The Mudflats

That’s right!  Tonight the Shannyn Moore Show is taping and it’s going to feature a citizen panel!  That means you could be one of Shannyn’s guests on the show that airs on KYES on Saturdays at 4pm.

All you have to do is send an email to mooreupnorth(at)gmail(dot)com and tell Shannyn and her producers why you’d be a great panelist.  Then come to Bernie’s Bungalow Lounge on D St. between 6th and 7th Ave. at 5:30 tonight to be part of the taping!

This is your chance to throw your 2 cents in about Sullygate, or KABATA, or ACES, or predator control, or whatever is on your mind.  Don’t miss out!

And don’t forget that today is Thursday, which also means “Thursdays in the Mud!”  I’ll be on Shannyn’s show the third hour from 1-2pm on KUDO1080 AM which you can stream HERE.

Alan Grayson has really done it this time.  I did not think I could love him more, and I was proven wrong with this one email.  This is possibly the most hilarious anti-Palin piece I’ve ever read – and trust me, I’ve read a lot of them.  I bow to the master of the Palin takedown.

This is an actual email from Rep. Alan Grayson on Palin’s recent visit to Florida.  Don’t be drinking anything when you read it.

Subject: Palin Attacks Grayson; Grayson Applies Calamine Lotion to the Resulting Reddish Skin

On Friday night, Sarah Palin came to Orlando, and attacked Rep. Alan Grayson. This is what she said:

“I got to meet quite a few candidates who are lining up in a contested primary who want to take out Alan Grayson. And I think Alan Grayson — what can you say about Alan Grayson? Piper is with me tonight, so I won’t say anything about Alan Grayson that can’t be said around children. [Good one, Sarah!] But thank you, Florida, for allowing candidates in a contested primary to duke it out over ideas and principles and values, all with the same goal, and that is unseating those who have such a disconnect from the people of America. That’s what the goal is here in this race against Alan Grayson. Please fight hard, and do this for the rest of the country. Fight hard, and send a conservative to Washington, DC.”

Palin, the former half-term Governor, current-nothing and future-even-less, charmed the all-Republican audience with her folksy folksiness and her homespun homespunnery. Atypically, Palin was wearing clothes that she had paid for herself. At the end of the event, she shared her recipe for mooseface pie.

In response to Palin’s attack on Rep Grayson, Grayson actually complimented Palin. Grayson praised Palin for having a hand large enough to fit Grayson’s entire name on it. He thanked Palin for alleviating the growing shortage of platitudes in Central Florida.

Grayson added that Palin deserved credit for getting through the entire hour-long program without quitting. Grayson also said that Palin really had mastered Palin’s imitation of Tina Fey imitating Palin. Grayson observed that Palin is the most-intelligent leader that the Republican Party has produced since George W. Bush.

When asked to comment about what effect Palin’s criticism might have, Grayson pointed out, “As the Knave’s horse says in Alice in Wonderland, ‘dogs will believe anything.’” Earlier, as the Orlando Sentinel reported, Grayson said, “I’m sure Palin knows all about politics in Central Florida, since from her porch she can see Winter Park,” which is part of Grayson’s district.

Grayson said that the Alaskan chillbilly was welcome to return to Central Florida anytime, as long as she brings lots of money with her, and spends it. “I look forward to an honest debate with Governor Palin on the issues, in the unlikely event that she ever learns anything about them,” Grayson added, alluding to Politifact’s “liar, liar, pants on fire” evaluation of much of what Palin has said.

Scientists are studying Sarah Palin’s travel between Alaska and Florida carefully. They hope to learn more about the flight patterns of that elusive migratory species, the wild Alaskan dingbat.

Here’s a great clip of Adam Green talking to Ed Schultz about Senatorial support for the Public Option, if the House puts it in the bill.

24 have signed a letter to Harry Reid asking for a public option in reconciliation. 19 have given statements to us, reporters, or their constituents. 4 more have made statements on video. And 4 are extremely likely based on their previous support for the public option and Senate leadership, even though they haven’t made an official statement yet.

“I want to be crystal clear: Sen. Durbin and the rest of the Senate Leadership will be aggressively whipping FOR the public option if it is included in the reconciliation bill the House sends over.”

—Senate Whip Durbin’s spokesman, Joe Shoemaker

Kudos to Adam Green and the people at The Progressive Change Campaign Committee.  Click HERE and find out where your senator stands!  I want that health care ticker in the corner of the screen up there to start scrolling backwards!  This will likely be the most important bill of our life time.  We cannot continue to be the only modern industrialized country that does not consider health care a basic right of its citizens.

I know you’ve signed petitions before, and made calls and sent emails.  Do it again – for your kids, and someone else’s kids, and the kids that aren’t even born yet.  Let’s get it done.

CLICK HERE to add your name, and find out how to contact your senator.

Are We There Yet, Senator Begich?

By Shannyn Moore

Senator Mark Begich arrived back in Alaska Friday afternoon and I had a chance to ask him about Open Left reporting he was the 50th Senator for reconciliation.

“Health care reform has already passed the Senate by a 60 vote super majority. If the comprehensive health care bill passes the House, the ‘clean-up’ reconciliation could be passed through the Senate with an up or down vote.  I am waiting to see the wording of the reconciliation before voting.  I am well aware of the more than 100,000 Alaskans who are without health insurance and the rising costs for those who do.”

Reported earlier today, the Senator is open to using reconciliation for health reform.  From a letter to a constituent:

Thank you for contacting me regarding health care reform.

The reconciliation process is a budgetary tool used to address spending and deficit issues with a simple majority vote.  The budget reconciliation process has been used 22 times by both parties since 1980.  Action to clean up the health reform bill will further reduce the deficit.

Comprehensive health care reform has already passed the Senate with 60 votes.  If the House passes the Senate bill, the President could sign that version of comprehensive reform into law. I believe reconciliation would only be used as a tool to take out special backroom deals and to eliminate concerns raised by many Alaskans I’ve talked with.  The President has proposed narrow changes which I support, including completely closing the coverage gap for seniors’ prescription drugs, eliminating the special Nebraska funding provision, providing additional federal financing to all states to help pay for the expansion of Medicaid, and strengthening the Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse provisions.

Again, thank you for contacting me.  As the 111th Congress moves forward, please continue to be in touch with your thoughts and concerns.

Sincerely,
Mark Begich
U.S. Senator

That makes 50 Senators publicly open to using reconciliation to finish health reform without any maybes.  There will be a reconciliation fix to the Senate health bill, as long as the House first passes one.