emsique's Comments (245)

“Naps. Just to lay down and float above your body, your consciousness just drifting slightly above you, in that brief interlude you can be refreshed. And yes, the best dreams.”

“Well, I'm in Washington DC about to begin a long dreamed of project, which will take all my energy to get off the ground. I've made a pact with myself that taking care of myself, which begins with a good night's sleep so I can think and work through inspiration, is the first thing to making what I intend manifest fully.

Count me in, Arianna.”

“Good for you! So many people feel indebted to these loan sharks. If they can change the rules midstream, then so should you!”

“And if you transfer all funds into an IRA and have no more assets than $22,000 you might as well file for bankruptcy. There is not limit to the amount of $ you can put in the IRA and it is exempt. As is $22,000 of furnishings, cars etc. etc. If your house is underwater, you might as well go for this.
Use the IRA's in Canadian banks which are paying pretty well right now.”

“It serves them right, although we all have to pay for it in the end. Do me a favor in the future? NEVER, EVER, carry a credit card balance unless you absolutely must.”

“No, not that Black&White thing again.
We got enought under Bush.”

“Enlighten us and tell us the difference. A mule is a cross between a donkey and a horse so is its nose being long that you were able to tell?”

“So true. If a war is worth fighting, than American military personnel should be fighting it, and not high priced contractors. Corporations like Halliburton and Blackwater should never have risen to such prominence in these wars.”

“I liked Rome, but "I Claudius" still overshadows it, "style" and production values notwithstanding. Sian Phillips' Livia still makes the "Rome" women look like cheerleaders.”

“Good points...no one progressive would ever in their right mind see him as such...the right wingnuts can call him all the silly, idiotic names they like, but socialist will never be the right one. Obama does NOT have our back, and that has been made abundantly clear, over and over.”

“Well Said emsique. I too saw a man who would somehow, someway STOP THE MADNESS !

I don't necessarily feel "betrayed".....just extremely disappointed .

Like you, I wasn't naive enough to believe it would be easy-- nothing about WAR ever is---and I knew it would take courage....

the type of courage Obama seems to have misplaced !”

“Maybe you should literally compare apples to oranges now?”

“The American people have paid for every war in lives and taxes. That is how wars work.”

“We seem to be the only Nation on earth that seems to think fighting a war pays for itself. History is replete with National disaster with wars that bankrupt the countries involved.
I think the "national service" idea has hit it's time: enlist in the military or serve in the healthcare and needed national construction corps to create jobs that can only be done in America and the payment is entry into universal healthcare and higher education where outside the military, 1 year service = 1 year of educational tuition. I believe that National Service of some kind lets every person feel like part of the same country as well as learn how to work together to get something done regardless of individual beliefs or even political persuasions. We did this in the 1930's and into the 1940's and it worked. Now almost 80 years later, it is time again to focus on National projects such as bridge repair, wind, solar, and geothermal energy installations and switching more vehicles over to natural gas/LP as well as forcing our nominally American Oil and Gas industry to sell American oil and gas to Americans FIRST instead of open marketing, and then to quit whining about slow leases when they refuse to develop the ones they have already.”

“I love it! It would be great fun to watch comservatives argue against funding the war, especially as they are always complaining about the "unfunded liabilities" of Social Security and Medicare. In want to hear the GOP explain why the war should be paid on credit. Let those who love war, pay for it.”

“It's by design we don't have enough military personnel. We spend far more on these military contractors than our own military. Why? Because the powers that be have a corporate interest in this gaming ... follow the money trail.

Our country is run by multi-national corporations that have their greenbacks well secured in the deep pockets of our elected officials - both parties. From the military complex (Halliburton) to the banks (Goldman Sachs, AIG) healthcare (any large insurance company to Big Pharma) to our food industry (Monsanto) ... this is a takeover that has occurred before our very eyes, and it threads itself into every aspect of our personal lives. Think about it.

It's time to go back to our communities of friends and relatives and begin to take care of each other. Someone has land for food growth, then that's their contribution. Someone has a medical background, then that's their contribution. Of course money still needs to be made as that is our current means by which to make things happen ... however, creativity and a union with those we love and care about can mean sustainability.”

“E: I agree. Here we are in charge of every branch of Gov't, and yet............as you say, it is "Bidness as usual." We must have strong, liberal/progressives in both houses of Congress. Dems need to boot out the paid for corporatists, hiding under the guise of being Democrats and replace them with strong people who will advocate for the American people. Dennis K., Bernie S., Alan G. to name a few come to mind. If the current administration continues on this path, then they will be gone in '10 and '12 and they will have only themselves to blame. It is as simple as that.”

“The real scandal is that WE THE PEOPLE let it happen to ourselves.
Folks would rather watch reality TV and play video games than actually take charge of their situation.
Modern day Bread and Circus, except now it's not an emperor pacifying the masses for his own purposes, it's the corporate interests.”

“We still have Biden, whose strategy on Afghanistan is IMHO (and many many others) the right one. What is frustrating is that we've lost him as a powerful force in the Senate. Not only should he be leading the Senate, not Reid, and one of the few with straight-forward honesty and b@lls to get it done, but he is exceptional with negotiating with former fellow Senators and effectively strong-arming peers.

With Joe as VP, his hands are tied with approaching the Senate, and he has a strong loyalty to the president (Biden is known for his loyaly to the president and this nation). Thus Joe has continued to push his idea for correct strategy for Afghanistan, which Obama asks for, but in the end Biden will, as VP, back the president.

As Senator he was able to be a heavy hitter as a separate entity. We never know, maybe at the last minute Obama will embrace Biden's strategy and tell Clinton and McChrystal to p__ss off. I've seen this said by several other commenters on HP, but at this point, Biden is the only person in Washington I like right now and I hope he doesn't go anywhere. Fingers crossed for Tuesday.”

“Our political system is broken and lobbying corrupts our government. Of course the corporations, banks, and Wall Street run the country. It’s all legal, out in the open and becoming more painfully apparent every day, to more and more people. There’s nothing conspiratorial or delusional about it.”

“The Allman Brothers is on it, listed by album name. Yes, American Beauty does belong, and no doubt will be there one day. I can't call any list weak that remembers nearly forgotten classics like Goodman's 'And the Angels sing' with Ziggy Elman's magnificent trumpet solo. The world is full of lists that celebrate the recent with no reckoning of the glories of the past. What's not to love about a list that preserves a showcase for King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Bo Diddly and Billie Holiday?”

“I like straw man arguments, because the straw men never seem to argue their own position.”