bpress's Comments (25)

“Learning from various religions can be good, but it is in what is learned. If it is taking care of your society and fellow persons, that is good. If it is simply to be pious and increase your worship of your god, gods or goddesses by fasting and praying and through that letting in conceit that your specific religion has the only correct answers for all mankind, then that is wrong. I think her statement is that the Christian faith says that the meek will inherit the earth (Psalms 25:8-13, Psalms 37:7-11, and Matthew 5:5 among others) and that the meek accepts that any religious or nonreligious answers will be different for each person. Of course, if she meant something else, I would like to hear it.”

“It's ironic (or maybe it isn't!) that the University is offering training to their staff in: 'Preventing Retaliation Discrimination in the Workplace.­'”

“Thank you for your thoughts. I saw you on Obermann also. Michael Jackson was an amazing performer and artist who had many personal tortures in his life. Our concern should now be for the living. I hope that the children's nanny, Grace Rwaramba, will continue in the children's lives. She has been in their lives since their births and they need such stability. Hopefully there were plans made for their future.”

“The Japanese Americans did not receive their homes and property back, just the $20,000 payments to 82,210 Japanese Americans or their heirs. The Native Americans have not received their land back (most of us would have to move!), just a BIA apology. There are many ways to provide reparations. I am not convinced that actual monetary reparations will ever be made. Too many have been trampled by the US by action or inaction over the years.

Affirmative action and the Voter Rights Act have been a great help in giving a boost to those who were excluded before. These are not reparations, but they have lead to many obtaining an education and jobs. With the election of President Obama change has at least come to the top. Our system is still very biased against African Americans, especially young males. These include unemployment and incarceration for minor property and drug offenses in a disproportional rate. Even driving a nice car can lead to a traffic stop for imagined crimes, ie. 'driving while black'. We have a long way left to go until all individuals have equal value in our society.”

“I agree that in society the ideal never existed, but that doesn't mean that it should not be something to strive for in all our interactions.”

“Cowards? They must brave heat or cold and cross inhospitable land. They would not be allowed in legally since the 'quota' for Latin American countries is very low and legal immigrants must face a long waiting period and usually must have a specialized skill to enter. They wouldn't want to enter if the disparity in income didn't mean that even for the lowest paid worker what is earned is more here than on the other side of the border. I'm sure you would do whatever you needed to do to support your family.

But back to the main point, your calling the illegals 'cowards' just is adding another prejudicial word to the witch burning flames.”

“Condi is another supporter of the faulty Imperial Presidency theory.”

“Yes, George the lesser, did hold his hand and kiss him. You can see many images of this on the internet, if you want to. As an oilman, the former Pres., was very friendly with the suppliers. The repugs and neo-cons have tried to criticize President Obama for his greetings of other heads of state, including some who are leaders because by hereditary they are Kings and Queens. The concern is definitely for self-promotion only. They need to talk about actual issues, and not just NO - but that seems to be too difficult for them...”

“The Repugs have to get low and middle income people to be part of the party of the ultra-rich by deception. The Repugs on top convince them that they can win the lottery or pyramid scheme (which is rigged against them) and become one of the ultra wealthy if only the OTHERS (insert any group here) can be stopped from interfering with the unfettered greed. Limbaugh and the other fearmongers are used to feed this paranoia, this conviction, that there are people and policies which interfere with the losers becoming winners. It is really the Repugs at the top of their pyramid scheme who keep everyone else down. After all, they need servants (who believe they can win at a rigged game) willing to work for low wages.”

“Obama handled this well. He accepted Senator Gregg knowing the Repugs had set it up. That's why after a short time, he moved control of the census into the White House. He probably would have left it under Richardson's care. The Senator would either have to continue without control of the census for the Repugs or withdraw. He chose to withdraw and used everything he could think of as a reason, with the census being stated as a minor item (not the major, which is was). Obama showed bipartisanship and kept the Repugs away from the census.”

“"... they aren't that stupid." Well, it didn't take a very articulate person to say something like ''Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." and then go on to fool everyone again. Throw out lines about contraception, Acorn, etc. and you can continue to fool many, which is what they did on the 'stimulus' bill. I don't know if the fools need to be guided out of the wilderness or left there for a forty year hike. Trying to rescue them will only slow down everyone else. The quote attributed to The President states it very distinctly, "I won."”

“He is trying to put a human facade on the inhuman behavior that has passed for policy for the past 8 years. With the new AG, Eric Holder, saying that the interrogation techniques used by the Bushites is torture, it will be hard for him and his followers to fade into the night without answering for that policy and their other policies that are torturous to reason.”

“I loved the original and this version! Ashford & Simpson have been great music writers. They had written for Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Diana Ross, and The Supremes among others. They have been performing together for a long time. Of course the neo-you-kn­ow-who-can­s, the masters of negativity, will criticize this version... they prefer racist parody songs.”

“Biggest problem is fundamentalists of almost any religion don't see the need for religious freedom. Their way or no way is their mantra. Religious intolerance has led to too many wars and deaths.”

“You do know that this feeds into the world government conspiracy theory which includes coordination between the parties.”

“This has been my thought too. A registration for two adults who want to establish a legal relationship for inheritance, medical approval, children, and taxes, perhaps call it civil union, not a marriage. Leave marriage to religious institutions and not subject to civil law. This would mean that any banning of marriage, a denial of civil rights, would not exist. It would only exist within a religion, which could accept or reject a marriage on their criteria.”

“Goldwater Jr is of the mindset that you support your party no matter what. Barry Goldwater Sr might not have voted for Obama and then again he may have. He would not have voted for McCain just because he is the republican nominee. He would more likely have supported Ron Paul and Bob Barr when Ron lost in the primaries.

Johnson won on the contention that Goldwater would have caused a Nuclear War. We will never know on this point, but he would not recognize the current batch of neo-conservatives who want to limit personal freedoms (anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, mixing religion with government) and are definitely not fiscally conservative. The massive cuts in taxes on the wealthy and deficit spending are not conservative. He would recognize you cannot cut taxes when expenditures, including payment on debt, exceed income.”

“There are buzz words in use these days which include 'fundamentals' and 'Joe the Plumber'. Fundamentally, I am sick and tired of hearing about Joe the Plumber. I'm sure many others are too. Of course we have McCain and his advisors (mainly lobbyists), who love a good 'hook' to make a sale. In this case, they will find that it is a NO SALE.”

“It's not a makeover that their counting on. It's sliming Obama. It has just started in earnest and will only get more outrageous for the next 17 days. Robocalls, flyers, attack ads, voter challenges and neocon talk radio. This will rev and rile up his base, but will it convince enough 'undecided' to keep the same policies that got us into this mess? They are hoping with unchristian glee that they will sway enough 'undecided' to win after disqualifying some of the majority of voters who oppose them.”

“I have always considered Drudge to be partisan and opportunistic. He knows how this picture will feed into some white males' phobias and how it will get more views for his site. Hopefully fewer than he thinks...”

“I am a white male in his 50's, but not typical. I agree with Spender that ethnicity is not important to me. I want someone who can actually work across party lines and reach a conscensus. A consensus is not a compromise, it is something that most can agree on. He is intelligent and inspiring and can change to incorporate changes in the nation's requirements without going into panic mode.”

“All this so McCain can outdo his father and grandfather. Doesn't matter what happens to the USA (Country First? right!) after he is gone... he has achieved his goal of rising to Commander-in-Chief and outranking the Admirals.”

“This is not a new McCain plan. He was saying this in April. He said, "we must start with the subprime mortgage crisis, with the hundreds of thousands of citizens who played by the rules, yet now fear losing their houses. Under the HOME plan I have proposed, our government will offer these Americans direct and immediate help that can make all the difference: If you can't make your payments, and you're in danger of foreclosure, you will be able to go to any Post Office and pick up a form for a new HOME loan. In place of your flawed mortgage loan, you'll be eligible for a new, 30-year fixed-rate loan backed by the United States government. Citizens will keep their homes, lenders will cut their losses, and everyone will move on -- following the sounder practices that should have been observed in the first place. "
Here is the link: http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/news/Speeches/9bb4e69a-36cc-4ca3-b40d-0cdd41a1b812.htm
He has disappointed a lot of the conservative crowd since he is tacking away from them on this one. He may think that he has their votes sewn up and doesn't need to pander to them - he has Sarah to do that.”

“Everyone needs to contact their representatives to raise these points. This looks like another 'Patriot Act' or the authorization to use force in Iraq since there is no oversight by Congress or Judicial branches of government in the proposed language.
If a company is so large that if it fails the economy will go down, it is too big and should not have been allowed (some type of anti-trust provision?). The only remedy seems to be to take over the company (TEMPORARILY to nationalize it) and cut it into pieces and sell off the pieces (at a profit to the taxpayers). FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC are the equivalent to public utilities and need additional regulations. Oversight must be reinstated so the pigs at the trough don't continue to wallow in our money.”

“Thank you for your concise response. We all know you support the Republicans, but you responded as a parent. The campaigns need to keep to issues (although innuendo does work). When the issues are discussed, however, the Republicans will lose. The 98% who make under $750,000 will be better off financially with the Democrats.”