YES, It Has Come to This

Will Marry for Health Insurance dot com.

Not a joke. The real deal. Desperate woman with a story that I can very much relate to.

Fuck.

H/T to Thom Hartmann for interviewing her today.

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The Last Chance

Recently, after President Obama's State Of The Union speech, I wanted to have a different dialogue with my conservative family over politics. Take Obama's advice, stop the same old arguments and vitriol. Unfortunately, the results were not surprising.

I'll keep it short. It went something like this... Obama didn't inherit any problems from bu$h, and he should have solved the economic crisis facing the U.S. by now. The bu$h "Tax Cuts" for plutocrats have helped the American worker. "The Housing Bubble" was created by Democrats because they wanted everyone to own a home, regardless of the deceptive lending practices. True documented facts aren't history... unless it's the new fake facts, which make it solid conservative history. Why should they pay for the "Health Care Reform", when they have insurance. The old standards still hold true, "Greed is Good" and "Gay Rights" equals tolerance for pedophiles. Abolishing the Fairness Doctrine did not open the door for Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Nullifying the Glass-Steagall Act was good "Free Market" Capitalism. The recent Supreme Court decision favoring corporate contributions still leaves individuals on equal footing. There was no long term conservative agenda or right wing conspiracy stemming from The Powell Memo, (yet, refused to read it). Don't call conservatives racists if they oppose Obama's policies, especially those conservatives who do not confront and protest the creation, spreading and/or laughing at Obama jokes; but it was fine to call Progressives and Liberals traitors when they opposed the Iraq war Americans were lied into by the bu$h administration. And the funniest line of all, conservatives don't watch FOX NEWS.

I honestly tried to start the conversation in a positive manner. I mentioned that we must have some common ground and proceed from there, I even complimented them by saying, "At least conservatives have stuck to a long term agenda for what they think is right for the country." After family values and honesty, we started to move in different directions and the discussion started to fade fast. I gave in on "National Security", but mentioned we spend too much money on it. I agreed on "self-sufficiency" after everyone from all social classes has equal opportunity. One major sticking point on "freedom from too much government", came when I said, "Then you must let the individual decide what is right for themselves, such as a Woman's right to choose." The conversation quickly moved to "Right to Life", and I mentioned it's fine for conservatives to want the baby to be born but don't support government programs for the child when he's growing up. I couldn't get any of them to concede on gun restrictions for inner cities. Since the conversation got tied up with Corporate America's rights, we didn't even get to the environment and climate change.

I will say it started genteel enough, but after awhile it was back to the same old caustic arguments. I now know it is useless to talk to these automatons, even if they are family. They are the most shallow, thick, misinformed, obtuse group of riffraff I have ever known. This was the last chance. I will stop wasting energy and effort reaching out for a middle ground... their thought process is closed off for new ideas, deeply entrenched and rooted in ignorance. I'm proud that I gave an effort but learned Progressives must outlast and persevere. Progressives cannot ever trust conservatives, they are like "The Terminator", and will not ever stop! I know the truth is on our side. Sorry President Obama, nothing has changed the conservative mindset.

cross posted at Left is Right

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Sorry Arlen, You Can't Have It Both Ways

Ok, Arlen we get it... Specter Won't Back Public Health Care Or Employee Free Choice Act. Claims he won't be a loyal Democrat. Then I say no support! Obama do not campaign for him... no funding from the DNC... what good will he do if we throw money his way without him voting for issues important to Democrats. It's imperative that we come up with a solid Progressive challenger in the Democratic Primary. Force him to play ball... we do not need another "Blue Dog 'Dino' Dem!"

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Take a Long Walk on a Short Pier

The fucking nerve! On the House's $3.6 trillion budget blueprint...

Republicans have warned that the prospects for bipartisanship will all but vanish if majority Democrats attempt to muzzle them.

Am I missing something here? Could the republi-cons first demonstrate some bipartisanship! I'm sorry, 3 lousy votes on the stimulus package doesn't cut it.

UPDATE: h/t Think Progress

President Obama’s budget passed the House and Senate yesterday, by votes of 233-196 and 55-43, respectively. No Republicans voted for the budget in either chamber. Twenty House Democrats voted against the budget.

Please, continue being republi-con obstructionists... the American people are making you the most ignored political party in our history.

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"Mysteries of Logical Reasoning"

(1) Anyone who favors marijuana legalization just wants to get high without being hassled, and anyone who favors drug decriminalization generally is or wants to be a drug user. (2) Anyone who opposes a return to alcohol prohibition is almost certainly an out-of-control drunk. (3) Anyone who cares about gay marriage or advocates for equal rights for gay couples is a closet homosexual who just wants to have sex with people of the same gender. The only reason anyone would care about that issue is if one wants to have gay sex. (4) Anyone who believes in free speech rights for Communists obviously opposes private property ownership and craves Stalinism. Anyone who believes in free assembly rights for neo-Nazis secretly admires Hitler. (5) Anyone who believes abortion should be legal just wants to have reckless sex without consequences. (6) Anyone who advocates habeas corpus rights for accused terrorists or who opposes torture harbors sympathy for Islamic extremism and approves of indiscriminate violence against civilians. (7) Anyone who opposes unrestrained government surveillance must be doing bad things in private that they want to hide. (8) Anyone who believes in the freedom to practice a certain religion is probably an adherent of that religion and is motivated by a desire to practice it without interference. Why is most everyone capable of understanding the egregious, illogical stupidity of propositions (2)-(8) -- based on the bleedingly obvious premise that one can advocate the freedom to do X for reasons other than a desire to do X -- while so many people embrace the equally illogical and stupid reasoning of proposition (1) as though it so self-evidently true that it requires no discussion? -- Glenn Greenwald

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A Feel Good Story of the Holiday Season

Who here can't resist "throwing a big shoe" at bu$h? I know I can't... what this young man did took some "Grande Huevos" and should be taught in schools as a way of protesting any corrupt regime, government or monarchy. Anything to delay the (illegal) process of an out going pResident from screwing over the populace during their last 60 days in office.

Tim DeChristopher Throws Utah Oil And Gas Drilling Leases Auction Into Chaos

An environmental activist tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases Friday by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them, a federal official said.

The process was thrown into chaos and the bidding halted for a time before the auction was closed, with 116 parcels totaling 148,598 acres having sold for $7.2 million plus fees.

"He's tainted the entire auction," said Kent Hoffman, deputy state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah.

Hoffman said buyers will have 10 days to reconsider and withdraw their bids if they think they paid too much.

Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old University of Utah economics student, said his plan was to disrupt the auction and he feels he accomplished his goal.

DeChristopher won the bidding on 13 parcels, auction records show, and drove up the price of several other pieces of land.

"I thought I could be effective by making bids, driving up prices for others and winning some bids myself," the Salt Lake City man said.

Some bidders said they were forced to bid thousands of dollars more for their parcels, while others fumed that they lost their bids...

My wish for the Holiday Season is that Tim DeChristopher has a lot of donations to help his legal fund and the federal court drags this into the Obama Administration. Then an immediate pardon from Obama.

We will know right away if Obama will fight for what is environmentally right! This case will also test Ken Salazar upon confirmation: Will he fight big corporations and their explotation of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management? Or will he stand with the environmentalist?

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Solstice, Wonderful Kwanzaa and Happy New Year.

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Idiosynchronic: Rest Easy

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Except for copying - that is the very greatest form of flattery.

The Progressive is calling for "Shoeing Bush Out."

Last night, as I said, I received an email on a Democratic District group asking us to send Bush our shoes.

There are numerous posts out there about it.

I have even read posts of people who have already done it.

The only thing that I have not yet seen is the call to include directions to forward them to charity. I think that we should create the PDF instructions directing them to do so and then all of these other places can link to us! It is not easy always being the "Linker". I think that it is high time the L&L Pt 2 is the "Linkee".

Addendum: (by id) dday has observed that the Iraqis are getting pissed over the incarceration and probable beating of al-Zaidi. Now someone has to sit and really think of what do we put on the sheet. The earliest I may get to it is Friday morning.

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Let's Play

The TeeVees are all in a twitter over who Obama will appoint as Labor Secretary.

Although he is desperately needed at the UAW, I think that it would send a great message to appoint Gettelfinger.

If not Gettelfinger, I would like to see John Edwards. I know. I know. However, I think that Edwards proved that he will take on the business, corporate and monied interests in a big way.

Who would you like to see nominated?

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What I Refuse to Learn

Discouragement is the death of most good ideas. And so it is with Idiosynchronic’s shoe plan. I refuse to allow discouragement and a bunch of cranky turn the page cynics to ruin a good idea. Spplttt! Phoeey! No way.

First of all, Id, what can we do to help? Seriously. What tasks do you need help with? The answer is always “no” until you ask.

I saw over on TLC that one of the commenters had already sent a pair of size 10 shoes. It is happening organically; we will just take the organic movement and add to it. The idea is to make certain that enough people send the shoes that the media picks it up. They are still reporting on the story – we have a short period of time.

This is what I see as the steps that need to occur.

1. Do not get discouraged by the dicks. There are always dicks...we shall overcome!

2. I do not have Adobe. Does anyone here have the ability to create a PDF?

3. Let's actually get the PDF created before we proceed. Let's keep it simple. What are the things that should be included in the PDF?

a. A statement. My vote is for something like "We stand with the citizens of Iraq. We are sorry for the invasion and the destruction of your country. This is for the women and the children" [or whatever it was that the journalist said...it will not take long to find the quote.]

b. Something to the effect of "Mr. Muntadar al-Zaidi should be released immediately and President Bush should apologize for not coming to his aid sooner. Although we do not advocate violence in any way, we understand the frustration of the Iraqi people and Mr. Muntadar al-Zaidi should be released and an envoy should be sent to hear him, to understand his concerns and to understand why he felt that he needed to take the actions that he did. The only way that healing can happen is for open dialogue to take place."

c. “These shoes are a statement of our frustration. The American people have been ignored for far too long in this process. You work for us. We do not want this occupation in Iraq to continue. Bring the troops home now."

d. “These shoes should be donated to x, y, z and a... [List the charities, contact info and the recycler.]"

e. What else should we include? Trying to keep it simple - but what else do you think that we should include?

4. Include also shipping options. SoS votes UPS [are they completely US and completely Union? Let's state that.] I like the USPS, because the post office has been suffering for so long and these are government jobs and government monies so it will help the National Debt. Government jobs are Union [at least they had that right up until last week when Dubya changed some BS rule.]

5. After the PDF is created then we all need to branch out and post where ever we can. I will post at TPM, someone post again at KOS (we can all go and recommend) someone can post again at TLC (maybe we can email Erin) and someone can post at HuffPo, SoS can post at Left is Right, I will post at PAS (not that anyone goes there...but the web crawlers will pick up the words) and we should make sure that we include a link to the stories at NYT and WaPo, etc because those links bring traffic.

Let's get busy. We can do this with very little effort. Especially if we act as a team.

(Note: previously posted in the comments.)

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If the Shoe Fits

Originally posted at the author's home base of Low & Left Part Deux

How often is it that we not only get to tell someone what's on our mind and do the right thing? Not to mention channel a little holiday giving?

We don't get to throw our shoes at the President. It's illegal, both in terms of assault as well as god-knows what laws in the post 9/11 world. As has been joked about the guy in Iraq, we'd be risking GitMo or an extended stay with "outsourced detention" in Syria. And if you used foot powder that morning . . may God have mercy on your soul.

That doesn't mean we can't send him our shoes to make sure he gets the point.

The plan: gather up your old shoes, box 'em and then send them to the President. Include a message that gets the point across. That message should also tell the President what charities will take your shoes - There's a bunch out there, not including the local Goodwill or Catholic Charities. Go buy new shoes if you want to make a better donation.

- - - -

This project is at the idea stage - I believe we should create printable PDF that donators can use to include in their care packages to make it as easy as possible. Other than that, we/I am looking for improvements to this idea, where you think the best destination address is (The White House or The Ranch?), or a better tone to the message to encourage donations for the right reasons, just not mere cynicism.

Post your comments and ideas to the thread at this blog or at Low and Left, or email your comments to the author, idiosynchronic, at Gmail.

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