GOP Conceding Defeat On Health Care Reform?

Well, signing a document saying you want to do the work of the insurance companies is probably helpful.

To Democrats.

Drone Strike Kills Al Qaeda Commander Hussein al-Yemeni

Barack Obama appears to be really bad news for Al Qaeda.

A strike by an unmanned drone last week killed a senior Qaeda commander who had played a significant role in planning the killing of Central Intelligence Agency operatives in late December at a base in Afghanistan, according to American officials.

…

The official described Mr. Yemeni as an “al Qaeda planner and facilitator” in his late 20s or early 30s, who had established ties with the Haqqani network, which has planned many Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, and with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. His role was described by one American official as a “conduit in Pakistan for funds, messages, and...
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Founders: Great Men. Not Gods.

One of the ideas that Glenn Beck cultists and Tea Party attendees have championed in the last year or so is the perfection of the founding fathers. It’s a convenient trope for people who are – after supporting eight years of Bush – suddenly very concerned at the supposed harm Obama and the Democrats are doing to the constitution.

Putting aside that fantasy (Obama and the Dems have hewed probably too close to the old way of doing things than anything, allowing GOP procedural roadblocks to work in concert with the whims of conservative Democrats to halt the legislative process), the fetishism of the founders ignores important history.

Were they brave and bold, standing...
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Al-Qaeda “On The Run” Says CIA Chief

Wait, so Obama’s strategy to hit them in Pakistan and wherever they are seems to be working?

Relentless attacks against al-Qaeda in the Pakistan tribal region appear to have driven Osama bin Laden and other top leaders deeper into hiding, leaving the organization rudderless and incapable of planning sophisticated operations, CIA Director Leon Panetta said Wednesday.

So profound is al-Qaeda’s disarray that one of its lieutenants, in a recently intercepted message, pleaded to bin Laden to come to the group’s rescue and provide some leadership, Panetta told The Washington Post in an interview.

Panetta credited an increasingly aggressive campaign against al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies, including more frequent strikes and better coordination with...
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Insurance Company Targeted HIV Positive Patients To Drop Their Coverage

This is who Republicans and conservative Democrats are giving cover to.

Previously undisclosed records from Mitchell’s case reveal that Fortis had a company policy of targeting policyholders with HIV. A computer program and algorithm targeted every policyholder recently diagnosed with HIV for an automatic fraud investigation, as the company searched for any pretext to revoke their policy. As was the case with Mitchell, their insurance policies often were canceled on erroneous information, the flimsiest of evidence, or for no good reason at all, according to the court documents and interviews with state and federal investigators.

The revelations come at a time when President Barack Obama, in his frantic push to rescue the administration’s health care plan, has stepped up...
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According To House Republicans, Clinton Was A Socialist Too

Here is Rep. Bill Archer (R-Texas) speaking out in opposition to Bill Clinton’s budget that passed 218-216 in 1993.

This budget, of course, helped lead to a huge economic boom for America and a reduction in the deficit that lasted until the presidency of George W. Bush.

Teabaggers Mock Parkinson’s Patient

The zealotry and expressions of the teabaggers reminds me of old footage of southerners in “mass resistance” to integration.

New England Journal of Medicine “Survey” On Doctors & Health Care Reform Is A Fake

Shocker.

Right-wing media have seized on a dubious, three-month old email “survey” that purports to show that physicians are concerned about health care reform and that 46 percent of the primary care doctors surveyed “indicated that they would leave medicine – or try to leave medicine – as a result of health reform.” Many media figures have falsely attributed this survey to the New England Journal of Medicine. For example, on Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade said: “The New England Journal of Medicine has published a report and did a survey, and they said the impact of reform on primary care physicians, 46 percent, they say, feel reform will force them out or make them want to leave...
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If Dems Want To Hold Their Majorities, Pass The Bill

As it is right now, Democratic base voters aren’t wild about the midterms while GOP voters are. Especially because of the kind of people who vote in midterms, Dems need to give their base a reason to come out. As this poll shows almost the entire Democratic base supports passage of the health care bill.

“Vote for us we punted on health care reform again” would not be the best rallying cry.

“All Black People” Asked To Leave New Jersey Wal-Mart

Say what now?

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. officials are reviewing security tapes to try to determine who used a southern New Jersey store’s public-address system to tell ‘all black people’ to leave.

On Sunday evening at the Washington Township store, a male voice calmly announced: ‘Attention Wal-Mart customers: All black people leave the store now.’

Witnesses told the Courier-Post newspaper that customers and store employees looked stunned. Management later apologized.

Baby Dictator

In retrospect, probably not the best idea to dress up your infant as Hitler, Stalin, and Pinochet among others.

Kucinich Flips To “Yes” For Health Care Reform

Good news

In a big get for House Dems, Dennis Kucinich just made it official: He’s voting for the Senate bill, making him the first member to go on record fliping his vote from No to Yes.

‘In the past week it’s become clear that the vote on the final bill will be very close,’ Kucinich, who voted No last time because of the lack of the public option, said at a presser moments ago. He acknowleged that he’d be voting ‘not on the bill as I would like to see it, but as it is.’

‘However, after careful discussions with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi’ and others, Kucinich said, ‘I’ve decided to cast a vote in favor of the...
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Redskins Sign Rex Grossman?

Oh those Florida quarterbacks. Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews tell me this will not end well.

Pope To Write A LETTER On Irish Sex Abuse Scandal

Once again his holiness shows us that lack of action is the church’s only inclination.

Pope Benedict XVI says he hopes his upcoming letter to Irish Catholics on the sex abuse scandal in the Irish Church helps with the process of ‘repentance, healing and renewal.’

Benedict told his weekly general audience today that he would sign the pastoral letter Friday and would send it to the faithful soon thereafter.

New Pics Of Obama In Indonesia

You can see him as a child becoming a socialist and worshipping in his Madrassa! We’re on to you, Obama, and the tea baggers shall have their vengeance and whatnot.

Catholic Church Abuse Scandal Moves to Brazil

The beat just goes on.

Brazilian authorities are investigating three priests accused of sexually abusing altar boys after a video allegedly showing one case of abuse was broadcast on television, police and church officials said Tuesday.

The case came to light after the SBT network aired a video purportedly showing an 82-year-old priest having sex with a 19-year-old altar boy who worked for him for four years. Other young men appeared on the report saying that they, too, had been abused by Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa.

Also under investigation are Monsignor Raimundo Gomes, 52, and Father Edilson Duarte, 43, for allegedly having sexual relations with boys and young men.

Utah Reduces Women To Second Class

A new law in Utah not only criminalizes miscarriages but it has the overall effect of banning abortion altogether. For all intents and purposes, Utah runs as a religious state within the United States, and despite the hypocrisy of the self-appointed moral arbiters (see tub, hot and clandestine payoffs) on the right the last time I checked this was still America.

(via S.M.)

David Dreier Used Deem & Pass

Somehow the Republican Rep. forgot to mention this.

Pass The Damn Bill

Tea Partier Says Jane Hamsher Talking About “Union Thuggery”

Remember, they’re the real liberals, right?

I spoke to Kathryn A. Serkes of the Doctor Patient Medical Association at this morning’s rally against the health care bill, after Serkes had addressed the smallish crowd.

‘I’m in contact with folks on the progressive side,’ said Serkes. ‘They’re saying right now that Pelosi’s almost there with the votes. What they’re saying is that there’s some serious arm-twisting — their words were ‘union thuggery.’ One progressive source told me that there was serious union thuggery this weekend, targeting Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.).’

If this is true, it sure jibes with palling around with Grover Norquist.

UPDATE: Hamsher responds with what is her now typical distortions and smears.