Comments on: Fear Incorporated, part 3

By: kenecollier

kenecollier — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:23:35 +0000

My father in law is in a similar situation. Texas carved a special niche out for our teachers and left them hung out to dry.

By: ChayaFradle

ChayaFradle — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:27:30 +0000

The joke is that for the 23 years I worked as a teacher, I paid into Medicare. Now, I'm not eligible for it.

By: ChayaFradle

ChayaFradle — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:25:57 +0000

Right, Ken. Not to mention premiums for Seniors and the Handicapped who are not eligible for Medicare or other because A) either they are under 65, or B) they didn't pay into social security but paid into State Teachers' Retirement System in California. Caught right in the middle. I just received notice my HMO is stopping the special charity program for me in April. The premiums will go up then to $500 a month, with excessively high co pays. Maybe I'll just not have health insurance, if I can't pay for it. Yet, I've got medical conditions which need doctors. Go figure. My rich acquaintances say it's not their problem.

By: sugarkat

sugarkat — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:03:52 +0000

Stewart/Colbert 2016!

By: kenecollier

kenecollier — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:30:58 +0000

I have doubts about any philosophy that wants to focus on taking care of ourselves. Fish swim in schools, animals travel in packs, humans form societies, and religions celebrate caring for others.
Government is an organ for collective action to help us cooperate to face challenges beyond resources of the individual. Dramatic changes in health care have made it essential that we take a new approach. When the cost of a couple of days in the hospital exceeds the median family income, that's a challenge beyond the ability of individuals. Too many hard-working people can not protect the lives of family members from threats like cancer and telling them to "take care of themselves" reflects a misunderstanding of the costs of health care that many people face.

By: Darrin Bell

Darrin Bell — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:56:25 +0000

"How about, 'who is going to pay for all this "free" health care?'"

Us. Same people who pay for the military, the fire departments and the police departments.

"Where is the money going to come from?"

Reasonable question, but the people who ask it usually presuppose there's no answer. There IS. And if they were sincere about wanting to figure out how to pay for it, we could all sit down and figure it out. Of course, they're not serious; because this concern, for them, is trumped by their ideology. An ideology that can be summed up by:

"How will we learn to take care of ourselves if the government is always doing it for us?"

Same way we manage to take care of ourselves even though publicly-funded police patrol the streets, publicly-funded firemen save our houses, and a publicly-funded military fights our wars.

By: Denise Bellante

Denise Bellante — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:55:49 +0000

Was he born on American soil? Yes! According to our laws that makes him and the others American citizens. I also couldn't help but notice that the "reporter" in your video only went to the loons to ask questions. Most of the people I know who attended tea parties were concerned about "Big Government" getting out of hand by both Rep. & Dem. Some suggestions for questions for our legislators. How about, "who is going to pay for all this 'free' health care?" Where is the money going to come from? How will we learn to take care of ourselves if the government is always doing it for us?

By: sugarkat

sugarkat — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:24:52 +0000

No, no. You're using facts and reason. In order to play, you must take a tiny kernel of truth and spin it into something insane while ignoring the rest of the facts, in order to reach a level of truthiness acceptable to yourself and the other 'Mer'cans toting patently stupid and deeply offensive signs around you at the FOX-sponsored rally. Then you get to be a Teabagger/Glenn Beckian. (Your last, elliptical comment reminded me of this: http://tinyurl.com/oldMcCain.)

By: SuburbanEcology

SuburbanEcology — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:33:34 +0000

Cool J:

Thanks for citing that.

For the record, the Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified in 1788 (I always thought it was ratified in 1789, but there you go …). Before that, the United States had "The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" as its supreme law.

By: sugarkat

sugarkat — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:33:14 +0000

Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Jackson, ALL were born British citizens! We didn't have a REAL American holding presidential office until Van Buren! Holy cats! THIS IS IMPORTANT, VITAL, TRUTHY NEWS! None of our first seven presidents could be president! WE MUST UNDO EVERY LAW AND RULE THEY PASSED and hold new elections! IMMEDIATELY! Quick! Call your local teabagger party!