It’s Scary Out There

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There’s just way too much crazy going on for me to deal with. I want to go to a quiet place and play with small, gentle animals.

And you know that in a few months many of the same people screaming about death panels and Marxism will find themselves on the wrong end of a medical bill, or denied care, or lose their insurance, and then they’ll want to know why the government doesn’t do something about it. Well, if they need help, they should go ask Glenn Beck. He’ll be there for them, I’m sure.

The Secret Service has detained a man who was at a townhall meeting yesterday with a sign that said “Death To Obama, Death To Michelle And Her Two Stupid Kids.”

See:

Jonathan Cohn, “The Swiftboating of Health Reform”

Todd Gitlin, “Pre-Existing Conditions“

25 thoughts on “It’s Scary Out There”

  1. ” I want to go to a quiet place and play with small, gentle animals.”

    Oh, boy. Me, too. My stress levels are getting out of hand.

  2. The problem is, if you go to play with small, gentle animals when stressed, you might hurt them. Mind, I’ve never kicked a dog (I did once kick a rat while running at night in Boston almost 50 years ago. Who was more surprised, me or the rat?)

    Start with the cucumber slices on the eyes.

  6. The Bush Administration trod all over the Constitution without a peep from these people. No one but a few bloggers and a handful of people in Congress said, “No!” Tax cuts for the really rich and two expensive wars were no problem for the Ol’ Federal budget.
    Now, when we’re talking about Health Care, HEALTH CARE for Christ’s sake, they break out the “Don’t Tread On Me” posters, scream “just say no!” and worry about the deficit. WTF?

    maha,
    A glass or two of wine used to calm me down. Now, I regret never having taken up crack or heroin. 🙂
    Oh well, still being unemployed, wine is cheaper…

  7. vjbinct,
    We love us some jolly green pentagons around here. Look on the plus side, at least you’re not a yellow circle with an attitude…

  8. c u n d – we thought that was a self-porttrait. Barbara, I think Badtux keeps sane through cat therapy – he shares an apartment with 2 cats who allow him to spoil them. Some thoughtful blogs are interspersed with parent-like fawning over feines – but I like him anyway.

  9. Too much crazy for me too. It was nice and calming when I went to see my rep today and his aide said he is into the Obama plan and he feels like he was voted in because that is what the people want too.

    This was the first time I had been to the office for a visit. I had been thinking I should but the final straw was this morning when the insurance company refused to pay for a prescription for my child. She has some calcium thing going on. We haven’t figured out why yet. They are trying to stabilizer her and to do that she takes tons of calcium (over the counter) and two types of D (D is required for the body to process calcium). The liquid vitamin D is $137.00 a bottle. The insurance company (a Kobra policy, my husband was layed off) claims they don’t cover vitamins.

    I don’t know if the plan will get passed, but I am hopeful. I don’t know if the plan does pass if it will be in time for us, but I still want it. I want it for the future. I want to know everyone can get healthcare if they need it, not just those that have the money.

  10. Doug,
    It’s true, in part. I’m a circle with an attitude. But I AIN’T YELLOW!!!

  11. “And you know that in a few months many of the same people screaming about death panels and Marxism will find themselves on the wrong end of a medical bill, or denied care, or lose their insurance, and then they’ll want to know why the government doesn’t do something about it.”

    As Albert Camus once wrote, “Hell is a special favour reserved for those who have asked for it insistently.”

  12. c u n d – I would trust you to watch my back in a brawl. And I would look out for you. The rightie expectation that liberals are wimps may come to a sad test. I can see Barbara shaking her head at this post – sorry.

  13. The truly amazing thing about the crazy people in the rightwing is that Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby (possibly W, too) committed a crime called treason! They gave the name of a covert operative for the CIA to a reporter in order to get even with her husband. This act was treason–and, just a tad bit childish. These men are traitors to their country. But, no outrage. We are now the United States of the Stupid. I have no respect for any of these rightwing nutjobs–NO RESPECT.

  14. Is it conspiracy paranoid to suspect that the health insurance biz is less a typical coldly competitive capitalistic attempt to make money, than it is an illegal trust racket? …and that any fixes to the system must take this on directly?

  15. Doug,
    She’ll hate it.
    And , btw, I have your back.
    For all of my adult life I’ve followed the principles of non-violence. Now, I want to kick some ass! I’m tired of signing petitions, making phone calls to Congressional staffers who could care less, and writing letters to the editor that, despite being pretty well written, are never published. Reading, instead, some poorly written screed with nothing but talking point’s.
    I took classes in non-violent protest, and how to get arrested, at NYPIRG (NY Public Interest Group) in the ’70’s. At Indian Point in NY, I volunteered to be arrested. As they lifted people to the left and right of me, leaving me to sit by myself, I saw a cop approach soemone near me and arrest that person. I asked him, ‘What about me?’ He looked at me and said, “I ain’t hauling your ass in. You’re too fucking big to carry!”

    maha, I KNOW that this is wrong. But, but, but… I’m just tired of
    ‘taking it.’
    OK. I’ll ‘take it’ a bit longer. But, don’t TREAD ON ME!

  16. Just changed my gravatar from the crazy, psycho guy. So I’m just posting to see if the change took. Thanks for the link Maha. Oh, as for the crazy around us, this current crop of crazy is way beyond anything I remember. Showing up at a presidential appearance packing with a threatening sign, how does this guy not get a cap in his ass? Rachel Maddox had a good bit on last night about the escalation of rhetoric leading to violence and used evidence to back up her point (something the righties have no idea of how to do) with the increased violence on abortion doctors. I’ve never owned a gun, but….

  17. Becky – Love the look. Allow me to step in with an opinion. You do NOT want to own a gun unless you learn HOW and WHEN to use one. “When” is very subjective and individual, but you have to know in your heart what the circumstances are that justify taking a life. A gun is not a magic wand – if you don’t have the mettle to kill, you have brought the means of your own execution. I am neither a sweet nor gentle soul – if you are, don’t pack.

  19. One of the most sobering youtube videos I have seen is “who owns America” by George Carlin. I (sadly) believe Carlin was right, and the powers behind the scene rely on the tried and true tactic of “divide and conquer”. Aided by their lobbys, Madison Avenue, and their bought and paid for politicians (add shock jocks like Limbaugh, Beck, etc.) they will divide, confuse, and terrify the masses.
    In physics there is a term “angle of repose”. It refers to a slope collapse, which eventually ends up in a pile at the toe of the slope. I believe the country is headed to the angle of repose, from which we will learn valuable lessons and rebuild.I shudder to think how scary things might get on the tumble down. We have already wasted a trillion or so bucks on the fiascos in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other lesser known “theatres”, but the dick heads on the right feel fine about that waste, while loosing sleep over the needy getting “government cheese”.
    This is what happens when you build a world based on lies and fables, it is where we are. C’est la vie………

  20. John Cole keeps a hoard of cats and dogs to keep him sane. He’s become so very sane that he switched to our side a few years back. A goodness.

  21. I keep hoping that somehow the nutsoids will use up all their craziness in fighting the health insurance reform, so that when it passes, they won’t have any left, and we can move on to a world based largely on reality and reason.

    Sadly, my reason and familiarity with reality keep telling me that won’t happen, that, even (especially?) if we get a good bill passed into law, the insanity will continue to feed on itself and build.

    I haven’t felt this worried about my country tearing itself apart since the long hot, riotous summer of 1967. I just hope we don’t have to lose too many innocent people this time around.

  22. We have already wasted a trillion or so bucks on the fiascos in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other lesser known “theatres”, but the dick heads on the right feel fine about that waste, while loosing sleep over the needy getting “government cheese”.

    But, but.. we thwarted Gog and Magog… didn’t we?

    I hear ya, erinyes.. I don’t want to get all Jesusy, but it’s a spiritual sickness that infests their souls. I look at guys like Joe the plumber who are so afraid that somebody is going to take from them something that they never had, nor ever will have, and I wonder what drives a person to such outrages stupidity. I can only conclude that it is a crippling selfishness that is impervious to reason. It’s like..God forbid that anyone should get a bigger portion, an easier road, or a lighter burden than I.

  23. ..In physics there is a term “angle of repose”. It refers to a slope collapse, which eventually ends up in a pile at the toe of the slope. I believe the country is headed to the angle of repose, from which we will learn valuable lessons and rebuild. I shudder to think how scary things might get on the tumble down…

    What makes you think we’ll learn anything after the fall? If the owners of this country have their way, we’ll all be slaves then. Or dead, as the crazies take out their rage on libruls.

    I’ve already learned enough.

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