Florida Congressman's action may defund fraud-besieged defense contractors; now how about child-molesting faith-based groups? Also.

I daresay you'll be as happy as I am to learn that when it comes to Congress defunding organizations who've broken laws, the ACORN won't have fallen far from the artillery (emphasis mine):

Going after ACORN may be like shooting fish in a barrel lately -- but jumpy lawmakers used a bazooka to do it last week and may have blown up some of their longtime allies in the process.

The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.

In other words, the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) picked up on the legislative overreach and asked the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to sift through its database to find which contractors might be caught in the ACORN net.

Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gumman both popped up quickly, with 20 fraud cases between them, and the longer list is a Who's Who of weapons manufacturers and defense contractors.

Awesome.

But wait--there is more, so much more. Who else has received tax dollars and broken laws? Well, as The Rude Pundit pointed out recently:

Some things are easy to put in perspective: We have a case in Albany, NY, where Catholic Charities funds were used as part of a settlement on a case of molestation by clergy. In Cleveland in 2002, at a Catholic Charities-supported child care center, five workers were arrested on charges of sexual abuse of children. The number of cases of molestation by workers, of the cloth or not, at Catholic Charities-run or -owned facilities could go on and on and on, as the abuse did for years.

In August of this year, Catholic Charities received a federal government contract for $100 million over five years to work with victims of natural disasters.

And the outrage is...where exactly?

Think about the poor, reviled insurance executives, people!

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Fantastic. Please feel free to circulate.

(And yes, that's Mad Men's Jon Hamm--*swoon*--along with Olivia Wilde, Will Ferrell, and friends, all making the important point that if healthcare reform includes a public option, the poor insurance corporations will have to actually compete, which will, in turn, affect all those executives who currently enjoy such perks as owning five luxury homes apiece, having private zoos in their back gardens, going on lavish vacations, raking in enormous bonuses, getting doughnuts and prostitutes on demand, etcetera, etcetera.)

Friday Saturday Frank: Guitar Solo from Hotplate Heaven at the Green Hotel; Vienna, Austria; 1988

Dedicated to Roberto, who regularly redeems himself by bringing me armloads of orchids and lilies and whose marinara sauce gives new meaning to the phrase hotplate heaven.

Bon Weekend, everyone.

Lifestyles of the White & Suggestible

By the brilliant Max Blumenthal, whose book Republican Gomorrah just debuted at number #15 on the New York Times Bestsellers list.

As for this video of the 9/12 Teabaggers' Extravaganza, aka The 2-Million Loon March The Unintentionally Hilarious But Nonetheless Scary Tantrum of the Seventy-thousand Seriously Deranged, well, there's a phrase in Spanish that sums it up neatly: sin palabras. No words.

Well, there are a few words on display here, but as you'll see, most of them are risibly misspelled.

I'mma let you finish

I'm going to file this site under Sweet Jeebus, I love the Intertubes. You can click on the archive to see them all, or choose the random generator. Either way, you simply must hear the audio (on the Home page) wherein our president refers to stage-crashing Kanye as a "jackass".

(Yes, I am fourteen years old. Sometimes.)

More like this pls., President O--now how about letting loose on the far-more-significant-and-worrisome Blue Jackasses who are buggering up healthcare reform?

What's inside the mind of Mark Foley?

Why, only sugar and spice and all things nice--I'm sure of it.

Chew on this: disgraced ex-congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) is getting his own radio talk show. Yes, that Mark Foley. A radio talk show, on Palm Beach-area AM station WSVU, which also features programming from CBS radio, "adult standards" tunes, and the thoughtful musings of Don Imus, among others.

According to ABC News, WSVU spokesman Joseph Raineri is looking forward to having Foley on board having Foley join his team hearing what's on Foley's mind. In fact, the show is actually entitled Inside the mind of Mark Foley. Said Ranieri:

"With everything that's going on with healthcare and everybody questioning what's happening in Washington, DC, we thought who better to explain what's going on than Mark Foley."

Well, speaking as a Florida resident, I'll happily admit that when I find myself feeling, you know, confused about what's happening in Washington DC and wishing with all my questioning little heart that there was someone I could turn to for explanations about healthcare reform and the like, the first person who comes to mind is almost always a hypocritical wingnut predator whose primary claim to fame is having propositioned teenage boys the same age as my son before being quietly disappeared to a rehab clinic somewhere.

WSVU's spokesman:

"You're going to be amazed!"

We already are, Mr. Ranieri. We already are.

(H/T Michael at Pushing Rope)

Town hall meetings in the time of King Arthur

Ah, plus ça change...

Higher Life Forms for Rob Miller (aka the Dem. opponent of the guy who yelled You Lie during President Obama's address)

Readers, I've created an ActBlue account for those who, like me, wish to support Rob Miller, the gentleman who'll run against Joe Wilson (R-SC), that rude, miserable, badly-raised creature who's now famous for shouting out You Lie! during President Obama's address last night.

The fundraising page is called Higher Life Forms for Rob Miller.

Click here if you're interested in throwing a few bucks his way--your donation will go into the larger overall fund for Mr. Miller, which, as of this writing, has grown has grown to over $100,000 $260,000 since last night!

Thanks, everyone.

UPDATE: a late-night e-mail from Rob Miller's office confirms the ActBlue 1-day effort has raised more than $600,000. This means the ex-Marine Democratic contender is well on his way to running a fantastic campaign and taking over yet another House seat next November.

What Dr. Krugman said

With all due respect to the estimable Blogfather of our Cogitamus gang, I have to agree with Paul Krugman on this (emphasis mine):

But what is one to make of the practical, political argument from the likes of Ezra Klein, who argue that any public plan actually included in legislation probably wouldn’t make that much difference, and that reform is worth having even without such a plan?

There are three reasons to be suspicious of that argument.

The first is that I suspect that Ezra and others understate the extent to which even a public plan with limited bargaining power will help hold down overall costs. Private insurers do pay providers more than Medicare does — but that’s only part of the reason Medicare has lower costs. There’s also the huge overhead of the private insurers, much of which involves marketing and attempts to cherry-pick clients — and even with community rating, some of that will still go on. A public plan would probably be able to attract clients with much less of that.

Second, a public plan would probably provide the only real competition in many markets.

Third — and this is where I am getting a very bad feeling about the idea of throwing in the towel on the public option — is the politics. Remember, to make reform work we have to have an individual mandate. And everything I see says that there will be a major backlash against the idea of forcing people to buy insurance from the existing companies. That backlash was part of what got Obama the nomination! Having the public option offers a defense against that backlash.

What worries me is not so much that the backlash would stop reform from passing, as that it would store up trouble for the not-too-distant future. Imagine that reform passes, but that premiums shoot up (or even keep rising at the rates of the past decade.) Then you could all too easily have many people blaming Obama et al for forcing them into this increasingly unaffordable system. A trigger might fix this — but the funny thing about such triggers is that they almost never get pulled.

UPDATE:

Simon Owens of Bloggasm writes to alert us to a group effort--on the part of numerous progressive blogs and Firedoglake--to raise money for their campaign to demand a strong public option. Go here for more information and to donate, if you possibly can; they're aiming for $50,000 and have already passed the $21,000 mark.

If housepets were libertarians

Perfection.

Click to (slightly) embiggen.

Published with permission from Lefty Cartoons (thanks, Barry!)

And if Alas, a blog isn't already one of your regular stops, what are you waiting for? There's comedy gold in them thar posts.

Love Rescue Me: by U2 and performed by the Omagh Community Youth Choir

Beautiful song; beautiful children; beautiful message.

And a beautiful dream for our heartbreakingly divided people.

(H/T jacqueline)

The big backoff: No, you weren't imagining the sudden downplaying of the public option

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Heal or No Heal - Medicine Brawl
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

In response to a pair of condescending and dishonest comments denying that the White House, earlier this week, appeard to be backing off from and downplaying the importance of a government-funded public option in the health care reform bill, I can think of no better or more succinct reply than the above clip from Monday's Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

In it, President Obama is shown in Colorado last weekend, when he stated:

"All I'm saying is though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform."

Contrast this with previous statements--just weeks earlier--by White House officials and the President himself:

WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on July 17, 2009:

"Increased choice and competition drives down the prices for other insurance--that's why a strong public option is necessary."

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius on July 21, 2009:

"What we need is a level playing field, but a public plan, side-by-side with private plans to make sure costs come down."

President Barack Obama on July 20th, 2009:

"I've been very clear about the fact that we should have a public plan."

Subsequently, as you saw in the Daily Show clip, all three officials, on or around August 15, did what can only be termed a group-floating of trial balloons to see how people would respond if the insurance companies got their dearest wish and the public option were taken off the table. So no, readers, you weren't imagining things, and for once, this wasn't a media-created meme. The White House actually did start to back down on the one remaining cornerstone to real health-care reform: a government-funded public plan. And the reactions around the blogosphere (and even among those interviewed by the traditional media)--as expected, and gratifyingly en masse--ranged from bitter disappointment to disgust and outrage, with many accusing the White House of giving in to the opposition, plain and simple.

Which charge is entirely justified, I think. If America is truly led by a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, as opposed to one that's of, by, and for the corporations--in this case, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries--the President cannot possibly countenance this shameless capitulation to the opposition. And nor can we.

UPDATE: kathy a. points to this USA Today piece in which Robert Gibbs calls all of this a "media overreaction" and says the public option is still on the table.

Good.

Greetings from Netroots: Big Dawg turns on the five-alarm charm

President Bill Clinton firing up the Netroots crowd in Pittsburgh last night; litbrit's camera stops wobbling just long enough to capture the excitement.

We had to sit through a seemingly interminable series of opening acts--some of whom were more compelling than others--but our patience was rewarded when President Clinton took the stage and, after apologizing for the gruffness of his voice and blaming it on the extensive airplane travel he'd been doing lately, delivered a wonderful address, covering everything from health care reform to gay rights to the possibility of a long-term progressive reign.

Of course, Yours Truly is not a very patient girl, and if you make me wait (and wait and wait) for things I've been looking forward to, I am going to be forced to amuse myself by doing things like making origami animals out of the Very Serious Political Pamphlets people leave on tables, surely intended for purposes other than being turned into origami animals; traipsing back and forth to the well-stocked bar for, er, refreshments (Sir C, Stephen, and Nick Beaudrot are Jack Daniels guys, Minstrel Boy did the mature thing and stuck with ginger ale, and I represented my home state by drinking Cuba Libres with extra lime); rummaging through the bag of "goodies" we'd been handed at registration (at this convention, "goodies" = one t-shirt, an assortment of buttons, a couple of booklets I haven't yet read so I can't tell you what they're about, and a packet of non-GMO corn chips. Really, Netroots organizers--whither Cheetos?); and eventually, having fully assimilated the aforementioned refreshments, offering up the odd Cogitamus-style riposte to lines that, let's face it, ranged from stating-the-bleeding-obvious ("Reforming health care policy has been a long process, but we can't give up now!") to downright stupid. To wit:

Penultimate (or was it the seventh-to-last?) Speaker: "Bipartisanship still matters; now is not the time to turn our backs on the opposition."

Litbrit (allegro con molto brio): "YES IT IS!"

Guess whose line got the louder cheers in our quadrant of the auditorium?

Also at Cogitamus.

The responsibility for Death Panels should remain where it is right now: with the private insurance companies

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Healther Skelter - Obama Death Panel Debate
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

This is simply brilliant. (Note to Comedy Central: more Samantha Bee, please.)

Bring back "free speech zones" for teabaggers and townhall violence-inciters

AstraZeneca will happily supply Breast Cancer Cupcakes to go with all that fenced-in teabagging, as long as they won't get cited for HIPPA violations.

While commenting at Stephen's post lamenting the escalating violence at healthcare reform townhall meetings, I had a great idea: Free Speech Zones!

I wrote:

Why not have FREE SPEECH ZONES for the loud, violence-inciting assholes who seem to be there to shriek about everything BUT healthcare reform? I mean, that's what Bush did. Let's fence off an area nearby, but separate from, the townhall itself, where people who want to ask actual questions and engage in on-topic, reasoned discussion can do so. Meanwhile, the Obama-Wants-to-Kill-Your-Mama folks can wave their signs and make good use of their freebie BlueCross/BlueShield bath-towels and AstraZeneca hand lotion when they're jerking off to Rick Scott videos to their hearts' content.

We can even re-use the same chain-link fencing and razor wire.

Make that Occam's razor wire: simple, obvious, effective. Problem solved, proving once again that Mama knows best.

Weekend Horizons: Belgium and Sweden

As promised.

Let's start with Mathilde by Belgian legend Jaques Brel, as suggested by Minstrel Boy.



Now on to Sweden--meet The Movits, who come with MR Bill's fond recommendation, as well as that of his son; this piece is called Äppelknyckarjazz.



More musical travels soon, barring the eruption of any boy incidents.

Bon Weekend, everyone!

Para Sonia, La Suprema

We follow our shreds of fame into an ambush.
Then (as while the stars herd to the great trough
the blind, in the always-only-outward of their dismantled
archways, awake at the smell of warmed stone
or the sound of reeds, lifting from the dim
into the segment of green dawn) always
our enemy is our foe at home, more
certainly than through spoken words or from grief-
twisted writing on paper, unblotted by tears
the thought came:
There is no physic
for the world's ill, nor surgery; it must
(hot smell of tar on wet salt air)
burn in fever forever, an incense pierced
with arrows, whose name is Love and another name
Rebellion (the twinge, the gulf, split seconds,
the very raindrops, render, and instancy
of Love).
All Poetry to this not-to-be-looked-upon sun
of Passion is the moon's cupped light; all
Politics to this moon, a moon's reflected
cupped light, like the moon of Rome, after
the deep well of Grecian light sank low;
always the enemy is the foe at home.
But these three are friends whose arms twine
without words; as, in still air,
the great grove leans to wind, past and to come.

-- from Train Ride, by Frederico García Lorca

EXPOSED! Marley is not a Real American

King Marley Tornello of Cogitamus, born in Kenya (apparently)

All this time, we'd assumed that Marley's birth on the floor of my closet in Saint Petersburg, Florida--along with his five pom-pom-sized siblings--meant he was a native-born American. I mean, what better example of American soil could there possibly be than the floor of my closet? (Trust me on this one.)

Mais non! It turns out there's a Kenyan birth certificate floating around that proves otherwise. King Marley was actually born in Saint Petersburg, Kenya. Yes, indeed. The Internets have confirmed it, and now we're just waiting for the Librul Media to report the truth. Look:

(click to embiggen)

You too can come up with hard evidence of someone's Kenyan birth!

Via Wonkette.

Saturday Frank: Montana; 1973

Movin' to Montana Soon...

Shall we expect a bumper crop of Palin Dental Floss* to hit the stores by Christmas?

* cf.

Weekend horizons: via Pakistan; Awaz; Mr. Fraudiay, 1996

At the recommendation of reader Prup, let's explore the beautiful sounds of Pakistan today, specifically, mid-90's Pakistan and the reggae-inflected sounds of Awaz. From the album Shola, here is Mr. Fraudiay. Enjoy!

I encourage readers to share their favorite tunes from afar with fellow travelers (ahem) and either leave me a link in comments or shoot me an e-mail (litbrit at gmail dot com, as ever). What say you we make this horizon-broadening thing a semi-regular exercise?