The Generik Brand: July 2009

I Hear The Train A-Comin'...

This is fucking awesome.

Glenn Beck: Still An Idiot

Glenn Beck is obviously trying his best to edge out Lou Dobbs (and Bill O'Reilly) as the single dumbest and most offensive motherfucker on the planet.

Barack Obama, he says, has exposed himself as a person with "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture."

Good luck with that meme, Glenn. How's it working for you so far?

Glenn Greenwald On The WaPo Defense Of Torture

This is exactly why people hate politicians of every stripe. Glenn Greenwald brings some righteous wrath upon the Washington Post editorial writers for suggesting that Attorney General Eric Holder instigate some fake, Potemkin-like inquiries into the Yoo-Bybee memos, then wrist slap few low-level CIA agents to make the whole issue go away.

That, in a nutshell, is the twisted Washington mentality when it comes to lawbreaking: when political crimes become so blatant and extreme that they can no longer be safely excused (Watergate, Iran-contra, Abu Ghraib), then it's necessary to sacrifice some underlings who carried out the crimes by prosecuting them, but -- no matter what else happens -- the high-level political officials responsible for the crimes must be shielded from all accountability.

Andrew Sullivan also has some choice comments to make on the subject.

The longer I have lived in Washington, the more corrupt it appears. That includes large swathes of the press. The cooptation of the Washington Post by the torture-mongers should therefore come as no surprise - and Obama's refusal to investigate torturers is a reflection of his own so-pragmatic-it's-cynical belief that such matters do not really count for much - certainly not as much as a successful presidency.

It is inexcusable to call for an investigation into one of the most shameful chapters in our nation's history without calling for accountability on the parts of those who engineered the circumstances that created it. Any real investigation would necessarily involve those at the top: Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Yoo, Bybee, Addington, Libby, Rice and more. But what we're going to get, apparently, is a few more Lynndie Englands going to prison so that the criminals who really perpetrated this crime, this obscene offense to America, can continue to enjoy cocktails and dinner with their pals in the press.

Jon Stewart Takes On The Birthers

Lou Dobbs must be jealous of Glenn Beck's success in portraying himself as the dumbest motherfucker on the planet.

And I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Why, oh why, do right-wingers embrace the stupid so willingly and so enthusiastically? It's almost as if they were stupid themselves... oh, wait.

Never mind.

Eat The Rich

David Sirota over at Truthdig has a good post up today on how the top 1 percent of wealthy Americans have never had it so good, how income inequality has never been more severe in this country and how the rich continue to stick it to the rest of us.

According to government figures, 1-percenters’ share of America’s total income is the highest it’s been since 1929, and their tax rates are the lowest they’ve faced in two decades. Through bonuses, many 1-percenters will profit from the $23 trillion in bailout largesse the Treasury Department now says could be headed to financial firms. And, most of them benefit from IRS decisions to reduce millionaire audits and collect zero taxes from the majority of major corporations.

But what really makes the ultrawealthy so fortunate, what truly separates this moment from a run-of-the-mill Gilded Age, is the unprecedented protection the 1-percenters have bought for themselves on the most pressing issues.

To review: With 22,000 Americans dying each year because they lack health insurance, Congress is considering universal health care legislation financed by a surcharge on income above $280,000—that is, a levy almost exclusively on 1-percenters. This surtax would graze just 5 percent of small businesses and would recoup only part of the $700 billion the 1-percenters received from the Bush tax cuts. In fact, it is so minuscule, those making $1 million annually would pay just $9,000 more in taxes every year—or nine-tenths of 1 percent of their 12-month haul.

Nonetheless, the 1-percenters have deployed an army to destroy the initiative before it makes progress.

Read it all, it's good (and it will -- or should -- make you mad). Sirota does not spare those on the left who help perpetuate this unequal system, either.

Fuck those fucking fuckers. All of them.

Health Care Is A Right

Here's a good argument for single-payer health care in America, which really is the only sensible and moral way to approach the growing crisis in this country. The fact that there are nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance is criminal and obscene. The fact that every month many poor and middle class (and even some fairly well-to-do) families go bankrupt because of astronomical medical costs is one of the biggest failings of the American system as it currently exists.

Health care is -- or should be -- a basic right of citizenship, especially in a country as rich as this one is. Those who are swayed by the ridiculous arguments put forth by the insurance industry and their toadies in the media and Congress (both Republican and Democrat) about "socialized medicine" and government standing in the way of you being able to choose a doctor or get needed care in a timely manner are being either disingenuous or willfully obtuse. The system as it is currently configured consists of faceless, unaccountable insurance executives making the decisions as to which doctors you can see, what procedures you can have done and, ultimately, whether you are even eligible for care or not. A single-payer system that covers everyone eliminates for-profit corporations making decisions about your health care based not on what you may or may not need but on what will benefit their bottom line the most.

Over the past few years, as more and more people lose their health insurance, the industry has posted record profits, in some cases well over 100% of previous years. Costs have risen dramatically while fewer and fewer people retain coverage. How is this fair, and how are we as a citizenry not up in arms over such a state of affairs? Why is government seen by some as the bad guy in this drama, and not the greedy and evil corporations?

A government-run health care system could hardly be any worse than what we have now, and would, in all likelihood, be light years better. It's long past time that we fix this terribly broken system, and give every person living in this country a chance to receive quality health care without worrying about the potential of going bankrupt while doing so.