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Overwhelming Cost of Octuplets
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2009 Comment (19)Children are not a right; they are a precious privilege and should be treated as such ["Nadya Suleman's Challenge: Paying for 14 Kids," usnews.com]. I don't mind that she is a single mother, it happens. I mind that she is making poor choices that hurt everyone around her, even strangers. Somebody needs to step up and let everyone know that if they want the privilege of having children they need to work for it. People should be able to see a loving, hardworking mother who was blessed with a large family, but we look and see a woman making the choice to stay unemployed and mother 14 children.
Comment by Becka of CA
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Wall Street Bonus Outrage
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2009 Comment (2)Is Wall Street clueless or what ["How Wall Street Continues To Doom Itself," usnews.com]? Doesn't anyone there have a sense of how 18 billion in bonuses looks to Congress and to the rest of the people in our country when the Street was just bailed out to the tune of several hundred billion in the last few months? Everyone on the Street needs several courses in political reality, and in particular in political perceptions of the average Congress man/woman and average citizen. Clueless, unwise, and just plain dumb are the best descriptive phrases for the Street folks.
Comment by Barry Herchenroder of NC
The stock market as it exists today is a distortion of value and worth. This distortion influences our society to its very foundation. Money is not the only thing that matters, yet it has been the accepted basis for discrimination against people for too many decades. One does not have to want a lot or more than others to be worthy. Conversely, the extent of greed we are witnessing is surely pathological. Humanity would be well served if the stock market was not continued as it has been. If the rules of the game have allowed this unbalance to occur, the rules must be changed.
Comment by Christina of NY
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Home Tax Credit Hopes
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2009 Comment (12)This will help people of all income levels ["The $15,000 Home Buying Tax Credit: 6 Things to Know," usnews.com]. The tax credit has two major benefits: The first is to people who buy homes. The second and larger benefit is that this could put people back to work in the housing sector building homes. This sector has virtually collapsed with huge job losses. The main target of this provision is to get those people back to work. While a lot of attention is put on those who will get the tax break, the real beneficiary are those who will get their jobs back in the housing sector.
Comment by John of VA
I bought my home in 2005 near the peak of the economy, and tried to make it work with all the money I had to put into it. They should make it fair for everyone. I find this "backwards" as I had to pay more because of the higher prices of homes at the time. I recently got laid off—and this $7,500 "loan" hits a nerve as I could use it to pay off my car and save thousands in interest.
Comment by Joseph Rogowski of OH
The housing collapse is what started this mess. Getting first time home buyers to purchase the real estate will help with the supply/demand issue, and put us on a path to recovery. If this passes, it will certainly take my wife and me "off the fence," and we will buy a house.
Comment by Jeff of PA
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Reader Comment of the Day
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2009 CommentThe [stimulus] bill is one big mess and the problem turns out that Obama is as deaf as Bush. I guess it comes with the job.
Arthur Gittleman of AR in response to Robert Schlesinger:
A President Can Talk Too Much -
Debating a Marijuana Policy Makeover
Tweet Share on Facebook February 6, 2009 Comment (20)What Dr. Bernadine Healy and President Obama don't seem to recognize is that proponents of legalization [of marijuana] believe it will reduce availability to children ["Legalize Marijuana? Obama Was Right to Say No," usnews.com]. I believe because marijuana is illegal, there is no oversight or regulation on sales. Anyone can buy it for anyone and pass it on to anyone else. It can't get much worse with legalization. It's not as if some magic barrier will break and tons of kids will carry lots of marijuana around the average school because that already happens as it is now; unregulated. Think about the possibilities in a regulated marijuana market. Who goes to their shady neighborhood drug dealer (who might also deal cocaine, heroin, and other drugs) when they can buy it cheaper, at a guaranteed rate and weight? Who makes money on the street corner selling marijuana if everyone can get it most likely cheaper, in a clean safe environment?
Comment by Dan Rokker of PA
I think it's reasonably persuasive to argue that children and adolescents should not smoke marijuana, in light of their developing brains. However, that is not an argument for criminalizing adults who choose to smoke it. Modification of our laws would allow authorities to focus, as they do with alcohol, on keeping the substance out of underage hands. Heavy penalties could accompany the sale/distribution of marijuana to minors, as well as driving under the influence. And the stuff could be taxed heavily, taking money from illicit traffickers and giving it to youth antidrug programs. It appears clear that countries that take this approach have lower per-capita marijuana use than ours. After all, what is illicit is often most enticing.
Comment by Darren of SC
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Reader Comment of the Day
Tweet Share on Facebook February 6, 2009 CommentIf the new figures showing the unemployment rate is now 7.6 percent isn't enough to get the stimulus bill passed, I'm not sure anything will convince the opposition.
Josh R.T. of OH in response to John Aloysius Farrell:
GOP Should Quit While They're Ahead
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Reader Comment of the Day
Tweet Share on Facebook February 5, 2009 Comment (1)What was considered "not presidential" during different presidencies does not have to roll over into Obama's term. He is attempting to be open and honest with the public, and by signing this op-ed he is not hiding behind what he believes in.
Jackie S. of CO in response to Mary Kate Cary:
Obama Overreaches in Stimulus Op-ed -
Phelps's Slip Up or Shame?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 5, 2009 Comment (17)Yeah, people look up to Michael Phelps, but that doesn't mean that they're going to go out and smoke pot ["Michael Phelp's Drug Use Is a Shamebut Adults Defending His Pot Smoking Are Shameful," usnews.com]. My younger brother is a swimmer in high school, and Michael Phelps is his role model. My brother is a good kid with his own values, and would never smoke pot. Kids are going to smoke pot, whether or not their role models do or they don't. Their peers are the ones that get them on those habits, so worry about that. Focus on everything Phelps has achieved these past few years and give him a break! If he wants to get a little high, let him get a little high.
Comment by Christine Determan of IA
How many times have Wheaties boxes been adorned with images of sports icons who, later on, got busted on drug/steroid charges? And when did we relinquish our parenting duties to people like Michael Phelps anyway? Whatever happened to good old fashioned parenting? Just tell your impressionable child the 411 on life, and stop looking to lean on "role models." Parents should be the role models, not others who will potentially fail your super-human expectations. Now I'm hearing something about a South Carolina sheriff seeking criminal charges. How ridiculous can you get? This is a kid who can swim better than a fish! And because he's young and made a bad decision we chastise him for acting his age?
Comment by Anthony of NY
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Reader Comment of the Day
Tweet Share on Facebook February 4, 2009 CommentAlcohol was illegal when Babe Ruth played; I don't think he ever had to apologize for his boozing, which was well known at the time.
Don of MT in response to Mary Kate Cary:
Michael Phelps Is a Role Model -
Put a Lid on Limbaugh
Tweet Share on Facebook February 4, 2009 Comment (168)I listened to Rush for a couple years before I tired of his rhetoric and praising himself; in short, until I began thinking again ["Pro-Obama Group Expands Rush Limbaugh Bashing Campaign," usnews.com]. I realize he is a showman making a living off anything folks want to hear, however for Rush to call for our president to fail as he is struggling to repair eight years of his President [Bush's] incompetence is not only wrong but reason to run him out of town. Our nation is bipartisan; only our government is partisan. So let's keep things in perspective shall we? No American must ever want any president to fail, just as no American should ever want our nation to fail!
Comment by Ray Fischer of NM
Let's get real folks. Rush Limbaugh—the entertainer—is paid tens of millions of dollars by his radio syndicate to spout his GOP rubbish over the public airways. What difference does it make to him if poor and middle-class Americans struggle to make ends meet? Why does he care if the stimulus package is defeated or delayed indefinitely? Why does he wish that the Obama administration fails? Rush is set for life. Give me a break. How can any citizen take this GOP mouthpiece seriously?!
Comment by Rob Snowden of TX
