Motley Moose – Archive

No pun intended.

What is wrong with people, though? Think Progress is reporting that some lunatic teabagger called in to C-Span this morning, fretting that his fervent prayers for Senator Byrd’s death had resulted in the incapacitation of GOP Senator Inhofe instead. No… no, really, I’m not kidding. The dude was practically in tears. Watch it below (really watch it — you will be stymied, and it’s barely a minute long):

Transcript of caller’s remarks (thanks, Blasky):

Our small Tea Bag group here in Waycroft, we… we got our vigil together and took Dr. Coburn’s instructions and prayed real hard that Senator Byrd that he would die and couldn’t show up at the vote the other night.  How hard did you pray because I see one of our members is missing this morning.  Did it backfire on us [begins crying] and one of our members die?  How hard did you pray Senator, did you pray hard enough?

RNC Chairman Michael Steele must have a real way with words — he certainly knows how to charge for them, and he isn’t shy about it. Apparently he’s doing regular speaking gigs and charging up to $20,000 a pop. Wow! But we’ve always known Steele had a witty, “beyond cutting edge” style all his own, so it’s really no wonder that he would charge people to listen to his words of wisdom. I mean, when you’ve got the prescience and insight to call that ghetto Obama stimulus package “bling bling,” you really set a high bar for yourself. (Ain’t he hip-hop and fresh and straight dope, y’all? What a guy!)

The votes in the Senate came down 60-40, as expected. Not one, not a single Republican voted for health care reform, not even GOP “turncoat” Snowe. Despite all the concessions — all the revisions — not one Republican cast a vote in favor of the American people early this morning. That is why I will stand beside Barack Obama and his allies on this bill. Not because I like the bill personally. Certain aspects of it already horrify me, and I haven’t even read the thing yet. But I will stand beside it because it is, at this time, the best we can do — and because it is likely better than we will be able to do in a year’s time. The people hollering “Kill the bill!” are as unrealistic as the ones who thought Ron Paul had a shot at the White House. The last time health care reform died in Congress, we didn’t get another shot at it for over a decade. What makes anyone think it will be any different next time around?

And the only reason we’ve gotten so far this time?

Any Brittany Murphy fans here besides me? Seems she died this morning, seemingly of… well, I’m not quite sure anymore. Rather saddened by it, personally. More pics below the fold. Consider this an open thread for whatever’s on your minds.

Photo credit: Michel Euler, Associated Press

Exhausted, actually.

It’s used against Democratic politicians by their opponents during elections, and now it’s being used against all of us in the health care debate. What’s worse, it is Democratic Senators and Representatives who are holding health care for ransom, their votes for reform contingent upon greater restrictions on my body and my rights. A few weeks ago, I watched the House vote to limit my reproductive freedom in such ways as were legally possible, and now I am watching the Senate haggle over my options as well. Why is this acceptable in our society? Why do I have to limit my choices and see my autonomy over my own body compromised because of the wishes of a bunch of stuffy old men? Why are my rights subject to their whims?

President Barack Obama faced a unique challenge in Oslo this week as he delivered his Nobel Peace Prize speech after ordering the deployment of an additional 30,000 troops into the Afghanistan conflict. Commander in Chief in the midst of two wars, Obama described the war in Afghanistan as “just” and acknowledged the need for military force in the face of violent conflict.

“In a ceremony at Oslo City Hall, Mr. Obama was formally welcomed into the ranks of Nobel laureates

who have won the prize, which was established 108 years ago. He said he accepted the award with

‘deep gratitude and great humility.'”

* All captions quoted from the New York Times, photo credit to Doug Mills.

Ramping up teh krazy once again, Minnesota token lunatic Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has provided us with a slew of asinine creative catchphrases to laugh derisively at adopt for personal use. I think most of us would agree that there’s no one on the national scene quite like Bachmann. Sarah Palin is probably dumber, but that could be said when comparing her to pretty much any nationally known politician. So beating Palin out on brains (if only someone would actually beat their brains out — it wouldn’t take long) is really not much of an accomplishment on Bachmann’s part. But when it comes to pure, unfiltered, unadulterated KRAZY… Bachmann may indeed take the cake.

More news emerged on Blackwater (currently known as Xe Services) yesterday as new information was revealed regarding their participation in secret raids coordinated by the CIA and carried out against suspected insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq. These revelations have increased the already stringent criticism being directed toward both Blackwater and the CIA and the depth of their relationship. Iraqis have claimed that the behavior of Blackwater security guards has been reckless, and the company lost its contract with the State Department this year in response to a shooting in 2007 that resulted in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians.

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?  

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.