Motley Moose – Archive

I have waited to write this diary because I knew I needed to cool off. The health care debate has been a rollercoaster for months now, and the up-down-left-right topsy-turvy nature of the whole ordeal has been turning my stomach for a long time. Over the months, we’ve been bombarded with a dazzling and dizzying array of mixed messages. I’ve allowed myself, at times, to become as hysterical as the worst alarmists in the blogosphere, and just yesterday morning, I was ready to get up in front of all of you to curse Reid, condemn Obama, and prophesy doom. (Not my finest moment, admittedly.) But as I examine and reexamine the dialogue on this issue, my moods and thoughts are as wildly mercurial as the volatile health care debate itself. I have been torn and troubled all along, but the latest news from the Hill has me more perplexed and conflicted than ever. More mixed messages, more obstruction, more disputes — more infighting, alarm, compromises, concessions: A sea of contradictions, contravention, and confusion, well-poised to overwhelm and unravel even the steadiest among us.

So how do we navigate these roiling waters?  

It would seem that I am not as interested in doing my Tube diaries as I once was. I do know since TPMtv stopped doing The Day in 100 seconds, my interest has declined. That segment is sorely missed. Also there are so many issues going on it is difficult to fit a day into this format. Oh and being in the Majority, is not as funny as poking fun at the party in power.

Don’t get me wrong. The republicans will soon be in an election cycle that will expose every crack in the party. The republicans are almost suspended in that moment just after the glass breaks. They have not yet shattered to the floor, but it is coming soon. The Republican Party is split into a minimum of two disparate expectations and there is nothing in the party to fill either.

In the meantime they damage themselves further every day. I guess Glenn Beck isn’t doing as well these days.

Why is Bernie Sanders so optimistic?

No really, why? I am too lazy to try and figure it out;~P I  will post it in the diary if it is good.

Michele is back. Have I ever mentioned how much I adore Michele and Sarah. I have a certain affection for Beck and Limbaugh as well. The truly crazy ones are a gift.

Is it just me or are you having difficulty following and understanding words from some people? However, she is very good at not answering the question.

Pathetic.

LIMBAUGH: I got two more stories in the stack today about how black unemployment is through the roof. Black unemployment is terrible. The black frame of mind is terrible, they’re depressed, they’re down — Obama’s not doing anything for ’em. How is that hoax and change workin’ for ya? They’re all livid. I mean, they thought there were gonna be an exact 180-degree economic reversal and it’s done nothing but get bad for everybody, but they’re especially upset about it because they look at him as one of them, and now they feel abandoned. And I’m sure Tiger Woods’ choice of females not helping ’em out with their attitudes there either.

This is really low.

Even for this clown.

Fuck you Rush.

Fuck. You.

A new day dawned amid snow and fanfare in Mojave Spaceport in California Monday night. The VSS Enterprise was rolled out and unveiled to the public and given its official name, ushering in the age of commercial space flight.  Along with its mothership VMS Eve, itself adorned with a nod to great aircraft of the past and their crews, VSS Enterprise will be the first private vehicle to regularly deliver individuals into space simply because they choose to go.

It is easy to see this as nothing more than a toy for the rich, but as a life-long advocate of direct human experience with the new and unknown I think this will be looked back upon as one of the key steps in liberating mankind from it’s terrestrial home.  More than likely the passengers of the Enterprise will include over time not just the fabulously wealthy but also the average person who wins a ticket in a fundraising event and the retired person who chooses a trip into space as a good use for that home equity saved up over the years.  Sir Richard Branson’s stated goal is to see the cost of such flights drop down to where it is the equivalent of “taking the family to the Mediterranean” – a trip not outside the bounds of many people and a cost reduction not inconceivably far from the current rates.

I say bring the sky within reach of the average person and let’s see what they do with it.

From the breaking news file

Democratic senators say they have a tentative deal to drop a government-run insurance option from health care legislation. No further details were immediately available.

But liberals and moderates have been discussing an alternative, including a private insurance arrangement to be supervised by the federal agency that oversees the system through which lawmakers purchase coverage. Additionally, talks centered on opening up Medicare to uninsured Americans beginning at age 55, a significant expansion of the large government health care program that currently serves the over-65 population.

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa told reporters he didn’t like the agreement but would support it to the hilt in an attempt to pass health care legislation.

Let’s watch the blogsphere as it enters freakout mode.  

The corpulent, caucasoid beast born of the Southern Strategy, reared by Reagan, and funded by the likes of Dick Armey has turned on it’s Masters.  A new poll from Rassmussen suggests that more ‘moderate’ Republican Congressfolk looking to renew their DC parking pass — and (ahem) government-run personal healthcare plan — might face primary challengers in the form of Tea Party candidates.

In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.

The Republican Roadster, the once-feared electoral muscle-car of the 80’s and 90’s isn’t exactly ‘track ready’ these days — if being lapped by barely literate (judging from the signs) old white people atop an armada of Rascal Scooters is any indication.  The Party of Lincoln and Roosevelt, of Ike and AuH²0, is long gone.  Has today’s GOP taken the Teabagger ramp, launching in a fatal arc over the shark?

My earliest memories are of opposition to the notion that women are an inferior gender. I was profoundly feminist in the 70’s and 80’s, and while I do think that feminism will always be at my core, it is not my total belief as it once was. I do still believe that all relationships of unequal nature are constructed from a gender blueprint that is understood by almost everyone. This is not to say that the oppression of women is worse than other oppressions, just that it is common to most cultures, and in my honest opinion, instructive to all members in how to treat someone you have power over.

This is changing. More quickly in the western world, but signs from countries like India and China are showing a surge in feminist awareness. Education and example is key here.

With change however comes extreme resistance. We saw a peak of this in the 70’s and 80’s with the death of the ERA. And a bit of a stasis in gender issues over the past 30 years. Perhaps it is more of a push pull between forces for and against women’s rights and while women continue to make progress, I am often stunned that we have not seen more gains. Considering the rapid and amazing changes that have occurred for the GLBT community, it is strange that gender remains so stubbornly static in our country.

But in fact the rise of the rights of women in this (and many other countries) is rather remarkable. When I was young (in the 60’s) I remember that almost all of my gender role models were unacceptable to me. In fact for my first 4 or 5 years I believed that it was an error that I was female. It really wasn’t until I became a young adult that I fully accepted being female. That is when I understood that gender issues are deeply political and sociological in nature.

And the obvious changes are just in my lifetime. Think of the changes over the past 50 years. Try 100. I cannot even fathom the astonishing difference in my life, from the life of an average woman 500 years ago. However, we can never forget that most women still live in a world of our past. The status of all women must be improved all over our world.

I do not think women are better than men. Nor do I believe that men are better than women. I have seen studies that show that helping women improve their lives profoundly impacts the community around them for the better. I suspect what we need in our world is a more female perspective of our priorities. A balance, not dominance. And gender (or any other difference) should not be the defining marker of a human being.

Perhaps this should be called The Month in Tubes;~J No promises, but these made me laugh today.

Have I mentioned that I adore Versusplus? Of course I have, but will never miss an opportunity to say it again. They get me…well the Onion can explain.

Oh NOES!!! Please save us all from being stoked.

Republicans, will you help us now?

LOL. Did any of that make sense to anyone?

Here is another one. Republicans are increasingly bizarre these days. Lies and fear appear to be their only tools in the kit.

They do lurves skeering the old people, don’t they?

To start with, let me be clear: The oppression and general subjugation of women is not an exclusively Republican issue. The Stupak-Pitts amendment, which is an attack on women’s reproductive rights and was drafted by a Democrat from Michigan, makes that clear. Nor is the oppression and subjugation of women even an exclusively male issue. I don’t want to get into an argument about the “blame the victim” mindset, but the fact is, a lot of women adhere and/or contribute to the doctrine of male domination. Now, is that because they have been indoctrinated to do so? Sure. However, the same can be said of sexist men. Despite all the calls for political correctness and the efforts of feminists throughout the country and the world, everyone who has grown up in the United States has been influenced, in one way or another, by the pervasive and prevailing mindset of masculine domination. Some of us are more resistant to indoctrination than others, but few, if any, are entirely immune. We are all subject to the influences of gender stereotyping, no matter how careful our parents may have been to prevent it. Every day, we are inundated with indoctrinating images and ideas, through television, literature, music, and innumerable other mediums. What is most important isn’t that we are completely free of assumptions about the opposite sex, or even our own, but that we strive to understand the causes and effects of sexism and rail against it when we perceive it.

The GOP has been very open about their plans to obstruct health care reform. They’ve actually laid out plans on how they intend to accomplish that feat. The only problem for them is that their obstructive efforts are as poorly thought out as most of their policy proposals.

The latest effort was an amendment cosponsored by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).that would force legislators onto the public option if it becomes law. They thought they could make the Democrats in the Senate look hypocritical. The only problem for them is that Sen. Vitter is a proven hypocrite and Sen. Coburn is dumb as a fence post.

The whole thing began to go awry when Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) asked to become a cosponsor on the bill. He apparently put in his request to their offices four times without getting a response. This is no surprise, since Sen. Coburn and Sen. Vitter had no intention for their amendment to be anything more than a political stunt.