Tired, very tired. No energy to even link, so you can go track down David Brooks via Bob Somerby. I didn't read the whole thing, but yes, the response to "I want to be the last one" to tackle health reform is, "who will deal with the perversities in the system?"
I never knew so many were so satisfied with this system until the last few months. I used to think everyone complained about health care and insurance companies, that the only reason it's not up there with lawyer jokes is because it's not funny. I thought everyone was a polyp away from bankruptcy and suicide, one unemployment check away from life disbarrment. What was I smoking? I recalled Sandra Day O'Connor talking about how difficult it was to make sure all the kids and grandkids were covered, and this is a woman at the top of the heap, obviously with a bit of cash for co-pay. 
But please don't take away our Medicare and our VA benefits and our company provided care or try to modify them in any way. We like it this way. "Anyone seen any perversities in the system?" "Nope, running fine, ignore that clunking sound. It's how those German cars always sound." I wonder if we offered cash for clunkie insurance policies whether anyone would come. But hey, some people like our Afghanistan policy too, and I can't make head or tails out of it.
Total spending on health care, per person, 2007
United States: $7290
United Kingdom: $2992
Italy: $2686
Spain: $2671
Japan: $2581 (2006) 
But so what. We can afford it. Paying way too much is a sign of success. Nothing perverse about that. You don't like it, you can move to Sweden where they pay 237% tax.

Total spending on health care, per person, 2007
United States: $7290
United Kingdom: $2992
Italy: $2686
Spain: $2671
Japan: $2581 (2006)
It speaks for itself. We're being screwed and there's no serious savings in sight. Daily Howler.

Let's cut to the chase. These "low intellect wingnuts" you see on TV? They're smarter than you. You may see them as knuckle-dragging Cro-Magnons. But you have the White House and both Houses of Congress. And they can still get anyone fired anytime they want. Say bye-bye, Van Jones. All R Bases R Belong to Them. Bill O'Reilly shut down Olbermann. Rush Limbaugh shut down Michale Steele, Glen Beck shut down ColorForChange and Van Jones.
Public option? Forget it. It's been given away. Your needs don't matter. Glen Beck's matter. Michelle Bachman's matter. Big PhRMA's matter. You, as Rahm told you a few weeks ago, need to "STFU" and get to the back of the chow line. Next time he'll tell you what that acronym means. Like he told Van Jones. 
This is a government that signals defeat. "Sit down with no pre-conditions." Did you think Obama was talking about Iran? No, that was about talking to Republicans. And sure enough, they can go all ape-shit and he'll still negotiate with them.
So knowing this President only responds to threats, to bully tactics, to unhinged behavior, time to start threatening. I think an "Al Franken-Van Jones" ticket for 2012 sounds pretty nice - I hear first term Senators can get elected Prez these days. I think a well funded anti-Blue Dog movement for 2010 sounds nice. No liberals to run against Blue Dogs? Fund the Republican. Let the Blue Dogs come whimpering to you.
Remember when Congress censured Move On for expressing its written opinion in public - not comparing Bush to Hitler, mind you - for using a play on words, "Betray Us" for Petraeus. Well, we're still in Iraq, that's for sure, even upped the ante with Afghanistan. Even with a Democratic President. Fool me once, shame on you... BetrayUs holds the cards - we can't even make fun of his name.  And now Van Jones has been pushed aside for calling Republicans "assholes". Oh my. They spend the summer shutting down public debate on health care, and a simple curse word is beyond the pale? Unlike those allowed Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Beck and scads more? (Even Rahm talking to Progressives?)
Face it. Any bill that comes out of this process is going to have the consistency of a warm bag of spit or a discarded condom. You can push back - it'll be hard, Obama dismantled the roots organizations, but you can still do it. Fight for the little things, build it up slowly, then once we're back in the game, we can talk about serious policy, some real bones with meat tossed our way. But for now, let's say "Bring Back Van Jones". Simple enough, 4 words, single syllables, fits on a placard, hard to misinterpret, shove it up Beck's ass. Because it's either his ass or ours, and I like my sex consensual.
Too many times I've thought of things Obama could say. "Van Jones is out there fighting for millions locked up in our rush to control crime, trying to help out the underprivileged caught in a bad jam, locked up more for lack of opportunity and poverty and bad public policy than any bad intent. Van Jones is out there fighting for green jobs that will make our planet healthier. I know I've watched the protests over the last 8 months and questioned a few people's sanity, and I questioned the wisdom of our rush to war back in 2003, so I'm certainly not going to toss out a good man giving his life, long hard work, to good causes just because of a cuss word or some doubt about people's competence in the worst security breakdown in US history."
But Obama didn't say that. I did. I keep waiting for those supposed words of wisdom. Obama said, "mush mush mushie kow tow kow tow thankee thankee thankee". And once you get used to eating shit, it's hard to shake your fondness for the taste. Thanks, but no thanks - time for a new course - non-cooperation, resistance, build back the spine. Reinstate Van Jones. We'll discuss the next step afterwards. But better to be dishing it out than to be on the ugly side of the feeding trough.
PS - inspired by a bunch of Jane Hamsher writing of late, including this one on the veal pen.

Blount's my new hero. Okay, in my Church of Bob kind of way, I get to have many temporary personal saviors, but just that matter-of-fact obvious response to some little fox terrier yipping in his face, well, he took the guy out. Not permanently, not like those cheap Boise State hits almost did last year when all the fuss really started. But let's just say Hout and others will think twice before getting in Blount's face again, perhaps using a bleacher chair as some extra ersatz courage-substitute for a fan when he was raining insults down on Blount. Though I think it was the high wall that really made the difference.

Now, let's see - Van Jones. Seems he made the mistake of crossing Glen Beck. And Fox. And so No Drama Obama set him free. How does he respond to the charges of those severe transgressions, wondering if Republicans might have let terrorists attack just to get their legislation through, and horrors of horrors, calling Republicans "assholes"? "If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize." Oh my. Couldn't he have gotten one good upper-cut to the chin if he was going to take it for the team? And Beck got the spin he wanted, that it was all about Van Jones' questionable actions (like Glen Beck gets through a single show segment without going unhinged), instead of the real issue, that Van Jones was a founder of ColorOfChange, now rather successfully boycotting Beck for his racism, and getting sponsors to pull support.

Hey, didn't the Bush Administration just get outed by Tom Ridge for faking Home Security high color-code alerts to get Bush re-elected? Wasn't it Bush & Cheney who got caught on mic discussing "major league asshole" in reference to a NY Times reporter? And even another of my favs, Howard Dean, goes all limp dick on me - "But I don't think he really thinks the government had anything to do with causing 9/11". The hell he doesn't, Howard, because there's never been an investigation, and every investigation of any other topic around the Bush Administration proved it was just as bad or worse than we suspected. What happened to "Eeeeaaaaggghhhh" as a poignant, heartfelt response?

But it's worse than that. Besides Van Jones getting his legs cut out from under him as one of the few (only?) progressives in the Obama White House, in as much of a surrender as Olberman now refraining from O'Reilly insults as a result of a boardroom Fox-MSNBC CEO agreement, Obama at the same time is whispering to Progressives, "hey dudes, you're not going to be too upset with me if I don't include the public option in the health care plan I'm finally getting around to writing?" Uh, hello? Yes, we will. Just like we're upset about no accountability for Bush era crimes, defending torture policies of the previous Administration, continuing the war policies of the previous Administration, continuing the corporate giveaways in the name of bailouts and stimulus.

However, aside from my appreciation of someone who knows how to respond to cowardly bullies, rather than someone who just knows how to quote movie lines ("if they bring a knife, you bring a gun"), let's take a moment to appreciate besides ColorOfChange one other group that should come out looking good in all this, 911truth.org. Because this is the "controversial" statement that Van Jones signed some time ago. Somehow we investigated Pearl Harbor, we investigated the Kennedy Assassination, we investigated Watergate, we investigated the Savings & Loan Crisis. But the idea of investigating 9/11 has always been pushed off as too partisan, or now, as "looking back when we should be looking forward". Well, let's look back and see how controversial 911truth's requests were, vs. say comparing the President to Hitler or pushing torture and mass eavesdropping of communications as state policy (all so quaintly in defiance of the Constitution):

The Statement

We Want Real Answers About 9/11

On August 31, 2004, Zogby International, the official North American political polling agency for Reuters, released a poll that found nearly half (49.3%) of New York City residents and 41% of those in New York state believe US leaders had foreknowledge of impending 9/11 attacks and "consciously failed" to act. Of the New York City residents, 66% called for a new probe of unanswered questions by Congress or the New York Attorney General.

In connection with this news, we have assembled 100 notable Americans and 40 family members of those who died to sign this 9/11 Statement, which calls for immediate public attention to unanswered questions that suggest that people within the current administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.

We want truthful answers to questions such as:

1. Why were standard operating procedures for dealing with hijacked airliners not followed that day?
2. Why were the extensive missile batteries and air defenses reportedly deployed around the Pentagon not activated during the attack?
3. Why did the Secret Service allow Bush to complete his elementary school visit, apparently unconcerned about his safety or that of the schoolchildren?
4. Why hasn't a single person been fired, penalized, or reprimanded for the gross incompetence we witnessed that day?
5. Why haven't authorities in the U.S. and abroad published the results of multiple investigations into trading that strongly suggested foreknowledge of specific details of the 9/11 attacks, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of traceable gains?
6. Why has Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who claims to have knowledge of advance warnings, been publicly silenced with a gag order requested by Attorney General Ashcroft and granted by a Bush-appointed judge?
7. How could Flight 77, which reportedly hit the Pentagon, have flown back towards Washington D.C. for 40 minutes without being detected by the FAA's radar or the even superior radar possessed by the US military?
8. How were the FBI and CIA able to release the names and photos of the alleged hijackers within hours, as well as to visit houses, restaurants, and flight schools they were known to frequent?
9. What happened to the over 20 documented warnings given our government by 14 foreign intelligence agencies or heads of state?
10. Why did the Bush administration cover up the fact that the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency was in Washington the week of 9/11 and reportedly had $100,000 wired to Mohamed Atta, considered the ringleader of the hijackers?
11. Why did the 911 Commission fail to address most of the questions posed by the families of the victims, in addition to almost all of the questions posed here?
12. Why was Philip Zelikow chosen to be the Executive Director of the ostensibly independent 911 Commission although he had co-authored a book with Condoleezza Rice?

Those who are demanding deeper inquiry now number in the hundreds of thousands, including a former member of the first Bush administration, a retired Air Force colonel, a European parliamentarian, families of the victims, highly respected authors, investigative journalists, peace and justice leaders, former Pentagon staff, and the National Green Party.

As Americans of conscience, we ask for four things:

1. An immediate investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
2. Immediate investigation in Congressional Hearings.
3. Media attention to scrutinize and investigate the evidence.
4. The formation of a truly independent citizens-based inquiry.

Given the importance of the coming election, we feel it is imperative that these questions be addressed publicly, honestly, and rigorously so that Americans may exercise their democratic rights with full awareness.

In closing, we pray and hope for the strength to approach this subject with wisdom and compassion so that we may heal from the wounds inflicted on that terrible day.

Signed,

[some poor sucker sacrificing their career and reputation]

Who knew that asking for accountability, for real answers, for an understanding of the events that drove us into disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and hugely disrupted our rights at home would be controversial? You would think that a Presidential Daily Brief on August 6, 2001 entitled, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US" had never happened. You'd think that hijacked commercial airplanes had never wandered around US airspace until they finally found their targets. 

I hope LeGarrette Blount runs for office one day - sometimes what our "Democracy" needs most is a few angry men. With fast reflexes.