Daily Topics - Tuesday February 9th 2010
By Louise
Quote: "Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hour One - Why do the tea partiers want to turn America over to the big corporate predators? Joseph Farah www.worldnetdaily.com
Hour Two - Have we reached the point where we're trading sex for health care? Terri Carlson Divorced mom, can't get h/ins due to pre-existing conditions www.willmarryforhealthinsurance.com
Hour Three - Is capitalism more important than democracy? Stephen Moore online.wsj.com
Plus...Do you really want a Taco Bell manager piloting your airplane? Miles O'Brien Frontline Correspondent - Frontline's “Flying Cheap” airing tonight on PBS at 9pm ET www.pbs.org/frontline/flyingcheap
Comments
#2
The Entity (a work in progress)
The enemy doesn’t live halfway around the world in a country whose name you intentionally mispronounce to show which side you’re on.
It doesn’t come from another country, work at a low-paying job and speak your language with a heavy accent.It has no interest in dating your daughter or living in your neighborhood.
It will throw you out of a job without a thought and pocket the profit when the market rises due to its efficiency, smiling discretely all the way to the bank.
It’ll throw you out of your house after you’ve paid 20 years on 30 year mortgage and the law will help it because it’s their job. No one will live in your empty house. The pipes will burst, the house will rot. Animals and birds will move in and make it their own. But, ha ha ha ha ha, you can’t have it, even if you have paid double the value of your house already in interest.
Maybe you'll get sick and your medical “insurance” won’t pay for your treatment or you don’t have any insurance because you lost your job. You’ve worked all your life, paid off your house, have no debt. Too bad goody-two-shoes. You lose your house to save your life.
It’s legal.
This enemy can’t be fought with guns because it doesn’t have a body or a face.
It’s an entity. A sulfuric gas that wafts yellow and stinking all around us. A gas that drugs us, blinds us, makes us sleepy and tired and stupid and afraid of anything and everything. A gas that makes us ache for a past that never was and makes it impossible for us to see the future.
It’s name is capitalism. It’s face is the corporation
#3
@rewinn
Turner has been grandstanding about 30 questions he presented to Timothy Geithner regarding Delphi salaried retirees getting their benefits cut due to Delphi filing bankruptcy and dumping their retirement plan onto the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. He is propogating that Geithner was directly involved in cutting the retirees benefits. Turner's sheep repond with the likes of "keep up the good work" and "hold them accountable". The best (worst) was "Who does the government think it is to tell people what they can make?"
My responses were to explain how the Delphi workers are lucky that the PBGC exist since the bankruptcy judge absolved Delphi of their pension responsibilities. Noted that PBGC is limited by law (ERISA) to the maximum annual payout, $54K. Also questioned Turner's authenticity in presenting his questions to Geithner or if he was just piling onto the scapegoat.
#4
@Charles: On Facebook, you can label Turner’s stuff as offensive material.
#5
McCain admits to war crimes while an POW enemy combatant in Vietnam. McCain attributes his "FALSE CONFESSION" THAT WAS BROADCAST THERE LATER CLAIMING THAT HIS CONFESSIONS were the result of his being tortured and that he admitted to WAR CRIMES to end the torture. Just last week McCain criticized the Obama administration for not toturing the UNDERWARE BOMBER to extractt informantion despite his own admission that he McCain claims his confesstions were false, although they were the truth h was a war criminal there and was a traitor for teelling his captors more than his name rank and serial number as required by the UCMJ Uniform Code of Military Justice.
#6
@Richard, I agree... I just wanted to expand upon your comment regardless of what prompted it. Seems to me, that ignorance is a vice with the majority of the Tea Baggers (and the minority is leading them off the cliff for their own selfish means). Its why I pointed out that their actions are destructive, rather its self inflicting or upon others, their actions do have a negative effect. As a caller later mentioned how the movement rudely and selfishly these bastards went around shouting down Senators and Congress members at town hall meetings during the summer recess to prevent any reasonable conversations to take place.
Any who, I wasn't trying to argue against anything you said, I was just trying to take the ball and run with it.
#7
Maybe Obama is pulling a Mahatma Ghandi, in his own way? Maybe we just do not recognize it with all the violness we are experiencing.
#8
RE: Anthem rate increase in CA - going up in maine too. The following is a message I sent to Collins & Snowe our "moderate" republicans -
Here in our NO OPTION health insurance state of Maine we have just been informed that our Anthem rates will go up again this coming March. My wife & I, by the grace of God, have not needed to avail ourselves of our health insurance coverage over the last 4 or 5 years. We have a $ 4,000.00 deductible EACH. Yet our rates are still climbing. Our President Obama still wants to share the leadership and the glory with the republicans , but we as registered Independents would cheer if he closed the door on all of you. We will not be voting for any republicans any time soon. You stick to your cohesive nay sayer caucus on all issues. This we will not forget – you are the party of No. You have lost credibility on all other issues no matter how close to reasonable you might be. There is NO SENSE that you care about your constituents but rather only about your corporate sponsors. Good luck.
#9
@Richard - I could do that but there are others on his page that have not yet been censored.
#10
@Nels: I was expanding my comment and largely dittoing your comment . . .
#11
@Richard - Turner's page only allows comments to be reported. I cannot report on his posts.
BTW, I can go back as a fan but my ability to comment has been restricted.
#12
@Richard, OK, don't mind me, sometimes I think my comments are being misconstrued.
#13
We didn' t create 40 million jobs since 1980.The population grew by 100 million
from 1980 -2010 . I*m thrilled some of the 100 million work at Wal mart, McDonalds ,and Starbucks. It*s the American Dream -21st century edition .
#14
Looking for balance in issues discussion I went to Farah's site after your short discussion yesterday. I was surprised to find that a reasonable sounding fellow promotes a clearly reactionary propaganda site at wnd. I guess if you had more time with him I would have saved 3 hours research. Maybe others here were also curious about Farah and wnd. I say don't waste your time on them.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
From Unequal Protection, 2nd Edition:
"Hartmann combines a remarkable piece of historical research with a brilliant literary style to tell the grand story of corporate corruption and its consequences for society with the force and readability of a great novel."
From Unequal Protection, 2nd Edition:
"Beneath the success and rise of American enterprise is an untold history that is antithetical to every value Americans hold dear. This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and companies."
From Screwed:
"Once again, Thom Hartmann hits the bull’s eye with a much needed exposé of the so-called ‘free market.’ Anyone concerned about the future of our nation needs to read Screwed now."
Where do wealth, which here is exampled here as food, and jobs come from?
I prefer a mutual biological/social relationship rather than a parasitic biological/social relationsip. Most capitalists and Corporatists, are parasitic while our current government is trying to be mutual. The parasites create wealth bubbles because they can only flourish on a healthy host/middle class. But they feed on that health until the death of both. They party while the host diminishes its resources and dies. If there is no health, the parasites have nothing to eat, no wealth. They flourish for a while, all looks healthy and then all die. Who was it that supplied the food/wealth potential, to begin with? It was the host. The potential always existed within the host, not the parasite. No company/parasite can create food/wealth or a single job, without the wealth of the people. They create the health of the economy and the demand for product and services. The parasite will not sacrifice its own resources for the host. That is why it is called a parasite. A good government will offer its health and resources because they pursue a mutual relationship. Like parasites, they cannot exist without siphoning from the host, but they keep the host healthy, because they see the value in a mutual relationship.