Yesterday’s rally in Albany against mandatory experimental flu vaccinations got a mention on the NBC evening news last night (rare that I actually watch that, but it happened to be on). A brief mention, but a mention nonetheless. I looked at the coverage on the Albany Times-Union website yesterday, and there was a brief article that happened to mention that some of the people who organized the event were the same folks who organized the “tea bag” dog and pony shows (funny, they didn’t mention that NYSNA – the NY State Nurses Association – and PEF – the Public Employees Federation – were also involved and are opposed to Mengelese-style forced medical experimentation). There is considerable bile and hatred expressed in comments to the story – against the “right wing” loonies who would deign to be opposed to having a concoction that consists of (among other things) squalene and a mercury-based neurotoxin force-injected into their bodies (the package insert for the Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine manufactured by Novartis has supposedly been leaked on the Internet [pdf], and admits that known side effects include guillain-barre syndrome, vasculitis, anaphylactic shock and even death). So, yes, my dirty little secret is out – I’m a teabagging, Glenn Beck-worshipping, right wing loony. Funny how the story didn’t mention that the NYS DOH Commissioner and his Goldman-Sachs wife support the likes of Chuck Grassley, Mitt Romney, Rudy Guiliani, and GW Bush. I suppose then the crowd would have been characterized as a bunch of liberal stooges or something. Oh well.

The Senate Finance Committee failed report out a health care reform bill that includes a public option, in spite of the fact that somewhere in the vicinity of 70% of “we the people” want it. This is either a devastating blow to Barack Obama (as the NBC Nightly News seemed to suggest last night), or an encouraging sign that a public option will be part of the final bill, since it got 10 votes in the very conservative (aka, in the pocket of Big Pharma and the insurance industry) SFC. Meanwhile, people continue to lose their jobs, their health insurance, and their homes.

Oh well, now that I’m a rightwinger, I guess I don’t have to care whether people have health care or jobs anymore. Time to start stocking up on the canned food an ammo, I guess (as soon as I buy a gun; I wonder when this guy will hold his next “Machine Gun Social“).

You probably recall the “deal” President Obama, Max Baucus (bought with over a million dollars from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries in the current cycle alone), and Big Pharma made a while back. You know, the one that nobody asked you about, declaring that the re-importation of drugs from Canada would not be a part of any comprehensive health care reform? Well, they didn’t ask Byron Dorgan’s opinion of it either, and he says “bullshit!” Dorgan intends to introduce an amendment to health care reform calling for the importation of drugs, similar to a bill already introduced in the Senate ( S. 1232) which the Congressional Budget Office estimates would result in $50 billion in direct savings over the next decade – saving the federal govenment $10.6 billion. Since S. 1232 already has 30 cosponsors – Republicans Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, John Thune, and Senator Family Values, David Vitter, there’s a pretty good chance it’ll pass, assuming it comes to a floor vote, which seems likely, as Harry Reid has voted for drug importation in the past. It’d be better to allow the feds to negotiate for drug prices (or, god forbid, set limits the way other countries do) rather than play this “re-importation” game, but good for you, Byron. And shame on any Democrat who votes against it (and shame on the Democrats who got into bed with the drug companies to come up with this “deal” in the first place).

Speaking of health care reform, Jay Rockefeller is set to offer an amendment to the Senate Finance Committee’s version of health care reform, calling for a public option. Chuck Schumer (who supports and will vote for Rockefeller’s amendment) will offer his own, weaker, amendment as a backup option. Getting any sort of public option through the SFC will be awfully difficult, but will bode well for any bill that makes it to the Senate floor for a vote. Liberal Democrats appear to have actually developed a spine over this, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Rally in Albany today for health care workers that don’t want to be H1N1 vaccine guinea pigs (NY being the only – so far – state mandating flu vaccines). Surprisingly, it even made the local news. Be there, or be square.

As for me, I can’t attend, ‘cuz have to go to work.

A while back (back in August), Bill Maher had Aston Kutcher as a panelist on Real Time. Why? I don’t know. Maybe to get the young libertarian point of view or something. Kutcher isn’t the dumbest person on the face of the earth (not even close, with people like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Oily Taintz all in line ahead of him) but he definitely falls under the “twit” category. Among the topics that night was (of course) health care, with poor little Ashton questioning why he should have to pay for health care for those who eat twinkies, don’t exercise, or don’t measure up to Kutcher’s standards of what constitutes an acceptable lifestyle. Bill, of course, was more or less on board with that idea too.

Why, Ashton? Well, because that’s the way it works. It’s nice that you’re perfect and you eat well and take immaculate care of yourself (it helps if that’s more or less what your job in life is, not to mention the fact that you’re still young), but you don’t get to decide who should get care and who shouldn’t. It’s all well and good (and cost effective) to promote “health care” over symptom treatment, but that doesn’t people who aren’t on board should get turned into Soylent Green. Would you propose we tell somebody, “sorry, you smoked for twenty years, so screw you and your lung cancer, too”? Sorry you had a heart attack, fatso, but you shoulda thought of that before you ate all that red meat and potatoes. Where does that end? Hey, I can’t be paying into a fund that’s gonna treat somebody with genetic disposition to ovarian cancer or sickle cell anemia. It’s not my fault. Hey, sorry you got hit by a bus, but you really shoulda looked both ways. Just we glad we aren’t charging you to clean up the mess.

In fact let’s take it a step farther (or is it further). Do you realize there are highways that I pay for that I’ll never drive on? I’ve never had my house burn down or needed a cop, so why should my taxes go to fund the police and fire departments? I don’t have kids and haven’t been in high school for over 30 years, so why the hell should my tax dollars go to subsidize somebody else’s kids?

Why, Ashton? Well, there are two reasons. The first that society as a whole (and we, as individual members) benefits when there are roads, schools, public safety, and when everybody has access to health care. Sure, there are times when some of us put more into the system than we get back out of it to cover the slackers (like Texas), but we’re all better off when we take care of everyone. And, hey, you never know, Mr. Fk’in Wonderful – you just might need a little help some day, too, when you’re a washed-up has-been trying to make yourself relevant by denying evolution or something.

But the other – and most important – reason, is that taking care of everyone (even those who, in your eyes, don’t “deserve” it) is the right thing to do. And it really is just as simple as that.

Why so many bible-thumping, Jesus-praising “conservatives” don’t seem to understand that is beyond me. Hell, even we heathens get it.

On Press the Meat today, it’s an all-star show, with Bill Clinton, NY Gov. David Paterson, Sen. Jim Webb, and Arizona Asswipe, John Kyl.

Over on CBS, Faze the Nation has the other Clinton, Hillary, and li’l Lindsey Graham.

On Fux News Sunday, Weaselface Wallace has DINO Dianne Feinstein, and Republican Kit Bond of Missouri, plus VA Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, and undercover ACORN videotaper, James O’Keefe.

At the Goebbels network, George Snufalufagus has SecDef Bob Gates, St. John McCain, and a roundtable with Bob Woodward, Flatheaded Tom Friedman, George :jerk: Will and Martha Raddatz.

On CNN, Fareed Zakaria has an interview with Moammar Gadhafi.

Of course, the big event of the day is the season premiere of Dexter on Showtime at 9:00.

Have a good Sunday.

Ah, Saturday, when we can stop doing the big work, and settle in to thinking about more trivial things. For instance, today (tonight, actually, at 7:00), the Maine Black Bears head in to town to give SU a break from playing Big Ten teams. Maine is what used to be called a Division I-AA team (not sure what they call it these days), so, absent some truly terrible collapse, Syracuse should raise its record to 2-2 – its first .500 record in three years (which is truly shameful, but we’re hopeful that we’re in the early stages of a football Renaissance). Other than that, there’s not much going on. Enjoy your Saturday.

Yesterday, it was a 19 pound baby (seen in this photo next to a more normal size baby; looks a bit like baby Godzilla), the socialist gay marriage plot, and Jim Trafficant’s desire to kick the IRS in the crotch (despite the fact that the IRS, as far as I can tell, has neither crotch nor naughty bits). Today, in what Milf Cardinal Milfington would surely see as a sign of the coming Apocalypse, we bring you the story of the pregnant lady who got pregnant. Yes, she got pregnant with a baby boy two and a half weeks after conceiving a baby girl (looking at the happy couple, I’m actually kinda surprised she got knocked up once, let alone twice). Now, if you were forced to guess where such a thing might happen, what state would come to mind? If you said Arkansas (the state that brought us Herb Tarlek, Wal-Mart, and a college proud to select a hog as its mascot), you would be correct. I had no idea this sort of thing was possible (not in humans, anyway), and am unsure how this works. I mean, the two babies have different due dates. As I mentioned yesterday, I’m not an expert on the subject, but when the first one starts coming, what, exactly, is gonna keep the second one from coming along for the ride?

Congratulations to Kirk Cameron. It has to be difficult to be a washed-up teen heart throb and former crappy sit-com star, but the Kirkster has found a way to get himself into the news again (well, People Magazine anyway, but it’s a start) by being an evolution denier. Being an idiot might not be the best way to re-invent yourself (though being an idiot is what made him semi-famous in the first place I guess), but it’s certainly better than having sex with your father.

Breaking news this morning: looks like we’re about to accuse Iran of having a secret nuclear facility, which could go into production within a year. Get ready for WW III (and prepare yourself to hear dubya say “I told ya so”).

Well, time to get to work. TGIFF!

Steve King (not the author, but the idiot Republican congresscritter from Iowa) says that same-sex marriage is all part of a socialist plot to take over America, and that Socialists have “to plow through marriage in order to get to their goal” of undermining the “foundations of individual rights and liberties. Not only is it a radical social idea, it is a purely socialist concept in the final analysis….” Hmm, OK. So, let me get this straight: the idea that gay folks should be extended the same individual rights and liberties that non-gay folks have is actually a plot to undermine said rights and liberties. Makes perfect sense to me. Fear not, brave Rep. King and all you other fighters of socialism: the Socialists’ plan appears to be severely flawed. In King’s own state of Iowa (bastion of gay marriage and socialist-terrorist capital of the corn belt), 92% of Iowans say they’ve been totally unaffected by the legalization of gay marriage. Presumably the other 8% are gay and got married, or they’re parents/friends/relatives of those who are (and did). Hah! Take that, Socialists! You’ll have to find some other way to take over the country. The whole gay marriage thing just aint workin’.

For the first time ever, a vaccine is showing some signs of protecting against AIDS. It’s experimental and only worked for 1/3 of the people in the trial (not sure how they tested it; maybe they injected everybody with Baxter Pharmaceutical – one of the liability-protected manufacturers of the coveted H1N1 vaccine – hemophilia drugs), so I think the NYS Dept of Health should make it mandatory for all health care workers. Hell, make it required for everybody. Just shut up and take your medicine already!

Our Governor was in town yesterday for the annual meeting of the NYS Associated Press Association (talk about the Department of Redundancy). Among his remarks, he spoke about his rock-bottom poll numbers and increasingly unlikely ability to get elected to a second term:

“I did not sign up for this,” Paterson said to a roomful of journalists…. I wanted to be lieutenant governor. I had this grand plan that Hillary Clinton was going to become president and maybe the governor would appoint me to the Senate.”

Well, I guess I can relate to that. I mean, who figured Mr. Squeaky-Clean Eliot Spitzer would turn out to be such a dummy? And Blinky did inherit a pretty big fiscal mess (and having possibly the nation’s worst legislative body to work with to try and fix things doesn’t help much, either). So, just do us all a favor and go quietly into retirement or ambassadorship or whatever Obama promised you. The thought of either Governor Lazio or Governor Guliani is just too much to bear.

Everybody’s favorite ex-congresscritter, convicted felon, and high-end toupée spokesmodel, Jim Trafficant, isn’t saying he’ll run for office now that he’s out of the slammer, but he is giving us an idea of what his legislative agenda would be if he did hold office again.

“I want to get the IRS,” Traficant said. “Kick them in the crotch real good.”

A difficult platform to disagree with, though I would dispute the notion that there’s a “real good” way to get kicked in the crotch.

Yesterday, jury deliberations began in the murder trial of a man accused of strangling his 11-yr old stepsister with “depraved indifference.” The judge basically told the prosecutor that he fucked up big time with the charge, all but ensuring any guilty verdict will be thrown out on appeal. Both sides refused the offer to have the jury consider a lesser charge, so the judge instructed that, if they believe this guy deliberately murdered the kid, they would have to find him not guilty on the actual crime he was charged with. I haven’t followed things too closely, but it seems to me there’s been a fair amount of doubt introduced, and with the DA apparently charging him with the wrong thing, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets off.

Having never been pregnant (a fact for which I am extremely grateful), I’m the first to admit I’m no expert, but, damn, at 19.2 pounds, that’s one whopper of a baby. And mom is 41 years old to boot.

Oh well, my battery is down to 11%, so I reckon I’d better get a move on and get ready for another day of work. I’m not really up for it this morning, but I guess it beats giving birth to a 19 pound baby.

I recorded President Obama on Letterman Monday and last night we watched it. I was struck by a couple of things. First, Letterman asked better questions than I’ve seen from the traditional media talking heads or the White House press corps. It isn’t that Journalism is failing us, it’s that the corporate owned, profits above all else traditional media outlets refuse to hire journalists, and instead hire pretty boy and girl talking heads who will do what they’re told, and “real” journalists just can’t break through (with a few notable exceptions, such as the McClatchy news service, Bill Moyers, and of course Mike Boettcher, who I’m glad to know is teaching a new generation how to be real journalists – though it’s too bad he isn’t teaching up here at the Newhouse School; it’d be nice to see him and “NYKat” – or, better yet, “SYRKat” – plus, IMHO, “Newhouse” is just a tad bit better name for a school than “Gaylord” – unless it’s, like, a College of Ballroom Dancing or something).

Another thing that struck me was how likable Obama is. He comes across as a nice person, with a brain and a good sense of humor. For the life of me, I can’t understand the hatred directed at him by the pitchfork and torch-carrying “T-Bag” idiots. You can disagree with what he’s doing (though I’d like to hear these morons actually articulate what it is they don’t like, because I know damn well they won’t be able to do it), but why the hatred? I mean, I thought dubya was the worst thing to happen to this country in my lifetime, but I don’t hate him, wouldn’t want to bring an assault rifle to one of his appearances, and wouldn’t demand to see his certificate of live birth.

Of course, these mouth breathers don’t hate Obama so much as what he stands for. No matter how shitty things had gotten in their lives, at least they knew how the world worked, and what their place in the scheme of things was. In other words, they were white, and their “people” ran the show, and at least they were better off than those colored people (except maybe athletes, but their purpose was to entertain the white folks, so that’s OK – not that their parents and grandparents were too pleased about “those people” playing right alongside the white folks back in the day, of course – by the way, have I ever mentioned the movie, “The Express”). Now, white folks are on the verge of becoming a minority, and one of them colored fellas is actually the goddamn preznit, if you can believe that.

These changes are mighty scary indeed. Their world might have sucked, but at least it was theirs. Now, everything’s all backwards, and who knows what’ll happen? I mean, imagine being an Afrikaner when the natives were suddenly in charge. It would have to be one of those real “oh shit” moments – especially if you’re assuming that the “natives” are going to be just as ignorant, ruthless, and cruel as you are.

That’s the problem with the winguts. They think we all operate on the same limited instruction set that their brains were programmed with.

The third thing that struck me about Obama’s appearance on Letterman, was just how deeply disappointed I am with his presidency. I knew he was a corporatist, and completely inside the political mainstream, but, still, I feel like deep down he gets it. He gets what’s important, and what needs to be done. And he should have understood what an extraordinary opportunity was handed to him. Granted, Bush left him with a great big steaming pile of shit, but he was elected to be bold and bring real change – and the people (other than the wingnuts) were ready to let him do whatever he wanted. Perhaps it wasn’t quite like the support Bush enjoyed after 9/11, but it was pretty close.

But, instead of being bold and bringing change, Obama tried to make back room deals with people who only want to see him fail. Nothing new to see here – just the same old do-nothing Congress and dysfunctional Democratic party, the escalation of a war on some distant foreign soil with no clear objectives or definition of victory, bailouts for huge corporations and financial institutions, the protection of torturers, and the continuation of the suspension of the Constitution. I don’t know if he’s just become so isolated inside the bubble of the Oval Office that he’s forgotten what he was elected to do, or if he’s just been listening to Rahm Emanuel or what.

But, “Yes we can?” No, I guess we couldn’t.

I’m not quite ready to give up on the Obama administration just yet, but it’s going to take a lot of push back from real Democrats to force him to do the right thing. And maybe that’s what he’s hoping for – for progressives to restore the mandate he had on election day. Because it seems pretty clear that he needs a good swift metaphorical kick in the butt to get him moving in the right direction.

Today’s the last day of summer, with the autumnal equinox occurring at 21:18 UTC tonight (which would be about 5:18 PM EDT). It’s the Festival of Dionysus, so I’m not sure if I’m supposed to go out and have an orgy or sacrifice a chicken or something. I cooked a couple of chickens for the dogs on Sunday, so I guess that’ll have to do (we’re usually too tired after work to get a proper orgy going – that and we don’t really have any friends that we’re quite that close with). Either way, now it’s gonna start to get dark really early (by the time DST ends on November 1st, sunset will be before 5:00 where I live). Fall is my favorite season (except for the getting dark too damn early part). I really love the end of the heat and humidity, the cool, crisp days, and the cold bug-killing nights. Nothing’s more beautiful than hills and valleys colored orange, red, and gold beneath a deep blue fall sky (though seeing them with a fresh dusting of snow comes pretty close). I know there are people who hate the cold and snow, but I wouldn’t give up the change of seasons for anything (though feel free to try me; the bidding starts at $1 million).

According to the Census Bureau, 10.3% of Central New Yorkers are without health insurance. That sounds bad, until you see the NY State rate is over 13%, and the national average is 15.5% (thanks to places like Texas, where 1 out of 4 Texans are SOL – even less, if you don’t count their 155,000 or so prisoners). You would think that would constitute a form of “rationing,” but I guess the definition of rationing is having to wait to have that mole removed from your ass so somebody with a burst appendix can go to the front of the line, rather than keeping the line short by just flat out kicking people out of it.

Ah well, time to get day two of the march to the weekend started.

A pretty rare combination of events occurred this past weekend. Syracuse won its first football game of the season (against a favored Big Ten opponent, no less), and the Jets not only won, but they beat New England at the Meadowlands for the first time ever. Add to that the Giants spoiling the Cowboys home opener in front of 105,000 mouth-breathing Boomhauers (including former Boomhauer-in-chief, George Dubya Two Terms Mandate Bush), and Buffalo beating Tampa Bay, and it was a pretty good weekend for NY. If only Obama could have talked Governor Blinky into spending more time with his family, it would have been perfect (though I wouldn’t rule out an offer of Ambassador to the Maldives or something in our esteemed governor’s future). By the way, you all know that Obama hates white people, but did you know that (at least according to Michael Steele) the only reason he doesn’t want Paterson to run is that Obama hates black people, too? The President will be making a trip to the Albany suburb of Troy today to speak at Hudson Valley Community College (accompanied by Jill Biden; another Condi Rice/George Bush situation, perhaps :hubba: ). I wonder if Paterson will be on hand? That could be a little awkward.

Speaking of the upcoming Governor’s race, Rick “Loser” Lazio is “getting back into politics” (having dropped out after being crushed by Hillary Clinton back in 2000) and tossing his hat into the ring. That could be good news for Blinky. I can envision the debate scene as Lazio rushes Paterson’s podium, waving a “pledge” in the Governor’s face, clamoring that he sign it as Governor Paterson gazes in the opposite direction with a confused look on his face. Hopefully Lazio and Guidu Ruliani will tear each other to shreds in a Republican primary, though I think our only hope here is for Andy Cuomo to jump in.

While I didn’t catch any of it, it appears that President Obama’s media blitz this weekend went well, as he successfully pushed for some sort of vague, undefined notion of health care reform. As he told Bob Schieffer on Faze the Nation, when it comes to health care reform,

“I don’t think I’ve promised too much at all.”

Hard to argue with that. At least, not since taking office. There was a lot of promise in his presidency, but that’s long gone.

I’m not usually one to pay attention to “celebrity” news (especially when said celebrity is famous primarily for being second banana to a talking car), but…

TMZ has learned David Hasselhoff was taken to the hospital Sunday night after his daughter sounded an alarm that he had been drinking to excess.

I’ve been a little tipsy myself from time to time, but, seriously, how friggin’ drunk do you have to get before they call an ambulance and haul you off to the hospital? Dave, buddy, stay away from the hard stuff, and stick to beer. Sure, you’ll put on a few pounds, but it’s really hard (though not impossible) to drink enough volume to give yourself alcohol poisoning. It doesn’t keep you from falling down and smashing your head on a table corner or something though.

Wow, Marc Maron gets a mention in a Network World article, of all things. Wonders never cease. That’s like Bill Frist getting quoted in “Cat Fancy.”

Learned a couple Mac lessons this weekend. Mac OS X can read an NTSF formatted volume, but it can’t natively write to it (found an NTFS driver for it that works, though). I also found that, unlike Windows, OS X (Unix, really) really doesn’t like it when you unplug an external drive w/o un-mounting it first. Thought I screwed the pooch and wiped out everything I had on my drive, but managed to get it straightened out. Live and learn, I guess.

Oh well, I reckon it’s time to get moving. These two-day weekends go way too fast. Happy Monday