The Lie Is Told Again and Again, and Again - NYTimes.com

The South Rises Again and Again, and Again - NYTimes.com: "“I may safely say, however, that nothing will satisfy them, or bring them back, short of a full and explicit recognition of the guarantee of the safety of their institution of domestic slavery and the protection of the constitutional rights for which in the Union they have so long been contending, and a denial of which, by their Northern confederates, has forcetried to them into their present attitude of separate independence.”"

I used to laugh when anyone claimed that the Civil War wasn't about slavery. Now, I realize that it was the beginning of what is now commonplace, people with their own private sets of facts.

There is no arguing with them. Debate is impossible. They will revise reality whenever it gets in their way.

They are true believers in any ideology that tells them they're entitled, that lets them be comfortable with whatever they have, however they got it.

Their comfort, and others discomfort, is ordained by God, Karma, or the inevitable forces of history. Depending, of course, on whether they were born in America, India, or late Soviet Russia.

Republican('t)s, Brahmans, Oligarchs, brothers and sisters in entitlement and private facts.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/the-south-rises-again-and-again-and-again/?nl=opinion&emc=tya2

Republican(t)s Unanimously Vote to Repeal Lifesaving Healthcare Bill

Health Care Law Repeal Voted in House - NYTimes.com

“ Even as four House committees begin drafting legislation, Republicans said they would seek other ways to stop the overhaul, by choking off money needed to carry it out and by pursuing legislation to undo specific provisions, like a requirement for most Americans to carry health insuranceor face penalties. The law is also under challenge in the federal courts, with the individual coverage requirements fueling a constitutional battle likely to be decided by theSupreme Court.
The House vote was the first stage of a Republican plan to use the party’s momentum coming out of the midterm elections to keep the White House on the defensive, and will be followed by a push to scale back federal spending. In response, the administration struck a more aggressive posture than it had during the campaign to sell the health care law to the public. With many House Democrats from swing districts having lost their seats in November, the remaining Democrats held overwhelmingly together in opposition to the repeal.”

Looking at places under Republican(t) control like Arizona, their idea of saving healthcare seems to hinge on denying it to desperate people who might otherwise live.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/health/policy/20cong.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

Mr. Kurtz He Brain Dead

Why Is Stanley Kurtz Calling Obama a Socialist? - Ta-Nehisi Coates - Politics - The Atlantic:

'Why does Stanley Kurtz believe Barack Obama is a socialist, despite all evidence to the contrary?'

“Kurtz, if you're not familiar with his work, is a loyal soldier of the conservative movement. And for the last few years, he has devoted himself to exposing Obama's socialism and radical beliefs. As you can imagine, this is shoddy work. To wit: his definition of socialist is impossibly broad--encompassing everything from European social democrats to Rubinite neo-liberals--and his scant evidence comes from tenuous links and huge generalizations about Obama's motivations and drive. In Kurtz's narrative, Obama joined Jeremiah Wright's church out of Marxist solidarity and not the stated combination of professional obligation and spiritual need.

Ultimately, the bearers of false witness come to believe their own lies. They come to be trapped in their own fantasy world, no longer willing or able to separate reality from unreality. Once the bearers of false witness are that far gone it may be too late to set them free from their self-constructed prisons.

The truth, as we all know, is that Obama is a conventional American liberal, and like most conventional American liberals, Obama wants to account and compensate for the market's failures. The Affordable Care Act, financial reform--these aren't nefarious plots for socialist domination, they are attempts at reforming capitalism to save it.”


http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/01/why-is-stanley-kurtz-calling-obama-a-socialist/68798/