Jack & Jill Politics

Dick Cheney should go and crawl back under his rock. He is the ultimate war profiteer who could care less about American troops.

EVENING OPEN THREAD IS UP

Beck: money is being taken away from good hardworking families (light colored graphics) and given to these lazy people right here (dark colored graphics):

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200910270041

Beck, we see you.

You have got to be kidding me. What type of BS is this? Jst watching this stuff makes me ill. Beck neeeds to be off TV yesterday.

but...but...but...Fox is a 'news' organization worthy of ' defense'.

uh huh

no surprise here.

Pregnant covergirl of Teen Vogue raises eyebrows
By JAMIE STENGLE
The Associated Press

DALLAS — A model on the November cover of Teen Vogue is a 19-year-old who reveals in the magazine that she is pregnant.
Jourdan Dunn is not visibly pregnant on the cover, and Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Amy Astley said the magazine didn't know about Dunn's pregnancy until after the photo shoot. But she said that editors didn't consider pulling the cover Dunn shares with fellow model Chanel Iman.

Full Story: http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/pregnant-c...

Wonder if this would have been an AP story if it was bristol or jamie lynn spears?
This is a 19yr young lady with a career. That career is modeling which she is EXTREMELY successful in. As a matter of fact the brits call her the next Naomi Campbell.
Now how old was bristol and jamie lynn when they got pregnant? Hell I'm sure their parents wish they had been 19 and out of school!

Census: 'Brain gains' for high-tech cities

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer – 38 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Many college graduates are passing up the Sunbelt and industrial centers, which have been hit hard by the recession, in favor of life in urban, high-tech meccas. Their moves are fueling a resurgence of brainiacs in parts of California, North Carolina and Texas.

Census data released Tuesday offer the first detailed look at U.S. migration data, broken down by education and income, since the recession began in late 2007.

The data covering 2006-2008 show that Austin, Texas, Portland, Ore., Charlotte and Raleigh, both in North Carolina, and Seattle saw large jumps in residents with at least a college degree. Each offers the promise of specialized tech jobs and hip lifestyles.

San Francisco, with its burgeoning biotech industry, and Houston, home to NASA and several medical centers, saw significant increases in residents with advanced-level graduate degrees.

In contrast, metropolitan areas with high rates of foreclosures, less tech-based economies or increasing unemployment saw declines or slower rates of growth in residents with a college degree or higher. They included Los Angeles, Atlanta, Orlando, Fla., as well as New Orleans, Detroit and Cleveland.

"During this economic downturn, young, educated professionals are heading for the high-tech 'cool' metros rather than the fast growing upstarts of the mid-decade," said William Frey, a demographer at Brookings Institution, who analyzed the data. "The investment in knowledge industries and young professional amenities in places like Austin, Raleigh and Seattle is now paying off."

The United States is becoming increasingly educated. More than one in four U.S. residents now has a college degree, with many recent graduates looking for jobs in a depressed economy. States and cities are also striving to boost their tax bases and stay competitive by attracting highly educated and higher income residents.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_go_ot...

Uptick in support for public option
Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:00 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Polls

From NBC's Mark Murray
As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moves forward crafting a Senate health-care bill that contains a public option -- with a state "opt out" -- the latest NBC/WSJ poll shows support for a government-run insurance plan at its highest level since the debate began.

According to the poll, 48% say they favor a public health plan administered by the federal government that would compete with private insurers, compared with 42% who oppose it. That's a shift from last month, though within the margin of error, when 48% opposed the public option and 46% supported it. And it's a 10-point swing from August, when 47% were in opposition and 43% were in favor.

In another question asked a different way -- is it important to give people a choice of a public option? -- a combined 72% answered that it was either "extremely important" or "quite important," while just 23% said it was "not that important" or "not at all important." Those numbers are virtually unchanged from last month.

The NBC/WSJ poll, which was conducted Oct. 22-25, has a margin of error of +/- 4.4% on these two questions. The full poll will be released on Nightly News, and MSNBC.com, beginning at 6:30 pm ET.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/...

short preview of HBO doc on Obama's election

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf4QEjBLGSE

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/sns-200910...

"Obama girls receive swine flu shots

WASHINGTON Malia and Sasha Obama were given the H1N1 flu vaccine last week, the White House disclosed Tuesday as a case of H1N1 was confirmed at the private school campus 11-year-old Malia attends.

The girls received the vaccine after it became available to Washington, D.C., school children, a spokeswoman for first lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday.

Both girls are reported to be healthy....."

At the time, I supported attacking Afhanistan because of the Taliban protection of Bin laden and co. I thought bush left the job half assed in a hurry to get to Iraq. Now I'm wondering why we should stay.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/27-7

"Former Marine Captain Resigns in Protest of Afghanistan War
Top civilian in Southern province argues we're exacerbating the problem we're supposedly there to solve.

"...How long are we going to continue to do this? We invade and occupy a country, and then label as "insurgents" or even "terrorists" the people in that country who fight against our invasion and occupation. With the most circular logic imaginable, we then insist that we must remain in order to defeat the "insurgents" and "terrorists" -- largely composed of people whose only cause for fighting is our presence in their country. All the while, we clearly exacerbate the very problem we are allegedly attempting to address -- Terrorism -- by predictably and inevitably increasing anti-American anger and hatred through our occupation, which, no matter the strategy, inevitably entails our killing innocent civilians. Indeed, does Hoh's description of what drives the insurgency -- anger "against the presence of foreign soldiers" -- permit the conclusion that that's all going to be placated with a shift to a kind and gentle counter-insurgency strategy?

Relatedly, Hol points out the transparent fallacy of the claim that we will reduce -- rather than worsen -- the problem of Terrorism by occupying Muslim countries with a massive military presence:"

It's a joke listening to joe Scarborough. I am still wondering when Mika really stands up for herself. I'm waitning for her to do a Betty Draper on his ass on the air.

It. Won't. Happen.

Not with Joe Scarborough (R-Dead Staffer In Office).

Mika. Is. Useless.

Booker Rising has been following the trials and tribulations of a Black French Politician - Rama Yade.

she's totally being setup to fail, but she's fighting it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Rama Yade: "OK, They’ve Started Operation Break-A-Negro. I'm Still Kunta, But These Lashes Are No Joke!”

Like the "Roots" reference? Yes, the saga continues. French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants French Secretary of State for Sport Rama Yade - who has been polling as France's most popular politician for months and who is the former human rights minister - to contest March 2010 regional elections for the center-right UMP party in Val d'Oise [which is not her home district; it is where many poor immigrants live and which is infamous for its violence and riots]. Secretary Yade has been resisting this request, because she grew up in Hauts-de-Seine district and is an elected official in the suburb of Colombes within the district. She wishes to use the 2010 election as a launching pad to contest the 2012 parliamentary elections against the communist incumbent. Haute-de-Seine has been the launching pad for many high-profile French political figures, including President Sarkozy. Yesterday, Secretary Yade said that she finds it insulting that she should represent a district where she has zero ties and little in common with residents because it is the home of African immigrants (both Arab and black ones; Secretary Yade was born in Senegal). However, now she is backpedaling some (article in French).

Criticized by her political party for her hesitation, Secretary Yade sought yesterday to calm the situation, expressing readiness to contest elections where she would be "most useful". "It isn't only me who makes the decisions, it is a working team," she said on France 2 without further commitment. "Rama Yade must continue to be a team player. When one is a cabinet minister, we are obliged to fight and wear the colors of your party. Don't be reluctant to go into combat anywhere, "said Dominique Paillé, the UMP's deputy spokesman of the UMP. "She cries, she cries, but don't exaggerate!", said Claude Goasguen, Paris deputy, adding that "number two in the Val-d'Oise, it's a comfortable position."

Booker Rising response: Sista Rama, you're about to get screwed big time. "Fight for your party and be a team player". Puhleeze. They're trying to cut you out of politics altogether, because you're a free thinker. As France's most popular politician - which you've been for awhile now - you should be heading up the UMP's candidate list in your home district, not #2 anywhere. They seek to marginalize you to a district where (1) you have no base; and more importantly (2) where your chances of victory are far harder (although not impossible, as center-right candidates have won in that Val d'Oise). Sarko probably wants Hauts-de-Seine in mind for his son Jean - let's not forget Sarko's recent nepotistic move regarding Jean, which backfired, and your criticism of his move - or some flunky who'll step aside for his son once he actually graduates from college. You'd stand in his son's way. If number two is so nice in Val d'Oise, why doesn't Mr. Goasguen become that district's candidate? I mean, since the UMP is carpetbagging candidates anyway.

http://www.bookerrising.net/2009/10/rama-yade-o...

The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China agreed on Tuesday to enhance energy cooperation.

Russia's Sergei Lavrov, India's S.M. Krishna and China's Yang Jiechi met in the Indian city of Bangalore to discuss energy security, the fight against terrorism and climate change.

"India, Russia and China are seeking to intensify international energy cooperation on a new basis to help make the energy market more open, transparent and competitive and reflect the common interests of all the parties involved," the three diplomats said in a joint declaration.

The ministers recognized Russia as a leading oil and gas supplier for energy-hungry India and China, major suppliers of manufactured products and services.

"Trilateral relations can be forged in the future through the establishment of mutually advantageous energy contacts," the declaration read.

The Indian and Russian foreign ministers held talks in Moscow on October 21, while the Indian and Chinese premiers, Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao, met at the weekend on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in Thailand.

The three countries are also members of the BRIC union with Brazil.

Russia, India, China set to forge energy ties

---

The world will soon have another EU-style trade bloc, this time in the East. During a summit of 16 Asian nations held in Thailand October 24 to 25, a solid base was created for a future trade bloc among Asian nations that will lead to the creation of an economic and military alliance. Biblical prophecy calls it the “kings of the east.”

The foundation of a future alliance was established with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (asean), an economic community of 10 smaller Asian nations, formed in 1967. Since the late 1990s, its powerful neighbors, China and Japan, along with South Korea, have joined the bloc to create the asean Plus Three initiative. This larger group has been behind the East Asia Summits, which also include India, Australia and New Zealand.

Huge steps toward Asian integration were taken at the latest summit in Thailand, with asean declaring it agrees in principle to creating a free economic zone in Asia. The free-trade area would be called the East Asia Free Trade Area (eafta) and include asean and its neighbors.

At the summit, asean also agreed in principle to go forward with plans to establish a Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia and asked the finance ministers from member nations to submit a draft at the next session on ways to form an East Asian economic bloc that goes beyond asean.

Nations of the East Agree to Unite

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Lieberman's wife Haddassah worked for a health care/pharmaceutical lobbyist
by John Aravosis (DC) on 10/27/2009 03:47:00 PM

And not for the kind of folks who represent the good guys. But I'm sure this has nothing to do with why Lieberman is trying to undercut the President and Senator Reid by threatening to join a Republican filibuster of health care reform.

Joe Conason has much more:

Among Hill & Knowlton's clients when Mrs. Lieberman signed on with the firm last year was GlaxoSmithKline, the huge British-based drug company that makes vaccines along with many other drugs. As I noted in July, Sen. Lieberman introduced a bill in April 2005 (the month after his wife joined Hill & Knowlton) that would award billions of dollars in new "incentives" to companies like GlaxoSmithKline to persuade them to make more new vaccines. Under the legislation, known as Bioshield II, the cost to consumers and governments would be astronomical, but for Lieberman and his Republican cosponsors, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., the results would be worth every penny. Using the war on terror as their ideological backdrop, the pharma-friendly senators sought to win patent extensions on products that have nothing to do with preparations against terrorist attack or natural disaster.

As the New Haven Register, Lieberman's hometown newspaper, noted in an editorial headlined "Lieberman Crafts Drug Company Perk," that bill is even more generous to the pharmaceutical industry than a similar proposal by the Senate Republican leadership. "The government can offer incentives and guarantees for needed public health measures," it said. "But it should not write a blank check, as these bills do, to the pharmaceutical industry that has such a large cost to the public with what may be an uncertain or dubious return."

What the editorial didn't mention was that the Lieberman bill had also been written by Chuck Ludlam, a former pharmaceutical industry lobbyist who then worked on the Connecticut senator's staff. From his office to his bedroom, Lieberman was totally surrounded by current and former employees of Big Pharma.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/liebermans-w...

Lieberman Lies, Trad Media Doesn't Care
by mcjoan
Share this on Twitter - Lieberman Lies, Trad Media Doesn't Care Tue Oct 27, 2009 at 03:02:04 PM PDT
Marcy has a very astute observation on the Lieberman fiasco.

So here’s what Joe Lieberman claims the public option will do:

* Be costly to taxpayers
* Drive up premiums
* Involve cost-shifting to private plans
* Create an entitlement
* Increase the national debt
* Put more of a tax burden on taxpayers

As DDay points out, this is utter nonsense.

Lieberman’s justification on this is just nonsense – the public option would SAVE money for the government, to the tune of $100 billion dollars over 10 years according to the Congressional Budget Office. It also would cost nothing to the taxpayer, being financed by individual premiums.

But everything else Lieberman said is horse puckey. He is either completely ignorant about health care works (unlikely, for a Senator from Connecticut). Or, he’s lying his ass off as to his rationale.

Don’t you think the press ought to call him on that?

Of course the press ought to call him out on that, but that would require the press to understand the basics of the policies. They'd much rather talk about the personalities. They only pay attention to CBO scores when those scores create a fight, preferably between Dems, so that they can dust off the "Dems in Disarray" theme.

These news outlets won't spend the time or the energy to understand the very basics of policies. They certainly don't know or really even care that a robust pubic option makes fiscal sense for the economy, and good policy sense as well.

For what it's worth, Brian Beutler tried to push Lieberman on this. It didn't work.

This is at great odds with the findings of most experts, who say that, by bringing efficiencies into the greater insurance market, and therefore lowering the subsidy burden, a public option will actually save the government money.

I asked him to square his explanation with that of other experts, but he was undeterred. "Well all the history we have of health entitlement programs, including the two big ones that I dearly support, Medicare and Medicaid, is that they end up costing more than we're prepared to pay, and they add to the debt, and then they add to the burden on taxpayers."

As written, congressional health care legislation would require the public option--whether administered by a government, or by an outside body--would be financed by premiums, and unable to draw on federal funds.

Lieberman doesn't care, and knows that Politico and AP and WaPo and any number of outlets don't care, so he'll keep on lying.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/27/79...

Lieberman, the senator, is a pig and a whore at the same time. And yes, you can quote me on that.

One must wonder what business on the Hill would look like without the seemingly thousands of incestuous relationships with corporate interests and corporate shrills.

It would be empty.

Fake Facebook e-mail contains Trojan
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10384028-2....

and this is a surprise?

‘Training Rules’ an Examination of the ‘No Lesbians’ Policy at Penn State
I had the good fortune to catch Dee Mosbacher’s documentary, “Training Rules” about former Penn State University women’s basketball coach Rene Portland. Portland, a successful coach in wins and losses, also had a personal obsession to ferret out and eradicate lesbians from her program. “Training Rules” takes a look at the Portland regime and, in particular, the lawsuit filed by former player, Jennifer Harris, who was booted off the team in 2004. But to understand Portland’s reign of terror, you have to go back decades, before Jennifer Harris ever picked up a basketball.

In the early 1980’s Rene Portland was a talented young coach and Cindy Davies was a talented young hoopster. Davies was also struggling with her sexuality. She says that coach Portland threatened to out her to her parents and to the media, as well as kicking her off the team. Davies left Penn State quietly. It’s hard to know if anybody outside of that locker room knew what Portland was up to when Davies left, but a few years later, the coach went public with her feelings, telling the Chicago Sun-Times, “I will not have it [lesbianism] on my team,” in 1986.

Try substituting “black” or “Asian” or “Jewish” for “lesbians.” Roll those sentences around on your tongue and see how that feels: I will not have blacks on my team. I will not have Asians on my team. I will not have Jews on my team. Just how long would it have taken Penn State, or any university, to fire a coach who adopted that kind of practice and had the temerity to say it for publication in a major newspaper? One hour? Less time than that? And yet, Penn State did nothing. What could the Athletic Department have been thinking?

Penn State never fired Portland, even though references to her policies again surfaced in a 1991 Philadelphia Inquirer article, despite the fact that the University had added gays and lesbians to it’s non-discrimination policy that very same year. Season followed season, players came and went, Portland received coaching awards, won her conference multiple times and took her team to the NCAA tournament most years. All the while, continuing her spiteful crusade.

Until one courageous young woman, one with a family strong enough to back her, said enough and took legal action against Portland in 2005. That’s right, it was going on still in 2005. Still Penn State turned a blind eye to Portland’s draconian policies. In 2007, the Harris case settled out of court. Portland finally resigned in May of 2007.

Around the time that Harris filed her lawsuit in 2005, I sat down for a long chat with two women who had played at Penn State in the mid-1980’s. They indicated there were lots of rules on Portland’s teams: No lesbians allowed. Inter-racial dating was verboten. And while she didn’t discriminate against black players, it was understood that she wanted her players to look a certain way – i.e. they couldn’t be too black, wear cornrows, adopt hip hop styles and the like. It took it’s toll on all the players, gay and straight, black and white. One player remembered a year when the team lost in the early rounds of the NCAA tournament; Portland was irate, but the players were secretly relieved the season was over.

One of those former players spoke to me only on the condition of anonymity. She was still traumatized, still hurt, still ashamed in 2005. I never forgot how emotionally delicate she seemed even after 20 years. It was so satisfying to see that same former player, Lisa Faloon, break her silence in the film and speak freely about how difficult that time was for her and how she finally overcame it.

At the time I met Faloon, I was so outraged by Portland’s Stasi-like tactics and disgusted by the indifference of the University and Joe Paterno (if anybody could have stopped Portland, it was Joe Paterno; I’m not exaggerating when I say that at State College, Pennsylvania, Joe Paterno is god and if he demanded that the university dig up Nittany Mountain and move it one mile south, it would be done before the end of the football season), that I forgot the most important part of the story: that these were kids, really. They were kids who had their trust broken and their dreams taken.

I had also overlooked the most amazing part of the story, which is Jennifer Harris, herself. Jen Harris should be feted from coast to coast, for having the courage at the tender age of 19 or 20, to take on legendary coach Rene Portland, Joe Pa and the inexhaustible legal firepower of the Penn State Athletic Department.

Part of the settlement was a confidentiality agreement, but I so wish that Jennifer Harris were permitted to speak about it, because I’d love to ask her where she found the strength to do it. I want to know how she got through the toughest, darkest times and kept battling. I know her basketball career didn’t work out the way she hoped it would (though she resumed playing basketball for James Madison, according to the film, she suffered a career ending ankle injury), but I’d like to ask her if it is of any small comfort to know that tactics like Portland’s won’t be tolerated, that no other young women will suffer the way that she did, the way that Lisa Faloon and Cindy Davies did. I love basketball, but I love justice even more and to me, Jen Harris is a hero.
http://trueslant.com/jodydiperna/2009/10/27/tra...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina wants its customers to help the company lobby against a public health insurance option to provide the insurance giant with some competition.

To that end, the company is sending postcards to its customers in the state addressed to Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.). The cards -- a copy of which was obtained by N.C. Policy Watch's Progressive Pulse blog -- state:

Senator Hagan,

Please oppose government-run health insurance. We can meet our health care challenges without the government unfairly competing with the private sector. Tell Senate leaders that North Carolina doesn't need government-run insurance.

As Adam Searing of the Progressive Pulse points out, Blue Cross controls 96.8% of the market share for individual health insurance plans in North Carolina. The company also holds 53% of the state's commercial health insurance market, according to a recent report from Health Care for America Now.

N.C. Blue Cross asks customers to lobby against public option

lmao!

Florida A&M University cancer researchers have conducted ground-breaking research by collecting data from more than 3,000 black men in several cities throughout the state to develop a model to determine factors that play a role in prostate cancer.

The model is called the Integrative Personal Model of Prostate Cancer Disparity.

The study is funded by the United States Army Department of Defense.

“The disparate burden of prostate cancer among black men is very disheartening and frustrating,” said Folakemi Odedina, professor and director of research, FAMU School of Allied Health Sciences. “Even more frustrating is the lack of consensus on prostate cancer screening, while a significant number of black men are dying from this disease every year. We are doing the black community a disservice with all the confusing messages on prostate cancer screening. The good news for us in Florida, is the strong academic-community partnership we are developing to combat this disease. Partnering with black non-profit organizations, faith-based organizations, and black businesses, Florida A&M University is positioned to eliminate the preventable burden of prostate cancer morbidity and mortality in all black communities.”

FAMU cancer researchers develop a model to help reduce prostate cancer

Damn!!!Iceland you really have went belly up.
Iceland Loses Its Last Few McDonald's Locations
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wires/2009/10/26/...

Lieberman: Sure, I'd Filibuster A Health Care Reform Bill With A Public Option
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/lieb...

from the Daily Dish


27 Oct 2009 05:20 pm
Dealing With Joe

A Chait reader has an idea:

Reid and the rest of the Dems in the Senate really need to do something about the Senator from Aetna. In the simplest possible terms, one of the key differences between committee chairmen and backbenchers is that chairmen vote with the party on procedure. This relationship between procedural loyalty and the perks of committee chairmanship needs to be made starkly clear to Lieberman.

Just as Holy Joe wants to make the cloture vote a referendum on the bill's passage, Democratic leaders ought to make the cloture vote a referendum on Lieberman's seniority within the caucus.

A vote "no" on cloture should be a vote "no" on retaining seniority status, and with it not only his chairmanship but also his entire slate of committee choices. Whoever is next on the wait lists for Armed Services, Homeland Security, and Small Business gets bumped up onto those committees, and Lieberman gets whatever assignments are left after the other 59 members of the caucus have filled the resulting openings.

Presumably, that would give Lieberman the junior seats on, say, the Rules Committee, the Special Committee on Aging, and the Joint Committees on Printing and the Library. Maybe someone on Reid's staff -- or maybe Schumer's, since this is more his style -- can sort through the committee requests, run the numbers, and quietly pass on to Lieberman the list of committees he would be left with if his seniority were reset to zero as of the day of the cloture vote. Then let Joe see if the GOP is willing to kick any of its own members off of the committees he wants in order to make room for him. If he can cut that deal, fine. If not, then Holy Joe can contemplate exactly how to keep sufficient corporate money coming in to his campaign for 2012 if he has to spend the next three years sitting in the back of the room on the crappiest committees in Washington.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily...

This is why I love the innernets.We can always find a solution to a problem even if the village dont know that shit stink.

THEN strip him of his COMMITTE CHAIRMANSHIPS the MOMENT he steps onto the floor to filibuster.

Treat him like Julius Ceasar on the ides of Mar and et tu Spector during the melee

It might have been a good thing Gore didn't become President back in 00; can you imagine what kind of shady VP Lieberman would have been? He might have been worse than Cheney.

gore would have cut him off at the knees the first day.

Nahh.

LIEberman would give a Droopy Dog look, and Gore would forgive him, walk away...and grimace in pain as he feels the shiv stuck in his back by his traitorous VP.

I SWEAR I can't stand Joe Lieberman! He is such a fucker. I actually sent money to Ned Lamont... I really wish he would have won. If he votes against this the Dems HAVE to take away his chairmanships and any other perks that he has.

In Star Trek the Klingons had a ritual for traitors called dis-accommodation,where the other council members stripped the offender of their honor.If nothing else it would make great television if all members of the caucus turned their backs on this peta, excl.: Epithet; similar to "bastard" or "asshole." Throw that petaQ out.

The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse

10/27/2009
Hey, There's a Senate Health Care Bill That Doesn't Suck:
In the scheme of things, on the already rigged-to-the-right playing field that we were given, Senator Harry Reid's announcement yesterday that the Senate version of the health care reform bill will contain a public option, with the stupid-states-can-bail opt-out clause, was actually a victory of sorts for the left. Sure, sure, the whole public option debate is about a moderately conservative approach to getting insurance to the uninsured. But, at this point in the degraded American health care system, we could very well have had a bill that said the insurance companies couldn't walk into hospital rooms, shoot patients in the head, and fuck the bullet hole in front of their families. Of course, had such a bill been offered, progressives would be told to suck it up, that it's reform, that at least fewer people would have their head wounds fucked by insurers and isn't that an improvement?

So, relative to the terms of the debate, this is one small, sweet success for the left in the Democratic Party. It's an in-yer-fookin-gob moment to the teabaggers, their faux movement, and their remora-like politicians and media figures. They've been marginalized and shoved out of the debate for the time being.

Of course, for some, as with any perceived victory by liberals, it's just weakness and pandering on the part of Congressional supporters. In a pathetically sad column, Dana Milbank goes after Harry Reid, saying that his announcement of the bill is more about propping up his re-election bid than about doing the right thing. Milbank writes, "As Democratic aides described it, the moment had less to do with health-care policy than with Nevada politics -- and one vulnerable senator's justifiable fear of liberal anger."

Earlier in the column, Milbank says, "For Reid, it was an admission of the formidable power of liberal interest groups." For Milbank, the only path was bipartisanship. In a September column, he described Max Baucus as "one of the last serious men in town" while chiding Republicans for not supporting the Baucus "no public option" bill. Milbank does not note in his current bit of Washington Post dribble that Baucus seems to approve of Reid's move, even if it means bye-bye, Olympia Snowe. Milbank would rather go with the cynical spin than hold two thoughts in his head at once, that maybe it's both the best plan to go forward and a boost to Reid's chances in 2010.

There's a notion implicit in what Milbank is saying, beyond his clinging to the bipartisan ghost, that, if liberal groups support what Reid said, it will fail. Milbank mocks Reid for not being sure if he has the votes to pass the legislation. It presupposes something else: that liberals are wrong. It's what much of the media always presupposes, that if liberals want something, it must be against the interests of the country because it's not "moderate" (which really means "conservative"). Somebody's power was gonna be asserted in the bill - left, right, corporate. You just want to raise your hand and say, "Umm, can you tell us what we on the left were wrong about in the last decade or so? No, really, what have you got?" All Milbank has is snide, oh-so-insider-y insinuation and worthless failure-mongering.

The other reason that Reid said he had a bill done is because shit needs to move forward. The clock's running out on the Congress. So next up: the House bill and then the clusterfuck. Because the bill's gonna be swarmed with members of Congress proposing amendments like starving locusts discovering a field of tasty wheat. Look for a vicious fight over abortion because it's the last thing the right's got to reanimate its zombie hordes.

Still, for a moment here, and against the sayers of nay, like Milbank (not to mention the insanitoid rantings from the actual right wing), we can be satisfied that progressives didn't roll over, that we stood strong, and that we were able to push that fucking boulder of health care reform forward. The question remaining is whether we're Hercules or Sisyphus.