One to Obama

jody
1. OK but how many other new borns were denied insurance for pre-existing conditions by BC-BS TX et al?

elehhhhna

No press coverage = no insurance coverage. USA! USA!

Newborn With Pre-Existing Condition Gets Coverage

Source: ABC News

Insurance Company Offers to Pay for Newborn Caught in Insurance Coverage Gap

April 2, 2010—

Houston Tracy made the rounds on national blogs before he was even a month old.

At 12 days old, he already had survived a rare birth defect, a feeding tube and open-heart surgery.

But his family was in a battle with an insurance company to get his surgeries covered. His parents, Kim and Doug Tracy of Crowley, Texas, didn't have health insurance for themselves. The Tracys said insurance agents assured them they could buy health insurance for Houston once he was born.

But then, Houston's parents found out that the term "pre-existing condition" can apply the moment someone is born.

Doug Tracy, 39, called his congressmen. Then the local news media spread the word.

...

Soon, Darren Rodgers the C.E.O. of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Texas called Tracy too. Within a few days of negotiations, Tracy said he had a letter from Rodgers that promised to pay for Houston's surgery and offered him insurance coverage. LinkHere

Florida doctor tells Obama voters to ’seek care elsewhere’

Rosie.com
We had eight years of Bush and Cheney, Now you get mad!?

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and
appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate
energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.

You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans..

oh hell no.

Update: Grayson files complaint against Obama-hating doc

This video was snipped from CNN by Crooks and Liars.

Behold the Latest GOP Offering for Lt. Governor of Alaska -- Eddie Burke

DogoftheEarth
The rest of the states subsidize Socialist Alaska to the tune of $8,000 per capita. It's time we cut them off of the welfare rolls.

Yes, this is the same Eddie Burke that called the women who organized the "Alaska Women Reject Sarah Palin" rally "a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots" on the air, and then gave out their home phone numbers. This is the same Eddie Burke that showed up at the Anchorage Assembly to give public testimony opposing Ordinance 64 which would have added the words "sexual orientation" to the city's non-discrimination policy, looking like this: LinkHere

Obama vs. McCain:Who's The Maverick Now?

Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican nominee John McCain called himself a political maverick with "the record and the scars" to prove it, in contrast to a rival he portrayed as a spineless party man who never challenged Democratic leaders or interest groups. At this point, as President Obama launches a new era of offshore oil and gas drilling, the two men have largely reversed roles.McCain, facing competition from the right in the Arizona GOP Senate primary, has abandoned his past as a champion of comprehensive immigration reform and climate change legislation. He has turned against the TARP bank bailout (which he supported when he was a presidential candidate). And he went along with his party in saying no to the Democrats' economic stimulus and health reform bills.
Obama, on the other hand, seems to be annoying an increasingly broad swath of his party base:- Liberals were adamantly against his "surge" of troops and money in Afghanistan. They don't like that Guantánamo Bay prison is still open or that many of George W. Bush's anti-terror tactics are still in use. They were deeply unhappy that Obama did not seem to care much about their beloved "public option" -- a government-run insurance plan that didn't make it into the final health reform law. LinkHere

Rep. Steve Cohen: Sarah Palin Made John McCain Look Like "A Captured Soldier in North Vietnam"

Certainly we don't see much of that maverick John McCain who was brave enough to be bipartisan anymore. There is definitely something to Rep. Cohen's observation that the roles have reversed since the presidential campaign.

Northeast Hit With Devastating Floods, As Federal Flood Insurance Expires Due To GOP Obstruction

CBS pics

Last week, Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), blocked an extension of unemployment benefits, claiming that they objected to granting the extension without offsetting it with a spending cut elsewhere. Last month, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) and a handful of his Republican allies did the same thing, with Bunning telling Democrats who wanted to pass an extension by unanimous consent “tough sh*t.”
But it wasn’t only unemployment benefits that expired: the same package that the Republicans blocked also included extenders for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). And the critical nature of NFIP was brought into the spotlight this week, as many northeastern states have been battered with record amounts of rainfall, which has led to widespread flooding.
Flooding in Rhode Island was the worst it’s been in 100 years, with some rivers “several feet above all-time records.” Boston saw its wettest March since record keeping began in 1872, while “bridges and highways have washed out from Maine to Connecticut and sewage systems have been overwhelmed to the point that families were asked to stop flushing toilets.” National Guard troops have been mobilized to aid residents in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. LinkHere

Israeli warplanes bomb Gaza Strip

Source: MSNBC

GAZA - Israeli warplanes carried out missile attacks on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Friday, witnesses told several news agencies.

The Israeli military said the 13 air strikes, which followed a rocket attack on southern Israel, targeted four weapons factories, BBC News reported.
LinkHere

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Happy Birthday Rachel, keep putting limbaugh, beck, o'liely, hannity and the faux clueless to shame with your integrity and knowledge of politics and world events, you outshine them at every turn, take a bow, your the best.

Down Under

NYT reporter: Bush’s entire wiretapping program may have been illegal

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rachel Maddow discussed David Koch and his pollution-empire network with James Hoggan, the co-founder of DeSmogBlog.com:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ahahahahahah, don't you love it.

Jon Stewart Shows C-SPAN How To Handle Racist Callers

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Fear of a Black C-SPANet
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Not taking yes for an answer

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Conservative 'C Street House' Residents Face Ethics Complaints For Below-Market Rent

The bevy of conservative members of Congress who've resided at the notorious "C Street House" may have violated Congressional gift rules by accepting steeply-discounted lodging, new ethics complaints allege.
The watchdog organization CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) filed complaints Thursday charging Republican Sens. Sam Brownback (Kan.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Jim DeMint (S.C.) and John Ensign (Nev.), as well as Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), with accepting "improper gifts" from C Street in the form of way-below-market rent. LinkHere

PartyPartyParty
To read all about C Street, The Family, and how far it has already infiltrated Congress, pick up a copy of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism At The Heart of American Power" by Jeff Sharlett.

http://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060559799

Scary stuff. Seriously scary.

August 12, 2009: Jeff Sharlet

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jeff Sharlet
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

New Study: 88,000 U.S. Citizen Children Lost Parent to Deportation

88k children lost parent to deports

Study: US gov't deported lawful immigrant parents of 88k citizen children.

POPE-appointed bishop accused of abuse.

Report: Bishop beat orphaned children

Claims of ritual beatings by Pope-appointed German Bishop surface.

Letter shows Pope knew of abuse decades ago

Florida has launched a criminal investigation into the state Republican party's recently ousted chairman

Criminal probe targets ex-GOP chief in Fla.

Florida launchs criminal investigation into state party's ousted chairman.

Militias more connected than they claim

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Palin Left Alaska With Debts Equal to 70 Percent of Its GDP

Source: Washington Independent

Palin Left Alaska With Debts Equal to 70 Percent of Its GDP
By Megan Carpentier 3/30/10 3:41 PM

While Greece’s public debt — which the Goldman currency swaps were designed to help hide — amounts to 113 percent of its GDP currently, it turns out that Greece and its EU partners aren’t the only one keeping debts off the books and using complex accounting techniques to hide them. Mary Williams Walsh reports in The New York Times that many states engaged in the same behavior and, like Greece, are about to face a major reckoning.

..........

New Hampshire and Colorado attempted to use program-specific pots of state money to plug holes in their general treasuries; Connecticut wrote its own accounting rules; Hawaii reduced the length of its school week; and California made its businesses pay their 2010 taxes earlier to make the budget appear more balanced than it is. But one thing every state is doing, including Alaska, is camouflaging its debts by not releasing how much its state employee pension funds will owe — or how far behind it is on its contributions to said pension funds.

Less than a year after then-Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) quit the government to pursue other projects, Alaska leads the way in its debt-to-GDP ratio when its unfunded pension obligations are taken into account, followed by Rhode Island, New Mexico, Ohio and Mississippi. And although Alaska’s ratio is far lower than Greece’s, it does give the state a debt-to-GDP ratio similar to that of Jordan and Palin’s favorite health care resource, Canada, and a higher ratio than Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, India, the Philippines or Uruguay.

LinkHere

Post-Palin Alaska has largest debt burden in US

RNC cancels Young Eagles events

Source: Politico

In the wake of a scandal around the Republican National Committee's sponsorship of an event at a racy Los Angeles club, the committee is putting parts of its Young Eagles program for younger donors on hold.

With traditional major donors shying away from Chairman Michael Steele, the younger donors, many from the finance industry, had increasingly become a mainstay of the committee. But their unconventional style, which included the L.A. event and a planned weekend at a training compound run by the company formerly known as Blackwater, have raised eyebrows.

The Los Angeles event has prompted the RNC to cancel its remaining plans — though the GOP is still hoping the young donors will raise money.

"We will ... be looking at staff structure and measures for checks and balances. We will devise a plan for moving FORWARD with the club," said a Republican official in an e-mail to members of the Young Eagles.
LinkHere

TrollBuster9090=== Awww...and after Tom DeLay did all that work to rig the Congressional districts???

truthisfreedom
Man, ya gotta love Palin. She does the heavy lifting for the Democratic Party!

Source: Washington Independent

Census Returns Way Down in Republican Parts of Texas
By David Weigel 3/30/10 2:31 PM

File this under “problems that we really should have seen coming”: conservatives, egged on by the likes of Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), declining to return census forms and possibly shrinking the political power of states like Texas. The Lone Star State’s return rate for census forms, so far, is 27 percent. The national average is 34 percent. And the data are worse for Republican areas:

In Texas, some of the counties with the lowest census return rates are among the state’s most Republican, including Briscoe County in the Panhandle, 8 percent; King County, near Lubbock, 5 percent; Culberson County, near El Paso, 11 percent; and Newton County, in deep East Texas, 18 percent. Most other counties near the bottom of the list are heavily Hispanic counties along the Texas-Mexico border.

The McCain-Palin ticket carried 74.3 percent of the vote in Briscoe, 92.6 percent in King and 65.5 percent in Newton — although Obama-Biden won tiny Culberson County.

UPDATE: Some friendly folks on Twitter have called this a false meme, so I checked the new data at the Census site. Here are the return rates, so far, for the five most Republican districts in Texas.

King County (92.% for McCain) – 14% return rate, down from 48% in 2000.

Roberts County (92.1% for McCain) – 22% return rate, down from 68% in 2000.

Ochiltree County (91.7% for McCain) – 39% return rate, down from 71% in 2000.

Glasscock County (90.1% for McCain) – 30% return rate, down from 49% in 2000.

Oldham County (88.4% for McCain) – 26% return rate, down from 72% in 2000.

LinkHere

Former GOP Secretary Of State Praises Obama's Handling Of Foreign Affairs

James Baker, Former Secretary Of State, Supports Obama's Handling Of Foreign Affairs

Phxflyer
James Baker: soon to be attacked by tea baggers, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck as a communist sympathizer.

Former H.W. Bush Secretary of State and White House Chief of Staff James Baker conveyed support for "the overwhelming majority of Barack Obama's foreign policy agenda" in an interview last Wednesday night, the Texas Tribune reports.
In a lengthy interview with Evan Smith, founder of the Texas Tribune, Baker spoke on a variety of foreign affairs topics, including the border dynamic between Mexico and the Southwestern United States, the importance of the Middle East peace process, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Foster Parents In Their 80s Have Raised Over 80 Children

Making a difference

Half a million American children are in foster homes, and the need for them persists. NBC Nightly News' "Making A Difference" segment profiles John and Polly Lewis, a married couple in their mid-80s who have been taking in foster children for decades -- and they're still at it.
They've been parents to over 80 children since the mid-1970s and have made a difference in all of those lives. Tony Garrison is a 26-year-old graduate student, but he remembers first coming to the Lewis house when he was eight. He believes that without the guidance of his foster parents, he'd be on the streets

VideoLinkHere

Another dickhead republican with more false claims, that's all they have.

A conservative media activist named Jason Mattera confronted Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) last weekend and has posted video of the incident on YouTube.
In the video, Mattera introduces himself warmly to Franken and then asks him, "Which portions of the health care bill lower costs? Is it the provision giving $7 billion to fund jungle gyms or the provision mandating that employers provide time off for breastfeeding?"
Franken asks him to show him the portion of the legislation that gives "$7 billion to fund jungle gyms." Mattera points to a section of the bill he was carrying with him, but when Franken begins to respond, Mattera interjects: "Why is that the job of the federal government...to create an army of monkey bars? Go ahead, answer it."
=========
The watchdog group Media Matters fact-checked Mattera's claims about a $7 billion jungle gym slush-fund in the health care bill.
The provision Mattera himself reads refers to giving grants to "provide physical activity opportunities" in order to reduce chronic disease. After falsely claiming that the bill contains a provision "giving $7 billion to fund jungle gyms," Mattera reads the provision he's referring to, which contains no mentions of "jungle gyms." In the "Creating Healthier Communities" portion of the Senate version of the bill, under the section "Community Transformation Grants," entities receiving grants may use them toward activities such as "creating healthier school environments, including increasing healthy food options, physical activity opportunities, promotion of healthy lifestyle, emotional wellness, and prevention curricula, and activities to prevent chronic diseases."
You can read the relevant section of the bill in its entirety here.

Karl Rove Chased Off Stage By Code Pink Protester With Handcuffs

Karl Rove Heckled At Book Signing, Called 'War Criminal'

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Anti-war protesters have heckled former White House political adviser Karl Rove off the stage at his book signing in Beverly Hills.
About 100 Rove supporters watched Monday as Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans walked toward him with handcuffs, calling him a war criminal and saying she was making a citizen's arrest.
Ten protesters in all repeatedly interrupted Rove's talk at the Saban Theatre as he promoted his memoir, "Courage and Consequence: My Life As a Conservative in the Fight."
Rove says the allegation that the Bush administration lied about weapons of mass destruction "is a pernicious political attack launched by cynical and hypocritical individuals."
There were no arrests. LinkHere

Republicans the party of "Hell No Tolerance" as the dingbat claims

kimleehan

The GOP is very good at convincing the Independent voter to vote for them, The GOP committed war crimes and human rights abuses, violated American's civil rights by illegally wiretapping them, abandon a major city to a hurricane and caused the worst economical disaster in recent history, And now the Independent voter is about to vote them back in control of congress because the Democrats passed health care reform. How do you figure?

Republicans on the Wrong Side of History

Last week, the Republicans took a big gamble and lost by lining up on the wrong side of history with their battle against health care reform. After the bill passed in Congress, all we heard from Republicans on the 24 hour news channels was, how can Congress pass a bill without even one Republican vote? The answer is...the same way President Clinton passed his Budget Reconciliation Act in 1993. He had to rely solely on Democrats to win passage after not one Republican voted for either his stimulus plan or his budget. Clinton's economic initiatives ultimately brought us the greatest period of prosperity for our country in modern times by creating 23 million new jobs and projecting a federal budget surplus for the first time since 1969.
Conversely, during the time when Republicans held control of the House, Senate and Presidency, they used their power to pass economic policies that led to the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression. Despite this fact, Republicans continue to revise history, accuse Democrats of fiscal irresponsibility and vote in lockstep against President Obama's most important policy initiatives, in their effort to have him fail.
Just this last week, the Senate Banking Committee moved to approve financial reform legislation. Not surprisingly, the panel passed the overhaul bill on a 13-10 vote, without support from one member of the Republican Party. Given that the world economy nearly caved to its knees under Republican stewardship and millions of Americans are still suffering, one would think that at least on this issue, partisanship would not trump good policy.
Health care reform, financial regulation, the economic stimulus, energy policy....the GOP has continually stonewalled legislation to move our country forward. The only victory the GOP can claim after the successful passage of health care legislation is that they stuck together in solidarity to do nothing. The GOP's obsession with seeing the President fail and their refusal to work with the Democrats to better the lives of the American people will come back to haunt them. LinkHere

Jon Stewart Returns And Rips Conservatives For Violent Health Care Fallout (VIDEO)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Health Care Slime Machine
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Daily Show Jon Stewart Destroys Bill Kristol on Health Care - The Ultimate Smackdown! 31/07/2009

Jon Stewart Takes On Healthcare Disinformation Queen Betsy McCaughey 22/08/2009

Liz Cheney, It's Your Father's Fault

Last Monday, a federal judge ordered al Qaeda member Mohamedou Slahi released from Guantanamo Bay. In response, Liz Cheney's fear-mongering ultra-conservative group, Keep America Safe, tweeted "This is BAD." Liz is right. This is bad, and it's her father's fault.
Slahi was cited in the 9/11 Commission Report as a key recruiter for al Qaeda, suspected of recruiting Mohammad Atta and other members of the Hamburg cell involved in the 9/11 attacks. He is a dangerous man who needs to be in custody and should face justice for his role in attacking the United States. Unfortunately, the decisions made by the Bush administration have delayed punishing Slahi for more than seven years. While he should already have been sentenced to life in prison or death for his role in killing 3,000 Americans, Slahi sits in Guantanamo, where he tends to his tomato farm.
Conservatives will argue that the judge's order to release Slahi is somehow the fault of the Obama administration or 'liberal judges,' but three specific Bush administration decisions--pushed by Dick Cheney and now defended by Liz--are responsible for the order to release Slahi: the decision to allow torture of suspected terrorists, the creation of the Guantanamo Bay to detain them, and the failed attempt to use military commissions to prosecute them. Together, these decisions created a system incapable of punishing Slahi, and they now undermine our ability to detain a very dangerous man.
The Bush administration authorized torture. Because of that, we do not have enough admissible evidence to try Slahi in federal court or even in a military tribunal. In 2003 and 2004, military prosecutors wanted to seek the death penalty against Slahi. However, the Marine Corps prosecutor assigned to the case refused to bring charges against him, because, even in a military tribunal, evidence gained from torture is inadmissible.

==========

Conservatives have already taken the opportunity to attack the Obama administration over this ruling, but their anger is directed in the wrong direction. Rather than attack the current administration, they should ask Liz Cheney to give her father a call and ask why his policies have made America less safe and denied justice for the victims of 9/11 and their families

LinkHere

Sit on it Palin McCain!!!!!!

Obama Afghanistan Visit

KABUL — On an Afghanistan trip shrouded in secrecy, President Barack Obama demanded accountability from the country's leaders, greater vigilance against corruption and better governing as he widens America's commitment to the 8-year-old war he inherited and then dramatically escalated.
Obama said the U.S. would not quit in Afghanistan, but he made clear that he's looking for an end to direct involvement in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaida extremists. He drove that point home in meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet in the capital, and in a speech before a cheering crowd of about 2,500 troops and civilians at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul.
At least 945 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count. The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared with the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban's momentum. LinkHere

Netanyahu Adviser Ya’alon: ‘I Do Not Accept’ Any Withdrawal From Settlements

In an interview published today in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Moshe Ya’alon — Israel’s Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Strategic Affairs, and a close adviser of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu — reveals that the lame efforts to resume the negotiations with the Palestinians are just “maneuvers” by the Netanyahu administration. Ya’alon’s comments explain that the gestures made by Netanyahu — from the qualified endorsement of the two-state solution to the decision to partially and temporarily freeze construction in the settlements — are all strategically intended to allow for greater settlement expansion in the future.
“And I say so out of knowledge,” Ya’alon told Yediot. “Nobody in the forum of seven [senior cabinet ministers] thinks that we can reach an agreement with the Palestinians.” Yediot Ahronot reports (print version, translated from Hebrew):
Q: So why all these games of make-believe negotiations? It’s possible to announce that we will not reach an agreement, and that is all.
YA’ALON: Because in the political establishment there are pressures. Peace Now from within and other elements from without. So you have to maneuver. But what I’m saying now has to be given over to the Americans, and I hope that they will understand.
Some of what we have to do is maneuver with the American administration and the European establishment, which are also nourished by Israeli elements, which create the illusion that an agreement can be reached.
Ya’alon disclosed that Netanyahu has made clear that he intends to increase settlement activity as soon as the freeze expires. “The prime minister reiterates all the time,” Ya’alon said, “and also brought a decision to the security cabinet that says clearly, that immediately after the freeze, we will continue to build in Judea and Samaria as we did before.”
Q: Will we evacuate settlements in the end?
YA’ALON: I do not accept that. What has happened to us in recent years obligates us to stop with everything connected to withdrawal.
The Netanyahu administration’s refusal to offer any compromise on settlement expansion in Jerusalem so angered President Obama that the president “walked out of his meeting” with the Prime Minister. The Netanyahu camp is huddling for discussions today, reportedly considering how to respond to Obama’s demands. It remains to be seen whether they will offer genuine accommodation or just more “maneuvers.”
(Hebrew translation provided by Americans for Peace Now.) LinkHere

The Rage Is Not About Health Care

If G.O.P. leaders of all stripes, from Romney to Mitch McConnell to Olympia Snowe to Lindsey Graham, are afraid of these forces, that’s the strongest possible indicator that the rest of us have reason to fear them too.

By FRANK RICH
Published: March 27, 2010
THERE were times when last Sunday’s great G.O.P. health care implosion threatened to bring the thrill back to reality television. On ABC’s “This Week,” a frothing and filibustering Karl Rove all but lost it in a debate with the Obama strategist David Plouffe. A few hours later, the perennially copper-faced Republican leader John Boehner revved up his “Hell no, you can’t!” incantation in the House chamber — instant fodder for a new viral video remixing his rap with will.i.am’s “Yes, we can!” classic from the campaign. Boehner, having previously likened the health care bill to Armageddon, was now so apoplectic you had to wonder if he had just discovered one of its more obscure revenue-generating provisions, a tax on indoor tanning salons.

But the laughs evaporated soon enough. There’s nothing entertaining about watching goons hurl venomous slurs at congressmen like the civil rights hero John Lewis and the openly gay Barney Frank. And as the week dragged on, and reports of death threats and vandalism stretched from Arizona to Kansas to upstate New York, the F.B.I. and the local police had to get into the act to protect members of Congress and their families.
How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht. The weapon of choice for vigilante violence at Congressional offices has been a brick hurled through a window. So far.
No less curious is how disproportionate this red-hot anger is to its proximate cause. The historic Obama-Pelosi health care victory is a big deal, all right, so much so it doesn’t need Joe Biden’s adjective to hype it. But the bill does not erect a huge New Deal-Great Society-style government program. In lieu of a public option, it delivers 32 million newly insured Americans to private insurers. As no less a conservative authority than The Wall Street Journal editorial page observed last week, the bill’s prototype is the health care legislation Mitt Romney signed into law in Massachusetts. It contains what used to be considered Republican ideas.
Yet it’s this bill that inspired G.O.P. congressmen on the House floor to egg on disruptive protesters even as they were being evicted from the gallery by the Capitol Police last Sunday. It’s this bill that prompted a congressman to shout “baby killer” at Bart Stupak, a staunch anti-abortion Democrat. It’s this bill that drove a demonstrator to spit on Emanuel Cleaver, a black representative from Missouri. And it’s this “middle-of-the-road” bill, as Obama accurately calls it, that has incited an unglued firestorm of homicidal rhetoric, from “Kill the bill!” to Sarah Palin’s cry for her followers to “reload.” At least four of the House members hit with death threats or vandalism are among the 20 political targets Palin marks with rifle crosshairs on a map on her Facebook page. LinkHere

With No Jobs, Plenty of Time for Tea Party