Monday August 10th 2009

healthcare-imagesHour One - Frank Schaeffer www.frankschaeffer.net and www.frankschaeffer.com Topic: Whistle blower exposes right wing rampaging tactics
Hour Two - Tad DeHaven www.cato.org  Topic: Should we junk the mail and privatize the USPS?
Hour Three - Have we reached a point where politicians can't do anything without the approval and support of Industry

Comments

DRichards (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#2

Re: Have we reached a point where politicians can’t do anything without the approval and support of corporations.

YES!

Drug Industry Payback For White House Surrender: $150 Million In TV Advertising

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DRichards (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#3

Crazy for God

Exorcism turns fatal
By THERESA RALOGAIVAU
Monday, August 10, 2009

Battered to death ... 14-month-old Sadikuini Yalewavukivuki
A BUA community is reeling from the shocking murder of a baby girl who was allegedly bashed to death by her father in a ritualistic sacrifice to "save his district spiritually".

Fourteen-month-old Sadikuini Yalewavukivuki was allegedly murdered in front of her mother Valetina Dimae, 29, at their home in the Lekutu District School compound on Saturday morning.

Reliving the incident, a distraught Mrs Dimae said her husband locked them up inside their bedroom and repeatedly punched their daughter in the head until she lay motionless.

"We had prayers from about 3.30am to 5am and he left us saying that the Holy Spirit had spoken to him to visit the pastor at Lekutu Village," she said.

"When he returned home about 8am he told us me, my daughter and a 60-year-old aunt-in-law to go into the bedroom and he locked the door," she said.

"He sat on the bed and started quoting verses from the Bible saying there was an evil spirit in the house," she said.

"He called our daughter but she did not want to go to him and started crying. He then told me to breastfeed her but she refused to eat because I had just fed her," she said.

"My daughter started crying, then he grabbed her and said the evil spirit was in her and that he would kill her to exorcise the evil spirit from the house.

"He said that if Abraham could sacrifice his son Isaac as stated in the Bible then he would also sacrifice his daughter as an offering to save his family and district, Lekutu, spiritually."

Mrs Dimae said things happened so quickly and immobilised with shock they watched helplessly as her husband punched her daughter several times in the head.

"Then he told us to dress her up while he went to fetch a van and we all went to Nakadrudru, about two kilometres away, to his parents' house where he told them what he'd done," she said.

Mrs Dimae, a school teacher who is sheltering with relatives in Labasa, said she feared for her safety and would not return to Lekutu.

Police spokesman Atunaisa Sokomuri confirmed the 32-year-old man later turned himself in at the Lekutu Police Post.

"Our investigations are continuing and no charge has been laid yet," he said.

Lekutu villager Rupeni Rokoqele said they heard the pleas for mercy from the house but thought it was a domestic dispute.

A post mortem examination is expected to be conduced today.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=127064

Andrew (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#4

I have listened to these conservatives for a long time calling in on your show and working with them. I have come to the conclusion the vast majority of them cannot be reached. They have child like minds that are in gotcha mode or wanting to prove how we were protected by the republicans because there is so much to fear. Everything you say they turn around and don't realize they have turned themselves into the very thing our fore fathers warned against. They have moved the conversation so far right the democrats are nowhere near liberal. The individual that called in during the second hour talking about the post office was a perfect example, he was in gotcha mode and an obvious hardened right wing zealot. He had a child like mind that would never under any circumstance admit he was wrong or someone that didn't share his beliefs was right.

Jared Allaway (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#5

I made an Iron-on T-shirt that says "Single Payer Health Care Now" I wear it all the time, I hope I can have an impact. I live in Washington State, recently I was in Victoria Canada at Butchart Gardens. I was standing outside the bathroom waiting for my wife when a man walked up and said "you don't really want Universal Health Care do you? It will cost so damn much!" I was stunned, I just kind of scratched at the ground with my foot and said "yeah its tragic" I kept making this tick sound with my mouth, I don't know where that came from. He asked "are you from the United States?" I said "yes" He said "Why would you wear that shirt here? They have Universal Health Care here in Canada and they hate it! I would be embarrassed to be seen wearing that shirt" I thought to myself "Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles." I figured the Fox News propaganda was firmly embedded in his brain, and even though I had recently read Cracking the Code I had not yet had much practice persuading people yet. When we got back on the bus the Canadian busdriver/tour guide explained his understanding of his health care system. There must have been another Fox News watcher sitting up at the front of the bus asking him questions. Someone asked him if he liked his health care. The bus driver joked "No I don't like it, my mother-in-law recently had a heart attack and they put a pacemaker in her just to pester me." He said "I'm joking I like it, I pay 100 bucks a month and if I ever need surgery I can walk right in to any doctor and get surgery no questions asked."

My republican in-laws were on the bus and they were exposed to a good message straight from the horses mouth, I gave the busdriver all the cash I had in my pocket for a tip.

Bernie Sirelson (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#6

Hi All,

I think that what's missing, and maybe all that's missing, is people taking charge. We're all fairly resigned, feel beaten down, and think that nothing will make a difference.

What needs to happen is that WE need to create an activist culture again. I'm ready. I've just joined my local Democratic Club, and will be not only attending, but whipping up the energy. There is a lackadaisical attitude, at least here in LA. I had to really dig to even find these people- two websites down, no returned calls, the one website that was functional, I had to swim through pages just to find out how to contact them.

I've had it with this. I am going to take this on and transform the complacency here in LA into activism. It is critical, and there is no more important task right now, so far as I can see.

We're suffering from complacency. Everyone who has their head a little bit above the water needs to reach down and help the others to see what's possible if we would all speak and stand for our passions. One person maybe does nothing, but a whole bunch of "one persons" can do a lot.

I commend Thom, and Randi, Ron, Mike, and all the rest for doing what they do. I think a concerted and coordinated effort needs to be made on the part of all the Progressive talk show hosts, TV hosts, etc., to get us organized.

We can do it! It is the time. The world teeters on so many precarious edges and it won't take a lot to push it in any direction. Let's take charge of this once and for all and push it in the RIGHT direction (right=correct, not rightwing), and we can have a world that works for everyone, our children's children especially.

Bernie Sirelson (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#7

Thank you Jared. I'm going to make one too. I have an account at Zazzle.com. They do up items for sale with your design. I'll put some shirts and hats (and mugs and and and) up there for others to pick up.

Public option is a start, but ultimately, Single Payer is the only way to go. Health Care IS A RIGHT!

DRichards (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#8

Re: Privatizing is more efficient, and more cost effective.

That dog don't hunt!

I still say that big business gets very inefficient as well. The only difference is that these folks want to privatize everything because they want to make a profit off of everything! A for profit corporation is always going to charge more for their services than a non profit government entity.

Hysan (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#9

You called it Andrew - that one caller was rude, condescending and completely uninformed. And he wouldn't even _listen_. That's my problem with the right...they always assume they ARE right and can't listen to another point of view...since that might involve having their worldview changed.

xeyeldinTX (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#10

Regarding the Cato Institute gentleman's outrage at USPMG Potter's salary + bonus given the 7 Billion Loss. What does he think of the airlines? And the airline's answer is to further cut wages, gut benefits, and delay maintenance while the executives have lined their pockets with enormous salaries and bonuses. Their incomes make Potter's of USPS look like chump change.

Mugsy (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#11

Hey Thom, following your lead, I sent the following email to a half dozen Democratic Senators this morning regarding healthcare reform:
--------------------------------------------------
Dear Senator,

Sometimes, the simplest solution is the most elegant. Here is how to solve the healthcare debate in one simple step:

Expand Medicare to cover more than it currently does (plain Medicare only covers "pre-existing" ailments such as disabilities and old age), then allow anyone to "buy in" (helping to explain how it will be paid for). The infrastructure is already in place, it's a system people already know and love, and I dare any Republican to come out against Medicare.

It would allay the fears of Seniors being told their Medicare is going to be "cut" to pay for the new system, and reminds people that Medicare is *already* a government system that has been working well for years.

Call the new system "MedicarePLUS", *NOT* something like "Medicare for All" (which implies it's the same old Medicare, leaving an opening for critics to attack the *existing* system).

It seems like such a simple solution that answers just about every nonsense argument I hear coming out of Town Hall protesters. And as you see here, it can be summed up in just two simple sentences.

(I am writing you from Texas, a state with two Republican senators and NO interest in providing a Public Option. I received a generalized form-letter back from one, and a "thank you for your concern about nuclear weapons" from the other), so I come to you for a more receptive audience.

Thank you.

coolflowers (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#12

In watching the scene unfold regarding healthcare debate, it seems to me that we are in a real pickle having to contend with corporate media coverage of this. THE IGNORANCE IS APPALING!

What have we become? I think it is only human to love a perfect stranger and want her to get healthcare if she is sick. I would much rather my taxes go to her than anything else.

Freedom (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#13

The caller, Mark, is by his own words, a "tea bagger".

Maybe he and Larry Craig should have their own "tea bagging" party. Just imagine all of the closet Republicans they can invite.

This guy is a clear picture of the kind of minds (lack of) that just blindly goose step to policies that is clearly not in their best interest.

Obviously, he doesn't realize that if he or any of his family had a serious illness, his bartering and cash that he purportedly pays for medical services, would not get him far.

Mike (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#14

Tad's points about privatizing Mail is killed itself. Notice that he calls Government Postal services a "monopoly". His SECOND sentence talks about how Email is overtaking snail mail, because it's too expensive. Monopoly is total stake in an industry or enterprise. okay... the discussion just got worse. I love taking a hidden agenda or lie and exposing it using the proponent's own words. Great calm under hysterical banter.

ephemera (not verified) 14 years 50 weeks ago
#15

EVIDENCE OF DEAD PIGEON

A video on YouTube has come to my attention as hard EVIDENCE that pigeons can be assassinated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZimSVYWmVac

During a game of cricket between Yorkshire and Lancashire, a pigeon was spotted flying over the field. At the exact same moment, the cricket ball was being thrown from outfield, and timed so perfectly as to strike the unlucky fowl from the sky.

In the cricket video, a player is clearly spotted picking up the DEAD pigeon.

Some might say that this was a coincidence. But who can prove to me that this was not a planned act of assassination! What do cricket players know about the pigeons?

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