Jerry’s Blog–Because Wit Happens

So the House has passed a health care bill.

And the Senate has passed a health care bill.

They’re having trouble reconciling the two bills, because 1) there is no helpful input from the Republicans (who still define “leadership” in terms of Bush, Cheney, and Palin), and 2) the Democrats are such an impotent embarrassment to our Party that even a lifelong liberal member such as myself is sickened by them.

The simple solution is this:  Baseball Arbitration (also known as Pendulum Arbitration).

Here’s how it would work:  the reconciliation committee sets a deadline for its work.  If there is no resolution by the deadline, the two existing plans–the House Plan and the Senate Plan–are submitted to…someone…who then picks one of the two plans.  One or the other.  Whichever this Someone feels is the better plan.

And that will be our new Health Care Law.

Who should the final arbiter be?  I don’t care.  Let the Republicans be the arbiter.  That would be fine with me, and would give them some input.  If they refuse to do so (based on their “principles”), I don’t care who makes the decision–Clarence Thomas? Samuel Alito? The President? Rush Limbaugh? A coin flip?  Me?–it really doesn’t matter.

Because thus far, the Democrats are showing poor leadership in the aftermath of having passed two “workable” health care plans, followed by nothing but head-scratching and nose-picking while they try and resolve the “differences”.  There appears to be a good chance that they’ll just “give up”, when Baseball Arbitration would get something done that would benefit the country.

Would passage of one or another of these plans–as the Republicans fear–be the end of civilization as we know it?  Guess what: Probably not.  Why not?  Because we have elections every couple of years.  The Dems will lose seats in the next one (as they deserve), and any parts of the new law which turn out to be horrible can be fixed by the new, wiser, and more-Republicany next Congress.  Go get ‘em New Guys and Gals!  I wish you the best.

But in the meantime, let’s get something done.  Baseball Arbitration would be preferable to…nothing.

(The video seems to have a problem “buffering” and pausing…please be patient–I think this has to do with a lot of people accessing it…)

“Screw political correctness…”–Sarah Palin.

Ms. Palin is on the warpath lately for both Rahm Emanuel and Rush Limbaugh having used the word “retarded” to describe different behaviors that each gentleman found to be mentally deficient.

Ms. Palin has a child with Down’s Syndrome, and a consequent mental deficiency.  (The American Association on Mental Retardation continued to use the term “mental retardation” until 2006).  Ms. Palin’s last pregnancy, in her 40s, was unplanned–as, presumably, was her first one, which resulted in the birth of a child some 8 months after she eloped (without the prior knowledge of her parents).

Aware of the most recent fetus’s condition, she chose to have Trig.  I can’t really say that I “respect” that decision, based, as it is, on religious beliefs different from mine; but having made it, I acknowledge the extra challenges that this will bring to her and her family (those extra stresses, I believe, having already manifested themselves to some extent).  I have no doubt that she is a loving, caring mother to this child.

But perhaps she needs to lighten up on her offense at the word “retarded”.  Yes, it’s mean when Rahm and Rush call political opponents (Emanuel in a private conversation, Rush to a radio audience of millions) “retarded” or “idiots” or “stupid”.  But based on Emanuel’s private (or, at least, semi-private) tirade, she is calling for his resignation.

Perhaps Ms. Palin is a little too quick to pull that resignation trigger.

Were these comments cruel?  Yes, but not particularly cruel to the–what do we call them–the “Mental Deficiency Community”?  I personally feel that it is cruel to bring a damaged child into the world if you know of its damaged condition and can do something about it before birth–but I acknowledge that many people disagree with that way of thinking.

So I feel it is “cruel” of Ms. Palin to call for any resignation from Mr. Emanuel or Mr. Limbaugh.  We all need to be more sensitive to pain that might be caused by truly offensive epithets.  But in these contexts, in my opinion, using the word “retarded” is not particularly any more offensive than “I’ve told you a hundred times to clean up your room.  Are you deaf?”, or “Wassa matter with that driver–is he blind?”

Ms. Palin has a history of playing the Victim card, and has used one or another of her children before to that end.

I applaud the parents of children with Down’s Syndrome, who love and care for their children to the best of their abilities without using them as props for attention or political gain.

In my opinion, the fuss Ms. Palin is making over this non-issue just shows her in the same vein as her Facebook Death Panel gushings, and her Couric interviews:  as a woman who has some mental deficiencies of her own.

UPDATE: (Pardon the commercial)

With Scientology in the news again of late (in connection with their rushing to Haiti to help the earthquakes with their “healing touches”), it might be fun to take a look at recently-made-public videos of their founder L. Ron Hubbard’s “only” (?) interview. Below is Part 1 of 6. The rest are findable on YouTube:

Wow. I really like this one:

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

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Making of:

Making Of Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.