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Comments Posted By kesmarn

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The Science of Fox News: Why Its Viewers Are The Most Misinformed

😆 Exactly! Light travels at a given speed, unless you offer it a bonus to motivate it.

» Posted By kesmarn On November 7, 2014 @ 11:41 am

True only for nihilists. Not everyone subscribes to that sophomore year pseudo-cynical political pose. But then most people get over Ayn Rand by the time they turn 21 too.

» Posted By kesmarn On November 7, 2014 @ 11:26 am

Perhaps we should start paying people not to own assault weapons, then.

I’d like get a large tax break for not murdering anyone.

» Posted By kesmarn On November 7, 2014 @ 10:58 am

Deniers would become believers you say? Depending on the amount of money involved? They’d change their opinions on a matter of science if they were paid to?

What an intriguing proposition.

» Posted By kesmarn On November 7, 2014 @ 10:56 am

Should Voting in the U.S. Be Mandatory?

Like you, Michael, I’m drawn to the “carrot” reward system rather than the “stick” mandatory system.

And — let’s face it — the Koch folks on the right are going to complain about the “gummint” getting involved either way!

I’m always baffled by people who say: “My one little vote doesn’t even make a difference.” It’s seems as though that’s almost the same as saying: “If I can’t single-handedly determine the outcome of this election, I don’t wanna play.” Which is basically kind of ego-centric, no?

» Posted By kesmarn On October 16, 2014 @ 12:45 pm

AdLib (and Planet community), what do you think about giving people a small incentive to vote? Say a $10 credit on their taxes? Or — if they’re in a low income situation of being on disability or SS — maybe a $10 additional bonus to one month’s bank deposit?

This would remove the predictable RW “Big Gummint forcing you to eat your spinach” argument from the picture, and make voting feel like what it really is — something positive and rewarding.

» Posted By kesmarn On October 15, 2014 @ 8:34 pm

ISIS vs Syria, Iraq, and Other Islamic Countries

Kalima, it’s good to read that moderate Syrian rebels will be allowed to train in Turkey. These poor people have been through hell for the last two years.

Thanks so much for your balanced and well-thought-out assessment of a very, very complex situation.

So many people in the Middle East are just trying to do the best they can to keep themselves and their families alive for another day. It’s very difficult to generalize and say “They’re all like this,” or “They’re all like that…” There are regional, cultural and religious differences that make each country and situation quite unique.

I think the President has done a remarkable job of displaying sensitivity and restraint regarding the ME the whole time he’s been in office. I’m ardently hoping he has a successor who’s on the same page.

» Posted By kesmarn On October 14, 2014 @ 8:36 pm

Elizabeth Warren Unloads on Obama

MBE, I read the original interview with Elizabeth Warren on which a lot of these headlines are based, and I have to say that in the context of the interview as a whole the summaries and headlines are somewhat misleading.

The persons she really unloads on are Tim Geithner and Larry Summers (and probably rightfully so). They’re the ones she’s talking about when she makes the comment about the fact that “they chose Wall Street over families over and over.” She’s actually pretty supportive of the President throughout the greater part of the interview.

For example, when it comes to her own Consumer Financial Protection Agency, she has this to say:

If Barack Obama had not been president of the United States we would not have a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Period. I’m completely convinced of that. And I go through the details in the book, and I could tell them to you. But he was the one who refused to throw the agency under the bus and made sure that his team kept the agency alive and on the table. Now there was a lot of other stuff that also had to happen for it to happen. But if he hadn’t been there, we wouldn’t have gotten the agency.

There’s no doubt that she has her own point of view and it does differ from the President’s in some respects, but I think this interview may have been spun as representing more conflict than there really was, to some extent in order to get clicks.

The Salon interview can be found here: http://www.salon.com/2014/10/12/exclusive_elizabeth_warren_on_barack_obama_they_protected_wall_street_not_families_who_were_losing_their_homes_not_people_who_lost_their_jobs_and_it_happened_over_and_over_and_over/

» Posted By kesmarn On October 15, 2014 @ 6:25 pm

Boots On The Ground?

No boots on the ground, Nirek! I agree. I do support the air strikes in support of those who are battling ISIS, and I can see the advantage of providing supplies to the Syrian rebels, but I think that’s as far as it should go.

As for those who want to send other peoples’ children into harm’s way, all I can say is that the day I see all 5 of Mitt Romney’s sons in the front lines, I’ll take those “chickenhawks” a bit more seriously.

I don’t think any of us will be holding our breath waiting for that to happen, though.

(Interesting that Britain’s Prince Harry served in Afghanistan, but no son of the uber-wealthy and powerful here during the Dubya administration felt up to doing the same thing, no?)

» Posted By kesmarn On October 7, 2014 @ 8:51 pm

Kalima, Panetta is on the Charlie Rose Show even as we speak, and he’s trying to dance around the issue of disloyalty (while pushing his book sales).

He’s quoted as saying he “thinks the President has lost his way.” (He seems to be quite a fan of Hillary Clinton’s.) And as for being disloyal — yes, I think that’s the word that would apply if anyone boils down exactly what he’s said in this book.

» Posted By kesmarn On October 7, 2014 @ 8:28 pm

Great News on the Economy! (Made You Look!)

Well said, funk. Especially the part about the need for a solution coming from the bottom up. AdLib has said it before as well — words to the effect of: “As bad as things are, will they have to get even worse before people really get engaged in the political process?”

I hope not. But I think human nature is inclined to avoid exertion/conflict/change as long as things are working even at a barely functional level. That seems to be where we are now.

People like the Koch brothers, though, are never satisfied. Even though the top 3% of the population owns 54% of the property, they’re not going to stop there. Enough never really is enough. So they’re going to keep pushing until something really drastic happens and gets people’s attention.

Let’s just hope it’s not too drastic.

The one thing that gives me some encouragement is that the GOP roster of potential candidates is so laughably pathetic. Thank the gods for that.

I think…. 😳

» Posted By kesmarn On October 7, 2014 @ 8:03 pm

ExFan, this is one time when I’m happy to hear that someone disagrees with me! It’s good to know that there are folks who haven’t given up and young folks who are still engaged — at least in your “neck of the woods” anyway!

» Posted By kesmarn On October 7, 2014 @ 7:49 pm

I do too, Nirek. I do too. And his cousin Dr. Ryan as well.

» Posted By kesmarn On October 7, 2014 @ 6:54 am

I wish I could say something cheerfully different, funk, but I have to admit that I’m seeing more cynicism and indifference this year than I have in previous ones. People who used to contribute to the campaigns of their party’s candidates aren’t bothering any more. Some are saying they’re not even going to bother to vote.

They seem to feel that the game is rigged, so it’s pointless to participate. But that will only become the case if we let it!

» Posted By kesmarn On October 7, 2014 @ 6:52 am

Best article on economics ever, funk!

Not being an economist, I tend to relate a lot of economic concepts to what I do know.

So to me, the country seems to be like a patient that has been involved in a tremendous (Bush-related) train wreck. There are broken arms and legs and there’s been a great deal of blood lost. This patient needs to get to the emergency room fast. And those bones have to be set. He needs multiple transfusions and probably fluids, pain meds and antibiotics.

But Dr. G. O. P. Austerity, who believes that suffering builds character, and wants to pocket the money that would have gone to treating this patient, without actually doing any — well — treating, decides that instead, he will put the patient in a lawn chair in the parking lot, with a bowl of jelly beans next to him and wait it out. This is what ancient doctors used to refer to as “Tincture of Time.”

Handsome young Dr. Obama substitutes spinach for the jelly beans, but Dr. Austerity won’t let him do much more.

Days pass. Weeks. Months. To everyone’s amazement, the patient doesn’t die. Thanks to Dr. Obama’s spinach his hemoglobin gradually starts to rise. The sunshine in the parking lot helps the broken bones to begin to heal. Slowly the patient starts to take a few tottering steps — long after he really should have been up and walking vigorously.

But Dr. Obama has completed his residency and is moving on. Dr. Austerity is standing there in the shadows over by the dumpsters, rubbing his chin.

There’s an intern applying for Dr. Obama’s job. Dr. Austerity’s been very impressed. He’s not a young upstart like Dr. Obama. He’s got the proper “values.” (Learned them from his rich uncles — Charlie and Davie Koch.)

“Paging Dr. Romney… Paging Dr. Romney…”

» Posted By kesmarn On October 6, 2014 @ 2:03 pm

The Top Secret Service Bloopers!

😳 Coming from The Master of comedy, that’s a real compliment, AdLib. But I have to say that you set it up brilliantly for me when you named the guy Figg.

😆

» Posted By kesmarn On October 2, 2014 @ 5:27 pm

Laugh out loud funny, AdLib! Truly one of your very best.

One question, though. When Agent Figg fell out of that tree like a stoned apple (inadvertently proving the law of gravity once again), could that have been called a “Figg Newton”?

Thanks for a much needed laugh of the day!

» Posted By kesmarn On October 1, 2014 @ 7:29 pm

Open Carry is a Whites Only Law

Michael, there you go again. With all those pesky facts and all that truth!

Seriously, thank you so much for this valuable information — much of which I had never known. (Wonder why this sort of stuff is not readily accessible…. Hmmmm…. 😳 )

We still have such a long way to go when it comes to issues of race in this country. And calm, reasoned and accurate statements like this help us to keep some forward momentum going in an uphill battle.

» Posted By kesmarn On October 2, 2014 @ 3:34 pm

That’s some incredible footage, Homie. But the commentary is equally incredible. There are times when no words are as expressive as a meaningful “Mmmmmm-hmmmmmm?”

Tommie’s obviously right. If this guy had been black, this story would have had a completely different ending.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 29, 2014 @ 11:50 am

Dear Trolls: Yes, I do think Barack Obama is a Very Good President and Here is Why

“Them’s the facts,” Adlib! And as we know — even that highly imperfect version of SS was considered evil socialism and the first step on the slippery slope to hell by the GOP. (That same GOP that was “no different from the Democratic Party” to political flim-flam artists.)

And to Harleigh, fear not. Little known fact: when FDR’s wheelchair was in the shop for tune-ups, he did indeed have a back-up unicorn in the White House basement that allowed him to trot around DC under a full moon, sprinkling fairy dust on various pieces of legislation in order to get them passed.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 25, 2014 @ 7:52 pm

Yes, AdLib, when FDR’s accomplishments are attributed solely to his magical personal powers, and the fact that he had an exceptionally supportive Congress is dismissed, we know that we’ve leapt into the Land of Fairy Dust and Flying Unicorns.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 25, 2014 @ 9:42 am

If you truly believe that Republicans and Democrats were the same during the Great Depression, I can only conclude that you haven’t read any primary source material from that era.

The GOP loathed FDR. The only reason he was able to accomplish so much is that voters for the most part loathed the GOP during the 30s. Only the wealthy and the deluded voted Republican then. And fortunately they were in the minority.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 25, 2014 @ 8:50 am

With all due respect, I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard/read the statement that someone has “voted for Obama twice,” but is now sadly disillusioned. And that in the next election he/she will be looking to “vote for anyone who supports the Constitution.”

There’s a Libertarian “playbook” making the rounds, describing techniques for manipulating liberals into voting for Libertarian candidates.

Both statements are in it.

But one quality that many liberals hold in common is that they’re not easily manipulated.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 25, 2014 @ 6:45 am

Rand Paul? Ted Cruz?

Surely you must have some preferences at this point?

» Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2014 @ 8:29 pm

So whom do you plan to vote for in the next presidential election? Which candidate (in either party) would be acceptable?

» Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2014 @ 8:18 pm

Many thanks, dear Homie, and wishes that your Mom (who was on the receiving end of a bit of that health care) is doing better by the day!

» Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2014 @ 8:08 pm

Many thanks, Kalima! 😳

» Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2014 @ 7:59 pm

When F.D.R. took over the Presidency in 1933, the Democrats controlled 64 percent of the Senate seats and 73 percent (!) of the House seats, counting independents who were sympathetic to the party. And those numbers only increased over the next couple of midterms — during their peak during 1937-38, the Demorats actually controlled about 80 percent (!) of the seats in both chambers.

This made all the difference in the world.

Because in the way the Constitution has set up the government, if a president doesn’t have the support of Congress his hands are tied. The only way for him to consistently get his way in that circumstance would be for him to seize power and assign himself dictatorial powers. (He’d probably need the support of the military to accomplish that.)

This is what is commonly referred to as a coup.

http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2010/03/obama-versus-fdr-and-lbj.html

» Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2014 @ 7:55 pm

Those of us who’ve known you for years, choicelady, realize how many long hours you’ve put in over the years to help get the ACA passed. It’s been a wonderful accomplishment — extending care while at the same time reducing costs, making institutions more accountable and improving patient safety.

People who are actually the boots on the ground in health care know what a difference the ACA had made.

Because they’re really in a position to know. They — like you — live in the Land of Reality. Not the Land of Perpetual Poutrage.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2014 @ 7:29 pm

As a person who just retired from decades of working as an RN in health care, I can assure you that it is not hospitals and healthcare personnel who deny people care. It is some insurance companies.

President Obama doesn’t run them.

And it is not the President who refuses to expand Medicaid coverage so that the poor in some states are denied care.

It is Republican governors and state legislatures.

President Obama doesn’t run them.

It was the GOP (owned by corporations) that insisted that the health insurance industry be part of health care reform. Corporations totally control the GOP.

President Obama doesn’t run them.

If there is any form of “Health Destruction” going on in the US (and there’s much less now than there was before Barack Obama was elected), it isn’t because of hospitals, doctors, nurses or the President. It’s because of unregulated capitalist vampires and the GOP.

And President Obama doesn’t run them.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2014 @ 7:23 pm