Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Our Insane Defense Budget

From the inestimable Spencer Ackerman, a Defense Analyst of Excellence, a look at why we push so many $$ down the DoD rathole...

My favorite quote:

It’s only a slight exaggeration to say we don’t use combat aircraft in the wars we’re fighting. You have to come up with a baroque set of Michael Bey-esque geopolitical calculations by which we would use combat aircraft in any conceivable war. The U.S.’s area of combat-aircraft dominance is called Planet Earth. No Air Force is going to challenge ours. No actual U.S. adversary has an air force, and the list of real-potential U.S. adversaries that do starts with Iran and ends with North Korea, neither of which are remotely stupid enough to test us in the air. The most likely scenario for using combat aircraft in a U.S. war is an alien invasion.

and summed up...

But by all means, freeze spending on school lunch programs and Head Start and shit like that.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Can Democrats Govern?

So asks Ezra Klein. I happen to agree with every word written here so I'll leave it at this:

If Democrats abandon health-care reform in the aftermath of Brown's victory, the lesson will be that they can't govern. No majority within the realm of reason will give them the votes to move their agenda swiftly and confidently. Even the prospect of the most significant legislative achievement in 40 years, an achievement that will save hundreds of thousands of lives, will not keep them from collapsing into chaos when they face adversity.

At that point, what's the pitch for voting for Democrats? That they agree with you? A plumber and I both agree that my toilet should work. But if he can't make it work, I'm not going to pay him any money or invite him into my home. Governance isn't just about ideology. It's also about competence and will. That's where Democrats are flagging.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Who Needs Ralph Nader

So, Brown is in and Coakley out.

Running a campaign, in Boston, where you speak derisively of standing outside Fenway in January shaking hands? Stupid.

In my humble opinion, it is not the DSCC, President Obama, state Dems or anyone else that deserves the blame here. Coakley did NOTHING for 4 weeks while her numbers dropped faster than a mallet at a Gallagher concert. So much for that.

Now what? Health Care can still be done. There's one way only that it can happen. The House has to pass the Senate's bill, unmodified. And it looks like House Progressives are refusing.

Again, in my humble opinion, these idiots have doomed healthcare. These morons think that they can go back and pass pieces of the legislation one by one. My prediction? In 2010 the Senate will take exactly ZERO votes regarding health care. Nobody will so much as THINK about health care. They'll pass something, ANYTHING, that might get the unemployment rate down to maybe 9.5% by November. And people like this Rep. Grijalva, with bovine incomprehension, will blame Obama's lack of leadership for the problem. There are NO MORE bites at the apple. And closing their eyes and clapping their fucking hands is not going to make Tinkerbell any fucking realer.

In the end, if this hissy fit continues? It will be at least ten years, probably closer to twenty, before health care reform is taken up again. And by that time, if we continue to follow the curve of increasingly awfulness at every iteration? We'll be voting on how many times your health insurance company can punch you in the goddamn neck every time you file a claim, and limiting the number of inches they can cut off your dick if you have the temerity to reach your deductible limit and require them to start paying 50/50 on your covered bills (all two of them). And it WILL STILL FAIL.

Who the fuck needs Ralph Nader? I guess it's more fun to complain about the results of torture camps and endless war profiteering while credit card companies earn enough money to kidnap 13 year olds for snuff porn and still buy off the judges when they're caught than it is to compromise, yet again, to help ensure that we don't have another fucking eight years like the last eight we just lived through.

Fuck 'Em All.