Louise, thank you for the comment! We are truly living in dire and sad times. Louise, since you are very close to Thom, please have him comment on a daily basis that the banksters do not manufacture and produce anything and why should they receive a salary of $2 billion a year. This is ludicrous.

Oh that didn't translate well.

The problem with SS is it typically brings in more than it pays out. The surplus buys treasury bonds to prop up the rest of the governments shortfall. At some point those t-bonds have to be paid back.

Thom, it is my understanding that Limbaugh has an eight year contract worth $400. He receives $50 million per year.

We HAVE to repeal NAFTA and every other similar treaty. You've said it many times on your daily radio broadcast, Thom. If a widget costs $5 to produce in America, and it costs $1 to produce in China or India and they want to sell it in America, there should be a $4 tariff on every widget that is imported! I know there will be a hew and cry from the right about protectionism ... but WHAT'S WRONG WITH A LITTLE PROTECTIONISM? Isn't the American way of life worth PROTECTING?

I cannot believe the stupidity of this blog entry or, even worse, the stupidity and ignorance that it assumes of its readers. The Republicans are somehow to blame because an exceptionally heartless woman attempts to sell her child for money; we are all supposed to forget that the Democrats were as strongly in support of NAFTA as anyone else. Every President from either party supported NAFTA from its inception to the present -- and the point is not just NAFTA, but the White House's support of Big Business and its willingness to ship jobs outside the country to cut costs.

How much money did Bill accept from the Chinese?

Some of us are old enough to remember this stuff.

I am sorry to read such idiocy in a public venue.

You can't have big government and a job to... because your boss can't pay for big government and your job to! You should try being an employer for a day!

Bush had the right ideas when he promoted the ownership society. He just was confused about what ownership he was talking about. When workers own the companies and the banks then society thrives, and nobody gets laid off. Cause if you are the owner you are not going to vote to lay yourself off. This system has gone on successfully in Spain, known as the worker owned cooperatives of Mondragon, for about the last 60 years in the northern Basque region of Spain and is something to look at. When Bush told us to go shopping and told us to buy houses he was really thinking we would do so by going into debt, in which case we really do not own anything. I guess he thought we really are that stupid to not know that if you do not have a say at work and do not have control of the bank and do not actually own the roof over your head then somebody else really is in control.

So the actual ownership society that shares and requires investment from every participant but also shares decision making authority amongst all the investors is much more powerful and much more resilient. Study the worker ownership models of Mondragon and the member owned co-op credit unions and all the variations of true participatory democracy.....then take over the company or start new companies organized with power vested in the hands of the workers. Lots of information available at the US Federation of Worker Owned Cooperatives. BTW This aint socialism, it is real Democracy, one worker - one vote - everybody buys in either with cash or sweat equity over an entry level time period. The buy in price is about the equal of one year's salary over 3-5 years. There is no free lunch here. This is just an understanding that the workers know what is going on, are willing to fund the operation, and should have decision making authority. Check it out, it works! Over the time span the Mondragon Cooperatives have been running their unemployment rate has not gone above 1%. In the last 2 years in Spain, with 25% of the conventional businesses failing, the Mondragon Cooperative Companies lost one company with 35 employees out of 120 companies in their system. Those 35 went to work for other companies, so no one is out of work. Everyone voted to make a little less, but no one is kicked out. We need to stop asking capitalists to stop behaving like capitalists and instead ourselves start acting like cooperativists in the spirit of the Democracy we profess.

I hear this BS all the time. I know of know reason why it is not done today, so if it is such a good deal let it be done.

Infantacide is probably a viable alternative to a dysfunctional woman.

All I've been hearing is an arguement about big government vs small government. How about good government vs bad government? If we had good government and solid employment with rising personal income your business would thrive and you would be able to pay for that kind of government. As one of the "rich" (I hate that term since my income is much closer to the $70,000 a year guy than the $35 million a year guy) I'd gladly give up my Bush tax cuts to go back to Clinton's better government. Yes, he didn't do everything right but most of his biggest mistakes NAFTA and repeal of Glass Steagal (which were huge) didn't positively or negatively have much impact during his term. Sure I paid higher taxes but I did much better and so did my business and almost everyone elses. And unemployment plummeted through most of Clinton's term.

"This aint socialism, it is real Democracy" You make some good points. It appears that, step by step, we've been decaying into something that more resembles a feudal nation. Let me add that when we wiped out unions and social programs, we wiped out the power of ordinary people, and we are now all slaves to corporate America -- and we are far worse off as a result. The corporate/political powers very effectively used the Divide and Conquer strategy against us, effectively pitting segments of society against each other. We will no longer stand up for each other, out of terror that some undeserving person, somewhere, might get more than they deserve. As long as we are so paranoid that someone is being given an advantage, and as long as we continue to be so numbingly apathetic about the suffering of fellow citizens, I don't see any chance of Americans uniting to take the steps necessary to save this country.

Thom,

The case of a desperate mother trying to sell her baby is outrageous, or course. But it is nothing new. Desperate mothers in desperate societies have been faced with such choices for millenia. Is anyone surprised that the United States, in the early 21st Century, after more than 30 years of Republican destruction, has devolved to this level of desperation?

Not me.

Jeff McKnight

Spring Hill, FL

Here are letters two and three to the pastor and his weekend assistant for the Masses.

Dear Father XXX,

I am sending you a letter and a copy of the letter to Father XXXXX. Both Father XXXXX and you share with us informative homilies. The majority of the Parish is conservative or the Sadducees in Jesus’ time. The Sadducees in our parish are hard-core conservatives. They live in the past and they refuse to accept any changes in our Catholic Church and in our country. For example, once we are at war, we will always remain at war.

Jesus was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were concerned about the past and the present. His words were preparing us for the future and the Last Judgment. Jesus was a remarkable person as He walked among us. He did not ask to see a health insurance card before he healed us; He did not refuse helping people with a pre-existing medical condition; and He did not drop anyone from His health care plan. The Pharisees were an inclusive sect and the Sadducees were an exclusive sect. In our parish we have the Sadducees (a majority) and the Pharisees (a minority). I view the Sadducees as persons who will hoard their money and they seek more and more money. The Pharisees seem to be parishioners who are willing to share their money because in Basic Economics people need money to keep our economy going. If people are without money, how can they help to keep the economy alive? Greed and selfishness are destroying our country.

We are currently living in a country that is set on destroying the middle class and the focus of our government is to enslave ninety percent of the people. We are truly living in sad and dire times.

Sincerely, a Parishioner

Dear Father XXX,

I am sending you a letter and a copy for Father XXXXX. It is my guess that for every positive letter Father XXXXX receives for your homilies he will receive twenty negative letters from the Sadducees or conservatives in the Parish. Enclosed is some information. I cannot recall where I found these words.

CAN ONE BE A CHRISTIAN AND A CONSERVATIVE AT THE SAME TIME?
Two Thousand years ago in the midst of the Conservative, Militantly, Bellicose, Roman Empire and the parallel Rule of the Ultraconservative Conservative Herodian Kings and Priests, where the death penalty was a broadly used as it has been in Texas and Florida since the Bush advent therein, there came a man who opposed all of that for which they stood. He opposed the death penalty and much forgiving of sexual sins. (The woman caught in adultery John 8:1-11)
He despised greed/avarice which the Bushites Gekko say is Good!. Luke 16:19-31 The avaricious rich man
He opposed violence of any sort; he was by his own admission, "meek and mild." He advocated tolerance and acceptance of others. He offered free health care to any who approached him.
He also refused to condemn or judge others except for the rich who were avaricious and the hypocrites. He opposed judging others, a prime factor in the Bush administration IS judging others Luke 7: 37-42- judging others
He was dismissive of sexuality as a major judgmental concern. Luke 4:4-42 Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well
Jesus was, by the definitions, condemnation and attacks on Liberals by the Bushites and the "Christian" Right, a "bleeding Heart Liberal." They are indeed correct, because in his opposition to everything for which The Conservative Roman Empire and the Ultraconservative Conservative Herodian Kings and Priests, stood Jesus was and remains a Liberal. There is no way the Church can, without being hypocritical wriggle its way around the reality that one cannot be a Christian and a Conservative, any more than one can be a Christian and support the slaughter in Iraq (A nation 12 times smaller than the USA, and lacking air force and navy at the time of the invasion), and the planned slaughters in Iran, and Venezuela.
Therefore, begs the question, CAN A PERSON BE BOTH A CHRISTIAN AND A CONSERVATIVE? Sincerely, a Parishioner

It isn't that there is enough to go around it's more on the order of there isn't enough left over to go around. This is a big problem for the uber rich. Slow motion revolution is more like it ,and on a global scale. It isn't bloodless by any means shape or form.