MST3K Saturday - "Giant Spider Invasion"

(Traveling today, so light blogging.)

Should health care legislation pass, it will be the first in a series of deciding battles for the soul of America.

No one should be under the illusion that there are profits to be made under the aegis of health care reform. As Paddy Chayefsky said: "The world is a business, Mr. Beale…"

But the question of which profit-making agenda the American people should sanction---one which emphasizes death or the other which emphasizes life---is at the point of being definitively answered with the passing or scuttling of this legislation.

The highly profitable pursuit of war had defined America's soul for eight, cold years, that profit being accessible only to the few elite entities which have preyed upon the nation's desperate need to matter again. Years of unregulated activity led to corporate empowerment on a scale never before experienced, insinuating itself to the point of breeding a new kind of thought about what it means to be an American: patriotism = consumerism.

Too distracted by manufactured enemies, cowed by corporato-facist media bullies and overwhelmed by a tsunami of glittering toys, the citizenry allowed the thieves to thrive unopposed. A cultural coup had taken place. And the right wing rubbed its hands, licked its lips and robbed the nation blind of its treasure and prestige.

And its soul.

The next potential windfall, however, is in a new approach (new for this new century, that is). It is one which takes the public---previously considered malleable, vulnerable chattel---and places its psychological and physical well-being as the leading justification for making a profit.

The better Americans are treated, the healthier their lifestyles, the smarter they become, well gosh darn it, the more profitable the country will be.

Scary.

To the millions who have evolved into consumo-bots, who bristle at the thought that America should in any way help its infirm, respect its elderly, care for its veterans, restore its educational institutions, have a responsible media, regulate the impulses for greed in business and in government, encourage community service, counteract the onslaught of corporate ideology, wage peace instead of war, the thought of health care reform passing is absolute anathema; the reality of its passing is further indication that their destructive doctrines are falling away like dead, lifeless leaves.

This is one war which, should health care win, will truly be profitable.

Joe's rant at the top is basically another reading of the same rant he's been rattling off since the Fall. You remember the one: the health insurance industry loves this bill -- the stock market for example. Of course Nate Silver and others totally debunked any relationship between the stock price of insurance companies and the healthcare reform bill's success/failure.

But the way he's approaching this -- seemingly from the left -- is concern trolling at best. It's entirely disingenuous. His argument is basically that this is a huge giveaway to the private insurance industry without restriction or regulation. I mean, he even went off about there being no public option. Uh-huh. Joe Scarborough is seriously a fan of the public option. Right. Yup.

The fact of the matter is that Joe's solution to the healthcare crisis has always been the boilerplate GOP position. In other words, nothing. Correction: practically nothing. He's said it a million times: Allow insurance companies to sell across state lines, and, you know, tort reform. So he means to tell us that this reform legislation is excellent for the insurance companies -- which makes it a bad bill. Yet his solution is to further de-regulate insurance companies?! And tort reform, which analysts suggest will only reduce costs by one or two percentage points?!

Then there's Peggy Noonan. Find me a serious economist who will agree that the solution to the economic crisis and the "Great Recession" should have been reducing the deficit. I can't find one. Furthermore, the healthcare reform bill reduces the deficit by $1.4 trillion over 20 years!

I'm glad Howard Dean could sit there with a grin and listen to such a steaming heap of horseshit being repeated on national television, because I'm with Congressman Weiner -- I would've erupted into a tirade to end all tirades.

Speaking of which, no, Peggy, not everyone has mastered your insufferable passive aggressive hackery. Heaven forbid a Democrat raise his voice.

After Bob posted his article about what a Dumb Stupid Mike Pence is, I thought I’d go heckle the Congressman via The Twitterings for a few minutes, because that’s how I occupy my time between coffee mugs full of Maker’s Mark and long crying fits. And it was while taking these cheap shots that I found the following, tweeted by Pence yesterday morning:

Let's have the debate. A minority in Congress plus the American people equals a majority.

This is sheer genius, proving Pence understands elections and representative democracies every bit as well as he understands returns on investment. Because that’s how political minorities work, of course: Take the minority, add “the American people” as a distinct and numerable group having nothing to do whatsoever with that minority’s political fortunes, and you must have a majority, right?

Reminds me of something Stephen A. “Little Giant, Enormous Asshole” Douglas said during the Kansas-Nebraska Act discussions: “Let’s have a debate. A minority in Congress plus all the whiteys in southern states clinging desperately to their free slave labor and Constitutional right to kick the shit out of Negroes equals a majority, dumbass!”

"Only in Washington," said Rep. Mike Pence, "can you spend a trillion dollars and say you’re gonna save the taxpayers' money.”

Let me explain this slowly for Mr. Pence-bot. Say I have a robot service -- a fleet of Pence-bots who aren't very smart. Glitchy malfunctioning robo-doofs. And so my robot service is falling behind and I'm sinking into debt. Consequently, I decide to replace my Pence-bots with newer, smarter robots. We'll call them Franken 3000s. I pay more for the investment in the near term, but the Franken 3000s are really popular and effective, and my business starts to boom. I'm able to pay off the initial purchase and I begin to make money while paying down my previous debt.

It's high school level economics, Mike Pence. You, sir, are a fucking moron. Either that or you take your voters for fucking morons. I'm not sure which is worse.

Mike Pence was on MSNBC the other day and was asked what he would say to Democrats who are on the fence about the bill.

His line was basically, Let's scrap this bill and start over with something new. Join me! I am Pence-bot! Of course it occurred to me that he was employing the scorpion argument. Give me a ride on your back -- I promise I won't sting you. Seriously, I promise!

Belle & Sebastian - "The Boy With The Arab Strap"
Live from Coachella

Glenn Beck and Fox News control the media side of the tea party movement. No racism here, of course. Nope.

The bill will cost $940 billion over the first 10 years and reduce the deficit by $130 billion during that period. In the second 10 years -- so, 2020 to 2029 -- it will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion. The legislation will cover 32 million Americans, or 95 percent of the legal population.

This is great, of course. Now it's up to the Democrats to pass the thing and then the very important work of making sure voters know about these praise-worthy details.

Adding... More:

1. CUTS THE DEFICIT Cuts the deficit by $130 billion in the first ten years (2010 – 2019). Cuts the deficit by $1.2 trillion in the second ten years.

2. REINS IN WASTEFUL MEDICARE COSTS AND EXTENDS THE SOLVENCY OF MEDICARE; CLOSES THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG DONUT HOLE Reduces annual growth in Medicare expenditures by 1.4 percentage points per year—while improving benefits and lowering costs for seniors. Extends Medicare’s solvency by at least 9 years.

3. EXPANDS AND IMPROVES HEALTH COVERAGE FOR MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES Expands health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans Helps guarantee that 95 percent of Americans will be covered.

4. IS FULLY PAID FOR Is fully paid for – costs $940 billion over a decade. (Americans spend nearly $2.5 trillion each year on health care now and nearly two-thirds of the bill’s cost is paid for by reducing health care costs).

Bob live from Hollywood. Elvis live from... Nebraska.

Plus, the death of the kill-biller movement. Lots of healthcare stuffs.

And your calls: 877-879-8951

Rush - "Limelight"
Live from Exit... Stage Left

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

Rat bastards of the worst order. Not only do the Republicans want to preserve this system, they want to allow it to get worse.

It must be a nightmare, clinging to beliefs that are regularly refuted by empirical facts, embracing myths of a country which only exists in the febrile Right Wing imagination, cringing in fear of contrived boogie men and having the world look upon you with a mixture of amusement and pity.

Because that is the reality of being a Republican today.

In order to maintain a semblance of relevance, a Republican must ignore the haunting truth behind their desperately embraced identity: fear of becoming obsolete in an increasingly progressive world. Clinging to those dependable dinosaurs Guns and Religion (as well as dinosaurs themselves---the ones that walked the earth 6000 years ago) the modern Republican party is a veritable curiosity shop of bygone beliefs, the kitsch without the cute.

What a waste of passion and faith, their surges of populist zeal ending up being about as effective in the end as an outbreak of acne.

And for the rest of the sentient world such a phenomenon is viewed with sadness, like seeing a once able athlete turned into a drooling yet lethal lummox, the glory days far, far behind.

The scourge which has brought the Republican party to its knees (and not a few bought-and-sold Democrats) is greed, of course. It is as virulent as anything Michael Crichton could have cooked up, its variations are manifold and gain entry under any number of guises: as fear, as gaudy celebrity, as hoary American archetypes.

Decades of impersonalization masquerading as technology have robbed Americans of their once inherent understanding of liberty's tenuous grasp in a turbulent world. They have been assured by corporate wolves that there is no need to be vigilant over the flock; their security is in good hands (cue the evil laughter).

And so the spectacle continues news cycle after news cycle, packaged reality after manufactured crisis, a theme park of Democracy, America the ride. It is non-stop thrills guaranteed to distract from the real action taking place in board rooms and think tanks.

The hell of it is, the Republicans (or broken down into sub categories of the Scared, the Marginalized, the Willingly Ignorant and the Patriotic) could have truly mattered if only their leaders had not succumbed to their baser impulses, the ones which used to be more closely associated with cavemen but which now, today, fully define the party of Lincoln.

How many times did the Republicans use it the last time they controlled Congress, 2005-06? More than 35 times! And the Democrats? They complained about it then too, though to the best of my knowledge there were no claims of treason.

The Republicans have no shame. No dignity.