Pelosi Delivers! What Now?

I must say I am surprised that with the massive money injected into the political process from corporate opponents of healthcare reform, I didn't really expect we'd ever see the day that significant reform would ever make through the House. This was a big day for the average American citizen.

I think the plan is far from perfect and does not go nearly far enough in introducing competition into the system. But it is still an enormous leap forward from where we have been stuck for decades. I still cannot see how a similar bill will make it through the Senate and for this reason my excitement is tempered by the dim prospects there. Unless something changes with Lieberman or Senate leaders are willing to use the process of reconciliation, the bill which emerges from the Senate is unlikely to contain a public option.

In addition, it now looks like it could be several months into 2010 before we see a final bill emerge from the Senate. Although this was a historic night for the country, the final bill is likely to be less robust than what we saw come out of the House this evening. I will now spend the next few weeks using my psychic powers to influence the feeble mind of Joe Lieberman. If you see him flip-flop again on healthcare reform I will expect full credit for my efforts and superpowers.

P.S. Let's give some credit to Rep. Cao of Louisiana for having the courage to defy the GOP and vote for this bill!

Latest Republican "False Outrage" - Nancy Pelosi

Let me see if I understand this correctly. No outrage from the right-wing about torture, outing an undercover CIA agent, politicizing the Justice Department, Hurricane Katrina, record budget deficits, crumbling infrastructure, and destroying the economy in less than 8 years. BUT if there is any possibility that Nancy Pelosi may have been briefed by the CIA about waterboarding then it is the crime of the century. Or is the crime of the century Obama shaking hands with Chavez, or ordering a hamburger with mustard, or using a teleprompter. This transparent "false outrage" tactic in order to deflect attention from real news is getting old fast.

I am actually not a big fan of Nancy Pelosi primarily because she took impeachment off the table at a time when the facts were screaming out for impeachment of President Bush due to his clear violations of federal law and the Constitution (warrantless wiretapping, torture, etc.). And it really doesn't matter to me whether she gets burned by this issue or not. If investigations and criminal prosecutions of torture cause political damage to some democrats in Congress, then so be it. As I have said on many occasions I am for holding anybody accountable for ordering torture whether they be in a Democratic or Republican Administration. It is not a political issue for me. It goes way beyond that.

For at least a short period of time the mounting evidence that Dick Cheney was suggesting that an Iraqi detainee be waterboarded in order to try to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq gets pushed completely to the side as the media focuses exclusively on the relatively insignificant sideshow of Nancy Pelosi. I have got to give the right-wing credit for their effective "divert attention from Bush/Cheney complicity at all costs" campaign.

At this time it is not clear what was really said in those briefings. There were caveats in Panetta's response which were largely overlooked by the media and Bob Graham's statements cast a lot of doubt on the credibility of the CIA's briefing dates, etc. I will withhold judgment until I see clear evidence one way or the other. But this in no way affects the overwhelming case mounting against high-ranking Bush Administration officials. Let the chips fall where they may.

CBS Golf Analyst and Local Mayor Make Dangerous Statements About Democratic Leaders

In the April 2009 issue of D Magazine CBS Sports golf analyst David Feherty made the following statement:

"From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this, though: despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media,if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Osama bin Laden, there's agood chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death."

I'm getting tired of this kind of talk by the idiots on the fringe. It reminds me of the comments made during the "Tax Day Tea Protest" near me in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The mayor of a small city near Fort Walton Beach (Mary Esther, FL) said the following:

"I believe that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are more dangerous to the future of this country than Osama Bin Laden.." See my You Tube clip of the event here - his comments are at the 2:45 mark

I defend anybody's right to criticize the President or Congressional leaders. That is what this country is all about, but I have no tolerance for the kind of comments I've highlighted above. I consider them to be beyond irresponsible. After all, Osama Bin Laden has a $25 million bounty on his head. What are we supposed to infer if Obama, Reid , and Pelosi are "more dangerous" than Osama Bin Laden? Enough is enough.