Alan Grayson is my hero

Just off the wire... (OK, Crooks and Liars)



Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) introduced legislation that would allow all Americans to buy into Medicare at cost.

It's called the Public Option Act. (careful, link takes you to the website of an avowed liberal Democratic Congressman!)

This is what I'm talking about. As long as the cost isn't prohibitive, everyone should be allowed to get into the government health care system. I understand the problems, lots of them, but they can be fixed. Medicare ain't perfect. There are a lot of billing issues as well as reimbursement problems. But it's there and in place. You don't have to re-invent the wheel.

As a few of my blogging buddies can attest, you fix your car when it's not running right. If you went to the dealer to get a new ride every time the old one got a flat or needed a new radiator hose, you'd be broke in a very short time. And going to the Chinese 'payday loan' place isn't an option any more.

Americans need a real answer to our health care crisis. The Democratic leadership in both the House and the Senate seem to think that they have a magic touch with consensus. They think that in order for an effective bill to get Obama's desk, it has to have 'bipartisan' appeal.

Reality paints a different picture. There are two big brick walls between Americans and affordable health care. These walls are too tall and too wide to get around but the Dems, with their soapbox, think that they'll just sprout wings and fly over the obstructions. Not gonna happen.

These concrete monstrosities belong to the Insurance Lobby and to the Republicans. Obama and Reid stand at the foot of these walls with their paper wings trying to get over. They're running around flapping and flapping, hoping that the walls will just bend down and let them go over. It's embarrassing. But Holy Fuck! - here comes Congressman Grayson in a D-9 Cat itching to go through the bitches.

I think the President and Sen. Reid better get the fuck outta the way and let Rep. Grayson bust through so we can get on with the People's work.

The Repugs and the big corporate lobbies will NOT play nice with a Democratic president. They would rather eat glass and shit coke bottles than allow Obama a single victory. They don't care about the same shit as we do. For them, it's all about power. They would put millions of Americans in danger without a second thought if they could make a buck. They would pave their driveways with kittens and puppies to get back in the White House.

They liked having an idiot as President. It was good for them, lots of them profited immensely from it. Now, not only do they not have one of their own in the Oval Office but he's smart and he's black.

OMFG, what is this world coming to?

IF you want to get shit done, you roll up your sleeves, grab your tools and go to work. No whining and pissing yourself every time a Repug (or Blue Dog bastard) goes 'Boo!'. The People are watching and guess what they want to see?

Courage. Look at Grayson - that's what it looks like.

So Mote It Be,
David A.

The Ides of March come early

I always though Joe Lieberman would play a good Brutus.

Beware the Ides of March...

Caesar was told this by a soothsayer in Shakespeare's play 'Julius Caesar'.

The play involves treachery, shattered loyalty and the betrayal of those closest.

Upon his election and inauguration, Obama filled us with hope and promise. His words echoed our commitment to bring this country back from the shadow of Bush/Cheney. Eight long and painful years we languished in the swamp of fear and ignorance that permeated every branch of government. Obama represented change. We had given ourselves the tools to make that change. We had the will to move forward, to make some sacrifices if need be to get past the darkness. We were at the ready, tools in hand - all we needed was the signal to start.

It didn't come. Our leaders told us to wait, that fixing Washington would take a bit of time. We lasted almost a year before we realized it was just a case of 'don't call us, we'll call you'..

We thought we got beyond this shit. What we're seeing is the same show but with different characters. Like SNL, the previous cast has moved on and now we have a new set of players. But like the show, the new players are telling the same joke, pretending to be the same people and doing the same skits. We didn't laugh then and we aren't laughing now.

We put Democrats in place and elected a man of the people... or so we thought. All we did was change the cast, the same old jokes are on us. Joe Lieberman gets a standing ovation upon his return to the Senate after he all but kicked us in the groin by campaigning for John McCain (and coming a dog's hair from being his VP choice). Is that how Democrats handle treachery? With a round of applause and a kiss from Blanche Lincoln? We have a backbencher like Congressman Bart Stupak hold up months of hard work because he wants to be on TV.

I've spent a few posts here talking about courage. Not just bravery but courage of spirit, of conviction. The kind of courage that puts you against your friends, your colleagues, your neighbors when they want to take the easy way out. Courage to stand up to the fear and ignorance that lies over this country like a thick fog. We thought we had elected people who had that kind of courage. We carried them, put them in power, embraced them. For what?

We have been stabbed in the back. Et tu, Brutus!

Reform: "the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc."

For a year and a month, we've watched as one opportunity after another fittered away into the wind. Bold ideas, innovative solutions for the many ills and malice that affected us. The promised green industries, a real economic stimulus, thousands of job programs from building bridges and roads to repairing our crumbling parks and monuments disappear like so much smoke. Education reform, health reform, social reform and foreign policy reform had been our rallying cry. But if the people cried out in Washington and no one in Congress heard, did they make a sound?

What happened? We went to Washington full of hope and came away with nothing but a bag of rocks.

So, do we just put the rocks down, sulk back to our living rooms and coffee shops and wait for the next wave?

Most of the ones reading this will say no. They take the time to find the answers, to make the calls, to shake the trees to get the message out. However, there will be those who take this setback to heart and give up. This is where we find our courage.

The powers of our opposition have no problem with rallying the faithful. They can snap their fingers and 20 pundits and congress critters will bark in unison. They only exist to destroy Obama. they care nothing for the country, only the purity of their kind. The tabloid press will not help us. They have no interest in truth and fairness. Glenn Beck is more marketable than Edward R. Murrow. They will always look for the sensational, the scandalous even if they have to create it from thin air.

We have a lot to do. We have to rattle the cage a bit. There's an opportunity in Arkansas where Bill Halter is trying to knock Lincoln out of her Senate seat. We have to jump on this. Contribute if you can, but make some noise. Call CNN, MSNBC, ABC and tell them to put our leaders on their talk shows. Put Grayson, Kucinich, Sherrod Brown, or Anthony Weiner at the table with George Will and David Broder. Tell NBC to put Rachel Maddow on Meet the Press, even if they lose some of their regulars. Time to get rid of that dead weight anyway.

We also need our leaders to fight for us. Really fight for us. Harry Reid will never show spine. He will always give in to the big scary GOP. We need a Senate Majority leader that knows what the word 'majority' means. One that knows the difference between compromise and capitulate. We need leaders that will say to the President " Mr. President, here is the bill you asked for. It has a public option that covers every state and will hold the insurance companies accountable. It has regulations stripping these companies of their anti-trust exemption. It brings relief to families that have no option for care when they need care the most. Mr. President, this is the People's Bill."

The only way to get what we need is to hold them accountable at every step. Vigilance.

I walked away from this blog in December. I had a belly full of Reid, Obama, and the rest of the cowards in the Democratic Party. I felt that I was screaming into the wind. Since then, I've come to realize that I wasn't alone. That my voice, as loud and brash as it was, was part of a chorus. The larger the chorus, the louder the song. When I gave up the blog, I silenced a voice in that chorus. The song that needed to be heard was diminished. This can't happen.

So Shamanaqua is back - for good or ill is for Fate to decide, not the likes of me.

My thanks to Gordon and Fixer at Alternate Brain for keeping my mind operating while I stewed.

Special thanks to BK at Ornery Bastard for the ass kicking that got me to finally open the doors again. (I had originally planned for the first day of Spring but... WTF!)

Also to the memory of Jon Swift (aka Al Weisel) He gave me my first nod on the national scene during Blog Amnesty Day last year. He was a good man and force on the Web. He is missed but his legacy will live on.

So Mote It Be,
David A.