inmyhumbleopinion's Comments (167)

“I'll gladly supply the nails”

“Yes! May the MSM read his stuff and do some reporting on a daily basis!”

“Marcy and Nader were the only two people I know of that bothered to read the NAFTA bill before it was foisted on us. I would vote for that ticket as well but it will never exist.”

“What is happening, why are we so diametrically opposed to each other - the teabaggers vs. the socialists? We are floundering, FLOUNDERING, as a nation, and as humanity... We need to get back to the basic fundamental principles that we can find near unanimous agreement on. Look how far "all men are created equal" has taken us. There's gotta be more than that to grasp onto. What's happening is the issues of the day are far too complex for the average person to understand - keynsian economics vs monetarism, derivative financial instruments, progressive vs. regressive taxation, trillions of dollars (who can fathom the difference between a billion and a trillion?). So what do we have as issues - we have those things people actually have some opinion about - Gay Marriage, Abortion, Death Penalty, Taxes - and that's the problem. The things that really make a difference in our lives are basically unaffected by political change - but highly influenced by special interests through campaign contributions. And consider that most politicians at higher levels come from a legal background where they have become accustomed to compromising their own moral inclinations to support the cause of whoever is paying their paychecks. What we need today is real leaders who will take up the real issues that actually affect us, and educate the electorate about what is going on and what needs to be done. If that approach is not politically viable, we are finished as a nation and democracy is a”

“inmyhumbleopinion: I don't know what it will take to get citizens more engaged and bring their outrage to the doorsteps of Congress and the White House. But I fear we've become so jaded and discouraged in our so-called Democratic process, it won't happen anytime soon.

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This is the problem of a Jeffersonian style democracy in an unrestrained Capitalism Gone Wild environment. Even when the people speak. loudly and clearly, oligarchs can finesse their will because the control the lawmakers.

How much of Obama's initial vision and promise is getting whittled down to a pittance right now, in the halls of Congress. And the little people really can't do a damn thing about it.

Worse than that, the oligarchs are brilliantly exploited a bunch of the little people, taking advantage of their ignorance to convince them that insurance companies, and the coal companies and the pharma companies are their friends - and Obama is their enemy.

An accurate diagnosis, however bleak, is the first step towards long term healing.

Our long term healing will not come because the "little people" rise up. That only happens in the Lord of the Rings.

It may come if and when we finally make the shift to a governmental structure that places strict limits on how much capital and capitalism can influence final outcomes.

But that's a bitter pill to swallow - and probably won't be considered seriously until our world is a lot more ravaged than it is today.”

“"Whenever change as happened, it has been through protest, dissent, struggle, social movements, ordinary people picketing, striking, boycotting, sitting down, sitting in. All this mans that we make history, history is effected by our everyday decisions." -See post

With our children going hungry, it will happen sooner than you might imagine.

First the obligatory, "I am not a Marxist. I believe in well-regulated markets. And the oft-repeated phrase "Even a broken clock is right twice a day." ... speaking of Marx, of course. The phrase was "invented" without digital clocks in mind, I suspect.

Anyway, Marx is supposed to have said, "The people won't revolt until their belly buttons hit their backbones."

The corollary truism is, "They will revolt at that point."

Looks like we are going to find out how true it is, don't you think?

As I remember it, it was when the college students became eligible for the draft lottery in the Vietnam War era that the campus demonstrations begin ... a fact pointed out by RFK.”

“The political will is the intrest of lobbyist, so N-O !!!!!!!!!”

“sorry to inform you but display advertising is less than 25% of all revenue...advertisers do not get the results nor see the value.....search is king and then classified and recruitment.....the traditional business model of print will not translate to the web.....this is a huge problem for conglomerates and a great opportunity for upstarts that can figure out how to carve out a niche business.....”

“I concur on this point; while vaccination is important, it's very important to make sure Big Pharma doesn't make the decisions for us as to what's medically wisest.

Problem is that people are not really making this point. Most of the "vaccine deniers" (you know, the ones claiming that vaccines cause autism, or autoimmune disease, or don't ever work, and similar easily-disproved rubbish) are not making a nuanced argument that the profit motive is skewing vaccination decisions. They are simply making wild -- and false -- claims that vaccines are the DEVIL and that anyone who vaccinates their child should be locked up for child abuse, etc., ad nauseum. In other words, these are not rational people; at best they are frightened parents (not the most rational and stable mindset), and at worst they are intentionally deceptive.

As a result, you have almost-eradicated diseases like polio making a comeback. If people are scared of H1N1, just wait until nobody will go in public swimming pools due to polio... again.

That's the problem I have with Bill's argument. He may be more nuanced about it than he's letting on. But by going on record saying that "anybody who gets a flu vaccine is an idiot," he's yelling fire in a crowded building. Actually, he's yelling fire in a crowded building full of nervous, panicky people who are already looking around and asking each other -- "do you smell smoke?"

Words have power, and Bill used his irresponsibly.”

“Then you're not "thinking clearly". Both bills are gifts to the health care industry, at the expense of the public.”