Crybaby

Here’s Addy G’s page at opensecrets.org

I’d love to find the CRS report he cites, to see what part of it he’s taking out of context, but unlike with GAO there’s no single clearinghouse for their reports. Oh well.

@mellbell: Did you go to the protests at the Capitol?

And another apology by Addison Graves, this time after bad-mouthing Strom Thurmond’s black daughter for besmirching the legacy of Strom.

Klassy with a KKK

@mellbell: CRS reports can be found on the webz with some diligence. I got a great one on the Indian Health Service on wikilinks. That might also be where I first got the infamous right wing terrorism threat evaluation from DHS.

Funny piece on how “You Lie” will evolve in Beltway chattering head land

Breaking: Duvall is not the only GOP pol in the . . . nevermind.

from politicalwire.com:

September 10, 2009

New Disclosures Show Wilson Deep in Debt
Talk about bad timing.

Jonathan Allen reports newly-amended financial disclosure forms show that Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) — who heckled President Obama last night — is heavily leveraged and his debts may even exceed his assets. The new filings reveal for the first time hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously unreported loans from federal credit unions and banks.

A Wilson aide did not reply to e-mailed requests for information, and phone lines to Wilson’s office were jammed.

Meanwhile, Wilson’s Democratic opponent in next year’s election has pulled in over $400,000 in new campaign contributions since last night.

ADD: That last number is hugely significant because I think the money spread last time for that race was $169k GOP to $69K DEM. UPDATE: My numbers in this graf are totally wrong. Addy G raised $1.1 M and spent $1.2 M last time out.

@redmanlaw: Not sure whether it was PW or TPM, but apparently Addison barely won his last election with a huge war chest. Next round he’s toast.

@nojo: Read somewhere that he had an eight-point margin of victory, so, 54-46? Better than Black Eagle, and people don’t mind throwing around the word “landslide” to describe his win.

Yet another idiot with a gun near a presidential event. May the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster keep the president safe under his Noodly Appendages.

@mellbell: That’s from wiki, I think.

@Just Jamie: Even better. Came across it on CNN’s website, which elsewhere features this tidbit:

By early Thursday, genuine tweets about Wilson were interspersed with ads for male erectile dysfunction: “Joe Wilson Cialis $1.9 Viagra $1.1 (Web site address)”

From the Rude Pundit:

Quotes That Make the Rude Pundit Want to Shove a Mint Julep Up a Man’s Ass:

“That’s offensive to me that they would take my heritage and make it into a Holocaust era type description.” – South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson, back in November 1999, when he was still a state senator, regarding African Americans being upset that the Confederate flag was being flown over the statehouse.

“[W]e have a dictator, Saddam Hussein, who has chemical and biological weapons, who is developing nuclear capabilities.” – Wilson, now a U.S. Congressman, on CNN, September 28, 2002.

“Sean, as usual, you’re absolutely correct. In fact my wife also wants to tell you how cute you are.” – Wilson to Sean Hannity on Fox “news,” May 7, 2002.

“With the death of Strom Thurmond, South Carolina has lost its greatest statesman of the 20th Century.” – Wilson on June 27, 2003.

@redmanlaw: Found it. R40773, Treatment of Noncitizens in H.R. 3200:

Notably, there is nothing in H.R. 3200 that would alter current law relevant to restrictions on certain categories of aliens (i.e., legal permanent residents within the first five years after entry, nonimmigrants, unauthorized aliens) receiving Medicaid.

So, no help for the poors.

Some individuals, including nonresident aliens, would not be required to obtain health insurance under H.R. 3200 (i.e., would be exempt from the individual mandate).

Nothing controversial there.

Notably, the IRC [Internal Revenue Code, for my fellow dummies] does not contain special rules for individuals who are in the United States without authorization (i.e., illegal or unauthorized aliens). Instead, the IRC treats these individuals in the same manner as other foreign nationals—an unauthorized individual who has been in the United States long enough to qualify under the substantial presence test is classified as a resident alien; otherwise, the individual is classified as a nonresident alien. Thus, it would appear that unauthorized aliens who meet the substantial presence test would be required under H.R. 3200 to have health insurance.

Here’s where it gets tricky. Unlike Joe Wilson, I’m no immigration lawyer, but as I understand it, the only unauthorized aliens possibly covered by the health insurance mandate are those who qualify as resident aliens (i.e., people who meet the requirements for receiving green cards and can, therefore, attain legal status). Someone correct me if I’m wrong, which is very possible, given how confusing all these overlapping categories of noncitizens are. Moving on…

H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange. However, as discussed above, H.R. 3200 would only mandate that resident aliens would be required to have health insurance.

and

Furthermore, §246 would bar unauthorized aliens from receiving any premium or cost-sharing credit.

So, unauthorized citizens could conceivably participate in the health insurance exchange, but wouldn’t receive any subsidies, and would have to enroll with the government to do so anyway, sort of defeating the whole “being here illegally” thing. Again, correct me if I’m wrong. Finally:

Emergency Medicaid may pay for the care of unauthorized aliens, nonimmigrants, and LPRs within the first five years of arrival (or longer if the state does not exercise the option to provide coverage for LPRs after the five years) for emergency conditions if they meet the other eligibility requirements of the Medicaid program. Specifically, aliens who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid except for their immigration status (e.g., unauthorized aliens, nonimmigrants) may receive “medical assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act … for care and emergency services that are necessary for the treatment of an emergency medical condition (as defined in Section 1903(v)(3) of such Act) of the alien involved and are not related to an organ transplant procedure.”

As Serolf put it so beautifully earlier, “no civilized nation denies emergency medical treatment to anybody.” We either treat people humanely or we don’t. No two ways about it.

Bearing in mind that members of Congress commission these reports, and can, therefore, dictate how broad or narrow a topic is covered, it’s interesting that this report only covers one of several proposed bills. I don’t want to go too far off in the weeds on this, but it does make me wonder what the other bills have to say about “illegal aliens,” and whether this report’s narrow focus leaves out details which would unsettle Wilson’s and others’ arguments.

The intertubes are fast.

@mellbell: You might as well face it, you are doomed to be a lawyer. If only so you can become someone’s legislative aide, and then transition to legislative director of some nice non-profit that does good things, its like being a moderately well-paid, guilt free lobbyist, with job security. And every now and then, you get to write those laws.

@blogenfreude: Note to selves: Next time we cop a meme domain, let’s go for the quick & dirty programming.

@mellbell: EMTALA, beetches.

@mellbell: Pay no attention to Prommie – law school will turn you into a suicidal cynic owing $200,000 to that bitch Sallie Mae, but you’ll be stuck reviewing documents for $35 an hour. Dermatology or Radiology.

And yes – I’m bitter.

@redmanlaw:
@mellbell:
A good source for the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service reports is at http://www.archive-it.org/collections/1078

@mellbell: I noticed that last night. Apparently what happens is that spambots pick up Twitter trending topics, and start laying in the Naughty Links.

oh hai. Anything going on? I’m in Rochester. It’s great. I am in a cafe. It has wifi. What will they think of next. Oh. OK. Nothing happened, huh?

@Benedick: Question Time got a little out of hand.

@mellbell: Don’t listen to Prommie. I see you with a Masters in Public Health or Public Policy, not law school.

And in another ten years, 40 million new people might get to see a doctor a little more regularly. Med school or RN programs are looking pretty damn good right now.

@SanFranLefty, MB, etc: I like being a lawyer. Might sound funny, but I always liked the ring of the term “tribal attorney.” Has a long history and hopefully some sense of duty and purpose to go along with it. I’m nowhere near playing in the bigs like my classmate over at Holland and Knight who may be our biggest cheese and who spends half her week flying around the country meeting with tribal clients or going to Washington like one of my partners does, but my life is pretty manageable. I help people who need it, my son knows me and he and Mrs RML love me. I can help my family back home and do crazy shit like go to Vegas to see a concert and accumulate a slush fund for sporting goods. I do look forward, however, to when I can spend more time out in the fields and woods and on the river nourishing my soul.

@blogenfreude: I knew that fucker called my sister a skank.

@SanFranLefty: Oh please, NOT public policy. I’m fleeing a gaggle of those tiresome wankers tomorrow at 5, or earlier if the cheap bastards don’t offer yo take me out and get me drunk.

An MPH would be awesome, a law degree could be used for good things. My old black helicopter operation always needs competent lawyers willing to get knee deep in Mumbai mud on international immigration issues.

My dad always said radiologists were the most overpaid yet laziest ‘doctors’ going. But he pulled out babies 24/7 for 35 years.

@The Nabisco Quiver are Go!:

So is that an argument for or against radiology?

@Signal to Noise: My favorite: “Joe Wilson cooked fish in your office microwave.”

@blogenfreude: “Joe Wilson auto-tuned your new Beatles re-masters.”

Rob Miller has raised more than half a million dollars and it hasn’t even been 24 hours.

@SanFranLefty: Jeez…

I wasn’t sure how much of that preceded the Addison Moment, so my $40k number this morning was only for the clearly marked Joe Wilson entries. But even subtracting $65k for the generic Rob Miller tallies, we’re still looking at enormous growth today.

@nojo: Last night, maybe 15 minutes after the speech, it was at just over $5,000.

@redmanlaw:

I have a (probably un-pc) vision in my head of a blazing fire, the Tribal Chief in a full headdress, the tribal shaman, in his/her regalia, and then, of course, the tribal attorney, in warpaint, a Brooks-Brothers suit, with briefcase in tow.

@Benedick:

Didn’t you hear? Obama gave Texas, South Carolina, and Florida to the United Kingdom. They’re threatening to give us Staines, Middlesex in retaliation.

@SanFranLefty: dayum.

(BTW, love your new Nancy icon.)

@Tommmcatt Floats: Is that where Heathrow is? I don’t want Heathrow.

@Dodgerblue:

Those brits really know how to hit back hard.

@Tommmcatt Floats: Actually, that’s not toooo far off the mark for when I meet with the traditional tribal council at home in the old village where there’s no electricity or running water. All the councilmen (and it is only men) wear traditional dress. A high ranking religious leader sits at the head of the table in the council chambers along with the governor and war chief and their officers and staff as well as senior councilman RML’s Dad. All business is conducted in the native language and translated to or from English as needed, which is the rule among all the traditional tribal councils I work with. Heat in the winter would come from a propane heater. The council chamber has gas lights overhead.

My brother the tribal administrator also wears traditional dress for council meetings, while I usually go in blazer, slacks and tie, with my long hair tied in back as you’ve seen it. I’m thinking about going in traditional dress for future meetings at my home village. I think it would show respect to the council and that I remain part of the community although I’m working down here in Santa Fe. They see me on our traditional activities, at community events and ditch cleanings so they know that I’m as active as I can be while living away from the Pueblo. No other traditional theocratic or elected councils at the Pueblos that I know of wear traditional dress, so it’s not an issue anywhere else. Most formal meetings with tribal officers of my various clients where action is to be taken start out with a native prayer from an officer (gov, lt gov, war chief) asking for wisdom and guidance to act in the best interests of the people of the community. We do that even when we’re meeting with the feds, like we did at a meeting with a tribal client, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs earlier this week. (No sage. Not something we do.)

@redmanlaw: I think it is really amazing that the pueblo has managed to hold on to so many of the traditions, especially the language.

And, those blankets look so warm and toasty.

@Signal to Noise: Thanks. My previous Nancy avatars seemed to highlight the facelift(s), I figured I needed one with her showing visible emotion.

Gawker: Joe Wilson has

Been revealed as a deadbeat whose debts could very well exceed his assets and a liar (that word!) who failed to report assets on his last congressional disclosure.

Been revealed as a secessionist dead-ender who fought to the last to keep the Confederate Flag flying over the South Carolina statehouse.

And turned in, as Talking Points Memo notes, one of the shakiest post-apology news conferences in the history of politics, throwing off flopsweat of Nixonian proportions.

TJ: Al Franken, Geography God. The man can draw a map of the U.S. with all 50 states from memory in under 2 minutes.

/be still my geeked-out map-loving heart

Stinque-up Note: Ms. Cynica is flying into LAX tonight. I’m looking forward to some vino with her and Ms. DB tonight, and a drinkie or two with Cynica and other LA Stinquers tomorrow night, you know who you are.

@Dodgerblue:

I’m there! Can’t wait!

@Tommmcatt Floats: Since you all will be partying, fire up the BBs and kick off the Santa Fe Fiestas with the burning of Zozobra “Old Man Gloom” – about 9 p.m. MDT. Streaming video at http://www.santafenm.gov (click on SFGTV 28 webcast).

Throw your troubles on the pyre and let them go. The RMLs will be there despite the rain. Sorry I’ll miss the stinqueup. Usual place?

You know, vis a vis this mellbell career counseling, something struck me that I never noticed before. The stinquers share a lot of characteristics, most of them laudable, intelligence, humanity, erudition, wit, all good. I have said often I feel more among people of like mind here than anywhere in real life. It why I am sometimes so desolate when my big mouth and occasionally non-PC post alienates any of you. You are people I admire, and therefore, you are the people whose respect and affection means the most to me.

But anyway, it suddenly hit me, there is another characteristic we most of us share, we are not driven with ambition for either power or money, we are all people who want simply to make a living doing something good, or at least not bad. We all want a balanced life, and all value our personal lives and interests, as far as I can tell, more than our careers, and view the careers as a way to have a good life, and not as life itself. Noone is telling Mellbell to be a mortgage banker, for example, something she could do as well as any mortgage banker, provided her decency and honesty doesn’t get in the way.

I happened to fall into my nonprofit legislative-regulatory affairs job, the first job in my life that I tolerate reasonably well, through law. But its true, the faster way to this place would be a public policy masters. Public health would be even better.

There are a lot of ex-journalists here, which sends an unspoken message that journalism is not a good career choice, given the current state of the MSM.

Given it all to do over again, I have to say, seeing what people I work with have done, I think the best things for someone like us to do are science, I have never seen an unhappy scientist, civil service, in one of the more scientific areas, not in a political area, small business entrepenuerial ventures, and this might sound odd, but I think I could have been happy as a tradesman, in a highly skilled trade. The succesful ones, with a niche, seem happy, and have good lives, from those I know. I think that those of you in computer-tech areas who work for yourselves are doing something I would regard as a highly skilled trade.

I think one of the things that is conducive to happiness is to be in some field of work in which your pay is not measured in the hours worked. Thats the trouble with law. Its highly compensated, but the compensation is based on hours of work. A lawyer who bills $400 per hour, thats an amazing sum, but that lawyer is still a wage slave, and the higher the hourly compensation, the greater the pressure to work more and more hours. Every hour not working is like watching $400 go into the trash, such people wind up working every hour they are awake, and even on vacations.

Selling your skill is better than selling your time. Making something is better than shuffling money around or referreeing disputes or serving as someone’s paid thug (lawyer).

I do wish my deli venure had worked, I was never happier, I was making something, it was artistic, I was making people happy, but alas, not enough people.

Nope, I still have no idea, beyond these observations, what I want to do when I grow up. I sometimes think vagabond is maybe the best thing for me.

,

@Promnight:
True.

Life’s too short to worry about gaining much. I’m not taking any career achievements or cash to my grave so why worry about accumulating stuff or “power” which is really fleeting. Life is much more richer if one doesn’t see it as a means to an end.

I enjoy what I do as a telecommunications engineer, but not at all who I work(ed) for. I will be moving to a different company soon not by choice but rather by circumstance so I’m happy, but weary.

Nothing wrong with ambitions, but I’m not crazy about the price especially in time. because I value time more than I value money so I’d rather spend my time doing things I enjoy and feel pride in doing rather than doing it on something I hate.

@Promnight: I still think the deli thing could work with more groundwork and in a better economy. I admire you so much for going with something you’d dreamed about. It didn’t work out this time, but so what? You tried, better to regret something you’ve done than what you haven’t done.

I agree with you re: science. Mr. SFL, despite the BS loves his scientist work. And every career aptitude test I’ve ever taken has said I should be a doctor or nurse. I always wanted to be a doctor as a kid. But I had a high school biology teacher who told me if I couldn’t memorize the genus of the horsefly, I would never pass pre-med in college let alone go to med school. I had no one in my life to tell me differently, and I believed her. I liked history and government enough, so I went into that in college. I still think that maybe someday when I win the lottery or pay off the law school debt I should enroll in a pre-med program.

@SanFranLefty:

Pre-med, from what I’ve seen, is basically one long memory test. I was an MCAT Physics instructor for a term with Princeton Review, and I was shocked how inflexible the typical student was. They had no issue memorizing hundreds of detailed facts for organic chemistry, but somehow doing a little algebra with a handful of formulas was asking too much.

@SanFranLefty:
Med programs have changed to allow more humanity and less rote memorization.

My mom really wanted me to become a doctuh, but I didn’t want to be one. I was too much like my old man and ended up in engineering.

@SanFranLefty: whatever happened to that idea to liveblog the left coast airing of project runway?

@SanFranLefty: Oh, SFL, thank you so much for saying that, I do think that food will be my life, but this venture, if I ever told what it cost, you would, well, shit. But on the other hand, that I could sink so much into it, it just gives me more reason to be grateful we have the ability to weather this fucking disaster. It was the worst summer season on record, it was a debacle, even for the long-established businesses.

I have no feeling of defeat whatsoever. None. It was a wonderful thing, it has exorcised some deep personal demons for me, for exactly the reason you said, it is far far better to try and fail than to bottle up a dream inside you and never give it a chance, that is soul-killing. I was so so happy. I learned one thing, that it is truly my calling, even though it did not work, it did transform me, doing it did fulfill me, I knew, and I still know, it was the right thing to do, absolutely and completely, no regret, and I will try again, though it will, unfortunately, take a year or two or three to pay off the debt and be in the position to try again.

You remember my food porn? I lived it, instead of just writing it, like a pornstar, I got off on making people’s mouths water, even through just words, I so loved being able to make their mouths water by putting food I created on their plates.

@Just Jamie: I go to bed too early, most of the time, to liveblog PR. Is it on tonight?

@Promnight: Exactly. The food porn – the food porn come to life – you doing something that made you happy – that is what’s important. The key is to identify how to make it at least pay for itself next time. And I think with more time and research and planning you will do it.

@al2o3cr: @ManchuCandidate: I think med school curriculum has changed a lot in the past 30 years, which is why I think I could do it. I can actually memorize shit if I try (how else could I get through law school and the bar exam) but I have to care and it has to have a connection. I think I’d rather be a nurse than a doctor, actually, although my dream is to go deliver babies and stop fistulas in Africa, and I don’t think anyone gives a shit if the letters after your name are RN or MD.

@Promnight: Selling my skill is selling my time. But not, alas, at the three-digit level.

@SanFranLefty:
i can’t believe you said that. there was a time when my dream was to be a midwife, which was making a comeback during the trippy hippie 70’s.
the programs were as rigorous as getting the MD.
of course i didn’t see it through, and why i can say i’m likely the only person in north america that has taken “anatomy and physiology” as an elective.
i have been toying with the idea of going back to the native school and teaching remedial reading again. they can’t give me chicken pox twice!
if i can get just one of those little monsters to read a book…and enjoy it?
that will satisfy me tremendously.

@baked: That would be fun, too. Are you back on the island?

@baked: I took anatomy and physiology as an elective also. It fit in well with getting my EMT certification, and life drawing too, for that matter. My self-designed liberal arts program was waaaay liberal.