Broadway Carl 2.0

After seven years of symbolic votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act that never had a chance of passing, and campaigning to repeal Obamacare by taking advantage of their constituents’ gullibility in poisoning anything “Obama,” (many of them not cognizant of the fact that the ACA and Obamacare are the same thing ), the Republicans finally became the dog who caught the car. The shit sandwich of a bill they came up with is the American Health Care Act. It is a tax cut for the wealthy wrapped up in a thin veil of what they claim to be a new and improved health care plan (if by “health care plan” they mean the availability to purchase a worthless insurance policy that doesn’t cover anything) for the American people. Remember the not too distant past, when Republican leadership railed against the ACA being rammed down peoples’ throats under the cover of night, with no chance to read the bill, when in actuality there were 15 months of debates and over 160 Republican sponsored am...

My friend Felice shared her experience with the California health insurance exchange on her Facebook page. She permitted me to post it here because I thought this wonderful experience needed a bigger audience.  Thank you, Felice! Here ya go:  So here is my experience with the ACA: I went to the website to sign up for health insurance coverage. I filled out the info and was directed to the California site for the ACA, called Covered California. That site informed me that since the ACA came into effect, California expanded Medicaid coverage and I was eligible.  I signed up for MediCal (online) a week ago. On Monday I was mailed an appointment at the DPSS about 2 miles from my home. I went there today.  My appointment was at 11am and I was seen within 10 minutes. A nice lady took down my information, entered it into the ACA site, which took about 20 minutes. At that point she told me I now had MediCal coverage starting January 1, 2014. However, Los Angeles Count...

Congress Must Act Now to Pass a Budget and Raise the Debt Ceiling "... after five years spent digging out of crisis, the last thing we need is for Washington to manufacture another... ...This is important: raising the debt ceiling is not the same as approving more spending.  It lets us pay for what Congress already spent.   It doesn’t cost a dime, or add a penny to our deficit.  In fact, right now, our deficits are already falling at the fastest rate since the end of World War II.  And by the end of this year, we’ll have cut our deficits by more than half since I took office... Democrats and some reasonable Republicans are willing to raise the debt ceiling and pass a sensible budget – one that cuts spending on what we don’t need so we can invest in what we do.  And I want to work with those Democrats and Republicans on a better bargain for the middle class.   But there’s also a faction on the far right of the Republican party w...

There are two editorials in The Washington Post today. The liberal leaning Fareed Zakaria wrote " Obama on the path to success in Syria " while conservative leaning Michael Gerson titled his piece, " Obama's missteps in Syria lead to retreat ." And so it goes. The Grand Canyon-like chasm that divides along party lines would be laughable if it weren't so pathetically sad. And before I go any further, no, both sides don't do it.  As Steve Benen notes : "I suppose this is about the point at which some will suggest Democrats are equally guilty of playing politics with foreign policy and national security, but recent evidence points in the exact opposite direction.  For much of the Bush/Cheney era, Democrats were, often to the chagrin of their base, willing to be constructive partners with Republicans -- large numbers of Democratic lawmakers voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq in large numbers; they backed the PATRIOT Act; and they...

Boy, that Paul Rudd. I tell ya, he kinda grows on you and really is a funny guy. I thought This Is 40 was a very good movie and as usual Rudd's quirkiness highlighted a couple of scenes that are going to be memorable for years to come. You know what isn't so funny and is also memorable? The dysfunctional Republican led House not standing for anything except being against all things Obama. On Friday, the last day before their summer recess with a pending government shutdown looming on the horizon without a continuing resolution to continue to fund the government or raise the debt ceiling, Weeper of the House John Boehner led the House into yet another vote to defund The Affordable Care Act for the 40th time. Yes, that's right. They've voted to repeal Obamacare forty times in the last three years, all so they can go home to their base and say they voted against trying to make health care accessible and affordable for almost everyone. They voted to roll back the acces...