Your daily dose of crazy from ClownHaul:
Can a democracy function when a large portion of the electorate comprises bug-eyed loons whose sole contribution to debate consists of placing their index finger horizontally between their lips, moving it up and down rapidly and emitting a “beeb-beeb-beeb-beeb!” sound? Yes. Yes, it can. It’s like competing in a 110 meters hurdles event in cement shoes, but it’s possible.
What’s up today? Staying warm?
Baud
Of course Obamacare hates babies. They’re too young for the death panels.
gogol's wife
I see that Michael Moore’s fruitful contribution to this debate (“single payer!”) has made it to the NewsMax headlines. “Michael Moore: Obamacare Is ‘Awful'”
Suffern ACE
Bah. Who likes babies anyway? Ghastly crying leaking sacks they are. I stand with Obama against them.
Aji
Gee, thanks, Betty. I just went into sugar shock from the creepy-cute twee-ness of that photo. And I’m not even diabetic.
I haven’t had enough coffee to deal with that kind of shock to the system.
Steve in the ATL
Let’s focus on what’s truly important: every time Ohio State loses, an angel gets its wings.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Stupid wingers are stupid.
MattF
Well, you’re competing with cement-for-brains. Anyhow, here’s ‘Invitation to a Beheading’:
http://wonkette.com/538218/politifact-tackles-hot-button-issue-of-obamacare-beheadings-plus-excel-magic-proves-republicans-are-the-biggest-liars
‘Liar’ doesn’t quite describe it, IMO.
dmsilev
Pikers.
I’m pretty sure that Obama was that ‘very knowing American’. We have, after all, established that he can travel through time (he faked the evidence of his own birth of course).
The Red Pen -- PEN DAMMIT!
This is from a “News Editor” at the site.
Wow! Such standards! Much news! So truth!
Citizen Alan
What I find most exasperating about headlines like this is that, as you all know perfectly well, the very second we get Republican president, all of these assholes will turn on a dime and declare that even the mildest criticism of him is treasonous.
jeffreyw
Cooking coffee. Big storm approaches and looks to drop a lot of snow starting tonite, late.. Taking advantage of sunny 40 degree weather before the bottom drops out of the temps. Coffee cooking is an outside thing due to the smoke and our unfortunate lack of range hood. Last of a lot of Kenyan that wasn’t the best, starting in on a sack of Costa Rican.
Roger Moore
Why, oh why didn’t Obamacare include death panels? We could do away with loons like Katie Pavlich.
aimai
@MattF: I was just thinking about that Wonkette article as I read the new meme about how Obama hates babies. Its the perfect representation of this mindset. Here’s a relevant quote:
Childlike sense of wonder, indeed. In fact, anything is possible! Obama probably eats babies for breakfast and uses the helpless parent’s frustrated attempts at entering the right codes for “insure my baby” to track down the newborns and have the secret service seize them and deliver them to the white house kitchen for Michelle’s supper. Stands.To.Reason.
Betty Cracker
@jeffreyw: And I thought people who grind their own beans were serious!
Roger Moore
@jeffreyw:
Firebagger!
James E Powell
The Kenyan Usurper’s brazen theft of the 2012 election drove the 27% to a new level of madness. It’s like the days of the witch-hunts. A contest of fevered imaginations.
PurpleGirl
I’ve had breakfast, done some chores and have to decide if I’m going out or not. There are some things I can do outside but it’s cold… and my apartment is warm.
pseudonymous in nc
@MattF:
I can’t get over the beheading thing becoming a thing. As a friend said, the factcheck article reads like someone talking very softly and quietly while a gun is pointed at him. It’s weapons-grade crazy.
Betty Cracker
@Steve in the ATL: I wasn’t displeased with that outcome, but I didn’t see it coming. Didn’t think the Sooners would take down ‘Bama either.
Vandy and Houston today at 1 PM: Go Vandy!
jeffreyw
@Betty Cracker: We just dabble. These folks are serious.
Ken
The obvious solution is to do away with Obamacare. The babies won’t be insured, but at least their parents won’t feel embarrassed because they can’t figure out a web form.
Suffern ACE
@MattF: beheadings are reserved for high nobles and clergy as well as Roman citizens anyway. Since we don’t have a nobility, the new law only applies to a few catholic cardinals and the 2,000 people living on a small town in Wisconsin. And even the latter point, the law is unclear. I judge the statement mostly false.
dmsilev
I see NewsMax has the headline “Gingrich: De Blasio Practices ‘Soy Latte Liberalism'”. I guess that means that ordinary lattes have lost their punch as a derogatory signifier for liberalism. I eagerly await the upcoming ‘Half-Caf Pumpkin Chai Latte Liberalism’, which I estimate will arrive in about 12 to 14 months.
Ben Franklin
Nothing to see here, folks. You have to be exposed continuously for 90 days…..oh wait…..if you breathe in nanos, they are 500 x more powerful.
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2013/12/northern-california-beach-reading-500.html
Aji
@dmsilev: No, it’s a dogwhistle. Have you forgotten the right-wing freakout a few years back about how soy makes boys girly? They were askeered it would make their real, manly men all gay and stuff.
mai naem
I am sick and tired of these rightwing fcukers who keep on criticizing O-care. I was just talking to a woman who with her teenage son became homeless after having a bunch of health issues. I’ve known a bunch of other people who have lost everything, all starting with healthcare issues and healthcare bills. Pigs like Bill Kristol will never have to worry about waiting for the year before you can get on disability after being seriously injured. They’ll always have their wingnut welfare buddies to bail them out. But most regular people, even assuming they have decent health insurance, can’t pay their bills for a year with nothing coming in. Why the fcuk should people lose everything they’ve worked for 30+ years just because they get sick. So these a-holes can fcuk off and die. Too fcuking bad you may have to pay some more for your insurance. Too fcking bad, you have to pay a medical device tax. Too fcking bad you have to pay a tiny bit more in taxes if you are doing very well. Grow the fcuk up and accept that you are living in a community of human beings who may need a little help. Too fcking bad that the deductibles are $6500, that’s still somewhat manageable compared to a $100K bill . And, oh yeah, nobody else has a reasonable workable alternative that will work in our dysfunctional political system. And a big fcuk you too all the asshole GOP governors who rejected the medicaid expansion, solely for their political careers. When you go upstairs, I hope god asks you why you let Bubba Smith die when you could have done something about it.
dmsilev
@Aji: But wouldn’t Real Manly Men(tm) drink black coffee, preferably with the consistency of tar and scraped from the bottom of an urn in some diner in Real America(tm)? A latte of any sort is already pretty far down on that scale.
MattF
@dmsilev: Wait, Noot’s been bumped. I feel a twinge of empathy for Noot. Come up with a good line, make it to the top line of Newsmax, and then… POW!
aimai
@pseudonymous in nc: Perfect description.
Aji
@dmsilev: Moonshine made with paint thinner. Just ask Duck Dude.
But seriously, in those circles, “soy” has become code for “makes you gay.” Considering that the racial dogwhistles are already covered by deBlasio’s interracial marriage, they had to come up with a new front in the war on the new Dem NYC mayor.
Suffern ACE
@pseudonymous in nc: it reads like someone who could have disposed of a statement in three sentences, but who needed to fill four inches of column space. Although I think it’s also possible that he realized that an explanation that involves “it’s somehow related to a WHO manual” is going to morph into “OMG! Obamacare is the first step toward Article 21” and decided to write in hushed tones.
Elizabelle
@mai naem:
Righteous.
They’re whining louder because they suspect they might be losing.
Baud
@Aji:
A soy latte is what Pajama Boy would drink.
Amir Khalid
Fortunately for me, getting warm is not on my agenda today.
I wonder what the precise truth of this matter is. Do any new mothers indeed fall between the cracks? How many? Does Obamacare actually have them covered in some so far unnoticed way?
Aji
@Baud: Bingo.
Baud
The Politifact discussion of the beheading issue is gold.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Don’t know how S-Chip (children’s insurance) fits in, but mothers in red states that have refused to expand Medicaid are the ones that seem to be at risk.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE: Osseo only has a population of 1700.
Stella B
@Baud: I have a hard time understanding why the same people who hate abortion also hate pre-natal care. But then again, I still can’t understand why libertarians oppose abortion, either. It’s stupid I am.
kindness
Ya know I know better than to follow a link to ClownHall, but it was like a car accident. You have to slow down and look. Katie over there is foaming at teh mouth but the comments over there even more knuckle dragging.
I need brain bleach.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Makes ’em more desperate, which should be where we want them to be.
debbie
@mai naem:
But that’s exactly the fallacy. Who exactly do people think is now paying for all the ER visits, etc. made by the uninsured? Is it the Glittery Unicorn Brigade???
The ACA will save everyone on their insurance and health costs.
Baud
@Stella B:
They don’t hate pre-natal care. They hate that women can obtain pre-natal care through government programs rather than through the private charities they control.
Joel
The Yongle Emperor was right, ending the male line isn’t enough, you also have to eliminate all the peers as well.
Mike in NC
Every time I see some angry Letter to the Editor in our local wingnut newspaper, denouncing “Obamacare” as one of the greatest crimes in world history, just for laughs I plug the person’s name and town into a search engine like WhitePages.com. Guess how many of them are over the age of 65? Every goddamned one of them! Good old fashioned American hypocrisy is alive and well.
Shortstop
We completely demolished the kitchen yesterday and my today has so far consisted of me standing in the doorway wondering what we’ve done. Well, the only way out now is through. Give me courage.
Citizen_X
@MattF: The irony is that the WHO was just trying to statistically describe deaths by executions, which can be common in some, uh, backwards areas. Can you imagine if they had said, “Gosh, maybe some places shouldn’t have so many executions”? It would have been OMG OBAMA’S UN WILL TAKE AWAY OUR HOLY DEATH PENALTY!!! JUST LIKE STALIN!!1!
Svensker
@MattF:
Gahhhh. If you follow the links to the story on the Red Flag website, the commenters get into a huge fight over the truth of biblical inerrancy and prophecy with respect to Obama’s new beheading policy. It is gobsmacking.
Holy moly.
Fuzzy
@mai naem: How do really feel? All pundits and politicians should have to go to any hospital, unannounced and unaccompanied by aides and sit in the ER with a terrible gut ache waiting for their name to be called. Just once should do the trick.
schrodinger's cat
Made the mistake of watching Washington Week on PBS. It was half an hour of, why 2014 is going to suck for Democrats in general and Obama in particular. What is people’s opinion of the Cook Political Report, Are Cook and Amy Walter really non partisan and fact based as they claim to be or they Republican hacks in disguise?
Jay C
OK, 44 comments in and still no explanation for the picture which I presume is illustrating Katie Pavlich’s idiot post. What is the relation between “Obamacare Hates Babies” and the cute pic of the one wrapped up in the
Christmasholiday stocking? I realize most winger blogposts make no sense, but is Ms. Pavlich’s objection to the stocking? The baby? The exploitation of the baby by unelected government death-panel bureaucrats who are going to go all Jonathan Swift on its chubby little ass at the taxpayers’ expense? Or is it, like most TownHall gibberings, irrelevant, if not counter-factual?Omnes Omnibus
@Citizen_X: The Stalin reference is what makes it perfect.
Schlemizel
NO!, No, it can’t and we are demonstrating that very well the last many years. Democracy is in big trouble and still declining. I only see two outcomes possible and neither is pretty. We might end up with a Singapore style Potemkin democracy where the masters control everything and you StFU or get cained and voting means nothing. The other is that the working class suddenly come to the realization that they are getting well and truly fucked and come to believe that capitalism holds no value to them. The bloody revolution to institute a communist system will be long and gruesome. I doubt democracy could survive that event either.
OTOH, maybe climate change will wipe humans off the map before either end point is reached.
Anya
Politifact: The Truth-O-Meter Says:
Our ruling
Bloggers have recently offered posts headlined like this one: “Obamacare Hates Babies.” We rate this half truth. While Obamacare offers 8.7 million women maternity coverage and newborn care, and services for women, such as gestational diabetes screening, lactation support, and annual well-woman; Obamacare also offers contraception care to women. Some might argue this can be considered anti baby. And since no one can make a credible argument against the fact that the sole purpose of contrception is to prevent women from getting pregnant, the the claim cannot be deemed ridiculous. Half Truth!
gelfling545
@Baud: Here in NY, in the case of my niece – who had insurance due to being still under 26 & still on her mom’s plan when her baby was born- her enrollment forms for SCHIP were completed right at the hospital immediately after delivery. They left the hospital with an id card (although due to her c-section, that was 5 days.)
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
My BFF also got a new Fitbit for Christmas (I upgraded to the Force, and she got a Flex), so now I have to stop being a lazy ass and get my 10K steps in again.
Also, an old friend from high school tracked me down via LinkedIn. That’s what I get for being too lazy to change my name after I got married.
Kay
Obamacare will be great for babies. I got pregnancy care through a federally-funded community health center for one baby and that baby is now all grown up and he makes more than I do. I don’t know what he pays in taxes but I imagine it’s a lot. Even from a purely transactional view, it works.
So good investment, Leftists! Good job.
I lurk on Twitter (where they’ve been ranting for days) and I love the conservative argument where I’m supposed to be upset that people are signing up for Medicaid. That was my goal. It’s the main reason I supported the law! I’m not a conservative. I’m in favor of government health care.
Duh.
Baud
@Anya:
Hipster Obamacare. Hates babies before they are even conceived.
Shortstop
@Omnes Omnibus: I cracked up at that as well.
schrodinger's cat
@Anya: Since most couples use contraception for a significant part of their reproductive lives, even the happily married ones with children, that means everyone but the crazy quiverfull type fundies is anti-baby.
trollhattan
Having set record high temperatures two days in a row, with three a possibility, and given our ability to watch the footballs and still go to bed before midnight (take that, J Cole) am here to brag on living in commieland. (Never mind the drought, you hear?)
Time to take the munchkin to soccer (the other the footballs) practice. Which shorts shall I wear?
Villago Delenda Est
The assclowns screaming about beheadings need tumbrel rides, stat. We’ll show you vile little fascist shits all about beheadings, oh yes we will.
trollhattan
Obliged to point out the 27-percenters making the “beeb-beeb-beeb” noises are the ones stocking up on AR15s, so there’s that.
schrodinger's cat
@trollhattan: I thought you lived in Manhattan. I will be wearing at least 4 layers when I head out. Sunny and in the teens here in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.
Hill Dweller
The wingnuts are all over twitter this morning openly calling Melissa Harris Perry a ni**er.
Villago Delenda Est
@Schlemizel:
Societal collapse is coming. I give us another 40 years, tops. We can see all the signs (oh, wait…there are no more trees on Easter Island? Is that a bad thing?) but the people at the top are blissfully unaware of it, particularly the vermin of the Village. At least DoD gets this shit, and is doing all sorts of “liberal” thinking about it, like looking for alternative fuels and planning for the inevitable armed reaction to food shortages.
Citizen_X
@Villago Delenda Est: I was wondering where you were while all this talk of beheading was going on.
rk
I’ve reached the conclusion that all right wingers are literally insane. I was asked recently (online) these questions “do liberals eat babies, you cannibal or do you eat your pet dogs like Obama does? Who can even reason with such people? No adult discussion is possible. After a while you get tired and simply give up. But they never ever give up. They can say the most absurd hateful things again and again relentlessly. It’s scary to think that a good portion of the country thinks like this. And they vote.
My response by the way was “we eat babies for breakfast, right wingers for lunch and clean their clocks for dinner”. But it’s not exactly wit and wisdom going on here.
Kay
They’ve always been prickly and sensitive on the…. anti-baby aspects of conservative policy.
Remember how crazy they went with SCHIP? They were running around in circles because…children!
Conservatives can stand anything EXCEPT not claiming what they consider the moral “high ground”. It is absolutely a vulnerability, which obviously means liberals should beat them over the head with it.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: It is almost 30 degrees here in Madison.* I am heading out to tan.
*Temps are going to drop like a rock overnight. Schools have cancelled Monday classes already.
Anya
@Hill Dweller: I really don’t get this freakout. WTF did they say about the child? The only thing I heard was that a guest made a stupid joke about the Romney child marrying Kanye’s baby daughter someday. Everyone is freaking out about this? Really? Can we list all the instances when wingnuts ridiculed or targeted the Obama girls. I mean, I am all for not acting like them, but can we stop the sanctimonious outrage already.
Villago Delenda Est
@Citizen_X:
I was blissfully sleeping, and then I fire up BJ, and I’m greeted with insanity from Clown Hall, which led to the beheadings thing, and I just couldn’t stop myself.
We need to contribute to the WHO stats. Start with the Bush Crime Family.
JPL
@Omnes Omnibus: Wow, Sunday’s weather is gonna be quite balmy compared to Monday. GA temps are going to be 35 degrees higher during the day on Monday. Our night times temps will only be about twenty five degrees higher.
Anya
@schrodinger’s cat: You know that’s a liberal fact so it really doesn’t mean anything.
@Baud: I might get a t-shirt with that.
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, there’s some sort of “Polar Vortex” that’s due to send cold air from the North Pole all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
I can hear wingnuts wailing about Al Gore now.
Elizabelle
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yeah, I think Charlie Cook is a Republican’s dream of an “independent” pollster/analyst. And you cannot pay me to watch Washington Week.
WaPost and NYTimes are full of “oooh — bad for Democrats!” stories, and predicting the midterms this far out. I don’t click on a one.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hill Dweller:
I was wondering what would cause the dam to burst. You know that for five years solid it’s been building up inside them. Waiting for Limbaugh to relieve the pressure.
JPL
@Anya: Chelsea Clinton was verbally abused constantly by the right wing whackos. Except for the travels of the Obama girls, I haven’t heard much.
Melissa Harris Perry apologized because many didn’t watch the show. They only know what Fox told them.
Comrade Dread
I’m not giving Townhall any clicks. I tried engaging them a few times and the result was always so much stupid it burned.
ruemara
I dunno. I woke up to MHP and Ralph Nader praising Republicans for their efforts to raise the minimum wage, telling me that Democrats are feckless and slow moving, the Democratic Senate bill to raise the minimum wage was too slow milquetoast, Richard Trumka needed Ralph Nader to tell him to get into the minimum wage fight and Democrats just don’t know how to capitalize on a winning issue (Republicans are so good on minimum wage increases!). I was blown away that MHP would have that hacktivist bigot on after some of the inflammatory things he’s spewed. Oh, also, the Clintons are “liberals” who are not really good people on anything for workers, not like real “progressives” like Ralph Nader. Holy fuck.
Cacti
@gogol’s wife:
Michael Moore has always been a purity troll.
A lifetime of good deeds couldn’t make amends for his Vote Nader/Help Dubya crap in 2000.
Baud
@ruemara:
Wha? I expect Ralph to hate Democrats, but on what basis is he praising Republicans?
Kay
@Anya:
I actually heard it when it happened and I didn’t think it was so bad. It wasn’t the sort of thing I like, because it had that obnoxious “we’re so smart!” jeering quality that I dislike when liberals indulge in, that stuff is off-putting to me, but I didn’t think it was outright offensive. I don’t like what I perceive to be “pile ons” whether they’re liberal or conservative, like a group going after a person. I don’t go for that.
I’m a little surprised it was MHP because when I have listened to her (not that often) she seems to be the earnest sort of liberal pundit, not the jeering sort.
Ben Franklin
@ruemara:
Yeah, and didn’t Obama move that needle on min wage from $9 to 10 just because he wanted to move faster?
ruemara
@Baud: I believe there’s a House Rep or two who are promoting raising the minimum wage. Not sure if there’s a bill as such, but the Senate bill is nothingsauce, since Dems.
@Kay: I heard it when it happened, too, and I’m surprised at the hatred it created. Man, miscegenation is the secret center at the heart of this nut cluster.
Cacti
@ruemara:
Speaking of Ralph, yesterday on Huffpo, he posted a scathing letter he sent to George W. Bush, or what I like to call, the least self-aware critcism ever written by anyone anywhere.
I wonder if Dubya will send back a postcard saying “Thanks for helping me keep 2000 close enough to steal!”
gogol's wife
@Citizen_X:
Took him a while, didn’t it?
feebog
OK, so I went back to the link and then followed it to the NBC link. This is actually an AP article from yesterday. The article makes it clear that parents will need to contact their insurance company to add the baby to their policy. The Healthcare.gov website is not able to accept such changes yet, supposedly due to all the updates that had to be made over the past three months so the cite could accept applications. The update to the website is needed to recalculate subsidies and premiums, but does not affect coverage of the baby.
So to recap, the Clown Hall story is completely wrong (who cudda knowd?). Three days into the new year you can’t contact the Government website to update family changes, and this now becomes yet another disaster of biblical proportions.
Bex
@schrodinger’s cat: Washington Week? Same old faces since 1973? Nobody cares.
Schlemizel
@Cacti:
Remember that Ralphie admitted to a reporter in 1999 that he wanted Boy Blunder to win.
Betty Cracker
@Shortstop: You can do this, Shorty. The mister and I gutted and renovated our kitchen last year, and I know exactly how you feel. But if we could pull it off, you can too. And it really is an amazing feeling of accomplishment when you’re done!
Schlemizel
@Cacti:
Yes, once someone has made a mistake, even after they have admitted it and apologized, no amount of good works can ever compensate for that & they should be ridiculed & shunned forever after. Its what I love about Cole, he has been consistent for as long as this blog has run.
Kay
@ruemara:
I have to say, generally, it’s not a great idea to make fun of peoples kids, even tangentially. I don’t know who can pull that off, but it wasn’t the people on that panel. AT BEST it fell flat. It wasn’t funny or insightful or original, so why do it?
Villago Delenda Est
@Schlemizel:
Cole I can forgive. Michael Moore and Ralph Nader, both with malice aforethought…never. They need to pay for their crime of enabling the deserting coward.
Baud
@Schlemizel: @Villago Delenda Est:
Cole has expressed his regret. I don’t believe Moore or Nader has ever done so.
ruemara
@Schlemizel: What? You do realize that Ralph Nader has not stopped making the same mistake. He spent his time ragging on Dems, an actual Senate bill and Trumka with the only praise being for himself and Republicans. Then denigrating liberals as not being real true progressives, like himself. The same mindset that wanted Bush to win so that magic era of true progressiveism would come, is still in residence. I say this as someone who respected Nader highly until his insistence in continuing his presidential run, but he’s an egomaniac. And based on his racial criticisms of Obama, he’s got some race matters of his own to deal with.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Baud:
And even if they have, they still act like asshats trying to clip the legs out of any Dem or liberal. Apologias are only good with the appropriate change of bad behavior. Cole’s changed. The asshats have not.
The unfortunate thing in all of this that keeps coming up is that the GOP has successfully poisoned the well past the point of recovery. They’re pretty much free to do just about everything they want, because the climate means that they have to die a death of a thousand cuts before any of their bad behavior catches up with them, but one slip up or one resultant observation that can be even minutely taken to be against Dems or LIbs and the right-wing swings can’t happen fast enough.
You see it with Climate now: HOLY SHIT, COLDEST EVER, CLIMATE CHANGE REALLY IS THE BIGGEST HOAX IN FUCKING EVER!!
You see it with MHP, complete with the self-unaware froth on twitter
You have it, somehow, on minimum wage, because where the fuck does Nader somehow get to where the GOP is working for Minimum Wage and the Dems are fucking killing poor people or something?
You got it in fucking spades with Obamacare, where everyone fucking forgot about the Shutdown, and if they didn’t, they act like it would’ve been a godsend because Obamacare proved that the shutdown would’ve saved the world or something.
They get away with this shit all the fucking time, since the entire fucking political subculture is primed for ‘GOP GOOD, DEMS FUCKING WORST EVIL EVER’
Kay
@feebog:
I love how this is now an unimaginable burden under Obamacare. People never had to contact their insurance carrier prior to this horrible, anti-baby law :)
I had a nice thing happen Friday. I was able to help this local guy who repairs appliances get started signing up. He’s the second self-employed we’ve helped. They don’t have internet access. We had a guy who has a window washing business, a power washer mounted on a truck, and he qualifies for Medicaid based on income (not receipts, but what’s left over after expenses to pay himself).
MomSense
Could someone versed in wingnut please explain this Obamacare hates babies thing? I really don’t get it.
Ben Franklin
@Baud:
What would they apologize for; our electoral system? Attempting to rout teh Muddle?
JoyfulA
@gelfling545: Had full Obamacare arrived earlier, my niece could have married her boyfriend right away, instead of remaining single on her parents’ policy until said boyfriend managed to graduate from college and acquire a job with benefits.
Still, I think their huge wedding with their child as flower girl was dumb, as well as a waste of money.
Villago Delenda Est
@ruemara:
Nader’s attitude reflects that of the 30’s German Communist Party, which said “Nach Hitler, Uns”. Nader doesn’t care how many innocents must suffer in order to pave the way for his “progressive paradise”.
Nader is, as far as I’m concerned, as much a war criminal as the deserting coward or the Dark Lord. He made it possible for their crimes to be committed.
Fuck him.
Baud
@Ben Franklin:
They don’t have to apologize for anything if they don’t want to. But there is no reason to forgive someone for something they haven’t apologized for.
ruemara
@MomSense: The ACA exchanges cannot pivot quickly if, in mid-application, you have a baby. You have to go to your insurer to add the newborn to your coverage. It’s a programming thing. And a highly stupid thing to take away from the problem.
shelly
At the NewsMax headlines, I see Peggy Noonan is sounding the alarm that Mayor de Blasio will ‘divide NYC.”
Jeez, what took her so long? Right-wingers were whinging about this 2 seconds after he was elected.
Anya
@Kay: Kids should be off limits. Period.
I didn’t get the whole point of even talking about Romney and his holiday card with his gazillion kids. Why even waste any energy, let alone come up with some dumb quip about his grandkid? Why is Romney relevent at all? He lost. Gone. The whole thing is off putting, and doesn’t make any sense.
But I totally agree with you about everyone pilling on MHP. Everyone is seriously over doing this thing. Did Joe Scarborough call her “despicable” yet? Then we’ll know she’ll be forced to resign.
Villago Delenda Est
@MomSense:
Apparently, you can’t add a new arrival to your policy on the ACA web site. You have to go to the extreme effort of contacting the insurer directly to do so. This means Obama hates babies, and roasts them for a nice midmorning snack.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Baud: This. Forgiveness without a sincere apology doesn’t change much of anything.
Cheers,
Scott.
Bubblegum Tate
@Roger Moore:
But it totally does include death panels. Just look at the title of this blog post published today: Sarah Palin vindicated — there are death panels in Obamacare. Did you see that? Sarah Palin: VINDICATED!
Villago Delenda Est
@Anya:
The joke started out as “One of these is not like the others” and snowballed from there, riffing on that theme.
Hopefully the kid will survive being raised as an Oreo by a bunch of parasites.
Ben Franklin
@Baud:
Abe never apologized for suspending habeus corpus, but I forgive him.
shelly
Criminy! Remember the wingnut freakout when Obama was going to make that little address to the country’s school children about staying in school? “How dare the President tell my kids about the importance of education! Indoctrination! Brainwashing!”
Schlemizel
@ruemara:
WHO WAS TALKING ABOUT RALPHIE? Follow the link, I was referring to Moore who is actualy capable of learning and growing.
There is not a saw in the world big enough to fuck Ralphie sideways with
Villago Delenda Est
@shelly:
Yes. de Blasio will divide NYC into Bloomberg and his handful of rich friends vs. 8 million other New Yorkers.
Pretty much the way it was divided under Bloomberg.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Anya:
I’m not even saying MHP is blameless. It’s the fact that, look at the reaction toward her compared to say…Phil Robertson.
Seems like GOP favorites never suffer any consequences because unless things really reach a fever point, they’ll rally behind them forever. Anyone even tangentially on the ‘left’ side of the spectrum, one slip up and they’re immediately pointed as not only the worst scum of the universe but proof positive that the Left is the most monolithcally racist evil collection of shit in the history of ever, and people will nod their head in agreement over and over until the person owning said slip-up is turned into a proper pariah.
Especially considering the racist froth against her coming out on Twitter, as pointed out.
MomSense
@ruemara:
So this is only a problem if a baby is born mid-application? Wouldn’t that imply that the pre-natal care and delivery are taking place before the person signs up for health insurance? So does that mean these moms weren’t covered by insurance for their deliveries?
Baud
@Schlemizel:
I agree that Moore is more of a mixed bag than Ralph Nadar.
Schlemizel
@Baud:
Moore has apologized & said he made a mistake but that has not stopped the people who hate him from hating him & carrying one about how awful he is.
ruemara
@Schlemizel: I’ll take your comments about Moore into consideration, however, it assumes facts not in evidence. He’s just better on a few issues because he’s had the smarts to not run for office.
Violet
@Anya:
It wasn’t a guest who said that, it was MHP herself. Here’s a news story on it from December 31st, so before today’s apology:
It was a stupid bit and I’m surprised MHP joined in on her show.
I’m one who thinks it’s out of line for pundits and news types to discuss the non-adult kids of politicians unless the kid does something that would be newsworthy no matter who their parents were. It seems especially wrong to discuss the possible future marriage of an infant child. If one of her guests had said it she could have cut them off and changed the subject. But she said it. She should have known better.
No opinion on her apology today. I thought she’d already apologized. I think that should be enough for anyone. Wingnuts turn the tiniest thing into the biggest outrage against Society and Morals and Our Way of Life, it’s ridiculous. They’re milking this for everything they can. It’s a shame when people continue to feed that beast.
Baud
@Schlemizel:
I did not know that, but I do not follow everything he says.
Stella B
@Anya: I’m not sure that I understand why a quip about a future mixed marriage was so insulting…. Oh yeah.
It’ll be 72 and sunny here today. I don’t have to look at the forecast because 72 and sunny is the default. Also, along with the nose bleed house prices comes the biannual opportunity to vote against
Darrell Issa. Fun, fun.
schrodinger's cat
@Bex: Jeff Zeleny and Amy Walters were probably not even born in 1973. I usually don’t watch WW. Yesterday I caught about the last 15 minutes when I was channel surfing.
MomSense
@Villago Delenda Est:
Wow, I thought that was always the way you added a child to your insurance policy.
Stella B
Also, the NYT’s “Red Lentil Soup with Lemon” is definitely worth a go. Where they say “dash” of chili powder, substitute “a goodly amount”. It’s a reprint of an old recipe and for a good reason. Red lentils are available at Trader Joe’s.
Kay
@shelly:
I thought that was really sad, because of course a school visit is boilerplate for nearly every politician, let alone President.
That is actually one of the episodes that convinced me that Obama bears a special burden because of his race. That was different than “Democrat” or “liberal”. The “stay in school” message is completely generic. NO ONE has ever objected to that before.
Michelle Obama too, with the “fitness” thing. My governor’s wife has the EXACT same mission, she goes into Ohio public schools and tell them to eat right and exercise and NO ONE says she is “indoctrinating” children. It’s fucking ridiculous, and that to me means it’s more than Republican versus Democrat. It’s race.
The “Obama in public schools” thing was disgusting, and media should be ashamed of themselves for treating it as valid.
Laura Bush had a public schools mission. She went into DC schools and told them to read. Not a peep out of anyone. Because to object to that is silly.
Schlemizel
@Baud:
Moore actually wants liberals to be successful. He sees himself (I think) as a legitimate pull to the left which we desperately need. When Obama and Clinton are seen as the left-most acceptable edge of liberalism the left is in big trouble and in need of people attempting to pull the public debate leftward..
But purity trolls come in every stripe. There are Dems who wish we could be more like the GOP & blindly follow dear leader as long as he is from our party. Thats how you end up with the disaster of Boy Blunder despite many goopers knowing his policies were going to be a mistake. There are people who refuse to see the good people can do because they disagree on either tone or some policies. Yeah, I wish libs had better message discipline but more I wish Americans were not so stupid as to not get the difference between what Moore actually said and what NooseMax wants them to believe.
50+ years of being involved in Dem politics has taught me to work with a wide range of people as much as I can and to accept that we can disagree on some things while still working on others – and that people can do the wrong thing for the right reason. If they learn from that experience its forgivable.
Suffern ACE
@Anya: yep. I’m in the Leave Mitt’s Family Alone camp. He shouldn’t even be a current event. If he decides to try to get a Nobel prize for something, we can then complain that be is fat. But he’s not nearly a danger to the goals of the democrats that he was last year.
Shortstop
@Betty Cracker: Thank you, Betty; I am paralyzed with fear this morning and I needed that shot of encouragement. Demo was easy and I know it will be great in the end, but I’m having a lot of self-doubt about all the activity in the middle. Deep breath…onward!
Anya
@JPL:
Some examples of bringing Obama kids to political discussions (of course the NRA ad, which a lot of republicans defended is a huge example):
White House fury at Rick Santorum for attacking Malia Obama’s trip to Mexico
Coulter: Maybe time to ‘go after the Obama children’
Echoing Beck, Rush Limbaugh mocks Malia Obama
MomSense
@MattF:
I thought for sure that wonkette was riffing off an Onion piece–but it was real! Someone actually wrote and people actually believed that Obamacare implemented execution by beheadings!
This is what ABL means by #velcronation. I don’t think the person that believes this is capable of tying their own shoes.
Ben Franklin
@Schlemizel:
My main issue with his tactics is that the propaganda undermines that objective. I like his passion but would prefer he worked on his credibility.
.
schrodinger's cat
@Stella B: Not exactly a soup, here is my recipe of Dal with Red Lentils
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@MomSense:
The very fact that this was a thing that actually had to be debunked is just a telling thing about our political environment right now.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
A very big THIS.
A first rate asshole, little ralph.
Kay
@Schlemizel:
I don’t object to the dissent or the “pulling to the Left” I disagree with the approach.
I think it was a mistake (for example) to attack the stimulus as insufficient. I think a better approach ( if you want more stimulus) would be to point out the fact that the “safety net” was doing exactly what it’s supposed to do when “markets” failed. Instead of “the stimulus sucked and it failed”, point to the millions of people who landed in the safety net, because that happened. The reason we didn’t have “bread lines” is because we have food stamps. That’s a win for liberals. Their basic argument is sound.
I just think that’s a better sales approach. If we wanted more stimulus, sell the stimulus.
No one listening was making this subtle distinction between 850 billion and “enough”. What they heard was “the stimulus sucks and it isn’t helping”. That wasn’t, in fact, true, let alone good advocacy for MORE stimulus.
That’s why I’m wary of “attack the health care law to make it stronger”. I think we blew the stimulus argument, badly.
Patrick
@Anya:
Sickening hypocrisy. Where was King’s concern about W Bush’s vacations? He took a third of his presidency as a vacation that we, the tax payers, had to pay for.
Or how about he Iraq war? King voted for spending more than trillion dollars on it. What a raging hypocrite!
Ruckus
@ruemara:
I wonder what you did before the ACA when you had a child? Did said child get added by osmosis?
Or did you have to actually call and give your insurance co the info, like the name, etc, etc.
Aimai
@Anya: look, mhp herself spologized. It was horrendously indulting to the child snd the family znd adoptive parents snd mhp acknowledges that. It was ugly and to her credit mhp has apologized unreservedly.
Baud
@Schlemizel:
I think that’s an overblown risk on the Dem side right now.
That works both ways. But usually the disagreement isn’t over the “good” in people but the effectiveness of particular tactics.
ETA: Or what Kay said.
Violet
@Kay: Yes, this. Exactly. Michael Moore would be far more effective in “pulling the Democrats to the left” or “pulling the country to the left” if he went with “The new healthcare law is a great. It’s a wonderful, landmark achievement and good for President Obama and the Democrats for making it happen. It’s a huge, huge improvement over the mess we had before. I’m thrilled we have it. Like anything, it’s not perfect. Let’s work on improving it and making it even stronger and better and more effective for everyone. Here’s how.”
Betty Cracker
@Schlemizel: Well said.
Violet
@Aimai: Completely OT, but wanted to let you know I’m another one of those people who have seen “Nine Queens”. Saw it in the theater. Fantastic film.
? Martin
@Shortstop:
Yay! You’ve the done the part most likely to hurt you. It goes slower from here, but involves fewer bandaids. I’ve demolished a few rooms in my day. My suggestions:
If you’re unsure of a decision, stop, step away, think about it and let it come to you. Mistakes take a LOT of time and money to fix. A coffee costs $2 – so burn half an hour and do that. Yeah, there will be ‘OMFG I HAVE NO KITCHEN!’ screaming at you, but seriously, slow down, do it right, and you’ll get to the end faster.
Measure 3 times.
Tell your SO that every time you utter ‘Close enough’ they are to reply ‘NOT CLOSE ENOUGH’. Do the same in return.
Be proud of the results.
Kay
@Violet:
I watched the safety net in action in this county. We had 16% unemployment. People were crying, breaking down, in our office. They had NEVER been out of work before, so the whole food stamps, heating subsidies, etc. thing was new to them. The fact is they weren’t “on bread lines” because there’s a safety net. That’s not a failure. That means it works. I came to believe that it would have been better to sell more stimulus with THE stimulus.
Stella B
@Violet: Bill Clinton once told Bernie Sanders that he should be more critical, since it would provide Uncle Bill with more maneuvering room.
Patrick
@Violet:
Amen! Instead, by using his current approach, many people on the left (who should be his supporters) just choose to ignore him. If I want to hear criticism about the ACA, all I have to do is to watch FoxNews, CNBC.
Ruckus
@Kay:
This is the important thing. The goals are right, the way isn’t wrong, the messaging stinks. It seems to always be approached from a position of “It’s not right to be positive.” It seems dems rarely take the high road, it’s always an apology about having done something, instead of we did something positive but conservatives didn’t allow us to do it as well as possible.
Magicians do misdirection when they don’t want you to see something, dems do misdirection because they are afraid you might see something.
Baud
@Stella B:
Bernie seems to know how to be critical constructively. Every time I’ve seen him on TV, his approach has been similar to the example Violet gave at # 141.
Violet
@Kay: Yep. And if the Democrats would have been much better served if they had made ads with those people: “Government was here when I needed it. I would have starved/frozen without the stimulus” Etc. Instead they ran away.
@Patrick: Exactly. He’s not persuading people. He’s turning off people who should be supporters. AND he’s giving ammunition to wingnuts (“Obamacare is a disaster!”). Such a big platform and such a small vision.
Baud
@Violet:
I’ll admit, I still haven’t read Moore’s op/ed. But if he really did say both “Obamacare is awful” and “Obamacare is a godsend,” then his message was too muddled to effectively advance any policy goal.
WaterGirl
Oh come on. Obama hated babies when I left the house around 10 this morning, and he still hates them nearly 4 hours later? I thought surely he’d be over it by now.
Violet
@Baud:
Excerpts:
(Included this because of course MM knows what’s in the President’s heart.)
Yeah, he said both things.
raven
@WaterGirl: I wanted so badly to be up there yesterday. They had a retirement party for my first boss at the Virginia!
Baud
@Violet:
Thanks. I know what he’s trying to say, but “Obamacare” is one thing, and, even though it has many facets, that one thing can’t be both awful and a godsend.
Unless you’re Charles Dickens, this “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” style is probably going to fall flat.
ETA: To be fair to Moore, I think Obama said he would prefer single payer if he were writing on a blank slate rather than dealing with existing health care systems.
Jay C
@shelly:
Actually, they were bleating this meme pretty much ever since Big Bill won the primary: Maybe Ms. Noonan just needed a few days to sober up before regurgitating this nonsense…..
ruemara
@Violet: Awful and a godsend. Floor wax and a dessert topping. Obama really is a magician.
ugh. I’m just gonna try to get a headshot out of this printer and run off to my audition. Take a nice long 2 mile walk there to clear my head.
Jay
Hey folks. Basic question about copyright law.
Awhile ago, some Juicer-bless his or her heart-gave me the link to the site listentoyoutube.com in response to my question about a hard-to-find song by Amy Winehouse.
Since then, I’ve found alot of not-on-iTunes stuff, including that song. But I have a question about the site: I use it mainly to strip out songs and put them on my iPod. I don’t dispute the illegality of stripping a song from a YouTube video marked “official,” and I wouldn’t put it past some record company copyright troll to trace it right to my freaking house.
However…
Plenty of average Joes post to YouTube their own videos with songs over them. Comes the question: stripping a song from Joe Q. YouTuber is above board because he’s leaving it out there, (like a picture on his old Blogspot blog, say) right?
Looking forward to hearing from people smarter than I on this.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
raven
@Jay: No, it’s illegal for YOU to have it.
WaterGirl
@raven: Well, I didn’t get an invitation! Who was your first boss? I missed the whole thing.
Edit: I was catching up on threads earlier this morning. First I responded to the link to the design school story, saying it was awesome. Five minutes later I get to the other thread where we’re talking about things that we all hate, and I see that you absolutely hate the word awesome. Gave me a chuckle.
Cacti
@Schlemizel:
Michael Moore wants liberals to be punished for insufficient ideological purity.
He has never wavered from this approach.
It’s why he buries in his hatchet peace “oh yeah, the ACA also actually helps people in the real world.”
raven
@WaterGirl: Director of the Champaign Park District. She was the Super of Recreation at UPD many moons ago.
gogol's wife
@Schlemizel:
But he was right there bashing Obamacare in the New York Times just two days ago. Does he think this helps people without insurance?
Another Holocene Human
@gogol’s wife:
http://pleasecutthecrap.com/pro-lefty-michael-moore-obamacare-is-awful/
Another Holocene Human
@aimai: Found out a coworker that I care about is convinced that hyperinflation is coming. Who are these creeps that can spread these lies and scare people like this? I hope I can get through to him why that is a very, VERY silly notion. (Short version: it will never happen because the corporations would get roached and they run this country. End of story.)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Last time I saw Michael Moore was in the early fall of 2012, on a panel with Cornell West and Tavis Smiley. The theme was Obama as the greatest obstacle to true progressivism, and for those who didn’t get from his sweatshirt-sportcoat-ballcap costume means he really, really cares, literally stood up and started screaming about how much he cares. That Obama is the greatest obstacle to Troo Progressivism.
gogol's wife
@Another Holocene Human:
That is excellent. I liked this part:
“And then he calls it a “godsend.” Make up your mind, Michael, it can’t be both “awful” and a “godsend.” Why don’t you tell people who have been refused health insurance in the past just how “awful” paying an average premium (or below, if they make less than 300% of poverty level) and being limited to $12,500 out-of-pocket (or far less, depending on income) is? Why don’t you tell the parents of kids with terrible illnesses how “awful” it is that their kids will be able to get health insurance when they grow up?
I don’t understand why so many professional lefties think the only course they have on everything is to complain about glasses that are half empty and refuse to do anything to fill the glass more. No one in their right mind thinks the ACA is perfect. Ask Obama; even he won’t tell you that. The glass is half full, but we’ll never fill it by whining about how bad at is. Instead, we’ll need to accept what we have and improve on it. To his credit, Moore finally suggests we make changes, at the very end, after he’s basically trashed the law and only praised it faintly to keep from being “remiss.”
MattF
@Another Holocene Human: This is the standard line from goldbugs, Paulites, and assorted anti-Fed loonies. You can’t make any progress arguing with them– their beliefs are a closed system, not subject to factual contradiction.
Bex
@schrodinger’s cat: Sorry. Bad snark. Maybe the panelists/guests have gotten younger, but you couldn’t prove it by me. Haven’t watched it in forever either.
Ben Franklin
@gogol’s wife:
“And then he calls it a “godsend.” Make up your mind, Michael, it can’t be both “awful” and a “godsend.”
And WTFN? If I’m panhandling for food shekels and a restaurant patron serves up some stone-cold leftovers which have no presentation appeal, but has some caloric benefit;
Thank Jesus I won’t starve today.
Bill Arnold
@aimai:
They (PolitiFact) have a sense of humor:
Aaron Baker
THINK OF THE BABIES! WILL NO ONE THINK OF THE BABIES?
Matt McIrvin
@MattF: I find that most of them believe that high inflation is happening now, and that if you don’t think so it’s because you’re looking at cooked numbers and reading lies from crackpot Paul Krugman. They have special unskewed economics.
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
Wow. Makes way too much sense to say it that way. Can’t have THAT.
Ghayduke (formerly Lojasmo
@mai naem:
A colleague of mine (white, privileged, affluent) came in to the office with a story of a laboror who she followed in to work who was complaining about a $10K deductible, and how he was paying the fine instead.
Five minutes later I had figgured out that the VERY highest ded. on MNsure was $6500 and a full ride gold plan with a $100 ded. would cost $450/M for a 45 year old non smoker.
Bill Arnold
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
I think some of them spout this sort of thing without believing it. Meanwhile, Australia has been having another record-hot summer, and last year (2013) was Australia’s hottest. You’d figure that this would sell some ads on American media just for the novelty/contrarian value. (I was in Australia early last January. Did the news novelty story that petrol boiled off from tanks of cars in the interior make the U.S. news?)
Cain
I must say, she is a delicious morsel. Is it worth dipping your dick in crazy though.. ?