Seriously, if a picture of Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor doesn’t get you to take a look, then I’m out of ideas.
Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor? Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor.
(via SharpWriter, SharpWriter.DeviantArt.Com)
Now that we have that out of the way, here’s today’s Daily Sausage.
First up, we have a report from the Huffington Post’s Anna Almendrala on California becoming the sixth state to call for an Amendment against the Citizens United ruling. The call for this is only going to get louder the closer we get to November. Mitt Romney is literally going to annoy America into action.
Next up, a great explanation of the new “donut hole” created by the Supreme Court ruling that states could opt out of certain provisions of the ACA without penalty, from Sarah Kliff at Wonkblog. Under the ACA, if you make between 0 and 133% of the Federal Poverty Line (currently $19,090 for a family of three and $11,170 for an individual), you would be eligible to receive Medicaid. If your state opts out of the ACA, you would only be covered from 100-133% of the Federal Poverty Line. If you make less than the Federal Poverty Line, you would be at the mercy of your state, which covers individuals and families from 20% to about 90%, depending on the state. Essentially, if a state opts out of the ACA, it creates a “donut hole” or “no man’s land” where an individual is ineligible for Medicaid and cannot receive subsidies to pay for health insurance. The irony, of course, is that the states that will push to opt out of the ACA such as Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, etc. are among the states with the highest rates of uninsured and most individuals below the poverty line in the country.
To lighten up the mood, a bit, we have TPM’s Evan McMorris-Santoro with the latest batch of post-Birther GOP conspiracy theories. We’ve got three doozies to tackle, so let’s get started.
- Conspiracy Theory #1: The White House has a secret plot to undermine the Second Amendment using fake scandals like Fast And Furious to create a legislative path to taking people’s guns.
My Response: Jesus, I wish. Gun “enthusiasts” have been terrified that Obama is coming to take their guns since he started running for President, no thanks to the NRA which keeps ginning up their membership with fears that if the President outlaws grenade launchers and fully automatic military assault rifles for private ownership, next up is going to be ALL OF THE GUNS. This isn’t a new theory, by the way; every time a Democratic President or Congress gets elected the Guns And Ammo crowd gets the batsignal from, well, Guns And Ammo that the bleeding heart hippie liberals are coming to take their guns away and make them eat tofu and read eskimo poetry, or whatever it is us liberals do.
- Conspiracy Theory #2: The White House and the Democratic Party are out to destroy Right-Wing think tanks by forcing groups that spend on political advertisements to disclose their spending, so that they can shame them out of funding the causes they care about. Also, the Obama White House wants to sic the IRS on their political opponents.
My Response: Here’s another one I wish the White House and the Democratic party in general could pull off. Thanks to Citizens United, the floodgates of cash have been opened; corporate, private, and otherwise. A cabal of billionaires is already pledging hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign spending, and those are just the ones that have gone on TV and in print and said “I’m gonna spend a hundred million dollars in campaign spending”. For individuals, that’s fine. They’re allowed to do whatever they want with their money, even if I don’t agree with what they’re spending it on or their ability to do so. However, if a publicly held corporation wants to donate money to Washington “think tanks” or to groups clearly engaged in political speech, then yes, they should have to disclose who they’re donating to and how much. If Target and Chick-Fil-A want to donate to anti-gay hate groups, then they need to publicly declare “We’re donating $X to Anti-Gay Hate Group Z.”. Essentially, this is Mitch McConnell (who is notable for challenging campaign finance regulations; see McConnell V. FEC) bitching that the rich fucks underwriting him and his friend’s campaigns and conservative welfare programs won’t be able to so anonymously, because if people find out what they’re doing they might actually get pissed off or something.
- Conspiracy Theory #3: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is either on drugs, being paid off by the NY Times, scared of the President, or any one of a dozen other theories. Long story short, he’s been “compromised”.
My Response: Yet again, another one I wish were true. Here’s what I think: I think Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts looked at the ACA and said “Okay, I’ve got about fifty years of case law that says this thing is constitutional, I’ve got a bunch of Federal judges that agree with me, and the President that signed this is a former Constitutional Law professor. If I declare it unconstitutional, I’m gonna make my political party really happy, but I’m gonna get my ass handed to me by the legal profession and by the history books, who are eventually gonna look at this like Dred Scott or Plessy V. Ferguson as one of the worst decisions in Supreme Court history, and I’ve already got one of those under my belt thanks to Citizens United. Oh, and my legal backup is the Four Horsemen: Alito (Famine), Kennedy (Pestilence), Thomas (War), and Scalia (Death). So, I’m gonna declare this constitutional, but I’m gonna call it a tax, and use it to limit Congress’ powers under the Commerce Clause, which is as good a compromise as I can come up with.”. And what was the end result of his decision? Senator Rand Paul, noted constitutional scholar, called it another Dred Scott-type decision.
I really wish that the Left and the Democratic Party were as devious and evil as the Right thinks we are. We’d be SO much more effective if we were.
Finally, a report from Wonkette’s Rebecca Schoenkopf on how Raul Castro, the 96-year old former governor of Arizona and “ambassador to everywhere” was detained by the Border Patrol in hundred degree heat for being a nuclear terrorist after having his pacemaker serviced the day before. Former Governor/Ambassador Castro is Hispanic, in case you missed the implication.
