It's Over, or Is It?

Obama has done what many have tried over the last forty years, he's pushed Health Care Reform through Congress. Many question if it is a victory for the people, but few dispute that it a political victory for the Obama Administration.

But, it may not be over as the Supreme Court hasn't weighed in yet, and there are many who believe that parts of the package are unconstitutional. In particular, the part that requires everyone to buy Health Insurance.

I think that if Conservatives push the Constitutionality of the Bill to the Supreme Court, it's going to open a very big can of worms for the Insurance Companies. It's not just Health Care that will be affected. Think about your Auto Insurance. Is it mandatory in your home state?

There is a difference of course, Auto Insurance is only mandatory for liability for damage to other people and property, while the Health Care Bill is mandatory damage to ourselves. But I think that distinction may get lost in the debate. And I'm not so sure that the Insurance Industry really wants people to question whether mandatory Auto Insurance is Constitutional. No, they don't want that at all.

Mandatory Auto Insurance is the goose that that laid the golden egg for the Insurance Industry. Lobbyists feed the guard dogs ( politicians ) that protect the Hen House ( that's our money ).

In my opinion, the political victory is also a political threat from the White House. How many Conservative Politicians are going to go to bat for the Insurance industry now? Do the lobbyists have a dog in this fight, and is there any fight left in their dog ( GOP )?

Remember, it's not about the dog in the fight, it's about the fight in the dog ( see; Obama~big dog ).

A Marvelous Game

I've been playing a marvelous game on-line for the last month or so. Tribal Wars seems to be all about conquest, exploitation and domination. Marvelous!

Starting with a village that supplies you with resources ( wood, clay and iron ), and building an army to pillage the resources of neighboring barbarian villages ( those that aren't blessed with a tyrant such as myself ) so that you can research and develop more and better soldiers and weapons to explore and exploit more distant villages. Marvelous!

When you're secure in your military strength, feel free to attack other tyrants! Or, if your not so secure join them in a larger quest against even larger groups of villages ( Tribes ). Marvelous!

I did well in the first several weeks, exploiting, building and researching to the point where it seemed worthwhile to join a tribe and take the game to a higher level. It took about a week for the tribe and I to get to know enough about each other, and then wham, they turned on me and decimated my original village. Not so Marvelous...

But that's ok, I've learned a valuable lesson; it's not by honorable conquest and subjugation of barbarians alone that elevates a tyrant. One needs to treacherous and conniving as well. I suspect that the greatest reward from this marvelous game will be the opportunity to slip a dagger in the back of my closest ( and most powerful ) ally. Marvelous!

All things considered Tribal Wars provides a marvelous provides a marvelous alternative to reading the news about the real world, and real people. Damn Marvelous!

Caught Red Handed

"Caught red handed," is a cliche' that refers to a killer found with blood on their hands. Recent revelations that the Republican Party ( GOP ) employees have been eligible for elective abortions under their Health Care Insurance policies are a perfect example of that cliche'. Which is all the more relevant as the House of Representatives has sent a Health Care Reform Bill to the Senate. A Bill that is being hotly debated on the issue of publicly funded, elective abortions.

Consider that this insurance policy has been in effect since George Bush Sr. was President, and that Democrat politicians ( including the current President ) have been criticised in every election since then by a party seemingly aligned with a political faction that was named back then, "The Moral Majority". Many Christian Americans, and most Fundamentalist Christian Americans where drawn to the Republican Party on this major issue alone.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele;

"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," Steele said in a statement late Thursday after learning of the abortion coverage from a news report. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

Steele is the new face of the GOP, appointed immediately after their defeat in the last election. Can he move the GOP away from this blatant hypocrisy fast enough to dodge the accusations that will no doubt be made by the opposition in the Senate debate?

Another issue is the survivability of the GOP itself. Ben Smith, writing at Politico has a few sharp words, some great quotes on this issue of, "Do as I say, not as I do."

"...In order for the RNC to regain the trust of their donors, they must disclose the names of all people involved in any way of the selection of their health care plan. And those people must be summarily fired. No severance packages, no golden parachutes; fired. For cause.

No pro-lifer in good conscience can give them a dime until this happens...more..."

The GOP has enjoyed the financial support directed to them by the pulpit, but they require only the votes from that right wing of their rank and file. Their finances depend on lobbyists from Big Business...like the Insurance Industry that is obviously behind the opposition to Health Care Reform.

There's an election coming up, and many GOP Senators will have to decide between the Truth, and lies. Republican voters will be facing the same choice. Fundamentalist Christians have always embraced the contradiction between The Right to Life and the realities of business, it's known as The Puritan Dilemma. Or, as my Grandmother would say;

"If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?"

About the title of this post. It refers to the blood of the innocents sacrificed on the altar of profit.

Facebook has a backdoor to Friendfeed

Though she may be the proud Mother of Invention, Necessity is none the less a Bitch. Yesterday presented a problem, I could not access my friendfeed account! All I could get was a page that said something like, "Go away, this page has either moved, been removed or you are just not welcome."

Realizing that my facebook account had a friendfeed application, I did a thorough search of the application settings at facebook. And guess what I found down at the bottom of the friend feed application page...a unique link to my friendfeed account that worked! It's called; Regular FriendFeed Interface.

I have no idea why my friendfeed account was blocked, maybe it was hacked. I don't know. But, if you enjoy friendfeed it would behove you to sign-up at facebook just in case you get locked out. Then get the friendfeed application. I have no idea why a link on facebook works but other links don't, but it does.

Oh, did I mention that Facebook now owns Friendfeed? Bitches, I might just close both accounts.