About 1 Year Later: A Not So Subtle Reminder...

... of how far we've come and and the road left to travel.

I dare you to watch all the videos below. I double-dog dare you.

The below was posted here about a year ago by yours truly. I'm posting it again. I don't think that those persons featured below have changed their viewpoints, beliefs or convictions about what they believe is real/true. It's scary. It should be. Folks that hear this crap from friends or family should tell them they're morons or, at the very least wrong. Moreover, maybe, at the very least, we should be aware and worried about people like this, I know I am...

from the original post from about a year ago:
Mindy Green (featured in the first clip) is going to vote, does that scare anyone else besides me? It shouldn't matter if you are a Democrat or Republican or Independent, the type of ignorance displayed by some the people in the below clips should be combated at every turn by everyone.

Yes We Can, Probably, Maybe...

No(t W.?)bel Peace Prize...

And if he won it for essentially being the exact opposite of W....
and re-establishing the USA as a leader in and of the international community is that such a bad thing?

Pot, Let Me Introduce You to Kettle...

Join Twitter (If You Haven't Already) Follow Drew Carey and "Make Him" Donate 1 Million Dollars

As explained on CNN, Drew Carey has pledged to donate one million dollars to LiveStrong(Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation) if he reaches one million twitter followers by Dec. 31. How and why did he decide to do that?

Drew Olanoff, who has cancer, has the twitter handle "twitter.com/drew" and put it up for auction to raise money for LiveStrong. Drew Carey caught wind of it and decided to make his bid tied to the number of followers he can get at his twitter handle "twitter.com/DrewFromTV". He's going to make a minimum bid of $100,000.00 and will prorate his bid if he doesn't reach the one million follower mark. For example, 250,000 followers at "DrewFromTV" by Dec. 31 equals a bid/donation of $250,000.00 from Drew Carey to LiveStrong. PTN is already following DrewFromTV, you should too, it doesn't cost anything. If you're not on twitter already what better reason to join and follow someone?

Think this is a good cause? Pass it along to others.

Yeah, Sure, You Should Trust What the Insurance Industry Says...

and while you're at it I have some lovely, wooded, spacious ocean front property you might be interested in buying from me in Arizona.

In case you didn't hear, the insurance industry issued a "report". That "report" "revealed" that insurance rates would actually go up if Congress passed and President Obama signed insurance reform legislation. I don't find it surprising that a report written by the insurance industry would describe the terrible consequences of passing health insurance reform. I'll be honest, I didn't read the report, I don't think I need to, and I'll explain why through other examples, I also don't read/listen to the following:
1) movie reviews by the studios that produced the movies. 
2) book reviews by the author of a the book.
3) Glenn Beck raving about how great the 9/12 project is/was and how great the Tea Party is since he helped found and promote both and has profited financially from both.
4) anything Dick Cheney has to say about foreign policy, national security, torture, terrorism or Gitmo (because he and the previous administration did such a swell job on all of those issues).
5) anything Liz Cheney has to say about what her father Dick Cheney has said about foreign policy, national security, torture, terrorism or Gitmo (because her father and the previous administration did such a swell job on all of those issues).

but I digress...

Some potential problems/questions I have with the insurance industry's report that rates would go up if there is, in fact, reform passed:
1) Which version of the bill are they talking about? Remember there are at least 5 Senate versions in various Senate committees as well as whatever comes out of the House.
2) What if the legislation prohibits insurance companies from raising rates? Are they just going to break the law and raise rates anyway?
3) What if there is indeed a public option? Would the insurance industry put themselves out of business and raise rates while there is a more inexpensive public option? Would that be a bad thing?
4) What if there is a "trigger" for a public option in a reform bill that is passed. Is the insurance industry promising that they will raise rates and bring about a public option? Given this scenario, I say, "raise rates!"
5) What if people realized that the insurance industry wrote a report critical of health insurance reform?

And surprise, surprise, at least one former insurance industry insider has already declared that this report is "bogus." Are you really surprised?

Maybe the insurance industry fat cats are getting seriously worried that a bill will actually make it to President Obama's desk and the release of this "report" is the first sign of desperation. What else can the big insurance companies do? They've already used their record profits to line the pockets of any politician that will take their money and utter nonsense like, "death panels." Maybe they're grasping at straws.

Who would just blindly believe what these insurance industry yahoos have to say about health insurance reform? Again, if you do believe their report I have some lovely ocean front property in Arizona you might like to purchase from me...

Party of...

Congress-Land

What can I say, I saw the movie Zombieland and came up with the above.

How 'Bout Them Cowboys

Putting People In Their Place

I came up with the above after reading this story, this other story and this older editorial.

Palin's Memoir Finished Early

So Palin Finished Her Memoir Early...  if she's going to keep on putting out the same old crap [real 'America', mavericky, joe 6-pack], can you blame me for using an old cartoon?)

...I guess she had bunches of good old 'real American' mavericky free time on her hands since she quit her job. And again, let me get this straight, she quit her job as chief executive of her state in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression right? So again, why do people care what she has to say or "write"("write" is in parentheses because, come on, she, like any politician, has ghost writers)

Some past thoughts on Ms. Palin include but, are not limited to...

- Palin on Health Insurance Reform

- Palin's farewell speech (that I'm pretty sure she wrote all by her mavericky self)

- Shatner's spoken word version of Palin's farewell speech

- Cartoon about Palin's resignation speech (again, I'm pretty sure she also wrote this one all by her mavericky self)

- Letterman vs. Palin regarding the joke about her daughter

- Chapter titles in Palin's memoir

Side note: If you want to view older posts just scroll down, under the last post there should be a link that reads, "older posts." Just click on it and see the previous five posts. Also, on the right side there's a "cloud" of some of the common topics here on ole PTN. Just click one of them to see posts associated with that topic. Lastly, blogger is having a problem with their embedded search engines. So the "search ptn" gadget on the right side only works for more recent posts. Weird huh? Especially since Google owns blogger. They're working on it though. There's also the "archive", located at the bottom left of the page, where you can click on different months to see the titles of older posts. If you enjoy what you see here please pass it along to others. Or just tell them to Google "Political Thoughts Now" or even "ptn jg" (without the quotation marks) and they should stumble upon PTN. As always, any comments, suggestions, criticisms are welcome regarding content or design. Although, to be honest, my skills at tweaking the overall design are limited at best-I can barely turn on my computer and check email but, if you have a good suggestion I'll do my best.

NPTN (Non-Political Thoughts Now)...

Every once in a while I'll share NPTN's (Non-Political Thoughts Now), this is one of those instances.
If the score for 2001: A Space Odyssey had been performed by a bad high school band it might have sounded something like this, somehow I don't think any of those performing got into Julliard (you'll need your volume turned up):

Coup de Dumb...

I came up with the above after reading about this awful, and I think treasonous, editorial...

Side note: Here's the full column. Newsmax, who originally posted the editorial, has pulled it down.

A Facebook Poll That's No Laughing Matter...

I came up with the above after reading this story...

Perry Paranoia!!!!!!!

Inspired by this story...


Click here for part 3 of the ongoing saga of the Hair Aliens.

The Sky Is Falling...

...when it comes to the public option being included in the new health insurance reform legislation.

Maybe, kinda.

The Senate Finance Committee voted against the inclusion of a public option in it's version of the health insurance reform bill.

The Senate Finance Committee bill is not the only version. The Senate Health Committee bill apparently has the public option in its version and the different Senate versions have to merged. Then, the Senate bill would have to be reconciled with whatever comes out of the House, which is sure to have a public option in it. It's all up to supposed Blue Dog Democrats(conservative Dems) in the Senate. Will there be a vote in the full Senate on a bill that includes a public option? Or would the Blue Dogs join a GOP fillibuster to stop a full vote on a public option bill?

Do I think the final bill will have a public option? I'd say it's 50-50 or worse. If there's no public option in the final bill then I think it's more than likely that the final bill will have a "trigger" provision (if rates don't come down then public option occurs), a health coop provision and a provision that mandates that all people have health insurance. If the final bill does indeed have a "trigger" provision then it'll be interesting to see if rates actually come down. If health insurance rates don't fall then it'll be interesting to see how difficult it will be to pull the "trigger" and actually put a public option into action.

Would Reid and the non-Blue Dog Senate Dems force a show down on the public option and dare the Blue Dog Dems to support a filibuster against their own party?

There's also what's known as the "nuclear" option. The Senate would need to procedurally do away with the filibuster by suspending the rules and allowing a simple 50 vote majority to call for a vote on a final bill that included a public option. Currently, 41 Senators can "filibuster" and block a vote on a bill or other matter by the full Senate. But, it's unlikely. The Senate GOP'ers threatened to use the "nuclear" option when they were in the majority and Dems in the Senate were blocking some W. Bush appointments. However, it's unlikely that Reid and the non-Blue Dog Senate Dems would go that far in my opinion. But, it is an ultimate, last option.

Governor Patterson, Comedian?

The real Governor David Patterson, who is legally blind, of New York issued a pretty good line regarding pressure from his own party not to run in the 2010 gubernatorial race on one of the Sunday morning political talking heads shows. The real Gov. Patterson is not to be confused with the fake Gov. Patterson...
...as featured on SNL (the below is wrong on many levels but it still cracks me up, I'm sorry):


Side Note: A couple new original political cartoons will be forthcoming later on in the week.

Census Worker Killed

Have you seen this story covered on CNN or ABC or CBS or NBC?


A part-time federal census worker was apparently hanged to death in Kentucky with the word, "Fed," scrawled across his chest. So much for the liberal media bias. I don't have many thoughts about this other than this story is scary and so much for the liberal media bias, at least in reference to this story, because I haven't heard or read much about this anywhere. You tell me. Was I out of the loop? Has this gotten the coverage it deserves?

And again, Rep. Cantor may have been wrong about what he said...

A Public Service Announcement...

...On Behalf of Insurance Company Executives

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

The above made me think of the funny BillionairesForWealthCare.com at the 9/12 protest in DC.                                                          

Invasion of the Hair Aliens!

The above is at best absurd and at worst (probably) just plain dumb. It is what it is.

Want to know more about how/why my brain came up with the above? 
OK, you've read so far... It was inspired, in part by the twitter feed I read about (and now follow) a while back GovPerrysHair. Essentially, according to the twitter feed, Perry's hair has a mind of its own. That, for some reason made me wonder about who or what might control Perry's hair. Thus, the "Hair Aliens". Next, I thought of the quote from Dune, "he who controls the spice controls the universe." And that's how I came up with the cartoon. At least in reference to the Hair Aliens. Otherwise, Perry just looks like he takes too much time on his hair, thus the endorsement at the bottom. And yeah, I'm still trying to figure out how I got to the Hair Aliens and Dune quote.

More or less from the Hair Aliens in the future?

Click here for more of the ongoing saga of the Hair Aliens.