NEW YORK TIMES: Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a challenge to the 2010 health care overhaul law, President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. The development set the stage for oral arguments by March and a decision in late June, in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign. The court’s decision to step in had been expected, but Monday’s order answered many questions about just how the case would proceed. Indeed, it offered a roadmap toward a ruling that will help define the legacy of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. The court scheduled five and […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: America, Harms Dealer
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY “A Manhattan federal grand jury on Wednesday convicted Russian arms trader Viktor Bout of four counts of conspiracy to sell anti-aircraft weapons and other arms to purported Colombian rebels to kill Americans. He faces a term of 25 years to life in prison.” Thus began a Washington Post article last week describing the end of the two-decade-long career of the man known alternately as “Merchant of Death” and “Lord of War,” who shall live out the rest of his day in infamy as the most prolific independent purveyor of illicit weaponry ever to ply the detestable trade. […]
THE BAD JOE WALSH: Religion Tea Party Politics Is The Opium Cocaine Of The MAsses
[Video: Tea Party Republican Rep. Joe Walsh held a townhall at Uno Bar and Grill in Gurnee, Illinois, over the weekend. When the topic of banks and the collapse of the economy arose, the congressman flipped out.] GAWKER: Is this the angriest interaction between a congressman and his constituents ever, or at least of the ones that have been captured on YouTube? Yes? Let’s go with “yes.” This is Illinois Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh, a.k.a. Congress’ Dad of the Year, just completely unloading on a couple of constituents at a recent town hall at an Uno pizza restaurant. The […]
EARLY WORD: Occupy Mitt Romney
“I don’t worry about the top one percent. I don’t stay up nights worrying about ‘gee we need to help them.’ I don’t worry about that. They’re doing just fine by themselves. I worry about the 99 percent in America. I want America, once again, to be the best place in the world to be middle-class. I want to have a strong and vibrant and prosperous middle-class. And so I look at what’s happening on Wall Street and my own view is, boy I understand how those people feel…The people in this country are upset.”— MITT ROMNEY RELATED: Romney is […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: It’s All About You
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Do you consider yourself a “political” being? Politically speaking, do you have an anger “tipping point”? If so, is that the point at which you take action, or when you just let it slide? Are you–with sincerest apologies to Mr. Faulkner and The Bard–“but another walking shadow, a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. Is yours but a tale told to a mirror, full of harrumphs and a harangue or two, signifying nothing.” Pretty funny stuff, huh? Except I’ve never been more serious. These questions are at the very heart […]
LIFE LESSONS: A Pep Talk For OccupyPhilly
AP TICKER: I’m getting lots of letters about why I haven’t shown my face at any of the Occupy Philly protests. I wholeheartedly, endorse and support their endeavors and while I talk a good game about revolution and overthrow of this plutocracy, the sad truth of the matter is……..I’m a very very lazy man. As I have said many times before, my favorite hobbies are as follows, lying on my couch and being very very quiet. I and my couch bound brethren, represent a subset of The Greatest Generation that I have coined “The Lazy Generation” This true silent majority […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The Heirs Of Entitlement
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY With all the controversy surrounding “entitlements” reverberating throughout the body politic lately, perhaps the time has come for a battle-hardened, been-there-done-that, professional bullshit detector like myself to weigh in on the subject and hopefully help explode the meritocracy myths the American Right has been relying on to protect the legacies of the wealthy and bolster the anti-social welfare, pro-greed and self-interest free will belief system they have cleaved to for over a century. First things first: 1) My comments are intended to correlate with the 2nd Merriam-Webster definition of “entitlement,” namely: a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also: funds supporting […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Die Hard And Fast
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY No long term care of the elderly and infirm (Medicare doesn’t cover it), but TRILLION$ for the butchery and burial of our bravest. God forbid we should sacrifice a weapons system or two, or a war here or there, to provide security and peace of mind to our senior citizens. Once again the Obama administration is left searching for veracity and missing vertebrae. Apparently the fact that the CLASS (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports) program was predicted to become non-self-sustaining after its tenth year was sufficient cause for the Obama administration to fold its tent and signal a semi-provisional surrender. […]
You Know #OWS Is Doing Something Right When Rush Limbaugh Is Scared Shitless, The FBI Is Hacking Their Email & Both Romney & Obama Are Sucking Up
MEDIAITE: Limbaugh later accused President Obama of being behind the Occupy Wall Street movement, saying that it was driven by Tea Party envy from left-leaners. “The Democrats are so jealous of [the] Tea Party, they can’t see straight,” Limbaugh said. “Obama’s responsible for this. This kind of thing is not spontaneous, they didn’t bubble up out of nothing; they’ve had to create this, they’ve had to pay for it. They’re advertising.” MORE GAWKER: The Occupy Wall Street protests have been going on for a month. And it seems the FBI and NYPD have had help tracking protesters’ moves thanks to […]
CAIN UNABLE: The Hermanator Is A Koch Sucker
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation’s capital. But Cain’s economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity. Cain’s campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: The Elizabethan Age
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY I’ve got two words for Occupy Wall Street (and Occupy Everywhere Else for that matter): ELECT ELIZABETH! As in Elizabeth Warren for those few (hopefully) of you who may not already be aware of who she is and what she represents. Looking for a purpose, someone or something to rally around, some kind of game-changing action to take? Here’s a suggestion: Get out of the parks and start hitting the bricks to help Elizabeth Warren Occupy a U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts! And, when you’re finished with that, spend the next four years making it possible for her to […]
#OCCUPATION: Bloomberg Blinks, Backs Off Eviction
WASHINGTON POST: Despite city officials announcing a planned cleanup of Zuccotti Park had been canceled, some violence bubbled up in lower Manhattan on Friday morning. After the private owners granted the protesters reprieve from an order to leave the park, some protesters chose to march through the streets in celebration. Police asked protesters to stay on the sidewalk, but when they didn’t, a v-formation of police scooters drove through the crowd, running over one National Lawyers Guild observer. CBS Local News station reports that violence broke out after the man went down. Police told CBS that the reaction was prompted by […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Mission Accomplished
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY If you’re tired of reading rants (mine included) decrying our shameful experiments in nation building and capitalism cloning perhaps better known as Iraq and Afghanistan, you might want to exit now. I’ve raged on the subject(s) so many times I really can’t recall just how often it’s been. One thing I can promise those of you who persevere is that I’ll never stop doing so as long as I have the mental and physical capacity to speak, hold a pen, or pound a key pad. The issue is just too important. Brave American men and women are […]