Reasonably Pissed.

So I made the mistake of going to take a look at RedState (if you're reading this don't, you'll want to go shoot some crackers), and here's what I found.

"Darrell Issa gets clever against SOPA, Internet Sales Tax Looms" First, us liberal HATE SOPA, we're also not a fan of the Internet Sales Tax. Gee, we agree with the loonies, but no we don't. They don't like it because they're talking sales tax. We don't like it because of 1st and 4th Amendment issues. We'll agree on hating it, but so far as why, you're brick stupid.

"Why is Ron Paul Allowed to Continue Participating in Debates?" Are you imbeciles fucking serious? It's because he has 25% support from you assholes. Do us a favor and go shoot yourselves.

Who are the Democratic gun-grabbers in the US Senate? Let's find out!" Having been too damn close to a mass killing, I'd be right there with the gun grabbers. Someone pulls a gun? Let's make it so EVERYONE is packing heat. Well done you morons, you've recreated the movie version of the wild west. which didn't even happen in the actual wild west. Save us the trouble and again, go shoot yourselves.

"The Choice" OOOOhhhh, big government vs small government. See the second paragraph prior where you were inveighing against the only guy actually talking smaller government. You're stealing oxygen, go shoot yourselves.

"The 2012 Elec..." Oh lets get real. You're less than worthless drains on society and we'd be better off if you walked to the middle of I80 and shot yourselves. Yes, you'd cause a traffic jam and slow down transit, but who gives a shit? What you're doing to the country now is even worse. Fine the trucks are stopped for a day, but you're not screwing this up daily for the next 5 years? I can live with that. Honestly? Me and the 300 million people in this country who think you're full of crap would all do so.

The Economy: A Worst Case Scenario

I have a few questions for the GOP and their followers.

When has a tax cut created jobs, and when has a tax increase killed them?

When you force the government into a budget lock, and there are TRILLIONS of dollars held by private citizens, what do you think the markets are going to do when people can't cash that paper?

When the securities industry downgrades the rating of that paper, and the Social Security Administration is forced to sell it because it can't hold it (by law) what will happen? That's more that a trillion dollars hitting the bond market in one shot.


There will not be a deal on the debt ceiling. John Boehner doesn't have control over his own party in the house, and no one can control people like Rand Paul who can block everything in the Senate, so this is dead and buried. That said, here are my expectations for the next few weeks.

The Dow is currently around 12,6-7. By Thursday it will be around 11,2 and Friday, as people look forward to the week to come, with still no deal in sight, the wheels will come all the way off. By 10:30 Friday morning it will have dropped 500 points, triggering the safety system, giving about a 10-15 minute break, then it will continue to plummet dropping another 1000 or more as people try to get out and protect their money. The problem is, the normal fallbacks will fail. The bond market will be crashing even harder and faster, no one wants to hold them when they can't be liquidated, so that will make a run on precious metals.

Over the weekend, the GOP and Fox will be blaming the Democrats for not listening to them (that part is true, they're not listening, but they shouldn't be) and the Democrats will be blaming the Republicans for blocking everything and driving the country off a cliff (also entirely true).

Black Monday. The markets open and everyone wants out. They don't want to trade, they want cash. Everyone is selling, no one is buying, and the markets close at noon having lost another 2000 points. Full scale panic. People are debating if they should stay closed on Tuesday.

Black Tuesday. 1-800-RUN takes over. The markets are not going to open until 10am after the debacle the day before and some of the hardest hit are the banks. They're all players in the financial markets, so they took an absolute beating on Friday and Monday, and people who don't pay attention and just caught this coming home from work Monday night all stop by the bank to get out some cash. Except the ATMs are all empty and the tellers don't have any either. Bank of America, never the most stable institution, calls the FDIC for help.

Which is too bad, because BoA is bigger than the FDIC, and before they can even cover BoA, the FDIC is wiped out. Now the panic is real. The biggest bank in the country, maybe the world, just went belly up. The panic spreads to other banks and like a cascade of dominoes, banks nationwide close their doors.

Tuesday night on the talking box, everyone is collectively crapping their pants. No one knows what's going on, over on Fox News, they're still blaming the Democrats and still talking about getting a debt ceiling deal done if the White House just does what they're asking. Over on CNN, they're showing pictures from Atlanta of a supermarket on fire after things got out of hand. MSNBC is showing the same thing from a Wal-Mart in Kansas City, but that one isn't on fire, it was a shootout because someone thought conceal-carry was a good idea, and since everyone is scared, everyone with the ability to carry, was. When the first person flew off the handle and pulled his gun, so did everyone else.

Bloody Wednesday. After the disasters the day before, there's a new run. Not on the banks, they're still closed, and not on the stock market, that's flushed and gone down the sewer, the guys at Goldman Sachs looking around wondering what the hell happened, but everyone's IRA and 401k just went up in smoke (not theirs, they made money on every sale). Wednesday, the run is at the grocery stores. People are trying to stock up, but like the day before, in too many places, things get weird. LA, Detroit, Memphis and Philadelphia burn after arguments turn to fights then brawls then full blown riots. There are similar stories coast to coast. At the close of business, most stores are bare. The President says he'll address the country Thursday but it's far too late. The banks are done, the stores are empty, the markets are toast, the economy worldwide is in complete free fall, and no one has a parachute.

It's 1929, only worse. 78 years ago, there wasn't a "technology industry" that completely depends on things working in other areas. When all of those lock up, that whole world closes. I might be off by two weeks, when there isn't a deal and the SSA forced bond sale makes it all happen, but there's your destination.

A Note on the "Conversation" at the University of Iowa

A few days ago I became aware of a situation at my alma mater, noted here. A member of the Women's Studies faculty sent a response to an email from the College Republicans touting "Conservative Coming Out Week" that consisted of three words. "FUCK YOU, REPUBLICANS."

That's quite an angry response, and would seem to be either a very poor decision or something close. So I went looking for the email that prompted this. That took a bit more doing, but it can be found here.

Conservatives "coming out?" Yes, that's going to piss off a person in women's studies, especially one part of the Society of Gay and Lesbian Anthropologists. Co-opting part of their lexicon, when your group is the one blocking the Matthew Sheppard law and trying to impeach the State Supreme Court because they said blocking gay marriage unconstitutional in Iowa, isn't going to endear you. Having a movie in honor of W isn't going to help either. Giving out doctor's notes supporting the governor's side of the Madison protests is another bad move, but capping it off with an "Animal Rights BBQ?" Well now you're veering well off into the exact territory of her response.

The courts have a term for this, it's called fighting words. While the Republicans are right, what they did is "protected speech," that does not mean they are free from response. By that standard, Professor Lewin was dead on, and if the University takes action against Professor Lewin, then they are the ones stifling speech.

The Republicans did something designed to provoke and all they got was a three word email. That they then have the temerity to start screaming it was inappropriate, when they're the ones who complain about "political correctness," is hypocritical at best. Fuck you, Republicans.

A Note on Puff Pieces

As it states in the general topic heading, I said I would do the occasional puff piece on movies or good meals. Unfortunately, I haven't been to a movie in a year or out for a good meal in even longer. I haven't been been able to afford one since the GOP and their litany of supply side lies and deregulation horseshit crashed the economy.

And I was one of the lucky ones and didn't get laid off.

Not A Damned Dime!

It seems the White House thinks the "deal" is a good one. It is nothing of the sort. In order to get a few random members of the disloyal opposition on board, the deal guts what the rich pay, and manages to increase what the poor pay.

Mr. President, for someone who has such a way with words, you don't seem to know jack shit about numbers, and the clowns you have surrounded yourself with show their knowledge every time they bend over, a gaping nothingness.

But since you do seem to understand politics, let me try this on you. This pile of dung will increase the deficit. There's no question there. So in two years, it will be presidential season again, and they will be back screaming about no jobs, no jobs, no jobs, taxes, taxes, taxes and deficits, deficits, deficits. And they will be laying the blame for that on you, and they will point to this bill, with its tax cuts about to expire as proof you don't care about any of it. And you're trying to push this pile of crap? What are you? A complete fucking moron?

The next two years are going to be complete and utter paralysis. In your State of the Union speech you should tell the country the truth, that the GOP is the Sheriff of Nottingham, and are doing all they can to steal from the poor to give to the rich. That the state of the Government is a complete damn shambles, and if anyone anywhere thinks their government is going to do a damn thing, they're wrong because nothing is going to get through Congress.

No, this plan should die, and should do so immediately. The GOP has taken the nation hostage for their delusions and are doing their absolute best to turn this nation into a kleptocracy. You cannot make deals with them, and that you made this deal and were blindsided the next day by them should have showed you that.

The story you're in is "The Dog and the Scorpion" and they're not the dog.

And Now a Note for Todd Akin (language)

Last week, Mr. Akin said a few things, and I think they need to be commented on.

"It might be helpful to think back and say, there’s more to Thanksgiving than the Pilgrims."
Yeah, like how if the indians didn't come and bail their asses out they would have starved to death (or at least been an earlier version of the Donner party).

"They were a group of people who were willing to change the system, to think of different ideas. They came here and separated civil and church governments."
Really? Seems to me their civil and church governments were pretty much one and the same, they just didn't like the one in England because they were stick up their butts Puritans and the English had their own church. They didn't separate anything, and if the indians didn't bail them out, we might remember them along with Jim Jones and David Koresh as just another failed cult (if we remembered them at all).

"They came here and created the model of a written constitution, the idea that the government should be the servant of the people."
Uh, no. They did nothing of the sort. That's why, Willaims split from them and founded Providence. To be really blunt about it, the Puritans were such a bunch of assholes that they'd moved for a while to Amsterdam and not even the Dutch could stand them.

"They came here with the idea that after trying socialism that it wasn’t going to work. They realized that it was unbiblical, that it was a form of theft, so they pitched socialism out. They learned that in the early 1620’s."
Wait, what??? Socialism? In feudal England? In the England of King James? Did you fail high school American history, cut class, or are you just this stupid?
One, no socialism in England than. None. Zero.
Two, "socialism" in the form of the indians bailing them out is the only reason they lived to see 1621.
Three, have you been reading "Supply Side Jesus" again, because I'm pretty sure what you're talking about ain't in the King James Bible.

Mr. Akin, RESIGN. I can understand misstating or not knowing everything, but we're talking about BASIC US HISTORY and you're so far off the mark you wouldn't get out of the class. What's next? Next week you're going to give a speech about how we didn't give up when the Russians bombed Pearl Harbor?

A Note for John McCain.

Today, the man from Arizona said, "We think they're mature enough to fight and die. I think they're mature enough to make a judgment on who they want to serve with and the impact on their battle effectiveness."

That sir, is the same argument used to keep blacks, hispanics and jews out of units. Now I don't think the senator has a secret flap in the back of his closet where he stores the white robes with the pointy hat, that would be politically unwise. A few more statements like this though, and they may give him an honorary one.

Jesus... Has his own Opinion (language)

It's Saturday morning and the "I Know Jesus!" shows have started. I have news for you. Jesus spoke to me, or I may have been that drunk, or I may have taken that many painkillers or it could be some combination of all of those, but the bottom line is, Jesus is screaming in my head at the top of his lungs, "You couldn't find second base with a flashlight!"

And I fully get that. Jesus wants us to be cool enough (in our terms) that we (and they) are okay getting to second base with the Jewish, or the Muslim, or the Buddhist, or the Hindu, or the... chick.

Now me? When I'm not so big an asshole I say I'm God, I am fully confident God is not an asshole. That's why I KNOW God does not have a problem with divorce. That's why I KNOW God doesn't have a problem with race (holy shit, how hard is it to flood New Orleans/Mobile/oops a dam broke buhbye Atlanta) and why I KNOW God hates wedge issues.

Wait, wha? Wedge wha? Yes, Wedge issues. No fags in the Army. No abortions, don't give a shit if you were raped (by dad). No taxes. No... What the fuck?

Hey, let me tell you something. God is *omniscient*. That means God is All Powerful. If someone tells you they need money to do "God's Work," they're fucking LYING. Omniscient means God doesn't give a shit about your money. Anyone who says they need money is saying *THEY* need money. God could care less. God is all powerful and screw the money.

If you've given more than basic operations (a buck or two) you've been had. The rest of it is pure scam. And that's being charitable.

Contempt (warning: some bad words)

Earlier today I was going through things I was reading on Facebook (I do that) and the following comment.

"I see much more hate on the Dem and leftist side than anywhere else, anywhere. In fact, I expected the personal attacks on me to be happening by now since I didn't agree. That's the way it rolls nowdays. The re-educations camps can't be far behind."

My response on Facebook was:
"Hate from the left isn't the right way to describe it. The proper way to describe it would be to say we are sick and tired of the stupidity and not just willful, but deliberate, persistent ignorance on the right. The purposeful twisting of reality to fit whatever agenda, and the outright lies to push rotting piles of feces onto plates with a smile that says, "best meal evar!"

When I watch the GOP block health care to the 9/11 responders because it might cost too much, they can go to hell. You do it and damn the cost because it's the right thing to do. When I watch them run the debt through the roof and crash the economy, and then have the gall to complain about a deficit they built and never gave a tinkers damn about? You're damn right I'm mad.

And when I see comments like, "the GOP doesn't want to kill Social Secuity," when that is entirely what the whole privatize thing is about, and lines about "re-education camps," I know you're not part of the reality based community. So no. Hate is the wrong word. Hate doesn't have a reason. This is utter contempt, and it exists with cause."


That was my comment and if anything it is not strong enough. There were things I did not include because there wasn't space. A GOP member of the Missouri house went on the floor and decried what would become the health care bill as the biggest federal overreach since "the War of Northern Aggression." His words. Apparently, this piece of crap seems to think the Civil War was a bad idea, and that the North should have just said, "oh, we're sorry" when the SOUTH started shelling Fort Sumter.

And this is the perfect example for the modern GOP and teabaggers. They deny reality. They deny history. They deny what really happens because if it were true, their entire worldview would be shown as the lie it is. So they say the sky is salty, water is bright, the earth is loud and fire is sparkly. The real world gets retold as a different story because it doesn't line up with what they believe.

And because of that, no, I'm not going to call them "Tea Partiers." The people in the Boston Tea Party threw the tea overboard because of a rapacious combination of a government that gave no voice to the people and a company given free reign. The teabaggers are bitching that government is trying to stop corporate theft. They're trying to stop the exact thing Sam Adams and his little crew tried in Boston Harbor 237 years ago. They're not throwing the tea overboard, they're laving the nuts of every corporate rip off artist around.

They're teabaggers and if they don't like it, maybe they should stop blowing the people who don't give a shit about anything except their own wallet and how to get everything out of my wallet and yours. We don't hate you, GOP and teabaggers, we find you to be pathetic morons who are actively working to make things worse. It's called contempt, and you've earned it.

A New Kind of Appalled

Disclaimer: I'm going to recommend people shooting themselves here, so if you are considering doing so for reasons not listed below please call someone and talk to them. If the person you call yells at you, says you're the "Spawn of Satan," but you haven't raped or killed anyone, it means you called the wrong person, you need better friends/relatives (both of which are available), don't kill yourself, and finally, make a different phone call. Sooner or later you'll find someone who will talk to you, and that person is likely someone who is a decent person. If your plan is to shoot yourself and you're planning a later shooting rampage (see below), well, I'm not sure I see the problem, unless you're not serious about the rampage part and are just using that as an excuse to shoot yourself.
End Disclaimer.


So tonight I see that Christine O'Donnell (I'm a candidate for Senate! And can see Russia from my house!) worked very hard on a "right to life" case in Delaware. I want to make something perfectly and very publicly clear. If I'm in what the doctors refer to as a "persistently vegetative state," I'd like a month, 30 days, then disconnect the tubes. If I'm still in there, I'd like to think I'm smart enough to rewire the damn thing (hey, it's not like I'll be working on super-string theory in there, I'll be going "okay, connect this to this and, okay yeah, that's fried, next connection?"). If I can't do it in that time frame, I'm not going to, and pull the damn plug.

For you "right to life"rs out there. Assuming I'm in such a situation and you think you'd like to step in, do me a favor. Shoot yourselves. All you're doing is prolonging suffering you cannot comprehend, extending the horror of the families you involve yourselves with, and oh yeah, sticking the rest of us with the bill.

Oh that's right, you want to defund medicare/medicaid, in which case, you're bankrupting the families involved, for something that stops the second the money runs out (which means when you've financially killed those families directly involved, and then killed the patient anyway because the plug gets pulled when no one paid the electric bill), or you want to keep medicare/caid, and want to bankrupt that. In either case, respect the wishes of the people and families involved, and their doctors, and shut the hell up.

As a corollary to this thought, for those people considering going on shooting rampages, take that shotgun you're planning to take on your rampage, stick it under your chin, making sure you have the top of your head lined up with the barrel, and pull the trigger. Assuming you lined it up correctly, and you survive that, then I guess God gave you a green light to go shoot the people you were after. If you're not sure you got the first shot right (it came out your ear or something) try it again. It will be obvious if you did it correctly.

Actually, if you're one of those people who is all "right to life," but is opposed to medicare/caid, just shoot yourself now. That stance says you don't care for a second about people who are alive, just ones who aren't (anymore or yet).

You are either for helping, children, those who can't fend for themselves, or are young or old enough, injured enough, or had something else through circumstance happen, that has made you dependent, or you are not. If you are for those things, then you are for medicare/caid. If you are not for medicare/caid (or a system that handles everyone, thereby improving that idea), then you are opposed to those things, and you cannot call yourself a "Christian," go read your Luke. Then go shoot yourself, because you obviously aren't following your teachings, and you're going to hell anyway, may as well speed things up.

I'm Bloody Pissed Off

Seriously? This round of air bombers (and Richard Reid, the last round of "shoe" bomber) were trying to use PETN explosives? Not to throw shit on their attempts, but let's get real. PETN is what is used in detcord. It's a great explosive, but brutally hard to make go boom. Shit, I'M better at it than these jackasses.

This is not to help these dolts but really, find something that goes small "bang" with a 9- volt charge (easy) and use that as your trigger to set off the sensitive (but not so much) bigger bang. This is basic physics/explosives found in ANY chemistry textbook or for that matter Tom Clancy book.

Al Qaeda may have bad intentions in mind, but they're fucking morons. I'm going to say something that has been said a virtual infinite times before, and I can't count the number of times *I* have said it, crime is a Darwinian business. These dolts, not to make light of 9/11, are dolts. Even a stopped watch is right twice a day, and these imbeciles aren't even hitting that mark.

And if anyone wants to question my credentials as a "terrorist expert" a)piss off and b) I got it from Tom Clancy, who detailed what would be called a terrorist attack in "Debt of Honor" and G. Gordon "piano wire" Liddy detailing an attack in Omni magazine in January 1989. aka "piss off."

These guys were morons, and their failure, while scary, is something to be ridiculed.

This next part truly is horrible. Crime IS a Darwinian business and I expect them to learn from their ridiculous failures. That means they will succeed and kill people. The faster we get away from the old ideas of " get them to work for us" the faster we'll take away their fodder that says "we're worth killing." That is an absolute sea change, and we need to either get with it, or get used to the consequences.

And if anyone doubts my opinion or resolve on this, please, send money to the DNC saying you want to send ME as the negotiator. There are MORE than a few people who deal with me daily who will all agree, I won't put up with crap.

The Right Argues Wrong

So Ann Coulter put her foot in her mouth. Again. In a big way. Again.

Nothing new to that story of course. Her previous book was a defense of Tailgunner Joe McCarthy and he's probably the one person more in need of an unmarked grave than Lincoln Stern. This time she lashed out complaining that there isn't a response to the greiving widow being brought out. And I thought about that and went, "there's something not quite right there, but I'm not sure what it is."

I know the answer. What's wrong with that is those nice folks over on the right (like Ann, and Pat Robertson, and Jerry Fallwell, and Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity, and well, just about anyone on Faux news) don't make a good argument. The argue all the time. The bitch, moan and scream at the top of their heads that whatever they see as wrong is ruining the country, and blast the hell out of anyone on the other side as some kind of loony hippie. And there's where they go wrong. Their method of argument is to ignore whatever the other side is saying, and simply go after the PERSON on the other side.

Al Gore is a raving tree-hugger. Bill Clinton is the anti-christ. Jimmy Carter is the stepson of Joe Stalin and Emma Goldman.

They never bother to actually deal with the real issue, and that's why they've managed to horribly fuck up everything they touch. Their debating skills are indicative of their reasoning skills. This is why Ann Coulter is going after the 9/11 widows and orphans. Because she doesn't have an answer to what they're saying.

It's "Thank You For Smoking" writ large. It's the negative campaign as response to everything. It has worked in politics to a point, but at some point the bills come due. Well, they're due.

Sinking Ship

Surprise! It's not about politics this time! That would be an easy target and appropriate to the title, but no, it's time for a puff piece.

I just got back from Poseiden, the new Wolfgang Petersen movie. I'm not quite sure how to grade this one. First, the theater was largely empty (at 10pm on Thursday night I can see that) so that whole "crowd experience" thing was missing. The movie itself though isn't bad. It's well paced, reasonably quick, if a bit predictable, has one specific plot hole you can drive a truck through (I'll not say what it is because it would be a big spoiler) and overall, it's decent enough.

The problem is it's also sort of, well, boring in that sense. The effects are cool, it's well done, but you don't really care about any of these people. So when one of them gets bumped off it's just sort of, "nothing to see here, move along." If you want to see a decent enough popcorn movie, I can think of worse ways to blow an afternoon, but there are also a couple other movies in the same vein that might be better (MI:3? I've been told it's decent enough, it may be next).

Overall, I give it a C+. Maybe good for an afternoon, and it'll be just fine for DVD, but it misses the interest marker than would push it over the hump into ready for prime time.

Oh, one thing that is worth it if you're into that sort of thing. The opening sequence to the first cut is 100% CGI around Josh Lucas. I only noticed one thing I thought seemed a bit off, the wake of the ship, but holy crap, they nailed every other part. The water looks real, the boat looks real, they have other people in the shot (all CGI'd) and they look real. They nailed everything in that shot, they just forgot what a boat does as it moves through the water. Oh well, it's still better that the $10million hair in Final Fantasy.

Harry Potter and a quick trip to Hell

So it appears there is some random woman in Georgia who happens to be on a school board there and seems to think it is an imperative to see that Harry Potter is not included in the school library.

Welcome to Hell. I don't mean a metaphysical I've died and gone Hell, I mean a very real Hell. This is a place where ignorance and stupidity are the rule. This is a place where people are barred from learning how the physical world actually works because it disagrees with someone's religious view. This is a place where the residents of this special place on the planet will never have the opportunity to advance beyond where they are now because they have been blocked from learning the information that would move them to the next place.

Hell is real, and it is created on earth by religious zealots who think that there should be an exalted place on this earth above any other. It is created by people who beilieve in the inerrant word of God as given to them in the one of hundreds of different versions of the bible, NOT A SINGLE ONE OF WHICH AGREES WITH ANY OTHER.

That's right, NONE of them agree. What's worse, they seem to omit anything else which may contradict (see the Gospels of Judas, recently unearthed). If there is a more USELESS book in print, it was probably written by Ann Coulter (sorry Ann, Tailgunner Joe McCarthy was an anti-American piece of crap, and earned his place in ignominy, and by defending him, you've followed him right down the sewer of history as a name which is a curse). Where it has value is in the places it actually talks about things Jesus despised. The tossing of the money changers, usury, judge not lest ye be judged, let him who is without sin and all of that.

So in getting back to the original point, there's a woman who seems to think Harry Potter is the work of the devil because it's a story that includes magic. Lady, it's really unfortunate that you've already given birth because you are going to so fuck up the mind of your child that they will probably need to spend their entire adulthood in therapy to try to fix the pollution you will inject into their head. Until they go fully insane and murder four of their co-workers before shooting themself in the head.

So thank you for finding a way to create Hell on earth. Heaven on earth is a difficult concept, but Hell is easy. Just step on the brain of anyone who crosses your path and you're better than halfway there.

Il Dupe

I decided as a mental exercise to see who made the most apt comparison to our current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and my first thought was Franz von Papen. For those of you who don't know who Franz van Papen was, he was someone who popped up in Weimar Germany, and was vice-chancellor under Hitler. The idea was that they would give Hitler the job, but the real power rested in the Reichstag and Presidency (which was held by Hindenburg). Needless to say that didn't work.

von Papen sort of meandered through the history of Nazi Germany, not important enough to buy the farm like Ernst Rohm in the Night of the Long Knives, not a player during the war, and eventually aquitted at Nuremburg after the war as an ineffectual dolt. An amiable person, but not very bright and no threat to anyone.

That of course doesn't adequately describe Mr. Bush, so it was back to the drawing board. Idi Amin? No, he hasn't eaten anyone I know of. Pol Pot? Closer, that one still has some time to play out. Right now the closest analogue went by the name of Benito Mussolini. Repressive? Check. Wants the trains to run on time? Hey, our guy puts the planet on hold to go on bike rides, big check there. Ethiopia? Iraq, and we're screwing that up just as badly as Benny did 65 years earlier.

These people are pushing the most descructive agenda in the history of the country and doing it on the backs of the people killed on 9/11. On the base of the Statue of Liberty in part it reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden-door!" In George Bush's America, that golden door leads to a sweatshop where you barely make enough to eat, and have no chance at anything better for your life or that of your family.

This is a country where if you are honest and work hard, you would do well. That is not the case anymore. To get ahead the rule of the day is lie (Deutche), bribe (Abramoff), change the rules to stay in power (DeLay) and smear anyone who questions you (Bush, Cheney, etc.). This is not the America of Frank Capra, FDR, TR, Lincoln or Washington. The only question is, who will the first pogroms target.

The Health Savings Abomination

So here's an idea being touted, the Health Savings Account. People take money, earmark it for health care, and it becomes tax deductible. By some unknown method, this is supposed to help the rates of Medicare/Medicaid spending and health care in general.

It will do nothing of the sort.

Let's start with who is going to create these. Creating such an account in the first place means it is not created by people who live paycheck to paycheck, so that immediately rules out the poor, and likely just about anyone living below median income (roughly $47,000). They simply don't have the money, and if they get it, they're more likely to go the health insurance route. By definition, this 100% rules out every person on Medicaid. People on Medicaid don't have the money to spend on insurance, but they're expected to carry one of these?

The second group that won't be creating these are the already retired elderly. Their "income" is coming from Social Security and if they're lucky a pension plan, and the interest on what saings they might have. Again, no money to do this.

Who is able to do this? People who have insurance already and have means. In other wods, it is yet another plan to keep the money in the hands of people who have it. Now I understand that sentiment, I worked for that money, it's mine. Unfortunately, there's a fly in the health care ointment, two of them actually.

The first fly in the ointment is the current insurance system. Roughly one in six people in this country does not have health insurance. BY law, hospitals can't turn those people away for emergency care, but because they don't have insurance the ONLY care they get is emergency. Suddenly, those medical bills are getting handed off to Medicaid, which pays at a fraction of the charge, or to someone who ends up declaring bankruptcy (remember that little screw up? The vast majority of the old bankruptcies were caused by medical bills). Either way, the hospitals and doctors aren't getting paid, so they bump up their rates, charging people who have insurance more. Effectively, they're using a rate bump to subsidize the people who can't pay.

Now is where a problem starts. The hospitals charge more, the insurance companies pay more, and they pass that cost over to their customers, driving the insurance rates higher, which means fewer people can afford health insurance, meaning the hospitals raise rates again, more people lose insurance, and welcome to vicious circle #1.

It's not people suing doctors and hospitals that are driving medical costs, it the vicious cycle of insurance.

On top of that is a second leg driving the costs up, and it's big pharma. Every time someone screams about controlling the skyrocketing costs of drugs, big pharma screams back that they need the money for R&D. What they aren't telling you is their advertising budgets are TEN TIMES their R&D budgets. What they also aren't telling you is the primary driving force behind R&D is expiring patents making pharma go back in the lab becasue their cash cow just went generic.

The "Heath Savings Accounts" address neither of those problems, and in fact are a guaranteed loser. The rise in medical costs has gone up far faster than any return on investment, meaning if you drop 10K in one, and three years down the road you actually need to use that piggy bank, after adjusting for both the return and the inflation of medical costs, it will be worth LESS than when you put it in!

This is a boondoggle and a disaster. If you want to address the actual problem you need to either change how big pharma operates or go to universal health care, or ideally, both. What would I do? First, universal health care. Eliminate the problem of unpaid medical bills and the "spoilage" stops. Blue Cross Blue Shield might not like it, but it NEEDS to be done.

We have the most expensive medical system in the entire western world, by a wide margin, and it is also the worst, with infant mortality rates the worst among the "first world" countries. That needs to end. If that means a Canadian system or a British one, or a Swedish one, it needs to happen.

The second thing that needs to be done, prescription drug ads need to be limited to the medical journals. A six page spread for some drug in Time, or a Levitra spot in the Super Bowl costs, and costs a LOT. If pharma spent half as much on R&D as they did on ads, we probably wouldn't be anywhere near where we are now.

The current system is broken beyond repair and will only continue to get worse until it implodes. It needs to be scrapped completely.