Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Note: Well, that didn’t take long---a death panel showed up in my living room this morning. They have no idea what they're supposed to be doing. At the moment I have 'em painting the rumpus room. This could work out well, I'm thinking.

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By the Numbers:

Days 'til "Play ball!": 12

Days `til the National Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.: 4

Vote tally on the Senate healthcare reform bill in the House Sunday night: 219-212

Tally on the reconciliation bill: 220-211

Length by which last month's earthquake in Chile shortened the length of day because it shifted our axis by 3 inches: 1/26,000,000 of a second

(Source: National Geographic)

Estimated box office haul of top-grossing woman director Betty Thomas's movies: $561 million

Box office gross from Thomas's top-grossing movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: $217 million

(Source: Entertainment Weekly)

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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:

Few conservatives really understand the ruthlessness that lies within the Marxist mind. Therefore most conservatives think the battle against totalitarianism can be won with words and votes. Unless and until we fight ruthlessness with ruthlessness we are lost.

---Commenter LittlMa, apparently advocating for civil war at the moderated Michelle Malkin blog

All together now: One...two...three... Classy!!!

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Puppy Pic of the Day: Humans are a cruel and generous species...

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CHEERS to boxing the bastards in. Wow, I'd forgotten how noisy the aftermath of an historic moment can be. Thanks to the intertubes, everyone has an opinion on the health insurance bill and they all get published---a good thing, but overwhelming nonetheless. I like Robert Reich's take on it, especially in light of how much Republicans hate it:

Obama's legislation comes from an alternative idea, begun under the Eisenhower administration and developed under Nixon, of a market for health care based on private insurers and employers. [...] So don't believe anyone who says Obama's health care legislation marks a swing of the pendulum back toward the Great Society and the New Deal. Obama's health bill is a very conservative piece of legislation, building on a Republican rather than a New Deal foundation. The New Deal foundation would have offered Medicare to all Americans or, at the very least, featured a public insurance option. The significance of Obama's health legislation is more political than substantive. For the first time since Ronald Reagan told America government is the problem, Obama's health bill reasserts that government can provide a major solution. In political terms, that's a very big deal.

Meanwhile, Mistermix at Balloon Juice adds a cherry on top by gently suggesting that Republicans may have really screwed themselves:

The minute Obama signs the bill, the Democrats can say that health insurance cannot be denied for a pre-existing condition, and that they had to fight every single Republican for this right. That message is simple, it hits people where they live, and it addresses a universal concern. The commercials cutting from a kid with diabetes to John Boehner yelling "Hell No You Can’t" are probably already being made. They will be the Willie Horton ads of the 2010 election.

Boehner's "Macaca moment," as it were. Thanks for the ammo, Orangey.

CHEERS to things you'll only get to see once in your life. Last night an 80 year-old Apollo 11 astronaut---Buzz Aldrin---dressed up in sequins and performed the cha-cha on national TV. It was one checked forward step for man, one giant leap for...freaky.

JEERS to the forgotten casualties. Last week we observed the seventh quagmireiversary of the Iraq invasion, and while Saddam was pure evil, George W. Bush's little adventure left its mark on many Iraqis, too:

Iraq is just beginning to address the unseen battle wounds of paranoia, depression and anxiety rising out of the war that began with the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein, says Abdul Rahim al-Fredawi, a psychologist and professor at the University of Baghdad. But the scars may run deeper and longer in Baghdad and other areas that saw some of the worst fighting over the course of the war, he says. The U.S. military has not conducted any significant projects to examine mental health in Iraq, says Army 1st Lt. Elizabeth Feste, U.S. military spokeswoman. The U.S. Embassy had no record of any projects to help Iraqis deal with war trauma. ... "We face the danger of our next generation becoming one that will always live in fear or one that becomes hardened by all the violence it has experienced," al-Fredawi says. "There's a black cloud over Iraq that could have long-term consequences for our nation."

Heckuva job.

CHEERS to Sergeant Rubberbutt. On March 23, 1944 RAF Sgt. Nickolas Alkemade survived an 18,000-foot jump from his Lancaster bomber...without a parachute. Other than some cuts and a twisted knee, he was fine. The guy he landed on...not so fine.

JEERS to Fox's Very Serious People. You could fill a book the size of War and Peace with all the cocky---and wrong---obituaries for the healthcare bill that were made by the conservapundits. As I said last week about the lies that were told in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, words matter , and these guys need to be called out again and again and again. So take it away, highly-influential Weekly Standard guy Fred Barnes---enlighten America with what you said two months ago:

"The health care bill, ObamaCare, is dead with not the slightest prospect of resurrection.... Democrats have talked up clever strategies to pass the bill in the Senate despite [Scott] Brown, but they won’t fly.... ObamaCare went into the emergency room in Massachusetts and didn’t make it out alive."

Actually, it did, Fred. But surgically removing your foot from your mouth? Dammit man, they're doctors, not miracle workers.

JEERS to bad timing. The same day the country was glued to the insurance reform votes in Congress, there was a huge immigration-reform rally in D.C., with tens of thousands filling five blocks of the Mall. (No wonder the teabaggers stayed huddled on their little patch of lawn in front of the Capitol) They sounded a familiar refrain:

In the crowd, frustration with Mr. Obama was strong. Rudy Romero, 19, and Andrea Rentaria, 23, said they boarded buses early Friday in Colorado with 54 other people, and 36 hours later, arrived in Washington. They said they were disappointed with the pace of progress on immigration. "We’ve been waiting for so long," Mr. Romero said. "I know it takes time, but a promise is a promise. We are demanding it today." Ms. Rentaria added, "We want to step up and say, ‘Hey, wake up. We’re here. We’re still waiting. We’ve given you time to settle in. When is this going happen?’"

A spokesperson for the gay community responded, "Take a number."

CHEERS to humble beginnings. On this date in 1912, the Dixie Cup was invented. A day later someone tied a string between two of `em and gave birth to the telecommunications industry.

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Five years ago in C&J: March 23, 2005

JEERS to home entertainment. About the only thing of note on the DVD release schedule today is the Oscar-nominated "Finding Neverland." It's about a place where Republicans pass balanced budgets, control the deficit, and keep their nose out of Americans' private lives.

JEERS to swimming in the moolah. A lovely lesson for kids: even if you suck at being the CEO of a company, you still get your millions (and all the tax shelters you can shake a Mont Blanc pen at) when you leave. So be sure to send your kids to the best GWB (Groveling Weasel Backstabber) school you can find---there's a 10% chance they'll thank you for it.

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And just one more...

HEH, INDEEDY to the boy who cried 'WMDs!" Even in the Republican-dominated world of pro golf, Ari Fleischer was so toxic as Tiger Woods' PR guy that he got laughed off the stage. There, there little guy...the Heritage Foundation will always have a place for you to park your butt and make shit up. (Third cubicle from the left facing the brick wall. Get busy.)

Have a nice Tuesday. Don't look, I'm naked. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?

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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:

"I found Bill in Portland Maine. I created him. I made him what he is today. I am so sorry."

---Bill Clinton

3/20/10

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