One of our best shots at beating a Bush Dog this election cycle might well be in Blue America candidate Mark Pera’s race against anti-choice Democratic incumbent Dan Lipinski. As Markos says, “you’ll be really excited for Lipinski if you love nepotism and carpetbagging”:
Lipinski won his seat in 2004 after his father, Rep. William Lipinski, decided not to run for reelection after having won the Democratic primary. In a move that has not sat well with some Democrats, the younger Lipinski, a political science professor in Tennessee who had not lived in the state for years, was nominated to replace his father with no opposition.
Pera has been working really hard and seems to be on a roll. Says Howie Klein:
In the most recent quarter, Mark outraised Lipinski, $100,000 to $75,000. And $30,000 of Mark’s total, more than the difference between the two came via ActBlue. While Lipinksi was raking in the dough from the Chicago Machine and Inside the Beltway lobbyists. In fact, one of Lipinksi’s donors was Louisiana Republican Rep. Richard Baker’s Back America’s Conservative PAC, which normally just gives to GOP incumbents but in this case has chosen to give to a Democratic incumbent who, at least when the chips are down, votes with the GOP.
The Chicago Tribune has an article on the Pera/Lipinski race which includes interviews with Howie and Stoller, who respond with predictable subtlety.
You can donate to Mark Pera on Blue America here.
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fitz!
1
woo-hoo!
Here!!
quatro?
my Spanish needs some work…
jayt @ 6
nice save
Please excuse the OT but I want to bring this up from EPUlandia:
Another woman whose life has been irreversibly altered by the warmongering thugs in the Bush administration:
“The first evening we arrived, exhausted, dragging suitcases behind us, morale a little bit bruised, the Kurdish family sent over their representative – a 9 year old boy missing two front teeth, holding a lopsided cake, “We’re Abu Mohammed’s house- across from you- mama says if you need anything, just ask- this is our number. Abu Dalia’s family live upstairs, this is their number. We’re all Iraqi too… Welcome to the building.”
I cried that night because for the first time in a long time, so far away from home, I felt the unity that had been stolen from us in 2003.”
http://riverbendblog.blogspot&…..3835220137
Elliott @ 7
well, after having been called out by none other than Joe Wilson on an earlier thread, I’m treading a bit lightly here…
Umm, Mr. Wilson, if you’re still reading – wasn’t me, nuh-uh, nope, would never have said such a thing – evil twin… I’m sticking with that one…
still no word from Loo Hoo or OC?
Elliott @ 7
it’s cinco swim around here…
punaise @ 11
if you seis so
Mark Pera sends a very thorough and informative thank-you note to donors, I can attest. Defeating this Lipinski Bush Dog deep in Rahm Country will be a wonderful victory for our team.
catorce ;-)
Elliott @ 12
ocho zen one
Only 485 comments at book salon? *g*
Missed it, attending the beginning of jury selection at the ex-Representative Vic Kohring (Rep. – North Wingnuttia) bribery and corruption trial. Just posted our first entry, with my co-blogger, who, unlike me, thinks Kohring has been framed. More later this afternonn. Back to court.
mc @ 8
Thank you so much for the reminder.
john in sacramento @ 14
catorce ;-)
show-off!
How does Mark Pera feel about Directed Energy weapons? Is Uof C in his district? They’d be involved likely.
Ask yourselves the same question…
Should our military use energy beam weapons?
You should have a say, presumably…
He’s just going to keep shoving this right up the Dem’s ass:
Cranking up the inflammatory unsubstantiated rhetoric about Iran
Micheal Ledeen Washington Journal on Friday
Oct 19th
http://www.c-span.org/homepage…..iveDays=30
Bill Kristol on Sunday
http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..with-iran/
Cheney on Monday making threats, Hillary saying all options are on the table.
They are ramping up the rhetoric ten fold
They keep talking about Iran as if there is a confirmed nuclear weapons program, yet Iaea’s El Baradei has repeatedly said there is no “hard evidence” to back up these claims
Fantastic assesment on current affairs by Mr. Pera. With the push of a key, all that exposure, if people are interested in looking for information. THe ideas expressed on this site need more exposure, to reach fair minded people. Lots of people are there to be connected with!!! How can the intenet become a more effective political tool for politicians seeking support of older folks, intimidated by computer use? Exposure!!
Jane,
You are the best & I love you. The link to Blue America goes to the trib. You may want to fix that.
Are you beating the terrorists yet?
jayt @ 18
Can’t say I’m fluent, although I could have a simple conversation with someone. Most of the Spanish I know happens to be Mexican swear words
Which is why I always laugh when I see this picture ;-)
OT _
Burma Army continues to attack and destroy villages displacing thousands of Burmese. The Bush Administration had their “concerned” fifteen minutes of fame and Condi wagged her finger while Laura expressed “deep concern”. In the meantime the Burmese people continue to be terrorized by their own government. Killing the civilian population and attacking their homes continues throughout Burma.
Free Burma Rangers reports:
Bless the Free Burma Rangers for being on the ground and giving humanitarian medical and food aid to villagers. They are a shining light in a treacherous jungle.
raven @ 20
They’ll just take it too.
Slow learner, isn’t she?
Fires: OC situation is has improved slightly (subject to change without notice, because the wind hasn’t stopped). SD is in deep doo-doo; some of the officials down there think the only thing that will stop the fires is the ocean. There are now fires in the Lake Arrowhead area.
NASA has a couple of satellite pictures from yesterday afternoon that give an idea of how fast things change: one is from 11:35am and one from 2:50pm.
Fallbrook, in northern SD county, is reporting 4% humidity and winds NE 17mph gusting to 31. This is bad, bad weather for firefighters.
Thanks to ThinkProgress for the latest story about the worst General ever, General Betray-us. The Surge Is A Success, and so there will be NO, that is NO troop reductions in Iraq. Also, it is shocking, shocking that the goal of political reconciliation is a failure. However, Iraqis are unified in their hatred of a foreign Occupying Army. But of course, there has been great success in the northern Kurdish area. It is so successful, that the Turks may decide to join the Coalition of Occupation there
Petraeus is another word for failure, of course. The 190,000 weapons that Betray-us lost, remain missing. Add another Friedman Unit to the United States criminal occupation of Iraq.
Note, that Pete Stark called the Republican policy in Iraq “make believe”. He called Kommander Guy’s statements, “lies”, about an “illegal war” to kill “innocent people”.
john in sacramento @ 24
I can ask for a beer, and find out where the men’s room is – in several languages!
One time I was in London with a friend – she asked “A Loo?”
Maitre’D said – “Allo!!
Is anyone following Tweety’s take down of an AEI gas bag about bombing Iran?
jayt @ 29
I can whip some Korean and Vietnamese on ya that you wouldn’t want to say to your momma!
Pete Stark!
P J Evans @ 27
re fires. at Dkos, outrage about Glen Beck’s comment :
I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today.
— Glenn Beck, The Glenn Beck Program
e.g. Democrats. Kossacks are calling for the progressive blogosphere to make this a cause.
Story:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/22/165023/99
There are phone numbers and email contacts provides in the comments after number 150. For your convenience, and to deny him traffic on his site, please use those.
Let’s see the fire can get him fired.
Speaking of the Democrats, STICK A FORK IN OBAMA — HARD !!!!!!
Then twist it.
Justin Raimando on the
The GOP Purge
The War Party can’t win the war in Iraq, so they’re taking it out on the GOP
by Justin Raimondo
The ongoing hara-kiri of the GOP proceeds apace, with the latest being a concerted effort by the party’s neoconservative wing to oust sitting Republican members of Congress who oppose the war. The latest examples: Walter B. Jones of North Carolina and Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland. Rep. Jones attracted national attention when, at the height of the pre-invasion war hysteria, he led an effort (with now-jailed Rep. Bob Ney) to rename the French fries on the menu in the House cafeteria “Freedom Fries” – and then attracted more serious attention when he turned against the war he had championed, and began to denounce the president’s war policies in no uncertain terms.
Jones is quite a character, an old Southern gentleman who emanates sincerity and class: he has personally written to thousands of military families who have lost loved ones in this futile and apparently never-ending war. What’s more, he has taken an enormous political risk in reversing course, not because it’s now the popular thing to do – it wasn’t when he began speaking out – but because he’s a man of principle who puts his conscience and his constituency before partisan considerations. What I like about him is that his denunciations of the war are invariably fiery, and shot through with a white-hot anger directed at those who lied us into war:
“At a local barbecue restaurant last week, he delivered a passionate speech defending his position – and slamming the administration’s foreign policy. He approvingly read from Lt. Gen. Greg Newbold’s 2006 Time editorial attacking the Bush administration for using ‘9/11’s tragedy to hijack our security policy.’
“He accused the ‘neocons’ – he repeated the phrase twice – of manipulating intelligence to sell the Iraq war to the public. He said he was more concerned with terrorists coming from South America than from Iraq.
http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11796
raven @ 20
Nancy and Harry respond:
“We’ll pay you, Mister President, oh God we’ll pay you anything your heart desires, but pleeease, oh puhleeease in return say we support the troops. That’s all we need to hear. Promise us that you’ll say it, okay?”
OT, Chris Dodd over at Huff PostMy Oath of Office.
Serious question:
My mother, a life-long Republican, renounced her Republicanism at last year’s Easter dinner.
Now, however, her new cause is to be anti-illegal immigrants. She’s following the same track as in 2004 when she was then also a one-issue voter; at that time it was partial-birth abortion. She didn’t tell me until later – I then pointed out to her that there was already a law in place which dealt with that – that it was a Rove-issue only.
It all stems from a friend of hers supposedly being pushed to the end of the line in an emergency room, in favor of “illegals” whose maladies would supposedly pay better and more quickly.
I’d like to save her new-found free-thinking; but she’s been poisoned by thinking that brown people are going to taking her (truly) hard-earned money.
Don’t be too hard on her – she’s 76 – and renouncing her life-long Republicanism is a big deal.
How do I convince her that brown people aren’t going to ruin her world – by keeping her – and her friends – at the end of the line in the emergency room, should, god forbid, she ever find herself in that position?
1,635 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Kathleen and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
Do you or anyone else out there know whether er not the fascists have chosen a primary opponent for Jones? What are our chances in that district if Jones is dumped for a wingnut?
I’m gettin’ the distinct impression that this war is eroding the less than “solid South” faster’n global warmin’. Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and maybe Alabama…all tippin’ toward the Blue. I wonder if Edwards wouldn’t be smart ta declare for Liddy Dole’s seat and take a Senate seat in the heart of the Old Confederacy.
KEEP THE FAITH BUT KEEP THE HEAT ON THE BASTARDS!!
Richardson, McCain would go on Imus
h/t kos
jayt @ 38
I always ask my mom: who’ll cut your lawn, dust your furniture, trim your hedges, pick your lettuce, and hoe your potatoes?
Good question jayt, and I sure don’t know what to tell you to advise your mom. All I know is it’s getting bad around here wrt to how brown people are being treated, one county away from me: linky
NorskeFlamethrower @ 39
Speaking of Liddy Dole, meet Jim Neal
Rats. I predicted Biden would be first to do this. Perhaps someone should remind Richardson this was not the first time…
jayt:
What was the tipping point for your mom to denounce republicanism? If it was being lied to one too many times, then why would they be truthful on immigrant issues?
dakine01 @ 37
Thanks for that link. Stand behind Dodd
neokneme @ 19
Uh huh, that’s what I thought… you care — it shows…
1,635 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Kathleen and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
Do you or anyone else out there know whether er not the fascists have chosen a primary opponent for Jones? What are our chances in that district if Jones is dumped for a wingnut?
I’m gettin’ the distinct impression that this war is eroding the less than “solid South” faster’n global warmin’. Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and maybe Alabama…all tippin’ toward the Blue. I wonder if Edwards wouldn’t be smart ta declare for Liddy Dole’s seat and take a Senate seat in the heart of the Old Confederacy.
KEEP THE FAITH BUT KEEP THE HEAT ON THE BASTARDS!!
Did you leave Georgia put on purpose my brother? Good call cuz these knuckle draggers love a lost cause.
jayt @ 38
Jayt,
Joe and Valerie seem to have taken a shine to you. Why not invite the Wilsons and your Mum to dinner and ask some of your ‘brown’ friends to join you?
Seriously, how might you allow your mother the opportunity of actually getting to know brown people as human beings? She’s afraid and only common humanity can bridge such gulfs. We all have the problem of seeing that most ‘others’ are really more like ourselves than we realize.
raven @ 20
The Democrats MUST learn the difference between “supporting the troops” and “supporting whatever inane crackpot military goofball schemes the President wants.” Part of their problem is that they think the public doesn’t know the difference.
Most of the problem here is with the strangle-hold the DLC has on the party leadership. The DLC is full of hawks who think that in order to win, Democrats must be at least as hawkish as Republicans. They fail to see that right now, Democratic hawkishness looks like sycophantic me-too-ism that actually makes Democrats look weak and unprincipled.
Glenn Greenwald was right on the money with his Sunday column, The false Beltway script never changes.
Bob in HI
The Democrats MUST learn the difference between “supporting the troops” and “supporting whatever inane crackpot military goofball schemes the President wants.” Part of their problem is that they think the public doesn’t know the difference.
Most of the problem here is with the strangle-hold the DLC has on the party leadership. The DLC is full of hawks who think that in order to win, Democrats must be at least as hawkish as Republicans. They fail to see that right now, Democratic hawkishness looks like sycophantic me-too-ism that actually makes Democrats look weak and unprincipled.
Glenn Greenwald was right on the money with his Sunday column, The false Beltway script never changes.
Bob in HI
The Democrats must learn? Seems to me it’s America that must learn.
jayt @ 38
how do the maladies of “illegals” pay better and more quickly?
having been to my local emergency room (here in MA and when i lived in TX) far too many times… i’m having trouble seeing how it could look that way to your mom or her friend. perhaps with more info on why she thinks that, we could help counter it?
ironranger @ 45
jayt:
What was the tipping point for your mom to denounce republicanism? If it was being lied to one too many times, then why would they be truthful on immigrant issues?
yes, it *was* being lied too one many times, or more than one too many times – so she no longer trusts Republican doctrine implicitly – but, godammm it – a *friend* of hers was supposedly treated badly…
The problem is that I don’t know whether she has a point – that “illegals” – and I hate that fucking word – are shunted to the head of the line in emergency rooms because they have *some* kind of means of payment which gets hospitals, which, after all, are profit-based businesses, better and quicker payments than those who present with symptoms which are true,- but whose insurance companies are going to fight tooth and nail over every single aspirin…
Dodd, the impression here is, would make a good president.
jayt @ 53
yes, it *was* being lied too one many times, or more than one too many times – so she no longer trusts Republican doctrine implicitly – but, godammm it – a *friend* of hers was supposedly treated badly…
The problem is that I don’t know whether she has a point – that “illegals” – and I hate that fucking word – are shunted to the head of the line in emergency rooms because they have *some* kind of means of payment which gets hospitals, which, after all, are profit-based businesses, better and quicker payments than those who present with symptoms which are true,- but whose insurance companies are going to fight tooth and nail over every single aspirin…
Wait a minute. Lou Dobbs claims local hospitals are being bankrupted by providing care to “illegals” that never gets reimbursed. Why would hospitals prioritize the care of non-paying “illegals?”
I’ve never seen hospital triage performed based upon likelihood of reimbursement. More likely, the “illegals” injuries were more severe than your mother’s friend’s.
‘xactly so, Bob and Raven. We need soaring eagles with the bright eye of intelligence to support the troops specifically from the incompetence of the ideologues.
More eagles, fewer hawks, especially of the chicken variety.
I absolutely detest the DLC and “The Third Way”.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 54
It’s hard to remember what a good president is like since we’ve had a very bad one occupying the office for so long.
Prairie Sunshine @ 56
Perhaps Mr. Colbert will allow us Constitutional Democrats to adopt the eagle as our official critter. Sure beats the jackass. Or the harrumphing elephant.
jayt @ 53
yes, it *was* being lied too one many times, or more than one too many times – so she no longer trusts Republican doctrine implicitly – but, godammm it – a *friend* of hers was supposedly treated badly…
The problem is that I don’t know whether she has a point – that “illegals” – and I hate that fucking word – are shunted to the head of the line in emergency rooms because they have *some* kind of means of payment which gets hospitals, which, after all, are profit-based businesses, better and quicker payments than those who present with symptoms which are true,- but whose insurance companies are going to fight tooth and nail over every single aspirin…
Instead of “illegals” use “undocumented persons” (as was discussed last thread).
As far as the undocumented moving to the head of the line, then you may have just answered the question. Undocumented persons may well be paying full fare at the ER just because they have no insurance company. So not only is the insurance company dickering over every little piece of the treatment, they are also only paying up to whatever negotiated amount for the service provided.
Because the undocumenteds are most likely paying cash, they are paying whatever amount the hospital chooses to charge for the service. Looks to me as if your mother (and her friend) may have a case against the hospital or the insurance companies because they are charging the undocumenteds maybe $1500 for an ER procedure that the insurance companies (and any co-pays) are paying $200 for.
OT, re Glen Beck conflagration of outrage on Daily Kos reported above, a reminder that fires are great equalizers.
Duke Cunningham’s house is threatened by fire. Not the big house where he now lives, but the one he sold that got him into the big house.
Not meant as snark, because at the same time as his former house (was his wife allowed to keep it?) house is threatened, 250,000 people were just evacuated.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Rancho Santa Fe, home to American-haters
http://www.signonsandiego.com/…
BlueStateRedHead @ 33
Valerie Plame/ Wilson saying “I do” on NBC’s Today Show this morning.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/22/plame-iran/
TSF said-
In addition, I would have to ask if these folks were wearing illegal t-shirts or other easily identifiable marking assuring they were indeed illegal? I understand a 76 year olds tendency to assume a great deal in these situations..
Every day I keep hoping that Hillary Clinton will do or say something that will change my mind about her. And everyday I am disappointed.
raven @ 51
from chris floyd:
jayt @ 53
I am really confused by this…. as a healthcare professional for over 30 years, Emergency Rooms have always worked on the triage method. Those with the more severe and life threatening symptoms are treated first. AND my two ER visits this last month prove that here in Arizona.
If a “brown” person may have so called jumped the line or received priority treatment it could be related to lack of insurance and no preventative healthcare and they only sought ER care when the condition became life threatening.
Never in my professional life have I heard that someone jumped ahead of another patient because of payment. In one ER visit, I was way into the Triage process before anyone asked me insurance information, the step before admission or discharge.
Isn’t it obvious there are four people running the Democratic Party. Pelosi, Reid, Hillary and Bill. I am so sick of these four.
Eureka Springs @ 63
maybe littlebear was there checking their driving licenses! *g*
Jayt.
TeddySanFran is probably correct, don’t you think?
Appears as if you might have been addle-pated by too much exposure to that ‘little bear’ thread. Relax, you’ll help your mom better understand this world by keeping your own cool intact.
kathleen @ 21
Gee, all this sounds strangely familiar. Have we heard this tape before? Will Condoleeza Rice soon be appearing before the UN Security Council with a slide show proving conclusively that the Iranians are warmongers with nukes, talking darkly about “mushroom clouds”? What’s the saying about “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me“?
Bob in HI
neokneme @ 47
Most people are doing 10 things at once
Active Denial Systems is what this is, which may be brought to a civil demonstration near you, thanks to your not especially benevolent DARPA and Shrub’s e.o. last Spring where he all but declared that he would declare martial law if there was another attack or disaster. And btw they used them in New Orleans after Katrina – which wasn’t widely reported
Do a search youtube and watch their demo videos
TeddySanFran says
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Hell, I dunno, Teddy. What I do know is that I’ve got a mountain of research to do – that I’m supposed to represent Barry Welsh tomorrow at some media event, without knowing his specific stances on specific issues, with only the reassurance that “what you believe, he believes” – that’s tomorrow, that I’m falling behind on client issues, and that there is simply no longer time enough in the day to do things correctly… oh well, life’s a bitch, and at some point there is sleep in the future…
Situation – normal.
“Bush dog go home”. I like that. ‘Hillary and Big Dog go home’. I like that too.
TeddySanFran @ 68
I totally loved your comment about “undocumented” vs “covert” last thread ;-)
That donate link leads to the Chicago Tribune.
And then there is “Independent Democrat” Joe Lieberman.
jayt @ 72
You’ll focus on the things that matter, and take pleasure in your mom’s abandonment of the GOP! Not every argument can be won every day. I found that my dad would often find something to argue with me about simply to be engaged, sometimes. At least we were talking, that was his view.
dakine01 @ 37
Now there’s a man of integrity and character. A real leader. I wish my Congressperson took his oath as seriously.
Bob in HI
ER’s in hospitals accepting Medicare (virtually all) must accept all patients and treat until the emergent condition is stabilized.
The triage nurses don’t bother with payment status for emergent cases – they prioritize by acuity. Whoever is sickest gets seen first.
Purple, brown, pink, green – not relevant. Just acuity. Your mom’s friend appears to have been ignorant of this fact.
Good luck!
jayt @ 53
yes, it *was* being lied too one many times, or more than one too many times – so she no longer trusts Republican doctrine implicitly – but, godammm it – a *friend* of hers was supposedly treated badly…
The problem is that I don’t know whether she has a point – that “illegals” – and I hate that fucking word – are shunted to the head of the line in emergency rooms because they have *some* kind of means of payment which gets hospitals, which, after all, are profit-based businesses, better and quicker payments than those who present with symptoms which are true,- but whose insurance companies are going to fight tooth and nail over every single aspirin…
bobschacht @ 70
Been going on steadily for four years. The heat is being turned up.
Here is Glenn Greenwalds latest on Iran
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html
/
Folks, don’t forget to send TBogg (and Gavin from SadlyNo as well) some love. The fires in San Diego and SoCal are fierce and getting fiercer.
The evacuations in San Diego are staggering. Latest report from the state OES is that more than 10K have gathered at QualComm stadium (home of the Chargers) for temporary refuge.
raven @ 51
I think America has learned, and they voted accordingly last year. Its the Democratic leadership that lags behind on the learning curve, ISTM.
Bob in HI
We talk about Bush dogs. What about “off the table Nancy”? Does the speaker then qualify as a Bush dog?
Yes, General Petraeus is incompetent. Yes, Kommander Guy needs more money, $42 billion, for Iraq Genocide. It seems that Iraqi Government vehicles are being used to “transport weapons and contraband, and to generally support illegal activity.”
I presume these vehicles have been paid for by US taxpayers, just as the missing 190,000 weapons. Betray-us loses weapons and vehicles and they need to be paid for by us. How else can you have an “Insurgency of Bad Guys” without guns and cars?
thanks, all – it occurs to me that I’m wasting time by being here – maybe I’ll figure it out later – gotta go – thanks – to all. – bye.
A*P*C’s focus today
http://www.aipac.org/
Cheney Warns Against a Nuclear-Armed Iran
VP Dick Cheney
Vice President Cheney said Iran was stalling for time to build nukes.
Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday said that the United States and other nations will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, The Washington Post reported. “Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions,” Cheney said. He added that Tehran’s efforts to pursue technology that would allow it to build a nuclear weapon are obvious, and that “the regime continues to practice delay and deceit in an obvious effort to buy time.” More…
FYI, New post
Glenn Greenwald at Salon
I’ll leave you with this passage from Zakaria’s latest column in Newsweek, which I think helps put things in some perspective:
The American discussion about Iran has lost all connection to reality. Norman Podhoretz, the neoconservative ideologist whom Bush has consulted on this topic, has written that Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is “like Hitler … a revolutionary whose objective is to overturn the going international system and to replace it in the fullness of time with a new order dominated by Iran and ruled by the religio-political culture of Islamofascism.” For this staggering proposition Podhoretz provides not a scintilla of evidence.
Here is the reality. Iran has an economy the size of Finland’s and an annual defense budget of around $4.8 billion. It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century. The United States has a GDP that is 68 times larger and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?
When the relatively moderate Mohammad Khatami was elected president in Iran, American conservatives pointed out that he was just a figurehead. Real power, they said (correctly), especially control of the military and police, was wielded by the unelected “Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Now that Ahmadinejad is president, they claim his finger is on the button. (Oh wait, Iran doesn’t have a nuclear button yet and won’t for at least three to eight years, according to the CIA, by which point Ahmadinejad may not be president anymore. But these are just facts.)
In a speech last week, Rudy Giuliani said that while the Soviet Union and China could be deterred during the cold war, Iran can’t be. The Soviet and Chinese regimes had a “residual rationality,” he explained. Hmm. Stalin and Mao — who casually ordered the deaths of millions of their own people, fomented insurgencies and revolutions, and starved whole regions that opposed them — were rational folk. But not Ahmadinejad, who has done what that compares? One of the bizarre twists of the current Iran hysteria is that conservatives have become surprisingly charitable about two of history’s greatest mass murderers.
If the Clintons get back into the WH they will take it as an approving mandate of what they have done and of those movers and shaker Dems who have supported them.
jayt @ 53
yes, it *was* being lied too one many times, or more than one too many times – so she no longer trusts Republican doctrine implicitly – but, godammm it – a *friend* of hers was supposedly treated badly…
The problem is that I don’t know whether she has a point – that “illegals” – and I hate that fucking word – are shunted to the head of the line in emergency rooms because they have *some* kind of means of payment which gets hospitals, which, after all, are profit-based businesses, better and quicker payments than those who present with symptoms which are true,- but whose insurance companies are going to fight tooth and nail over every single aspirin…
when i’ve had to go to the emergency room, the first step is to see the nurse at the desk who does the preliminary triage – that’s the person who’s decided it’s ok for me to go sit and wait 6 hours (even if my dr. sent me to the emergency room), or to “stay right here, i’ll get someone to see you immediately”.
the next step is to go to the in take nurse who takes your name, symptoms and vitals. this is what determines what area of the emergency room and what kind of doctor the patient is going to see.
after that i’ve either gone directly to be treated – and was seen by the doctor who wrote orders before i was even asked if i had insurance…. or i’ve gone to registration where i have to give my insurance info and then to be seen. but there is no significant wait for registration.
the big wait is in the waiting room… and maybe later to see a doctor or get a room (might have to spend some time in a hospital bed in the corridor). but once i’ve been seen by the intake nurse, most of the waiting is over.
the reason i’m laying all this out… is that if the hospital where your mom’s friend went is anything like the hospitals i’ve gone to – for something serious (potentially life/organ/limb threatening), there is no way they will know how a person is going to pay until after they’ve determined what the preliminary response is going to be.
New Jane upstairs
selise @ 65
Nice job, Nancy! Atta boy, Harry!
{/snark}
Bob in HI
john in sacramento @ 71
Good find… here’s a short video from the google…
The Active Denial System (ADS)
Voters — Keep it up
Folks, the SD conflagration is California’s Katrina.
Four years ago the Cedars fire scorched SD County – and the County’s insufficient spending for the publ;ic sector was a chief cause of the inadequate response.
No one in SD is (directly) responsible for the Santa Anas.
SD County leaders are wholly responsible for elevating their “small government” religious cult into a lethal unilateral disarmament in the face of certain danger.
Oh – the SD County political structure?
Rethugs. Pro-”Defense” and anti “Big-Government”
So anti that local government is incapable of defending the people.
SoCal natives (especially SD natives know)
Santa Ana winds and the fires they bring start every October.
This year’s drought = massive fuels in hills/mountains.
In densely populated SoCal, mass evacuations are impossible. The road
grid – built to maximum density – won’t handle even regular commutes
without jamming.
Firefighters in SD know:
Not enough resources to do the job.
The conflagrations have been anticipated for years. Prop 13 – and the
railroad and real estate interests that funded it and the Gann/Jarvis
wackos who kept trashing California’s public sector – are the Rethugs’
creatures.
Hope to see the Rethugs necklaced with this catastrophe.
Metaphorically, of course.
250,000 evacuated as of noon (4 hrs ago) in SD County.
Oops – breaking – now 500,000 as of 7 min ago…doubled in
North San Diego County fire could race to ocean
San Diego Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief John Tomson, 57, on duty in
Rancho Bernardo in northern San Diego County, said that if the winds don’t
die down, the fire could easily reach the coast.
“It’s the Cedar fire all over again,” said Tomson, a 30-year firefighter.
“We’re not going to stop it. I don’t have any idea even where it is
anymore. I’m not sure anybody knows where it is anymore.”
Tomson began at 1 a.m. with a crew of 20 in the Bandy Canyon area
northeast of Poway. Over the next 12 hours, the crew grew to 80 as it
chased the fire westward nearly 20 miles along Highland Valley Drive to
Rancho Bernardo. Along the way, the firefighters tried to keep the flames
from blowing through several residential areas, to no avail.
Shortly before noon today, they received a call that two apartments were
ablaze at the La Terraza Apartment Villas in Rancho Bernardo.
“Now we’ve lost 10 buildings,” Tomson said at 12:30 p.m. A new column of
thick smoke erupted over another building. “Here it comes again,” he said.
Behind Tomson, a group of firefighters trained their hoses on the new
flames, as about a dozen others, their faces covered in black soot, slept
on the curb. Most had been chasing the flames for 29 hours. Most
firefighters say there are not enough of them in San Diego County to fight
the blaze.
HumboldtBlue @ 81
oh crap – sorry for bolding error
kirk,
Keep us informed. Really enjoyed your last post.
Here’s the promo video for the “counter-personnel directed energy weapon”.
Here’s the poll that will be used to justify the deployment. It is an industry-friendly poll, btw.
Kirk… I heard on the radio that the SD Blackwater compound was on fire any truth in that?
Katymine, I’ve wondered about the Bloodwater compound. I’ve wanted to see it out of there, but not this way.
pups, if any of you have Lexis/Nexis, after the 2003 Cedars Fire several official post-mortems (literally) cited SD County’s political decision NOT to provide the County Fire services offered in analogous SoCal counties as a cause of the County’s failure to provide optimal response.
I believe there may even have been a (civil) grand jury report.
If anyone can find refences and sen them to me at kmurphy riseup net ,I ‘d be grateful.
Coming in the heartland of CA Gooper greedland, this conflagration is the most incindiary (sp?)indictment possible of the Club For Growth, the GOP, Cunnginham/Wilkes and “drown it in a bathtub”.
I’m too devastated to write a front page post, but I’ll make the results of your research (with attribution) available to other FDL contributors.
Thanks!
P J Evans @ 27
Yeah, I heard she failed her bar exam the first time she took it.
But, despite being slow she also takes abuse well.
jayt @ 38
You can’t generally change someone’s mind about things like that. If someone honestly wants to know the truth, then you might inform them. But, when someone WANTS to believe what they believe, then new information is irrelevant.
I’d suggest calling her to a higher standard. Ask her what the Christian (if she is) standard of behavior should be? Would Jesus rebuke someone because of their skin color? Ask her if the American ideal is to have killed all the native Americans, so that ONLY white Caucasian European descendants can live here or should America be open to everybody from around the world who values Liberty and Democracy?
It might not be possible to dissuade her from her position, but it’s better to try to raise her standards than to try and convince her of something she’s already disregarded as stupid or evil.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 83
I don’t think so.
I just feel she’s being held in check and pushed around by the Blue Dogs, led by Hoyer & Emanuel. With a little more help she might turn the table and do great things again. I hope she finds such ‘help’ among her Progressive peers in the House.
We’re certainly doing our best ‘out here’ to get some more Progressive folks into the House to help her.