Maddow: C Street — not just for Republicans

When Democrats legislate like Republicans, oh yes, there’s a backstory:

It’s About Time (or “Why the Council of Catholic Bishops Should Be Savagely Violated With A Rusty Coat Hanger Twisted Into The Shape Of A Tax Exemption”)

The idea that a jabbering gaggle of elderly, crotch-sniffing, god-bothering male virgins should have even the slightest influence on womens’ health care policy is obscene in itself;  that they do it on the taxpayers’ dime is an outrage that should infuriate anyone who believes in the separation of church and state.  Rep. Lynn Woolsey gets it:

I expect political hardball on any legislation as important as the health care bill.

I just didn’t expect it from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Who elected them to Congress?

The role the bishops played in the pushing the Stupak amendment, which unfairly restricts access for low-income women to insurance coverage for abortions, was more than mere advocacy.

They seemed to dictate the finer points of the amendment, and managed to bully members of Congress to vote for added restrictions on a perfectly legal surgical procedure.

And this political effort was subsidized by taxpayers, since the Council enjoys tax-exempt status. [...]

The IRS is less restrictive about church involvement in efforts to influence legislation than it is about involvement in campaigns and elections.

Given the political behavior of USCCB in this case, maybe it shouldn’t be.

Now that’s an idea that’s long overdue.

It’s Their Party

…and they’ll cry if they want to.   Or maybe because they have to.

 

Amendment Interrupted

Get ready for World War III… at least according to our Resident Wingnut, anyway.  Why?   Because there’s already discussion about changing the Stupak Amendment:

Obama:  ”This is a health care bill, not an abortion bill.”

President Obama said today that Congress needs to change abortion-related language in thehealth care bill passed by the House of Representatives this weekend. [...]

Saying the bill cannot change the status quo regarding the ban on federally funding abortions, the President said “there are strong feelings on both sides” about an amendment passed on Saturday and added to the legislation, “and what that tells me is that there needs to be some more work before we get to the point where we’re not changing the status quo.”

Did I call it or did I call it?   Not only that, but even the GOP might not even be much help with this one.

But, chickens, hatched, count, etc.   We shall see.

UPDATE: Looking good, looking good…

(h/t DKos)

Aborting Health Care reform (or “Why Bart Stupak Should Be Savagely Violated With A Rusty Coat Hanger”)

Last night after 12 hours of feverish debate, our neighbours to the south finally got the health care reform they’ve been waiting (and in some cases, dying) for.   In spite of overwhelming public support for the public option included in the bill, the vote was a squeaker:

The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a massive health care reform bill late Saturday, legislation that, if enacted, will extend coverage to tens of millions Americans who are currently uninsured.

The bill passed with a 220-215 vote tally and will now head to the Senate for what will no doubt be more heated debate.

But after months of wingnut gibberish and incoherent fury at town hall meetings and teabagging parties, it wasn’t the GOP that almost scuttled the health care bill , it was the Democratic Party’s own wingnuts, the notorious “Blue Dog” caucus.

Led by C-Street fetus fetishist Rep. Bart Stupak, the Blue Dogs refused to support the bill unless Stupak’s creepy and draconian anti-abortion amendment was added.  And dig this:  to make sure the amendment was sufficiently punishing, Stupak ran  it by some Catholic bishops for approval — NO, I’m not kidding. Because all amendments dealing with womens’ reproductive issues should be okay’d by a bunch of old men who’ve never even gotten laid, let alone pregnant.  If the wall between church and state is crumbling, it’s simultaneously finding new life as the wall between women and access to abortion, thanks to Bart Stupak.

There is, however, a bright side to all this.  Like the notorious Rick Santorum before him, Stupak’s anti-abortion fetish has earned him a place in the Urban Dictionary:

 

“Thanks a bunch.”

Via Andrew Sullivan, here’s a blog that catalogues hold-up notes robbers have written to bank tellers, and how their little forays into the most extreme version of  unfettered laissez-faire capitalism worked out for them.

Fundie hypocrisy? Say it ain’t so!

And yet another Christofascist bigot dances up and joins the ever-growing Conga Line of Lies and Mendacity.  Ms. Carrie “No Offense But Gays Are Second Class Citizens” Prejean may be looking  at a hairpin turn in her career trajectory:

Having been stripped of her Miss California glory when she failed to make her contractually-obligated public appearances, Prejean was sued by the pageant when she failed to pay them back $5500 they had loaned her for breast implants. She, in turn, filed a lawsuit against them claiming they had discriminated against her over her religion.

According to TMZ, the lawsuits ended today during a surprising meeting between the lawyers for both parties.

As the pageant lawyers played a DVD for Prejean featuring a naked woman in a porno film, she reportedly said, “That’s disgusting.”

But when the camera moved along that naked body to show her face, the words stopped. Fifteen seconds later, the lawsuit was dropped.

The moral of the story:  before going all pious and self-righteous at the sight of a porno film, it’s a good idea to make sure that person being penetrated in every orifice for all the world to see isn’t YOU.

Here endeth the lesson.

UPDATE: Think we should tell them?

NAAAAHHHHHH!

(h/t JAB)

Why do fetus fetishists hate the free market?

As US health care reform lurches forward like a ‘72 Datsun with rusted piston rings and cancer of the quarter-panels, the final skirmish focuses on, what else, abortion:

On Friday night, as the clocked inched toward midnight, lawmakers in the House Rules Committee hearing room were arguing loudly over various provisions of the big health care legislation. But the real fight was going on in the office of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, who tried mightily – and ultimately failed – to bridge a bitter intra-party disagreement over the issue of health insurance coverage for abortions.  [...]

In the end, Ms. Pelosi decided that abortion opponents would be allowed to offer an amendment to the health care bill that would impose tight restrictions on abortions that could be offered through a new government-run insurance plan and through private insurance that is bought using government subsidies that the legislation would provide to moderate-Americans to help them afford health coverage.

This has been an issue all along with anti-choicers who don’t want “their tax dollars” funding abortion — something the Hyde Amendment already addresses, but that’s not enough.  This week, anti-abortion Democrat Bart Stupak leaped on the opportunity to blackmail his own anxious party by proposing a sleazy pig of an anti-abortion amendment (endorsed by the Catholic Bishops — so much for separation of church and state).  The Stupak amendment not only blocks abortion coverage by the public option, but also in some cases by private insurers.  Why do fetus fetishists hate the Free Market?:

In a last-ditch effort to corral 40 anti-abortion party members whose votes are needed to pass health care reform, Democrats last night agreed to let the whole House vote today on an amendment that would bar insurers participating in the new government-run health care exchange from providing abortions except in the case of rape, incest or to protect the mother’s health. It would also prevent people who receive federal subsidies from buying private insurance that covers abortion.

These restrictions might cause private insurers to opt out of abortion coverage altogether in order to be more competitive — meaning that under health care reform, women will have less reproductive choice than before.   Smart.  Anti-choicers know it’s not necessary to overturn Roe v Wade or even kill more doctors:  restrict access enough and pretty soon we’re marching on a road of bloody coathangers.  Hey, at least they’re consistent.

Except when they’re not!  Following the same absurd standards and “6-degrees-of-separation-from-abortion” logic behind the Stupak amendment, it appears that even Focus on the Family might be funding abortion:

But are those pro-life organizations holding themselves to the same strict standard? As it happens, Focus on the Family provides its employees health insurance through Principal, an insurance company that covers “abortion services.” A Focus spokeswoman confirmed the fact that the organization pays premiums to Principal, but declined to comment on whether that amounts to an indirect funding of abortion.

But that’s different, I guess.

UPDATE: Digby on “Human Sacrifice”

I suspect that the leadership decided that abortion was the least important thing they could throw to the slavering Blue Dogs to take home as a victory over the liberals in this debate. And they had to find a hippie to punch to make the thing acceptable to the villagers, so they decided to punch the desperate pregnant girl. She’s used to it.

Bwahaa!

There’s nothing like knowing you’re right.  Kos you big bully, you made him flounce!

Elie Wiesel trounces teabaggers on twitter

As usual, pig-ignorance was out on full display at the teabaggers rally in DC yesterday.  Of particular note was this sign, which compared the public healthcare option to a Nazi death camp:

The despicable poster didn’t go unnoticed by activist and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who tweeted yesterday:

“The GOP Tea Party” — that’s ouchy.  But let us not forget that yesterday’s rally wasn’t  merely the result of astroturfing by the usual “grassroots” groups like Freedomworks.  This time it was a GOP congresswoman that led the parade of piggery and Republican leaders  welcomed  it, spoke at it and generally went along for the ride, owning it for the first time.

As over-the-top as the “Dachau” sign was, it’s not the first time sleazy Nazi imagery has been employed in the Epic Battle Against Health Care.  Among the overwhelmingly WASPy teabaggers, insulting Jews is getting to be a habit.

(via Wonkette)

Irony on steroids at teabaggers’ rally

Shorter teabaggers:  “Pay no attention to the man on the stretcher who just had a heart attack and whose life was saved by government-run health care!”:

More ominously, a man standing just beyond the TV cameras apparently suffered a heart attack 20 minutes after event began. Medical personnel from the Capitol physician’s office — an entity that could, quite accurately, be labeled government-run health care — rushed over, attaching electrodes to his chest and giving him oxygen and an IV drip.

This turned into an unwanted visual for the speakers, as a D.C. ambulance and firetruck, lights flashing, pulled in just behind the lawmakers. A path was made through the media section, and the patient, attended to by about 10 government medical personnel, was being wheeled away on a stretcher just as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped to the microphone. “Join us in defeating Pelosi care!” he exhorted. A few members stole a glance at the stretcher.

Death Panels!  Obamacare!  Nazi!  Also.

Shorts

Just some funny “shit” happening out there on the Internets tonight…

Who says conservatives are satire-challenged? The Catholic League flogs Bill Donohue’s new book, “Secular Saboutage”, reviewed by famous conservatives like Donald Wildmon, Laura Ingraham, Michael Medved, and… Stephen Colbert.

Still with the Catholic League, Bill Donohue announces the official start of this year’s War On Christmas.  Cultural Fascists, start your religious speech censorship engines.

Doug Hoffman, down but not out: Hoffman, the teabagger candidate in NY-23 whose claim to fame is handing a century-old GOP safe seat to the Democrats, will be giving a speech at a GOP dinner in a few weeks, so his 15 minutes aren’t up.  Who knows, this creepy little geek with the cheap suit, the $5 praise-the-lord haircut and the eyes of a child molester might just be the template on which all future GOP candidates are modeled.   (Fingers crossed.)

Math is hard, Teabagger Barbie: After their anti-health care rally at Capitol Hill today, teabaggers are once again playing fast and loose with crowd estimates.   Maybe the fetus fetishist teabaggers are counting their eggs and sperms?

And last but not least, the worst alibi of the week: “I wasn’t exposing myself, I had Explosive Diarrhea“.  

Bang!  That’s it.  Hasta la vista.

Teabaggers storm the Hill

Worked up into a foaming spittle-flecked lather by Congresswoman Michele Bachman (R-Batshit), busloads of teabaggers (fares compliments of “Freedomworks”) stormed Capitol Hill today for the “High-Noon-Whites-of-their-Eyes” protest against, astonishingly, affordable health care for all Americans:

The next stage of the Capitol Hill Tea Party has begun — the storming of the Hill!

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who heavily promoted this event, has frequently promised that this protest will involve bringing conservative citizens inside the Capitol and the House office buildings to personally confront members of Congress. As she said last week on Sean Hannity’s TV show: “I’d love to have every one of your viewers to join me so we can go up and down through the halls, find members of Congress, look at the whites of their eyes and say, ‘Don’t take away my healthcare.’”

Fortunately, that demand should be easy to meet since the proposed health care bill doesn’t “take away” anyone’s health care, it just ensures that everyone has coverage.  The deal is that those who are satisfied with their current plan are welcome to keep it.

But never mind that:  imagine for a moment what would have happened 4 years ago if Iraq War protesters had pulled something like this.  “Don’t waterboard me, bro!”

And one other point of interest:  how can a state that elects Al Franken also elect a screeching nutcase like Michele Bachmann?  They are both from Minnesota, right?

UPDATE: Predictably, teabaggers behaving badly:

As thousands of activists converged on the lawn of the Capitol for a midday rally against Democrats’ health-care reform legislation, Capitol Police arrested nine protesters Thursday morning in the Hart Senate Office Building.

The protesters were arrested about 10 a.m. on the seventh floor of the Hart Building and were charged with unlawful entry, a Capitol Police spokeswoman said.

“They were inside an office and didn’t leave,” Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said.

I wonder if Bachmann will post their bail?

UPDATE II: Someone from DKos attended the thing and got some pics.  The usual pig-ignorance on parade… “I will not be an indentured servant to Big Government”… unless it’s big Republican government like the last 8 years.   There, fixed.

Breaking! MPs represent their constituents

…instead of toeing the Party Line.   Imagine that:

The House of Commons dealt a major blow to the federal long gun registry last night as 20 Liberal and NDP MPs broke ranks with their leaders to endorse a Conservative bill that would bring the program to an end.

The vote exposed clear splits among Liberals and New Democrats along rural and urban lines, as the 12 NDP and eight Liberal MPs who voted with the Conservatives were primarily from rural ridings.

The long gun registry was wrong from the start: a bloated, hideously-administered monstrosity of a government white elephant, it was little more than a shakedown of responsible gun owners. (And the registry paperwork was no different — I found it so onerous that I tossed it in the woodstove and ignored the whole thing completely until now.)  There are all kinds of arguments for and against the registry, but let us not dwell on those.   What’s interesting  to me is that for once, MPs were willing to break rank and vote according to their constituents’ wishes rather than in partisan lockstep.

And they’re smart to do so.  Just as there are people who vote on the abortion issue and nothing else, out here in the sticks there are an awful lot of people (though I’m not one of them) who vote solely on the gun registry issue — abolishment of the long gun registry is sort of the R v Morgentaler of Canadian gun owners.

And while there’s no guarantee that “going rogue” on Bill C-391 will help the Liberals and NDP in rural areas, it certainly can’t hurt.

Mental health break

Welcome baby sea turtles (x82)!