tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post7560007798354522074..comments2024-03-29T01:07:30.224-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Do We Deserve Hillary?Stuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-39102101759056312422015-04-18T12:50:18.380-07:002015-04-18T12:50:18.380-07:00We do not deserve a dominatrix who believes we des...We do not deserve a dominatrix who believes we deserve her.Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-16170605449581200452015-04-18T07:50:31.673-07:002015-04-18T07:50:31.673-07:00Liz Mair: "We wear modern versions of girdle...Liz Mair: "We wear modern versions of girdles and package-accentuating underwear so we can show off our “best selves.”<br /><br />A focus on appearance...as opposed to people in what country in what time period? Surely she knows about corset-wearing in the Victorian era, Chinese foot-binding, etc. Men, also, have in many place/times engaged in peacocking that equals or exceeds that of the modern metrosexual.<br /><br />There is much truth in what Mair says, but she goes overboard in her broad-spectrum denunciation of the American populace. Generally, I find, it is *leftists* who sneer about "Americans do X" or "Americans do Y," when X and Y are really pretty common forms of human behavior across time, space, and culture.<br />David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-3551212015036461552015-04-18T06:11:11.894-07:002015-04-18T06:11:11.894-07:00A gathering of Hillary supporters: https://twitte...A gathering of Hillary supporters: https://twitter.com/anjiecast/status/589269482654175232Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962996070458991675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-14817648554452517372015-04-17T15:52:36.680-07:002015-04-17T15:52:36.680-07:00Can anyone say that this is not the result of the ...Can anyone say that this is not the result of the ascendancy of women to positions of power in politics, academia, and corporate America?sestamibinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-87574210019283901492015-04-17T13:46:39.997-07:002015-04-17T13:46:39.997-07:00I haven't seen a word about Sadistic Reality S...I haven't seen a word about Sadistic Reality Shows. I watched one episode of "Survivor" years ago. My gorge rose in disgust and horror.<br /><br />Now there are many such, and they're Worse. You're Fired? Women naked in the jungle? Insects poured on people in coffins? I know there's more, but I avoid the ads.<br /><br />I'm not dogmatic. But I'm pretty sure it's a sign of a "sick society". -- RichLaraAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-26566573883347578192015-04-17T12:31:58.859-07:002015-04-17T12:31:58.859-07:00re: It’s a sign of an entitled, hyper-regulated po...re: It’s a sign of an entitled, hyper-regulated political culture.<br /><br />Minnesota's Eric Black wrote about a speech given this week by Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein.<br /><br />Maybe its worth reading since it mentions the Clintons in a negative light? But he also singles out Fox news, so we'd better not trust his opinions.<br /><br />http://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2015/04/carl-bernstein-makes-case-best-obtainable-version-truth<br />----------<br />On stage in Minneapolis Thursday night at the great Westminster Town Hall Forum, Bernstein introduced the phrase “the best obtainable version of the truth” (hereafter TBOVOTT) early in the talk and then circled back to it again and again as the summary of what journalism should but too often does not produce and what the public should but does not want.<br /><br />“People are not looking for the best obtainable version of the truth,” he said, because much of the audience for news and information cares less about reading or hearing TBVOTT than on having its ideological biases confirmed. And “journalism is not committed to the presentation of the best obtainable version of the truth.”<br /><br />As a result, “we can’t have a fact-based debate in this country,” he said. We have lost “the ability of each side to accept the sincerity and good will of the other. “ As a result, “Congress is totally dysfunctional” and there is “no good will” across partisan or ideological lines, and little ability to compromise for the greater good. Forty years of “scorched earth politics” and “culture war,” Bernstein said, “has depleted us.” As a result, he said, “I’m not optimistic about what is going on in the politics of this country.”<br />...<br />Bernstein did single out Fox News as the leading factor that led the nation’s news consumers astray. He acknowledged that there are leftier versions of biased journalism, but Fox was the pioneer and Fox is “the most potent political force” to come onto the scene over the past 30 years even though, he added, Fox often reports information that is “demonstrably untrue.”<br />...<br />Bernstein mentioned just two ideas for making things better. He would favor a constitutional amendment that would overrule the Citizens United decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and impose limits on campaign spending, and he would favor the creation of a “compulsory program of national service for all young people.”<br />-----------<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-28241115747832120722015-04-17T11:32:11.309-07:002015-04-17T11:32:11.309-07:00"Deserve" is really an excellent word to..."Deserve" is really an excellent word to focus attension. And it is two-sided, like karma, you work hard and you deserve success, and you act like an entitled child, and you deserve failure. Life is simple when you know who deserves what.<br /><br />I confess I'm fully lost to know what sort of president we "deserve". If I think we're a country of entitled children, they obviously we deserve failure, and so a compentent president would spoil our just punishment.<br /><br />Jim Sweeney talks about riding a bike for his job at age 11. I got my first paper route at age 12, and earned money for my first 10-speed bike, and my telescope I still use, and my first computer. Life is good when you're young and have 100% disposable income.<br /><br />I tend towards the Jimmy Carter defensive moralism of turning down the thermostat and putting on a sweater, and I'm still riding a bike for the majority of my travel, although I'm not 84, we'll see how long my health lasts me with that daily exercise promise from a couple days ago, I deserve a long life, right?<br /><br />Elizabeth Warren gave a good speech in June 2007 about the "Collapse of the middle class"<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A<br /><br />Of course if you're on the right, her arguments are wrong. Its not that the system is stacked against people, its because people are lazy. You have to believe that, especially if you find yourself on the upside of the current system, knowing you worked hard and got what you deserved, so that must be true for everyone.<br /><br />So I do tend to think America is a land of the spoiled, but it was hard not to, since we "inherited" a land of such wealth. We produced oil for the world up through 1970, and we've always been the top consumer of oil, so naturally eventually we needed all of it for ourselves, and more, which is why the 1970's were so messy, and why even Dovey President Carter was willing to use military force against OPEC cutting oil production when we needed more.<br /><br />So what do we deserve? If we're a country than took 50 million years of oil and burned it in 100 years, what do our descendents deserve when we can't keep burning more and more?<br /><br />Is there any evidence we can survive, if the global economy as we know it survive without oil for transportation? What do we deserve if we build a civilization on a one-time inheritance we can burn up in a lifetime?<br /><br />I wish I had answer to what a president should say, but you know someone running for office can't tell the whole truth, the parts that talk about limits primarily.<br /><br />Imagine a family of 10 kids where the kids got to vote every year which parent, the mama or the papa would be president? How would that turn out?<br /><br />If the mama and papa were mature adults, it would turn out well, and the parents would conspire in secret, and agree what the "unspeakable" issues are that the children won't be ready for, and when those issues arise, they can offer a mature united view, and not let the kids manipulate them into 3 desserts every night.<br /><br />But if one parent is a little insecure, a little immature and gives one small token issue to gain affection, perhaps that slippery slope enables the other parent to do the same thing, and pander some other token issue of no real consequence. And eventually the parents start feeling they are in competition for scarce love, and stop talking in private aboud issues that require unity of mature adults.<br /><br />So a family apparently can't be a democracy, but if you're 18, you have equal rights to vote for whomever promises you the biggest lollipops, or the best propaganda, and once you're bought, then you take the side of your favored parent, and you're sure the other parent must be evil, and must be stopped at any cost.<br /><br />So partisanship means if nothing else, that we all get what we deserve, no matter what your leanings or refusal to lean, we're all responsible regardless.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-27891184579479692262015-04-17T11:16:44.492-07:002015-04-17T11:16:44.492-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-27662760843208339782015-04-17T09:31:27.902-07:002015-04-17T09:31:27.902-07:00And, of course, she's right. It's the enti...And, of course, she's right. It's the entitlement issue which is the root of much of our malaise. People unentitled to free stuff work for it. I literally started work at 11 as a bicycle-riding delivery boy for a local vegetable store in The Bronx. Remember those big-basket bikes? Drove all over the neighboorhood, unsupervised, carried cash for change and more. Switched to a butcher shop and did the same thing until, at 14, I got a Summer job in the local cemetery earning $55 a week - more than my post office working Dad. I paid "rent" and food money to my folks. Can you imagine that today in terms of freedom alone? And I'm still working, full-time, 73 years after starting my first job. We were all like that then. And right there in New York City.<br /><br />We were a better citizenry then and a better country because of it.<br /><br />Jim Sweeneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18000653303781824604noreply@blogger.com