Another Socialized Medicine Horror Story

From the News & Observer:

WASHINGTON - Former GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole remained hospitalized Friday following leg surgery performed after he initially sought medical treatment for heart problems.

The former Senate majority leader has been at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington since last week when he experienced a "sharply" elevated heart rate in the middle of the night, a statement from his law firm Alston and Bird said Friday.

Doctors determined the 85-year-old Dole's heart is fine, but surgeons performed several procedures on his left leg that had open sores. Dole's legs are healing properly and a skin graft is planned for Monday if Dole's progress continues at its current pace, according to the law firm's statement.

The medical attention "has been painful, but I think I will be fine," Dole said in the statement.

"I am recovering nicely thanks to the great doctors, nurses and staff at Walter Reed. I have been coming to Walter Reed for over 40 years and I hope to be out by my birthday, July 22," Dole said in a statement.

But, you know, government run health care doesn't work.

So Bob Dole, that poor deluded fool, is obviously doomed.

Poor bastard.

Good luck, sir. You're going to need it in the hellhole that is socialized medicine.

Another Liberal Attacks Poor Sarah Palin

What America Hating Elitist Said This About St. Sarah?

In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity. She experienced criticism as both partisan and cruel because she could see no truth in any of it. She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough. Her presentation up to the end has been scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence. "I'm not wired that way," "I'm not a quitter," "I'm standing up for our values." I'm, I'm, I'm.

In another age it might not have been terrible, but here and now it was actually rather horrifying.

No fair peeking...so who said it?

Neo-Nazi Brian Kilmeade on Fox: "Swedes Have Pure Genes"

From Salon.com:

Kilmeade and two colleagues were discussing a study that, based on research done in Finland and Sweden, showed people who stay married are less likely to suffer from Alzheimer's. Kilmeade questioned the results, though, saying, "We are -- we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other ..."

At this point, his co-host tried to -- in that jokey morning show way -- tell Kilmeade he needed to shut up, and quick, for his own sake. But he didn't get the message, adding, "See, the problem is the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes .... Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society."

You know, "species" may very well have been a slip of the tongue. But when Kilmeade went on about "pure societies", he showed where he was really coming from. Sieg fuckin' Heil, Brian.

It's like the GOP's propaganda arm isn't not even trying to disguise the racism any more. Which is probably a good thing, in the long run. At least we know what they are.

As for me, I recall the inspiring words of another winger: John Winger as played by Bill Murray in "Stripes":

We're all very different people. We're not Watusi. We're not Spartans. We're Americans, with a capital 'A', huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts! Here's proof: his nose is cold! But there's no animal that's more faithful, that's more loyal, more loveable than the mutt."

Woof.

Thanks to Hellion Randy Johnson for the heads up.

Good Wishes for Good Folks

From Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind:

Benjamin Leroy and Alison Janssen have announced their departure from crime and literary fiction publisher Bleak House Books in Madison, WI to launch their own venture, Tyrus Books. Leroy founded Bleak House in 2001 and the company was sold to Big Earth Publishing in 2005. Tyrus's inaugural list has three titles - novels by Peter Gadol and Michael Lister and an anthology of crime short stories edited by Ed Gorman & Martin H. Greenberg - that were originally part of Bleak House's fall catalog; Tyrus will publish the titles as scheduled.

Fair winds and following seas, guys. It's a damned gutsy move, especially right now.

The Torch is Passed to a New Generation

On Facebook, Young Republicans argue about whether or not it's okay to call black people "coons."

I wonder which side will win.

Y'know, most of us figured the answer to that question a while ago, but y'know, baby steps.

Wingnut Logic, Wasilla Style

Criticizing a bubble-headed beauty queen for her public stance on gay marriage: A violation of said bubble-head's First Amendment Rights.

Threatening to sue bloggers and journalists who speculate about your bizarre and vaguely explained abdication of your elected office: A-OK, you betcha!

Governor Wilma needs to read her Constitution, not to mention New York Times vs. Sullivan.

This Independence Day weekend, remember to be thankful for the electoral process that kept this crazy person from being a heartbeat away from the Presidency. And be thankful as well that we don't have someone in the White House who'll walk off the job in a huff if some blogger or some Republican says something nasty about a member of his family.

(Warning: some of the stuff at those links is pretty raw. Much, much worse than the photoshop on some Alaskan political blog that apparently helped drive Winky Wilma from office. Said image is apparently some sort of in-joke understood mostly by Alaskans).

UPDATE: Thanks to Oliver Willis, here's a reminder of Governor Palin's advice to Hillary Clinton about unfair criticism: "Plow through! Quit whining!"



Heh.