…but it’s weirdly moving. It will also make some of us feel awfully old.
Barack Obama
The Deed is Done
For the many who have fought for health care reform so many years, especially for the late Senator Ted Kennedy, and, personally, for my mom, Jean Patterson, who fought all her life for patients’ rights, particularly those of our veterans, and would have been so proud if she could have been here to see this: savor this day.
And for those who oppose the bill, there’s much work to be done for our future. Please step forward for the country where we agree and express yourself openly and with dignity where we do not, but let us work together.
Seeing history made is a moving and humbling experience.
Onward.
Nuns to Bishop’s Four, Check
Here’s an interesting one. In the midst of the poltical strum und drang over health care reform, a group representing Catholic nuns (and, yes, there are other kinds) stepped forward to endorse Obama’s legislation in defiance of the nation’s Catholic bishops, who oppose the legislation saying it would open the door to taxpayers funding abortions. Sayeth the Sisters:
“Despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions. It will uphold longstanding conscience protections and it will make historic new investments — $250 million — in support of pregnant women,” wrote the nuns, in a letter released by Network, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby. “This is the REAL pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it.”
Health Bill Gains Ground with Weekend Vote Likely
The endorsement reflected a division within the church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes the Senate-passed legislation, contending it would, in fact, permit the use of federal funds for elective abortions.
Ow. Could be a tense dinner at the rectory this evening. “Could you please ask Mother Superior to pass the boiled carrots?” “Mother Superior, Father James would like you to–” “Shut up, pinhead. I heard the old goat.”
Hilarity ensues.
Giving to Haiti
There are a number of avenues available to donate aid to Haiti; the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders are two of the best. But you can also go to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, a bipartisan effort brokered by President Obama and administered by former presidents Clinton and Bush. Here’s info on the fund:
The earthquake that rocked the coast of Haiti killed or injured a devastating number of people. Even more were left in need of aid, making this is one of the great humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas. In the aftermath of the disaster, President Barack Obama asked President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush to raise funds for immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts to help those who are most in need of food, water, shelter, medical care, and support. In response, the two Presidents established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF) to identify and fulfill unmet needs in the region, foster economic opportunity, improve the quality of life of those affected over the long term, and assist the people of Haiti as they rebuild their lives and country. Presidents Clinton and Bush oversee the CBHF through their respective nonprofit organizations, the William J. Clinton Foundation and Communities Foundation of Texas. One hundred percent of the donations made to the Clinton Foundation go directly to relief efforts. Ninety-nine percent of the donations made to the Communities Foundation of Texas go directly to relief efforts.
And you can go to their page here:
Steve
It’s the End of the World as We Know It…
The Asshole Heard Round the World
I missed it, actually, the moment when Congressman Joe Wilson (Asshole–S.C.) jumped the shark. I was running late and hadn’t turned Obama’s speech on yet. But I haven’t missed it this morning.
If you have, Mr. Shouty Jackoff yelled “You lie!” at the President during Obama’s speech last night…a genius move that received a sad shake of the head from Joe Biden and a glare from Nancy Pelosi that could cause small animals to wither and die up to a range of 12 feet. Wilson apologized this morning, shortly after delivering his testicles to Rahm Emanuel, who now has them in a cedar box on his desk. And, at varying times during the next few weeks, as the health care bill is being discussed, he’ll invite various House and Senate members to his office, and, at appropriate moments of their conversation, he’ll reach across the desk, pick up the box, and briefly rattle it.
Wilson’s congressional Web site has already crashed. I’m suspecting his mailbox is full.
But the mailbox of his likely Democratic opponent next year is up and running, and so far it’s made a tidy $100,000 overnight.
And a flood of stories are appearing about how everybody who knows Wilson is shrugging and going, “Yep…he’s an asshole.” Good times.
I think a new bumpersticker has just been born: Obama lied? You died.
Van Jones is my New Hero…
…and Obama fired him yesterday. Bummer.
Van Jones sez Republicans are Assholes
Uh…stop the presses? And, by the way, he’s right–especially in the context in which he said it. But he should know you can’t be that honest and do the people’s business; so he’s gone. The end.
Long live Tom Paine.
S
Target Sighted and Destroyed
So some typical Weekly World News type writes a bullshit column about Obama’s mother-in-law practicing voodoo in the White House (no racism there, no), and the Wonkette, doing what the Wonkette does best, slaughters her with snark. What does said wingnut do but write to Wonkette with a whining, wheedling cry for…well, it’s supposed to be a plea for understanding, but really comes across more as a cry for help. (Jump, Kristen! Jump!) Upon which the Wonkette and the blog’s commenters rise up en masse to swarm-sting her so mercilessly that you almost want to call out for them to stop, lest the deranged woman be blasted into tiny, jagged pieces.
In other words, it’s the funniest thing since the dismembered Black Knight kept taunting King Arthur. “It’s just a flesh wound!”
Kristen Atkinson in the Lion’s Den
Face it, Kristen. There’s a goat’s head out there with your name on it.
White Rabbit House
…and there nothing like kicking back and doing some shrooms to relieve the stress of dealing with dopey bastards at town halls. Crank up the Jefferson Airplane, Barack!
“But, if we think of existence as a continuum, past and present and future existing simultaneously, man.”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh.”
“Then we can postulate…ah…that…uh…. What was I sayin’?”
“Oneness. No duality.”
“Duality? Or, twoality?”
“Twoality?”
“‘Cause you said oneness.”
“I did? What were you sayin’?”
(Pause. Insane laughter breaks out.)
Happy Friday, America!
Pop ’em if you got ’em….
Steve Patterson's Splatterverse 