parisblues's Comments (46)

“Elizabeth Warren, you are my hero!”

“You know your nation's in trouble when the pornographers are making more sense than your elected officials. That said, Larry Flynt is right on target. Where do I sign up for strike duty?”

“California has passed tort reform. Non-monetary damages (i.e. for pain, suffering and loss of life) are limited to $200,000. Four years ago, the retired father of a friend of mine was killed by the negligence of a doctor in a Santa Monica hospital. (An MD and mutual friend -- who before he retired, had been head of the gastroenterology department at the same hospital -- agreed that my friend's father's death was the result of a "medically induced catastrophe" caused by "improper coordination of care.") Not a single lawyer would take my friend's case because -- since her father was no longer working -- there was no "loss of income," and thus the damages that could be collected were limited by law to $200,000. My friend was not interested in the money. As far as she was concerned, the lawyers could have it all. What she wanted was to honor her father's memory by making sure that what was done to him would not be done to anyone else. Meanwhile, the negligent doctor -- who I guarantee you would not want to have treating you -- is still practicing at that hospital and no information about what he did is available to the public. So unless victims are provided with other forms of recourse to disciplinary action, tort reform does indeed have an adverse affect on quality of care.”

“Every other nation in the G8 has a single-payer health care plan with the ability to negotiate volume discounts with drug companies -- this despite the fact that six of the ten top-earning pharmaceutical companies are Europe-based companies.

Why is it only in America that any attempt to provide equal access to health care comes with a built-in "starve the beast" provision?”

“Meatless Mondays? Are Americans really that behind the times? If we really want to save the planet from deforestation (i.e. the burning down of forests to create more fields for growing the massive amounts of grains and soy required to feed livestock), how about chicken-or-fish Mondays in an otherwise meatless month?”

“Yes. Sadly, after 33 years since I first registered as a Democrat to vote for Jimmy Carter in my very first election, and untold non-deductible $$$ spent in contributions to the Democratic Party, I must confess to feeling like I have been played. In Washington -- as Dick Durbin said of the banks -- the insurance companies (now often the same entities as the banks) "frankly own the place."

"If I get 85% of what I want with a bipartisan vote or 100 percent with 51 votes, all Democrat, I'd rather have it be bipartisan." Can you IMAGINE Karl Rove or Tom "The Hammer" Delay making such a self-defeating statement? Of course not! Which is why we still have unregulated derivatives trading (and big taxpayer bailouts for the losing traders) and why we will NOT have viable health care for all -- at least not during this administration.”

“We shall wait. We shall see. Sixty days from now, we will have at least an inkling of whether Barack Obama is the PR genius you describe...or not.”

“I believe they meant to say dubyaplusgood.”

“Ms. Kunin, aren't you at least a little bit troubled about Senator Clinton's inability to put a lid on bitter infighting among staff members in her dysfunctional campaign organization? Is this not a clue as to what kind of leader she would be at State?”

“Winner: Shepard Fairey

BIG-time loser: Bill Kristol”

“Nader voters are as dazed and confused this year as they were in 2000. They want to punish Barack Obama for the sins of the spineless Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, just like they wanted to punish Al Gore. They sure showed him, didn't they?”

“Colin Powell betrayed his own honor -- and our nation's -- when he went before the United Nations and presented a case for war that he knew not to be true. Why on earth should any responsible American care one whit what he thinks, one way or the other?”

“Paul, Paul, Paul....you're smart enough to look at these things less emotionally and more strategically. If you need help in that regard, read James Fallows in The Atlantic on "tactics vs. strategy."

Obama did just fine.”

“Here's a name that bears repeating:
Keating Keating Keating Keating”

“"Is it sexist to want the person flying the plane to be a pilot?" Thank you, Kathleen Reardon, for the Question of the Week! Let's do a run of T-shirts and hand them out to thinking women in every state! My mother wants to buy the first one.”

“McCain's just trying to win one for "The Gipper": Lee Atwater.”

“That is one helluva speech. Obama would deliver it well. Does anyone in the upper echelons of his campaign staff monitor this site?”

“Thanks for that link! Now we know why the McCain campaign is making such a big deal about family matters being kept "private." Of course, we have to consider the source here. But they were right about John Edwards, now weren't they?”

“"Tough questions"? You're kidding, right? Why do you think they picked him?”

“Please allow me to add one more point to my previous post:

FUTURE: 5) An equitable distribution of the tax burden.
PAST 5): 15% federal income tax on unearned income and capital gains (for those wives with the $300,000 outfits); 28% tax for those of us who have to work for a living.”

“The comments in this post put me in mind of Dan Quayle, who also thought he was being deep when he used a fictional character (Murphy Brown) to make a real-life point about out-of-wedlock motherhood

In this case, the fictional character played so delightfully by Ellen Page doesn't even provide an apples-to-apples comparison to Bristol Palin. Juno, as you may recall, was given a *choice* not to marry her baby's father, but to allow the child to be adopted by an adult. That choice evaporated for Bristol the moment her mother became the poster girl for John McCain's appeal to the born-again Republican base.”

“A President who has not given any serious thought to the national and international issues of our time? Who's "lacking in gravitas"? "Consummate contempt for the intelligence of the American people?" How is this any different from what the Republican party has been serving up for the last eight years?

Will the same press corps that guffawed enthusiastically as GWB joked about looking under the table for
"weapons of mass destruction" suddenly (some 2,500 American deaths later) get a conscience? Let's just say I'm not holding my breath.

After all, as one of them has openly admitted, they're McCain's "base."”

“Superbly ON message, I'd say. Policy IS character.”

“Brilliant analysis. Now...your thoughts on how best to counter their hyper-effective, fantasy-based strategies?”

“It was a very short step between herding protesters into designated "free speech areas" and simply herding them into paddy wagons. And only a short step from this to what the totalitarian government in China did during the Olympics: simply arresting anyone who applies for a permit to protest.

Tin soldiers and Cheney comin'....”