One From The Rude Pundit

Hard to say it better'n this:

11/14/2013 Obama to Nation: Keep Your Fuckin' Plans, You Stupid Cowards:

In a sane era, not an ideal one, but a sane one, the President would have gone to congressional leaders and said, "Hey, what are some things we can do to make the Affordable Care Act work better?" Now, in the fantasy sane era - and, again, we're not saying it's some fuckin' "Kumbaya" era of holding hands, but just a time when people in the government actually want the government to, you know, function like a government - members of both parties would offer things that they would like to see in the law. Democrats might have said something about outreach. Republicans might have said something like "Why don't we let people keep their heath care plans?" Things would have been negotiated and the law would have been strengthened or, at least, smoothed up a bit.

Alas, we do not live in such an era. Instead, we must deal with the constant buzzing of our water boatman politicians. The water boatman is an insect that, relative to its size, gives off a mighty sound. It makes this annoying chirp/buzz by constantly rubbing its dick on its belly. There's your picture for the day: Ted Cruz grabbing his tumescent cock and scraping it back and forth across his hairy stomach as it emits a call for perverse teabaggers to mate with his narrow, self-serving ideology.

Instead of Barack Obama and the House GOP agreeing that the law is the law and making it function for Americans, we get the sight of Obama appearing before the press corps and saying, more or less, "Goddamn, I'm sick of you motherfuckers whining about your shitty ass health insurance getting canceled because your provider is just a bunch of sick, greedy dickheads who would murder you where you sit if it would squeeze one more cent of profit out of your useless bodies. You wanna cling to your high deductible, low benefit policy for another year because you're scared that the black man president might be right and all that Fox 'news' noise might be wrong? Fine. Fuck it. Kiss my ass and keep your shit plan. Don't come whining to me when it turns out that your insurer drops your sorry ass when you get too sick for it. You asked to be grandfathered in, so lick grandpa's balls and tell me how tasty they are now. Now, can we please talk about the fact that Republicans want to kick over 100,000 people who just got insurance off it?"

Imagine for a moment, just one clear moment, what would have happened if, after the law passed, Republicans hadn't been such total pricks about the ACA, if just a quarter of the votes to repeal Obamacare had been on things that make the law stronger (or even more Republican). No, they couldn't. That would legitimize the law and Barack Obama as president. They have to keep hitting at the ACA as if it's the last windmill in Spain. Just think, though, what would have happened if all states had set up their own exchanges, if they had accepted the Medicaid expansion, if, if, if. It wouldn't have been perfect, but at least it would have worked as it was created to work instead of the horrific Frankenstein monster of a thing it was forced to become. The only way not having a public option for insurance works is if the states acted responsibly. They did not, in a way calculated to undermine the President and a Congress from just a few years ago. Democrats got suckered, again, into thinking that Republicans would behave honorably.

If President Obama seems frustrated, it's because he should be. Used to be people gave a damn when a law was passed. They shifted their perspective and acted in concert with the law. If they disagreed with it, they elected new people who overturned it (if the courts wouldn't). The tactics used by the right on Obamacare would have made Abbie Hoffman at his most radical say, "Goddamn, that'll lead to anarchy." On January 1, there's probably gonna be hospital sit-ins or some such shit. And it's hilarious that the GOP is acting as if, pre-ACA, it was all free gold and pussy for people with health insurance, not that it was (and is) a cruel, callous, capitalist system that saw people routinely kicked off their policies for taking one too many pills or being a little late with a payment.

So can we move forward now? Is it possible to get to that place where we simply try to, for fuck's sake, get people some health care and not act like it's a privilege for the few?

Told Ya

About a month ago, when ObamaCare was launched, and it was becoming clear the software was malfunctioning, I posted this:

But after a coupla weeks (of oops; and uh-oh; and fuck - again!?!) isn't it time for somebody to suggest that the wingnuts are jamming and/or hacking the site just to make it all look worse than it actually is?

And now this:

Roberta Stempfley highlighted one successful attack that is designed to deny access to the website called a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. A DDoS attack is designed to make a network unavailable to intended users, generally through a concerted effort to disrupt service such as repeatedly accessing the servers, saturating them with more traffic than the website is designed to handle.

I'm a prescient little fuck, ain't I?

No. I'm not.
(Altho' you could make a pretty good case that I'm the typically self-absorbed self-referencing blogger puke, and all I'm trying to do here is get a little attention, but nobody doesn't know that about bloggers; and if you know me at all, then you sure as fuck know that about me when I'm wearing my blogger suit)

Anyway, it just always follows - "the blame game" is an important step in this process.  And I'm not making the same old point about "everybody does it".  Look, guys - there are forces at work in the universe (strong force, weak force, electromagnetism and gravity) that govern our physical existence. Well, there are forces at work in politics too, and Cover Your Ass is the big one; big enough in most cases to be the only one that matters to Congress Critters, especially when it comes to the absolute necessity of raising enough money to get your sorry ass re-elected in spite of your obvious and numerous shortcomings.

So here we are again, at a Fail Point, and it seems like we're less concerned about unfucking the fuckup than we are about nailing the fuckup to somebody's forehead.

Of course, the story about the fuckup is what gets the eyeballs for The Bloglodytes and The Press Poodles.  And beyond the story about the fuckup is the story about the fight over the fuckup.  And the fight is what Corporate Media sells us.  Never mind what they're fighting about (that's just a buncha boring policy wonk shit), the fight itself is what delivers the viewers to the advertisers.

Uhm...'Scuse Me

...but you said my premiums would be going thru the roof(?)

This is just a quick and dirty look, and I should tell you right now that I haven't checked this out at all. (Democratic Underground posted the link)

So there's a whole big pile of caveats and yeah-buts left to sort thru, but still - WTF, Bubba?

Coining A New Term

To co-opt Mr Clemens - There are lies, damned lies, and TeaParty Rhetoric.



So, lemme see.  We can add Job Killing to Death Panels; Abortion Surtax; Healthcare Rationing; Government Takeover; blahblah blahblah blahblah.

The GOP is just straight-up lying.  And they can lie all they want because they know there's a constituency out here just waiting to lap up whatever falls outa their asses.  Which is why I've decided to start referring to the Tea Party in a way that more accurately reflects their actual function: Toilet Paper Republicans.

Seriously tho', what does it take to get some of these people deprogrammed?

Today's Toons

ACA Testamonials

From a post at Democratic Underground:

Right now I pay $650.00 per month for myself and my son (he is 19)

with a $5,000 deductible. The quotes I saw were from $180.00 to
$375.00 per month and in many cases the deductible was from $1,500
to $2,500 ...... I entered my phone # @ the web site and with in 3
minutes a broker who looks @ 62 different insurance companies called me
and said that she could get me a quote w/in 24 hours and it would include
free check ups, and for a little more money it could include vision and
dental too.

**********
No wonder the republicans are so scared of Obamacare.

Some comments from that post:

From DailyKOS:

My sister was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, among other things. By the age of three, she had three open heart surgeries, an ovary removed, her appendix out, and her tonsils removed. The medicines that she will need to take for the rest of her life, in addition to the other heart surgeries that she will eventually need are very, very costly.Our health care providers told my parents that they would be dropping her at age 18, and after some shopping around we learned that no other insurer would pick her up. This meant that there was a high likelihood of death during her early adult years. But, thanks to Obamacare, she can now be covered for life with these preexisting conditions and without any benefit cap.Now age 12, she is a very active young lady. She is involved with many community volunteer activities and is very inspirational to me. I am very thankful that we no longer have those serious worries of constant debt and looming death. I love her so much!I wish that I could get some of my extended family members to recognize the seriousness of this issue.

And a slightly different angle - again from DailyKOS:

I woke up one morning feeling like my testicles were being crushed in a vice. I had been unemployed for a year, and my fiancee of two weeks was making about 19k/yr, so I tried to tough it out for several hours. I tried ibuprofen, soaking in hot water, soaking in cold water, anything I could think of to dull the pain. Eventually I gave up and called my dad and he drove me to the hospital.I spent another six hours in a semi-lucid state getting x-rays and CT scans, and lying on a gurney in the hallway.They came back with the diagnosis of a kidney stone. They determined that the stone was positioned right by the opening of the urethra and was just small enough that it should pass on its own. The doc decided that a natural passing would be less disruptive than a stent, so they put me in a room for the night.I spent the next four days loaded on morphine and some of its sister drugs before the stone finally passed, my fever subsided, and I was cleared to go. Every time the morphine wore off, I would be writhing in agony, counting the minutes until I could get another dose. When I did get another dose, it still hurt like hell, but I didn't care any more.A week later, I decided I had to face facts and deal with the bill. I called the hospital and was told that I owed $400 because the urologist who checked up on me every day was not completely covered by my plan. The remainder of the bill, $26,000, was covered because I was on the Mass Commonwealth Care emergency care plan. If not for that program, both my and my wife's life would be completely fucked over.So former Governor Romney, I would like to thank for making that plan available, but I also want to ask why the fuck you don't think anyone else in the country should have access to it?

There are problems with the thing, and those problems aren't just about the tech glitches.  There're way too many people stuck on one of the several bubbles of the system.  They make a few bucks above whatever threshold, and so they don't get the price break they need, or they don't qualify for the subsidy, or whatever - they just don't get the help they oughta be getting.  All of which can be fixed once the whole thing is up and running.

It's interesting to note that in the states where they've accepted the Fed Bucks for Medicaid expansion and the grants for establishing the exchanges, the thing is working pretty well - plus it seems the insurers are selling a boatload of new policies.  I have to assume somebody's looking hard at the numbers, and here's to hoping the "Risk Mix" is good enough to make it profitable at some sustainable level.

Meanwhile:

They're runnin' scared.  They've made such a big deal over how ACA will kill all the jobs and ruin the economy and make Jesus cry - if it works, they are madly deeply truly fucked.

Faintgate

A young pregnant woman with Type 1 Diabetes went a little woozy during Obama's remarks on ACA, causing a minor disruption.



And of course the Bloglodytes have gone nuts.  Wow - can't imagine why - it's almost like they hate Obama's guts and go outa their way to find "reasons" to say shitty things about the guy.

Infowars:

Was Fainting Woman at Obamacare Speech Staged?

First of all, who in their right mind asked a pregnant woman to stand up in front of hundreds of photographers for a significant amount of time?

Secondly, take a closer look at the video. After turning to the woman, Obama actually turns back toward the microphone, raises his voice and says “I’ve got you.” He then turns back to her, turns back to the mic and again says “You’re ok.”

There are plenty more sites with some very entertaining comments.  Google it and enjoy hours of hoot.

A Brief Moment Of Enlightenment

Libertarians (for lack of a better label) are opposed to ObamaCare because taken to the logical extreme - which is where an awful lot of 'em seem to be located now - they have to be opposed to any and all efforts to suck them into any and all kinds of Collaborative/Cooperative/Collective endeavor.

It's not that they object to ObamaCare per se - they have to object to the very notion of Insurance itself.  The idea of getting together with a bunch of people you don't know and can't trust is off-putting enough, but being forced to pool your resources with these unwashed, unwelcome, undeserving miscreants?  Child, please.

Insurance is the Communism of Capitalism, and it must be avoided by all self-respecting Rugged Individuals.