Iran
Iran is simple.
The government is a collection of corrupt thugs foisting the worst, medieval parts of a religion on the people as a governing principle. The Supreme Leader is violent, brutal, corrupt. He does not respect intellect, he does not respect liberty, he does not even respect his own religion and laws.
If the Iranian people really want to be free, to live under a rational and respectful government, they have to hit the streets by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions.
They have to fight the militias, they have to fight the government troops, they have to die in as many numbers as it takes to rid themselves of the priests.
Putting a priest, of any religion, in charge of any governing system guarantees tyranny, brutality, and the triumph of oligarchic or dictatorial power over reason and liberty.
Iran is simple. Fight to the death or live on your knees for the rest of your life.
Healthcare
The Republicans in the United States have two things to say about health care run by the government.
They say it denies choice to consumers.
They say people don’t want a government bureaucrat between them and their doctors.
They are, as usual, badly misinformed and full of crap.
A single payer national system lets you go to any doctor in the country. The only choice people have now is to wade through a welter of confusing insurance plans which limit ‘consumers’ to doctors approved by an insurance company.
As for bureaucrats, as the current system stands, insurance bureaucrats whose primary mission is to generate profits for their company make the decisions about what care a ‘consumer’ gets. They say ‘No’ based on profit. The care you need to live is far less important to them than the money the company makes. Government bureaucrats don’t have that conflict.
And by calling people who need healthcare ‘consumers’ the Republicans give full voice to their pro-money, anti-people philosophy.
Bipartisanship
Bipartisanship is crap. The Republicans don’t want it, and they don’t have anything useful to offer anyway.
The sooner the Democrats and Obama realize the Republicans are as useful as an appendix and as smart as a garden slug (apologies to the slugs) the sooner they could get on with marginalizing the clowns more than the clowns have already marginalized themselves.
The Republicans are the ones who have declared war on the laws, on the Constitution, and on the people of the United States, not the Democrats. The Democrats should treat the Republicans like the scummy betrayers and criminals they are.
Obama may be a decent man and a smart man and a sincere man, but if he doesn’t kick the Republicans in the nuts hard and often, they’ll destroy any hope of bringing this country into a rational and decent place in this century.
He could make a good start by disavowing Bush policies of secrecy, and by opening government criminal investigations into the criminal behavior of Bush, Cheney and their cronies.
He could improve on that by slamming every Republican who opens his mouth to spit out a lie or distortion, and doing it immediately, openly, and loudly.
The Republicans are liars, backstabbers, and hypocrites. They are interested only in power for themselves. They are incompetent at governance. They are a blight on the country, on the people, on democracy itself. They should be treated accordingly.
Grumpy Lion 
I’ve noticed that the Democratic version of bipartisanship is to actually try to work out something that will leave both sides at least somewhat satisfied. The Republican version is the seven-year-old taking his ball and going home unless he gets exactly what he wants every single time. And yet the Democrats keep trying to negotiate. Republicans do not negotiate. They demand and expect all to follow their demands. Or they whine.
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I was thinking three year old. And bullies. And whiners. Can’t stand the slimy creeps.
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Nah. Three year old don’t have balls to take home when they don’t get their way.
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I dunno, I’ve met some pretty tough three year olds. Nothing I couldn’t throw across the room though if they got out of hand. (It’s a padded room, in case you’re feeling squeamish.)
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Don’t take this the wrong way, (((Billy))), but – yeah, this comment came across as very creepy.
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I agree. I’m just gonna have to avoid the idea of three year old balls. I’ll just let the whole balls thing drop.
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Jeez, I never thought you’d drop the ball.
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And I really should read what I write before I click Submit. That reads, well, creepy?
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Yup, t’was a little weird, just a tad weird.
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Dude, W is gone now. Let it go.
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🙂
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Regarding healthcare, what makes no sense is republicons who keep promoting the idea that government musn’t have any control in healthcare. The way I see it, I would far rather have the government (an entity that as a voter I have some element of control over) control it, than the CEO of a profit based insurance company with whom I have no clout.
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The government runs Medicare pretty damn well, so the idea of government not being able to do a massive healthcare system is flat out wrong.
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