Motley Moose – Archive

In 1994, Newt Gingrich unveiled the Contract for America. Many political analysts view  this document as being helpful to the GOP’s effort to gain control of Congress in that year’s election. Now that the GOP finds itself in a similar situation in 2010, they have decided to release a Pledge to America with the hope that it will help them gain control of Congress in the mid-term elections. Whether that proves to be true is yet to be seen.

A draft version of the document has been released on the Internet. What I’ve read so far appears to be a typical GOP document filled with misdirection, misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies.

The misdirection starts on the first page in the intro. They save the lies for the content. I’ll deal with those in a later post.

An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down long-standing laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.

What they say in that paragraph is true. The misdirection is that they want people to think they are talking about the current government when it is obvious that they are describing the Bush administration that was appointed by a conservative controlled Supreme Court  and enabled by a compliant GOP-controlled Congress.

This was posted on the Moose in November, 2008. I decided to repost it after reading about today’s announcement of President Obama’s mandate on hospital visits. Hopefully, the scenario in the story will now be a thing of the past.

Friday, April 16, 2010

President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients’ choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.

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The Death of a Love Story

Life is often like a smooth flowing stream. Day follows day with only small ripples to disturb the surface and then, unexpectedly, a large rock breaks the current. Sometimes that rock is more like a surging rapid and at other times, it takes a sudden plunge over a waterfall. We have little control over the current. We can only ride out whatever the stream brings our way.

When Jim and Reggie awoke on that quiet Wednesday morning, life seemed tranquil and serene. As on any other weekday, Jim prepared for work while Reggie set the table for their shared breakfast routine. There was little to indicate that this day would be any different from the days that had come before it. Unfortunately, unknown to this loving couple, a waterfall loomed ahead.

Reggie, as a self-employed writer, spent the day in front of a computer while Jim went to work as an accountant at a large corporation. The two loving partners had played out this same routine for nearly thirty years. They both agreed that life had been good to them.

In the nearly 15 months since the 111th Congress was sworn in, the GOP has become known as the Party of No – no ideas, no votes, no, no, no. Their electoral plan seems to be to ride “NO!” to a return to prominence. I have serious doubts that this will prove to be a successful strategy.

The funniest thing about all of this, in an ironic way, is that they should be trumpeting the ascendancy of their ideas. They could rightfully claim to be the party of ideas, yet they have decided to go the other way.

Let’s take a quick look at what has happened in this Congress.  

This letter was originally posted on TPM. I wouldn’t normally post a complete copy here on the Moose, but the author made this statement in the comment thread.

It would make my day to be plagerized far and wide! Feel free to link to or copy and post anywhere you like.

Posted by AmericanDad

Russell King AKA AmericanDad deserves a lot of credit for putting this together. It must have taken a lot of work. Kudos to him.

Original post on TMP

Post after the break

Letting me read poetry is always a hazard. While looking for the Bertolt Brecht poem I posted in a thread, I came across a line in one of his poems about a stunted tree. It made me think. This is the result.

Can You Spare Some Change?

Hurrying through the city one day on errands

I came across a beggar seated on the sidewalk

with his back against the wall. His worn face

and thin frame pointed to a life ill-spent.

A well-dressed man stood over him.

In an angry, raised voice, he said,

“Get a job, you worthless bum.”

I looked from the speaker to the broken man

at his feet. Then, against all common sense,

I spoke up. “Excuse me, sir,” I said.

“Have you ever helped a poor mother

find good food for her hungry children?

Have you helped fund schools in poor neighborhoods?”

He turned his angry gaze and words on me.

“What does that have to do with me?

What are you, some kind of liberal do-gooder?”

“Well, sir,” I said in a pleasant voice,

“If you planted seeds in barren soil and the crops

came up stunted would you curse the crops

or blame yourself for not enriching the soil?”

After a long, angry stare, he turned his back

and walked away. Over his shoulder,

I heard him mutter, “Damn nosy do-gooder.”

I watched him for a moment then dropped

some change in the beggar’s upturned hat.

As I hurried on to finish my errands,

a plantive chant followed me down the sidewalk.

“Buddy, can you spare some change?”

The news media has, rightly, been focused on health care reform over the last few weeks. Lost in the buzz over HCR is a significant development concerning the privatization of government operations. Or, more rightly, an end to a privatization scheme that has cost the taxpayer 100’s of billions of dollars over the last 4 decades.

A major reform of the student loan program was slipped through the House with very little fanfare and far less controversy than would have happened if not for the cover of HCR. The changes effectively end private-lender involvement in the student loan program. Lobbyist for the lenders had worked furiously to block the reforms, but now have little hope since the loan program changes were included in the budget reconciliation bill that contains the “fixes” to the Senate health care bill.

The battle over reform of the student loan program began last April when President Barack Obama called for repeal called for an end to the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL) program. The president said the program was, “taxpayers…paying banks a premium to act as middlemen — a premium that costs the American people billions of dollars each year….a premium we cannot afford.”

Oh, boy. Do I ever need some brain bleach. Today, Rush Limbaugh listed a phone number for listeners to call to reach their representatives in Congress. What followed was a classic example of tragicomedy, except that it was true life.

From Time via Balloon Juice.

“Alert the patriots: Tyrants are ruining our country!”

Posted by Kate Pickert Friday, March 19, 2010 at 6:36 pm

13 Comments

A funny thing happened on the way to the congressional switchboard earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners to call Congress and tell them to vote no on health care reform. That’s no small thing. With his millions of fans, this is the kind of advice that could crash the congressional phone system.

But Rush made a critical error in his activism and it revealed an insider trick about grassroots organizing and showcased the absolute hatred some of Rush’s listeners feel about Democratic health care reform. Stay with me here – I promise the payoff will be worth it.

FamiliesUSA, a pro-reform activist group, has a toll-free number on its web site, telling supporters: “Call your elected officials at 1-888-876-6242. Tell them that Americans deserve better than the status quo. We need quality, affordable health care NOW.”

People who call this number, however, don’t actually reach elected officials – at first. They reach a recorded message that begins, “Thank you for calling your representatives and your senators. Please urge them to vote yes on health reform…” After the pro-reform message, the call is routed to the actual capitol switchboard. The purpose of this is to two-fold: To give callers a kind of script to say when they do reach members and senators and to spare them the cost of a long-distance call.

Unfortunately for Rush, he gave out the toll-free FamiliesUSA number on his show on Tuesday, which meant his anti-reform listeners got a pro-reform message when they tried to call Congress. So many Rush fans called the FamiliesUSA number on Tuesday that it caused a massive spike in call volume, which was immediately noticed by the group’s telephone re-routing vendor. Not wanting to pick up the tab for anti-reform calls, of course, FamiliesUSA immediately shut down the number and got a new one, which is posted above and now functioning as intended. (FamiliesUSA executive director Ron Pollack says the cost of that brief spike is in the thousands of dollars. “It’s an ironic form of flattery,” he quipped when I reached him earlier today.)

But Rush’s callers didn’t understand this whole re-routing thing and many were absolutely and astoundingly enraged. Many of them assumed the pro-reform message they got was a left-wing conspiracy to take over government. Think this is a stretch?

Here’s a Youtube video posted by one such caller, who believed he had discovered a blatant case of “Obama propoganda…Alert the patriots: Tyrants are ruining our country !”

He’s not alone. After FamiliesUSA turned off their original toll free number, it was bought by someone else who must have known about the mixup. That new person put a pro-reform bulletin on an answering machine and recorded messages left by angry – and I mean very angry – Rush listeners. WARNING: Many of the message contain obscenities – they can be accessed by calling 206-666-6666.

If you ever had any doubts that there are people out there who truly believe the Democratic health reform plan is a communist conspiracy to take over America…

Read more: http://swampland.blogs.time.co…

Embedding has been disabled for the youtube video mentioned in the article – here’s a link to it

I called the 206 number mentioned in the article and recorded some of the calls for you. These are not suitable for children. Lots of 10-12 letter words. This was recorded from a cellphone speaker, so the quality and volume are lousy. You may have to turn your speaker volume up all the way to hear it clearly.

phone calls

On March 17th, Congressman Dale Kildee of Michigan announced he will cast a yes vote on health care. Kildee, a pro-life Democrat, was considered a question mark after voting for the Stupak-Pitts abortion amendment in the House version of the health care bill.

Kildee, who has a liberal voting record except on abortion, has said he is “a staunch pro-life member of Congress.” First elected in 1976, Kildee has never faced a serious primary or general election challenge. Throughout his 33 years in office he has been an advocate for children and on labor issues. Kildee, a Roman Catholic, is known for his strong pro-life stance.

In his written statement Kildee said, “There is nothing more pro-life than protecting the lives of 31 million Americans. Voting for this bill in no way diminishes my pro-life voting record or undermines my beliefs. I am a staunch pro-life member of Congress — both for the born and the unborn.”

The announcement by Kildee adds to the growing list of House members who have committed to voting for the bill after being considered on the fence. Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) announced his support for the bill, as did Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.). Perriello also backed the Stupak-Pitts amendment in November, 2009.

While support for passage of the bill is growing in Congress, another announcement may be as significant. A consortium of 60 leaders of Catholic religious orders representing 59,000 nuns sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to pass the bill. This is in direct opposition to the stance of The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which says the bill’s anti-abortion provisions are not strong enough.

 

The fight for health care reform in this country started more than 100 years ago. The current stage of the fight started more than a year ago. It has been raging ever since Barack Obama took office in January, 2009. We are now in the final days of the latest battle and the Right is bringing its full force to bear to try to prevent any changes to the status quo.

The Right has fought against any reforms that will benefit the American people at the expense of business interests. They have labeled the effort as an attempt to take over the entire health care industry. They have told people that it will turn the country into a socialist country, even though there is absolutely nothing to justify that claim since the public option was removed from the Senate bill. They have claimed provisions in the bill will lead to “death panels” that will kill off your grandparents or disabled children. They have lied and misled to the point that some people actually fear for their lives if this bill passes. They are not above using any tactic, telling any lie, and smearing any progressive in an attempt to protect health insurance companies and pharmaceutical industry profits.

The Right knows this is the final stages of the battle and are pulling out all the stops to prevent the American people from benefiting from Health Care Reform. They are flooding the internet with emails urging people to call Congress to pressure representatives. The list below comes from one of those emails. These are the people they are targeting in Congress. Please scan the list for your representative and call with a message of support if you find them in the list. Be sure to tell whoever you talk to that you are aware that opponents of reform are mounting a deliberate campaign and that you want them to know that you support reform. Also remind them that the calls against reform are coming from people that got their name from right-wing mailing lists and those people are not going to vote for them no matter what.

This is it, people. It’s up to us now. We can win this battle, but only if we are willing to fight. Call today. Call now. Call often. Send emails. Send faxes if you have access to a fax machine. Fight for what is right.

List after the break.

Ever heard of the winter blues? Well, I’ve got them. The end of winter always seems to drag on at these northern latitudes. Everyone, except a winter sports buff, is tired of snow and cold by the end of February. I’m no longer fond of winter sports. The closest I come to participating in a winter sport these days is to sit in front of a warm fire and watch hockey on television. Unless you count the daily walks with my dog Al.

Al doesn’t care about the seasons. Not when it comes to his favorite pastime, going for a walk. The fresh snow that had fallen overnight didn’t bother him at all. It bothered me. A lot. Even after all these years of living in Michigan, I still have a hard time accepting the truism – Spring will come when it comes.

Winter blues or not, it was soon obvious that Al wasn’t going to let me sit and mope until he got his daily walk. He was dancing in front of the door even before I had shrugged into my coat. As soon as I’d pulled on my boots and grabbed his leash, we were on our way.