nlightenup's Comments (24)

“Thank you! I kept reading articles and wondering why people weren't taking the Nobel Prize committee's words at face value. Sad and troubling that so many Americans, including liberals and progressives, are so myopic.”

“Great analysis and great job of presenting it!”

“Thank you very much. Tomorrow is the 12th anniversary of my dad's death. He was also a professional writer--reporter and columnist--and also always stuck up for the little guy. He never read anything he wrote in the paper because he couldn't stand to see what editors had done with it. His take was pretty much just the same as the part you closed with. Your piece evoked some of the best of Dad in showing me something of the man Larry Gelbart was.”

“I agree with the other responder to your comment. There's no need for you to take this personally. I'm white, but he's referring to a fading white culture that's not mine, and doesn't sound like yours. There are people of color who ascribe to that fading white culture--like Clarence Thomas. If you fear that white associates of yours are likely to swing right on account of "white" used in this context, you're in a great position to explain that it isn't about them personally.”

“Absolutely brilliantly articulated analysis. Thank you!”

“A big swarm of gnats.”

“You would not hear anything Fr. Corapi says as suggesting assassination because, judging from your post, you are not a psychopath. But Fr. Corapi and other speakers in the anti-abortion movement are very well aware that the movement has a significant number of unstable people among their ranks, who can be all too quick to interpret their rhetoric as calling for violence. They know this, yet they don't temper their rhetoric, and they seldom come right out and say DO NOT COMMIT VIOLENCE.”

“A little while ago I happened onto EWTN, the super-conservative Catholic cable network. I thought they might at least dial back the rhetoric following Dr. Tiller's murder, but they have escalated it instead. There was a pre-election episode of Fr. Corapi that fell only a teeny bit short (to my ears) of calling for the assassination of Obama, feeding directly into the "keeping America safe" posture. I would bet that someone had to do a little digging to find that very episode and run it today.

As another Huffposter observed yesterday, we're likely only at the beginning of a major escalation in anti-abortion violence. But please, don't call the right-wingers "animals." Let them be the only ones who engage in de-humanizing their opponents.”

“Thanks much for this. I'm trying to draw attention to the prosecutorial abuses in state administrative courts. There's very much less attention to those than public courts, meaning there's much less accountability--and we see how much misconduct has held sway in the courts. I especially appreciate your assertion that a prosecutor's job is to seek justice, to protect the innocent and guard the rights of the accused. When did such public service jobs start focusing more on wins and less on serving justice?”

“Hear, hear! Another caution: be careful of which email address you use to join up on different sites, especially if you don't want others knowing about it. (Granted, not usually true of those using MOST social networking sites.) A friend was horrified one day when she googled her primary email address to find an, um, esoteric website returned in the search results. She took corrective action immediately, lest her teenage kids stumble across it. Of course, prospective employers could have found it as well.”

“Thank you, thank you. I'm a retired psychologist who spent the majority of my professional life working with survivors of sexual abuse, including sadistic sexual abuse. I've talked and written about organizations, public and private, operating according to the psyches of their directors (a better choice of word here than "leaders," for certain). People really hate to see and hear this--perhaps why comments to your piece are as few as they are. It's important to speak and write about these things. Thank you for doing so.”

“Thanks for all of this, Rabbi. I, too, will send it to a lot of people. I can't help but think the timing of this--coming at the tail end of the presidential campaign here in the U.S.--migh­t have been in part a reaction by the right-wing ,fundamentalist arm of the Roman Catholic Church to the threat they feel in an Obama presidency. I also can't help but think that if Jesus were here in the flesh he would use one of his favorite words to describe the Church's actions: hypocrites!”

“Yes, having a president who knows what Big Words mean and who can pronounce them and use them correctly will be a delight. And the ideas to come out of that atmosphere--the prospects are breathtaking. Thanks for a thoughtful piece of writing, and also for pointing me to the Monbiot column.”

“You mentioned the "electric shock watch" only at the end and without explanation, but I swear by the thing. I was desperate when I invested in one several years ago. It delivers a mild electric shock to the wrist when you snore--enough of a shock to induce you to change positions, but not enough to really wake you up. I wore one every night for two weeks and haven't needed it in the several years since. But if I ever do, I'll be happy to use it again.”

“Something to understand: abortion can never be legislated out of existence. It will disappear when hearts are changed--and the changed heart is what this post is about, and what Obama inspires.”

“The Clinton supporters were watching the same debate as the one reflected in two university polls right after the debate, both of which had Clinton winning the debate by a very comfortable margin. Your guy came across like someone needing direction and prompting for everything he said.”

“15delta, yours is a voice of reason, which I hope prevails among the American populace. The unthinking Hillary haters who predominate on HuffPo will disagree, but they aren't that big a slice of the pie, in the bigger picture.”

“The most fitting and poignant thing I've yet read about Heath Ledger since he died. Thank you. May we all more focus on each other's humanity instead of sensationalist flash.”

“Don't worry about it too much. Your dog got that far just from the free initial sessions. To get any further he'd have to pay big bucks, unlike legitimate (insofar as one accepts any religion as legit) religions, in which one only needs the desire and time to study to advance.

Unless, of course, your dog is a movie star and can afford the advanced lessons.”

“You got that right! And that's one of the big differences between scientology and, um, real religions: scientology makes you pay through the nose to learn more. That's why we hear from so many Hollywood types about it--they can afford the lessons that give them access to the "higher levels" of scientology. Legitimate religions require only time and a willingness to learn.

Don't hold your breath ever waiting for a Mother Teresa to come out of scientology. Poor people don't qualify.”

“You're either not reading the research, or you're reading only what's funded by diet industry interests.”

“Uffda. A promising beginning devolved into a lot of same old same olds. You got it right about diets not working, the failure rate, and the size of the industry. But you still have a lot to learn about the physiology and biology of weight that makes losing it permanently much more than a matter of simply making decisions and sticking to them.

For some people set point kicks in, so they wind up gaining weight while taking in precious few calories. Others wind up for any of several reasons, ranging from medications to genetic predisposition, with metabolic systems that direct more nutrients to fat, while the fortunate few have systems that automatically direct nutrients to muscle.

There's way more variation in human metabolics than your post accounts for, and in a society that is overwhelmingly anti-fat, it's a victim-blaming disservice to suggest that it's all a matter of will power.

There are 5'5", 250 lb athletes, and 5'5", 100 lb couch potatoes who will fall over dead long before the 250 lb athletes do. Far more important than weight is HEALTH. One can make healthy choices whatever one's size. That part you got right. Just do a little more to help people do away with the insane obsession about weight, please, and focus on health.”

“"If your convictions in this matter are used to influence the tenor of this website, what will those of us who do not share them do?"

Celebrate plurality.”

“All Christians are no more fundamentalists than Muslims are jihadists. Likewise, I don't assume all atheists are like Christopher Hitchens. Most of what's been socially progressive in this part of the world in recent centuries has been established and fed by Christians--even as some others who called themselves Christians have done their utmost to stifle social justice.

You're right about the necessity of rising to a higher spiritual level. Here's to that, regardless of what deity or none one believes in.”