Camel54's Comments (240)

“Great piece. Although I don't like anything resembling a legitimizing of tea partiers--they are ignorant loud-mouths being led around by liars and criminals. They believe any insanity that is sent to them in ghastly, misspelled emails written in all caps with the grammar of a 2nd grader. Just because some liberals may share a goal with them from time to time does not in any way make them kindred spirits.

Looking at the larger picture, will killing the bill and forcing another decade and a half of waiting for another chance be good or bad for 2010 or 2012? And I understand you're saying what difference does it make who's in charge when both parties are ending up in the same place, but I have to point out the $600 million Obama just sent to clinics around the country--those types of funds dried up under Bush and many, many clinics serving the poor shut down. Would SCHIP be law? Bush vetoed it if you recall. Would the VA funding be working properly for the first time?

Okay, the big things are not going the way we want them. I agree. I hate the bill as it is. But there are so many little things that are actually benefiting people as a result of Democrats being in charge. So the question remains, is it worth losing that control and returning to what many progressives seem to have forgotten was a far worse 8 years.”

“Not everything. The VA budget law passed last month was terrific. The $600 million for health clinics across the country announced last week is tremendous. The broadband access expansion to rural and low-income areas is wonderful for small businesses in small towns not to mention great for individuals. These are not insignificant and should not be lumped in with "everything else," which I realize does indeed contain some very disappointing moves from the white house. Still, credit where it is due.”

“A valid argument, but history suggests it does work to establish a foundation and then build on it over time. You're right that the dems are an undisciplined, disparate group of primadonas, but once the MSM has moved on, and the republicans are fighting something else with their Lie Machine, slipping amendments on to other bills becomes easier.”

“Perhaps you missed the part about the Komen Foundation supporting legislation that makes the cancer drugs too expensive for poor or middle-class people. Perhaps you missed the point that they are using the money to develop drugs for treatment rather than doing research for the cause of the disease. Perhaps you missed the part about how the wife is essentially being used as a money funnel for a man who is deliberately killing legislation that could help eliminate up to 40,000 unnecessary deaths a year in this country.

Is it wrong to hurt a politician who is a willing participant in killing 40,000 people every year?”

“I have to reiterate what others are pointing out, it is not the final answer, no, it is the beginning of the change to a system that will work. And it WILL cover millions more who currently do not have coverage even if it does not cover all yet.

When you see how hard a battle it has been just to get this far even with these tiny corrections to our health care miseries, do yo think for one second trying to push single payer through would have even gotten out of the gate? In fact, it has been attempted many times by a senator here or a congress person there and it never even starts. The journey of 1000 miles does not begin with the entire journey. It begins with the first step.”

“Wow, histrionic much?

I'm not sure which candidate you were watching, but during the campaign he never said he was for ending the war in Afghanistan. No, he in fact said we took our eye off the ball by not focusing on Afghanistan. He also said that he believed the 2nd amendment to be a personal liberty. Some of us never deluded ourselves into thinking Obama was a liberal. He never was. I voted for him anyway. Even though I knew he was middle-of-the road, I voted for him. I did so because I knew I wouldn't agree with him much of the time, but he has the right intellect for the office. We liberals tend to get too caught up in believing if a politician isn't as far left as us, he's a sell-out, he's been changed by fame and by power. Like somehow we are just as informed as the man at the center of 10,000 delicate and horrific problems.

You say you'd rather be writing poetry than waxing melodramatic about politics. Did it ever cross your mind, even for a moment that maybe the president would rather be able to do one thing but is cornered by circumstances into making hard, undesirable choices as well? You don't have to like the choice. I don't either. But I'm not foolish enough to think he's extending a war because he got famous.”

“Great answer!”

“I too am planning to do the high temp turkey and adding a very spicy sausage to my stuffing. My brother did sausage stuffing last year it was like being born again. I've never cared too much for it until then. I'm thinking andouille. We'll see.

Planning to do a spaghetti squash casserole as well. Super easy. All times are approx.
Spag. squash cut in half place cut side down in 1 in. of water. Bake for an hour at 350.
Scrape the flesh of the squash with a fork, it comes out in noodle like strands. Let the strands drain while you prepare a lasagna like casserole.
Sour cream, ricotta (or cottage) cheese, 1 egg, garlic powder (or fresh minced), sprinkle of oregano, basil, the usual. Try adding some chopped spinach and nutmeg for some zest. I like to sprinkle feta in there as well. Marinara with or without meat--ground italian sausage is best but ground beef or turkey or TVP all work great, cheddar and/or mozzarella cheese. Be creative.
Since you don't have to layer, just mix all the ingredients together, add the squash noodles, add to a casserole dish (heavily buttered to prevent sticking), top with cheeze, bake uncovered at 375 for 45 min. Broil the top at the end if you like some color in your cheese.”

“Regarding the post, I agree.

Regarding Mr. Englund, I am huge fan. The first Nightmare scared me to death. I didn't sleep a wink that night, and I remember it so vividly. I own a copy of it to this day just because it was the movie the sealed my love of horror. I even made my own Freddy glove cut from sheet metal when I was in Jr. High. I'm sorry this comment turned into fan gushing, but I had make it clear I love this guy.”

“Again, I agree with the spirit of this article, but until the public is forced to see public school as a privilege and discipline can dampen the extreme offenders, how can we implement this?”

“While I agree with the spirit of this article, it is fantasy land. NCLB imposes hundreds of skills that must be mastered in 180 days. How in God's name do you manage learning at a students own pace when you know that you will lose your job if you don't cram all these skills into the year? You are making the huge assumption that all kids care about learning. They don't. Their parents don't. In fact, when you try to offer too many of these kids freedoms, they abuse them and when you try to manage your classroom, discipline the worst offenders to regain control, their parents are naturally up at the school in heartbeat cursing the teacher and threatening to sue or go to director of schools and have that teacher's job. This is the reality of schools today. If you lay your hand on a child's shoulder to talk to them as a friend, they scream at you, "You're not allowed to touch me!" They lie and claim you shoved them, and you have to rely on school cameras to prove you are innocent because your word as an educated adult isn't enough. And keep your good-old-days nonsense to yourself--in years past, teachers frequently had too much authority and gave harsh disciplines and were not legally accountable to prove why a child failed or passed, which allowed favoritism, racism, sexism, athleticism, you name it.”

“You do realize that National Socialism (the Nazis) and Communism were at war with each other in WWII, right. They're not the same thing. Not even close.

I have nothing against Ron Paul particularly, but if it were up to him, you would not have the Internet b/c that was developed with public funds. You would not have roads to drive on b/c they are built and maintained with public funds--the constitution set that up when they created the postal service. Would you get rid of the post office as well? Would you eat food or take medicine that was not produced under guidelines from the very socialistic FDA? We have had public programs created for the common good since the creation of this country. Now, suddenly, because a Democrat is in office, you people want to start with your nonsense about socialism. Learn first, talk later.”

“What would you do if someone you knew came into your house every day, talked to you and then went out and told people utter lies about what you had said and how you lived? Would you say, "Oh well, that's freedom of speech for you." What if they recorded you and then edited the recording so you said the message became the very opposite of what you said? Would you not try to defend yourself? Would you keep inviting them into your home?

You've tried calling him Hitler. You've tried calling him a socialist, a NAZI, a communist, the Joker and none of that has really gained traction. Now you're trying to call him Nixon, a hated Republican of all things. I guess give it your best shot. Maybe this one will work out for you guys.”

“This is not about being criticized--give me a break. His party criticizes him to no end. The Huffington Post criticizes him constantly as well, and they haven't been ostracized. The fact is that Fox LIES. That's the point. Besides, it's not really the media's job to criticize for the sake of being critical. It is their job to tell the story, question those in power to try to reveal their intentions, counter those remarks when they are not telling the truth (a trait that is boundless in both parties I might add) and let the informed public be the critics.

No organization actually lives up to those standards these days, but Fox is so far beyond the pale it's stupefying. The point Burns makes is that Fox has worked around the problem of giving endless money to a political campaign. They are a billion dollar source of funds for all Republicans. They are a non-stop campaign against Democrats, and that's against the law. Still, the core of the issue here is that they lie constantly and with no regard to fact checkers who can show that Fox is lying all day every day. The Fox machine doesn't have to abide by the truth because they've created a cult and a campaign and have made themselves opposition to a party and THAT is not the 4th estate.”

“First, I am a fan of Jane Hamsher, but I do want to point out that in Feb. of 2008 she said:

"...But barring an Edwards resurgence, I frankly don't see how we win the next election without both Clinton and Obama on the ticket in some order."

Many people, many times counted Obama out on this or that. I don't doubt for a second that Hamsher's insights are good, but don't let the endless stream of defeatist jabber get you down. Look at what's happening with Joe Wilson's 2010 challenger right now. Is everyone calling the Blue Dogs and the White House to tell them either support eh Public Option or you will lose my support? Action, not caving in is what is required now.”

“The author is right. I've worked in call centers for years in technical support capacities, and the common wisdom is that support is a drag on the bottom line. It doesn't generate dollars like sales, and though the argument that excellent customer support does bring in money is a good argument, it is unfortunately not true. Companies would rather have a constant growth of new customers than to worry about brand loyalty. The sales numbers bare this out. Because support is a drag, they force metrics on support agents like keeping your avg call time below 4 min. For technical support? Really? They don't give you direct extensions that can be reached from the outside. They instruct you to never say the company is at fault for anything. This will inevitably lead to customers NOT CALLING which means they can cut their support staff b/c the call volume won't support the personnel, which means they keep more profit.”

“MissUnderstood, many states, including Texas have already enacted tort reform and capped the damages a person mangled by a quack can receive. It had absolutely zero effect on the cost of health care. The doctors (or organizations that contract them) do indeed pay much less in malpractice insurance, but those savings have not been passed down to the consumer.

I agree that portability would help drive costs down, I think there's evidence for that, but it will not drive it down enough to make it affordable by people who have to water down their baby's milk so the baby will get enough food.

The larger point to the super poor is there are services out there in most communities to help the under served. Government funds support them. However, the more organized it becomes, i.e. one federal program with electronic record keeping, the less expensive it becomes. Your taxes are already being used to help people, why not make it more widespread and more efficient?”

“Just like in England where they have a strong National Health and private insurance companies which do quite well. See, the problem with conservatives is they use their mouths more than their ears and they are recalcitrant against any employing any part of their brains.”

“I have tried it, and I love it. It's hard to find, though. I've been wanting to make some recently in fact, but haven't been able to hunt it down.”

“So is uranium and snake venom and ecoli, etc.”

“It's not just white bread to be afraid of, so many breads, including so called whole wheat breads have high fructose corn syrup in them. Plus, these breads, even if they contain the whole wheat, are ultra refined to make them more palatable and that processing causes blood sugar elevation. The less processed a food is, the better off we are eating it. Perhaps he needs to look into glycemic load issues (not just glycemic index). My family has the same problems keeping weight off even when eating what is strict for most people. Best of luck.”

“You pay for it on the back end with doctor visits, medications and procedures if you don't pay for it on the front-end with higher quality foods. In brief, an organic vegetable is better than a non-organic because the vegetable's natural defenses against bugs and disease don't develop in a non-organic farm. Those defenses are the nutrients and antioxidants we need. Grass fed beef is far more lean than corn fed. Trimming the fat doesn't eliminate the intersticial fat that grows in the meat itself making it more tender and juicy but ultimately more fatty; there's no comparison. Taking a step further, buying organic packaged foods have actual fruits or vegetables, fewer ingredients, little or no preservatives. Compare Gogurt with YoBaby Organic yogurt ingredients and you'll see what I mean. Going organic is certainly not a guarantee for perfect health, but it provides a good shortcut for finding better quality foods. Yes, it costs more, but you pay for it up front or on the back-end. You could eat from the 99c menu at a burger joint and spend next to nothing on your food, but how do think that will affect your medical bills?”

“I know what you mean, Puffin. After moving a couple of years ago, I was searching for a primary care physician and the first one I went to walked in the room with my blood work, BMI, etc. and within a minute was giving me the list of meds he was going to put me on. I told him I was trying to make the necessary changes naturally and did he have any advice. He smirked and chuckled derisively and said, "I've been doing this a long time. Maybe one in ten thousand patients pull that off." I never returned to his office. I understand what he was saying, and he may be right in what he stated, but that's not the point. Maybe if he was more encouraging instead of being merely a pill dispenser instead of a physician he would see those numbers improve.”

“I too have been following a regime as outlined above and in the past few months I've dropped about 20 lbs, blood pressure returned to normal after I stopped taking meds. Blood sugar has been normal. I am not diabetic or pre- at this point but it is rampant in my family so I had to make changes if I want to stand a chance. That includes going to the gym 4 days/wk. Spacechampion is right, it can be overwhelming trying to plan meals. It has taken time to get into a good routine and to eat according to my plan even while I prepare the meals in my house for others who don't need to eat like I do. My wife loves pasta dishes, but she is naturally thin and has a built in portion meter. I make an alternative for myself by putting tomato sauce over roasted chicken, turkey or veggies while she eats the pasta. We do buy sprouted wheat breads and pastas so on the rare occasion when I do indulge, I don't feel too guilty. It's not easy, it's frustrating sometimes and depressing to miss out on a big southern fried meal with corn and potatoes and 12 desserts. I just look at my daughter who's 2.5 and I look at my extended family suffering with the affects of obesity and diabetes and it becomes so easy.”

“No one is threatening Beck's freedom of speech here. He has every right to say what ever he wants even if what he says distorts facts, frightens people into irrational behavior, etc. He is becoming the broadcast equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater. Again, though, he has every right to say the things he's saying. But there is law that says he has to have a TV show on which to say those things. In case you haven't noticed, Bill O already uses that same tactic every Christmas to make businesses comply with his belief in the necessity for each American to have a Christmas Tree and love the baby Jesus. These types of threats usually don't do much. However, if a large enough group feels that someone like Beck is offensive enough to tarnish their brand, the decision is ultimately theirs. Do you have a problem with protesters of fur coats? A problem with the protests against KFC? How is this different? Beck is destructive in the national discourse and promotes thoughts and actions that lead to violence or at least to the trampling of the rights of others.”