John F. Kennedy and the New Anti-Christ

I was 16-going-on-17 during John F. Kennedy's run for the White House in 1960, a member of a Pentecostal church which militantly viewed "the world" as enemy to the good, while all my high school friends were Southern Baptists. The father of one of those friends passed a printed pamphlet to my father, who gave it to me: "The Catholic Menace." I began to read about the dangers our beloved country was in should the Catholic Kennedy lie his way into the presidency. The hairs were standing up on the back of my neck by the time I finished. I was haunted by images of what Catholics did to Protestants (back when they did things to Protestants, whenever that was, as deliciously detailed in Fox’s Book of Martyrs). I knew that I had to do something to keep the Pope from taking over our government.

What I could do as a teenager was talk, a little wild-eyed, to my classmates, who couldn't vote, and to my extended family, many of whom never bothered to vote. That year, despite all the crazy talk by adults who could and did vote for Richard M. Nixon, Texas went for Kennedy and in January 1961 cast its 24 electoral votes for JFK.

That was the same year, 1961, that Barack Obama was born in Honolulu. Obama is now the target of the 21st century equivalent of nasty little printed pamphlets, that is, The Forwarded E-Mail, the most virulent recent one claiming that the president is actually the antichrist. Some of the more determined promoters of these vicious fictions are going on YouTube, like this guy, who, when he gets tired of misrepresenting Christianity as a paranoid's last resort, could have a great career as a twister of balloons into party animals.

The Republican Party is not only hanging out with these people. These people are the base of the Republican Party, they define it. In the absence of any visible party leadership, they're calling the shots, and it's the rare Republican politician willing to stand up and say "You people are plu-perfect cra-zee and have nothing to do with me."

I raise this connection between the paranoia of the super-religious in the 1960s and the paranoia of the super-religious in 2009 as a melancholy memory, since some lunatic managed to kill Kennedy. Some lunatic, fueled by the evil reverends in our midst today, will puff themselves up with the egotism of their own righteousness and attempt to kill Barack Obama. They're certainly capable of murder, and worse. They shot a doctor in the head in his own church in Omaha.

Beware of the righteous on a mission from God. No group should fear them more than the contemporary Republican Party, whose hands will not easily come clean of that blood.

The Republican Game Plan: Disruption, Confusion, Massive Lying

A memo has leaked instructing tea-baggers and other Repub-symps on how to behave when Democratic members of Congress hold their town-hall meetings with voters during the August recess. A few high-points (but follow the link above to see the whole thing):

1. Artificially Inflate Your Numbers

2. Be Disruptive Early and Often

3. Try to "Rattle Him," Not Have an Intelligent Debate

Well, okay then.

Democratic members of Congress need to grow a pair and stand up to this bullshit. In fact, go on the offensive against it.

At least Democrats are holding town hall meetings! When's the last time Virginia Foxx stood up anywhere in her district and took questions from voters? We happen to have that date emblazoned in our memories ... January 25, 2006. Two Thousand and Freakin' Six!

She's only brave when she's absolutely sure no one is going to ask her an unscripted question.

Virginia Foxx's Greatest Hits

Let's give credit where credit is due. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx has gone from obscure N.C. state senator with a celebrated penchant for stealing buffet food to a national sensation, "Madam Doctor Foxx," known for smearing a wealth of lipstick on or near her mouth and using it to torture the last Republican president and for uttering some of the most devastatingly stupid lines in the interest of partisan hatefulness. Her most recent (see below) is featured now on TV approximately every two hours, or less.

You can make your own list of favorite Foxx bon mots. These are mine:

1. "I'm misunderstood in the same way Jesse Helms was." 2003, in an interview with GOPUSA while still a NC state Senator

2. "The worst thing we can do is to get government involved in solving problems." September 16, 2003, in the NC state Senate's special session on medical malpractice lawsuit reform

3. "I thought Mr. [Roger] Clemens made a very credible presentation here today. I have no reason to doubt him." February 13, 2008, in a hearing before the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, looking into illegal "juicing" by professional athletes

4. "I think the 16th Amendment is unconstitutional." April 15, 2008, in an interview with Kathleen McFadden with the High Country Press. Foxx did not explain how a duly ratified addition to the Constitution could be "unconstitutional"

5. "Governmental attempts to regulate and tax tobacco are no different than if the government were to regulate and tax Mountain Dew." April 8, 2009. A close paraphrase of what she said to teenagers at North Surry High School, according to the editor of the Mt. Airy News

6. "I also would like to point out that there was a bill -- the hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. This -- the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills." April 29, 2009, on the floor of the U.S. Congress, with Matthew Shepherd's mother sitting in the visitor gallery

7. "There are no Americans who don't have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare." July 24, 2009, in a Capitol Hill press conference

8. A Republican health care plan would "make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government." July 28, 2009, on the floor of the U.S. Congress

Hagan Gets Over Her Case of the Willies?

Sez she's definitely on board with a guaranteed public insurance option that would compete with private insurance companies.

Heath Shuler, Big Man on Campus

What a diva!

Congressman Heath Shuler of the NC-11 joined the Blue Dog Democrats as soon as he got to Congress, and since then you'd think he both invented sliced (white) bread and also guarded its purity.

The Blue Dogs have been sticking their fat fingers in the president's eye over health insurance reform, siding with the Republicans in the rote repetition of talking points whose sole substance appears to be fear of change, terror mainly expended on behalf of the big insurance corporations (like Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NC) which might actually (gasp!) have to compete in the marketplace instead of being handed a virtual monopoly.

The Blue Dogs, with Shuler very much hunting in that pack, have set themselves up as too too big for their britches, becoming in effect the dictators in the U.S. House of what will be allowed in any so-called "reform," which in their case looks an awful lot like what the Republican mugwumps advocate (i.e., "very little" or "next to nothing" or "the bare minimum to placate the ignorant public").

Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi caved to some Blue Dog demands (at which point the Progressive Dems in the House began manning their own barricades, since they've said all along that they would not support a reform that does not include competition for the big insurance corps).

And what's Shuler saying? He's set himself up as even more pompous than the Blue Dogs that Pelosi was trying to placate yesterday. According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, Shuler "expressed reservations about the deal on health care reform legislation reached Wednesday among some Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee."

And then he showed his hand: "I am hopeful that the ongoing negotiations will be productive, and I'm glad that the Blue Dogs have been able to slow the process down. I will continue to work with Blue Dogs and my other colleagues in both parties to ensure that health care reform will benefit us all. It is more important that we get it right than right away."

That last line is a sound-bite that might have been written by John Boehner, along with the sentiment, "I'm glad I could slow the game down." So that it resembles a death-march, eh, Congressman?

We might respect Mr. Shuler's position if we thought he knew the first thing about what he's talking about, rather than merely posturing for the applause of the Republicans he seems to be serving far more assiduously than the Democrats who elected him.

FoxxyCare Would Put More Holes in the Safety Net

Madam Doctor Virginia Foxx is attempting to make a distracting splash in the health-care reform pool today by jumping onto a rival all-Republican bill, the so-called "Improving Health Care for All Americans Act" (H.R. 3218), otherwise known as "Give All the Money to the Insurance Industry Act."

It screams: "Republicans need to look like they're taking the need for health-care reform seriously."

(1) In short, this "plan" does three things: it offers tax credits to those who are not already in some kind of insurance pool to buy insurance (does not offer tax credits to those who get health care through their employers); it allows states to set up high risk pools and minimally funds those pools; and it allows small businesses to pool together to buy insurance, an "Exchange," so to speak.

(2) Pooled exchanges are not allowed to charge varying premiums for their members, but there is no limit on how much they can charge all their members. In other words, when the insurance companies determine that the pool is not making them enough profit, they can simply increase fees on all individuals within the exchange. There is no limit as to how much they can increase their rates, increase co-pays, or increase deductibles.

(3) There is no opportunity to set up not-for-profit exchanges. All exchanges must negotiate with insurance companies.

(4) States can set up a high risk pool or not. They would get minimal start-up costs, so probably most would not. N.C., for example, could get a maximum of $4.6 million per year. A couple of serious illnesses could wipe out this fund overnight.

(5) There is no discussion of how this plan would be funded or how much it
would cost.

(6) There is nothing in the bill that would reduce costs of health care or premiums.

What Senators Dodd & Hagan Have in Common (Other Than Uncommonly Good Health Insurance)

Both senators are receiving really marvelous mega-$$ support from Big Pharma, the drug industry's lobbying arm (the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA for short). According to today's NYTimes, Dodd...

has not only benefited from the hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertisement courtesy of the pharmaceutical industry and Families U.S.A., a health-care advocacy group the industry teamed up with. But a few weeks ago, Mr. Dodd attended a $1,500-a-plate campaign fund-raiser sponsored by lobbyists representing U.S. Oncology, a provider of cancer drugs and services.

Dodd chairs the key health committee in the Senate that has already written its version of health-care reform, a bill which contains a public option.

Kay Hagan sits on this committee. She's received the same fawning support from PhRMA, with TV ads the group has paid for in N.C. praising her.

Doesn't make us feel any better about our chances, when the chips are finally down, of getting a consumer-friendly vote out of either senator.

We all knew that Congress was being bought & paid for by Big Business well before the reform of insurance industry practices was a gleam in Barack Obama's eye. They've bought key members of both parties. Sen. Dick Burr was schmoozing the same creeps last night. Ordinary working-class citizens can't get into such meetings. They're for the Big Boys only, and for the politicians they buy. Like, say, the effing Blue Dog Democrats.

We deserve this sorry state of affairs if we put up with this sorry state of affairs. I'm about past the point where I'm willing to put up with it, especially from elected representatives I might have considered philosophical allies.

Virginia Foxx Finally Figgers It Out!

Oh my Gawd, she's onto us!

She actually read the bill and found out that the Democrats have been laying the groundwork to kill old people ... except for the illegal immigrants and gay people (they're exempt ... hee hee hee). And coincidentally, the Democratic National Committee is reportedly proofreading a new cookbook titled "To Serve Man," which will be for sale on-line soon.

What the Madam didn't say (which suggests she did NOT read the footnotes to the bill) is that having passed the 65 threshold herself, she's now eligible for parboiling ... just as soon as our foreign-born Muslim president gets all those Democratic votes lined up.

She's gonna need extra rosemary, though. And salt. Lotsa salt.

A "Mafia" That's Holier Than Thou

The secret fundamentalist cabal, known as "The Family," which runs the secretive C Street townhouse where famous Republican serial adulterers have recently bunked, is discussed by the leading authority on the group, Jeff Sharlet, who wrote the book "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power." Sharlet sums up the secret group and the Washington men who have affiliated with it this way:

...Family men are more than hypocritical. They're followers of a political religion that embraces elitism, disdains democracy, and pursues power for its members the better to "advance the Kingdom." They say they're working for Jesus, but their Christ is a power-hungry, inside-the-Beltway savior not many churchgoers would recognize. Sexual peccadilloes aside, the Family acts today like the most powerful lobby in America that isn't registered as a lobby -- and is thus immune from the scrutiny attending the other powerful organizations like Big Pharma and Big Insurance that exert pressure on public policy.

The Family likes to call itself a "Christian Mafia," but it began 74 years ago as an anti-New Deal coalition of businessmen convinced that organized labor was under the sway of Satan. The Great Depression, they believed, was a punishment from God for what they viewed as FDR's socialism. The Family's goal was the "consecration" of America to God, first through the repeal of New Deal reforms, then through the aggressive expansion of American power during the Cold War. They called this a "Worldwide Spiritual Offensive," but in Washington, it amounted to the nation's first fundamentalist lobby. Early participants included Southern Sens. Strom Thurmond, Herman Talmadge and Absalom Willis Robertson -- Pat Robertson's father. Membership lists stored in the Family's archive at the Billy Graham Center at evangelical Wheaton College in Illinois show active participation at any given time over the years by dozens of congressmen.

Heath Shuler has already been linked to the C Street cabal.

And now ... Mike McIntyre, that other N.C. blue dog, who votes with the Republicans even more than Heath.

Whose interests are they serving, and why do they hide the strings by which they dangle?