mindact's Comments (230)

“They're both unacceptable. People do not lay hands on the next person. Domestic violence is unacceptable. This is not a case of trying to create a moral equivalence b/w the two scenarios. Society as a whole should have zero tolerance from domestic violence regardless of who it's coming from”

“you're an idiot to not see that the line was crossed when she allegedly hit him. She can yell, kick him to the curb, put his stuff out, but you don't lay your fingers on anyone period. Chris brown got crucified and rightly so for decimating Rhianna. In all facets, domestic violence is unacceptable”

“You're totally clueless about Austin. I live in Austin and it's the most liberal city in the south period.....”

“While progressives froth in the mouth about no public option, rebublicans are only ahppy to watch the democrats destroy themselves. Let's face it, what are the stakes here? The repubulicans want to keep the status quo. If it weren't the case they woud have done something about it several years ago.

Most democrats and Americans want universal coverage. The fundamental want is universal coverage, not public option or not. If we get a bill that gets us closer to universal coverage that's fine. Now about the public option, what we were looking at before was a watered down public option that provided no basis for competition since it operated in a parallel market from private insurers.

Progressives also want a single payer system. Well the closest we have to a single payer system is Medicare. The posiibility of expanding medicare is a good thing. Granted, it's only available to those above 55 with no health care coverage. On the other hand medicaid is being expanded as well to cover a lot more people.

Those in the middle get a non profit, non public option to compete with private insurers. Let's get this first, then we expand medicare to ages 45 and up. A trigger option for a public insurance plan that competes fair and square with the private insurance providers is just icing on the cake.

If the bill is not passed, democrats and the American people loose. Republicans and their insurance buddies gain from the status quo”

“The truth about it is that he did the right thing to condemn the law in the strongest terms. It would have been better if he condemned it right from the onset, but I guess it's a slippery slope where you're forced to condemn everything any one has said or done anywhere, just like in the case of BO while he was running for office.”

“Isn't it the same brother Obama talked about in Dreams of my father, that seemed snobbish? If I recollect, he was the one who told Obama in a snubbish tone that he was at Stanford. He didn't want to have anything to do with the Obamas in Kenyan. He mom left for a wealthy kenyan man....”

“I think there is a point to this. I've always supported the public option and still do, but after listening to snowe and Ed on the Ed show, seems like the current public option from the house doesn't really help in driving down prices. The truth of the matter is that the public option isn't available to everyone, only a small fragment of the population. Hence there will be a parallel market, one for corporations buying insurance for their employees that private insurers already play in. The other is for majority of the current uninsured, which the private insurers would rather not serve.

If we have a trigger, with clearly defined trigger events that allows both employers, small business and individuals to buy into a public option, then we will have real competition”

“I think what's really troubling about this is the fact that Israel controls what goes into and out of Gaza. And the fact that only humanitarian aid is allowed. Is there any other country in the world experiencing blockade like this. The only reason why this can happen is because the palestinians don't have the ability to defend themselves.

This is not sustainable for the long-term.”

“This has to do with his disguised beef with Glen Beck”

“Look here Jason, Keith has been a stand0up guy from time. Any smart person knows you have to work within the cofines of the parameters set for you, as long as your personal integrity is not compromised. Let's face it, Keith was not asked to lie by the powers that be at GE, he was asked to distort a story or even asked to squash a story.

Fact is Bill O'Riley is not our biggest problem. Compared to folks like Hannity and Beck, Bill O is like a catholic school girl. The reason I bring this up is to point out the fact that the reason Keith goes after Bill'O is because they share the same time slot. honestly, it's nothing more than a ratings game. Keith can afford to forgo that battle and focus on more pressing issues.

Smart people weigh out their options and make the most pruent decision. I believe that's what Keith did. We have a voice via MSNBC. Let's keep it that way. MSNBC brings in about 3% of GE's overall revenues. That my friend is an expendable resource”

“Done what? Joined a gang or flashed a gang sign? Look, we all pay taxes that covers the payroll of the police force, municipal hospitals and infrastructure. That means we have a right to comment on issues related to gang violence. There is a social cost borne by all as a result of it.

Yes we understand the pressure inflicted upon young kids to join gangs, but yet again, we see the casualties as a result of gang violence. It ought to be condemned and spoken out against. Derrick didn't have to throw the sign at the party. He wasn't in a neutral zone and felt a need to strike a pose with gang signs. That was wrong and he rightfully apologized”

“Dude, not sure what your relationship with Derrick is, but to go ahead and brand people as ignorant cause they don't know how it is in the hood is flat out shamefull. Here are the facts, more than 30 kids have been killed in Chi-town this year due to gang violence. You said you know this people and people in the hood aren't scared of them. Well, were the dead kids scared of them?

Here's the point, I take Derrick at his word that he's not gang affiliated. He apologized for his actions and rightly so. We do accept his apology, but it doesn't change the fact that it wasn't smart of him to do what he did. Gang violence is some serious stuff with serious consequences for families both of the gangbangers and victims. We cannot and should not make light of it period. Derrick realizes that, so should you”

“hah, Iran and Venezuela set up a "$200bln" dollar fund to undermine the US. How plausible does this sound? both countries can actual have a slush fund waiting to be utilized in undermining America despite their domestic problems. even Saudi Arabia can't afford to set aside $200bln.

By the way, I though intelligence reports were for internal consumption. Why does it focus so much on Venezuela and Bolivia's disdain for America, like we need Israel to defend us by providing us intelligence. This is more or less propaganda, rather than intelligence”

“True statement. Unfortuantely, blacks in America tend to want to think that America is got the worst race relationship. Any black man who's travelled extensively will know that's not the case. Yes America seems to be a little more polarized when dealing with interracial marriages and all, but there is enough protection in the law to protect minorities. Unfortunately, most Latin and South American countries as well as European countries act like racism isn't a problem for them. The reason they claim they don't have issues on racism is because it'll force them to address the problems. that means they'll have to enact laws to protect minorities. In a lot of these countries, minorities (blacks in particular) have to accept their second class status.

I was in Sao Paulo last year and Cost Rica this year. I noticed that going into upscal bars and restaurants, I was the only black person over there. Not that I felt uncomfortable, but in countries ike these that boast diversity, it's ironic that you can barely find people of color in key influential”

“Watch ladies, Joe the plumber is horny. Be very careful, I see and aggressive glint in his eyes. He could be a rapist”

“Read the article. he didn't say there were no bonuses before. What he said was that under his tenure, bonuses were based on performance. The company wasn't contractually obligated to pay it. Liddy and his co-horts were responsible for the contracts that required them t pay the employees those bonuses”

“He'd left the company before bailout was needed. He left i 2005, bailouts weren't needed until 2008. get your facts rights”

“Any clear evidence of how naive people are. You want to talk about through history? Well, Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israeli forces over time. From Ariel sharon's permission of christian militants murdering Palestinians in refugee camps in beirut to the last intifada, through to this last incursion. Yes it's true that the palestinian terrorists have murdered israelis as well, however israel hasn't experienced anything like our 9-11.

For every one Israeli killed, 10 palestinians are killed. The only thing saving the palestinians is their high birth rate”

“Not sure of the facts you present, but here is what I know, when I look at a lot of Jews in Israel today, they look European. When I look at lot of Arabs today, they seem of semitic stock. We know that the Jews of back in the day were of semitic stock.

Amongst the European Jews, obviously, there must have been some conversion to Judaism, some inter-marriage etc. This brings me to a question I've pondered, is there a difference b/w Jewish people and people practising Judaism?”

“Arabist? I've never heard that word before. Why does it seem to have a racial connotation to it? hmmm, oh I forgot, your alias is "Bubba"”

“I agree with you wholeheartedly. However, let me also add that most American deaths are at the and of fellow Americans. As for the cleansing of neighborhoods in Iraq, we heard a lot a about it. Remember, most Americans were introduced to new lexicons such as Sunnis, Shia and Kurds because of the Iraq war. We heard an earful of the conflict and attrocities committed by muslims. We also saw the dastardly acts such as the televised beheadings. We know for a fact that there are evil terrorist in the muslim world bent on destroying western civilization.

However, we're also aware that the power the Muslim terrorist or right wing Likud party weilds is based on what the masses are willing to give them. When hamas sends a sucide bomber to Tel Avivi, moderates run to the tough talking elimate the arab terroist arms of Likud. When Israel conduct incursions into Gaza after several days of aerial bombing, the masses sympathise with Hamas and not Abbas.

If the moderates in Israel step forward and work out an acceptable 2 state solution with moderate palestinians, the power of Hamas and Likud diminish”

“Here we go again with another very simplistic and shaved off version of events. What constitutes as a reasonalbe peace plan? When did Israel offer the reasonable peace plan and what does it entail?

The Clinton administration worked hard to reach a peace accord b/w Israel and the Palestinians, but he started to late and tried to cram several years of a peace plan into a few days in a lame duck administration. The official line put out by the Clinton folks was intended to give Ehud Barak cover. Fact is Barak was nervous about the deal, just as Yasser Arafat was. Second point, the bush adminsitration scuttled the talks by telling the Israelis not to accept Clinton's deal, because they could give them a better one. Lastly, Sharon make it politically impossible for Barak to take the deal, by taking the trip to the mosque and saber rattling, knowing that it would lead to the intifada. Those are the real facts. Let's stop with all this talk about the Israelis giving the palestinians a deal and they refused”

“Our only Ally? Last time I checked, allies don't conduct espionage against thier partners. There are countless cases of espionage by Israeli agents in America. Israel's policyy in some cases are just as bad as that of it's Arab neighbors. The Saudi's, Jordanians, Emirates and few others have been allies to the American government over several decades.

Point is each one of these nations have allied with America as long as it's in their strategic interest. We as Americans have to make sure that our relationship with countries in the region is in our strategic interest. We don't side with a Saudi government that oppresses it's people, neither should with side with an Israeli govenrment engaged in Aparthied activities in Palestinian refugee camps”

“Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, the guys gaming in Israel, what's the end result or outcome? This idea that some nutcases have that you can amass all the weapons you have in the world to defend yourself is foolish. Haven''t you heard that there is no lasting peace with violence?

Israel has to look for a way to live in peace with it's neighbors. Yes have your weapons ready just in case someone steps out of line, but deal failr with your neighbors. When I hear right wingers here in America cry everyone hates Israel becasue they're a western democracy I scratch my head. When the enitre world except a handful of nations are critical of a nation's policy, it stattes that something is wrong. It rememinds me of the angry kid in the school yard that thinks the world is against him for being him.”

“You'd like us to assume that the arabs just got up and marched on Israel in 58, 67 and 72. Well, that's an abbrevated and simplistic version of what transpired. Terrorist attacks were carried out on Palestinians and Arabs by the early zionist like Bergen, before and after the formation of the nation of Israel.

Terrorism has existed on both sides of the conflict. I'm sure most rational Americans will be shocked if they were exposed to the policies of Israel towards arab israelis and palestinians. Don' get me wrong, I also personally believe that a lot of the islamic nations are oppressive and racist as hell. The way women and monrities arfe treated in Saudi Arabia for instance is totally unacceptable. Even going over to the UAE, the way migrant Bangladeshi laborers are treated is inhuman.

Coming back to the case of Israel, they ought to show leadership and work out something with the palestinians that is lasting. I support a Jewish state of Israel, if the Arabs want to keep their Islamic state. The right of return should be a forgone issue as long as the Palestinians have a continous piece of land or territory to call there own.

Jerusalem can be shared by both nations as capitals, just as Bierut has it's distinct sections for Hezbollah, the Christians et al. Palestians need to give up on this notion of a right of return and Israel not being a Jewish state. Settlements will have to be demolished too.”