Not New Rules, But New Questions

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?

 

 

Comments

[Gelfling]

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.

[Dixieboy]

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.

[MajorKong]

Shorter Dixieboy:

"Thank God you live in America where you have the right to free speech. Now shut up!"

[research]

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.

[patrickjkiger]

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.

[MajorKong]

"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]

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.

[research]

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.

[valboski]

I have respect for the office but do not agress with the policies as I disagreed with Bush's medicare drug program and TARP.

[gaudete]

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.

[Emmory]

Nice work!

[been2there]

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.

[moderate1]

Oh please...talk about a short memory. Liberals did all of those things and more

[MajorKong]

You were obviously asleep from 1992-2000. Bill Clinton governed to the right of Eisenhower on most issues, but the Right still slammed him at every opportunity.

Of course, you guys think anybody to the left of Generalissimo Francisco Franco is an "ultra liberal".

[shipoftheline]

EXCELLENT!!

[davidmnc76]

Conservatives are nothing but anarchists. They want Obama to fail, they dont want the Olympics in the USA, they call the President a liar in front of a joint session of Congress... And I love how you threw in those token black folks into the fray to try to t balance out the African American issue. How many other black folks besides the ones you listed voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin? The Republicans are a dying party. They can't attract new voters--minorities, women...20% of people now claim to be members of the GOP. Go buy a life preserver while you can...

[Tanyars5]

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?

[kankankan]

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!

[Rogan]

...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...

[Benjamiller]

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......

[peteonearth]

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.

[research]

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.

[MajorKong]

Republicans believe that the executive branch is their birthright by divine mandate.

The thought of someone else (whoever it may be) occupying the White House simply does not fit into their view of the universe.

[wethepeople3884]

Yea, Obama is a rigid progressive like the 9/12 protests were a legitimate protest against government policies with no racial undertones or weren't directly attacking obama and his administration with FOX news talking points.

Name one thing obama has done, NOT SAID but DONE that you consider rigidly progressive. Bet you couldn't name even two. I can't even name one outside of promoting the healthcare reform bill. He has talked a lot about liberal positions but has not really done anything radically liberal at all. Compared to JFK and even LBJ, Obama is a centrist or a moderate conservative so far with the actual moves he has made. I cant imagine what you right-wingers would do if we had someone like JFK in office right now who was actually liberal in his policies and wanted legitimate radical change. I imagine it wouldn't be all that different an outcome to the historical precedent but JFK was at least an advocate of major changes and pushed to get them - So far, obama is just a radical liberal in the minds of staunch conservatives and fox news pundits. He has not actually proven this liberalism in real change at least not as of today.

[Benjamiller]

Obama's progressive actions:

-Allowed the EPA to classify carbon dioxide (you know, the stuff that comes out of our mouths when we breathe and the stuff that plants need to survive) as a dangerous substance that must be regulated.

-Nominated a rigidly progressive supreme court justice.

-Chose to stop shutting down medical marijuana shops (my bad, "dispensaries") that violate federal law. [I'm not saying I'm against this, I'm just saying it's progressive.]

-Canceled plans to build a missile defense system in Poland in order to appease Russia.

-Signed the ARARA (stimulus), which doles out large amounts of money to so-called green energy technologies that have thus far shown no ability to survive without continuing subsidies and, even worse, often have a negative energy ROI.

I could go on and I haven't even touched on the people that he's brought into his administration who have a history of support progressive -- or even radical -- causes.

I also have to say that I am a registered Democrat. I just don't like the direction the party has taken. I believe that certain favored constituencies have gained undue influence and that we've lost the core values that initially drew me to the party: Fair taxation, protection of the middle class, defense of human rights and personal freedom.

[moderate1]

Best post of the week. Well done.

[GodBlessAmerica]

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.

[dsgeorge]

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.

[godlessdem]

Excellent questions, Etan.

What page are the answers on?

Just kiddin', of course.

Great food for thought.

[research]

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.

[JDWPS]

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.

[JimMan35]

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.

[yellowdoggie]

Oh, do you also live in OKC?

Go Thunder!

[JimMan35]

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.