Wednesday October 28th 2009
By Louise
Hour One: Is Joe Lieberman a traitor to the Democratic Party and the average American or merely s shill for big pharma and big banking?
Hour Two: "Too Big To Fail" New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin talks with Thom never before disclosed details of the financial crisis www.nytimes.com
Hour Three: "Will the Republicans take their party back before the right wing extremists destroy America?" Thom challenges Dan Gainor of the Business and Media Institute www.businessandmedia.org
Comments
#2
BEFORE WE GET STRATED: In defense of Joseph Lieberman (I-Aetna Health Insurance), it needs to be noted that in his party of one, Connecticut for Lieberman, Holy Joementum is on the ultra-radical Progressive wing of his political party.
#3
Richard,
What do you think makes him tick? Is it money alone or is he also power-crazy? (I keep wondering why such a professed religious person that he claims to be doesn't see the moral contradiction in his position, or maybe I understand too well...)
#4
I Like This Guy...
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) is another strong advocate for reform. 'Interesting interview on MSNBC this a.m. (Video)
#5
Joe Lie-ber-man is all about one thing....his own personal interests. I feel about him as Richard feels about objectivists. @#*!%! :-(
#6
"Bill Seeks to Shift Rescue Costs to Big Banks"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/us/politics/28regulate.html?_r=1&adxnn...
#7
Remember Connecticut is FOR Lieberman to solely represent Aetna . . . Even though he ran on his efforts to obtain SINGLE-PAYER . . .
#8
I'd like to be Joe Lieberman's dentist. I think he has too many teeth.
#9
I called Lieberman's office for clarification as soon as I heard the announcement of his vote on the public option. My call was transferred to a staffer who explained Lieberman's position. I told him that I thought Lieberman's position was unconscionable, especially because 1) polls consistently show that a majority of Americans WANT a public option and 2) nearly 45,000 Americans die every year from a lack of access to proper health care.
I ended my call by telling the staffer that Lieberman is a rat. (I startled myself with the spontaneous utterance of that comment.)
#10
Connecticut has a long history of being separate and different. They were founded by a group of dissident zealot Puritans who marched out of Massachusetts into the wilderness in 1635. They soon cut their own deal with the British monarch. Remember the Charter Oak? Not to mention the fact that the Bush clan came from there. They even elected Prescott to the senate. Then again I should be careful about throwing stones...I live in Bachmann's district.
#11
@Quark:
I really think that Senator Lieberman got ‘broken’ by the combination of the failure of Vice President Gore to stand up when the 2000 election was stolen and 9-11 attacks. The perceived betrayal and the fear fused with his personality. Before the attack and the loss, Lieberman was a fairly strong liberal of conscience. Whatever switch was thrown in his brain shifted to him into being a fear-driven corporatist.
Remember, Lieberman had stood on the edge of greatness. No Jew was ever so close to being President of these United States. Now, even Lieberman’s religiosity has been become subdued by his desire to remain in power to remain control.
Sometimes, I think all his ‘paling about with the terrorist, President George Bush, allowed the sociopath to rub off and infect his soul.
#12
The idea of recalling a senator came up when Lieberman showed himself to be a weasel right after winning reelection in 2006. Nothing came of it, so I doubt he can be removed that way. But the good news is that only the Senate is required to remove a Senator. It doesn't work like impeachment of the President, where the House has to agree to it first.
If a senator could be removed by his state, there would have been no point originally in giving them 6-year terms; state legislatures could have changed senators on a whim.
#13
All-in-all, I regularly find myself compelled to say a ‘misheberach’, prayer for health and healing, for Senator Joseph Lieberman. It appears that he has wholly forgotten that the ways of the Torah is the ways of peace.
#14
Single-payer is NOT free; it is just a whole shit-load cheaper than what we got.
#15
@THOM:
OMG!!!! Social mobility smacks of freedom . . . USAians can’t have that . . . It sounds soooo French.
#16
Richard,
Speaking about the cost of health care in this country, did you hear about this study, just released?
"US healthcare system wastes $700 billion a year: Thomson Reuters"
http://www.domain-b.com/economy/worldeconomy/20091028_us_healthcare_syst...
Keith Olbermann cited it in a conversation on Countdown last night. (I will post the link to that interview.)
#17
Richard,
Olbermann interview (Video):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olb...
#18
A few observations:
Women who repeatedly say that people tell them how beautiful they are feel insecure about their attractiveness.
People who repeatedly tell you that they're honest usually are liars and cheats.
People who repeatedly say "in my humble opinion" don't know what humility feels like.
#19
Something in the back of my head is telling me that October 28, 2009 is National Chocolate Day.
#20
B Roll,
Sometimes "in my humble opinion" is just a rhetorical throw-away phrase, don't you think? (I don't pay it much heed, I guess.)
#21
@B Roll,
I constantly tell folk that I’m a short, fat ugly little man with a piss-poor attitude . . . Unfortunately for me, it is accurate.
#22
B Roll,
I guess that means I should never say this to my wife: Oh honey, honestly, in my humble opinion, you are the most beautiful woman on earth.?
#23
Hi Thom and Louise,
Would it be possible to interview some experts about natural remedies for H1N1? This is a political issue because so many are uninsured and the immunizations are slow in coming.
I have brewed up a black elderberry tincture (sambucu nigra) which has worked twice to stop symptoms but there are some concerns about sambucus causing a"cytokine storm" in really sick folks which could actually make H1N1 worse.
Common sense reasoning suggests to me that since proliferation of this bug is the real problem, if you catch your symptoms early by gargling with salt water, using a neti pot, and perhaps using just a few doses of elderberry tincture you might be able to stop the proliferation of H1 N1, but if your symptoms worsen much you shouldn't use elderberry tincture because of the risk of creating a "cytokine storm".
But it sure would be nice to have a few experts discussing with you possible natural remedies to stop H1N1 from getting worse. We trust you, whereas other promoters of natural remedies are at times offering snake oil, so it would be cool if you would interview the experts about flu remedies!
#24
Richard,
Not true. You have a good face and besides I like piss-poor attitudes.
#25
Richard,
Mmmmmmm...chocolate!
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/uploads/image/Chocolate%20chick.jpg
#26
Quark
I tend to think that when people latch on to a particular phrase there's a reason for it.
Richard A Adlof
Can't tell if you're short, You're certainly not ugly. In this tiny picture you remind me a little of Andy Kaufman, but he had so many faces. As for your attitude, like most people, I'm sure you have your good and bad moments. But there are times when you show keen insight and times when you're pretty funny.
DDay
"In my humble opinion" isn't necessary in a statement like that. I actually struggle with the "most beautiful woman in the world" comment because my lady is amazingly beautiful, yet I know there are many many amazingly beautiful women in the world. I just give myself the leeway to express whatever feelings insist on forcing their way out of my soul. I think it would be injurious to my being if I tried to repress those feelings. So go on witcha bad self.
#27
Dan Gainor's microphone is about a mile too close to his face.
#28
B Roll,
Whenever someone meets my wife for the first time, invariably they then have the same question..."How the hell did YOU get her? I tell them yes, she is attractive to look at but she has an awful disposition and chronic flatulence. :-)
#29
I am more concerned that Mr. Gainor has any access to any microphone. His rambling rants seem far more appropriate to someone locked alone in his bathroom making funny faces into the mirror.
#30
You guys sure think about attractiveness and virility alot. While, anthropologically, these things promote the continuation of the species, there has to be more (in my opinion) to make humans laudable. (When I first moved to New York City, someone pointed out that heads turned when I walked past them. That made me more determined than ever to make myself a better human being INSIDE.) The rest, to me, is window dressing...
#31
Quark,
I resemble that comment about us guys thinking about attractiveness a lot. Heads turning heh....Does that mean your a babe? tee hee hee :-) Remember men are pigs.
#32
DDay,
People have compared me to Doris Day, tho she's a little too "wholesome" for me. LOL
Anyway, I have always wished people could interact as disembodied entities and really listen to each other. I guess this blog is as close as we can get.
#33
Doris Day? That's my name! Que sera sera
You are right about interacting honestly on the web. The biggest sex organ we have is our brain.
#34
Actually, to change the Rules of the Senate, there is a 2/3 threshold for filibusters. It's in Senate Rule XXII, Sec. 2:
"And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn -- except on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, in which case the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting -- then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of."
#35
mathboy,
Well, that's THAT, then...it looks like there's no way to overcome this.
#36
mathboy,
Does the idea of using budget reconcilation to pass medicare part E have any merit?
#37
Great costumes! And related to current affairs!
Why limit this skill to Halloween alone???
Thom, just put it in his job description that he is required to come to work in costume AT LEAST one day per month! It's good for group morale!
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In an update to a local story I mentioned here, it appears as if media scrutiny and a multi-million dollar lawsuit has moved authorities to name the police officer who emptied his service revolver into the body of a man armed with an excessive amount of alcohol in his system. The officer is also being charged with first-degree manslaughter. It is my impression however, that this criminal charge is really just play to neutralize the lawsuit; cops are never convicted of such killings. Remember Amadou Diallo? In the white neighborhoods of Albany, it was what was the big deal? “If you've got the police doing all this undercover stuff to clean up the streets, some innocent people might get hurt by it. But over all, it's going to do some good” said one resident. When the cop is acquitted, it is doubtless hoped by the authorities that it will lessen the "credibility" of the lawsuit.
Concerning the upcoming Washington state election, I’ll likely vote for Referendum 71, and certainly against the right-wing stealth King County Executive “intelligent design” candidate Susan Hutchison, because I’m a “progressive.” In regard to the former, it merely reconfirms previously approved domestic partnership legislation—save for the fact that it adds same sex couples to the wording. It’s interesting to note that the gay and lesbian community is putting all domestic partnership statutes at risk in this referendum, instead of merely putting forward a stand-alone referendum that calls for the inclusion of same sex couples--for obvious reasons.
Though I’ll likely vote for 71, it is with some reluctance. The pro-71 television ads have taken to the same disingenuousness and fear-mongering that has been the standard MO of the anti-health care reform ads. The ads feature what the 71 proponents consider the demographic most vulnerable to this kind of propaganda—older white women. These ads never mention the words “gay,” “lesbian” or “same sex.” Instead, they “suggest” that “Golden Girls” like the one portrayed might somehow be split apart by voting no against the measure. Most people with a grain of awareness know what is really being played out here; but older people who fear anything that might make life less hospitable are liable not to get the subtly, and even the suggestion of it creates panic in them. The life of these aged white women will not change if 71 is passed or not; no one is going to “tear” them apart, or take their Medicare or Social Security away. But it might make a difference for their alleged granddaughters, pictured with a all-too suggestively tight embrace.
Frankly, I think Obama should just push for federal legislation mandating same sex marriage and do away with this fraud that is “domestic partnership,” which allows too much abuse and deception.