Buh-bye, Rush!

Well, if you were hoping that the individual mandate would declared unconstitutional in the health care bill that the Supreme Court just issued their ruling on, I'm sure that you're disappointed that the Supremes left it in. But fear not!  There could be some really awesome things that come out of this!  We might be finally rid of Rush Limbaugh because of this!

According to the Huffington Post,  back in 2010, Rush Limbaugh had said that if this particular health care reform bill passed that he would leave the country and go to Costa Rica.  Well, it passed!  Start packing your bags, Rush!  Oh, and sorry Costa Rica.  You were a great place to vacation, but if that windbag is going to be there, there won't be a whole lot of room for many vacationers.  But good luck with that!  The audio of him making this proclamation is below.  Behold! 

 

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They Know They're Fat

I ran across this story in the LA Times yesterday.  Essentially, it says that "...a federal health advisory panel on Monday recommended that all obese adults receive intensive counseling".  You know, to rein in the fatness.  And really, it wouldn't be that big of a deal what the advisory panel said except that since Obamacare has been ruled to be constitutional (don't get me started), part of that whole deal "...requires adoption of certain recommendations from the task force, such as this one on obesity."

Now, I'm way more into preventative health care than I am just letting people's bodies go completely to hell and then trying to maintain some semblance of "normal" living through medication.  I'm not so sure how I feel about "intensive counseling", but that's kind of only because I don't know what in the hell that means.  But here's the part where I realized that it's likely going to be some utopian effort to try and change something that might not be changeable.  It's the part that said "...a recent study that found that more than half of all obese patients had never been told by their physician that they needed to lose weight."

More than half of all obese patients?  Soooooo...someone is obese and because they were never told by a doctor that they needed to lose weight....that they what?  They didn't know that they were obese?  They didn't know that it's not normal to wheeze and gasp for air every few steps?  They didn't know that using their Fry Daddy for all three meals each day (and snacks) was a bad idea?  Because no one TOLD them they needed to lose weight, they just assumed that they didn't?  Is that what I am supposed to take from that?  Or am I supposed to be blaming the physician for the fatness of the patient?  Either way, no matter which answer I get to that question, it's not good.

Since when did we need to be told everything to do?  I understand giving people nutritional counseling, I suppose.  It can get a little complicated at times if you're really trying to improve your health.  But if you're obese, I'm pretty sure that you can figure out why you're obese without someone telling you.  And I'm also going to find it difficult to believe that an obese individual doesn't know that it's not good for them to be obese.  Do you really think that an obese person can't figure out that they (most likely) would lose some weight if they ate less? 

And please do not email me your stories of obese individuals that you know or are related to and tell me all about their "thyroid problem" or their other metabolic condition that prevents them from losing weight.  Even IF that was the reason that those particular individuals are obese, those people make up such a small percentage that it isn't even worth discussing.  (It's funny how all of those thyroid folks eat fast food and Ding Dongs all the time, isn't it?  Must be part of their "condition".  Go figure.)    Also please refrain from the emails and comments telling me that I must hate fat people.  I don't.  What I hate is people unwilling to take responsibility for anything that they do to themselves and then blaming the government or someone else for their "misfortune".  Granted, I hate the government enabling those people more than I hate the unwillingness of the people in the first place.  But I gotta focus on something.  And right now, my focus in on the government thinking it can fix things that it can't.  Good Lord, we're doomed.

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Now We Know What's In The Bill. Or Do We?

Here are four words I never thought I'd think, much less type: Nancy Pelosi was right.

On March 9, 2010, Speaker Pelosi (who I'm pretty sure is missing a human soul and warms her body by sunning herself on a rock) gave a little speech to the Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties and during said speech, she actually said what I thought might have been the most ridiculous thing to ever come out of her mouth. She said, in reference to the then-pending health care bill, "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it". Um, what now?

That's what she said. I swear. The text of the entire speech is over at her website. That particular little gem is about six paragraphs up from the bottom. But it turns out, she was right. How did I determine that? I came to that conclusion after reading an article by the extremely talented reporter William La Jeunesse of Fox News. The article outlined a provision of the bill, which is now law, called the Class Act, "...otherwise known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act" which "...is the federal government's first long-term care insurance program."

Now, why we didn't hear about this beforehand is beyond me. No, wait. No, it's not. We didn't hear about it because people out there in the media are simply not doing their jobs. It's not like this bill wasn't available for review beforehand. (Right? It was available, right?) Granted, the thing clocked in at over 2,000 pages long. Am I supposed to read all of those 2,000 pages? Technically, I think that I should want to. And don't get me wrong, I DO want to want to. I DON'T want to, though. But again, technically, I don't think that I should have to. (Don't get me started on how I don't think that ANYTHING should be 2,000 pages long, unless it's a document telling me how great I am, and even then that would be pushing it. My greatness can easily be summed up in a thousand pages or so.) It's not my JOB to read the damn thing. That's the job of the media. Their job is to report. They can't report unless they know what they're reporting on. The only way to know that is to do their damn job and read all 2,000 freaking pages. But no one did, otherwise we would have heard about this before now.

Ready for this? I hope you're either sitting down or sharpening your pitchfork tines. "...The program will allow workers to have an average of roughly $150 or $240 a month, based on age and salary, automatically deducted from their paycheck to save for long-term care." Wait. What now? How much? A month?!

Now, call me silly, but can't you get long term care from the insurance that you're already supposed to be mandated to be purchasing thanks to the passage of the health care bill? I'm thinking that something along those lines would make the most sense. Ohh. That's why they didn't do it that way. It would have made sense. Carry on.

Now, this is a policy where you are automatically opted into unless you opt out. That is the complete opposite of what I thought that things were supposed to be being done. I thought it was supposed to be that you were automatically opted out of something unless you wanted to opt in. Oh, right. That's for things that the federal government isn't trying to siphon money from you for. Got it.

According to William's article, here are some of the more pressing details that you need to know about:

The deduction will work on a sliding scale based on age. Younger workers will be charged less, older workers more. The Congressional Budget Office pegged the average monthly deduction at $146. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put it higher, at $240. Wait. The CBO and the Medicare/Medicaid folks have figures that differ in cost of around a hundred bucks? Shocking, I know. Who am I going to believe? I'm going to go with the Medicare/Medicaid folks, as they are already ridiculously underpaid, thus the CBO's low estimate would seem to be wrong, all things considered. I'm also going to with with how that seems like an awful lot of money to be deducted monthly from folks. (And just remember, those figures are an "average". That means that some people will pay more than that and some people will pay less than that. My guess is that some people will pay much, much less.)

After a five-year vesting period, enrollees who need help bathing, eating or dressing will be eligible to take out benefits, estimated to be around $75 a day for in-home care. Only a five year vesting period? And then you're good? How do they figure that? By my calculations (and I'll go with the higher figure just to give them the benefit of the doubt), if you're paying in $240 a month, after five years, you'll have contributed $14,400. At benefits of $75 a day that you can tap if you need to after those five years, you'll have yourself a whopping 192 days of care. That's not a full year. That's barely over six months. Now, I don't know what your definition of "long term care" is, but mine is definitely more than six months. Six months isn't what I'd call "long term". Six months is "just gettin' started".

Here's the other frightening part of this: The money that is put into this fund (generously and likely erroneously estimated to be $109 billion in collected premiums by 2019 after being implemented as early as 2012) will not be in a "lockbox" sort of situation. No, it's going to be more of a general fund sort of situation. You know how Social Security money is supposed to be just for Social Security? You know how the Social Security funds have been tapped by everything else AND how it will give out more than it takes in next year? You know how that works? Sure you do. Now, do you expect that this thing will work any differently? Of course you don't. Thus, it's going to end up being what? A mitigated disaster, that is correct.

Of course "The statute says the program is designed to be self-sustaining, with an advisory board to assure the fund remains solvent. But opponents say the fine print already tells another story. Unless modifications are made, according to a CBO analysis of the bill, "the program will add to future federal budget deficits in a large and growing fashion." Sounds great. Good thing that this was passed into law so that we could find out that this was in it!

Since I enjoy math and numbers, let's look at a few more, shall we? If this thing starts in 2012, $109 billion in premiums by 2019 equals out to be $15.57 billion a year. If folks are paying $240 a month, that's 5,228,125 people needed to sustain that figure. If folks are paying $146 a year, that's 8,594,178 people needed to sustain that figure. That's a difference of 3,366,053 people. Um, that's kind of a lot. How do they figure this is going to work? AT ALL! And let's not forget, those are the figures to make it all work out without money being drawn out of the fund. Those are just the numbers for money being theoretically deposited into the fund.

But let's say you participate in this charade starting from the time you're 20. And let's say that you're paying the low, low rate of $146 a month. Fast forward forty five years. You're now sixty five and you're going to retire. You'll have amassed for yourself, after forty five years of paying premiums and at the flex-rate of $75 per day allotted to you for long term care, a whopping three years of long term care. Three. Forty five years, $146 a month for a total of $78,840. That gets you three years of in-home long term care. That doesn't seem like a lot to me. Wouldn't you be better off taking that $146 and investing it somewhere or even setting up a 401k type of dealio so that you can take care of your own expenses? Wouldn't that $146 amount to a hell of a lot more than the $78,840 after 45 years? I'm kind of thinking that it would.

This is ridiculous. And it's now law. Congratulations, Nancy Pelosi. Thanks for saddling the country with another obligation that it cannot afford. What in the hell happened to people taking care of themselves when they retire anyway? (Has she not noticed the high unemployment rate which is still besieging the country? Perhaps she has overlooked the still sagging economy? The perpetually high foreclosure rate? And she's thinking that folks in "times like these" are going to be OK with forking over another $200 a month? Not to be unjustifiably disrespectful to the soulless snake, but she's high.)

I don't say things like this very often, but please read William's article and pass it along to your friends. I guarantee that the majority of them, if not all of them, have never heard a single word about this. I guarantee that the majority of them have no idea that they've already been opted into a plan that is going to cost them a minimum of $146 a month unless they opt out. And again, the reason that people don't know this is because people in the media are not doing their job. Well, except for William. William rocks at his job. But everyone else just sucks. I can't wait to find out what else is in the bill now that it's passed into law. How exciting!

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Joe Biden's Great Big Effing Deal

What is wrong with Joe Biden? Seriously. I'm not sure if this guy could find his ass using both hands and even if he did manage that feat, I'm not sure that he'd know the difference between it and a hole in the ground. I was expecting him to be a little more wackier and little less moronic. It's unfortunate. Not that I'm not thrilled to have something to mock, that's not it. I'm just disappointed at what I see as the squandering of perfectly good potential.

Let's go back a week or so to when VP Joe was hosting St. Patrick's Day at the White House and had over, among others, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen. According to the New York Daily News,"Biden asked for God's blessing for the late mother" by giving the ol' sorry-she's-dead intro of "God rest her soul" and then doing a bit of a double take. "Wait a minute. You're mother. She's still....that's right. God bless her soul. I've gotta get this right." For cryin' out loud.

Why do people say that anyways? "God bless his/her soul". Since when are we the ones giving the orders as far as God goes? What if they were an absolutely horrible individual and everyone knows that they're burning in hell? Do you still say that? I guess they do because I've never heard anyone say, "Yeah, good luck with the whole eternal damnation thing" or anything to that effect.

Then there was the day before the "historic" health care reform vote. (If I hear it called "historic" in all seriousness one more time, I'm going to lose it. "Historic" doesn't necessarily mean "good". And I'm not comparing President Barry's administration to Hitler or anything, but Hitler did a lot of things that were "historic" as well. Hitler's just a easy go-to for situations like this.) On Monday, President Barry was giving some speech about the House of Representatives' final passage of health care legislation. For some reason, Biden was right there kind of at his side. But his purpose was unclear. He just stood about a foot away from President Barry and looked at him with this dorky grin on his face. Why was he there? It was like it was Take Your Vice President To Work Day. Very strange.

But the kicker was yesterday. Yesterday, that health care reform bill was signed by President Barry. I guess he felt like he needed to let ol' Joe say a few words before he signed it, so Biden got up there and said whatever it was that he said. Then, he turned the spotlight over to President Barry. In doing so, he shakes his hand and then leans in to him to say something. (When did that trend start? The whole "We're-in-front-of-a-gazillion-people-but-I-feel-the-need-to-say-something-to-you-that's-just-between-the-two-of-us" gesture? I'm not a fan of it. Y'all feel better now that you've got a little secret? Knock it off.) Only this time, the something was barely caught on tape. (Tape? I know there isn't really tape anymore, but what else am I supposed to call it? I can't call it "video". That's just the pictures. Tape. Caught on tape. Tape that isn't really there. Someone's going to have to work on that one.)

There are a lot of things that Joe Biden could have said to President Barry. Lots of them. I can think of many brief congratulatory phrases that he could have said during that "historic" moment. "Congratulations, Mr. President." "Nice job, sir." Lots of them. Lots and lots. But Biden decided to go off the cuff with this one. And what did he say, exactly? Why, he said, "You did it. This is a big f***ing deal." Wait. What now?

Yes! Yes, it is a "big f***ing deal", Mr. Vice President. It's not only a "big f***ing deal", it's a freaking huge, M-effer of a deal. Yes! I believe it's the largest piece of legislation since Social Security was introduced. And there was Joe Biden, smiling ear to ear like he had just gotten a little doggie treat. (I'm sure he could barely contain his little tail from wagging side to side.) And that's what he says. "By the way, Mr. President, I thought I'd just take this opportunity to let you know that this is a big f***ing deal. You also might care to know that I like pie." Seriously, what is wrong with him? Did he expect President Barry to stop dead in his tracks and say, "What's that, Joe? What's a big f***ing deal? This little thing?! Really? In what way?"

The tape (and audio...whatever that's called) is below. You're going to want to turn your speakers up because while he does say it, there's all of the mindless, congratulatory clapping that can drown out his F-bomb if you let it. And look, I don't expect much out of our Vice Presidents. (I do expect them to wear different ties of different days, however. Biden seemed to be fond of sporting the blue star spangled necktie for both the passage and the signing of the bill. Doesn't he have a wife to dress him?) Heck, I don't think that I expect anything out of our Vice Presidents. But I think I do expect them to not state the obvious laced with an expletive whilst passing legislation in front of the entire world. That I'd kind of appreciate. Other than making himself look like a doddering oldster whose brain has been riddled by latter stages of syphilis, it's not a big f***ing deal.

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We Asked These Protesters....

I love the folks at New Left Media. Did I mention that I love them? I do. I love them. They always seem to be out in force at these major Tea Party gatherings/protest/Band Of Idiots Conventions that are almost inevitable these days whenever there is a major vote in Congress or some major issue brewing about (likely involving Sarah Palin). Apparently New Left Media is just two guys, a one Chase Whiteside and a one Erick Stoll, and a one camera. Their website claims that they "are currently students at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio." I hope that they stay students for a while so that they'll have more time to do stuff like this. Once you graduate and get one of those pesky job things, activities such as theirs tend to disappear. It's unfortunate. Stupid jobs.

Anyway, they've hit upon a formula that, upon first hearing of it, would seem risky. They just show up at some of these larger rallies/powwows and basically ask people "Soooo, whatcha doin'?" Their answers will shock you. (No, they won't. When you realize how many of these people are paste eating mouth breathers, you're not going to be surprised by any of it. You're just going to do what I do and that is to make the wall around your walled-off compound a foot higher and throw a few more gators into the moat. Keep those people away from me.)

Apparently, up on Capitol Hill yesterday, the Tea Party protesters were out in full swing against voting yes on the health care bill (which is so incredibly enormous right now that it can't possibly do any good). And at the same time, the circus was in town. Awesome. Simply awesome. Behold!

To give you a feel for the group as a whole, let's look at some photos, shall we? Here we have a group with some very nice signs being held up. And I will give credit where credit is due here by pointing out that nothing seems to be misspelled. That, in and of itself, lends at least a shred of credibility to the nonsense that you're shouting. But spelling is only going to get you so far. One reads "No more killing of the unborn. Stop Obamacare." Yeah, see, the "killing of the unborn" is going to continue with or without this healthcare dealio. I'm going to throw out a little thing called Roe v. Wade. Perhaps you've heard of it?

What I really like in that photo is this dude here:

He brought a book to read! Just in case that rally didn't have quite enough oomph for him, he wanted to make sure that he wasn't bored. Then there's this next guy, who I'm just going to go ahead and assume is censoring himself. Maybe he had second thoughts about bringing a large placard that read "I WANT MY COUNTRY F**K!" I appreciate the covering up of the F and the U. What? What's that? You think it says "back"? Huh. Maybe. Good point. Whatever. Moving on...

I like the artwork in the one below. (There's nothing I hate more than a hastily scrawled protest sign.) It shows President Barry in a health care bill coffin. He is wearing a tuxedo that seems to indicate that he met his demise right after attending a wedding in 1973.

And speaking of President Barry, it just wouldn't be a protest without at least one chap displaying a sign with a picture of President Barry sporting the Chaplin moustache. I have yet to figure out the connection between Barack Obama and The Little Tramp, but some folks are very adamant that there are similarities. If I figure those out, I'll let you know.

This man is saying that "...government can't run anything effectively." Oh, if they only had a lime green cyclops shirt and a fuzzy blue wizard's cap, that would make things much more effective.

This Maryland Terrapin here made it very clear what he thought about the bill. He said (and I swear to God I'm quoting verbatim), "Three words. Not. Good. For. The. Country." Good Lord, sir. I'll give you that the whole "Three words" tease sounds very dramatic and all. But when you don't actually have only three words, you're really doing yourself more harm than good. And when asked by either Chase or Erick (I don't know which one is which) "What are some of the things in it that you have problems with?" he responded (and I swear to God I'm directly quoting again), "I don't know! I don't know." Am I surprised by that? Not really. I mean, he seems to be having a bit of trouble mastering the whole counting-to-five concept. It's not wonder that he doesn't know what he's doing there.

The chick below I found to be very informative. She seems to know about things in the health care bill that I was completely unaware of! It's a good thing that they caught up with her! When asked if she has other problems with the health care bill, she tells us, "Uh, yeah. Um, that nice little...uh...um...death tax! Where they would send you...where they would rather send you a fifty dollar check for a blue pill, an end of life pill, than, uh, pay for the necessary medical expenses." They what now? They want to send us checks for Viagra? What now? What part of the bill is that in? I missed the Viagra clause.

I love this couple. The matching shirts? Priceless. And check out dude there. He's proudly wearing that G.W. Bush hat atop his head and has a very firm grip on that cigar. Awesome. I might like to live next door to those folks. They seem kooky, but kooky in a good way. I think. (Anytime a couple does the matchy-matchy thing with their wardrobe, it's always a bit troubling for me, but the cigar offsets it a little bit.)

The video of all of this blather is below. It's about nine minutes long. While I enjoyed the view from the front lines, I really could have done without the two paragraphs that they put in the last 30 seconds or so. I get it, I get it. You want the bill to pass.

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Healthcare Reactions From The Speaker of the House

Last night at around 11pm, the House passed some sort of health care bill. We could be doomed. I doubt we're saved. Regardless, Nancy Pelosi, lacking a human soul, was strangely overcome with emotion. She was so emotional, she almost blinked. Back to you.

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You Lie! No, YOU Lie! No, you DO!

Oh, man. So close! SO CLOSE!! I've been waiting for the US Congress to just completely succumb to the Jerry-Springer-Show-like antics of the recent town hall meetings. You know, people shouting out crazy things, fingers getting bitten off, folks stripping down to the waist and engaging in brazen fisticuffs with their opponents, stuff like that. That would be the best. To have some sort of a brawl akin to those of the Taiwanese Legislature where it's just a full mob riot, where almost all of the lawmakers are just flat out swinging at each other and there are just a few pages or bellhops or whatever they are trying to hold them back by their ties, that would be awesome. And we came really close to that last night during President Barry's speech to Congress about health care.

It would seem that the summer heat over there in Washington has gone to the heads of some of our Representatives and caused at least one of them to welcome the Silly Season with open arms. And an open mouth. Meet the Representative from South Carolina who forgot that he was a member of Congress who was listening to the President of the United States give a speech and who instead behaved like one of the town hall hecklers shouting down anyone who said something that he didn't like...Rep. Joe Wilson! Give him a hand! Behold!

I'll start by saying that there seemed to be a lot more in-audience mumbling and a lot more vocal (yet mostly muted) reactions to various points that President Barry covered. Maybe that's how it is every time the President addresses Congress, but I guess I don't remember it that way. To me, it has always seemed like the President talked, Congress listened and clapped at every pause or at the end of every sentence, and then everyone went home. Not so with the health care speech. Not so. It definitely had that "town halls of summer" feel to it. Just as Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-TX. Behold!

What the hell? Is that his way of relating to the people that he is supposed to represent and serve? By going to this speech with a handmade sign that reads, "What Bill?" I get the feeling that a lot of money could have been made by selling expired produce (suitable for hurling along with the insults) in the Congressional parking lot. He's from where? Texas? Yo, Texas! Don't vote for that guy again. He may be a member of Congress, but showing up to listen to the President address a joint session of Congress whilst holding a homemade heckling sign justifies ranking him just a small step above (just barely above) this guy. Behold!:

Heh-heh. Still funny. Anyway, back to the sophomoric antics of our elected officials. So about halfway through President Barry's speech about health care reform and why we need it, he starts in on debunking some of the ridiculous rumors that are flying around out there. (Thanks a lot mainstream media, for doing your job so incredibly poorly and so incredibly ineptly so that many, many people just believe these ridiculous lies out there because they're not being spelled out why they're not true.) And then he gets to the illegal immigrant topic and things start to get a little heated.

After throwing a bucket of tepid water on the "death panel" assertion, dared mention the words "illegal immigrants" in public. See, with an estimated 12 million illegal occupants of this country (all of whom are eligible for services that this fine nation willingly provides for them), that makes up a large portion of people who are uninsured. And the problem is what to do about it. A lot of people are quite angry at the thought that, if there is a government option, that it would be extended to those who have strayed off the path and wandered aimlessly into this fine land and never left. So to try and diffuse the notion that those who are not even supposed to be in this country would be covered by a government insurance plan, President Barry had this to say: "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."

And that's when Joe Wilson had this to say : "You lie!" And he had it to say loudly. Video is below. Behold!

You lie. Yep. That's what he shouted. (Since when are joint sessions of Congress so shout-y?) Immediately a collective gasp could be heard through the room as uttered by folks who hadn't been that surprised since they watched The Crying Game and found out that chick was a man. Nancy Pelosi would have looked absolutely shocked if she could actually move the muscles in her face. Joe Biden looked like he wanted to kick someone's ass, but only because the gasp woke him up from his nap I think he was enjoying. This would have been the perfect time for a brawl to break out. Come on, Biden! Rip off your shirt and go kick that guy's arse! (Preferably with fake karate chop moves even though you don't know karate!)

Now, look...here's the thing: I understand that the guy is frustrated. I think that everyone is frustrated. Congress. The people. Even Bo. But regardless as to how frustrated you are, that is the President of the United States speaking and he deserves your respect. Period. You don't shout out "You lie!" You don't shout out anything! You don't show up carrying signs. (Seriously, what's next? Pithy sayings on sandwich boards worn by Representatives ringing large bells?) You know what you do? You listen. You moron.

If he had been the only one behaving like a member of the Taiwanese Legislature, I'd be a little more appalled, but he wasn't. No, pretty much a large number of Reps. were completely clueless as to what it means to be respectful when someone is speaking. Clearly the behaviors seen at some of the town hall meetings seemed like a good idea to some of those elected officials! After all, it's that sort of behavior that got sooooooo much accomplished. Whatever. Who else? Well.....

According to a one Ryan Grim over there at The Huffington Post, after the "You lie!" outburst, someone shouted, "Shame on you!" I don't know when the "shame on you" became the hot catch phrase of political disagreements, but I think we're all over it at this point and do respectfully request that you find a different way in which to voice your fake outrage. "Throw him out!" was also shouted by someone else. "First Lady Michelle Obama, seated behind and above Wilson, seemed to mouth a drawn-out "damn" at the scene unfolding before her." Michelle Obama. Look to her for great arms and look to her for an honest an appropriate reaction. Nice job, Michelle.

More summertime town hall influenced behaviors included "...a Republican member (saying) loudly enough to be heard in the press gallery, "Read the bill!" " Also, when President Barry said he had "no interest in putting insurance companies out of business," a Republican member responded with a loud, "Ha!" " What are you? Five?

Now, I'm not sure when it was that Joe Wilson realized that he had not behaved in the most appropriate manner, but I'm pretty sure it was before the end of the speech. He sure did high tail it out of there. (It was probably because Rahm Emanuel was headed his way. Hey, I'd high tail it if Rahm Emanuel was on the other side of the street from me. That dude can get a little bit intense at times.) And it didn't take too long before he had crafted a short apology and kind of apologized. Sort of. He said, “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”

So if he still disagrees, who is right? While I don't think President Barry was lying, I think I can guess where Joe Wilson was coming from. And if I'm wrong, then it's where I'm coming from. I understand what is meant when President Barry says "...the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." I totally get that and it makes partial sense. The part that doesn't make sense is that those who are here illegally don't have health insurance as it is. Does that stop them from being treated? No. Does it stop them from using the emergency room as their personal physician? No. Does it make them want to get health insurance? No. Do they have any incentive at all to get health insurance? No. So to say that the reforms would not apply to illegal immigrants, that's true. Unfortunately it's true. If you assume that the reforms don't apply to them, then can you also assume that they will continue doing things the way that they've been doing them and that won't change? I think you can assume that.

I think Joe Wilson's point was that just because you're going to reform health care, it doesn't mean that you're going to address the issue of what to do with almost 12 million people who are here illegally and who will likely need medical services at some point during their uninvited stay. Whatever programs, if any, end up in place, if you don't specifically address that issue, then you are automatically consenting to allow them to be treated regardless as to whether or not they're insured or if they can pay. THAT allowance does apply if the issue isn't taken care of. And I'd imagine it would be difficult to explain to millions of US citizens why they will have to pay for health insurance to get certain services, but those who are NOT US citizens will NOT have to pay for health insurance and WILL get those services. Yep, sounds tricky.

Really, I'm a little concerned that this health care thing is one of those issues like abortion or gay marriage. You either fundamentally believe that health care is a right or you don't and you're not likely to change your mind any time soon. And I don't know if we can get past Joe Wilson acting like a total arse and instead look at what it was that made him so angry. I'm guessing we can't. Sorry, Joe. Bad approach.

How is all of this going to turn out for ol' Joe Wilson? Well, as I type this, it's not even 12 hours after President Barry finished with his speech. In that time, Rob Miller, who is Joe Wilson's opponent in the upcoming election, has raised over $41,000 on a website called Act Blue, a fundraising website for Democrat party candidates. It would seem that donations just came pouring into the site just after "You lie!" came pouring out of Joe Wilson's mouth. Anyone got a fork? He's done.

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