Jeesh folks, Lambert is not a criminal, not a thug, and shouldn't be arrested for anything. She's a very young woman, a young amateur athlete, who's obviously got a psychological problem, an inability under certain circumstances to deal with pressure, loss or whatever. The ref would have helped a lot by stopping it dead cold. However, in a way she's lucky, because the video exposed the extent of the problem, and made it easy for her coach to justify suspending her until she can come to grips with it. The NYT's article stated that's what she is doing. Zip up your pants and have some patience. I wish her well.

Rampant speculation and collapse are a normal part of business cycles in capitalism, and always have been. Read 19th century history, Marx's Capital (v.3), for example. Likewise, steps to bail out big capital and the economy through financial policy go back as well. Check out the English Bank Law of 1844. What changed in the 20th century was the degree to which governments would intervene. After all, the main function of the state is to maintain and facilitate the existing economic order, above all its main players, which means financial and industrial capital. All of which renders arguments over negotiating stances, favoritism and the like sort of silly. Or rather, illusional or delusional, depending on the the source.

At 77% of men's salary and "inching along," I wonder if that figure will get to, say, 90% before the earth is covered by oceans again.

Are women as a group "risk averse?" Biological imperative, as well as the overwhelming discrimination (and hatred) women face in the U.S. (and most elsewhere) wouldn't mean much if it didn't have real psych-sociological effects, risk averseness being one.

What's the point of printing this? There's nothing new and it reads like a Sarah Palin promo.

The health care "reform" is not at all about what the masses ("voters") think. The driving force behind it remains corporate profits and the drain on those in the current healthcare system. The only question being debated seriously in Washington is to what degree capitalists as a class - mainly big capital - are willing to compromise on to what degree, if at all, non-Medicare healthcare costs in the U.S. are transferred into a collectivized system.

It will take mass extra-electoral rebellion, most likely widespread labor strikes raising the healthcare issue, before what "voters" think will significantly start to matter.

Using a potential family tragedy to attack "Balloon' dad's" views about other subjects is about as ad hominem as it gets. And after going after Lucinda Rosenfeld, no less. Shame on you, TCF!

It appears that women and make up is a very sensitive issue for TCF. It's worth a good discussion. My own tastes in women and speaking generally is for as little as possible. In the latter domain, it speaks to the oppression of women and, thus, I see it in a way like Marx talked about religion, the sigh of the oppressed. I undertand there are other, cultural, sides to the matter, and I'd like to hear a discussion of those to better understand to what extent they have a real, continuing role.