I often disagree with Melissa (though, more often than not, I actually agree with her), but this is just spot on.  its a response to a woman who is drowning in a mortgage she direly wants to get out of, and, of course, this woman wanted to go to the whole 9/12 thing in DC and couldn’t.  At the end, she says “I’ve paid my mortgage every month.  And I’m getting no help.  I’m just saying, Let capitalism work”

Shakesville: OFFS

The truth is that she expects her government to be helping her, as well she should. But the rightwing media machine has played three dirty tricks on people like Ms. Frankowski:

1. They’ve convinced them that the government is helping people other than them.

2. They’ve convinced them those other people are undeserving of that help, by virtue of their alleged laziness, entitlement, desire for “special rights,” immigration status, or some other bigoted bullshit.

3. They’ve convinced them, by concealing the reality that the only “people” the government helps anymore are corporations, that “capitalism” is the answer, which creates more demand for the government to capitulate to free marketeering and abandon industry regulations that protect consumers.

In other words, they’ve convinced people like Ms. Frankowski to demand that the government help them less, even as she desperately wonders why, despite playing by the rules and paying her mortgage every month, she’s still hurting and no one’s helping her out.

It would be hilarious, if it weren’t so fucking tragic.

Probably a couple minutes behind, but basically.

8:02 – weird knowing this is happening just a few miles from me

8:04 – of course there’s no agreement from Republicans about whether or not there should be health care reform.  They are rich, and enjoy fear.  Oh, and enjoy being rich.  Or are suckers.  Tough call.

8:05 – Don’t forget, 60% of young people support the reform.  Old people oppose it.  Interestingly, the old people are already on government health care.  Its called Medicare.

8:10 – Baucus is owned by the insurance industry.  Baucus can kiss my ass and I hope he loses his insurance right as he finds out he needs to get spinal surgery and be paralyzed for the rest of his life.

8:11 – ‘Sergeants Of Arms’ really sounds more impressive than two guys in suits.

8:17 – Greatest hits, hey, trust me

8:19 – I am determined to be the last.  Nice!

8:20 – History lessons

8:22 – Insurance companies screw you by saying you can’t have insurance.  Insurance companies screw you by stopping coverage even if you have insurance.

8:24 – Why this is bad for business.  See, Republicans?  Its bad for anyone who isn’t already rich.  How can you not back this?

8:27 – Almost everyone wants this.  Why are so many of you being bastards?

8:28 – We are fucking done with this now.  You WILL stop being children.

8:29 – New plan: costs down, coverage expanded, increased coverage security.

8:30 – Details: Nothing has to change for you if you are happy:  It will be against the law to deny coverage based on pre-existing condition.  Nor can coverage change when you get sick/injured.  No cap on amount of coverage.  Limit on out of pocket expenses.  Must cover preventative care/exams.

If you don’t have insurance: Insurance exchange/co-op.  Tax credits.  Will start in 4 years.  Public option (ish) until then for catastrophic financial protection.

If individuals still don’t feel like getting insurance, or businesses don’t feel like offering: Tough tittie.  You have to have basic insurance.  Business must offer insurance or ‘chip in’.  Most small businesses exempt.

8:36 – that was the easy part we all agree on.

8:37 – POLITICIANS HAVING BEEN LYING TO YOU SOME OF WHICH ARE RIGHT HERE!!!

8:38 – Who yelled ‘LIE”???

8:39 – great.  Pro-lifers get a fucking win.  Great…women everywhere lose.

8:41 – Public Option?  YES!!!   Lots of folks not standing or applauding.  Unsurprising.

8:42 – Will have to be self-sufficient.  Competition will survive because insurance companies aren’t grannies making cookies.

8:43 – all of you stop being children.  Mostly you guys over there.

8:44 – lots of people still not standing.  Must hate the poor.

8:45 -how do we pay for it? Will NOT add to the deficit ever (republicans yawning…literally)

8:46 – SMACK TO GW!!!  Hey, I didn’t make this deficit, it was the last guy!!

8:48 – Old people, do you realize Medicare is run by the government?

8:51 – oh sure, Republicans applaud tort reform

8:55 – you lie, we will call you a liar.

8:56 – Posthumous letter from Ted Kennedy.    Its about ‘the character of our country’

8:59 – WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

9:02 – When we become fear-mongers, we have all lost.  We will do the hard thing!!

Republican Response:

9:08 – Wow, he made it almost two minutes before out-and-out lying.  He basically says that the government plan is to replace everyone’s insurance.

9:09 – Basically agreeing with Obama on everything except the public option.  The insanity is unfathomable.

9:10 – Oh, yeah, but we really have to get to tort reform.  Much more important.

9:11 – Ah yes, jobs, freedom, explosions.

9:12 – bipartisian = giving the republicans everything they want.

So, it is looking very much like the public option is now going to be put out to pasture unless the insurance companies don’t comply with various rules.
I can’t imagine this will ever ever trigger.
1. If insurance companies don’t comply, we will simply have the same fight all over again with people punching each other in the face.
2. if the public option does need to come into play, it then has to get built and that will take no small amount of time.  And, of course, we’ll be completely unprepared.
3. I have no doubt that there will be a ‘good faith’ clause somewhere in there.  Basically, if the insurance companies TRY and comply, then the public option trigger isn’t invoked.  And, of course, you can’t actually measure ‘good faith’.  The same people who defend insurance companies now will, surely, defend them later.  “Oh, look, they are TRYING to do what we asked but they are only poor defenseless corporations”.  And, if the insurance companies know the problem is coming, it gives them plenty of time to move money around to encourage their congressional champions.

Hey, he’s a libertarian who hates women and comes right out and says it.  This makes him different from, say, Republicans who hate women but say they don’t.
Oh, and while I respect the honesty, that doesn’t make him any less bugnuts.  Spend more than 15 minutes thinking about libertarianism and you’ll realize its just selfish and shows not one whit of concern for anyone.  It is Hobbes’ world without the social contract.
pandagon.net – these things don’t just blame themselves

The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women — two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians — have rendered the notion of “capitalist democracy” into an oxymoron.

Just good Americans dissenting
3445607186_ff193e952c.jpg (JPEG Image, 500×375 pixels)

Didn’t mean to post two XKCDs today, but this hit the nail on the head perfectly.  The bonuses are vexing as hell, but not even a drop in the bucket of this free money we are giving people WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED.  We blindly hope that they won’t fuck us over just to make a WHOLE TON OF MONEY, again.  Fools we are.

About 25 years ago, there was a Bloom County strip about Oliver Wendell Jones.  In it  there was a line that I have used time and time again over the intervening decades.  Strangely, it was only yesterday that I realized its significance to today’s issues.  Can YOU spot it?

The thing is, you twit, Stewart’s show is supposed to be FUNNY!  While he does news and reporting much better, at times, than the MSM, you can’t go two minutes without a laugh.  You can’t forget the entire show is, at its heart, a gag.  Fart jokes and all.
As Jon put it once while being criticized in the same way (on hardball?): The lead-in to our show is a show about puppets making prank calls!
Jon never EVER suggests you risk your entire life savings on a guess.
Does he affect opinions?  Yes, almost certainly.  Just like any good comedian.  But also like any comedian, his goal is to get you to think (while laughing).  Cramer and his ilk took a responsibility and a trust placed in them and turned it into money for themselves regardless as to what might happen to the public.  So, thats hardly the same thing, is it.

Cramer v. Stewart – Megan McArdle

Ultimately, I find Stewart disturbing because in some sense he’s doing exactly what Cramer is–making powerful statements, and then when he gets called on him, retreating into the claim that well, you can’t really expect him to act as if he were being taken seriously. Jim Cramer, whose stockpicking acumen seems slightly worse than your average monkey with a dartboard, frequently issues recommendations that people act on, then brushes off the failures with a shrug.

Dear Rick, your kids shouldn’t be nervous to go to school because of a statement which was obviously not a threat UNLESS you take just a few words of it out of context.
Your kids should be nervous because you called their friend’s parents losers who deserve what they get.

Think Progress » Santelli Claims The White House Is Threatening Him: ‘My Kids Are Nervous To Go To School’

I don’t actually like Begala much, though I do find him pleasant enough.
Anyhow, this is sort of what I’ve been saying for a while, and points out the flaw in the GOPs stance here.
No matter how much money corporations and businesses have, they aren’t going to expand in an economy where no one can afford to buy their products.
I’m not even being critical of business here.  Only a very foolish businessman would expand production at this moment in time.
If GM suddenly got 3 billion in cash, they wouldn’t produce one extra car. 
If banks suddenly got a ton more money…oh…wait…we’ve seen that in action, haven’t we.

Commentary: If you oppose stimulus, don’t take the money – CNN.com

But cutting taxes on corporate profits is of little utility when there are no corporate profits to tax