Honestly, given the strength of the quotation marks around the word "objective" with regards to the media today, I'm not sure I really can blame this guy so much. It would be nice to have a town hall meeting where you can talk freely to adults without the children in the room desperately praying for a byte sized slip up.

Corporate interests infiltrating town hall meetings? Never happens.

Just ask the tea party.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'reporter, mr touchy, town hall, wtf' to 'reporter, mr touchy, town hall, wtf, dan noyes, marc slavin, laguna honda hospital' - edited by kronosposeidon

>> ^maximillian:
>>
I don't see anyone forcing anything. It's two senators in probably a town hall or perhaps a private place. Again, so what. The people there all seem to be of like faith.
And, yes, there is a general trend today that it's OK to bash Christianity but not other religions. There is a culture today where it is frowned upon to make fun of Muslims because we need to be sensitive to their culture as we fight the war-on-terror. It's a stupid excuse. However, even here on videosift there is a disproportionate amount of Christian bashing compared to other religions (except Scientology).
Also Rachel Maddow says right in the opening that "the other side of the fight" is and then shows them praying. How is this representative of the other side of the fight? Two senators praying? That is disingenuous.


It was you who brought the "forcing" thing up. I just pointed out that senators such as DeMint and Brownback are forcing their faith on others through their support for school prayer, abstinence only education and their opposition to same sex marriage and abortion. That they trust prayer to put a stop to a reform they don't even know the contents of exemplifies this.

While I agree that it's a bit non PC to make fun of Muslims, mainly because some Muslims make death threats when you do so, the real general trend today that it's OK to bash any faith. The reason that Christianity sees more bashing than any other religion is that the western world is predominantly Christian. When a large majority of the US political leadership is Christian it makes even more sense to bash Christianity. Is it really that strange that Christianity is a main receiver of bashing when Christianity is such a large part of our culture (as Christians like to point out as often as they can)?

I think the self-victimization of Christians boils down to fatwa envy. Many Christians are jealous that Muslims get to make death threats to stop people from making fun of their faith while they are (largely) unable to do such a thing.

But, as gwiz pointed out, the real news story here is the total stupidity of trusting prayer to stop a political reform.

>> ^Haldaug:

The reason that this is news is partly because of the disregard for the first amendment uttered at this meeting, partly because they seemingly see no hope in stopping the health care reform and partly because the guy they choose to lead the prayer is a highly controversial figure.
By the way, chances are the senators probably are trying to force prayer on someone else through legalizing school prayer or some such thing.


I don't see anyone forcing anything. It's two senators in probably a town hall or perhaps a private place. Again, so what. The people there all seem to be of like faith.

And, yes, there is a general trend today that it's OK to bash Christianity but not other religions. There is a culture today where it is frowned upon to make fun of Muslims because we need to be sensitive to their culture as we fight the war-on-terror. It's a stupid excuse. However, even here on videosift there is a disproportionate amount of Christian bashing compared to other religions (except Scientology).

Also Rachel Maddow says right in the opening that "the other side of the fight" is and then shows them praying. How is this representative of the other side of the fight? Two senators praying? That is disingenuous.

How short is the typical GOP's memory? the 2003 energy crisis was held by the largest energy companies. At the White House, in closed doors, off the record. They did allow republican congressmen in to the dealings, but not democratic.

To bad Mr. Cafferty doesn't bring that nugget of history up. Would keep the republicans from crying foul.

Knowing history, If the Democrats DID air the debate between the bills, I think we would have the following:

A) The lobbyists would be jocking for position. Using money to 'motivate' a senator to 'vote' how they want. You and I both know, they'd do it in a heart beat. They would also tell their republican senator minions (that's right, minions) of the details.

B) Those who are in the GOP, but not a senator, would just be in a mindless rage. They would walk on the mall, in the freezing cold. Hundreds would die of the cold, because their mind's can only think on so many things at once. And of course, the GOP would blame those deaths on the Democrates some how. You and I both know, they'd do it.

C) We'd get to see what its like to have educated people argue over something, based on the merits, not passionate stupidity, as we saw in town hall meetings across the nation this summer.

They are pretty good singers. The original song "The Sun will come out, tommorow" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yop62wQH498&feature=related

Now, if this was at a town hall meeting, when a conservative was asking a question, or making a statement as an adult. I would be opposed to the singing, on the grounds that its being disrespectful to the democratic system. Since this appears to be a private audience, with people who don't care about the public, I'm ok with.

Two Thumbs Up!

"...exists exclusively in the minds of extremists who oppose conservative stances."

So, anyone who opposes the conservative stance, MUST be an extremists? Wow, what logic you have Winston...

"It is perfectly rational to support punishment and justice of guilty adults..."

So if that's true, your FOR Mr. Bush being executed for lying to the USA over any number of issues that effected us from 2000-2008? Like those WMD's in Iraq? I doubt it, Winston. Your for punishment and justice, so long as the guilty parties are liberal and/or Democrat.

"...while defending the right to life for the most innocent of all humanity."

Yes, under 'conservative values', we created two major war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Put tens of thousands to the sword, including those whom carried child not born. All in the name of 'Defending Truth, Justice, and the American way!" You call wars (yes, plural) 'defending the right to life'?

"The only so-called 'contradiction' exists when individuals look at the issues only through the simplistic, biased filter of exclusively left-wing groupthink."

Oh yes, because RIGHT-wing groupthink can not exist in reality. I think the video above, Winston, blows your arguement out of the water.

"Over 58% of the country opposes..."

Where does this statistic come from exactly? Yes, please publish the source. Otherwise, I will publish the correct percentage of the USA, who opposes the current president. Not surprisingly, this number, just happens to be the same as those who voted for Mr. McCain in 2008. Coindence?

"It is not Limbaugh/Beck that are 'driving' the country. Limbaugh and Beck are merely echoing what the majority of Americans are feeling."

Fortunately for the MAJORITY of Americans (since the majority voted for the DEMOCRAT, and Democrats won, a good portion of the House and Senate), you are quite incorrect, Winston. Beck/Limbaugh simply dumb-down the information to small bites to conservatives. This is due, mostly in part that most conversatives really do not have much of a solid education on topics like 'health care', 'economics', 'law', 'biotechnology', 'energy conservation', and 'wisdom'. They do not really think their audience could handle a serious conversation on any of these topics (and they are right...sadly). The conservative talk shows matra is to use small sound bites, rather then lengthy concepts that require someone to ponder on the merits. Go listen to NPR when it talks about an arguement currently effecting the USA. The average conservative would switch the channel, as the arguements 'for' and 'against', quickly out paced their educational level (note: this has nothing to do with one's education level, i.e. bacholers of Science, Masters, or Ph.D.).

Yes, Mr. Obama, does not speak to conservatives this way. He believes, through being intelligent, educated, and patient, he can reach their more noble side. But as evidence has shown us, conservatives really dont have a noble side (as we saw with town hall meeting this summer). He speaks in a way, most conservatives can not understand on their own (with exceptions, like, well, you). Conservative talk shows, Mr. Beck, Mr. Hannity, and Mr. Limbaugh, then take what the president said, change it in to something vile, and then, dumb down the information to dispense to conservatives.

It REALLY happens that way, Winston. I hate to be the one, to tell you, the God's honest truth. And yes, there are liberals, whom are quite fantical and ignore sound wisdom, to promote the president's concepts and goals without thought. Fortunately, they are a smaller number, then there are 'thinking' and 'wise' conservatives in the USA.

>> ^longde:
For and engineer or scientist, 5-10 years may be spent in graduate school for a PhD.


5 years, maybe... any more than that and you're just dragging your heels and/or doing it part-time.

>> ^ajkido:
Maybe you Americans should also look into some kind of education reform...
Those numbers are just mind boggling. Although I guess it must be motivating to study hard when it costs that much and you're in a hurry to start paying back those loans! But hundreds of thousands?!


Well, that's what happens when the entire culture of a country has degraded to the point that the only things that are important are the increase of profit and acquisition of wealth.

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>> ^Fade:
Interesting point about student debt once leaving school. Is that accurate in the states? quarter million dollars in debt before you've even started working?


Oh, heck no. I got my Bachelor's from a fairly expensive private university. If I'd relied on entirely on loans instead of scholarships, I'd be something like 90k in debt. A public university would typically cost half that.

You'd have to go to an expensive private college then follow it up immediately with a prestigious graduate education to be 250k in debt. But with that kind of education, you wouldn't have much difficulty paying it off over the typical ten year loan period.

>> ^Stormsinger:
Emotionally exploitive agenda? Not really...it's about as accurate an explanation of why we -must- fix this ripoff we call health insurance as you could find. It's not the commercial or the agenda that's exploitative, it's the health insurance industry itself that is exploiting all of us.


Storm - I am wary of any collages which involve music and one side of the issue, but nonetheless with the unfocused and uninformed vitriol that has been expressed at town halls, I can hardly chastise MoveOn for its representation of actual facts, even if it seems bent on just bringing tears to my eyes. So emotionally exploitive? Yes. Wrong? I couldn't think so.

QM - Clearly there needs to be reform that goes into altering fee for service - the reason the industry is so messed up is because it, like lots of "rights" we have in this country, all come down to a profit margin. A plan that would focus on better quality service and preventative care will in the long run decrease costs.

I worked at a company where one of the things I ended up having to do a lot was to mediate between health care insurance companies and their customers, and it always boiled down to money. When you are telling an old lady who devoted decades of her life to a company, calling from a phone at the Walgreen's pharmacy, that she can't get her heart medication because her bank messed up her direct deposit and her insurance isn't willing to talk to her until they see money, then the system is flawed.

>> ^quantumushroom:
No apology needed. The would-be Emperor wears no clothes and it's long past time someone said it aloud.


In this case, it is not the emperor, but his critics that wear no clothes. They offer no alternatives, no plan, and no constructive criticism of any kind, in fact, their attacks are against things they themselves have INVENTED, and not the actual words, actions and bills in question. Rabid, insane loony comparisons to Hitler, communism and marxists, nonsensical protests to things not even in the bill, complete and utter distortions of the facts, and so on. The situation is so absurd that one does not know whether to laugh or cry at these brainwashed GlennBeck-bots loonies popping up in town halls, and now, apparently the disease has spread all the way up to congress. Tragic.