This blog is dedicated to progressive and liberal thought. It also discusses new technology, how technology affects privacy and developments in Russia, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Rightardia fully supports the rights of workers to organize, the feminist movement, and all Americans regardless or ethnicity, sex or gender.It uses humor, satire and parody to expose conservative thought for what it truly is: BS! Rightardia contributes to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC and MoveOn.Org.
Maher: "It's everything you could want in a reform bill, you know, except reform,"
Maher said. "It is a watered-down, ineffectual blow job to the health insurance industry."
New Rule: You can't complain about health care reform if you're not willing to reform your own health. Unlike most liberals, I'm glad all those teabaggers marched on Washington last week. Because judging from the photos, it's the first exercise they've gotten in years.
Not counting, of course, all the Rascal scooters there, most of which aren't even for the disabled. They're just Americans who turned 60 and said, "Screw it, I'm done walking." These people are furious at the high cost of health care, so they blame illegals, who don't even get health care. News flash, Glenn Beck fans: the reason health care is so expensive is because you're all so unhealthy.
Yes, it was fun this week to watch the teabaggers complain how the media underestimated the size of their march, "How can you say there were only 60,000 of us? We filled the entire mall!" Yes, because you're fat. One whale fills the tank at Sea World, that doesn't make it a crowd.
President Obama has identified all the problems with the health care system, but there's one tiny issue he refuses to tackle, and that's our actual health.
And since Americans can only be prodded into doing something with money, we need to tax crappy foods that make us sick like we do with cigarettes, and alcohol -- and alcohol actually serves a useful function in society in that it enables unattractive people to get laid, which is more than you can say for Skittles.
I'm not saying tax all soda, but certainly any single serving of soda larger than a baby is not unreasonable. If you don't know whether you burp it or it burps you, that's too big. We need to make taking care of ourselves an issue of patriotism. If you were someone who condemned Bush for not asking Americans to sacrifice for the war on terror, the same must be said for Obama and health care.
President Arugula is not gonna tell Americans they're fat and lazy. No sin tax on food on Obama's watch. And at a time when it's important to set new standards for personal responsibility, he appointed a surgeon general, who is, I'm sorry, kind of fat. Certainly too heavy to be a surgeon general, it's a role model thing. It would be like appointing a Secretary of the Treasury who didn't pay his taxes. He did?
And get this: Surgeon General Benjamin had previously been a nutritional advisor to Burger King. The only advice a "health expert" should give Burger King is to stop selling food. The "nutritional advisor" job was described as, "promoting balanced diets and active lifestyle choices" -- and who better to do that than the folks who hand you meat and corn syrup through a car window?
When you have a surgeon general who comes from Burger King, it's a message to lobbyists, and that message is, "Have it your way."
Rightardia comment:Wirehead, our technical editor, worked for a right wing Republican in a Southern state. He read and blocked political traffic daily while he managed an anti-spam firewall for a financial sales organization. More than 30 per cent of the conservative email had racist content before the 2008 election.
Rightardia has looked at numerous photos and videos of the Tea Bagging event in DC on September 12 and has seen few, if any, minority people demonstrating. This trend has been apparent in other tea Bag events as well.
Jimmy Carter was not the greatest president, but he has always been honest to a fault. Carter is right. The resistance to President Obama, one of the most skilled politicians in US history, is fueled by racism, not rationale thought.
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Not too long ago, Glenn Beck came up with a convoluted reading of the art that was commissioned in the 1930s for the Rockefeller Center.
But let’s take a look at something more recent, and a lot less convoluted, shall we?
By now, you are familiar the Tea Bagger march on September 12, 2009, when almost 60,000 people magically became up to 2 million people? Let’s take a close look at the logo for that march, shall we?
Notice the red fist that is a symbol of communism. Add a hammer and a sickle and you could find this poster in Tiananmen Square or Pyongyang. Notice how the socialist fist in placed in front to the capitol building that is blue. Blue is the color of the Democratic Party while red is the color of Republicans and communists.
Are the Tea Baggers saying they want communists or socialists in power and Democrats out with this imagery?
Notice the clenched fists? Does it remind you of anything? (Red Clenched Fists?)
It looks very Communist, doesn’t it? Could Glen Beck be a secret communist who has infiltrated Fox News and is trying to destroy the Murdock Evil Empire by alienating advertisers? Did Fox News hire John Stossel, the libertarian wing nut, to replace Beck?
It's not ever day that America has had a leader who was both a fascist and a socialist. George W. Bush, in fact, never got beyond fascism. Obamolini also bamboozled Americans because he was a Muslim born in Kenya.
The right is so afraid of Obamaolini that they don't want him talking to their kids. There children might cross over into fascist socialism after they see Obamolini's evil eye. Be afraid, very afraid.
Keep you dog away from Obamolini, too unless its a Portuguese Water Dog. Those dogs are not so tasty. That's why Obamolini hasn't eaten Bo.
Rightardia comment:Is all the noise that the Astroturfers, Birthers, Deathers, and Tea Baggers really important? Not at all. The Democrats won the election.
Do we need Republicans to pass a health care bill. Not at all. The Democrats have a huge majority in the House and the Senate. If the right wing doesn't like public health care, let them eat cake.
Obama's political organization, 'Organizing for America,' is now active and it has a clear strategy. The Democrats need to get the party started. Intrade indicates the liklihood of getting the America's Affordable health care Act of 2009 bill passed is low. Since the congressional break, the probability of success has dropped at least 10 points.
Where are the Affordable Health Care bumper stickers? It's now or never. We need to get 'er done!
As lawmakers return from their summer break, it may be time for Democrats to scrap grand, bipartisan plans and nail down a new, focused message to isolate Republicans and get a health-care reform bill passed, WSJ's Jonathan Weisman reports.
The Republicans fired the first shots. Let's finish them off now that Obama's politcal organization, Organizing for America, has been reactivated. Let's rout those Astroturfers, Tea Baggers, Birthers and Deathers. We beat them in 2008 and we will beat them again.
Don't shoot until you see the height of their lies!
That's what Senator Ted Kennedy would want!
Congress is about to head back to D.C. to make historic decisions about health insurance reform. This is our last, best chance to take a stand while their attention is focused back home.
So we're organizing "Health Insurance Reform Now" events all around the country to show the overwhelming support for reform.
These events will be watched closely by Congress and the media to gauge just how strongly voters feel about reform -- and every extra person who shows up will make a strong, public case for change.
In the next few days, there's an event happening near you -- and we need all the OFA supporters in the area there. Will you join us?
These will be fun, respectful, powerful events. There are different types happening all over the country -- rallies, press conferences, even a few picnics. But they'll all have a common thread: We'll gather together with other local folks who are sick of the deception that's clouding this debate and share our passion for reform.
We'll thank those in Congress who are already championing reform -- they're feeling the heat and they deserve our support. And we'll urge those still standing in the way to start putting their constituents' health and economic security ahead of the special interests and partisan point-scoring.
Here's the bottom line: Wherever you live, your voice counts and you're needed this week.
See the event planned in your area, and sign up to join us:
Rightardia comment: The Major attended this event and noticed plenty of protesters as he entered the school grounds. Attendance was light compared to last year and fewer people visited the displays in the school set up by a variety of veterans organizations. Another big difference was that some of the protesters entered the event grounds and were talking to the vets.
The major did not attend the rally in the auditorium because he no longer buys into right wing patriotic events. Some of the people who were leaving the rally indicated the protesters had disrupted it and police had to be called in. The Major saw the police talking to some of the protesters, but he didn't see anyone get arrested.
If the Astroturfers, Birthers, Deathers and Tea Baggers can't be civil in town hall meetings, Rightardia suggests turnabout is fair play.
TAMPA BAY CHAPTER 119 TO PROTEST WEAPONS DISPLAY ON PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY
Rep. Gus Bilirakis's Military Fair violates the public school system's ZERO-TOLERANCE policy against weapons.
WHAT: CODEPINK, St. Pete for Peace, Veterans For Peace, and local activists will protest the use of public school property to display weapons.
WHEN: 11am to 2 pm, August 29th, 2009
WHERE: Rep. Gus Bilirakis's 3rd Annual Military Fair, East Lake High School, 1300 Silver Eagle Drive, Tarpon Springs FL
The annual Military Fair, hosted by Congressman Gus Bilirakis, is used to glorify the military to children. Advertised as a "family" event, the fair includes multiple displays of military machinery and weaponry.
Public schools should be centers of academic and personal growth, we won't allow them to be used to showcase and glorify the military. At last year's event, Bilirakis allowed gun dealers on the school grounds; the dealers brought display guns, and allowed children to point them at each other.
The law states that if a child so much as displays a plastic pirate sword during a Halloween party on school grounds, he or she gets expelled. Yet the military is allowed to set up weapons displays and invite gun dealers to showcase their weaponry. We will not raise our children to kill another mother's child, and we refuse to allow our schools to become centers for military indoctrination.
For more information and exact schedule, please call Heidi Ferrara of CODEPINK Tampa Bay, (727) 967-7535 or Dwight Lawton at dlawton2@tampabay.rr.com.
Hats off to Sen. John McCain for setting one of his town hall meeting attendees straight on the US Constitition.
President Obama is a constitutional lawyer who understands the US Constitution a lot better than George W. Bush ever did.
Three different people have confirmed that George W. Bush said:
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"
Obama never circumvented the FISA court and bugged the Internet. He didn't lie to Congress and the American people about WMDs in iraq. He didn't violate United States Code on torture. He didn't authorize executive assassination teams that violates US law and executive orders.
Are these Birthers, Astroturfers and Tea Baggers as stupid as the women in following video? Apparently so or they wouldn't be booing Senator McCain. Bill Maher is right. There are some very stupid people in the US.
Oh boy! Another smart black person like Obama who 'got off the plantation.' The Astroturfers, Tea Baggers, Birthers and Deathers must be gnashing their teeth! They don't like to hear about successful blacks.
Conservatives really prefer the 'good 'ol days' when blacks were on the plantation.
CNN's Betty Nguyen talks with Ephren Taylor, another African-American success story.
Rightardia's view is that the election was decided in 2008 and aggressive Astrotufers will really have no impact at all on the health care bill that emerges from the House and Senate. The Astroturfers, Birthers, Ditto Heads and Tea Baggers were the losers in the 2008 elections.
Rightardia's biggest concern is that violence will occur because Democrats are coming out in force to counter these uninformed right wingers. President Obama has reactivated his political organization, Oraganizing for America. There are more of us then there are Astroturfers and their cronies. We outnumbered Republicans 3:1 in the last election.
If the GOP wants a demonstration of political power, they are about to get it!
One of the country's largest unions has been hit by a wave of hostile calls and even death threats from people upset with its involvement in town-hall health care debates.
The Service Employers International Union was, as one aide put it, "deluged" with calls on Friday after several conservative media outlets accused the organization of trying to assault demonstrators who had showed up to protest Obama's health care agenda. Making it even scarier for union employees, the address of the union's St. Louis headquarters was mentioned on air by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
Rightardia comment: If cooler heads don't prevail, someone is going to get hurt or killed. It is just a matter of time. The Democrats out muscled the GOP in the 2008 election. We had three times the campaign staff on the streets. We can do it again.
For the first time, Obama's formidable political operation, Organizing for America, is calling on supporters to go to town meetings and show support for Congressional Democrats, as a way of countering the Tea Party brigade's efforts to lay siege to such gatherings.
And early this week, for instance, the AFL-CIO hosted a "webinar" training and organizing session with over 200 leaders from the organization's four regions.
AFL-CIO's lead health care advocate, Gerald Shea, observes, "When our people are organized, you're going to have a strong turnout and a strong visible presence. If there is a a disruption, we'll call for order and say, 'Many of us came here to to ask questions, not to harangue.'"
Still, Shea also says that they didn't plan on organizing large-scale turnouts at the town halls until this past Monday, because they were focusing on lobbying Congress through last Friday.
News about the GOP anti-reform mob scenes broke over the weekend. He notes that they expected "significant" right-wing activity at the town halls, but Shea says union activists were surprised by the "intensity" at these events. The push-back has begun.
On Thursday, AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka added a scathing critique of these "tea bagger"-style protests progressives and Democrats are challenging:
Major health care reform is closer than ever to passage and it is no secret that special interests want to weaken or block it...Mob rule is not democracy.
People have a democratic right to express themselves and our elected leaders have a right to hear from their constituents -- not organized thugs whose sole purpose is to shut down the conversation and attempt to scare our leaders into inaction.
An early sign of the union movement's challenge to mob rule was already shown at an event Wednesday in Indiana featuring President Obama. As the AFL-CIO Now blog noted:
At most of these town halls, the large majority want real discussion about health care reform. And union and health care advocates are helping ensure that happens.
For example, yesterday in Indiana, President Obama was scheduled to deliver a talk on the economy, green jobs and health care at a Wakarusa RV plant. Union and health care activists went to work, knowing protesters were set to be bused in to line the streets by the plant and grab headlines.
Union members and our allies called, sent e-mail messages and texted local unions and activists with the message "It's time to fight back for health care reform." Todd Anderson, AFL-CIO Midwest regional director, reports as many as 1,000 union members showed up, outnumbering the teabaggers by 10 to one.
Our allies at Health Care for America Now! have outlined a simple strategy activists can follow to make sure health care events set for the congressional recess are not hijacked by screaming teabaggers. It includes building turnout, making sure folks know what tactics to expect from the protesters, making contact with the media and more tips.
Richard Kirsch, the National Campaign Director of HCAN, declared:
We can't just wait for the public to recognize the reality behind this nutty minority. There are two prizes in the battle at hand -- the national press narrative and Congress' support. We have to win the press war by making it clear that shouts of "socialized medicine" and "government health care" are from a mob on the fringe of American politics. And we need to be sure that wavering Democrats in Congress see that there is strong popular support for health care reform.
The organization's strategy guide, targeted to activist groups, offered several key tactics to countering the anti-reform mobs, including:
Bring more people than the other side has. Their side will be smaller but noisier. You must bring enough people to drown them out and to cover all our bases so as to marginalize their disruptive tactics.
You don't want to get into a screaming match, but it must be obvious to everyone -- including press -- that you represent the majority.
Arrive earlier than the other side does. We need to stack our folks in the front to create a wall around the Member, and we need to stake out the best spots for visibility and signs.
Reconnaissance on the venue and an understanding of the staging will be important here. Make sure you do your homework so you can position your folks most effectively.
Be more visible than the other side. Bring more signs and leaflets, and whenever possible, post your signs all over the place so that you visually out-perform the other side.
Make sure you have people holding signs in every place where a TV camera is likely to be and that next to every right wing sign, there's one of your signs with your message...
The Campaign for America's Future and People for the American Way are also organizing average citizens to participate.
The Campaign for America's Future progressive battle plan underscores what's at stake:
Don't Let Special Interests Use Town Halls To Block Change
The battle for health care reform has moved to town halls during the August congressional recess. But the wild mobs disrupting events, intimidating lawmakers, and shouting down reform are not just expressing their views, they are doing the dirty work for corporate interests that want to cut the heart out of the Obama health plan.
We absolutely cannot let the far right fringe do the bidding of the insurance and drug lobbies and hijack the debate. We need to show up, big.
Take back the town hall! Make our voices heard for real health care reform.
Now the question is whether the majority that favors genuine health care reform will turn out in large enough numbers to take back the health care debate that's been hijacked by extremists and corporate interests?