If you have any doubt that the Democratic leadership of the House views passing the current health care reform bill as the beginning, not the end, of the process of creating a national government health care system, just note what Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a group of bloggers on Monday. “My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive,” Pelosi said, according to an account by Washington Post reform advocate Ezra Klein. “We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there’ll be more legislation to follow.”
But since the current bill is unpopular, and Pelosi at the moment does not have enough Democratic, much less Republican, votes to pass it, the door she will be kicking through is the back door. Pelosi told the bloggers she favors using the “self-executing rule” strategy in which the House would pass the Senate health care bill without going on the record as specifically voting for it. “I like it,” Pelosi said of the scheme, “because people don’t have to vote on the Senate bill.” The strategy of passing the Senate bill while avoiding a direct vote, writes Klein, “is all about plausible deniability for House members who don’t want to vote for the Senate bill.”
In a particularly Alice-in-Wonderland moment, Pelosi argued that the debate over health care reform can begin after the bill is passed. “Pelosi said passing the bill would allow Dems to undertake a ‘debate’ with Republicans over ‘what is the balanced role that government should have,'” writes another pro-reform blogger at the Post, Greg Sargent. According to Sargent, Pelosi explained, “We have to take it to the American people, to say, this is the choice that you have. This is the vision that they have for your health and well being, and this is the vision that we have.” Again, in Pelosi’s scenario, that debate would occur after the bill is passed.
As every post needs a kind of point, let me leave you with this:
Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more–
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”“But wait a bit,” the Oysters cried,
“Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!”
“No hurry!” said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.“A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said,
“Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed–
Now if you’re ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed.”“But not on us!” the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
“After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!”
“The night is fine,” the Walrus said.
“Do you admire the view?“It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!”
The Carpenter said nothing but
“Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf–
I’ve had to ask you twice!”“It seems a shame,” the Walrus said,
“To play them such a trick,
After we’ve brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!”
The Carpenter said nothing but
“The butter’s spread too thick!”“I weep for you,” the Walrus said:
“I deeply sympathize.”
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.“O Oysters,” said the Carpenter,
“You’ve had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?’
But answer came there none–
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one.
Go ahead and squint. You’ll see it.
My personal thanks to all of the “Oysters” among the 52 percenters that helped put that “good man” Obama into office, as well as install “the most ethical congress, evar!”
I hope that assuaging the “feelings of white guilt” that had been inculcated via the public education system and pop-culture was worth their personal liberty and our constitutional republic…
But, you know, you have to break a few eggs to batter a few oysters…
http://www.intrade.com/ Showing a surge over 78% on health care passing. Democratic friends seeding intrade to give a sense of inevitability or real inside dope on the whip count? Time to really speak out. Write your congressperson now to protest this mess.
No need to squint.
“We’re all toast” always covered it, but the poem is definitely more amusing.
Pelosi is a sociopath: only someone without a conscience could pop off criminal nonsense like that in public and expect us to buy it.
But we are all safe and snug in our own personal shells.
Nancy’s bout ready to cut it up…
she said wait a minute honey gonna add it up.
Nancy and the things she wants don’t exactly make for happy times and hopefulness. But hey! they’re changey.
Now we know how the prisoner on death row feels. Last minute appeals and all that… Or maybe a little bit of Poe, The Pit and the Pendulum.
There shall be a certain – though not yet determined – quantity of interesting for these times.
So I’m not the only one who sensed the buttery wholesomeness of the health care bill?
I’m particularly fond of the line, “Of cabbages and kings.” That was almost the name of this blog.
Maybe I’ll use it as a name for a novella. If I ever write one.
cabbages are tasty and they add crunch to your salads
But the king is a cabbage, you see!
…and I can’t wait for the day (20 Jan 2013) that he softly and suddenly vanishes away, and will never be met with again.
Botox Nancy needs to be stopped.
Why not just deem it passed and get it over with?
Yeah, really. Why vote on anything now: they passed one bill already, why do they need to vote again?
:^þ
Did somebody say deem?
Life as a day trip, an excursion. Full of fresh sea air and pleasant conversation. With marvelous guides, contracted by the smartest among us, for the journey. The smartest who are always surprised when the hire unmasks at last.
They should just pass a generic shell bill, and then deem everything else they want to have passed.
It is my understanding that the language released earlier this week was just a placeholder for what the actual crap sandwich will be.
Fuck them.
I was certain that CWH was trolling us. One can imagine my delight and surprise at finding otherwise.
I like this deeming stuff. Seems a shame to let Nancy have it all to herself.
I guess we should start preparing our civil disobedience plans, OUTLAW-style.
Suggestions?
Eg., I plan to confront anyone with an Obama / Biden bumpersticker, in the friendliest way possible, and inform them it’s my turn to drive our collective car. If it’s a woman, I’ll try rifling through her purse for some of our gum, while I’m at it.
Oh. And I plan to go to CPAC next year and take a shit on Patrick Frey’s keyboard.
Should I make this it’s own OUTLAW post? Perhaps. Later today.
Sorry. I had a post in the Pub last week but maybe with JG posting again people don’t go there much. Anyway, a taste of the post I linked:
Looking back, “deem” seems to have been the theme of the entire Obama election campaign. It “Rules” right?
Jeff, after taking that crap on Frey’s keyboard, using his tie as bumwipe would be a nice finishing touch.
That’s what he has Daleyrocks for, Darth.
Mr. P and I talked about CPAC once. I said it was ick and he said you have to remember that those ones are activists.
And I imagine he’s right. Bless their hearts. They can activist up one side and down the other and at the end of the day they still just make me uncomfortable.
Oh. And I plan to go to CPAC next year and take a shit on Patrick Frey’s keyboard.
After the sweet corn comes in I trust?
That’s gross, but most poo-humor is. That’s how you know it’s the good stuff.
It’s all textural in the end.
Are the useful idiots who support this shit deemin’ sheep, then?
Written by Dick[s].
How about that? And a State no less, has a charter that means what it says. What is the world coming to?
I hope they succeed sdferr. I think if we saw more things like that then this crap they are trying to pull now would be far more rare. Sadly, only 18 states even allow for this type of recall.
Oh, mentioning Patterico, he found a new target to bash last couple months: The Brad Blog and Eric Boehlert. They are worthy targets, not being friends, and being on the opposite side of things, generally.
The holidays are over, the likker is put away; maybe he’s slowly returning to where he should be and should’ve stayed. Dunno, don’t care; I don’t go over there (I’m banned) so fuck him with a couple three feet of rough-sawn knotty pine.
As JD would say, thatisall.
I have not forgotten about my sushi, serr8d (x2) ;-)
We have need of a feedback mechanisms in our politics Makewi, of various sorts, i.e. attuned both for voters and for politicians.
Blowhard dropped this link to a conversation between Russ Roberts and Don Boudreaux last night and I heartily urge people to listen to it. There’s a rough transcript down the page linked too. See at 42:10 and below, where they dissect the interesting parallels and disjuncts of “choice” in voting and shopping at the supermarket.
Michelle Bachmann yesterday remarked that just as Obama is the first post-American president, Obamacare is the first “post-modern bill,” wherein words mean nothing.
She really said that at a rally! w00t!
Yes, JD, at any opportune time when you’re in Nashville, I’ll be more than happy to oblige. I lurvs sushi, yes I do.
OH, and this… )
Ouch. And yes, the Titans are gay.
They did seem to sleep through free agency. Who the hell is Witherspoon, and should we be excited? He’s no Keith Bulluck, that’s for sure.
The Colts, now, have picked up Adam (shit-eating grin) Terry. Got snorkel? )
In shopping you are buying for you with your money.
In politics you are buying, with others money, what you are told some undefined others will find and will be, good for them. And each election the same product is dressed up in new improved packaging. Proving it is new and improved, again.
I linked the wrong picture of Adam Terry.
Sorry.
“Michelle Bachmann yesterday remarked that just as Obama is the first post-American president, Obamacare is the first “post-modern bill,” wherein words mean nothing.
She really said that at a rally! w00t!”
In the spirit of the Lewis Carroll thing
her vorpal blade went snicker-snack
“…mean nothing.”
Which, that’s a problem, for far, far from nothing — an absence, a nullity, an emptiness — they mean something altogether opposed to the appearance they project. They mean to have you enslaved to themselves, doing the bidding which they see fit.
This is so very odd! I just now prepared a batch of oysters. Two batches, in fact. And I tell you what, they’re sons of BITCHES to open. Had to take a Dremel to over half of them just to get a wedge in. Tighter than a … tighter than … something really tight. And didn’t come out of it unscathed myself either.
Second batch here.
The native Americans in these parts lived on the things, eating so many they could end up building their dwellings on mounds of discarded shells. Didn’t have Dremel tools though.
Bour3 – it helps to have/use one of those shucker thingies, jam it in right by the hinges. You are making me hungry.
You could also probably pre-bake them just enough to open the shell, then put the toppings on and finish. The fresher they are the harder the shell is to open, usually. I shucked them for awhile for a living, there is definitely a technique for it and you absolutely need the special tool they sell. And one of those armored gloves for the other hand is a good idea while you are learning.
jonah g.
From newrouters link
“The Restorationists”…I like that…I hope it sticks!
“…but few would dispute that the Latin-speaking
harpsichordguitar player who used summer and winter as verbs was anything but an elitist.”Does he mean William Yelverton?
Heh, Bob.
If you want another laugh check out the comments on Jonah’s piece. Cocooning at its very finest.
Thanks bh.
Priceless.
Thanks bh.
Priceless.
Thanks bh.
Priceless.
Out, out, damn puppet.
Jonah’s late. I said the same thing yesterday. Didn’t I?
Culture wars. Yep. No doubt.
Wow bh,
Some great examples of the erudite and intellectual left! But then, what do you expect from the LA times…
Thanks for pointing that out!
On the plus side, Jeff, no one reads the LA Times.
You did indeed say write something along those lines yesterday Jeff. Maybe Jonah’s reading PW!
What’s the corollary to Don Boudreaux’s contention that the individual non-voter can rest assured that their vote, had they cast it, would have made no difference whatsoever in the outcome of a given election? Could it be that no-one is rationally entitled to upbraid a moron like Ann Althouse who is fool enough to vote for a gross liar like Obama? Could be.
Sounds similar to the logic that says the “broken window” policing will not have any effect for the neighborhood because who cares about a few windows.
Feel free to upbraid her sdferr. I have an affinity for her on some level, but she did get bamboozled and flim-flammed into voting for Obeyme (As Enoch Root is apt to refer to him as).
So let the upbraiding begin!
I don’t know exactly what it is, but sometimes she does manage to call a spade a spade; but that could be the old, “broken clock is right twice a day”, thing…
sometimes she does manage to call a spade a spade
Oh, you are so denounced, Mr. Reed. You just wait until JD gets here…
CARDIST!!!
John,
I got called a RAAAAAAAAAACIST! by so many lefties and trolls for so long, I just figured I’d start owning it…
Even though I’m a high enough percentage Cherokee blood that I actually hold the trump card in the identity politics victim-hood card deck…
But, you know, that just means I’m a sell out, race-traitor, self-haiting, racists wingnut to the proggs…
“I guess we should start preparing our civil disobedience plans, OUTLAW-style.
Suggestions?”
Well, I filled out my census and marked the wife and I as American, and now I just found out from AoS that is OUTLAW!.
I could be prosecuted and fined. It’s all very exciting…
“if seven maids with seven mops swept for half a year…
do you suppose, the walrus said, that they could get it clear?
i doubt it, said the carpenter, and shed a bitter tear.”
O Jeff….get off the SS Conservative Titanic and write your book.
Doughy Pantsload (Jonah) isnt going to save you from the demographic timer.
this is the absolute optimum time for you capitalize on the Tyrrany of the Stupid……play that Wingnut Wurlitzer.
<3 kate
Fuck you, proponent of eugenics and genocide.