Daily Archives: March 17, 2010

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. ~ John Kenneth Gailbraith

Wow, Beck, Limbaugh, Malkin, and the rest of their ilk are a bunch of heartless, sick SOBs.  I don’t like them at all.  I despise their tactics in trying to alienate Americans from each other.  While Beck and Limbaugh, two multi-millionaires who will never have to deal with the problems the average American has to deal with, preach malignant hate and fear everyday, America is being taken over by the same corporations that pay these two shills to do what they are doing.  Wake up America!

Media Matters:

Right-wing media have recently targeted 11-year-old Marcelas Owens and his family for attacks after he appeared at a health care reform event to speak about his mother, who reportedly died after losing her health insurance. These attacks follow a history of media conservatives attacking or mocking the uninsured, and previous attacks by right-wing media on the family of a 12-year-old who spoke in support of SCHIP.

11-year-old spoke about mother’s death at health care reform event

Marcelas’ mother reportedly “died of pulmonary hypertension … after losing her health insurance because she could no longer work.” According to a New York Times report, Marcelas Owens appeared at a March 11 press conference with Senate Democrats and spoke about his mother’s death. The Times reported that Marcelas’ mother, “Tiffany Owens, died of pulmonary hypertension in 2007 at age 27 after losing her health insurance because she could no longer work. Ms. Owens had been an assistant manager at a Jack in the Box restaurant.” CNN.com further reported that Marcelas said at the event, “I came out here for health care, I got involved because my mom was a health care activist, she testified and participated in rallies. She wanted people to have health care and not wait till management level to be offered health care.”

Limbaugh tells Marcelas: “Your mom would have still died, because Obamacare doesn’t kick in until 2014.” On the March 12 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh aired a clip of Marcelas’ remarks at the health care event and said, “Now, this is unseemly, exploitative, an 11-year-old kid being forced to tell this story all over just to benefit the Democrat Party and Barack Obama.” Limbaugh later said, referring to Marcelas, “Your mom would have still died, because Obamacare doesn’t kick in until 2014.”

Malkin: Marcelas is the “new, dubious poster boy for Demcare”; targets Marcelas’ family. In a March 10 post, Michelle Malkin wrote that Marcelas is the “new, dubious poster boy for Demcare.” In her syndicated column that day, titled, “Desperate Dems cling to human kiddie shield,” Malkin wrote that Marcelas “admits he doesn’t understand the complexities of health insurance reform and doesn’t ‘think it’s anyone’s fault’ that his mom passed away. ‘But they could have done more’ for her, he says.” In a March 12 post, Malkin criticized a New York Times article about Marcelas because it “fail[ed] to mention that Owens’ grandmother and family have been longtime activists for the left-wing, single-payer advocates of the Washington Community Action Network or that the boy and his grandmother traveled to Washington with sponsorship from the Astroturf lobbyists of the Health Care for America Now outfit, which characterized Marcelas as an ‘insurance abuse survivor.’ ” Malkin continued: “Never mind that there is not a shred of evidence that any health insurer ever ‘abused’ Marcelas. Never mind that the family has made no claim that Marcelas himself has survived without insurance.”

NewsBusters: Marcelas has “entire family of liberal activists.” In a March 10 post, NewsBusters’ Scott Whitlock wrote that “Owens’ entire family have been members of the liberal Washington Community Action Network.” Further, Tim Graham wrote in a March 10 NewsBusters post – titled, “Sell Us Marcelas: Fifth-Grade Protester Has Entire Family of Liberal Activists” — that Marcelas “is a spokesman for a liberal lobby, the Washington Community Action Network.”

It’s about time.  It appears Hawaii has finally had enough of those crazy “birthers”. 

Think Progress:

The birther conspiracy continues to live on, despite definitive proof showing that President Obama was indeed born in the United States. Hawaii’s government agencies are becoming so frustrated with the delusional birthers that the state is considering a bill “permitting government officials to ignore people who won’t give up“:

But the state still gets between 10 and 20 e-mails seeking verification of Obama’s birth each week, most of them from outside Hawaii, [Lorrin Kim, chief of the Hawaii Department of Health's Office of Planning, Policy and Program Development] said Tuesday.

A few of these requesters continue to pepper the Health Department with the same letters seeking the same information, even after they’re told state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest. Responding wastes time and money, Kim said. [...]

If the measure passed, the state Office of Information Practices could declare an individual a “vexatious requester” and restrict rights to government records for two years.

Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said that the requests are “spurred on by these ‘birther’ blogs who direct them to bombard the Health Department even though they have no legitimate right to the information.” Many of the requests come from Arizona, Florida, and South Carolina. One person even said that they had a right to see Obama’s birth certificate because they both had a common ancestor: the biblical figure Adam. “We told them they need to provide some type of legal documentation,” replied Okubo.