It's too bad that implementation of this provision is being delayed. Perhaps Congress should have somewhat simplified the rules or allowed for more support to answer questions and assist companies in offering new health insurance coverage for their employees. The following comment is off topic, but I don't know where else to mention it. A few days ago, you were talking about Michigan and stated that Richard Devos and his family own "Tupperware." This is incorrect. Devos was the co-founder of Amway of Ada, a small community adjacent to Grand Rapids. Before making statements about prominient individuals on-the-air, it would be a good idea to do the research and fact-check the information beforehand for the sake of the listeners, who need and want accuracy in what is said.

Wait a minute! Large employers are getting a free ride while small business and individuals are still being hit. This is madness! Large employers should be first and foremost held accountable. They have the majority of the workforce, the means and capital, and the moral obligation. Please don't tell me the Obama administration has dropped the ball again! This is getting monotonous!

Quote Hartmann: The majority of Obamacare will go into effect as planned, and is scheduled to start on January 1st of next year. Americans without healthcare coverage will be able to access affordable care...

Yeah, right, just how "affordable"--(not) do you think they will stiff us with? It won't be affordable. The game is rigged. And, as usual, they are reneging on making businesses pay their fair share while the rest of us get stiffed! If any of us don't go along with these government enforced payouts to the Health Insurance mafia then we will get fined won't we!? It has already been "reasoned" to us by the sales people of this boondoggle that the more people that participate the cheaper it will be for all of us...but if you take out a large chunk of big businesses out of the equation then how can it be made "affordable"? And not only that but I believe that there will be a very large number of people that are just not going to participate either because they already have some sort of health care, however ridiculously ineffective...like VA, or Medicare, (and I even understand that there is a way to avoid participating without being fined on some kind of religious ground), or because they are just going to see that the fine is going to be way, way less than paying those expensive Health Care premiums. I expect this whole thing is going to fall apart. The fact that some (big businesses) are going to be able to avoid Obamacare for another year is just a big sign that the whole scam is going to fall through and not work.

No surprise here. This is merely Obama the Orator furthering his final transformation to Barack the Betrayer.

Like any other Republican -- never mind how he hid behind the (politically perfect) double disguise of African-American ethnicity and a Democrat label -- he will do anything he can to protect the One Percent while savaging all the rest of us.

Mark my word: by the end of his term he will have done everything we voted against Romney-Ryan to prevent, including the curtailment of women's rights.

As to 2014? Look for a Republican landslide...not because the nation's gone fascist, but because -- in our despair at Barack's betrayals -- none of the rest of us will bother to vote.

Which, just as the Ruling Class has no doubt planned all along, will be the end, forever, of not merely Obamacare but any other USian effort at health care reform. It will probably be the death of Medicare too -- and with it, the deaths of entire generations of elders.

Wouldn't that be a great way to send a message loud and clear...boycott Obamacare..refuse to get healthcare insurance....pay the fine...then work to call the fine unconstitutional...or at least criminal. Obamacare would fall like a stack of dominoes. By the way...that fine is not very big compared to what it will cost you to pay those health insurance premiums.

Ok, here's some more doom and gloom...our authorities are not the only ones to have UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles...drones) in the US....get out your gas masks kiddies it's post 9/11 all over again...

http://cryptome.org/2013/07/parastoo-uav-launch2.htm

..are ye scared yets? UAVs are just so easy to build and fly..and they can carry almost anything that could cause lots of damage. And no one even has to hijack them with box cutters!

Good gawd, wtf--like the ACA isn't bad enough! How in hell can Obama expect to "push" (apparently a word he does not understand anyway) it on governors when he so obviously has little faith in it himself?

Look, to me its all the same. I am disabled and have been stuck on Medicaid for years. I accept that, as long as I am a US citizen (ugh) I will never be able to try to work again, and I will never receive what is considered to be "adequate" health care. Medicaid is awful (and can neoliberals not confuse Medicaid and Medicare just ONCE?!..Medicaid is the one you would move to Europe to avoid, ok?)

HR 676 was our chance to be civilized...one reason I supported Hillary over Obama was that I thought she might strike a better deal for heatlh care. But, that was when I still had any faith at all in the US as a "democracy". I am now a Socialist who would be willing to die to overthrow this Imperialist Capitalist govt.

Obama can go to hell

Quote Palindromedary:Wouldn't that be a great way to send a message loud and clear...boycott Obamacare..refuse to get healthcare insurance....pay the fine...then work to call the fine unconstitutional...or at least criminal. Obamacare would fall like a stack of dominoes. By the way...that fine is not very big compared to what it will cost you to pay those health insurance premiums.

Palindromedary ~ A very good point! Any idea what the fine might be? It seems pretty stupid to me that we don't just demand single-payer for the price of the fine. Charging us for not buying something from someone else that the government should be providing for free seems like extortion to me. Imagine! We elected this man on a platform to create single-payer health care. His solution is to find a way to charge us for single-payer and provide nothing except aiding and abetting the extortion of the insurance industry.

What's going to happen to all these big business employees who have no health care? Are they going to be fined too while this rich companies get a pass? Who in their right mind could justify that travesty? I want my vote back!

I hope 2014 is the year we all finally take to the streets.

DAnneMarc: Yes, I believe it is extortion! I don't remember, now, exactly what the fine is supposed to be..it's been a long while since I read the bill...but it seemed to me that it was something on the order of just over $1,000**...and if you compare that to what you would have to pay the insurance companies...most likely 12 times that amount in the year...well, a lot of people are most likely going to opt to pay the fine. When you also consider that the health care industry (doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics) will likely be swamped (they don't have enough people now) then you can imagine how little care you will really get. You will have paid all that money and you still won't be able to get real health care in a timely fashion. The insurance companies will, like the housing market scammers, will take the money and run. By running, I mean they will squeeze our government to turn a blind eye...perhaps they'll say something like..."Oh, it is too complicated...too confusing...we have to wait to reimburse the insured"...or they will find a way not to reimburse people. They will do even more so what they do now...raise healthcare costs and make it seem like the insurance companies saved the day by paying for most of the bills...when actually..the insurance companies and the health care industry are in cahoots with one another setting the prices so that the small percent that the insured has to pay...say 10%, 20%, or 30%...is so much larger than what they should have paid had the prices not been fixed at higher amounts. Now, with government strong-arm enforcers working in tandem with the health care insurance/medical industry mafia we will all be sucked dry of everything we own.

** It might have been expressed in a percentage...but this could also vary depending on various factors like what your income is. If you have very little income then, perhaps, your "fine" would be very little. On the other hand, if you have very little income then, maybe, if the government really does supplement, or subsidize, people with little income, then it may be a good idea for them to just not fight it. Maybe it will be to their advantage...I don't know...but someone who does have some substantial income, even though it is not a lot, may find it better to just pay the fine. Someone who is fairly young and healthy and doesn't have a family may be willing to take the risk of just paying the fine. I know people who have saved a fortune, after they were laid off 5 years before they were eligible for medicare because they didn't have to pay $1,000/month to health care insurance companies. $60,000 is a lot to some people. They maintained a healthy lifestyle...not pigging out eating unhealthy foods...and stayed healthy. Yes, they took a risk and it could have been way more costly had they developed a medical problem...but you have to figure that the reason why health care insurers get so rich is because they have gambled that most of their insured will not be sick enough to cost them more than the insured paid in...that... and the fact that they keep two sets of books...they conspire with the health care providers in fixing the higher prices in the bills you get...so that they are inflated...then the actual cost is passed to the insurance companies. Some people want to take the risk.

And let's not forget that the whopping premiums we pay to the insurance companies usually are couple with co-pays, deductibles, and other surprises. So those people who saved $60,000 over that 5 year period also saved a whopping amount over $60,000 because they didn't even have to go to the doctor.

Quote Palindromedary:I know people who have saved a fortune, after they were laid off 5 years before they were eligible for medicare because they didn't have to pay $1,000/month to health care insurance companies. $60,000 is a lot to some people. They maintained a healthy lifestyle...not pigging out eating unhealthy foods...and stayed healthy. Yes, they took a risk and it could have been way more costly had they developed a medical problem...but you have to figure that the reason why health care insurers get so rich is because they have gambled that most of their insured will not be sick enough to cost them more than the insured paid in...that... and the fact that they keep two sets of books...they conspire with the health care providers in fixing the higher prices in the bills you get...so that they are inflated...then the actual cost is passed to the insurance companies. Some people want to take the risk.

Palindromedary ~ Interesting set of facts! It made me think. What is the psychological/biological impact of the health insurance industry vs that of a non-profit single-payer system on the overall health of our citizens? Seems to me that buying health insurance is gambling that you might get sick. Staying healthy takes effort--an effort expended to loose the gamble. Shouldn't we look for ways to reward staying healthy rather than charging for it?

You seem to be saying that you know people who forewent the insurance route in favor of taking care of themselves to save money. It worked for them. They saved money and stayed healthy. My question is could the converse be true as well? Could people who pay huge insurance premiums feel cheated by staying healthy? Could they subconsciously wish to develop medical conditions in the hopes of getting a return on their investment? Finally, could this subconscious desire, fed by the for profit insurance industry be what is behind the poor health of our citizens and the skyrocketing costs of medical care?

I know it seems a ridiculous notion that anyone would sacrifice their own health to get a return on an investment; however, in this country people have risked a lot more than just their health to make a profit. It certainly seems to me to be a valid suspicion that in this country our for profit health insurance industry may be a major contributing factor in what is making us sick.

If so, perhaps making medicare for all a reality would do more to improve the overall health of our citizens and reduce our medical costs than any other reformation possible. Make it free either way to get sick or stay healthy and it seems to me that the logical choice would be staying healthy.

The Twain Report

All The News That Mark Twain Says He Would Report If He Was Alive today7-5-2013 During the Twain Report's bi-weekly seance and tea cosy crocheting contest, complete with matching door prizes for the most inventive costume and the most outrageous nose hair, our illegal immigrant janitor and medium Jose Romney (who, if he is related to Mitt, won't admit it which is perfectly understandable because who wouldn't be embarrassed by such a family member), was possessed by the spirit of Christmas past, who sonorously intoned, "Every time an old white male bigot dies, the republican party loses yet more of its energy; within ten years it will roll over, fart twice, and in a not-particularly-interesting display of entropy and quantum physics, crawl into its own asshole and disappear." Make plans now to attend the non-denominational funeral service for the republican party, which will be held everywhere all over the world, with drinking of carrot juice, free education and health care, free exercise of women's reproductive rights, local-family-owned businesses, dancing, and lots of shiny, inexpensive necklaces!

DAnneMarc: Of course the psychology of having paid all those big bucks every month makes most people think that they should seek medical attention for any and every trivial thing...from a slight case of sniffles...a cold...to a hangnail. And all of those trivial things bog down the system.

Of course, depending upon the insurance plan you have, there may be a big deterrent if you have high co-pays or high deductibles. So most people who can't afford to pay high premiums get the plan with high co-pays and high deductibles. And that may be a deterrent from seeking medical help for everything but actual life and death emergencies. So, poor people are still getting shafted..both in having to pay monthly premiums and then having to pay high co-pays and high deductibles.

So, the wealthy will have no problem, because they will likely get the low or no co-pay and no or low deductibles, and they will likely be the ones that will hog the available medical care because they will be the ones that will seek medical attention for trivial things. And, I'd venture to say that I suspect that doctors will actually do something to diagnose and test people in order to save their lives if you are paying for a very expensive health plan. And I believe that if you have just an el-cheapo health insurance plan with high deductibles...you may be ignored and the doctors will avoid giving the same kind of care that rich people get. I believe that we have a medical/insurance racket that are actually letting poor people die because they would cost too much to get the necessary tests in time to detect things like cancer.

I especially believe this to be true in the VA because the person I knew who was a Vietnam Vet was ignored...in the sense that the VA doctor (who I call Doctor Death) was doing everything he could to avoid prescribing the necessary tests..scans...that would have detected his cancer. The last thing the VA doctor prescribed for him was physical therapy. The guy was in so much pain he couldn't stand up and the VA doctor wouldn't admit him to the hospital. I had to take him in to the hospital, which ticked off the doctor. I took him in twice and the last time they did actual scans and found cancer all through his body. He died...and the look on his face..I'll never forget...it looked like he was frozen in agony..mouth wide open...eyes clamped shut...and I'd just bet those nurses took away his morphine and shot up themselves.

The poor will chance risking their lives in order to avoid seeking medical help. Of course, those who don't buy insurance also are risking their lives because they avoid seeking medical help. And, like the insurance companies, they are gambling that nothing will happen to them. Since the house always wins...(the insurance company always wins)..the odds are in favor of someone who thinks he/she can live a healthy life and avoid medical help.

Not everyone will be lucky enough to avoid needing medical attention, though, and unless you are really trying to live a healthy life, not taking chances, being reckless, dieting, and eating the right foods, etc, you increase your odds that you will get sick or have an accident. Lose that gut and stop smoking and stop eating all that red meat.

You are making the same bet that the insurance company does...that you are going to stay healthy and not need medical help. Making huge payments to the insurance companies is a definite continual drain on your wealth. And a lot of people, if they do get sick...need an operation, for example, get them outside of the US. The medical industry is really way overcharging for their services in the US.

One of the things that I noticed about when you become eligible for Medicare...the Supplemental Medicare that private insurance companies try so hard to sell people is the same kind of absolute, continual drain on your wealth, even when you don't get sick you still have to make those monthly payments to private insurance companies.

If you have medicare, without supplemental insurance, you have a deductible you have to pay before medicare pays for the rest. I don't remember now exactly what it is... something like $1100 per year. If you don't need medical attention during that year you don't pay for any deductibles...you save that money. If you get supplemental insurance..they may say they cover the deductible but, in fact, you have paid for that deductible up front...whether you get sick or not.

I read somewhere that most people don't get suckered into buying supplemental insurance. Medicare takes care of most of your medical costs...up to a limit..and that is where the supplemental tries to sell you on their plans...but I suspect most people don't ever reach those limits...except very sick people or people who have gotten into a very bad accident and need to be hospitalized for a very long time.

I "somewhat" share in your perspective PALANDROMDARY...At least the part about poor people with higher co-pays and high deductables. But the part about "seeking medical attention for every trivial thing..."Complete speculation and rehtoric! It fits right up there with "if you legalize marijuana 'everyone' will get stoned". Complete bullshit!!! Listen P, I'm not saying that hypocondriacts don't excist...They are already seeking medical attention for "every trivial thing".

Yes, boycott Obama's Healthcare Plan...FUCK THE FINE!!!Medicare for all!!!

Good information, DAnneMarc! I noticed several things since I changed my diet and lost over 40 pounds...my blood pressure, while never going over normal (120/80) before (maybe because I stopped eating red meat over 10 years ago) but it was starting to rise... went way down ... sometimes to 90/65. I have not been bothered by Asthma as I had been for decades..and haven't had to take any inhalers for about 4 months now, I no longer have to take medications for indigestion which bothered be daily if I didn't take the meds. I don't know what my cholesterol level is now because I have not had it tested recently but had been taking medicine to lower it and it had come down a lot...I don't expect it to go back up because my diet doesn't add a lot of cholesterol to my system. I no longer take that medicine either...in fact, I don't take any medicine daily as I did before.

I didn't subscribe to any special diet plan or take anyone's advise. I don't even take supplemental vitamins..I get all of what I need in what I eat and drink. You really don't have to shell out any money at all as one would when they get enamored by fad diet hucksters who charge for their plans..get you to buy their products. In fact, you save money. I do drink smoothies and "green drinks" frequently. I grow my own kale for the green drinks. I just drastically reduced my food intake.

I had, for over 10 years, stopped eating red meat and I ate only chicken or fish...and very little of that. I mostly eat fruit, nuts, seeds, vegetables. I don't drink alcohol, take drugs, or smoke. All it takes is for people to develop a little will power and stick to it.

Every morning, I drink a 20 ounce glass of tomato or vegetable juice with the juice of a whole lemon (I have my own trees) with about 7 to 10 squirts of Tapatio or Tobasco sauce. I use hot sauce on just about everything. I'll even eat a little piece of the lemon peel as it has a lot of good things in it. Since I grow my own...and I don't spray the trees...there is no chemicals to worry about. The green drinks are made of kale, celery, lemon, apple, and cucumber and a tiny piece of ginger . Smoothies are various fruits: lemon, banana, peach, blueberries, or anything else you can find....along with a fruit yogurt and ground chia seeds and ground flax seeds along with ice...sometimes I'll put honey and/or peanut butter in as well. The ground chia seeds tend to thicken the smoothy a lot. Well, it's time to make a Green drink! Then, maybe a smoothie for later on this evening.

Palindromedary ~ Great advice! I myself may try your recipe if you don't mind. I was referring to Americans who do not share your wherewithal. Unfortunately, the country is full of them. I'm sure you are already quite aware of that. Enjoy your smoothie my friend, you deserve it.

DAnneMarc: What a shocker! I have flown on Asiana airlines a number of times many years ago. And I always thought they were a really great airlines....better than many others. The 777 model is supposed to be one of the safest. I don't know...it sure does look suspicious...but, it seems to me that if it was an act of terrorism, our government agencies would hop all over this opportunity to drum up more terrorist propaganda. It is too early to know much else until the people are interviewed and the wreckage fully analyzed. It is just a good thing that it didn't come down on top of someone's houses and that it came down in an area where they have emergency equipment for rapid response. Man, I am so glad that I don't have to fly anymore. I've been around the world several times and that was just for vacation...if you add in all the air miles I've flown for business it would probably, at least, add several more round the world trips. It is odd, when I think about it, that one flight that I took from S. Korea back to SF, back in 1989 was the very same day that we had the Loma Prieta earthquake. I got back early in the morning and was sleeping at the time the quake struck.

Quote Palindromedary:What a shocker! I have flown on Asiana airlines a number of times many years ago. And I always thought they were a really great airlines....better than many others. The 777 model is supposed to be one of the safest. I don't know...it sure does look suspicious...but, it seems to me that if it was an act of terrorism, our government agencies would hop all over this opportunity to drum up more terrorist propaganda. It is too early to know much else until the people are interviewed and the wreckage fully analyzed.

Palindromedary ~ No! Personally, I'm convinced that there was a couple of huge bombs in the carry on luggage. From who? Why? I do not know; but if you are trying to convince me that faulty landing gear or a malfunctioning engine caused this wreck you are definitely barking up the wrong tree. Happy tomato juice to you.

Get a grip. Why are you so unreasonably angry with this administration. It's not like you've seen a better one, not that that should be a criterion and its not like members of the opposition party act better, in fact, they act worse. So why the near hysteria. Lord Government? Really? Iron fists of mandates, are you trying out for a spot at Breitbart.

Rather than your rants, I would love for you to post rational alternatives. Impres us with your feel for politics and what is in the best interest of all Americans, not just a libertarian minority.

Explain, if you can, how Democrats surrendered everyone's health care when mostly the uninsured and underinsured will be affected by the ACA. Bitching is for the limited and the underinformed.

Tell us why you are right and we are wrong. Tell us how, where, and why, President Obama's administration is pushing through this train wreck and spare us the commie, socialist BS. Anyone who understands what is truly going on, knows that for the most part socialism is dead. Stalin killed it. Free market capitalism, the stuff that conservatives swear that they are the only ones who worship it, free market capitalism is under far more risk than it ever was with communism. State Capitalism is where it is all evolving to and no one on the Right seems to give a damn.

Until President Obama insists that the proletariat must control the means of production and share in the profit of their efforts, you have absolutely nothing to worry about with Commies. And in the meantime, China, Russia, the Middle Eastern oil caliphates, and so many more nations are seeing the political benefits of State Capitalism. Wake up conservatives and smell true fear and leave the poor, undernourished commies under every bed alone. joadcycle

Quote DAnneMarc: How is their unconstitutional surveillance program is going to look good with yet another successful terrorist attack?

How does it look now...after a growing number of people realize that we are all being soaked by government organizations that have stooped to infiltrate, befriend, and bait patsies who may be ticked off enough to say things they shouldn't but who have no way in hell to actually carry out their fantasies. The government has provided these patsies with things like explosives, and egged them on to carry out their fantasies, then arresting them, and then they used the propaganda to justify their expensive programs. The government entraps people to serve as their propaganda tools to keep us all fearful of terrorism and thankful that someone is "protecting" us.

There is a lot of big money in this terrorism game that many corporations are amassing at the expense of the tax payers. When the people start to question the government's importance in protecting us, when the people get really ticked off from undue internal surveillance, the capitalist corporate, military, industrial, and government jackals will have to hit us again to whip us back into line. It worked just dandy on 9/11...and it will more than likely work yet again. Most of the attention in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 was not that the government bungled it...but that "hate the terrorists" and "rampant jingoism" ruled the day.

Those in the government who, perhaps, should have been, at least, demoted were promoted. They all pretended that: yes, it was embarrassing (that the different government organizations did not "talk" to one another..(and even the fact that the head of the FBI would ignore their field agents reports on the so-called "terrorists")..that there was some kind of an organizational wall between them that kept them from communicating effectively)...but that was sure better, for them, than being hung as traitors for planning and orchestrating a false flag operation that murdered thousands of Americans.

Well hell, why not? It's Sunday night and no one is really listening except the NSA!

Quote Palindromedary:The insider architects of 9/11 knew full well that they could get the American people riled up and rally against Muslims. PNAC even wrote that they needed a new Pearl Harbor in order to do the things they wanted to do...including invading Iraq. The Muslilms were ideal villains. It was a given!

Palindromedary ~ Strange you should mention PNAC and insider info. I don't know if you ever followed the television shows called, Star Trek, by Gene Roddenberry. They focused mostly on the future and Roddenberry always tried to paint the future as peaceful with diplomatic ties between planets. There was occasional fights and battles for ratings; but Gene generally kept the peace in the Galaxy.

However when Gene died suddenly that whole general rule flew out the window. Star Trek took a very ugly turn for the worst. An intergalactic war was suddenly written into the script between the Federation and a new empire discovered across the galaxy called the Dominion. The warrior race from the Dominion were called the Jem'hadar. One very disturbing two part episode focused in detail on torture. This was many years ago; but I remember clearly being very suspicious at the time of the sudden illness and death of Gene Roddenberry and this new twist in the plot and philosophy of his program. Do you think that maybe Gene was iced and his program hijacked in order to turn it into a tool of propaganda and mind control to help prepare for the PNAC and NWO agenda?

After all, draw the parallels: Dominion and Muslim, Jem'hadar and Al Qaeda, galactic war and world war, high tech torture and enhanced interrogation. Are all these similarities merely a coincidence; or, part of a well orchestrated plot of psyops and mind control that is far beyond a simple conspiracy between the government and the petroleum industry. In the past I have ignored those thoughts and suspicions; but, in retrospect it sure feels good to get that theory off my chest. It certainly deserves scrutiny.

Palindromedary ~ Never mind about the plane crash. I just Googled the fuel layout of a jumbo jet and as it turns out the auxiliary tank is located right where the plane exploded. Go figure! My bad! I just couldn't conceive that anyone would be so stupid as to design a plane with the passengers sitting on a potential bomb. What do I know? Somehow I always overestimate the level of common sense in my fellow man.

And then, who am I to judge? Despite the placement of the tank the passengers were still able to escape. Maybe the designers knew what they were doing after all? Unfortunately, that little tidbit of information is going to be in the back of my mind whenever I think about flying. In this case for sure, ignorance is bliss.

Palindromedary ~ I'll admit that calling Gene Roddenberry's death a murder is walking on thin ice evidence wise. However, hijacking the show is exactly what happened. I'm not sure how the plot and direction of the story ran askew and straight into the hands of the USA propaganda machine, but nevertheless that is exactly what happened. A very disturbing turn in the Star Trek legacy.

It's no secret how Gene was constantly hounded to write his show down the status quo lines of the Hollywood industry. From day one Gene wanted to project an anti-war philosophy in his show. The original pilot had a Captain that was supposed to embody Christian values and was named Captain Christopher Pike. He got scrubbed by the producers who didn't want to "upset the religious crowd" for a less suggestive Captain James Tiberius Kirk.

Star Trek trivia history is full of struggles between Gene and the media controllers as to where the stories would go with Gene for the most part winning out; until he died that is. Star Trek with its ship's weaponry capable of destroying planets is an irresistible propaganda tool for the war mongerers in our pentagon. I have no doubt that Gene's death was taken advantage of to turn his "example of peace" into a "model of war" by the plutocrats of this country. Whether or not they killed him to do it is really a lesser point.

The movie industry is so full of right wing war mongering propaganda that I have refused to go see a movie for the last 30 years. There are exceptions to this rule. One was Chariots of the Gods, and then two Michael Moore movies. Also, I saw Star Wars and a couple of Star Trek movies; but, thats about it. I saw the 300 movie a friend rented and insisted I watch. He said it was an historic documentary; but, I agree with you, it was more of a propaganda travesty; or, eye candy for the gay community. Documentary? Please!

No, I haven't played the Google doodle UFO game yet but I'll look for it later today. Also, no, I haven't seen the Lone Ranger Movie yet; and, probably won't till it is shown on TV. However, I do know people who go to these things and have heard, or will hear, just about the entire plot before I get a chance to see it.

I disagree that the term "Noble Savage" has any good connotations to it. "Savage" clearly is a blatant insult to all native Americans. The word "Noble" has nothing Noble about its use in this context. It is used as an adjective that clearly implies that this "Savage" is a "Noble" one; unlike, other "Savages" that don't need a quantifier word. That implies that all other native Americans are disloyal and untrustworthy "Savages." Just because the word "Noble" is generally thought of as a good complement word doesn't mean that in some context it can be misused. Much like guns, words in the wrong hands can hurt people.

In the same way I especially condemn Paula Dean for using the N-word. As a white boy, and lifelong resident of very black neighborhoods I can tell you that words hurt. I myself am very offended when anyone calls me a "white boy." I don't like it. Usually, that happens in an adversarial situation. It is intended as an insult. I never use the N-word because I know that doing so in any situation is insulting. I know how it feels. In fact, even around only white people I find the use of the N-word insulting to me as well. I can't stand it and I don't tolerate it. Also, I'm aware that were I to use the word with my northern big-city background it wouldn't be as insulting to the black community as it is coming from a Southern Belle. I also believe that that any Southern Belle should be perfectly aware of that fact as well and would only resort to using that word publically out of buried shear racial hatred. There could never have been any legitimate reason to resort to such language. She stepped way over the line and she knew it from the backhanded apology she offered. The apology was worse than the original offense. In one step she has offended not only the entire black community; but, the vast majority of the white community as well. Publically she admitted to using the word frequently in private. That says a lot about a person. The food channel acted appropriately. This was no accident or faux pas. Her treatment was justified and the only thing I can say in her defense is that it is a pity--she will be missed. Her show was very entertaining. (Though her recipes were as unhealthy as her vocabulary.)

As far as the parallel between Paula Dean and black rappers using the N-word all I can say is fine. The rappers can use it Paula can't. The black community has seized all rights to use the N-word how they see fit. Their approval is evident in music sales. The free market in action! That same market said no to Paula Dean. That's freedom talking, baby. What's wrong with that? The white community has its own words too. "Golly Gee!" "Nipped in the Pitard", "Shazam." The list goes on and on. Just like the N-word, black people only use these words to insult white people. Thats all they are good for in the black community. Let's be real for a minute and realize that words can be powerful things and should be used with responsibility, sensitivity, respect, forethought, and care. Like I've said before and I quote myself here:

Myself

Quote DAnneMarc:It is far better to think without speaking than to speak without thinking!

I don't particularly care to hear rappers say the N-word anymore than Paula; but I do believe in the 1st Amendment. If rappers or Paula want to defile themselves with language it is their constitutional right to be able to do so. As well, it is our constitutional right to refuse to listen to them. In the end words tend to come back to bite us in the end. Like the notion of Karma, what goes around comes around. It is best to heed my advice above and just worry about what one's self has to say. That is all we really have control over anyway, and all we really need to concern ourselves with.