http://www.democraticunderground.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:52:35 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:52:35 Why is Medicare such an issue?

Back in the ‘60s the Great Society decided that old people needed to be cared for. Private insurance wouldn’t do it because nobody gets to be 65 years old without some baggage; arthritis, high blood pressure or a plethora of other issues that will cause the last... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/86 Thu, 19 May 2011 15:18:55 A few basic facts everybody seems to have either forgotten or never been made aware of: Government has always spent about 20%, +/- a point or two, of GDP. Government has always taken in about 20%, +/- a point or two, in revenues. The exceptions being times of war or great social upheaval like th... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/85 Tue, 17 May 2011 16:35:41 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTW0y6kazWM

Once upon a time in America
We used to build things. Not just consumer goods but infrastructure. In the 1950s we created the world’s greatest interstate highway system and electrified virtually all of rural America. A decade later we sent a man to th... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/84 Wed, 29 Dec 2010 09:39:19 I just watched an interview with Ron Paul on CNN. As the titular father of the Tea Party his oft repeated mantra of Constitutional Authority has been adopted by that movement and been forced on the GOP as evidenced by the “Pledge to America” which says that all laws must cite a constitutional sourc... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/83 Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:09:47 I know this because I’m on the Texas Republican Party email list. See, I sent them $1.00 about ten years ago so I get all the stuff they send out. They’ve probably spent $300 in postage on me, not counting printing costs and such.

Anyway, their latest e-newsletter lead with the headline that ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/82 Mon, 17 May 2010 13:24:33 The definition of clean coal is coal burned in such a way that mercury, sulfur, lead and a host of other nasty things are removed. CO2 remains and is a green house gas.

Look, there’s no free lunch, okay? Every energy source has a downside. EVERY ONE OF THEM.

Hydro-electric power destroys ri... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/81 Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:53:31 Tort reform is tantamount to telling the less-than-wealthy that they can’t bring suit to rectify negligence.

Plaintiff's attorneys are paid in one of two ways: by the hour at rates ranging from a few hundred to thousands of dollars or on contingency, a percentage of what they win from the defen... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/80 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:48:29 A week or so ago I suggested we follow the money. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7428449 In that editorial I pointed out the income discrepancy between the middle incomes and the uber-rich. Has it always been this way and if not, what happened?
... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/79 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:13:15 Seems that a belief in God isn’t enough for us Americans. Nope, we have to elevate the Founding Fathers to godhood as well.

See, I made this post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7462951&mesg_id=7463629
and pretty much got skewered. N... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/78 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:58:56 How much does the Government rely on “We the People” to finance it’s everyday functioning? In the chart below you’ll note that the two largest sources of income are Personal income tax (blue) and Social Security/Medicare (yellow). Income taxes garner about $1.25 Trillion and SS another $1 Trillio... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/77 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:50:53 After watching the demise of Health Care Reform I asked myself, ”Self (‘cause that’s what I call myself), why would otherwise reasonable people elected by we, the people, behave that way?” Then I went to OpenSecrets.org and found out.

Over the last ten years lobbies have spent $16.3 Billion on ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/76 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:50:57 A guy carries an AR-15 “assault rifle” to a Phoenix town hall meeting and nobody assumes that Arizonians are all crazy RW nuts. Nobody bashes Arizona as a state.

Portsmouth, NH, a man wears a loaded 9mm pistol on his hip to a town hall meeting. Nobody assumes New Hampshireites are all RW nuts. ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/75 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:12:35 I work the graveyard shift in a bait-shop on a local lake and I ride my motorcycle to work every night. My bike’s an obscure brand, so I spend a lot of time answering the question, “What the hell is that?” About 5:00 AM a couple of guys come in and after having coffee wander over to the sales coun... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/74 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:39:38 Al Qaeda: noun, from Arabic, translation: The Base. Al Qaeda is not a single organization but rather a network of many militant groups with similar interests. Osama bin Laden, using what he learned from the CIA, founded The Base to organize, train and martial the many disparate militant groups in... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/73 Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:26:27 Part I: Why do they fear a public insurance plan?

We keep hearing that a pubic option will be far too expensive, can’t possibly work because it’s run by the Government and that it will kill the private sector health insurance industry. Leaving aside that if 1 & 2 are true then 3 is a non sequitu... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/72 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:37:31 Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

From William Butler Yeats’, The Second Coming

Other than not wanting to completely waste a Masters Degree in English I thought... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/71 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:57:15 Schadenfreude; noun, the unreasonable delight in someone else’s misfortune.

I’ve been enjoying the condition of the Republican Party far too much lately. They are completely and utterly without leadership. They’ve spent their capitol with fiscal conservatives over Bush’s reckless spending, the ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/70 Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:21:31 Ronald Reagan demolished the Fairness doctrine in 1983. For those who don't remember, the Fairness Doctrine was a program enforced by the FCC that ensured discussion of national policy matters equally represented opposing views. The justification for killing the doctrine was that there were so man... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/69 Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:54:21 “There’s class warfare, all right but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning,” Warren Buffet, CEO Berkshire Hathaway and third richest man in the United States.

In 2006 Mr. Buffet compiled a spreadsheet on the taxes paid by himself and everyone in his office, mostly... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/68 Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:08:26 To the tune of Paul Simon’s ONE TRICK PONY with sincerest apologies to Paul Simon.

They’re a tax cut party
Tax cuts are all that they can do
They do tax cuts only
Its the principal source of their revenue
And when they step into the spotlight
You can feel the darkness of their heart
Come ri... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/67 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:14:00 Poverty, the Cliff Notes version.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25:

"(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, an... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/66 Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:36:38 I’m a 61 year old white guy. Reared on a dirt farm in South Texas by a red neck mother and a father who couldn’t see color, only the quality of work he paid for. Mom only had a fifth grade education, Dad got a GED when he was forty just to show his seven kids how important it was. Confused somet... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/61 Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:42:12 I work the graveyard shift at a convenience store/bait shop. Not exactly where I thought I’d be at 61 with two master’s degrees and 20 years negotiating $ multi-million deals with international companies but life’s what it is. The managers like to hire us “mature” people because they, too, are mat... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/62 Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:47:04 In response to the two posts linked below I submit the simple premise that the BUSINESS OF BUSINESS IS BUSINESS. A pretty simple statement but carrying more than most textbooks convey.

Business has no conscience and frankly should not have. Businesses, or Corporations if you choose, have no r... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/63 Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:41:54 “Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief,” Alan Greenspan testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the wake of the worst economic upheaval since the Gr... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/flamin lib/64 Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:55:30