Stimulus Funds Finally Working

It's true. Just ask former United States Attorney General and George W. Bush lackey Alberto Gonzales. It seems like there was nowhere for ol' Torquemada to go after leaving the Bush administration Department of Justice (or as Sarah Palin would call it "your department of law there in the White House"). No one would hire him. We all thought it was because he had subverted the rule of law, claimed he had no idea what was going on at the DoJ or didn't know who was actually running things in his office. But now I realize that it was the result of the very early stages of the recession. Now that President Obama's recovery package has started to disburse funds, good ol' Fredo has found employment.

Gonzales, who was Gov. George W. Bush’s lawyer, Texas secretary of state and then a Texas Supreme Court justice before joining Bush in Washington, will be working as an visiting professor in the political science department, teaching a “special topics” course on contemporary issues in the executive branch, according to Dora Rodriguez, a senior business assistant in the department.

...Lawrence Schovanec, interim dean of Texas Tech’s College of Arts and Sciences, was quoted saying: “Judge Gonzales brings a unique experience to our classroom. His career in law, government and public service will provide our political science students a rich perspective of the executive branch and issues and challenges facing our nation.”

(H/T FDL)

If this keeps up...

posted by Armadillo Joe

...I'm going to stop telling people where I went to college.

First it was chair-flinger Bobby Knight. When Indiana fired him, I rejoiced that the S.O.B. was on the street. I thought - "Good. No college would touch that guy. I'm glad he's jobless." Then my alma mater gave him a job.

Now, Gonzo found a job when no one else would take him. Guess where?

...(sigh)...

Go Tech!

This is Going to be Super Classy

Posted by Fraulein

Oh. My. God:

"You would think that the family wants to end this with a bang," "Today" show correspondent Michael Owku, stationed at Forest Lawn, told Meredith Vieira.
"They want to have a great big surprise for all the fans and all the friends that will be gathering there at Staples Center, and what bigger surprise than to suddenly have the casket of Michael Jackson up on stage for the last time?"

What The Fuck, Rahm?!

WSJ: It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday.

"The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest," he said in an interview. "The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable.

...Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama's goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. In that case, private competition has been judged sufficient and the public option has never gone into effect.

...On Monday, Mr. Emanuel said the trigger mechanism would also accomplish the White House's goals. Under this scenario, a public plan would kick in under certain circumstances when competition was judged to be lacking. Exactly what circumstances would trigger the option would have to be worked out.

It's time for Chuck Schumer to step it up and for Senate Democrats to refuse to pass legislation without a public option.

...Some Democrats pushing for a vigorous public plan say the trigger idea isn't good enough. Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in an interview, "If it's not there on day one, those of us who support a public option have a real problem with it."

(H/T Bob Cesca)

UPDATE (10:20am): David Shuster on Twitter:

Sanford Censured

As Major Garrett would say, "What took you so long?"

After nearly four hours of deliberation and multiple rounds of balloting, the South Carolina Republican Party voted Monday night to censure Mark Sanford for secretly traveling overseas to visit his mistress — but stopped short of calling on the governor to resign.

We can't totally blame them. After all, if a schlub like Mark Sanford can get an Argentine hottie to play Evita & Juan then you gotta give him a little credit. So what if he called for the resignation of Bill Clinton when he was in the same situation? Obviously his mistake was that he didn't keep his shenanigans overseas.

So, a little slap on the wrist for a Governor who abandoned his state for almost a week with no information to his whereabouts in case of emergency. But hey, it's okay if you're a Republican.

Another Possible Motivation for Palin

Posted by Fraulein

This weekend I felt as confused by Sarah Palin's rambling press conference as everyone else, but now I think I have a theory about what she's really up to. I agree with Carl that it's possible she simply wants to clear the decks and prepare for a 2012 Presidential run. However, I still think that at some point, as dumb as the leading "thinkers" in the GOP are, these people have to accept that it would be suicide for the party if Palin were to emerge as the front runner. I mean, we can't possibly get that lucky, can we? To have this blithering doofus at the top of the ticket, when she doomed McCain as their Vice Presidential candidate? The Republican base for whatever incomprehensible reason just loves this woman. The rest of the country, not so much.

So here's my alternative theory: it's all about the money. Specifically, money from speeches and a book tour.

Palin herself, although seemingly untroubled by any complicated thought process, still must have at least some dim understanding that a Presidential bid would be doomed from the start. She did like getting to shop for all those expensive clothes though. She loved having the cameras on her, and hearing the cheers of the adoring GOP faithful. What better way to milk what remains of her 15 minutes of fame than "writing" a "book" about her experiences on the campaign trail and giving speeches at fringe right-wing wacko gatherings for some obscene fee? That way she gets to remain "famous," which I think is what she liked the most about the whole campaign anyway, make a shitload of cash, and walk away laughing.

What do you all think -- any other theories?

_____________________________

EDITOR'S NOTE: While my original instinct was that Palin flew the coop to prepare for higher aspirations, I want to make it clear if I haven't before that I think it's the stupidest move she could have made.

Along with most other analyses, I agree that not running for re-election but also flat out quitting her job makes her look like she couldn't hack it. Whether that is true or not is irrelevant. She failed to fulfill one full term in office as Governor of the 4th least populated state while receiving the most federal aid of any state. This further diminishes what little she had on her resumé to begin with. Her penchant for hashing out private matters in the tabloids (see Johnston, Levi) or using the power of her office for intimidation (see Gate, Trooper) makes her seem power hungry and unstable.

And here's the kicker. If Bill Kristol thinks it's a good move, you know it's wrong.

- Broadway Carl

Robert S. McNamara Dies at 93

NY Times: Robert S. McNamara, perhaps the most influential defense secretary of the 20th century, who helped lead the nation into the maelstrom of Vietnam and spent the rest of his life wrestling with the war’s moral consequences, died early Monday at his home in Washington, the Associated Press reported, citing his wife, Diana. He was 93, and according to the news agency, had been in failing health for some time.

I just realized...

.... that after all the Teabagger threats of "Going Galt", someone finally did. And it was Sarah Palin. If you want to look into the mind of a confused faux martyr, with her projection of "superficial wasteful political bloodsport," take a look at Palin's Twitter page.

Perhaps more GOP wingnuts should take Sarah's "lead." Go Galt and watch society die without you. Heh.

Steve McNair Dead at 36

NY Times: Steve McNair, the former N.F.L. quarterback who shared the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 2003, was found shot to death Saturday, the Nashville police said.

McNair, 36, and Sahel Kazemi, a 20-year-old friend, were found dead with gunshot wounds Saturday afternoon in a condominium in downtown Nashville, the police said. McNair had multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head, and Kazemi was found with a single gunshot wound to the head, the police said.

...McNair played for the Tennessee Titans for 11 years, taking them within inches of overtime against the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl after the 1999 season. He retired before the 2008 season after playing for two years in Baltimore. In his 13-year career, he established himself as one of the best quarterbacks of his era and earned the nickname Air McNair.

Music Break! Jimi Hendrix

The Star Spangled Banner



(H/T Andrew Sullivan)

Must Reads

The Declaration of Independence

The Progress Report: The New 'Judicial Activism'

NY Times Editorial: Firefighters and Race

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard: No Justice Today at Guantanamo

Digby: How It Happens

Susie Madrak: Compare and Contrast: A Woman With Pneumonia Goes to The Local Clinic

Bob Cesca: Time for President Obama to Throw Down Against the Corrupt and Spineless

Steve Benen: A Pattern Emerges...

Joe Conason: Suddenly, a Trillion Dollars Is Too Expensive?

Paul Krugman: That 30's Show and Secrets of the WSJ

Robert Gordon: Letter to Obama from a Dying Man

The Rude Pundit: George Washington Would Kick Teabaggers' Asses

Armadillo Joe recommends...

Matt Taibbi: Goldman Sachs is reeling under public pressure

Andrew O'Hehir: The un-American way of life

James Wolcott: Sarah Palin Taunts John McCain with Her Runaway Caboose

Happy Independence Day!

Don't forget to take a few minutes out of your day of sun, fun and barbeque to read the Declaration of Independence and think about what it means to you, and why we celebrate this special day.

President Obama's Weekly Address - July 4, 2009

On the 4th of July, Overcoming America’s Challenges

>

Bigot Fail

"English-Only" Conference Banner Misspells "Conference"

Palin Resigning

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."

Former GOP vice presidential candidate, former Ms. Wasilla Pageant winner and current (at least for now) Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has called a press conference today to announce her resignation from said office in a few weeks.

"I'm not seeking re-election," Palin told a news conference at which she said she would transfer authority to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell.

...Palin said her decision came after much "prayer and consideration." She did not want to waste time on "political blood sport" and cited public criticism of her actions and her family since the 2008 campaign.

And she should know about political blood sport.

So here's my layman's analysis:

Sarah Palin is obviously preparing for a 2012 run at the GOP nomination. If you gave Palin the benefit of the doubt, it would make sense for her not to leave the state of Alaska in the lurch replacing a re-elected Governor with the Lieutenant Governor just a few months into her term to run for President.

But if you're a cynic, to run for a second term in a state where your approval ratings have dropped approximately 25-30 points in the last 8 months and the very possible chance that you can lose that election just before seeking the presidential nomination would be politically suicidal.

I'm guessing it's the latter. Although I don't know who gave her the advice that she would be "out of sight - out of mind" should she truly believe that criticism will escape her if she's not holding office. All she has to do is open her mouth for that to continue.

Sarah 2012? You betcha!

UPDATE (9:45pm): Freak. Show.

And the crowd of tens politely applauds while trying to decipher what the fuck she just said.

Health Care: It's Not About Money (Part 3) - UPDATED

posted by Armadillo Joe

So, this one is for commenter Ed Darrell who seems to have appeared out of nowhere, fully formed, and armed to the teeth with smarts and all kinds of intellectual ammo to smash the wingnuts into oblivion, even the super-keen smart ones. In the comments to my last post, he came swooping in with all kinds of info and expressed an interest in reading the entirety of the exchange with the guy on Facebook. So, I am hereby obliging.

BTW, Ed, I note from your profile page that you live in Dallas. I grew up in the Dallas area and the particular wingnut in question is a high-powered corporate attorney who I went to high-school with and who still lives in Dallas. So, Ed, you can imagine the particular brand of insular corporatized arrogance that represents.

And while we're at it, Ed, who are you and where did you come from? Please feel free to comment all you like. And that goes for the rest of you, as well.

For all you other Blog-O-Maniacs, unless you are interested in a long, tedious and blood-pressure averse blog post, what follows is a tough and not terribly rewarding slog. I only edited the names out to protect the not-so-innocent and the order of a few specific posts for clarity. No words have been added or subtracted.

Enjoy?

UPDATE:
Rereading the thread this morning, I realized that who is whom may not be all that clear. The first commenter is another attorney friend of mine who also lives in Dallas and knows the doofus from later in the thread. She is nice enough, and book-smart, but also has that sort of smug sanctimony one finds in someone who has never really wondered where money for food or rent will come from. Her comments are in green. Mine are in blue. Corporate doofus is in red. All others are in purple.

Happy reading.

---

You posted a link to a news story
June 26 at 9:20am.

Armadillo Joe would like to point out that if you think actual elected members of Congress will be the ones working on making this country's new health care policy, you haven't been paying attention.

---

NPR: Turning The Camera Around: Health Care Stakeholders
Source: www.npr.org

When 22 senators started working over the first health-care reform bill on June 17, the news cameras were pointed at them -- except for NPR's photographer, who turned his lens on the lobbyists. Whatever bill emerges from Congress will affect one-sixth of the economy, and stakeholders have mobilized ...read more…

---

Comments

---

Lawyer friend #1 at 9:42am June 26
Ok, not all lobbyists are bad. Lots of healthcare company lobbyists, but also JDRF and American Heart Association and so on.

Armadillo Joe at 10:22am June 26
yes, that's true. Advocacy for a position is a necessary part of the American system of representative government.

And further, I'm sure even the biggest villains in that room also still love their spouses and children. The problem isn't with any one individual lobbyist's personal morality or professional ethics. The problem is the system itself, wherein the money to buy the access to affect policy is made by engaging in the very practices the policy-makers should be seeking to end.

Put less abstractly, the health-care industry is bloated and ineffective and a great many people make their personal fortunes in the ensuing chaos, which makes them the moral equivalent of war-profiteers. Those profits are then spent in defense of furtherance of the very system in need of reform.

Which is why we never get health-care reform.

Lawyer friend #1 at 10:36am June 26
Ok, so who has a better system?

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

READ THE REST OF THIS EXCHANGE AT "ARMADILLO JOE'S LONG-WINDED OVERFLOW" BLOG-ETTE

Have You No Sense of Decency?

"The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama Bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."

-Michael Scheuer

Isn't that something? Michael Scheuer, along with other neocons and wingnuts care about our country soooo much, they would prefer to have Osama Bin Laden, Mr. Wanted Dead or Alive, the man wanted for the 9/11 attacks, they'd prefer to have him commit another attack, possibly killing thousands of Americans in the process, just to further their warped, twisted agenda.

These are the 'Country First' people. These are the people with 'Support the Troops' magnets on their cars. These are the Birthers, the Palin supporters, the Joe the Plumber fans.These are the people that wanted to bomb Iran before they wanted to save Iran's tainted election in the name of democracy.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any other, ANY OTHER talk show/news show host would allow a statement like that to go unchallenged, let alone agree with it. When does the hysteria end? When does Glenn Beck realize what's over the top? When does he realize what's over the line and what stops being useful discourse?

I know these are all rhetorical questions, because scumbags like Glenn Beck, and Neil Boortz, and G. Gordon Liddy and Michael Savage don't care about decency. Rats like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity worship the Almighty Dollar and could care less what they read off their faxed talking points. To them, it's like a little kid armed with a magnifying glass and watching the reaction of the anthill population after causing a little havoc. They're above it all. Whether they believe in their own bullshit or not, it doesn't affect them.

When do network executives realize it's NOT okay to yell fire in a crowded movie house?

Times Square Tea Party Fail

Imagine my surprise when blocks of 7th Avenue were blocked off for yet another demonstration in Times Square. Iran election? Iraq troop withdrawal? Michael Jackson tribute? No. It was a Tea Party.

Here's a quick pic from my phone.



Maybe about 100 people? Looks like more signs than teabaggers. Here's the rest of the avenue.



Looks like the police had a fairly easy time with crowd control. TEA PARTY FAIL!

Health Care: It's Not About Money (Part 2)

posted by Armadillo Joe

Just like last week, I'm still arguing with that guy on Facebook. Here's the latest exchange:

corporate lawyer/former high-school debater:

When you were talking about the economics, you dropped the inflammatory rhetoric and the ad homs. When you got back to the moral arguments, you started shouting and accusing again. Why is that?

Whether the US government should adopt a single-payer system for health care is not a moral issue, it is a public policy issue. It's an economic question: how much should the gov't tax people, and how much should it pay for their health care?

If you have a single-payer system, then the government will still have to make decisions about what to pay for and how to apportion the money it spends on health care. People who can't afford to pay for additional coverage still suffer and die in systems with government as a single-payer. You seem to imagine that if the gov't is paying, then everyone will get all of the care that they need, but when pushed on that you say you don't imagine everyone will get cradle-to-grave care for everything that affects them. You can't have it both ways.

The unavoidable fact is that resources are scarce, which means decisions must be made about how to apportion them. I get that you want to have the government raise taxes (or borrow money today, then raise taxes on future generations) and use more money on paying for health care. That's fine. I disagree with you that this is the best public policy, or that it will even have the great results you imagine.

The point about DDT is simply this: I think it is bad public policy to ban DDT when it could be used to effectively eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitos and thereby save hundreds of thousands of lives annually. You disagree with me. I don't think that this disagreement makes you an amoral, parsimonious tree-hugger.

The language of morality shouldn't apply because it obscures and inflames the debate. It should be possible to disagree about how governments should spend and regulate without attacking the character of those who disagree.


Armadillo Joe:

Shouting? Ad hominem? Please. This is a spirited exchange of ideas. If I was shouting - I'D BE USING ALL CAPS.

That said, however, please refrain from trying to bait me by disingenuously including a flashpoint like DDT, because we both know that a debate over its use has raged across the political spectrum for decades. Inserting a reference to it is not value-neutral, it is a red-herring that deliberately chums the water.

Also please, stop attaching claims I've never made to my viewpoint via hedging phrases like "you seem to imagine..." then attacking that characterization instead of the specific claim I advance: the definition of a straw man argument. As much as you may wish that I had claimed everyone would get ALL the care they EVER need in life from cradle-to-grave if only the stoopit gov't would just pay for it, because that would be easier for you to rebut, I never did. I'm not a hippie-dippie moonbat imagining a world with no possessions, pining away for a money-free utopia.

Yes, people suffer and die and single-payer will not end that. I'm not trying to have anything both ways. I never claimed that universal coverage was a panacea but a government safety-net can moderate that suffering for the purpose of social stability and distribute the burden of the costs to promote the general welfare. And furthermore, I ask you, how is government bureaucrat making decisions about apportionment any different or worse than the current collusion of income-based rationing with insurance company bureaucrats operating under a steep financial disincentive to provide effective care? Any amount of nationalized health-care -- however mediocre for those who need to use it -- is still 100% better than no care at all and has proven elsewhere in the world to be better than the uneven, unfair, inefficient, often dangerous and grossly expensive system we enjoy now.

France spends half of what we do per capita on health-care and they not only get universal coverage for that money, but also cheaper drugs, lower infant mortality rates and greater life-expectancy. Those who want more coverage (and can pay for it) do so and almost everyone in France so chooses, which has resulted in a robust and very profitable private health-care sector parallel to and largely integrated with the public one. However, those who can't pay anything at all at least have a third option besides death or economic ruin when faced with mounting medical bills. The social instability engendered should that kind of human suffering metastasize should be easy to imagine.

And, finally, you dismiss the use of moral language as obscuring and inflammatory, but I posit that as long as the debate remains a dry, measured exchange of policy prescriptions -- as though we're debating a change in library hours at a town council meeting rather than mitigating preventable suffering -- we ignore to our peril the deeper structural inequities in American life as embodied in our broken health-care system. Moral language clarifies the stakes, whereas your framing of the issues -- trying to make it about nothing more than policy and economics -- obscures the deepening supremacy of this issue in so many American lives.

Policy and economics are but tools, means to an end. Morality is the impetus.

Thus, what you characterize as impugning the character of the opposition is in fact a reaction to complacency -- whether from apathy or smugness or fear or parsimony -- in the face of overwhelming evidence for action.

Pina Bausch Dies at 68

NY Times: Pina Bausch, the choreographer and exponent of the Neo-Expressionist form of German dance known as Tanztheater, died Tuesday in Wuppertal. She was 68.

The Wuppertal Dance Theater in western Germany, where she had served as director, announced the death. It did not give the cause, but said Ms. Bausch’s "unexpectedly fast" death came five days after a cancer diagnosis, the Associated Press reported.

The Rite of Spring

Karl Malden Dies at 97

LA Times: Karl Malden, one of Hollywood's strongest and most versatile supporting actors, who won an Oscar playing his Broadway-originated role as Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire," died today. He was 97.

Tweet of the Day

The Pandemic of Stupid (Part Three: The Michele Bachmann Edition)

Minnesotans should be completely embarrassed having this moonbat represent their state. Michele "Armed and Dangerous" Bachmann's latest conspiracy theory involves the evil Barack Obama and the use of information in the upcoming 2010 Census.

Now the Census, for those that don't know, has been around since Thomas Jefferson in 1790. A Founding Father. But that doesn't matter to Bachmann. She's convinced these personal questions are an invasion of privacy and doesn't know what the evil government (the government she is a part of) would do with such vital information like her phone number. Because we all know it's impossible for the government to get that information unless provided by the customer. The telecom companies would never surrender than kind of vital info.

Well, Michele, the U. S. Constitution (Article I, Section II) requires that there be a census every ten years in order to apportion the seats in the House of Representatives among the states. That would be to assure idiots like Bachmann have a job. Census information is also used by federal, state and local governments to assess needs and allocate funding, by academics to study the changing population, by individuals to trace their genealogy, and for many other purposes.

Besides the fact that you are subject to prosecution if you refuse to answer census information and Bachmann insisting she will not comply with the census next year, the killer is this little nugget: she is upset that they ask for all this very personal information, but don't ask if you are an American citizen. Listen to the MENSA conversation between Bachmann and Sean Hannity.



Really? Is there no question in the US Census asking if you are an American citizen? Surely that has to be an oversight, and an egregious one at that. Could Bachmann be correct? ...Of course not.

Section 3: Page 18, Question 8



Of course, Bachmann also brings ACORN into the mix, just one of over 250 organizations used by the government in compiling information of over 300 million people. I always knew that some ultra-conservatives righties were nuts when they were in power, but now that they're out of power they are freaking out and coming out of the woodwork faster than the zombies in Night of the Living Dead.

Here's Stephen Colbert's take on the Census (Thanks to Annette for the video).




(H/T GottaLaff)

UPDATE (3:30pm): Rachel Weiner: Michele Bachmann's Cenus Opposition Worries GOP

Three Republican congressman have publicly chastised fellow Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for declaring that she would not fill our her census form.

"Boycotting the constitutionally mandated Census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country," said Reps. Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives in a statement Wednesday.

...Roll Call reports that the three congressmen approached Bachmann privately and asked her to stop the boycott. They went public because Bachmann "appeared unfazed by their request."