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@harry -
In
My
Humble
Opinion
Perhaps, as opposed to being an ideological leader, Ms. Schlafly is more of a scatological leader? :)
Harry - in my humble opinion
Oh, I get it now. Its not the choice of 1300 insurance companies offering a myriad of policies to choose from; its the choice of insurance or food and shelter.
@mstaggerlee: I'm still trying to figure out what IMHO means.
Oops, edit:
Heather Higgins is making the case for private healthcare by claiming that a government run program would base care on affordability. When she realized what she was saying she quickly hid behind “choice”.
Choice is not a choice if you cannot afford it.
Heather Higgins is making the case against private healthcare by claiming that a government run program would base care on affordability. When she realized what she was saying she quickly hid behind "choice".
Choice is not a choice if you cannot afford it.
@Mark K - Just to be clear, you'll NEVER see Daffy Duck at Disneyland - Daffy works for Warner Bros. Disney's Duck is Donald. :)
@harry ashburn - Not a contradiction, IMHO - Aren't Den Mothers the ideological leaders of Cub Scout packs?
@Mark K. Yeah, its hard to believe Schlafly is an ideological leader... maybe a Cub Scout Den Mother...
@Charles:
"@ harry – and the ones who voice their conscience are silenced by those that check the proxy box."
Yeah, but attending the meetings and speaking-up can make others in the room aware of the issues.
"Do you have blacks, too?..." -- George W Bush, to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso
If Thom hadn't told us he was interviewing Phyllis Schlafly at CPAC, I would have swore he was talking to Daffy Duck at Disney Land. It seemed to me that Thom was just trying not to take advantage of a person experiencing the onset of senility. I can't listen to any more of this garbage.
@harry: Even further, put up a video of a fire, crackling sound and all, then have a "person" of the corporation, since corporations are simply "made up of people" yell fire on behalf of the corporation!
@Charles: Bingo! The people the SCOTUS said who make up the corporations are the people working to help the corporation make a profit that the shareholders who own the corporations receive. Most of the owners of said shares aren't people at all, simply other corporations that are made up of people working to make them a profit. I think I made my head explode!
@Bryan: yeah! I guess this means corporations can yell "fire!" in a crowded theater.
"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them." -George W. Bush
@ Mark K - The persons the corporation is speaking for are the shareholders, not the employees. If the employees want a say, they would need to form a union.
I love listening to these so-called conservatives try and justify the SCOTUS Citizens United ruling "in the name of free speech."
@ harry - and the ones who voice their conscience are silenced by those that check the proxy box.
The problem I see with the argument that corporations speak for individuals is that how can the CEO of Wal-Mart presume to speak for his non-unionized workforce, especially when 90 percent of non-managerial workers may in fact be supporting Democrats? The upper tier has a "voice," but who is speaking for the lower tier within a corporation?
@Charles: but some people (whom I admire tremendously) buy stock so they can go to the meetings and vote their conscience.
Errata: the quote i previously used: "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." was originally uttered by Groucho Marx, not Townes Van Zandt.
People join the NRA, AARP, NAACP... because they support what the organization stands for.
People do not buy stocks in a corporation to make a statement. People buy stocks in a corporation to make money.
Since this is free-for-all Friday, I thought I’d comment on a report on ESPN last Sunday concerning the exclusion of female ski jumpers from the 2010 winter Olympics. The U.S. hopefuls were quick to blame “sexism,” launch f-bombs and other assorted colorful terms at the powers that be, and demanding that the male ski jumpers be excluded too. Frankly, lead plaintiff Lindsey Van gave me the impression of being too consumed with odium to allow for clear thought, so I didn’t feel much sympathy for her plight—especially when she declared that she was close enough to “kick” the IOC commissioner in the gonads when he came as an observer at one of the staged events to showcase the women’s ski jumping.
There were a few things that the report didn’t mention: that there is no longer an official U.S. men’s ski jump team, because of lack of funding; only three men who have a (slight) chance at medaling are competing at the Olympics, and all three essentially have to pay their own way. The high risk-to-low value ratio in a “dead-end” sport like ski jumping may be to blame for lack of interest in supporting it. In addition, the IOC ruling was based on the fact that there was little competitive value to be had, since there was a (very) small pool of “world class” participants in women’s ski jumping (baseball and softball as Olympic sports succumbed to the IOC ax, for now, for similar reasons), but promised to re-evaluate the situation in time for the 2014 winter Olympics.
Another Olympic event that should be discontinued is women’s ice hockey; the radio hosts on the local ESPN radio affiliate dared anyone to call into the show to contradict their assertion that women’s ice hockey was the All-Time Worst Olympic Sporting Event Ever. Nobody took-up the challenge; although cross country skiing is awful as well, a “sport” that induces sleep is preferable to one that induces a migraine. Apparently NBC lied when they said they wouldn’t deliberately try to embarrass the women by actually airing one of their hockey matches on television; one commentators observed that it was like watching novice skaters being pushed forward, their feeble progress arrested whenever they ran into another player.
Why couldn't the military offer free clinics or even hospitals in major metropolitan areas and in rural areas without coverage? I heard an NPR story on Monday about new Medical Schools opening up in the United States, I think the story said the first time new schools have opened up since the 1960s. If the military could train doctors and nurses themselves, the nurses, interns and doctors could work at these new clinics or hospitals as part of their service duty. This would assist Americans in overall healthcare, make it easier for Americans to go to medical school, and could, in theory, decrease the amount of Doctors we have to hire from abroad.
Thanks for taking my call, and thanks to Senator Sanders for his evasive, circuitous answer to my specific question, which I'll paraphrase here: "What would be the worst thing that could possibly happen if just ONE lame-duck Senator (Harry Reid, for example) challenged the filibuster and got government back in motion again?"
Why was Senator Sanders UNABLE or UNWILLING to address my specific question and give me a direct answer???
Likely answer to my rhetorical question: Because he is a member of the exclusive "House of Lords" or "Hou8se of Nobles" that the United States Senate has become, and he doesn't want dirty tricks (like the filibuster) eliminated from future Senators' arsenals.
Is this not proof positive of the ENTIRE Senate's unwillingness to stop screwing around with our lives? If someone of Bernie Sanders' stature refuses to address the filibuster and the absolute standstill to which it has brought our government, then that is surely the death knell of the "hopey-changey thing" that we all worked our butts off for during the last election cycle.
For God's sake, the United States can't even bring democracy to the United States! WTF are we doing overseas? The Senate is a HUGE clusterbleep, and it ain't ever going to change until there is a loud public response and we progressives find the balls we had in the 1960s during the Civil Rights war, and the 1970s during Vietnam and Watergate.
We have gotten complacent, and we have to CLEAR OUT the Senate AND the House. I say let's start now.
I find it troubling that two people like Thom and Bernie who constantly talk about democracy, rarely seem to discuss how antidemocratic our Constitution is or how our system may be behind the increasing dysfunctionality in Washington and the disengagement of the People from politics.
What’s the point of elections if a candidate REJECTED by the People was imposed upon the nation by the Electoral College? And the Senate is SO malapportioned, that about 18% of the US population now gets about 52% of the seats! Is there any wonder it has developed such bizarre rules like the filibuster? What kind of "democracy" allows for minority rule?
As if being anti-democratic wasn’t bad enough, the Constitution is virtually reform proof. Worst, the Senate is protected by an additional poison pill that it no state can be denied equal suffrage without its consent. A simple amendment may not suffice, only a constitutional convention can change this… though there may be a backdoor to get around this:
http://reinventing-america.blogspot.com/2010/02/reforming-anti-democrati...
It's in the very nature of US federalism that prevents any discussion on democracy. Bernie may believe in democratic principles in his heart, but he's also representing the tiny state of Vermont... and no small state wants to give up power it would lose in a democratically apportioned system. Sadly, even with Bernie, one of the best Senators we have, all talk of true democratic reform seems off the table. This is tragic since our system is NOT working, and demographic trends are making the Constitution more and more antidemocratic.
Votes, then a veto, for health care
Fresh off his CPAC speech, Gov. Tim Pawlenty turns down an extension of medical coverage for the poor, even after it passed the Legislature with overwhelming support.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/84727302.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQ...
And this guy wants to be the new head of the Republican Party. He has run the state of Minnesota into the ground, using the same "guiding principles" as Bush!
re: Mark K re: Amy Bishop: Her family was probably rich and influential. They get away with almost everything. Rich people pay poor people to clean-up their messes.
"Did you hear the one about the misguided protester?...he laid down in front of a think tank." - anon