John McCain said on a radio interview that the GOP won't cooperate for the rest of the year.  I know, I know.  Eleventy billion people are going to say this in unison,  but I just can't NOT post this!

All together now...  Since when has the GOP cooperated with the Democratic majority in the past two years?

As usual, The Rude Pundit is right.  President Obama never promised to not escalate the war/occupation in Afghanistan.  I knew this voting for him.  And yes, Rude is also right that I made that little platform negotiation in my head (I'll trade war for health care, etc.).  However, one point I think Rude is a bit wrong on is on how Obama's liberal plans are panning out.  Aside from Gitmo, I think he's done a good job advocating liberally.  It's not that he's just waffling on liberal issues because he doesn't believe strongly in them.  He's doing it because he has absolutely no choice. 

The fact is, despite an overwhelming majority of Democrats, we do not have a liberal -- let alone socialist (I LOL every time I hear a winger say that) congress.  We have a center-right congress.  For every Al Franken, Bernie Sanders, and Brad Miller, we have nearly as many Blue Dogs, Republicans, and Conservadems.  That's not even including the truly "moderate" Democrats (conservative Democrats are not moderate, by definition).  That makes it very difficult for a progressive agenda.  But if there is one thing the majority of congress agrees on, it's killing foreigners!  Especially if they have brown skin or happen to be of the Islamic faith.  Show me any federal politician (except a very small handful) and I'll show you a war hawk!  So when Obama proposes his Afghan strategy, expect much rejoicing at our country's ability to wag its gigantic military penis at everybody else.  Oh, sure, Republicans will whine about how they don't like it.  But it won't be because they are anti-war.  Hell to the no!  It will be because it's not hawkish enough!

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I love science!  NASA has confirmed that the projectile launched into the moon's surface that offered a less than Hollywood spectacular boom uncovered 24 gallons of water.  That is so awesome!  Water on the moon has many benefits.  First, astronauts can drink it.  They can also breath the oxygen, once the water molecule is broken apart.  Finally, the hydrogen can be used for rocket fuel.  Since all these essential resources do not need to be taken to the hypothetical future moon base, a ton of money can be saved!

But with every bit of good news, seems to come a lot of bad, these days.  NASA's Ares rocket system (part of the Constellation program) is apparently over budget and the Obama administration is trying to figure out what to do about this.  This is sad.  After health care and jobs, science is a top priority in my book.  And highly visible, highly inspirational science like the space program should be a huge priority.

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For several years now, BP has subjected us to the endless "common sense" of its scripted sock puppets on the teevee machine.  Now the Natural Gas lobby has started the same type of ad campaign.  Did you know we have over 100 years of Natural Gas?!  ZOMG BURN IT ALL UP NOW BABY!  SCREW THE ENVIRONMENT!

For crying out loud.  Give me Solar, damn it.  Screw your fossil fuels.

Senator Hagan - I am writing this letter to urge you to support Senator Bernie Sanders' American Health Security Act of 2009, which is a Single Payer health care bill.  I have no delusions of this bill's ability to pass the Senate - it surely will not. 

The reason to vote in favor of it is to measure the support in the Senate of a single payer style health care bill.  This is something that likely will not be able to pass for decades, but what Sen. Sanders is doing is important because it gives us a baseline to see how many votes we have now, and how many we need to work for in the future.

I am currently 32 years old.  I hope to see a single payer system implemented in the USA before I die.  This is a fantastic first step.

Please show the rest of the country that North Carolinians are progressive Southerners -- not knee-jerk-reaction head-in-the-sand conservatives.

Please support the American Health Security Act of 2009.

My teevee just told me that climate reform will cause gas prices to raise above $4/gal (no evidence was provided, of course).  This commercial was paid for by some petroleum lobby, as indicated in the very fine print. 

That's odd.  I seem to remember huge gas price increases happening without any climate legislation pending not too long ago.  And if I remember correctly, the prices went down sharply as soon as people started getting smarter about wasteful gas spending, which was a necessity due to the declining economy.   All of that had nothing to do with reducing carbon emissions.

Why are lobbies not required to do an oral endorsement, like politicians?  They should.  "We're America's petroleum lobby and we paid for this message."  Not everybody reads the fine print, like I do.

You know, if you think about it, they are basically threatening America with extortion.  Force us to clean up, we raise your prices.  Well to that I say, I call your bluff, and here's a middle finger you can sit on.

And possibly a lot longer than that.  Glenn Greenwald does his usual thrashing of the Washington DC political media (aka The Villagers / Beltway Media), but provides possibly the greatest single paragraph summary of the way of thinking that is so dominant in the beltway. 

As HTML Mencken insightfully noted in what is one of the best blog posts ever written, our political mores demand vehement repudiation of petty acts of incivility (not all, but most) while tolerating and even approving of extremely consequential acts of indecency as long as they're advocated with superficial civility.  Those who use curse words to oppose torture, wars and lawbreaking are evil and unSerious (The Angry Left); those who politely and soberly advocate morally repugnant, indecent policies are respected and Serious.  As long as one adheres to Beltway decorum, one can advocate the most amoral and even murderous policies without any repercussions whatsoever; it is only disruptive and impolite behavior that generates intense upset.  Beltway culture hates "incivility" (public use of bad words) but embraces full-scale substantive indecency (torture, lawbreaking, unjustified wars, ownership of government by corporations, etc.).

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I'm trying to understand the "rationing" argument for health care reform.  This is the argument that there simply is not enough doctors/nurses/hospitals/etc. such that if we let any more people get health care, that all care will have to be rationed.  There's absolutely no evidence for this, of course, but that's never stopped the tinfoil hat crowd before.

So here's my question.  Isn't not giving health care to the 40 some odd million uninsured in and of itself a form of rationing?  Basically, if you are against health care reform because of this fear, you are saying that you are good enough for health care, but the currently uninsured are not and care is being rationed in your favor. 

Why is America so damn selfish?

Am I the only one that thinks the Chia Obama is, at the very least, unclassy and, at the very worst, blatantly racist?

http://www.chiaobama.com/

Atrios defines private health insurance perfectly.

"Health insurers are middle men who make money by not providing payment for services they're supposed to pay for. They're skimmers who provide no useful service."

That is the best definition ever.