Godspeed, Ted Kennedy

Edward "Ted" Kennedy 1931-2009

Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy, the youngest Kennedy brother who was left to head the family's political dynasty after his brothers President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, has died at age 77.

Known as the "liberal lion of the Senate," Kennedy championed health care reform, working wages and equal rights in his storied career. In August, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- by President Obama. His daughter, Kara Kennedy, accepted the award on his behalf.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, known as Ted or Teddy, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in May 2008 and underwent a successful brain surgery soon after that. But his health continued to deteriorate, and Kennedy suffered a seizure while attending the luncheon following President Barack

This really sucks. America, the Democrats, and liberals everywhere have lost a great man tonight. I will remember the man and his work simply by these words alone:

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die."

Rest in peace, Lion of the Senate.

When They're Full of Shit, Do They Know It?

And the old joke about politicians goes like this: "How do you know when a politician is lying? When his lips begin to move!" This week, two GOP politicos, one we all thought we would never see again, the other is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee have both resorted to the tried-and-proven scare tactics the Republicans have become masters at.

Former Governor Sarah Palin began with the "death panel" talking point last week, when she claimed President Obama's health care plan would kill her special needs baby, Trig.

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

I've gotta hand it to Sarah on this one. Her bullshit became the right-wing's talking point of the week. Too bad it isn't even remotely true.

Q: Does the health care legislation bill promote "mercy killing," or euthanasia?

A: No.

Q: Then what's all the fuss about?

A: A provision in the House bill written by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., would allow Medicare to pay doctors for voluntary counseling sessions that address end-of-life issues. The conversations between doctor and patient would include living wills, making a close relative or a trusted friend your health care proxy, learning about hospice as an option for the terminally ill, and information about pain medications for people suffering chronic discomfort.

The sessions would be covered every five years, more frequently if someone is gravely ill.

Now, I know what you're gonna say: 'What an idiot that woman is!' or, 'Doesn't that dumb bitch even read the fucking bill that was presented in the House!?' or even, 'How could the people of Alaska voted for that manipulative woman?'. Sure, all three might be the appropriate thing to say and it makes us feel better about ourselves, but it's too simple, and you fall into the trap. Mrs. Palin is part of the reason why I detest the current leadership that passes in the GOP - people like her are the true cynics; she knows better than to make this false accusation, but she also knows that her base - the ignorant, the narrow-minded, the people who hate everything that doesn't fit into their world view - don't know any better, so she'll lie and yell and whip up false outrage to defeat our country's real chance to reform a broken health care system that cares more about making a profit than taking care of the family of a little boy that has asthma and pray that he has a few flare-ups as humanly possible because they might have to take out their second mortgage to pay for another hospital visit. And hey, if that means she has trot out and exploit her baby to do it (which she did), she'll practicably turn baby Trig into a human puppet.

But as the title suggests, I've come to learn that the former Governor of Alaska is completely full of shit. Palin, as it turns out, was for these supposed "death panels" before she was against it....kind of like when she said "Thanks, but no thanks to that bridge to nowhere," when in reality, she already said yes to it during her term!

WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions. [...]

WHEREAS, one of the principal goals of Healthcare Decisions Day is to encourage hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and hospices to participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information to the public about advance directives, as well as to encourage medical professionals and lawyers to volunteer their time and efforts to improve public knowledge and increase the number of Alaska’s citizens with advance directives.

Now onto Chuck Grassley. He also latched onto the talking point this week, after Obama praised his willingness to work with him on health care reform during a town hall meeting this week.

"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life. And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

But the Chuck Grassley in 2003 would probably scold the Grassley currently riding on his high horse now, along with 42 colleagues from the Senate during that time. You guessed it, he voted for those so-called "death panels" in the '03 version of the Medicare drug bill.

So, Mrs. Palin and Mr. Grassley: when you two are full of shit, do you both know it?

July Nights

Movie, best: I've never said this about any Harry Potter movie (even with Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban) but the film's sixth installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has me saying the following: a sure-fire contender for Best Picture come award season. Yes, I mentioned a Harry Potter movie and Oscar in the same sentence, but this isn't the rantings of a Potter-head. Watch cinematographer Bruno Debonnel work pure magic with light and scenery that captures the bleak atmosphere surrounding Hogwarts, the magical world and Harry's as well; listen to composer Nicholas Hooper's haunting and achingly beautiful score; Look at how visual effects supervisors Tim Burke and Tim Alexander use eye-popping and gorgeous visual effects to contribute to telling the story and not merely using the imagery as a crutch to lean on; witness Tom Felton dig deep to find sympathy for the devil's servant in Draco Malfoy in which he is recited by Lord Voldemort to perform an act that will break his soul, or the madness and seductive nature of Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, or Alan Rickman diving into Severus Snape to the point where even his facial expressions and body gestures do more acting than any line of dialogue he can deliver; then tell me how this knockout of a fantasy drama doesn't deserve a piece of the Oscar pie.

**** stars out of ****

Comedy, laugh-out-loud: When it came to balls-to-the-wall, outrageous and downright nasty comedy, Sasha Baron Cohen is king with Bruno, the newest mocumentary from the Larry Charles, the man who helmed Borat in 2006. This time, Cohen is playing Bruno, a gay Austrian fashion critic looking for his fifteen minutes of screen time in America. Critics have said that it's like an old dog trying to wow everyone with the same trick. Fair point: Bruno is just following the same routine as Borat, which is to expose the dark side of American culture while being as outrageous and humanly possible, leaving any and all decency to the wayside. But who's to say that it's still not jaw-droppingly hilarious and an amazing trick?

***1/2 stars out of ****

Show saver, most needed: Confession: I loathe American horror movies these days. It's all formulaic, slasher/torture porn and no fun. Orphan is basically, a formulaic slasher thriller, but with one key that most horror films don't have: a villain that's completely deranged that leaves an impression on you. Ladies and gentlemen, I give Ester, easily the creepiest and baddest evil kid around the block since Damien. Isabelle Fuhrman plays the seemingly sweet and innocent nine year-old Russian orphan with menace. Her sickly smile alone can give you the willies and will have you screaming at Mom (Vera Farminga) and Dad (Peter Sarsgaard) for not realizing that Ester is one crazy bitch.

Performances, best and baddest edition: As I mentioned above, Fuhrman is delightfully evil in Orphan, but so was Bonham Carter as the sexy, demented second-in-command Bellatrix Lestrange in Half-Blood Prince. Also let me add Tom Felton's haunting work as Death Eater in-training Draco Malfoy, Alan Rickman as the sneering, shadow-dweller of Hogwarts, Severus Snape, and Adam Sandler as George Simmons, an asshole comedian with terminal cancer in Funny People. This July, my attention was on the bad guys, and boy they were so good to watch.

Hypocrite...Opportunist, Part II

Ah, Sarah Palin.

I thought with your departure from the job of Governor of the great state of Alaska, we would no longer have to put up with your incoherent speeches about putting lipstick on a pitbull, or watch you embarrass yourself in front of Katie Couric (though the endless supply of jokes and spot-on impersonations of you from Tina Fey would be missed greatly).

Just as we believed that you were out of our lives, you suddenly jumped right back into ours, only this time you gave us a warning about what the future of Obama's health care bill might entail not only for baby Trig, but for every child who has Down Syndrome.

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Besides the fact that the former Governor of Alaska is spouting off the standard right-wing talking points that are trying to kill our chance of revamping a fucked-up system that places money and profit over human life itself for the first time in 15 years, Palin sinks to a brand-new low here.

Mrs. Palin, during your final speech to the people of Alaska, you asked the media to lay off your family, and the family of the newly appointed Governor. And yet, weeks later, you're exploiting your own child to inject fear of the president's health care bill. Your own flesh and blood! Doesn't that bother you in the slightest?

In the immortal words of Thom Yorke: "Hypocrite / Opportunist / Don't infect me with your poison."