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leftistgadfly

Published Letters: 249
Editor's Choice: 11

Saturday, October 17, 2009 07:01 AM

Anyone see the middle-aged fetus on "That's My Bush"?

It was a short-lived show about Bush that featured a pro-life activist who was a fetus that had survived a botched abortion. It was funny/weird but pretty much indescribable. Suffice to say that the fetus was clearly a middle-aged "man" and had a feisty attitude.

Thursday, October 15, 2009 04:08 AM

I hate to the defend the insurance companies

I really do. But they have a legitimate point here. If you force them to insure anyone, and have a low penalty for not buying health insurance, then a lot of people will just wait until they get a serious illness to buy it. This could undermine the whole risk-spreading concept underlying insurance.

These companies don't have a money tree. The money they pay out comes from consumers (and soon taxpayers).

Saturday, October 10, 2009 05:10 AM

I had the same thought about symbolism

A pretty large proportion of Nobel Prize winners fall into one of two categories:

1) Winners who start a war and then end it... or just try to!

2) Winners who are given a symbolic "Attaboy!" or "Attagirl!" for taking a positive stand. Case in point, Al Gore.

No one would claim that Obama is in the top flight of Nobel Prize winners, but he fits comfortably in category 2.

Friday, October 9, 2009 07:47 AM
Original article: Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Usual Democratic circular firing squad

Hey, if we bash this President enough, we'll get another, more liberal one. Right?

Friday, October 9, 2009 07:43 AM

More proof that Republicans don't believe in "national greatness"...

just their own greatness.

Saturday, September 26, 2009 06:02 AM

I wish I could take Smith's side

... But by his own admission, some planes have a pilot-accessible button which adjusts the airflow. Of course loony claims about the cockpit having 20 times more oxygen should be debunked, but making blanket statements and then contradicting them doesn't help the cause.

Friday, August 28, 2009 04:01 PM

Got a source for this?

There is no country in the world that would pay for the kind of surgery Sen Kennedy underwent...
Friday, August 28, 2009 03:57 PM

The truly absurd thing...

is that it is Kennedy's plan, too. He sponsored it in the Senate. So Huckabee is really accusing Kennedy of wanting to do himself in.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 04:18 AM

@antimatter

Read my post. Obama has flipped to the right on some things, but this time he flipped to the left.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 04:15 AM

Things aren't really going that badly now

The current pivot point in the debate is whether there should be a public option. The following elements seem to already be baked into the plan:

1) Insurance will be mandatory, with an employer mandate

2) Insurers will have to take all comers, regardless of pre-existing conditions

This by itself is a huge change, and is arguably more than Obama promised as a candidate. Remember, it was Hillary Clinton who wanted a mandatory system, not Obama. What was a left-wing position in the Democratic primary has become a centrist position in the country.

(Ssh, don't tell any Republicans you know...)

Monday, August 3, 2009 02:33 AM
Original article: "This is my no, no square!"

But it worked so well for Jehovah!

Doesn't the Bible teach us that drawing a "no, no square" around a ripe, juicy piece of fruit is counterproductive?

Sunday, July 19, 2009 05:40 PM

@ondelette

I stand corrected. China has more income inequality than the US. But they do have better food. :)

Sunday, July 19, 2009 10:08 AM

@jesse_covner

I don't know where you are getting your information about China. Housing is not free like it used to be. Actually they are becoming more and more capitalistic.

My experiment is imperfect, but it is something like an objective test. You may personally find the life of a Chinese peasant preferable to that of a poor American. I can't argue with your opinion. But I would be surprised if you could find much objective evidence to back it up.

By the way, I hope that doesn't come as across is someone saying that the US is the best at everything. We need to be realistic about ourselves and other countries, too.

Saturday, July 18, 2009 06:44 AM

Sirota is right

Yes, China has gleaming cities, but it also has a lot of pollution, and hundreds of millions of peasants. There are not moral criticisms, but simply facts.

However, the Poor in China, for the most part, are far better off than poor people in the United States.

It is true that the US has more social inequality than China. But this is overstating the case to the point of absurdity. A simple experiment: Offer a Chinese peasant a US immigrant visa, and offer an American welfare recipient a Chinese visa. Does anyone doubt which party would accept the offer, being fully informed of what their circumstances would be?

Thursday, July 16, 2009 09:02 AM

Let's imagine the shoe was on the other foot

For the sake of argument, let's imagine that Robert Byrd was beating up on a Republican Supreme Court nominee for allegedly being a racist. Would the media bring up Byrd's past whenever he made accusations of racism? Of course! They would have Rush and friends raking them over the coals if they didn't.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 11:14 AM

Matter of interpretation

I see Obama's statement as a response to the widely repeated claim that the government is going to completely take over the healthcare system. It is true that Obama is not going to force employers to keep the same privately-sponsored insurance, but that seems so patently obvious that it is not worth saying.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 09:00 AM

Reich should be more confident

Reich is basically arguing that the longer the debate goes on, the more likely it is that the universal healthcare proponents will lose. Doesn't he think our side has a stronger argument?

The big difference between 1993 and now is that all the important stakeholders agree that the current system is terribly. The Republicans can't defend the status quo, and they can't just shout "Boo, socialism!" and run away. If they can't come up with their own credible plan in the next few years, they are going to lose. (Deregulation is not a credible plan.)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 03:07 AM
Original article: Can Palin ever come back?

Joe Biden's still dusty clock

I suppose it would be pointless to refer to the polls saying Biden won... not to mention the fact that Palin actually looked in the camera and said she was going to ignore questions that she didn't want to answer...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 04:41 AM
Original article: Fire David Letterman!

Whatever happened to the anti-PC police?

Where are the people are on right who are supposed to be heroically defending free speech from humorless, PC liberals?

His job is to tell jokes. If you don't like his jokes, don't listen.

Thursday, June 11, 2009 05:03 AM

The fMRI studies are a red herring

The FDA was approving drugs long before fMRI scans were used. Drugs are approved based on their ability to have a clinical effect, not to make your brain light up differently.

Sunday, June 7, 2009 07:17 AM

Small potatoes

In terms of the whole federal budget, $20 million is loose change. Who cares who controls it?

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