How about we set Glenn Beck's show to the tune of "Goin' off the rails on a crazy train?"

By Ellipses

Summary:
1. All of America's problems are caused by atheists.

2 Children are being taught to sing songs set to the tune of other songs and that is bad.

3. America is the only country on earth that recognizes God's authority

4. We don't need Social Justice, we need Eternal Justice

Rebuttal:
1. How many self-identifying atheists are there in government?

2. Did you know that you can sing Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" to the tune of "Oh My Darlin'?" Try it, it's awesome.

3. You (Glenn) are a fucking retard.

4. You (Glenn) are a fucking retard.

Dry those tears, pussy, that's why your mom killed herself.

Sphere: Related Content

The Mad Doctors and Single Payer

by Cylinsier

I went to a town hall rally for health care last night. This one was in support of a specific bill, HR 676, which I have mentioned before on this blog. The rally was centered around a group of Doctors, mostly from Oregon, who call themselves the Mad as Hell Doctors. These doctors have been driving from Oregon to DC over the past three weeks, making stops to talk to people about single payer health care coverage and why they support it. Today, they end in DC with one more rally after which they will hand a petition to Barack Obama in support of HR 676.

What follows is my best attempt to put into words the argument that the Doctors made in favor of single payer. I will preface that by telling you that the doctors come from different areas of practice, four of them are former vets, all of them had at least 25 years in medicine, and they made a ton of good points.

The overlying message was that these doctors strongly believed that the only way to save the health care coverage situation in this country is through single payer. They made the strong argument that a public option would not work because it does not take enough power from private insurers. Rather, it creates a system that is doomed to fail and when it does, it will be hung around the neck of the health care reform movement as an albatross, a sign that government fails at running health care.

Instead, these doctors support a system that reforms Medicare and expands it to cover everyone. Part of this reform would involve consolidating health care records to conserve on paperwork costs, reducing costs by creating a network in which everyone is covered and thus no one becomes a burden on the system when they seek emergency care uninsured, increasing the focus on preventative medicine, eliminating pharmaceutical marketing, and tort reform.

One of the doctors argued that we have patients going to too many doctors and taking too many medications. He said that this is a result of the fear of being sued; anything that could possible be wrong has to be tested or referred to someone else. In a single payer system, there would have to be tort reform, but this doctor also made a brilliant point: people sue their doctors for malpractice because, for the most part, they are in fear of the future medical bills they will have to pay to fix whatever is wrong with them. They sue because the private health care industry has created an atmosphere in which they must sue to stay afloat. In universal coverage, your doctor's visits will basically be covered for life. No getting dropped, no change in rates. So even if one doctor does something wrong, you won't need thousands of dollars to have another doctor fix it. This eliminates a huge amount of the incentive to sue.

In the US, we spend $7,000 per person per year on health care. That's the most expensive in the world. The second most expensive is $3,600, essentially half. Where does this cost come from? A lot of places. A huge amount of it is insurance paperwork. Another big offender is pharmaceuticals. A major argument against some reform is that it will eliminate creativity and ingenuity in the health care industry. The doctors debunked this claim by examining pharmaceutical profits and breaking down where they go. The top 5 pharma companies in this country (Merck and Pfizer are two of the biggest) pull in 500 billion dollars a year. 32 billion goes to research and development. Where does the other 468 billion go? A large chunk goes to advertising. Those stupid commercials you see on TV. Shouldn't your doctor be telling you what medication you need, not the other way around? These commercials serve no purpose. Another big chunk of that money lines the pockets of the executives who run the pharmaceutical companies. There is a huge amount of money there that shouldn't be leaving your wallet.

Audience members told stories about their ordeals with private health insurance. One woman, a nurse, told the story of having to amputate the leg of a diabetic patient. He didn't have insurance and had gone ten years without any kind of doctor's visit, which is why when he finally came in, they couldn't save his leg. The damage could have been prevented if caught earlier. Now, the man is on disability, the burden of you and me, when it would have been much cheaper to cover him under single payer and keep him healthy and working. Others spoke about friends and family members who were insured but were dropped when they got sick or had their care, GASP, rationed to them by their insurer. Many of these people died as a result of being left out in the cold by these companies that had taken their money. I heard probably twenty stories just from the hundred or so people there last night. That's about one in five people by my count that have been screwed over by the insurance industry.

The doctors reminded us that the Declaration of Independence recognizes the inalienable right to life, that Martin Luther King Jr. said, "of all forms of inequality, injustice of health care is the most shocking and inhumane," and that the United Nations, an organization that this nation is a member of and whose rules and declarations we helped write, recognizes that health care is a basic human right. Why then are so many in this country only interested in themselves?

The doctors want to be heard so they can make their argument to as many people as possible. They as that you go to their site (link above) and use the option to email the President requesting that he talk to them. You can also send emails to various TV shows suggesting they invite one of them on as a guest.

The Daily Show: thedailyshow@comedycentral.com
Oprah: http://www.oprah.com/contactus
Olbermann: countdown@msnbc.com

Or any other you can think of. Supporters of the public option should really check this out; you might find you like it. The Senate has a similar bill, S703, that you can also check out. And the doctors are prepared to strongly back state efforts to establish single payer systems if a federal effort fails. In my state, Pennsylvania, two bills exist for this purpose: HB1660 and SB400. Write your state and federal representatives if you are interested and tell them.

UPDATE: CNN has a nice piece up that has the stories of several people from all different walks of life explaining why they are tired of the sad excuse for health care coverage we have in this country.

UPDATE 2: An interesting blog by a guy from the UK. He compares his health care experiences living in the US with his experiences across the pond. Worth a read. Sphere: Related Content

What is White Culture?

By Ellipses

Glenn had a hell of time defining "White Culture." Let me help:

The Twenty Pillars of "White Culture"

1. Sex with non-spousal relatives
2. Mayonnaise sandwiches
3. Flannel
4. NASCAR
5. Cars on blocks
6. Rebel Flags
7. Beer that tastes the same coming out as it did going in
8. Jesus
9. Distrust of Ay-rabs, Mexicans, Chinamen, Blacks, and assorted other furriners
10. Your balls smell like sheep pussy
11. "Ham" is a flavor of spread
12. Don't own nothin' faggy
13. Hoopin' an' hollerin'
14. Eagle Tattoos
15. Baby Jesus (This is different than number 8)
16. Velcro shoes
17. Camouflage
18. Soldier of Fortune Magazine
19. Aerosol cheese
20. Lee Greenwood

Sphere: Related Content

Carly Fiorina embarasses self, loses support of web designers for life

by Cylinsier

It seems Barbara Boxer has a challenger in her upcoming Senate race (2010). Should she worry? Apparently not. Carly Fiorina is getting laughed at all across the internet by both liberal and conservative commentators alike. In case you don't know, Carly is an ex-businesswoman trying to make a go at the political theater. She was the CEO of Hewlett-Packard until they fired her ass for incompetence in 2005 (technically a forced resignation). She was the first woman to lead a fortune 20 company, which should be applauded, and that makes it that much more unfortunate that she sucked at it. Of course, she got hers before leaving; a $42 million severance package.

But this is not why Carly is currently a minor laughing stock in political circles. Her campaign site is. A red background with an email subscriber function and a high school quality flash presentation is all there is to see. The slogans are inane; go look for yourself. Democrats wasted no time tearing into it. The Huffington Post lead the charge. But as CNN points out, Republicans also found it to be sub-par. Me? Well, I don't pretend to be a particularly skilled Flash developer but I am a web developer and I do use Flash pretty regularly and if I was responsible for that mess, I would be pretty embarrassed.

Carly, you've got to be fucking kidding me.

Look, design aside, where is the information on her platform? Where does she stand on issue A, B, and C? Give me one reason why I should vote for her based on this site (not that I could anyway since I'm not from Cali, but you know what I mean). The site fails in both design and content, and what else is there to judge it on? If Carly Fiorina has any hope of unseating Boxer, who won her last election by a pretty solid margin, it starts with her taking down this teaser piece of crap and putting up something at least informative. The design improvements can come later. Otherwise, her political aspirations aren't going to look much better than her business record. Sphere: Related Content

In the news...

by Cylinsier

Just a few quick thoughts on several different stories floating around in the news right now.

• The Massachusetts State Senate got a law passed allowing the Governor to appoint someone to Ted Kennedy's seat as an interim Senator until an election can be held in January to find a permanent replacement. A lot of conservatives will no doubt scoff at this move and claim it is blatantly political, pointing out what I myself noted in an earlier blog post: that this same Senate created the old law in the first place back in 2004 to protect John Kerry's potential seat vacancy from a Republican appointment. Well, the original move was blatantly and embarrassingly political, but this one is not. The law should be what they've changed it to be. The Senate does not need to have a vacant seat for such a long time. The law shouldn't have been changed in the first place but changing it again was the right thing to do.


• Scientists are optimistic about some small signs of success in an HIV vaccine. The trials are being done in Thailand and involve over 16,000 participants. Read about it here.
  


• The G-20 is underway here in Pittsburgh and so far, nothing terrible has happened. From what I can tell, the protests have been mostly under control, suffice it to say I'm not going to go up there and see for myself first hand. Apparently, one unruly group had to be dispersed with tear gas, but other than that its been basically what was expected.
  


• Scientists have found water on the moon. Obviously a surprise.
  


• Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House is still debating on a bill they can all agree on to send to the Senate. And by "they," I mean Democrats. The Republicans are apparently officially being left out of negotiations. For the record, all currently proposed House bills include a public option.
  


• As the New Orleans rebuilding effort continues, visitors might notice more changes than just new buildings. Apparently there has been a huge influx of Latinos to the area. It seems they came to help rebuild and stayed to live and open businesses. New Orleans used to be a Spanish colony, so its somewhat fitting.
  

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Glenn Beck blows a gasket

Thanks to commenter Onidinita for bringing this to my attention. Glenn Beck drops an intellectual deuce on the air in response to a caller supporting health care reform.



Listen to the whole thing to get the context or just skip to 3:10 for the hilarity. Sphere: Related Content

We Need to PROTECT Insurance Companies

By Ellipses

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Sphere: Related Content

Glenn Beck is All Over the Map

By Ellipses


Watch CBS Videos Online Sphere: Related Content

Pittsburgh welcomes a few world leaders and a bunch of unhappy people

by Cylinsier

The G-20 is coming to Pittsburgh. But what is the G-20? Well, the history goes a little something like this...

In the 90's, during the G Funk Era, Warren G established the organization so that he could better Regulate...things. Over the years, several new members joined: Kenny G, all of G-Unit, the Low G Man, G-Man, G Fresh, the G-Force (both the five youths dressed as anthropomorphic bird people and the three talking guinea pigs), and HG Wells (reanimated by the G-Virus). The virus counts as the twentieth member.

Okay, not really. The G-20 is the top twenty economies in the world. They are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, so its really more than twenty countries cheating to look like twenty. They're getting together in charming Pittsburgh to discuss money. Lots of money. Because that's what the G-20 always talks about. One of the main topics will be the International Monetary Fund.

However, for those of us residing in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas, the main event will be the protests. Many different groups will be coming. Some will be protesting the lack of jobs, some foreign wars, some environmental awareness, and probably a slew of other things. I myself will be leading a one-man protest of protesters who can't get on the same page. And also, pretty much the whole city will be in lock down. Getting into the city will be a chore and considering what will be there (only protesters and foreign leaders since everything else will be closed) probably not worth it.

Hopefully some relatively interesting stuff will happen and you'll see us blogging about this more as the week continues. For now, it amounts to giving me an excuse to work from home later this week and an attempt at setting the world record for most pop culture references that rely on the letter "G." Sphere: Related Content

Max Baucus's epic failure

by Cylinsier

Just a quickie drive-by thought. Max Baucus was supposed to emerge from his meeting-of-the-middle with the answer to the question, "Will Republicans and Democrats agree on a health care bill?" Well he did, but it wasn't the answer he was looking for.

All we've heard is how Republicans won't agree on anything with a public option because the gubment will kill old people and make babies go away. Baucus, the Senate's Don Quixote, grabbed a couple of his homies and three Republicans who made nice like they were going to reach across the aisle (and by reach across I mean shake the hands of Democrats who come all the way across the aisle to them) so long as the six of them came up with bipartisan legislation. Read my post below about HR 676 to see my thoughts on what a "compromise" for this bill should be.

At any rate, Baucus dropped his pants, bent over and took it hard from the GOP, neutering and essentially dismembering health care reform for them in a naive attempt to create something that would make Republicans happy (no public option and some shitty attempt at non-profits). So, after toiling for weeks over this, he produces his GOP placation bill and the GOP tells him to shove it up his ass. Bravo, Max, bravo.

I only hope this serves as a lesson to the majority party: the Republicans are liars and will not pass anything related to health care reform. Any words otherwise are just a ruse to make you waste more time trying to figure out where the football is so you can try to kick it, only for them to snatch it away at the last second again. Every day that goes by is a day closer to when the GOP hopes to take a few seats out of that Democratic majority and seal the deal on meaningful reform indefinitely. Get it through your thick skulls, Democrats. The only health care bill that will get passed that reforms anything will be done in spite of the GOP, not with them. Sphere: Related Content

Daily Show Returns

By Ellipses

On a side note, can someone explain to me what this past weekend had to do with "how we felt on 9/12/01?"


Mad Men

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

Sphere: Related Content

The health care bill you haven't heard about

by Cylinsier

The bill is called HR 676. Its in the House now. It has 93 sponsors at the time of this posting, more than any other bill right now. The nickname of the bill is Improved Medicare for All. And its single payer.

I'll wait while the conservatives finish pissing themselves. Back? Okay, let's continue.

Whereas the debate on health care thus far has centered on the public option, which opponents claim will eventually lead to a single payer system (and also dead grannies and secret police who make you wait years for a tonsillectomy), this bill makes that far off threat, the valley at the bottom of the slippery slope, a reality in the here and now. Here's a list of some of the things this bill offers that are superior to any of the current bills that still have public options:

• Everyone will be insured by a single, publicly-funded agency. Private providers remain as non-profits and perform actual health services while remaining independent of the government.
  
• The funding comes from a combination of existing reserves already going towards Medicare and other public health services (VA, SCHIP, Medicaid, etc.) and a tax between 4-9% for employers and around 3 for individuals. Actual medical bills cease to exist. This differs from other bills that would instead simply require individuals to be insured and then penalize them for failing to do so.
• Comprehensive cradle to grave coverage guaranteed. Despite penalties, as many as 20 million would remain uninsured if public option bills are passed; we won't even mention what happens without the public option except to say it sucks ass.
  
• Primary care, emergency room visits, dental, vision, substance abuse, prescription drugs, mental health; you name it, its covered (except for elective procedures like a nose job). A public option would not have dental or vision at this point.
  
• 95 percent of Americans will pay LESS than what they are currently paying for health care since monthly payments cease to exist and are replaced by a smaller fee in the form of a tax.
  
• The savings compared to the current system are estimated to be around $400 billion a year, achieved by reducing administrative waste, budgeting with hospitals and providers, and bulk drug purchases.
  
• Patients have their choice of doctor - everyone is in network. No provider to tell you what you can and cannot do. Its all up to you and your doctor.
  
• Coverage is comprehensive across all barriers including class.
  
• When polled, 60 percent of Americans and 60 percent of doctors said they would prefer a Medicare that covers everyone.
  

Installing this system would simply require the expansion of the current Medicare and involves no new agencies or bureaucracy. But I know what you're thinking. "We haven't heard shit about this bill yet so obviously its too late. It was a nice thought, but we'll be lucky to get the public option." Not so fast... New York's Rep. Anthony Weiner has an amendment in play that should come up for vote soon. The Weiner Amendment effectively transforms the current bill in the house into 676, meaning all of a sudden the House is passing single payer and sending it to the Senate in a truly epic display of cojones. They'll probably put a picture of a large hand with the middle finger up on it or maybe Barney Franks bulbous exposed buttocks photoshopped next to an anthropomorphic cartoon elephant kissing it. And you know Nancy is going to smash Joe Wilson in the face with it. No avoiding it.

Of course, the House needs to be constantly reminded that people want them to do this, so click that link above to help remind them. You can also probably volunteer where ever you live to help spread the word about this or just keep track of its progress. Just do an internet search of 676 and your area - Western PA has its own local site for example.

I would like to point out to all supporters of the public option, even those that may NOT want to go as far as single payer, that it is imperative that this bill at least make it to the Senate. Why? Well, because the Democrats have fucked up pretty bad thus far. See, the Republican whiny babies keep moaning on about bipartisanship, the thing they ironically killed themselves back in the Clinton administration, and how any health care reform needs to have support across the aisle. Well, technically it does have support across the aisle because the Democrats filled up their side and had to put some people in the mostly vacant Republican side, but they of course mean it figuratively. The thing is, they aren't interested in actually meeting anyone half way. To them, bipartisanship is creating the illusion that Obama is a failure by putting their fingers in their ears and going "la la la la la" for about four years.

See, there isn't any compromise on the public option. You either have it or you don't. The public option should be the compromise! The Democrats started way too close to center on this issue and left themselves with no bargaining chips. The Blue Dogs are basically Republicans at this point so the Democrats are going to have a hard time passing anything through the Senate without watering it down to something worth less than the paper its printed on, exactly the Republicans' want so they can blame the inevitable failure of the bill on Obama and the Democrats in 2012. Meanwhile, the Democrats at least for the most part are interested in actually doing their jobs, a nice change for politicians, but they put themselves in between a rock and a hard place thinking they were hot shit cause they hit the magic 60. 676 can at the very least give them some leverage. If the Senate introduces single payer on the floor, suddenly the GOP is thinking a public option doesn't look so bad. I'd love nothing more than to see 676 become law, but I'd settle for the public option as a compromise. The fact that the public option might come off the table before the GOP will allow themselves to say compromise is a travesty. Sphere: Related Content

Iconoclast

By Ellipses

Refugees and wait times. They are like peas and carrots in the health care debate pot-pie. Always present, seemingly important, often cited but never achieving the spotlight that one would expect of the prime argument against socialized health care. Refugees and wait times are like Taylor Swift and Kim Clijsters; deserving of their time in the sun as opposed to just being the prop for Kanye and Serena’s jackassery.

Let’s start with the hoards of health care refugees who seek care in the United States because ours is the greatest health care system that God has given man and we should be thankful for $13,000 premiums and 77 year life expectancies. After all, if we weren’t the Lil’ Wayne of health care (most awesomest evah!) then we wouldn’t have this constant deluge of Canadians bearing down on us from on high upon our northern border in search of magic treatments and overpriced pharmaceuticals, right?

You see what they do, there? The question gets posed about WHY all these people come here for health care, rather than asking the primary question of DO all these people come here for health care?

Seriously, how many people ACTUALLY come to the United States, from Canada, explicitly for health care?

Luckily, we have an extremely thorough dual-perspective study of this phenomenon conducted by Steven Katz that finds that Canadian Health Care Refugees are “more myth than reality.”

First, let’s look at the methodology of the study. I said it was “dual-perspective” which means that they polled Canadian citizens to ask them specifically if they had received medical treatment in the United States in the past 12 months. Then, they polled a sample of U.S. hospitals in population areas bordering Canada and asked how many Canadian patients they had treated in the past 12 months. Each data set would be used as a counterweight to the other. The “perception” of influx from the US could be compared to the reporting of egress from Canada to see if either side supported the others claims regarding patient traffic.

First, let’s revisit the argument by “the right.” From Katz’s study: “American opponents of universal public coverage have argued that global constraints on capacity and funding force many Canadians to cross the border in search of services that are unavailable or in short supply in their own country.”

This is how the “Canadian Perspective” data was collected: 18,000 Canadians were polled (overkill) and asked “In the past 12 months, did you receive any health care services in the United States?” If the respondent answered in the affirmative, they were asked this followup question: “Did you go there PRIMARILY to get these services?”

The reason for this sequence of questions is that thousands of Canadians routinely visit the US for business travel, leisure travel, incidental travel, or they own a residence in a warmer climate. In the course of these regular visits, they could need incidental care. A goose could fall off a Segway in Myrtle Beach and need to go to the hospital, for example. This overlap requires some specificity about the nature of the visit and if seeking health care services was the prime motivator.

The results? One half of one percent of respondents reported having received medical treatments in the United States. Of those people, eighty percent of them did NOT travel to the US specifically for health care. Only one tenth of one percent of respondents went to the United States specifically for health care services.

Included in that one tenth of one percent figure were people that sought cosmetic surgery in the United States (breast implants, face lift, tummy tuck, etc), as well as people that live closer to a US population center than they do to a Canadian population center, where the Canadian government specifically contracts with US providers for certain services. For example, Windsor had an agreement with hospitals in Detroit to receive gunshot victims because of Detroit’s unique experience dealing with injuries of that nature.

Alright, so one tenth of one percent… what’s that look like from the US side of the border? Forty percent of health care facilities polled reported treating zero Canadian patients. Forty percent had treated fewer than 10. Fifteen percent treated between 10-25 and 5 percent treated between 25 and 100 Canadians. 80 percent of health care facilities that would be reasonably accessible to Canadians (located in border states) treated fewer than 10 Canadian patients in the past 12 months.

Over a five year period, 2,031 Canadian patients were admitted to Michigan hospitals, 1,689 were admitted to New York hospitals and 825 were admitted to hospitals in Washington state. In that same 5 year period, the bordering provinces that those patients presumably resided in saw patient traffic of 1 million, 600,000, and 350,000, respectively.

In the case of refugees, there just isn’t any “there” there.

Now, the issue of wait times. In Canada, treatments are queued based on the necessity of timeliness so that procedures that have a higher efficacy rate when performed quickly (time of the essence) get performed quickly, while procedures that do not need to be performed immediately have longer wait times. The result is a rational distribution of procedures based on severity of the condition.

Indeed, though, the wait times in Canada ARE greater than that in the United States, on average. However, England, Germany, Australia and New Zealand beat the US on wait times.

On the issue of breast cancer treatment wait times, specifically, Canada averages an 8 week wait time. The range of integers that figures into that average are 80% distributed between “immediately” for dire cases to 12 weeks for non-emergency treatment.

This works out to the average wait time of 8 weeks.
When you compare that to the breast cancer treatments in the U.S., the wait times are not distributed due to severity of the illness, but rather, by quality of coverage and ability to pay. As such, the majority of treatment times, for those insured, are massed on the “immediate” end of the timeline, while those without coverage or a general inability to pay for coverage delay treatment, with some not receiving it at all. This is NOT due to provider refusal to provide coverage, but an unwillingness to seek treatment that one cannot pay for. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of people receiving treatment despite being unable to pay for it, but the real-world results show people putting off treatment while they attempt to buy coverage or locate a funding source.

Because of the immediacy of treatment among those without the burden of finding coverage or funding, the average wait time for breast cancer treatment in the US is lower. However, the distribution of that treatment is hardly equitable or even rational, in terms of the effect of immediate treatment of tumors contributing to increased likelihood of survival.

For my next trick, I plan to shine a flashlight under Sean Hannity’s bed to prove there aren’t any socialist monsters hiding there. Go to Iconoclast, Part Deux Sphere: Related Content

Who's Proud of America Today?

By Ellipses

To all of you people who read this blog from outside of the United States... I just want to say... MOST of us aren't like these retards.

50,000 villages sent their idiot to Washington this past week. Here's one:

Sphere: Related Content

Follow the money...

by Cylinsier

I don't have much opinion to share on this topic because I think it speaks for itself, so I'll just let you have the information and you can decide. An organization called the Sunlight Foundation shares information on the influence of health care lobbying on the Senate Finance Committee. Its all nicely visualized in "maps" of the connections between Senators, former aides turned lobbyists, and the companies they work for. They focus on Max Baucus first.

In 2008, Baucus received $1,148,775 from the health sector and $285,850 from the insurance sector. For his career he has received $2,797,381 from the health sector and $1,170,313 from the insurance sector.

Following that, the Democrats of the Senate Finance Committee are examined. The money amounts are astounding. Baucus only comes in second lifetime to John Kerry. The Republicans aren't much better. On Senators Charles Grassley and Orin Hatch:

Over his career, Grassley received $1,876,479 from the health industry and $858,224 from the insurance industry. Hatch, meanwhile, pulled in $2,311,744 from the health industry and $659,307 from the insurance industry over his career.

Most of the results are compiled from investigations done by OpenSecrets.org. OpenSecrets offers a wealth of information about lobbying. Here's some great stats.

• The AMA is the second highest spender in lobbying efforts at 208.5 million dollars since 1998. The Chamber of Commerce is first at 488.5. The American Hospital Association is fourth and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is sixth.
• The top ranked sector of spending is Finance, Insurance and Real Estate at 3.7 billion dollars since 1998. Health is second at 3.5 billion. If you go year by year, Health has been number one since 2006, and spending has averaged roughly 450 million dollars each of those years.
  
• The top two industries since 1998 are Pharmaceuticals (1.7 billion) and Insurance (1.3 billion). Pharma has been number one every single one of those years and Insurance has never been lower than three. For the last three years, Pharma has outspent whoever was number two by an average of 70 million.
  
• Based on issues, the Federal Budget and Appropriations has the greatest number of clients at close to 40,000. Health issues is second at almost 18,000. This indicates that the per-client spending on health issues is enormously high compared to other issues. Taxes, defense and transportation are third through fifth, issues noticeably absent from the tops of the other lists.
  
• The total number of clients per government agency is heavily stacked towards Congress; this includes all lobbying, not just health care lobbying. The HOR has 328 million and change in clients. The Senate has 325 and change. Third on the list is the Department of Defense at 50,000. Congress combined has 15 times the number of clients as the DOD and more clients than every other agency on the list combined.
  
• The Democratic party receives marginally more than the Republican party on average from contributors, although the top two recipients of contributions that are individual members of congress are Saxby Chambliss, R-GA and John Boehner, R-OH.
  
• The top ten organizational contributors include Cigna at ten with 3 million dollars, Blue Cross at eight with 3.1 and the AHA at seven with 3.7. Wal-Mart is number one with 9.4.
  

Again, I don't feel the need to add much to this. It speaks for itself. Sphere: Related Content

Keith Olberman on the State of Dumbassness in America

By Ellipses

Some of this is hyperbolic, but on the whole, a great point is made about the state of coherent thought in America today.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sphere: Related Content

Well now, that's ironic...

By Ellipses

Super special thanks to Ondinita for providing this link via Facebook:

Iraqi Constitution declares health care a right, provides single-payer framework.


USA? More like WTF Sphere: Related Content

Jackassery

By Ellipses

During last night's address to a joint session of congress, President Obama delivered his plans for health care reform.

The "highlight" of the evening ended up being a douche in a congressman disguise who, for some reason, thought that he was at a town hall meeting or a in the audience of Springer ("You don't need him, girl!"). Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina acted a fool and exclaimed "You Lie!" when Obama said, explicitly, that illegal aliens would not be covered under a reform plan. Here's the video:



To his credit, Wilson apologized promptly when an apology was demanded by both Rahm Emanuel and John McCain.

Beyond the theatrics and the "Oh no he didn't" reaction that is natural when someone dons the cocksuit in arguably the most important and respected forum on earth is the lingering question of... "Why not?"

Why, if it is so expensive to transfer the cost of the 30 or so million uninsured to those who are insured, is it acceptable to transfer the cost of 12-15 million people to the rest of us based simply on an arbitrary set of circumstances such as where you were born and which papers you filed or didn't file before getting to the place where you ultimately got sick?

Of all the things said during the president's address, why is it that THIS point was enough to get the best of a congressman? In the last month, we had heard that the public option would lead to eugenics and euthanasia. We heard that abortions would basically be required of people, whether you had ovaries or not. We heard that breast cancer wouldn't be treated, you'd have to wait 6 months for treatment if you had a heart attack, your taxes would increase exponentially, Nazi's would take your guns, czars would remove your gall bladder, bureaucrats would make a man-sandwich out of you and your doctor (guess who's the meat), and we'd be turning old people into Soylent Green.

Yet, the issue that gets Joe Wilson to "holla back y'all" is the prospect... no, not even the prospect, but the flat out denial that "Home Depot people" would be *gasp! covered under a comprehensive insurance program. Let's put that a different way... rather than disagree with a proposal of the president, Joe Wilson is moved to yell "You Lie!" when the president SPECIFICALLY SAYS "FUCK THE MEXICANS."

During the speech, I was disappointed that the president specifically singled out a vital, though illegal, segment of our society to withhold cake from. However, in light of Mr. Wilson's reaction and upon further reflection, I have to hold out hope that the willingness to explicitly deny coverage to illegal aliens underlies an understanding that perhaps a blanket amnesty program is in the works that would make the issue null and void. Once they are no longer illegal, they are covered. I don't know which part excites me more... the humanitarian aspect of protecting those who mow our lawns, care for our kids, harvest our crops, and clean our buildings... or the fact that the prospect of this would literally cause people like Joe Wilson to eat their own heads.

Other highlights of the speech:
1. The public option wasn't guaranteed, but it had strong enough support to suggest that it WILL be part of the final plan.

2. Obama told Palin to choke on a Caribou Cock

3. Mason Verger... I mean, Mitch McConnel kept his sexy-ass turkey gobbler from jiggling

4. The republicans who looked like they were being forced to smell Borat's taint for an hour did more for the speech than the excellent oration itself.

5. Those same taint-sniffers all jumped up and furiously jerked off when an EXTREMELY TEPID AND RELUCTANT MENTION OF TORT REFORM WAS MADE. I guess arbitrary caps on profits are A-okel-dokel when it's on the trial lawyer industry...

Here's the full thingamabobber:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sphere: Related Content

Reaction to Obama's speech

by Cylinsier

Even as the elected leader of the nation, its not an enviable position to be in. A policy change that should have been a slam dunk has become the biggest political battleground of my lifetime at least. As both the House and Senate deadlocked going into August recess, poll numbers for everyone started to drop and people starting asking, "what does Obama think?" Well, last night, we heard.

First, my criticism. Realistically, we're beginning to see that a public option is a long shot. Inexplicably, people would rather continue to suffer from price gouging than have a non-profit player enter the fold that they can hold accountable to force all insurers to lower their prices out of competition. People would vote against a program to hand out money for free if it was administered by the government. So I get it: committing to a public option as a necessity is suicidal. But that said, I still think Obama could have come out more strongly in favor of it. I like that he came out in favor of it, but the door was a little too open for my taste on letting it go. I also wish he'd made mention of the possible plans of a public option trigger that would kick in if other legislation fails to repair the problem without Congress having to pass another bill.

That aside, I personally thought the speech was very well written and very well delivered. Obama needs to buy his writers a round of beers. He hit on the key points and made them simple: the economy is tied to healthcare and without reform, it will continue to suffer; people who like their insurance now will not be affected in any way; our current system already forces us to pay for other people via a "hidden tax," (great word choice) but a reformed system would not; it won't raise the deficit; and public and private colleges show that competition will not be fatal to the private industry. It was a sweeping and fairly airtight argument in favor of doing something. He even hit back forcefully against a certain death panel rumor spreader which showed a little bit of spunk. Polls show a pretty strong majority of speech watchers approve of the President's plan, but that's pretty loaded because a majority of the speech watchers were probably liberal Democrats to begin with.

I think the importance of the speech will be seen in light of how independent voters react. If they react favorably, then it was a success. Otherwise, it fell short. Based on the current political atmosphere, two to one odds say it didn't convince enough.

But the real problem is the staunch opposition to Obama's plan. Its still early, but so far I haven't heard any actual counter-argument to anything Obama said, but a lot of criticism of the man himself. Not even half way through the speech, South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson shouted that Obama was a liar when he promised reform would not pick up the tab for illegal immigrants. This is exactly what is wrong with people. Pretty much since they saw the man for the first time, certain conservatives haven't trusted him. No reason really. They just think he's a liar. His birth certificate is a lie, his credentials are a lie, and his intentions are a lie. That gets us nowhere. The Republicans cry out for bipartisan interaction, but what they really want is not to be proven wrong. Wilson's outburst epitomizes the entire healthcare opposition and to a large extent, the opposition against Obama as a whole: I don't care what you say because you are a liar. Just like the way little kids used to fight in the sandbox in kindergarten.

There's talk of Congressional action that would allow circumnavigating the Republicans in the Senate altogether and getting a law through with fifty plus votes. I say go for it. The other side doesn't want to play ball. The legislation is more important than the reputations of those that pass it at this point. The Republicans have provided no criticism of the actual plan that has been provided by Obama so let's see it in action. Of course, we hear plenty of criticism about Obama's comment in his speech about avoiding the mistakes that got us here, apparently a jab at Bush's failures (the truth hurts). And that's where the argument is going to stay if the Republicans continue to lead it. They have no interest in fixing any problems as long as Democrats are around to share credit. Remember that. Sphere: Related Content

Newt Gingrich and other cronies defend Obama Speech

Newt fucking Gingrich. Much like when O'Reilly told birthers to shove it, people within the crazy camp are saying this is crazy. That's pretty sad. Sphere: Related Content

Hump Day News

By Ellipses

Obama initially tapped TV personality and closeted homosexual Glenn Beck to be his administration's "'Tard Czar," only to withdraw the appointment after the vetting process turned up the fact that Beck has not responded to allegations that he raped and murdered that girl back in the early 1990's.

I like Michelle Obama more than just about any other public figure. That said, if Barack wins re-election in 2012, I do hope that he divorces her and takes up residence at the White House with either a white woman or an Asian man. There's a segment of the population that would shit kittens over that and I would love to see it.

A super secret source within the white house leaked the opening lines of Obama's speech before a joint session of congress tonight. It reads "Grassley? Fuck you. DeMint? Fuck you. Bachmann? Fuck you with a broken bottle in the neck. This is how we do shit in Kenya, bitches."

It's the day after the great oral molestation of the nation's youth by our big, black leader. I wonder if Rick Santorum still thinks that it's creepy. I wonder if he is still weirded out over the leader of the free world telling kids to work hard and find what they are good at and exploit that talent. I wonder if his stool is still loose over Obama cuddling and kissing a miscarried fetus hours after it died... Oh, wait, nevermind...

On my way to work this morning, I saw a completely new type of road kill. A goose. Yes, a fucking GOOSE was dead and mangled in the middle of the road. I have never seen that before and I just wanted to share it with you.

Today is 09/09/09 and you know what that means... yes, that's right, Obama is a socialist muslim anti-American who tells lies to your kids via CSPAN. Woe is lady liberty, woe is the heartland.

Hey, you remember those town hall fucktards with the Obama-as-Hitler signs? Well, in Germany, they reserve the Hitler comparisons for things that ACTUALLY kill millions of people (you know, like the REAL Hitler). And even then, it offends the delicate sensibilities of the lederhosened. Makes us look like that spazzy kid with tourette syndrome, doesn't it? You know, someone cuts us off in traffic and we're like "Fucking Stalinist!" Or someone says, "Hey, why don't we do what the rest of the universe does and just have a public health care plan?" And the flannel-clad sister-fuckers cause a run on black sharpies so they can do some hillbilly photoshoppin' of some Kenyan's picture.

Speaking of Kenya, where the hell are those API tapes of Michelle Obama? Sphere: Related Content

Are you smarter than your 5th grader? Probably not.

by Cylinsier

Tuesday’s school speech came and went and though it is still early, the socialist indoctrination hasn’t brought about widespread marches of grade school proletariat yet. Might be they are too busy getting a few more games of Halo in or grinding at the local skate park, so if we wake up tomorrow tied to our beds by our children as they topple the government, please accept my apologies ahead of time. However, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that the conservative backlash to Obama’s speech, much like the conservative backlash to pretty much everything that has happened since January, was madly and embarrassingly overblown and that the Republicans have gone from the party of No to the party of No common sense.

The latest nauseatingly pretentious mantra of the increasingly unoriginal far right maniac movement is to claim that Obama’s speech, which was clearly and plainly harmless and has in fact been lauded by notable conservatives, was actually exactly the heavily subversive diatribe against all things good and holy until the conservatives, just and vigilant defenders of god's Amurrica that they are, acted in their all important role as last line of defense between their innocent, feeble minded children and the dark horned creature masquerading as our benevolent commander in chief. In other words, the neocons ran out of glue to sniff so they went and bought some good shit on the corner and they're really flying now.

You see, when you commit so heavily to something so stupid, its going to be pretty embarrassing when it comes back to bite you later. For example, being positive beyond a shadow of a doubt that the President's speech will involve a health care push or a socialist agenda makes you look like you wear tinfoil to bed. The only way to justify that belief is for it to be right...and when it isn't, like this time, you're left holding your dick with your pants around your ankles wondering where you went wrong. So you take a page from the neocon handbook and you misdirect by claiming that you were right but the socialists pulled the old switcheroo on you. That's right, commies, you can't fool a real Amurricun.

What's sad is that the fringe right is so practiced at covering their tracks and telling tall tales to justify their prejudice that they've actually convinced themselves that what they are saying is true. After all, the only people who could be gullible enough to believe this crap would have to be the same ones who believed we went to Iraq because of 9/11, torture works, and Dick Cheney cares about anyone other than himself. They certainly haven't convinced anyone else. Example: a survey from Kansas City, Missouri reveals that 63 percent of respondents believe its appropriate for Obama to speak to kids in school. 65 percent responded that its appropriate for any President to speak to kids in school, a respectable consistency to say the least. And this is a Republican state mind you. McCain won it in the election, albeit by a slim margin. When asked if it was appropriate to make a huge deal about holding their kids out from school because Obama was speaking, the number of respondents who said yes was greater than the number of teeth shared collectively among said respondents. At least probably.

Of course, not all post-speech feedback has been of the conspiracy theory variety. Massive tool and alleged rapist and murderer Glenn Beck (if you don't understand satire, don't bother to follow that link) has admitted on his radio show that he's cool with how everything went down.

Let's not idolize the president of the United States, but I don't really have a problem. As long as there's no indoctrination in there.

I don't know about you, comrades, but having Glenn's approval on this issue for dear leader is a huge load off my mind.

But we could go on and on, couldn't we? That's not the point. The point is this: GOP, time to stop keeping score. This isn't a game anymore. This isn't payback for whatever sick perceived slight you think the liberals gave your party for the last eight years, which by the way many of you agreed with us on when we said it was a pretty clear failure in the end. No, in the world of politics, once you start with the mud slinging, it begins to perpetuate itself. Pretty soon, we've lost track of who is starting the rumors and which ones had any truth in them to being with (none since January by my count). If you conservatives want to have any hope at all of being anything but the annoying voice in the back of the room that you are now, its time to grow up, stop trying to set the bar lower and lower, and act like responsible adults for a change. In this case, that means recognizing when you're making a fuss about something that isn't fuss-worthy and only serves to strengthen the opinion of the left, the middle, and the middle-right that the far right is a bunch of whiny bitches. Whiny bitches don't win seats in congress because they're too busy whining.

Consider what the younger generation thinks of those of you who overreacted so blatantly. They are your future. They are the ones who will take care of you. And when you realize that they think for themselves, don't be surprised that they don't agree with you. Ron Paul once said, "Setting a good example is a far better way to spread ideals than through force of arms." He was talking about military action, but the quote fits this situation well. Sphere: Related Content

Retard Right Response to Obama's School Speech

By Ellipses


"The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today."

Everyone? Doesn't he REALLY mean "impressionable young minds apt to absorb my socialist-liberal ideas and join my neo-progressive Americorp ACORN army?"

You're glad the kids could join you today? They are kids in SCHOOL for Christ's sake! They are prisoners to your wacko agenda!

"I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning."

If they knew what was good for them, they WOULD have stayed in bed this morning. This speech is making me throw up with every additional elitist liberal word. God I just want to kill myself.

"I know that feeling."

No you don't. They have K-12 in a single hut in Mombassa.

"When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school."

See? We told yinz he was furrin! Indonesia my ass! Yeah, you couldn't go to the schools that Americans went to because you WEREN'T IN AMERICA! So you went to a commie muslim atheist school where they taught you how to do abortions.

"So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning."

So you want to force MY kids to get up at the ass-crack of dawn? No thank you Mr. "President." I will be instructing MY kids to sleep until 10am from now on. Ha! That'll show ya!

"Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster.""

Lazy commie bastard.

"So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year."

Here we go... please tell, President Hussein, what YOU expect of MY kids.

"Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility."

You've given a lot of speeches, but half the time I don't understand them because I'm red-faced and flatulent with anger... that and all the three-plus syllable words.

"I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn."

"Pushing" = "coercion"

"I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox."

Yep, my kids will now be REQUIRED to put in at least 8 full hours of TV and Xbox time from now on.

"I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve."

Since when is the GOVERNMENT responsible for schools? The government needs to keep out of my Social Security, my Medicare, and my public schools!

"But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed."

Who are these "other adults" he wants MY kids to listen to? From now on, MY kids will listen to NO other adults!

"And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself."

Responsibility you have to yourself? What the hell kind of commie fruit cake shit is that?

"Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide."

What a faggy idea... "discover" what you're good at. Hell, in my day, we schlept off to the mill at age 14 and pressed bumpers for 50 years and were thankful to do it!

"Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper..."

Yeah, a liberal, left-wing, main stream media, agenda-driven newspaper...

"– but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class"

Where they teach you how to be gay.

"Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine"

Or maybe a quick and quiet death panel injection for old people?

"but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class."

Science class? Don't you mean EVOLUTION class?

"Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice,"

Not unless you are a Mexican Liberal Bitch Woman who hates white people...

"but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team."

Which sums up Mr. Junior Senator with no experience's "experience" prior to stealing the election...

"And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it."

And what other kind of "training" are they going to get? Are they going to be trained how to hate Jesus and organize communities? Huh?

"And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future."

Our "greatest challenge" exists in the present... and is the one speaking right now.

"You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS,"

There's the gay agenda...

"and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. "

And there's the tree-huggers..

"You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness"

You need a job in a mill to fight poverty and homelessness...

"crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free."

Race-baiter...

"You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy."

New jobs? I thought YOU and your stimulus package were supposed to do that for us?? I ain't workin' for NOTHING.

"We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country."

My kids are quitting school TOMORROW!

"Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork."

Challenges? Like having the risen Jesus as a president?

"I get it."

No you don't.

"I know what that’s like."

Nope.

"My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had."

Like an American birth certificate?

"There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in. "

Because you are a furrin' Muslim?

"So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse."

Instead, all of our regular, white, Christian, American lives took a turn for the worse?

"But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country."

Yeah, right... hard work and knowing George Soros and Bill Ayers!

"Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right."

Now he's pushing the single-mother, unemployment, welfare, ghetto, thuglife agenda. Give me a break!

"But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying."

See? He's telling kids to blindly follow and not to question authority.

"Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future."

Yeah, maybe in Muslimia... here in Christendom, GOD writes our destiny.

"That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America."

South America?

"Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez."

Jasmin Perez? Sounds Mexican... DOCTOR?! There's ANOTHER good job going to some furriner.

"I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall."

Hundreds of extra hours? Can someone tell this clown there are only 24 hours in a day?

"And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college."

Can we get an American name in these examples?

"Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same."

Yeah, they aren't any different from us... don't we all know a half-dozen Jazmins, Andonis, and Shantells?

"That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education "

How very new-aged...

"and to do everything you can to meet them."

Beg, borrow, steal?

"Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter."

Yeah, better not get sick under SOCIALIST MEDICINE!

"Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. "

This crazy talk is going to get YOU committed.

"I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things."

That's it! MY kid is going to be a rapping, basketball playing reality star! Take that Orack Barama.

"But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try."

Like health care, Mr. Failure?

"That’s OK."

The hell it is... first time, every time... that's MY motto.

"Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.""

JK Rowling? Isn't she furrin? Michael Jordan? Isn't he black?

"These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying."

These people succeeded because of affirmative action.

"No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in."

Sounds like you are asking an awful lot of our children President Mao... Why can't kids be kids?

"Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals."

Find ANY adult... except for the commie liberal furrin president...

"And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country."

Oh please, Mr. Drama Queen

"The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best."

I'm not playing your game, sir... My kids will quit EVERYTHING first thing tomorrow!

"It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other."

He's calling for a revolution! He wants our children to overthrow our government and install a socialist muslim caliphate!

Google? Co-founded by SERGEY BRINN? Sounds furrin... Twitter? Don't they use twitter in IRAN? Facebook??? Isn't that for the gays?

"So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?"

Yes, what are your contributions to the demise of our great nation going to be? How can YOU help president messiah? We all know he doesn't even want us to be here in 20 or 50 years... he wants us all to die in the next 3 and a half years.

"Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it."

So, if Obama fails and the country goes to shit, he now can blame it on kids... Classy.

"Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America."

Don't you mean "Alleju Ahkbar?"

Sphere: Related Content

Here it is... have at it!

By Ellipses

Barack Obama's speech to students... Feel free, in the comments, to quote the parts that indoctrinate children into, well... whatever the hell the controversy was about...

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

(Shamelessly stolen from here)

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