…and it has been a VERY busy couple of days, leaving us with a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started…

POLITICIANS BEHAVING BADLY:

• The request made a year ago for Sarah Palin’s emails…still unfulfilled by the Governor’s Office, that usually responds to such “public record requests” in TEN DAYS.  The department says that it sometimes takes longer for “complicated” requests…but since we all know that pulling up archived emails is not complicated, some are asking what the delay REALLY signifies.
• Senator Kyl (R-AZ) may have really stepped in it when he mocked women’s need for Maternity Care to be covered by their insurance…saying it wasn’t fair to include it because, in his words: “I don’t need maternity care.”  Not only have ads been run in his state, to make women aware of Kyl’s statements…but now mothers are showing up at his Senate Office in protest.  It certain doesn’t help Kyl and the GOP’s image with women voters, that they voted AGAINST an amendment that would bar companies from getting government contracts…if they pressure female employees not to file harassment claims.
• In an increasingly disturbing trend involving Republicans attempting label Democrats as “enemies” of America, Representative Paul Broun (R-GA) referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a “domestic enem[y] of the Constitution.“  Broun wasn’t finished: “When I was sworn into the Marine Corps, I was sworn to uphold the Constitution against every enemy, foreign and domestic.  We’ve got a lot of domestic enemies of the Constitution and one of those sits in the speaker’s chair of the United States Congress, Nancy Pelosi.“  Broun, when you were sworn into the Marine Corps, you were also sworn to obey and respect your Commander in Chief…but that didn’t stop you from calling Obama “Hitler.“  Maybe you didn’t understand your oath?
• Of course, Broun isn’t the only one lobbing insults at Pelosi…the National Republican Congressional Committee said Pelosi should “be put in her place” over her remarks about Afghanistan.  Number of Republican, female legislators and Republican women’s groups willing to declare the statement sexist and inappropriate:  ZERO.  Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)…no.  Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)…nope.  Representative Sue Myrick (R-N.C.)…nuh uh.  Representative Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio)…not a word.  Representative Mary Bono Mack’s (R-CA)…no way.  The list of shame goes on, and on…sad.
• Robert Lowry, the Republican running against Representative Wasserman Schultz in her bid for re-election…well, he thought it would fun at a “shooting event” to shoot at a target, which showed the silhouette of a body, and upon which Wasserman Schultz’s initials had been written next to the head of the target.  First he tried to call it a “joke“…and then later said it was a “mistake.”  You were right the second time Lowry…it’s a big mistake.
• That’s right:  the latest defense bill…the Republicans are voting against it…because it also has provisions that would protect gay people against violence.  Message received: The GOP believes in defending America’s citizens…just not if they’re gay.
• Paul Krugman has written an interesting column about the GOP’s current “politics of spite:”  that they will vote against anything, no matter how worthwhile, if it came from the President or other Democrats.  How else can you explain that THIRTY Republican Senators voted against Al Franken’s bill to punish government contractors who “restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court?“  The Senators who voted against the bill are:

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

THE MEDIA -- PUNDITS, HACKS, AND OTHER INVETERATE LIARS:

• It was a hard week for FOX’s Sean Hannity.  First…former comedian and now noticeably UNFUNNY political hack, Dennis Miller (what happened to you, Dennis…seriously) appeared on the O’Reilly Factor.  After Miller was done poking fun at CNN and MSNBC…he went after Hannity and Beck.  Of course…after that, he kissed O’Reilly’s behind…and Beck’s…and Roger Ailes’…and all the women on FOX…yick.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM3FZtTnQhA

• Next up in Hannity’s “not-so-hot” week…his smear campaign against Kevin Jennings, who President Obama has appointed Assistant Deputy Secretary at the Department of Education for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, was derailed by Hannity’s guest, George Stephanopoulos.  Hannity was, as usual, attempting to misrepresent Jennings as some sort of “lefty-gay-activist-who-is-going-to-turn-all-kids-gay“…but George wasn’t having any of it, and points out that the facts just aren’t on Hannity’s side:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYaZVZKBhW4

• The third “Hannity Fail” came when Hannity decided he had what it took to face off against filmaker Michael Moore’s facts…armed only with his usual assumptions and generalizations:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dptz3PnOPJ8

• Saturday, we wrote about conservatives rejoicing over America’s loss (regarding the Olympics)…simply because it is also a loss for Obama.  We also mentioned that one conservative set aside partisanship and actually wrote a column thanking the President for trying to bring the Olympics (and the resulting pride, revenues, and JOBS) back to our country.  That conservative was talk show host, and former Republican legislator, Joe Scarborough.  So what can we expect when a conservative takes a “time out” to behave like a reasonable, patriotic American?  That’s right…Rush Limbaugh  has decided to pronounce Scarborough a “neutered chickified moderate.“  You have to appreciate that Scarborough, unlike so many other conservatives to face Rush’s wrath, did not back down: “I would be careful if I had put my testicles in a blind trust for George W. Bush for eight years.  So now, I guess what you do to prove that you’re a real conservative, because you weren’t a real conservative over the past eight years, you call the president names.” Yowch!
• As one last item…let’s watch Stephen Colbert mock Glenn Beck’s breathless and weepy fearmongering, as only Colbert can…

THE OVAL OFFICE:

• President Obama…has won the Nobel Peace Prize.  For his work to advance nuclear disarmament, foster better relations with Muslim countries, and to encourage cooperation towards shared goals, Obama has been awarded the most prestigious peace award the international community can bestow.  The citation reads, in part, “Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics,” the citation read, in part. “Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts.“  Two very interesting groups have received this news with disgust and outrage: American conservatives…and Taliban/Al Qaeda/Terrorist organizations.  In fact…Rush Limbaugh went as far as to say, “Our president is a worldwide joke. Folks, do you realize something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn’t deserve the award. Now that’s hilarious, that I’m on the same side of something that the Taliban, and that we all are on the same side as the Taliban.“  Are you sure that’s what you really want to say, Rush…that you side with TERRORISTS against the PRESIDENT?  Joe Scarborough and his guests voiced a very different complaint…that receiving an “international award” can ONLY be seen as a bad thing.  Scarborough said, “The upside is the Nobel Prize committee that has had suspect selections in the past has just befuddled a lot of people across the world,” and Time‘s Mark Halperin added, “I predict right now that he will find a way to basically turn it down…I think he is going to say, I share this with the world or whatever. I don’t think he’ll embrace this. Because there is no upside.“  Really?  The Nobel Peace Prize?  I mean…really?  You’re going to call receiving it a NEGATIVE event?
• Saturday Night Live chose to use its knack for scathing political satire to point out a more common complaint about President Obama…he just hasn’t done that much.  And given that we still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Wall Street remains unregulated, we’re told not to expect Climate Change legislations, and they say that Obama will start to fight for gay people’s civil liberties at the “right time“…it seems SNL may have a good point:

THE HEALTH CARE CARNIVAL OF DESPAIR:

• Health Care Reform has a new ally:  former Presidential candidate, and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kansas).  Not only did Dole predict that the bill will be signed in 2010…he explained exactly why Republicans are opposing it: “Sometimes people fight you just to fight you.  They don’t want Reagan to get it, they don’t want Obama to get it, so we’ve got to kill it…Health care is one of those things.  Now we’ve got to do something.“  Dole warned, as other analysts have, that blind opposition to reform will, in the end, help the President politically and hurt the GOP.  As more distinguished GOP leaders from days past come forward and make these assertions…it seems to be having an impact, and there is some word that the GOP might be scrambling to find ways to both save face and vote for the bill.  RedState.com’s Erick Erickson reports,  “I am told quite reliably that in a meeting today on Capitol Hill, Republican Senators began to rapidly move toward concessions on health care because they are afraid they cannot hold their members. Some Republicans are now thinking of supporting a government program.“
• There’s new life in the “public option” and some are calling it the “opt-out public option.”  Details are few, but it appears that it would involve a government-run insurance plan…and states could choose not to allow it in their state.  Democrats and several Republicans seem nominally on board with this, with two primary concerns:  One…is it a “robust” version of the public option, or a watered down one.  Two…how many people will it truly help, if many states choose not to implement it?  The first seems a valid concern, while the second does not.  Our prediction: If states choose NOT to allow their citizens the option to buy affordable public insurance in their state…it will be political suicide for those governors and legislators.  People will leave states that don’t offer it…and will vote out of office the people responsible for not allowing it to be purchased, particularly once word gets out that the people who DO purchase it in other states, are very pleased with it.
• Hilda and Krikor Sarkisyan travelled with friends and supporters to the CIGNA headquarters in Philadelphia to speak to the CEO…and to complain that his company’s actions had KILLED THEIR DAUGHTER.  CIGNA had refused to pay for their daughter’s liver transplant because they said that the completely proven and established surgery was…wait for it…”too experimental.”  CIGNA eventually, following protests, changed its mind, but it was too late for Nataline Sarkisyan.  While there, several CIGNA employees on a balcony decided to show their support and sympathy for the Sarkisyans…by heckling them and making obscene gestures, and eventually the police were called to remove the Sarkisyans from the property.  CIGNA’s HR Director’s response: “I was very disappointed to learn of the behavior of one of our employees when you were at our company’s headquarters.  I sincerely regret this individual’s offensive and inappropriate action.  Please know that he did not represent the views of our company or the views of other employees who work here. We deeply empathize with you and wish you peace and comfort in your loss.“  Sorry…I don’t think one smarmy letter from your company’s HR hack is going to smooth this one over.  To make matters worse, the Sarkisyan’s can’t take legal action:  A 1987 Supreme Court ruling shields CIGNA from lawsuit.
• Still haven’t seen Keith Olbermann’s special on Health Care Reform?  See it here.  Seriously, go watch it now…we’ll wait right here for you to come back.

MISCELLANY:

• Dick Cheney has been noticeably absent from the talk show circuit as of late…most likely because he is about to be under serious investigation regarding his part in the “Valerie Plame Scandal” and his part in authorizing torture, or perhaps because President Obama has now made substantial gains in the area of counter-terrorism.  Liz Cheney, after a few public debacles where defending her father’s ideology served only to make her appear insufficiently informed on all topics, has similarly been off the radar.  But that’s all ok…because there is still ANOTHER Cheney:  Mary Cheney.  That’s right…The latest of the family to grab headlines is Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter…who is now pregnant, and on the way towards having her second child with her partner, Heather Poe.  Well, since Dick Cheney has come out supporting his daughter fully, and has switched to a “pro-gay marriage” stance, I’m sure that the rest of the conservative community will be totally fine with this.  What’s that?  Oh…maybe not.  Here is just a sampling of the nauseating reactions gathered from the conservative site, the Free Republic, by Pam Spaulding:

“I respect Dick Cheney, but I don’t understand why he is allowing his daughter to take innocent children into her lesbianic home. Can anyone claim that these kids won’t be scarred for life? So sad.

Also repugnant, IMNSHO, is the use of ‘they are expecting a child’ when, for obvious reasons ‘they’ could not POSSIBLY have conceived. It is the slight [sic] of hand that the left does with rediculous [sic] name reversals (like ‘FAMILY PLANNING’) that implies something that in fact does just not happen…

As much as I don’t like it, God will have to sort this out in the end.

Who is the father? Yes, you selfish lesbians, there is ALWAYS a father. Not that the baby will benefit from one. sick.

I wonder if Hallmark makes a card for this occasion? Yathink? Congratulations on your baster bastard?”

• 75 years ago, the Veterans of Foreign Wars erected a cross in the Mohave Desert, to commemorate soldiers who lost their lives in WWI.  The problem:  it’s federal land, and a former National Parks employee (who, it should be noted, is a devout Catholic) says that he has no problems with crosses…he just has a problem with a cross on public land.  Citing the Separation Of Church and State, this employee also points out that the memorial is clearly unfair to soldiers who were Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or who practiced any faith (or no faith) other than Christianity.  It’s a good thing we have nine clear-headed Supreme Court Justices who can settle this easy dispute.  Or….maybe there are only eight clear-headed Justices…here’s Antonin Scalia: “It’s erected as a war memorial. I assume it is erected in honor of all of the war dead.  What would you have them erect?…Some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Muslim half moon and star?…I don’t think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that’s an outrageous conclusion.“  Yes…that’s Antonin Scalia, who holds one of the highest positions in the land…saying that a cross REPRESENTS EVERYBODY.

Let’s hope for a quiet weekend…some of these folks could use a little “quiet reflection time.”  Until Monday…have a great one.

On Thursday, we wrote of the outrage from conservatives and the right-wing media over President Obama’s 18 hour trip to Copenhagen, Denmark…so that he could lobby for the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Chicago, Illinois…

On Friday, we mentioned in our regular “Chaos Theory” edition that Chicago lost out in the first round of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) voting, and that the Olympics would instead be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  We also wrote that conservative commentators and bloggers were rejoicing that Obama had failed in his attempt to bring the event to America…

And then…this clip was released on the internet:

First reaction to seeing this…disgust.  This is a gathering of the so-called “Americans For Prosperity,” cheering at the announcement that the Olympic games would not be held in America.  They obviously believe that they are cheering because “Obama failed“…but without realizing it, they are also cheering that:

-  America…during a time of financial crisis…will NOT receive the projected $22 billion dollars in revenue.

-  The 300,000 new jobs the Olympics would have created over the next seven years, starting immediately…gone.

-  The $11 billion dollars in new income the jobs would have injected into our system…gone.

For them, as long as Obama “fails“…it is acceptable that people stay unemployed…it is acceptable that those hundreds of thousands of people continue to struggle and suffer, it is acceptable that the economy still struggles…it is acceptable that another country’s prestige and economy benefits, instead of OUR country.

Now expand this deeply calloused, and fundamentally flawed thinking to other items on the national agenda…why is it that they are hoping that Obama fails to reform health care…why is it that they are praying that he fails in addressing problems in the Middle East…why is it that some of them seem to hope for a terrorist attack, in order to somehow prove Obama has made us “less safe“…why is it that they openly admit that they hope Obama stumbles in attempting to resurrect the economy?  It’s simple: as long as Obama fails, for these people, they are indifferent to the loss of American life, American jobs, and American safety and security.

And then, as if to say “we are not all like that,” morning show host and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough wrote the following in his column on The Huffington Post titled “Thank You, Mr. President,” which I offer here in its entirety:

“Count me as one conservative who is disappointed that President Obama’s hometown will not be hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.

Chicago is a beautiful city that would have made a perfect backdrop for the Olympics. The President was right to fly to Copenhagen to try to land the games, not for the sake of his city, but for the good of his country. The fact President Obama failed makes me respect him more for taking the chance, and the fact many right-wing figures opposed the President’s mission shows just how narrow-minded partisanship makes us all.

For the better part of 20 years, a bitterness has infected our politics that has weakened our country.

We Republicans spent eight years trying to delegitimize Bill Clinton.

Democrats spent the next eight years doing the same to George W. Bush.

Now that a Democrat is in the Oval Office again, it is the GOP who is trying to delegitimize a sitting president.

When I try to talk to Republicans about the need to break this cycle of viciousness, some cite the chapter and verse of every hateful left wing attack against George W. Bush.

Whenever I attempt to have a conversation with some Democrats about the need for us respect our president– whether he be an Obama or a Bush– I am told that Bush deserved whatever he got because he was a lying war criminal who hated the Constitution and loved torturing people.

Fortunately, there are a growing number of Americans who believe we cannot continue going on this way.

You and I may disagree on how the CIA handled terror suspects. But that does not mean that you are soft on terrorism anymore than it means that I hate the Constitution.

You and I may have a different approach to Afghanistan. But just because you want to stay there another five years doesn’t mean you are an imperialist. And if I believe a decade in that forsaken land is more than enough, that doesn’t mean I’m soft on al Qaeda or the Taliban.

It just means that we view the world differently.

That creative tension–that intense give and take–has been what has kept America strong since Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton fought like hell in George Washington’s White House.

Hamilton wanted a strong centralized government while Jefferson believed that the government that governed least governed best.

Both men were frustrated by the checks and balances that stood in the way of their agendas, but that debate shaped America for years to come.

But something has gone terribly wrong.

Today on Morning Joe, NBC News Legend Tom Brokaw remarked to Pat Buchanan about how the level of partisanship is even more intense today than during the depths of the Watergate crisis. Brokaw was commenting on Congressman Grayson’s comments, but he could have easily been talking about Joe Wilson or death panels or the bizarre claim that the President “hates all white people.”

Some of the rhetoric is dangerous. But what we saw from some conservative corners regarding the President’s failed Olympics bid was just plain stupid.

I’m happy for Rio and think it is past time that South America got a chance to host the Olympic Games. But put me down as one conservative who is glad my president flew across the ocean to try to bring the 2016 Games to America.

Nice try, President Obama. And thanks for taking time away from your young girls for the sake of your hometown and your country, Michelle. I know that’s never an easy thing to do.“

Good for you, Joe.  And he’s right:  I, myself, am at times guilty of ascribing the most depraved qualities to those I disagree with…when really all that exists is a difference of opinion and/or perspective.  But Joe…when people cheer for America’s loss, simply because it is also Obama’s loss…what attributes am I supposed to ascribe to them?

THE MEDIA -- PUNDITS, HACKS, AND OTHER INVETERATE LIARS:

• During the Bush administration, both the press and public frequently complained about the lack of transparency in the White House, the lack of availability of the president to meet with the press, and refusal of the president or the press secretary to provide answers to questions.  Now that we have a president who is willing to FULLY answer questions, and who has made the actions of our government more transparent…these same people gripe that he is “over-exposed.“  This hypocrisy was not lost on Jon Stewart of The Daily Show:

• It is nice to see that even conservative pundits and politicians are starting to denounce false and inflammatory rhetoric, such as is regular seen on Glenn Beck’s show on any given day.  Morning Joe host and former Republican Congressman, Joe Scarborough not only publicly reprimanded Beck for his “hateful” and “racist” words…but also says he is creating an “honor roll” of like-minded conservatives who want to call an end to violent and incendiary tactics.  THAT…would indeed be very honorable.  Here’s a clip from Morning Joe on the subject:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5woLGnwN2I4

• Speaking of Beck…in an except from his book, where he is attempting to explain to the rest of us what the founding fathers intended, he refers to a little-known passage in the Constitution:  “Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.” Beck responds, “That’s right, the Founders actually put a price tag on coming to this country: $10 per person. Apparently they felt like there was a value to being able to live here. Not anymore. These days we can’t ask anything of immigrants.“  Of course, what Beck fails to realize is the the “$10” wasn’t some fee that immigrants paid to enter the country because they saw the “value to being able to live here“…this passage refers to the $10 tax that could be levied on EACH SLAVE forcibly brought into this country, who weren’t so freaking thrilled to be here at all.  This section was designed…to prevent slavery from being outlawed, and to simultaneously allow the government to collect a tax on slaves.  So much for Glenn “Constitutional Expert” Beck…
• Using his own, unique brand of satire…Stephen Colbert presented his suggestion for conservative firebrands who want to make racially-insinuative attacks against Obama, but don’t want to be identified as racists:

• Rush Limbaugh must be feeling a little unloved, what with Glenn Beck surpassing him in the ratings game.  So, in a recent interview with Jay Leno, Rush reminded all of us why he should still be the preferred choice among people without functioning brainstems.  First…he said that because everybody who listens to his show agrees with him…he is “not controversial at all,” and that, THEREFORE, it is Obama who is “polarizing” and “dividing this country right now.“  Then showing the power of faulty logic when used WITH a disregard for real-world data, Limbaugh said regarding the economy and the gigantic profits Wall Street CEOs make by defrauding investors, “The market will fix itself.  It’s none of my business what they make, Jay, it’s certainly none of yours, and it’s certainly not Barack Obama’s what anybody makes…If you believe in the capitalist system, you have to erase from your whole worldview what somebody needs.”  Thus, simply stated, we are presented with the far right’s philosophy:  the free market will always take care of itself, and this is good as long as we don’t care about what anybody needs.
• Bill O’Reilly recently claimed on his show the standard right-wing position regarding racism:  it’s only a few of the protesters…the left has racists, too…only 10% of Americans are racists.  To no one’s surprise, Dr. Jeremy Levitt, law professor at Florida A&M and an African-American…had a small problem with this.  Ok, conservatives here’s the simplest I can say it:  you don’t have to run around calling everyone the “n-word” to be a racist.  If you lock the car door when you see a black person walking by…if you wouldn’t want a member of another race dating your son or daughter…if you would resent having to answer to a superior at work who is the member of another race…if instead of attacking the president’s policies, you resort to calling him a “Nazi,” a “Kenyan,” or make a monkey joke…then you TOO suffer from very common, racial prejudice.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6sOkGZtc6Y

PRESIDENT OBAMA -- GHOSTS OF OUR PAST:

• The Obama administration has decided not to pursue a new law to change our policies regarding detainees.  No…they will keep using the 2001 congressional resolution allowing for the indefinite detention of prisoners.  If you start by acknowledging that, by law, American military bases, prisons, and ships are considered “American soil,” then the equation is very simple:  American soil PLUS prisoners MINUS habeas corpus MINUS due process EQUALS unconstitutional.  President Obama…that, sir, is neither change nor progress.
• Obama has a “new” educational policy complete with a fancy new name: “Race To The Top.”  It’s too bad that it is nearly identical to the dismal “No Child Left Behind” policy of his predecessor…so close, in fact, that both Democrats and Teachers’ Unions are calling it “BUSH III.”  More standardized tests…yadda yadda yadda…teacher accountability…yadda yadda…performance pay….blah blah blah…charter schools.  I’ve said this before:  standardized tests do little to improve or accurately gauge learning, teachers are plenty accountable, performance pay is the impractical, impossible to implement equivalent of an “educational unicorn,” and charter schools only serve to placate “free market” zealots.  The problems…in all schools…are centered squarely in one place: the administration.  Principals with no business experience, no leadership skills, no interest in promoting learning, and no backbones…THAT’S the heart of the problem.
• I have stated before that conservatives should be less concerned with what Obama is “changing“…and more concerned with the Bush policies and practices that he is “retaining.”  Garry Willis’ piece, Entangled Giant, describes aptly the history of accumulation of power within the Executive Branch…and just how hard it is to reverse the trend.

AMERICAN CONSPIRACIES -- OUTRAGE WITHOUT PURPOSE:

• Just for fun:  here is a collection of some of the funniest protest signs spotted recently…misspelled words , flagrant ignorance, wild theories…it’s all there.
• Thomas Quigley Jr. is suing the Democratic National Committee…for throwing him out of a town hall.  During the meeting held by Representative Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), Quigley repeatedly interrupted the panel of speakers, and when approached by the security guards about his disruptions…he told them he was “a black belt in kung-fu and would respond if attacked.“  Apparently, his kung-fu training was no match for the guards, and he was bodily removed from the meeting.  Oh, and Quigley…is a licensed insurance agent.
• I wrote earlier in the week of how the “Values Voters Summit” appeared to be devoid of both actual values and reason.  But once again, Jon Stewart said it better:

• Former teen heartthrob, later drug addict, later born-again Christian Kirk Cameron would like to share with you (in an interview with People Magazine) some fairly interesting views on evolution: “Atheism has been on the rise for years now, and the Bible of the atheists is The Origin of Species.  We have a situation in our country where young people are entering college with a belief in God and exiting with that faith being stripped and shredded. What we want to do is have student make an informed, educated decision before they chuck their faith.“  He and his group are currently disseminating edited versions of Darwin’s theory…complete with their own criticisms in which they compare it Hitler’s eugenics program, and declare the theory misogynistic because of sexist statements attributed to Darwin.  For the record…in science the word “theory” does not mean the same thing as it does in common parlance.  When we say “theory,” we are referring to an idea that has not been proven.  When scientists refer to a “theory” they are referring to a scientific position supported by a wealth of studies and research that holds up to the very strongest scientific scrutiny.  Now, it is true that evolution is not a scientific “law” (meaning that in it’s entirety it is deemed impossible to disprove)…but it is far closer to a “law” than it is to a simple “hypothesis” which is a premise lacking substantiation.  It is a continued embarrassment, that fewer Americans accept evolution than the people of ANY OTHER civilized country…and that the new movie on Darwin’s life can’t even find an American distributer because most distribution companies worry that “Americans just aren’t ready for it.“
• Recently, Bill O’Reilly, in a conversation with Barney Frank on the subject of the undercover investigation of ACORN offices, said that nobody cares if the documentarians broke the Maryland laws regarding illegal wiretapping.  Barney Frank…disagreed: “I’m sorry, what an outrageous statement. What an outrageous statement for you to make: nobody cares about the Maryland wiretap law. I do care about the law. I’m an elected official.“  In response…O’Reilly called Frank, “eccentric.”  Really, Bill?  Is it now eccentric to believe that the law of land should be obeyed?  This represents the all-too-common position among conservatives that the end justifies the means, that violating the law is acceptable as long as it was done for a good reason.  It’s a concept MOST un-American.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUHCtnpTVpg

• Above, we talked some of Glenn Beck’s conspiracy-based ranting…it takes a group like the SNL cast to really do it justice:

• By now you’ve heard of the census taker…senselessly murdered, found hanged with the word “Fed” written on his chest.  It seems to validate House Speaker Pelosi’s fears that the violent anti-government rhetoric might lead to actual violence…as history has shown that it often does.  Now…experts seem to be agreeing with her.  If you want to understand how this situation is created…visit this list of the top census conspiracy theories.  Internment camps…taking your property…brainwashing children.  Now imagine a right wing extremist…hearing a member of Congress, or a “news” personality, or some other figure they respect and trust…telling them these things…telling them they have to “act now” and “preserve their country” and “be a patriot.”  And THAT’S how it happens…

HEALTH CARE -- CARNIVAL OF DELAY AND DESPAIR:

• Two words are being most commonly associated with the current state of the Senate Finance Committee’s Health Care Reform legislation:  “delay” and “fight.”  Sometimes…the words are appearing in the same sentence, as is the case with the recent confrontation between Senator Kyl of Arizona, and committee chairman Senator Baucus of Montana.  The short version: Kyl insisted on repeating himself, restating examples he’d previously given, and remaking arguments he’d already made…Baucus, grew tired of the obvious stalling tactic:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y80G63ARBM

• Another fight: whip counts.  Liberal Democrats in the House are busy trying to wrangle every possible vote, while Blue Dog Democrats do the same exact thing.  Current trend…Blue Dogs beginning to sway in favor of voting “yea” on the House bill.  Perhaps they’ve been actually paying attention to the polls…the latest shows that 65% of Americans still support the inclusion of the public option…even more support it when it has been explained to them.  Again, conservatives: this is a democracy…you may not support it….the people in your conservative-leaning community may not support it…the people in your conservative-leaning workplace may also not support it…and all of these people may scream their objections loud as hell.  BUT…the majority of Americans DO support it…and in a democracy…majority rules.
• The Humana Fracas:  Medicare laws say that providers of Medicare Advantage plans (like Humana) MAY NOT use taxpayer-subsidized mailings to push their political agendas.  Humana…did just that.  The board that oversees Medicare/Medicaid is investigating.  Republicans…you guessed it: are calling this “stifling the free speech” of their good friends, the insurance industry.  And now, the GOP is threatening to block Obama’s nominations to key Health and Human Services posts…unless Obama and Sibelius allow Humana and other insurance companies TO BREAK THE LAW.

That brings this week to a close…enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday for more of the latest developments.