Comments on: GRITtv Live at Noon: The "Angry Left" and Progressive Politics

By: Aquifer

Aquifer — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:51:35 +0000

oops, sorry again, but several surveys show just the opposite – the countries that have a nat’l health care program, overall, the quality of care is better.

By: Aquifer

Aquifer — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:47:03 +0000

Actually, we already have single payer on a limited scale – Medicare. And you might be interested to know that Medicare’s administrative overhead is about 3% and private insurance companies’ overhead is in the 15-30% range, not to mention the profit margin they expect to make. Sorry to disappoint you, but in this case “private” is not better, nor cheaper.

By: Aquifer

Aquifer — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:34:49 +0000

Actually, I think the point Hedges was making is that elections are a necessary time to make politicians accountable. Did you notice, he supports Nader. Look, the Reps respect their base to the extent they know that if it’s not happy, it won’t support them - that’s what Sarah Palin is for. The Dems don’t respect their base, they “know” it will support them even if they trash, as they are, everything it believes - if they did respect it Kucinich would have been Obama’s pick for VP. Biden was (another) slap in the face. How low will we sink, how many times will we bend over and say “Oh please, Mr. Dem., kick me again!”, before we stand up and say “No!”. What Hedges is saying is that until we exact a price for this disrespect we will NOT get anywhere and that the only price we, the little people, have the power to exact is the denial of office by denial of our vote. Note that he made the comment that we should have started this over 10 years ago when it was clear, under Clinton, the Dems were going corporate. Clinton approved NAFTA in ‘93; too many (not I) voted for him in ‘96. You marched in Seattle against the WTO, then too many (not I) voted for free-trader Gore in ‘00. We marched in ‘03 against the war, then too many (not I) voted for pro-war Kerry in ‘04. Do you see the pattern here? If, in ‘96, enough of us had, indeed, sent a real shot across the bow, by ‘00, we would have had a better Dem. candidate, who, taking us seriously, would have made Nader’s run unnecessary by adopting his platform, a truly progressive one, and perhaps would have won, NOT because of Nader’s absence, but because the candidate would have inspired his base to actually get out and vote. And if Dems hadn’t gotten the message by ‘00, we should have given them a bigger and louder, not a smaller and weaker one, in ‘04 - voting 3rd party is much more powerful than just staying home. Hence, Hedges’ point, it’s way past time to do this - we have a lot of catching up to do.

Liz Holtzman’s argument is a perfect example of the absurd lesser evil “strategy” that has, don’tcha know, served us soooo well so far. Here’s a woman who has written a book making an excellent case for impeachment, but who did not support Kucinich, the only candidate who actually moved for it, because she felt he couldn’t win! And now she supports a party for whom impeachment is “off the table”!

Have you noticed that EVERY election we are told, “Well yes, but not THIS time, maybe NEXT time”. Somehow, “next” time never seems to come. Just whose permission do you need to vote for what we all need? I will keep voting for real solutions no matter what “party” proposes them. I invite you to do the same - until enough of us do, we won’t get it. Sorry, folks, but that’s the truth of it.

Thank you, Chris Hedges!

By: Aquifer

Aquifer — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:54:13 +0000

Is that rather like Obama backing pro-war Lieberman instead of antiwar Lamont in the CT Dem primary? Who made him do that?

By: ThingsComeUndone

ThingsComeUndone — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:45:43 +0000

Do you have links to back up the numbers on lawyers being the reason our healthcare costs so much?
Also if people in other countries are living longer then their healthcare is better. If infant mortality is less then their healthcare is better. On tallness like in Holland well that is more a milk consumption issue.
People from Canada come here because if you try and treat everybody yes there will be a wait and if you got the cash why wait.
That just means they need more doctors which is a problem they can fix.
America would like to have that problem.
Still for whatever reason National Healthcare covers everybody and it costs less money than our system.

By: selise

selise — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:43:45 +0000

awesome that you were there.

i listened to the whole thing via c-span and lurked here. and i’m generally not a lurker - if i’m here in real time, i comment. but the disconnect with reality in the comments actually scared me and i just didn’t know what to say.

By: selise

selise — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:41:26 +0000

But what the hell I am on his bus

i’m not saying i think it’s clear what to do…. in fact, i think we all just have to figure this one out for ourselves, and i expect there will be many different answers. i guess what i’m trying to say is that while your choice is not mine (at least not today), i support you in doing whatever you think is right.

By: Leen

Leen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:03:18 +0000

I had the pleasure of being at Invesco. al gore addressed these serious issues more than anyone else. He brought the house down you could feel the stadium shake from the foot stomping. Obama are you listening and watching the people are pissed about the lack of accountability. The Obama team needs to delicately tap into this more

By: Leen

Leen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:01:07 +0000

Exactly but the Governor of Minnesota was really lying on Washington Journal today. he needs to watch Amy’s Program from yesterday showing the footage of her and her producers arrest.

the footage of her arrest should be played on Washington Journal. Or an add against the Repubs in Minnesota along with the Governor of Minnesota’s words on Washington Journal this morning about how the police in Minneapolis were doing everything in line with the law hogwash
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/9/2

By: Leen

Leen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:56:47 +0000

Obama really disappointed me during the Bolton nomination and Condi Rice nomination hearings. he just seemed to roll over and continue to run for President. Last fall when he just happened to be out of town the day of the Kyl Lieberman amendment that really infuriated me. He could have made a solid anti unnecessary war stance at that point as Biden and Dodd did (they voted against it0. Hillary made another big mistake and voted for the amendment that was filled to the brim with unsubstantiated claims about Iran. This clip shows Obama’s strategy, put his head down and hope to slide by.

Obama keeps his head down on this one. Very serious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npzN3dZR6JM

Edwards gives the clearest explanation about this amendment during the debate

But what the hell I am on his bus, it is the only bus that can potentially provide our nation with some accountability. Although I I sure wish he would throw us some bones. Like more focus on discussing issues with Iran. Indicate he is willing to deal with the I/p issue more fairly (I know this is an issue that could take him out of the running) as it did for Carter and partially for Daddy Bush.