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Something has made me recall (I recall not what) a time when I was employed by a church, strange as it may seem. There were many ways of being that I needed to accustom myself to, and I must confess that I was mostly a miserable failure at my efforts to reform. For example, I couldn’t bring myself to remain silent when the young gentlemen of the Boy Scout troop poked hundreds of holes into the ceiling tiles of the basement meeting room with a broom stick; my failure caused much unwelcome discomfiture to the elder who happened to be the scout master.
Nor did I see it as particularly respectful when the neighbors brought their dogs onto church property to defecate on the sidewalks. Frankly, I wondered what was going on inside the heads of administration when they shrugged this off (it’s called “turning the other cheek”). But then again I was the one who had to scoop the shit up. After a few weeks of silent contemplation on this difficulty, I took matters into my own hands; I seized upon the idea of scooping the shit up with a shovel, carrying it over to the offending neighbors’ property, and tossing it onto their sidewalks and driveways. This solution proved remarkably successful, effectively ending the offending trafficking in dog poo. The church administration, however, didn’t quite see this triumph as a score for the dignity of the church, as I did. Needless-to-say, this incongruity in approaches to facing the moral and ethical challenges of the world helped to shorten my stay at the church.
There is a moral to this cautionary tale, I suppose. Skirmishing with wrongs and injustices often requires one to go against the tide, buck the wind, bang one’s head against the wall. Taking action doesn’t come without cost, particularly when the forces of reaction and the status quo hold sway. In the fight for moral supremacy, some jab with the right, others with the left; deciding who the winner is often determined by whose mind is less scrambled.
Tariffs will only work if it leads to jump-starting manufacturing in this country, otherwise it will only lead to lighter wallets. The U.S. needs to regain its edge in research and technology, and keep a tighter grip on the products that result. Perhaps we need also to start getting serious about creating domestic jobs through "green" technology to replace those jobs that have been lost, never to return. A trillion dollars, instead of feeding the pockets of Wall Street millionaires and billionaires, could create 20 million jobs right now.
Dan
The parody you referred to comes from The Borowitz Report.
If you read this, could you please explain how or why that parody was racism let alone "blatant racism". You say such racism needs to be identified when it comes up. What are the identifying features?
I have some Kenyan friends and I can't imagine them finding this offensive.
I doubt that the parody you referred to would have even a slight affect on health care reform.
By the way, I'm a constant critic of Thom and one of my criticisms is over the scarcity of people of color as guests on his show. In fact, if you look at my second post on today's blog you'll see I raised that issue today.
I know this does not pertain directly to the subject of the first hour. However, today October 14, 2009 during the first hour Tom read a parody from an outside source whose name I have forgotten. The parody saying Senator Snowe's republican party was demanding she show her kenyan birth certificate is subtle to some but to me blatant racism that needs to be identified when it comes up. I hope Tom will do a retraction as created by him or not he read it to his audience. It does not little good to further debate on health care reform and probably detracts from moving forward.
Thom,
I just listened again to the "Morning Meeting" sound clips for which I sent you links; I winced. Dylan Ratigan seems particularly pugnacious today. (I try to "listen through" the volume of his questioning to hear the points he is arguing. Today, they were a little more distracting than usual, I think.)
afterthought about Thom on FSTV
His youthful appearance probably also has to do with the fact that his picture isn't sharp so no wrinkles appear on his face. That might be in part to the fact that the color looked oversaturated which blurs details. One thing for sure, he looked a hell of a lot better than Dan Gainor.
Report from Free Speech TV:
Thom looks really young on his TV show; like around than 35 years old. It might have something to do with having no beard or mustache.
Interestingly, Richard Dawkins said that through evolution, cells works in conjunction with other cells to support the survival of the whole body. Yet if a cell goes from working together to working for itself, it's called cancer. That same cancer reminds me of the Republican party and it's fine time we remove that cancer so the body can survive.
Thom,
I am probably posting this just to share the visual of Tom Donahue, the current president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, getting "an earful" of complaints about how he and his organization are hurting this country, but here goes (video):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/#33309152
I have been concerned with some of the problems with the current bill on which Barney Frank's committee is working. Frank addressed these problems on MSNBC's Morning Meeting today. Video:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/#33309471
That’s not appropriate or fair . . . . I have no actual information that Dan Gainor is a ‘jack_hole”. He just continually plays one on the radio.
Historical FACTS are not on DAN Gaynor's (jack_hole) side. What is up with recessivists ignoring facts?
Oh. That’s right . . . . Facts and reality have a noted liberal bent.
Thom,
PLEASE send Dan Gainor links to research that shows increases in minimum wage result in better economy, etc. He is just working off right-wing assumptions, without any proof.
Who says the Republican Party does not love the Mafia? I mean the Mafia and the RNC are allies on so many things. If there is any love lost, I am guessing it would be the Mafia being disturbed by the brazenness of the RNC, experiencing jealousy over the RNC’s success and the RNC taking a bigger ‘taste’ up front.
Dawkins says the selfishness of genes leads them into cooperation. That's because what we call altruism is really roundabout selfishness. What we call selfishness is simplistic, dumb selfishness. That is how Republican politicians behave. They have dumbed down their worldview to the point where they can't see how "selfish" altruism is. Therefore, they reject environmentalism and corporate regulation to everyone's ultimate detriment.
Who says the Republican Party does not love the Mafia? I mean the Mafia and the RNC are allies on so many things. If there is any love lost, I am guessing it would be the Mafia being disturbed by the brazenness of the RNC, experiencing jealousy over the RNC’s success and the RNC taking a bigger ‘taste’ up front.
Thom,
Thanks for addressing the question about whether or not the "opt out" option for states is a race to the bottom. I was relieved to hear reasons that this probably would not be the case.
Concerning the discussion with that nurse, are doctors being required to take the flu vaccine? Why haven’t we heard from them similarly? I can’t help but observe that nurses frequently go on strike, but you never hear doctors doing the same, even over the hours they work; perhaps they feel they have an obligation to the patient first before themselves. It seems to me that nurses place themselves on a different plane than other health care workers. Why, I don’t know. The fact is that nurses aids and orderlies do most of the “grunt” work like passing out pills and hooking-up IVs.
If the flu shot is a condition of employment, would the hospital be responsible for any adverse effects on the employees? i.e. the manufacturers have complete immunity, suppose the health care worker has an incapacitating reaction that prevents them from working ... it's almost like russian roulette even if the odds are 1000 to 1.
I'm not one of those people that believes thiomersal (American slurring: thimerosal) caused autism, but the difference between eating a tuna sandwich and getting a vaccine could easily be which mercury compound is involved.
It is possible to do a scientific test of how well a vaccine reduces infection in hospitals. All the CDC has to do is compare the infection rates in hospitals that had their employees get the vaccine to hospitals that didn't, and account for other factors.
Also please don't act like you know how much mercury is in the vaccines, you said there's less than in a tuna sandwich. You also said the debate about effectiveness is around the margins. Eating a sandwich does not get it into the brain. There are many other things we dont even know about, like Squaline and other toxins. Gary Null is not on the margins, he is probaly the world's leading expert on the matter..Please look at his 90 page report at garynull.com. It is the most thorough report ever done. Thank you
On the H1N1-
Q: To what extent does the state own your body in a democracy? If someone takes away your property, car, home, its just stuff; your body is the only thing you will truly own. Right now our bodies are accumulating toxins and metals that we cannot control from our air, water and food. Do we have no rights to control our own bodies? Where does it end, regulated sterilizations and abortions? Please keep your hands off my body and I will keep mine off of yours.
Living in a democracy includes reciprocating respect for each others rights ( including life, yes?) and it has been shown that vaccines do harm and kill many people. You can not predict how every individual will react and each person should be allowed to choose the vaccine or not according to their comfort level with that risk.
Building your immune systems through natural exposer to disease (except some, like maybe polio) is better than "fake" immunity that causes side effects and fades with time (like chicken pox).
The vaccine has not been thoroughly tested, the FDA skipped a few steps. There are reports of bad reactions and deaths from batches given to people and to lab animals. This vaccine is highly questionable in so many ways, especially considering the money the manufacturer (Baxter) will make off this.
P.S. No level of mercury is safe, ever. Especially to unborn children. http://commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/
Follow the money.
Hey Thom..Please stop missing the point about the Flu vaccines. You are not being "immunized", like you said.. It is not an immunization..That is false advertisement. You are taking a vaccination that has not been proven to be safe...Or even effective. Thank you
Thom, your medical "expert" guest seems to be operating on the assumption that vaccines are 100% effective in preventing disease. Truth is they are not. He seems more interested in promoting the pharmaceutical company propaganda about vaccines than debating the truth.