Posts Made By: Tom Rodstrom

Welcome back, Jim. From the tone of your rhetoric it appears that you are on the road to recovery. However ...

It appears that little girl I remember holding her mother's hand at her father's funeral has done well. While I disagree with many of her positions, Jackie Kennedy certainly is qualified to be a Senator, particularly if you compare her to Palin. She grew up in a political family and has been exposed to politics all her life. "Kennedy is an attorney, writer, editor and serves on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations."*

Perhaps if one of her daughters was pregnant with an illegitimate child, she would have the credentials required by the right.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Kennedy

The power failure Obama suffered was at a power plant and was fixed in a few hours. The power failure suffered by Bush (and many of his crew) was just above the shoulders and has yet to be fixed. They are still in the dark.

This is my favorite, what's yours?

"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber." — April 10, 2002, at the White House, as Bush urged Senate passage of a broad ban on cloning.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090103/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bushisms;_ylt=AjvHJRto78QIDzRPHeBpfdoDW7oF

Come on, Jim. He's been in office a couple days and just had his first meeting as President with the top military brass. He has given them their marching orders and now they have to come up with a plan. That doesn't happen instantly. Even someone from "military intelligence" should know that.

Jim Babcock said:

So much for listening to both sides and being bi-partisan.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17862.html

King Barry said "I won" and has demonstrated that he intends to do as he pleases. I thought that libs did not like it when someone was focused on what they thought was right. The dictator has spoken and anyone who has a different thought, can ...

Well, Jim, let's look at the full quote from the article:

President Obama listened to Republican gripes about his stimulus package during a meeting with congressional leaders Friday morning - but he also left no doubt about who's in charge of these negotiations. "I won," Obama noted matter-of-factly, according to sources familiar with the conversation.


Obama never said he would do everything the Republicans wanted. He said he would listen and if they had a better idea he would use it. Evidently they didn't have a better idea. We all can see where the Republican's best ideas over the last 8 years have gotten us.

Obama won, get over it.

Jim Babcock said:

Well Obama is the President and he promised to be more open. However, when he went down to talk to the press, he did not get the expected kissing of his...ring, yeah that's it. Instead someone actually asked him a real question that challenged his policies. Of course he did not answer, we all know that he only does what is in the best interest of the country and no one should ever question him.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17831.html

This guy is a joke and without his teleprompter appears to be even unable to answer a basic question. All hail king Barry - NOT.

He is just smart enough not to let the press push him around. He said he would answer those questions at a formal press conference.

Jim Babcock said:

Although President Obama swept into office pledging transparency and a new air of openness, the press hammered spokesman Robert Gibbs for nearly an hour over a slate of perceived secretive slights that have piled up quickly for the new administration. It wasn't pretty.

I think that pretty much summarizes how the king will operate.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/23/obama-spokesmans-debut-marked-by-discord/

Jim, I think it's a good bet that neither you or Joseph Curl have any nits.

Jim Babcock said:

A benefit of the Dems being in control is that we get entertained as they attack members of their own party:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01232009/news/politics/dave_picks_gillibrand_as_liberal_dems_ho_151502.htm

Libs do not like it when someone is less liberal than Obama, but I thought that to libs lack of any experience was a primary qualification for elected office. I guess she was not shooting high enough. If she went for the Presidency or VP position she may do well, unless she is running against the first minority for that position (as Hillary learned).

BTW what's up with the Kennedy lady that lacks any ability to speak? She quit her shot at this position. I thought that only redneck conservatives lacked communication skills. The media is all confused on this. The Dems are all pointing their fingers at each other.

Jim, weren't you the one who said that all Democrats think the same. You should applaud her selection.

Even some of the wealthy understand the unfairness of the Bush tax cuts:


"Recognizing that the Bush tax cuts allowed households with incomes over $250,000 to save more than $700 billion during a time of war-- and that the economic policies of the past thirty years have disproportionately benefited top earners--Wealth for the Common Good has called on the Obama administration and Congress to immediately repeal the Bush cuts for households earning over $235,000 before they expire in 2011."

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/457403/wealth_for_the_common_good

I'm sure most of us have seen the ads complaining that health care reform will have bureaucrats controlling health care. What they don't say is that bureaucrats control health care now. They just don't work for the government, they work for for profit insurance companies, drug companies and HMO's. They make their decisions based on money and nothing is more heartless than the bottom line (except perhaps for radical conservatives ).

Here is an example from the Silver City Sun News, 08/10/2009 07:16:08 PM MDT.

Heal the system

As a health care provider and consumer, I see the layer upon layer of wasteful practices, discrimination, and poor care resultant of our system. Insurance companies are out of control. Doctors see us for three minutes after we wait for three hours. Single payer needs support. Our government needs to step in to heal a sick health care system.

HEATHER RISCHE / Las Cruces

The system needs fixing

My wife and I are teachers. We have good insurance that we purchase through our school district. But even with good insurance, we are not adequately covered for a most obvious need for our son, a wheelchair. Nicolas was born with Pelizaeus-Merzbacher, a rare leukodystrophy. Consequently his coordination is so poor that he cannot speak and he cannot walk. After he outgrew baby strollers, our family acquired his first wheelchair in 2002. As you can imagine, by 2008, at age 9, he had outgrown it. In April 2008, Nicolas was prescribed a new wheelchair, but we did not receive that new chair until July 2009, 15 months later. There is no shortage of propaganda about the waiting lists in countries with socialized health but the truth of the matter is that our current system is so broken that insurance companies need to make profits by denying and denying coverage until we give up. Our insurance company has no problem accepting our premium, but claims are routinely ignored.

For us, it took 15 months of phone calls, letters to several departments of the insurance company and visits to offices with the same negative results. We had to resubmit forms and even our doctor had to call and write letters.

When someone asks if I want my government providing health care, I say yes, because in our case, that is exactly what finally worked.

Our insurance company finally came through for us after we got the government involved with letters to the state Board of Insurance and our state senator. Only after fear of legal action did the insurance company change its mind. When even a small child cannot get a wheelchair for 15 months, it's obvious that our system is broken. Obama's health plan is a step in the right direction to fix that system.

ROBERT CANDELARIA / El Paso