Month: August 2009

This was originally a much nastier post (With crass entreaties included).

On a completely different subject; but then I realized that it was being colored by the fact that, generally speaking, a lot of people were out there this week maliciously lying about my current political party (and our political leanings in general).  Aside from everything else, it’s objectionable when that happens.  Which is what cheered me right up; because I imagine that there are millions of folks out there right now who are just as offended as I am, and at the same folks.

So now I’m as right as a trivet, and happy to face the weekend.

Moe Lane

PS: Hit the tip jar!  There’s a bunch of people out there who think that you’re a racist scumbag, and none of them want me to have better video editing software.

PPS: Yeah, I kept the crass entreaties.

Howard Dean threatens primary challenges on public option ‘no’ votes.

Funny that he should mention that.

The former chair of the DNC – apparently, they finally let him come back from American Samoa – very much wants there to be a public option in the health care rationing bill, and he’s willing to help launch revenge attacks against Democrats who might stop him from getting it:

Former Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean fired one of the clearest warning shots at hesitant Democratic lawmakers on Thursday, insisting that if the party was unable to produce a health care bill with a public plan, there would be electoral consequences.

“I do think there will be primaries as the result of all this, if the bill doesn’t pass with a public option,” Dean said, in a phone interview with the Huffington Post.

Continue reading Howard Dean threatens primary challenges on public option ‘no’ votes.

Profiles in Blustering: the Whole Foods ‘boycott.’

(Via AoSHQ Headlines) It’s rare to see an article that sabotages its own message in the first two paragraphs, but this one on the supposed horrible coming backlash towards Whole Foods CEO John Mackey for his op-ed against health care rationing manages to do so pretty effectively.

Joshua has been taking the bus to his local Whole Foods in New York City every five days for the past two years. This week, he said he’ll go elsewhere to fulfill his fresh vegetable and organic produce needs.

“I will never shop there again,” vowed Joshua, a 45-year-old blogger, who asked that his last name not be published.

Of course he doesn’t want his last name published. If it got published, he’d risk being mocked horribly when it turns out that his ‘boycott’ lasted all of one week.

Moe Lane

PS: Yes, you may safely assume by this that I am not particularly impressed by the threats of a bunch of food enthusiasts to stop shopping at the place that most easily enables their habit.  Health care rationing advocacy is one thing; giving up their most reliable source of organic buffalo cheese is something else entirely.

Although admittedly you can get Italian Buffalo Milk Cheese on Amazon. Well, you could: I am a philistine.

Crossposted to RedState.

The spirit is willing, but the tech is weak.

Donations thus far have put me a good part of the way towards a video camera that will actually not give results like this:

…yeah, it was the RS Gathering that really nailed down for me the problems that I’m having with the current kit; from the laptop (recently acquired, tanjit) that doesn’t like wifi to the video camera that doesn’t like Vista (or most memory chips). Hence, the new Wish List (first noted here).

Moe Lane

PS: I’ve had it pointed out to me that I treat discussions like this as a favor to be asked, and not as a pitch for why you should make sure that I have the tools that I need for political blogging: so take a look at the above video to see why you should.  I’m in there swinging, but (to quote the classics) I’m using stone knives and bear skins.

What’s with this ‘unthinkable’ nonsense?

I’ve been thinking about how to get at least the House back in 2010 since Jim Martin‘s implosion, Fleming’s survival, and Cao’s upset demonstrated that the President’s get-people-elected charisma had a half-life of, oh, about four weeks.

Which is not to say that Brian York’s article on the subject is bad: it’s pretty good as a summary of current thinking (short version: the Democrats  are paying the price for getting grabby).  I just reject the thought that we’re just now getting to our feet.  Some of us jumped right back up after the election, thank you very much…

Crossposted to RedState.

Where it went wrong: Obama and Congress.

For the benefit of any hypothetical researcher from, say, the 2050s or so – hey, how are you folks doing, up there?  Have the Cubs won a World Series yet? – let me just note the two major mistakes that the current administration made that seem to have seriously complicated the passage of their health care rationing bill.

  • Choosing Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s approach on the ‘stimulus’ over that of Rep Walter Minnick’s;
  • Allowing Speaker Pelosi to replace John Dingell on Energy with Henry Waxman.

Continue reading Where it went wrong: Obama and Congress.

Did Tim Bishop (D, NY-01) REALLY skip out on the SEIU ‘reform rally?’ [UPDATED]

[UPDATE]: Congressman Bishop’s office informed me that while he had been invited to speak at Thursday’s rally, he did not accept the invitation, and thus was not scheduled to attend.

When I mentioned it a few days ago I assumed that last night’s out-of-district’s ‘rally’ would be just the usual staged event designed to make the Congressman look… well, less bad.  Only there’s now a report from a NY Gathering of Eagles group indicating that Bishop didn’t actually show up for that one, either.  Which is downright bizarre, if true: and I’ll be calling his office later to confirm it*.

In the meantime, mark your calendar if you’re in NY-01: Bishop has scheduled an in-district town hall for health care! On August 27th, which is about as late as you can get:

On Thursday, August 27 at 6:30pm, Congressman Tim Bishop will host a Town Hall meeting at Brookhaven Town Hall, located at 1 Independence Hill in Farmingville. The meeting is open to all members of the public. Constituents may ask the Congressman about any issue.

I’d note what important things Tim Bishop’s doing up until that point that would prevent him from having a town hall before two more weeks have passed, except that he hasn’t listed any.

Moe Lane

*This being no reflection on GoE’s reporting, of course: they could have been misinformed about Bishop’s presence.  We are talking about a Congressman who’s holding health care rationing rallies well outside of his nominal district, after all.

Crossposted to RedState.