So it seems there was some guy named Bill talking about health care or something.

I am glad that this Bill fellow passed. No, we still aren't gonna have a remotely just health care system, but as long as we have to have the system that we have, we might as well attempt to maneuver in such a way so as to make it as less-bad as we can. God, what an inspiring statement that was. It was instructive--if mind-numbingly dull--to watch cspan last night and here the endless statements in support or opposition. Listen to republicans endlessly spouting the "this bill will create a MASSIVE DEFICIT!" line was simultaneously totally predictable and totally unbelievable. Shouldn't they at least pretend that human life means more to them than money? Crikey.

But whatever--republican congressthings will never be anything other than what they are--and we all know what they are--so there's little point dwelling on it. What's just baffling to me is how so, so many normal people (okay, "normal" may not be the right word) are able to work themselves up into a violent, self-righteous froth about this. I mean, I understand the reason--late capitalism discourages any kind of communal thinking--but the level of rage is just something else. I guess "how DARE the government force insurance companies to not let me die!" is really the same as "how DARE the government not let me eat trans fats!" Some people have an extremely peculiar (that's the polite word) concept of what "rights" are. I know that the republican party's entire MO is convincing people to go against their own self-interest, but good lord--voting for tax cuts for the rich is one thing; shaking your fists at the heavens and DEMANDING that people be allowed to punch you repeatedly in the throat is quite another.

The cspan callers were a real treat, too--like the "next Obama's gonna control when we can SLEEP!" guy, the alleged nurse who was absolutely convinced that nobody is ever refused medical care for any reason anyway, and of course the "no, I don't have health insurance--I'm a pretty healthy guy" guy (you can hear the gods of irony licking their chops in the background). With specimens like this as evidence, I suppose I could be massively overthinking things--maybe people are just really, really dumb, and that's all there is to it. Bah.

The other thing that's good about the bill passing is that it shows teabagging dickheads that their bullying and thuggery isn't enough to bring the government to a standstill. I know it's not a lesson that's going to sink in or anything, but it really needs to be said in any case--empowering people like that with actual victory would be an extremely bad thing.