TRUF LIES

WHO'S PAYING TO KILL HEALTH REFORM?

A very cool chart by Campaign for America's Future which really explains it all.

+ click to enlarge

IS BIPARTISANSHIP A DELUSION?

Is it worth the struggle for President Obama to get a bipartisan Health Insurance Reform Bill passed? The Republicans have come out and said they will oppose any bill, one that includes a Public Option, a Co-Op, whatever. Now he has the opposition of the Blue Dogs in his own party to deal with. Since we voted President Obama into office along with a democratic majority in both the House and Senate, do the people even care about bipartisanship? At what point does the President say screw them.. let's use our majority and just push through a good Bill for the People?

Political Cartoon by Arash Banisafar

FINALLY. OBAMA EXPLAINS IT IN 7 MINUTES.

Please take a few minutes of your time to watch the facts.

The only thing he doesn't mention is that government-provided Medicare for Seniors WILL NOT CHANGE. They are simply cutting the wasteful spending of Medicare Advantage, which is NOT Medicare, but private insurance (Anthem, Humana, Blue Cross) that offers SUPPLEMENTAL health care plans to your existing Medicare.

The name is part of what's causing the confusion.

OBAMA'S VOICE IS BEING DEAFENED. COULD A KEYNOTE PRESENTATION HELP?

After reading Paul Krugman's Op-Ed in The New York Times, "Republican Death Trip", and after listening to the angry mob and all the accusations of government "death panels", one simple idea struck me:  President Obama should give a Prime Time Live Keynote Presentation. Al Gore did it very effectively in "An Inconvenient Truth". Steve Jobs does it very effectively every year at the MacWorld Conventions when presenting new Apple products. Why not take an hour during Prime Time and give a well-designed, simple, point-by-point Keynote on Health Insurance Reform? Tell us exactly what will change, what will stay the same, how it works, and how you'll pay for it. I'm talking bullet points and graphs.

Would it help? It might not. The opposition seems really far gone in their insanity, fear-mongering and denial. But it might be much more effective than the press conference he gave a few weeks ago regurgitating the same general ideas, or sticking to this stubborn bipartisan dream. We know it's broke. Tell us EXACTLY how you're going to fix it. The loudest voice is the one that gets heard. And right now we're dying to hear yours, Mr. President.

SWINE FLU FOUND IN LOS ANGELES!

On the heels of the Obama/Joker poster, this street campaign seemingly goes on the offense against our favorite right wing bag of gas, Limbaugh. After comparing Obama and Pelosi to Nazis, spewing hate on a daily basis and being guilty of nothing short of inciting violence, we are certainly fans of anything that links him to the word "swine". Unlike the Obama/Joker poster, this one seems to have a more pointed message than an all out confusing one. We're guessing it is something about the viral and toxic nature of certain right-leaning commentators. Thoughts?

A SMART PRESIDENT ≠ A SMART COUNTRY

Courtesy of Bill Maher, the Huffington Post

New Rule: Just because a country elects a smart president doesn't make it a smart country. A few weeks ago I was asked by Wolf Blitzer if I thought Sarah Palin could get elected president, and I said I hope not, but I wouldn't put anything past this stupid country. It was amazing - in the minute or so between my calling America stupid and the end of the Cialis commercial, CNN was flooded with furious emails and the twits hit the fan. And you could tell that these people were really mad because they wrote entirely in CAPITAL LETTERS!!! It's how they get the blood circulating when the Cialis wears off. Worst of all, Bill O'Reilly refuted my contention that this is a stupid country by calling me a pinhead, which A) proves my point, and B) is really funny coming from a doody-face like him.

Now, the hate mail all seemed to have a running theme: that I may live in a stupid country, but they lived in the greatest country on earth, and that perhaps I should move to another country, like Somalia. Well, the joke's on them because I happen to have a summer home in Somalia... and no I can't show you an original copy of my birth certificate because Woody Harrelson spilled bong water on it.

And before I go about demonstrating how, sadly, easy it is to prove the dumbness dragging down our country, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences. On the eve of the Iraq War, 69% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9/11. Four years later, 34% still did. Or take the health care debate we're presently having: members of Congress have recessed now so they can go home and "listen to their constituents." An urge they should resist because their constituents don't know anything. At a recent town-hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told his Congressman to "keep your government hands off my Medicare," which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways.  more

BLUE DOG BRAGS ABOUT KILLING SINGLE PAYER

Firedoglake reports today that the Blue Dog Democrats held the bill hostage in the committee for 10 days until they took the single payer option out. Yes, this is really something to brag about Mike Ross. Why don't you go back to being your true self:  a Republican who only cares about all the campaign contributions you've received from the Health Care Industry. Isn't that the REAL reason why you're stopping this?

FINALLY, THE LAME BLUE DOGS ARE CALLED OUT.

Keith Olbermann rages against republicans & blue dog democrats who are doing every thing in their power to prevent the Health Care bill from included the much-needed public option. Why? Because they've been bought and paid for by health care corporations. Finally, someone in the media is calling them out.

TODAY'S WEEKLY POLITICAL CARTOON

A great editorial cartoon from one of our newest contributors, Arash Banisafar. You'll be seeing more of his work here every week. Thank you Arash!