Another large bill passed - 21-22 March 2010

Today’s news report will resemble a Special Comment - not because there isn’t all sorts of stuff going on in the world, but because my US-based feeds have all been understandably talking about one thing since Sunday night.

So, the news that is not that one issue first. Two United States military members, in uniform, chained themselves to the White House's fence in protest of the U.S. military's continued ban on open homosexuals serving. In a likely rare moment of insanity, more so than the continued policy, a United States general said a massacre happened because the Dutch had open homosexuals in their ranks, for which the Dutch struck back, and hard.

A lawsuit in Oregon claims the Boy Scouts of America was involved in covering up several incidents of sexual abuse between leaders and scouts, and intends to open several of the files that the organization has kept on abusive situations and leaders.

The commission charged with investigating the breadth and depth of the September 11 attacks and the responses to those attacks were warned by Bush Administration officials to not investigate too deeply into the matter, according to a letter obtained by the ACLU. The defense? National security, of course.

Last out, Wal-Mart fires a worker who was smoking marijana legally for a medical condition, because he was smoking marijuana and they were concerned for the safety of their other workers.

A rescued pit bull helps frighten off a would-be carjacker, through a very solid woof. Considering the pit bull was rescued from a fighting ring, if push came to shove, one wonders whether the pit would protect the owner the best way it knew how.

Technologically, NASA launches a program to use large amounts of algae to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in Terra's atmosphere.

And opinion-wise, Mr. Chapman says that any time the government believes it can revolutionize education, it is wrong, Ms. O'Grady suggests that legalization would probably do more to help kill the War on (Some) Drugs than anything else, because American demand makees for big profitability for drug cartels, and Mr. Berman encourages people to do the research before giving to any charitable organization, even one with good PR and a recognizable name. That way you don't end up giving to an organization that doesn't actually give to the people it's supposed to.

And now, what everyone else has been talking about. the House of Representatives passed the Senate health care bill, sending it to the President, as well as passing a set of fixes for the original bill, some documented in the article linked, which will now head to the Senate reconciliation process. Additionally, the bill contained measures for changing the way student loans are originated. Thus, the entire spectrum of doom to delight is possible in the responses to. Let’s sample some.

On the left, the Progressive Examiner offers some of the complaints on the bill from progressives, which start at “this only helps all the wrong people” and goes from there into “Why aren’t we getting a real reform bill?”

On the right, Ms. Strassel tries to get you revolted at the sausage-making process of legislation, the WSJ contributes their opinion that this is the beginning of a big fight, while saying that the bill’s passage indicates a government takeover of health care, a position the Washington Times echoes while predicting doom and destruction for the Democrats as a result. Let me get this straight and be clear - this is not a governemnt takeover of health care. A government takeover of health care would be “We set the rates, we choose the plans, we offer them, and private enterprise in this sector can go hang.” This? Keeps the system we have mostly intact, driving more customers onto the rolls and trying to help them pay for the new expense they will have to get. Anyone talking about a “government takeover of health care” in regard to this bill has stated the equivalent of “the world is flat” and should probably be treated accordingly. I think the best way to describe these sorts of things is as the Slacktivist does - I can tell you with certainty that my untruths will come to pass, and when they don't, I will not have to be called to the carpet over the matter, too.. Thus, I can say whatever I want about anything, true or not.

And on the fringe side, Mr. Connor somehow believes the bill's passage means government encourages abortions, which needs a fairly impressive blind spot to avoid all the mentions, orders, and laws that forbid the government from funding abortions. [This following link and sentence REDACTED because of Memory Hole issues]

Finally on the matter, sanity returns - David Frum points out all of the ways that this bill could have become better, and they all started with a willingness to negotiate instead of going straight for the hard line and the insane.

Last out for tonight, a drinking game based on the continued phenomenon of Twilight, mostly literarily based, but adaptable for those who just want to try and avoid suffering through the movies.

Not as much More Of The Same - 23 March 2010

Up top, for those who are looking around for content on Dreamwidth, or are contemplating making the jump but want to have a community of people to possibly land in when they arrive, or for those trying to find the nuggets that are not related to various fandoms, liv has produced the non-fandom friending meme.

We also note that violating a court order against having noisy sex can be grounds for imprisonment.

Let’s distract, however, from that with tricked-out and customized Japanese scooters.

International-like, a new law against inciting hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation takes effect today in England and Wales, with the punishment being up to seven years in prison.

On domestic matters, a suspected al-Qaeda operative was ordered released after a federal judge found the government lacked grounds for detaining him.

As part of their slow efforts to provide some sort of financial sector reform, the Federal Reserve is likely to receive a host of expanded powers. An independent organization would probably be better, but if the Fed can use that power responsibly and to the benefit of the people, then it might be a good idea.

Health care again, and will likely be this way for quite a while - states are gearing up to sue the government so they don't have to take part in the bill's requirements, as part of a bigger challenge strategy to try and get the bill overturned or repealed, which includes using the rules they accused the Democrats of abusing to shut down subcommittee meetings in the Senate, by withholding their consent to waive the rule against meetings starting or continuing after 2 p.m. EDT/EST. Some of the faction against health care has decided to go a violent route and attack Democratic offices and threaten lawmakers' families.

Out of all of this, here’s a reminder. Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics - the headline says people aren't favorable to the House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader, but the numbers say that most people don't have an opinion either way of them. So always check your numbers against what someone is trying to tell you they mean.

Science strikes hard with More reasons why you should avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup - it's worse for you than sugar.

In the opinions, The Infamous Brad muses on the installation of speed-trap cameras and people's reactions to such things. There’s an undercurrent of “This could apply to a lot of other things” that bradhicks leaves out there for the reader to explore.

The Slacktivist takes up Glenn Beck's 12 values, and then points out it's easier to play a biingo game with the ways that he violates them consistently. Card provided, we add, for those looking to jump right into the game.

There’s also lot of health-care related stuff. An account of how the last year and change just went down, Michael Moore writes to Republicans pointing out the benefits of the thing they've been opposing, and Mr. King offers suggestions to the GOP on how they can come back into the fold of serious discussion and kick their teabagger/wingnut/racist/homophobe habit. A very detailed list of problems, we note.

Pushing back against such things, The WSJ says Republicans should continue to oppose the monster, although they should be realistic about their chances to do anything about it, and they also voice the idea, as Ms. Liebau does, that the President had no intention of listening to or adopting any Republican ideas from the start, and had no intention of listening to the people when they voiced their opposition to the bill, utilizing every dirty trick they could muster to get the bill passed. The consequences, she says, from this, will be utter electoral defeat for Democrats in November, a position Mr. Pruden agrees with and echoes - Disaster for Democrats on Health Care! Mr. Blankley tops it all off with his belief that the upcoming fight will decide whether America sinks into socialism or remains a free nation.

And in the “cannibalizing one’s own” department, Mr. McGurn calls Bart Stupak and others who voted for the bill sellouts on their principles, because the executive order they got to change their vote was a fig leaf, and Mr. McGurn fully expects court cases to follow that will challenge the funding parts, they’ll be overturned, and then federal funding for abortions, which necessarily leads to abortions of convenience for all, and then the pro-life American nation kills lots of children, and it’s all Bart Stupak’s fault because he didn’t stand firm to his principles. Or, hey, maybe we could pass real health care reform so women aren’t having abortions because they can’t afford the kids. And maybe we could teach real sexual education, instead of the fig leaf of abstinence-only that leaves women without the knowledge on how to reduce the chances of pregnancy. We understand, though, that it’s easier to complain about something than to work oward fixing it.

Rhetorical assaults aside, Mr. Lessig makes a clean point that the bill was passed through the use of Washington's normal methods, which does not bode well for believing the government is on its way toward more open and honest legislation and procedure. Nor does it mean that the legislation itself is a perfect shining example - opposition was bought off with goodies to get them to support it, instead of putting the thumbscrews to the people that really needed it. Mr. Cline reminds us that if we want to understand why politicians do what they do, we have to remember that they are acting in their best interests, not ours, regardless of what they say to us to get elected. To change those sorts of problems, you have to change the structure. And that’s tough.

Finally, perhaps when all is said and done, Ms. Finley will win an office pool with her comment that the administration can go back to pretending to care about the deficit, now that the health care reform part of the agenda has been passed. I certainly expect a lot of deficit noise (as opposed to a noise deficit, which would be nice) to happen in the future.