Welcome to your Tuesday open thread. How are you enjoying the change in time. I actually got to drive in daylight yesterday and there was a beautiful sunset when I was driving home last evening. I know it won’t last but it was really nice for a change.
Rush Limbaugh: “Pre-Existing Condition Coverage is Not Insurance; It’s Welfare”
Yes, he really said that. He really, truly did, and it’s a BFD. digby writes:
Although it sounds ridiculous, Rush is in the process of making his followers believe that the pre-existing condition provision in the health care reforms is something bad and shameful. The reason he’s doing this, of course, is because this is the most popular piece of the bill and the one on which the rest of it hinges. If they can divide people on that, the repeal of the plan will be much easier.
Absolutely 100% on the money. The rest of the Affordable Care Act, along with any other proposal for reform like single payer or a public option hinges on one single provision: No exclusion for pre-existing conditions. So the Corpulent One knows that the only way to marshall support for complete repeal is to erode support for covering people with pre-existing conditions.
You know what sucks worse than Rush Limbaugh? The people who pay him an obscene amount of money to spew his bile.
Andrew Shirvell, the assistant attorney general under fire for his attacks on a University of Michigan student, has been fired.
Shirvell had been criticized for his blog in which he calls Chris Armstrong, the president of the Michigan Student Assembly, a radical homosexual, a Nazi and Satan’s representative on the assembly. Philip Thomas, Shirvell’s attorney, had said his client is expressing his free-speech rights.
The firing was confirmed in a statement this afternoon from AG Mike Cox, who said Shirvell was fired for conduct unbecoming a state employee, especially that of an assistant attorney general.
“To be clear, I refuse to fire anyone for exercising their First Amendment rights, regardless of how popular or unpopular their positions might be. However, Shirvell repeatedly violated office policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior, and inappropriately used state resources, our investigation showed.”
Such a bizarre story. Somehow I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this story. I sincerely hope that Mr. Shirvell gets the help he so desperately needs.