I'm still holding to the opinion that Twitter is a mostly useless addition to the internet, but this is pretty awesome.
For some quick background: a few months ago during the height of the Iranian protests Pete Hoekstra took it upon himself to compare their uprising with the predicament Republicans found themselves in after the Bush era. Here's his original tweet:
"Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House."
Hahahahahaha right. Luckily I don't need to tell Hoekstra to go fuck himself, because since then other people have started using the magical power of twitter to tweet some red-hot mockery right at him. The page I linked to up there has a long list, but here are some of the highlights:
mike_bosworth @petehoekstra: I got a sunburn last weekend. Makes me think of Hiroshima.
netw3rk @petehoekstra: Someone walked in on me while I was in the bathroom. Reminded me of Pearl Harbor.
trisloth @petehoekstra: Just got into a snowball fight. Reminded me of the Hundred Years' War
paganmist @petehoekstra: Had to move all my stuff to a new office w/o a corner view. Now i know what the Trail of Tears was like.
A little bit more along these lines and Twitter might just win me over.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Netroots Nation Day 3
Friday, August 14, 2009
Fear Mongering Fail of the Day #2
This time Glenn Beck, who's been spending all of his time ranting about the evils of Obama-led death panels and the socialist plot to marxo-destroy America, is our daily failer. Watch as Jon Stewart shows Beck in action today and several months ago:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Glenn Beck's Operation | ||||
| ||||
Ooops! This might be even more embarassing than the Stephen Hawking mixup.
Netroots Nation Day 2
Governor Dean is speaking now, and available to anyone on cspan.
I'll be updating during the Specter/Sestak craziness that occurs at 11 AM. Check back around then to see what happens.
11:03- Just saw specter walk backstage so things should be kicking off soon.
11:06- Good first question: Who are you? Why are you here?
11:09- Lots of polite applause for really weak list of accomplishments. You don't need to do it people! He needs your vote, make him earn it!
11:11- Q: Why we should trust you?
A: Ed Rendell and Joe Biden trust me! Trust me!
11:20- Specter: "I support climate change"
11:29- This is honestly a surreal experience. Friend next to me just said "he's either completely unprepared, or he just doesn't care"
11:31- Still a little shocked at how civil this is. Not expecting anything too crazy, just more groans and boos.
11:38- Sorry for not having more updates, the internet is crazy slow, not a good thing at a blogger conference.
11:41- Getting that same sinking feeling that I got when Hillary Clinton wasn't booed at Take Back America before her presidential run. Ugh.
11:43- Good job everyone. Way to let Specter know he has nothing to fear from the left. Enable Bush for 8 years, then come to our conference and get cheered!
11:52- Sestak has gotten harder questions than Specter. Not sure how that's possible with both of their records and the make up of this conference, but it seems to be what's happening.
11: 55- Sestak saying all the right things, but I figured he'd be using this forum to hammer Specter more.
12:05- Kind of strange asking Sestak and Specter open ended lofty questions about the role of the netroots in politics. I'd rather they use this opportunity to hammer on specifics policy questions and differences between him and Specter.
12:10- Sestak just finished up. Pretty disappointing to be perfectly honest. Hopefully I'll be back later with more updates.
I'll be updating during the Specter/Sestak craziness that occurs at 11 AM. Check back around then to see what happens.
11:03- Just saw specter walk backstage so things should be kicking off soon.
11:06- Good first question: Who are you? Why are you here?
11:09- Lots of polite applause for really weak list of accomplishments. You don't need to do it people! He needs your vote, make him earn it!
11:11- Q: Why we should trust you?
A: Ed Rendell and Joe Biden trust me! Trust me!
11:20- Specter: "I support climate change"
11:29- This is honestly a surreal experience. Friend next to me just said "he's either completely unprepared, or he just doesn't care"
11:31- Still a little shocked at how civil this is. Not expecting anything too crazy, just more groans and boos.
11:38- Sorry for not having more updates, the internet is crazy slow, not a good thing at a blogger conference.
11:41- Getting that same sinking feeling that I got when Hillary Clinton wasn't booed at Take Back America before her presidential run. Ugh.
11:43- Good job everyone. Way to let Specter know he has nothing to fear from the left. Enable Bush for 8 years, then come to our conference and get cheered!
11:52- Sestak has gotten harder questions than Specter. Not sure how that's possible with both of their records and the make up of this conference, but it seems to be what's happening.
11: 55- Sestak saying all the right things, but I figured he'd be using this forum to hammer Specter more.
12:05- Kind of strange asking Sestak and Specter open ended lofty questions about the role of the netroots in politics. I'd rather they use this opportunity to hammer on specifics policy questions and differences between him and Specter.
12:10- Sestak just finished up. Pretty disappointing to be perfectly honest. Hopefully I'll be back later with more updates.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
McCardled'
I read Megan McCardle every now and then, almost entirely from clicking through links on much better blogs also housed at the Atlantic. I've never quite been able to articulate why I can't stand her writing until the always awesome Jesse Lee at pandagon did it in the most brutal way possible:
It’s not so much that McArdle is wrong. It’s that she proves herself wrong and then stands on her mountain of stupid wrongness sneering at everyone who’s noticed that she’s gloriously fucking wrong about everything.Amen.
Fear Mongering Fail of the Day
From an editorial in Investor's Business Daily:
The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through rationing, and the health consequences thereof are legendary. The stories of people dying on a waiting list or being denied altogether read like a horror movie script.
One year in perfect health gets you one point. Deductions are taken for blindness, for being in a wheelchair and so on. The more points you have, the more your life is considered worth saving, and the likelier you are to get care.
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.
Right, the British death panels would have selected Hawking for early termination decades ago. Obama probably would have already imported some death panels if it weren't for the endless vigilance of Palin and Limbaugh, two prominent deathers. Hold up though, here comes Hawking:
"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," he told us. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."
To summarize: Stephan Hawking is British, death panels aren't out to kill Trig Palin, the health insurance industry won't deactivate the noise machine until its right to haul in absurd profits while denying claims and bankrupting people is secured. The editorial now displays this correction at the top of the page:
Editor's Note: This version corrects the original editorial which implied that physicist Stephen Hawking, a professor at the University of Cambridge, did not live in the UK.
So their main example of the infinite horror of UHC actually ended up endorsing the British system, but instead of taking the whole thing back they just deleted the example and let it run as a completely unsupported statement? It's good to know that the serious minds opposing health care reform really are just well-spoken versions of the people showing up at town halls with signs about Obama killing their grandparents.
The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through rationing, and the health consequences thereof are legendary. The stories of people dying on a waiting list or being denied altogether read like a horror movie script.
One year in perfect health gets you one point. Deductions are taken for blindness, for being in a wheelchair and so on. The more points you have, the more your life is considered worth saving, and the likelier you are to get care.
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.
Right, the British death panels would have selected Hawking for early termination decades ago. Obama probably would have already imported some death panels if it weren't for the endless vigilance of Palin and Limbaugh, two prominent deathers. Hold up though, here comes Hawking:
"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," he told us. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."
To summarize: Stephan Hawking is British, death panels aren't out to kill Trig Palin, the health insurance industry won't deactivate the noise machine until its right to haul in absurd profits while denying claims and bankrupting people is secured. The editorial now displays this correction at the top of the page:
Editor's Note: This version corrects the original editorial which implied that physicist Stephen Hawking, a professor at the University of Cambridge, did not live in the UK.
So their main example of the infinite horror of UHC actually ended up endorsing the British system, but instead of taking the whole thing back they just deleted the example and let it run as a completely unsupported statement? It's good to know that the serious minds opposing health care reform really are just well-spoken versions of the people showing up at town halls with signs about Obama killing their grandparents.
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