Obama is brainwashing your kids! He's a foreigner! He wants to kill Grandma! And the veterans! Make you into a slave! Turn your kids into terrorists! March Christians into internment camps! Do away with God and the American flag! Eats babies for breakfast!----Really, this hysteria is too much. I think once we reform health care a lot of people need therapy for their paranoia. I didn't even bash Cheney this bad.

I don't usually throw the F-word around, at least not publicly in print, but there's no other word for it. The IDSA (Infectious Diseases Society of America) writes the guidelines that insurance companies have to follow with regard to treatment. They also influence federal funds for research. They are hearing testimony in Washington D.C. today and have been legally pressured into reviewing and rewriting the guidelines for Lyme Disease treatment. Previously the existence of late stage neurological Lyme disease was denied, ignoring the many people who have it and dismissing them as malingerers of some sort. See goodbadgirl's post about it and also this page from the California Lyme Disease Association.

How and why conflicts of interest have been allowed to influence treatment of a serious disease that causes brain damage is beyond me, but this can't be allowed to happen with other diseases. (One wonders if it has and we just don't know about it.)

Excerpt from goodbadgirl:

Anyway - 9 of those 12 docs had severe conflicts of interest at the time those guidelines were being drafted - primarily they either were on the payroll of major insurance companies or on the payroll of major drug companies who are secretly racing to come up with a vaccine for a disease they insist does not exist.

In the documentary: Under Our Skin (www.underourskin.com) one of the original doctors on that panel who resigned admitted that IDSA panel never even met to discuss the possibility of late stage lyme disease. He simply received a letter from some of the other (payrolled) doctors stating that they were releasing the guidelines, late stage lyme is not going to be incorporated, and he could either sign it or resign from the panel.

goodbadgirl has a list of things that concerned people can do near the bottom of her post.

I always thought it was sad that she and her boyfriend were made the poster children for the GOP's position on abstinence and pro-life issues.

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
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Happy Presidential Upgrade Day Thank you for your upgrade to POTUS v44.

Hilarious, you gotta read the rest! Short and sweet! Genius.

At an inaugural luncheon Ted Kennedy collapsed with an apparent seizure and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Some of his friends said he was looking better before the ambulance drove away and that medicine had been administered. They sounded hopeful that he would recover. A prayer was said at the event and a moment of silence observed.

update:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/inauguration.kennedy.collapse/index.html

Let us all hope and pray that he recovers and is able to work on health care, an issue near and dear to him for 4 decades.

The Buck Stops Everywhere BUT Here.

For those like me who, every four years, go into a frenzy of political ecstasy and edge-of-your-seat TV viewing, keeping up with every poll and every gaffe on the campaign trail, the post election-pre-inauguration period is painful. Out of habit I try to watch the same political shows but the news is slow and boring. Blah blah the Clintons blah blah automaker bailout blah blah appointments blah blah Team of Rivals blah blah Bush lame duck watch blah blah blah. The adrenalin rush is gone and there's no way to get it back.

Could January 20th come now? Can we hit fast forward before Bush screws anything else up? Please?

Will.i.am on Oprah:

Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders whether the dream of our fathers is alive in our time, who questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours, four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must by different, that their voices could be that difference. It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled; Americans who sent a message around the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states, we are and always will be the United States of American
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I am pleased and awestruck that Barack Obama and Joe Biden won by such a large margin today. In Barack Obama I see a president whose election insures that my half-Mexican grandsons and my half-Iraqi grandchild-to-be have a chance to run for president someday or achieve anything else they set their hearts and minds on and work hard for. In Joe Biden we have the creator of the Violence Against Women Act and a tireless fighter for the working class as well as someone with foreign policy experience. The Obama family (sadly, minus their grandma) will be an inspiring sight and presence in the White House.

I applaud McCain's gracious concession speech but was taken aback by the boos of the crowd--which would not be entirely stilled by him. It's going to take a lot of work to bring the country together and I hope we can all be as gracious as winners as we wished the other side had been in 2000 and 2004.

I've been in tears ever since they called the race for Obama tonight. I am still anxiously watching Prop 8 in California and sad about the passing of a similar ballot measure in Arizona. Two steps forward, one step back. We must keep moving forward.

From Hardball:



I started out criticizing all the ageist jokes about McCain early in this campaign year. Then he started making errors about which terrorists Iran has helped to train, repeatedly, and his campaign became really bizarre and erratic, changing tactics day to day. When he chose Palin I really had to wonder about his age and state of mind in connection with that decision and what the fate of the country would be if she took office. Now I have to agree with Christopher Hitchens: McCain just doesn't look like he's held up well to the stress of a campaign, which I have to suspect is related to his age. Does anyone imagine a presidency is easier than a presidential campaign? Do we want a tired, stressed, and therefore mentally deficient McCain handling an international crisis? Or would we prefer a younger, sharper, and energetic Obama doing so? Disregarding ideology for a moment, I suspect many Americans who've watched McCain unravel and age rapidly this year feel that same sense of unease with McCain in office, handling financial and foreign policy issues. Some people could handle the presidency in their 70s--I just have serious doubts about McCain doing so.

Like many I think it's sad that Bush/Rove tactics ended his 2000 primary campaign. He would certainly have been better, back then, than Bush. Now I think it's just too late. It looks like it's a bitter pill for him to swallow. But for the sake of the country, I hope he doesn't manage to pull off an electoral victory this year.

The RNC has pumped money his way for these last days of the election and the battleground states are seeing a scary new McCain ad using Biden's foolish words over a background of terrifying images set to creepy music. It's time to contribute more to Obama's campaign in this final stretch to bring them at least even again in funds.

John McCain's brother Joe thinks 911 dispatchers are like his own personal assistants or something:

Operator: Alexandria 911, state your emergency

Caller: Well, it's not an emergency but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way across the drawbridge?

Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause)

Caller: "[Expletive]" (caller hangs up)

The operator called the caller back and received this message: "Hi this is Joe McCain I can't take this message now because I'm involved in a very (inaudible) important political project... I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John."

The operator then called the number back and left a message for Joe about how it is illegal to use a 911 number for anything other than emergencies.

Here's the best part: An outraged Joe called the operator back to complain about being read the riot act about calling 911 and got read the riot act again.



He sounds so much like his brother when he gets into a temper that it's scary.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says liberal leftist members of Congress should be investigated by the media for un-American sentiments, associations, and activities. You have to wade through some Obama bashing first. This segment starts with the robo-call that the RNC and McCain-Palin campaign has been using in the battleground states all about William Ayers and Obama.



I wish he'd asked her about the Obama foodstamps and the poster about Obama, Osama, and waterboarding...aren't these un-American?

Warning: could be triggering for rape and abuse victims. Rape victim explains to Palin why she should have a choice regarding abortion.

I just want to comment on the people wearing the "Sarah Palin is a Cunt" t-shirts. Knock it off! Our side should be above such blatant sexism. I don't care if you are a man or a woman--wearing this t-shirt is deeply offensive. Why don't you use your brains to come up with a great t-shirt expressing what's wrong about her policies instead?

It's not right when their side does it and it's not right when our side does. It only diminishes our valid arguments about which side is better suited to protect the rights and enhance the security and prosperity of our country.

So John McCain is very concerned about the health and finances of Joe the Plumber, but if there were a Jill the Plumber who needed an abortion for health reasons in the last trimester she should just plan to have the baby--even if it kills her. A sneering McCain put air quotes around the word health in the debate when referring to the provision protecting women's right to have a late term abortion for health reasons.

I suspect he lost some independent women voters last night.

Meanwhile Obama got a chance to put the Ayers thing to rest and make it clear that Ayers did NOT launch his political career with a fundraiser in his living room.

Once again McCain looked disgruntled and like he just can't believe he hasn't been fitted for a crown yet because this young upstart has taken the job he believes should be his. It keeps bothering me that McCain has this sense of entitlement, as if doing time in the Senate is some automatic guarantee. Well, talk to Kerry and then sit down with Al Gore and figure out how to deal with it. Unless something earth shaking happens (another Osama tape?) it looks pretty bad for McCain right now.

That doesn't mean we should all rest on our laurels, though, we still have to vote. :)

Open Letter to McCain-Palin to end their dangerous and divisive tactics that are encouraging hate and violence--please join me in signing on to this.

I added to mine:
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I'm sure many of you have followed the stories about McCain and Palin's accusations that Barack Obama "pals around" with a domestic terrorist (William Ayers of the 60s radical movement), the use of the middle name Hussein at rallies, the look into Obama's campaign contribution for "foreign" money, and the people yelling out such things as "terrorist," "kill him," "bomb Obama," and "treason" at rallies. Finally McCain had to correct a couple of people for being scared of an Obama presidency and for calling Obama an Arab. (Though it was odd for McCain to answer the Arab charge simply by saying Obama is a decent family man as if no Arabs could be decent--that may say a lot about his world view.) Some have said that McCain's campaign tactics could inspire violence in a xenophobic and racist group of voters who still believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim. There was quite a controversy when Representative John Lewis warned about the dangers of toxic language and invoked examples from the 60s when Governor George Wallace was believed to have contributed to a climate where racial violence broke out.

What do you think about all of this? What was John McCain's campaign trying to imply and are they at all responsible for creating a climate in which violence against Obama is more likely? Please comment if there are not any options that reflect your view or you would like to elaborate.


Poll #1277325 Looking at McCain campaign's latest tactics
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

Are you afraid that the latest tactics by McCain has made Obama more vulnerable to violence?

Do you think McCain should do more to calm any xenophobia he might have inspired?

Do you believe that McCain was deliberately suggesting that Obama was some sort of foreign terrorist mole?

I posted this back in '05 but in an election year I think it's timely.

My top ten (feel free to share your own):

1.) We do see ourselves as moral and ethical people, and many of us are also religious. We don't feel like that we are respected or acknowledged for that.

2.) We simply disagree that gay rights is going to cause the downfall of society and we can't quite understand the assertion that it will.

3.) When you try to remind everyone that homosexuality is a sin in your religion--as if we haven't ever heard that before--we feel like you are trying to force your religion on us. We're happy if you choose to believe that, as long as you respect our right to a different opinion.

4.) We want religion out of public spaces out of respect for freedom of religion in America, to make all Americans feel included. If we allow the symbols of any one religion in government spaces, that makes it look like the state-approved religion. We're not just picking on Christian faiths--Wiccans don't want a pentagram there either.

5.) We don't see America as a Christian nation. Once upon a time that was the only primary religious influence in society--but society is more complex now, with many religions. American society is made up of all Americans, not just one group.

6.) We hold our various awareness workshops not to convert your children--but to keep them from beating up our children. If you would teach them that effectively, maybe we wouldn't have to.

7.) We find it offensive when you refer to minority religions as "wacky" or "koo-koo" or other such derogatory terms. One can state what one disagrees with in polite language.

8.) The 1950s were only better and simpler on the surface--when everyone pretended to be and think the same and swept things like child abuse or domestic violence under the rug. Now that such things are out in the open at least we can try to deal with them. (I had a half brother who effectively died of malnutrition when his caretaker underfed him--in the glorious '50s.)

9.) We see it as our responsibility to speak out when we think our leaders are wrong. That's the obligation of citizens who participate in a representative democracy. It certainly doesn't make us traitors.

10.) We love our country--and that's exactly why we expect better things from it.

and a bonus:

11.) We respect and appreciate the men and women who are willing to fight for America--which is why we want to be very sure they are only sent to do so when it's really necessary. It doesn't honor or help them to simply rubber-stamp any military action our government decides to engage in, against all evidence to the contrary. Quite the opposite--we fail to fully appreciate their sacrifice when we abandon them to bad leadership. Our voices are the check against the misuse of our brave soldiers, and we must not be silent.

And right now--they are under bad leadership at the very top.