The Motley Moose - Recommended Diaries

Racebook: Hate on the Web's Most Popular Social Network

fogiv — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:47:39 GMT

Below the fold is a collection of fan photos, associated captions, and selected comments from a Facebook group entitled O.B.A.M.A. (One Big Ass Mistake, America).

I'll not be providing any commentary, as this garbage speaks for itself. This isn't pretty, so brace yourselves.

Caption: Everybody thinks that anyone who disagrees with this president is a racist and they are against him and all his new ideas for our country because he's black. But i don't think that is why hard working Americans don't like him the fact that he's black is like the 5th thing wrong with him........If we let him he will destroy the America that we love.... How did Thomas jefferson know when he said Democracy will cease to exsist when when we take from the people that are willing to work and give to the ones who aren't.

Caption:I have to reply to the negro that said i was a redneck, from a red state, far from it pal I'm italian and grew up in brooklyn around flatbush. I'm just saying he is a liar a progressive liberal and a socialist that is tearing apart the fiber of the nation. I believe all these entitlement programs are just reperations to all the coloreds in this country. Your man Obama will ruin this country if we give him a chnace. lets hope we can stop him before it's to late..........

Sol Gross all of us clinging to our guns and religion need to set this nation free

Caption: First Michelle... now us!!!

Benjamin Willen like anything to blacks isn't racist. they get special treatments for their color and they take advantage of that and then as soon as someone makes the slightest remark, "OH HELL NO HE DIDN'T" but can whites complain for even a second that blacks treat whites worse now.

Benjamin Willen there need to be chickens deep fried then we can call it racist. still funny

Kristian Newell bet they got a KFC in there.

Caption: obama baby picture

Sol Gross more like Kenyan Fried Chicken

Christian Bradley hey rose get the fuck over it no one wants him he lied to get in there so hes a fucking nigger and i don't give a shit if hes my president so fuck of you dumb bitch

Teabag Rose chicken, is the black man's steak lol

Caption: Don't forget to pay your taxes....
Muchas gracias!
21 million illegal aliens are depending on you!

Caption: Chewbacca's less scary!

Ralph Bertin Lysius NO! he let them niggers go frolicking all over the place doing all kinds of sinful nigger acts. FUCK LINCOLN AND FUCK OBAMA!

Gerald Van Hooser She would fuck anything that wasn't White. Pure trash she was

Benjamin Willen hes shocked to see what a black person actually looks like

Caption: This is the choice piece for Obama's posse.

Caption: Mug shots, notice the shirts

Hugh Hillenbrand Acorn Company Profile

Sol Gross I can't remember the last time I saw this many dumbasses all in one spot!

Duane Gumm Wow, this is too good, a photo says a thousand words!!!

John Gullo dey beez waitin' fo dey free stuff

Sherry Sylvester this is awsome

S Mokey Krum ready to play Sherry? I want to pick the watermelon piece, you can be the bucket of chicken LOL

John Gullo Can I be the pack of Newports?

Sol Gross That's my point ~ impeach him

Bob Noel FERGET IT SHOOT HIM, BE EASIER AND BETTER FOR THE WORLD!

Mike Alfaro Don't forget he's still the President, Bob, but that's just for legal purposes. Did you know that a .223 round only costs 35 cents? In that note, it would also be cheaper.

Stand and Deliver

Shaun Appleby — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:42:38 GMT

Since the arguably tepid advocacy for health care reform in Obama's State of the Union address the President's resolve to stake his political fortunes, and by implication those of his majority legislators, on the passage of a health care reform bill has become clearly evident. And even in that speech his message to his Congressional party was unequivocal, "To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills."

After the tortuous ebb and flow of national debate and painful legislative horse-trading of the past nine months we have reached a point of no return for Obama's administration, our Congressional majorities and our political prospects in the upcoming 2010 midterm elections. Either the bill passes or fails. Obama gets it:

GLENSIDE, Pa. - President Obama challenged wavering members of his own party on Monday not to give in to their political fears about supporting health care legislation, asserting that the urgency of getting a bill through Congress should trump any concern about the consequences for Democrats in November.
President Barack Obama told a crowd of students at Arcadia University, in Glenside, Pa. on Monday that there should be an "up or down vote on health care."
In a high-octane appearance that harked back to his "Yes we Can" campaign days, Mr. Obama jettisoned the professorial demeanor that has cloaked many of his public pronouncements on the issue, instead making an emotional pitch for public support as he tries to push the legislation through a final series of votes in Congress in the next several weeks.
Helene Cooper - Obama Warns Democrats of Urgency of Health Bill NYT 8 Mar 10

President Obama's willingness to make an all or nothing bet on this legislative reform has leveraged Congressional Democrats into a position where they soon must consider Benjamin Franklin's sage advice, "We must all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang seperately."
And the prospects are daunting. There is no clear indication that Democrats can muster the numbers in the House in the next few weeks:

To prevent a Republican filibuster in the Senate, Democrats are planning to include the final revisions to the health care bill in a budget reconciliation measure, which can be adopted by a simple majority in both chambers.
But first, House Democrats must approve the Senate's health care bill, originally adopted Dec. 24. This is where the legislative heavy lifting will take place.
Many rank-and-file House Democrats are deeply uneasy. They disliked the Senate bill on both policy and political grounds.
David M Herszenhorn - A Handy Road Map for the Final Weeks NYT 8 Mar 10

In an effort to rekindle public support for this legislation the Obama White House has taken unprecedented steps in recent weeks, convening a publicly televised 'bipartisan' summit and drafting a straight-forward summary of the essential policy of health care reform he is advocating. The summit failed to elicit bipartisan support, as expected, but it cleared a political roadblock in the path of using reconciliation to amend the existing Senate bill. Everyone can see that Republicans are committed to obstructionism as a political strategy. Since then Obama has commenced stumping around the country at televised town-hall events in support of this legislation.

So how does public opinion stack up on this signature Democratic legislation? Not so good, apparently:

PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans are skeptical that lawmakers will agree on a new healthcare bill at Thursday's bipartisan healthcare summit in Washington, D.C. If an agreement is not reached, Americans by a 49% to 42% margin oppose rather than favor Congress passing a healthcare bill similar to the one proposed by President Obama and Democrats in the House and Senate. By a larger 52% to 39% margin, Americans also oppose the Democrats in the Senate using a reconciliation procedure to avoid a possible Republican filibuster and pass a bill by a simple majority vote.
The poll shows that American public opinion tilts against this option.
Not only are 49% of Americans opposed to passing a bill similar to the one proposed by Obama and the Democrats in the House and Senate, compared with 42% in favor, those "strongly" opposed outnumber those "strongly" in favor by 23% to 11%.
A follow-up question asked specifically about the use of a parliamentary procedure that would allow the Democratic leaders to avoid a Republican filibuster. Again, Americans are opposed by a slightly larger, 52% to 39% margin, and those opposed are more likely to feel strongly about their opinion than those in favor, 25% to 11%.
The survey question defines the legislation in question as being similar to that proposed by President Obama and the Democrats in the House and Senate.
Frank Newport - Americans Tilt Against Democrats' Plans if Summit Fails Gallup 25 Feb 10

Some of the opposition is no doubt due to Republican narratives, 'death panels' and 'socialism,' not to mention frustration with legislators and the sausage-making demonstration provided by the Democratic majorities in both houses over the past year. But nevertheless a core question must be asked:

Which would you rather take into the midterm elections? The President/Congress that succeeded where Clinton, Truman, etc had failed in the past by passing healthcare reform - but without the support of a majority of the population - or divided, incompetent, failure? Now I'm not saying that the fate of this bill will significantly impact who controls the House or Senate after the 2010 elections one way or another, but it seems to me that if it did, then not passing your most meaningful domestic policy objective would ultimately be more damaging to your political prospects then passing it with the support of only 40% of the country.
Joshua Tucker - What's Worse Politically? Passing a Bill ... or Looking Weak and Incompetent? The Monkey Cage 1 Mar 10

How is it that Democrats seem to be in a lose-lose situation on this policy issue? The rationale for reforming health insurance is sound, we are in an unsustainable cycle of rising costs and sharp premium increases in an almost monopolistic marketplace. Something clearly must be done but the political climate, for a variety of reasons, is toxic and the militancy, not to mention the outright misrepresentation, of the opposition framing of this legislation has had an impact on the attitude, and apprehension, of the American public.

Nevertheless, at this point there is diminishing wiggle-room for reluctant Democrats and Obama has come down on the side of daring to win and letting the chips fall where they may. There are arguably even harsher assessments of the potential failure of the Democratic majorities in both houses which might emerge:

In my view, at this point, you cannot blame the president if this bill fails to pass. And you cannot even blame the Republicans, although they will do all they can to bugger up the reconciliation process. In the end, this is about whether the Democratic Party can govern, whether it is a functioning political party, or whether it deserves to die. If it had one tenth of the discipline of the GOP, this would not be a question. But frankly, if it cannot pass this bill after the last election with this president at this moment, then it should be put out of its misery.
Andrew Sullivan - Would You Rather? The Atlantic 7 Mar 10

Are Democrats going to deliver or not? The ethos of our party will be significantly altered in either case, at least for the remainder of the current election cycle if not beyond. And short-term electoral considerations notwithstanding it seems we have little choice. Pass. The. Bill.

[Update] "I'm kind of fired up," Obama said at the beginning of his remarks:

"Let's seize reform. It's within our grasp," the president implored his audience at Arcadia University, the first outside-the-Beltway appearance since he vowed last week to do everything in his power to push his health care plan into law.
The president's pitch was part denunciation of insurance companies - "they continue to ration care on the basis of who's sick and who's healthy," he said - and part criticism of his Republican critics. "You had 10 years. What happened? What were you doing?" he taunted members of a party that held the White House for eight years and control of Congress for a dozen.
Julie Pace and David Espo - Obama Health Care Push: Back To His Grassroots AP via Huffington Post 8 Mar 10

"So I need you to knock on doors. Talk to your neighbors. Pick up the phone," he urged them. Yeah, and ring you're Democratic representatives. Man, what a party.

Help open our doors (borders) to Haitians!

DeniseVelez — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:40:42 GMT

Eitan Abramovich /AFP

The rains have come early. People are already dying in the floods.

The photo above is from a Christian Science Monitor story
As world watches Chile earthquake, deadly floods hit quake-rocked Haiti

A man walks on a flooded path Sunday as he enters a house just outside the coastal city of Les Cayes, Haiti. As the world watched the aftermath of the Chilean earthquake, flooding triggered by heavy rain killed at least 11 people in Les Cayes, Haiti's third-most-populous city.

As the news from Haiti slips away from the many of the headlines in the TM, the situation in Haiti briefly resurfaced in some other headlines when Chile was hit by the quake, but some coverage I heard only to compared "reasons" why Chile doesn't seem to be in such as mess as Haiti is. I can't begin to talk about how outraged I was to hear this.

Thankfully, many bloggers have continued to cover aid efforts and to raise money - but all the donations in the world are not going to prevent the second wave of death and disease as the heavy rains approach in the next few weeks.

Many of you may feel helpless - what can you do for Haiti other than send a check?

Our neighbor to the north, Canada has already taken steps to ease some of the burden. Very simply, they are opening the doors to immeadiate immigration.

Canada to fast-track Haitian immigration

The federal government has pledged to speed up immigration applications from Haitians with family in Canada in light of the earthquake that has ravaged the Caribbean country.
Haitians currently in Canada temporarily will also be allowed to extend their stay, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney also announced Saturday in Ottawa.

Canada Expedites Haitian Immigration After Quake (Update2)

Sponsorship applications from Canadian citizens, permanent residents and protected persons with close family members in Haiti are being given priority and about 2,000 applications are already in the queue, Jason Kenney, Canada's immigration minister, said today in a press conference in Ottawa. Haitians in Canada also are allowed to extend their stay in the country.
"We anticipate there will be a number of new applications, which we will treat on a priority basis," Kenney said.

Jeffrey Kahn and Aaron Zelinsky, in a Huffington Post article have offered a solution and raised a challenge to what we can do here in the US.

Very simply put.

Relax the Caps for Haitian Visa Applicants

The two-month anniversary of the Haiti quake is fast approaching. The devastation is shocking. Hundreds of thousands are dead and wounded; over a million have been displaced. The tent cities and congested hospitals of Port-au-Prince are a reminder that Haiti's wounds are still fresh. Nevertheless, the transition to rebuilding has begun.
As the Obama Administration and Congress begin to chart the U.S. aid strategy for Haiti, we should not overlook a simple measure that could provide tremendous support for this struggling nation: Congress should temporarily relax the annual cap on lawful immigration from Haiti by permitting greater numbers of Haitians with permanent resident and U.S. citizen family members in the U.S. to emigrate here.
The Haiti redevelopment bill now under review in the Senate presents an opportunity for Congress to make additional lawful immigration possible. By adding a provision to the bill, Congress could allow for a time-limited loosening of the immigration ceilings for this earthquake-battered country.
Under U.S. immigration law, only a fixed number of eligible Haitians with family members in the U.S. can receive "green cards" each year. Congress has created an annual ceiling on immigration of this type, parceling out percentages of the yearly visa allotments based on complicated mathematical formulae. Under this model, even Haitians whose visa petitions have already been granted by the Department of Homeland Security will be required to wait several years before they advance through the backlog created by the entry limits.

They point to why this is important and to why it makes sense:

Temporarily lifting these migration caps for Haiti makes sense for two reasons. First, lifting the caps would effectively serve as economic aid to Haiti. The Haitian Diaspora sends more than one billion dollars to Haiti in remittances annually, a sum that makes up more than twenty-five percent of the Haitian gross domestic product. Combining a relaxation of immigration caps with a fast track visa regime would increase the number of Haitians legally working in the U.S. and allow for a rapid influx of cash to supplement this stream of remittances to Haiti.

Especially since the situation in Haiti grows more dire each day - donations are NOT enough. We need to take action.

Let's recap the conditions as they are now.

The NY Times had this coverage:

Haiti's Futile Race Against the Rain

There were floods on Saturday in Les Cayes, in southwestern Haiti. It rained in Port-au-Prince on Thursday, and again on Saturday and Sunday night, long enough to slick the streets and make a slurry of the dirt and concrete dust. Long enough, too, to give a sense of what will happen across the country in a few weeks, when the real storms start.
Mud will wash down the mountains, and rain will overflow gutters choked with rubble and waste, turning streets into filthy rivers. Life will get even more difficult for more than a million people.
New misery and sickness will drench the displaced survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake - like the 16,000 or so whose tents and flimsy shacks fill every available inch of the Champ de Mars, the plaza in Port-au-Prince by the cracked and crumbled National Palace, or the 70,000 who have made a city of the Petionville Club, a nine-hole golf course on a mountainside above the capital. The rainy season is the hard deadline against which Haiti's government and relief agencies in Port-au-Prince are racing as they try to solve a paralyzing riddle: how to shelter more than a million displaced people in a densely crowded country that has no good place to put them.

Partners in Health is warning:

Shelter deteriorates for thousands in Haiti as heavy rains continue

Heavy rains hit Haiti this week as hundreds of thousands remain in makeshift shelters. The organization Partners in Health says that the need for sanitation and clean water is "extreme." The group runs health posts for five spontaneous settlements and reports that the clinics are still seeing around 6,000 patients every week. Attention has also turned toward offering rehabilitation services for amputees and providing prosthetics to patients, but staff and supplies are still short.
Executive Director Ophelia Dahl spoke to reporters on a teleconference today. She explained witnessing hundreds of thousands of residents in Port Au Prince in flimsy shelters. With the recent rains over the past few days, she said, the conditions are deteriorating.
"So what little people have is now soaked, they're sleeping in the rain and the makeshift shelters are already breaking down and dissolving and the conditions for these homeless and displaced people are absolutely inhuman and getting worse every single day."
Partners in Health also said that they have stopped calling the shelters "tent cities" because it implies a structure that does not exist. Ted Constan, the group's Chief Program Officer, said the disaster has changed the landscape, making it more precarious.
"The other thing we've understood is that with the earthquake there are a lot of changes to the rock and underlying aquifer in Port Au Prince so as the rain comes the water isn't even going to go in its normal pathways so there will be flooding and mudslides in areas that have never experienced it before. Probably the worst scenario right now is if you're on a mountainside in a settlement camp because you're in trouble."

Al Jazeera's Steve Chao filed this report from the town of Grand Goave.

Haiti "quake lakes" threaten thousands downstream

Reuters also has a video you should see which I cannot embed:

First rain batters homeless Haitians

Here is the current US response to all of this from Homeland Security.

U.S. Lets Illegal Haitians Stay, Will Turn Back Refugees

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano extended temporary amnesty to Haitians who were illegally inside the U.S. before Tuesday's earthquake, but warned that the Coast Guard would turn back any new refugees fleeing the devastation. The so-called temporary protected status, or TPS, doesn't apply to any Haitians who may try now to get into the U.S. If refugees take to the sea-the normal reaction to turmoil throughout Haiti's recent history-officials in the U.S. and other countries will have to grapple with how to deal with a new wave of immigrants, most of whom will arrive without visas.
Ms. Napolitano warned that no new arrivals would get amnesty and the U.S. Coast Guard and other authorities would move quickly to stop new migrants. "People should not leave Haiti with the false belief that they will be entitled to TPS in the United States," she said. She also said, "We are seeing no signs of any sort of migration of that nature at this point."

Yes. No signs because the doors are closed, and Haitians know all too well the "histwa" (history) of the inequity in US policy.

In order to understand the current inaction from our Congress, and the Administration we need to be clear about that history of inequities of US immigration policy towards Haiti and Haitians.

Back in July, way before the Earthquake there was an important piece written by Andrew E. Mathis, in the Rochester Examiner entitled:
The U.S. double standard on immigration

He introduces the issue based on a Coast Guard incident that had just taken place:

The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued 113 Haitian refugees whose boat capsized near the Caribbean nation of Turks and Caicos. Perhaps as many as 80 more have not been found and they are probably dead.
These particular refugees were not heading for the United States - not this time. But in the past, refugees or migrants looking for work in the States have been caught by the Coast Guard and promptly shipped back to Haiti.
There is an insidious double standard at work in this policy, primarily because we do not do the same with Cubans who are trying to make it to American shores. Cuban migrants, regardless of their personal politics, are afforded political refugee status because of the dictatorship of Fidel Castro and are allowed to settle here.

He makes several important points (please give it a read) but what leapt out for me was his third "bullet"

3.But the Cubans are at least sort of white. And there's the rub. Haiti is a black nation - the world's first free black republic. Some Cubans are black (it's a bit of a rainbow of a place racially according to my wife, who's actually been there), but the majority are not, and there are many blancos among the Cubans who have come here. Plus they've set up a nice community in southern Florida to support and press for rights for Cuban refugees when they arrive here. Many are celebrities, such as Gloria Estefan and Andy Garcia, the latter of whom is apparently white enough to have passed for Italian in The Untouchables and The Godfather, Part III.
Haitians have no comparable advocacy group and there's a good reason for that: We never let them in to establish one in the first place. I think it naïve to believe race does not play a factor in this process.

Haiti and Haitians have a long history here. How many Haitians currently live in the US is still a matter of debate.

Wiki cites this:

Haitian immigration persists to the present day, as evidenced in the numerous reports of major news networks, such as those of CNN or the New York Times, about the boat people disembarking on the Florida shores as recently as October 2002. One The combination of push and pull factors led Haitians to cross the Caribbean Sea, by plane or by boat, legally or illegally, in order to reach the shores of America, the perceived land of opportunity, to begin new lives. An examination of the records of the Census Bureau as well as those of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) allows for reasonable inferences about the size of the legal Haitian population currently residing in the United States. However, estimates provided by community leaders who offer assistance to the illegal population as well suggest that the actual number of the Haitian diaspora is higher than that recorded in government documents. In short, there is good reason to believe that the Haitian diaspora in the United States exceeds 850,000, and according to community leaders may be close to 1 million.

A study done for the Migration Policy Institute, Haitian Immigrants in the United States, by Aaron Terrazas offers some interesting insights about just who are the Haitians currently here, and includes some key demographic data (see the report for details).

About one of every 20 Haitians resides in the United States.
The 535,000 Haitian immigrants in the United States represent about one-twentieth (5.5 percent) of the total population of Haiti (9.8 million in 2008).
...Haitian immigrant women were more likely to participate in the civilian labor force than foreign-born women overall.
...Nearly half of employed Haitian-born men worked in services or in construction, extraction, and transportation.
...Over one of every four employed Haitian-born women worked in healthcare support.
...Haitian immigrants were less likely to live in poverty than other immigrant groups.

A harsh portrait of what Haitians historically have faced here as "A Double Minority" in a course taught at Yale by Bernette A. Mosley-Dozier

Haitians have routinely been detained in abandoned military camps or rounded up and jailed, awaiting possible deportation. Efforts on their behalf have been consistent but not terribly effective. Throughout the Reagan years, Haitian immigrants were the victims of a cruel and almost vindictive, federal policy.
When they have either been granted asylum or have been allowed to slip into the mainstream of America, the social and economic picture has often been bleak. Those still in camps or prisons have been subject to severe depression and suicide attempts. These people left oppression, filth and poverty only to find themselves in similar conditions on American soil. The golden land of opportunity has held little opportunity for these people from Haiti. Jobs have not been easy to find for the poorly educated, poorly skilled with no command of the country's dominant language.
...
The Haitian community has survived by helping each other. The more acclimated Haitians help newcomers with shelter, clothing and sometimes jobs. The U.S. government has not been supportive to Haitians. Whereas Cuban and Southeast Asian boat people received a welcome and government and community aid, Haitian boat people have received disdain and prejudice. Other refugees have had American sponsors or governmental agencies to house them, Haitians have lived in packing crates, refugee camps or crowded two and three families in a one family apartment. 1980 statistics showed that only about 6% of the Haitian population was legally employed and received the minimum wage. The other 94% get far less than the national minimum. Fear of deportation or loss of job keeps an economic blackmail, an extortion and exploitation situation cycle alive. For the poor and oppressed Haitian, there has been little difference between the horrors of Haiti and the horrors of the United States.

We can do something to remove the fear for those Haitians living under the radar, and we can also help lift the burden of finding simple shelter before the coming storms for many Haitians who have family here.

Contact the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security

Democratic Members are:

Chuck Schumer, New York (Chairman)
Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont
Dianne Feinstein, California
Dick Durbin, Illinois
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island

The House has a mirror body: Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Membership

Democratic members are:

Zoe Lofgren
Chairman
(D) California, 16th

Howard Berman
(D) California, 28th

Sheila Jackson Lee
(D) Texas, 18th

Maxine Waters
(D) California, 35th

Pedro Pierluisi
(D) Puerto Rico, Resident Commissioner

Luis Gutierrez
(D) Illinois, 4th

Anthony Weiner
(D) New York, 9th

Charles A. Gonzalez
(D) Texas, 20th

Judy Chu
(D) California, 32nd

Links to their offices and contact information are on each website.

I have neglected to include the names of members of The Party of NO, but if you want to spend time contacting Republicans they are listed as well.

The White House has a series of links to agencies dealing with Haiti.

Let's make sure the President, Sec of State Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Janet Napolitano hear from us too.

We have opened our hearts, and our wallets. Now is the time to open the door.

The Final Stages of the Battle for Health Care Reform

John Allen — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:47:47 GMT

The fight for health care reform in this country started more than 100 years ago. The current stage of the fight started more than a year ago. It has been raging ever since Barack Obama took office in January, 2009. We are now in the final days of the latest battle and the Right is bringing its full force to bear to try to prevent any changes to the status quo.

The Right has fought against any reforms that will benefit the American people at the expense of business interests. They have labeled the effort as an attempt to take over the entire health care industry. They have told people that it will turn the country into a socialist country, even though there is absolutely nothing to justify that claim since the public option was removed from the Senate bill. They have claimed provisions in the bill will lead to "death panels" that will kill off your grandparents or disabled children. They have lied and misled to the point that some people actually fear for their lives if this bill passes. They are not above using any tactic, telling any lie, and smearing any progressive in an attempt to protect health insurance companies and pharmaceutical industry profits.

The Right knows this is the final stages of the battle and are pulling out all the stops to prevent the American people from benefiting from Health Care Reform. They are flooding the internet with emails urging people to call Congress to pressure representatives. The list below comes from one of those emails. These are the people they are targeting in Congress. Please scan the list for your representative and call with a message of support if you find them in the list. Be sure to tell whoever you talk to that you are aware that opponents of reform are mounting a deliberate campaign and that you want them to know that you support reform. Also remind them that the calls against reform are coming from people that got their name from right-wing mailing lists and those people are not going to vote for them no matter what.

This is it, people. It's up to us now. We can win this battle, but only if we are willing to fight. Call today. Call now. Call often. Send emails. Send faxes if you have access to a fax machine. Fight for what is right.

List after the break.

PLEASE CALL!	DC OFFICE	LOCAL OFFICE	State	District
Harry Mitchell	(202) 225-2190	(480) 946-2411	AZ	5th District
Gabrielle Giffords	(202) 225-2542	(520) 881-3588	AZ	8th District
Ann Kirkpatrick	(202) 225-2315	(928) 226-6914	AZ	1st District
Jerry McNerney	(202) 225-1947	925-833-0643	CA	11th District
John Salazar	202-225-4761	970-245-7107	CO	3rd District
Jim Himes	(202) 225-5541	(866) 453-0028	CT	4th District
Alan Grayson	(202) 225-2176	(407) 841-1757	FL	8th District
Bill Foster	(202) 225-2976	630-406-1114	IL	14th District
Baron Hill	202 225 5315	812 288 3999	IN	9th District
Mark Schauer	(202) 225-6276	(517) 780-9075	MI	7th District
Gary Peters	(202) 225-5802	(248) 273-4227	MI	9th District
Dina Titus	(202) 225-3252	702-256-DINA (3462)	NV	3rd District
Carol Shea-Porter	(202) 225-5456	(603) 743-4813	NH	1st District
Tim Bishop	(202) 225-3826	(631) 696-6500	NY	1st District
John Hall	(202) 225-5441	(845) 225-3641 x49371	NY	19th District
Bill Owens	(202) 225-4611	(315) 782-3150	NY	23rd District
Mike Arcuri	(202)225-3665	(315)793-8146	NY	24th District
Dan Maffei	(202) 225-3701	(315) 423-5657	NY	25th District
Earl Pomeroy	(202) 225-2611	(701) 224-0355	ND	At-Large District
Steven Driehaus	(202) 225-2216	(513) 684-2723	OH	1st District
Mary Jo Kilroy	(202) 225-2015	(614) 294-2196	OH	15th District
Zach Space	(202) 225-6265	(330) 364-4300	OH	18th District
Kathy Dahlkemper	(202) 225-5406	(814) 456-2038	PA	3rd District
Patrick Murphy	(202) 225-4276	(215) 826-1963	PA	8th District
Christopher Carney	(202) 225-3731	(570) 585-9988	PA	10th District
Paul Kanjorski	(202) 225-6511	(570) 825-2200	PA	11th District
John Spratt	(202) 225-5501	(803)327-1114	SC	5th District
Tom Perriello	(202) 225-4711	(276) 656-2291	VA	5th District
Alan Mollohan	(202) 225-4172	(304) 623-4422	WVA	1st District
Nick Rahall	(202) 225-3452	(304) 252-5000	WVA	3rd District
Steve Kagen	(202) 225-5665	(920) 437-1954	WI	8th District

Am I an American Person?

btchakir — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:39:01 GMT

I listened to a Congressman from Alabama give the Republican's weekly statement (after the President's weekly statement) on NBC this morning and was told that despite what Pelosi and Reid want, despite the threat of using reconciliation to push the Health Care bill through, the American People don't want the Health Care bill as it has been debated and argued over the past year. He said the American People want Congress and The President to "start over on a new page."

Here in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, about as American a location as you can find, I sit watching this knowing that I WANT a Health Care bill to be passed NOW. I know that if the government starts on a NEW PAGE it will be in the face of a rate-raising, highly profitable private insurance system and a 10-to-1 ratio of lobbyists who are NOT starting on a new page, who will work day and night to weaken any progress.
Do I want to allow this to happen? Do I not want to see the potential for Health Care plans that will be made available for 30 million more people, that will allow insurance companies to cancel existing plans or not let folks with pre-existing conditions (like little ol' diabetic me) sign up if they change jobs? Am I not an American Person?

I asked my wife, who also wants to see Health Care passed NOW if she was an American Person. Oddly enough, she said she was. Last night we sat in a lounge with friends from the Philadelphia area (they are pretty American, too, and all 4 were People) and they had the same feelings about Health Care politics that we had.

Yet the Republicans keep pointing out that the American People want things to start again on a NEW Page.

Well, as an official American Person, in contact with lots of other American People, may I say that WE DON'T WANT TO START ON A NEW PAGE. We want the Health Care plan to go through NOW. We have too many other things to get to and we don't want to throw away all the work that has been done so far. And we don't want the Insurance Industry and the Lobbyists to be given still another advantage in the debate.

No Republicans have asked me for my opinion, yet, as an American Person, they are willing to form their opinion as reported words from my mouth. Maybe they should get on board with the rest of us and put America ahead of Party Politics.

http://underthelobsterscope.wo...

Oath Keepers

hubiestubert — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:01:35 GMT

While I have, I will admit, explored options in dumping my party affiliation, in light of the GOP's shenanigans as of late--looking at the Modern Whig Party as a possible alternative--and questioned the political process as a whole in the face of our Congresscritters patently going off the rails in droves, on both sides of the aisle, I can't say that I've thought about going so far as these folks.

Crossposted to The Suicidal Cactus Hour
I was in Maine when Clinton was in office, and the modern militias got a fair amount of press. I knew folks who were in one, and I have to admit, I was impressed by the refurbished tank that they trotted out on occasion for events. The guns were defunct, but with the know how to get the old Russian girl back up to snuff, I had little doubt that they could swap out functional weapons with little notice. Even still, most of the folks involved were retired vets, and young men and women who they trained. In a similar fashion to a few skinhead groups that train up in the woods, though without the blaring music and probably 95% less race hating.

Justine Sharrock's article struck me, because the Oath Keepers are often serving members of our military. Their very name illustrates their love of nation, recalling Reza Aslan's words of Flag as totem. What I find interesting is that many were less concerned with a growing list of intrusions on privacy and other rights during the last Administration, and the Bush Administration's own recommendations for putting militia groups on higher watch status, than the current one.

Mind you, while racial politics does play into the equation a bit, I think that it has far less to do with the narrative that gets promoted. I have little doubt that the Oath Keepers would have congealed in the face of a Hillary Clinton Presidency--something that Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes wrote vociferously against during the run up to the election last year.

In the face of things, the Declaration of Orders We Will Not Obey is not entirely a bad thing. Rhodes is entirely correct that if the German military had refused orders, the Holocaust would not have happened. A principled military that refuses to march against its own citizens or deny them their rights is a key to preserving our republic. What is interesting is who ire is directed towards. The fear of the Fed coming down like a hammer is one that has been fostered for quite a while in the paranoiac fantasy life of the likes of Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. Democrats have been cast as jack booted thugs and you have revisionists like Jonah Goldberg trying to cast the Commie-Pinko Liberals in the role of Fascists as well. It is an interesting mix of pejorative that are leveled against the Democrats--and as a former resident of Massachusetts and with friends in Chicago, I have seen and certainly know of Democrats who have borne their share of strong arm politics--but I am impressed that at the same time in trying to cast Democrats as New World Order--forgetting apparently who actually used the phrase to begin with--thugs, and limp wristed ineffectual elitist intellectuals without a shred of real world experience, that some sort of cognitive dissonance hasn't penetrated.

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. And on one level, I have to applaud the idea that it is the Constitution, stupid. The problem, unfortunately, with many of the grassroots movements, is that they are pointing their ire and anger and outrage perhaps in the wrong direction. Fear of the other, fear of losing ground, and stoked by pundits and politicians alike who increasingly cast their opponents as figures bent on destroying the fabric of America, we see the politics of fear warping legitimate concerns into armed camps and ratcheted up rhetoric that tend to ignore history. In casting Democrats--who, to be honest, I've yet to see much of anything as effective as the mythologized FEMA camps materialize--as despotic thugs, it robs our process of what we desperately need. Real debate. In the move for an all or nothing sort of politics, we not only rob ourselves of the opportunity for discussion and consensus, we push those who are most fearful and most vulnerable towards those who would use their fear against their opponents, and without care or responsibility for the fear and suffering that they engender.