I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, and I'm sure I'll get some agreement there. So it makes me worry a little when I can think up a "wrong" thing that is easy to implement, knowing that there are some pretty desperate characters out there.

So, here we have a political situation whereby the President is compromising every which way to get a healthcare reform bill pushed through Congress. The problem being that if there is a public option, it probably won't pass the senate, and if there isn't a public option, it probably won't pass the house. There are many other details in the mix, but this is the one that stands out for me.

These US Senators who won't vote for a bill with a public option include a lot of politicians who've accepted huge political contributions from the healthcare & pharmaceutical industries, indicating to me that they have huge incentives to vote against a bill whose passage might benefit their constituents but won't benefit their own personal continued grip on power in the government. This is not their only reason for voting against the public option, but it is a reason that does stand out.

Some of the Republican Senators represent states with Democratic governors. If anything were to happen to the Senators, the Governor would appoint a replacement. Usually, the appointees are from the political party of the appointer, not of the political party of the recent Senator.

The wrong thought I have is this. There are a lot of people, some fifty million, who do not have health insurance, and who probably don't have health insurance in their near futures. Some of them are likely represented by US Senators who will vote against a bill that has a public option. A smaller number are likely represented by US Senators who will vote against a bill with a public option and in a state led by a Democratic governor. Some people are so desperate for health care they'll do anything to get it. Prisons have health care. Dead senators can't vote. Dead senators get replaced by the governors of their states. Senators will likely vote along party lines on this healthcare reform bill with a public option. Voting on the bill has been postponed until the end of the summer recess. I wonder if there's someone so desperate out there who will take out a senator to a) keep that senator from voting against the bill; b) so he, the perpetrator, can go to prison and get healthcare, as well as guaranteed housing for the rest of his life; c) so his Democratic governor can replace his victim with a Democratic senator who will vote to support healthcare reform legislation with a public option clause in the bill.

Sure, it's perverse and twisted and above all, wrong. But I can't be the only one who's thought of it.

Captain Wayne Keble, OBE

"The only thing I have banned on board is Brussels sprouts," he said.

With thanks to foxbat , Sneezy, Dopey, Doc, Grumpy, Bashful, Happy, Sleepy and Snow White

And why the heck wasn't he president?

Here!

Today is my birthday. My age is a prime number whose digits added together make a prime number, whose digits added together make a prime number, totalling two, and the number of alterations totals 3, 23 being my birthdate. Funny that.

Anyway, about now is our traditional time to exchange lists of suggestions of what we want for Christmas. This time, I have to tell you what I explicitly don't want. I've tried, for years, to be nice about it. I've even been a little forward, but I've never pulled out the baseball bat and whacked you over the head with the truth, graciousness be damned.

It's simple. Don't give me food for Christmas.

I don't care if you think it looks tasty. I really don't care if you want it for yourself. I don't. Or, rather, I probably do, but I can't. You want your gifts to be accepted & appreciated, fine. Give me something that doesn't amount to an insult in pretty paper. If you have to give someone food, give it to someone who can't afford to feed their families. If you give me food, that's where it's going, anyway.

Do you get it, yet?

You tell me, "Oh, I think you'll like this..." and then I turn it over, look at the list of ingredients, and the first one is "sugar". Oh, hell yeah, I'll like that. I'll love it to death. At least let me commit suicide on my own terms. Or, if you're really trying to kill me, and despise me that much, don't act so clueless about it. "Here, Bill, eat this. It tastes good, and will cause a slow & painful death. Merry Christmas."

I don't care that you have good intentions. Get a clue. Maybe I should write it on a sugar packet and throw it at you -- not that the method works, but it sure is sweet to see.

Please, for the love of God, don't give me food for Christmas.

In what has to be the definition of the world's shittiest timing, Barack Obama's grandmother died today.

My deepest sympathies to him and his family.

Trick or treat!


But then, I don't agree with the seeming entitlement attitude the media is taking. "Trick or treat" shouldn't be a verbal signal to "be nice to me and give me candy because its my right as an American".

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Urk

The Sarah Palin baby name generator!

Mine's

Loin Falcon Palin

What's yours?

A lot of presidents have committed gaffes and said things that the press picked up and ran with. In a notorious soundcheck, Ronald Reagan declared the Russians outlaw and that the bombing would start in five minutes.

The current administration is not without its own speedbumps. The first time, it might have been amusing to those who voted for him. The second time, those suspicious of his motives might have recalled the first time, but those who respected him and valued his leadership would think it was just something someone in power is bound to think about.

But then, over time, things start happening that makes you wonder just how off-the-cuff the comments were. And today, while we're facing economic melt-down on a grand scale, we read that further protections we've taken for granted are being eroded, possibly for some nefarious enterprise.

Sure, like the author says at the end, one brigade does not make a national police force. I just hate the doors it opens, either for the next guy, or the justification to bring more in quickly, if there's some reason we suddenly need it.

Just this.

Senator John McCain's definition of honor.

I'm not sure who's behind this -- the Democratic mayor? The Republican governor? The Republican federal administration?

In any case, I can imagine some of my friends' heads exploding over this.