Open Thread
By driftglass Thursday Aug 06, 2009 7:30pm
Nobody promised...this would be easy.
Open Thread below...
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Nobody promised...this would be easy.
Open Thread below...
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Human race. Thank you for asking.
The human race is funny.
So say we all.
irst
I went to a town hall meeting for health care and made the news. I am the guy pointing and shouting with a flag in his pocket.
It's a FOX station so it's a terrible version of events.
Here is my version from my blog
I went to the Russ Carnahan's (D-MO 3rd District)Town Hall Meeting on Health Care and Aging at the Bernard Middle School in beautiful Mehlville Missouri tonight. It was more than I expected. What was setup as a multi guest, informational resource for seniors and those that care for them turned into a chaotic political showdown between partisan groups.
I got there about 5:45pm and was in a hurry because I had printed fliers to pass out to the many people in line to get in.
The flier said, "For 2500 years people have gathered and discussed issues that face their families, their communities and their nation. It is the bedrock of our living democracy. It is America! We gather here to continue this tradition in a civil and respectful manner. Efforts to disrupt and thwart public discourse are profoundly undemocratic and divide us when we desperately need unity! Please show the same respect for these proceedings you would show your family or your church." It didn't work.
I walked down the line and handed the people my flier while saying "any patriots here" or "any veterans here" or "hey you look like an American read this!" People quickly grabbed for my fliers and started reading. I knew those phrases would get the attention of the "teabaggers" and "astroturfers" that were as thick as flies. One old man didn't like what the flier said and tried to get the cops to take away my fliers. The cops laughed.
There were some union and clean air people clustered around a side door and I went over and said introduced myself. They took our names, I took my mom who is a senior and an ardent progressive, and we got "juiced in" with great seats, because we were progressives. That was nice! As the auditorium began to fill you could here the "teabaggers" warming up.
We sat down next to an older couple named Dan and Dot. Dan is a very well spoken and classy guy and we discussed some issues while we waited for the speakers to start. He didn't really have any strong opinions but seemed to enjoy my answers to his questions. Realize I am SURROUNDED by "teabaggers" and they are listening to every word I say. Dot, is a sweet lady but the firebrand of the family. She balked at my "out of the box" analysis of Obama and Clinton, Defense spending and aggressive wars, health care and workplace issues-so did the "teabaggers" listening in. She really flipped when I explained that all Americans are socialists. It was a lot of fun. But the fun ended quickly.
It is important to note this was not a broad based health care town meeting. It was specifically about aging, resources for seniors, and related policy. The "teabaggers" would have none of it. Carnahan introduced the speakers and was booed. He gave me thumbs up, which was the highpoint of the night. One by one the speakers would come to the podium, one from AARP and one a regional federal Senoir Care official, and were greeted with applause for the Democrats and progressives and boos and chants from the "teabaggers". As each speaker made points the "teabaggers" jeered and booed, stood up and turned their backs then sat back down, and called for Representative Carnahan to come to the podium.
That is when I got vocal. I know, I know I wasn't supposed to lose my cool, but after about twenty minutes of this inexcusable and blatant disrespect and rudeness from this crowd of "teabaggers" I got up and yelled, "don't you have the common decency and manners to let this man talk?" That actually caught them off guard and I got some applause. It was a short lived victory. They started chanting and individuals started approaching the podium demanding that Carnahan speak. I got up again and yelled, "sit down, sit down." One lady jabbed me with her flag and another guy started whining about Carnahan not speaking. I did not take that well.
I am 6'4" and 250 pounds, and not one to back down from ANYONE. I told the whiner to shut up, he didn't run this meeting and he should wait for the Q&A session like an adult. I was then told by three male "teabaggers" sitting behind me to shut up or they would shut me up. My adrenal gland opened up. I emptied my pockets and was fully prepared to duke it out. After eight long and deadly years of the Right running this country into the ground I was not about to let those douchebags muscle me. And for them to try and hijack this meeting was making me go nuts. But reason prevailed and I got up and walked out. I had at least ten people slap my back and high five me on the way to the door.
I failed. I wasn't able to live up to he flier I proudly passed out before the event.
I failed. I didn't know how evil and rude and spiteful those people were.
I failed. But I did not harm anyone or break any laws.
I will not fail again.
you made a powerful statement and probably invigorated others ..
It was a motherfucker dude, it was very hard to leave I want to pound those bastards into the ground.
And congratulations for having the control to leave the room before you did anything rash.
exactly.
health insurance workers and their lobbyists, not teabaggers
Check out this Blue Cross worker outside a townhall, anywhere USA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp4M6rHkN44
I would have been arrested for sure.
When Brooklyn Dodger President Branch Rickey explained to Jackie Robinson the abuse and hate that he would face by breaking baseball's color barrier in 1947, Robinson asked Rickey "Do you mean that I won't be able to show the courage to fight back?" Rickey then replied "No! I want you to have the courage to not fight back!"
Thank you, if you liked it I am on the right track!! Nonny Mouse emailed me and commented on my blog!! Nonny Mouse!!
"Brilliant. Absolutely bloody brilliant. You're the kind of student that gives me hope there is a future for the States."
Nonny Mouse
New Zealand
in a heatbeat. I am not sure I would have kept my cool. That is to your credit.
Chicano, you know!
Viva Sandino!
...a great story about who Sandino was in the graphic history by Howard Zinn, American Empire. Highly recommended. Get it for your teenagers who really don't care for either history or reading. Zoot Suit Riots, too. Rock-and-roll repression. Just get the book!
Mr. jhunter, may I say that is the first story of encouragement I have read during this whole "astroturfing" fiasco. It's war now, but it doesn't have to be physical. Keep it smart and keep it clean.
Good job and good luck.
Keep up the good fight.
So, I would have asked her, or anyone who says they are against socialism, what do you do with your trash? Where do you shit? Where do you get your water? If you use a private septic tank emptying service, what roads do they take to get to your place? And on and on.
Days off, vacations, pensions....that's my litany. She was dumbfounded when I got done. The key line is...people died for the most basic rights you take for granted!
them with too many facts. I think I would have stuck to Medicare and VA.
They consider medicare a failure. 'saw a photo today, ('sorry, 'can't find the link) of a Tbagger with a sign equating "Obamacare" with medicare, as if that were a really bad thing.
I also heard on the Stephanie Miller show the other day that some Republican douche was trashing the VA.
So, nothing's sacred, facts are all we have.
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall
-- think of it, ALWAYS."
- Gandhi
but by not resorting to violence, when threatened with violence, you did not fail.
This isn't going to be quick or easy and radicalism will set us backward. Violence is radical. What you did was set an example to every independent person in that room that it is the liberals that are the average folk, just like them, and the neo-cons are the dangerous radicals. I truly believe slow and steady is what will win us this race. It's hard, no doubt. So many people have lost their life line, so many more at the end of theirs. But, in a numbers game (and I hate to break it down that way), in the long run, more people and future generations will benefit by liberals not getting sucked into radical behavior.
So...in my opinion, you won. Well played.
Excellently stated
I doubt seriously that I could put myself in a room full of teabaggers without getting in a fistfight. (I'm still on probation, and a fight would likely result in revocation of it and a requisite jail term.) Congrats on getting up there, stating your peace, and getting out without going to jail from fighting with small-minded 'baggers.
On the minus side, you got to be on Fux...
Great job, Jhunter!
I don't know if I could have done what you did. These people ARE evil, rude, and spiteful, like you say.
And, you know what? While I fully believe that a vast majority of them have been organized by the right wing groups like Freedomswatch.org, even if they have not been; even if they are spontaneous "grass-roots" protesters; it is oh so obvious that they are motivated by the likes of Glenn Beck. It is oh so obvious that they are indeed evil, rude, and spiteful. This meeting wasn't intended for these teabaggers to complain about health care; it was intended for seniors.
I see that Claire McCaskill is planning a "St. Louis County Health Care Listening Forum" in U. City next Tuesday, August 11 at 10:00 AM; it's going to be at the University City High School auditorium.
You have to register on her web site http://mccaskill.senate.gov/newsroom/record.c...
I don't really know what "registering" does for you; the only thing required is your zip code and email; I registered but have not received any email confirmation yet.
I really want to go but don't know if I can, yet. Don't have a video camera, but I do have a nice digital camera I'll bring if I go.
Tell me when I will register right now.
I can't link my blog in this forum.
Email me mkcabs@live.com
Air America reporting that Glenn Beck lost 3 Sponsors because of racist remarks Glenn Beck made against President Obama. I wrote all three sponsers thanking them for standing up to hate speech and racism.
I would encourage you all to thank the Sponsors for taking a stand against racism.
It is time for the hate speech to stop.
http://airamerica.com/blog/2009/aug/06/glenn-...
This is good news that 3 sponsors quit Beck. I've been emailing Beck, with copies to O'Reilly, quite often this past week. I'm sick of the hate speech coming from that idiot's mouth.
I will look into the AirAmerica link Friday....almost 03:00 AM, and I need to get to bed....I'm tired...hope I can sleep, but these teabaggers, beck, limpballs, all of these haters really have me wound up.
and you are a beginning. Next time ask them if Brownshirts did what they are doing now.
Why are the right-wingers so much better organized than liberals and progressives ever were during the Bush presidency? How come liberals and progressives didn't show up in droves in town hall meetings like this back then?
I don't have a specific point about this. I'm simply curious.
Seems both sides are playing right into the hands of the forces of anti-democracy btw. I am convinced that certain interests do want America to unravel its system of Government and leave a vacuum in which pure/latent facist forces can blossom. Much like the unraveling of Germany before the 30s when the Nazis took over. There is just too much propaganda not to trust anyone or any of the systems put in place for democracy nowadays, and the levels of organization indicates it's not random.
... understand change and are willing to believe that better times lie ahead. Even with all the problems Bush created, we had hope that we could effect positive change.
Republicans, on the other hand, being anti-change and already prone to ideological lockstep, are easy prey for the kind of 'hate rally' fervor sold by the likes of Glenn Beck, Bill-O, Hannity, and Rush.
Liberals also are more understanding of people. I believe that in general they also have more conscience than republicans/conservatives/right wingers do.
The actual wingnut citizenry are utterly clueless. They wouldn't know where to even begin to organize and what to do.
Corporations are studying protests and doing the organizing for the wingnut citizenry so all they have to do is show up and waste good oxygen.
They are not rebelling or fighting to take back what they believe they lost. They are having a temper tantrum indulged by corporate sponsors.
it's that the media gives them the visibility.
How come these right-wingers have understood that they need to look and talk like "normal" folks to win hearts and minds while all we had during the Bush years were Code Pink demonstrators (god bless them though)? Alienation is a bad thing. Most people are superficial, and the news are generally superficial. These right-wingers talk like madmen, but have the appearance of "legitimacy" and the everage joe. Which part do you think people build their first and only impression on?
The right-wingers are forming the populist movement which will be the grassroot support for such a change, and the liberals and progreesives are doing their part by acting like arrogant, powerhungry pricks once in power. And it doesn't help that Obama is a corporatist as much as any Bush or Clinton and hepled the banks, wall street and multinational interests loot America, and thus finishing the nr. 1 item of the Bush agenda, -the transfer of wealth from the nation/people to private interests and the allready rich and powerful.
And why do we in Europe hear reports about the possibility of a new American civil war over the past six months? Sounds awfully like some interests allready have a vision. Planting the notion of such a thing in people's minds is one of the ingredients needed to create such a thing.
Me paranoid? Not after following American and international politics for a while. Soon Norwegians, who for 9 years have lemented and whined about "stupid Americans" voting for Bush twice, will probably vote in our own right-wing neo-liberals, who will change the fabric of this country and destroy the rest of our solidarity and sense of pride in the democratic process and people ownership. This is a global chain of events.
I got chills reading that...
You sir, are a great American!
We don't always agree, but I think you did a bang-up job.
Keeping your cool in the face of people who have already lost theirs is no easy task.
Thank you, I have learned so much this past 24 hours!
we can celebrate diversity, or we are all the same. pick one. we deserve the same, but we are not the same.
...but we are not altogether here.
real guts to do what you did. Too bad there weren't more backing you up. Why didn't the police intervene? I wish I could have been there with you.
...encouraging the cops to intervene, I believe, would set up a police-state mentality on their part. And we don't need that!
The cop that spoke to me was on our side but said in no uncertain terms that if I got "ignernt" I would land in the clink first!
This old man salutes you for what you did.........If I had been there I would have been right with you......I'm sick and tired of all this bs going on in this country! Being pc surely hasn't gotten us anywhere but more trouble....it's time to do it another way.......that's all they will ever understand.....being polite doesn't cut it with crazies!!! I'm PROUD OF YOU!!!
Very impressive, jhunter99844!
I think most people dont like being drowned out by rightwing fascists and the only ones cheering are fellow fascists. Part of me wishes you had of kicked the shit out of them and I only wish I was there to get your back in the event it went down. If something like that goes down and I'm attacked by multiple persons I know damn well that someone is going to get sued after they get arrested and I only want to make sure I get a couple good shots in, preferably to their mouths.
And only in self defense. Never, ever initiate any physical contact. Walking away was the right thing to do, and usually is.
I'm some time in eastern Washington and Thor the thunder god is putting on quite a show. They have already had some fires started by that mad god.
And after a week and a half over 100 degrees it's scary dry. I'd love the rain, but the this lightning sets my nerves on edge.
hit here close enough I thought a bbomb had exploded.
... the storms were a lot more violent. I used to love the thunder and lightning. But I didn't have to worry about the forest burning down around me in the middle of the night. Here, even the sparks worry me.
On a weird flipside, the economy around here is beyond a complete mess, and the fires have given some much needed work.
Frankly, it's been crappy all year. Months of endless misery.
Hey fiver, would you like some of our rain?
A coupla days ago the weather forecast was:
"rain in the morning, showers & thunderstorms in the afternoon"
Whew .. at least the "rain" stopped !!!
Sounds familiar! Those kooky weather forecasters!
:)
... but keep the lightning for a while.
She'll be happy for the rain.
it was across the state from the Idaho border, on the Oregon coast...
:)
:)
Sadly, she works in Sandpoint, ID, birthplace of Mrs. Moosekiller...
'Newport?' Tell me it's on the Columbia or something...
:D
one of only a couple of North American rivers that runs south to north.
???
dropping off beaver pelts, meth, and disgruntled Idaho citizens "ships"...
The beginning of political terrorism, U.S.-style.
Suicide is up, and 34 million Americans are on food stamps. The U.S. evidently doesn't get the irony of asking a Vietnam scholar how to deal with Afghanistan.
More Republican obstructionism over detainees. The Obama poster guy is all about change, too.
Dem Senators: White House Says It Cut No Deal With Drug Makers
Tweety smacked some little weasel from dik armey's freedomworks brigade. The guy from the AFL-CIO was the counterpoint and was pretty much serious and a captain sensible. Tweety asked pappass about helping the uninsured and who on the republican side was leading the charge, pappas said 'jim de mint' and tweety howled and called him a FRAUD. you have to put this thing up and it will go viral. It has to be tweety's finestmoment in years.
Nice to hear. I hope FOX theatre boards up their windows soon.
Obama's Vietnam right here:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/A...
It's looking like this may be his legacy...
Well this and the insurance corporations getting their way on "health care reform".
This is all so freaking depressing.
Black man!
Although race is pretty well documented in dictionary and encyclopedia, i don't believe you will find it in biology at all. In fact race is an all purpose vague term. There really is only the human species or human race if you prefer, with a legacy of slight physical differentiation due to geographical separation. It happens to the most adaptable species, like us. Move near the equator and your descendants will have sequentially more melanin in their skin cells by generation. that's about it. DNA is virtually the same everywhere, and it's difficult or impossible to determine race from DNA.
Populations from different parts of the world may always look a little different, but they won't always look the way they do now.
Not this argument counts now that we have the technology to tame the enviroment- or at least neutralize it's effect on us- but one's descendants would have to genetically mutate or face death before they could procreate. At least my pale descendants. Before sunscreen/block, ya know.
;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEep67akIn4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnpil_pRUiw
... but which came first? Back to evolution.
I thought you'd go with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0G25j3gN9s
(or maybe this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j38ae8229mQ&fe... )
But at least we're back on the evolutionary track.
Teacher seeks pupil: Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.
Well, how about this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R795KiMD4zs
as well. I read somewhere that this was partially inspired by Kubrick's "2001, A Space Odyssey", but I don't know...
http://www.gallup.com/video/121967/Government...
gallup poll update of june 2009. people covered by private employer based health care insurance is decreasing while people covered by the government is increasing. short 2 minute video
Very interesting stats.
When you factor in the 16% uninsured, it turns out that almost 1 in 4 American adults (24.36%) are ALREADY on Government Health Care - Medicare, Medicaid, VA.
47.46% - Insured thru Employer
24.36% - Government Health Care
16.00% - Uninsured
11.17% - Other insurance
i know you ask this same question. why can't we have the same coverage/options Federal Employees have. you know the plans/health care that we pay for with tax dollars. i don't understand why they just don't open the federal employee benefit plan(s).
HR 676 is called "Medicare for All" because it does just that - opens Medicare to all residents of the US.
Summary of HR 676:
.. and would require only expanding (and revising a bit) a program that is already in place ..
if you DON'T factor in the uninsured, it's nearly 1 in 4. If you did factor in the uninsured, that would be 40%, which is 2 in 5.
Unless I misunderstood you.
Of those who have insurance:
56.5% Insured thru employer
29.0% Govt health care
13.3% Other insurance
But 16% dont have insurance.
So, multiply each of those numbers by (1 - 0.16) or .84 to get the percent of ALL adults in each category.
And those are the numbers I posted.
To the white kids who chased me home every day slinging epithets like '******, jungle bunny, and monkey' I hope you've learned better and I hope you teach your children better, but I doubt it.
To the white boss who overlooked my two years experience on the job to hire his niece - I can only say you're lucky I was too stupid to file an EOE complaint and sue the pants off you back then.
To the parent company of that same job who refused to hire me in one location because of my address...I know you don't do any better at hiring minorities now than you did then. It's only a matter of time before it sparks a lawsuit - beware.
To the white lady I sit next to at work who told me she had "no use for Orientals and if the earth swallowed them whole" well that would be just fine and dandy with her...Good God woman. How can you call yourself a Christian and espouse such hatred?
To the white people who watch Fox News and quote Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Beck and Savage, chapter and verse - please stop. These people are using your fear to keep you away from people who don't look like you. Stop being afraid. I promise, black people don't want to put white folks in slavery and Obama is not going to euthanize old people. Keep your head up and don't let them make you afraid.
To the white people who are good and decent people, but sit silent when your family, friends, co-workers make racist jokes, spit republican propaganda, email you the latest photo of Obama as a witch doctor or a photoshopped watermelon garden being planted on the White House lawn....
I know, it's not easy, but for the love of all that's holy - speak up! Don't let your silence be taken for acquiescence.
How can you call yourself a Christian and espouse such hatred?
That's par for the course with a vast swath of Americans who call themselves "Christian". Really, the word has no meaning at all anymore in relation to Jesus Christ. Those people do not, and will never, give a flying fuck about anything the man ever said. They're only interested in reinforcing their small-minded, hateful coprocephalia.
Poor carpenter. He just wanted people to be good to each other for a change. He must be spinning in his grave.
Poor carpenter. He just wanted people to be good to each other for a change. He must be spinning in his grave
ya, something like that. What a shame.
that don't speak up, I don't consider "Whitey." Most non-colored folk are decent and loving people (read that human beings, just as are most persons of color.)
I think its a matter of admittence. Like admitting cigarettes are killing you before you can really quit! Or, admitting, that although you are a member of the "white" shrinking majority within an Amerryka that decimated the original "owners" of the colonized Amerrykanor lands from shore to shining shore, you can change your justifying ways.
In other words, admit your potential for practicing the racism that built this nation so that you can overcome it (I suspect many of "white" progressives have already accomplished that stage of their lives hence they are progressive.)
That is hard to admit for many of them, however, and their silence is, as you say, acquiescence, only in that sense.
"Whitey" is as Beck, Dobbs, Limbaugh and their wannabees, O'Reilly and Tancredo, are!
... but I still remember the time I was working in my high school bookstore (c. 1977), had prepped an order for a student, who then asked for a pen to fill out the check his parents had signed.
I offered him a pen.
"No. I want a white man's pen," he said. He laughed. His friends laughed.
I calmly returned his books to the shelf and went on to the next customer. This was at a Catholic high school.
I didn't see much of it, but whenever Donna Brazille and Paul Begala gave Obama and/or team As and B's, Gamblin' Bill Bennett was there to pass out F's. Why is that buffoon considered an authority on anything? Except, perhaps, gambling?
I gave CNN a D- for their report card.
It's a cute idea, but it looks stupid if your grades are worse then the one you are grading.
For Public Service and Performance President Obama blows the CNN people away.
Public Service and Performance:
President Obama...A+
the CNN people...D-
NOTE: must try harder!
A few cherry-picked questions, answered by a few nose-pickers, elevated by a pathetic excuse for an administrator (Wolfboy) to substitute opinions for NEWS.
The FFFFFFFFFF- that Lou Dobbs pulled basically tanked everyone else. Everybody fails.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/health/rese...
although this is a indirect correlation. i see some are thinking TORT reform is necessary in this health care reform bill/package. i say be careful. i believe TORT reform will be an advantage to corporations/insurance companies. there are many cases settled out of court. not on the legal books. this TORT reform movement is another form of giving up personal rights. taking away that right and/or restricting is something they want desperately.
http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/co...
it doesn't take reform to give us long waiting times to see a physician. that waiting exist now.
I didn’t see any coverage of the Uighur uprising in China anywhere. Why was there a media blackout in the US? I’ve posted some videos on my blog. Warning: They are violent and savage!
http://www.askbutwhy.com/2009/08/uighurs-oppression-in-china.html
Child Prostitution, Illegal Weapons & Murder! Yep! Sounds Like "Christian" Crusaders To Me!
Rules are for the little people.
Republican Congressional approval rating at 4%? Four? From the media's depiction and the noise the fauxtestors are making you'd think it was 104%.
Four percent.
Hey Conservatives - health care reform was a major position of one of the candidates last November. It was clearly stated right out front for all to see. You knew what was at stake, you had your chance to voice your opinion at the ballot box. You fucking lost. Now get the hell out of the way.
Got a link?
The segment on Sotomayor. I just re-watched it and his language wasn't exactly clear, he may have been referring to GOP polling among Latinos.
Will try to catch it online.
What will happen when one of these teabaggers pulls a gun and shoots a Senator or Congressman/woman? That what we're headed for if this bullshit continues so be prepared.
(metal detectors, etc) are present at these town hall meetings like the one jhunter attended (above)? Are they standardized nationwide? I tend to doubt it.
Considering the teabaggers were standing outside of the building, banging on the windows in Fl., I'm not sure metal detectors will help in that instance if they decide to do something stupid. Maybe a stepped-up police presence would though. I realise no one likes to consider that thought, but I've live among them all my life and are well aware what they are capable of, with the right inticement.
what do you think is inciting them again?
Is it still bigotry? It usually is.
I don't think anyone is still pretending it's about the health insurance.
If they are pretending it's about health care they better try a lot harder.
They are deathly afraid of a Black President!
Probably the usual suspects--Limballs, KKKlanity, Slaggage, etc.
Feigned protest breaks up the daily monotony of Rush, Sean, waiting for the unemployment check to show up, and trips to the liquor store.
It's health insurance company workers and their lobbyists, with a few knobs that straggle along.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp4M6rHkN44
for super douchebags.
Fox News will run endless tributes to the shooter and his(her?) patriotic defense of the nation.
This time from Arnie's state. Who's have thunk it?
Salmonella successfully?
That was you passing out the flyers? You walked right by me asking for Patriots and Americans passing out flyers - I thought you were a teabagger and was insulted that, as a Patriot, American and liberal,
you were dissing me.
That also explains why the TBers clapped when you left. We were all
wondering what had happened.
Well, good for your try. This was my first Town Hall meeting - I saw a list of events on C&L this morning and went to Carnahan's office to register. I brought a friend with me, also a liberal. we waited in line patiently to get in and spoke to the teabaggers around us. Perhaps because my friend is 72 they were a bit calmer but she is a firebrand herself. Every TBer was pretty much echoing Fox talking points, and all said they weren't Republicans. We held our own and responded to each talking point. My 55 years of experience with the American health care system, on both sides of the bed seemed to confuse them, especially when they claimed that no doctors wanted any part of 'socialized medicine'. I asked them to name one since I know a lot of docs in this town. No answer, of course.
Frankly, I didn't know the meeting had been planned months ago as an informational venue for federal, state and local services for the aging population. I came to lend support to Rep. Carnahan and to stand up and be counted against the TBers. They were itching for a fight, and I was ready to Gahndi in response.
I think that there were more pro-Carnahan supporters than t-baggers - at least 6 to 4 in our favor. Every time they tried to disrupt, they were shushed down. The meeting was pretty much the way an informational meeting will go - heavy on talk on resources, contacts and service descriptions. Throughout the meeting, the TBers n the back of the room talked with each other, getting louder and louder until they had to be shushed again by the rest of the crowd.
When they anounced that onluy questions previously submitted would be answered, those in the back of the room exploded so we couldn't even hear the question, much less the answer. I had to shush a couple of loudmouths behind me so I could hear. And when I tried to
take a picture of one of the TBers, the loudmouths in back kept trying to hold paper in front of my camera. Iheard them saying that I was with the Obama Secret Police and I was gathering pictures to 'turn them in' I wanted to turn around and ask them if they really, really believed that stuff but I didn't want to disrupt the meeting.
I did talk to some earnest TBers people who just wanted to find out what this was all about and had the privilege of talking to them calmly afterwards but the vast majority of the other TBers? Think of the angriest old people you've ever known from your whole life, scowling, yelling and pointing fingers and thrusting fists and you've got it. These people are really, really pissed off and not in a mood to talk.
And we KICKED THEIR BUTTS! They didn't shut the meeting down, they realized that there will be push back now.
So, y'all, get away from your keyboards and get to the town hall meeting close to you. Let 'em know that we're around, we can answer their questions and they can't intinmidate us. As representatives of the reality-based community, they need to see that reality around them.
Just keep it cool - they want a fight, give 'em your peaceful, disagreeing presence instead.
Milo
I'm trying to figure out how to break a column of addresses, containing both numeric and text features (i.e.: 123 Main St, 125 Main St, 666 Broadway, etc) into two separate columns--one with the numerics and the other with the text (alphanumeric characters). I've already tried copying only the numerics to a separate column, blanking out the text features, limiting the column width to exclude one group, but no luck.
I know it's pretty easy to do this, but I never really learned Excel, and trying to search "Excel for Dummies" online isn't something I want to do at this hour.
Thanks...
... I do read Crooks & Liars.
Some spreadsheets allow you to specify what kind of data a column/row contains, i.e. numeric, text - might this be part of what's blocking you?
Otherwise, you should be able to edit the contents of a cell just fine.
that had been checked previously in the formatting. Can't really remember which, but working so far...
The Teabaggers only want to fight and bully their point of view. If they were there to truly discuss health care then they would be ready to listen to the pros and the cons to single payer or the public option. Then let other individuals make up their minds for themselves. But the GOP and health insurance companies have these people there to stop discussion. The GOP and health insurance companies do not want the facts to come out so they organize hooligans to disrupt the events and kill discussion.
The disruptions at these events are organized in a way to be put on TV. The impression left on the TV viewer is as if all of the people present at that town hall meeting believed in the GOP and health insurance companies’ talking points. So the only thing left for a progressive individual to do to combat this propaganda is disrupt the Teabaggers and throw out their own progressive talking points for the benefit of the TV audience. The whole meeting is a lost cause by that time anyway since the Teabaggers are not going to allow discussion anyway.
What is the moral of this story? Progressives need to organize show up and holler their talking points as loud as they can back at the Teabaggers or lose the propaganda war once the event is aired on TV.
Tampa Astroturf Protester admits being a Drug Company Representative.
http://www.abcactionnews.com/mediacenter/loca...
"I sell drugs"
The reporter should have said "we have a pusher here"
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?sect...
Yes, the old 'Leader' was a meglomaniacal sociopath, and the French have exposed the LEADER of the Free World, bat-shit crazy after all these years.
Bush-cheney ruined everything - and they are presently enjoying their enormous haul of war profits. Even if they do get punished, they are going to enjoy their booty in total freedom and luxury for years to come before and if they are punished.
Checking to see if my connection resets again.....if you see this my connection did not reset.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3-0PPsJkaY
A willow with too much green saturation. Nights in PA have been down to the 60's, days have been warm not hot, very few humid days so far, and way too much rain.
This apartment I've rented in Praha was built it 1200 and was a barracks for Knight's Templar. I have a top floor "cavern" that would have been a knight's quarters. It's stone and plastered over and whitewashed, with ancient ceramic floors. It's kind of cool. Knights probably came in here and prayed at night, and punished themselves for the lord.
It has a modern bathroom with lots of water!!
That's really cool, Edwin.
Be careful however, my friend. SE Asia has a tendency to really draw people back.
I am starting to really yearn for Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Bali.
I miss Asia already and I only left two days ago. ;)
11th Century construction (now) with running water and (apparently) internet too. When will the US south catch up?
Contact me and I'll send you an Agenda Buster for there. Proven to improve spooky places as well as people. We have stories about how well this works. Ever heard of The Hermitage, on the Scottish Borderlands? marykcroft@msn.com
to comment on healthcare reform and the Tampa teabagger incident--WTF?
I think I'm going to switch over to Fux...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090807/ap_on_re_...
UN climate chief: Global deal needs ‘strong’ 2020 targets - http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-06-globa...
The global climate treaty slated for completion by year's end will be crippled without "strong commitments" from rich nations on slashing CO2 emissions by 2020, the UN's top climate official said Thursday
Confirmed: America's Glaciers Shrinking Over Past 50 Years, Warming Climate to Blame - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/ameri...
Ken Salazar finally puts its on the record.... Real science to shove that 'hot air balloon'....straight up your ignorant @ss...
10 Dems call on Obama admin to support trade protections in a climate bill - http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-06-10-de...
The World's Rubbish Dump: A Garbage Tip that Stretches from Hawaii to Japan - http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/gree...
A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said. The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world's largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.
Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "trash vortex", believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore founded, said yesterday: "The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on.
It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is Endless for An Area That Is maybe Twice the Size as Continental United States."
Another Fail: Business Week: The Profiteering off of Our Health Insurers Have Already Won. "It boils down to ensuring that whatever overhaul Congress passes this year will help rather than hurt huge insurance companies."
- http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/...
How UnitedHealth and rival carriers, maneuvering behind the scenes in Washington, shaped health-care reform for their own benefit.
Obama & the Democrats have only themselves to blame for losing their majority in 2010...the timid, cautious approach was used by the corporatist right wingnuts to sink...this 'reform' once again....when we will learn...sometimes you have to channel FDR & Teddy Roosevelt and just get things done....
Paul Krugman on the Town Hall Mobs: "But right now Mr. Obama’s backers seem to lack all conviction, perhaps because the prosaic reality of his administration isn’t living up to their dreams of transformation. Meanwhile, the angry right is filled with a passionate [racist and hateful] intensity."
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/opinion/07k...
We will celebrate change when we see it...and we will continue to call out the con-servative BS, its up to the politicians who show up in the corporate media...to deliver the goods...
We've lost the frame game...because of 'bi-partisan' chess playing...and lack of message...Robert Parry is correct, until we build a progressive counter to corporate media...they will always have the nimrods of this country right where they want them....
Lets not repeat history: President Truman From November 19, 1945: Special Message to the Congress Recommending a Comprehensive Health Program
- http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/ind...
"We are a rich nation and can afford many things. But ill-health which can be prevented or cured is one thing we cannot afford.
Appreciation of modern achievements in medicine and public health has created widespread demand that they be fully applied and universally available. By meeting that demand we shall strengthen the Nation to meet future economic and social problems; and we shall make a most important contribution toward freedom from want in our land."
David Michael Green: Hey, Did You Hear That Democrats Won The Election? - http://www.regressiveantidote.net/Articles/He...
Summarizes my feelings save for a few things so far that I've liked that Obama has done...
First Hispanic on the high court!! Sonia Sotomayor is approved by the U.S. Senate 68-31 and will now sit on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor got 9 GOP votes. And the senator presiding over the vote: Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/us/politics...
Although, don't count on her to be a relative progressive like the justice she is replacing... Let's see how she handles her first environmental vote...
Clinton Hints That US Could Join International Criminal Court - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/clin...
Fort Hood Soldier Refused Deployment to Afghanistan - http://www.truthout.org/080509S
A Fort Hood soldier was sentenced Wednesday to a month in jail for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan over his beliefs that the war violates international law. Spc. Victor Agosto, 24, of Miami, pleaded guilty to disobeying lawful orders and was sentenced at the central Texas Army post. The judge also reduced his rank to the Army's lowest level, a private, which also was part of the maximum penalty he faced in his plea agreement with the military.
Robert C. Koehler: The Blue Pearl -- Life is more than we’ve been told it is, more than we can imagine - http://commonwonders.com/archives/col508.htm
Jim Hightower: Non-organic organic food - http://www.creators.com/opinion/jim-hightower...
Yet another reason why NPR sucks (since the Bush Crime Family infiltrated it): Yes, you did: NPR's Mara Liasson apologizes for Cash for Clunkers-Katrina link: 'I said something really stupid.'
- http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/06/liasson-a...
It's a good start: Three advertisers drop Glenn 'Get off my phone!' 'Happy Feet' Beck - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/...
Magic underwear boy....and his coke induced tirades of stupidity....and the morons that listen to him...
More profiles in psychopathic dementia: Arrest This Buffoon for Disorderly Conduct, Threats of Murder and Treason. He is a Danger to the Constitution and the Republic. "Beck jokes about "put[ting] poison" in Nancy Pelosi's wine.
- http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908060037
Dr. Warren put O'Reilly in his place.....Beck is a coked up version of Goebbels...
Johann Hari: The hidden truth behind drug company profits - http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commenta...
Every US citizen should be required to watch 'The Constant Gardener' & 'Sicko' before passing judgement on the 'morality' of US Healthcare 'Insurers' and Big Pharma...
Can national parks be saved from global warming? - http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/40323
The New York Times hands over a front page "news" article to urge its readers to be more sympathetic to the health insurance industry and in particular recognize what a nice lady Karen Ignani, head of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is for being so cooperative about health care reform.
- http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/6953
America's long tradition of town hall meetings under attack from GOP agitators - http://arizona.typepad.com/blog/2009/08/ameri...
They have no message, they have no plan, all they have is their submoronic propensity for violence....that's all they ever had....that's all they'll ever know...
Contrary to Steele’s Claim, State GOP Are Actively Promoting Town Hall Mobs - http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/06/tx-gop-mobs/
To the 'town hall mobsters' out there....the future is bright....you will be long gone when we set things right that you don't have a clue about....thanks for making us wait though...
It takes one....Limbaugh compares Democrats to Nazis, Puts Nazi Symbol Next to Obama Logo on Website, Boston Globe - http://*******.com/lslgxn
Lets see...the 'man' who has embodied right wing fascism for more than 3 decades now... con-servatives were pro Nazi-Germany and against invervention in Europe during WWII (Prescott Bush anyone?), have shouted stop at everything changing the aristocratic status quo, and have been delusional throughout human history by believing they can stop change in a world and universe that is in a constant state of change...
Political Irony: http://politicalirony.com/2009/08/07/why-isnt...
http://politicalirony.com/2009/08/07/fox-news...
http://politicalirony.com/2009/08/06/a-messag...
GOP Hypocrite of the Week Rep. Mike Pence Thinks Government-Run Healthcare is Evil, But Voted to Support Medicare
- http://blog.buzzflash.com/honors/204
July unemployment figures: 9.4%, down 0.1 from June.
Press conference just ended. He's leaving to ....
spend more time with his family.
At least he didn't say he's leaving because he can help Floridians more in the private sector than as a Senator. Hmmm, that would actually be an honest assessment for the "Just Say No" Republicans.
Ala the sit-in demonstrations of the 60's, it is time for progressives to occupy the administrative offices at the major health insurance companies-and the RNC--and refuse to leave until they publicly apologize for and stop the teabagging of town hall meetings. In the 60's we chained and locked ourselves inside the offices we occupied.
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