Motley Moose – Archive

I have been watching Morning Joe again. For better or worse, I am hopelessly addicted to that show. Perhaps I am a bit masochistic to subject myself to such a blowhard fool as Joe Scarborough each morning, but I will admit that the show is fun, and they have a wide variety of interesting guests each morning.

I do find myself screaming at the tv, telling Mr. Scarborough what an idiot he is on a regular basis. Today I received a late Christmas gift from Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski who did my bidding this morning. Please watch this hilarious clip of the esteemed Dr. Brzezinski laying a fabulous smack down on a very silly little man.

Single Payer health care means that there is one entity that pays for all healthcare.  Typically, it also means that the single payer is also the single entity that collects the money to pay for health care.  Since the early 20th century, the AMA and (later) the health insurance-hospital industry (collectively, the medical-industrial complex) have labeled this form of payment “socialized medicine.”  That is an untruth.

Socialism is when the government owns the means of production–as in, for instance, when the government buys stock in a big insurance company (AIG) or a bank (Citibank) or an auto maker (GM??).  Therefore, “socialized medicine” means that the government owns the hospitals, the doctor offices, and employs the doctors, etc.  As a matter of fact, we have a very large “socialized medicine” entity in theUS now–it is called the Veteran’s Administration.  We have long had other forms of “socialized medicine” such as county, city and state hospitals.  We have clinics run by various governments.  All of these are “socialized medicine.’

I do not want to breathe poisonous air.

I do not want to drink foul water.

That does not make me an environmentalist.

That makes me a normal human being.

Don’t call me an environmentalist because I want to breathe clean air and drink clean water.

That’s like calling a boy who wants to read an “aggressive pro-reading radical.”

That’s like calling a girl who does not want to be raped a “hardcore anti-rape protester.”

That’s like calling a family who does not want to become human slaves “unyielding anti-slavery partisans.”

That’s like calling a starving baby an “anti-hunger activist.”

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Photo: 3,000 year old agate spear point from the Sebasticook River, Winslow, Maine. Found by Ricky Churchill of Manomet, Massachusetts after the removal of the Fort Halifax Dam. August, 2008.

America to bush: Good riddance! A stunning 75% are glad he is leaving office, while only 23% say they will miss him. Surprise, surprise. More amazing bits found here in CSPAN Junkie’s tube, aptly called the “Worst President in American History”.

I am a bit worried about the bush team’s attempt to rewrite their legacy. This tube might just be the ticket.

I never noticed how pale Cheney is. Does he really sleep in a coffin?

Recently a friend from D.C. came to visit me, and among the things he wanted to know about was local politics; somehow it led to a discussion on Homeland Security, its impact on local politics, and how the local community felt about the rapid building [and subsequent ugliness] of the Border fence.

But I told him that we couldn’t just talk about it, we had to go see it.

I am in Shanghai, China for the holidays visiting my boyfriend.  Being back in China has reminded me of the superiority of Asian food, the convenience of good public transportation, the joy of pirated DVDs and the consequences of ignoring the environment.  I shot this picture of the JW Marriott Hotel near People’s Square in central Shanghai.

For those of you who are familiar with Shanghai, I took the picture near the northeast corner of People’s Square, at the corner of Xizang Zhong Lu and Jiujiang Lu.  

At a time when even such notable Republicans as Alexander Haig, Colin Powell and even Newt Gingrich are chastising the Republican Party for being out of touch with the American people, I find myself endlessly amazed at the opportunities my erstwhile cohort continues to provide for me to recoil from them.  One more good recoil and I will find myself behind myself.

Believe me, I support the fight for gay individuals to enjoy all the same rights as straight folks.  Yet as this ancient feminist watches the entire gay marriage fight from the sidelines I can’t help but wonder just what the hell, exactly, gays believe they are fighting for.  I fully understand the need and the right to legally recognized civil unions.  What I can’t comprehend is the desire of the gay community to participate in a tradition fermented in subjugation, dehumanization and every evil of the unchallenged patriarchy.  You’d think, above all Americans, gays would be the first in line reject all that stuff.  Go figure.  

Back in the day, before “feminist” was a progressive cuss word, we saw marriage for exactly what it was always intended to be — a dolled up dog and pony show designed to make palatable a simple but critical business transaction — the purchase of a woman with the intent of transforming her into dutiful domesticated chattel and brood mare, aka a “wife”.

And now gay partners want in on the practice, even in the face of virulent defense of sexist bedrock tradition and at the expense of more attainable gay rights.  Oh well.  Maybe gay marriage would once and for all refashion what a marriage really is and all a wedding represents.  Good luck with that, by the way. Feminists are pretty much done beating their heads on that cave wall.  

Today’s NYT Editorial A Parting Shot at Women’s Rights is another reminder that though he is a lame duck POTUS, GWB is still in power and can decide to make the lives of women, particularly poor women worse, with an un-Merry Xmas gift to my sisters.

Undermining women’s reproductive rights and access to health care has been a pervasive theme of the outgoing administration. On his first full day in office, President Bush imposed the “global gag rule,” which prohibits taxpayer dollars from going to international family-planning groups that perform abortions using their own funds or that advocate for safe abortion laws.

All the important moments of Christmas Eve day. Wednesday December 24, 2008 in 100 seconds; brought to you by the fine folks at TPMtv.

Awwww. Mr Cheney get’s a visit from an old friend.

In his next life, Cheney should have to be a candy striper for all of the Iraqi people injured in the war. And that cannot come soon enough.