mphalen's Comments (24)

“Clinton raised taxes. Reduce deficits by raising taxes on the top 1%. That is the only way we are going to start to solve the problem with the economy.”

“The grass is always greener on the other side. I grew up with one set of grandparents as my father's parents both died by the time he was a teenager. All holidays were spent with my mother's family. But after I got married and had kids I realized how lucky my mother was. There was never any hassle as to where we were going for holiday meals and festivities. And what a hassle having to go to more than one holiday celebration, especially with younger babies and children, during the winter holidays.
But as my mother gets on in age, I have this crazy fear about being an orphan, even though I'm in my fifties. I guess no matter what your age, you are always somebody's child and the parent-child dynamic is always here.”

“My thirteen year old daughter, when asked by a T.V. news reporter at the premiere here in Chicago, what the appeal of the Twilight saga is, remarked, "It's the story and the shirtless guys."”

“Media fail? You get what you pay for.”

“As long as he has the likes of Geitner, Summers, Arne (go buy a vowel) Duncan working for him and does not insist on a robust public option, he couldn't possibly have kept or can keep his core promises.”

“This is why the giant food conglomerates should pay for the healthcare of our citizens. If they want to put that crap in our food in order to make more profits and higher salaries for their executives, then they should have to pay for our healthcare because that is what is making us sick. This includes other things like high fructose corn syrup and growth hormones in our meat that are responsible for the obesity epidemic in this country.”

“Ruby was a member of the mob. They are not as stupid as your everyday criminals. What seems to you to be illogical, makes more sense than you know to the advanced, intelligent criminal mind. What better cover than to bring his dog, because people will think that he would never bring a dog to a hit. And what better alibi than to have a recorded time of your alledged whereabouts. All people have their price and the mob is really good at making offers that people can't refuse, especially law enforcement people. Even though there were no cell phones, we did had pretty good phones back then. He may have been tipped off to the time change. And as far as taking out Ruby, why would they have to take him out? There are other ways to keep people's mouths' shut.
It's nice to know that there are still people like you don't have criminal minds, and that idealism is not dead.”

“We will never be able to ease the restrictions. History has shown us that.”

“Ohhh, big government. Do you actually know what you are saying when you repeat the "big government" mantra? The right-wing use that term to insinuate that government is bad and doesn't work well and that if we privatized its functions it would be not only more efficient but it would be cheaper. And then people like you think that means less taxes you have to pay. But to them it means more money we can make off the poor suckers in this country who never really understand our democarcy and what self-governance means. It's "We the people" and to quote Lincoln, "..... government of the people, by the people, for the people, ....".
We are all members of a society, or community, which allows its individual members to achieve needs or wishes that they could not fulfill separately by themselves. And that refers to what Thom Hartmann calls the "commons". And since it is "We the people" we should make sure OUR government works to fulfill OUR needs so we can all live happy, healthy productive lives.”

“MEDICARE IS FIRST, BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD IS SECONDARY.

WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO ANGRY? I THOUGHT IGNORANCE IS BLISS.”

“Get rid of high fructose corn syrup in the diet. Sugar is bad but the increasing use of corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup as a cheaper alternative to sugar has been the leading cause of the increasing number of obese Americans.
To paraphrase Bush, "sometimes profits trump good health".”

“The irony here is that if you have seen the fashions Candies offers for the preteen, size 7 to 16 set is pretty trashy looking. And the juniors fashions look like hookers-in-training clothing. Now Candies is not the only clothing company that offer clothing that is way to sexy for young girls to wear. But when you design clothing to make young girls look older and sexual, you can't expect to have any credibility when trying to push this phony agenda of teenage pregnancy prevention.”

“And what parallel universe do you live in? Gingrich pulled him to the center, and influenced the worst policies of Clinton's presidency such as the repeal of the Glass-Siegal (sp.?) and the Telecommunications Act of 1996.”

“Sorry, but I eat low carb and have lost over fifty pounds. I have kept it off for over two years and I never count calories or limit what I eat. I'm 51 years old, and my blood pressure is perfect along with my blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
I tried all the diets. This is the one way of eating that is easy for me to stick as a lifestyle change. And I eat a lot of meat. But I also eat vegetables and fruits that are low carb. I've basically cut out processed sugars and starches.
But this has worked for ME. No diet is one size fits all. (No pun intended.) I'm not anal enough to keep food diaries and calorie counts. I just keep track, in my head, the amount of carbs I consume and it is very easy for me.
But my point is that you have to find the plan that fits your lifestyle and food preferences.”

“Don't worry. They will give the money back because they don't want the feds investigating fraud and they know they are guilty.
But Geitner and Summers have got to go. Replace them with Reich and Krugman.”

“Good idea.”

“Why is it, when it comes to education, people think they are experts in education just because they went to school? If I was having heart problems, I wouldn't go to Cheney just because he has had heart problems. I would go to an expert. And why do people think that it is a good idea to run schools like they are businesses? These so-called reformers are more concerned with making education cheaper than actually teaching all the children.
Duncan really hasn't done much for the schools in Chicago, but try to cut costs by opening up charter schools, who don't have unions, or firing older teachers, who make more because they have been there longer.
Actually, I think Joe Biden's wife is more qualified because she is a teacher. And since Obama's daughters went to the University of Chicago Laboratory School, why didn't he pick one of the educational experts from there? Or from one of the many educational institutions who study education, like the U. of. I. Chicago (where Mr. Ayres teaches)?”

“At least Mr. Ayres actually knows something about education.”

“There were actually many more than ten commandmanets, but "Christians" are just too lazy to learn all of them, and lazy to follow all of them. And most are too lazy even to read the bible so they listen to any idiot that tells them what they want to believe the bible says. So they use the parts of the bible that justify their hates and fears and totally ignore what Jesus actually preached.
Jesus said that "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder." The only thing that Jesus said about marriage it that divorce is wrong. So where are these defenders of the "sanctity of marriage" protesting against divorce?”

“Congrats on your marriage. Look to the late,great Paul Newman for an example of how a Hollywood marriage can work,( i.e., don't live in Hollywood).

Good luck on your run. But if we considered healthcare a right not a privilege in this country, we would not need people to "run for a cure"; as you see people all over the country running and walking to raise money for medical research. Think, if we spent a tenth of the money we spend on defense on medical research, we could truly live our Declaration of Independence, by having the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

“If they really believe in the end times and that Obama is the anti-christ, then why aren't they supporting Obama. If they want the end times to come, wouldn't it make sense to elect Obama?

Never mind. Logic doesn't work on the illogical.”

“Excuse me, but what does the "the OS X Leopard" mean?”

“That's because she is slender. She doesn't have the weight that makes many older people shorter.”

“The funniest thing I ever heard was when SpongeBob SquarePants said "See you next Tuesday" to a female character on the show that had been giving him a hard time.”