DanBest's Comments (254)

“I always thought that 911 had more to do with foolish pride than fear. Men don't do grief well. They would rather smash things up then admit they have feelings.”

“""The 1933 Depression was not the first one. We had one in 1894 ..."
Smart people never seem to get the power of propaganda. Of course some of us know that the depression started sometime after the crash of 29. But those that don't will hear this and a million other lines dropped from the perches of "think tanks" like AEI, CATO ad Heritage and soon this becomes the truth. I know this becuase I grew up in the shadow of the depression with grandparents that had vivid memories of the time. Those born after the 70s won't have the benefit of that direct knowledge. History gets rewritten so that those forces that caused the original misery can start the cycle all over again. Kind of like ... right now. Also why refer to the bottom of the depression? SInce when do we claim the inception on an event to be at its worst and not at its inception? Perhaps to shift the date conveniently after Hoover's term?”

“And conservatives

Run up the largest deficits in American history and leave the mess for someone else to clean up
Are insufferable moralists who project their own worst traits on others
Believe tax cuts for rich people don't decrease goverment revenues despite all evidence to the contrary
Have presided over the largest gap between the rich and the poor since the guilded age.
Pay lip service to patriotism when it suits their needs but show loyalty only to their party and their rich paymasters.
Use our troops as props and hostages.
Don't even have the decency to sheild their contempt for the poor and powerless.

Conservatives:
Are bIg government fans as long as it benefits the rich and the right wing
Take from the poor and give to the rich
Are sponsors of such things as torture
Believe that money and resources are limitless
Are extremely pleased when other governments hate us because respect is always born out of fear.

And as you have shown us with your post, they have an unending ability to look in their neighbor's eye for the splinter while ignoring the log in their own.”

“Does anyone here honestly think that Roosevelt was loved by progressives? At that time the socialists were the viable third party Roosevelt was reviled by the left and the right. There was even talk at the time about whether democracy could survive against more ideologically hardlined governments experimenting with fascism, soclialism and communism. How about Reagan conservatives loved him, right? Not as I remember. He was considered a monumental disappointment to an emerging conservative base, particularly to social conservatives who preferred the likes of Pat Robertson. Presidents aren't seriously evaluated until after the heat of partisanship cools and the present becomes the place of judgement for a past president. The heat and noise are turned up to the point of distorting everyone's point of view. Republicans have decided to not take part in seriously governing this country and they've left a void of leadership that's been filled by the worst elements of the right and the perverse hope that things they have helped make bad will get worse. And we are all left to deal with this reality. We're blaming the firemen for not putting out the fire while we let the arsonists get away to become part of our chorus of discontent.”

“Calling the teaparty party grassroots is like calling yourself and indie band when Sony is your record label.”

“This post will probably be swamped with our favorite free market buccaneers soon, so let me just make this point. You cannot think with an open mind when your paycheck is at stake.
In this case economists were paid to spout a load of BS that favored the rich and the rich paid handsomely to push that mythology. And a lot of people who should have known better jumped on the bandwagon because most of them worked in private enterprise and wanted to believe the best about themselves and their company. Having worked for large corporations, small corporations, large and small companies and now working at a non-profit trade association not connected to the largesse of a given corporation I can tell you that it is liberating to be off the reservation and to see corporate America, not as the bringer of paycheck, but as a provider of goods and services and nothing more. This would have been the sceptisism that kept the middle and lower classes unified against the monied interests. But unfortunately a certain portion of the lower and middle class love their corporate tormentors and simply blame the government for everything. After all, in their minds, one takes something from you and gives nothing in return. The other provides you with a job. Sorry, but that's not the product of a free mind. It's the mentality of a peasant.”

“Well that and as long as you had the job you got to eat. I guess that's part of feeling good.”

“Most able bodied persons don't refuse to work. They can't find a job.”

“Why is that, Overdog?”

“"Why not shift that regulatory effort towards competent exploitation of nuclear and work on supplementary wind and solar sources when and where they make sense?"

We agree, John Galt. It will require a hybrid use of technologies, not just one tool from the shed. Thanks for your reply.”

“A reactor costs well over a billion dollars.That's actual costs. I'm not sure what dollar value you place on "irrational fear". I assume you may be referring to the fact that no insurance company will indemnify these plants. Although the risk is minimal, the possibility of damage is so catastrophic no insurance company will take that risk. Your proposal would cost 10,000 times a billion dollars. I don't think that we even have that much paper wealth in the world.”

“So the richest country in the world, the one responsible for a quarter of all emissions should be paid by poorer countries to do the right thing?”

“Every time this issue comes up, the deniers climb out of the woodwork. I always post the same questions and none ever seem to be able to respond logically. Let's assume you are right and that global cimate change was cooked up by jealous hippies who wanted a free ride off of corporate America. So it's all a myth. Fine. Then please either adress or offer counter evidence to these facts:

The earth's envirmonent can be thrown into an ice age or the opposite by an increase or decrease of 5 degrees in the earth's mean temperature.

More carbon = more heat trapped = less white ice to reflect heat = more dark ocean to absorb heat = more heat.

Fossil fuels are a finite resource. There is no way to replenish them.

The burning of fossil fuels are bad for human health.

We are looking at a future where there will be significanlty more, not less demand for fossil fuels.

I've allowed you to draw your line in the sand and deny climate change. Now explain to me your solutions for these other issues.”

“Nuclear is expensive. Billions to put up one plant. No insurance company will indemnify a nuclear plant so we have to fund it's construction and cover the risks associated. We have an abundance of land, what we lack is water resources. Nuclear uses a lot of water and water is going to be needed for other things like sustaing life. And just where do you store a hazardous materiel that stays that way for thousands of years? And you're engaging in the process of nuclear fission to create steam to move a turbine. The world is full of natural heat and motion. Solar, wind and battery technology will improve, especially if it gets a fraction of the funding we devote to building weapons systems to kill other humans. This isn't France. Their government has a larger role in running the economy and can demand the type of consistancy that you (from Galtland) would call "socialism" and the tyranny of government over private industry.”

“Oh I can think of one thing that is free: your opinion.”

“Yeah I want to know why Obama didn't prevent the recession that Bush left him. Couldn't he have done more while he was campaigning?”

“So it's not an out of control ruling class or a goverment bribed into submission. Or the fact that companies have decoupled any obligation to their employees but expect constant productivity. It's not overpaid executives that get bonuses even though they fail. It's all the fault of the stupid American worker. If you are one yourself then tell me, do you get up each day and slam a brick into your own head? Do you yell at yourself in the mirror to get your lazy ass out there and make the boss rich? Did you know that the term "meritocracy" was coined by a satirist? (I just read it today in another Huffpo column)”

“You seem to be looking down the wrong side of telescope here, friend. If health insurance is mandated won't that create a demand for more medical care, thus increasing jobs? Won't reducing emissions create jobs in the fields that work to reduce emissions? As far as deficits costing jobs: how do you account for all the job creation during the last thirty years when we've run deficits? You also seem to lean into the conventional wisdom that any interference with the markets only creates loss. I don't think you could prove any of your assertions, but please try.
I didn't create this screwed up system that favors wealth over all other human activity and I'm not crying about it either. I just want it changed.”

“"Let the market sort it out. "
We've tried that for my entire lifetime. The only thing the market sorts out is how to screw over the already screwed over.
"Everyone knows there is huge buyer demand for foreclosures and short sales"
And who are these people who want to buy these properties? Why do I get the feeling that they are the same ones who drove the market over the edge in the first place?
I get that your a free market cheerleader. But don't a lot of our problems come down to excessive usury and an opaque industry that doesn't really want an informed public when it comes to finance? Ultimately it was up to the lenders to make responsible loans to people who would pay them back. They failed. Lender's punishment? They lose some money. Borrower's punishment? Foreclosures, lost jobs, out on the street.”

“"Current fad is to get the rich to pay for everything"
No, friend, the current fad is to defend the ill gotten gains of the rich. Outside of a few progressives I haven't heard a call for the rich to pay more, even though they took the lion's share of wealth over the last 30 years. The deficit that we all face largely comes from taxes that should have been collected. That hole in the debt benefitted those at the top, but all of us have to pay for it. And that is wrong.”

“"And do we need all these state of the art mental health facilities; "
I worked at one of those "state of the art" facilities you refer to. It was anything but. I came away with the firm conviction that we as a country do not care about and those with mental illness. But to Dugan they are pampered in state of the art facilities, not ignored, neglected and discharged to the streets. These are your original homeless population that crept up in the 80s. This lack of concern for the least of us has spawned an over concern for the wealthy. A feat of propaganda that has members of the lower casts of America defending the obscene cocentration of wealth as somehow the natural order of things. Supposed deep thinkers with the mentality of a peasant. And you call this free thought?”

“You could buy a house for around $5,000 in the 50s when the highest rate was 92 percent. Or did you think that the cost of everything stayed the same in the last 60 years?”

“One could argue that Palin was catnip for conservatives. You surely started down that path. But then you veered right to generalize about Dems. A perfect reflection of your own bias.”

“That's odd. If America is a free market meritocracy like so many on the right believe then I think it's time to bow down to your meritocratic overlords on the left. As long as there are classes and inequality there will be class warfare, however quaint you may believe it to be. Isn't that what the entire TEA party movement is about? Empowering lower and middle class white conservatives? Isn't that a form of class warfare? Or would you argue that it won't sell?”

“Oh yes we did. It was called the Bush administration, Mr. VanWinkle.”