Kiku's Comments (391)

“Costco has stopped carrying lots of name brand stuff that works, and they sell only their Kirkland signature brand. They did it with paper, yogurt just happened, and now Coke? I don't buy Coke, so I don't care about that, but the overall trend is giving me less reason to go there. Prices aren't so cheap anymore either.”

“Look at the Meta message... lots of economics is based on perception. By creating a positive perception, insitutions and people will feel more comfortable and spend more money. Buffet isn't telling us what to do, he's showing us by example, and laying a foundation so that people will feel confident again.

Part of the problem is that the banks have the money, but they aren't willing to lend except to very stable customers. Buffet's comments indicate that he perceives this as perception issue, and he's trying to create a positive perception and help institutions feel comfortable again.

On the other hand, banks could be holding money back to make Obama fail. Four years of a recession will likely have Obama out of office in 2012.

I hope the Buffet is right.”

“Hahahahah.­... the racists think the racists are racist....­..”

“Liked the article, except the part about a 6 year old with downsyndrome. That wasn't necessary. Disadvantaged people shouldn't be used as the but of jokes, or the epitome of stupidity. Please be more respectful.”

“The President's group, OFA, has just roused over 130,000 calls to Congress in one day to support his agenda, which includes the public option.

How is that not getting tough? I believe that this is a continuation of his past efforts to rouse people and to get them to push their Congress members to support the public option. Obama can't bully people to support the public option, if people are opposed to it, he isn't going to make any difference. Instead, he is telling "Make me do it". Rahm is his bad cop, pushing the progressives to get involved. We have to do it, Obama cannot. And, we are doing it.

I don't give credence to reports that blame Obama anymore, I think it's just conservaDems scapegoating their lack of support and blaming Obama.”

“Whooo Hooo!

It's good to know that we can still reach out! It's good for Congress to know we are paying attention, and that we care.

I've watched the twitter events go viral and people re-tweet about health care. It's moving to see a new tweet every few seconds. I wonder what it's like to be in the office and have a constant flow of calls from one's constituents, asking to be represented. I hope it touches them. If not, they don't deserve to be in office.”

“Let's read the polls and the graph properly. Both Republicans and Dems have declined in proclaimed affiliation by about the same amount. Republicans by 4.5% and Dems by 2.7%, while Independents have picked up that slack by increasing a full10%!

I think that people are getting tired of each party, and are tired of the party politics. I think that people will not be led blindly anymore and they are start to expect results from individual politicians, independent of party. It isn't ok to support Baucus as a Dem, when he acts like a Republican. It isn't ok for Grassley to vote Republican against the wishes of his constituents. The public is acting bipartisan, but the parties are taking a while to catch up.”

“Obama does seem to be turning around the anger from a tough August and a stalled health care plan. But, what this really says is that the Dems haven't lost yet, but they still can, if they don't start doing what the were elected to do and pass a health care reform bill with a strong public option.

Nothing less than the future vote for Dem members in Congress is riding on this. Vote for strong reform and the supporters for change will reward the Dems by turning out in the polls. Cave to the insurance companies, and what's the point?”

“In some ways he's right, it isn't lack of insurance that's killing people, even people with health insurance are dying. It's the lack of efficient delivery of effective care whether the insurance companies deny the insurance or they deny the care, people are still not getting the care they need.

I wish the media would put people on who call out the spin, since it doesn't seem to be their job.”

“He said he's an elected official, we're his boss. Not sure people in LA will reward or punish this.”

“Right, he follows the couples he's married through them having children to know that their families have rejected their children? Highly doubtful. It an excuse for an old racist laws against interracial marriages that were still on the books in the 1960s, in our lifetime. Some people just seem to get stuck in a certain timeperiod, like ducks imprinting on their mother.”

“I think Obama is behaving like FDR:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7808133

"In one situation, a group came to him urging specific actions in support of a cause in which they deeply believed. He replied: "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it."

He understood that a President does not rule by fiat and unilateral commands to a nation. He must build the political support that makes his decisions acceptable to our countrymen. He read the public opinion polls not to define who he was but to determine where the country was – and then to strategize how he could move the country to the objectives he thought had to be carried out.

If Obama wants to govern as liberally as the political circumstances allow, then we need to work to make sure that the political circumstances include a strong liberal base. Mindlessly cheerleading out of a misplaced sense of loyalty will not help him. ...

In the current political world, I believe that Obama and the Democrats need a strong left wing that is out there agitating in order that we can continue to build popular support and also give them a political excuse to do things that the political establishment finds too liberal. Being cheerleaders all the time, however enjoyable that is, is not going to help them. Leaving them out there with no left wing cripples them."”

“I hope so.

We are not only working against the insurance companies, but an entrenched philosophy in Congress that they can't make big changes, and a Republican Party that will let American fail before seeing Obama succeed.

This is a big lift.

Call Congress.”

“They just showed us the gaping hole in the bill, no control over the premiums, and that we can in no way trust them to play fair.

There is only one solution, we need a strong public option available to everyone on day one.”

“It isn't patience that they respect. Every parent knows at some point, you stop explaining and simply discipline. Did appeasing a bully ever work?

Now, this can be done with grace, we don't have to stoop to their level, and Obama is a master at this, he addresses it, but rises above it to let the other person make a fool of themselves. We're at that point, and it's working well. Best to keep it up.”

“Dawn, your heart must be breaking. Mine is, and I don't even live there.

I thought that this would start to wind down by now, and it seems to be growing.

The economy can't pick up fast enough, that will help.”

“These people died fighting for the rights of all Americans, not just Christians. It makes me sad to think that someone would turn their death into a political/religious statement, when they were fighting for just the opposite, to preserve our freedoms.”

“Whoo Hooo! Thanks for the update, Dawn! This guy has taken us back to the days of Japenese concetration camps. It's good to hear he's being shut down.

It seems that the government wheels are starting to work for Obama.”

“Maybe they'll rename the Virgin Mary to be Ayn Rand.

And, Mary Magdeleine will mean it's ok to have a mistress.

The poor should be heal in the churches, Jesus didn't set up hospitals.

When Jesus shared bread and fish with the multitudes, he could have made it a feast, but he didn't. Why should the wealthy share but a pittance?

Jesus turned water into wine, vices are ok.

Jesus didn't tear down the market in the temple, he used it to fund the church.”

“Let's get the analogy right.... A md or a democracy that launches a war that kills innocents to steal oil resources.­...”

“It would be racist to treat him any differently than a white person.”

“A funny thing happened yesterday. I was watching the video of the 912 interviews that's floating around, and thought to myself, they're saying things that sound almost like what I'm saying.

With the release of Baucus's bill, some of the things stated in this brochure are almost true.

Obama and the Senate need to distance themselves from Baucus's bill ASAP.”

“The House has specific rules that were broken, and I support their action on this. If they don't adhere to their rules, there is no point in having the rules.

Glad it's over, time to move on.

I get into lots of arguments with trolls in my listserv groups. There is really only one way to shut them up, I've found, and that's to ignore them.

I think Obama is making a mistake to continue to cave to them. But, he has higher fights he want to address, so he trims off the unnecessary arguments where he has to.

At some point, though, this bipartisan caving has got to stop.”

“We don't expect much from Republican screamers and birthers anymore. There was some hope for the GOP elected officials. More and more, they loose the respect of people in the US. It will be harder and harder for them to recover.”

“I voted no, I think that it distracts from the discussion we need to have about health care to continue with petty partisan bickering.”