The Madman Speaks » Current Events

It wasn’t lying, per se, your honor.

Becca — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:32:29 +0000

Chris Wallace is a complete fucking tool.

In the process of making mountains out of molehills on Sunday by trying to insinuate that the VA is trying to kill vets, Chris Wallace tried to make a federal case out of the use of an end-of-life planning manual used by the VA. h/t Crooks and Liars

DUCKWORTH: Let me make a correction there, Chris. What our practitioners were told is to refer patients to any type of a tool. They can use Mr. Towey’s if they want to spend the $5 apiece. VA simply was not willing to buy his booklet at $5 per veteran at the time.

…

WALLACE: It doesn’t say, “Give them access to anything.” I mean, in the specific VA booklet — it’s only about 15 pages long — it specifically refers to this booklet twice.

…

WALLACE: I have a problem here. And often — too often on these shows, we just say, “One person said, and another person said.” Secretary Duckworth, I don’t know if we’re able in the control room to put up the full screen of the VHA directive, but I’d like you to put up the first full screen if you can.

In the VHA directive of July 2, 2009, it says the following on Page 8: “Primary care practitioners are responsible for giving patients pertinent educational materials, e.g., refer patients to the ‘Your Life, Your Choices’ module.” I mean, it’s just there in black and white on the VHA directive of July 2.

Chris, from those of us who actually went to school and got an education, I’ll let you in on a little clue: “e.g.” stands for “exempli gratia,” which is Latin for “for example.”

Usually shortened in English to ‘for example’ (see citation signal). Often confused with id est (i.e.).
Exempli gratia,’for example’, is commonly abbreviated ‘e.g.’; in this usage it is sometimes followed by a comma, depending on style.

As in: “Some newscasters are total douchebags, e.g., Chris Wallace.” Now that isn’t saying you are the only douchebag out there. But he’s certainly one who could be used as an example.

Bullshit McCain and the GOP Doorstops

Becca — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:09:56 +0000

Time again to call bullshit on John McCain.

This morning, this AP headline came across my radar:

McCain: Obama must drop health care public option

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain says President Barack Obama will have to drop proposals for a government-run health insurance option if he hopes to reach congressional agreement on health-care reform.

… The Arizona Republican proposed that Obama meet with members of both parties in Congress to find areas of agreement, abandon the public option, and then make clear exactly what he wants in the legislation.

Oh really? Seems to me that the only way to find agreement with the GOP is to abandon health-care reform altogether.

McCain said … [he] maintains that Republicans are willing to sit down with the president and talk about various reforms.

Since when? Almost the entire process so far has been about Democrats making concessions to get Republicans on board. Yet the only response they’ve had from Republicans so far is “No” and unadulterated obstructionism.

To date, there is not one Republican who has signed on to any version of health-care reform legislation. Not one. No matter what concessions have been made. Not a single one.

When McCain is talking about the GOP, it’s really just bullshit.

Intelligence Roolz

Becca — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:23:00 +0000

Every single shirt drooling, mouth breathing, tea bagger jumping up at town hall meetings to obstruct health care reform should be forced to watch Betsy MacCaughey try to defend the raft of lies being peddled to obstruct meaningful reform of health care in the U.S.

Part I … (beginning of the train wreck)

Part II (extended) … (train wreck in progress)

Part III (extended) … (someone call an ambulance, because this lady’s career is in dire need of life support)

If only the rest of the media were this prepared and this adamant about keeping the discussion honest and accurate.

Ignoramuses wrapped around the axle of Glen Beck’s Crazy Bus

Becca — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:04:04 +0000

I’m getting tired of listening to the idiots carping about nationalized health care. They are, by and large, complete fucking idiots.

The question posed at Arlen Specter’s town hall was obscene—yet representative of so many in the tea party crowd who want to derail the discussion on health care reform.

This is about the systematic dismantling of our country … we are tired of this …

I don’t want this country turning into Russia, turning into a socialized country. My question for you is: What are you going to do to restore this country back to what our Founders created, according to the constitution?

News flash, you idiot: The Constitution says abso-freaking-lutely nothing about whether or not our economy is capitalist or socialist. Not one fucking thing. It says that Congress has the power to levy and collect taxes. It says that Congress has the power to govern interstate commerce. It says nothing about whether or not the government get into the business of nationalized health-care. Nothing.

Allow me to repeat so I am absolutely clear:

The U.S. Constitution says not one fucking thing about government managed (nationalized) health care.

So shut the fuck up, sit the fuck down, and listen to what is being proposed. Speak up if you have a cogent thought. Otherwise, shut the fuck up.

You want to scream at a Congress-critter to “Read the bill!”? Fine. You can do that, as soon as you’ve read the constitution. Because the U.S. Constitution … wait for it …

… promotes socialism:

Preamble

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article I also permits Congress to levy and collect taxes to promote the general welfare (Section 8, “Enumerated Powers”).

Don’t pull out the U.S. Constitution unless you know what the hell you’re talking about.

Naturopathic Idiocy

Becca — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:33:39 +0000

Sometimes idiocy occurs naturally, and sometimes it takes a lot of work to happen. Case in point, the folks over at “Natural News,” promoting the idea that flu vaccines are “worthless.”

The article starts out with a tenable premise, but then works hard to come up with this asinine statement:

Consumer health advocate Mike Adams, author of “Conquering the Common Cold,” called flu vaccine shots “one of the greatest medical cons perpetrated on the populations of the world,” and questioned new U.S. policies pushing the vaccines on young children and expectant mothers.

“Flu shots only prevent colds in about 1 percent of people who get them, making them 99 percent useless,” Adams said. “They also inject unhealthy substances such as mercury preservatives directly into tissues, poisoning the patient with a chemical burden that accumulates with each flu shot.”

Dear Mr. Adams, as a “consumer health advocate,” you suck ass.

Do you even know the difference between the viruses that cause the common cold and influenza viruses? Because they aren’t the same. How about using something like Wikipedia as a start to understand that the common cold is caused by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Influenza viruses, on the other hand, are an entirely different line of illness.

In fact, the basic scientific premise is pretty much spelled out for you:

Although it is often confused with the common cold, influenza is a much more severe disease and is caused by a different type of virus.

The least you could do, as a “consumer health advocate,” is address this simple fact. I’m not a scientist by profession, but I’ve studied enough biological science to understand this basic premise of virology.

Influenza vaccinations are meant to treat only a single strain of an influenza virus. They are not a panacea for all influenza viruses. If we were to extrapolate your thinking, then you should argue for not receiving the polio vaccine since it doesn’t prevent the flu. However, I think that Jonas Salk may disagree.

WHO stops using term “Swine Flu”; Media says, “What?”

Becca — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:06:09 +0000

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that they will stop using the term “swine flu” to refer to the current influenza outbreak, in favor of the more technical term, influenza-A (H1N1). This was primarily in response to the Egyptian government—a government so profoundly stupid that there are no words in any language to properly mock them—for slaughtering hundreds of thousands of pigs to stop the spread of the disease.

… and the response from the media? Total fucking Retard-o-Rama:

WHO to stop using term ’swine flu’ to protect pigs

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the agriculture industry and the U.N. food agency had expressed concerns that the term “swine flu” was misleading consumers and needlessly causing countries to ban pork products and order the slaughter of pigs.

“Rather than calling this swine flu … we’re going to stick with the technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A,” Thompson said.

The article then continues …

Egypt began slaughtering its roughly 300,000 pigs Wednesday even though experts said swine flu is not linked to pigs and not spread by eating pork. Angry farmers protested the government decree.

…

China, Russia, Ukraine and other nations have banned pork exports from Mexico and parts of the United States, blaming swine flu fears.

…

WHO also reported the number of confirmed swine flu cases rose to 257 worldwide Thursday, with cases in Mexico rising to 97 from 26, with seven deaths. The WHO confirmed tally from the United States now stands at 109, with one death.

I find it utterly fucking amazing that the human race has been able to exist as a viable species for this long. The Egyptian government slaughters pigs to prevent the spread of a disease that isn’t related to pigs. Russia and China ban imports of pork because of fears about a disease that isn’t related to pigs. And when the WHO officially stops using the common name of the disease to help curb the stupidity of governments such as has been seen with Egypt, Russia, and China, the report on the change in terminology goes on and repeatedly uses the unnecessary and inappropriate term.

Of course, science doesn’t mean diddly squat to morons that have flipped into mob-rule/mass-panic mode. And it becomes necessary to issue statements such as this.

Fear and Loathing in Galt’s Gulch

Becca — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:21:53 +0000

It’s odd to hear all of the recent references to people “going Galt.” It’s odd because the idea of Galt and Rand’s philosophy are infantile at best.

If someone wants to “go Galt” then let them. It’s a case of “I’m mad, so I’m taking my toys and going home.” As I’ve heard others note, “graveyards are full of indispensable people.”

If you want to engage in the ultimate expression of individuality and disengage with society, or “go Galt,” then do it. Go Galt. But go all the way. Don’t take any half-measures. If you’re going to go Galt, then you’ll need to solve your own problems and get your own fuel for your vehicles, generate your own energy, grow your own food, and stop using the Internet. Because these are all luxuries created by collective effort, not a single individual. They were created for the purpose of collective/social benefit, to be enjoyed by society and enabled by the collective will of society, i.e., government.

Government, not individual ideas built the roads that allow for interstate commerce and the distribution of grain and produce from the heartland out across the country. Government money–taxpayer money–subsidized the construction of the power grid which distributes fuel and electricity to our cities and towns. And the creation of the Internet was funded by scientists intentionally working for the common good, funded by government research grants.

And even our constitution enshrines our collectivist goals by declaring that “We the People,” have engaged in this society with the explicit purpose of promoting the “general Welfare.” It says nothing about “We the People” forming our constitution to make more profits, to start a business, or maximize individual wealth.

“Life, Liberty, and Property” are held by everyone, but they are not absolute guarantees without conditions. Through due process, the government can take your life, liberty, or property if you commit a crime against another citizen or against society as a whole (e.g., prison, fines, or the death penalty). Through due process, the government can take your liberty or property when necessary and the interests of society outweigh your individual rights (e.g., taxes, public speech to incite riots or chaos).

It is the goal of our government to preserve individual liberty insofar as it is viable within the context of our social contract. And it is understanding the balance between the rights of the individual and the interests of government that we have long sought to resolve.

Honesty is such a lonely word …

Becca — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:56:45 +0000

I’ll be honest. More often than not, when I watch Jon Stewart, I’m in it for his news recap and kind of pass over the guest interviews.

But the brewing flap that’s been developing the last few days between Jon Stewart and CNBC has been interesting. Thus, Stewart’s interview of Jim Cramer last night would be must-see-teevee if it wound up being anything more than a sophomoric finger in the eye.

Heh.

Rick Santelli is a cowardly, paper-tiger, piece of shit. But I will at least give Jim Cramer credit for having the guts to come on Jon’s show and get called out on national television.

And what I loved most of all was the fact that it was clearly evident that Stewart had done his homework. He called bullshit several times. Cramer tried to defend himself. Stewart called bullshit again.

Daily Show interview with Jim Cramer, Pt. 1

Daily Show interview with Jim Cramer, Pt. 2

Daily Show interview with Jim Cramer, Pt. 3

And the coup de grace was Stewart’s response to a clip where Cramer talks about manipulating Apple’s stock price:

I understand that you want to make finance entertaining. But it’s not a fucking game. … when I watch that, I can’t tell you how angry that makes me. Because what it says to me is that you all know. You can draw a straight line from those shenanigans to the stuff that was being pulled at Bear [& Stearns], and at AIG, and at all this derivative market stuff that is this weird Wall St. side bet.

Pundits have, for decades, never been called to answer for the bullshit they spew. I can’t count how many “debates” I’ve seen where a couple of bloviating pieces of shit come on television, blather back and forth like competing wind tunnels, and then finish off with “well, I guess we’ll see.”

Well, here we are.

The Housing Crisis Explained

Becca — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:08:31 +0000

For those who aren’t aware of how the whole housing crisis came to be, here’s a basic primer on what happened.

There’s a house at 123 Main St. It has a value. For the sake of our conversation, that value is $250,000.

You want to buy that house. But of course, you don’t have $250,000 cash on hand, so you take out a mortgage. Bank X agrees to loan you the money.

But Bank X wants some sort of assurance that they are going to get paid, so they make you take out mortgage insurance. Insurance company, InsCo A, agrees to provide mortgage insurance in the event that you can’t make payments.

Unbeknownst to you, there is an investment firm, InvesCo B, that is selling things on the stock market. They know that if you pay all the way through on your mortgage, you will likely pay twice the original value of the mortgage. What better kind of investment is there than one that pays 100% interest over 30 years—or better, over 15 years? Not many. Granted, most Americans will only hold their mortgage for 5-10 years before refinancing or purchasing a new home. Instead of $500,000, InvsCo B thinks they can get about $100,000 from you in interest payments and still be left with an asset that is valued at more than $250,000 … say $325,000 (conservative estimate). Therefore, the initial $250,000 mortgage, over the course of 5 years, represents a net gain of around $425,000 (interest payments plus the appreciated value of the asset). InvesCo B decides to buy your mortgage from Bank X and package it up with a bunch of other mortgages. That becomes an asset-backed investment vehicle. Your house—along with those of other people—is the asset behind the vehicle. We’ll call this vehicle a Pinto.

Now InsCo A doesn’t want to just stand there waiting for you to miss a payment or go unemployed. It’s bad risk management to not provide for this eventuality. InsCo A decides that they want to have something backing the mortgage insurance policy, so they go looking for investments that they can use to offset the cost of your house should you default. InsCo A looks around and notices that InvesCo B has a Pinto investment with a high rate of return. InsCo A then buys a bunch of these Pintos and uses the investments to back the mortgage insurance policy on your house.

One day, you get fired from your job—or laid off, or outsourced, or downsized, or something. Either way, you’re out of work. And you can’t pay your mortgage. Eventually, your property is foreclosed. The mortgage company, Bank X, goes to the insurance company, InsCo A, to call in the mortgage insurance policy. InsCo A goes to InvesCo B to cash out the investment they made in the Pinto investment. InvesCo B goes to the mortgage holder of the assets behind the Pinto, which is you^[1] And thus we start the wonderful circle jerk that is the housing crisis.

Now consider that the packaging of loans—or debt—occurs several times over. Ten different Pinto investments get rolled into a single Edsel investment. Then 10 to 15 Edsel investments get broken up into multiple pieces each and rolled into different Crown-Vic and Buick investments. Just to keep things interesting, the credit card companies have also rolled your debts—your credit card balances—into Pacer and Hummer investment vehicles, because what investment is better than you paying 30% on your credit card balances that just pay out in perpetuity. So you roll in a bunch of Pacers into the Edsel, Crown-Vic, and Buick investments, and then continue breaking them up, repackaging them, and selling them onwards.

And just to make the clusterfuck really interesting, Bank X actually represents about a thousand different banks, each doing their own version of Edsels, Pintos, Hummers, Crown-Vics, Buicks, and Pacers. And this is occurring not just with your house, but with millions of properties. And this is occurring not just with your credit card balance, but with millions of people’s credit card balances.

And then Wall Street jackoffs make billions (literally) in bonuses for this genius plan.

And then the whole house of cards comes crashing down, and no one can figure out the whole self/circular-referential mess because … well, no one really knows, because everybody had a fist in someone else’s ass.

Case in point:

Trading in credit-default contracts has sparked investor fears because they are bought and sold in a murky, private market that is largely out of the reach of federal regulators. No one, except those holding the instruments, knows who owes what to whom. Not even banks and insurers can accurately calculate their risks.

And then Wall Street jackoffs make billions (literally) in bonuses (again) for this genius plan.

And then Rick Santelli goes on CNBC and says you’re a loser because you might be having a hard time paying your mortgage.

Hey Santelli. Fuck you.

^[1] Actually, Bank X never really sold your mortgage, they just sold the rights to the mortgage. Bank X was just a flow through (taking a little cut for themselves on the way) for the money to reach InvesCo B.

Random Humor: Bush’s Brain

Becca — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:42:22 +0000

Checking headlines over at Yahoo! News and came across this:

Doctors remove benign lesion from Bush’s forehead

WASHINGTON – President Bush underwent treatment for a benign lesion over the weekend, leaving a noticeable scab on his forehead as he went about his business on Tuesday.

I have to ask … was it his brain? He wasn’t using it anyway.