KIMBER's Comments (42)

“There is a mad rush on by agribiz in this country to get every living thing to consume massive amounts of corn - preferably genetically modified corn. Corn is a number one ingredient in pet foods - neither dogs or cats would naturally consume corn, but they get it, and look how fat they are becoming. Cows aren't made to eat corn either, but they are fed corn precisely because it makes them fat very quickly, in order to make the insanely high quantity of beef people eat. High fructose corn syrup is hidden away in almost all processed foods. Why is there such an agenda to get every living animal consuming vast amounts of corn? It's subsidized, and most of it is genetically altered to withstand even more toxic chemicals, which you ingest along with whatever genetic modification it has undergone. That's big money for the people doing the genetic modification and the manufacture of the specialized chemicals. Unless you buy it organic at the farmer's market, stay the heck away from corn, in its multitude of processed forms. Soilent Green isn't people - it's corn.”

“It is NOT correct - I did not say one word about putting down the fork - I said I had previously been quite conscientious about what was on the fork, watching what I ate, and exercising as well. The problem is what's ON the fork - as a matter of fact, in order to lose weight it often becomes necessary to eat more, not less, but just change WHAT you eat. I can hardly find the time or the hunger to eat as much as I'm supposed to. Problem generally solved by consuming raw nuts which are both high fat and high calorie. When you don't eat enough the body holds onto every calorie and stores it as fat by slowing down the metabolism, and at that point restricting calories only makes the metabolism slow down even more. You can restrict your calories to an insane degree and if you don't have the right balance of carbs and protein, you will either not lose weight or lose weight by consuming your own muscle, not fat.”

“I lost weight when I first became vegetarian, kept it off for quite awhile. Then it blew out my pancreas because of the carbs, and the weight packed on like crazy and wouldn't come off until I changed my diet to include things like eggs and fish, got away from grains almost entirely except for a little brown rice. Eggs have cholesterol in them, but they don't raise your cholesterol - sugar does that, and grains and starches are sugar too. It's not just calories in, calories out, either. 100 calories from simple (bad) carbohydrates is not the same as 100 calories from good (complex) carbs or protein in the affect it has on your body. Fat is absolutely necessary - raw nuts, avocados, olive oil. It's very unhealthy to avoid good fat - good fat doesn't make you fat; sugar in all it's many disguises makes us fat. There are all sorts of "fat free" foods that are loaded with corn syrup. Processed foods are poison, loaded with sugar and bad fats. I agree that if it has a label, don't eat it, especially if you can't pronounce it.”

“The idea that you can simply put down the fork and exercise this problem away is extremely naive - even people who are very conscientious about their diet can have this problem because their presumably healthy diet does not agree with their body.
I have been a vegetarian for 20 years, consuming a mostly but not entirely vegan diet. Yet at 5'5 I weighed almost 180 lbs and nothing seemed to put a dent in it. A screening revealed cholesterol of 249! I couldn't understand why this was happening as I watched everything I ate, honestly didn't eat much and am active and get exercise. I started working with a naturopath/nutritionist who put me on targeted nutrients and modified my diet to a great degree. My vegetarian diet was way too carb heavy - too many grains, when as it turns out I shouldn't eat hardly any grains. This was making me insulin resistant & causing the weight. I've had to increase my protein to include quite a few eggs and even fish now (which I didn't want to do, but it can be done responsibly & healthy - check out Whole Foods for that). Won't eat any other kinds of meat though. My diet is almost entirely fresh vegetables, eggs, fish & fruit. I've lost 12 lbs in a couple months without struggling. My diet (the Page diet - check it out) allows plenty of fat, which is essential, so I'm never hungry. Cholesterol is now 158.”

“This all rings true to me. I like that she differentiated between introversion and shyness; I would never be mistaken for shy, rather, I'm gregarious and very sociable when I feel like it, and I'm certainly not fearful of people. I'm fine around people when I want to be around people; the problem is that day to day life forces social interaction far more than suits me, and yes, being around people and not being able to get away from them is extremely taxing on me, causing me to feel very short tempered and overstimulated, resorting to monosyllabic responses in an effort to put a stop to what feels like invasive chit chat. I work for myself in a solitary artistic capacity, and I am also employed on a night shift which keeps my necessary human interaction to a minimum. I'm the person who will leave a store when I see a salesperson making a beeline for me. I also love the internet and despise the telephone - I'm the queen of the call screeners. I have close friends, love my family, and I'm actually a compassionate and caring person, but I frequently find being around people to be very overstimulating and agitating, while being alone in a quiet room is pretty much nirvana. I'm an only child, and I've been this way my entire life.”

“Don't forget to call Harry Reid and Max Baucus. Remind them that the majority wants a strong public option, and that they would be doing the Democrats a serious disservice to mess that up.”

“The vast majority of Americans support health care reform with a strong public option. A noisy and ill-informed minority made a big media fuss this summer, and they shot themselves in the foot, because there was a backlash and the number supporting "Obamacare" as you like to call it has gone up, not down.”

“The Republican party is becoming the party of uneducated, old, white southerners. It behooves the party to cultivate ignorance. They know their base gets information from people as ignorant as themselves, through unsourced, authorless e-mail forwards and "news" outlets that blatantly push lies and propaganda. The base of that party trusts ignorant, superstitious people to lead them rather than educated "elitists," because they don't trust anybody unlike themselves.
The party can play to fears, without having to worry about allegations being checked - all they have to do is appeal to emotional reactivity, fear and hatred, and they can manipulate people into voting against their own interests. Witness unemployed, impoverished whites protesting reforms that would benefit them - because they've been manipulated to believe it would enable the "government" to kill them, or that somebody they don't like might also get access to health care. They would rather go without something themselves than take a chance that someone they don't like might benefit as well. Just listen to what they say and how they say it to know the extent of their intellect. Through their noise and intimidation they are restricting what is possible for the rest of us. This is a violence against our nation's well-being, I'm sick to death of having these people influence the degree to which our country can advance. It's time for us to become as intolerant of them as they are of everybody who is not them.”

“The Republican party is becoming the party of uneducated, old, white southerners. It behooves the party to cultivate ignorance. They know their base gets information from people as ignorant as themselves, through unsourced, authorless e-mail forwards and "news" outlets that blatantly push lies and propaganda. The base of that party trusts ignorant, superstitious people to lead them rather than educated "elitists," because they don't trust anybody unlike themselves.
The party can play to fears, without having to worry about allegations being checked - all they have to do is appeal to emotional reactivity, fear and hatred, and they can manipulate people into voting against their own interests. Witness unemployed, impoverished whites protesting reforms that would benefit them - because they've been manipulated to believe it would enable the "government" to kill them, or that somebody they don't like might also get access to health care. They would rather go without something themselves than take a chance that someone they don't like might benefit as well. Just listen to what they say and how they say it to know the extent of their intellect. Through their noise and intimidation they are restricting what is possible for the rest of us. This is a violence against our nation's well-being, I'm sick to death of having these people influence the degree to which our country can advance. It's time for us to become as intolerant of them as they are of everybody who is not them.”

“If you have kids, and live in a district that's refusing to show the speech, call the principal or the district and let them know that your kid will be staying home to watch the president's speech.

This idea was floated yesterday on the Thom Hartmann show, and I think this idea needs to be widely broadcast. The R'thugs aren't the only ones who can play this game to put pressure on the school system.”

“"IF THERE ARE ADVANTAGES TO AGING THEY ELUDE ME AND LOTS
OF OTHER ORDINARY PEOPLE...LETTING GO OF GRUDGES, FOCUSING
ONE'S TIME, LIVING IN THE NOW, WOULD REQUIRE SOME SERIOUS THERAPY..."

You said it, not me. Go ahead and make that call, Elfrida.”

“The swastika is an ancient symbol present in a wide variety of cultures including Asian and native American cultures. It's practically universal, and represents the turning of the wheel of everything; seasons, life, elements, the sun...
A group of horrid maniacs got hold of it a few decades back, for about 10 years, and turned it in to a dreaded symbol of hatred and oppression.
It's not illegal to wear it, or display it. It becomes a hate crime when it is included in vandalism, however. The people displaying it are within their rights, no matter how questionable their judgment.
The people spray painting it on the signs of congressmen are committing a hate crime.
The Buddhist monasteries or Native American tribes utilizing it in traditional ways don't have a dog in this fight at all.”

“Socialism is nationalized control of essential goods and services (like most of us have for the fire department and the police - we don't need to pay out of pocket for them to come out, it's paid for by taxation) and means of production of nationalized industries, like a nationalized auto industry. It doesn't preclude all private enterprise or entrepreneurship, as anyone who has been anywhere in Europe and walked down the street knows. Socialism, like capitalism, is on a continuum - very few societies are wholly either one - western Europe is largely socialized with quite a bit of capitalism in the mix, the US is largely capitalist with quite a bit more socialism in the mix than the tea-baggers would admit as they say "keep your dirty government hands off my Medicare!"
Communism and fascism are on opposite ends of the continuum, and are absolutes.
Communism is state control of all means of production, without private enterprise.
Fascism is corporate control of government, usually combined with extreme nationalism, militarism and religious fundamentalism. Mussolini himself said fascism would more appropriately be called corporatism. Hitler was bankrolled by many American industrialists like Henry Ford, Prescott Bush and IBM.
It's not hard to figure out which end of the continuum these anti-reform activists lean towards.”

“There's a concerted effort by Limbaugh and others to re-brand Nazis as leftists.
We're saturated with information about Nazis; cable is full of "documentaries" that cover everything from their occult practices to what the SS did to relax. Third Reich movies make box office. People are so familiar with Nazis, their atrocities & details about the Third Reich that they think they know what they were about, and it's easy to assume they do know. What's missing? Few people know what the Nazi's actual politics were! Americans "know" that fascists & communists (and now, even democratic socialists) are baaaddd, but they don't understand these philosophies are on opposite ends of the political spectrum - for all they know, they're synonymous, and increasingly they're portrayed that way, though the phase "socialist fascism" is a logical absurdity to a moderately educated person. This ignorance is being cynically exploited by people like Limbaugh; he can say "Socialist, National Socialist, just like Hitler" and people don't see a contradiction - they're not aware that socialism and National Socialism have nothing in common but a word. This could only happen in an historically illiterate nation. By re-branding Nazis as left, they can be used to demonize the left by insidious, if historically contradictory, coupling. Think labels don't matter? Ever heard of a "death panel?" The right is trying to demonize progressives as being in goose-step with the SS - and if we don't expose the absurdity of this meme, they'll manage it.”

“There's a concerted effort by Limbaugh and others to re-brand Nazis as leftists.
We're saturated with information about Nazis; cable is full of "documentaries" that cover everything from their occult practices to what the SS did to relax. Third Reich movies make box office. People are so familiar with Nazis, their atrocities & details about the Third Reich that they think they know what they were about, and it's easy to assume they do know. What's missing? Few people know what the Nazi's actual politics were! Americans "know" that fascists & communists (and now, even democratic socialists) are baaaddd, but they don't understand these philosophies are on opposite ends of the political spectrum - for all they know, they're synonymous, and increasingly they're portrayed that way, though the phase "socialist fascism" is a logical absurdity to a moderately educated person. This ignorance is being cynically exploited by people like Limbaugh; he can say "Socialist, National Socialist, just like Hitler" and people don't see a contradiction - they're not aware that socialism and National Socialism have nothing in common but a word. This could only happen in an historically illiterate nation. By re-branding Nazis as left, they can be used to demonize the left by insidious, if historically contradictory, coupling. Think labels don't matter? Ever heard of a "death panel?" The right is trying to demonize progressives as being in goose-step with the SS - and if we don't expose the absurdity of this meme, they'll manage it.”

“How must it feel, to have to continually play stupid and delusional to appease a base?”

“Our congressional representatives are going to be back in their districts at recess. It is incumbent upon every one of us to go to their websites, sign up for updates, and find out when they are going to be having town halls. My congressman, Xavier Beccerra, has "Coffee with your Congressman" meetings when he's in town in school gymnasiums.
We need to show up in force, and get like minded people to do so, for any number of reasons - having a presence to shout down and outnumber birthers is one good reason.”

“The President is NOT dragging his feet on this - I received an Organizing for America action alert today to call our Senators and pressure them for his reforms, including a ROBUST (the word in his e-mail) public option. He's sending out e-mails asking us to step up.
He wants this, but WE have to make it happen. It's the Senators who have been dragging their feet, and it's US who have snapped them across their behinds with the crop. Those suddenly cooperative Blue Dogs - thank MoveOn and everybody else who has made life hard for them.”

“Hunter would either love her or hate her, but either way he would have managed to seriously p!$$ her off. Oh if only he would have lived long enough to get a go at Ms. Palin.”

“I received this today from ABC - you may have to paste it - tell your health care story or ask question for show tomorrow night.

“Share Your Thoughts on Health Care With President Obama”
ABC News Wants to Hear From You About the Country's Health Care System

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/story?id=7845403”

“Probably someone who didn't finish their psych degree.”

“I second that - it's the best money you can spend (and I don't mean someone who just prescribes meds, I mean a psychotherapist). No, you don't have to be "crazy" to go, you just have to want to be saner than you're feeling. Most therapists work on a sliding scale for income - ask them.”

“"I just find myself mostly fatalistic and isolated. And I find myself strangely repeating mini-phases of depression, acceptence, relaxation, ambitiousness, stress, self-pity, guilt, repeat. Here now, is my desperate cry for help..... 'HEELLPP! I'm tired of planning my life, I just want to live it!'"

Yeah, that all sounds about right. Feels like your swirling around with too many choices and every one involves losing something big. Sounds like you're on track believe it or not. Just take care of yourself & you'll get to where you need to be. I'm sorry, but this answer will probably cause you to burst into a screaming tearful rage about how nobody in the world understands the lonely desperate place you're in.
They do, believe me. Your particular set of circumstances is personal to you, but the place you are in your life is universal (well, at least in our culture at this time in history) and most of the women who are older than you know exactly how desperate you feel. They also know that these things have a way of eventually weaving together in a way that feels right. Perhaps older generations of women did not experience this - they just got to feel the hopelessness of a life predetermined for them by somebody else. What you are experiencing now is infinite choice which causes us to freeze up & freak out.”

“I certainly hope that's working out for you. Had somebody else besides me arrived at a solution for me that involved me having kids, it would have not worked out well at all for anybody involved.”

“Of course life is constant transformation, but there are some major landmarks. I pretty much feel that just about everything until age 35 sucked (there were great times, but that "best years of your life" stuff overall is for the birds). I wouldn't trade my late 40's for going back to my adolescence or my 20's for anything (unless by magic I could bring everything I know now with me). If you make choices in your 20's that stick with you, such as marrying & breeding with some fool you shouldn't have, the story may be different, but fortunately I managed to avoid that (though avoiding a landmine broke my heart at the time).”