SoonerBlue

I don't care how artistic you are, or that you hung out with Jack Nicholson, or what a swell guy your friends say you are, or that you had a tough childhood -- you drugged and raped a 13 y/o child, Roman Polanski! A little girl, who even in her drugged state, said "No."

You admitted the rape, said you were guilty, and then fled the country before you could be sentenced. Why should you be treated any differently than any other child rapist? Because you make movies? Hah! Child rape is still child rape.

And I wonder if you've done it again, but been able to cover it up. Pedophiles, men who like little girls, usually don't stop at one.

It pisses me off that you managed to escape arrest for 32 years, and that my government somehow let you get away with it.

It pisses me off that you continued to work as a director, even winning an Oscar...that you got to live the good life in multiple homes in Europe with your new family. You raped a child. Period.

I don't care that your victim's mother brought her to you at Jack Nicholson's house all those years ago...that's another sordid story.

I don't care that your 40 y/o victim doesn't want you punished today. It's easy to understand her dread of being caught in the middle of a media circus that could turn out to be as ugly as the rape itself.

But this is not the victim vs. Polanski, it's the State of California vs. Polanski, and it has to play out to finally put an end to it.

And now your friends are signing petitions and trying to paint you as the victim! Boohoo. It is hardly a "miscarriage of justice" to bring you back to finish the procedure you pled guilty to.

Thirty years ago you plied a child with alcohol and Quaaludes, forcibly raped her and then ran from justice...I hope they throw the book at you Roman Polanski!

Ahmadinejad's jittery craziness is the perfect foil to what Gordon Goldstein calls Obama's "greatest qualities as president"..."his quality of mind and his quality of judgment -- his dispassionate ability to analyze a situation." 

We'll have to wait and see if Americans can appreciate a thoughtful and patient President over a knee-jerk reactive cowboy one.

From washingtontimes.com: "[M]r. Obama's disclosure Friday that Iran had a secret nuclear facility and that he had known about it since taking office introduced a new way of looking at many of his decisions since January.

"You have to go back and look at the nine months and all the moves he's made since then, and that he knew Iran was lying to him, and he still went ahead with it," said Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a Washington advocacy group devoted to eliminating nuclear weapons from the world.

"He played Iran perfectly, to isolate Iran, unite all the other countries around him, with an open hand to Iran, and then he springs the trap."

Not only did the president look strong, he looked cunning. [..]"

It is refreshing to see Obama handle the 'Iranian' problem this way....after eight years of "cowboyism."

I find his slow and thoughtful approach to these challenging problems remarkable. His bringing the Russians on board by agreeing to move Bush's  missile shield out of Eastern Europe was brilliant.

The neo-cons played checkers...Obama plays chess.

Okay, the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur is over, Congress is coming back to work on healthcare reform.

House Democrats are trying to combine three different bills proposed by three different committees. Leaders say they hope to send a final bill to the Congressional Budget Office by the end of the week.

The Senate's Finance Committee will try to complete its bill by the end of the week...then start debating early next week about whether it should include a public insurance option. Let's hope it takes center stage.

The latest polls show that a majority of Americans want a public option. Are you listening Blue Dogs? If we don't re-elect you, all that campaign money from the health industry won't mean a thing.

Any thinking person can see that a public option would drive down the cost of private insurance. Surprise -- the insurance industry opposes it...they say lower-priced competition would put private insurance companies out of business.

Well, it might reduce some of their bonuses...but, out of business, no.

Profiteers should not manage or run healthcare. It's safe to say that the dysfunctional healthcare system we have now knocks off a lot more people than a whole army of "death panels."

Instead of 'public option' let's just call it a public insurance plan...one that essentially asks people if they would like the option - the voluntary option - of buying into Medicare before they're 65?

I keep thinking of a single mother I know, a waitress, who wants the choice of a public option because the health insurance premiums for her 14 y/o daughter have gone up to $300 a month.

Why can't anyone see that private insurance companies would have to be more reasonable if they had to compete with a public insurance plan? That's why they're fighting reform tooth and nail, pouring so much money into TV ads and tea parties -- they don't want to give up those bloated profits and CEO salaries.

BTW-- Here is a list of 23 health companies I found on Forbes.com, showing what the CEO was paid in 2005, and the average paid to the CEO in the past five years:

United Health Group
CEO: William W McGuire
2005: 124.8 mil
5-year: 342 mil

Forest Labs
CEO: Howard Solomon
2005: 92.1 mil
5-year: 295 mil

Caremark Rx
CEO: Edwin M Crawford
2005: 77.9 mil
5-year: 93.6 mil

Abbott Lab
CEO: Miles White
2005: 26.2 mil
5-year: 25.8 mil

Aetna
CEO: John Rowe
2005: 22.1 mil
5-year:57.8 mil

[..]

TOTAL 2005: 559.8 mil............TOTAL 5-Year: 14.9 billion

Goodness, think about how many millions of Americans we could provide healthcare for with all that CEO compensation.

81 year-old pop singer Andy Williams is trashing President Obama.

You know how conservatives are always saying that Hollywood entertainers should just keep their politics to themselves? Well, crooner Andy Williams is publicly accusing Barack Obama of "following Marxist theory" and "wanting the country to fail."

Et tu, Andy? Now go over there and stand with Jon Voight and Chuck Norris.

What do you want to bet that righties will applaud and cheer Andy for his astute observations?

But let Barbra Streisand speak her political mind...or Cher, or Susan Sarandon...or the Dixie Chicks, or Tim Robbins, or George Clooney, or ... well. You get the picture.

Read about Andy's remarks here.

"Veteran crooner Andy Williams has criticized Barack Obama, accusing the US President of "following Marxist theory" and "wanting the country to fail".

Williams, a lifelong Republican, told the Radio Times he thought President Obama wanted to turn the US into a "socialist country".[..]"

My first reaction when I read this was, "Wow, Andy Williams is still alive?"

A YouTube video of some New Jersey school children singing praises for President Obama recently made the rounds...caused quite a flap.

Some people said the teacher was trying to indoctrinate the children...some people said the teacher merely wanted to "engage the children in an activity to recognize famous and accomplished African Americans." After all, it was Black History month.

Just for the record, I am with the conservatives on this one. I truly think that partisan politics and religion should be kept out of the classroom...unless it's a civics or history class.

But I have to share the following video of true reverence for The Head Of State...where they worship a cardboard cut-out Bush at Jesus Camp.

Talk about indoctrinating little children...

Yes, I do know the difference between a public classroom and church camp...I just thought it amusing, especially the speaking in tongues part.

Now I better understand Bush's problems with vocabulary.

With all that hell that Glenn Beck and his teabaggers raised this summer, all that rude hollering and screaming people down at town hall meetings, all that hysteria that wingnuts use instead of debate, it looks like they still haven't won over the American people to their side.

A new CBS/NYTimes poll shows that 65 percent of Americas want a public option...they favor a government healthcare plan like Medicare that would compete with private insurance companies.

That's a substantial amount...and it only goes to show that, for all their hysterical temper tantrums, all their swaggering around with loaded guns and hateful signs, the tea party protesters do NOT represent the American people like their Mad Hatter Beck claims. They represent a mere 26 percent...a very small minority of public opinion.

Blue Dog Dems need to get it through their heads that the public option is popular and not all that politically risky. Polling of Blue Dog districts shows 54 percent support for the public option.

If nothing else, they need to realize that if healthcare fails, the damage it will do to the President will come back to bite their blue butts.

People are dying every day while Republicans and Blue Dogs drag their feet to oppose and delay the process.

Sad story -- A 22 y/o woman has died probably because she was uninsured and put off going to the doctor. Friends said Kimberly Young was worried about the cost. There are differing opinions about whether she died from the H1N1 flu, or viral pneumonia as a result of the flu.

And yes, this poor young woman might have died even if she had health insurance, but delaying medical care until she showed signs of kidney failure and dehydration certainly didn't help.

Nevertheless, it's a compelling example of the need to fix our broken healthcare system.

You know how rabid righties are always saying that President Obama is dedicated to the destruction of America? The teabaggers, Beck and Limbaugh have said he wants to imprison Christians in FEMA concentration camps, etc., etc.

Well, supposedly "respectable" conservatives think he's treasonous too. Get this parody of unhinged rightie hysterics from the National Review: "Is Obama Naïve?" by Michael Ledeen -- "I don't think so. I think that he rather likes tyrants and dislikes America.[..]"

Hmm, I wonder why, then, is the President giving the FBI free rein to bust up all these recent terror plots if he wants America destroyed?

And where did Dick Cheney duck? I miss his hunkered down snarl.

But then, Republicans aren't praising our FBI for their good work keeping America safe, they are barely mentioning it at all. It might draw attention to the fact that terrorists seem to have been thwarted on a Democrat's watch. Nothing to see here...move along.

Obama's administration broke up this plot, and notice how he doesn't take credit...or swagger and boast like a cowboy. Or whip up any fear...he was just quietly doing his job.

Here's how it went: First, the FBI disrupted a major Denver-based terror plot centered on Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi.

Next they conducted a sting operation that led to the arrest of a man charged with attempting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper.

Then they conducted another sting that led to the arrest of a Muslim convert in Illinois who was going to try to detonate what he believed was a bomb outside a federal courthouse.

These bad guys intended to do considerable harm!

It's taking some people a little while to get alarmed about all of this. I understand, because when those supposedly big-deal terrorist arrests -- Padilla, the Liberty City Six, the Lackawanna Six, etc. -- turned out to be...well, not much, a lot of people just became blase and skeptical. But it looks like this is the most serious terrorist case in years.

I salute the White House, the FBI and the New York City police department for a job well done...even though there's certainly more co-plotters still out there. I trust the FBI's excellent police work to eventually find these bad guys.

We should have lots of good information about Zazi’s confederates because our government has been tracking him for months. They've tapped his computer and his phones in Pakistan and the US....investigative gold. They'll know who he's been talking to about bomb-making, who shared information about how to make a bomb, and just generally who was making plans for a terrorist attack.

Righties on talk radio are saying we ought to torture Zazi for more information, but that would not only be immoral, but counterproductive. Looks like the feds have a good handle on everything.

Don't forget how they broke this case -- with good old-fashioned investigative work.

Gaddafi's United Nations speech on world peace, or Sarah Palin's Hong Kong speech on the world economy?

All you can say about Gaddafi is that he hadn't spoken to the United Nations General Assembly in 40 years, so he had saved up a lot of batshit crazy things to say...about everything from the assassination of JFK to 'fish flu' to jet lag. It ought to tell you something that his Libyan interpreter collapsed 75 minutes into the rambling.

I wonder if Gaddafi ever found a place to pitch his tent...

Palin didn't say anything about seeing China from her hotel room...but her speech stirred more American interest than Gaddafi's. Her fee for the Hong Kong appearance is said to be around $300,000. Which she needs to pay $500,000 in legal fees for all the ethics complaints filed against her as Alaska's governor. It should be said that most of them were dismissed, but there's still a couple of biggies not settled.

Please please please tell me that Palin's speech is the start of a Republican party grooming and make-over for her future presidential run...it would be a Democrat dream come true. Because guess who went with her? Randy Scheunemann, John McCain's former foreign policy adviser.

This time she read from a prepared speech, but written by experts (Bill Kristol?) and probably not her view nor her intellect. At least there was no silly rambling like the speech she wrote herself when she stepped down as governor...which sounded like Anna Nicole Smith on a drug binge.

Hopefully we will see a lot more of her in the future. Her wingnut visceral instincts are good, and she's very pretty...two assets that appeal to the hard right. Their new girlfriend is Carrie Prejean (anti-gay Miss California contestant), who spoke to wild applause at their recent Values Voter Summit.

Yep, charisma was good enough to get Palin to the Alaska state house, but she lacks the more important traits for electability -- brains and expertise. I mean, she thought Africa was a country! And she couldn't name one newspaper she read.

She needs some understanding of basic Civics, government structure and Law to appeal to America's moderates and independents. IF they can get past her membership in a truly nutty church with bizarre beliefs and practices...witch doctor exorcisms and all. 

The Republican party sure does come up with some doozies...makes you wonder what kind of places they crawl looking for their candidates.

One of my favorite conservatives, Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," told the New York Times, regarding hate-monger Glenn Beck and his minions:

"Then Mr. Scarborough lamented that Republican officials weren’t denouncing some of the wild, hate-filled claims being made in the protests and on the air. "We’re going to have a conservatives’ honor roll on this show…I’m talking to you, Mitt Romney and I’m talking about anyone who who wants to be president in 2012. … You need to call out this type of hatred." he said, because the inflammatory rhetoric would blow up in everyone’s face.

The talk show host berated Mr. Beck by name for several minutes as the archetype of a hate-preacher, contending that he couldn’t spread conspiracy theories around one minute and then the next just excuse his remarks as that of a "rodeo clown."

.....on his radio program, Mr. Beck responded to the MSNBC host’s remarks by calling him a "loser" who "couldn’t even be voted dogcatcher now." He defended his own views as political speech. [..]"

Thank you Joe, for asking Republicans to show some spine...to step forward to say that certain talk is hate-filled, or untruthful and unacceptable.

It's the only way the GOP can attract centrists, moderates and independents...the voters they need to win elections.

Why are the wingnut crazies being allowed to hijack the party? Why are they being allowed to be in control?

There’s a reason they’re called kool-aid drinkers...because Glenn Beck is slowly becoming their Jim Jones....

Better stay outta them Kentucky woods...lots of gub'ment hatin' goobers roamin' around...

Yeehaw Glenn and Rush...let's whip up some more anti-government hatred...who sez it has to lead to violence! Feeding into the paranoid fantasies of mentally unstable goobers is good for ratings!

From Associated Press: "MANCHESTER, Ky. – When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drew on years of experience for a warning: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment......

[T]he most deadly attack on federal workers came in 1995 when the federal building in Oklahoma City was devastated by a truck bomb, killing 168 and injuring more than 680. Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the bombing, carried literature by ultra-right-wing, anti-government authors. [..] "

Just heard on TV that Sparkman's murder came on the same day that the House Republican Whip, Eric Cantor, said he thought House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lived in another world if she thought rowdy anti-health-reform, anti-government townhall meetings and protests could lead to violence.

President Obama is in NYC for the United Nations General Assembly, and wisely dropped in to appear on David Letterman's show last night. He did a great job.

BTW -- it was absolutely surreal hearing Paul Schaefer play “Hail to the Chief.”

Of course, some righties are griping that he cheapens the office of President by appearing on a popular TV show...especially Republican speech writer Peggy Noonan.

One thing for sure -- when conservatives do a lot of nit-pick complaining it only shows how effective Obama is.

Yes, Obama had just made the rounds of the Sunday political talk shows, but the people who watch those are political junkies...wonks and nerds like me.

So, it was very smart of Obama to speak directly to the millions of average Americans who watch Letterman...mainstream people who maybe don’t go to town hall meetings with all the screaming teabaggers.

And, let's face it, most of the country isn’t interested in watching actual press conferences.

I think Obama finally realizes that the best way to counter the lies from the right is to take every opportunity to fight for his policies himself...not his staffers, or Senators, or even his wife, but himself.

The President's engaging personality and charisma are strong weapons against right-wing hysteria, and he needs to take every opportunity to get his message out...to go where the people are.

Besides, it's so refreshing to have a President who drops by a popular TV show to explain his viewpoints and ideas to the public...instead of one who hunkers down in the White House, keeping his ideas and decisions a secret.

I love the President's sense of humor. When Letterman asked him something about the recent criticism of his healthcare reform efforts being grounded in racism, Obama quipped, "I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election."

~~rim shot~~

Then he said something about the fact that he was elected in the first place tells us a lot about what's really happening in the country.

Thanks Mr. President, I need to be reminded of that - that the majority of the country voted *for* you. It's easy to lose sight of that because I live deep in redneck country, in a red state, and I hear not only whispered racist remarks, but also some that are bellowed outloud, disguised as so-called jokes...which are laughed at with glee. It's nice to be reminded that they are only a small part of the country.

But the Letterman appearance was not all jokes...Obama spoke about the economy (improving), employment (still lagging behind), Afghanistan (still deciding on a strategy before deciding to send more troops). An interesting thing he said about healthcare was how conservative governments around the globe are puzzled by our healthcare debate, because some of these countries are right-of-center - hardly “socialists” - but they can’t figure out what all the fuss is about here, why anyone in the US would oppose something as logical as national health care.

This President has such difficult tasks on his plate, but I still have faith in him. The economy's pulse is fluttering back to life, the healthcare system has been a disaster for decades and finally has a chance of improvement (even with Republicans doing everything in their power to kill the legislation), the two wars he inherited are finally getting the close analysis they never got under you-know-who...

Keep up the good work, Mr. President.

In case you missed it - here’s Obama’s appearance in video:

Dang, what a good ad..."Senator, whose side are you on?" When Iowa's Sen. Grassley turns on his TV this week he'll hear one of his constituents speak plainly and directly about healthcare. They couldn't have found a better person for the ad...solid citizen, an Army veteran who always voted for Republicans.

His name is Kevin Shilling and he asks his senator to not only support healthcare reform, but also to back <gasp> a public option. He says Iowans of both parties "want the public insurance option."

He said: "I voted for Senator Grassley in the past...but when Grassley takes over $2 million from the big health and insurance industries that oppose reform and then says he won't give Iowans the choice of a public option, I have to ask: Senator, whose side are you on?"

Here's the ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ezBSvJFsE&feature=player_embedded

I sure admire Shilling's guts...standing up and saying what needs to be said. I hope he has nothing to hide...because you just know that rabid righties like Limbaugh are diggin' for dirt on this guy.

My only criticism about the ad is that it doesn't explain clearly enough that the word option means choice. Townhall screamers have dirtied the phrase "public option"...the meaning is not registering with some people. They have forgotten the meaning of the word "option"...somehow believing that public option will be mandatory.

Maybe it should be phrased as -- "a government-run health insurance that Americans could buy." A choice...optional...NOT mandatory.

Or call it -- The Public Option vs NO Option.

Or -- Optional Enrollment in Medicare for All.

Senator Grassley has been exposed as a lying, bought-and-paid-for hypocrite -- almost three million dollars was his price.

The Des Moines Register reports on how much money Grassley gets from health industry interest groups:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090831/NEWS09/908310315

The ad is set to run 200 times in four Iowa markets, and 100 times in DC this week. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America says it is already generating enough donations to keep it going longer.

Are we holding our breath until Grassley is swayed enough to vote for a public option? Don't be silly. But the idea of public option could get less scary, maybe even more popular...

Also, remember that Grassley is afraid of a primary challenge from the right in 2010...anything that can make him look two-faced, mean-spirited and out-of-touch is a good thing.

Chances are, Kevin Shilling is bound to get Grassley's attention....even if the senator did make it very clear last week that he's inclined to listen to loud protesters...simply because they're loud protesters.

Here's more if you need it, a video...Rachel Maddow prominently featured Grassley on her show last night:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#32 635423

Rachel comments on how Grassley is now openly fund raising based on his efforts to stop HC reform. He bragged about helping to defeat "Obama-care" in a recent fundraising letter:

 http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/grassleyfundraising.pdf

Not only did he stop negotiating in good faith, he's actually spreading lies about the bill.