Preview For Tomorrow's Health Care Rant, More Dubai Suspects

Thomas E Ricks
Kathleen Parker
Bob Barr

"Ideology offers human beings the illusion of dignity and morals while making it easier to part with them." - Vaclav Havel

"These true conservatives and RINO-hunters are, to put it mildly, a problem for any candidate or incumbent who tries to speak bipartisan, which translates into "treason." - Kathleen Parker

"You have to love the idea that the Justice Department (responsible for enforcing the law) feels the need to violate the law in order to prosecute those who may be violating other laws." - neo-carlinist

Well, soon the big entertainment will be the health care summit between President Obama and any Republicans that bother to show up. The agenda has been set, and the Repubs are whining "setup." And they're right, it is a setup, especially after Obama gave them all such a schooling when he did give and take with all of the House Republicans a few weeks ago. Personally, I want to see Mitch McConnell and John Boehner take on Obama and get slapped down. If they are game, and try to engage him in debate, it could make for a good drinking game... Not only does Obama give better speeches than anybody else in Congress, it looks like he is a better debater. I think a lot has to do with the lack of intelligence of our Republican leaders, poor John Boehner looks like a spray-tanned wooden puppet whenever he talks... John McCain is scheduled to be there, the idea being that the Repubs can score points if it looks like Obama is beating up on a senile, old man. All bets are off, though, if McCain loses his temper and throws a tantrum. Double shots if he does...

Obama reduced over 1900 pages of proposed legislation to seven pages of talking points. In contrast, the Republicans had one page of talking points posted on their web page The sad part is that no matter what the outcome, there will be a crappy bill produced and passed, and nobody will be happy with it. Just the nature of compromising. I still think what the Obama administration should have been doing from day one was to have supported and sponsored the national association of free clinics, making sure that at least one is held in every state. Backing up the rhetoric with positive actions, and building consensus for health reform based around demonstrating the need for it, then crafting a more popular bill. It would negate and put in sharper contrast the mean-spirited, negative, just say no campaign that the Repubss so successfully dangled before the craven media.

Hey, if Scott Brown shows up, another drinking game could be whenever one of his party shouts out "YOU LIE!" Of course, it will probably be all over by the time I get ready to watch it tonight, and I'll have to settle for three or four reruns of Criminal Minds, thank god there is a marathon of them on this Friday...


If its any indication of how the health bill will pass, the Senate passed the jobs bill by a vote of 70 - 28, once it got on the floor for a vote. That's one down, and 209 bills that are backed up because the Repubs are using the filibuster for every single bill that comes up for consideration. Maybe the revolt against  Rush Limbaugh's strategy that Obama-Must-Fail-at-Everything that Scott Brown began with his vote yesterday, will let other moderates open their mouths and say what they really think instead of being cowed by party politics. Just chew your cud and move along...


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't sure she can muster the needed votes to pass tomorrow's health bill, so Obama's performance will have to be masterful to sway the Blue Dog Democrats and the Liberals who feel cheated because there isn't a public option. If it does squeak by, will the insurance companies all move to Texas and secede from the Union, or will the tea parties fall apart since they have no reason to go on?

 I forgot where I was reading this, in interviews with 60-ish tea partyers, they say they woke up to the fact that Big Brother is trying to take over! Wow, it only took forty years for this to sink into their brains! See, that's the benefit of using medical marijuana. Like so many of us did back in the sixties and seventies, paranoid thoughts can penetrate into your system much faster through smoke than without it. Without inhaling, you end up going on with your life blissfully unaware until you grow into a bitter, old person, who suddenly glances down and realizes that they've been walking around without any clothes for all of those years... Next, we'll find out that what caused many of their conversions was that they also were abducted by aliens...



more dubai suspects...

The Dubai police have uncovered more suspects using fake passports who used them to enter their country: "Investigators in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) say they have identified 15 more suspects in the assassination of a Hamas official at a Dubai luxury hotel last month.


Wednesday's announcement by Dubai police brings the total number of people believed to be involved in the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh to 26." Somehow, I doubt that it took 26 people to off one Hamas member. But it opens the possibility of the number of people using fake passports in the world. It would be interesting if Dubai were to check their records for one year. If they turned up 26 in one week, times 52 weeks, equals 1,352. Either Mossad is one busy agency, or their are a hell of a lot of spies renting hotel rooms in Dubai, could be the major source of their tourist industry... More interesting, if countries like Britain, India, and the US were to check for fake passports, I wonder what the numbers would be? There is a lot more illegal activity going on than we, or Graham Green, ever imagined. For the fun of it, check to see the number of fake passports that have come into Haiti during the last two months...

And now, a moment of Zen: