GOP God's Own Party?

GOP God's Own Party?

How awful it will be for those who mandate wickedness
and legalize oppression, denying justice to the needy,
Taking away the rights of the poor among My people.
Such leaders intend to make helpless widows and orphans their prey.
- Isaiah 10:1-2

HOUSE REPUBLICANS STILL DETERMINED TO KILL YOU

The Daily Edge

House Republicans today reiterated their commitment to killing as many Americans as possible before the end of Obama’s second term. ”We don’t care if you starve or die slowly and painfully from a chronic-but-treatable disease,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. “As long as you die, it makes no difference.”

After Thursday’s vote to cut $40 billion from the Food Stamps program, failed VP candidate Paul Ryan was positively gleeful. “Seniors, the disabled and families struggling to feed their kids will all suffer as the result of this vote,”  he said. “But as long as you tell your hungry kid the alternative was to end Big Oil subsidies, she’ll understand.”

Child health experts warned that failing to properly feed America’s children could affect brain development, lead to problems at school, and all kinds of expensive medical problems later. “That’ll teach poor people to have so many kids, won’t it?” said Ryan before adding: “Unless you got pregnant by rape, of course. Then it was God’s will.”

The House GOP followed up Friday by voting to shut down the government unless Obamacare is completely defunded. “Healthcare is not a human right,” said Speaker John Boehner. “I don’t care what Jesus or the Pope say about it. When was the last time Jesus sent me a check, for God’s sake?”

In Texas, Governor Rick Perry applauded the effort to defund Obamacare: “As a Christian, I’ve always believed the best way to treat poor people who get sick is miracles,” he said. “America is the richest country in the world. There’s just no excuse for being born poor.”

Ted Cruz continued to warn of the risks of Obamacare: “People will become addicted,” he said. “Study after study is showing that affordable healthcare will transform the lives of millions of Americans, including preventive services, vision and dental care for kids, and guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions. This isn’t Canada. We should never allow poor people to save so much money on healthcare that they can then afford to buy food too.”

New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte also pointed out that if starvation or illness don’t kill you first, gun violence is still an option. “That’s why I voted against expanded background checks after the Sandy Hook massacre,” she said. “After all, guns don’t kill people. Republicans kill people.”

It's Time to Stand Up With Family Farmers

Willie Nelson

President of Farm Aid

Every year, come harvest season, we gather for the annual Farm Aid concert. Artists, farmers, activists and eaters, we come together to recognize the crucial importance of family farmers. We take account of how far we've come and we renew our spirits for the fights ahead.

We stand with family farmers.

This strength is what's grown the Good Food Movement. Today, we're at our strongest. More people than ever are seeking out family farm food. Businesses sourcing from family farmers are searching for new farmers because demand exceeds supply. Entrepreneurs are making new connections between eaters and farmers. Community organizations and passionate volunteers are bringing good food to neighborhoods that need it most. Together, all of these people are building communities centered on a family farm economy. They're linking eaters with farmers, building relationships and nourishing bodies and souls. Their actions are transforming food and agriculture, from the ground up.

But even still, a handful of corporations dominate our food system.

There are good folks in Congress who are fighting for a family farm food system that benefits family farmers and all Americans. But they're blocked by a majority that lets corporate power, partisan politics and big money get in the way of progress. Their votes have reinforced a dominant, chemical-dependent food system that is harmful to our environment, our health and local economies, while cutting billions from nutrition and food programs for people who need food.

In recent years the Good Food Movement has forged ahead, including some progress made in the last farm bill. This movement has created more opportunities to support and promote family farm agriculture. But without meaningful action now on farm policy, those gains and more will be lost. Without better farm policies, family farmers will not have the chance to compete in a fair marketplace and earn a living. Conservation programs, so crucial in a changing climate, will be compromised. New and beginning farmers will lose access to the credit, resources and land they need to start their farm businesses. Programs for underserved farmers will disappear. Innovations happening right now on the farm to grow renewable energy will be lost. And industrial ag stands to win if efforts to reform wasteful farm subsidy programs are ignored.

Today, as the minutes tick down to another farm bill deadline, people in towns and cities everywhere are taking matters into their own hands. They're standing up with family farmers and insisting on food that is best for them and their families. They're seeking out food from family farms at farmers markets, grocery stores and restaurants. They are organizing to change the food served in schools, hospitals and public institutions. They're making their voice heard and voting for family farm food every way they can.

Our message is hard to miss. America needs family farmers. Congress, can you hear us?

Willie Nelson is the president and founder of Farm Aid. Farm Aid's annual benefit concert, Farm Aid 2013, will take place at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY on September 21. Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised $43 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms. Learn more at www.farmaid.org.

Ted Cruz vs. The Universe

Ted Cruz vs. The Universe

Jason Linkins

While most of the week has been spent watching House Republicans decide precisely what to do about defunding Obamacare, and how much energy they'll pointlessly expend in this going-nowhere act this time around, here at week's end, we find that GOP leaders on the Hill going to war in a more parochial fashion. Their target: Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

The Cruz-directed snipes have been coming as fast and as furious as is possible, given that they've mostly been dispensed by anonymous sources. "He's a joke, plain and simple," said one "senior GOP aide." Another House GOP aide told the National Review Online that "Nancy Pelosi is more well-liked around here."

One of Cruz's fellow Republicans who has been brave enough to attach his name to his remarks is Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who told reporters this week that Cruz was a "fraud" who should "no longer have any influence in the Republican Party." As CNN reported, King continued like so:

"We can't be going off on these false missions that Ted Cruz wants us to go on. The issues are too important. They're too serious, they require real conservative solutions, not cheap headline-hunting schemes," he said.

But where is all this coming from? It's actually pretty much high school-level clique-histrionics, actually. And more than anything else, it's a battle between the House and the Senate over who will be left holding the Defund Obamacare Futility Bomb when it finally goes off.

Obviously, just about every GOP legislator, given the opportunity, would defund Obamacare tomorrow if there was a possibility they could do so. And, in fact, they've tried some 40-odd times. One might question whether doing so is good policy, but none should question the desire of Republican policymakers to gut President Barack Obama's landmark achievement.

The thing is, though, Cruz sort of did. Cruz was one of the GOP leaders who first hatched the plan to threaten taking the government hostage over Obamacare. Birthing that notion immediately gave House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) -- whose preference is to avoid a government shutdown -- a huge migraine. But Cruz didn't stop there. He appeared in ads for the Senate Conservatives Fund, haranguing his fellow senators "to stand up and defund Obamacare now." As Jackie Kucinich noted, the fact that he did so while simultaneously serving as the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee "put him at odds with the campaign committee’s practice of supporting incumbent senators."

Boehner had wanted to pass a continuing resolution in the House with an addendum attached that would give everyone in the House a chance to once again vent and complain about Obamacare's existence. But enough members of his House GOP caucus rose up to scuttle that. They were largely influenced by Cruz, who called Boehner's idea "political chicanery" that "easily allows Senate Democrats to keep funding Obamacare."

This forced Boehner to modify his plans, and the bitter utterances of anonymous GOP aides at the time basically boiled down to: "Kiss my ass, Ted Cruz, this is your problem, now." One GOP aide got splenetic with Politico, like so:

If figures like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) call the plan chicanery, and other conservatives say the House is weak, GOP leadership wants to see him and others stand up and filibuster the CR [continuing resolution]. In short, the House is sick of getting blamed for being weak on Obamacare.

Asked whether they are trying to put pressure on Senate Republicans to filibuster, Rogers said, “You can say that.”

A senior GOP aide said, “They should be preparing for a two [to] three week filibuster, to prevent the Senate from adjourning.” The aide added that there are enough Senate Republicans to prevent a funding bill from reaching President Barack Obama’s desk.

But after the House modified their plans to suit the insurgency that Cruz had helped foment, Cruz suddenly shifted from rabble-rouser to surrender-monkey. In a statement that left many Republicans gobsmacked, Cruz said, "Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so."

So after all the "come die on this hill with me" ads, and the broadsides against Boehner's plan -- mocking it as a surrender to Harry Reid -- Cruz just ... surrenders to Harry Reid. And with that, it seems like GOP leadership in Washington voted unanimously to raise the hackle-ceiling sky high.

Of course, beneath all of the backbiting, there is reality -- and the reality is that Cruz is correct. As Byron York explains here, Cruz and his like-minded Senate allies are constrained by certain Senate rules and actually do not have the option to filibuster. Not even one of those old-timey, talk-until-you-piss-yourself filibusters.

And as Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call explains, the simple fact of the matter is that there are procedural options available to Reid to do precisely what Cruz is saying will happen. The Senate will have the votes to strip the Obamacare part of the law and pass a clean continuing resolution, at which point it bounces back to the House. (From there, in theory, the House can keep sending it back to the Senate, but the conditions in the Senate aren't likely to change anytime soon.

So, the basic bottom line here is that Cruz is right about what's realistically possible, but GOP leaders are nonetheless well-and-rightly pissed off at Cruz for ginning up all this mad, stand-and-fight foolery that denied Boehner his preferred "vent-and-pass" plan for the continuing resolution. Now, we've got this fight between House and the Senate -- neither of whom want to be left holding the bag when this effort to defund Obamacare fails.

Of course, all of this pain could have been avoided if everyone could come to terms with the simple reality that President Barack Obama is never, ever, ever going to sign a bill that defunds or delays or in any way imperils Obamacare. But that is clearly asking too much.

Another Shutdown Showdown

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

• HOUSE GOES ALL-IN TO DEFUND OBAMACARE: With Washington hurtling toward the brink of another fiscal crisis, House Speaker John Boehner set up a major showdown with the Democratic-led Senate when he announced yesterday that the House of Representatives will vote as soon as this week to send a continuing resolution to the Senate that permanently defunds the Affordable Care Act, ABC's JOHN PARKINSON reports. "We're going to continue do everything we can to repeal the president's failed health care law," Boehner, R-Ohio, said during a news conference today at the Capitol. "The law is a train wreck. The president has protected American big business. It's time to protect American families from this unworkable law." http://abcn.ws/1gz8Ha4

• 'STRANGE AND WEIRD': Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that the Senate is standing by as it awaits a "strange and weird" decision from the House of Representatives that will likely cater to a group of conservative Republicans whom Reid described as "anarchists." "We're now waiting to see what the House of Representatives is going to do, how absurd it is going to be what they're going to send us," Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor. "They do not want government to work on any level, not the local level, not the state level, and certainly not here."

• NEXT STEPS: The House is expected to pass its continuing resolution that also defunds Obamacare by the end of the week. Next week the House is expected to introduce its plan to increase the debt limit. A vote on the debt limit bill could happen as soon as the end of the month. Although the Democrat-led Senate is unlikely to accept the bold move, Speaker Boehner would not predict what would happen next if the Senate restored funding for the health care law. "There should be no conversation about shutting the government down. That's not the goal here. Our goal here is to cut spending and to protect the American people from Obamacare," Boehner said. "It's as simple as that. There's no interest on our part in shutting the government down." The current continuing resolution runs out Sept. 30. http://abcn.ws/1gz8Ha4

• OBAMA ACCUSES GOP OF EXTORTION: President Obama yesterday accused House Republicans of extortion, saying a "faction" of lawmakers threatens to force the United States into default unless he agrees to delay or defund his signature health care law, ABC's DEVIN DWYER and JONATHAN KARL. "You have never seen in the history of the United States the debt ceiling or the threat of not raising the debt ceiling being used to extort a president … and trying to force issues that have nothing to do with the budget and have nothing to do with the debt," Obama said in speech to the Business Roundtable, a nonpartisan association of top American CEOs. "That a budget is contingent on us eliminating a program that was voted on, passed by both chambers of Congress, ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court, is two weeks from being fully implemented and that helps 30 million people finally get health care coverage; we've never seen that become the issue around a budget battle," he said of the Affordable Care Act. http://abcn.ws/1aL8iAH

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's JEFF ZELENY: Will the government really shutdown on Oct. 1 or will Republicans and Democrats ultimately reach agreement on their bitter budget battle? The answer to that question depends on the outcome of a deepening civil war among Congressional Republicans. Speaker Boehner, bowing to the wishes of conservatives in his caucus, is tying the latest budget fight to a new push to defund Obamacare. That effort faces steep odds in the Senate. So steep, in fact, Sen. Ted Cruz suggested it was impossible, even though he's been leading the charge for months. His defeatist comments enraged some House Republicans, who hoped he would lead them into battle against the White House. So why does this matter? The only way for Republicans to prevail in this uphill fight is by keeping a unified front. Now, it is anything but. You can tell by the grinning faces of Democrats.

ABC's RICK KLEIN: In the short, mostly charmed Senate career of Ted Cruz, he's gotten his share of blowback from the Republican side. But the battle he provoked yesterday among House Republicans - not just leadership aides, but rank-and-filers who actually agree with him on the policy choices - is something different. Cruz's statement that Senate Democrats "likely" have the votes to preserve Obamacare funding, coming even before House Republicans take the vote he browbeat them into taking, struck some House members as lecturing from the sidelines. "Do something…" Tweeted Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark. "Wave white flag and surrender," went the Tweet from Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis. It hints at rivalries and mistrust between the legislative bodies, and also some unease among Republicans about the path Cruz is leading them down. In the high-stakes game of funding for the government, members of Congress are already worrying about who will take the blame when the string is played out. So yes, Cruz is getting his way - but not entirely comfortably.

ABC's MICHAEL FALCONE: The powerful and well-funded conservative outside group, Americans for Prosperity, is taking to the airwaves again, launching their most significant television advertising blitz yet on the issue of Obamacare. Americans for Prosperity is releasing a new 60-second ad today featuring a Florida woman named Tricia who tells her personal story of surviving cancer. "The changes in our health care system are a big concern to me," Tricia says in the ad. "Obamacare is dangerous. It can't be implemented. Your well-being judged by a bureaucrat in DC is devastating." The group is putting real financial muscle behind their latest ad - $3 million, according to a source familiar with the buy. The ad will run in six states (Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia) between now and Oct. 1. "AFP will continue to lead the charge on the grassroots level in exposing the negative consequence of Obama's health care law," a spokesperson for Americans for Prosperity told ABC News. "Throughout the country, AFP state chapters have held an average of 75 events a month focused on the health care law." Here's the ad: http://youtu.be/Zk2d_liZqpk

BUZZ

DONNA BRAZILE TAKES THE "THIS WEEK" QUIZ: What's the Democratic strategist's guilty pleasure? Her favorite movie? Her heroes? See her handwritten answers below and be sure to tweet us@ThisWeekABC and tell us who you'd like to be our next participant: http://abcn.ws/189uC6D

COMBATIVE ASSAD SAYS HE COULD PROVIDE LIST OF WEAPONS 'TOMORROW'. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to deny that Syria used chemical weapons against its own people, says he is fully committed to handing over Syrian chemical weapons to international control, and that he could provide a list of his chemical weapons stockpile "tomorrow," as Russia and the United States said they would expect him to do under their agreement reached last weekend, ABC's CHRIS GOOD reports. But perhaps the most notable thing about Assad's latest interview with a Western journalist, this time with Fox News' Greg Palkot and former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, was its surreal vibe. Despite the certainties of the United States and other Western countries, and the points raised by his interviewers, Assad repeatedly beat back at the notion that the August attack outside Damascus was perpetrated by his regime. And he appeared fully convinced of all he was telling the reporter and the former liberal firebrand, making for a strange and mildly confrontational window into the Syrian president's message. Here were the oddest moments: http://abcn.ws/1aMa9F6

MARK ZUCKERBERG ACKNOWLEDGES NEED TO 'DEBUG' HIS POLITICAL GROUP. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is in Washington this week lobbying lawmakers in the House on immigration reform, but he acknowledged last night that a political group he founded to support the issue, FWD.us, has hit some snags in its foray into politics, ABC's ABBY PHILIP reports. "There's been a lot to debug in terms of making this work," Zuckerberg said at a question and answer forum sponsored by "The Atlantic." The group, supported by wealthy Silicon Valley types such as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, got into some trouble with progressives after it launched ads intended to give Republicans who supported immigration reform political cover by praising them for their opposition to President Obama's health care law or supporting the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline. The strategy was panned as "counterproductive" by liberal groups like Moveon.org and Progressives United, which participated in a boycott of ads on Facebook. Zuckerberg, a relative newbie to political lobbying, said the aversion to crossing party lines even on issues both sides support "shocked" him. "We've tried to get senior folks from both parties to come together and there have been interesting realities of that I was kind of shocked about," he said. "A senior Democrat would never want to associate with something funding Republicans." http://abcn.ws/16nDfGM

NOTED: Zuckerberg wouldn't answer most questions that might hint at his political leanings. Where does he fall on the political spectrum? "It's hard to affiliate as either a Democrat or a Republican. I'm pro-knowledge economy," Zuckerberg replied after a long trailing answer on a host of other tangentially related subjects. Who is the person he most looks forward to meeting while in Washington? After another long pause: "That's dangerous," Zuckerberg finally replied. http://abcn.ws/16nDfGM

CONGRESSMAN LAMENTS 'MAKING $172,000. - In a closed meeting yesterday, Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., who is also running for Senate, lamented that he is "stuck here making $172,000 a year" in Congress. The comment, which was confirmed to ABC News and first reported by National Review, came at a closed-door meeting with lawmakers during a discussion about potentially reversing the Office of Personnel Management's ruling that will continue to contribute to the health care coverage of members of Congress and their staff,ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ reports. Several lawmakers expressed their concern about potentially having to pay this portion of their health care themselves if the OPM ruling is repealed. "Before you support this, go home and talk to your spouse," Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said reversing the OPM ruling could cost him $12,000 a year. "That's a burden. And it's a burden on our staff, too," he said. But Gingrey was less sympathetic to those concerns and bemoaned the fact that young Capitol Hill aides could become lobbyists in a few years "and make 500,000 a year." "Meanwhile, I'm stuck here making $172,000 a year," Gingrey said. (Members of Congress make $174,000 a year). http://abcn.ws/17KC4nO

JEB BUSH CAUTIONS GOP OVER EFFORTS TO DEFUND OBAMACARE. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush yesterday suggested that the chances of a Republican controlled House of Representatives defunding Obamacare are slim, but the risks are high to the Republican Party if they fail to fund the government, ABC's ABBY PHILLIP writes. "If you control one half of one third of the levers in Washington, D.C your ability to influence things are also relative to the fact that you have one half of one third of the government," Bush said at the National Press Club today. "That's the reality." Bush, who has frequently offered advice to the G.O.P that has strayed from the more conservative base of the party, added that as the country approached the real deadline for when the government runs out of money to fund its operations, the stakes would get higher for Republicans. Bush's statements are in sharp contrast to Louisiana Governor and Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Bobby Jindal, who said the effort to "repeal and defund is certainly a fight worth having." http://abcn.ws/14jxL2r

DUELING GOVERNORS: RICK PERRY VS. MARTIN O'MALLEY. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has his eyes on wooing jobs away from Maryland, but those jobs are staying put if it's up to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley,ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ notes. In his latest economic development campaign, Perry traveled to Maryland this week to ask businesses to consider setting up shop in Texas. Perry has conducted similar campaigns in states including California, Missouri and New York, and has sometimes gotten under his fellow governors' skin with his blatant tactics. As he's done in other states, Perry infiltrated the television and radio waves in Maryland last week with advertisements touting the economic opportunities available in the Lone Star State. "When you grow tired of Maryland taxes squeezing every dime out of your business, think Texas," Perry said in one advertisement. "Unfortunately, your governor has made Maryland the tax and fee state, where businesses pay some of the highest taxes in America. That's a job killer." But with Perry set to start his job poaching tour in Maryland this week, O'Malley fired back by penning an op-ed in the Washington Post laying out the case for "What Maryland does better than Texas." http://abcn.ws/18AmFU8

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

CHAINED TO WHITE HOUSE FENCE: IMMIGRANTS PROTEST OBAMA DEPORTATIONS.Seven activists chained themselves to the front gate of the White House lawn Wednesday in protest of deportations, reports ABC's MARY ALICE PARKS. "Not one more," they chanted. "Not one more." In 2012, the Obama administration deported 409,849 immigrants, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Opponents argue the record number of deportations is tearing families apart. Federal officials say they are simply enforcing the law. "President Obama needs to know the suffering he causes in our communities," said Tomas Martinez, a volunteer organizer with the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, which helped organized the White House protest. "We have organized marches, spoken to legislators, signed petitions, made phone calls, but we have to do more." Last June, President Obama announced a so-called deferred action policy that would temporarily halt deportations of undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, completed high school, and have no criminal record. Immigrant advocates want Obama to now extend a moratorium on deportations to all undocumented persons. Obama ruled out a broader suspension of deportations in an interview with Spanish-language network Telemundo on Tuesday. "I would be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally," Obama said. "That's not an option."http://abcn.ws/18a3FQ8

NC Backward Hall of Shame

via: Backward NC

Stephen "The Roach" LaRoque   

It's an ass from the past! Although Stephen LaRoque resigned from the Jones Street House of Pain awhile back, he definitely earned membership in the Hall of Shame, given that he resigned in shame.

Of course, many NC politicians have been caught doing unseemly things. What makes Steph's sleaze rise to the Hall of Shame level is the utter hypocrisy he exhibited. LaRoach is your typical right-wing nut job, punishing poor people and railing against all that wasteful guvmint spending (and don't forget the racism). And that's where the irony and hypocrisy comes in: Stevie took $300,000 of taxpayer's money and used it to enrich himself. He not only hypocritically feasted at the public trough, he broke at least 12 laws while doing so. And the money that Steve stole was actually intended to help economically depressed areas.

To sum up: While Steve-o was screeching about wasteful government spending and humiliating poor people, he was illegally taking substantial sums of government money that was intended to help poor people. But just in case anyone missed his hubris, Steverino, who defrauded the taxpayers, publicly said this to an unemployed woman:“I hope you have not defrauded the taxpayers because if you have I can assure you that you will face the consequences,”

No, we didn't make that up.

And that, folks, is Sleaze with a capital 'S'. Actually, let's put that in all caps and add an exclamation point: SLEAZE! And that will get you into the Hall of Shame every time.

Diagnosis: A hypocrite's hypocrite. Embezzler on a grand scale who kicks poor people while they're down, and simultaneously steals taxpayer money intended to help poor people -- and that is a definite sign that something is seriously wrong in LaRoque's head.


And that doesn't even count being guilty of hypocrisy, hubris and meanness 

New Anti-Obamacare Ads Depict Creepy Gyno Exams To Scare College Students Into Going Uninsured

BY TARA CULP-RESSLER ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 AT 11:40 AM

In one ad, “Uncle Sam” leers over a young woman with a speculum

Republican efforts to block Obamacare have taken shape in several different forms. On the federal level, lawmakers repeatedly threaten to cast votes to defund and delay the health law. On the state level, lawmakers are doing their best to impede the law’s new insurance marketplaces, which are set to roll out next month. And as a “grassroots” strategy, Obamacare opponents hope they can simply convince Americans to forgo signing up for health insurance altogether.

A new campaign by Generation Opportunity, a conservative group that Yahoo News reports has “financial ties to billionaire businessmen and political activists Charles and David Koch,” is taking this third approach. Generation Opportunity wants to specifically target college students this fall, spending up to $750,000 on a campaign to convince young people they don’t need health insurance.

“What we’re trying to communicate is, ‘No, you’re actually not required to buy health insurance,’ ” Generation Opportunity’s president, Evan Feinberg,explained in an interview with Yahoo News. “You might have to pay a fine, but that’s going to be cheaper for you and better for you.”

How does Generation Opportunity want to get that message across to college students? They’re planning a college tour, bringing anti-Obamacare literature and beer coozies emblazoned with the words “opt out” to 20 different campuses. And they’re also unveiling an ad campaign that features an unsettling image of “Uncle Sam” appearing in the doctor’s office to subject young adults to invasive exams.

In the first ad, a young woman explains she’s just signed up for Obamacare. She’s led to an exam room and appears to be preparing to have a Pap smear. A figure dressed as Uncle Sam emerges from between her legs. In the final scene, Uncle Sam is shown holding a speculum, the instrument gynecologists typically use to collect a cervical sample.

In the second ad, a similar situation unfolds with a young man who appears to be about to receive a prostate exam. He is told to take off his pants, and Uncle Sam appears behind him.

Generation Opportunity’s ads attempt to convey that Obamacare is a government overreach by suggesting that it will subject Americans to invasive exams. That falls in line with the new conservative myth that the health law will force doctors to ask their patients private questions about their sex lives, which has been stirring up controversy in the right-wing blogosphere this week.

Obamacare does not actually mandate any specific changes in the way that doctors conduct sexual health exams. Ironically, it’s actually Republican policies that threaten to subject female patients to state-mandated vaginal probes. Under forced ultrasound laws — an increasingly popular type of abortion restriction that seeks to enact additional barriers to the procedure — women are required to have a medical procedure regardless of whether their own doctor actually thinks it’s necessary. For very early abortion procedures, when an invasive transvaginal ultrasound is the only way to detect a clear image, that means women seeking abortions may need to undergo a probe.

This isn’t the first “grassroots” effort to try to convince young Americans that they don’t need health coverage. The right-wing group FreedomWorks has been urging young adults to burn their “Obamacare draft cards,” likening going uninsured to resisting the military draft during the Vietnam War. Nonetheless, several recent studies have found that young adults say they want to sign up for insurance under the health law.

UPDATE

Planned Parenthood is condemning the new ads. “It is hard to tell if this is real or if it’s a ‘Saturday Night Live’ parody about the hypocrisy of extremists who want to be in every exam room in America but don’t want to expand access to quality health care,” Eric Ferroro, the group’s vice president for communications, said in a statement. “These videos are the height of hypocrisy.”

Colbert Goes Head-to-Head with Andrew Sullivan in Epic Syria Debate

Stephen Colbert met his match last night on the issue Syria when he invited The Dish’s Andrew Sullivan on The Colbert Report for a spirited debate. Specifically, Colbert took issue with the the United Nations resolution, which he said would be rather “U.N.-likely to succeed.”

Sullivan began by outlining his stance, saying he’s in favor of “doing something that does not mean we get involved in someone else’s civil war.” Or, as Colbert put it, “doing something that is nothing.”

When Sullivan said he wants Russia and China, as members to of U.N. Security Council, to take responsibility, Colbert accused him of “trusting Russia and China more than you trust the United States of America.” He asked, “Do you trust Putin, and whoever China Putin is, more than you trust Barack Obama, our commander-in-chief?”

Sullivan surprised Colbert by saying “Yes, because the world has seen America go into these places alone and make an almighty mess, in which hundred of thousands of people died and we lost trillions of dollars.” He said he would much rather have Russia and China “do out dirty work for us.” On top of that, Sullivan added that if Bashar al-Assad does use chemical weapons again, Obama “has a much stronger case to make” for military action.

Colbert came back at Sullivan by saying that if he wants to be an American citizen, he needs to understand “American exceptionalism,” which in his mind means, “We get to do whatever we want and people should say, ‘Hey, that’s good, because America did it.”

Sullivan argued back that we need to U.N. to help prevent war between the great powers in the world, to which Colbert asked, “How can we be a superpower if you do not exercise super power? That’s like saying, I’m a fantastic dancer, I just don’t want to get up right now.”

Colbert cut his guest off before he could make his final point, but clearly these two could have gone on debating for much longer. And while the segment definitely included some laughs, it was in many ways more substantive than anything you’re likely to see on Crossfire.

Watch video below, via Comedy Central:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

GOD IS JUST AS SCIENTIFIC AS THAT OTHER SCIENCEY JUNK, ACCORDING TO DEMOCRACY

Liberal Bias

Well, it’s that time of year again: the time of year for average patriotic Texans to pressure schools to teach creationism as science.

This fight happens every year, and luckily in Texas we seem to make a little more progress every time the question comes up. And by “progress”, I naturally mean that science textbooks have less and less science, and more and more God.

This is the way it should be, because in the great country of Texas, people believe in God. And they believe in Democracy. And in a Democracy, people get to vote on what to believe. And if people vote that God is just as sciencey as genes and monkeys and all that other crap, then that means it must be true.

There has been a lot of chatter on the radio here in Texas, with people talking about the fact that actual educators, scientists, and other people with fancy book-learning actually do not want any more God in science textbooks. Instead, only the regular, non-educated common folk “activists” want it.

Well to that I say: who cares? In a democracy, we get to vote on what to believe; and in Texas, there are more of us regular non-educated folks than those sciencey, nerdy folks.

Just to drive the point home, here is a graph to illustrate:

WinkEnd Update Video

TOP 10 REASONS PEOPLE ARE FLYING THE AMERICAN FLAG UPSIDE DOWN

TOP 10 REASONS PEOPLE ARE FLYING THE AMERICAN FLAG UPSIDE DOWN

Tea Party Cat

10. Benghazi
9. Can’t bring guns into Starbucks
8. Neighbor kids on my lawn
7. Obama golfing
6. Women using birth control and having sex
5. Gays having sex
4. Hannity losing show on Fox News
3. War on Christmas
2. Obamacare
1. Miss America Miss Al Qaeda

More details at the links in each item.

Ted Cruz, Liberal Hero, May Have Just Bailed Washington Out Of The Shutdown Crisis

WASHINGTON -- In one moment, with one statement, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) managed Wednesday to accomplish what House GOP leaders, Republican senators and the Wall Street Journal editorial page had failed to do for months: Persuade rank-and-file House Republicans that shutting down the government in an attempt to defund Obamacare was simply impossible.

On Wednesday, after House leaders said they'd go forward with the defund strategy Cruz had been pitching with ads on Fox News, his response boiled down to 'Thanks, you're on your own.'

"Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so," Cruz said in a statement. "At that point, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American people."

On the surface, House Republicans were seething. Members openly accused Cruz and his allies, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), of waving the white flag before the fight had even begun. One House GOP aide even called Cruz a "joke, plain and simple."

But by admitting that he had no ability in the Senate to back up the House effort to defund Obamacare, and saying so on the same day that House Republicans had announced they would support the Cruz-inspired strategy, Cruz has inadvertently done more than any other lawmaker to avert a government shutdown.

"Cruz officially jumped the shark this week," said one GOP operative allied with House leadership, who, like others, requested anonymity to speak critically about fellow Republicans. "He's doing for the House Leaders what they couldn't do for themselves. House rank-and-file members are uniting with Boehner, Cantor over Ted Cruz's idiotic position."

The retreat by Cruz has led to public questioning from House Republicans about his motives and political acumen, not to mention joking speculation that he may be part of a vast and devious liberal conspiracy to undermine conservatives.

"Cruz is the leader of a secret cabal of leftists that are seeking control of the conservative movement," quipped one senior House Republican leadership source. "Their aim is to force the party to take on suicidal missions to destroy the movement from within."

Another senior House GOP aide was grateful that Cruz had made plain what House leaders had been arguing for weeks -- that there was no viable strategy connected to a government shutdown that would defund Obamacare. "We can only defund Obamacare if it passes the Senate," the aide said. "If there is no plan to get the defunding provision passed in the Senate, or even a plan to fight to get it passed in the Senate, then what we’re talking about isn’t a plan to defund Obamacare -- it’s just a plan to shut down the government and hope for the best. That’s not a great plan."

That Cruz was left without any strategy at all, after demanding for months that Republicans follow his lead, feeds into the notion that the tea party is rooted more in political nihilism than any particular ethos, an argument Walter Sobchak would appreciate.

When asked by HuffPost Thursday to respond to his Republican critics in the House, Cruz said, "I salute the House Republicans for their fight on this." He added, "The House of Representatives, where Republicans have the majority -- the House has to drive this process."

He also thanked House leadership for their work on Wednesday, in an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity." With Lee by his side, Cruz pledged to continue the fight, likened himself to Winston Churchill, and noticeably put the onus to defund Obamacare on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) -- all with a straight face.

"As Churchill said, we will fight on the beaches, we will fight on the streets, we will fight at every step to stop the biggest job killer in America," Cruz said, adding later that "Harry Reid needs to listen to the American people just like John Boehner did." 

For liberals, Cruz and the tea party have been the gift that keeps on giving. In both 2011 and 2012, tea party opposition staved off a "grand bargain" between Boehner and Obama that would have brought draconian cuts to Medicare and Social Security. In 2010 and again in 2012, the tea party pushed extreme Republicans through Senate primaries, where they subsequently lost winnable races in Delaware, Nevada, Colorado, Indiana and Missouri.

And they also brought Cruz to the Senate.

Jennifer Bendery contributed reporting.

Rick Perry, Martin O'Malley Butt Heads In Obamacare Debate

Rick Perry, Martin O'Malley Butt Heads In Obamacare Debate

 

       
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) butted heads in a Wednesday Obamacare debate on the CNN show "Crossfire."
O'Malley and Perry, who have both signaled potential 2016 presidential campaigns, agreed that the health care system is "broken," but disagreed whether Obamacare helps.
"Why would we want to put thousands, tens of thousands of people on a system that's broken?" Perry asked. "It's Washington, D.C., forcing the states to meet all of these standards. And that's why we've said, 'no thank you.'"
O'Malley said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been "responsive," and Maryland has received flexibility in implementing the Affordable Care Act.
“You should come to the National Governors Association meetings again,” O’Malley told Perry. "I know Texas seceded from the National Governors Association, but if you came, you might be able to learn from the other governors that are actually implementing [Obamacare], doing it well, and actually doing a better job of supporting an innovation economy and their workers’ well being.”
The disagreement led to a gubernatorial showdown over how to define success.
"The bottom line's gonna be by seeing which of these states succeed as we go into the future," Perry said. "Right now, on job creation, Texas is leading the march."
"On schools and median income, Maryland is leading the march," O'Malley retorted. "On innovation, Maryland is leading the march."