mwestorca's Comments (83)

“GO MARIA!”

“Obama and "his people" had nothing to do with the materials sent out. They went out from the D of Ed. And I doubt that the Secty of Ed had anything to do with it. Some functionary who is a nonpolitical person did it. And it doesn't matter.

Do you people really think Obama plots out such things in his free hours while bowling in the White House?

He's the president. We'd be having fits if Sarah Palin were invited to address our school children because she and McCain were roundly defeated at the polls and Obama was elected. He's the president. He deserves respect. And he deserves to be heard by the children of the nation because he has an important message for them.”

“This is taken from the American Lung Association website:

Myths and Facts About the Flu and Colds
Myth: You can catch the flu from a flu shot

Fact: The flu vaccine is made from an inactivated virus, so a person cannot get the flu from a flu shot. Some people may be sore at the spot where the vaccination was injected, and in a few cases, may develop a fever, muscle aches, and feel unwell for a day or two. In very rare cases when a person is allergic to the vaccine, there may be an immediate reaction.

You can find other opinions on the web on this question -but I doubt you can find a more authoritative resource on the question.”

“My hopes are not dead - but I never did think he could walk on water. Considering the conditions he inherited, I think he's doing pretty well. And one sign of hope for me is that after 3 quarters when my retirement investments dropped radically in value, the past two quarters have shown a turn around and they are going up again, albeit slowly.

I don't think 8 months is a fair time to figure he can fix everything. I'm looking forward to what he will actually say Wednesday night. I still think he is the best possible person to make the best of a bad situation here.”

“Do you not realize that without health care reform your INSURANCE premiums will soon take half your paycheck? Look at the charts - we already know that insurance premiums are skyrocketing. Only reform will do away with pre-existing conditions, insurance company rationing, wasteful spending.

If our doctors could concentrate on treating us instead of wading through mountains of paperwork, we'd be a much healthier nation!”

“So very well put! Your arguments are sensible and cogent - and based in reality! I'm definitely your fan!”

“Can't you see that deregulation is where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? And there is nothing in the health care plan that puts a government official in charge of your health care any more than it is in my Medicare. And people who want cadillac level coverage will be free to buy supplemental insurance just as they do in Canada.

Why should insurance companies be in charge of your health care decisions? Should they decide whether your illness should be covered or not? If you are sick, you're sick. You are entitled to care. How many people have died because insurance companies have denied their claims for so long that even if they win their appeals, it's too late?”

“Obama has said specifically that every American is entitled to the same level of health care that he gets and that our senators and congressmen get. Whatever are you talking about??”

“We are owned by corporations - and the Republicans have always worked for them. We need to get the profit motive out of health care. I believe Obama would be supporting a single payer system (i.e. Medicare for all) if he thought he had a chance of getting it through.

But the Senate and House Republicans AND Democrats are so indebted to corporate interests - particularly the "health industry" that he can't get cooperation even from his own party.

I'm hoping the progressives will raise enough heat to encourage him to take bold steps to push this through. Remember, Republicans fought Medicare as socialized medicine. And they would still like to end it. Who among us would give up Medicare?

It's hard for me to understand how people have allowed themselves to be so deceived as to think that the present administration would take away or reduce their Medicare. What needs to happen is to correct abuses of Medicare.

We need to entirely end a system of employer-based health care and make health care affordable for everybody through Medicare for everybody. Then we need to stop paying out "per treatment" which encourages too many tests. We could do this - but not if we end up fighting in the dirt about mythical threats.”

“Absolutely right! Paranoia is a diagnosable condition, and it seems epidemic these days.”

“I read your article. I don't know how true it might be. But it is not what is being proposed in our legislation. The "end of life" conversation leaves YOU, the PATIENT, in charge of how far to go in keeping you alive.

I don't approve of the recent assisted suicide law passed in Washington State, but even that is left up to the individual - not a medical panel.

Americans are not getting the best health care in the world. It is already rationed by the profit motive. We need to get the profit motive out of health care. Read this article as a counter to yours: http://ushealthcrisis.com/2009/09/real-canadians-talking-real-health-care/?dsq=15988979#comment-15988979”

“Thank you - we need to hear this. Keep saying it, please!”

“I want Medicare for all. But I'll settle for a Public Option.

I want him to explain that taxpayers won't be paying for abortions or for killing granny.

I want him to talk about how our insurance rates are going up and going out of sight - we absolutely MUST have health care reform or we'll all be bankrupt.

I want him to remind people that it's insurance companies that are rationing health care right now. My nephew has been waiting two months for the consultations that will lead to surgery - three more weeks down the road. He has insurance. He'll probably die because he's waiting so long for removal of a large tumor on his kidney.

In Canada he would already be out of surgery and in recovery. Don't believe what you hear about the Canadian system. It's just not true. Take a look at this: http://ushealthcrisis.com/2009/09/real-canadians-talking-real-health-care/?dsq=15988979#comment-15988979

Why can't we have something like this?”

“No, they don't. They may have reactions, but the vaccines used aren't live viruses. You're just not well-informed.”

“Aside:

Democrats didn't invent "czars." Republicans did. It's just shorthand for putting someone in charge of a particular government program at a level lower than a cabinet appointment, and, therefore, we don't go through the "advise and consent" procedure for approving nominations.

This kind of paranoid talk is the sort of thing that gives rise to factionalism that leads to IUDs in the streets. Knock it off and start talking like a real American who has respect for different points of view. This sort of fear mongering is dangerous.”

“Oh, good grief. First of all, Obama and the White House did not write the lesson plans that could be used by teachers if they wished. I will tell you now as a retired English teacher that whenever the students were shown anything on TV, administration wanted some kind of follow up that would tie to curriculum - something like a creative writing exercise. So someone in the D. of Ed. dreamed up these topics. Most topics that are supplied to teachers for possible assignments are equally lame.

Second his motivation is not to get America's children to think about him. He wants them to think about themselves and their futures - why they should stay in school and try hard. It's well known that in some segments of the population - particularly black youth - it's not cool to do well in school, so if you do try to get good grades, you are harrassed by your peers. The same thing was true in my school where the lower economic segment was white. So we had cliques: the brains, the loggers, the jocks, etc. We used to have assemblies where speakers were supposed to motivate our students to shape up, study hard, do well, don't do drugs, respect diversity - whatever. No one sent home opt out notes to parents. What does a student learn when his parent requests that he opt out? To show disrespect to the President and to the democratic process.

Get an education. Get a”

“And he could have spent his life sitting in his leather chair or sailing his boat and never worked a day - but he worked hard all his life because he was taught that those who had a lot had an extra responsibility to give back.

He invested all of his energy for nearly 50 years in public service. What do you do in your spare time?”

“Seeing that great Irish Catholic Kennedy family doing their Irish Catholic thing made me proud once more to be a Catholic - and reminded me that the failures of the hierarchy can't put me outside of my own church.”

“Wow! What a selective reading - and what selective memory. There is only one place in scripture where Jesus says specifically what will get you into (or keep you out of) heaven - and it's whether or not you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. Government isn't somebody else, it's YOU, it's US, doing what needs to be done by pooling our resources and efforts. If you'd been paying close attention in Catholic school you would have learned about the "preferential option for the poor."

Interesting that you think that charity should be "individual choice," but you don't think that abortion should be individual choice. Note that Jesus never directly addressed the question of abortion. He did address the question of caring for the poor. And it's his most direct statement on how to get into heaven (or not) - the sheep and goats will be divided according to whether or not they've cared for the "least of these" Jesus calls his brothers and sisters.

The proverb "God helps those who helps themselves" is NOT from the Bible. It is not taught by the Catholic Church. It was extrapolated from Calvinism and it's part of our Puritan work ethic. It's not a Christian idea at all.

It's "compassionate conservatism" that pays lip service to meeting human needs. Liberals like Kennedy fight to pass laws for the minimum wages, safe working conditions , desegregation of public facilities, and equal voting rights.

Your arguments are absurd and without factual basis.”

“I'd love to see him on the court. We do need men like him in the Senate, but, depending on which way the wind blows, he could be defeated and replaced by a conservative Republican. If he were on the court, he would have life tenure and we'd be guaranteed of his good influence and service for many years to come.

He'd be there to defend against the takeover of the government by wingnuts!”

“My doctor (of 37 years) says he supports a single-payer system, similar to that of Canada. He is a family practice MD. He says that the reason the AMA and many other doctors oppose this system is that specialists get rich on the way we do it now. The specialists, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies all get rich, the generalists don't.”

“I would prefer this go to court. I think we need to see the whole story laid out clearly. (I think we use plea bargains far too often - it may be cost effective, but undermines the entire system of justice.)”

“When I was still teaching high school honors English some years ago, I had just finished a fairly detailed lesson about sonnets: 14 lines, iambic pentameter, interlocking rhyme schemes in one of two forms: English or Italian, etc. etc. etc. when one of my students interrupted my conclusion to ask, in complete bewilderment, "You mean someone really sits down and does this on purpose?" I guess he thought poetry was something that just splashed out of one spontaneously!

Go figure!”

“psssst:
re: paragraph #6: revise "to pray upon to "prey upon."”

“Frank Schaeffer, as always, has a reasonable point here. I have a personal concern for gay marriage rights. My granddaughter was just married in October in California to her partner - in order to beat election day when it looked certain that Prop 8 was going to pass.

But I think we all need to let Obama do what he thinks best at this point, and see whether his strategy/plan works out. There's plenty of time to push ideology - but, as Frank says above, you can't be a uniter and surround yourself only with those who agree with you. The way toward persuasion begins with proximity.”