Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments What States Get More Money From The Federal Government? Sounds like a great plan to me, Nirek! 🙂 » Posted By kesmarn On July 27, 2014 @ 5:51 pm Nirek, it seems that there are three major areas of expense: agriculture, defense and Medicare/Medicaid programs. Doesn’t it seem like we have a modicum of control over two out of those three? Do corporate mega-farms — agri-businesses — really need our tax dollars? Especially for NOT growing crops? I can see that the original purposes of these programs might have been laudable, but they were never intended to make multi-millionaires even richer. Time to trim those back in a major way. And defense? Well, need we say more? This country spends almost 10 times more on defense than the next 10 countries combined. Lots of room to cut there. Hopefully, that would leave a lot more funding for the poor, the sick and the elderly. And I don’t think any reasonable person would begrudge them their programs. But then the Tea People have never been noted for being reasonable. 🙁 » Posted By kesmarn On July 27, 2014 @ 5:05 pm Republicans to Pass Automatic Impeachment Bill For Future Democratic Presidents Exactly, kevin! » Posted By kesmarn On July 26, 2014 @ 6:25 pm kevin, I might just have to put that article in the twitter feed! She has become a parody of herself. And she has the nerve to call liberals “Godless”? It’s hard to say whether it’s incredibly funny or sad, isn’t it? » Posted By kesmarn On July 26, 2014 @ 4:19 pm Chat Live Tonight at 7:00pm PDT on the Week’s Events – Vox Populi! I have no doubt, Polly! You better be there on Friday now… 😉 » Posted By kesmarn On July 29, 2014 @ 6:34 am It was great to see you on Vox Friday, Monica! These darn time zones! It’s so hard to get a time set up that doesn’t interfere with dinner time on the west coast. Maybe we can get our admin heads together though and see what can be done… Thanks much for the suggestion! » Posted By kesmarn On July 29, 2014 @ 6:32 am Polly, sorry we missed you! The live chat is on Friday nights, hence the July 25 date up there. Apologies for the confusion and we hope to see you on Friday next: August 1! » Posted By kesmarn On July 26, 2014 @ 6:45 pm The Brutal Politics of 10 Year Old Girls’ Softball Teams You said it, AdLib! For example — anyone who would say that Sarah Palin is brilliant and spontaneously articulate while Barack Obama is clueless and helpless without a teleprompter is living in some alternate reality. Some things really are just objectively either true or false. Both of the above statements are false, to any thinking human. And to believe otherwise is self-delusion. I do feel sorry for the girls being raised by TeaParents. When reality hits it’s going to be a hard fall. » Posted By kesmarn On July 24, 2014 @ 2:31 pm AdLib, I hear you. When I was still working in the nursing field that was my experience. The vast majority of people were really decent. Surprisingly so — considering that they were sick and often scared. But the minority who were stinkers could really leave an indelible impression! And not in a happy way. » Posted By kesmarn On July 24, 2014 @ 6:31 am Funny and disturbingly true at the same time, AdLib. I love it! It looks as though we can distill the basic principles of Baggers in general from your snapshot of the girls’ softball team here. Let’s see: Bagger “Truths” (Commonly known as “Lies” in the Land of Reality): 1. Avoid assuming a role of actual leadership (too much work). Your job is to sit on the back bench and throw bombs. 2. Your second job is to relentlessly criticize people who do dare to assume responsibility. 3. Rules are for other people. 4. The members on your own tribe are always superior to the members of any other tribe. And by “tribe,” we do not mean “team.” 5. Teamwork and compromise are for losers. 6. Reality is whatever you say it is. 7. Pretty much everyone is jealous of you and — hence — out to sabotage you. 8. Can you bring your six-shooter to these games? (If not, your girls belong in “A League of Their Own.”) I think that’s about it. Have I missed anything? » Posted By kesmarn On July 23, 2014 @ 7:04 pm Yes, Pete. This happens in small towns and rural areas also. » Posted By kesmarn On July 29, 2014 @ 9:35 am 😆 That’s funny about the weed, SLM! At some point, maybe you’ll tell us why you were handcuffed in the first place, but that’s entirely up to you! 😀 » Posted By kesmarn On July 25, 2014 @ 6:48 pm I hear you, SLM. “Never speak to a cop for any reason.” Or for that matter — to his daughter! I happened to get on the wrong side of the daughter of one of those sheriff’s deputies who served under the crooked sheriff I mentioned in my original comment on this thread. (The one who was indicted by the Feds for covering up a jail house murder.) She saw to it that I was followed, harassed and (at least attempts made to make me feel) intimidated for weeks. It wasn’t hard for her dad to get a lot of his friends in the department to play along. It wasn’t until I started video-recording everything that it finally stopped. And even then, one of them lied and told me to put the camera down because what I was doing was illegal. When I answered back that I knew it was not, he dropped the matter. I know people of all colors –quite a number of them white — who’ve had similar experiences. Yes, being a person of color does tend to make encounters like this more likely, I know. But the common thread in many cases is daring to look them in the eye and defend yourself. (Which the unfortunate Mr. Garner did.) You and I both obviously pushed somebody’s bully-buttons too. We were just lucky that in our cases it didn’t turn out to be a capital offense. Here’s a little article that appeared in a local paper about a middle-class community that’s almost entirely white. The problem: incompetent bullies on the police force. http://www.toledoblade.com/Police-Fire/2014/07/24/Tensions-run-high-over-island-s-police.html Doesn’t mean that large urban centers get a pass, or that what goes on there is okay. But there’s a broader problem with the police work culture that needs to be addressed. And if we each insist that our fellow citizens have not a clue about what the situation is really like, we’re going to have a hard time addressing it. I think the problem is institutional almost across the board and rarely situational, to be frank. Underneath the surface, this may have less to do with race than it does with class. As “mouthy” 😉 middle class white women we were fair game. People of color are fair game. Poor whites are fair game. Guess what demographic really is immune for the most part from police brutality? Massively rich people. » Posted By kesmarn On July 25, 2014 @ 6:03 pm Sad but true, Murph. So disappointing that we’re at this point in human history and have evolved so little. » Posted By kesmarn On July 25, 2014 @ 3:57 pm 😳 » Posted By kesmarn On July 24, 2014 @ 7:00 am I’ll have to stay with my original statement, Miles. Without seeing facial expression, hearing vocal nuance or knowing a life history over time, all I have to go on is words on a screen. That’s seldom enough for me to judge on. » Posted By kesmarn On July 23, 2014 @ 8:24 pm I don’t really feel that anyone here is arguing that his/her world view is perfect, or that you’re not entitled to your own opinion or feelings, Miles. I think that where the ground gets a little shaky is when any of us starts assuming that we know what other peoples’ opinions or feelings are without having spent a lot of time with them. As a woman I could argue that no man will ever truly understand what it’s like to walk through life as a woman. That I have had to spend a life time adjusting to and trying to understand what it is to live in a “man’s world.” And there could be a fair amount of justification for that, I suppose. But I don’t think that all men are alike. I think there are men who have quite a good understanding of the complexities of being female in a male-oriented/dominated world. And I appreciate them very much. And there are also men who are insensitive and not only don’t get it — they don’t want to get it. In fact, they see themselves as the perpetual victims in every situation and are full of rage. Those two groups of men are as different from each other as men are from women. Or Muslims are from Christians. Or gay people from straight. Or liberals from conservatives. In short, there are many ways to be tribal. And I think being tribal is a temptation that we really have to resist. I know it’s a cliche, but each and every one of us is a completely unique human. In other words: every single human on the planet could legitimately say “You have no idea what it’s like to be me.” But it doesn’t necessarily follow that one human can’t empathize with another. I’m not in Gaza right now. But I think I can imagine pretty clearly what it must be like to be there. In a way, to say in effect: “You’ll just never get it, so bugger off,” is a way of giving up. It’s important to keep the lines of communication open — as we try to do here. Even though there will inevitably be misunderstandings. Women have often been on the receiving end of police brutality — if only because their smaller size makes it easier to slap them around. And it’s an issue that needs to be taken very seriously. But there are also good cops too who respect and protect women. Both situations exist — side by side. It’s maddeningly complex. It’s hard stuff. But if our default position is outrage, we’re handicapped from the start. » Posted By kesmarn On July 23, 2014 @ 8:01 pm Nirek, those of us who know you know that you are not a racist. And I guess I too will leave it there. Peace. » Posted By kesmarn On July 23, 2014 @ 6:16 pm That’s a stunning statistic, Murph. I didn’t know that. And I agree. When you consistently give police departments larger and more sophisticated weaponry, they’re very likely to find excuses to use it. » Posted By kesmarn On July 23, 2014 @ 4:21 pm Thanks for a terrific article, MBX! This does seem to be becoming more common, doesn’t it? I know this sounds like an odd connection to make but — I blame two primary factors: problems with police screening and training and the NRA. I wish there were a way to screen out people who have an exceptionally high level of terror from doing police work. If someone is so petrified of the possibility of getting hurt that he/she does preemptive assaults frequently and randomly, that person should probably be in another line of work. I know that wearing that cool uniform and being able to strut around with pepper spray and a gun while making some nice wages is a lure. But the people you want to lure into police work are people who have a sense of fairness and responsibility to the community. Brave people. Not people who attack first and make up stories later because they are scared out of their minds. All the time. And thanks to the NRA, even the gutsiest of cops now have to worry much more about who is armed. Because so many people are. Unlike a few decades ago, even a State Highway officer who’s pulling someone over for erratic driving has to approach that car and driver with the awareness that there could be a gun in his face before he has time to ask for a driver’s license. That would definitely heighten the level of job stress on a daily basis. Here in Ohio, that infamous “choke hold” came into play in the story of a jailhouse murder. A sheriff’s deputy used it on an inmate. The inmate went unconscious. No one started CPR. By the time medical help arrived the inmate was dead. The story was that he had had a “seizure.” A huge cover up began — going all the way up to the top and including James Telb, the county sheriff at that time. He was so powerful and had such political clout that nobody local would touch the case. Finally, the Cleveland FBI office took it on. Although they had the goods on everyone, the one black deputy in the case was the one who took the fall and went to prison. As for James Telb (who clearly had been involved and had been indicted) — he was acquitted of all charges by the very intimidated jury (who, after all, still had to live in the area in which Telb’s cronies would be patrolling after the trial). Not only that, he was re-elected after the trial and retired with a very generous pension. Here’s the FBI wrap up on this case: http://www.fbi.gov/cleveland/press-releases/2010/cl120310.htm When it starts to be a toss up as to whom we’re more afraid of — the criminals or the police — it begins to feel like a re-run of the Al Capone era. » Posted By kesmarn On July 23, 2014 @ 7:17 am Russia’s Shooting Down of Malaysia Flight 17 – The New Lusitania? A fascinating article, Kalima. The situation is incredibly complex. And seemingly in constant flux. Just weeks ago, it seemed that the Ukrainian forces were hopelessly out-gunned and that Putin was riding a wave of popularity. This story really disputes that. Strelkov-Girkin seems to be becoming more isolated and cut off from reinforcements and supplies while Putin’s own position seems tenuous. I would never have predicted that at this point! The Prez was so wise to keep us out of this mess. And so many others! » Posted By kesmarn On July 26, 2014 @ 7:04 pm Good for the EU, Kalima! And Russia is implying that these sanctions are — in effect — giving aid and comfort to international terrorists? Did they ever stop to ask themselves whether or not they might BE international terrorists? » Posted By kesmarn On July 26, 2014 @ 6:41 pm Exactly, Nirek! We’ve already had more than enough of them. Always willing to put people in harm’s way — as those as those “people” don’t include them and their kids. » Posted By kesmarn On July 23, 2014 @ 7:36 am Absolutely, NoMan! It’s too bad we even had him the first time around, isn’t it? For me, he ranks as the worst president in American history. Below even Nixon and Reagan — and that’s pretty low! » Posted By kesmarn On July 23, 2014 @ 7:20 am PPO, I just finished watching the BBC News this evening, and they discussed the preliminary results of the investigation into this event. They are in agreement with your speculation! They seem to be saying that this plane was brought down as the result of incompetence rather than as a planned terrorist act. Of course, the investigators aren’t absolving the Russians of responsibility for putting these weapons in the hands of the separatists and failing to train them. But as you say — this may have been a case of a “poorly trained rocketeer” getting hold of a “toy” he didn’t know how to use. » Posted By kesmarn On July 22, 2014 @ 4:29 pm Thank you for the kind (and wise) words, Homie. I’m so totally with you on this. We finally have a man in the Oval Office who has some mature and humane priorities. The thought of sliding backward with some trigger-happy GOPer getting in there should be enough to get even the most dedicated couch potato to the polls. » Posted By kesmarn On July 22, 2014 @ 4:19 pm The Matt Yglesias article is very interesting, Kalima. Consensus building among 28 European nations must be an incredibly difficult task. It’s quite a time in history, isn’t it? In decades past the almost-reflexive reaction to this situation in Ukraine would have been for the whole world to say: “Get in there and fix things, America.” No longer. The President has made it clear that this country cannot afford to police the world. Players with a stake in the game have to take a share of the risk — in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Central America, everywhere. Which is very difficult, but I think necessary. Now if we can just persuade American voters not to elect another Dubya-type President who would turn the clock back to the bad old days — when we were the global king-makers and bullies. Let Europe move slowly, as Yglesias describes. As long as they move. » Posted By kesmarn On July 22, 2014 @ 8:31 am Let’s Put the Blame Where it Belongs Right! And — wow — that takes courage! » Posted By kesmarn On July 16, 2014 @ 3:11 pm A terrific comment, Helloise! I like the way Chris Hedges phrased it. “They live in a world of false certainty and fantasy.” They’ve definitely cut the tether to reality. » Posted By kesmarn On July 16, 2014 @ 2:46 pm Thanks, KT and SLM. I was intrigued by the fact that the more education he got, the more he was able to see through the lies and logical fallacies. And as he became more affluent, he grew more compassionate. So interesting. » Posted By kesmarn On July 16, 2014 @ 2:39 pmComments Posted By kesmarn
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