Still In The Closet

Political Cartoon is by Lloyd Dangle at troubletown.com.

Teabagger Terrorists

I was trying not to comment on the ridiculous reaction of the teabaggers to the passing of the new health care laws. I thought it was just sour grapes, but I can understand that. There have been political battles that I didn't feel good about losing, and I did my share of complaining. But now certain elements in the teabagger movement (if it can be called a movement) have gone too far.

Consider some of the things that have happened:

-Bricks were thrown through the windows of Democratic congressmen in Arizona and New York.

-Black congressmen were called racial epithets and spit upon.

-A homosexual congressman was called a vile sexual epithet.

-Several Democratic congressmen were threatened with death.

-A Missoura congressman had a casket placed on his front lawn.

-In Virginia, someone tried to cut the gas line to a congressman's house (but had the wrong address and did it to his brother instead).

This goes far beyond political discourse -- even passionate political speech. This behavior has crossed the line into criminal behavior. It's political terrorism, reminiscent of al Queda-style politics. They lost a political battle, so they're trying to win that battle through threats and fear. That cannot be tolerated in a democracy.

I believe in free speech. People in this country have the right to demonstrate and put forth their views. They even have the right to do that in an offensive way. After all, if you've never been offended, then you don't live in a free country. But they don't have the right to behave in a criminal terroristic way, and anyone who does that should be arrested and punished.

Some Republicans have spoken boldly against this criminal behavior, while others seem afraid to make their teabagging base angry (or they agree with them). I have to think that some of them have fed into this unacceptable behavior with their over-the-top rhetoric -- "socialism", "Hitler", "the end of democracy", "government takeover", "death panels", "re-education camps", "return to slavery". None of these things are true, and they are used just to egg-on their followers.

Things have gone too far, and it's time to scale back the rhetoric. If not, there's going to be a tragedy somewhere. There's an element of the teabaggers who already think they can take the law into their own hands. They don't need any further encouragement.

In a democracy, it's just a fact of life that you'll win some battles and lose some others. That's the nature of the beast. But win or lose, we must keep the political discourse within the bounds of the law (and hopefully common decency). We live in a great country. Let's keep it that way.

Self-Destruction

Political Cartoon is by Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A Strong Foundation

From the great blog of Unreasonable Faith.

New Ancient Hominin Discovered

It has long been thought that thousands of years ago, modern humans and neanderthals lived at the same time, and eventually the neanderthals (pictured) died out and left only humans. But that may be too simple an explanation. There is now some evidence that there may have been a third group of hominins (human-like) living as late as 30,000-48,000 years ago, and this previously unknown group may have had interaction with both neanderthals and modern humans.

A finger bone has been discovered in a Siberian cave. What makes this discovery exciting is it's DNA. Scientists were able to recover mitochondrial DNA from the finger, and when they compared it to the DNA of modern humans and neanderthals they found it didn't match either one, although it lived at the time when both humans and neanderthals existed.

Scientists are tentatively calling this third hominin "X-woman". The scientists who studied the DNA say these hominins had the same ancestor as modern humans, but diverged from the human line about 1,000,000 years ago. By comparison, the neanderthals diverged from the human line about 500,000 years ago.

Scientists also discovered an ancient bracelet on the same cave level as the finger bone. It has not yet been proven that they are connected, but if they are it would be proof that "culture" is not an exclusively human (and neanderthal) phenomenon.

In fact, some scientists now believe there may be more hominin lines besides these three, and the evidence has just not yet been found. Pretty exciting stuff!

Republican Waterloo

Political Cartoon is by R.J. Matson in Roll Call.

California To Vote On Legalizing Marijuana

It's official now! California state officials announced yesterday that the initiative to legalize marijuana (the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010) has the required number of verified signatures to place it on the ballot this November. The initiative needed 433,971 signatures, and that was exceeded when the verified signatures from Los Angeles county were turned in this week.

If approved in the coming election, the initiative would legalize the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for people at least 21 years-old. It would also allow adults to grow up to 25 square feet of marijuana per residence or parcel of land. Currently, possession of an ounce or less of marijuana is punishable by a fine of $100 (a misdemeanor).

One of the most interesting aspects of the initiative is that it would allow cities and counties to authorize the cultivation, transportation and sale of marijuana, and to tax that marijuana. In this recession and jobless economy, most government entities are having trouble balancing their budgets, and this could be the idea that pushes the initiative over the top.

There is a real chance the marijuana legalization initiative could be approved by the voters in November. Recent polls have shown that a majority of Californians are in favor of marijuana legalization. It just depends on who shows up at the polls to vote.

This could be a boon for Democrats, because it could draw many young people to the polls (an age group that favors both legalization and Democrats). While huge numbers of young people went to the polls in 2008 to support President Obama, many have been turned off by the tenor of Washington politics and weren't expected to vote this year. This initiative could change that and offset the energized right-wing voters.

It's time for marijuana to be legalized in the United States. Too many lies have been told about the gentle herb, which is not addictive, has no lethal dosage, and has far less (if any) long-term medical problems than many legal drugs (such as tobacco and alcohol). The only reason it has not already been legalized is because the government has repeatedly lied to the American people. These lies allow them to keep soaking taxpayers for millions of dollars in the failed "war on drugs" (which is nothing but a modern version of prohibition).

The nation will be watching California in November. If they do approve the legalization of marijuana, we can expect this to start spreading to other states. Whatever happens, the vote will probably be close. For now, we'll just have to cross our fingers and wait to see what happens.

Exposing The Truth

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Neugebauer Raises Money From Bad Manners

As you probably know by now, Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) showed all of America his poor upbringing, lack of common decency and atrocious manners the other day. While one of his cohorts in the House of Representatives was trying to speak on the health care reform bill, it was Neugebauer (pictured) who yelled "baby killer" at him.

Regardless of what a person's politics are, this is inexcusable behavior. Neugebauer (who represents the district around Lubbock, Texas) embarrassed his constituents, his state and the nation with his inappropriate antics. He did offer a poor apology to his fellow congressman, saying he meant the bill was a "baby killer" and not the congressman.

Regardless of who or what he was referring to, his actions were our of order and out of place in the House of Representatives (and if he didn't know better, he should have). Neugebauer needs to learn to control his temper and vent his anger at a more appropriate time and place, instead of interrupting and name-calling on the floor of the House.

But evidently, that still has not sunk in to Neugebauer's thick skull. After his rather poor apology, Neugebauer quickly acted to let his constituents know that he really didn't mean it. In fact, he is now trying to make some quick campaign cash off of his poor behavior. He has put out a fund-raising video the very next day where he says, "I will continue to speak with the same passion that I spoke last night, maybe in a little bit different forum, but still with the same intensity."

Neugebauer should have been ashamed of his unbelievably boorish behavior. Instead, he is proud of it. So proud of it that he thinks he can turn it into instant cash. Sadly, he probably can. There are many teabagging right-wingers in Texas, whose own behavior is equally bad, and I'm sure they will be quick to reward his ill-manners with cash donations.

I am personally appalled by this. Whatever happened to good manners -- where ladies and gentlemen can disagree with one another politically and still act in a respectful way toward each other? My parents taught me respect and good manners, and I expect nothing less from my children. Obviously, that didn't happen in a lot of families, or we wouldn't have this kind of behavior.

Self-Radicalized ?

Political Cartoon is by Ted Rall at gocomics.com.

The Truth About Incomes

Found at the excellent blog Lotus - Surviving A Dark Time.

Repeal Health Care Reform ? Impossible !

Health care reform is now law, and in a few more days the reconciliation bill will pass and be signed into law to make that reform even better (although not perfect). There is more to be done, but I don't want to minimize what has been accomplished. Many millions will be helped by this new law, and those who fought for it have good reason to celebrate.

But there are those who spent all their political capital to try and stop health care reform, and today their hopes are in shambles -- mainly Republicans, especially those on the far right like the teabaggers. They are pinning their fading hopes on the hollow assumption that the American public will be so outraged by the new law that they will once again return the defeated Republicans to power.

Many on the far right are now saying they will repeal the new health care reform law, and they are counting on the November elections to give them the power to do that. In fact, the queen of right-wing insanity in the House of Representatives, Michele Bachmann, has already filed a bill to repeal the new law. And soon, Senator Jim DeMint will introduce similar legislation in the Senate.

Both of them know they have no chance to pass this legislation. What they are really trying to do is keep their teabagging followers engaged in the politics of denial until November, in the hopes they will go to the poll in droves and elect right-wing Republicans. And I don't doubt they will re-elect some and elect a few new ones. It is a peculiarity of American politics that the party out of power will pick up seats in an off-year election, and that will probably happen.

But I seriously doubt they will pick up enough to challenge Democratic power in either the House or the Senate. One reason is that as the public learns more about the health care reform, they will like it (or at least most of it). They will realize that the new law changes things for the better. And the more that people understand the intricacies of the new law, the more unhappy they will be with those who tried to stop it -- the Republicans.

Of course this is the great fear of the Republicans. It is why they cannot drop their efforts to overturn the new law. And it is why they will continue to lie and demagogue about the law until the November elections. But can they overturn the new law? No.

Let us assume the worst case scenario -- that the Republicans somehow take control of both the House and Senate. I don't think that can happen, but if it did, can they then repeal health care reform? Again, no. They will still have a Democrat in the White House who will not sign any kind of repeal legislation. That means they would need not just a majority, but a two-thirds majority to repeal. Even the Republicans don't expect to do that good in November.

But there is another much better reason to not repeal the law. And all but the nuts on the right-wing fringe are very aware of this. What politician of either party is going to tell the American public the following:

-Pre-existing conditions are a good thing and the insurance companies should once again be allowed to deny insurance coverage on this basis.

-Government subsidies to help low and middle income families buy health insurance is a bad thing and should be stopped.

-Recission is a good thing and insurance companies should be allowed to drop the policies of people who become seriously ill.

If the Republicans repeal the new law, that is what they would be saying to the American people. I think most politicians, even Republicans, know it would be political suicide to take back these things. A huge majority, even of those generally opposed to some aspects of the reform, knew these things needed to happen, and they are not about to let any politician take them away now.

Although there were many people who didn't think the new law was exactly what was needed, there was never a majority of the people opposed to health care reform. That was just the teabaggers, and according to a recent poll, they only make up about 16% of the population. The other 84% knew that some kind of health care reform was needed. Now that it has been passed, they will not be willing to go backwards and give it up.

The river has been crossed, and there's no going back now. The health care law can, and probably will, be amended and improved, but it will not be repealed. And if the Republicans don't climb on board pretty soon, they will find themselves even further marginalized.

I hope the Republicans do campaign on repealing the health care reform law in 2012, because that would be disastrous for them. By then, the American public will understand the reform much better, especially the parts that apply to them -- and most Americans will be positively affected by the new law.

So bring on the repeal efforts Republicans. It would be a gift for Democrats.

Freedom

Political Cartoon is by Kevin Siers in The Charlotte Observer.

Michael Moore Adresses All Republicans

Dedicated progressive and health care reform advocate Michael Moore has written an open letter to all Republicans. In it, he assures them that the new health care reform laws are not just for Democrats, but everyone -- including Republicans. I thought the letter was so good that everyone needs to read it, so I am posting a copy of it below. Read and enjoy.

To My Fellow Citizens, the Republicans:

Thanks to last night's vote, that child of yours who has had asthma since birth will now be covered after suffering for her first nine years as an American child with a pre-existing condition.

Thanks to last night's vote, that 23-year-old of yours who will be hit one day by a drunk driver and spend six months recovering in the hospital will now not go bankrupt because you will be able to keep him on your insurance policy.

Thanks to last night's vote, after your cancer returns for the third time -- racking up another $200,000 in costs to keep you alive -- your insurance company will have to commit a criminal act if they even think of dropping you from their rolls.

Yes, my Republican friends, even though you have opposed this health care bill, we've made sure it is going to cover you, too, in your time of need. I know you're upset right now. I know you probably think that if you did get wiped out by an illness, or thrown out of your home because of a medical bankruptcy, that you would somehow pull yourself up by your bootstraps and survive. I know that's a comforting story to tell yourself, and if John Wayne were still alive I'm sure he could make that into a movie for you.

But the reality is that these health insurance companies have only one mission: To take as much money from you as they can -- and then work like demons to deny you whatever coverage and help they can should you get sick.

So, when you find yourself suddenly broadsided by a life-threatening illness someday, perhaps you'll thank those pinko-socialist, Canadian-loving Democrats and independents for what they did Sunday evening.

If it's any consolation, the thieves who run the health insurance companies will still get to deny coverage to adults with pre-existing conditions for the next four years. They'll also get to cap an individual's annual health care reimbursements for the next four years. And if they break the pre-existing ban that was passed last night, they'll only be fined $100 a day! And, the best part? The law will require all citizens who aren't poor or old to write a check to a private insurance company. It's truly a banner day for these corporations.

So don't feel too bad. We're a long way from universal health care. Over 15 million Americans will still be uncovered -- and that means about 15,000 will still lose their lives each year because they won't be able to afford to see a doctor or get an operation. But another 30,000 will live. I hope that's ok with you.

If you don't mind, we're now going to get busy trying to improve upon this bill so that all Americans are covered and so the grubby health insurance companies will be put out of business -- because when it comes to helping the sick, no one should ever be allowed to ask the question, "How much money can we save by making this poor bastard suffer?"

Please, my Republican friends, if you can, take a quiet moment away from your AM radio and cable news network this morning and be happy for your country. We're doing better. And we're doing it for you, too.

Yours, Michael Moore