The Nose Knows...No Decency

BooMan discovers our Liberal Media is on the case, in this case Final Arbiter Of All, WaPo fact checker Glenn Kessler, is making sure that President Obama's dead mother isn't able to pull a fast one on the Post's stalwart readership.

Your mother lies dying in the hospital, unable to work because of her Stage 3 uterine and ovarian cancer. While her medical procedures are largely covered by her health insurance plan, there is a large deductible and several hundred dollars of unpaid expenses each month. The insurance company is not honoring her disability insurance because a doctor had written in her medical file that she suspected uterine cancer a couple of months before she started her job. However, your mother claims that that information was not shared with her. And, in any case, it was only a suspicion. Your mother asks you to take over the job of fighting the insurance company. That is what happened to Barack Obama and his mother. And that is what just earned the president three pinocchios from the Washington Post.

Why has the president been lying about his mother's death? Well, according to the Washington Post he has been deliberately suggesting that his mother was denied funds for her medical care from her health insurance, not her disability insurance. This is supposedly a big distinction.

The president has a strong recollection of watching his mother fight with an insurance company about covering the cost of her health care because of her supposedly pre-existing condition. He thinks this is a terrible injustice and not a way to die with dignity. It inspires him to fight so that other people will not face the same or similar situations.

But it turns out to be insincere political posturing because his mother's "pre-existing condition" only prevented her from receiving the money she needed to pay her deductible and the fees not covered by her health insurance. That this is an example of an insurance company going to whatever lengths it can to deny payment is supposedly irrelevant or misleading. 

Misleading enough to earn a three pinnochio shaming from Headmaster Kessler for the naughty, naughty President.  Look, I understand Kessler's contempt for the President.  A fair amount of the Village has it because the first African-American president is a tabula rasa of extraordinary magnitude, a first among firsts.  Those who shape reality in Washington have long given up gently trying to create the Obama they want Obama to be and have moved to "application of 20-pound sledgehammer" mode, thus the absolutely silly prospect that the death of the President's late mother is a three-noser fib.

Awesome.  They despise him.  And when I say "they" I mean "progressives" too like Taylor Marsh, who openly compares the President's story of his mom to Mike Daisey, the man who lied about Apple's China labor problem.

A lot of people have never forgiven Barack Obama for the crime of being elected in 2008.  Not all of the people who want to convict him in 2012 are Republicans, either.

StupidiNews!

• Federal prosecutors have opened a Justice Department investigation into the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin last week in Florida.
• Austerity cuts to Portugal's public health service is beginning to have a measurable effect on the country's death rate statistics.
• The Pentagon is threatening to dismiss the Army forensics crime lab whistleblower who highlighted the lab's problems to McClatchy News.
• President Obama raised $45 million in donations last month, a significant rise in the pace of donations, 98% of them from donors who gave $200 or less.
• Apple has moved over 3 million third-generation iPads in the first weekend of sales.

Last Call

Expanding on what Bon said today, Rick Santorum has a Pastor Dennis Terry problem.

One of the great refined arts of contemporary American politics is the Cultural Right “dog-whistle”—the ability of candidates to pose as just normal, standard-brand conservatives mainly concerned with creating jobs and balancing the federal budget—even as they deploy veiled appeals to voters mainly interested in criminalizing abortion and same-sex relationships, putting racial, ethnic and religious minorities back in their place, and generally restoring the mores and folkways of an idealized American past.

But when campaigns get down to the lick-log, and defeat seems imminent, sometimes there’s no time for “dog whistles,” or for confining the unvarnished cultural message to quiet, unobserved places where hints and code-words can be discarded (you know, like Ave Maria University). Sometimes you just have to let it all hang out. I supposed that’s how Rick Santorum found himself yesterday being introduced in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in this manner (h/t Right Wing Watch):

So by the transitive properties of Jeremiah Wright, Rick Santorum hates all liberals, gays, single women and women who want control of their uteri, and "that one."

Oh wait, we knew that already.  This isn't news.

Hell, he doesn't even care about unemployment.

We need a candidate who's going to be a fighter for freedom. Who's going to get up and make that the central theme in this race because it is the central theme in this race. I don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be. Doesn't matter to me. My campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. It's something more foundational that's going on. We have one nominee who says he wants to run the economy. What kind of conservative says that the president runs the economy? What conservative says I'm the guy, because of my economic experience, that can create jobs? I don't know. We conservatives generally think that government doesn't create jobs. That what government does is create an atmosphere for jobs to be created in the private sector.

All that matters is GET RID OF THE BLACK GUY AND THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED HIM.  Got it?   Don't think it's war?

They do.

Santorum Is A Tool

At least he is consistent.  Rick Santorum hates women every time he gets a chance.

Here is a link to a nice recap of the Santorum Stupidity, and remind us that his hypocrisy knows no bounds.  For example, he doesn't believe women should serve in combat because of "emotions"... a statement that he had to clarify later.  He said a female soldier might cause an emotional response if in danger.  When reasonable people pointed out that soldiers took care of their brothers on the battlefield and had a huge emotional attachment to their male friends, Santorum had no real comeback.  Any time he is pressed to explain the logic of the stupidity he spews, he crumbles like a  cookie.  If I had to describe him, it would be as a long, stuttering brain fart that has left a skidmark on already-stained GOP credibility.

Santorum was also forced to defend a passage in his book, It Takes A Family, that argued that radical feminists had essentially brainwashed women into thinking work was the only arena where they could find happiness. He said that passage was written by his wife, although she was not given an author's credit.

Radical feminists?  I guess I have never been invited to the real discussions, because the ones I have attended talked about letting women make their own life decisions.  There was never any mention of brainwashing or trying to talk housewives into joining the ranks of the working.  Besides, those silly women can't think for themselves, that's why they are so susceptible to brainwashing, am I right?  Doesn't that pretty much capture the scorn for a woman's mind that I see above?  And when it bit him on the ass, he took the safe bet and attributed it to his wife, though she wasn't given credit for the quote originally.  Isn't that convenient.

He's a coward, an asshole, and a primitive mind trying to grab all the attention possible.

Campaign spokesman J. Hogan Gidley says that "nobody has a better record on supporting women's issues than Rick Santorum."  Bwahahahahahaha.  What the HELL does Gidley consider women's issues?  Medical decisions, respect under law, recognition as individuals who can conduct their own private life?  I must be confused then, because it seems to me that Santorum has done everything except demand women be burned at the stake.  And his bullshit goes all the way back to 1994.

"What we say is that in order for Mom to be able to go on welfare if she has a child out of wedlock, you have to tell us who the father is," Santorum said at an event in Carlisle, Pa., on April 1, 1994. "If you don't tell us who the father is, you're not eligible for any welfare benefits, none, not even medical care. You tell us who the father is or you don't receive benefits."

Santorum argued that his proposal could persuade single women to slow their sex lives, which, in turn, would lead to less out-of-wedlock parenting. "If Mom knows that she isn't gonna receive welfare if she doesn't tell us who Dad is, y'know maybe she'll be a little more careful, maybe," he said.

"Or maybe she gives us a list, say 'Well it could be one of five,'" Santorum went on. "I mean, y'know, I don't know what she's gonna do, but at some point we're gonna see her cooperate."

Or, you know, stop making birth control more difficult to obtain.  Santorum is more obsessed about controlling sex lives and porn watching that he could never run a nation.  He'd be more concerned trying to be the political equivalent of Buddy Christ.  A certain portion of the GOP has taken it upon themselves to be the decency police for the nation.  A large portion of those folks are freaking nuts.  Santorum is their king.  He wants women to slow their sex lives, but gives no reasoning besides it feels morally right to him.  That's because there is no other reason.  He says one way or another, those sluts are going to fess up to who they've been sleeping with.  In his world, it would be a woman's burden to what... copy IDs and keep a journal in case mother nature throws her a surprise?

I don't see the practical gain for putting half the country in a position that cannot be won.  It's political suicide, and makes him look nucking futs.  So I have to wonder what he gets in return for selling out women, the poor, the workers who can't have a sick day because they may lose their utilities.  How does he expect a woman to support herself and a child if she can't get equal pay or afford birth control?  Santorum regularly voted against raising minimum wage and has shown the requisite Republican disregard for minorities.

I guess the GOP's math skills are in question, because women aren't a minority.  Maybe Santorum and his like will be what brings the pendulum swinging back towards reality.

Which means I was right all along: Rick Santorum is just a tool.

Uruguay's Little Homicide Problem

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- Uruguayan police say an investigation into dozens of possibly induced deaths at two hospitals has led to the detention of at least two people.

Police inspector Jose Luis Roldan said Sunday that officials suspect that hospital workers brought a sort of poison from Brazil and gave it to patients who were in critical condition.

I'm bothered by the idea that multiple employees somehow worked together to kill "dozens" of people, as the article says later. Dozens?

I don't know how many of you read Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub, but this reminds me of the disturbing scene there where you learn the hospitals are feeding grounds for the vampire sisters that came at dusk.  The weak, the sick and the worried made up a feast of the innocent.  It is truly a terrifying thing, to be at our most vulnerable and at the mercy of those around us.

It's by no chance that a horror writer got there first (if you don't believe me, give Misery a read) but normally these "death angels" are lone operators who are fulfilling a complex and personal need.  This was a group, and while no official statement has been released, it will be hard to explain this level of cooperation and cunning.

I sense a good story, and hope the expected press release clears up some details.

"Bionic Pancreas" Gives Diabetics Hope

If you are diabetic or love someone who is, a breakthrough has surfaced that within a few short years can help diabetics of both types live a normal life, and go to sleep without fear that they slip into a coma or something equally horrific. The entire article is mostly focused on Elle, a 12-year-old who was desperate to try the "bionic pancreas" and have a day off from her disease.

Elle was selected to try out an experimental device called an artificial or "bionic" pancreas. During the three-day study, Elle didn't have to poke her finger every few hours to find out her blood sugar level because the "bionic" pancreas recorded it automatically and adjusted her insulin accordingly.

Shaheen didn't have to set her alarm to wake up every three hours at night because the device was designed to catch a dangerously high or low blood sugar and treat it.

"For the first time since she was diagnosed, I didn't have to worry," says Shaheen, who lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Medical device companies are racing to be the first to market an artificial pancreas, which takes over the work of the diabetic's malfunctioning organ. The device could potentially be used for Type 1 diabetics or Type 2 diabetics who use insulin.

"It's transformative technology," says Aaron Kowalski, assistant vice president for treatment therapies research at JDRF, a research foundation for juvenile diabetes.

JDRF is funding artificial pancreas trials at 13 sites worldwide, including Yale University, Stanford University, the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado. Device companies also are funding several other studies.

The artificial pancreas not only pumps insulin as necessary, it learns the patient's response so it gives just the right amount, self-adjusting every few minutes.  It also can release sugar, in case there is ever too much insulin or unexpected activity.  They expect a working model in approximately four years.  It can't come to soon.

And The Geeks Say... Hallelujah

Stephen Hawking is coming to Big Bang Theory in an upcoming episode. The article on Yahoo Entertainment says he is playing himeself, and has come to share his brilliance with Sheldon Cooper, someone who will understand.

Hawking has always had a great sense of humor about himself and nerds in general. He has voiced himself on several episodes of The Simpsons (I remember being so shocked when I found out it was really him). To the best of my knowledge, he has never truly appeared as himself, so this may be a first.

The episode is scheduled to air April 4th. I'll be sure to catch that one, and I'm sure most of my friends will, too.

Meanwhile The GOP Message...

The GOP message is now the Puritopian message:  the recovery's just not good enough, so let's throw it all away because clearly Obama has failed us.

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a heralded Republican strategist, offered up yet more evidence Sunday that the GOP is coalescing around a 2012 message along the lines of: the economy is improving but it could be much better.

"The American people are being told by the news media, by the liberal media elite, how great the economy is. Well the economy is not great out in America," Barbour said on ABC's This Week. "Maybe it's gotten a little better but it kind of reminds me of an old country song from my youth -- the lyrics were, I've been down so long it looks like up to me now."

"So yeah, we've had some improvement on jobs, but we need a lot more," he added.

And the only way to get "a lot more" is to hand the government over to the GOP that created the financial meltdown and Great Recession in the first place.   Brilliant.  Except that's exactly what the whiners on the left are saying...the same message that the GOP is now rallying around in order to defeat President Obama.

When your message is unceasingly how President Obama has failed us, but you're willing as a "progressive" to accept the "short term pain" of a GOP takeover of the government, you're not a progressive.  Binary worldviews are indeed terrible, but guess what?  Voting is binary: either the D or the R wins.  If you're not with the D's...what does that make you?

You're a Republican.  And you're the problem.

Your Liberal Media Strikes Again

It's pretty clear that our liberal media is sensing the President Obama blowout, so in order to keep interest in horse-race politics, it's time to go on the warpath against the President.  This weekend's example was the big WaPo hit piece on the President's debt ceiling negotiations from last year:

What happened? Obama and his advisers have cast the collapse of the talks as a Republican failure. Boehner, unable to deliver, stepped away from the deal, simple as that.

But interviews with most of the central players in those talks — some of whom were granted anonymity to speak about the secret negotiations — as well as a review of meeting notes, e-mails and the negotiating proposals that changed hands, offer a more complicated picture of the collapse. Obama, nervous about how to defend the emerging agreement to his own Democratic base, upped the ante in a way that made it more difficult for Boehner — already facing long odds — to sell it to his party. Eventually, the president tried to put the original framework back in play, but by then it was too late. The moment of making history had passed.

The actions of Obama and his staff during that period in the summer reflect the grand ambitions and the shortcomings of the president’s first term.

A president who promised to bring the country together, who confidently presented himself as the transformational figure able to make that happen, now had his chance. But, like earlier policy battles, the debt ceiling negotiations revealed a divided figure, a man who remained aloof from a Congress where he once served and that he now needed. He was caught between his own aspirations for historical significance and his inherent political caution. And he was unable to bridge a political divide that had only grown wider since he took office with a promise to change the ways of Washington, underscoring the gulf between the way he campaigned and the way he had governed.

In the end, that brief effort, described by White House officials as the most intense and consequential of Obama’s presidency, not only illuminated pitfalls in the road he had taken during the previous three years but also directed him down a different, harder-edged, more overtly partisan path that is now defining his reelection campaign.

You won't find better propaganda on FOX News as the post lays 100% of the blame for the collapse in the debt ceiling deal at the feet of President Obama...a deal that right now the Republicans are saying they no longer have to follow and that they will not do so.  Steve Benen:

That threat is becoming increasingly real. Reuters reports that House GOP leaders are "ready to break a hard-fought budget deal," in large part because rank-and-file Republicans are insisting upon it. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) are now reportedly seeking a compromise on the compromise, asking Dems to accept an additional $19 billion in cuts, on top of the cuts Democrats already agreed to swallow.

How would congressional Republicans justify reneging on a deal they struck just seven months ago? To hear them tell it, there's room for a semantics debate -- both sides agreed to a $1.047 trillion cap on discretionary spending for fiscal 2013. GOP officials are now arguing that the cap is simply a ceiling, and that there's nothing wrong with pushing a budget that's lower than the agreed-upon maximum.

But the fault is all on President Obama.  The WaPo piece is brutal in its outright fabrications and assumptions, portraying Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor as the "moderates" in the room, standing bravely between the Tea Party and President Obama's socialism.  At the end, the heaped scorn on the President ends with this:

Suddenly, the same Democrats who had accused Obama of meekness in negotiating with the GOP were praising his aggressive new tone. What happened during those days in July when the grand bargain was almost reached, but not quite, had changed him. He no longer seemed divided.

His goal now was unequivocal: to win a second term.

How dare President Uppity McOther try to win. He should just show that he's the better man and resign now.  You can tell President Obama was on the comeback trail because this piece magically appears in the press just when he's hit the 50% favorability mark again.

And why is "President Obama failed grand bargain" important?  This is why:

The president's budget would add $6.4 trillion in deficits between 2013 and 2022, the CBO said. 

That's WITHOUT FACTORING IN HEALTH CARE COSTS GOING DOWN.  But it doesn't matter.

The president has publicly advocated striking a "grand bargain" -- which would involve entitlement and other spending cuts as well as tax increases -- to reduce the country's long-term debt burden. But fraught negotiations with House Republicans fell apart over the summer.

The CBO analysis shows that the president's budget would end up stabilizing the debt -- meaning the country's deficits stop growing faster than the economy. The annual deficit in his proposal would fall to 2.5% of GDP by 2017 -- well below the 8.1% projected for this year. But they would climb back to 3% by 2022. And barring any more significant debt-reduction plans, deficits thereafter would continue on a northward trek.

You see how this game is played?   Once Mitt Romney is the nominee, the "liberal media" will finish turning rabid on the President, and Romney will give their corporate owners all they want.  Meanwhile, the media moguls have to keep Obama from getting too far ahead.

Pay attention.  Last week it was gas prices, now deficits are all that matter.  Next week who knows?  But you can bet it will be President Obama's fault...and his "failures"...that ends up on the front pages.

StupidiNews!

• Deadly fighting in Syria has extended to the al-Mazzeh neighborhood of the capital Damascus as the conflict reached the closest to the power centers of the al-Assad regime so far.
• After Santorum's doubling down on insisting that Puerto Rican statehood requires adopting English as the only official language, GOP primary voters overwhelmingly voted for Mitt Romney yesterday.
• President Obama has come out against North Carolina's Amendment one, which would ban same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state's constitution.
• Analysts expect Apple to announce today a stock dividend to investors with part of its nearly $100 billion cash on hand.
• A New Zealand judge has thrown out the seizure order of Megaupload and the assets of founder Kim Dotcom on a procedural error.

Last Call

The Kroog reminds us that between 2001 and 2010, before HCR was ever on the books, 1 in six Americans lost their employer-based health insurance during the Bush years and the 2008 recession that followed.

Reed Abelson at Economix points us to a startling study on the effects of the Great Recession on health insurance. You can see similar trends in the Census data, but for whatever reason this survey — carried out by a highly reputable group — is even stronger. Here’s the key picture:

What this says is that the system that has provided workable insurance coverage to many (but not enough) Americans is coming apart at the seams. And this in turn means that if health reform goes down, we’re going to be looking at a wave of misery spreading across the land.

Republicans want to replace HCR with "You're at the mercy of the insurance companies.  Good luck."  And yes, this includes Mitt Romney, who has vowed time and time again to "repeal Obamacare".  Like it or not, it's the only way forward now.  If it's repealed...and if the GOP wins, it will be...then it's over.

Better choose a side.

Mitt's Deal With The Devil

So what's Mitt Romney going to do to win? Make a deal with the Devil, of course.

While Romney’s public activities are geared almost entirely toward winning the nomination, his campaign is on a private mission aimed beyond spring. Senior aides and surrogates — hoping to seize a moment when even some unfriendly Republicans are beginning to see Romney as inevitable — have spent the past several weeks making calls and visits to conservative leaders and activists who have resisted Romney’s candidacy.

Campaign manager Matt Rhoades has been wooing tea party organizers in general-election swing states and, in some cases, offering private meetings with Romney. Advisers with roots in the conservative movement, such as Bay Buchanan and Mark DeMoss, have been reaching out to evangelical leaders who are backing other candidates. Elected officials, led by Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), have been courting lawmakers and Beltway power-players who are not on board.

In Boston, longtime confidants Beth Myers and Ron Kaufman are developing a plan for the GOP convention in Tampa, to prevent the party from being divided during the nominee’s turn in the spotlight. Still other Romney emissaries are in touch with mega-donors — including billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has been supporting former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), and Foster Friess, who backs former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) — to persuade them to jump ship.

The coordinated approach, detailed this week in interviews with Romney advisers and supporters, is designed to assure all factions within the party that, as one adviser said, “when the dust settles, we want everybody on board.”

This is the part where Romney makes his promises to the Tea Party and the Corporate wings of the GOP that their extremist nonsense will be his first political acts in office.  He wants Santorum and Gingrich out, and to do that, he has to convince the money people that Romney is for sale.

Of course he's for sale.  He stands for the highest bidder.  And he's making deals to get the Tea Party lunatics and the billionaires who fund them the America they want at the expense of all of the rest of us.

Do we finally understand that Mitt Romney is in no way, shape or form a "moderate" ?

Morocco Promises Changes In Rape-Marriage Law

RABAT, March 15 (Reuters) - Morocco on Thursday said it would amend a law allowing rapists to marry their underage female victims after the suicide of a teenage girl raised doubts about the effectiveness of reforms to women's rights in the country.

Sixteen-year-old Amina El-Filali killed herself last week near the northern city of Larache by swallowing rat poison after a six-month forced marriage to the man who raped her.

Local human rights activists say the law violates women's rights and was created to avoid damage to the reputation of the victim's family.

Rape victims in Morocco carry a stigma of shame and dishonour. They are often suspected by police and judges of consent, and little social assistance is given to help them rebuild their lives.

Convicted rapists face five to 10 years in prison, and up to 20 years when the victim is underage.

At the westernmost boundary of the Muslim world, and only a stone throw's away from Europe, Moroccan women find themselves enjoying more freedoms. A family law reformed in 2004 won the North African country praise from the West for giving Moroccan women more rights than many Arab states.

But that reform, which led to the creation of matrimonial courts, has been dogged by Morocco's conservative and predominantly male judges, and by a failure to adopt laws to ensure better protection to women from physical abuse.

If there was consent, it wouldn't be rape. There is no shame for the family, or the victim, or there shouldn't be. Being selected for rape can come down to opportunity, or something out of the victim's control, such as eye color or height. It cam come from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or as the result of a poor decision. But it never, ever comes from consent, or the very definition of rape is contradicted.

That a female minor could be raped and then forced to marry her attacker is insane. How does that save her or her family any pain? Compounding the mistake at the victim's expense is deplorable. Forced marriage is sickening enough as it is, but marrying one's attacker would be a lifetime of servitude to the person who caused them pain and terror.

And this is after radical improvements.

A Special Place In Hell, Oklahoma Style

"It is - if not the most - probably one of the most heinous crimes we've had in our county," said Undersheriff LouAnn Brown with the Osage County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators say the Thomas' four adopted children, two boys and two girls, were abused for as long as nine years. The children are between 13 and 15 years old.

"Food was an issue, and punishment, was they were only allowed a certain amount of food, the kids have talked about that and if they overstepped that limit then there was punishment," Brown said.

Court documents detail the children were allegedly paddled regularly, forced to eat horse manure, forced to perform sex acts, fed bar soap and cayenne pepper and forced to vomit food and eat it off the floor.

"It's hard because we have families of our own and for people to be able to adopt children and then abuse them like these children have been abused, it's just wrong," Brown said.

According to court documents, the couple had two other foster children who were removed from the home in 2003 by the Department of Human Services after signs of abuse were discovered.

This made me sick to my stomach.  This can't be chalked up to anything but pure evil.  I hope these two lose their freedom forever, and those poor kids are given the best that Oklahoma has to offer them.  Somebody dropped the ball, and these kids paid for it for almost a decade.  Unforgivable.

Split Decision Equals Derision

Republicans in Wisconsin continue to fall apart at the seams as Gov. Scott Walker's self-immolation keeps claiming political victims around him.

Wisconsin state Sen. Pam Galloway (R) is resigning from the chamber today, citing a family health situation. Galloway was one of the targeted incumbents in upcoming recall elections.

This also means that as of now, the Republicans have officially lost their Senate majority, leaving the chamber split 16-16. The recall elections to come will determine who takes the majority. 

Wisconsin Dems are not sitting idly by, and if they regain the Governor's mansion and the State Senate now, Wisconsin's GOP is done for.  It shows that we can fight back, even in states like Kentucky.  We'll see.