I'm in!

Well said, Garrison. Or Mr. Keillor. I think it's time for liberals to stop being nice (though keep being funny). My 80 year old Dad, a WWII vet, said it best, "These guys are the closet we've come to having fascists in office in my lifetime." And I say, anyone who supports them is either brainwashed, a new kind of brownshirt (see: Germany, 1930s) or both.

Patrick Kelly

"Hmong kids?!" "African American kids who think scholarship is white bread?!" Are you KIDDING me??! Please tell me what on Earth leads a thinking person to write these thoughts as if they are perfectly acceptable.

Salon.com's writers continue to throw gratuitously vicious grenades into populations that are not only friendly, but supportive (i.e., premier members). This is the stuff of insult and today's liberals -- who've proven inept at fighting their TRUE enemies -- feel a need to sink and slink toward the insult as a tool of choice to prop up their political impotence.

I'm sure the rest of the article was amazing. I stopped reading after being "sucker punched" by the above-quoted insults....

No need to wish for a magical snatching of goodies from those with Bush/Cheney stickers. The bums have struck at all with impunity...well...that is if you've never had a bank account in the seven figure range. The deed is done.

and this: "Hmong kids?!" "African American kids who think scholarship is white bread?!" Are you KIDDING me??! Please tell me what on Earth leads a thinking person to write these thoughts as if they are perfectly acceptable

What's with this nonsense...I mean I think I get you but as a man with the knowledge of the power of words you should strike this trash from the record!

Keillor's right about this -- it is unconscionable that our generation is saddling the next with an enormous national debt, looming energy shortages, continued environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity, and an inevitable crisis in funding for our core social programs that we have yet to face.

Bush/Cheney have obviously not helped (and of course have made things much worse. But unfortunately I see few leaders of any stripe who express any concern about the raw deal we are passing on to the future generations.

Please, please don't get caught up in the "Hmong kids, African-American kids" bit. The point I believe Mr. Keillor is making is that a class with 42 kids is incredibly difficult already, but factor in that those 42 kids will not be uniformly well-rested, well-fed, and share the same cultural and socio-economic background and it becomes next to impossible for a teacher to teach effectively. He used an example. It could have been "Bosnian kids, Goth kids" or "Somalian kids, ADHD kids."

I get the meaning in Garrisons's classroom description. I don't take it as any kind of ethnic or racial insult, just an attempt to accurately describe the impossible, guaranteed-to-fail position many teachers are forced to endure without regard to the wrong-headed and regressive policies that shape public education. But who's the goombah with the PhD?

I presume he intends this to mean "ignorant person" (PhD notwithstanding), not "ignorant Italian lout."

Garrison, go easy with the identities and stereotypes you use to make a point. A writer with your amazing ability to paint the small wonders of life in brilliant colors can do better.

Cutting off Bush/Cheney supporters health care is an interesting proposition, though, despite the fact that such support is surely a sign of psychological disorder.

Health care is expensive, and perscription drugs constitute a large portion of that expense.

Rush Limbaugh opposed the perscription drug plan that provided drugs for all senior citizens, regardless of their financial status. Many of those who are well off, vote republican, and are more likely to have a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker. I agree with Rush, and with Garrison, that we shouldn't be paying health care bills for wealthy Americans.

Too bad Garrison didn't get it, years ago, as did Rush. Glad to see he's on-board today. I suggest to readers of Garrison's column that they check out Rush Limbaugh, he's way ahead of old sour-puss.

I think we can all agree that Garrison Keillor is a liberal. He's also demonstrated time and again that he is a compassionate, thoughtful man who is willing to take on the GOP fascist brigades. So, now he writes something which like it or not is true: there are black kids who consider academic achievement to be a white thing, and therefore a bad thing. Not all black kids, of course, but enough for it to be a noticeable and very real problem. Weeping about the fact that Keillor mentions this problem, or otherwise ignoring it, is not going to solve it, so stop being such whiny stereotypes. Liberals are tough, and unlike conservatives, we are willing to acknowledge real problems and take them on. The only problems conservatives have are, 1) people having sex, and 2) how to make the rich richer. We liberals must deal with the real problems, and to do that, we must be willing to recognize them.

. . . that I found this story on salon today, as today I'm beginning to take classes towards my PhD in healthcare policy. As a 20-something, I often feel stifled when I think about my future. The cost of living is escalating - I don't know if I will ever be able to afford to buy a house; the cost of education is getting so high the middle class can't afford going to college (without being strapped with loans until it's time for our children to go to college); and healthcare is becoming a commodity. I've studied why our healthcare system has to change and the state of healthcare in other countries. I've studied why the US turned down Clinton's healthcare bill, leaving Bush's Health Savings Account/catastrophic health coverage as the current, popular, low-cost alternative.

HSAs are great if you're middle-class and healthy; however the people who need full coverage are the people who can't afford traditional life insurance and are left either without coverage or with catastrophic coverage. HSAs and catastrophic coverage cover offer great coverage when something goes wrong, but they don't cover prevetive care. This means that people will still treat ERs as their doctor's office, only seeking medical attention when the symptoms have gotten too serious to ignore. The US already spends a higher percentage of our GDP on healthcare than any other country in the world. HSAs are not the solution.

Countries in Europe face the same problems when it comes to healthcare as we do. There are no easy answers. Mr. Keilor's right, cut the MRIs and knee replacements or cut preventive care, education, social programs. Incidentally, higher education also often means increased health status for a variety of reasons.

Thank you, Mr. Keilor, for fanning the flames and reaffirming my passion for the topic of politics and public policy. Recently, I've thought about running for some kind of public office. However since most of my constituents would be baby boomers I don't think they would vote for my youth-friendly platform.