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A link from a friend on facebook led me to this N.Y. Times article, The Rage is Not About Healthcare. The author hits the nail on the head. The so-called “tea party” movement has been filled with over-the-top attacks on healthcare reform that are hard for me to fathom. That’s because most of them are either outright lies (see: death panels), or just ridiculous (e.g. abortions in school health clinics).

Maybe the reason that all of their arguments are so weak is because the teabaggers really are just a bunch of people who feel threatened by the ways our country is changing. A black man was elected president. More states are starting to allow same-sex marriage. The Hispanic population is rapidly expanding. They can’t come right out with their racism or homophobia, so healthcare has become a convenient proxy. It represents a changing America and has become a target for their anger and resentment.

But I think that’s only part of the story. Conservativism in America has changed too. Since I was old enough to even think about politics I’ve never been a conservative. But as I’ve matured, I’ve come to agree with some of the more traditional conservative principles, such as individual liberty and fiscal responsibility. These things went out the window under George W’s reign when the government started spying on US citizens and spending boatloads of cash on wars that (at least initially) did more to promote terrorism than to fight it. The Republican party doesn’t seem to care about either of these things anymore. They don’t have any real direction other than to be anti-change and anti-Democrat. They are the anti- party; they have no principles to stand on, so they unite around obstructionism.

The grassroots “tea party” movement is full of people who either don’t have any ability to think for themselves or simply choose not to. Because chanting some lame catch-phrase or repeating talking points from intellectual giants like Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck is much easier and more emotionally satisfying than actually reading a bill or doing some fact checking. It’s easier to bitch about socialized medicine than to actually do a little reading to discover what Socialism actually is, and to discover that the healthcare bill (now a law) is not it. It’s easy to complain about your tax money buying healthcare for children of working-class families, but where were their complaints when Bush was spending even more money on regime-change and bailing out Wall Street?

Here’s a really bad bill that a bunch of Iowa legislators with an “R” after their name introduced. Senate File 232 would require any person applying for state assistance to undergo drug testing.

That’s ANY person getting ANY state assistance. So if grandma has Medicaid and needs to go to a nursing home? Drug testing. What about a three year old in state-subsidized day care? Drug testing. What about a wheelchair-bound young adult with cerbral palsy who needs in-home nursing? Drug testing. Or a 90-year old WWII veteran going to the Veteran’s home? Drug testing.

Also, each department would have to set up its own drug testing program. So if a person were receiving, say, unemployment benefits from one department, food stamps from another, and veteran’s assistance from yet another, they would probably have to undergo a separate test for each.

Not to mention that the cost of all this testing would far outweigh any money that would be saved by refusing services to people who test positive.

Brilliant. Just briliant. Way to think through that one, people.

Some legislation I wrote (for work) made it out of committee yesterday, and was introduced as a bill: Senate File 236.

If it passes, it will allow more kids with intensive psychiatric problems to stay closer to home for treatment instead of having to go to out of state facilities. And it’s cost neutral.

With less than three months left in office, George Bush is apparently not satisfied with his legacy and is trying to solidify his position as the Worst. President. Ever.

He is rushing through a bunch of changes in federal regulations that will go even further in eroding civil liberties, harming the environment, and even worsening the already terrible economy.

If you can stand it, you can read the details in the NY Times Editorial “So Little Time, So Much Damage“.

I promise this will be the last political post for awhile (at least until Dubya invades Canada or something).

This isn’t a real political post though; I just thought the Onion’s take on the Obama win was humorous. The headline:
Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job

Obama wins!!!

Update: I just watched Obama’s victory speech. Wow. Just wow. I’m 40 years old. I grew up in the era of Watergate and Iran-Contra. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t cynical about the government. But tonight I feel like we’ve turned a corner. I feel proud to be an American. I feel like there really is hope for our country. That’s something I’ve never really felt before. Wow.

Note: I removed the Google election results map because it wasn’t loading correctly.

This lady refused to give candy to trick-or-treaters if they or their parents were Obama supporters. That’s just pathetic.

hat tip: PZ Myers

John Scalzi has a series of election related lists up that will poke you in the funny bone.

Election List I: People/Things I Would Vote For President Before I Would Vote For John McCain
Election List II: The Verified Miracles of St. Obama
Election List III: Things Sarah Palin Has Shot Or Would Shoot From a Helicopter
Election List IV: The Things I Think About As I Stare At This Picture of Joe Biden
Election List V: The Contents of the Democratic Poll-Watching Kit
Election List VI: The Contents of the Republican Poll-Watching Kit
Election List VII: Bombshells the McCain Campaign Has Yet to Drop About Barack Obama
Election List VIII: Instances of “[Name] the [Occupation]” That Have Yet to Be Used By McCain or Palin
Election List IX: The Rationales Each Party Will Give If They Lose The Election
Election List X: Some of The Horrible Things That Will Happen To You If You Don’t Vote

I’m sick of hearing the McCain campaign insinuating that Obama is a socialist because he made a statement about “spreading the wealth around”. This is just a bunch of crap. Barack Obama is no more a socialist than John McCain. Obama was talking about his tax plan. Guess what, McCain has a tax plan too, which judging by his own standard makes him a socialist.

Just in case you are one of the people who actually believe this socialist stuff, I’ll explain it to you in simple terms. In the United States we pay taxes. (We’ll just stick with income taxes, since this whole “socialist” thing started with a plumber complaining about his income tax). People all pay different amounts of tax based on how much money they make. Those taxes are then used to pay for things that are supposed to benefit society as a whole, such as roads, schools, military protection, etc. (Now, whether the government does a good job of using tax money is, as they say, a whole ‘nother thing. We won’t get into that now, either.)

Unless John McCain is talking about throwing out all taxes and government spending of tax monies, then he too, is a socialist. So, Senator McCain, if you are reading this, just let me say KNOCK IT OFF WITH THIS SHIT.

The only difference between McCain and Obama on taxes is who will benefit from their policies. Obama has stated again and again that under his tax plan, nobody making under $250,000 a year will pay more taxes. Those earning under $200,000 will get tax cuts. You can see the details on Obama’s website. Not enough for you? Use the Obama tax calculator below to find out what your taxes will be under both candidate’s plans, or for a more detailed estimate use the full calculator.

UPDATE: For a more serious look at this issue and its implications, check out this article at Salon.

Sick of hearing about Joe the Plumber? Check out this 1993 front page of The Onion. It features “Roy the Forklift Driver”, an uneducated man from Ohio who has some lame opinions that are being embraced by conservatives. Says something about just how far out the McCain campaign is getting, huh?

Yes, it’s another political post. Sorry. I know I’m driving my wife crazy with this (although she was watching Keith Olberman political commentary videos earlier - apparently it’s just MY commentary that she’s sick of), and I’ve probably alienated the 5 or 6 regular readers we once had, so now we’re down to maybe 2 of y’all.

Anyway…what’s the scariest thing about the McCain campaign? It very well could be the possibility that Sarah Palin would become president if he dies. In most presidential elections this isn’t really a big issue, but McCain is 72 years old and has a history of cancer. He hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with his medical history either. He let reporters look at his medical records for like an hour with conditions that nothing could be taken from the room and no copies made or photos taken.

An article published today in the medical journal The Lancet puts McCain’s chance of dying in the next four years at 22%. Think about that. If McCain wins, there’s nearly a one-in-four chance that Palin will actually become president. Yikes.

This video is friggin’ awesome.

No, this story is not from the Onion.

Summary:
An Islamic supporter of Al Qaida posted a message on an internet forum urging an attack on the U.S. prior to the election because, he reasons, it will help McCain be elected and he will follow the “failing march of his predecessor”.

The response from the McCain campaign is along the lines of (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Of course they want it to look like Al Qaida supports McCain, because they know that it could cost him the election, which is what they want, because they’re afraid of him.”

However, an intelligence analyst points out that the message was posted in Arabic on a password-protected forum by a member who has been active there for five years and where others have posted similar views. So it appears to be legitimate.

Did you notice during the presidential debate the other night when McCain referred to Obama as “that one“? How freakin’ rude is that? It almost leaves you expecting McCain to start calling him “boy” or something equally derogatory.

It has long been a political strategy to use FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) to try to cast the opponent in a negative light. But the McCain campaign is going to new levels in this campaign. Even several weeks ago they were just outright lying about Obama, but now they they’ve sunk to new lows by promoting an atmosphere of hatred and thinly-veiled racism.

Earlier this week, Sarah Palin accused Obama of “palling around” with terrorists. The terrorist in question is Bill Ayers, who was a member of the radical group the Weather Underground in the 60’s, when Obama was 8 years old. By the time Obama met him, Ayers had become a professor of education at the University of Illinois. They served on the board of a Chicago charity together and Obama was not aware of Ayers’ controversial background at the time. Yet, Palin keeps repeating this crap, and McCain has put out a YouTube video making the same claims. Now, if making claims that aren’t true about things that happened 40 years ago is acceptable, maybe Obama should start referring to McCain as a “baby-killer” for serving in Vietnam. Of course that would be a horrible thing and Obama would never do it. But by comparison, it is not that different than what McCain is doing.

And that’s just the beginning. When Palin made those claims at a rally this week, one of the audience members shouted out “kill him.” An appropriate response would have been for Palin to assert right then that that type of outburst was not appropriate. But she did nothing.

At a McCain rally in Pennsylvania this week, the local Republican Party chairman addressed the crowd, twice referring to Obama by his middle name - Hussein. This is an obvious attempt at associating him with Muslim extremists, and to be perpetrated by a speaker at an official campaign event is shameful.

At other rallies, McCain has been asking the crowd if they really know who Obama is. This is getting responses like “terrorist”, “traitor”, and “liar”. I even heard an interview on the radio the other day with a McCain supporter who said she wasn’t racist, but she’s worried that Obama will be “looking out for them and their interests“. Now I know that John McCain can’t be responsible for what comes out of anyone else’s mouth, but the fact is that he sets the tone for his campaign, and by allowing this to continue, he is tacitly saying that it is acceptable. He is a nasty, petty little man. I think I may dislike him even more than I dislike Bush. At least with Dubya there’s the impression that he’s really just a happy idiot that serves as the mouthpiece for the real evil-doers. With McCain, the shiny veneer is rubbing off, and we’re starting to see the real evil inside.

Watched the second debate tonight. John McCain is coming off more and more like a crotchety old man. I guess that’s because he is. He reminds me of the old dudes in my neighborhood who wear black socks and sock suspenders with shorts, and drive 5 mph down the street when they get up at 5:00 a.m. to go for breakfast at the grocery store cafeteria.

McCain is getting desperate and a little nasty with his attacks on Obama. I think that will just turn off the undecided voters. And nice plan for health care there, Johnny. A $5000 tax rebate that people can use to buy insurance? Where in the hell can you buy a family plan for $5000/year? You’d be lucky to insure a family for $1000/month. And that’s just the premiums; add in the deductibles and co-pays and $5000 ain’t gonna buy you shit.

And you know what else bugs me about McCain? The way his teeth whistle when he uses words with a strong “s” sound. He sounds like the bastard child of Ronald Reagan and that lisping snake in Disney’s version of the Jungle Book.

If you’re looking for in depth analysis of the dabate, here it is:
McCain sucks. Obama did well. That is all.