Clearly, this particular portion of yr Wonkette has done something terribly wrong. First, we had to climb the word-mountain of stupid that is Megan McArdle and today we have to self-flagellate by reading this endless cockgobbling National Journal story about Mitch McConnell wherein we learn that he has a secret plan to repeal Obamacare. We're not sure how this can be secret when we've had
We need the full conclave of cardinals: Cantor, Hilbert, Hartogs <em>and</em> von Neumann. Fortunately, there&#039;s room in the hotel.
(1) Whatever it is, it is not the Affordable Care Act itself. Even at the very rarified legislative spacing, it was never more than 2000 pages, which would be about 14 inches on the thickest paper that can still be called paper.
(2) If I&#039;m reading correctly, it is supposed to represent some 19,000 <i>regulations</i> that have presumably arisen from the ACA. Now, having had some contact with bureaucracies, I&#039;m prepared to believe that there are a good many derivative regulations, probably generated by several dozen different agencies. Although I won&#039;t believe the 19K until I hear about it from someone I trust more than McTurtle.
(3) Probably somewhere between 25% and 75% of the total words in each of these alleged regulations will be citations of the authority, granted by the ACA, that allow the regulation to exist.
(4) Print out the fucking Tax Code, and all the attendant IRS regulations and exceptions and see how tall that motherfucker is (Hint: more than seven feet).
But, a plea to Wonkers in states that have Senate races in 2014. Please, try to pester your friends and neighbors to vote. You don&#039;t really have to try to change anyone&#039;s mind -- just get the folks who are likely to vote Democratic to actually vote. Turnout is all-important in off-year elections.
I just checked my list of the awful things that should happen to the Phelps assholes, and this was not in the first 2 million. I&#039;ll get back to you when I&#039;m done looking.
(Very nearly) full implementation next year. Most states will have expanded Medicare. The Exchanges will be up and running. The <em>subsidies</em> will be up and running. The mandate will have been imposed. The rating rules will be in effect.
Even if they take back the Senate, they won&#039;t have a filibuster-proof majority, let alone a veto-proof one. Reconciliation can&#039;t touch the regulatory side of the ACA, it can only mess with the budgetary side. And reconciliation bills don&#039;t typically get passed until fairly late in the year - for one thing, you must first pass a budget with reconciliation instructions, for another I believe the Budget Act <em>requires</em> committee consideration of reconciliation bills.
Even if the Republicans do as well as could reasonably be expected in 2014, this train is already pulling away from the station and will be clear down the track by the time they get to the platform to try to flag it down.
Yes, and they couldn&#039;t attach must-pass elements to it because reconciliation bills must first be authorized by instructions contained in a budget, and are subject to a point of order in the Senate (read: 60-vote threshold) if they are not germane to those instructions, which themselves must be germane to the budget.
And I thought J.G. Ballard was twisted. Dramatica doesn&#039;t give credit, but that was <a href="http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Parts_That_Were_Left_Out_of_the_Kennedy_Book#.22The_Parts_That_Were_Left_Out_of_the_Kennedy_Book.22" target="_blank">Paul Krassner</a>, whom I previously knew mainly as a propagator of the &quot;Good luck, Mr. Gorsky&quot; legend.
If nothing else, he&#039;ll be remembered for the pig story. In Hunter Thompson&#039;s canonical version: <blockquote> This is one of the oldest and most effective tricks in politics. Every hack in the business has used it in times of trouble, and it has even been elevated to the level of political mythology in a story about one of Lyndon Johnson&rsquo;s early campaigns in Texas. The race was close and Johnson was getting worried. Finally he told his campaign manager to start a massive rumor campaign about his opponent&rsquo;s life-long habit of enjoying carnal knowledge of his own barnyard sows. &ldquo;Christ, we can&rsquo;t get away with calling him a pig-fucker,&rdquo; the campaign manager protested. &ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s going to believe a thing like that.&rdquo; &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; Johnson replied. &ldquo;But let&rsquo;s make the sonofabitch deny it.&rdquo; </blockquote>
Well, there <i>is</i> Kuntfucky, but that&#039;s just juvenile.
We need the full conclave of cardinals: Cantor, Hilbert, Hartogs <em>and</em> von Neumann. Fortunately, there&#039;s room in the hotel.
Re: the seven-foot stack of whatever.
(1) Whatever it is, it is not the Affordable Care Act itself. Even at the very rarified legislative spacing, it was never more than 2000 pages, which would be about 14 inches on the thickest paper that can still be called paper.
(2) If I&#039;m reading correctly, it is supposed to represent some 19,000 <i>regulations</i> that have presumably arisen from the ACA. Now, having had some contact with bureaucracies, I&#039;m prepared to believe that there are a good many derivative regulations, probably generated by several dozen different agencies. Although I won&#039;t believe the 19K until I hear about it from someone I trust more than McTurtle.
(3) Probably somewhere between 25% and 75% of the total words in each of these alleged regulations will be citations of the authority, granted by the ACA, that allow the regulation to exist.
(4) Print out the fucking Tax Code, and all the attendant IRS regulations and exceptions and see how tall that motherfucker is (Hint: more than seven feet).
But, a plea to Wonkers in states that have Senate races in 2014. Please, try to pester your friends and neighbors to vote. You don&#039;t really have to try to change anyone&#039;s mind -- just get the folks who are likely to vote Democratic to actually vote. Turnout is all-important in off-year elections.
Janikowski libel!
Hey, just biz as usual for Agema, no?
IIRC, #4 is &quot;Profit&quot;
#3 is &quot;????&quot;
I cannot imagine the howling of the teabaggers if Obama proposed doing away with highway billboards today. And I know from howling.
I just checked my list of the awful things that should happen to the Phelps assholes, and this was not in the first 2 million. I&#039;ll get back to you when I&#039;m done looking.
(Very nearly) full implementation next year. Most states will have expanded Medicare. The Exchanges will be up and running. The <em>subsidies</em> will be up and running. The mandate will have been imposed. The rating rules will be in effect.
Even if they take back the Senate, they won&#039;t have a filibuster-proof majority, let alone a veto-proof one. Reconciliation can&#039;t touch the regulatory side of the ACA, it can only mess with the budgetary side. And reconciliation bills don&#039;t typically get passed until fairly late in the year - for one thing, you must first pass a budget with reconciliation instructions, for another I believe the Budget Act <em>requires</em> committee consideration of reconciliation bills.
Even if the Republicans do as well as could reasonably be expected in 2014, this train is already pulling away from the station and will be clear down the track by the time they get to the platform to try to flag it down.
The next one up will do fine.
Or to the Americans fighting it, of course.
It was only a secret to the Americans paying the price for it.
What? We had 3,143,822 things that were even better.
Yes, and they couldn&#039;t attach must-pass elements to it because reconciliation bills must first be authorized by instructions contained in a budget, and are subject to a point of order in the Senate (read: 60-vote threshold) if they are not germane to those instructions, which themselves must be germane to the budget.
Did he have a name for his bunghole?
And I thought J.G. Ballard was twisted. Dramatica doesn&#039;t give credit, but that was <a href="http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Parts_That_Were_Left_Out_of_the_Kennedy_Book#.22The_Parts_That_Were_Left_Out_of_the_Kennedy_Book.22" target="_blank">Paul Krassner</a>, whom I previously knew mainly as a propagator of the &quot;Good luck, Mr. Gorsky&quot; legend.
If nothing else, he&#039;ll be remembered for the pig story. In Hunter Thompson&#039;s canonical version: <blockquote> This is one of the oldest and most effective tricks in politics. Every hack in the business has used it in times of trouble, and it has even been elevated to the level of political mythology in a story about one of Lyndon Johnson&rsquo;s early campaigns in Texas. The race was close and Johnson was getting worried. Finally he told his campaign manager to start a massive rumor campaign about his opponent&rsquo;s life-long habit of enjoying carnal knowledge of his own barnyard sows. &ldquo;Christ, we can&rsquo;t get away with calling him a pig-fucker,&rdquo; the campaign manager protested. &ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s going to believe a thing like that.&rdquo; &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; Johnson replied. &ldquo;But let&rsquo;s make the sonofabitch deny it.&rdquo; </blockquote>