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Published Letters: 1004
Editor's Choice: 18
" Finally “mandates”…..C’mon Jack, I refrained from calling you a pejorative name, but get real; You’re forced to pay for the military….for the common defense, you’re forced to pay into the environmental agencies…..so everyone has clean air and water, you’re forced to pay for car insurance…….so everyone can get insurance at an affordable rate. You see where this is going, Jack?"
I pay for all of these services through taxes. I also pay for medicare through taxes. (Except for car insurance...but I can't afford a car.) And I don't hide my income, unlike the wealthy. That means that for every dollar that the rich hide, I pay more. Wether its through Cayman Island accounts or hiring a "smart money manager." And I have a right to complain about that, as a citizen, if not on cater-to-the-wealthy Salon.
All of these plans also have a component that is paid through taxes. It is deeply hypocritical for the Clintons to have even the appearance of hiding their money in the Caymans at a time when the average American is struggling to pay his or her taxes--and when many of us don't have healthcare. There cannot be one set of rules for the rich and another for us regular people.
I note that you didn't answer my questions: what are the sanctions on us normal people who can't hide our money in the Caymans, and how will they be enforced? You can't answer, because Clinton leaves those sanctions up to Congress--in other words, she's dodging.
"There are rich people and then there are rich people. The Clintons have decided to put their energies into public service, and in the case of Bill, setting up foundations whereby countless lives have been saved and millions of people worldwide have a better chance to hope for a better future."
The Clintons are rich BECAUSE they were public "servants," not the other way around. Almost all of their money has come from the superduperwealthy in the form of direct payouts due to speaker fees AFTER the Clinton presidency. We can agree to disagree if gutting welfare, failing to go after tax loopholes (which they themselves exploit), the Iraq war vote, the PATRIOT act vote, etc, are really helping people worldwide hope for a better future. The Clintons policies of unregulated trade do seem to have helped themselves to a better future.
"Hillary has spent a bajillion hours working this out, and has a large coalition who will support this plan. "
And that's exactly what worries people like me who actually need healthcare. We remember how she buckled to the insurance industry in the 90's and we wound up with nothing but less coverage and higher premiums.
Or at least as clear as her "opposition" to NAFTA.
Remember when it was Chelsea that was "protected" by the Clinton campaign strong-arming Shuster's suspension? Shuster had tangentially implied that Chelsea was a whore by saying that the Clintons were pimping her out.
Back then the line from Clinton apologists was that it wasn't fair to go after the candidate's daughter, with the implication that the candidate is fair game.
Now a woman calls Clinton a whore in a standup routine and gets censored from her day job.
Look, I find the language a bit extreme, but male politicians, male journalists, and male lobbyists have been called whores since the dawn of the oldest profession.
I am far more troubled by the Clintons race-baiting than some journalists speech.
They're called whores when they serve those with money instead of voters.
Oh for cripes sake people. Did you all grow up in a convent?
Here we have equal opportunity insults--"whore" is often used to describe male politicians.
Here we have a woman delivering the insult, as a joke.
The only reason that she got suspended is that she aimed the insult at Clinton. That's it.
This is exactly the kind of holy crusade that loses audience for liberal media, and loses elections for liberal politicians.
We must be able to insult our politicians, even our female politicians, or this ain't no democracy.
I simply cannot conceive of a more accurate metaphoric term for Bill's current profession than "corporate whore."
Can anyone?
By all accounts both of the Clintons are cussing rage machines when provoked. So were LBJ and Nixon, by the way. And McCain.
I just don't understand why journalists and the public are always held to higher standard than the politicians they are insulting.
If you want polite, vote for John Yoo or George W. They seem like mannered nice gentlemen.
Restore his pension, give him that Medal of Freedom thing, and allow him first dibs on prosecuting Rumsfeld for treason.
The Clintons have made over $109 million since leaving the white house (that we know of per their returns).
I'm sorry I relied on news reports that vastly underreported the payoffs they have received from the corporate elites.
I think this one goes down as one of my favorite Salon spin jobs. The Clintons reveal they are bazillionaires, having turned Bill's presidency in gold many times over, far beyond even the wildest estimates of the press. The same day they reveal a "let them eat cake" cabinet post. Salon's response? Oh, it's about politics with Edwards.
Mr. Koppelman you deserve a beer. Take a shower, shave off that nastiness, and I'll have Paris Hilton pick you up at ten. Bring your video camera.
What are they hiding? 109 million. Burkle. That's much at least is hiding in plain sight.
We finally know what the Clintons mean when they brag that Bill's administration accomplished so much.
So much for them.
Would like fries with that cabinet post?