The Freedom To Pledge

As I'm sure that this will gain traction on Fox"News" - likely during Hannity or O'Reilly's hour; perhaps Beck if he isn't too busy insisting that George Soros is offering assassins millions to kill him and his family - I think I should address this in conjunction with conservatives new found interpretation of the First Amendment.



Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air points out that this is a rather old clip ( nearly 10 years old mind you ) so obviously there are conservatives scouring the CSPAN archives in an attempt to dig up "dirt" on Democrats.

Desperation much?

So is this the primary metric by which all politicians are judged by the modern conservative movement - whether they believe in an invisible man living in the sky?

The Fox"News" sister hate site Fox"Nation" highlights this bit of commentary to apparently further the narrative that all Democrats are godless heathens bent on destroying our nation through secular speech, or something.

A sad display of disrespect by a United States Congresswoman from Minnesota, Democrat Betty McCollum. It is a video that Betty does not want her voters to see, but it's too late Betty, you have been exposed.

After watching this video you will see how obvious it is that she she intentionally omitted the words, "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. At the time, her staffers claimed she took a breath, but with the video now out, the lie has been exposed.

Disrespect?

One would think that a member of Congress - regardless of who they are and where they are from - would know about the separation of church and state and be standing within the House of Representatives as one that represents ALL of her district, not just the ones that sit in the "amen pew" on Sunday mornings and then go off to Cracker Barrel and berate the server making minimum wage who didn't bring their coffee refill in time while talking trash about the couple sitting in front of them just hours before.

Hate to tell all those reactionary conservatives, but not everyone is a Christian, and Congress doesn't legislate under theocratic terms.

But as a First Amendment issue, isn't it the Congresswoman's right to say the pledge as she did? Granted, many will argue that she is in the "People's House", and that removes her freedom to recite as she sees fit, but considering the drivel that has come from conservatives within those same "hallowed halls", are they really wanting to make this argument right now?

A Question Of Economics

Apparently Michelle Bachman's way of persuading the public to oppose the Obama administration's healthcare reform is to talk about how inexpensive it't going to be.

Approximately 114 million Americans are expected to leave private health insurance. Why? Their employers will drop the insurance because the taxpayer-subsidized plan will be 30 to 40 percent cheaper. This action will collapse the private health insurance market, and then the Federal Government will own the health provider game.

As stated before, I'm no economist. I took Micro Econ in college and made a solid B in the class, but that's it. However, I'm well away the first thing that you don't do when attempting to prevent someone from selling their product is telling their potential customer base that the new product is going to be less expensive.

Bachman's rationale appears to be that the higher the price, the better the care. This is about a valid a standpoint as saying that simply because Fox"News" has higher ratings that their reporting is proportionally more accurate and fair. The same excuses have been given in relation to the Bush administration's policies and how they have kept us "safe". I can take the standpoint that I have worn the same pair of shoes all year and haven't gotten cancer, so that must mean that Etnies prevent cancer in 100% of studies.

But lets postulate for a moment that all the hypothetical set that Bachman has mentioned are considering leaving their current provider for the government plan. Wouldn't that cause their current provider to lower their rates? Isn't this how businesses keep their customer base, incentives?

But Can It Cure Your Idiocy?

Conservatives love to claim that "capitalism" is the cure all for Americans. No matter what problem you may be facing - be it banks giving blaphemous bonuses to execs or your IRA looking as sickly as the neighborhood dog after a binder on that anti-freeze puddle in your driveway - capitalism and "free-markets" will make it all better.

When you put affordability of health coverage to a right-wing "capitalist", you'll never hear stats on Americans and their coverage ( save the occassional mention that around 68% of those that have coverage are happy with what they have - completely disregarding the fact that this doesn't address those that can't but need it ) and you'll hear an endless ream of horror stories from places like Canada. These arguments are predicated on the notion that since other countries aren't so great at it then that means that America should just give up on any sort of healthcare reform.

It seems that no matter the subject, conservatives are more than willing to quit before their is even something that could be mildly considered a starting point.

But let's get back to these alleged horror stories from Canada. Are patients really having it as bad as conservatives are pretending they are? Dennis Kucinich tried to get some answers from one of Milton Friedman's favorite doctors and the results were not pretty for the doctor.

Here's Logan Murphy from Crooks & Liars:

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich absolutely tore it up today on Capitol Hill. In this video he is questioning Dr. David Gratzer of the Manhattan Institute. One need only read the title of Gratzer's new book, "The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Healthcare" (complete with forward written by Milton Friedman) to know what side of the debate he was on.

Gratzer was there to spew lies and right wing talking points about the Canadian health care system, but Kucinich wasn't having any of it. As always, my hat goes off to Dennis!

Another in a long line of typical conservatives that act as if they are being oppressed or are the victims of unchecked liberal agression. The fact of the matter is, as was readily apparent from the video, that "doctor" Gratzer had no clue what was going on in his own country in regards to health insurance. I'm starting to wonder what sort of "doctor" Mr. Gratzer is.

You can view the glittering praise lauded upon him from the Manhattan Institute or read his Wikipedia page. Apparently he's a "doctor" that loves to misuse statistics.

On CSPAN's site, they have the full video of the hearings ( almost 2 hours ).

Somewhere, Bill O'Reilly Is Violently Shitting and Vomiting Simultaneously

Congrats Senator Al Franken.

You Remember Alberto Gonzales, Don't You?

Seems that it was perfectly fine for Orrin Hatch to note Gonzales' Hispanic roots before he was confirmed as the Attorney General.

Early this morning, I talked about Judge Gonzales's inspirational personal background. I talked about his educational and professional qualifications, and they are many. I talked about all the awards he has won from so many civic organizations. I talked about many of the numerous organizations, individuals, and entities that support his nomination--virtually
most strong Hispanic organizations, including the District Attorneys Association and the FBI Agents Association, and others, as well.

But don't you dare mention that Sotomayor is Hispanic. That's identiy politics. RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!

I just love archival footage from CSPAN.

Apparently, Bush Is Responsible For This

Who knew that a man that hasn't been President since January 20th would be responsible for a market rally in March?

Dana Perino seems to think he is:



More from Think Progress.

Look for this to be the start of the GOP strategy of "when things so right it must be because of what we did". Given their blatant obstructionist tendancies since the Obama administration took office - coupled with a complete lack of their own plans - it will be hard for them to convince the American public that they have done anything beneficial.

Economic Freedom Isn't Free Too

How's this for an answer from a conservative about how we can prevent further recessions:



Ali Frick @ THINK PROGRESS makes a very interesting point regarding Congressman Hensarling's thoughts that recessions and a free county go hand-in-hand:

Of course, recessions are hardly the property of free countries alone; the economic crisis has hurt plenty of autocratic countries as well.

Another point that should be made here is that the congressman never really answered the question. He made the generalization that Republicans have "tried", but never once offered insight into what those trial-and-error moments were.

Just another example of an elected representative of the Republican party that has no answers.