Tonight's the vote on whether to allow debate in the Senate on the health care reform bill. 60 votes are needed to begin debate….yes, BEGIN debate.

If you've been following this congressional soap opera develop…..in a glacially slow fashion…..you also know that it appears as if Senate Democrats will have the votes tonight to BEGIN debate. Joementum Lieberman (Lieberman Party-CT) will magnanimously (after consulting Yahweh directly) vote to allow debate to start,…so will, apparently, Ben Nelson (D-NE). Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mary Landrieux (D-LA) are still playing coy, probably looking for the hand with the largest check amount on in….in order to decide.

Just think about what is happening tonight at 8 PM in the Senate. Democrats are being asked whether or not a Democratic health care reform bill should be introduced for debate. That's it. And trying to get an answer from Democrats on whether they'll even vote to allow debate has been like pulling teeth.

For tonight's vote to be so dramatic does not bode well for the future of the legislation.

The 40 Senate Republicans, having proven their high regard for fiscal responsibility during the presidency of Dick Cheney, naturally, will be voting no on allowing debate. Those 40 only want what's best for all Americans and are not simply attempting to bring about "Obama's Waterloo."

Will the bill eventually pass the Senate? How long will it take for obstructionist Republicans to exhaust their amendments, objections and stall tactics? Will the final bill….if there is a final bill…..be so mangled by corporate-pleasing Democratic senators that it will be totally impotent, except for increasing health insurers bottom lines?

Those are some of the unknowns….but The Reverend has predictions.

First….there will be no public option in any final Senate bill. Joe Lieberman, of the Joe Lieberman Party, will filibuster a final vote that contains a public option. Aside from carving out the entire state of Connecticut and designating it as the state of Lieberman…..Holy Joe will, once again, f*ck the Democrats over.

The Lone Republican Rangerette, Olympia Snowe (R-ME), said she MIGHT vote for a final bill which contained a "trigger" public option. A trigger assumes that health insurance and medical costs are not really that bad YET. Quite an assumption, but Snowe is still a Republican….and Republicans always know what's best for the vulnerable, poor and underprivileged. The trigger cop-out suggests that IF sometime down the road insurers and medical costs really, really get out of control…then, and only then, something else MIGHT be needed.

So…my prediction, all things being equal…is that a public option wll have to be sacrificed by progressive Democrats in order to get ANYTHING passed. That will protect corporate health insurers, thus pleasing the Republicans who will vote against it. Don't ask me….I never said it made sense.

Second…..This one is for the ladies. New far reaching restrictions on a woman's right to choose will most likely be included in any Senate bill with hopes of passing. The most likely outcome will be a harsh restriction on any "insurance exchange" plans from covering abortion, even though the majority of insurance plans today in America cover abortion.

This will drastically increase the scope of the odious Hyde Amendment which already prohibits tax money from being spent on abortion. Additionally,….though no Republicans will vote for it in the end,….further restrictions on a woman's right to choose will please Republicans. Republicans are in the minority and out of the White House, but America is really a conservative-Republican country in spite of having elected the most "liberal person in the Senate" as president, and putting 59 Democratic Senators in the Senate. If you can figure that sentence out…let me know.

Third….Sometime in early 2010, the Very Serious Senate will get around to calling a vote on whatever final piece of corporate-welfare and women-bashing legislation they've prepared. Having done everything in their power to please Republicans, except including a paragraph granting authorization to nuke Iran, Joementum, perhaps Snowe, the handful of ConservaDems and the rest of the self-loathing Democrats will get the 60 votes needed….TO BRING IT TO A FINAL VOTE!

Summary: If all that happens and something actually passes next Spring…..corporate-patriots of the health insurance variety will raise prices so high before the legislation finally goes into effect in 2013….that Democrats, who sought to please Republicans, just might be swept out of office in time for the GOP, America's Party, to rescind the whole thing.

The man in the above picture was arrested on September 15 and charged on September 25 with possession of child pornography…..

Ottawa police have issued an arrest warrant for a Roman Catholic bishop from Nova Scotia facing child pornography charges…….

(Bishop Raymond) Lahey was re-entering Canada at the Ottawa International Airport on Sept. 15 when members of the Canada Border Services Agency pulled him aside for a secondary examination, according to a release from Ottawa police. Officers found images on Lahey's laptop computer "that were of concern."

He was released at the time. The computer was seized and police said a subsequent forensic examination of the computer revealed child pornography.

As if that's not offensive enough, consider this….

The former leader of the diocese of Antigonish is perhaps best known as the man who helped broker a $15-million settlement with people who said they had been sexually abused by priests in the diocese, in some cases dating back to 1950. That settlement was approved by a Nova Scotia court on Sept. 10.

Jesus.

Just in case you missed this from last year….

In Ireland, reports into clerical sexual abuse have rocked both the Catholic hierarchy and the state.

The Ryan Report, published last May, revealed that beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children. A nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls, while government inspectors failed to stop the abuse.

On September 18, 2009…..

The UN Human Rights Council today published a written statement by IHEU on the role of the Holy See in the child abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church in recent years, and its failure to honour its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Commenting on the report, Roy Brown, IHEU Main Representative at the UN Geneva said: "The Holy See has been heavily implicated for decades in covering up cases of child abuse carried our by its clergy and religious orders, in obstructing justice, and in failing to deal appropriately with abusers. Yet for too long it has been given a free ride by the international community because of its presumed moral leadership. Our report is the first to bring the issue to the attention of the Council. We shall be referring to our report in the plenary of the Human Rights Council next week."

The Vatican's permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, responding to the report's findings that up to 5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child abuse, did the Christian thing…..and blamed others….

Children were more likely to suffer at the hands of relatives, family friends or babysitters than clerics, he argued.

Jesus.

And if that isn't bad enough, wait…there's even more….

The Archbishop also quoted research published in the Christian Science Monitor newspaper which suggested that most congregations affected by child sex allegations in the US were protestant churches while the problem was also common in the Jewish community.

'Yeah, 1 in 20 of our clergy are child-terrorizing fiends, but hey, what about those babysitters and those Jews and Protestants.'

Thoroughly disgusted yet? I've saved the worst for last.

Yesterday……………Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Chief Justice John Roberts

An American cardinal on Sunday issued a plea for the rights of the unborn at a church service that included Vice President Joe Biden, six members of the Supreme Court and hundreds of members of the legal community.

Five of the six Roman Catholics on the high court – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito – heard the homily by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo…..

What did the representative of this child-terrorizing religious cult have to say to enlighten America's vice-president and 5 other terror-cult members who just happen to be Supreme Court Justices?

Speaking at the annual Red Mass the day before the opening of the Supreme Court term, DiNardo said that people represented by lawyers are "more than clients. … In some cases the clients are voiceless for they lack influence; in others they are literally voiceless, not yet with tongues and even without names, and require our most careful attention and radical support."

Jesus.

High leaders of the United States of America, leaders of a country alledgedly fighting a "long war" against international "terrorists", seek moral guidance from a representative of an international child-terrorizing cult. A religious cult so morally depraved and so hypocritically twisted, it's representatives have the audacity to preach to America's highest legal representatives about our national morality in dealing with the "unborn", while dismissing and downplaying a scathing, yet factual, report of the cult's own centuries-old terrorization of underage boys.

It's all disgustingly maddening.

It could be called the Summer of Insanity. But that's too harsh, isn't it? Too shrill. Rather than refer to the brave, thoughtful and calmly-expressed, yet steroidally-enhanced, patriotism we've been witnessing this summer over the many Democratic proposals to kill our grandparents and turn all of us into socialist Obamabots with a strong desire to have a sex-change operation WHILE having a government paid for abortion….rather than call such an unusual display of love for country..insane, I prefer the title, WingnutStock 2009.

Instead of Peace and Love being the central theme of WingnutStock 2009, it's "gas chambers for seniors and babies"…..so 40 years does make a difference, huh?…..

Spring Valley, California….the latest stop for the WingnutStock 2009 Tour….was a veritable replay of the patriotism, bravery and wisdom witnessed in America's Founding Fathers.

Wisdom like this….

Quite frankly, the outbreak of reasoned, intelligent super-patriotism at the Spring Valley, CA stop of the WingnutStock 2009 Tour…..is…well…awe inspiring. I'll be opining on the briliiance of the patriotic woman at the 4 minute mark but watch the entire video…..but before you do….please take the time to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

The one thing that WingnutStock 2009, The Patriot Tour, makes crystal clear……the attendees are the most articulate, coherent and comprehensible bunch of super-patriots that I have ever seen.

"stuffed with Krispy Cremes, shop til you drop, if mothers baked cookies kids wouldn't need Ritalin, a 70" television set."

See what I mean? A rare glimpse into why America, and it's citizens, are so exceptionally exceptional. Is it any wonder why the WingutStock 2009 Tour has been so successful, so popular? The tears of unvarnished national patriotism are difficult to fight back, aren't they? Have you ever heard a more cogent explanation of our Divine nation's purpose? Me either.

Is it any wonder then why our Great Fourth Branch Protectors, main media, haven't been able to stop reporting and looping daily video form the WingnutStock 2009 Tour?

It isn't often in American history that such displays of honest, no-bull, patriotism are seen. Rare, I tell you. The Monicagate Tour and the Terri Schiavo Tour come to mind….but outside of those two national-pride events….one would be hard pressed to come up with a comparably patriotic event to the WingnutStock 2009 Tour. I can't wait until the whole Tour comes out on DVD.

Do you remember when Jimi Hendrix played the National Anthem at Woodstock in 1969? Talk about your over-the-top performance. My personal favorite was Alvin Lee's "I'm Going Home." But make no mistake, neither one of those performances came close to this performance at the Austin, Texas stop on the WingnutStock 2009 Tour….

Start at the 1:35 mark….and try not to allow your love-of-country emotions get the best of you….

What'd I tell you? I don't know about you, but when I heard those super-patriotic words, "I hate that flag up there", I raised my lit-Bic, and started looking where the communal-joint had been passed. Whew, knocked my socks off with those riffs. Spine-tingling.

Not only is the WingnutStock 2009 Tour chock full of masterful as well as patriotic individual performances, as seen in that video, but more importantly for the sake of preserving American Exceptionalism, the Tour is working to stop the Nazi hoardes, whom Americans mistakenly elected, from turning our God-Ordained Nation into some hellhole like France….or even Canada….where, can you believe it?, the health of their citizens takes precedence over corporate profits. No wonder the French and the Canadians can't speak proper English…..but what's even worse is the fact that the French and the Canadians LIKE their national health coverage.

First comes the national plan to kill old people, perform abortions on everybody including men, and change everyone's sexual orientation….then comes the national brainwashing. The hideous reprogramming, in the case of the French and the Canadians, where they actually come to believe that their socialist-commie-devilish national health programs are a good thing.

Now, I hope you can better understand why the WingnutStock 2009 Tour is so important and essential for all truly patriotic Americans. The Texan in the video who says, "I hate the U.S. government", "I hate the U.S. flag", is just trying to warn us against health reform legislation that will endanger the well-deserved profits of health insurers, that will allow us to change jobs, keep our homes if we get sick, and not bankrupt the national treasury.

What true patriot would ever want such things?

Let me start out today by stating the facts. Abortion is legal in this nation. The abomination known as the Hyde Amendment currently prevents government money from being used to pay directly for abortions.

These two facts are now clashing with each other in health care reform negotiations. Here's a few tastes…

ABC's Jake Tapper reports….

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH, an abortion opponent, said later that "no matter what your views are on abortion, you shouldn't ask people to use their tax dollars if they think that abortion is taking a life — to use their tax dollars for those purpose — for that purpose…."

Washington Post…

A group of conservative Democrats led by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) has proposed a compromise that would neither require nor forbid private insurers to cover the procedure as long as no federal funding is used; another group of Democrats and Republicans held a news conference Wednesday to call for an explicit ban on funding.

……

In their proposal to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Ryan and four other Democrats say that allowing insurers to chart their own abortion policies as long as taxpayer money isn't used for the procedures represents "a common ground solution" that effectively maintains current law on abortion funding.

…..

Backers say the bill has been carefully scrubbed for months to remove policies that might alienate either side, such as financial support for the morning-after pill.

……

But Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, said Wednesday that the bill would effectively subsidize abortion providers by increasing funding for family-planning services and would "further encourage promiscuous sex."

Perkins again…

Congress should add a provision to the legislation to permanently exclude abortion from taxpayer-funded health care or health insurance.

How many angels can dance on the end of a pin? Let's count a few….

If radical anti-abortion groups, like Perkins', had their way, all reproductive services (contraception, morning after pills, as well as abortions) would never be paid for with "taxpayer dollars." Tony Perkins tells us all we need to know about the radical nature of the anti-abortion movement in this country. The movement is first and foremost an anti-sex movement….."further encourage promiscuous sex."

If the anti-abortion radicals, those who regard an abortion doctor's assassin as a patriotic hero who was simply following his god-inspired conscience,…..if those anti-abortion forces have their way in the health reform "debate", women everywhere in America will see abortion and reproductive services curtailed.

Obama's basic plan will include an "exchange" where private health policies, as well as a public policy, will be offered to those Americans who do not have coverage from an employer. In addition, those Americans who cannot afford a plan from this exchange will be provided a government subsidy to pay for the plan chosen from the exchange.

The extremists would prohibit any health policy in that exchange from covering the cost of an abortion. You see, tax dollars would be used to pay for an insurance policy that covered the cost of abortion. Not the abortion itself…..but the insurance policy. Even this, the radicals cannot tolerate.

However, setting the radical anti-abortion groups wishes aside for a moment……just how ridiculous is the "argument" that no tax dollars should ever be used to fund an abortion?

In my opinion, pretty ridiculous.

As of 2006, there were 14.6 million government employees. Where does the money come from to pay these employees? From tax dollars. Should those millions be excluded from paying for an abortion with the tax dollars they are paid? Should those employees simply get the money necessary for an abortion from their friends or family members who don't receive their paychecks from tax dollars? Shouldn't a federal employee who opts for an abortion have to demonstrate that the money used for that abortion came from a source other than their federal employer? If not, why not?

For those who would pre-emptively argue that federal employees have earned those tax dollars by, you know, working…..and are, therefore, entitled to do what they wish with their own money……wouldn't the money, in my hypothetical, still originate from tax dollars? And wouldn't that fact deeply disturb the oh-so-sensitive, god-like consciences of the radical anti-abortionists?

In the midst of the totally insane town hall buster-uppers, the gun toters, the vile hand held signs, the Nazi-Obama equivalencies, the socialist stupidities, the death threats…..American women are in danger of having their legal reproductive freedoms further limited by the same forces who today justify assassinating abortion doctors, the same forces who would also prohibit tax dollars from being used to pay for contraception because that would encourage "promiscuity."

The folks working to limit women's legal reproductive options will stop at nothing. They are radicals, extremists. Their "conscientous rights", for some incomprehensible reason, they believe, must be guarded by all costs and means. Not, mind you, because any of these radicals have, or will, ever be forced to have an abortion themselves……they are just so easily offended if someone else does.

We have learned that the health industry lobbyists are spending $1.4 million per day persuading Congress to do what they want and not what the American people want.

We also know that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has "doubled its spending to nearly $7 million in the first quarter", to fight against the needs of the American people and for a continuation of their high profits.

So the latest from the Senate Finance Committee comes as no surprise…..

They said any legislation that emerges from the talks is expected to provide for a non-profit cooperative to sell insurance in competition with private industry, rather than giving the federal government a role in the marketplace.

This, either….

PhRMA, which represents drug companies, has purchased more than $500,000 worth of television ads to air during the week in nine states.

I'm sure you've seen one or more commercials on teevee sponsored by either Big Pharma or Big Health Insurance advocating for reform. Imagine…..Big Pharma and Big Health Insurance are FOR health care reform. As long as Big Pharma and Big Health Insurance can write the bill to favor themselves, I guess, these mighty Capitalist Jihadists are all for reform.

At least in the Senate Finance Committee, that's who is writing the bill.

Howard Dean, (who will host Countdown on MSNBC tonight and tomorrow night), was a guest on the Rachel Maddow show last night. Dean reminded viewers that 72% of Americans want a public option plan….not a co-op plan…..to be included in the final reform bill.

Finance Committee Senators, apparently, could give a sh*t what the American people want. $1.4 million per day is much more important to Senators than what the American people want and need.

A co-operative plan option for health insurance is the mechanism the industry giants desire because it will be toothless in bringing health insurance costs down. Bribed Senators will be able to point to the co-op plan and disingenuously tell the American people they've done something to keep insurance prices in check. Big insurance will be guaranteed millions of new customers without having to sacrifice any profit margins. All good. As long as you are not a regular American citizen.

Many Americans still believe that our most dangerous enemies are found in the caves and middle eastern hellholes where radical Islamics dwell. While dangerous, al-Qaeda and Co. pale as a national threat when compared to Big Capitalism. Al Qaeda isn't bribing elected American officials to do their dirty work against American citizens. Big Capitalism is.

When America's enemies within Big Capitalism, those who fight against the essential needs of American citizens in order to protect their profits, can turn a legislative battle into nothing but another windfall for themselves….we should all be very concerned.

If the health reform bill doesn't include a public option, if it doesn't include discount bulk pharmaceutical purchasing rights for the federal government….then the only reason to pass it….is for the sake of Big Health Care, to help them make even more profits.

If this sellout happens, and there is no reason to think it won't, the result will be worse that the 9-11 disaster, as far as scale…..because millions of Americans will be affected negatively.

To bribed Senators, that's all okay, because they're being bipartisan…..and that's, somehow, all that matters.

I have mostly understood the anti-abortion movement in America as largely an anti-sex movement. One size does not fit all, naturally, and I recognize that there are many people who oppose abortion on principles other than anti-sex.

What do I mean by anti-sex?

Within the Roman Catholic faith, sexual intercourse is theologically explained as sinful. The only condition under which the church accepts the sex act as anything other than sinful is within the confines of Catholic marriage. A clear example would be why priests must remain celibate. Priests are god's middlemen whose job it is to dispense god's grace. Priests cannot have sexual intercourse, nor marry, because sexual intercourse, itself, would defile the priest rendering him unable to dispense the perfect grace of god.

There is a theological reason why marriage, itself, is regarded by the church as a sacrament. God's grace, according to Catholic theology, is freely given….but only through specific vehicles of the church. The Eucharist, baptism, confirmation, confession, etc. Marriage is one of those vehicles. Marriage is a sacrament of god's grace. Therefore, the sinful activity of sexual intercourse, completely prohibited for the preisthood, can be made "clean" and acceptable before god…..but only within the safe confines of marriage.

I must say, that's a very dark and narrow view of human sexuality….but it is what it is. The root of Catholic theology in this area, as I understand it, is anti-sex. From this root, many other branches of dysfunctional church thinking have grown. The Immaculate Conception doctrine, the celibacy of the priesthood, the lesser status of women, and important to this post…..contraception.

From Obama's White House….

As the White House readies its plan for finding "common ground" on reproductive health issues and reducing the need for abortion, a major debate has emerged over how to package the plan's two major components: preventing unwanted pregnancies and reducing the need for abortion.

Many abortion rights advocates and some Democrats who want to dial down the culture wars want the White House to package the two parts of the plan together, as a single piece of legislation. The plan would seek to reduce unwanted pregnancies by funding comprehensive sex education and contraception and to reduce the need for abortion by bolstering federal support for pregnant women. Supporters of the approach say it would force senators and members of Congress on both sides of the abortion battle to compromise their traditional positions, creating true common ground that mirrors what President Obama has called for.

This approach is typical Obama. Bringing all sides together to accomplish a central objective. In this case, supporting pregnant women AND helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I am a liberal, and I find this approach acceptable. Others?…..not so much…..

But more conservative religious groups working with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships say they would be forced to oppose such a plan—even though they support the abortion reduction part—because they oppose federal dollars for contraception and comprehensive sex education. This camp, which includes such formidable organizations as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention, is pressuring the White House to decouple the two parts of the plan into separate bills. One bill would focus entirely on preventing unwanted pregnancy, while the other would focus on supporting pregnant women.

These two anti-sex-outside-of-marriage groups want to eliminate the contraception and sex education part of Obama's comprehensive effort and only support the part that's not sinful in their eyes….

"We welcome the opportunity to seek common ground with this administration . . . and to work on behalf of pregnant women and unborn children," says Deirdre McQuade, a spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is pressuring the White House to decouple pregnancy prevention from supporting pregnant women. "But issues of pregnancy prevention are much more divisive and would only slow down much-needed assistance to pregnant women."

Catholics and Baptists, diametrically opposed to each other theologically concerning how humans gain "salvation", are nevertheless joined at the hip in being anti-sex. The Catholic hierarchy teaches that even sin-free sex under the salvific umbrella of marriage, if accompanied by contraception, is wrong in the eyes of the lord. Baptists simply believe that free and open access to contraception and reproductive education will promote sinful sexual activity outside of marriage. The common ground of these two odd religious bedfellows is anti-sex-outside-of-marriage.

Even if the "common ground" is reached by closing ones eyes to the reality of human sexual activity, even if that "common ground" denies the efficacy of contraception….it's the only "common ground" that anti-sex-outside-of-marriage advocates will accept.

It's not about the contraception, it's not about the sex education, and it's not even really about abortion……it's all about the sex.

I've been thinking that if cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy were flammable gases, and could be captured….our national energy problems would be solved immediately…..and we could pay off our national debt with the money left over.

Let me explain my jaded and cynical self.

Remember those great moments of Blago a few months ago? The voting machines were still warm from the national election making Chicago, Illinois' Barack Obama our new president when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stood in front of the press and told us how Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had made Abraham Lincoln roll over in his grave.

Amidst the "f*cking golden(s)", the "f*cking valuable thing(s)", and the "I'm just not giving it up for f*cking nothing(s)"…..the virgin-birthed "bulldog", Fitzgerald, told viewers and Knee Padders everywhere…..

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering. They allege that Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a U.S. Senator; and involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target…"

Bloviators, puke pundits, teleprompter-reading anchors and establishment hacks everywhere were so shocked and horrified over Fitzgerald's findings that national grief counselors were placed on HIGH ALERT (Red). From arch-conservative GOP appendages, like FOX, to allegedly liberal cable networks like MSNBC…..the Blago horror was just so horrible it had to be put on a 24/7 loop for weeks,….I suppose,….in order for the horribleness of the horror to sink in.

Rachel Maddow, perhaps the most "liberal" of teevee heads, anointed Blago repeatedly with the name, "Governor F-Word." Mockery of Blago's hair and his word choices became a national sport….and don't even get me started on Mrs. Blago-Pottymouth. But…. it was all so richly deserved……because, you know, politicans never curse, and for sure they never engage in "pay-to-play" schemes. F*cking ever.

Since 1989, the health insurance industry has given current members of Congress $39.5 million

Individuals, lobbyists, and political action committees in the pharmaceutical industry contributed $167 million to federal candidates from 1990 to 2008.

Umm….that would add up to…. $200 million of f*cking golden.

No question about it then…..the "pay" part of what Fitzgerald might paraphrase as U.S. politicians, "involving themselves personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of salesmen meeting their annual sales targets"….seems obvious. Anyone shocked?

Before a blogger like me goes all 'Cheetos-dust-in-my-keyboard' crazy, jumping to hate-filled and unsupported conclusions….I suppose I should look for evidence of quid-pro-play before I, like Fitzgerald, can feel confident in declaring that there is a "for sale" sign in front of Congress…..

Authentic Congressional constituents have voiced their opinion.

Sam Stein of Huffington Post reports yesterday on a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll….

76 percent of respondents said it was either "extremely" or "quite" important to "give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance.

Even without secret wiretaps, it seems clear that, you know, Americans, by a 3-1 margin, want a public option included in any health coverage reform.

But it would appear that Congress could give a golden f*ck what Americans want.

"The proposal to provide a government-run Medicare-like program as an option for purchase within an insurance exchange of private health plans is vehemently opposed by the insurance industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AMA, all Republicans, a large bloc of conservative Democrats, and many others. No amount of negotiation can resuscitate a Medicare-like option. It's dead."

ABC reports….

"Former Senate leaders launched a bipartisan push for healthcare reform, but they took issue with a central feature of the President's plan, a public, government-run health insurance program." Bob Dole was shown saying, "If you want to stop this thing dead in its tracks, or dead on arrival, in my view, you put the public plan in it." ABC noted that even Tom Daschle, "once Obama's top healthcare adviser, said the public option probably needs to be scrapped." Daschle: "We've come too far and gained too much momentum for our efforts to fail over disagreement on one single issue."

A public option is what the…umm…public…wants by a 75-25% margin, so why would it "stop this thing in it's tracks", why should it be "scrapped?"

Democratic Senator from North Dakota and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Kent Conrad….

The problem is this. If you're in a 60 vote environment in the Senate, and I believe we are, because I believe reconciliation simply won't work, if you begin tallying up the votes, I believe that virtually all Republicans are against the public option and some Democrats are. So how do you get to 60?

Who, then, do these senators "play" for? It's clear that they don't "play" for the American public….because if they did, there would be 75 votes for including a public option.

Here's the quid-pro-play part, the "for sale" sign…

Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), chair of the Blue Dog health care task force, said, "We cannot create a public option that stacks the deck — through rate-setting and forced participation — against a system that currently provides coverage to 160 million" U.S. residents (CongressDaily, 6/4).

Summary: Nothing Governor Blago said or did even comes close to the level of "corrupt pay to play schemes" being transacted in Congress right now over including a public option in health coverage reform.

$200 million worth of "f*cking golden" in a national pay-to-play scam to prevent what 75% of the American public wants is not shocking, doesn't require grief counselors to prevent Expert Knee Padders' heads from exploding, and doesn't qualify for 24/7 loop coverage…..it's simply the status f*cking quo.

Here's a link to update this post….it's a must read.
From yesterday's Face the Nation on CBS with Bob Schieffer….

Schieffer countered (Senator Mitch) McConnell's(R-KY) contention that the Obama plan would choose (or deny) which treatments a covered individual may get; the White House is not proposing any kind of rationing board, he said. He also repeated the administration's assertion that a public insurance plan would give people another option. "If they want to keep their private insurance, that's OK," Schieffer said.

"I know they say that, Bob," McConnell countered, "but if the government is in the insurance business there won't be any other insurers, it's inevitable."

As I have blogged previously, I firmly believe that any health care reform coming out of Washington, inevitably, will exclude a public option and, most likely, will tax employer-provided health care benefits as well. Love to be wrong about that.

All that campaign bribery money, you know, has a purpose.

That said, consider Mitch McConnell's statement, "if the government is in the insurance business there won't be any other insurers, it's inevitable."

Why would that be the case? Why would the inclusion of a non-profit, public option health care coverage plan be the death knell for all the private health insurers?

Is it because the public option would be cheaper than private insurance and, therefore, American consumers would flock to the cheaper product? And why would Americans flock to a cheaper product if the cheaper product was inferior in every way, as conservatives insist a public health coverage product would be? Are American consumers just stupid?

In what other product or service industry is lower pricing a problem that should be prohibited? Take one example….Has the huge purchasing power and alleged lower prices at Wal-Mart eliminated all competition for consumer goods? Why, then, would a public option eliminate all private health insurers?

Has Social Security eliminated private for-profit retirement plans. If not, why not?

Republicans and conservatives say they are advocates of unfettered free markets. Belief in economic competition is one of the hallmarks of conservative economic ideology, at least that's what we're told. Why wouldn't conservatives favor a bit of competition in health coverage?

Now for the pot stirring part.

The Reverend suggests that the conservative opposition to a public health coverage option, both from Republicans and Democrats, is based on their true ideology of a non-competitive marketplace. In other words, those who shout the loudest in defense of economic competition are, in fact, opposed to economic competition.

I can already hear the boos.

But consider…..why are there so many corporate lobbyists crawling all over Washington? What's their purpose? Is it to cultivate active free market competition in the industry that they represent? Is it? Of course not.

The very purpose of all those lobbyists and all that campaign bribery cash is to gain marketplace advantage, not to stimulate more competition, not to advance a more level playing field for consumers. The reason tele-communications corporations, for example, pour so much bribe money into politicos' coffers is to slant the marketplace in their favor. And it has worked. Do consumers have a choice in broadband providers, or have cable corporations, with their 'bought and paid for' elected officials, tilted the free-market to successfully squelch competition?

The same dynamic is at work in the energy market and banking. Is there genuine competition in the gasoline market? Other than "introductory" bait-and-switch marketing ploys, is there really any competition in CD rates or mortgages?

No, conservatives who are shouting the loudest in opposition of a public option health coverage plan being included in a package of national health care reform aren't interested in enhancing market competition at all. They are only interested in skewing the "market" in favor of big bribing health insurers while creating the illusion of choice. They are only interested in maintaining the high corporate health coverage prices and schemes which have created the unaffordable situation we're currently being crushed by.

As elected officials addicted to Big Campaign Bribes from health care providers bloviate continually over the next 10 weeks or so about "choices"……don't allow yourself to be buried under the bullsh*t. The only choices these status-quo corporate defenders are worried about are the preferred choices of those who are bribing them.

Rachel Maddow puts Dr. George Tiller's execution by known domestic terrorist, Scott Roeder, into it's proper perspective, while Rachel's guest, Dr. Warren Hern, rightly explains why Tiller's killing was an American political assassination, not a random violent act.

Hern's comments are essential….they start at about the 5 minute mark.

One of slain Dr. George Tiller's collegues, Sarah Hill, describes the life work of the doctor and the tragic cases and situations that led women to seek his services.

The fringe elements of the so-called Christian right have been hotbeds for breeding America's domestic terrorists for decades. The breeding ground for terrorists, the training camps for domestic jihadists, are found within American religious organizations. That's where the hate is seeded and watered. The extreme evangelical right in America is becoming harder and harder to distinguish from any other terror group determined to change America through domestic violence.

Recently, an American imam was sentenced to 65 years in prison for his financial support of alleged Muslim terrorist groups. In America, those who support Christian hate groups, hate groups who spin out dangerous jihadists, like Scott Roeder,……are rewarded with tax deductions for their financial support.

The unhinged elements witnessed during the Palin campaign and at the recently held Tea Parties….are the same unhinged elements who occasionally spin off a dangerous jihadist.

But just like with the torture discussions, if it's Americans doing it, and not Muslims, it's all justified. The concept of American exceptionalism in the braincells of evangelical nuts translates into some bizarre messianic nationalism…..where the United States has been raised up to act uniquely for god.

Needless to say, if killing is required to get god's work done, if violent jihad works in forwarding god's will, if domestic assassination of specific individuals is what god would want….then, by definition, it is the right and proper action to take.

There's nothing new in any of this. American terrorists declare active jihad whenever a Democrat sits in the White House. For American jihadists who embrace Jesus, torture, and killing abortion doctors, electing a Democratic President is the "trigger" to begin carrying out their terror plots inside the U.S.

This lunatic fringe element inside the U.S., typified by the lunatic, Randall Terry, should be declared a dangerous terrorist organization by the U.S. government. The cold, bastard, Fox media talking heads who provoke this lunatic fringe should be perp-walked for inciting violence. But these two lawless elements in American society will hide behind their fig leaf free speech and religion rights…while at the same time, they defend premeditated and egregious illegal actions of violent terrorism and torture.

The ends justify the means….and after all, it's all being done for the sake of Jesus.

Not all Americans opposed to abortions are domestic terrorists. In the same way, not all Muslims who are opposed to America's imperialistic interventions into Arab and Muslim countries are international terrorists.

Just as there are those within Muslim lands who radicalize young, vulnerable Muslims through repetitive messages of jihad against the west….so too, there are those within America who radicalize fringe Americans through repetitive messages of jihad against abortion providers.

Terrorism is terrorism. And it works. Americans have been kept so scared over Islamic extremism that they now willingly embrace the wickedness of human torture and gladly hand over many constitutionally guaranteed rights without even a whimper.

American abortion providers, terrorized by members of the American Taliban over decades, have been scared away from their legal and necessary professions to the point now where abortions, in many states, are almost impossible to obtain even though they are legal.

For extremists, whether Muslim or American, the end justifies the means. If cold-bloodedly killing people advances the cause, it is acceptable, nay, desired.

Randall Terry, of Operation Rescue and Terri Schiavo fame, had this to say yesterday….

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue states, "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.
"Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."

And this gem….

"I believe George Tiller was one of the most evil men on the planet; every bit as vile as the Nazi war criminals who were hunted down, tried, and sentenced after they participated in the 'legal' murder of the Jews that fell into their hands. But even Mr. Tiller – like other murderers – deserved a trial of his peers, and a legal execution, not vigilantly justice."

Insert the name, George Bush, in place of George Tiller, and Terry's rant has very little to distinguish itself from an Ayman al-Zawahiri video or audio message. Like I said, terrorists are terrorists.
…….

Here's a significant confession from one of the founders of a political movement which has, 30 years later, spun off a full-fledged American terrorist organization. Listen to what Frank Schaeffer, former anti-abortion rights extremist, says about American terrorist teevee. This clip is the most revealing piece I've seen in years…it's best to watch it in it's entirety, however, for those pressed for time, the essential part begins at the 6:20 mark….

The American Taliban, just like the Islamic Taliban, speak for "god", and regard "god's law" as primary and man's law as secondary. The American Taliban, just like the Islamic Taliban, considers national and international law an impediment to their political ends, and therefore violates those laws by whatever means necessary, up to and including executions.

Finally, I'll again state for the record that everyone who is opposed to abortion in America is not a domestic terrorist or a domestic terrorist sympathizer. Just as all Muslims are not Islamic extremists nor supporters of Islamic extremism.

After 9-11, some Americans felt the need to scold all Muslims for what they perceived to be a lack of Muslim denouncements of extremism. Some Americans blasted all Muslims for their unwillingness to openly denounce the actions of a few Islamic extremists.

The same dynamic applies to all those in America today who oppose abortion. Will abortion opponents openly denounce American terrorism, like they encouraged Muslims to openly denounce Islamic terrorism?