Buck Naked Politics

After Republicans Demand an Apology, Grayson (D-Fl) Apologizes to the 44,000 People Who Die Every Year for Lack of Health Insurance

by Damozel | Here's yer apology, GOP. Here's the study he mentions.

On Countdown, Arianna Huffington had his back:

Alan Grayson (D-FL) Explains The GOP's Health Care Plan: Please Die Quickly

by Damozel | This Congressman is MADE of awesome. Grayson is so my hero.

(Pulled) Facebook Poll Asks If Obama Should be Killed; Secret Service Investigates -- Meanwhile "How to Take Back America" Wingnuts Tell Activists to Get Their Guns Ready (with Video)

by bartleby the scrivener |  I'd be lying if I said I was shocked, given the rhetoric that's been coming from the right since the election.  As Wonkette remarks, "We’re surprised there aren’t 10,000 of these polls on the Facebook at all times, what with the “racism + Internet + basic typing ability” quandary so many have become acquainted with in recent years."

"If ignorance is bliss, why are these people so unhappy?" asks Watertiger of FDL.

Rachel Sladja of TPM reported:

A Facebook poll -- apparently advocating assassination -- has cropped up, with the question, "Should Obama be killed?".... The answer choices are Yes, No, If he cuts my health care, and Maybe.

These polls are part of an application run by an outside party, not Facebook itself.

An ancillary poll has also popped up: "Should the person who created the 'Should Obama be Killed Poll' be arrested?"

Dr. Howard Dean Calls Senate Health Care Bill a Massive Redistribution of Taxpayer Money to the Insurance Industry; Sen. Dorgan Makes Plans to Introduce an Amendment to Undermine the Senate Bill

by Bartleby the Scrivener | Progressives call out invertebrate and corporatist Democrats; Dean calls the bill currently before the Senate Finance Committee exactly what it is. 

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Meanwhile, North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan has a cunning plan.   Nice to see a vertebrate Dem.

Colbert Hails the Triumphant Return to Wall Street of the Credit Default Swap; Takes On Capitalism's Enemy, Michael Moore

by Damozel | Wall Street traffics once more credit default swaps, which is why Colbert loves capitalism more than people.  Colbert loves capitalism because capitalism loves him back!

"You can't regulate evil, but I think I've found a way to chop it up, bundle it, and sell it to Goldman-Sachs." 

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Capitalism's Enemy - Michael Moore
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

You Really CAN Fool Some of the People All of the Time: Limbaugh on Leno

by bartleby the scrivener | From HuffPost:

""Everybody agrees with me that listens to me," [Limbaugh] said. "I'm not controversial at all ... Obama is polarizing ... Look at how divided this country is right now."

"Asked by Leno if there was any way for Americans to bridge that divide, Limbaugh responded,"You give up what you believe in, agree with me, we'll get along."... (HuffPost)

I am so sure.  Limbaugh also defended the Wall Street greedheads who made a fortune out of wrecking the economy. 

"Leno also tried to get Limbaugh to agree that Wall Street CEOs should not be making billions of dollars off schemes that hurt investors. Limbaugh strongly disagreed. "The market will fix itself," he said. "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."" (HuffPost)

Videos after the jump!

Crucial Viewing for Left AND Right; Michael Moore Discusses How Corporatism Is Undermining Old-Fashioned Democratic Values

by bartleby the scrivener | Arianna Huffington, author of Pigs at the Trough, discusses here why Moore's film is so crucial for both left and right.  She writes:

"In capitalism as envisioned by its leading lights, including Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall, you need a moral foundation in order for free markets to work. And when a company fails, it fails. It doesn't get bailed out using trillions of dollars of taxpayer money. What we have right now is Corporatism. It's welfare for the rich. It's the government picking winners and losers. It's Wall Street having their taxpayer-funded cake and eating it too. It's socialized losses and privatized gains.

"Which is why -- although you can bet many will try -- Capitalism: A Love Story can't be dismissed as a left-wing tirade. Its condemnation of the status quo is too grounded in real stories and real suffering, its targets too evenly spread across the political spectrum. Indeed, Jay Leno, America's designated Everyman, was so moved by the film he insisted that Moore appear on the second night of his new show, and told his audience that the film was "completely nonpartisan... I was stunned by it, and I think it is the most fair film" Moore has done." (Huffington Post; emphasis added)

Michael Moore discusses the film with Olbermann on Countdown:

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/barack-obama-must-see-mic_b_293407.html

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Bill Clinton: GOP Negativity is Weakening Its Capacity to Reclaim Power in Midterm Elections

by bartleby the scrivener |  On MSNBC, Bill Clinton said he thinks that Dems don't need to fear a repeat of the 1994 political bloodbath, though "the vast right wing conspiracy" remains as "virulent" as ever.

""Number one," Clinton explained, "the country is more diverse and more interested in positive action. Number two, they've seen this movie before, because they had eight years under President Bush when the Republicans finally had the whole government, and they know the results were bad. And--[laughing]--number three, the Democrats haven't taken on the gun lobby like I did, and they took 15 of our members out. So I don't think-- it'll be, whatever happens, it'll be manageable for the president."

"All of which was not to suggest that Clinton was dismissing the GOP's capacity for exacting political blood.....it's as virulent as it was. I mean, they're saying things about him. You know, it's like when they accused me of murder, and all that stuff they did. ... But ... it's not really good for the Republicans and the country, what's going on now. I mean, they may be hurting President Obama. They can take his numbers down. They can run his opposition up. But, fundamentally, he and his team have a positive agenda for America. Their agenda seems to be wanting him to fail.""  (Huffington Post; more)

I think the Dems are perfectly capable of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but I am not sure what the GOP can put forward in 2010 that will strike voters as a plan for making things better for them (other than tax cuts that don't help the unemployed...)

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/27/clinton-there-wont-be-a-r_n_301140.html

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Interviewing Obama: Saturday Night Live Does Glenn Beck & Other Media Types

More Indicia that the Hanged Census Worker was Victim of Lynching; "Think Progress" Recaps Anti-Census Right-wing Hate Speech

by bartleby the scrivener | I say "lynching" because it is incredibly difficult for one person to hang another.  But that's just my theory.  Apparently one theory is that his death had some relationship to the local drug culture. Whatever.  Whoever killed him used his body to make a political statement.   From today's New York Times:

"[The] part-time census worker found hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape, said an Ohio man who discovered the body two weeks ago....

"Jerry Weaver of Fairfield, Ohio [who discovered the body], told The Associated Press on Friday that he was certain from the gruesome scene that someone killed Sparkman....

"Weaver said he was in the rural Kentucky county for a family reunion and was visiting some family graves at the cemetery on Sept. 12 along with his wife and daughter when they saw the body.

"''The only thing he had on was a pair of socks,'' Weaver said. ''And they had duct-taped his hands, his wrists. He had duct tape over his eyes, and they gagged him with a red rag or something.''...

''And they even had duct tape around his neck,'' Weaver said. ''And they had like his identification tag on his neck. They had it duct-taped to the side of his neck, on the right side, almost on his right shoulder.''...

"Both of the people briefed on the investigation confirmed Sparkman's Census Bureau ID was found taped to his head and shoulder area. Weaver said he couldn't tell if the tag was a Census ID because he didn't get close enough to read it. He could see writing on Sparkman's chest, and could read that it said ''fed.''"

Was the Hanging of the Census Worker Politically Motivated?

by Damozel | The AP reporter interviewed by Rachel Maddow (below) seems to think there is some ground for concern.

"I don't think federal law enforcement would still be involved a week and a half after the body was found if there wasn't still that very serious concern," he responded. "And they don't have all the answers yet. And some of the things they know they're not going to tell us because they're concerned that there may be perpetrators out there that they would very much like to catch. But ... part of the process we're in now is proving all the other alternate explanations."

Barrett added that "in the county where this death occurred, they have instructed their workers not to go door to door while this investigation continues. Clearly there's a great deal of concern within this census worker community in that area. (More at HuffPost.)

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The Daily Show: 'Values Voters,' teh Gays, and the Unbelievably Flamboyant Dancing of Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay

In which "values voters" are asked to model their social mores on those of 11 year old boys while Tom DeLay dances with the stars.  

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Moral Kombat
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

PSA: Jon "Don Draper" Hamm, Will Ferrell, and Other Celebrities Speak Up on Behalf of Victimized Insurance Co. Executives

by Damozel | "Something terrible is happening," intones Jon Hamm in somberest "Madmen" mode. From "Funny or Die." Is it wrong that I keep rewinding to watch him say it?

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

From Media Matters: Glenn Beck & the New McCarthyism

At Commentary, conservative Peter Wehner talks about how Glenn Beck is harming "the conservative movement."

Bill Maher Talks With Whistleblower & Ex-Cigna Exec Wendel Potter: "If There's Not a Public Option, then the Insurance Industry Wins Hands Down"

by bartleby the scrivener | After the jump, more from industry insider/whistleblower Wendel Potter.  Potter discusses Cigna's tricks and manners from his own first-hand experience and his own transformative experience (people who couldn't afford their co-payments).  He repeats his unfavorable opinion of the Baucus bill and agrees with Bill Maher that it is "a blowjob to the insurance industry" and discusses the role of lobbyists and propagandists from the insurance industry.  "I recognize some of the language."  He explains GOP opposition to the Baucus bill:  "It makes some things illegal that ought to have been illegal a long time ago."   He says:  "If there's not a public option, then the insurance industry wins, hands down." 

Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) Talks Health Care Reform with Bill Maher on Real Time (Sep 11, 2009)

by damozel | Anthony Weiner is made of awesome.

SC Supreme Court Makes an Insurance Company Pay $10 Mil for Wrongfully Revoking Policy of 17 Year Old with HIV (& Other Tales of Health Care Rescission)

by bartleby the scrivener |  Murray Waas has the story:

"The South Carolina Supreme Court has ordered an insurance company to pay $10 million for wrongly revoking the insurance policy of a 17-year-old college student after he tested positive for HIV. The court called the 2002 decision by the insurance company "reprehensible." ....

"In the ruling, Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal wrote: "We find ample support in the record that Fortis' conduct was reprehensible ... Fortis demonstrated an indifference to Mitchell's life and a reckless disregard to his health and safety."

"An investigation this summer by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and earlier ones by state regulators in California, New York and Connecticut, found that thousands of vulnerable and seriously ill policyholders have had their coverage canceled by many of the nation's largest insurance companies without any legal basis. The congressional committee found that three insurance companies alone made at least $300 million over five years from rescission....

Frank Rich: Far Right Racism, Rage, and Ranting (& Where Glenn Beck's Demagoguery May be Taking Us); Obama: "It's Not About Racism"

by bartleby the scrivener | From an op-ed by Frank Rich in The New York Times:

"[T]he racist component of Obama-hatred has been undeniable since the summer of 2008, when Sarah Palin rallied all-white mobs to the defense of the “real America.” Joe Wilson may or may not be in that camp, but, either way, that’s not the news. As we watched and rewatched the South Carolina congressman’s star turn, what grabbed us was the act itself.

"What made the lone, piercing cry of “You lie!” shocking was that it breached a previously secure barrier. It was the first time that the violent rage surging in town-hall meetings all summer blasted into the same room as the president. Wilson’s televised shout was tantamount to yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater. When he later explained that his behavior was “spontaneous” rather than premeditated, that was even more disturbing. It’s not good for the country that a lawmaker can’t control his anger at Barack Obama. It gives permission to crazy people....

"Beck has notoriously defamed Obama as a “racist,” but the race card is just one in his deck. His ideology, if it can be called that, mixes idolatrous Ayn Rand libertarianism with bumper-sticker slogans about “freedom,” self-help homilies and lunatic conspiracy theories....It’s the same crazy-quilt cosmology that could be found in last weekend’s Washington protest, where the marchers variously called Obama a fascist, a communist and a socialist, likening him to Hitler, Stalin, Castro and Pol Pot. They may not know that some of these libels are mutually exclusive. But what they do know is that they need a scapegoat for what ails them....

KosTV: Fox's Cavuto Caught on Tape Fabricating 9-12 Teabagger Count for Benefit of Fox Viewers?

by Bartleby the Scrivener | Via Countdown and KosTV:

It's all right for Fox News, I guess -- it isn't as if they pretend not to be Fox News. Original tape after the jump:

Indomitable Health Care Reform Warrior Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) Says Baucus Bill is Dead in the Water

by bartleby the scrivener | Via Jed Lewison: