chagedorn's Comments (61)

“http://www.theonion.com/content/news/area_man_passionate_defender_of”

“I don't understand how this is a response to what I said. Sorry, just stupid, I suppose :)”

“I would say he's gotten pretty far without "business" or "Econ 101," of which I would imagine he has some working knowledge....I haven't pored over our President's transcripts and life experience the way you have, obviously...kudos.

I certainly won't go into the financial chicanery committed by our Presdents, pre-presidency.

A person can also not be at all book smart and not have a fancy degree, and still have no common sense, of course.

I didn't say Bush was personally responsible....there's plenty of blame to go around on both sides. But President Obama, who's only been in office for less than a year and as you implied, is barely qualified to be president and never had to meet a payroll, certainly is NOT responsible for the financial mess we're iin...

Our country was not founded on Capitalism, and Socialism did not even exist when our Country was founded. Our country was founded on the priniciples found in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

We've just had 8 years of leadership that was supposedly pro small business, pro all of these things you seem to desire...every branch of government marching in lockstep toward a common goal. Why are we in such bad shape right now?”

“Barack Obama is, among other things, a professor of constitutional law. I would argue that this knowledge is far more important (among other things) than a "business background." In fact, very few of our presidents, however you might judge them, have had a "business background" and the one whose career might most closely match is arguably the one who put us in this mess in the firstplace. And members of the "business" and financial community fill in the gaps for the rest of the responsiblity.

A democracy is not a business, nor should it be run like one -- particularly one that our business "leaders" on Wall Street envision -- nor do the same rules apply.. A business, for good or ill, is basically a monarchy or at worst, a dictatorship.

If so many people were not so accustomed to working in huge corporations where the law of the jungle increasinly applies, perhaps we could at least find some space in government for fulfilling the social contract that our founders envisioned in the broadest possible terms through cooperation and commitment not to shallow ideology but to underlying principles and finding solutions.”

“Sadly, the real problem is that, after years of Republican decimation of the social contract in this country...and destruction of the ideas underlying phrases like "Life, liberty and justice for all" which INCLUDES things like right to an education, right to healthcare, right to a level economic playing field...citizens no longer know what our government is supposed to be about. Further, they expect a "unitary executive" with a compliant legislature and judicial branch to accomplish everything by fiat...which not surprisingly is the way most large corporations work. Combine that with the Democrat's woeful lack of PR skills (for example, why are we still calling out and out "reactionaries" with the respectful moniker "conservative" as if that had any meaning anymore? And why, with the evidence clear on the table, are Democrats still struggling to prove that they're not "the party of economic irresponsibility?") and the media's unwillingness to drop the "us and them" narrative and remind their audience that in a democracy "we the people" are the government and you have a perfec storm of ignorance that one man -- even the imaginary leader of everyone's dreams -- can hardly fix in short year. We only have to look at the example of the Governator to learn that fantasy does not cross over into reality.”

“How do you know that Dawn Smith's brain tumor isn't because of something "she did?" Of course we are all to blame for the failings of our society and our culture, we're all human beings, with similar faults and unknowable tendencies in health, longevity, weight, etc. That doesn't mean that every one of us doesn't deserve at least adequate and affordable health care, an adequate standard of living, an opportunity to be educated and to live a happy life. The problem is we've gone too far in every direction in not caring about ourselves and each other -- and forgetting that not everything can or needs to be taught and reinforced by punishment or denial -- that's a philosophy that has gotten us the highest prison population in the world, some of the worst healthcare outcomes in the world and in general a culture that values the pecking order of wealth over "the pursuit of happiness for everyone." It's called understanding and compassion, and we could all temper our worries about "those other people" with a great deal more of it.”

“Some variation of this would be a nice start:

From http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/integrate/welcome.html

On 26 July 1948, President Harry S Truman signed Executive Order 9981, establishing the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. It was accompanied by Executive Order 9980, which created a Fair Employment Board to eliminate racial discrimination in federal employment. Segregation in the military services did not officially end until the Secretary of Defense announced on 30 September 1954 that the last all-black unit had been abolished. However, the president’s directive put the armed forces (albeit reluctantly) at the forefront of the growing movement to win a fully participatory social role for the nation’s African-American citizens.
The true fulfillment of the entire scope of Executive Order 9981—equality of treatment and opportunity—actually required an additional change in Defense Department policy. This occurred with the publication of Department of Defense Directive 5120.36 on 26 July 1963, 15 years to the day after Truman signed the original order. This major about-face in policy issued by Secretary of Defense Robert J. McNamara expanded the military’s responsibility to include the elimination of off-base discrimination detrimental to the military effectiveness of black servicemen.”

“"We Republicans spent eight years trying to delegitimize Bill Clinton.

Democrats spent the next eight years doing the same to George W. Bush."

I fail to see, and deplore the attempt, to present these two things as somehow equivalent. Just in terms of cost to the American people -- the special prosecutors, the impeachment, etc. for Clinton, versus....what? for George W. Bush who has never been held accountable for anything his administration did in terms of actually subverting the Constitution and breaking the law.

I celebrate Mr. Scarborough's attempt to be the voice of reason, but it's based upon the same kinds of false equivalencies always proposed by media pundits as if that somehow was "balanced."”

“Repetition and reinforcement invokes a Pavlovian response. This is the key to Fox News and the entire reactionary Republican strategy...it bleeds out all meaning and thought. Thus words like "tax" become triggers for blind outrage, far removed from the actual fact of what the majority of our taxes pay for...everything from the policeman on the beat to the highways we travel on to the safety of the food we eat and the water we drink and the air we breathe. I realize that's simplistic, but as long as we live in a world where one group is willing to do anything to win and cause any amount of suffering (oddly, considering the context, social "Darwinism") while the other group continues to recognize difference and inclusivity and yes, even ethics and simple manners, the second group will always be at a disadvantage to those who have been trained to react with anger and violence at mere words divorced from meaning.”

“Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is about to decide to let these very same corporations, who don't pay their fair shair of taxes, decide our elections by pouring billions of dollars into unrestricted political campaign coffers at every level. Imagine how this will effect local issues, the whole country will be wall to wall Rod Blagoeviches (sp?) Talk about leaving a mess for "the children," and people are protesting a deficit?”

“The problem with smiling at Fox News is that it is not satire, or comedy, or clownery. These people are, as far as I can tell, deadly serious. I would not smile at someone yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre, and I cannot smile at people whose intentions are to create a whole boatload of negative emotions and actions -- fear, anger, hysteria and so on. It may be a small minority of citizens who believe the conspiracy theories and upside down logic promulgated on Fox News (and unchallenged and promoted throughout the media) but a small minority actually can and is having a big impact -- like unnecessary changes in good legislation because of crackpot interpretations like "Death Panels" -- thousands of Medicare patients who want end of life counseling will now have to pay for it out of pocket, because cynics like Sarah Palin know exactly how easy it is to "make things up" for unquestioning consumption. Or people getting fired because Fox News only believes in "freedoms" for some people, not all. It is not funny when so many people are living in ignorance and fear and dragging the rest of us backward because of it.”

“I didn't say I support the President, though I do, with qualifications...as I said, I would prefer Medicare for All than anything we've been talking about. I think credit card reform without interest rate caps is toothless. And so on...

BUT President Obama is not King. How can he get these things done without Congress behind him? And without the American people behind him. I think the American people who voted for President Obama should be calling upon him to do what they asked, not saying basically "well, it's all over after 6 months I give up, he's a rotten President." If every single person at the Town Halls was screaming "Medicare for All" would that make it more difficult or easier for the craven politicians in Congress to at least consider a public plan...rather than basically putting it in as lip service only to take it out again...? But they're not...everyone is afraid that they're going to lose their insurance and they're going to be euthanized at 65. Is Obama responsible for that? What has he said?

Also, we need to stop responding so quickly to what we hear in the media. Read Jane Hamsher's article here about the numbers of votes FOR the public option. People can say what they want, the important thing is the bill that comes out of Congress and whether it gets signed.”

“"to" medicare for all...sorry”

“Think about how much easier it would be for President Obama to make some bold dramatic gestures that would immediately result in huge Republican (and Democratic) backlash and which would them allow him the political cover of blaming it on the Republicans, or Congress, or Washington. Remember Bill Clinton? His own party turned on him in the first few weeks of his administration over his bold stance on gays in the military, and followed it up with lack of support for healthcare reform. Democrats put him in the position of having to dance to the Repubs tune in his second term, and they still hounded him and his family and impeached him over an affair (regardless of what the "legal" justifications were.) Don't you think those who oppose Obama because of what he "represents" are dying to emasculate and "wimpify" him the way they've done with every Democratic candidate or President in the last 40 years?

I'm as frustrated as the next guy with the lack of oversight on Wall Street, the lack of caps on credit card interest rates, the knee jerk rejection of Medicare for all. But I'm willing to give President Obama more than the benefit of the doubt and more than six months to turn around 30 years of "all government is bad" and wars based on lies and a media that proves daily that "life is high school."”

“Why can't Democrats at least sometimes implement the simple method by which Republicans always win these arguments, sticking to talking points, false or true, and marching in lockstep towards legislation? I agree that "bipartisanship" is probably a crock, but pulling out on the leader of your party after six months when there's not even a healthcare bill for the President to sign seems to be simply going down the road of comfortable past failure for the Democratic party...we find it impossible to support the people we elect, and are far more comfortable in tut-tutting over the march towards a far worse future promised by Republicans.

President Obama's effectiveness is largely determined by the amount of support he gets from the people who elected him, which is as it should be in a Democracy. How is he supposed to stand up to people who have a great deal of REAL entrenched power if his support and trust is so thin on the ground that it wanes after six months?”

“"Obama has never understood that what he represents is, in and of itself, repellent to some Americans. " I would tend to doubt your statement, I think President Obama, as an African American, is well aware that what he represents is repellent to some Americans, and that if there is anyone likely to be a 'victim of a terrible crime" he and his family are at the top of the list. It may be a little bit arrogant for you to be pointing this out to him.

I also like to believe that, 6 months into his first term, President Obama has a strategy, and part of it is making the other branches of government, including the American citizen, understand and do THEIR jobs. We are far too used to, and comfortable with, acting as though our President was King...a role gladly accepted by the previous administration and supported by Congress on BOTH sides...rather than one branch of a participatory Democracy. In other words, pulling out on President Obama after 6 months is a) a typical liberal Democratic response and typically wrongheaded; b) plays into the "hysteria" that the "other side" is fomenting and c) really seems a bit of an overreaction to media exaggeration of the size and importance of the over the top, socialist-nazi-bogeyman manufactured response to potential positive changes in our healthcare system.”

“Dick Cheney's best friend...enough said.”

“The most jarring thing is that neither Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs would have necessarily been eligible for the funds they've received except for the fact that Paulson allowed them to wave a magic wand and become, overnight, "commercial banks." Anyone using their Goldman Sachs ATM card to buy a trunkful of groceries recently? Anybody looking forward to getting their Morgan Stanley no-fee no interest free checking account? I thought not...the fact that they're getting funds at all is just another monumental scam perpetrated by former CEO Paulson...”

“Satire, irony, sarcasm...yes. Funny? Not particularly. Could we hear from some other "non-fortunate" Stanley Bings?”

“The rich don't make the world go round, average workers make the world go round and the rich depend on what the workers make and the money workers save and invest to make their world go round...and for apologists for the mistakes of the rich to continue to step aside and give them the best seats. The rich haven't stopped spending, regular people have and THAT'S what's tanked our economy, because the majority of regular people feel that the "rich" have broken their bond of trust with average people and no longer want to take their money and put it in a pot for the "rich" to invest for them. Corporations in particular get a huge number of tax breaks, many of them pay no taxes whatsoever and the economy is still tanking. This worship of the rich and corporations is no different than people believing that some monarch had a God given right to their labor and to tell them what to do in the 16th century...it's an abandonment of responsibility.”

“Phrases like "the best job you could" and "well deserved vacation" and "thoughtful and honest man" say it all...the incredibly low standards/high rewards of the C-suite transferred to what, in reference to the Bush Administration, can only be laughingly called "public service." And then to further compound this bizarre public display of "just between us" brownnosing with implications that Huffpost readers are not sufficiently familiar with Ms. Zehner's oeuvre and masterful use of sarcasm...(I refer you to the current occupant of the Oval Office for the implications of statements like "I'm known for my compassion") well, this is a nice collegial try but I doubt it will have much impact on public opinion of Mr. Paulson at this stage of the game...actions (and inactions) speak louder than words.”

“When did the United States become the country of the lowest common denominator? Our senators from EVERY state should be concerned with how to bring everyone's standard of living up to that of Detroit's autoworkers (or whatever other standard includes job security and healthcare and a pension) not DOWN to a point where we can compete with Third World nations based upon our poor treatment of workers.”

“Ditto, I'll bet there are many people out there who gave at exactly the same times...Obama's emails were very effective in getting me to pony up that second donation...”

“Drama schmama, the media (including HuffPost) creates the "drama" -- events are moving much too quickly and are much too critical and frankly too interesting to see play out for this kind of side-commentary...let's talk about the action, not about the re-action. I didn't really notice much drama except some reporter and blogger huffing and puffing about the Clintons, as usual...”

“Or to put it another way, the American people do not want to see a bunch of pampered, overpaid actors striking for a pay increase, regardless of how right they are or how many of them don't fall into the category of "pampered and overpaid." The idea of a strike is a non-starter and will only harm SAG and unions in general, right or wrong.”