Senator Grassley pulls out his old tweeter once again and Iowans go scrambling to prove to America that, no, we are not a bunch of hicks as demonstrated by Grassley and King. Grassley has become little but a caricature of an old, white, rich, male out-of-touch politician who caters to the wealthy while supporting the Republican War on Women. I wonder how many wish they could have that vote for Grassley in 2010 back?

The Greatest Canadian
With the PPACA being adjudicated in the Supreme Court one can’t help but look north to Canada and the great Tommy Douglas. Douglas was able to get single payer universal health care in Saskatchewan and then as Canadian Prime Minister was able to expand it to all of Canada. Those on the right wing spew a lot of lies about the Canadian system, but it is much more effective for all at half the price that we pay for a crap system known as Tea Bagger Health Care.

Related: Insurance companies want to keep Mandates
It should come as little surprise that insurance companies want to keep the mandates for people to buy insurance. It’s those darn consumer protections that they don’t want. So in that vein, they want to elect Republicans to help strip any health care regulations that are left of consumer protections while keeping competitors like Medicare for all out of the market.

PPACA parts are popular.
According to the Kaiser Foundation poll that has been polling on health care issues for a long, long time, when people are asked about their views on the PPACA in general the reaction is split positive and negative pretty evenly. Yet when asked about individual parts of the PPACA (such as tax credits for small businesses) reactions are overwhelmingly positive. Conclusion: In general people have no idea what is in the bill, but they sure seem to want what is in it. Way to go media (especially Fox) on your misleads and lies.

American irony.
Dick Cheney, a man who is arguably responsible for a huge number of deaths, receives a new heart and hope for an extended life. At the same time much of America is in a rage over the death of a young, unarmed black youth in Florida whose life was ended by a lone vigilante when the black youth decided to go to the local convenient mart at the wrong time.

The black youth was 17 and looked to be on the verge of a life of hope also. Of course as we all know the vigilante is still free, despite admitting to murdering the black youth.

Stories like this illustrate the huge tension that exist in this country between the promise that America holds out to its citizens and the realities that face those same citizens every day.

Gingrich bounces check to enter primary.
About a week after a part of the Gingrich empire filed for bankruptcy, his presidential campaign bounced a check for $500. Remember, this is the accountability guy.

One can’t help but laugh at the Republican clown car, but the ones that did not take the ride this time are damn near as funny. Christie? Takes money from the federal government then uses it to cover his ass on a tax pledge. Jebby? Now has the Stand Your Ground Bill to explain.  And on it goes.

Mitt and Ann relax on their horses, why don’t you?
In this video that Gawker got from the mole at FOX news, Romney explains how he and his wife relax by riding their horses. Yet once more Mitt Money reminds us that he is filthy rich and has no concept what we average people endure. Four houses, one worth $30 million or so, Cadillacs at each house, horses, money in offshore accounts. Mitt Money is the top .001%.

Mitt’s overseas accounts
If there is one thing that screams to me more than anything as to why Mitt deserves not one American’s vote for President, it is simply this: he keeps a large portion of his money in overseas accounts. This tells me a few things:  1) Mitt Money avoids a lot of taxes that could build schools, hospitals or help pay for various programs. He wants what America offers to folks like him, but doesn’t want to pay for it.  2) He has no faith in his own government’s stability. I am sick and tired of Republicans saying our government is bad. Then they get elected and they do all they can to wreck the government. And in Mitt’s case, he won’t lose much money because he has it invested elsewhere.  3) Will his loyalty be to the US or where his money is?