Displaying 4,591 To 4,620 Of 5,146 Comments Republicans “Deem and Pass” the Hypocrisy on Healthcare Reform Bill I have seen near death threats against Kucinich today for agreeing to vote for this bill. We are a nation possibly on the verge of civil collapse. I think this is as scary as any time I’ve lived through! » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 4:16 pm Lawrence is often dead WRONG. As a major HuffPo contributor, he is, in my mind, suspect. » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 4:15 pm Reeps used it 26 times in 2005 and 2006. Dems used it 49 times in 2007 and 2008. It was first used March 16, 1933 and has been used constantly ever since. I HATE the MSM and their lying, uniformed sniveling. » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 4:14 pm Oh – I think you could easily claim SCHIP and COBRA and some other plans of HUGE proportion were the largest of their time. I cannot sanction the wimpy responses from the Dems! This is disgusting! I’m in a state that can do nothing more – we already turned our Blue Dogs into supporters. I’m frantic! » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 4:13 pm But this time, Franken, they will take others down with them! » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 4:11 pm Clyburn is always a pessimist and has been wrong before. I hope he’s wrong now. We MUST have this reform now. » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 4:10 pm Last I heard all states will get increased funding for new Medicaid enrolees. That is why the Cornhusker Sweetheart Deal is being tossed – so every state can expand their Medicaid. » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 4:04 pm OK – none of us is happy with this, but given the wacko DEMS (though I hear Kucinich is agreeing to vote YES, good for him) this becomes necessary. When you have people such as Stupak who don’t vote on the issue but only upon their hobby horse, you get stuck. Health care needs to move forward. This is how it is often done. So be it. » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 1:46 pm WTS – fantastic article. And everyone who mused over the ridiculousness of our bits and pieces – I so agree. Why the appendix? Or coccyx? Why are ears so intricate when large shells are all that is required to “gather” sound to the eardrum. Mine just collect shampoo. Then itch. No matter how much I rinse. I think the “Intelligent Design” people have really missed the mark. Who’d MAKE us this way? We are clearly works in progress. Or not, but still hardly “intelligently designed”. Some buffoon cited the eye as a perfect work, but a scientist pointed out it’s actually backwards from the logical way it should work. And Khirad and Cher are right – why are teeth so fragile and expensive to maintain? Was the Intelligent Designer trying to provide a livelihood for future dentists? I am overwhelmed sometimes by the power of human thought, however. It never ceases to amaze me that we can come together, plan, build, create. The issue of cooperation seems simply awesome. Then I watch the tea parties, and I’m not quite so impressed. Lots of good stuff to think about here. Cudgels the brain though – think I will take a nap. At that I am supremely good. » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 10:40 am Hi Marion- I do have to agree, though I think ordinarily Olbermann is superb with and about women’s ideas and statements. Maher never is. I’ve seen him be disdainful to men, but not with the same sense of exhaustion at their cute stupidity. It’s one reason I dislike Maher a lot. As a woman purveying public policy, I hold my own pretty well, but every now and then… I probably get lots more disdain due to my employer (large, progressive faith organization) than my gender, but the two combined, well… I have colleagues who think all I do is read the Bible. Man, are THEY barking up the wrong tree! So periodically I trot out the fact that I taught courses in global capitalism’s impact on our society for Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations Program for 15 years, and that sort of squelches the disdain – for a moment or two. I find as I get older that I have more cred. Age is a factor in the male disdain, but it does not extend to young men as it does to young women, and that’s observable. Two of the most amazing minds with whom I deal are in the persons of absolutely beautiful women. They are outstandingly brilliant and effective at what they do. They, like most of us who deal policy, simply stand their ground and deal with fact. They have earned the respect they get. I do think that part of the problem with Maher’s show and the women guests is that while they may be smart, they are not actually very well informed, and as far as Holmes, she is trying to purvey views that have no substance or scientific support. That said, Maher has male guests that are dumb as ditchwater, and yes, they get more respect from him than do women. But he’s arrogant and mean to anyone whom he disdains, so it might say more about HIM than about society as a whole. He may never be able to respect any woman as he does not respect people with differing views, but honestly, that is HIS problem. With luck, the women will mature and get better and better. It’s a pretty good bet Maher never will. » Posted By choicelady On March 18, 2010 @ 10:55 am Coalition of Church and State – Part 3 The Players and Organizations BAck in the 60s I knew a bunch of well paid aeronautical engineers who were exempt from service. They were also very pro war. When I challenged them on the hypocrisy, one said he was too good to be cannon fodder. But man they could and did bash conscientious objectors! I have regard for the men who served. I have regard for the men who conscientiously objected and did not serve. I have regard for those who did not serve by whatever means but protested the war. But I have NO regard for the chicken hawks who did not go but enthusiastically supported the war and hated the COs and insisted to OTHER men that they HAD to serve because it was their patriotic duty. When Cheney said he avoided the draft because he had ‘other priorities’ where the HELL was the protest from veterans? How could one single Swiftboater tolerate that and try to shoot down Kerry? Americans are weird. » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 9:54 pm Yuck! Why do some religions have such a bent for rules that do so much harm to their own members? Never CAN figure that out. Apparently the human desire for absolutes and thus the ability to control others is pretty deep. Its function though, seems weird. If you’re trying to attract people, why would you make it so unpalatable? » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 9:45 pm I know, Sue – but I just don’t like Cream of Wheat either. Now fried corn meal mush – something else all together! Yum! And hush puppies, and corn pone. Now you’re talking! » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 9:14 pm Cher – can’t reply so doing it here, but is Nacho Tancredo a new dish from Jalisco or Gudalajara? If not, it should be! Hah! » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 9:12 pm The part that makes me gasp in pain, even now, is that Giuliani ALSO fobbed off the Motorola radios on emergency responders. Motorola execs donated to his mayoral campaign, and he gave them a no-bid contract on the radios – that could not pick up reception in the Twin Towers. On 9/11 police and firefighrers died in large part because they could not hear the directions to get out. That makes me gag every time I think about it. During the presidential race, all over America, firefighters greeted Giuliani with signs about that. They HATE him. The media never covered much of it or their demonstrations. Disgusting. He’s a murderer, and no one thinks it’s “nice” to call him out on it. » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 9:09 pm Sue – I spent some time working in Charlston (just a week or so) and was mind blown at the openness most people have about honoring the slave past. Instead of sweeping it and later Black history under the rug, it’s discussed and the contributions of master craftspeople to the beauty of that city is extolled. I learned SO much there including the fact that slaves could work at night for others and with the cash buy their freedom. I’d never known that. Northwest is Blackville, SC, the second town of free Black people (the first was New Philadelphia, IL just at the start of the IL section of the underground railroad.) It’s been free and, more remarkable, unmolested since 1833. Only reason I know is I drove through it one Sunday morning and saw the hand-lettered sign at the city limits. Because it was Sunday there was not a soul on the streets to ask, but I’d love to know more. What a grand and important history! So despite the incredible bizareness of their elected federal “leaders” I also found most South Carolina people pretty open and honorable, Black or white, rich or poor. I never saw the racism that apparently lurks right under the surface. How very bipolar they must be! » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 9:03 pm Sorry all – I hate grits. Never could stand them, even when I lived in Middle Tennessee. When I moved from there to LA, I drove all the way through to El Reno, OK and thought I’d died and gone to heaven when the breakfast place served hash browns instead of grits. Later I think I discovered the heart of the heart of the country is St. Louis where most places serve both. Cultural diversity. » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 8:55 pm Some years back while I was beginning my work tracking hate crime extremists, I followed a similar truck with something in the gun rack. It was in upstate NY where you don’t plan to see the stars-and-bars, and it was also plastered with the same, “cold dead hand” gun stickers and much more. Since it seemed they were armed, I tried to keep my distance, figuring they would not suffer a tailgating woman with liberal bumper stickers well. But traffic more or less made me narrow the gap, like it or not. I finally got close enough to see that in the gun rack were – two weed whackers. So much for my stereotypes. » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 8:52 pm I work with a woman who is a Scientologist, and she’s the nicest, sweetest person on earth. I know NOTHING about the religion save that they ARE under assault from “Anonymous” who are some truly creepy dudes who’ve started going after mainline churches, too. Rabid anti-religious/homophobic rants from Anonymous – so why do they wear “Guy Fawkes” masks, when Guy was a rabid Catholic? I know Scientology is supposed to be weirdly scary, but except for the rant of that actor whose name I forget, I’ve never had any negative experiences with them, and they seem totally apolitical which, dealing with the extremist right, is just dandy with me. Maybe my experiences are skewed, but as long as people leave ME alone, I tend not to much care what they think. I get kinda peeved at people who threaten my life, so people who keep their religion to themselves seem perfectly OK by comparison. I recall hearing about a cult led by (I’m going to get this wrong) Sister Claire or something who got rich yuppies to give all their worldly goods to her, build tunnels to live in, and prepare to be assaulted by huge mechanical robots from outer space. Anyone whose religion more or less parallels the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” script about the 6-foot metal-munching moon mice are totally weird. Another example of “you can’t fix stupid.” But I don’t have to belong. Do I? If not, then unless I’m related to a cult member, I’m not sure why I need to care. » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 8:45 pm Super resources, Sue! I hope, even though Obama is in office, that the research and investigation into the RW dominance of too many of our institutions does not end. They are a true threat to democracy and liberty. I ask you – do we want to ignore the Texas Textbook Chainsaw Massacre? These people want to elevate Stonewall Jackson as the highest example of perfection, waaaay above our founders. Why? He obeyed orders and brought Jesus to his slaves. Period. The idea of venerating him makes me physically ill! We must never again dismiss them lightly. They are dangerous beyond belief. Your work in exposing them and giving us reading sources is outstanding. This series is a keeper, and I thank you SO much for doing it! » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 2:05 pm Thank you! We’ve been under assault from time to time. We know we had confidential email discussions hacked, by whom is unclear, but some woman called later that day and KNEW what we’d been discussing and tried to get me to give her a list of our Board members!!! She turned out NOT to be whom she said she was (easy enough to check – how stupid). From that point on I got several -uh – “inquiries” about our support for Muslim Americans from the FBI. That stopped when I did the local FBI Citizens Academy and they realized I was harmless and quite pleasant. We support the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s work against the RR, A few months ago I had an interview about that support in the Colorado Springs (location of the Air Force Academy that the RR Christian Embassy has dominated) newspaper. Funny – the next morning we found the lock on the BATHROOM door sheered off. They had to have come over the roof to do it. Just stupid and childish. But a warning nonetheless. Turns out the West Coast head of the Christian Embassy lives in Rio Vista down about 30 miles south, so… I will keep y’all posted on any other monkey business we encounter. I do promise not to bore anyone with the hate mail. For some reason, people who write diatribes against us for our pro-GLBTQ equality and other work seem to need to write on entire reams of paper with almost no punctuation or margins. Needless to say, I rarely get through them. Tooooo boring! I long for a well-done hate letter. You know, letters clipped out of one of their hate-spewing magazines, short, pithy, clear. It’s too much to hope for good grammar though. My wants are few but rarely realized. » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 12:13 pm Wow! SueinCA – this is mind boggling! I’d add in Institute for Religion and Democracy that serves to infiltrate local progressive or even moderately liberal congregations and “Steeplejack” them – cause divisiveness so they either kick out progressives or dissolve. They have made a fearsome attack on the National Council of Churches and, by extension, its allies in state councils. Their goal is to eradicate churches and/or progressive pastors, and they have been horrifically successful. Often the issues are opaque – they attack pro-GLBT people but use other issues including racism charges (they have a cadre of Black conservatives doing this), accusations of impropriety on many fronts, or whispers about mismanagement, etc. Your research on this is exhaustive and extensive, and even though I know a lot of this, I’m finding your series fascinating and scary! You really have brought it all together beautifully! Somehow, seeing it all in one place makes clear how embattled our work to BE progressive is! Thank you so much! I look forward to your next installment even though I do NOT look forward to THEM! » Posted By choicelady On March 22, 2010 @ 10:59 am The Real Battle for Financial Regulatory Reform Begins Solid post, as usual, KQ. Thanks for gathering up the elements and the citation from Elizabeth Warren. Somewhere I missed the 1999 absurd death of Glass-Steagall which, established in the Depression, had prevented precisely what occurred the last year. It insisted that investment banking (risk takers) be completely separate from commerical banking (lending to you, me, the shoe store down the street.) What Wall Street wanted was a huge pool of capital – YOUR money – to play with, so they wheedled, dealt, horse traded, and got Glass-Steagall killed. It shocks me NO end that this happened, not just because I missed it entirely, but because remember 1989? Remember the Savings & Loans debacle? How could we have been flim-flammed into believing that this would not be WORSE for the huge capital presented by banks which commanded so much more of our cash than the S&Ls? And still we have the drivel being pumped around by Republicans and a few Dems that the ‘free market’ works. Oh? When? Before the Depression there were MANY depressions, about every 3-8 years from the Civil War to 1929. The suffering and loss of family stability was huge. And we never EVER learned from that. It took the near total collapse of our economy in the 1930s to make clear that one essential element of large corporate unregulated capital was unregulated greed. I’m not speaking of this as a moral failing (though it is) but as an irrational element in acquisition of riches. There is no such thing as “enough” for those involved in wheeling and dealing. OPM – Other People’s Money – becomes essential to continuing the spiral. In a very real sense it is ALL a Ponzi scheme if you have unfettered access to OPM. The other side is a form of cannibalism. OUr entire manufacturing sector in capital and durable goods as well as almost our entire domestic production was decimated by a little known law from Prohibition that allowed businesses, put out of business by circumstances beyond their control (liquor bans) to do an accelerated depreciation, devalue their property to virtually nothing, and get cash back from back taxes paid. The cash is itself tax free. So companies bought other companies to put them out of business, get MORE money than they paid for the now defunct business, and walk away. When Bethlehem Steel shut down its Buffalo, NY plant in 1983, it got almost – hang on – 1 BILLION from the feds to do so. And yet it was productive, profitable, and employed 22,000 men and women. Gone. And the cash swelled the corporate bottom line making the business look flush with money. We, the nation, need all these fire walls. The shut-down/write- down law once had that proviso – “circumstances beyond the company’s control” – that got removed in 1964. It must be replaced. We need to reward solid investments that produce wealth as in durable, sustainable income that produces jobs, not the flash in the pan riches. We need a new Glass-Steagll. OK – I’m fine with people being stupid and making up intangible things such as “credit default swaps” and betting on corporate failures in order to win. We are gambling addicts in this nation. But these cannot in any way be linked to the everyday capital of business, home ownership, production, the overall economy. Let the Wall Street gluttons have their fun – but no more bailouts. No free money, yours, mine, or anyone’s, that is not intentionally contributed. Sure the returns are juicy – when they work. It’s a zany, energetic, risky, high-living world, and they are welcome to it. But not with OPM. In other words, if the Supremes have decided that corporations are people, too, and if the Reeps pontificate about “personal responsibility”, then let it begin here, now. » Posted By choicelady On March 15, 2010 @ 8:54 pm I think I knew that about Marisa, but the rest, yup. Free will. Possibly a big mistake in one so infallible, but hey. Worth a shot. I am pretty sure Alpha is right about the hair, too. If God made everything, why fine, fly-away hair? My beef is that my brother got the great hair. On the other hand, he’s going bald, so I no longer care. I do believe Jesus would have turned down a Master Card. He made it pretty clear that capitalism was not even a twinkle in his eye or God’s either. How did we lose the good stuff God made up? You know those Old Testamentarians (I never call them Christians when Jesus is just a ‘get out of jail free’ card for them) don’t have a clue that God and his early people actually had pretty cool economic laws that worked for justice. Now if the Texans want to be Biblical, why not head to Deuteronomy and follow all that? Or the non-icky parts of Leviticus? It teaches even the highest born to be just, to forgive debts, to leave good food after the harvest for those in need, to treat the land with reverence, to share with all, to pay the working person fairly. All that is the guideline for a good and just life, but I don’t see the Texas bunch incorporating THAT into their Bible thumping, do you? I bet God is mad about that omission. It was a whole book, for crying out loud! There are over 3000 verses about caring for the poor and fairness in our society. But this obsession with OTHER people’s sexuality – four lousy verses about not exploiting people for self gratification, and wham, bang you have an entire political philosophy of scapegoating. Entirely backwards, IMHO. Poor God. Those who use him to get ahead, to prove their superiority, to make themselves look good – these are precisely the people God did NOT want to use his name at all. Every one of their prayers is taking God’s name in vain. And if Jesus ever came back, they’d revile him, deny him, and kill him just as before, because they are the modern Pharisees who preach the law (though not abiding by it) and ignoring the spirit. Rules not reason, legalisms not love, judgment not grace. They would never accept him at all. Just look at all the prophets who tried to move us toward a world of universal love and inclusion who’ve been mowed down by “good Christians”. No – that free will thing was definitely a borderline call. I hope we don’t fall entirely over the side. But it’s not looking good, is it? Maybe God will or has started over again somewhere else. I wish them a much better time of it. We’ve sure messed it up. » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 6:33 pm I love this AdLib and think you’ve got to be the best Voice of God maybe EVER. As for that credit card thing – never did think either God or Jesus had pockets. Where would they carry it? Right up there with ties. I just wish God were more inclined to intervene. I’m getting tired trying to talk sense to people. No one listens. He must be vastly MORE tired of it though since he must be barraged by a lot more people. Of course if he DID talk, no one who needed to hear would listen to him any more than they listen to me. He’s just too sensible. Sigh. » Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2010 @ 4:44 pm Sanity- Cool, cool, and cool! Thanks to all who are jumping on this. Our voices not only matter but are much appreciated by those who are hearing way too much anger from the teabag folks. Best bumper sticker to date: Keep government out of my Medicare! When you have that ignorance, we are much appreciated. Can’t fix stupid. » Posted By choicelady On March 15, 2010 @ 2:37 pm Hi bito – well, yes, it HAS to be budget related, and the PO is a definite saving. HUGE as a matter of fact. That is why all the blog-o-sphere progressives are REALLY pissing me off saying Pelosi is taking it out. It went IN last night, why would she take it OUT today or this week????? Definitely press the Blue Dogs on this – the PO is an enormous saving, is entirely a person’s CHOICE, and gives ordinary folks some way to get coverage without going bankrupt. GOOD plan. » Posted By choicelady On March 15, 2010 @ 2:35 pm Hi Sanity- Thank you for posting this. I had gotten it from my faith allies in Faithful Reform in Health Care and the WISC group (Washington Inter-religious Staff Council) with the worry that yes, Pelosi MIGHT take it out, but it was put IN last night (Sunday). So I’ve mobilized my folks in CA to contact her in DC and San Francisco to say KEEP it. We are also getting alerts from various sources that there are now 51 Senate votes FOR the Public Option. So get on the phone or FAX or email to insist that this be retained and passed by BOTH houses. Something GOOD seems possible or this would not have been IN the reconciliation bill at all. But we cannot take it for granted! » Posted By choicelady On March 15, 2010 @ 12:01 pm A Coalition of Church and State – Part 2 Thank you, Blues Tiger – I NEVER can find that! Keep forgetting it’s in the least reliably ‘gospel’ part of the Bible. And is it not funny that they believe NO ONE who is actually FROM the tribes of Israel will go? » Posted By choicelady On March 15, 2010 @ 2:30 pm Mercy me, NO! Nor any non-JW. ONLY JWs go to JW heaven. The other RR folks also have a narrow participation. It’s kinda fun to be at a demonstration where there is a group of Pentecostals and Catholics more or less on the same side. Just ask them, especially when they’re standing next to each other, which ones will go to Heaven? Oy. » Posted By choicelady On March 15, 2010 @ 2:25 pmComments Posted By choicelady
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