US POLITICS: AMERICANS, PLEASE WELCOME YOUR NEW PRESIDENT... SCOTT BROWN!

Really looking forward to the final debate!!

Anyway now the procedural vote is done so the final debate can begin! *snores*

THE FINAL CONFRONTATION. MANO-A-MANO.

Just got done reading Michael Shermer's _Why People Believe Weird Things_, and he repeatedly makes the point on the book and on his blog that intelligence doesn't really affect whether you believe weird things or not. Smart people are excellent at rationalizing beliefs they've arrived at thru non-smart means.

Another example are the kind of brilliant technical people one meets who are really into Ayn Rand, Ron Paul, trutherism, UFOs, etc.

does someone have a quick, quality link rebutting the argument that HCR will raid millions from medicare/older americans?

"Smart people are excellent at rationalizing beliefs they've arrived at thru non-smart means."

^ Just made this my facebook status.

Seriously. Check out Shermer's SkepticBlog. Writes about this alla time.

xxp http://www.slate.com/id/2237497/

does someone have a quick, quality link rebutting the argument that HCR will raid millions from medicare/older americans?

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, March 21, 2010 6:05 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

daniel i dunno, but there were some "expected" savings in Medicare that were counted in the overall cost computation of the bill, i think. and then the bill of course spends money on subsidies for the uninsured, so, there you go. maybe that's what "raiding" means?

there is some controversy among Corner types re: "double counting" some medicare savings, but i dunno wtf they're on about

xps: or read that article i guess

Grandstand, Oppose, Postpone = GOP. Don't know which Rep said this, but LOLLLLL.

so medicare advantage is a program whereby the gov't pays private insurers to administer medicare benefits, on the theory that they'll do it more efficiently (thereby yielding a savings for the gov't or better benefits for medicare advantage beneficiaries). but the idea backfired, and now medicare advantage is sucking more funds from the gov't than regular medicare payments, and that's the medicare money that the HCR recoups (by pairing back the medicare advantage program)?

sorry to ask dumb questions on the eve of a historic vote.

LOL at this republican complaining about Obama using an executive order

We all remember his valiant efforts to limit Bush's use of the exec. order.

yglesias on the final stupak bullshit:

I’ve spent a while trying to figure out what it is Bart Stupak got in the course of his executive order “compromise” on abortion, and as best I can tell the answer is nothing. Or as Athenae < href="http://www.first-draft.com/2010/03/bart-got-what-he-wanted.html";>puts it he got attention. I think what primarily happened is that with his bloc dissolving, Stupak cut a face-saving deal that mostly gave him an opportunity for “walking back from some of his past arguments”.

The problem with Stupack’s position in this has been that current law already reflects what he wants and the proposal he was objecting to also already reflects what he wants. If I wrote the laws, abortion would be treated like the bona fide medical procedure it is, and there’d be no reason that government-subsidized insurance plans couldn’t offer it. But I don’t write the laws, existing law reflects unjust discrimination against abortion services, and Obama’s proposals have always included a commitment to maintain the status quo. The political judgment that revisiting the Hyde Amendment in the middle of a giant fight about the overall structure of the insurance market was a bad idea strikes me as correct. But as a result of that, Stupak has been spending all this time huffing and puffing over basically nothing. In the end, Obama agreed to issue an executive order that basically amounts to pinky swearing that the Hyde rules are still in effect, but that’s always been his position. In exchange, Stupak agreed to acknowledge that the proposal actually does what everyone’s been saying it does, but he gets to walk away without admitting that he’s been wrong about this for a while now.

Oh here they go with Pitts, bitching about the executive order and trying to control my uterus, with magic Christians.

can we get a new USGVT thred?

Let's see this pass the House first. Then we can get a new title.

i think we should keep this one until the vote tonight. tomorrow is a new day and all.

ha xp

lol fair enuf

should we start workshopping some new titles now?

US POLITICS: WATERLOO OR TET OFFENSIVE WE REPORT YOU DECIDE

"“The G.O.P. used to stand for the Grand Old Party. Now it stands for grandstand, oppose and postpone.”"

us politics: hallelujah obama is jesus again, stfu morbs

US politics: the vindication of morbius

us politics: welcome to abortion-ville, population you and all of your white children

us politics: lucky i had cancer last year!

US politics: mr.speakeriaskunanimousconsenttoreviseandextendmyremarksinoppositiontothisFLAWEDhealthcarebill.

US POLITICS: WE'VE SEEN THE SAUSAGE MAKING, LET'S HAVE A DRINK

State-level, meanwhile, but what happens when right-to-life meets anti-immigration forces:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-nebraska22-2010mar22,0,277179.story

US Politics: Bigotry Is A Pre-Existing Condition

US Politics: The Ghost of the Soviet Socialist Utopia!

lol, rep. nuez (the guy who apologized for the hate-speech tea-partiers earlier today) just said HCR is soviet-style socialism/communism!

what a loon.

US politics: what a loon.

^ ha i like that one

US POLITICS: YOU GET THE VOTES *makes fist* AND YOU TAKE THE VOTE *punches hand*

US Politics: YOUR TWEETS ONSCREEN

us politics: today we are all western european style social communists

i didn't know illegal immigrants were in nebraska in the first place xxp

US POLITICS: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF JIM "CREME" DEMINT AFTER THE SUNSET OF FREEDOM

US POLITICS: WAITING FOR THE DAWN OF THE FATHERLAND OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF OBAMASTAN

us politics: that's entertainment!

Ed's wins.

us politics: global armageddon

US Politics: YOUR TWEETS ONSCREEN

― wears suburban hang-ups on her sleeve like some kind of corporate logo (daria-g), Sunday, March 21, 2010 8:02 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

vote to make rules to vote 4 this one^

US POLITICS: IT'S ONLY NEWS IF HAPPENS BETWEEN 10AM AND 4PM

us poliROCK! WAKE UP AMERICA AND STOMP YOUR FEET TO THESE HEAVY CLASSICS

yeah daria's is best clearly

US politics: f--k all of you.

us politics: lucky i had cancer last year!

― max, Sunday, March 21, 2010 11:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

a sidenote to this great photo is that kathryn lopez posted it on the corner as an example of one of the best signs in the crowd.

i stole it from HEY RICK

US POLITICS: AMERICANS, PLEASE WELCOME YOUR NEW PRESIDENT... AN ABORTED FETUS... LITERALLY AN ABORTION IS PRESIDENT