Making The Rounds

Ken AshfordHealth Care, RepublicansLeave a Comment

I've seen varients of this before.  Apparently, it is making a resurgance: Thoughts From A Conservative Idiot This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility. After that, I … Read More

Conservative Reponse To Palin’s “Death Panel” Comment

Ken AshfordElection 2012, Health Care, RepublicansLeave a Comment

Mostly, they think she's crazy. On "Meet the Press" this morning, David Brooks called Palin's attack "crazy," adding that "the crazies are attacking the plan because it will cut off granny. That is simply not true, that simply is not going to happen." Similarly, Rep. Jack Kingston (R) of Georgia, who no one has ever considered a moderate, told Bill … Read More

Sarah “Quit Making Things Up And Leave My Son Alone” Palin Makes Things Up, Using Her Son As An Example

Ken AshfordElection 2012, Health CareLeave a Comment

Here's part what the former governor wrote on her Facebook page yesterday: As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we're saying not just no, but hell no! The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the … Read More

Republican Congressman Gets Booed For Telling Constituents To Stop Listening To Glenn Beck

Ken AshfordHealth Care, Obama OppositionLeave a Comment

This was a townhall meeting conducted by a Republican congressman from South Carolina, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), who opposes Obama's general plan for health care reform, so you would think there wouldn't be anything to protest from the teabaggers. But nope — he went after the moron's sacred cow: Glenn Beck. The crowd revolted when Inglis told people to “turn … Read More

The Decibel Level Goes To Eleven

Ken AshfordHealth Care, Obama OppositionLeave a Comment

I'll let Krugman start us off, and I'll chime in: There’s a famous Norman Rockwell painting titled “Freedom of Speech,” depicting an idealized American town meeting. The painting, part of a series illustrating F.D.R.’s “Four Freedoms,” shows an ordinary citizen expressing an unpopular opinion. His neighbors obviously don’t like what he’s saying, but they’re letting him speak his mind. That’s … Read More

From Ezra Klein’s WaPo Chat

Ken AshfordHealth CareLeave a Comment

I think this is his second one, and I find them to be very good, if only because he echoes things I've been saying lately.  I hope he does more.  Some excerpts: Columbia, SC: In honor of Twitter's down period, I think all responses should be made in 140 characters or less. Ezra Klein: I am very tempted to do … Read More

My Idea: Give Them What They Want

Ken AshfordHealth Care2 Comments

It really seems that a lot of these people protesting Obama's call for health care reform are opposed to government-run health care without realizing that they themselves are on government-run health care which they don't want tampered with. It's not surprising.  For near 30 years, the right wing has bombarded the citizenry with a simple-to-understand, but not-necessarily-true slogan — i.e., government … Read More

More About The GOP Mobs

Ken AshfordHealth CareLeave a Comment

From today's WaPo chat (with WaPo columnist Ben Pershing): Oklahoma City, OK: In yesterday's politics chat one of the posters wondered why it was "legal" for vocal critics of the administration to show up at congressional town halls and sometimes shout and yell. Does no one on the left recall eight years under George W. Bush when everywhere he went … Read More

What’s Wrong With The U.S. Postal Service?

Ken AshfordHealth CareLeave a Comment

Arthur Laffer on CNN: If you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they’re run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government. Someone needs to point out to Mr. Supply Side that Medicare and Medicaid are done by the government…. now.  They are government programs, and … Read More

Obama Be Killing Us All, Like The Nazis

Ken AshfordHealth Care, Right Wing Punditry/Idiocy2 Comments

One of my favorite Renew America columnists, Marie Jon, has taken on Obamacare.  You know it's going to be fun just from the title: Obama's Advance Care Planning: code words for 'euthanasia' Get it?  "Code words".  He doesn't come right out and say "euthanasia", because that would be too obvious.  Marie explains: President Barack Obama has proposed that every American's medical … Read More

Health Care Rationing

Ken AshfordHealth CareLeave a Comment

Yeah, yeah.  We don't want to support Obama's health care plan because we don't want to ration out health care.  We don't want some faceless bureaucrat making medical life-or-death decisions for us.  We don't…. wait, what's that? An insurance company that initially refused to pay for a liver transplant for a 17-year-old Northridge girl who died in a hospital should … Read More

The Hysteria Continues

Ken AshfordHealth Care, Obama OppositionLeave a Comment

When George Bush was "elected" president in 2000, I thought it was bad for the country.  I didn't agree with his policies, and I thought he was a weak leader.  And I said so. But what I didn't do was FREAK OUT.  I didn't go around saying, "OMG!  He's going to force us all to wear uniforms, and he's going … Read More

Facepalm Punditry Of The Day

Ken AshfordHealth Care, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

Why is life expectancy higher in Canada than it is in the United States? Bill O'Reilly knows: That is to be expected…. we have ten times more people here [than in Canada]… … and therefore we have ten times more crimes and accidents, which is why we have a lower life expectancy than Canada. Video here. For what it's worth … Read More