Arthur Silber's final post on The F**k You (Healthcare) Act

[lwcon]

For reasons he amply explains, he's henceforth calling it "The Fuck You to Death Act."

http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-bad-is-fuck-you-act.html

(T)he "health care reform" legislation will fatally undercut all the goals set forth by Democrats and progressives themselves. To restate the point: if the Democrats and progressives are sincere and genuinely committed to what they say their goals are, they should be working day and night to defeat this abomination. That most of them are doing the opposite is deeply revealing. And they are doing the opposite for the most transparent and pathetic of reasons: they are desperate for something they can call a "win" as an alleged demonstration of perceived "political power."

Click through to read the whole awful truth.

And please K&R, if you'd like other DUers to read the linked post.

[ipaint]

1. Excellent article. Thanks for the link. n/t

[BeHereNow]

2. Recommended.

BHN

[lwcon]

15. Thanks! n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

3. This asshat thinks Obama is worse than Bush.

Fuck that noise.

[BeHereNow]

4. Care to illuminate the rest of us with the differences so far?

Can't wait to hear your points.

BHN

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. No I don't.

If you're too thick to figure it out, that's your problem.

[snot]

6. I'm not that impressed with the diffs so far, personally. If I'm missing something,

enlightening me and others might be worthwhile.

Pls let's stick to deeds, not promises.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Enlighten yourself. I am not your monkey.

Let me put it this way: Consider an arbitrary scenario in which Obama one day found twenty starving children by the side of the road, fed them, and sent them to good homes. Consider an alternate scenario in which Bush found the same twenty starving children by the side of the road... and ate them. There are people here who would claim that there was no difference between these two events because both involved twenty starving children. So no, I'm not going to play silly games with people who make nonsensical statements and then demand that others refute them.

[lwcon]

11. It's hard to argue with that!

As promised, that most certainly does qualify as "an arbitrary scenario."

It fully meets the test of having nothing to do with Arthur's post, your claim that he's an "asshat," and that his post is "noise." Well played!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

26. His post is just a rant with no useful content.

And the point of my post was, I think, quite clear. Namely that using the sucky state of the world as an indictment of Obama is silly.

[lwcon]

27. Still no specific content to your criticism

If I were going to call someone an "asshat," I'd have a, y'know, reason.

Of course being a kneejerk apologist for terrible policy and process might qualify for a reason, in case you're looking for one.

[peace frog]

8. Wow

Bookmarked for later, thanks.

[Karmadillo]

9. K & R

nt

[The Gunslinger]

10. I wish he wasn't right.

[lwcon]

14. Indeed. If only!

Owning up to the reality of this fiasco is some mighty strong medicine. I wish more folks were taking the cure!

[AzDar]

12. K & R

:kick:

[blindpig]

13. k&r

Must read, the sober truth

[lwcon]

16. Glad that some still hunger for it

This whole HCR process has been haunted by wishful thinking and untested assumptions. Not generally a great recipe for anything but disaster.

[inna]

17. KR+21.

This health care deform is nothing short of a betrayal. It amounts to a massive and hugely regressive back door tax on the struggling working people, and it enshrines the position of parasitic, racketeering for-profit insurance corps. This is just more upward redistribution of wealth, Wall Street bailout style. With "Democrats" like these, who needs Republicans. Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

I haven't read Arthur's essay yet, but thanks for linking to it, I've been his fan for years.

It's nice to see that this thread didn't automatically get sunk by the corporatist/DLC bots. See what happened to another Arthur Silber thread (and its author), for example: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6997794 .

Anyway, thanks for posting here, LW/VL, I always appreciate your posts! :yourock: (I used to read your posts on Corrente all the time, you're one of my favorite bloggers of all time! :hi: )

[BzaDem]

18. Another idiot who mistakenly thinks that progressives somehow hold a majority in either house.

Whatever. Up is down, left is right, war is peace. Heard it all before.

[leftstreet]

21. LOL is that the new meme? Not all Democrats are democrats?

waah waah it can't be helped

Jesus Christ! Has any political party in the history of mankind so perfected such glorious Professional Victimhood?

[BzaDem]

25. Not all Democrats are progressives

obviously.

To get progressive legislation passed, you need a progressive majority. Not a progressive MINORITY.

[lwcon]

23. I think you left out the most important one:

Democrats are Republicans.

And most "progressive" bloggers are their apologists. But that "idiot" refuses to be.

[leftstreet]

19. K&R Well worth the read

This paragraph is worth repeating:

It's no debate at all: whatever happens, certain already immensely powerful and wealthy corporations closely allied with the State will become still more powerful and wealthy. Given the nature of the corporatist system that now throttles every aspect of life in the U.S., that is how the system works. That's how it's set up, and that's its purpose. The fact that insurance companies will reap huge rewards on the backs of "ordinary" taxpaying Americans is not a regrettable byproduct of an allegedly good but imperfect effort at reform, or a flaw that will be fixed at some unspecified future date. And as already powerful and wealthy interests become more powerful and wealthy, the State will also increase its already massive power over all our lives still more. None of that is incidental: it's the point.

Thanks for posting

[lwcon]

28. If you use RSS

I'd recommending adding Arthur's site to your regular-reading list.

He's one of the few guys who always serves it straight-up.

Thx for the comment/kick!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. Thank you

I lost my naiveté about the kindly intentions of the Democratic Party in 2004. Unfortunately, few people really understand what is in this health care bill. As with the Obama campaign, in which people projected upon him the progressive populist they were seeking (and which he imitated on a superficial level), people appear to be projecting on this health care bill their desire for changes that are not in the actual bill.

And I am sick to death of Democratic Party apologists who, as the author of the article points out, think solely in terms of political advantage, not in terms of what is best for the American people.

[lwcon]

22. And it's pretty sad what passes for

"political advantage." The opportunity to declare victory instead of achieving one. Pathetic.

[Echo In Light]

24. "fatally undercut"

Ugh

K&R