YOUR COMMENTS

- Edward T., Merrimack
"Why take more taxes from millionaires? Because they have the money and they deserve to be taxed more, that's why."

Nice.

America: The Land of Opportunity--but don't work hard, be successful & create profitable businesses & good paying jobs--THAT makes you evil!
- Paul, Sunapee

Sorry to interrupt the red/blue blame game nonsense.

The lefties are whining about the filthy rich yet can't fathom that 44% of congress are millionaires dictating to us serfs what we can and cannot do in regards to health care leaving themselves out of the system. They claim that nutritional values should be mandated because us serfs don't know the differences between fruits and vegetables and junk food. Maybe we do need death panels to put us all out of our stupid misery.

Meanwhile, Pay Go rules that got the Democrats their majority in 2006, have been buried faster than Obama's plummeting popularity.

The Republicrats whine about the dems but simply over the look the fact George W single handily destroyed what little choice we had in Washington. Nation building became a priority despite campaign promises to the contrary. Government spending and political pandering to special interest groups became the norm.

Every single one of you should apologize to your children and grandchildren for falling for the red/blue illusion. Keep blaming each other for this country's problems all the while the political class and the oligarchs laugh all the way to the bank. YOU ARE ALL SHEEPLE!
- Kyle, Bedford

Why take more taxes from millionaires? Because they have the money and they deserve to be taxed more, that's why.

During Bush we underwent the largest redistribution of wealth to the upper classes in US history. They have never done better, and they accepted a HUGE tax cut while turning a blind eye to an unpaid-for war. Then, Wall Street turns around and screws middle America by gambling with it's capital. Hedge fund managers got filthy rich, and you don't see them now investing in jobs for Americans. They invest in Asia. Swiss banks are overstuffed right now.

The idea that working people are supposed to cower and worry about whether some rich man has to downsize his boat or not add a fourth bathroom to his summer place, that taxes might cause him to not toss crumbs at us or hire us, is laughable.

It sounds like mill-town thinking, where the son of the richest man in town gets to be quarterback at the High School and everyone just thinks it's right. Lol.
- Edward T., Merrimack

Democrats believe that their constituents are stupid. They think they know more than we do. They are neither superior in wit nor in wisdom. Throw all of them out ASAP.
- Bob, Salem

Dave in Sandwich, the one million dollar club also includes small businesses. In New Hamsphire small businesses constitute approximately 90% of employers. Maybe you like the double digit unemployment situation, but I think it sucks.

What does regulating restaraunts have to do with healthcare? One can buy a stick of butter at the store and saturate their food with it. They can live a sedentary life style and smoke and drink to excess. You can not regulate one's lifestyle choices, at least not without a form of government that should scare everyone of us.
- Michael Layon, Derry

Tom, again, a conservative claiming that raising taxes on people who are rich is going to hurt job growth. Foolishness.

I personally know several small business owners. They all have almost identical political views: taxes are too high, liberals are bad, teachers get paid too much, minority people are all on welfare, etc, etc. Want to know what else all of these people have in common? They are all filthy stinkin' rich.

Capitalism is the best system we have, but don't fool yourself - it rewards greed and selfishness above all else. For all the millionaire small business owners too much is never enough.

Our country spends twice as much on healthcare as any other country, yet returns very mediocre results. Something NEEDS to be done. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
- Fred, Amherst

What a country! First we listen to people who demand the right to be refused coverage by fat-cat health insurers. Now, we get people who are outraged at the thought that nutritional information may become widely available to consumers.

Look at it this way: not everyone who saw the health warning on cigarettes has stopped smoking. Some of them keep smoking and developing debilitating diseases. That is their choice. If you don’t want to read the label and become informed as to what exactly you are putting into your body, you may choose to ignore it.

As for me, I appreciate the chance to know what it means to buy french fries over a salad, or to buy a soda instead of a water. And I want my grandchildren to know the facts as well. The more informed we are the better choices we can make.

We as consumers pay for this food; it is certainly our right to know what is in it.
- Lisa Whittemore, Londonderry

For a lot of people, the less they know the better they feel. I prefer to know a good amount, especially about what I might choose to buy to eat.

When I'm stuck working late and hungry and all I have is overpriced junk machine food, I'd like to know which item is full of corn syrup or fats, so I can avoid it. I think Deroy here is playing to the "careless eaters," to put it kindly.

People who think they are "choosing" junk food snacks, soda, candy, sweets, burgers and fries, are simply deluding themselves. Cigarettes are the classic example.

They are SOLD these unhealthy foods and products via ceaseless advertising, co-linking with tv shows and celebrities, and the WITHHOLDING of the proper information. The features of this bill are proper remedy for the evil power of corporations who care nothing about health and see easy profits.
- Lillian, Newcastle

The bloated whiner Lou Dobbs recently had debating experts on concerning health care. He hefted the bill and moaned and whined, the length! How could anything be this long? Anything! Just the length makes it horrible!
Lou's lackey right wing pundit-of-the-day wholeheartedly agreed!

Turning attention to the female pundit health care expert supporter of the bill, Lou was told bluntly, "I'VE read the bill, and most of what you claim without reading it is false."

"WHAT?" sputtered an incredulous Lou, "You're read this bill, but how?" "It's my job," she replied.

Plenty of knowledgeable people have read this bill and support it. It seems to me the detractors are illogical to admit they can't or won't read it, but then pick and choose out of context parts explicitly to be negative.
- Tom Labrie, Rochester

Good old Ed Holdgate says, "The root cause and the easiest area to fix is the public education system which keeps cranking out under-educated Socialist Democrat kids (with rare exceptions primarily to the credit of their parents)."

Well Ed like you I'm all for more education, but you may be having a fantasy about who the smart guys are.

All demographic studies of the last election say that the less educated you are, the more likely you voted Republican.

This same poor education syndrome pushes people toward nonsense like Nostradamous, 911 conspiracy theories, fundamentalist religion, voodoo economics, racism, and ignoring facts and history. Education helps you progress Ed, and the progressive party is the Democrats.
- Roger, Rochester

What is it with the goverment and taxing the rich. We tell the world to come to America, the land of opportunity. It seems to be more like, come to America and give it your best shot at being successful, just don't make to much money or we'll put the screws to you and see how much we can take in the form of new taxes. no I am not rich, I am middle class. at least until they lower the wage bracket some more and I end up in the rich catagory.
- DAVID, MANCHESTER

Government healthcare is a Pelosi-Reid Obama budget fix: Dead people don't collect Social Security... (unless they vote for Democrats, of course!) Your choice: Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" VS "gimmee, gimmee, gimmee...."????
- Mae, Plaistow

"It raises taxes on those making over one million dollars a year."

It's not funny when one considers that most of these people are small business owners, the engine of job growth in this country. Think they'll be eager to hire after their taxes go up?
- Tom, Campton

John/Portsmouth,

If you take the time to actually see who is dissenting it isn't all Repub. If that were the case John how was there 200 nay votes? John the current members don't read bills, vote along party lines. John do you agree that we should have given terrorists in Cuba and cronnies on Wall street the vaccine before pregnant women, health care providers and teachers???? Finally John what do you think about the sudden surge of AARP promoting supplemental health care insurance? There isn't any collusion going on with the administration .... naw. So please get your facts right before you make categorical statements that are just plain wrong!
- Ray, Raymond

1900+ pages of a health care bill, and this is what riles Mr. Murdock:

1) The bill is really complicated, and has lots of legal-type language in there.

2) It forces fast food restaurants to tell consumers what's in their food.

3) It raises taxes on those making over one million dollars a year. (the ones who have been enjoying the Bush tax cuts)

That's actually funny, Deroy.
- Dave, Sandwich

The only way to control costs is to control people since the liberals have decided that they are incompabable of making healthy lifestyle choices. Even though this is true it is not our responsibility to pay for the needs or deeds of others. I'm glad its DOA in the senate because it does not take 2000 pages to expand Medicaid, deregulate interstate competition, ban illegals from being treated, and have people pay for the type of coverage that they and their family needs. It is un-American and irresponsible to want gold-platinum healthcare, force others to subsidize, and you pay nothing. Don't they call that redistribution of wealth?
- Hughan, Manchester

Can someone please tell me why Republicans call Democrats the bitter, angry whiners? Wow! Wisconsin can't produce enough cheese to supplement this Republican whine. Wow!
- John, Portsmouth

Kristy in NH, are you sure you haven't left out anything? Abortions and hearing aids = good. Nose jobs and cochlear implants = bad.

Got it.

You suggest we "think about the money you spend every year to support welfare, SSI/SSDI recipients, food stamps, etc."

We have, and we'd rather the government weren't picking us clean to support those entitlements either.
- Chris, New Boston

Ugh. I would like to see each plan presented to the people first and in a condensed form (or a bullet list or a combination). I would like to see what's covered and what's not. I don't want to see cosmetic surgery as covered, but I most certainly would like to see birth control be covered. Personally, I don't like abortions but I know many women would go for a back alley abortion if they are desperate enough. Therefore, it's best to have abortions covered so the women have it done in a safe and sterile place by a qualified physician and receive medical and thereupetic support. I am also curious as to whether special education services would be included in a medical care bill. Lots of districts have resorted to billing Medicare for their special ed services instead of using their local tax funds. I also would like to see hearing aids be covered, because most health insurance plans don't. One analog hearing aid costs an average of $1,500 (digital hearing aids cost much more). The entire process of installing and operating and maintaining a cochlear implant is at least $40,000 (replacements years later add on to the costs). The irony is, many health insurance plans do cover cochlear implants--more expensive than a hearing aid.

To the naysayers who don't want a national health care system, think about the money you spend every year to support welfare, SSI/SSDI recipients, food stamps, etc.
- Kristy, NH

Smooth move, Pelosi, Bloomberg, et al. Impose more fascist, company-killing regulations (that don't work) on our food industry. This will really jump-start the economy. But even a 6-year-old knows that a vending machine is synonymous with "junk food."

Get ready for debtors' prison, too, since, under Pelosicare, the government will have the power to throw us in jail, should we fail to carry health insurance. The future's looking brighter each day with these fascist pirates at the helm, robbing us of our freedoms.
- Susie, Horseshoe Bay, TX (NH native)

Is the health care bill going to provide for dental and vision???
- Harry, Atkinson

Ruth,

The manual to your new camera is an instruction manual. Similarly so is HR 3692. it is an instruction manual that details the hoops your physician must jump through in order to provide you care. It usurps the physician-patient relationship and replaces it with government dictated healthcare. Mc Donalds supplies nutrional information on a voluntary basis. Im glad their choice (yes their choice) helped earned the business of your friend. That is how capitalism is supposed to work.

Roland, Seatbelts were not invented by the government. In fact, they were invented long before cars were available. Edward Claghorn obtained the patent in 1885. Setbelts became optional on cars in the 1940s and when Saab offered them as standard equipment on their cars, other manufcaturers followed suit. No government regulation was responsible for that. Capitalism was. If you or anyone else is too stupid to choose to wear a seatbelt, it is your choice. MA requires seatbelt use, NH does not, yet NH has a higher percentage of people that wear seatbelts.
- Michael Layon, Derry

I can see why the Democrats broke their promise to put the bill online for the public to see before voting on it, and why they had to sneak this through in the middle of the night on a Saturday. It would have been nice if our unrepresentatives had actually read the bill before voting on it.

Thankfully, this abomination is DOA in the Senate.
- Tom, Campton

Anyone who says that this is meant for the middle class, I ask " How many people do you know that are middle class that own 20+ restaraunts?" This is not aimed at the local pizza or sub shop, it is meant for the larger corporations.

And as far as the vending machine, all they need to do is attach a laminated list of the foods given out by the food/candy makers.
- Jason, Manchester

Ruth; Bedford

Is you camera manual standard 8-1/2 x 11 inch paper. NO. Invalid comparison.

You diabetic friend goes to McDonalds for nutrition information. Apparently neither one of you know what you are talking about
- Peter S, Manchester

Right on, Mr. Murdock, except I would ascribe more responsibilty to the Socialist Democrat voters who put those Socialist Democrat nannies into power.

The root cause and the easiest area to fix is the public education system which keeps cranking out under-educated Socialist Democrat kids (with rare exceptions primarily to the credit of their parents).

Parents eleccted onto the School Boards should be monitoring and directing the curriculum content with a critical eye instead of being sycophantic cheerleaders for whatever the administrators and teachers want. By extension, School Boards should be hiring teachers who cherish America and capitalistic Western Civilization more than Raul, Fidel, Che Guevara, Karl, and Barry Soetoro.

Fix education, and this left listing ship will right itself in time. Don't fix it, and America shall sink.
- Ed Holdgate, Sandown, NH

These regulations on food will only increase costs and the average consumer who freely chooses what they desire to eat will pick up the tab. But like everything else the democrat party knows what is best for us all.

Like it's not bad enough they feel the need to drive another nail in the coffins of business owners. If the dems are not driving our businesses over seas they are killing them with fee's and regulations.

We really are as dumb as they think we are if we keep letting this stuff happen.
- Deb, Derry

Clearly, this bill is the "Patriot Act" for the crowd that takes pleasure when bad things happen to large corporations.
- Spike, Brentwood NH

Yes this bill is conjured up by the same interfering nitwits who gave us seatbelts, safe meat, and drug testing. More bureaucracy!
- Roland, Manchester

Deroy, the manual to my new digital camera is 226 pages. Do you suppose a health care management bill for the whole nation is supposed to be short?

For the record, I have at least one diabetic friend who greatly appreciates the nutritional information now available at every McDonalds.

I suggest that those who do not like the new methods and services that will vastly improve our health care just spend through the nose to be ripped off by your local health insurer. Nobody will try to stop you.
- Ruth, Bedford

No matter what Pelosi and her raiders say about tax reform for the wealthy to pay for this, it will still, as always, fall on the middle class blue collar family. I hope people wake up next year.
- Bill, Whitefield