I Pay for my own. I just don't really want to pay for yours.

See, we live in a society. We contribute collectively to defense (or rather, offense), highways, the FDA, etc. etc. (I'm sure I don't have to present an exhaustive list).

So how is this different?

It isn't.

You perceive adnoto as an anarchist? That's interesting.

-- Chris Sinnard

"That's interesting." Apparently, only to you.

-- omooex

You've gotta admit, that's pretty funny.

his (Kennedy's) care is a useful example of the trade offs we'd have to expect from expanding health care coverage.

And do you think that's important to people who have no healthcare whatsoever? I assure you, those who lack coverage are concerned with just that--a lack of coverage for the most basic medical needs.

because this so pisses me off:

He choose (sic) an expensive operation and painful follow-up treatments. He saw his work as vitally important and so he fought for every minute he could stay on this earth doing it. He would be a very fortunate man if his heroic last few months were what future generations remember him most for.

It doesn't even occur, I guess, to an idiot like Huckabee that THIS IS THE WHOLE POINT ABOUT HEALTHCARE REFORM.

Now I felt the need to capitalize and bold the above because--as is clear--a guy like Kennedy, a guy like Huckabee, have access to healthcare that so many do not.

Huckabee says that Kennedy "fought for every minute he could stay on this earth" even as he, Huckabee, argues for the denial of that same care for millions upon millions of Americans. What a Goddamn idiot.

of nothing, but I've been meaning to say it for some time: there are some great, creative, amusing and thoughtful screen-names here.

Presumptuous Insect, Little Brother, jealousmonk, bystander, Econolicious and, of course, Cocktailhag. And there are certainly other names that I failed to mention but cannot recall at the moment.

My own timothy3 (and that's a creation of the WaPo since it wouldn't allow a simple Timothy--and, on that particular day, I was really determined to post a comment, although I don't recall the issue [which says something about its import]) is really lame by comparison.

Anyway, just an idle thought on a Friday afternoon.

I'm just tired of the hate. When does it run out of fuel?

Yes, this is how I feel. There are these many layers of arguments, dependent upon logic, rationality and persuasiveness--we're told--but these merely mask simple, primitive and animalistic hatreds.

I mourn for the future, for those who're now children. I even mourn for the righties because, to steal from the New Testament (ignore the irony), "they know not what they do."

They might think they're fighting on behalf of some valiant cause--I don't know because I cannot peer into their hearts and minds--but we know they're miserable and unhappy and filled with an unthinking rage.

None of this makes me happy.

Not a bit of it.

But the fact is, given the nation's many pressing issues, I'm ambivalent about whether Democrats should waste their time trying to get Republicans to censure gun-toting, racist, lying extremists in their own party.

is that the GOP and its chief spokespeople have specifically encouraged these people to bring their weapons, threaten violence and generally whine that they lost an election, that things aren't going their way.

Dollar to donuts, less than 5% of these Town-Hall moaners (and that's real generosity on my part) could provide any detail about any legislation, pending, passed or simply under consideration.

So I think the question ought to be, "Why has GOP 'leadership' ceded control to radio hosts, NRA weirdos, racists and, generally speaking, creeps?"

For that is what they've done.

Some political party and, wow, what a fine example of leadership.

You are still missing the point Timmeh. There are no Mr. Smith's to speak of. With the exception of a very few, they don't exist and never have really.

This is like the Twilight Zone. I don't believe I've ever missed the point about any of this. Still, I like this line

One of the reasons for this is that once one of "us" becomes one of "them" they cease to be one of us.

This is an eternal battle. Eternal. It'll never be won, merely fought.

But my main message here is--the elected officials are the least important factor.

Yes, this is fundamentally true. I don't believe (it certainly wasn't my intention) to argue that we need to recruit "leaders" from the political class; rather, that we need to recruit representatives from among us who will actually do that thing--representation.

Hey, let me say--this has been an interesting discussion today.

The direct action and civil disobedience I am talking about is the same kind that happened during the Civil Rights Movement, the Labor Movement, Suffrage Movements, and Abolition Movement ... The inevitable outcome of peaceful protest and organized boycott is progressive change.

I don't disagree with this. There certainly is a place for protest. I was addressing the issue of elected officials.

It is critical--critical--that we tend to this matter of elected officials with a far greater degree of seriousness than we've done previously.

Anyway, I promised myself I wouldn't beat a dead dog and here I am, flogging away.