.plan

I was looking to watch the new Michael Moore movie this weekend (Capitalism: A Love Story), but the largest theater in Irvine, 21 screens, wasn’t running it.  Wouldn’t want people getting any ideas down here now would we?

Florida’s 8th district Representative, Democrat Alan Grayson, addressed the house a couple days ago about the healthcare issue, saying:

“The Republican health care plan is this: Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.”

Republicans were appalled, and demanded an apology from him, so yesterday he apologized:

“Holocaust in America” is going too far, but otherwise, that’s right.

I’m happy that the plans for the US European missile shield have been scrapped.  Most of Europe doesn’t want it and we don’t need to further sour relations with Russia or start another arms race.  If Europe wants a missile defense shield, it can build it.  I never liked this idea.  This is actually the type of stuff Bush Jr. ran against in 2000.

…is very shitty.  No public option, yet still $800 billion, and doesn’t even require health insurance companies to not discriminate based on pre-existing conditions until 2013, after the next Presidential election.  Gee I wonder why that is, not hoping and praying by you corporate assholes that some republican somehow wins?  You guys make me sick.  You blue-dogs make me sick too.  I hope this shit goes down in flames.

Why do we have to have THE health care bill?  Can’t we take a more modular approach to this?  For example, even the republicans are willing to make insurance companies take anybody regardless of pre-existing condition and not allow a limit on how much they will cover financially (lifetime limit).  So why can’t we pass a number of smaller bills.  Get that one through first, few will disagree, it’ll pass tomorrow and could be effective immediately.  That’d already be a really good improvement.  There could be a different regulation bill, records-keeping bill, etc.  Pass what can pass.  If we don’t have enough votes in the Senate for a public option, well, what can you really do unfortunately (except pass it in reconciliation).

Maybe just make these changes that we can now, and if the public likes what Obama/dems are doing, we have more Senate seats we could pick up in 2010/2012, maybe if we get 63 or 64 dems in the Senate, then we can create a public health option.  I’m not sure why it has to be all-at-once, all-or-nothing.  Fear of no opportunity in the future and make something half-assed anyway(?) instead of confidence that people will like what we do and reward us?

I don’t know, I’m not a capitol hill expert, but it seems to me the way to really regulate healthcare would be to constantly be looking at it and working on it, not do something once every quarter-century and then let the private industry react, curcumvent, and fester on it’s own until it becomes shitty again.

is being built!!… in China :|  COME ON AMERICA!!!, we can’t just depend on Google for everything.  Remember when we used to be cutting edge? *sigh*

Anyway, it’ll cost China $5 billion.  /me gets out his pencil and puts on his elementary-school-student math hat:  Now, $5 billion to power 3 million homes.  That’s about $1.7 billion for one million homes.  America has about 110 million homes.  110 times 1.7 billion equals $187 billion…

…so, that would cost us $187 billion to do for all our homes.  The war in Iraq wasted $700 billion.  So, if we spent only 25% of that money on solar power here in the US, we’d have every single home powered for free.  Figure we use more electricity than the average Chinese home, and that construction costs are higher here, maybe that’ll push it to 50% or 75% of the cost of the Iraq war?  Hell, take that other 25% and start powering apartments and businesses since we’re done with homes, and since we’re still spending money on Iraq, maybe by the time that’s all done and paid for we could have had free infinite power for the entire country.  Are we running out of money to power everything in my math here?  Hmmm.. I have those Afghanistan war costs somewhere here…

Oh and by the way, this would reduce our carbon footprint by about a gazillion times!  Maybe we could all have electric cars, and never have to pay for the energy to run them - even less pollution!  You might not even mind paying extra for them, because you’d NEVER EVER HAVE TO BUY ENERGY TO USE THEM!!  The lord and earth would love it and say

Finally, they’ve not only seen the light, but they’ve used it!

The second coming of Jesus Christ might even occur due to such delight.  He might be like “Whattup, I know some of you thought I was supposed to come back when stuff was real bad or whatever, but meh, I had to use it now instead cause I just had to personally give props.  Word!” *poof*

But NO, we couldn’t possibly spend that much money on that!!  Are you crazy?

*rolls eyes*

I have a feeling that “we couldn’t even possibly spend that much money on it” even if there were no war.

Anyway go ahead China, let the clowning begin.  I’ve got my smile on and my eyes closed, ready for that pie in the face…

Right-wingers are up in arms over the President addressing America’s children in a back-to-school video.  They think he’s going to indoctrinate them into socialism (even communism according to some freaks), and some of these parents are having their kids not go to school that day.

My take on this is: if a sitting president has a positive approval rating, it shouldn’t really be a big deal.

Actual indoctrination of children that goes on all the time:

1. Making them say a pledge of allegiance starting before they can even write, when they don’t know what the hell it means.
2. Forcing a religion onto a child.

Gotta love good ol’ Ed Schultz.  I agree with him on most things, and especially with both of these guys in the vid, but he also had me laughing pretty hard how he worked himself up and was going off:

LOL. Is there a word for cheering and laughing simultaneously? Oh man, if only Chris Farley were around to do an even more ridiculous version of it on SNL, he’d be perfect.

I’m very disappointed in the California Supreme Court for upholding discrimination in the constitution.  It’s quite ridiculous.  I’d like to once again criticize the ballot initiative system.  It is both stupid and annoying.  What’s the point of electing our officials?  I spend (waste?) time reading up on and voting on 20+ measures EVERY YEAR.  Is that what you guys do in all the other states?  You guys go to the polls four or five times a year to vote on 20-30 items every year?  What do you mean, you guys aren’t part-time unpaid politicians?  Where’s my salary??  And of course I HAVE to do it so the conservatives won’t sneak some bullshit in through the backdoor.  WTF am I voting for these state senators for?  And it’s also ridiculous when entities from an outside state can basically come in and decide California politics, as in the case of prop 8.

Just get rid of the stupid initiative system.  This state is fuct in two major ways, this, and the supermajority requirement to pass legislation, or at least budgets.  For an example of the best of both in one nice big-bowed present, check this out: They can’t even pass budgets because of the supermajority requirement, and then they ask us to decide how to do it!  No joke!

One thing I can agree with this Reagan fan on: Why the California Initiative System is Undermining Democracy

That dumbass Elisabeth Hasselbeck, I swear…

I’m alleviating a bit of backblog here.

It’s such a pleasure to watch Obama’s press conferences, in which he gives such intelligent and thoughtful answers to the press’ questions.  I particularly found insightful his answer to this torture question, especially about a minute into his answer when he talks about England:

Also it was funny at 35:10 when the reporter asked him to give an array of feelings, and great to see Obama not just play it off but fully and thoughtfully answer each point of the question.

You can see the happiness, pride, and honor in the faces of the press.