@harry ashburn

Uh yeah... I'd say Glen Beck is a wee bit racially divisive. Here's another one for ya...

The Beckstabbers

Howzabout "The Beckwards"?

Beckwards is good...

maybe even the Beckwarts

@Maxrot re: Beckensteins: meh... that would work for Al Franken fans.. Frankensteins..

"Beckbiters"?

@Don't Panic re:"I'm amazed that Paul Krugman doesn't think size matters"..

You know what they say about guys who say size doesn't matter.

Like Wendy Liebman says: "Size doesn't matter...if you're a lesbian!"

No Thom - Beck isn't Big Daddy - He's Big Brother, and his program is "The 60 Minutes Hate"!

Ta da! Member of the day makes good on having recieved The Edison Gene and writes book review.

Have a look here: Read more at Suite101: Thom Hartmann- On Genetically Gifted Children & the Edison Gene

Persons with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may be understood as hunters in a farmer's world, with a crucial role to advance civilization.

http://developmental-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/thom-hartmann--on-genetically-gifted-children--the-edison-gene

John Stewart and Steven Colbert are entertainers, Beck is a propogandist. There's a big difference, entertainers don't beat the drum for a political ideology and push their audience to take (violent) action.

Sadly, I have con friends that have taken The Onion articles as genuine.

@cmoore: you're kidding?

Barack Obama just emailed me back about my being upset that the Whitehouse is not doing enough to tell us what is in the health bill and that they have responsibility to tell us as in the absence of information, people will make it up, get would up, and begin making crazy death threats.

Here is response: let's make it an viral email !

Dear Friend:

Thank you for writing. After a century of striving, after a year of debate, and after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise to the American people. It is the law of the land.

This legislation builds on our current system of private insurance and gives American families greater control over their own health care. It cuts costs for families, gives Americans greater consumer protections and choice, keeps our promises to seniors on Medicare, strengthens small businesses, and cuts the deficit to help secure a brighter future for our children and grandchildren.

Here is what health reform means for you:

KEEPING YOUR COVERAGE: If you like your current insurance, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, there is nothing in this law that interferes with that relationship. In fact, you will have greater control over your own health care, not government or insurance companies.

ENDING ABUSIVE INSURANCE PRACTICES: This year, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying children coverage because of pre-existing conditions, and in 2014 for adults. Until 2014, uninsured individuals with pre-existing conditions will have access to affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized high-risk insurance pool. Beginning this year, insurance companies can no longer place lifetime or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care patients receive, and they can no longer drop people from coverage when they get sick.

New offices of health insurance consumer assistance will help individuals in the process of filing complaints or appeals against insurance companies. Learn more at:

www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections

STRENGTHENING MEDICARE: Guaranteed Medicare benefits are preserved and expanded. In fact, this year, seniors who fall into the "donut hole" will receive a $250 rebate to help pay for prescription drugs. In 2011, seniors in this coverage gap will receive a 50 percent discount for brand name drugs, and by 2020, the donut hole will be completely closed. In addition, beginning in 2011, Medicare beneficiaries will receive free preventive-care services. Learn more at: www.whitehouse.gov/health-care- meeting/proposal/titleiii

HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES: On the day I signed the new law, small businesses became immediately eligible for tax credits of up to 35 percent of their premium contributions for employee coverage. This makes coverage more affordable so small business owners do not have to choose between hiring and health care. By 2014, small businesses with up to 100 employees will have access to state-based Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchanges, where they can purchase affordable, quality insurance and may qualify for tax credits up to 50 percent of employer premium contributions. Learn more at:

www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform/small-business

HOLDING INSURANCE COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE:

Beginning in 2011, insurance companies will be required to submit justifications for requested premium increases. Any company with excessive or unjustified premium increases may not be able to participate in the new Exchanges. Insurers will also be required to meet new standards that limit overhead costs and provide premium rebates if they fail to satisfy these new standards.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE COVERAGE THROUGH MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUTS: Middle class and working families will have greater access to quality, affordable health care. The new law provides tax credits to middle-class families who cannot afford insurance on their own, providing the largest middle class tax cuts for health care in history. New plans will have a cap on what insurance companies can require beneficiaries to pay in out-of-pocket expenses, such as co-pays and deductibles. In addition, this year, young people up to age 26 can stay on their parents' insurance policy. Reform will expand health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans, guaranteeing 94 percent of Americans will be covered. Learn more at:

www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting

PROVIDING MORE OPTIONS THROUGH THE NEW

HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGES: Starting in 2014, small businesses and individuals who are uninsured, self-employed, or have lost or changed jobs will be able to choose insurance coverage in new competitive insurance marketplaces. These state- based Exchanges will pool buying power, providing Americans with the same private insurance choices that Members of Congress will have and fostering choice and competition. In addition, the new law allows States to enter into interstate health care choice compacts, where qualified health plans can be offered in all participating States, allowing families to purchase insurance across state lines and find the plan that works best for them. Learn more

at: www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-

meeting/proposal/titlei/exchange

HELPING RETIREES: This year, retirees ages 55-64 who have employer-sponsored health insurance will receive help to lower the costs of their premiums and out-of-pocket expenses through a temporary re-insurance program.

ADDRESSING MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: The new law establishes a grant program for States to explore alternative means of resolving disputes over medical treatment and to find ways to reduce medical errors. The grants give States the flexibility to propose tort reforms that work best for them. My Administration is also funding medical liability demonstration projects through the Department of Health and Human Services. Learn more at:

healthreform.gov/newsroom/factsheet/medicalliability.html

REDUCING THE DEFICIT: The Congressional Budget Office confirmed that health reform will reduce the deficit by over $100 billion in the next decade, and over $1 trillion in the following decade. Learn more at:

www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/03/18/responsible-and-paid

CUTTING WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE: Health reform implements unprecedented measures to fight waste, fraud, and abuse and improve the quality and outcomes of care for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The law ends unwarranted subsidies to private insurance companies and takes important steps to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions, improve patient safety, coordinate care, modernize payment systems, and streamline record-keeping. It also realigns incentives to reward medical providers for the value, not the volume, of their care. The law includes virtually all of the main ideas recommended by health policy experts to slow the growth of health care costs over time.

Learn more at: www.whitehouse.gov/health-care- meeting/proposal/titlevi

While some of these reforms will be put in place later, a host of desperately needed reforms will take effect this year.

American workers and families can feel more secure knowing that neither illness nor accident should endanger their pursuit of the American dream.

To learn more about the contents of this legislation and how it affects you, visit: www.whitehouse.gov/health-care- meeting

Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

To be a part of our agenda for change, join us at www.WhiteHouse.gov

mstaggerlee,

Yes, bank size is not the main point of the piece. However, it is a major issue and it surprised me that Krugman doesn't consider it that critical.

mstaggerlee,

To me, consolidation of smaller businesses is a huge problem holding back our economy. There is so little room for true creativity and competition (and JOBS) in our economy.

@ harry - kidding that I have con friends or that they fall for The Onion? I think they, like many cons, only read the headlines.

RE: The Baggers o' the Tea . . .

What we are seeing is the schism of the followers of authoritarian regimes from their corporate beholden leadership due to fear fatigue AND, yes (of course), their demographics are more than obvious to followers of history. Of course (again), they are angry because they are being marginalized.

@Quark - Agreed, on both points (consolidation & Sherman). Glass-Steagle, as well, must be re-instated and ENFORCED!

@John Doh! - Well, I don't think she bought ALL of them ... There's the RNC, the financeirs of the various Tea Parties, FOX, Newscorp and the Washington Times needed several copies for review, etc, etc. I wonder how many copies of "her" book are still sitting in Barnes & Noble or Amazon warehouses, waiting for REAL PEOPLE to buy them - after all, the "target market" for the product that Sarah Palin has become really doesn't spend a whole lot of time or money on such frivolous things as books - they'd mostly prefer to wait for the movie. :-)

Mark K: I think it is also useful to point out that Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and the like are well aware of the predilections of their audience. They are not merely empty vessels waiting to be filled, but have certain paranoid attachments that need something concrete (like the typical right-wing talking points) to say "Oh, yes. That's what I think too!" The problem is that sometimes right-wing commentators don't realize that many of their listeners are so extreme themselves that they don't recognize when they are just being "entertained." An example of this is Hannity misjudging his audience at a recent Tea Party gathering; rather than taking offense at being compared to Timothy McVeigh, they cheered.

@John Doh re: sales: National Inquirer sells more copies than The New Yorker. is that your standard?

@cmoore re; merging: as long as they don't do it in mid-air...

rladlof,

Please say more about Raygun's exec. order. (Reboot my memory.)

Maybe its just me, but every time I read Sarah's last name I can't help but see "Pain".

@Maxrot - or get a job "hosting" a fake interview show.

FROM http://iris.nyit.edu/~shartman/mba0101/trust.htm:

The early 1980s saw the dramatic conclusion of a historic monopoly case against the telephone giant American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) (United States v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co., 552 F. Supp. 131 [D.D.C. 1982], aff'd in Maryland v. United States, 460 U.S. 1001, 103 S. Ct. 1240, 75 L. Ed. 2d 472 [1983]). The Justice Department settled claims that AT&T had impeded competition in long-distance telephone service and telecommunications equipment. The result was the largest divestiture in history: a federal court severed the Bell System's operating companies and manufacturing arm (Western Electric) from AT&T, transforming the nation's telephone services. But the historic settlement was an exception to the political philosophy and level of enforcement that characterized the decade. As the 1980s were ending, the Justice Department dropped its thirteen-year suit against International Business Machines (IBM). This lengthy battle had sought to end IBM's dominance by breaking it up into four computer companies. Convinced that market forces had done the work for them, prosecutors gave up.

Throughout the 1980s, political conservatism in federal enforcement complemented the Supreme Court's doctrine of nonintervention. The administration of President Ronald Reagan reduced the budgets of the FTC and the Department of Justice, leaving them with limited resources for enforcement. Enforcement efforts followed a restrictive agenda of prosecuting cases of output restrictions and large mergers of a horizontal nature (involving firms within the same industry and at the same level of production). Mergers of companies into conglomerates, on the other hand, were looked on favorably, and the years 1984 and 1985 produced the greatest increase in corporate acquisitions in the nation's history.

FROM http://www.answers.com/topic/federal-trade-commission

Support for FTC activism began to wane by the late 1970s and fell precipitously following the commission's efforts in 1978 to regulate television advertisements aimed at children. Critics of the FTC argued that the commission had become too independent, too powerful, and heedless of the public good. Congressional critics sought new limits on FTC activity, and in 1979 they temporarily shut off FTC appropriations. The FTC Improvement Act of 1980 restored the agency's funding but enacted new congressional restrictions.

The Reagan administration further targeted the FTC. Executive Order 12291, issued 17 February 1981, placed the reform of regulatory commissions under the control of the president, and the FTC's actions soon turned from aggressive regulation to cooperation with business interests. The agency abandoned cases with sweeping structural implications, emphasized consumer fraud over antitrust enforcement, and liberalized its merger guidelines. The commission's Competition Advocacy Program, for example, championed promarket, probusiness regulatory policies before other state and federal agencies

cmoore68,

Re: Maybe its just me, but every time I read Sarah's last name I can't help but see "Pain".

Everytime I hear her voice, I experience "Pain." She has a voice that could break glass!