Hope you’re sitting down:

• Last week, we reported that a man attended the Obama Town Hall in New Hampshire with a loaded gun strapped to his thigh, and a sign referencing Thomas Jefferson’s quote that the “Tree of Liberty” must occasionally be refreshed with “the blood of patriots and tyrants.“  Chris Matthews would later interview the man on Hardball…revealing this protester to be an unbalanced man with no reasonable justification for his actions, nor a working knowledge of the Constitution.  This time in Arizona, another man had a gun strapped to his thigh…and was carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle.  As with the previous incident, this man claimed to be simply exercising his “freedoms” proving ONCE AGAIN that many Americans don’t realize that just because you have the “right to do something” does not make it the “right thing to do.“
• Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is the Republican senator who is leading the bipartisan effort to draft the health care reform bill…which is a little frightening since he has been making public, partisan attacks which contain lies about what is in the bill: “you have every right to fear. You shouldn’t have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you’re going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don’t have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you’re going to pull the plug on grandma.” After catching quite a bit of criticism over these remarks, Grassley has decided to employ a novel defense:  blame the negative reactions on the Democrats.  When asked in an interview why he was perpetuating the false notion of “death panels,” Grassley responded, “Well, listen. I see that as nothing more than a distortion from the far left bringing up these end-of-life concerns, which are not the issues we ought to be talking about. We ought to be talking about government takeover of the health care system.“  Yeah, Chuck…it’s obviously the DEMOCRATS who don’t want to have a substantive, reality-based discussion about health care.
• Oh, but Chuck Grassley’s not finished yet.  As said previously, Grassley’s SUPPOSED to be working with Democrats to forge a bill…and according to Grassley, the most important thing about the bill, even more important than what’s actually in it:  Republican support.  And he goes on to imply that even if some Republicans support the bill (again, that’s what’s REALLY important to Chuck)…he won’t vote for it, unless the “overwhelming” majority of them do.  Here on planet Earth, we fully realize that in all likelihood none of them will, which begs the question:  why is their support important, again?
• Fun new poll: a new poll shows that the majority of Republicans either believe that “death panels” are in the reform bill, or aren’t sure.  Combined with the “birther” poll which showed nearly the same percentage of Republicans don’t think President Obama is an American citizen, or aren’t sure, I think we have clearly established that Republicans will believe just about anything, no matter how outrageous the claim…and they will hold onto those believes no matter how available the hard facts are that disprove those beliefs.  It’s a lovely quality, folks…don’t go changin’!
• Last weekend’s Meet the Press panel included both MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas).  Armey, is now with a group called FreedomWorks, which is essentially a fake-grassroots, lobbying and conservative PR/Rabble-rousing firm.  On the show, Armey was cornered and forced to condemn the use of swastikas and other Nazi references by protesters…but when he said that Freedomworks didn’t support violence and disruption, Rachel was quick to point out that FreedomWorks and its associated entities, have used violence and disruption as a “rallying cry” for the mobs they have engineered.  Here’s the clip…watch also for when Armey falsely claims that MoveOn.org compared George Bush to Hitler in an ad, and Rachel points out that it NEVER HAPPENED (it was a false claim initiated by none other than Rush Limbaugh):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX5RqupDB9s

• WHOOPS! Speaking of Dick Armey…guess who just had to resign from his law firm of DLA Piper, because the actions of FreedomWorks are drawing so much negative attention?  Yup.  Armey released a statement saying: “It is painful and frustrating to see a good, decent, able and effective partnership of honorable men and women and their clients attacked for things in which they are not involved simply because of their association with me. One would expect a higher degree of competence and professionalism from members of the media than spurious attacks on innocent bystanders.“  Let me see if I’m following this:  Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks organizes protests that are filled with shouting, threatening, disruptive people…these people are told by a FreedomWorks-sponsored organization, in writing, how to be disruptive and threatening…and the media, by covering this insanity and his relationship to it, is somehow attacking his honorable and upstanding coworkers at the law firm.  Uh huh. Well, look at it this way, Dick…now you can devote ALL your time to lying to the American people in order to generate civil unrest.  It doesn’t look as good on a resume, but you gotta do what you love…
• Conservatives for Patients Rights, the group led by controversial and disgraced former HCA CEO Rick Scott, filmed a new “anti-health care reform ad” featuring several British citizens making complaints about their national health care system.  Only a few problems…first…NOBODY is even talking about nationalizing our health care system, so to be blunt, who cares if some British people have complaints.  Second…the Brits were told by Conservatives for Patients Rights organization that the ads were part of a British ad campaign to reform the British system, so they just wanted to give some suggestions…the truth is, all of the citizens they interviewed LOVE the British system.  The women WERE NOT TOLD that their comments were really going to be used to defeat health care reform in America.  Third…conservative legislators in Great Britain…EVEN THEY love the British system, and by a sizable margin.  Here’s the ad:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHer9bKn438

• House GOP leader Roy Blunt (R-MO) was busted spreading falsehoods by a local paper, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They blasted Blunt in an editorial for making the following claim in an interview with the newspaper’s reporters: “I’m 59.  In either Canada or Great Britain, if I broke my hip, I couldn’t get it replaced.” As the Post-Dispatch pointed out…this is COMPLETELY false, and Blunt responded by apologizing and promising to stop making that assertion.  This is even more embarrassing because Roy Blunt…is the head of the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, so there is NO EXCUSE for him getting the facts wrong.
• Hey, at least somebody is loving all this:  On increasing doubts that the public option will not be included in the reform package…Insurance companies stocks are on the rise.  Our loss -- is OFFICIALLY their gain.
• Sometimes you just have to laugh about it: visit here for some of the funnier signs seen at town hall protests.  This one is my favorite:

That’s all for now…more tomorrow.

THE HEALTHCARE BATTLE (THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE HEALTHCARE DIALOGUE):

• Under “It’s About Frickin’ Time:” Democrats are finally starting to put the screws to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT).  As I have mentioned earlier, Baucus is in a position of great power…and he has received more contributions from the health care/insurance industries than any other senator…and so it should be no surprise that he is “working with Republicans” to remove everything from the health care reform plan that the insurance companies don’t want in there.  The Democrats’ response:  a secret-ballot vote every two years on whether or not the Finance Chairman should retain his/her seat.  Do you see that light flashing in the corner of your eye, Senator Baucus?  That’s your “career dissipation alarm“…warning you that if you don’t start thinking of the American people FIRST, you may lose one of the most powerful and prestigious positions in Congress.
• Business columnist Steven Pearlstein’s column, echoing much of my disgust over the dishonesty being propagated by opponents of health care reform, is getting a lot of mileage today.  I apologize to those readers who have heard me say this so many times: those of us who value honesty…we can understand “spinning” information to help support your side of an argument…what we CAN’T TOLERATE is outright lying to the American people.  His main points?  One…in NO WAY can the current plan be characterized as a “government takeover” of health care.  Two…there is a ZERO percent chance that the proposed “public option” would drive private insurance companies out of business.  Three…the reform will NOT cost one trillion dollars a year…it’s one trillion dollars over TEN YEARS.  He also dismisses the inane fearmongering over “rationing” and “government making your health decisions“…which should sound familiar if you’ve been reading the RLF lately.
• In the “We Are Such Chumps” department: In many ways, as Chad Terhune and Keith Epstein write, the insurance companies…HAVE ALREADY WON.  They paid the lobbyists and the PR firms.  The lobbyists paid the Republicans and Democrats to make sure the reform bill didn’t hurt the insurance companies bottom line significantly.  The PR firms convinced you that you should be worried about “rationing,” your grandmother, “socialism,” and turning into a Canadian.  The media picks up on your rationing/grandma/socialism/Canadian fears and goes berserk.  The Republicans and Democrats then use your “outrage” as a rationale to gut the reform plan.  So now, the plan which previously helped you a lot, and hurt the insurance companies only a little…helps you only a little and doesn’t hurt the insurance companies at all.  It’s a rigged game…and to all the ignorant Americans who did the insurance companies’ jobs for them…you played your part of “angry puppet” so perfectly, and please expect your premiums to go up a bit, so the insurance companies can recoup all the money they spent buying Congress and fooling you.
• Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) opposes health care reform for us “human-folk“…but supports it for your pets.  He has introduced legislation to allow pet owners to take a tax deduction for all their PETS’ health-related expenses.  Well, at least everyone on the hill has their priorities straight…
• Most Interesting News Item You Didn’t Hear About: Thirteen Congressional Republicans don’t want any more government “interference” in our insurance system…unless it’s at the state level, in which case “socialized, single-payer” systems are just spiffy.  Rep. John Kline (Minnesota), Rep. Tom Petri (Wisconsin), Rep. Buck McKeon (California), Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Michigan), Rep. Mike Castle (Delaware), Rep. Mark Souder (Indiana), Rep. Vernon Ehlers (Michigan), Rep. Judy Biggert (Illinois), Rep. Todd Platts (Pennsylvania), Rep. Joe Wilson (South Carolina), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Washington), Rep. Tom Price (Georgia), and Rep. Brett Guthrie (Kentucky) ALL voted to force states that opt out of any new “public insurance option“…to provide a single-payer alternative of equal value.  Huh?  What just happened?

THE TOWN HALL “PROTESTS:”

• A group of “protesters” at a Tampa Bay town hall, who admit they were spurred on by Glenn Beck, the Republican Party, and lobbyist-led conservative action groups…have now created a situation so hostile, un-democratic, and un-American, that it led to violence.   The mob, whipped into a frenzy by the hatred and violent proposals of the conservative media and by the designs of their corporate overseers, showed up utilizing what has now become a common playbook of disruptive tactics, along with signs bearing racist sentiments, and racist caricatures of the president.  It is reported that this led to an exchange of blows inside the building.  I opposed so much of what George W. Bush did as President…and was very vocal about my dissent.  But…such is the nature of politics…the other guy won.  The one thing I DID NOT DO, was to call for violence or the disruption of the democratic process.  The Rush Limbaughs and the Glenn Becks who are doing so, should realize that if any blood is spilt…it is on their hands.  Both their behavior, and the behavior that they prompt others to engage in is purely UNAMERICAN.
• At House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) town hall…more of the same.  Journalists even spotted children in strollers bearing signs with swastikas on them and references to “fascism.”  There were young people giving mock Hitler salutes.  And again…the obvious sources are Beck and Limbaugh, who have been promoting the idea that the current administration represents fascism on par with Hitler’s regime.  As a history teacher…it’s insulting.  As a student of political philosophy…it’s laughably stupid.  I normally try to avoid abrupt statements of disgust, but in this instance, there seems no other way:  to compare Obama to Hitler, or the current government to “fascism,” is SO PROFOUNDLY STUPID and only reveals that the person performing the comparison knows NOTHING of history, government, or philosophy. For those who actually wish to learn a bit more about such things…here is one of my previous posts.
• His name is Rick Scott and I have mentioned him before…former hospital CEO…his hospital was found guilty of MASSIVE Medicare fraud…now founder of the Conservatives For Patients’ Rights group that is rounding up and “training” town hall mobs.  Well…it is a pleasure to watch CNN’s Rick Sanchez expose Scott for who he really is, and what he is doing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy8i8FbVFyU

• Still think the protests are just “naturally occurring?“  Check out this woman disrupting Congressman Steve Kagen’s (D-WI) town hall meeting.  She identifies herself as “just a mom from a few blocks away” who is “not affiliated with a political party.“  Can you guess who she really is?  If you guessed that she is a GOP operative…who worked for Kagen’s opponent’s political campaign…and who worked for the Republican Party of Wisconsin…and for the Republican National Committee…then give yourself a gold star. Here is the video.

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

• I mentioned earlier, that Rush Limbaugh has taken to making comparisons between Obama and Adolph Hitler, saying “Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, ruled by dictate,” on one occasion and on another, “Obama health care logo is damn close to a Nazi swastika logo.“  The clips can be found here.  I’m quite nearly at a loss, when it comes to explaining on how many levels this is foolish…irresponsible…dangerous…and hypocritical.  Foolish, because there is factually NO similarity between Obama and Hitler…on ANY level.  Irresponsible and dangerous, because it is creating an increasingly violent rhetoric within the fringe elements of our society…an unstable and ignorant segment of the population who being confused into believing that the country is being “destroyed,” that Obama is some sort of “demon,” and that violent actions to stop Obama and the Democrats are “justified.”  It is the very definition and lowest possible depth of depraved incitement to violence.
• The National Jewish Democratic Council has called on House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), who is Jewish, to rightly denounce Rush Limbaugh’s comparisons between the president and Hitler.  As they point out…Cantor once said that more ‘Limbaughs’ were needed in the GOP, and so as a person who has made such a claim and as the only Jewish, Republican member of the House…they would like him to publicly reject Limbaugh’s comments which are a clear insult to those who lost friends and family members during the Holocaust.  Marc Stern, the acting executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said “I think everybody in the political system ought to eschew these remarks. I think this sorts of fire-bomb labeling is McCarthyism at its worst, whether from the left or the right… It is destructive of our politics. We don’t need talk show hosts of either stripe, making informed and intelligent debate impossible.“
• In yet another example…here’s Glenn Beck, putting forth the idea of poisoning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Again…making or promoting threats of violence or assassination against public, elected officials is not funny, is irresponsible, and many cases…it is ILLEGAL:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UudQuVOwSds

• And Mr. Beck…there is often an immediate consequence.  Remember when Beck recently said that President Obama was a “racist” who held a “deep-seated hated for white people?“  Advertisers Procter and Gamble, Lawyers.com and Progressive Insurance…no longer wish to run ads on Beck’s show.

MISCELLANY…A FEW BRIEF ITEMS:

• You’d think that everyone would be proud and excited that President Bill Clinton was able to fly to North Korea and secure the release of two AMERICAN CITIZENS.  In fact…I’d bet that if George W. Bush had pulled off such a feat, the conservatives would want a national holiday established to commemorate the event.  But no…since it was a former DEMOCRATIC president during a DEMOCRATIC administration…Republicans talking heads are struggling to find bizarre and nonsensical ways to criticize what can and should only be seen as a positive diplomatic mission.  Here, Jon Stewart points out the ridiculousness of former U.N. Embassador John Bolton’s criticisms and the coverage on CNN (or lack thereof) and FOX News:

• Blackwater, the mercenaries…I mean, the “contract soldiers” hired by Bush/Cheney to bolster forces in Iraq…turns out that many of them liked killing Iraqis for sport…and took videos…and the founder/president Erik Prince wanted to wipe all Muslims from the face of the earth…and he personally smuggled illegal weapons into Iraq…and they might have done some illegal arms deals…oh, and they might have murdered some of their own employees to keep them from talking to investigators.  The hits just keep on coming…
• The stimulus IS working.  Republicans…just say “thank you.”  Economic indicators up…stocks up…unemployment claims down…new housing starts up…consumer spending on the rise…new infrastructure projects have begun, contracts awarded.  Each time you continue to call it a “failure“…you’re only embarrassing yourselves.
• I REALLY enjoyed Bob Burnett’s column…where he identifies the ten, clear symptoms that the person you are listening to is a Republican who has lost all touch with reason and reality.  If they say any of these things…you can bet they’ve drunk the Kool-Aid (read Burnett’s column for the elaboration on each):

(1) George W. Bush kept America safe.

(2) History will vindicate Bush.

(3) The recession wasn’t Bush’s fault.

(4) America needs less government.

(5) All taxes must be cut.

(6) Barack Obama stole the 2008 election.

(7) Obama’s economic stimulus package was a mistake.

(8) There isn’t a health care crisis.

(9) Obama has weakened our nation.

(10) Obama is a racist.

And that’s all I have for now, so please have a fun and safe weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday.