I’m still waiting for the teabaggers to start talking about genocide.
(via the always excellent Buffalo Pundit)
by DougJ| 170 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
I’m still waiting for the teabaggers to start talking about genocide.
(via the always excellent Buffalo Pundit)
Comments are closed.
Brachiator
DougJ — Feel free to store this away and use as a future thread title:
What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Euthanasia …
YellowJournalism
“I am not your ATM”
…But I am the GOP’s patsy.
General Winfield Stuck
I’m not going to watch the video for fear of punching out my monitor. It is a nice monitor and doesn’t deserve the abuse.
I think I’ll soak my head in a tub of snake oil instead.
vacuumslayer
That ugly, nasty fac sums up what the screamers are all about quite nicely: vitriolic, hysterical ignorance combined with misdirected anger. Goddess save us all from these dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb people.
Sentient Puddle
I’m not sure I want to watch that video. I think the screencap used pretty much says all I need to know.
CapMidnight
Omigod, they killed Benny! Hill.
gypsy howell
If you had asked me 10 years ago what percent of Americans were completely nuts (I mean off-their-rocker “commies under the bed/black helicopters/ Purity Of Essence” nuts), I would have thrown out some paltry number like 8%. It’s pretty frightening to find out that it seems to be more like 40%.
Stooleo
After watching that, I am now for the killing of old people.
cleek
your wait is over!
DonkeyKong
Don’t even have to look at the clip, the freeze frame is pure Francis Bacon.
asiangrrlMN
Yeah, throw me in the camp of not watching. Her face contorted with rage, hatred, and fear tells me all I need to know.
@Stooleo: This may be wrong of me, but I snorted out loud at your comment.
vacuumslayer
@gypsy howell: Yup.
scav
Its getting crowded here under the desk. The thought of meeting that in a dark alley…..
vacuumslayer
@Stooleo: They seem to be the dumbest and most gullible. Off with their pruney heads.
gypsy howell
Why can’t we start some lie, like “Republicans want to dismantle Medicare!!11!1!!” and get these geezers screeching in the direction of the GOP?
Wait… that’s almost not a lie.
Maybe we could rerun those old Ronald Reagan ads ranting against Medicare. Then their poor little heads would explode. Problem solved.
DonkeyKong
How much you want to bet the camera man got a hot blast breath of boiled cabbage and wild turkey from that woman.
JK
Mark Halperin just tweeted that this is good news for John McCain.
Watch out Doug, by criticizing these wingnuts you’ll surely incur the wrath of Bob Somerby, the Daily Howler.
Zifnab
@YellowJournalism: Wait, did you say “Universal Health Care” or “Bomb Iran”? Ok, let me get my wallet.
Emma
I am SO not clicking on that!
Bob In Pacifica
The worst part is that talking with them is useless. My sister was conservative but reasonably intelligent forty years ago. Forty years of Florida made her crazy.
CapMidnight
@Stooleo:
I’d settle for caging them in a “no euthanasia zone.” In Asia.
Crikey, I almost had a heart attack until I saw the “Buffalo, NY” on the video. This woman is the image of my step-mom. Last visit, I actually looked under their bed for the husks of alien seed pods.
Michael
You’d think she’d be a lot happier.
Scriven
Go ahead and watch — don’t let her face scare you off. It is used with perfect cinematic appropriateness. And, I think the teabaggers now have the perfect theme song — it’s snappy, easy to move to, and, best of all, contains no troublesome words and/or ideas to get in the way of the fun!
gypsy howell
@Stooleo:
They seem unaware that their “Medicare for me but not for thee” position makes the notion of death panels more appealing to the rest of us.
JK
Doug,
Bob Somerby just emailed me. He suggests replacing the word “teabaggers” with the phrase “my distinguished fellow citizens with whom I disagree on certain matters of public policy”
Dork
Yakkity Sax has never been more apropos.
DougJ
@Brachiator
Awesome.
SGEW
Again, making fun of people with serious mental disabilities is in bad taste. Why can’t we get comprehensive health coverage in this country so that these poor people can get the critical medication they so obviously need?
Oh, wait . . .
vacuumslayer
@Michael: LOL!
Max
My mother’s family lives in Buffalo and the surronding area. I haven’t lived there since I was 10 years old. Recently, my mother was visiting her sister, who lives in Hamburg, and told me a story about a discussion they had about health care. My aunt is under the impression that everyone in this country has health care and cannot understand why health reform is needed. My mother was scared at how out of touch with reality her sister had become.
I think the high percentage of NYS pensions and union benefits have clouded a large population of the Western NY’ers.
Or maybe it’s the 500 feet of snow each winter…
P.S. go Bills!
DougJ
Bob Somerby just emailed me. He suggests replacing the word “teabaggers” with the phrase “my distinguished fellow citizens with whom I disagree on certain matters of public policy”
Normally, I would assume that you are kidding. But given the direction he has taken, I can’t be completely sure.
lotus
Actually, this is the funniest Teabagger vid I’ve seen, and Dork’s right, all thanks to Yakkity Sax. Ver’ good producer on this thang.
Zach
Um, Glen Beck already said we’re building concentration camps for god fearing americans – http://boingboing.net/2009/03/17/foxs-glenn-beck-says.html
Google “FEMA concentration camps”
DonkeyKong
Does anybody know if methamphetamine is making inroads into the senior community?
SrirachaHotSauce
Meh. Just another HotSauce family reunion.
MobiusKlein
“I love my HSA” tea shirt?
Man, HSAs really suck unless you’re in a high income tax bracket. Do they even know that?
jenniebee
Can you practice eugenics on the post-menopausal?
CapMidnight
We could get support for “death panels” from the esteemed fellow Americans with whom we disagree if we tell em they’re only for Iraqis, liberals, an those smelly old folks livin up their street.
ironranger
Holy crap! The video appeared with that creature on the screen (Is Linda Blair senior citizen age yet?) & I almost fell over backwards. I’d wear a garlic necklace to one of those townhalls.
Ethan's Mom
There’s a photo of a white girl screaming at Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, as she walks to school. The girl’s face is completely distorted and filled with hate. I’ve always wondered if she ever looks back at the image and fills shame or embarassment. When I see what’s happening at these townhalls, I wonder if those people will ever regret what they’ve said and done.
Ethan's Mom
There’s a photo of a white girl screaming at Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, as she walks to school. The girl’s face is completely distorted and filled with hate. I’ve always wondered if she ever looks back at the image and feels shame or embarassment. When I see what’s happening at these townhalls now, I wonder if those people will ever regret what they’ve said and done.
lotus
Does anybody know if methamphetamine is making inroads into the senior community?
Heck, it’s even spread to the US Senate: Chuckie and Arlen havin’ them a Tweet War.
Mike S
@DonkeyKong:
I think she’s on Thorazine. If not she should be.
Demo Woman
@SGEW: They can’t! This is from The Plank
The Pray In Jesus Name Project.” It suggests that ObamaCare will not only pull the plug on grandma, but also result in a gay and transgendered takeover of the entire health care system. Among the bogus claims in the group’s petition:
Your tax-dollars will pay for preferential hiring of homosexual hospital administrators, who distribute $50,000 grants to gender-confused activists for unneeded elective surgery to mutilate their own genitals, (and force Christian doctors to perform it.)
The section of the Senate bill that’s cited–requiring the “participation in the institutions’ programs of individuals and groups from …different genders and sexual orientations”–actually refers to government grants awarded to students doing research in mental and behavioral health.
Once we have the new fancy design I will once again embed my links.
gopher2b
I’m willing to bet these collectively pay about $11,000 in federal income taxes.
JK
@DougJ:
At this point, I can practically read Bob Somerby’s mind like a book.
You, John, Tim, and Anne Laurie have been doing a fantastic job day in and day out on the healthcare story and the other lies and distortions of the wingnuts. Unfortunately, it appears that the Republicans have a much stronger ground game. Their noise machine seems to winning many more hearts and minds. Some of the blame has to be laid at the feet of Obama. He seems to be in a fog. He needs to get his ass in gear and start fighting back forcefully against the torrent of bullshit emanating from Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Malkin, Palin and all of the other lying assholes in the Republican Party.
Lola
The media is sheltering these people from the true craziness of these people. That’s why I hope Obama gets to encounter one of them face to face that way the craziness will be revealed on NBC, CBS, PBS, and ABC. I think most people forget a lot of Americans do not have cable. This crap needs to be on the network stations.
Demo Woman
@Demo Woman: The article about the gays taking over our medical system was linked to by a commenter this morning, so I must credit that person for starting my day off in a foul mood.
Morbo
Eugenics they say… well, I for one, welcome Khan Noonien Singh and our new genetic superman masters.
leo
So if the government plan includes paying for your vasectomy does that mean it will force you to have one?
I’m just trying to figure out how many operations I’m going to have to go though with this Soviet-style government-run health care.
lotus
Ezra quotes someone describing her family’s health-insurance dilemma:
Now guess who’s talking. Go ahead, guess before you click over.
A Mom Anon
I have a serious question:
Do we have more assholes per capita in America than there are in other countries? For a country that has so much luxury and convienience, there sure as hell seem to be one hell of alot of unhappy,mean,spiteful,spoiled and nasty human beings walking around among us.
If the people screaming at these town hall meetings want to go it alone and have shitty healthcare,that’s fine,but who the fuck are they to tell all of us we can’t have something better?
My husband was in the hospital from the morning of 8/2 until the afternoon of 8/4. The cost: 47,000 dollars and some change. That’s for everything,from the ER to the discharge. Plus another 250 bucks on the way home for NINE prescriptions. We have insurance,with a 6K family deductable. If the insurance refuses to cover anything beyond that 6K,we’re on the hook for that too. As it is,it will take us about 2 yrs to pay the 6K off because we’re still paying for my medical/dental issues this year(around 7K). I’m scared to death. No one should have to have that large a sword hanging over their head,ever. The cost of the care is what’s destroying families here,even more than the diseases and injuries being treated. That’s just fundamentally wrong.
What pisses me off,is all these “regular folks”at these protests are one accident or illness away from having their whole world turned upside down and they are completely ignoring that.
I’m so tired of this.
FlipYrWhig
In 10 years there will be many fewer of these idiots, and in 20 almost none. And then finally we might be able to have sane politics. Age is the cheapest, most effective Death Panel of all.
Michael #2
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Part of my history dissertation was about eugenics. There were a lot of things wrong with it, of course, but there were really two variants – a “positive eugenics” and a “negative” eugenics. Negative eugenics is what the Nazis ultimately implemented, and in the US encompassed forced sterilizations (e.g. Carrie Buck). That was about trying to prevent the “undesirables” from being born.
But “positive” eugenics was actually an attempt to change environmental conditions (it was sometimes called “euthenics”) and surroundings, advocate dietary improvement and better nutrition, letting kids play in newly constructed playgrounds, and so on. It was concerned with improving the quality of life of those already alive. It was actually – I describe it this way reluctantly – a good thing.
My guess is that the people protesting and screeching about “eugenics, ahhh! *blargh*!!!” have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about, in either sense.
Crashman06
Obama’s about to go on stage in Montana in a few moments. Hope he brought his A game today.
leo
@lotus: ‘Cobra’ — the fake reform measure of the 1990’s.
We don’t want a repeat of that.
Morbo
@JK: No way, it’s much more important that Rachel Maddow brags about being a Rhoads Scholar.
Also, dammit, the actual quote ends with “overlords.” The lack of post editing is just like the suppression of the Tiananmen Square demonstrators. /Hoekstroika
tim connor
@Stooleo: I concur. And I AM an older person.
Furthermore, I advocate the outlawing of the GOP and the Christianist party.
tim connor
@Stooleo: I concur. And I AM an older person.
Furthermore, I advocate the outlawing of the GOP and the Christianist party.
ironranger
@A Mom Anon:
That should be a letter to editor of local papers.
AkaDad
I’m willing to try. Call me.
Joe Lisboa
Freeze frame caption contest: GO!
“I can haz white power?”
Citizen_X
For those who refuse to watch this: you’re missing one of the best uses of the Benny Hill theme since, well, Benny Hill.
Okay, and maybe V.
And aren’t these people within freaking walking distance of a country with sociamalized health care??? Haven’t they noticed that Canadians aren’t exactly floating across the Niagara on inner tubes every night to escape to The Greatest Healthcare System in the World?
Joe Lisboa
Take 2: “I want my KKKountry back!”
Demo Woman
@ironranger: Seconded, don’t you live in the Atlanta area, try the AJC. The Roswell Neighbor, probably not.
Napoleon
@Ethan’s Mom:
I had read that at some point she apologized to Eckford. The white girl’s name is Hazel Bryan.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
{{*** stands up ***}}
Hi, my name is Monty, and I’m addicted to wingut ragegasm videos. I admit that I’m powerless over my addiction.
Woody
“My guess is that the people protesting and screeching about “eugenics, ahhh! blargh” have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about, in either sense.”
I’d guess they think it has something to do with the ‘horrific’ prospect of mocha-colored grandchildren…
DonkeyKong
The whole depressing mess can be sumed up by this movements patron saint.
“You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor.”- George Wallace
Limbaugh
Beck
O’Reilly
The Republican Party
All operate from that pavlovian truth.
geg6
I’m in a crowded bar in Pittsburgh watching Obama’s town hall and everyone is watching respectfully and cheering in the right places. This is a good place to be.
Demo Woman
@lotus: What a great story. I hope that Doug or John front page this.
The Grand Panjandrum AKA Americans for America
There was a time when older folks weren’t against youth in Asia. As a matter of fact it was them that sent us to die.
RSA
@Ethan’s Mom:
Vanity Fair had a nice article on the long-term aftermath a few years ago.
Mark S.
@A Mom Anon:
Probably. We certainly have a much more vicious right wing than most countries. Its a movement based almost entirely on resentment, which it has to be, because their policies are really only good for the top 5%. So everything has to be about how liberals, blacks, gays, illegal immigrants, etc. are screwing You, the Real American.
My sincerest condolences to you and your husband. I hope everything works out.
You Don't Say
@asiangrrlMN: You took the words out of my keyboard. ;-)
And to A Mom Anon: I am with you.
schrodinger's cat
Caption for the freeze frame:
I iz in Ur townhalls, ramping up the crazy
Woody
A Mom Anonymous, you are absolutely correct. Probably 75-80% of the population is only one hospital visit away from abject poverty.
No nation is worth a runny shit which holds the health of its citizens hostage to the wealth of its elites.
The Grand Panjandrum
Greg Sargent has a rundown on all the Republicans who were for “euthanasia” before they were against it.
You can run, but you can’t hide–bitches.
Demo Woman
Did Fox news break away for the town hall yet? So far so good!
Crashman06
That NRA guy’s moustache was out of this world. I couldn’t pay attention to his question because it mesmerized me so much.
PurpleGirl
I’m on the phone talking with a neighbor and we are talking about health care. (When I started this comment an hour ago, been having problems submitting it it.) She’s of an age to be on Medicare (actually she’s 80) and oh, boy, is it some phone call. (Off the phone now…) She’s telling me that Obama wants socialized care. And he hasn’t even read the bill!!! We (white people) won’t get medical care from the government, only illegals will, all of it, all of it she’s buying. She listens to three talk stations and they all say the same things. But she doesn’t like insurance companies, however. She wants it back the way it was in the 1950s when you paid the doctor directly and it was cheaper. I tried countering her arguments. You wait in Canada and in England for anything — the talk shows have call ins from those countries and the callers attest to that. (It just occurred to me, if Canada and England are so bad, why aren’t those people moving here?) I talked about 3 friends I have in Canada and two in England, didn’t manage to get in the 3 in Australia; couldn’t convince her that my Canadian friends all had serious medical work (2 with breast cancer) and they did not have to wait. She invited me to go to a town hall with her next week. She’s going to be a loud-mouth , I know it. Also, she’s been paying taxes for years and she doesn’t want illegals to get HER money!!! (Thanks for letting me rant, folks)
DonkeyKong
Caption Contest Entry: Juden!…..Vich vey back to za olde volks home.
asiangrrlMN
@A Mom Anon: Yes. I think we have the largest number of assholes by far. I am sorry to hear about your situation. You shouldn’t have to deal with that on top of worrying about your husband’s health.
Rationing? We got it already. Feh.
@You Don’t Say: Which part? The I don’t need to watch ugly part or the laugh out loud part?
I am so fucking tired of all this.
jurassicpork
Some other notable quotable people from the last week. Quite an incredible collection. Some are inspiring, some are funny, some are pathetic and some will just make your head explode.
I’ll leave it up to you to guess which ones will make your heads explode.
BDeevDad
Best comment yet by a politician, Rep. Rick Larsen:
Just Some Fuckhead
@SrirachaHotSauce:
No, those are definitely the Fuckheads.
HRA
“I think the high percentage of NYS pensions and union benefits have clouded a large population of the Western NY’ers.
Or maybe it’s the 500 feet of snow each winter…
P.S. go Bills!”
Oh oh – you just wait a minute here, Max. The same could be said for a whole bunch of other locales throughout the US. The difference is we Buffalonians are a hell of a lot more congenial and friendly to our visitors. Being that I do adhere to the Buffalonian principle of good neighbors, I won’t mention those other locales.
I did not watch this video. Being at work does not give me that advantage.
BTW we have not seen much snow here in these last years measured by decades, too. Syracuse is the capital of snowfalls.
PS Even if we live in the outlying suburban areas like Hamburg, we all somehow proudly call ourselves Buffalonians.
Brazil is Big
I wish empathy for your fellow man, and woman, would come back in style.
JK
Lying sack of shit Sarah Palin can’t stop writing in Facebook.
Palin’s latest bullshit entry in Facebook with 8 footnotes
http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin?v=app_2347471856&viewas=2407537&ref=search
freelancer
@Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon):
Hi, Monty. The first step is admitting that you’re powerless. Good for you.
BDeevDad
@A Mom Anon: I hear what you’re saying. The difference between a $7k or more bill and the actual $500 bill for my daughter’s NICU stays was checking the HMO option instead of the PPO option on my company’s health insurance coverage. It was also the difference in hitting her lifetime max and not having a max.
I didn’t know the difference then, I do now while most folks are truly ignorant of their coverage or lack of coverage.
Jay in Oregon
The problem is, the damage is done. This list should have been making the rounds on day three of this nonsense, along with Sarah Palin’s executive order proclaiming a day of getting seniors in Alaska to consider end-of-life issues and health care awareness.
The Democrats should have a staff of people whose job it is to find out who the likely players are to oppose these kinds of proposals and find out everything they can about their stance on the issue, past and present. They could call it, I dunno, “opposition research” or something.
That way, when Sarah Palin says that the Democrats’ proposal to compensate doctors for doing the kind of end-of-life counseling that many of them are already doing for free is setting up a “death panel”, Obama or Reid or Pelosi or whoever can say “in looking at bipartisan solutions, we adopted a proposal that you yourself put forward as Governor” and shut that bitch up.
Demo Woman
Did anyone watch the town hall in Montana? I think that all health care town hall meetings should be run by President Obama. He knows his material, although still has a few gaffes, and he can handle a crowd. Once again the news media will ignore his meeting since it was not contentious.
Colette
Jesus H. Christ. I watched that with the sound off, and that was as close as I wanted to get. My mad lipreading skillz showed that every single one of them was saying “I am an ignorant, hate-filled, hypocritical asshole. Also.”
But why did that one guy have a picture of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on his sign?
asiangrrlMN
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Well, I can guarantee you just by looking at the screengrab that it’s not the asiangrrlMN family!
Violet
@gypsy howell:
Yes, please! I don’t know the first thing about making videos, but there has to be someone out there who can make one. If it went viral, then maybe someone with some clout would get the idea to make one that would show on TV so old people would see it.
Why isn’t anyone doing this? And this lie is hardly a lie anyway.
ironranger
@A Mom Anon:
Your second paragraph is just what we’ve been seeing & hearing at these townhalls. I get very discouraged by the mean spiritedness in this country. I’m just flabbergasted when once in awhile I hear it from people who should know better.
Jim Pharo
Aren’t they supposed to be in “Free Speech Zones”?
…
Oh wait, that’s only for Dems/Progressives.
Max
@HRA: I’m not hating on Buffalo, I’m just saying “some” of your neighbors are not living in reality. Trust me, watch the video, congenial does not come to mind. But you are correct, you do not have the market cornered on wing nuts.
The Populist
Be afraid of Youth In Asia. They are coming to get the old people!
Joe Lisboa
That Montana town hall was another tour de force. Can we clone this brother and get him in every state of the Union to pull this off? Oh wait, cloning = eugenics = democrat party = soci_al_ism = nazism = black president. Carry on.
Leelee for Obama
@A Mom Anon: I’ll keep a good thought for you guys, May the FSM make the Insurance Nazis do the right thing.
As to the asshole level, a friend of mine used to say, incorrectly, but so what,”this was a penal colony and we’re all out now.” He obviously mixed us up with Australia, but it’s kind of apt. Some of the indentured servants (white slaves) were indeed criminals who were transported to escape hanging, so, there you are.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
New post to push this one down, please? Seeing that screeching hobgoblin every time I load the page is like getting Tasered in the junk.
ironranger
The Remote Access Clinic in Calif was just featured on msnbc. Have any other news media covered this yet or are they too busy trying to find some wild action packed townhall meetings to film?
Legalize
As a former Buffalonian, that will leave a mark. Yikes.
demimondian
@Leelee for Obama: It depends. If you live in Georgia (the state, not the country), then it was, in fact, an open air debtors’ prison.
Demo Woman
@Joe Lisboa: That’s what I think except he should not come to GA. We are filled with so many crazies, it would not be fair to the Secret Service.
linda
that woman must be one horror to live with; notice how automatically her face contorts to such screaming rage; hell, her entire body.
ugh. gawd, i find these videos so damned depressing in how stupid and damned proud of it, these assholes are.
gypsy howell
I knew that face reminded me of something:
http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/uk-dvd/flash-player/american-werewolf-slate._SX320_CR0,0,0,0_PIen-gb-vendor-play-shuttle-off,BottomLeft,0,43_.jpg
(Apologies in advance if tagging is screwed up.)
demimondian
@gypsy howell: WIN!
parksideq
If Peak Wingnut were a screen cap, it would be that woman’s face.
Notorious P.A.T.
Idiots idiots idiots. “Do I have to sign a release?” Shit, she probably can’t spell her name.
MikeJ
Why is it that nobody has ever pointed out that angry != right. Hell, angry !=sane.
But of course it’s all Obama’s fault that crazy people exist. He didn’t sufficiently explain that he wasn’t going to kidnap white women for satanic rituals, so of course they believe it.
SFAW
There was a time when older folks weren’t against youth in Asia. As a matter of fact it was them that sent us to die.
Yeah. And the “funny” thing is, these psychos are from that generation, i.e. that got sent to ‘Nam.
It would be nice if these fuckheads (not to be confused with the esteemed Just Some Fuckhead, of course) would remember the more positive sentiments of that time. Instead, we get 80 million Nixons, except without his intellect – just his hate, anger, paranoia.
IndieTarheel
@Sentient Puddle:
What SP said. Truly a mug only an astroturfing POS like DICK Armey could love.
Shygetz
Video splash frame caption: “No, madam, the new health care plan does not cover dental.”
wasabi gasp
I’m guessing John may have titled this post Careful with that axe, Eugene.
Notorious P.A.T.
“If you had asked me 10 years ago what percent of Americans were completely nuts, I would have thrown out some paltry number like 8%.”
In case no one else has posted this in response:
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2005/10/lunch-discussions-145-crazification.html
Violet
@ironranger:
NBC Nightly News covered it last night. That’s pretty mainstream coverage. The clip is on their website.
freelancer
@parksideq:
WIN
EthylEster
I read the Krauthammer WaPo piece today and the first comment was a long diatribe about Obama’s “misleading statements” about the cost of foot amputation at a recent townhall in NH.
I am having a problem figuring out the facts of this matter and was wondering if anyone has followed this story (which I had not heard of before today). I read the Obama quotes and don’t see where he claims that medicare re-imburses $30K for this procedure but it also seems far fetched that the true (medicare) number is $500.
I could imagine a private insurance bill totaling $30K for lopping off a foot. But that being the surgeon’s fee seems a bit high. So I’m wondering WTF is going on with the prez making what appear to be untrue stmts.
A colleague of mine recently had an in-clinic arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder and the cost of the < 3 hour procedure totaled about $20K. Which is ridiculous.
Interestingly the initial bill contained 3 $5K items because 3 different things were addressed while inside the shoulder. I guess it’s not like when you get your car repaired and they charge you less for the water pump replacement because they do it while they are in there doing the timing chain. ;=)
Rosali
@geg6:
I’m in a crowded bar in Pittsburgh watching Obama’s town hall and everyone is watching respectfully and cheering in the right places. This is a good place to be.
Lemme guess- the people have orange lanyards. Amirite?
ironranger
@Violet:
Well, that’s a small something but it should be a lot more widespread. Damn media.
Notorious P.A.T.
“Do we have more assholes per capita in America than there are in other countries?”
Yes.
Notorious P.A.T.
“I read the Krauthammer WaPo piece today and the first comment was a long diatribe about Obama’s “misleading statements” about the cost of foot amputation at a recent townhall in NH.”
That man is such an imbecile. Does he really think more preventive measures won’t reduce health care costs?
“In Obamaworld, as explained by the president in his Tuesday town hall, if we pour money into primary care for diabetics instead of giving surgeons “$30,000, $40,000, $50,000″ for a later amputation — a whopper that misrepresents the surgeon’s fee by a factor of at least 30”
Does he really think a surgeon charges $1,000 to amputate a foot?!?
Colette
@Notorious P.A.T.:
Don’t know about you, but my asshole is not located on my head. Those folks in the video, on the other hand … well, just consider what’s coming out of their mouths.
WereBear
@A Mom Anon: I’m glad your SO’s home and doing better (I assume.)
But that’s a frightening bill to think about when you’re also nursing someone back to health.
EEH
Dear lord, she looks like a demented Mr. Ed.
joe from Lowell
On top of everything else, “Eugenics kill old people” doesn’t even make any sense.
What, are eugenicists trying to eliminate “old” genes?
You might want to be sitting down for this: I don’t think the old, white wingnut lady knows what she’s talking about. I think she read something on the internet that she didn’t understand very well, and tried to repeat it.
WereBear
@A Mom Anon: I’m glad your SO’s home and doing better (I assume.)
But that’s a frightening bill to think about when you’re also nursing someone back to health.
Regarding the video, she looks like the kind of Grandma who sends you out to play in the traffic.
freelancer
@Notorious P.A.T.:
A scienceblogger and surgical oncologist from Michigan actually, also, called Obama out on this misstatement.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/08/an_amputation_costs_30000_to_50000_on_wh.php
To be fair, he also has been ripping into Anti-reform protestors/astroturfers quite thoroughly…
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/08/burning_stupid_and_hypocrisy.php
EthylEster
@Notorious P.A.T.: Evidently medicare reimburses only about $500 if one can believe google.
I asked a question.
You don’t seem to know the answer.
Don’t quote me in your comment if you aren’t going to respond to me.
Remember back when every assertion at B-J got the “Link, please” request? I miss those days. Now people just bloviate.
MikeJ
It may seem that way, but believe me, there are plenty of assholes elsewhere. Check out the BNP. Hell, in Italy you have to know which football team is supported by the fascists. Not fascist as an epithet, but real live honest to god self-proclaimed fascists.
Assholes are pretty even distributed around the world. They simply have a knack for getting noticed in the US.
bob h
This is why I am somewhat reluctant to go to Town Halls; I wouldn’t touch these people with a forty-foot pole. Republicans combine physical and spiritual ugliness to an incredible degree.
We’re on the verge of mobocracy, or maybe, looking at the above, yobocracy.
Terri
Do we have more assholes per capita in America than in any other country.
Yes. And the asshole factory is in Central Florida
EthylEster
@freelancer: Thanks for the link! I understand better now (see comment #121). My goggling did not show any scienceblogs links on the first page.
I guess the prez just dropped the ball on this one. I know he can’t be perfect but mistakes like these are not helping the situation. Sort of like when he said the Cambridge police had acted stupidly. Given his previous very careful statements on race, how he could have NOT realized that was bound to cause a shit-storm?
EEH
@freelancer: Good link. The blogger points out what was my initial impression when I read EthylEster’s comment, that Obama is confusing the total cost of the surgery (hospitalization, etc.) with the surgeon’s fees. He needs to be more careful with what he says if this is indeed the case.
Notorious P.A.T.
Whooooooooa! Sorry!
“On top of everything else, “Eugenics kill old people” doesn’t even make any sense. What, are eugenicists trying to eliminate “old” genes?”
You got that right. Once a person is too old to reproduce, a eugenicist has no interest in them.
I’m assuming I can quote you! ! ! May I, please???
Notorious P.A.T.
“22,000 Americans Will Continue to Be Killed by Lack of Health Care Each Year”
“In fact, 22,000 is a conservative figure — one of the authors of that report thinks the real figure in 2006 alone was 27,000 Americans killed from our health care system, perhaps as high as 40,000. ”
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/141941/if_right-wingers_got_their_way%2C_22%2C000_americans_will_continue_to_be_killed_by_lack_of_health_care_each_year/
But you know what? let’s take time out of our day to whine and piss and moan because the president confused a total hospital charge with a fucking surgeon’s fees. We have to have priorities, after all.
freelancer
OT-
I guess “WOLVERINES!! is so 200-late…
http://wonkette.com/410493/like-mel-gibson-playing-the-character-william-wallace-did
Can someone do a trailer mashup of Logan’s Run, Red Dawn, Braveheart, Network, and any other winger-claimed movies?
FlipYrWhig
We (white people) won’t get medical care from the government, only illegals will
I’m telling you, this is Worry Number One among these freakazoids. They’d rather have a fucked-up health care system that jeopardizes their own personal well-being than have a decent health care system that serves them _BUT ALSO_ serves people of color. It’s sadistic, spiteful, and loathsome. Death panels are too good for these people.
Notorious P.A.T.
“in Italy you have to know which football team is supported by the fascists. Not fascist as an epithet, but real live honest to god self-proclaimed fascists.”
There are plenty of fascists in America, too. Only here they are clever enough to not call themselves “fascists”.
People may quote me if they want.
Notorious P.A.T.
“They’d rather have a fucked-up health care system that jeopardizes their own personal well-being than have a decent health care system that serves them BUT ALSO serves people of color. ”
That is EXACTLY what happened to Truman. He wanted national health care, too, but the crackers would rather die than share a desegregated hospital.
People may quote me if they want.
Notorious P.A.T.
“Sort of like when he said the Cambridge police had acted stupidly.”
Yes, going into someone’s home, angering them until they shout at you, then ordering them outside and arresting them for disorderly conduct is a very smart thing to do.
People may quote me if they want.
CapMidnight
Caption:
“You’ll get my healthcare contribution to society when you pry it from my old, dead fingers!”
EthylEster
@Notorious P.A.T.: I think you are confusing Joe from Lowell with me. If you’re gonna snark, why not direct it at the correct target? You could use that little curved gray arrow just inside the comment right margin.
EthylEster
@Notorious P.A.T.: Your idiocy is showing. You are twisting what I wrote. Why are you doing a great imitation of a right-wing asshole? WTF? Thin-skinned much?
PurpleGirl
FlipYrWhig & Notorious Pat: Yeah, this lady was in prime bigot mode this afternoon. She can’t get over that the President is black and she’s convinced that illegals get her money. She was going on that there are non-citizens living in the non-profit co-op where we live. I talk to her because there are times when she can be interesting, but once we started on politics she went full crazy. I didn’t bring it up because of some other comments she made about the President but she’s probably a birther too. I’d like to go to Congressman Crowley’s town hall meeting but I’m concerned she’ll be full crazy there and I don’t want to be associated with her.
You Don't Say
@asiangrrlMN: All of it. Not watching the video, and laughing, despite my better nature, at killing old people. And most of all: I am sick and tired of it all. But maybe that’s a good thing because I feel the need to do something productive about it all.
steve s
Be kinda fun to pay some indigent people $5/hr to hang around them with MEDICARE == SOCIALISM signs.
FlipYrWhig
she’s convinced that illegals get her money.
@ PurpleGirl: I used to think that internet libertarians had a particular mental complex. They were always very concerned that Their Tax Money was subsidizing all manner of bottom-feeders and layabouts. They were always sure that someone was taking what was theirs. But they never for a moment entertained the possibility that _they_ were benefiting from the pooled resources contributed by _many other people_. But it turns out it’s not just libertarian wankers who think they only give, never take, never share. It’s all kinds of wankers. A whole political party’s worth of wankers.
IIRC support for social welfare provisions is much stronger and deeper in nations that are more ethnically homogeneous. It collapses when the population is more diverse.
Remember how some political observers were surprised that the opposition to the Sotomayor nomination got so much quieter at the end? I honestly think it got folded into this health care “debate.” There’s a strong undercurrent that draws upon Sotomayor (and Skip Gates) to say, “Obama’s Real Plan is giving preferential treatment to ‘Mexicans’ and blacks.” (Obviously Sotomayor isn’t Mexican, but _tons_ of older white people never really comprehend that there’s a difference.)
FlipYrWhig
laughing, despite my better nature, at killing old people
Remember how when George H.W. Bush said that Dukakis was a “card-carrying member of the ACLU,” and then people called the ACLU because they too wanted to have a card? Maybe all the talk of “death panels” is going to prompt a sweeping pro-death-panel movement.
freelancer
Bill Hicks is all too relevant this week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYydV4fTWgg
Chuck Norris and the Death Panels.
and praying for Nuclear Holocaust…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krACHJmWSe0
Brick Oven Bill
Barack was right that it makes no sense to give a hip replacement to a terminally-ill patient. Emmanuel is right that resources should be assigned to productive members of society. Eugenics are coming, like it or not. This will hit when the dollar collapses, or when nobody will buy our debt. World-class care for non-productive members of society is an extravagance that only wealthy societies can afford.
The Democrats are opening up a can of worms by assigning different people different values. I predict that this will end with some sort of caste system. With modern medical procedures, low-caste members can be made to breed high-caste replacement members of society.
Half of us will probably end up looking like Brian Urlacher, and the other half serving the Urlachers as slaves. The slave class will be physically weak and mentally dim, as to not be a threat to the Urlachers.
The London School of Economics did a piece on this a while back. This is also out of 1984, but 1984 did not have modern reproductive medicine. They had goodsex. Modern reproductive medicine will make things much faster.
DonkeyKong
Wait…that’s it! The woman in the freeze frame reminds me of those demented illustations in Pink Floyds the Wall.
Waiting for the worms indeed!
DonkeyKong
Are there any queers in the theatre tonight?
Get ’em up against the wall. — against the wall!
And that one in the spotlight, he don’t look right to me.
Get him up against the wall. — against the wall!
And that one looks Jewish, and that one’s a coon.
Who let all this riffraff into the room?
There’s one smoking a joint, and another with spots!
If I had my way I’d have all of ya shot.
Zuzu's Petals
@jenniebee:
Hey !
DonkeyKong
Can someone do a trailer mashup of Logan’s Run, Red Dawn, Braveheart, Network, and any other winger-claimed movies?-freelancer
How bout all the crazy teabagger rants edited together ending with the guy in Scanners head exploding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52pXvOFy1A4
Brick Oven Bill
The future is not to be feared. Hang-ups will be bred out of the Urlachers and life should be fun for them. The slaves will be too stupid to know that life sucks for them or to understand the meaning of cannon-fodder. Thus, slaves too, should be relatively happy.
Smile.
Zuzu's Petals
@lotus:
Amazing, ain’t it? Malkin loves her some taxpayer-subsidized health care!
And yes, tax deductions like those allowable for the HSA plan Malkin chose, do amount to taxpayer subsidies.
SFAW
World-class care for non-productive members of society is an extravagance that only wealthy societies can afford.
In that case, your best bet is either to develop something PDQ, or pray that you never get sick.
You and all them Go-Galtians, that is.
SFAW
And yes, tax deductions like those allowable for the HSA plan Malkin chose, do amount to taxpayer subsidies.
No, NO, NO!!!
When will you Lieberals learn: IOKIYAFHDRS!!
And, it’s only a taxpayer subsidy if a poor person or brown person gets it. Or homo. Or immigrant (legal or not). Or gypsy. Or someone else not like Real Americans.
Leelee for Obama
@Terri: This is, sadly, probably true. My Congressman, through no fault of mine, is Bill Posey.
zoe kentucky
Why are all the people on medicare and social security screaming the loudest about the EVILS of socialism and socialized medicine???!???!???
Just.Don’t.Get.It.
Oh, wait, because they don’t have a FUCKING CLUE about what they’re talking about. THe GOP is merely pushing the good ol’ commie/pinko button and they’re having a 50s-era pavlovian response. It’s a wonder they’re not all hiding under their desks.
Thank you, Cold War.
asiangrrlMN
@EthylEster: The Cambridge police did act stupidly in the Gates’ case. That is what the president said. It is true. The media cut off the last part of the statement and ran with it. Did I stutter? The Cambridge police acted stupidly in the Gates’ case. After they established that Gates lived there, they should not have arrested him. It is not against the law to curse at the police. The president spoke the truth.
@Notorious P.A.T.:
.
Stop it. You’re killing me here. You are too damn funny.
Obama Death Panel Chairman (formerly glocksman)
Comment:
Not all ‘liberals’ are gun fearing wussies.
In fact, more than a few of us are both quite proficient in the use of handguns and are licensed to carry a concealed handgun.
In other words, while I wouldn’t dream of using a gun against someone who is verbally combative, if you physically attack me and pose a credible threat to my health and safety I don’t have to just sit and take it.
So go ahead teabaggers and try to ‘mob up’ on me.
You won’t like it when I draw the .45 and either hold you for the police (if you comply with the demand to cease assaulting me or run away) or shoot you (when you continue to assault me despite the demand that you cease the unlawful attack).
My personal preference would be for them to run like the scared little girls they are at heart, but if one of the morons wants to prove that I’m ‘too chicken’ to actually pull the trigger, well…let’s just say I’ve had a lot of practice ventilating the X ring over the years.
Obama Death Panel Chairman (formerly glocksman)
All snark aside, I made the decision 20 years ago that I was mentally capable of shooting an attacker and dealing with the legal and mental (often more devastating, as only a sociopath could shoot someone and have no regrets at having been forced to do so) consequences of my actions.
As I stated above, my preference would be for my attackers to flee because then I don’t have the mental baggage that comes with killing a fellow human being.
Though as I also stated above, if you force me to use deadly force in self defense, I will.
Advice to any wingnuts in the southern Indiana area:
If you confront me and threaten to use force, you can fully expect to be countered with force.
In other words, you’d better run before the Para .45’s trigger trips and discharges a round. :)
wasabi gasp
Apples, pennies, or razor blades?
EthylEster
@asiangrrlMN: I guess you failed reading comprehension just like NPAT.
I agree that the police acted stupidly. But how could Obama be so smart about his comments on race previously and then give the idiot media an opportunity to turn the whole thing into a circus. He had to walk back his remarks later.
I don’t think one has to be too clever to know that the media are going to go for the cheap shot EVERY TIME. I was surprised that Obama walked into the minefield. In this country it is still forbidden to criticize the police, particularly on racial matters.
IMO it is important to not give the morons red meat to chew on. Mostly he doesn’t.
Gary K
Is that Lee Harvey Oswald at 00:13?