Obama health reform

[padraig (u.s.)]

quickly tho

Problem being, that at current rates of growth in costs, US healthcare spending is unsustainable -- that's a problem that will have to be solved, regardless of what side of the political divide you sit on. The necesssity of US healthcare reform is unrelated to the fact that it is being proposed by a democrat president, or oppposed by republican opposition figures.

objectively, of course, this is true. but who's making the proposals makes all the difference in whether or not the problem gets solved. unfortunately.

I would not be surprised if the long-term Repub strategy - that is, the cagier ones, not the Beck/Limbaugh demographic & idiots like Tom Coburn - is to shoot this down & then ride in w/their own proposals.

 

[hucks]

Barney Frank tells one of them off.

Ha ha, nice one.

As ever, a great deal of common sense, not to mention class and grace, shown in the comments below.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

yeah Barney Frank has massive, massive stones. admittedly he can afford it a bit more as he's one of those dudes who's been in office forever & ever w/o facing a serious reelection fight. plus if you're already a gay, super-liberal Jew how are you going to make the kinds of people who compare Obama to Hitler hate you more than they already do? I guess he could marry Hugo Chavez.

 

[nomadthethird]

I guess he could marry Hugo Chavez.

Haha, marry Hugo Chavez with a transmale minister officiating, then have a televised orgy with Bill and Hil, Nancy Pelosi, ACORN volunteers, and the former heads of Frannie and Freddie to celebrate.

I'd never seen much of Frank till I randomly caught some episodes of Bill Maher's show where he was a guest. I was pleasantly surprised to see a working politician speaking so boldly and plainly about the problems and challenges posed by his own office. He didn't back down on the key issues or make vague references to the need for "bi-partisan iniatives" like Obama does. I was rather impressed.

Edit: Have you heard of the Larouche people?? I hadn't until just recently. Apparently the girl with the hitler pic was one. OMFG.

 

[nomadthethird]

Views of Lyndon LaRouche. How someone gets from the SDS to this is hard to imagine.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

that makes perfect sense. yeah I've run into the LaRouche people before, plenty of times. they are very, very crazy. like, Scientologist crazy. crazier, even. you'd always see them around on campuses & at various lefty demos & events, handing out their esoteric literature & haranguing people with their endlessly complicated conspiracy theories. it's a cult, essentially. LaRouche himself is a rather bizarre & shady figure, ex-Trotskyist if I recall. yeah, if you ever have a couple hours to kill & you feel you haven't meet your yearly quota for jaw-droppingly strange craziness, read up on the LaRouchites. I will say this for them tho - when you get everyone from Birch Society people to the ACLU to denounce you as a mildly dangerous cult that's an accomplishment.

this picture from their wiki is hilarious, as well:

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

Views of Lyndon LaRouche. How someone gets from the SDS to this is hard to imagine.

if you ever have some time to kill & you feel like you haven't met your yearly quote of jaw-droppingly strange craziness, spend a couple of hours reading about the LaRouchites. it's all there; made-up history, LaRouchian weird forms of anti-Semitism & homophobia, a rather inexplicable fixation on the British royal family who he believes are hellbent on world domination. oh yes, it's all there.

 

[Mr. Tea]

this picture from their wiki is hilarious, as well:

Superb. I can only counter with:

Sorry, I'll leave you to the discussion now.

 

[crackerjack]

Edit: Have you heard of the Larouche people?? I hadn't until just recently. Apparently the girl with the hitler pic was one. OMFG.

Larouche is a legend among those of us who take an interest in 24-carat wackjobs. He's like Jim Jones without the death cult (yet). Does he still believe Good Queen Bess is the leader of a secret cabal that runs the world?

 

[nomadthethird]

Larouche is a legend among those of us who take an interest in 24-carat wackjobs. He's like Jim Jones without the death cult (yet). Does he still believe Good Queen Bess is the leader of a secret cabal that runs the world?

Funny the absurd verbal/conceptual contortions people will twist themselves into in an effort to barely encode their anti-semitism. How the British come to stand in for the Twelve Money-Lending Heebs in a Smoke Filled Room is beyond me.

(I suppose the British involvement in forming an Isreali state has something to do with it? Just a stab in the dark...LaRouche seems to think the conspiracy is transhistorical. He'd like those guys who blame the Masons, I think. Or the lizards from space.)

 

[droid]

This is fucking unbelievable.

 

[swears]

I know, Chevy Chase always seemed like such a laid back guy.

 

[craner]

LaRouche is a paranoid crypto-fascist.

 

[crackerjack]

LaRouche is a paranoid crypto-fascist.

but he has his bad points too

 

[nomadthethird]

This is fucking unbelievable.

That's a good article, droid. Only problem is, many Americans feel exactly as the author does... it's just that our media is so disproportionately powerful and owned by these interests (like the gun lobby and its defenders), we really have no fighting chance of returning to reasoned debate and abandoning pure spectacle. Or that's how it often feels...

 

[scottdisco]

ot but wanted to share

oh look it's Daniel Hannan again, this time unnecessarily praising Enoch Powell.

what a surprise!

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

oh FFS

Some Parents Oppose Obama School Speech

President Obama’s plan to deliver a speech to public school students on Tuesday has set off a revolt among conservative parents, who have accused the president of trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas

(italics mine)

of course even if he was a "socialist"...

“This isn’t a policy speech,” said Sandra Abrevaya, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education. “It’s designed to encourage kids to stay in school.

of course we all know staying in school is the #1 policy of Marxism.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

everyone's going to watch Obama's big speech tonight then? 8 PM Eastern, which I guess makes it like 1 in the morning London time, so maybe not. but tape it or DVR it or whatever if you're at all interested in this whole thing - could be the make or break moment (break, more likely).

 

[polystyle]

'break' as in no 'public option' ?

 

[crackerjack]

'break' as in no 'public option' ?

i'm a bit lost with it all now - seems the public option is all but dead, but commentators are still saying the deal he probably will get is something more than Roosevelt, Truman, LBJ etc ever managed. So what will he come out with?