President Obama's Prime Time Speech on Debt Ceiling

I thought the speech was pretty good, though like pundit Melissa Harris-Perry, I at first thought that Obama was giving us the Republican plan first. Which goes to show you how far to the right the Democrats have moved in this fight. The President did a good job of explaining the situation to a nation that doesn't always pay attention to such things. But I think the main point--the fact that the debt ceiling can be raised right this second with a one-sentence bill--could have been clearer. All the tax cuts, spending cuts, possible revenue enhancements, slashing Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. . .all the posturing, all of the "deals". . .have nothing to do with raising the debt ceiling. It's a manufactured, phony crisis that is becoming a real one.

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James O'Keefe's Newest Bogus Video

This guy really likes to play dress up. Image from RawStory

I'm beginning to think that James O'Keefe is actually a performance artist. His right-wing "hooks" are just to get FOX "News" and right-wing sites to display his "art." Given that a) all of his big "exposés" are either more or less than they appear, that b) the big giant douche, Andrew Breitbart is his biggest supporter, and c) that O'Keefe is so fricking skeevy, I just wonder how the hell he's managed such fame/infamy. I mean kudos dude, you brought down the evil ACORN, even though you proved nothing. That's magic, man. But what else have you done, except look like an idiot while getting "FOX fans" to notice you?

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James O'Keefe's Latest 'Terrorist' Medicaid Sting Goes After Woman For Following Law

Stop me if you've heard this one. A man goes into a public assistance office in Charleston, South Carolina in a kilt, tells them he's a member of the Irish Republican Army and asks for help for 25 fellow Irishmen in a hospital who need Medicaid. . . 

Read more at: RawStory

Right Wing World: Where Killing Medicare "Fixes" It

The Budget Munster is lying to you. Image from HuffPo.

There have seemingly always been spin doctors, and political finesse when it comes to policy and talking points.  What they're doing with the Paul Ryan "kill Medicare" plan is just the latest, most audacious example. There is a line that can be crossed from "polishing a turd" to "outright lying." And saying that Ryan's plan would "save" Medicare is outright lying.

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Ryan Says His Plan Repeals The 'Raid' Obama Made To Medicare. It Doesn't

Besieged by attacks over House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, Republican lawmakers are amplifying their message that it was President Barack Obama's health care law, not theirs, that pushed draconian cuts to the entitlement program. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Have Anti-government Health Care Advocates Denounced Their Own?

We keep being told that the government can't run anything effectively. The DMV, the Post Office. . .dreadful, right? And yet, there are recipients of current government health care already here in large numbers. Senators, Congressmen, veterans, and oh yeah, there's this. . .

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Memo to pundits and the public: Medicare is a government program. Really, it is.

. . . from Arthur Laffer, an economist who is founder and Chairman of the Laffer Group:

If you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they’re run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government. . .

I'm not sure I've read anything else quite that stupid today.

Read more at: AmericaBlog