvious that I’m unable to argue effectively with the no-government/pro-insurance-company/you’re-on-your-own types: I end up just sputtering something like, “But don’t you see? Don’t you see?

  16. 16.

    Steve

    My 93-year-old grandmother passed recently. It was Medicaid that made it possible for her to spend her last weeks in a good nursing home, getting the care she needed in order to have some dignity and a minimum of pain in her difficult final days. Yes, these things are worth fighting for.

  18. 18.

    Cermet

    John, they just recently did research and showed that the main cause of heart disease isn’t cholesterol but Choline (ie a critical chemical in eggs and soy lecithin.) Gut bacteria convert the choline in these (or many baked products that use these) to make a protein that foam cells turn into plaque asap (and vastly accelerate the process.) Go figure – what’s in most baked goods and a main part of breakfast kills most people (those with the gut bacteria.)

  21. 21.

    John Cole

    @Raven: I missed it. I have been preoccupied.

    Someone suggested we have a fitness club or somethign like that. I think it is a good idea and may do it myself, because I want to get into shape and look good naked.

  25. 25.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    That is why I am for expanding medicaid/medicare for all with taxing the rich, especially eliminating the Social Security limit of the first $90,000 that is taxed. F*** Mitt Romney and his Swiss Bank accounts. As mater of fact anyone caught with an overseas account, confiscate the assets donate to Medicaid/medicare for all!

  28. 28.

    JCT

    @John Cole: Actually, lots of data out there that people do far better with training regimens if they include a friend. harder to say “no” or wimp out.

    I’m not touching the naked comment.

  29. 29.

    amk

    As long as dumb and stoopid amurikans keep electing rethugs, they’ll get get only dumb and stoopid policies. Or is it the other way about ?

  30. 30.

    enplaned

    John — try a real honest-to-god rowing machine, like a Concept2, and see how you like it.

    I got one for home. They’re low impact, they don’t tend to cause injuries, they exercis basically all your muscle groups, and it’s a hell of a great aerobic workout.

    If you get one for home you can roll out of bed and onto the machine and you don’t need to make an effort to go the gym.

    A month or so on this thing and your metabolism will be kicked into a much higher level, at which point you’ll start burning calories even when you’re sitting around.

    You can listen to the radio or watch TV while you row.

    http://www.concept2.com/us/default.asp

  33. 33.

    Raven

    @JCT: I have watched the local “Boot Camp” with great wonder. I have come to understand that the folks that participate really appreciate and need the support they get from each other. I guess having been a gym rat all my life, I don’t need any of that stuff.

    ps

    I can’t imagine anyone who has been through real boot camp paying someone to yell at them!

  34. 34.

    amk

    btw, if anyone cares, rupaul is second in NV so far. paulbots are beating the shite out of noot.

    latest paul gem – “If it’s an honest rape,” go to the emergency room, get “a shot of estrogen.”

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    @Raven:

    Please point to the person or people in that thread who recommended that Cole replicate that diet, which consisted of “special shakes called Optifast and two cups of low-starch vegetables, totaling just 500 to 550 calories a day for eight weeks.” (emphasis mine)

    I’m sorry, I may work part-time in the diet industry at Weight Watchers, but having people subsist on 500 fucking calories a day is fucking insanity. OF COURSE THEY COULDN’T KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF!!

    Show me the science-based evidence where people whose weight-loss plan was 1500 to 1900 calories a day and then went to a maintenance plan of 2000 to 2500 calories a day were not able to maintain the weight loss.

  38. 38.

    Yutsano

    @JCT:

    Actually, lots of data out there that people do far better with training regimens if they include a friend.

    This might be nosy, but why not his sister? She’s rather athletic and not afraid to whoop his ass if he slacks off. Plus it might turn into a good bonding opportunity. Or bring about WWIII. Either way should be interesting.

  39. 39.

    General Stuck

    I could start you on Stuck’s Jiffy All Bean Diet, guarangoddamnteed to look like Charles Atlas in the buff, two weeks, tops.

    Free Trial for the video, only 99 dollars shipping and handling.

  40. 40.

    amk

    @Loneoak: yeah, tunch is the one to judge on this issue.

    Cole should take him in as his exercise buddy. He can post the pics of the scratches as war wounds here.

  41. 41.

    paradox

    Please excuse me–not to put ketchup on this feisty taco of a post, seriously–but isn’t the leadership in DC focused on not fighting? So that they can be adults and be above it all?

    I’m one of the best fighters you’ve ever seen–with the right leadership. After Plan B and the ozone omissions and the debt ceiling deal I’m plain confused.

    I’m not punchy, I’m not hurt, what the fuck do I know, really? Not much. I do know how to fight, and the leadership signals from DC just don’t work.

    The latest generic matchup polls of Romney-Obama are okay in their way and improving, but I’m still personally appalled, it should not be this close in the least. Jesus, just impossible, but fuck if you raid enough pot clubs and cut enough wall street deals play the fuck all with that magnesium politcal fire all you want. It’s way too close, and too many are confused, unmotivated and watching.

    Happy tacos. Chinese for me tonight, I thought you looked good in your self image, John.

  42. 42.

    Lex

    John, just surfaced from 18 hours of schoolwork. Very sorry to hear about your dad. Keeping your family in my prayers.

  43. 43.

    Raven

    @Mnemosyne:

    While the findings from Proietto and colleagues, published this fall in The New England Journal of Medicine, are not conclusive — the study was small and the findings need to be replicated — the research has nonetheless caused a stir in the weight-loss community, adding to a growing body of evidence that challenges conventional thinking about obesity, weight loss and willpower.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, for the real answer to why so many Americans are overweight, read Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink. Basically, restaurants and food companies have figured out how to trick us into eating more than we want to.

  45. 45.

    General Stuck

    @paradox:

    Well, you hit about every firebagger talking point in a very short paragraph or two. You could call it a paradox.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @Raven:

    500. Calories. A. Day. And the researchers are shocked — shocked! — that the participants couldn’t maintain the weight loss. Jesus fuck, I could have told them that and they could have saved all of the money on the study!

  48. 48.

    CynDee

    John, all the best to your father and all the family. You are in our thoughts. We’re so grateful to your parents for creating you; you do so much good.

  51. 51.

    Maude

    @Mnemosyne:
    Remember Oprah when she did Optifast and wore the size 10 jeans?
    @enplaned:
    He tore muscle and really had a serious broken shoulder. I doubt a rowing machine is a good idea.
    Maybe Rosie will run away a few times come spring and John can chase her.
    Glad Mr. Cole is coming home Monday.
    Without Medicaid and Medicare, a lot of people would die.
    There is something souless about people who think that people without money don’t deserve to have medical care, decent housing with heat in the winter, clothing, transportation and the ability to provide for themselves and their families.
    The pursuit of happiness for Republicans seem to be making Americans suffer.

  53. 53.

    paradox

    Oh fuck you, General, go to hell and your flippancy. [extends middle finger] I’m serious and sincere, very despondent over the barfer politics I’m supposed to take in this “fight.”

    I got a degree, I served in a war, I practice good science and never leave my people. Eat me.

    Have fun in your joke of an election, don’t forget to wipe up the floor with the blood of the war dead. Fuck you.

  54. 54.

    handsmile

    @John Cole: (#21)

    Huzzahs and great wishes on your contemplating changes to your diet and fitness regimen. But please, for the sake of the children, do consider carefully the late night, insomnia-induced photographs.

    Medicare and medical research have helped my own Dad to enjoy the incomparable pleasure of watching his grandchildren become teenagers and young adults. So, yeah, I know that fury.

  55. 55.

    cathyx

    I was just having a conversation today with my daughter about being heavy and clothing. We were going pants shopping for her. My daughter is a skinny minny, tall and thin, didn’t take after me, and she was complaining how so many pants she tries on are too big in the waist and too tight in the legs. I told her how it was difficult when she was little to get pants that fit her because the waist were always too big. That’s because so many children are too fat now and they make clothes to fit them, not her. I had to find pants that had adjustable waists. (Lands End).
    I see teens who have muffin tops. That’s big hangover bellies spilling over low cut jeans. That is fast food and venti mocha frapachinos making those bellies.

  56. 56.

    JPL

    Might be time for a yoga class or two from the tone this thread is starting to take.
    Actually when I was under a little stress, I found yoga to help and you sleep like a baby.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    @Raven:

    500. Calories. A. Day. I’m still trying to figure out why anyone thinks that’s proof positive that someone who changes their lifestyle by eating more lean proteins, whole grains, and fruits and veggies is doomed — DOOOOOOOMED! — to regain.

    People gain weight back because they go back to eating the way they did before they lost the weight. That’s why diets don’t work, but lifestyle changes do.

    And, yes, I get very annoyed when people look at the lifestyle changes that I’ve made over the past 10 years and assume that I must be on a “diet” that I’m going to drop at any minute so I can go back to eating Quarter Pounders three times a week. Sorry, but I like vegetables. An apple is a more convenient snack than a bag of chips. I like eating this way, and I’m not going back just because you think it’s “unnatural” for a Real American to like fruits and veggies.

  59. 59.

    MikeJ

    @paradox:

    After Plan B and the ozone omissions and the debt ceiling deal I’m plain confused.

    You’re confused that Plan B is now OTC and it wasn’t before July of 2009? You’re confused that the debt ceiling got raised and the republicans got nothing they wanted it the ability to have a symbolic vote that nobody cared about even on the day it happened?

  60. 60.

    CynDee

    @John Cole: I lost twenty pounds just by eating a little less and moving more — walking 1/2 to 1 hour at least 4 to 5 times a week. I didn’t use any machines except a home treadmill when the weather was harsh summer or winter.

    That was two years ago and it reset my metabolism and I’ve kept the weight out without giving up most of the things I like. We don’t eat any factory farm animal products, but we do eat free-range and grass fed. It’s more expensive, but cheaper than being sick and missing work.

  61. 61.

    General Stuck

    @MikeJ:

    He’s confused, after months of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and the rest of the GOP horror show primary. ORly meh!

  62. 62.

    JPL

    @amk: People like abortion and so they say get one. Hell yeah! that’s what I hear all the time. What an ………………………………! Now I feel better.

  63. 63.

    Schlemizel

    I don’t know John – Any would label him a taker I think. I mean if he were really a producer he would have dragged his ass into the woods, invented some new method to distil the chemicals he needs from bark and twigs he gathered his own damn self.

    Instead he wants to be a leach and sponge off the hard work of others.

    I always found Robert Heinlein’s Congressional testimony in support of NASA to be a classic example of the old saying that a liberal is a conservative who got laid off & decides that maybe the government could help a bit. RAH gives a stirring and detailed account of how space research is important because the advances they made allowed him to live a longer, healthier life. This is a guy who professed to hate government and resented its intrusions into his perfect existence . . . right up until he needed them to save him.

  64. 64.

    Garbo

    @Raven: I’m with you Raven. The Fat Trap’s findings have certainly been my experience, even on a more reasonable calorie count. I would be in favor of a BJ team health effort that was based on moving more and eating more thoughtfully.

  66. 66.

    WyldPirate

    @amk:

    As long as dumb and stoopid amurikans keep electing rethugs, they’ll get get only dumb and stoopid policies

    .

    Most Americans revel in their stupidity. Things are not that much different now than when H.L Mencken wrote this column, “Homo Neanderthalensis” on the eve of the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925:

    Such obscenities as the forthcoming trial of the Tennessee evolutionist, if they serve no other purpose, at least call attention dramatically to the fact that enlightenment, among mankind, is very narrowly dispersed. It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone – that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. The men of the educated minority, no doubt, know more than their predecessors, and of some of them, perhaps, it may be said that they are more civilized – though I should not like to be put to giving names – but the great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge.

  67. 67.

    Maude

    @CynDee:
    Good on you. I had pneumonia and lost weight. I am walking for stamina so that I’m not so weak and to build up an appetite. It is not fun being too thin.
    I eat food. Sometimes a few sweets. I get the natural meat and the taste is much better. It doesn’t cost that much more and it is worth it. I don’t eat processed foods because I don’t like them.

  69. 69.

    RossInDetroit

    @John Cole:

    I want to get into shape and look good naked.

    You know what would be a great motivator? Pledge today to post a pic of yourself in a bathing suit a year from now on 2/3/2013. Then tape a pic of yourself today in a bathing suit on the ‘fridge.
    Just an idea.

  70. 70.

    Loneoak

    @amk:

    Yeah, here’s an exercise plan for the entire household: Cole chases Tunch around the house with a kitty toothbrush or anal thermometer and then walks the doggies to Walgreens for hydrogen peroxide.

  73. 73.

    JPL

    OT..I’m watching NFL Honors and it appears that some players actually believe god played a role in their career. No wonder I gave up organized religion years ago.

  74. 74.

    Loneoak

    @General Stuck:

    Dear gawd man. Have you gone insane?

    No, here’s insane:

    Pledge today to post a pic of yourself in a bathing suit speedo a year from now on 2/3/2013

  75. 75.

    RossInDetroit

    @Loneoak:

    Now that’s just ridiculous. I’d written Speedo but edited it when I decided that not 1 man in 1000 looks OK in one, and I don’t want to see that guy in it either.

  76. 76.

    amk

    yay. noot actually wins a county – 39 to 37 votes for mitt. Go mineral county, NV. Go noot. Go turnout.

  77. 77.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    This is why we’ll all keep fighting, John. You’re not alone in this.

  80. 80.

    RossInDetroit

    @General Stuck:

    I have no idea. But would be willing to take his word for it

    But if he HAS to post a pic then he can’t slack off. The point is motivation.

    Maybe it would be easier if we made 20130203 Bathing Suit Day and we all wear our swimwear to comment as well.

  91. 91.

    Crusty Dem

    @RossInDetroit: Jeebus. He posts one picture and we’ve already gotten to the point of a swimsuit contest. If this spreads, I’m going to be hoping the Mayans were right.

  95. 95.

    kay

    Amk, is turnout even w/2008 or down?

    I thought it might be, because the GOP hack said turn out is “mixed” which means “down”.

    This turnout thing is a problem for them.

    Supposedly, they’re dying to throw Obama out, so why aren’t they coming
    out?

    Mittens isn’t generating any love, and he can’t seem to gin up the hate, either.

  97. 97.

    cckids

    @Hungry Joe:

    This so seems basic to me, so face-palmingly obvious that I’m unable to argue effectively with the no-government/pro-insurance-company/you’re-on-your-own types: I end up just sputtering something like, “But don’t you see? Don’t you see?

    AMEN. I’ve had this argument with my dad, who has been seduced to the dark side by Fox News, and goes on about the evils of socialized health care. The Medicare that is KEEPING HIM ALIVE thru leukemia is his by rights, since he paid for it all those years. Oy. Sorry dad, but you just didn’t make that kind of cash through your lifetime to pay for the treatment you’ve been getting for the past 6 years since you were diagnosed. I finally, last year, lost it & told him–guess what, if I get what you’ve got. . . I am dead. We’ve got no insurance, spouse is self-employed. I can’t go to the ER & get chemo. No church/Scout fundraiser will begin to cover all the meds, treatments & hospitalizations. I. Would. Be. Dead.
    Government health care is SAVING YOUR LIFE.

    I can’t tell if I changed his mind, but he doesn’t talk to me about it anymore.

    PS, John, so glad to hear your dad is doing well.

  98. 98.

    amk

    @kay:

    nate silver tweet

    New rule: if you don’t turn enough people out to fill your state’s largest football stadium, you lose early voting status.

    Does that answer your question ?

  99. 99.

    mclaren

    At a certain point, John, you just have to accept the fact that the top 1% want to kill off the bottom 99% of us but don’t want to risk something as potentially dangerous as Year Zero or kristallnacht.

  100. 100.

    kay

    It does, amk, so thank you, but I hate sports analogies.
    I will just assume Silver means turnout is low.
    I have no idea how many people are in any given stadium, or what that means for caucus/Nevada :)
    Mittens got 51% vs McCain so he has to do better than that, I think.

  101. 101.

    RossInDetroit

    @kay:

    This turnout thing is a problem for them. Supposedly, they’re dying to throw Obama out, so why aren’t they coming
    out?

    Because they hate their candidates only slightly less than we do. If they had someone likable and electable running for the nom people would be out voting to support them. But all they have left is the crazies and cynical careerists left after all of the reasonable Republicans have been driven into the hinterlands.

    But you knew that.

  102. 102.

    amk

    @kay:

    per teh google

    At the end of December, 395,845 active Republicans and 446,679 active Democrats are registered in Nevada.

    Today’s turnout will be around 70 K. Ya do the math.

  103. 103.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    If you choose to work out at a gym, choose one close to your work place. I’ve been going way more often if I go right after work rather than waiting until I have driven the 30 minutes it takes to get back close to my house.

  105. 105.

    Donut

    This is why we fight.</blockquote

    If our federal-office-holding Democrats had any fucking brains they would take up this slogan, and attach it to personal stories, just like John Cole has been doing the last couple of days.

  107. 107.

    MacKenna

    I think there is a campaign strategy here. I’m envisioning a billboard. On one half you have The Donald and his corporate tax rate and on the other you have a heart patient and medical science. Question to the voter? Who deserves more!

  109. 109.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @enplaned: There is nothing more brutal than a Power 10 on a Concept 2 in an erg race indoors. Ugh. At least when you’re in a shell, you’re on the water.

    That being said, the 5 years I was rowing was the most fun I’ve ever had exercising. On the water, working out, socializing, all at once. A three-way, if you will.

  110. 110.

    WereBear (itouch)

    The clearest, best researched, and most useful book on the subject of overweight that I’ve ever read is called Why We Get Fat by award winning science writer Gary Taubes.

  111. 111.

    debbie

    Both of my parents died from cancer, almost 40 years apart, and the comparison between his horrible, cruel, suffering death and her gentle, pain-free passage speaks more than volumes about the benefits of medical research.

    I’m sorry I missed this discussion.

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