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Nothing to Fear

I complain about the lack of bipartisan cooperation in Congress, but this is not what I was looking for. The group Vet Voice, led by progressive Jon Soltz, is putting pressure on Congress to pass a bill introduced by Rep. Pete King (R-NY) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) to prohibit people who are on the FBI’s terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.

While it may sound like common sense to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, the problem with this law is the terrorism watch list itself. Back in 2008, there were over a million people on the list, and it was growing by an average of 20,000 names a month.

It doesn’t take much to get on the list, as evidenced by some of the people who found themselves on it (and often couldn’t get themselves off), including several US Senators and Congresspersons, airline pilots, active members of the US military, children (including an 11-month-old), winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, presidents of foreign countries, and non-terrorists the government doesn’t like (employees of the ACLU, and singer Cat Stevens), and even people with common names like Gary Smith, Robert Johnson, John Williams, and David Nelson.

And this law is not even necessary. An estimated 95% of people on the list are already prohibited from buying guns. When it processes background checks, the FBI does know if someone is on the terrorist watch list, and can investigate further. But this law wants to make merely being on the list a reason to fail the background check.

For example, someone could get on the terrorism list because they participate in a peaceful protest event (say, for the Tea Party or the Occupy Wall Street movement), and suddenly have their rights taken away, without them even knowing it happened. Even worse, if you are already a gun owner and then somehow get put on the terrorist watch list, you could be subject to a 10 year prison sentence.

When the government can start making arbitrary lists of people it suspects of something, and then start denying them their constitutional rights without even the slightest judicial review, then something is terribly wrong.

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Late Night Political Humor

“Over the weekend they gave Dick Cheney a heart transplant. Finally all of those midnight trips to the graveyard with the hunchbacked assistant have paid off.” – David Letterman

“Dick Cheney was talking to a reporter right after the surgery and he said he wants to live long enough to make sure nobody else gets healthcare.” – David Letterman

“The Supreme Court is deciding right now whether the government can mandate that all Americans buy health insurance. Rick Santorum said, ‘There’s no way I’m letting the government make me go on a man date.’” – Conan O’Brien

“Rumors now that Mitt Romney might pick Rick Santorum for his VP running mate. But Rick is dubious. He thinks two guys on the same ticket might be gay.” – David Letterman

“Newt Gingrich’s campaign is charging people $50 to pose for a picture with Newt. And for $100 you can get one without Newt.” – Conan O’Brien

“Newt Gingrich is hoping to cut into his campaign debt by charging people $50 to take a photo with him. Just imagine — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a personal picture with a man who will never be the president of the United States.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“A madam in New York City claims that John Edwards was a customer in her brothel. You hear that kind of thing and it really makes you lose respect for prostitutes, doesn’t it?” – Jay Leno

“(Monday) was Nancy Pelosi’s birthday. They had a huge surprise party for her. Actually, it was a regular party, she just always looks surprised.” – Jay Leno

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The Doctor is in Court


© Ed Stein

[commentary by Ed Stein]

Another one about the Supreme Court’s likely decision, unthinkable just a few months ago. If the Court throws this back to Congress, it may be another generation before Americans can enjoy the health care security that every other industrialized democracy enjoys. In the meantime, more millions will be unable to afford or even find insurance, there will be more medical bankruptcies, more homes foreclosed, and more Americans will die from preventable illnesses because this country, alone among the wealthy nations, cannot figure out how to provide a basic level of health care for all its citizens. I hope you have good insurance, and can keep it.

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Talking out of both sides of their ass


© Adam Zyglis

I’ve heard of being two-faced, but this is ridiculous.

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Late Night Political Humor

“This weekend 71-year-old former Vice President Dick Cheney received a heart transplant. And I thought this was nice — they let him shoot the donor himself.” – Jay Leno

“This weekend 71-year-old former Vice President Dick Cheney received a heart transplant. The heart is working so well that Cheney has already gone to Whoville and returned all their Christmas presents.” – Conan O’Brien

“Dick Cheney received a heart transplant this weekend after waiting for two years. He wasn’t waiting for a donor. It just took doctors two years to find Cheney’s current heart.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Fox News sent Dick Cheney flowers. MSNBC sent chili cheese fries.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama is getting tough on North Korea. This weekend President Obama warned Kim Jong Un that bad behavior will not be rewarded. Then Kim Jong Un asked, ‘So how do you explain a new season of ‘Jersey Shore.’” – Conan O’Brien

“Yesterday President Obama said that North Korea is in a ‘time warp’ that has missed 50 years of progress. North Korea denied the accusation — in a strongly worded telegraph.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Yesterday on CNN, White House adviser David Plouffe referred to the Republican presidential race as a ‘clown show.’ That’s as rough as it gets on CNN. Romney, Santorum, Paul, and Gingrich all called the statement ridiculous and then piled into one tiny car and drove off.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Rick Santorum said you aren’t a real Republican until you’ve sworn at someone from The New York Times. Moments later a panicked Mitt Romney called the New York Times reception desk and said ‘Heck!’” – Conan O’Brien

“Congratulations to Tiger Woods on his 1st win in 30 months. Now the guy who’s gone the longest without a win is Newt Gingrich.” – Jay Leno

“A new survey found that Facebook, Google, and YouTube are the most popular websites in the U.S. — while the least popular website in the U.S. is Gingrich2012.org.” – Jimmy Fallon

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Juris Prudence

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court discussed severability — whether overturning the individual mandate in the health care reform law would require overturning the entire law. Justice Antonin Scalia scoffed:

If we struck down nothing in this legislation but the — what’s it called, the Cornhusker kickback, okay, we find that to violate the constitutional proscription of venality, okay? When we strike that down, it’s clear that Congress would not have passed it without that. It was the means of getting the last necessary vote in the Senate. And you are telling us that the whole statute would fall because the Cornhusker kickback is bad. That can’t be right.

There’s just two problems with this. The “Cornhusker kickback” is only called that in conservative rags; it isn’t a kickback at all. But the bigger problem is that it was not in the final bill at all. Democrats removed the deal in the house. Contrary to Scalia’s assertion, Congress did “pass it without that”.

Can it be that Scalia has internalized false conservative arguments against the law? I thought justice was supposed to be blind, but that doesn’t mean not even knowing what’s in a law you are judging.

Scalia bristled at the idea that someone would have expected the Supreme Court justices to, you know, actually read the law, or even have one of their clerks read it:

You really want us to go through these 2,700 pages? [Laughter.] And do you really expect the Court to do that? Or do you expect us to — to give this function to our law clerks? Is this not totally unrealistic? That we are going to go through this enormous bill item by item and decide each one?

Actually, yes, I do expect the Supreme Court to at least read a law before they judge it.

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Late Night Political Humor

“Jeb Bush has come out and endorsed Mitt Romney. He said it was the hardest decision he’s had to make since endorsing his brother, George W.” – Jay Leno

“Mitt Romney got a big endorsement this week. The bad news: It was from Etch A Sketch.” – Jay Leno

“Mitt Romney’s adviser actually compared him to an Etch A Sketch — and because of that, Etch A Sketch sales jumped 1,500 percent. Or as Disney put it, ‘Any way you can compare Romney to a ticket to ‘John Carter?’” – Jimmy Fallon

“Newt Gingrich today said he’s jealous because the only tool he ever gets compared to is a dildo.” – Bill Maher

“Rick Santorum said he’s not an Etch-A-Sketch. He said what you see is what you get, and also because turning the two knobs is a little too much like playing with boobies.” – Bill Maher

“Then he held up the Etch-A-Sketch and Sarah Palin said, ‘Hey, give me back my iPad.’” – Bill Maher

“’The Hunger Games’ is opening this weekend. The movie is based on the books where people are chosen in a lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death. Why can’t we do this to the Republican primaries? Wouldn’t that be great?” – Jay Leno

“This law they have in Florida, this “stand your ground’ law where you can use can use any amount of force if you think there is some amount of perceived threat; good thing they don’t’ have that here because my lawn would be littered with Jehovah’s Witnesses.” – Bill Maher

“New Rule: Now that John Boehner has cried while listening to traditional Irish music at the St. Patrick’s Day luncheon it’s not funny anymore. Seriously, John, tell us: where did the priest touch you? Show me on the doll.” – Bill Maher

“Did you see the story about the mother duck and her ducklings helped through a fence at the White House property? The Secret Service pushed the little ducks through the fence. Of course, the Secret Service checked to make sure the ducks had donated enough money to President Obama’s re-election campaign.” – Jay Leno

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Start Your Own Super PAC!

Reliable sources say a Super-PAC craze is sweeping the nation. Don’t get left out. Stephen Colbert will help you start your own Super PAC, for just $99.

According to the Federal Election Commission, “more Texans have donated to Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow [Colbert’s Super PAC] than to the pro-Romney Restore Our Future.”

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Amnesia


© Jim Morin

The individual mandate was originally a Republican idea, and they introduced two health care bills that included an individual mandate. Romneycare includes it. Ironically, Barack Obama in 2008 was opposed to it. But when Obama changed his mind, the Republicans suddenly became against it.

So the Republicans are desperately fighting to repeal the individual mandate. Ironically, some people believe that if the Supreme Court rules against it, that will help the Democrats win in the upcoming election.

It is enough to make your head spin. The Republicans are trying to repeal something that was their idea, and by repealing it will hurt their election chances.

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An Argument Against Healthcare

[reprinted from The Borowitz Report]

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – The following message was released today by the National Alliance of Funeral Directors:

This week, several Republican Supreme Court Justices have argued that the Affordable Care Act supported by the Obama Administration is unconstitutional. At the National Alliance of Funeral Directors, we couldn’t agree more.

It was Revolutionary War hero Patrick Henry who said, in 1775, “Give me liberty or give me death.” From that moment on, legal scholars have agreed that the Constitution guarantees every American the liberty to be dead. Here at the Alliance, we will fight for your right to be dead to the death.

Let’s take a look, if you will, at the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which protects every American’s right to shoot another American. It says nothing about giving the person who is shot health insurance to prevent him from dying. This cherished constitutional right to shoot people and make them dead is currently recognized in all fifty states, most recently Florida.

In commenting on the Affordable Care Act this week, Justice Samuel Alito compared the Obama healthcare plan to burial insurance. Coincidentally, burial insurance is the Republican healthcare plan, and one that we enthusiastically support. Under this plan, every American would be mandated to buy a coffin from one of our member-owned and operated funeral homes. May we recommend the Peaceful Valley Royale,™ a luxury mahogany casket with sienna satin interior and the finest imitation antique nickel handles ($2899).

As the organization representing America’s funeral directors, gravediggers, embalmers and cremators, we are confident that the Supreme Court will ultimately do the right thing and decide that healthcare flies in the face of every American’s constitutional right to the pursuit of deadness. And when they do, we’ll be waiting for you.

Sincerely,

The National Alliance of Funeral Directors

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Conservative Heads Explode!

Hollywood is making a movie about Eugene Allen, the White House butler who served from 1952 (under Harry Truman) to 1986 (Ronald Reagan). The all star cast being assembled reportedly includes Liam Neeson as Lyndon Johnson, and John Cusack as Richard Nixon, Forest Whitaker as Allen and Oprah Winfrey as his wife. But the best part is the choice of Jane Fonda to play Nancy Reagan. Seriously. Will she get to say the line “I’m just here for the drugs“?

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Late Night Political Humor

“March Madness started again today with the start of the round known as the Sweet 16. President Obama’s bracket was in the top 2 percent of everyone who makes picks on ESPN.com. I guess it helps when you can send the CIA in to scout the teams.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“President Obama did this last year, too. Once again, he is out of touch with regular hard-working Americans who don’t know how to bet on college basketball.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“At the White House this week, President Obama and the first lady hosted a St. Patrick’s Day reception for the Irish prime minister. They had a bartender pouring green beer, which is about as close as the White House has come to creating green jobs so far.” – Jay Leno

“The candidates are choosing their Secret Service code names. Why do they tell us? You’d think that should be secret.” – Jay Leno

“Mitt Romney picked ‘Javelin’ as his Secret Service code name. Rick Santorum chose ‘Petris’ because that’s his grandfather’s name. Barack Obama chose ‘Gas prices are not my fault.’” – Jay Leno

“Rick Santorum calls himself the only true conservative in the race. He is so conservative he thinks Levitra is a pill that helps you throw a football through a tire swing.” – Jay Leno

“He is so conservative, he won’t even use the phrase ‘get ahold of yourself’. That’s how conservative.” – Jay Leno

“Yesterday was a crazy day for Tim Tebow. They said he was with the Jets, then they said there was a snag, he might not be. Then they said he could go with the Rams or with the Jaguars. The last two days he’s been traded back and forth more than Rod Blagojevich on that first night in prison.” – Jay Leno

“There are reports that John Edwards visited a brothel here in New York while running for president and paid with campaign funds. Do you realize what this could do to his reputation? Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing to that man’s reputation.” – Jimmy Fallon

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Unhealthy Interest


© Kevin Siers

Is anyone else worried that after such insane decisions as Citizen’s United, the Supreme Court is going to do something really stupid to health care reform?

I may have to move away again after all.

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AT&T shooting themselves in the foot

Matthew Spaccarelli was upset about the fact that AT&T guaranteed him “unlimited” bandwidth on his iPhone, but then slowed down (in their terms, throttled) his service. So he sued in small claims court, and won. Score one for the little guy.

What happened next is interesting. AT&T said they would appeal, and sent him a letter offering to settle, but requiring him to stop talking about the case. Considering that the award from small claims court was only $850, it is hard to imagine what a settlement would look like. Indeed, I’m sure it cost AT&T more than $850 in lawyers fees just to send the letter.

But their real mistake is that they threatened to cut off his phone service. That of course ignited a publicity storm. Oops.

In the end AT&T just sent Spaccarelli a check for $850 plus $85 for court costs.

Spaccarelli has posted the documents he used to win his case online, and is encouraging others to sue AT&T. Interestingly, AT&T helped bring this upon themselves. Their contract prohibits subscribers from seeking jury trials or from participating in class action lawsuits (which seems awfully fishy to me, but which was upheld by the Supreme Court last year). The only legal options for customers are small claims and arbitration. Arbitration is usually covered by confidentiality agreements, but not small claims.

I’ve always wondered how companies can get away with using terms like “unlimited” for something that has limits. Even worse, AT&T was throttling anyone who was in the top 5% of data users, which drives me crazy. First of all, there is no way to know if you are about to get throttled, and second, evem if everyone cuts down their data usage, there will still be 5% of their customers who will be in the top 5% and so will get throttled.

Luckily, after this case AT&T changed their rules and now they will throttle “unlimited” users after they pass 3GB of data, so at least you can tell if you are about to get throttled. Ironically, their non-unlimited plans also give you 3GB of data. The phone companies like to trumpet how you can watch movies on your smartphones, but you only have to watch two or three high definition movies before you run head first into their bandwidth limits.

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What is Reality?


© Ruben Bolling

Now I’m really worried.

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