psnyder's Comments (318)

“At least it feels like God.”

“Right. "Freedom" is the antithesis of health care. There's the freedom to die and the freedom to be homeless, for example. King will defend those freedoms to the death, even if it means death - for someone else.”

“Yeah, bravo for externalities. Let the large polluters reap private profits and socialize costs. Great idea. Aren't you glad your taxes pay for sewers, though?”

“Would anyone expect any different from these two reactionary troglodytes?”

“Yes, everyone. Except the vast majority of the world's scientists who actually know anything about the subject. As opposed to, say, anonymous blog commenters with screen name "Ramirez."”

“Good for you.

Now, do you depend on contract, patent, or intellectual property laws? Do you ever use money? Have you or anyone in your family ever attended public school? Do you benefit from the security provided by police and the military? Do you ever drive on public roads, cross public bridges? Have you ever taken a prescription drug or had a vaccination? Do you ever turn on the tap for a drink or a shower? Have you ever had to call the fire department? Have you ever been to a public park? Have you ever used plumbing connected to a sewer system? I suppose all the judges, administrators, cops, soldiers, road workers, park rangers, waste workers, teachers, and many, many others are all sucking on the "government 'teet.'"

After thirty years of knee-jerk Reaganism, which is and always has been simple-minded, I have lost patience with those who have nothing good to say about our government, who like to bark and mewl that "government is the problem" or that they want to drown it in the bathtub. They spew ideology without, apparently, thinking about the world in which they live and what they owe to "governmen­t." And yet they are arch patriots and love the United States. Have they ever read the Constitution? What does it do? It defines our government, which is called the United States of America. Sheesh.”

“Yes, it's called "begging the question."”

“And that will affect their ability to win how?”

“Ay caramba! Yet another dark corner where the light of day threatens to send the cockroaches scurrying.

Question: When is a conspiracy not a conspiracy?”

“My point is that the "free market" is what sociologist Max Weber called an "ideal type." There is not and cannot be any exact real-world realization of it. All markets are and always will be only more or less "free." So, yes, I am telling you that a "free market" can't "work" because there never has been and never will be a "free market."

A "free market" is not some naturally emergent property of competitive beings in the absence of government "interfere­nce." It's a highly structured and historically grounded set of institutions, practices, and mores, including governmental ones. It always strikes me that free market fantasists operate on the unspoken assumption that a free market is a condition that would naturally emerge if only we would let it, if only "government" would "get out of the way.' That is just nowhere near close to an accurate understanding of the nature and variety of markets.”

“Me, too. Why on earth would any industry be granted an exemption from antitrust laws in the first place? What a sick joke.

Of course, it would help if the government could be compelled to enforce antitrust laws and it weren't just a matter of whether or not they felt like it.”

“How much I care what GHW Bush thinks: 0.”

“Not misleading. They just didn't have time to include everyone and their own particular flavor of crazy.”

“Riiiight. "Free market economics" can never fail. It can only be failed.”

“That guy is the reason I no longer shop at Whole Foods. I don't care how little he's paid; I'm done.”

“The headline suggests that Obama is "doing something" even more than Hillary did, i.e., that he is "polarizin­g." But both Obama and Hillary are merely being themselves; it is the reaction of the now out-of-power right-wing that is more extreme in Obama's case than in Hillary's. Is anyone surprised that the racism of the right trumps their misogyny?”

“No, they are stealing the American dream.”

“The Chamber of Commerce committing fraud? Does it rise to the level of being criminal? Inquiring minds want to, you know....”

“Don't encourage him/her.”

“Makes her look like ET. Ill-advised.”

“The misspellings and oh-so-clever coinages complement the flavor of crazy.”

“Not even a Health COST bill, it's a health insurance company profit protection bill.”

“Eh? So you take Bachman's assessment as accurate? Whoo boy! You apparently have not been following her deranged rantings.”

“Greenspan's always been right. Right? So now we should all feel so much better.”

“Eh? Jones doesn't "foresee the return of the Taliban"? According to recent news reports (e.g., http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/eight_years_after_911), the Taliban has a "permanent presence in more than 80%" of the country. Jones is using the wrong verb tense. He should have said that he "hadn't foreseen."”