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Etan Thomas

Etan Thomas

Posted: October 20, 2009 03:36 PM

Not New Rules, But New Questions

What's Your Reaction?

1. In Michael Moore's documentary, Sicko, he showed the story of an employee of the largest HMO in the country, Kaiser Permanente. Her name is Donnell Keys and she was fully insured by Kaiser. However, when her 18-month-old daughter drew a temperature of 104, and she took her to the hospital, she was somehow not allowed to be treated because she was told Kaiser would not cover the medicine needed. Her daughter later died after going into cardiac arrest. Now, how can Republicans see this story and feel proud of our health care system?

2. Democrats now control the House and the Senate, but for some reason it appears as though they are having great difficulty getting things done. Why is it that when the Republicans were in control, if they had an agenda they didn't seem to be running into the same difficulties that the Democrats are experiencing?

3. Bill Maher posed the question to his guest panel if they believed that Rush Limbaugh is a racist, and they all kind of danced around the question or gave very careful answers. Do people who are not racist constantly make racist statements?

4. Just to be clear, I am in no way shape or form criticizing the replacement referees. They were all put in a very tough position and I believe they are approaching the games with a tremendous amount of professionalism and enthusiasm. But, when are we getting the old referees back?

5. Alan Grayson from Florida said that the Republican health care plan is for sick people to die quickly and when asked to apologize he said, "yeah, I apologize to dead people... to all of the people who have died in this country because didn't have health care. Why can't more Democrats stand firm on what they believe in this way? Why does it appear as though far too many Democrats are so afraid to step on anyone's toes or ruffle anyone's feathers?

6. Why is it that America has the audacity , no matter if there is a Republican or a Democrat in office, to feel that we have the right to dictate who has a nuclear weapon and who doesn't?

7. Before President Obama's address to students last month, Jim Greer, the head of Florida's Republican party said on CNN, "In this day and age the president has enough to do focusing on the economy and finding jobs for Americans than writing lesson plans out of the oval office". Is education really not a priority at all for Republicans?

8. Do Republicans have respect for the position of President of the United States only if it's a Republican in office? Or is there some other trait that President Obama possesses that has drawn their disrespectful tendencies?

9. What happened with the whole controversy with Louisville head coach Rick Pitino? It sounded like a pretty intense story. Having sex with a woman in a public bathroom, paternity tests, death threats, extortion, etc. But somehow it just kind of magically all went away?

10. Commissioner Roger Goodell finally spoke out on Tuesday saying that Limbaugh's "divisive comments" had no place in the NFL. "I have said many times before, we're all held to a higher standard here," Goodell said to reporters. "I would not want to see those kinds of comments coming from people who are in a responsible position in the NFL. No. Absolutely not." My only question is what took him so long to say this?

 
 
 
 
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01:52 PM on 10/22/2009
Keep those great questions coming, Mr. Thomas, no matter how much it makes some people squirm. It's important to always question authority; that's what I tell my students. Thank you.
08:36 AM on 10/21/2009
You're right...America is wrong. Every tin-pot dictator in the entire should have the RIGHT to own their own nuclear arsenal. The world will be such a nicer and safer place when we let NBA potentials dictate foreign policy all over the globe. Castro would be such a funny man with 50 warheads sitting on the beach aimed at the US.

Thank God you live in America where you have the right to free spech. Just consider the ramifications of that speech next time.
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MajorKong
If the pilot's good, see, I mean if he's reeeally
08:42 AM on 10/21/2009
Shorter Dixieboy:

"Thank God you live in America where you have the right to free speech. Now shut up!"
09:49 PM on 10/21/2009
The more interesting question is why doesn't every nation have nukes?

Small nations would offer billions for a couple weapons, but not one, so far.

There were about 150k war heads at one point, and now we are down to about 20k world wide.
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patrickjkiger
12:47 AM on 10/21/2009
Etan Thomas and Steve Nash were just about the only NBA players to speak out against the war in Iraq. I'll always respect them both for that.
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MajorKong
If the pilot's good, see, I mean if he's reeeally
10:32 PM on 10/20/2009
"Do Republicans have respect for the position of President of the United States only if it's a Republican in office?"

Short answer - Yes.

This has been another episode of - Incredibly Short Answers to Obvious Questions.
iridium53
Semper Fi
10:03 PM on 10/20/2009
Re:
Do Republicans have respect for the position of President of the United States only if it's a Republican in office? Or is there some other trait that President Obama possesses that has drawn their disrespectful tendencies?

I'm glad you posed this as about the "position", not the person.

You'll recall that Democrats were not very respectful of Bush. That's what BushDaddy complained about recently.

Best to compare the acts of Democrats towards Bush to Republicans towards Obama.
Except for a few obvious racists, not really much different.
10:15 PM on 10/20/2009
pure false comparison bs.

Bush is a war criminal.

The liberals attacked bush and the conservatives with the deadliest of all attacks: The Truth.

You conservatives make up several new lies per day.

BS. pure bs.
07:30 PM on 10/20/2009
I have respect for the office but do not agress with the policies as I disagreed with Bush's medicare drug program and TARP.
07:12 PM on 10/20/2009
Mr. Thomas writes: "8. Do Republicans have respect for the position of President of the United States only if it's a Republican in office? Or is there some other trait that President Obama possesses that has drawn their disrespectful tendencies?"

Replace the word "Republican(s)" twice with the word Democrat, and you have the situation of the atrocious, unfair attacks on President George W. Bush for the previous 8 years. What goes around, comes around. And "is there some other trait that President Obama possesses...?" You bet there is: he is not only a liberal, he is an ultra-liberal. Conservatives don't disdain African-Americans (see Michael Steele, Condoleeze Rice, Colin Powell, etc, we reject liberals of every color, race, gender and creed, because they have almost completely ruined this once great country.
08:07 PM on 10/20/2009
Nice work!
been2there
Facts have a liberal bias.
09:17 PM on 10/20/2009
I call BS on this. No Democrats heckled Bush in speeches, encouraged weird conspiricy theories, spewed lies about national security, pushed for illegal wars--I could go on. We vehemently disagreed with Bush policies, and said so. That is called democracy. Today republicans are acting like toddlers--encouraging birthers, truthers, death panelers--I could go on, but I won't.
08:46 AM on 10/21/2009
Oh please...talk about a short memory. Liberals did all of those things and more
06:41 PM on 10/20/2009
Great article keep posting.
I got one for you.
Why is it that most sensible people agree that Racism exists in the US,however, it is hard to find a Racist person or institution. What gives?
09:39 PM on 10/20/2009
almost all my co-white people (I'm white, they are white) say they have friends and relatives that are racist, said the Dem party couldn't nominate a black candidate because of racists, and really thought there was no way America as a whole could elect a black person (because the vision didn't go beyond their own racist circle of family and friends and see all other type of people that would be voting)..but even though their circle of friends/family is known to by them to be racially biased, whenever I point out a incident of racial bias, they deny it, say that's playing the race card. They NEVER see or admit any specific incident of racial bias, even tho they know some people (many in their minds) are racist...so a bunch of their family and friends are biased enough to not vote for someone because of the race but that never ever affects anything else, like who they convict of crimes, who they hire, who they give the best deals to, who they are rude to and who they are polite to, etc...it is crazy making!
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Rogan
07:09 AM on 10/21/2009
...And that is only one, among the many, many ways, that virtually all Americans, these days, lie to one another, and themselves, about almost everything in our lives.

There are reasons to be happy that I'm too sick to go out, anymore...
06:33 PM on 10/20/2009
Always liked you as a player, Etan. Here are your answers:

1) You can't make public policy based on emotional stories rather than facts and historical precendent.

2) Democrats sold out and backed anyone who would put a "D" beside their name starting in '06.

3) I suggest you listen to Limbaugh's show before labeling someone with a hurtful name like "racist".

4) You'll get the old refs back when they realize that everyone (incl. Hakim Warrick, Ray Felton, et. al.) is taking a hit.

5) . Republicans want market-based healthcare. You can disagree with them, but you can't say that they just want people to die.

6) America does not have the "right" to dictate who gets a nuclear weapon, but America's leaders do have a responsibility to its citizens to prevent enemies from getting them.

7) The prelude is orthogonal to the question. That said, Republicans certainly do not believe in publicly funded education as strongly as Democrats do. They believe that private schooling is better.

8) He sold himself as bipartisan but has acted rigidly progressive; he's a relative neophyte; he brings up America's past transgressions. Previous presidents haven't done that in the same way that Obama has.

9) This sounds like a rhetorical question.

10) Goodell waited until he could gauge public opinion before taking the easiest course of action, no matter how unfair to the person being attacked by the media. Much as he did with Pacman, Vick (initially), Plaxico, Chris Henry, Stallworth......
06:57 PM on 10/20/2009
Orthogonal. I don't know what that word means, but I wonder if it could describe someone who listens to Rush Limbaugh, feeling hurt that someone would call him a racist. You don't have to listen to a whole show to see that if he's not a racist, he at least utilizes "shock and awe" tactics to continue to divide people for the sake of a good fight. Rush Limbaugh, and your "orthogonal preludes" are not helping. However, I did find some of your answers thoughtful; just drop the condescending vibe.
07:15 PM on 10/20/2009
Conservatives gop and DLC want plutocracy and democracy. It's that simple.

Modern Conservatism war formed to fight the Enlightenment and bring back the monarchy.

are you a "Half-ican American" does that sound racist to you?

If not, you are deaf.
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06:04 PM on 10/20/2009
In re: #6. Surely you're joking. Nuclear weapons are terrible things, and have thankfully only been used twice -- and that in bringing a world war to an end. We as a country convinced the other nation-states of the world, by and large, of that fact, and the promise to be judicious in our use and control of them, and foreign aid, assistance with peaceful nuclear energy (although that's a little more taboo because of the waste products). Given that nuclear arms *have* been kept under control until recently, and haven't been used again, even though our country has been in multiple wars, I think we and the other stated nuclear powers are keeping up our end of the bargain.

In other words, the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty is the "dictating" document, not America. Other countries AGREED to it, through their own governments.

Can we enforce the NPT? I absolutely believe so, for global stability, regional stability, and our own security interests. If you haven't noticed, there's a lot of foreign terrorists who would really like to do us harm. And Iran, the country most keen at the moment to getting nukes, has been harming America and Americans (including under UN auspices) for years through proxies, especially Hezbollah. Also, avoiding a nuclear arms race in the Middle East seems to be a REALLY REALLY good idea.
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dsgeorge
Proud to be Everything the Right Wing Hates
05:54 PM on 10/20/2009
As Annette Benning said in "The American President" - how can people say the love America when they clearly hate Americans?

That is the question I have for all the gop who obstruct and do nothing but whine and moan.
05:41 PM on 10/20/2009
Excellent questions, Etan.

What page are the answers on?

Just kiddin', of course.

Great food for thought.
04:58 PM on 10/20/2009
Say It Loud!

Conservatives, both republican and blue dog,

Hate democracy and the "people"

They love Plutocracy and monarchy.

Modern conservatism was formed to fight the enlightenment and restore monarchies.

If the "people" ever figure this out,

no avowed conservative will every get elected again.
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JDWPS
04:53 PM on 10/20/2009
Great questions that are discussed in our house all of the time!
Thanks for writing it all down. I believe you speak for many of us.
03:55 PM on 10/20/2009
Wow and thank you. Great points! And I appreciate your courage, considering who owns the Thunder, to speak out like this in Oklahoma City -- a town where it is just safest to shut up and act like a white christian republican.
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yellowdoggie
Level 1 Baggerese Translator
08:17 PM on 10/20/2009
Oh, do you also live in OKC?

Go Thunder!
10:05 PM on 10/20/2009
Sooner born and sooner bred, but now in LA...where you don't have to shut up and act like a white christian republican. You get to do this thing called breathing instead.