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Hot! (and embarrassing)
Today's heat index hit around 114F according to Wunderground, which includes sensors just across the road from us. It felt like it too. We are not putting the horses in their stalls tonight, trying to let them get what little advantage they can from more freely circulating air. Of course, there's not a whiff of a breeze at the moment but at least the temperature is dropping.
By now I'm sure just about everyone knows that the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (also called the Health Care Reform Act of 2010, and derided as "Obamacare" by Republicans and other right wingnuts.) Some of you know that I'm not particularly impressed with this so-called "reform" either. I believe it lacks adequate cost controls, and leaves far too much to the whim of capitalist market forces and private corporate boards. It has no public coverage option, and does relatively little to protect lower middle class individuals, particularly unmarried ones. As usual, the politicians have been beating the "family, family, family" drum to the exclusion of fairness to anyone who doesn't fit their narrow definitions.
However, the fact that this particular court, conservative as it is and constructed largely of justices appointed by Dubyabush, still managed to uphold the constitutionality of the act is something of a hopeful sign that partisanship and polarization do not yet completely control the US.
So what's to be embarrassed about? Well, you've also seen me complain about the sheer, wilful ignorance of so many US citizens and voters. You know, the ones who refuse to accept the validity of science, don't believe in evolution, and still insist that gays and lesbians should be stoned to death? Today I've seen numerous right wingers announcing that they will "move to Canada" rather than submit to the "big government health care" changes. Ignorant is a generous word to describe what this actually suggests. Do they not know that Canada has genuine socialized medicine, something that the ACA does not really achieve? Are they aware that Canada has legalized and recognized same sex marriages on a national level, and requires equal treatment in all provinces? That Canada's abortion laws are more liberal than those of any US state? Or that the Canadian population includes far more self-described atheists than the US does? (Some estimates run as high as 45% of the adult population.) Evidently, no. Surely none of these Obama haters would consider moving to a country so liberal and socialist, unless they simply had no idea what they were talking about.
I suggest that they move instead to Mexico, which really does have less government, is nowhere near recognizing gay marriages, and remains highly religious and opposed to abortion and birth control. And once they move there, let's use their own proposed anti-immigration laws and measures to keep them from ever coming back. Good riddance.
By now I'm sure just about everyone knows that the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (also called the Health Care Reform Act of 2010, and derided as "Obamacare" by Republicans and other right wingnuts.) Some of you know that I'm not particularly impressed with this so-called "reform" either. I believe it lacks adequate cost controls, and leaves far too much to the whim of capitalist market forces and private corporate boards. It has no public coverage option, and does relatively little to protect lower middle class individuals, particularly unmarried ones. As usual, the politicians have been beating the "family, family, family" drum to the exclusion of fairness to anyone who doesn't fit their narrow definitions.
However, the fact that this particular court, conservative as it is and constructed largely of justices appointed by Dubyabush, still managed to uphold the constitutionality of the act is something of a hopeful sign that partisanship and polarization do not yet completely control the US.
So what's to be embarrassed about? Well, you've also seen me complain about the sheer, wilful ignorance of so many US citizens and voters. You know, the ones who refuse to accept the validity of science, don't believe in evolution, and still insist that gays and lesbians should be stoned to death? Today I've seen numerous right wingers announcing that they will "move to Canada" rather than submit to the "big government health care" changes. Ignorant is a generous word to describe what this actually suggests. Do they not know that Canada has genuine socialized medicine, something that the ACA does not really achieve? Are they aware that Canada has legalized and recognized same sex marriages on a national level, and requires equal treatment in all provinces? That Canada's abortion laws are more liberal than those of any US state? Or that the Canadian population includes far more self-described atheists than the US does? (Some estimates run as high as 45% of the adult population.) Evidently, no. Surely none of these Obama haters would consider moving to a country so liberal and socialist, unless they simply had no idea what they were talking about.
I suggest that they move instead to Mexico, which really does have less government, is nowhere near recognizing gay marriages, and remains highly religious and opposed to abortion and birth control. And once they move there, let's use their own proposed anti-immigration laws and measures to keep them from ever coming back. Good riddance.
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While I tend to be aggravated by liberals' arrogant (and largely false) belief that intelligence governs ideology, I do think that liberalism persists in being less short-sighted than conservatism. I also think that's why the Supreme Court, with its permanent appointments, tends to be the site of key liberal victories, even following periods of conservative dominance.