Displaying 5,071 To 5,100 Of 5,146 Comments It’s time for Liberals and Democrats to join the Teabaggers Hey – watch that “regular” Christianity stuff! In fact they are newbies – their point of view is quite recent. However, they are absolutely NO different form the people who accused men and women of witchcraft in Salem in the 1960s. Why? Same reason – the independent province of MA had suddenly become a colony under an alien governor. The autonomy they had cherished was gone. How to explain, since British sailors brought STDs, gambling, prostitutes, etc., how their lives had deteriorated? Well, witchcraft was a serious belief of the time. Today it’s feminists, abortion rights people, pro-GLBTQ equality. As the colonists could not bring themselves to blame the King, so today’s people cannot bring themselves to blame the free market. So in both cases – scapegoats. Fill in the blank on who that should be. I find Sarah, in her best Mom and Wife mode, quite charming and pretty. I think she’s a beast of a human being, but she DOES make people think, as W did, that she’d be a public leader you could sit down and have a drink with. Of course, the people you CAN do that with you really don’t want running the country, but it’s important to think you’re heard. I do think Obama has that capacity – to hear us – but when scapegoating gets in the way, we can’t see our best salvation might come from someone different from us rather than identical to us, at least superficially. Sarah would sell out each and every supporter. Obama won’t. But we’re not yet intelligent enough in this crowd to understand that. Maybe time will reveal the truth. We will have to see. But we do need to understand not Sarah – but the angst among those who love her. That’s important. » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 6:57 pm You mean that was NOT cryptographic evidence you are either a CIA operative or an outer space alien? Rats. It was sort of interesting. » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 2:15 pm Thank you from me, too! I get a kajillion emails a day (too many of them porn – and BORING porn at that) so this is helpful. I read the Planet several times a day, so I don’t need or want to be prodded with updates, love y’all though I do. Thanks, dndobson! (You’re no relations to James, I hope? For your sake…) » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 2:12 pm There is light at the end of the Jihad tunnel I have been spreading the word – but why has this gotten so little attention??? » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 6:48 pm I sent this out to our 6.5 MILLION members nationwide. I cited your comment, Tom Joad – what IS the sound of one fist unclenching? Thank you, FrankenPC – this is just amazing. Now if we could get our own extremist Christians to stand down and remember the CORE values! They are so filled with hate and self-righteousness – they really scare me! » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 4:31 pm I can’t believe this has gotten so little attention. My work is partly around peace issues – this is absolutely amazing, and I thank you SO much for bringing it to my attention! I will definitely pass this on. Peace on earth. Indeed, Tom J – what IS that sound? » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 2:42 pm What a great story! My grand-daughter by proxy (via my step daughter) is not quite three and already takes us by hand into any available book store. She LOVES books even though she can’t read. Her grandfather has ADD, and it was agony for him to learn to read when he was a child, but once he did – look out! He’s happiest with his nose in a book. He’s the most eclectic and voracious reader I’ve ever seen. We don’t know if he’s dyslexic, but it no longer much matters. He reads anything, and he loves it. I’m so glad you had this experience with Kiddo (what we call our grand-daughter, too!) and that she loved the book. I’m very sad to learn that Baum had this really evil side, because the Wizard IS a populist book. Sigh. » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 4:42 pm I’ll fan you, KevenSeven, desperate or not! LOL!!! Everybody deserves to be loved, even the emotionally needy. » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 10:14 am There is no such thing as private competition or choice for consumers. We see increasing monopoly or oligopoly, so all this would do is force you into a market over which you would have NO control paying prices they can demand. There has to be someplace for people to have a guarantee of rights and dependable sources of retirement, health care, etc. What we need is a balance – private sector for variable goods with a bust-up of massive corporate market dominance, and a secure governmental network of – YES – entitlements for our basic needs. That has worked well in the past and can work well again. Bernake is an idiot and no liberal. » Posted By choicelady On December 4, 2009 @ 10:13 am Andrew Sullivan Officially Leaving the Right Stupak is worse – far worse – than Ben Nelson. He is a deeply RW ultra-fanatical “The Family” “Christian” – and very scary. He ran as a Dem only because he would have lost otherwise. I hope that Michigan dumps him as MN should dump their “out” RW Republican, Michelle Bachmann. There are some people too utterly weird to serve Congress. I’d like to make a distinction: my organization is nominally Christian in the sense of serving mainstream Protestants. We come FROM our faith on moral discernment on issues. We do not advocate FOR religion in those positions. We believe we have a role to speak out on policy, but we absolutely believe in the separation of church and state. Mr. Sullivan gets that distinction. The GOP and extremist Christian Dems do NOT. We do not want to build a theocracy (largely since no two of us agree on anything anyway) as the RW does. I can see why Sullivan wants out. Any sane, truly thoughtful person would. » Posted By choicelady On December 3, 2009 @ 3:53 pm Healthcare Reform: What’s in it for Me? I happened, for various reasons, to take the FBI Citizens Academy training in which they detailed that one of their top ten efforts was pursuing Medicare fraud. I was horrified at how easy it is – just set up a phony “durable medical equipment” site, get some junkie working in a medical office to steal social security numbers (easier than you’d ever want to believe) and you’re in business for the three months it takes for you to get tracked down – by which time you’re gone, and a new business at a new address is established. There is nothing under the sun so good that someone with real malice in them can’t screw up. I’d suggest vetting said people BEFORE allowing them to sign up – have to show you’re in business for X numbers of months or years – which might help. These fly by night thieves are almost impossible to catch. It is true that many immigrant do this – in CA they are ALL East European. Welcome to America. » Posted By choicelady On December 1, 2009 @ 4:01 pm My own mother went on dialysis when (to quote a line from Milagro Beanfield War) everything below the neck had to go. Without it she’d have died a couple of years sooner but also with fewer complications and less pain. Was it worth it? Only to my Dad who loved her. But the outcome was inevitable, so why did she permit this to drag on so long? Turns out she was a rationalist who was actually very afraid of death. But none of us begrudged the docs (save for the stupid resident who gave us information on another patient by error)for doing what she had said she did not want but did. I’m not sure I’d face it all with aplomb either – HATE losing options! But someday death will be a blessing. » Posted By choicelady On December 1, 2009 @ 11:54 am Yes – great book. And the Right doesn’t want smaller government, it wants a government that has absolutely NO social spending. War? Benefits to giant corporations? CIA? All fine. People? Not so much. » Posted By choicelady On December 1, 2009 @ 11:47 am I once hard a story on NPR that Americans are the only people who believe death is optional. We believe we can cure anything with enough bells and whistles – so we demand every test. The rage against the recent recommendations that annual mammograms not begin until 50 is a case in point. There is real concern about not just false positives and invasive biopsies but about the body burden radiation doses. But we think this is ‘rationing’ despite the fact that the actual recommendation comes from your doctor. NO one will be denied, but we think it’s worth 10 more years of radiation to catch something that’s not likely to be found. I, for one, think this is a wise decision. If I have reason (family history, suspicious lumps) I can get a mammogram. If not, I’m saved the radiation. Good call, IMHO. But you’d think this was another death panel. Yikes. Let’s think about the consequences of eternal testing – the money, the human impacts. We won’t be healthier for all that waste. » Posted By choicelady On December 1, 2009 @ 9:28 am Agreed, but given the very effective “government is the enemy” mantra of the right, can you imagine the furor? I work for single payer in my state, but I’m under no illusion that people with health insurance would accept it easily. Americans are the only people I know who, when given a logical alternative to what is causing them pain will embrace the pain more than the alternative. We’re so afraid of our own government – and for very little reason (save under the past Administration when fear was the logical thing to feel.) I do NOT get it. » Posted By choicelady On December 1, 2009 @ 9:23 am Amen! I keep wondering about Rebpub office holders – if you hate government, why are you in office taking massive benefits from taxpayers? Certainly nothing was done to curtail the size and scope of government under Republicans. Interesting, isn’t it? » Posted By choicelady On December 1, 2009 @ 9:20 am Hi javaz – at this point, you are facing the total “free” market increases that will continue unabated. The public option, for people not yet ready for Medicare, is only one option that might be open to your employer and should save the employer and you a lot of money. The taxes that are under consideration are on incomes above $250K (net) not on middle class incomes. There is also talk of rescinding the tax break that benefited only the very wealthy – VERY rich – not the rest of us. The House and Senate versions of the bill do have strong public options. The negotiated rates with doctors does not automatically make it less robust. There are very real differences regionally that probably need to be dealt with – what doctors in Alabama get is already very different from what doctors need to keep offices and hospitals afloat in San Francisco. Antitrust immunity has been killed in both bills, but the most important aspect of any bill that comes out is an expansion of public programs – Medicare, Medicaid or something new – at rates shown here by KQuark to be vastly below market. Rates pegged to your income level are what Medicare now does and should do for any future program. When RW people say there is a new “tax” – that’s the code for “bad stuff” when what it REALLY would be is a premium paid by your employer, you, whoever. It would be lower than the market premiums, regulated as Medicare now is. The problem? None of this is final, and the forces against it are huge. To assure a decent outcome – holler regularly at your Senators and Representatives! I’ve been in direct conversation with Nancy Pelosi’s chief consultant. She has advised us that nothing – NOTHING -speaks more loudly than constituent voices. Massive public input outweighs insurance company money. So raise your voice to lower your costs! » Posted By choicelady On December 1, 2009 @ 9:17 am We also see it as a human responsibility one to the other. That’s why it’s essential that we create a program where shared burdens are FAIR. The private market is so weird – what other thing is sold that creates a LOSS for the seller? The “medical loss ratio” is the term for paying out the very health care you have paid FOR. The higher the payout, the more the company loses. It’s as if every hammer sold by Home Depot cost them money. Insurance may be the very worst way to do this. Health care is a daily issue – you don’t have insurance to wash dishes and mow your lawn, but you have it for the extraordinary event. So health insurance is, by necessity, to be rationed by the for-profit provider. It’s here where we ought to re-think this entire modus operandi. But we’re wedded to the Reaganomics belief that government is the problem, rather than the private market and its decision makers. We need to grow up as a nation. » Posted By choicelady On November 30, 2009 @ 4:27 pm The public option, like Medicare, should eliminate that. Medicare carries a 3% overhead verses the 35% that private insurance wastes. Some of the “defensive medicine” will need to be tackled, to be sure, but eliminating the private “middle men” and the profits, administrative nightmares of each insurer having different codes for aspirin making it necessary for doctors and hospitals to have banks of manuals on coding – all that can be fixed. We can eliminate the Part D type waste by allowing – mandating – bulk purchases of pharmaceuticals and importation of lower-cost versions. All that can make the practice of medicine more efficient and less costly which, in turn, can eradicate the private insurance rip offs of us all. » Posted By choicelady On November 30, 2009 @ 4:05 pm You are so right, KQuark! The key issue in having a public option of this nature is that it keeps premiums to an affordable percentage of family income. The market just doesn’t. When I turned a (cough) certain age, my premiums soared to 20% of my income (working for a non-profit, that’s not a lot of income but was a lot of outgo!) I had to transfer to an entirely different, cheaper plan lest my employer and/or I go broke. The absolutely worst thing that could happen with this bill, in either house or in conference committee, is to have a mandate and NO public option. Since when is the government in the business of directing us what commodities to purchase? Might as well tell homeless people that they have to buy a house. There is no term in economics for government-mandated purchases of commodities. Closest thing I can find is feudal tribute. That is not progress! It’s also much, much smarter to provide affordable premiums rather than subsidies for premiums in the private market. To keep government from going bust, the premium is kept artificially low, but the deductible and out of pocket are huge. In MA the plan has a $250 per month premium subsidized by the state, but the deductible is $5000 and the out of pocket is $10,000 PER PERSON PER YEAR. That’s making too many people use the coverage as catastrophic care – they can’t tap into it until they are desperate since they don’t HAVE the $5000 for preventive medicine. That is precisely the plan proposed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in CA – and it was supported by too many otherwise smart people. It would have been a disaster for CA where vastly more people are uninsured than in MA. The House bill is better (with the Capps amendment not the Stupak one – Capps created a good balance of individual choices and rights on abortion options) so everyone get on board and press for this as the final outcome, please? It’s important. This is our last chance for decades. There is no reason to believe the US populace will be smart and vote for more Dems, and we may see a dwindling of margins even with the Republican bozos that are running. Without the requisite 60 votes to end a filibuster in the Senate, nothing can move to the floor, and that would be the death knell for health care reform. The election of Obama did NOT end our obligation to speak out on issues (though you’d think from HuffPo that it had – grrr) so this is one of the top priorities for all of us now and in the near future. Thanks for reprinting the MIT study. More will come and soon that will reinforce this clear perspective that the plans are good, the time is NOW. » Posted By choicelady On November 30, 2009 @ 3:54 pm Indeed – tho Huckabee makes me gag without a spoon! » Posted By choicelady On November 30, 2009 @ 2:50 pm When Huckabee ran for prez, he went duck hunting. He claimed he shot only those ducks without a “Huckabee for President” bumper sticker on their butts. He said maybe he should do the same to people. Funny, huh? What kind of “Christian” is THAT???? What kind of presidential candidate is THAT??? He’s deeply scary, and you are sooooo right about him, KevenSeven! He’s like The Family – anything HE wants is OK because, of course, he’s a fan of Jesus. Gag me. » Posted By choicelady On November 30, 2009 @ 11:38 am Thanks Kalima – this definitely works for me! When the days get short, I do want to eat and sleep much more. When I lived where it snowed (a LOT) I got a great deal of exercise keeping the sidewalks clean, but now – just want to be warm and cozy. But – NO Snuggies for me! It’s the back of my neck and back of my back that get cold, so what’s the point? In the early 8os I used to have one of those quilt things with arm holes – problem was it was like a sleeping bag at the bottom that made it REALLY bad for sudden needs to get to the lav. I’m thinking a combo with “footies” would be much smarter. But I’m too lazy to patent it. If any of you do,please share the proceeds with the Idea Lady? In the meantime, I will sip soup, curl up with my quilt, read a book, and enjoy the season for what it is. Bear time. » Posted By choicelady On November 29, 2009 @ 6:41 pm Well, if I leave out the bread (I’m wheat intolerant) will it still be as good as it sounds? Non-wheat breads mostly suck (a technical term) so… » Posted By choicelady On November 28, 2009 @ 5:47 pm My husband eats raw lemons. It took me six months to get over the pain in my glands that produced watching him. We must all have different taste buds. I’m more of a salt-a-holic. Anything salty and savory – I’m there. » Posted By choicelady On November 28, 2009 @ 5:54 pm So sorry Felonious! But this treat must also be off limits, too? Why is it so many Americans have developed not just diabetes but such massive food intolerances? Makes you wonder what we’re doing to ourselves. But for everyone who CAN partake, enjoy! I have a friend with bladder cancer who can no longer drink coffee. I can’t eat wheat. So he eats bread for me, and I drink coffee for him. And we trade stories. Hey – it works for us. » Posted By choicelady On November 28, 2009 @ 5:52 pm This is lovely! I am very wheat intolerant, so holiday treats are often off-limits for me. This is a keeper and sounds delish! Thank you, FeloniousMonk! » Posted By choicelady On November 28, 2009 @ 4:43 pm For Black Friday, some un(der)reported news When printed in normal form, the health bill is under 300 pages. Since most of us never read bills, no one really understands that they are quadruple spaced for “mark up” by members of committees. There are very few lines per page, and each line is vastly shorter than an ordinary book would have. So it’s pretty impressive to slog around 2000 pages of paper, but it’s really not much reading at all. And why would we want to overhaul 1/6 of our economy with less detail anyway? BTW – I DO read bills. I hope you all feel appropriately sorry for me. They are often as boring as you think. » Posted By choicelady On November 27, 2009 @ 11:54 am I’m thankful for friends and an adopted family complete with toddler who will liven my day. I’m thankful for being one of the blessed who has a job and therefore can put food in front of the aforementioned adopted family. I’m thankful for good friends, known and unknown, who have compassion for others and a sense of humor all at the same time. I’m thankful for no longer being dependent on Arianna’s screed, and I’m thankful for a president who honestly cares about his nation, not just the ‘have mores’. I’m thankful for turkey (and apologize to same for having turkey) and all the trimmings. I’m thankful for three more days off ’cause I’m exhausted trying to save the world. And I’m thankful again for all of you who also liven my day in ways different from the toddler. Or maybe the same. Whatever. Anyway – thanks. » Posted By choicelady On November 26, 2009 @ 11:12 am I come from a segmentedly-dysfunctional family. My father was wonderful, my mother was plum nuts. However, she did GREAT holidays, and I always loved all those times. I now have a surrogate family who are terrific including a 3-year-old who is marvelous. This year she mashed the potatoes, all the while standing on a stool, appropriately grunting with the effort. VERY funny, and she did a great job. We had a very nice time together. I hope all her memories will be as good as mine. I also hope all of you had a grand T’giving, too. Happy holidays with NO worries. There are always Weight Watchers and bankruptcy court should you need them. Let the good times roll! » Posted By choicelady On November 27, 2009 @ 12:06 pmComments Posted By choicelady
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