StuartH's Comments (68)

“This is a good idea. I see a whole lot of people in there whenever I go and lately, I have been there quite a bit. We recently went shopping for a washing machine and found that Home Depot is a place to look at what is going on with appliances such as washers and hot water heaters. The industry is beginning to move in the direction of electric and water efficiency. We decided to wait a bit, because the same level of quality that our parents expected back in the '60s doesn't seem to quite be there.

Highlighting Home Depot as the place where home energy efficiency ought to be a consideration is really spot on. Yes! More of this.”

“This should not be at the top of the Huffington Post news column.

I hope you guys put this to rest. This site was doing great work as an
alternative to the MSM tendency to trivialize the important and to
raise to high level of importance, what is really trivial. Sorry to see
this in my face as I scan here for newsbits.”

“This gets more media play than the really important issues we are dealing with.

Really, what Tiger Woods does in his private life is of no importance at all.

It is easy for the media to dig on this because there is no effort involved. Huffington Post
should not bother with crap like this. Isn't this supposed to be an alternative to the MSM
and the way the media generally trivialize what is important and create importance
around the trivial?

This certainly shouldn't be at the top of the column.”

“Great comment. Really, the most salient point that could be made.

Sheine shines the light right where it needs to shine.”

“These people have to be taken seriously. There are enough of them that they could do some real harm to the effort to ensure that America's children are educated sufficiently to actually be competitive in a world where countries like Malaysia are educating engineers.

The logic of this is questionable. Christmas is partly the creation of the advertising industry, and partly a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus. It isn't a Jewish holiday. It isn't a Muslim holiday. It isn't necessarily a holiday that reflects every Christian's culture. In the Russian Orthodox Church, for instance it is celebrated in January.

The purpose of this exercise is to use state power to gain ascendancy of a particular sect of evangelical Chistianity over everyone else. The basic problem is that they mean business and will get their way if the adults don't watch the playground. Next stop: rewriting textbooks so that the Church and State separation concept can be edited out of the history books. Don't laugh. There is a drive on to get textbooks to be re-written for just that purpose on the part of the Texas State Board of Education, which influences the publishing industry.”

“From this article, what is really the bottom line in this is not all that clear.

What is clear is that there are enough people in the US who were successfully gamed by the insurance industry that it will take a lot longer than previously thought to achieve full public comprehension of the problems involved and what the solutions ought to be.

The current system is a nightmare and to the extent that reform is still needed, this situation will continue to escalate out of control. Those people who are essentially playing into the insurance industry's hands will sooner or later discover themselves to be advocates of further change, or those who are will replace them. This isn't over by a long shot.”

“This was not just a speech. This was a re-positioning of US foreign policy, away from the Bush doctrine and towards an international cooperation. It is based on a realistic assessment of the balance between hard realities we face as humans and the best ideals we can aspire to.

That he articulated this in the context of accepting a Nobel Prize makes this really interesting.

There are a lot of people with small perspectives looking for something snarky to diminish this with, but it really rises to a great statement of perspective, embracing history and the future.

This is really what made me feel so depressed when Bush spoke. He was always being pretty small.
Obama is able to grasp the full dimension of our predicaments and our aspirations. I look forward to seeing how he negotiates this through his two terms. Right now, he is still having to deal with undoing a great deal of damage that Bush created.”

“These people are hysterical over the idea that the "go it alone" cowboy way of the Bush years is history. They hate internationalism in any form. They hate foreigners. The problem with the world is that it is full of people who are not white and Anglo. Christ, how did the world get so full of brown people?”

“Well, if Palin is any measure, this could qualify them as leaders in the Republican party.”

“It may take some courage on the part of some Senators who think that the power of money in the hands of insurance industry giants is a fearsome thing. They apparently do not realize the even more fearsome power of voters who see what is really going on and want government for the people, by the people, and of the people - not of, by and for special interests.

Landrieu and Lincoln are on history's hook to come through for the people and not cave to the pressure of all the moneyed interests and all those misled by them.”

“Lieberman is an ass and a cruel one. He is the Senator from Aetna. Comes from a state heavy with insurance industry interests.

Anyone who has contact with reality beyond their own selfish bubble knows that the only solution to the direction we are headed in is in a public option, if not single payer sort of system.

Anything else gives the insurance industry a mafia like control over our money, and they are holding us hostage in a die-or-pay vise grip. There is nothing about it that is free enterprise unless you are content to look only at the facades the PR professionals project.”

“This is a Profiles in Courage moment for each Senator. Health care reform, with a public option, must pass or chaos will ensue. The question will be whether anything can be accomplished that is really significant and whether the lobbyists are indeed too powerful in a match against the public interest.

If Senators fail to realize the true nature of this moment, there will be hell to pay as chaos rises and various consequences, some of them unintended come about in the next election. The Senate collectively and individually will be taken to the woodshed and switched. None of us may be happy with the result. That is how politics works. So, get some courage.”

“This is a Profiles in Courage moment. Health care reform, including a public option must pass. If the Senate fails to do this, the question will be whether the Senate can actually accomplish anything significant and whether lobbyists are too powerful.

There will be some kind of hell to pay, possibly unpredictable, possibly full of unintended consequences, but a spanking in the woodshed will be due.”

“How many of us wouldn't want a chance to put ourselves forward in a major national forum to show our best stuff?

She had a great opportunity here to put forward some substance. Instead she is obsessing about non-issues and lying to herself about why the campaign failed. Old News.

She took her moment and blew it. She confirms that she has no substance, and doesn't know what it is.

This woman does not deserve the attention she gets. She is stupid. Her fifteen minutes of fame should be just about up.”

“From the comments, it seems a small number of people actually read history in any depth.

Soldiers or ex-soldiers "going off" is not a frequent occurence, but it is one that happens consistently down through history. Modern rapid-fire weapons make it more dramatic than it was when musket had to be re-loaded by a time consuming process, but the same issue is at stake.

There is a certain stress that comes from the contradiction between civilized society and military training. For some people, this is apparently nearly impossible to deal with.

For a psychiatrist to have developed this problem is very significant. It means that there is some very needed scrutiny into how the military is helping service members deal with the contradiction inherent in military service. Mostly, one gets the impression that there is grudging admission that there is such a contradiction and that "Suck It Up" isn't necessarily the solution. The fact that there are people hired to work as psychiatrists says that there is progress being made, but when it is one of the medical professionals trained to deal with this contradiction that "go off" it is obvious that the military is really missing something in its protocols.

This aspect needs to be delved into, and the religious angle, which is simply sensational, needs to get a rest.”

“If you read local newspaper reports, these military shooting incidents have been a part of life ever since there have been soldiers or ex-soldiers.

The problem has nothing to do with religion. This is about a military mind set that is the same as it always ever was. The source of this isn't hard to understand. Civil society and the education around the conventions that make it possible to live in a civilized manner are essentially in contradiction to military training and conditioning. The contradiction is, for some people, very hard to deal with.

The modern military has not done a very good job of figuring out how to deal with the psychological stress associated with the contradiction. It may not ultimately be possible to create comfort with this situation, but probably improvements could be achieved. For a psychiatrist to fall prey indicates that there is still a ways to go.”

“The military does not appear to be very good at figuring out psychology. Probably it is the macho thing.

The military is the ultimate macho paradigm. Suck It Up is the standard advice for any problem. To actually recognize that there are issues stemming from the core purpose of militarizing people, is to impose values on the macho paradigm that go against the grain. Thus, analysis is resisted. That question is the one that no one wants to deal with except through denial.

Thus, we see a long history of various incidents, all related to the paradox of military conditioning in a civil society context.

Somehow, that paradox needs to be addressed. Some individuals are just not able to handle it without help.

Signs that there is a problem are ignored. There is always a completely perplexed response as if this could never be understood. Anything in history that might provide useful clues for analysis is taboo. The next time something like this happens, denial will also kick in because that is a basic element of the way we have defined macho.

This adds to the depth of the tragedy because it is a set up for a repeat sometime in the future.”

“This is the result of a conservative permissiveness in associating guns as an acceptable form of expression for life's frustrations. There is a correlation between preachers in Arizona calling for the assassination of the President and guys standing around at public events with visible weapons and the most unstable people in the population deciding that they have authority to be judge, jury and executioner.

To me, those who think that violence or even pretending to be threatening is a good way to express political or life angst, ought to be held accountable, at least by a general recognition that there are consequences to waving guns around for some kind of macho display.”

“The terms are largely interchangeable. The question is whether the term used comes from a prejudicial, dismissive sort of place, or an attempt at respect.

Native American has been in use because it, like First Americans, describes a historic view that these people inhabited America prior to the arrival of Columbus and the other Europeans.

Indians, Indian People or American Indians refer to revival of pride in Indian identity, while making sure the distinction between people indigenous to the Americas and people from Mumbai is understood.

Specific tribal identities are appreciated, especially if the indigenous terms are used, Dine' versus Navajo, or Lakota versus Sioux, for example.”

“It isn't PC to direct attention to reality, which a lot of people will dismiss because they are ignorant of it.

The federal government took on treaty obligations that are addressed in the Constitution as a special class of agreements. This doesn't go away because some people don't understand it.

There are quite a lot of people who, as a result of these treaties, are in a relationship with the US that has many dilemmas that have to be taken seriously and worked out by intelligent people who understand all the responsibilities involved. Silly people who repeat oft-repeated ignorant sayings really are indulging in nineteenth century prejudices, probably without knowing it.”

“Knuckle dragging ignorance. But then, the only news about Indian country that gets in the mainstream media is that which fits the border town syndrome stereotype. Most people don't realize that border towns are not the same thing as communities that are within the bounds of reservation lands.

On the Navajo Nation in Arizona, for instance, towns like Chinle or Ganado are fully Navajo communities and large cities like Flagstaff or Albuquerque are hundreds of miles away. Tourists tend to run their RVs down the tourist highways and go to the same five or six places and take the same photos over and over millions of times. They do not see every day community life.

There are places to go for better information. The Navajo TImes is online. You can hear a talk radio show that is a pretty good discussion of Indian country concerns, Native America Calling.
Indian Country Today publishes out of South Dakota. There are many fine books.

Ignorance is mainly about not trying to find the information that is there.”

“If your family had roots in an area, with other families, going back through history that predates the US by several centuries, you might value those roots as well. The cultural traditions that include language and legends, religious lifeways unique to your heritage, and memories associated with places are irreplaceable.

Also, if you give up, you lose your identity and become just another poor urban person with no heritage and no sense of community. Those who stand on their culture and become strong as a result, tend to have a lot of pride and can succeed on that basis. There are a lot of kids coming out of reservation communities who get a good education, who then contribute in excellent ways to society, whether on the rez or off.”

“Having lived on the Navajo Nation for several years, I really appreciated and applaud the new federal outreach to Indian communities.

Indian people have a unique history. The lands left to them are ceded to them as a result of having lost millions and millions of acres more through long and bitter battle. The poverty that is there today is largely the result of attempts by larger society, through the government or through missionaries, to kill off the survivors through attrition. Recently, a more enlightened attitude has begun to prevail, just in the last few decades.

On the Navajo Nation, the "founding fathers" of the contemporary self-determination movement are mostly still alive. Peterson Zah, for instance, an attorney who set up the legal aid system for the Nation and many other community-building institutions, is still a working consultant and educator today.

What Indian people need help with is reversing the effects of prejudice, fair treatment in contracts with the federal government and big business for natural resource development (instead of pennies on the dollar) and full funding for necessary services such as policing, head start, and basic social services.

For too long, Indians have been totally screwed over by dismissive contempt (by progressives among others) based on ignorance. I am glad to see Obama at least moving in the right direction.”

“How come these people aren't focusing on the increasingly insane violence in mainstream, primetime TV?

Can it be that religious fundamentalists like the morality play crime dramas that feature vicarious vengeance but dislike sex? Is this Make War, Not Love?

Groups like this are not helping anyone.”

“Most criminals are stupid, otherwise they would think of something better to do.

People on Wall Street who are famously criminal in their dealings are not stupid,
just absolutely venal and amoral. There, the two types of criminals do have
something in common: an atavistic sort of human DNA limiting consciousness
more or less, to the predatory part of the "lizard brain."

Education, however, could make a difference in early childhood especially. It
is sad to see state legislators, seeking to address the current economic crisis
balancing the budget by cutting education. Long term it means more prisons.”