Display Ban

Funny how readily so-called “conservatives” are to throw their alleged principles under the bus whenever they get in office. More often than not, it turns out they’re every bit as much eager to be meddlesome “nannies” as the relentlessly annoying do-gooders on the left when it comes to imposing completely pointless regulations concerning personal habits such as smoking.

Of course, we’ve had this same absurdly ridiculous “display ban” in effect in most provinces here in Canada for quite a while now and I rather doubt that it has any impact whatsoever other than to be a glaring advertisement for asinine, resentment-inducing government policy every time the clerk has to awkwardly retrieve one’s cigarettes from behind a flimsy curtain or fumble around looking for the contents of the steel case behind the register.

Update: Phillip Davies, a sensible Tory MP, speaks out about the absurdity of the new regulations.

“Why on earth do your need plain packaging for a product that’s no longer on display?” Good question!

Smart Remarks: Twisted Teabaggers

Pennsylvania blogger Gil Smart nails the callous behaviour and rotten morality of the “Tea Bag Nation” recently captured at a dueling demonstration in Ohio over the contentious issue of healthcare reform…

The video footage featured in his clip really is quite iconic of the profound undercurrent hateful, selfish ugliness that seems to animate much of the OUTRAGE! characteristic of the so-called tea party movement that’s continually inflamed by crazed loons like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and that whole ilk of incendiary, misanthropic millionaire gasbags that populate the “right-wing noise machine.”

Thank goodness Canadian politics hasn’t become quite this toxic — yet.

Foxstastic Fear-Mongering

Comical desperation of the fairly unbalanced wingnuts…

I wonder if there will be any reporting on Fox “News” tonight of the CBO’s modestly favourable bottom-line cost reduction estimates released this afternoon.

Code Red!!!

Alas, poor Rachel… She continues to be endlessly bemused and frustrated by the motley assortment of shamelessly dishonest, hypocritical fraudsters and morally bankrupt douchebags that presently constitute the Republican Party.

It’s nice to see the Dems (finally!) taking Dr. Howard Dean’s advice and employing reconciliation to get this bastardized healthcare bill enacted.

Leave Danny Alone!!! (For Now…)

Greta Van Susteren interviews Toronto Star reporter Tonda MacCharles about the controversial decision of Premier Danny Williams to go to the U.S. for his recent heart operation.

Personally, I thought Rex Murphy said it quite well on last night’s The National, most especially when he noted that “the river of commentary, both here and in the states, is taking place in a vacuum of fact.” Indeed.

Maybe this is could be an informative discussion worth having once the actual facts of the matter are known, but for now it seems that many people are simply basing their ideological predispositions about the healthcare debate on little more than idle speculation.

New Laws for Abortion Seekers

The In The Know panelists say more states should make decorating a nursery and choosing a baby name required steps in obtaining access to an abortion.

Like many Onion spoofs, there is actually a bizarre subtext of reality here. Over the past decade, several U.S. states have moved to make ultrasound part of abortion service provision. Some laws and policies require that a woman seeking an abortion receive information on accessing ultrasound services, while others require that a woman undergo an ultrasound before an abortion.

As noted by the rather unfortunately-named Guttmacher Institute, “Since routine ultrasound is not considered medically necessary as a component of first-trimester abortion, the requirements appear to be a veiled attempt to personify the fetus and dissuade a woman from obtaining an abortion.”

Rush Checks Out

Following the “mysterious” chest pains experienced earlier this week that resulted in him being rushed to hospital, upon his release from Queens Medical Center comedian Rush Limbaugh held a “press conference” (in which virtually no questions were asked).

Rush announced that he had “been treated to the best healthcare the world has to offer” and, based on his extensive survey of the treatment received by one multi-millionaire celebrity, he concluded that: “I don’t think there’s one thing wrong with the American healthcare system.”

Thom Hartmann: Obama’s Big Sellouts

I’m really digging Thom’s radio show these days… Check it out if you haven’t heard him before.

Dissing Dr. Dean?

Howard Dean on today’s Morning Joe defending his controversial position on the Senate healthcare bill.

Pull the Plug

It’s difficult to see how any “progressive” Democrats could support in good conscience what’s clearly become a failed attempt at achieving healthcare reform in the U. S. Congress. Perhaps at this stage of the game, the best thing to do would be, as Howard Dean suggests, just killing the present bill and going for the so-called reconciliation process in the House.

A metaphor, if you will…

Update: Great article by Glenn Greenwald in Salon outlining the duplicity of Obama and the Democratic leadership on the healthcare issue.

“The administration is getting the bill which they, more or less, wanted from the start — the one that is a huge boon to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industry.”