starlady7's Comments (919)

“Stunning birds! It is so important that people work hard to preserve the animal world...wo­rk and support habitat preservation and a healthy eco-system!!!! I am so afraid that mankind's proliferation and lack of care will irreversablely damage and kill off the animals and the beautiful unspoiled areas of the earth due to over population, industrialization, and the greed of Big Businesses' expliotation!”

“So, if you do not agree with War then you do not have to contribute taxes to the National Fund????
There are a lot of Government spending that I do not agree with, but am required to pay for! Here with the Stupak amendment, it goes further than the HYDE Amendment which ALREADY BANNED Federal money for abortion. It bans the participant from even getting PRIVATE Insurance coverage with their own money!!! If everyone OPT"ED out of paying for what they disagreed with this government, this country would fall apart!!!

It is NOT the perfect compromise since most PRIVATE Insurers would probablely drop coverage and a LEGAL Medical Procedure would become unavailable or extremely difficult to obtain!!!! These anti-Choice people are trying to go through the backdoor to weaken Roe vs Wade and set back Women's Rights by decades! Something women fought for long and hard!

Let's make MEN's Reproductive Health Care None Coverable too! NO coverage for Prostate check-ups, Prostate Cancer, Viagra, etc. Probablely, many unwanted pregnancies come from the use of Viagra! Why would I want to pay for some man's genital health???”

“YES! A woman DOES have a Constitutional Right to have an abortion!!! It is the LAW! I do not approve of abortion except for the health and life of the mother, but Roe vs. Wade allows the Woman to have choice and the right to make decisions regarding her own body and to have Reproductive Health Care! Let's see how fast the men would support Choice if it was their health and their bodies!!!!”

“It does no good to have the freedom to choose if that chose is uninformed and might cost us our lives. When Drug companies lack integrity by promoting unsafe and potentiallly deadly medicines, ...their sells people lying even to the doctors, IN FAVOR OF Profit over Public Safety and unbeknownst to the public and even doctors, then where is your protection as a consumer???

Consumer protection­... that is what the government agencies should be doing! All this "freedom to choose" crap will pale incomparision if you get medication that has wicked side effects including death, that the big Drug companies knew about all along, when they promoted it. Read the full article.”

“Thank you to both quintus and tssent for your comments..­. Your rational thoughtful opinions make the reading of the blogs enjoyable and help define the true issues. Through reading such opinions one knows there are thousands.­..millions of us in the same struggle to advance our country for all Americans!”

“Excellent post! I sometimes get so riled about the state of things that I do criticize the President for not being forceful enough and seeming to bend to Corporate interests too much. but I am still a strong supporter and I am rooting for him to succeed in bringing prosperity back to the Middleclass. The whole atmosphere created by right wing radio, Foxx, Teabag Corporate Organizers, Lying Republican­s...all of whom confuse and unfortunately influence so many people, who seem to lack good education.­..makes the President's job a very steep uphill struggle! I must not forget that

! I also, agree with you concerning the wars. If Right Wingers, War Mongers...­Neo cons could put themselves into the situation of daily life that the countries we have invaded haveto live with, they would truely riseup with their guns inhand against such an invading army (no matter the guise of "protecting the population, stablizing the government, training our army todefend ourselves). If they could just imagine how they would feel if a foreign power had a military presence on our own soil. The onlyreason I would consider interventi­on...is Pakistan and their Nuclear arsenal...­It IS paramount that Pakistan be stable and the Taliban and/or Al Qaeda have no chance of getting hold of any Nukes...Yo­u know they are crazy enough touse them!

The short of it is... I know that the President is working hard on our behalf and I support him even while disagreeing on somethings.”

“It is here already in the mindset of the GOP!”

“You are right of course, but I still want him to fight more forceablely, instead of taking what seems to be the "middle road". I want some arm twisting to get strong legislation to address the neglect of this country for the past 30 years of Republican Corporate rule. I want a Prosperous Middle Class vs the top 1-2% taking all the wealth of our nation. I want consumer protection to help that happen. To the Teabaggers, Conservatives, Republican­s...the Civil War was won to preserve the UNION over STATE's Rights! You guys lost, but continue in your delusions of being separate from this country! States exist to divide up the responsibilities of governing at a local level...Th­e States still have to function as a part of the Union and abide by the National Laws and accept responsibility for the maintenance and advancement of the country as a Whole!”

“I agree to certain degree with you, but consensus making will not win the sweeping Change that this country needs. Consensus making with this Republican party will only lead to watered down legislation and not adequately address the "URGENCY OF NOW" Issues!”

“Amen! The 'Wingnut" alternative would be a nightmare. I agree with Bill M. that the President needs to bring more strength and leadership to the fight. He can Not step back and allow the opposition to get strong toe holds in the arguements on the Major Issues facing this Nation! Obama needs a CONSTISTENT Strong effort on behalf of all the legislaton for his agenda...E­nergy, Environment, Health, Education, ending two Wars, REGULATION OF CORPORATE AMERICA, AND National Campaign funding...­take the money for re-election out of the equation!!! And NO Lobbying jobs or sitting on boards of Corporations for Congressmen for 5 years after leaving office!

To President Obama: PLEASE QUIT TRYING TO APPEASE YOUR OPPONENTS!!! QUIT TRYING TO TAKE THE MIDDLE ROAD!!! You know what they say about "luke warm" efforts. PLEASE REALIZE that the Republicans operate in cut throat mode all the time with plenty of under the table money! You need to get tough with your OWN party if you want to succeed!!! Stop the Mister Nice guy and lets play basketball! IF YOU FIGHT STRONG, YOUR BASE WILL FIGHT STRONG WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!!”

“I have read a few of the comments and the idea that the battle is won is foolish. The Senate has to get their bill out then everyone goes into conference to combine both bills and then the final bill must again be voted on by both Houses! Plenty of opportunity to bury this legislation. And then there is Joe Lie berman. If we get Health Reform and maybe the beginnings of a Public Option it will truely be a miracle! Everyone needs to grear up for really tough fight. We need to put massive efforts into contacting members of Congress and really, really lean on old Joe!”

“You guys chose your own name and yes, you are ignorant..­.fat, I don't know. The behavior of the "Teabaggers" is what brought about the disparagement. Even I did not know the sexual meaning before all your demonstrations. The meaness and hate that was displayed requires mocking...­just so you know that acting like that is unacceptable! Cry 'FREEDOM OF SPEECH" while not allowing others the same right is Hypocrisy of the first order!”

“Lt. let's talk credibility! How credible is it to sell&resell derivatives 20,30,40 x's their worth then take out insurance on these non-value money instruments. Let's talk breakingup loans and bundling ofthem so no one knows who owns what. Let's talk WallStreet using other peoples money and while those people take big loses, Banks&WallStreet rake in huge profits! Government caused this...yes­, because startingwith Regan,you repubs started dismantling any protection for the public. Regulation caused this, NO! Try lackof oversight, playing shell games to hide what they were doing. The Wall Street Casino is doing fine...how about the rest of America??? Your anti-government rhetoric is childish, &flat wrong! You would suggest letting the Banks and Big Corporations continue to act without constraints even if it punges this country into financial ruin??...Y­ou probablely think children should never have rules to abideby and growup wild, withno punishment. And yes, the financialworld has acted with total self-centered, greedy&manipulative behavior, without boundaries! The Banks& Wall Street have their lobbists outthere fighting against regulations thatwould protect this country. Frighten, the power they can bring to bear to affect our legislation. They have a frontrow seat atthe table to protect their profits. Do the American people? You havebeen sold an empty bill of goods when you sidewith these people over the American people...w­hen you think a Corporate run country is in our best interests and that the very governement thatis suppose towork on behalf ofthe People isthe enemy!”

“Wrong! The financial markets, Wall Street were allowed to run rampant without the necessary regulations to curb their excessive risk taking without having sufficient equity to back their risk taking with people's 401 k's, retirement funds, mortgages, etc. They were just pushing paper deals with No real value. Greenspan thought the Markets would police themselves. He was wrong! Regulations ARE NEEDED to protect the public and to protect this country's financial security!!! Unregulated greed has lead to this economic collapse because these big players have pushed Congress to weaken the safegards put in place by Roosevelt after the Great Depression. Do NOT equate freedom with the freedom to cook up exiotic money scemes Wall Street anglers do, without thought of the consequences as long as it lines their pockets! They do what allows them to live lavish lifestyles regardless of the harm they are doing to the rest of us. They are NOT going to reform or learn from this crisis out of the goodness of their hearts. Capitolism can work within some boundaries and there is nothing wrong with a Social Democracy! Our constitution speaks of the common good...the bankers and Wall Street do NOT!”

“Disagree. All sides of the arguement both pro and con need to be heard. Pakistan is of the utt most importance since the terrorists are encamped there AND they are not far from the capital and the Nuclear arsenal. A stable Pakistan is what we need. I do not know if more troops is the answer, but we must have good stategies before sending more of our young people to be killed or crippled. This article smacks of dislike for the vice-president. We CAN NOT be perpetually at War!!!”

“Wrong! The recession that hit at the end of the Carter administration was caused by the Oil companies. Regan on the otherhand put in policies determental to the working class! You have a very narrow view and are not looking at the trend this country has been going in. Just because you are in your mind doing okay does not mean that millions of americans, your fellow citizens are. Insurance companies, banks, corporations, Wall Street have been increasingly taking more and more of the American Pie, without any regard to the conditions in this country or the consequences of their actions! Take a look at the bigger picture outside your own island of existence.”

“Look to Regan and his union busting policies for the beginning of a downward trend for the middleclass. Corporations have a stranglehold on this country! They oppose increases in the minimum wage they say because this would cause less profit for their companies while paying their CEOs and manangement MILLIONS! They send jobs overseas so they can pay those people poverty wages and also to avoid paying their share of taxes to their OWN country. They also bring in foreign workers to replace Americans. I have a friend, who has worked for years in the computer industry and was laid off last year, with his whole department and REPLACED by computer techs from India! These Companies and those who control them have no loyalty but to themselves! They unfortunately have the money power to affect legislation that can inhibit this power. When do the law makers listen to US!!!! I say bring back the Power of the ordinary worker...B­ring back the Unions! Afterall, we spend most of our life in the work place. Should we not have a voice and be able to negotiate for better conditions and a living wage!! Corporate America is shooting not only this country, but themselves in the foot. When the middleclass becomes smaller and smaller there will be less people to spend money in this economy...­NO spending, NO PROFITS!”

“Disagree with your last phrase, "some new agency is the last thing you want to appeal to". Actually, it would be good to have a "Consumer Protection" agency. Right now, the public has no voice and no power against the abuse and greed of Banks, Credit Card co.s, Insurance Giants, Mortgage Brokers, etc. There needs to be some police on the block because corporations are robbing America blind and getting away with murder!!! The agency would have to have some teeth to it to reign in unethical behavior! I say very stiff fines and Prison sentences to match!!!!”

“Agree. It is madness this constant call for more deregulation when it has totally destroyed millions of Americans' retirement, savings and any hope for financial security! The behavior of the banks and Wall Street Can Not be allowed to continue. The Mega Monopolies must be broken up...By being "too big to fail" Corporate America holds this country, the middleclass hostage! They should be barred from contributing to campaigns and Lobbying from these money interest should be only heard once in front of Congress. Corporations have had the ear of Congress way too long. How can the interest of the common citizen stand up against power like that?

Great Article. Hopefully many will read it!”

“I did not realize how badly we are divided until I started listening to news again and working in the 2008 Election! I think since Regan came in, people have been asleep to the gradual decimation of standard of living that republican policies bring about. People have worked for years where salaries were essentially frozen while the costs of just making it have skyrocketed. We wake up and most of the wealth of this country is in the hands of a very, very, very small percent and the power to be heard and effect change goes to that small percent! The republican platform of "less government" has just about sunk this country by not reigning in destructive financial decisions, destructive environmental policies..­.fighting tooth and nail anything that would improve this country such as clean energy if it is going to costs them anything! Money first, the Country and the Lives of it's Citizens last!!!”

“Excellent post!”

“Disagree. As a whole the republicans have more underhanded tactics, negativism, hand in glove with Corporate empire, working if favor of Corporate interests rather than the "Working Class". Yes, some Democrats fall into this catergory, but it is the Democratic legislation that has benefited this country and the average American over the years. As a rule, Democrats are working to improve the lives of ordinary americans, but have an uphill battle due to the lobbying interests and the roadblocks that the republicans continuely throw up! Many things that benefit the people and that they take for granted are because the Democrats fought for those benefits and safeguards! I think if we got rid of Campaign contributions from big players on both sides, limit donations by the wealthy and no business or organization could give money, we could substantially decrease the influence peddling!!!!”

“Hear, hear! I don't want anymore of their "innovations" either. The power and influence of the top 1% and Corporate America need to release their stranglehold on this country. We should go back to Eisenhaur's tax rate of 90% in the 1950's. That would cut the deficit real quick! Especially tax those business that take jobs overseas! Let those that create jobs in THIS country pay only half that rate. Also block those tax havens where they have finagaled out of their taxes for decades to the detriment of this country!!!”

“So you would rather the american people be left to the mercy of Big Corporations, Credit Card companies and Banks without any protection from abuse and greed???? Your afraid of paperwork, but not the undue influence of the Lobbying Industry that works against the best interest of the american people. You are worried about a government agency and the cost of it;s employees when they work to protect you and maybe can prevent abuses costing you thousands? Really? That does not make any sense! It is time for the people to have a voice, to stop the total distruction of the middleclass!!!!”

“Right on target! NO TO OPT-OUT!!! It would not only cripple Health Care, not giving millions of people a choice or a lifeline, but would set a precedent for future Democratic initiatives and legislations where Republicans fight to have the states opt-out, thus weakening any benefit those policies would have fo this country as a whole. And BTW, people keep refering to this country as a Republic..­.that issue was settled in the Civil War. We are a UNION, one country! Because of the size of this country to run it efficiently, one hopes, some governance is mananged by the states. States should not be allowed to deny people their right to health care!!!!!”