aaronr2000's Comments (49)

“Very moving post. My condolence for your loss and your situation.

I totally understood the need for mandatory insurance in the form of a 2.5% "tax" which means everybody has skin in the game for the reasons you explained. But people's disdain for the mandatory coverage in this bill is because it's not coupled with a public option to reign in cost. Subsidies is to health insurance cost as a 50% sale is to an product marked up by 100% - you're back where you started if there's no cost containment mechanism.”

“And so shall it be so long as rank and file Republicans continue to cut off their noses to spite their faces. Remember the bill Republicans passed to make it harder to file for bankruptcy even in the case of catastrophic medical costs? Their constituents allowed them to pass that. Now they're propping up the insurance industry even though it's business model includes fleecing and bankrupting the sick if it means making a profit, blocking reforms meant to benefit the middle class (the poor are on medicaid and the rich obviously aren't affected). If the health care debate is any indication of things to come, they'll allow their representatives to strip the consumer protection agency of any meaningful power, especially if it means denying President Obama the satisfaction of a political victory.

Two books also stand out: "What's the Matter with Kansas" (details how conservative "value voters" vote against their own economic self-interest) and "Free Lunch - How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at the Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill)"

Sadly if America is left without a middle class, it'll be because the middle class did away with itself. While the French revolted against the aristocracy class, only in America do we have a reverse French Revolution where we fight feverishly to keep the rich richer even at our own expense.”

“Yes, their "gubmint" spin is about to be put to the test and exposed for what it really is - hot air. I like the way Jon Stewart put it when Boener was critical of the government run post office:

"Why are you dumping on the post office? For $.44 they take some crap you wrote and fly it out to Wyoming in two or three days."”

“New Rule: Bill Maher should change his motto to "Yeah I said it! It had to be said so I said it!". He is excellent at exposing who can and cannot handle the truth.”

“Excellent points. Because national press usually is consumed with national and international politics and the local press is consumed with fires, shootings, and American Idol facts like these fall through the cracks. Local city councils give huge tax breaks and take money from libraries to build multi-million dollar stadiums for team owners who charge high prices for tickets to their sporting events, a tripple fleecing of their local tax payers. That's how George Bush made his millions with the Texas Rangers, and he says the government cannot create wealth. He's walking proof of that being a lie.”

“The man just said "as if all the anti-immigrant hate mongering wasn't bad enough..." That just about covers it.”

“"Prisons used to be a non-profit business, too. And for good reason --­ who the hell wants to own a prison? By definition you're going to have trouble with the tenants. But now prisons are big business. A company called the Corrections Corporation of America is on the New York Stock Exchange, which is convenient since that's where all the real crime is happening anyway. The CCA and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more money. That's why America has the world;s largest prison population ­-- because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative impact on the bottom line. "

I did not know this. This is disgusting. The proponents of privatizing every service that the government should be running like health care try to tap into the nation's sense of patriotism, either let the free market system run it or you're an America hating socialist. The cruel irony is that the outcome of doing so is what's really hurting America. Great points Bill Maher!”

“You couldn't pay me to vote for Palin even if you guaranteed me she'd loose anyway, but I TOTALLY respect what she's doing. Yes she's not the sharpest political knife out of the drawer but she has brought much more to the Republican party than she's taken from it. Her ability to energize the base and give a good speech was eclipsed only by Barack Obama, meaning no one from the Republican party has her star power. And what did she get for all of that? One great big finger pointing blame game from the right for their losses and mockery and ridicule from the left. So she did the right thing, told everybody to KISS MY A$$, I'm outta here!!!!!”

“Powerful post, as is also this article. Very well stated. I too was bullied mercilessly from the age of five util I was maybe fifteen. It made me very shy, something at the age of 37 I'm still learning how to overcome. I like you wished that Michael would have gotten some serious help from all the trama he faced growing up. But unfortunately, he would continue to be teased on the playground of life even as an adult until his last days. Being the best at what you do, the king of the hill, makes you an even easier target for ridicule and criticism.

As the article states coming out and being open about your experience can help heal the scars, but what are we to make of the fact that when Michael bore his soul in describing what he went through as a child it brought not sympathy but more ignorant ridicules? They saw it as a ploy to gain sympathy just to sale more records. What was there to stop him and other victims of abuse from thinking that's just the way the world works, just non-stop abuse from the cradle to the grave?

Again thanks for sharing your story.”

“"Clearly South Carolina's governor Mark Sandford's biggest mistake wasn't cheating on his wife, it was admitting it one day too soon" - Stephen Colbert”

“Very well said!”

“You are so cruel.”

“The Palestinian leadership is unique. Unlike most governments with far greater resources which are responsible for taking care of its own people and their needs, the Palestinian leadership in its extreme poverty has to provide services not only for the Palestinian people but also to the Israelis. While the Geneva Conventions rules state that it is the responsibility of the occupiers to provide protection and security to the occupied, Israel has turned this on its head and are forcing the Palestinian leadership to devote its resources to enforce first and foremost security and services for Israel.

I am deeply saddened by your personal account of what's going on. But I will be no different than the politicians who pay this grave issue lip service if after all of what you have shared I'm simply saddened. I've already started to schedule meetings with my representatives, including one who stood up against Israel's assaults but was immediately put in his place by the AIPAC lobby. I'm working on a strategy that I'm hoping will bloom into a grass roots movement. My goal is to remove the anti-Semitism taboo from questioning our unconditional support for Israel and to eradicate this myth that support for Israel is support for the US. A tall order I know, but everybody has to think if not me then who.”

“Wow that's some strawman argument you're erecting there.”

“Yes her vote saddened me the most too. It takes a selfish short sighted politician to care more about his or her political contributors and their own careers than what's good for their constituants, especially those that need them the most.”

“The sick irony of this is these anemic banks are getting funded like it's 2009 but are still power playing like it's 2005.”

“The anger is for them taking all the WRONG risks. Hedging bets that the housing bubble will never burst and as a result getting up to their eyeballs in credit default swaps while exploiting subprime loans is BAD! Giving home owners a break with the backing of the US government is GOOD. THe problem is the former padded their pockets while the latter makes them put skin in the game. They think they're too special to feel economic down turn like the rest of us.”

“None taken. Thanks for the compliment and for rephrasing the original post. It all made since when you clarified it.”

“Very well said.”

“Perhaps I should have cooled down and not spoken in the heat of the moment and for that I apologize. However I did see a "get over it" theme in his comment, especially when I see words like "bogyman". It came across as someone trying to lay blame to their problems much like conservatives like to innoculate big businesses from all that they do to hurt the rest of us. If that's not what he/she meant then I'm sorry for my misreading of the comments. After taking a second and third pass on the comments maybe I was a little too hard on it. Having a kid with autism doesn't make me the leading authority on this subject, nor does it give me a pass to be rude or condescending. Thanks for your reply.”

“While you have a right to make a dissenting point, your tone is a bit condescending and insulting, especially to those of us who have children or family members with autism. Where do you get off telling people to quit their whining and take their consequences like a man and stop trying to blame someone else for what ails them? You got alot of nerve.

Ironically I would feel less bad if my son's autism was just a run of bad luck. What sickens me the most is the thought that this could have all be avoided had someone done a little more research, or some greedy CEO of a pharmaceutical firm didn't pad the pocket of a politican to look the other way like the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans did when they immuned vaccine companies from lawsuits in the homeland security bill, or some board of directors of a drug manufacturing company wanted to ignore the evidence of a link between their product and autism because it could severely cut their profit margine. And now we got to sit here and listen to you try to blame the victims for wanting to hold them to account? How dare you!”

“"Not everyone gets cancer from smoking, but cigarettes do cause cancer."

Couldn't have put it any better than that. This goes totally to the thesis of the book "Free Lunch" by David Cay Johnston.”

“You got a lot of nerve. I can't believe you wrote that. You remind me of those so-called experts who tells the rest of us ignorant lowly servants not to believe our lying eyes and ears, that if we want an opinion you'll give it to us. Although there is a market for people who want to be told what to think , I can tell by the comments you're getting that the usual tactic by pundits and "experts" of making complicated matters simple and simple matters complicated so that all we're left with is to depend on what you think isn't going over too well.”

“Thank you! You saved me a lot of typing. Your last paragraph is a direct answer to Hegedus' last statement for Jon to "find a bigger nail".”

“Lou Dobbs is a demagogue, feeding on the prejudices of conservatives against the Latino communities in this country. He also puts on this self aggrandizing crusade to elevate an independent party as the alternative party to cure all that ails us brain dead kool-aid drinking Democrats and Republicans. He's so condescending.”