A group calling itself Billionaires for Wealthcare engaged in a bit of political theater at the recent conference sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). AHIP, which is the lobbying arm of the insurance industry, has been at the forefront of efforts to oppose quality, affordable health care reform with a public option.

Photo: Seattle Public Library

This is about a month old, but this gem puts recent conservative outrage about publicly financed programs that benefit all of us into a comedic perspective.

Article originally published in the San Fransisco Chronicle.

The menace of the public option

M.C. Blakeman

Of all the current assaults on our noble republic, perhaps none is more dangerous than the public option - specifically, the public library option.

For far too long, this menace has undermined the very foundations of our economy. While companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble struggle valiantly each day to sell books, these communistic cabals known as libraries undercut the hard work of good corporate citizens by letting people read their books for free. How is the private sector supposed to compete with free? And just what does this public option give us? People can spend hours and hours in these dens of socialism without having to buy so much as a cappuccino. Furthermore, not only can anyone read books for free in the library, they can take them home, too. They get a simple card that can be used at any library in town. No checking on the previous condition of books they’ve read. No literacy test. Nothing. Yet, do these libertines of literature let you choose any book you want, anytime you want it? No. Have you ever tried to get the latest best-seller at a public library? They put you on a waiting list for that, my friend. And if you do ask these government apparatchiks a question about a book, they start talking your ear off, and pretty soon they’re telling you what to read.

Of course, if you break one of their petty rules and return a book late, you have to pay fines that mount grotesquely each day. Even if you die, your overdue fees keep piling up. Is that not a death tax? How long must the elderly live in fear of burdening their children with these unfair sanctions on their estates?

Don’t be fooled for a minute. Somebody has to pay for these “free” libraries, and I’ll tell you who it is, pal. Those good ol’ suckers, the American taxpayers, that’s who.

Have you ever wondered who’s really behind this public library option? And don’t you think it’s fishy that they mask their nefarious activities with benign-sounding names, like Friends of the Library? What’s their real agenda - and why do they have so many “volunteer” meetings, anyway?

No, my fellow Americans. We cannot wait until we’re all goose-stepped into a massive book checkout line. This assault on capitalism and our very way of life has got to end. Be subversive … burn your library card! Go out and buy a book!

Photo of Seattle Public Library courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/75905404@N00/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Hollywood speaks out to help insurance companies.

Wow, time has healed some more wounds.

Glenn Beck is one of the main opponents of health care reform, calling our health care system the “best in the world.”

But in January 2008, he was telling a different story. He was complaining about his “personal voyage through the nightmare that is our health care system.” He went on to call it “a system that is trying to shove the patients outside the door as fast as they can.”

Jon Stewart pointed out in this Daily Show clip, “if only the Glenn Beck of sixteen months ago had the health care the Glenn Beck of today raves about.”

If only we all did.

Over the past 8 years, it became increasingly difficult for me to watch the news.  After a while, I started watching the Daily Show online (I didn’t have cable).

Jon Stewart provides a daily recap of national politics with a funny delivery.

However, there are times when Stewart does (and did) reporting the MSM (main stream media) wouldn’t.  In case you didn’t already see it, here’s recent footage of Stewart taking CNBC to task for their poor financial advice during the most recent stock market bubble burst.

HBO show bids Will Ferrell’s Bush farewell
By Neal Justin
MINNEAPOLIS Star Tribune

Will Ferrell, best known for playing overgrown frat boys, bubbleheaded anchormen and spoiled athletes, seems an unlikely Broadway angel. But the comedian has performed a minor miracle with “You’re Welcome, America. A Final Night With George W. Bush,” a sold-out hit on the Manhattan theater scene based almost entirely on a decade-old impersonation that should be about as relevant now as an Abbott and Costello routine.