BoshSpong's Comments (65)

“You miss the point entirely, many of our European allies have had public health programs since WWII and it has worked out very well. The fact is that when a person becomes willfully blind in order to cater to a political ideology that person becomes an obstacle to progress - whether it be right or left.

As the Marxist guerrillas that keep fighting a losing battle in Colombia, so the right wing guerrillas are fighting a losing battle in the USA.

Anyone who claims the Obama is a socialist demonstrates a profound ignorance of political concepts and of reality. Open your eyes and clean out your ears so that you might learn something.”

“The most basic and noble values that made this country great, values such as team work, taking care of each other, united communities, charity and respect for the weaker among us, have been replaced by a greedy pseudo religious ideology that seeks to aggrandize raw materialism and glorifies profits over all else.

This nefarious brainwashing of the American mindset began with Ronald Reagan’s deceptive and cruel “folksy” communicative style and had its apex with the Bush / Cheney administration. Through a mixture of: fear, longing for an idealized past, false patriotism, disguised bigotry, freshly minted idyllic Americana and an utterly un-Christian Christianity, the right wing of the republican Party was able to appeal to a large segment of the populace and not only triumphed at the polls but also remade our American identity.

The road ahead will be a rough one, the right wing will not ease up and accept their defeat, their ideology does not accept defeat nor any scruples. They will fight tenaciously inch by inch before they give up their victories. This is a fact that Obama is beginning to understand. We must all unite and expose the lies and the falsehoods so as to regain our historic identity and our Nations soul.”

“Here is another echo of the obvious; you cannot compare a hate monger with a reporter or a documentary maker who respectfully proposes an idea.

This is the same kind of thinking that allows pseudo science to be placed on an even keel with bona fide science. This is precisely the kind of maneuver used by tobacco companies to disprove the harmfulness of tobacco as well as polluters to disprove the scientific proof of their acts.

Free speech is not hate mongering, misrepresentation, nor deceitfullness.”

“Arianna, you have hit the nail squarely on the head. Obama’s lawyerly sly moves will not hold up with the American people’s idea of a true leader. He must stand firm and strong with the ideas of right and justice – there is no compromise when it comes to moral imperatives, to do so would negate the soul of the matter.

Obama has the skills, temperament, style and communication that can produce the changes we so desperately need in the country, to do so he must firmly point out the demagoguery, fear and falsehoods used by the opposition. Bush / Cheney rammed through all of their programs against the people’s wishes, but they did it in a forceful decided manner.

Obama has proven his desire for a bi partisan government, the Republican Party is having none of it, and instead they use his tolerance to advance their own agendas and to destroy the opportunity for change that the people voted for.”

“Some of the bloggers seem to have only read the title to his column. There are in fact many doctors who share Mr. Weil´s ideas of wellness and sickness prevention in many parts of the world where medicine is socialized.

His point is that the current medical system in the U.S. in not at all conservative but radical, the current system does not protect families, our society, nor foments stability wich are all - so called - conservative values.

It would behoove anyone who wishes to make a comment on a piece to read the whole thing beyond the headline, this is just plain ol´ common sense.”

“Last year while traveling in Italy my mother in law developed an eye infection, we were instructed to go to a nearby clinic by the hotel consierge. After an eternal wait of ten minutes she received the necessary care and medicine, when we asked for the bill we were told that in their country this is a right and we were not expected to pay.

Why those dirty socialists! the nerve! Their poor unprotected insurance middlemen did not get one single solitary cent! I ask you, what is wrong with those people? Why cant they see that our system is soooo much better?”

“By the way, I just traveled through Latin America where I received a root canal in a well maintained and equipped medical center, performed by a well trained dentist, total cost for root canal, dental cleaning including all medication and fees 105 dollars. The same procedure would have cost 900 dollars in the US : go figure why......”

“The underlying issue here is the desire that some powerful wealthy individuals to maintain their power and wealth even at the expense of our nation´s future. They see a grave threat to themselves in the power in our constitution and our constitutional rights. To those fearful individuals ¨We the people¨ must not be allowed to unite and wield our collective power to seek justice and fair play. They would gladly sacrifice our nation´s health, education, national parks and forests in order to place more silver pieces in their greedy, overflowing coffers.

By the use of carefully crafted orchestrated strategies they utilize fear combined with a false sense of patriotism, they have managed to deceive a great number of regular well meaning folks who have been duped into supporting causes and programs that are detrimental to themselves. The only way to fight these folks is head on, by unmasking their true greedy motives and their deceptions and put their feet to the fire.”

“You just confirmed and validated Maher's comments. That is the whole point - these public service activities should be handled for the benefit of all without the profit incentive. Private investors are not required - that is why we humans have invented government to take care of each other.

It is quite amazing that you just do not get it.”

“You are a victim of a utopian ideology akin to Marxism; the free market is a figment of man's imagination - such a thing cannot exist because of the inequities of life. If there is no arbiter between the weak and the strong - the strong will destroy the weak.

The market is NOT a deity endowed with omniscient wisdom - it is a creation of man used to facilitate trade. Although I agree that absurd laws sometimes cause more trouble than they prevent - to argue for a nonexistent government is to have Somalia at your doorstep.

Human frailty being a reality - and history is filled with examples of man's inhumanity towards man - your ideology could only function if all people were filled with a righteous moral compass that would prevent injustice. As it is that, my friend this is a pipe dream.”

“The whole country changed when Ronald Reagan was elected and it became chic to flaunt wealth and riches. Things like public utilities used to be just that, they belonged to the public. Then we got the “free market” ideas of Milton Friedman and the “Chicago boys” who have sold their "money and profit is king" crap to the nation and to the world.

Parks, schools, libraries, universities, public utilities, medicine are all institutions that exist for the public good. The idea that everything must either make a profit or disappear is the most extreme incarnation of the "profits are king" ideology that seeks to put a dollar value on life.

It is no wonder that Obama is negotiating from the perspective that this is a basic fact in today’s world. This paradigm apart from being base and dehumanizing is also unsustainable; it will breed injustice, poverty, class warfare and civil unrest – in short it will produce a revolutionary backlash that may send us spinning towards a totalitarian state – those that hold this as a valid model for the world do so at their own peril.”

“Although changes have been made in lending, we no longer have mortgages available to anyone with a heart beat; the principal causes of the financial collapse have not been dealt with at all. We have not done anything about:

Credit default swaps,
Unregulated financial markets,
Banking running free and easy,
American citizens’ debt burden growing exponentially,
Foreclosures on the rise for the foreseeable future,
A looming catastrophe in plummeting home values etc.

Cosmetic changes that mostly tighten credit and purchase ability for the middle class are in vogue – the ultra wealthy are completely untouched and unrepentant. After a few bumps on the road, we have renewed speed and are heading straight towards a precipice of untold heights.

The media is quickly forming a circle of defense as we hear that it’s all better now and the danger has passed. The steadfast, uncanny, insane, self destructive race to the bottom has resumed.”

“Religion or the lack of it does not and cannot mask human nature. The virtues and non virtues of human beings have nothing to do with a theological belief system.

People use religion as a justification to advance their own self interest over those of others, if anything, religion tends to have a restraining effect on folks who prefer not to anger the Deity.

The Middle East conflict is a fight for land and domination, the religious aspect of it is secondary - as a matter of fact most of the proponents and originators of Zionism were atheists. The same can be said about the Catholic / Protestant divide in North Ireland, in all of these conflicts when one looks into the matter you will find an economic reason for the conflict.”

“There is also the issue of ideology, after so many years of right wing fear mongering and incessant crazy talk from the likes of Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity et-al. We have a great percentage of the population who have been frightened out of their wits and continually vote against their own interests.”

“It is a real shame that old, tired, ineffective policies still seem to dominate Washington, even though the great majority of the American people are fed up with them. The health care issue is the most blatant example.

Health care should not be a primarily for profit engine that provides huge profits for middle men who neither directly provide it nor have any interest in the client’s welfare. Our “for profit” health care system with no controls and no brakes is swiftly taking the nation to calamity. As was the case with ENRON, profiteers like insurance companies and HMO’S have devised a way of getting between the doctor and the patient and milk the system for all its worth. It would appear that Obama’s “radical centrism” is placing him way behind the curve of public opinion and of the nation’s needs.

Unbridled Capitalism rewards the ruthless and most powerful; it values only the collection of wealth and ever higher profits. If there is something to be learned from the current housing and credit crisis is that unbridled markets produce unbridled greed that in its turn produces pyramid schemes and economic bubbles. At the end of each of these, the losses remain with the wounded middle class and the profits remain with the well connected elites; ever more polarizing society and creating an unstable and unsustainable mess.”

“Arianna, many of us worked hard to get this administration installed and it certainly is a welcome change from the dark reaches of Bush / Cheney; however daddy Bush I would've been a welcome respite, even Nixon or Reagan did not thread in rarified outlands of Bush / Cheney - frankly being better that the last administration is no great feat.

What we are witnessing from Obama is a very dangerous dalliance with the same ol’ same ol’. Yes, we have retreated from the craziness however we have made extremely little progress towards the promised change.

So the markets are revving their engines and the crap is still being traded – this is neither moderation nor pragmatism; it is sheer insanity and no good will come of it.

Without a majority of voter support W set out to completely transform the nation and he did. With an overwhelming mandate of the people Obama seems to be engaged in maintaining the status quo.

The Democratic Party is paving the road for the creation of a new progressive organization that will heed the will of the people and bring about the change we desperately need.

If Obama is doing this in order to not antagonize the opposition, he is gravely mistaken. Fox news and the right wing propaganda machine has already labeled Obama a traitor hell bent on destroying the nation. Obama could profit from the understanding that “Your friends do not need an explanation; your enemies will never accept one if”

“SayD, now this is new to me:
Libertarian = Liar, deceiver
Libertarian = Right wing extremist
Libertarian = Supporter of extreme right wing causes
Libertarian = Inciter of violence
Libertarian = Idiotic commentator
Libertarian = Ultra pro war Pseudo - patriot
Libertarian = Limits women's choices
Libertarian = Legislator of his own definition of morality

Ignorant me! I thought Libertarian Philosophy was, you know; live and let live small government, legalize everything, no wars, no meddling in other countries affairs, etc. Foolish lil' ol' ignorant me.. Jeez! Thanks for educating us…. Jeez!”

“To state that Hitler was left wing is like saying that Moses was an Atheist, Hitler is the ultimate extreme right wing as Kin Il Jung is on the opposite side. These are not people that hold democratic ideals, these are extremists that would say and do anything to further their cause.

Beck is a dangerous man because he cleverly disguises his true beliefs behind a cloud of misinformation. Most hard working American citizens do not have the time nor the energy to spend learning the vicissitudes of the political spectrum, our average schooling does not include political science; fact is everyone is very busy and stressed trying to make ends meet – after all our middle class has been overworked and underpaid since the rise of “supply side” economics and Chicago school "free market" ideas.

The subtle message behind Beck’s words is simple: destroy those that do not share my extreme beliefs. Obama is a traditional moderate Democrat whose policies tend to favor the working man as well as his employers. Beck wants war and violence; he lies, exaggerates, demonizes and libels in order to get his way. If you do not believe this is dangerous please look at your history books and see how pogroms and genocide were promoted – the movie Rwanda is an example.

Republicans and Democrats built this Nation we are all Americans we deserve to at least hear truth on OUR airways be it from the right or from the left.”

“The facts on torture are in: Torture is NOT the most effective way to obtain information - it is the most effective way to dominate and control another human being - to humiliate, break and make them pliant and acquiescent.

Torture was used during the inquisition to condemn a great many innocent men and women who confessed to any sin or malfeasance in order to please their torturers and get the torture to stop. U.S. servicemen who were held and tortured by the enemy during the war in Viet Nam made many self accusatory declarations like McCain's anti-American declaration.

Totalitarian and rogue regimes routinely use torture to get the justification for their suppressions, human rights abuses and of course, so that they may continue to use torture; why would we want to do so in a democracy is beyond reason.

In the face of the effort to sell the war in Iraq, it is plain to see the possible benefit to the promoters of the war. However, T.V. programs aside, the dialogue here should focus on why we would want to use an ineffective, error prone method of gathering intelligence - especially since it lowers us to the level of the regimes that use it and it endangers our own people, by promoting its use by other countries.”

“Although the CIA has in the past, utilized and trained other countries’ intelligence agencies in the use of torture (Google “Daniel A. Mitrione” a CIA operative killed in Uruguay back in the 70’s). The difference between those “cold war” episodes and today’s Government approved torture, is that in the past the US denied its use; with Bush/Cheney torture became permitted & encouraged.

As any agent who has worked in intelligence gathering knows, the most effective method of obtaining intelligence is through rapport. A person will bare his soul to a “true friend” but will withhold all from his enemy.

Torture, like terror, is used to shock and punish. It is used to get the tortured to say or declare anything the torturer wants. This is why Mr. McCain made anti-American propaganda "confession" during his incarceration in Viet Nam.

This mess will not fade away; it cannot be allowed to fester under our nation’s skin by the skillful use of political cosmetics. The untreated boil will fester and grow until it bursts into the national scene, its tawdry pus oozing and infecting the surrounding area. Obama is ill advised to believe that the American people will allow this matter to fade away – if there is anything that may be learned of the Watergate mess and the 24/7 Lewinsky affair – it is that these situations should be met head on and vetted thoroughly to avoid being caught in a “cover up” investigation that dwarfs the original malfeasance.”

“There are of course mayor differences between a Bush White House and an Obama White House. I know that had Gore stepped into his victory we would be facing a completely different world today.

Progressive changes aside, when Bush / Chenney took over we saw a complete restructuring of our Country. Many focus on the war and torture issues - the changes beyond war and torture were indeed vast and far reaching in every sense and in every sphere of influence. Dissapointment aside it does feel good to at least have someone with a working intelect in charge of the executive branch.

That being said, it baffles the mind to see the pusilanimous manner in wich Obama is seeking change. I do not believe he "gets" it - he is riding a wave of popularity superior and more authentic than Reagan's - yet he seems temerous and shy about putting forth the agenda we expected of him.

In retrospect we do seem to have elected the lesser of two evils - I shudder to think of what this Nation would be like with a McCain / Palin administration. Nevertheless your commentary is welcome and please keep on putting our elected politiocian's feet to the fire, they certainly need it.”

“TJ, what are implying?? That we use common sense? Where did you get such a radical anti-capitalist idea? Why the nerve of you TJ, next you will be talking about having corporate fat cats pay their fair share of taxes, you do realize how dreadfully obvious you sound, don't you?”

“The arrogance of your reply astounds me.

The banks are being BAILED out so as to prevent the economy from collapsing due to their bad choices.

Why do you want to have those citizens who do not agree with your plan for life punished?

Can you please write a more complete treatise on other elements, life choices and beliefs so that we - the ignorant and foolish masses - may emulate your gracious ways?”

“Many homeowners and investors are upside down - I speak from my own experience as a Real Estate Broker, Investor and homeowner. I purchased a home during the "bubble years" for 375K I put 35K as down payment and closing costs were around 10K - after the purchase I upgraded the house (built in 1957) at the tune of 120K -

My out of pocket investment was 165K, I made the mortgage payments for a year during remodeling so before I could move in so I had invested close to 200K.
Now the homes in the area are selling between 80K - 175K, even if I got the mortgage lowered to 150K I would still be at a loss if the prices were to rebound.

So your argument of worrying about someone getting some of their equity back would certainly be hollow in my case. Here in Florida my situation is not unique. I am faced with the option of letting the house go. My earnings are based on sales and since sales are less numerous now and my income has plummeted so I cannot afford the mortgage payment.

My home will be purchased either on a short sale or as a foreclosure for around 150K - what do you propose we do to keep the new owners from realizing the profit that will come when prices start climbing again? How do you propose we punish those who are now purchasing these properties at bargain values when the market takes”

“Like you, I can see that unions are disruptive and at times seem to be a drag on certain sectors of the economy. Life would be so much better without the frictions that are caused by union - management dealings.

However in a capitalist system where profits are sought after by investors (nothing wrong with that) sometimes the desire to produce more profits results in abuse. Each company is striving for a larger market share, and management will use every way to produce more with less so as to increase profits.

That being said unions did not come into being because of people's desire to be disruptive - they were formed due to the incredible and incessant abuse of workers by management. If the owners of companies were conscious of the needs of their workers and if they treated them with respect - unions would have never existed.

Unions are responsible for fair wages, five day work weeks, fair treatment of workers, prohibition of child labor, paid vacations, health care (back when it was available). Unfortunately human nature is not prone to goodness - especially after thirty plus years of Reganomics and “greed is good” politics. As you understand the history behind the labor movement you will understand why unions are a necessary component of American life.”