Psychopolitik 2.0

How did this not blow up?

See ya next year…

At some point during “Sherlock Holmes” I kinda expected someone to say to Sherlock “no shit?”.

This looks like an interesting movie.  Meanwhile, this is a discussion I REALLY didn’t expect to see come up…

While reading about the extensions of subsidies in the All-Encompassing Shit Sandwich in some random post elsewhere, the following recurring thought came back up:

If people above the “official” poverty line, according to the “mainstream” Left still need assistance, then doesn’t that mean the “official” definition of poverty is bullshit?

(cross-posted to FreedomDemocrats.org)

Shorter Mary Grabar: “Having the State punish people for willingly consuming certain plants is consistent with a general philosophy of leaving people alone.  Why?  Because weed creates libruls, silly!”

Congrats, Mona.  You just may have found the dumbest fucking argument ever blogged.

Doing more with less:

The Obama administration has actually argued not only that the gov’t arbitrarily UnPersoning people is an option to remain open, they even argued that the Supreme Court shouldn’t even consider the case saying otherwise.  Last week, while the media was elsewhere, they won.  See, health care policy isn’t taking up all of their attention, they found plenty of time to leave the door open to indefinite detention without charges.

Props.

On one of the many sites talking about the All-Consuming Turd Sandwich bill of the moment, someone from Europe chimes in about their system:

Where i come from, The Netherlands, which is far from perfect, i pay 125 Euro’s for full coverage. Dentists and pre-existing conditions included. I can have a television at my bed and a minibar if i want to, but that’ll cost me extra. We have 6 or 7 big insurance companies here who facilitate this and who are bound by government rules on maximum charges and minimum coverage. It works fine, there’s no deficit created and everybody is fully covered. Besides that there’s a government subsidy for everyone who doesn’t earn enough to pay for the premiums.

We’re a democracy, with politicians, which are to some degree polarized into left and right, but everybody agrees we need good healthcare. If our people are denied that, we go out onto the streets and make known that we disagree.

It’s that simple: Your system is broken because the will of your people is broken. (emphasis mine)

So, humoring this interpretation, the people of the Netherlands imply willingness to bring their entire political system to a screeching halt if things suck enough.  Well, if that’s the case then maybe you don’t need the politicians at all anyway?  If The Will of the People is that damn strong, skip the middlemen.

-Question for Matt Yglesias: How exactly do you reconcile your Kung-Fu Grip on the concept of government being a tool of the Left with your acknowledgment of just how deeply entrenched class division is in your desired tool?

-Speaking of the turd sammich that Matt is swearing up and down is worth eating: most people wouldn’t know what a phrase like “dialectical libertarianism” means, but they know a screwjob when they see it.

-Remember how Obama claimed we’d come out ahead in the end from the finance bailout?  Well, that wasn’t a lie if you strike the word “we” & replace it with “Citigroup“.

-Fuck it, let’s pile on Matt some more.  Take it away, Ioz:

“Nobody ever accomplished anything in politics by not participating.” Fuck you, buddy. I’ll see your Mondale campaign and raise you a Gandhi.

-Hardball is on in the background (forgot to change the channel when I turned it on), & Tweety just mentioned a poll on the approval of Black Reagan, comparing the recent number with February.  Funny how he fails to mention that everybody gets a high approval rating in February of their first term because they haven’t done anything yet.  No problem, I’m all for politicians not doing anything…

DougJ @ Balloon Juice, in frustration at something Joe Lieberman is doing:

I believe that the biggest question about our society is why it is that so many sociopaths rise to positions of power and influence. Are all societies this way or is there something special about the way ours is structured right now?

It’s called “politics”, Doug.  It rewards sociopathy, we’re not special.