I envision an ugly future. Despite the fact that I have joked with my mother that I was born during the Carter administration and everything turned out OK, I worry. I see my child being born into an America I can't even recognize.
I find myself channeling my inner Sarah Connor lately.
I used to think that we were living Atlas Shrugged. But lately, I think we're seeing a different ending. I don't see the politicians kidnapping Galt and asking him to fix it fix it fix it; I think they want the broken system.
I don't know how to live in a broken system. I feel like I need to spend some time learning how.
And even the plains aren't enough to calm my soul.
1
I think your answer lies in key words in your post: "my child"(grand words to see you write by the way). When we can afford people to have great intentions while not being held accountable for results, freedoms erode. When we can't afford it, our country's citizens don't roll over. They wake up and fight, through educating themselves and others, and ultimately through the ballot box. I have optimism because people, like you, are willing to fight hard for what is fundamentally important to them.
Posted by: HChambers at September 02, 2009 11:17 AM (v5r7Y)
I share your worries. I try to comfort myself by remembering some history...in the dark days of the Depression, many believed the only question was whether America would go Fascist or it would go Communist. In the Cold War era, global thermonuclear war seemed like a real possibility. Yet we came through these things okay.
I'm not sure I believe myself, though. I'm concerned that something very bad may have happened to the American spirit.
Posted by: david foster at September 02, 2009 05:09 PM (uWlpq)
3
"channeling my inner Sarah Connor" -- heehee
There's a reason why our son's middle name is "Connor." Oh, yes, that is his namesake...
I agree, it's wonderful to see those words, "my child."
4
the DH and I (who are much older than you and your DH) were just saying the other day that for the first time in our adult lives we are not only afraid FOR our country, but we are afraid OF our government. we worry more than we ever have not only for our children, but so much more for our grandchild (who is your child's contemporary)... and those are the scariest thoughts for us outside our own mortality. I used to think the survivalists were "fringe"... now? sarah connor indeed.
5
There seems to be a lot of this going around. I have a great sense of unease about the future. If the sh*t does hit the fan, I am not prepared to deal with it, nor is my immediate family. Can we get The Gulch up and running somewhere, soon?
Posted by: Miss Ladybug at September 02, 2009 11:37 PM (paOhf)
6
Of course the politicians want a broken system. It creates crises that can only be 'solved' by more government - meaning more reelections. Disasters keep them in power. It's the broken window fallacy on a national level. Leaders break windows and the masses applaud regardless of not-so-hidden costs.
Posted by: Amritas at September 03, 2009 01:41 AM (h9KHg)
7
This is why I would have named a blog surrealities if I had started one several years ago. Now it is scary and surreal and I didn't name my blog that because it is too close now. I knew he was going to be bad, I just didn't know how quickly he could act and get so much done to ruin the country.
Posted by: Ruth H at September 03, 2009 12:53 PM (KLwh4)
SINCE WHEN IS AN X-BOX A SCHOOL SUPPLY?
People suck. I can't even tell you how mad this makes me.
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks said the state school supply
grants handed out to New York State food stamp and welfare recipients
are not being used as intended by many families. She said the program
has “widespread, rampant abuse.†[...] “We actually received a telephone call from WalMart on Hudson Avenue
suggesting that there was welfare fraud, and indicating they were going
to call the FBI because people were going in and buying X-boxes, Wii
systems, flat-screen television sets,†said Kelly Reed, the county’s
commissioner of social services.
This is a great example of why it's useless to give a man a fish.
I'm sure non-welfare New Yorkers would like the government to give them money to buy a Wii too.
I hope George Soros is glad that his "help the poor" idea just helped people to afternoons of Guitar Hero.
1
i am astounded that you have heard about this
. I am so far removed from news it isn't funny, but i did hear about this from a morning radio show the other day. would you believe it if i told you that the walmart mentioned in this news story is the walmart right near my house, where i have sometimes shopped?!
Posted by: Kate at August 17, 2009 09:04 PM (Fq55p)
2
Sweetie, you gots it all wrong. Don't be hatin'.
They dint spend the welfares on the wii's. Dey spended the welfares on diapers and pencils, crayons, and educational stuff. ($200 per kid, age 2-17, in school or not!) That freed up the $200 dey already had budgeted for dat stuff, so now dey could spennit on the X-boxes and Hi-Def.
Don't be frontin. Obama said he was gonna pay my mortgage.
Posted by: Chuck at August 17, 2009 10:11 PM (bMH2g)
3
It is precisely this type of misappropriation of funds that leads them to need money to buy school supplies (allegedly) in the first place. If the individuals in question made good decisions, they would be able to provide for the kids they have or, more likely, they would not have the children they do.
This is why good parents make their children earn things. So they see the value in hard work and have some ownership and investment in what they possess. This from the mother who made her 5-year-old earn 1/3 of the price of her Barbie Jeep through chores (no b-day money!). That Barbie Jeep is still one of her most prized things, even though she outgrew it a couple years ago.
You would think after the Katrina debit card Coach purses, boob jobs and lap dances, someone might have seen this coming. But, after all, it was for the children.
Posted by: Feelin' Mean at August 17, 2009 10:56 PM (EvsXa)
4
You made me de-lurk on this post. My mom lives in NY and was tellling me about this. She saw what her neighbors daughter had spent on the grandkids. I really wish I could go shop at the Gap, Hollister, or other high ended stores in the mall instead of Walmart and thrift stores. Oh yeah they had to drive an hour to get to the closest mall.
Posted by: Cindy at August 17, 2009 11:00 PM (RVjNA)
5
I'm de-lurking too! I live in this county and this is beyond irritating on so many levels. Let's throw money at a problem and hope for the best. The kids will show up on the first day of school w/ stories about their new video games and tv's but somehow without a pencil. And we wonder why the Rochester City Schools are a complete mess. It starts at home people....
Posted by: Jen in NY at August 18, 2009 06:43 AM (cdiel)
6
If a lack of school supplies are such a real problem, then I must wonder why the money for school supplies goes to families with a suggested list of supplies to purchase instead of to schools to purchase and have on hand as needed. I guess that would be rather like the school lunch program, but with paper and pencils.
And I'm NOT advocating this, I'm just thinking that it would have made more sense.
Then again - sense and government hand outs aren't exactly known to be close friends and workmates.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 18, 2009 07:31 AM (CDkfD)
Not because of the cards they were dealt in life, not because they didn't win the 'lotto' ticket of being born into a certain family or economic class. No, it's because they continue to participate in bad spending behaviors and they don't break away from their materialistic patterns confusing wants into needs.
One of the biggest characteristics of the wealthy is that they follow
the behavioral cycle you’ll hear on any financial advisor show – earn,
save, reinvest, then repeat. The common denominator among the wealthy is not the amount of income
they earn (or liberals will say – their tax bracket), but the choices
they make once the paycheck hits their bank account.
You could give these people on govt. subsidizes a million dollars and they'd still be filing for bankruptcy within 3 years.
Posted by: bdol78 at August 18, 2009 08:44 AM (W3XUk)
Man it's a small world, along with Jen & Kate I too live were this happened.
Yes, let's simply give money away....and then be surprised when it's misspent. Our government at work folks, I blame them just as much (if not more) as the scum who received the money.
Posted by: tim at August 18, 2009 08:47 AM (nno0f)
9
Okay, second thought - I'll support the X-box if it comes with the electronic game of Monopoly only so then these people can learn a thing or too about how to spend, save, and the results of investments or spending outside of your means to bankruptcy.
Posted by: bdol78 at August 18, 2009 10:11 AM (W3XUk)
We know. We Alphas just pretend to love them. And yet they vOte for us anyway! Bwahaha!
people were going in and buying X-boxes, Wii
systems, flat-screen television sets
They're just viktims of corporations that brainwash them into buying unnecssary junk. Funny thing is, it's the big companies that fund us Leftists! You think Bill Gates is ever gonna give his money to the H-Heritage Foundation? What a deal ... your taxes fund their purchases that fund us. Follow the money ... Leftward!
This is a great example of why it's useless to give a man a fish.
It sure is useless. Who can live off a fish these days? Let's give 'em whales ... at your expense! Er, veggie whales ... you know what we meant, right?
I'm sure non-welfare New Yorkers would like the government to give them money to buy a Wii too.
They probably would. We'll corrupt them all. Turn the whole populace into dependents except for a handful of Gulchies.
It's Wii - we - vs. you. We outnumber you. We'll outvote you. Welcome to the USSO - the United Socialist States of Omerica.
Democracy + dependency = a perpetual welfare state!
I hope George Soros is glad that his "help the poor" idea just helped people to afternoons of Guitar Hero.
The poor need entertainment too. It's not fair that only richies get to play Guitar Hero. Video game equality now! It's probably on some page of some health care bill. Who reads that stuff anyway? Reading isn't fundamental; it's fundamentally Europpressive! We Alphas have better things to do.
I'll support the X-box if it comes with the electronic game of Monopoly
Un-Liberaled Woman, these dependents are already learning about the ultimate monopoly - the gOvernment!
Posted by: kevin at August 18, 2009 10:28 AM (h9KHg)
11
AFW, that was my thinking exactly. Lord only knows why we just want to hand out cash, but how idiotic!
Posted by: Guard Wife at August 18, 2009 12:17 PM (qk9Ip)
Of course, now this means that loons are calling for a boycott of the traitorous lefty store. How dare they oppose Obama?
I take back all the snarky things I've said about Whole Foods. I still don't have any interest in shopping there, but good for their CEO for being brave enough to oppose something that the majority of his clientele supports.
Why were you snarky about Whole Foods? I don't think I'd like their clientele - especially after the boycott (and they do have a right to do so) - but I've never been to WF stores and don't have an opinion about them. If I knew more, I might be snarky too ... and the words of a CEO wouldn't excuse store practices I didn't approve of.
Although I was kinda turned off by his health lecture at the end, I should have expected it.
David, thanks for providing a link to your post. What's the "sock-puppetry" you were referring to? Could you provide a link for that? I'd appreciate it.
Posted by: Amritas at August 17, 2009 10:25 AM (+nV09)
3
Amritas...a couple of years ago, Mackey participated in Internet forums discussing WF and its management...used that handle Rahodeb (a transposition of his wife's name Deborah) and argued with one commenter who made a snide comment about his haircut..as Rahodeb, he wrote "I like Mackey’s haircut. I think he looks cute!â€
Posted by: david foster at August 17, 2009 11:04 AM (uWlpq)
4
Thanks, David. I'm not bothered by Mackey's sock-puppetry if that's all he did. Defending his haircut is one thing; saying negative things about his own company, attacking others, etc. wearing a sock puppet is another.
Posted by: Amritas at August 17, 2009 12:02 PM (+nV09)
5
There are certain things I can get from Whole Foods that aren't available as cheaply in other places - namely bulk couscous. But I turn up my nose at most organic stuff. Overpriced and not worth it (to me, anyway. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions).
Honestly - I don't want bugs in my food. Also, my Pop actively ran his farm until he was in his late 80s and while he wasn't slap happy with the pesticides, he didn't shy away from them either. Happy medium, that's what I'm looking for. And my grandparent's genetics. I want those, too.
But it's amazing how seeing the business end of creating food can change a person's opinion about things.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 17, 2009 12:49 PM (CDkfD)
@Chuck, you can only really buy it in those little boxes that you mix the dry ingredients with. So it is more economical in some respects. For instance I get my peanut butter there and it's just ground peanuts and nothing else. They have a machine that grinds it right there so it's fresh. It's actually less expensive than buying skippy. I love Whole Foods, but then I am I guess what you call a foodie as I love to cook. I don't bother with organic anything though.
I have a high deductible insurance policy and it does make you think carefully. I agreed with most of what he had to say but I'm not jazzed about portability, unless all the other reforms are put in place then that could be a real cluster f%*k if your dealing with someone in say California who has no knowledge of your local helathcare system.
Also the idea that no one should legislate what is a condition that should or should not be covered. In theory the insurance company could say, well we don't want to cover cancer treatment or pregnancy and childbirth because they don't make any money off it.
Posted by: Mare at August 18, 2009 08:51 AM (HUa8I)
OVER A BARREL
I meant to say this a while ago but just never got around to it.
20/20 ran a special a few weeks ago called "Over a Barrel" about oil. First of all, I simply hate the expression "addicted to oil." It's like saying we're addicted to houses or restaurants. It's necessary for our lifestyle. Just because we need it doesn't mean we have to sneer and call it an addiction. And it's not like cigarettes, where we'd be better off if we stopped using them. Our lives would be infinitely worse without oil.
Second, T. Boone Pickins really ticked me off. At the very end of the show, he said:
You are the problem, you, America. You and I, Charlie [Gibson]. You are the problem because you're using 25% of the oil with 4% of the population. You're not entitled to that.
Um, we are if we're paying for it. You're entitled to anything available on this earth if you come by it fairly and pay for it in the free market.
To say otherwise gets right down to the core of my values and ruffles 'em up.
1
The Gulf countries are much more addicted to oil than the US.
The US has nothing to fear from "dependency" on oil producing states - they are more dependent on you than you are on them.
Posted by: David Boxenhorn at August 15, 2009 06:19 PM (bjGKR)
2
My dad has worked in the oil industry for almost 50 years. He has met with T. Boone Pickins several times states that T. Boone is an an ass and is only concerned about one person - himself. He is into shameless self promotion and his bottom line. Pretty much take any thing T. Boone states with a grain of salt with the above two items in mind.
Posted by: Greg at August 15, 2009 09:05 PM (PfiUw)
3
My stats are now a bit dated but 50% of our oil is for manufacturing and the US manufactures 25% of the worlds manufactured goods (we tend to high tech things that use plastics or oils as a base). So we may import a lot of oil, but we also export it. China and India have told us that they are more concerned about curing poverty than reducing carbon (By the way, no sunspots now 36 days and things are getting colder-It's the Sun that drives global warming) Energy & Capitalism are the reasons for our prosperity but we are turning our back on both.
And David does hit a nail on the head noting the Gulf countries are more addicted to dollars from oil than we are to their oil. However, China and India now give them options.
Plenty of good info on Wind on the web, and you will find it quite unreliable and expensive.
The US economy drives the world. The best thing we can do is keep going with what has been working, not try what has failed to work (A Spanish Economist Prof Calzada ( http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2009/05/01/calzada-joins-economis-murphy-at-heritage-forum-on-green-jobs/) has shown 2 jobs lost for every green job created.
I work in the energy industry. Wind and solar will not meet our needs. Nuclear is the best non-polluting long-term option but the Nuclear Regulator Commission has inflated costs through massive regulation (much of which is ineffective-my opinion of 20 years) and refusal to deal with nuclear waste. We have no energy policy as a country other than to hate what works.
We need to get our Legislators out of the economy and let the capitalists go back to improving our lives.
Posted by: Xoph at August 16, 2009 07:12 AM (fldIS)
4
Hey, Sarah, why won't this thing let you paste into the comments box? I
was going to quote a relevant passage from George Orwell, but can't do
it without retyping it...
Posted by: david foster at August 16, 2009 08:55 AM (uWlpq)
5Each generation imagines itself to be more
intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one
that comes after it.
--George Orwell
I just coped and pasted that using Ctrl+Insert.
Posted by: Sarah at August 16, 2009 11:08 AM (TWet1)
6
While I generally agree with you in regards to the hysteria over oil consumption (don't like it? Then don't use it and quit bitching at me. Come up with your own damn alternative and maybe I'll end up buying from you instead), I think the problem is defining what is coming by something "fairly."
Unfortunately, there is always an element of morality in what we buy/pay for/do. I think it's more of an issue with various warring moralities than it is with an emotion free simple transaction. Not everything is infinite, and the consequences of some things touch a lot more people than the ones doing the transacting.
This does not mean I buy into the Global Warming hysteria - and I don't plan to until Al Gore and Bono practice what they preach and do everything by teleconference while living in mud huts without air conditioning and only eating vegetarian porridge made from wheat grains that naturally dropped to the ground after growing wild in a field somewhere.
Anyway, defining "fairly" is certainly an issue in any free-market transaction. Is it fair that my husband (1/5 of the residents of our house) eats about 1/3 the food that comes into this house? Yes - he's the main provider and he's also probably the largest percentage of body mass in the house. However, if we take the points of people like you mentioned, he would not be entitled to the amount of food he eats.
Tortured explanation, but you see what I mean? They're completely unwilling to look at the equation using anything other than their preferred math formula, and that just irritates me.
Posted by: airforcewife at August 16, 2009 11:32 AM (CDkfD)
Thanks, Sarah. Doesn't work on my old laptop, but works fine on the new $340 netbook. Here's the Orwell quote:
"Our civilization, pace Chesterton, is founded on coal, more completely than one realizes until one stops to think about it. The machines that keep us alive, and the machines that make machines, are all directly or indirectly dependent upon coal. In the metabolism of the Western world the coal-miner is second in importance only to the man who ploughs the soil. He is a sort of caryatid upon whose shoulders nearly everything that is not grimy is supported."
Orwell was a socialist (also an asthmatic, which meant coal-burning must have caused him considerable difficulty), but he understood that a society needs energy. I can't imagine modern "progressives" showing the kind of appreciation to offshore oil platform workers that Orwell showed to coal miners.
Boone Pickens has extensive natural gas interests, and his energy ideas involve a combination of nat gas and wind. Does he object to the US using a disproportionate share of the world's nat gas?
Posted by: david foster at August 16, 2009 12:19 PM (uWlpq)
8
This is what I don't like about good ole boy T. Booooooooone. So easy for him to lecture after he's made his billion fortune off of it. He sure didn't seem to mind us paying for oil when he was building a lifestyle for himself - which was fair because he was providing a service which in turn weeeee little Americans were paying for (willingly). People like him act like we are pillaging the earth without anything in return. But we return for our usage things like money that help pay for jobs, benefits, and other growth of industry. And at least we adhere to some pollution standards with our fossil fuel usage, unlike say oh, China, India and I'm sure T.Boooooone's new favorite Venezuela.
Also, it irks me when people talk about 'Blood for Oil' and don't bother to look up the fact that the US only gets 6% of oil from Iraq - less than the amount we get from Mexico. We get the most crude oil AND petroleum from Canada. I don't hear T.Boooone crapping on the people of Canada for selling the oil to the US.
How come when it comes to 'addicted to tobacco' the evil doers are the tobacco companies, but when it comes to 'addicted to oil' the evil doers are pegged as the end user????
The thing I think is that T.Booone is trying to make another billion off of the scam of global warming. The demand for oil while still high, is now at the same level as the demand for the mythical 'green' energy eurphoria that comes with building things like wind farms. Why do you think T.Boone isn't for nuclear plants (which costs around $5/kilowatt hour) but is for wind farms which cost more to build and cost more to use the energy produced by them (around $15/kilowatt hour). He's another Goracle - raking in the millions while shielding himself as the Piped Piper of 'Clean' Energy.
Posted by: bdol78 at August 17, 2009 02:11 PM (W3XUk)
THEY GET THEIR DIGS IN EVERYWHERE
I just watched last night's Law & Order: Criminal Intent and flipped out. I checked to see if I was the only one who noticed...Lorie did too:
A former Baader-Meinhof communist terrorist is murdering Wall Street fat cats and talking about overthrowing the capitalist pigs, and somehow the writers for the show tie him in with the Tea Parties.
1
Oh, they are SO just... SO out of reality. Trying to be all "current," they show how completely ignorant they are. I can't take much in the way of Law & Order anymore, anyway, but eeYIKES. Paranoid much, screenwriters?
Posted by: Krista at August 11, 2009 12:23 AM (sUTgZ)
2
That is so why I don't watch sit coms at all. If I run across an old King of the Hill I watch, cause I love that show. We are in a wilderness and have only satellite for internet and TV so we got out of the habit of the major network stuff and just don't even think about it or miss it. We have received our locals for the past 5-6 years but we only watch for the weather. We are in such a drought I don't know why we watch, but we keep hoping for rain.
Posted by: Ruth H at August 11, 2009 09:49 AM (v/QW/)
3
That is so why I don't watch TV at all. King of the Hill is OK, but most programming reeks of PC.
I too "got out of
the habit of the major network stuff and just don't even think about it
or miss it." I check the weather online - I can get forecasts and data specifically for my town.
We are in such a drought I don't know why
we watch, but we keep hoping for rain.
When I first read this, I thought you meant there was a quality drought on TV but you kept watching anyway. Then I realized that would obviously conflict with what you said. You meant a literal drought!
Posted by: Amritas at August 11, 2009 11:18 AM (+nV09)
Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007—the most recent data
available—the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 40.4 percent of the total
income taxes collected by the federal government. This is the highest
percentage in modern history. By contrast, the top 1 percent paid 24.8
percent of the income tax burden in 1987, the year following the 1986
tax reform act.
Remarkably, the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1 percent
now exceeds the share paid by the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers
combined. In 2007, the bottom 95 percent paid 39.4 percent of the
income tax burden. This is down from the 58 percent of the total income
tax burden they paid twenty years ago.
To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent is comprised of just
1.4 million taxpayers and they pay a larger share of the income tax
burden now than the bottom 134 million taxpayers combined.
1
This results, of course, in a large ground of voters who have no
incentive to suppose government spending programs because they're
pretty sure that *they* won't be paying for them.
(Which is only partly true--they'll certainly be paying for increases in corporate taxes, in the form of higher prices)
Less obviously, there are also several million high-income people who
*will* pay higher taxes under Obamaism...but who will benefit so much
from the Obama/Pelosi/Reid programs that they will still come out way
ahead. Trial lawyers, for example. University and K-12 top
administrators. Congresscreatures and senior government officials.
Posted by: david foster at July 31, 2009 12:58 PM (uWlpq)
THEY JUST PAID FOR IT
I had this conversation this weekend:
Friend: Well, I think people need health coverage. And I include dental in that because I think dentist visits are so important.
Sarah: Oh, my family never had dental insurance growing up.
Friend: That's terrible! My kids go to the dentist twice a year, no questions.
Sarah: Oh no, we went to the dentist twice a year too, just that my parents had to pay for it out of pocket each time, for all five of us.
Friend: [horrified look, as if I had said my dad did all our own dentistry at home in the garage]
The conversation turned to other matters, but as I think back on it now, I wish I could go back and restart the conversation from this point. I find it fascinating that this friend equated not having dental insurance with not visiting the dentist at all. My parents took us regularly, and they paid for everything on their own: cleanings, x-rays, fillings, sealant, my broken front tooth that rebroke six times during my teen years, retainers, four sets of braces, Mom's crowns and root canals, etc. I know it wasn't cheap, and I have since thanked my parents for all the dental work they bought for me, especially since now I have to buy my own retainers each time the dog chews one up.
But we received dental care. The lack of insurance didn't keep my parents from taking care of our health.
Why is it that people act like they have no concept of taking care of routine health concerns on their own? As if to say that if it's not covered by insurance, you're out of luck? We weren't out of luck; we just paid for it.
Same here...we grew up without medial insurance too. When I tell this to other people they act like it's child neglect. However, we all got all our vaccinations, very rarely went to the doctor for anything but the normal check-ups (i.e. if we had a cold, our parents just nursed us as home, no need to go to the doctor for that). I did have a bad ear infection problem, and the doctor said, either he could put tubes in my ears, or I would grow out of it naturally...so my parents just learned how to treat infections at home, as my tubes got wider on their own as I got older, and I no longer had a problem with water getting caught in there.
Oh, and we children never got any cavities...never. And the only broken bone was a pinkie finger, that my brother broke body surfing when he was 14. Some people would say: "well, you guys were lucky." I disagree, my parents focused a lot on prevention and just eating healthy foods (we never had soda growing up, and never had sugary cereals, etc.) and we were encouraged to be very active. And I think that had a lot to do with our health. Oh, and yeah, we also all 4 of us had braces.
Until marrying my husband, I also had no medical insurance. But you would be surprised at how "cheap" dental/medical care can be, if you are paying out of pocket. I thought I was getting a cavity. So I went to the dentist, he x-rayed me, found nothing but one tooth was a little spongy, so he filled that with a plastic sealant, and did the same for the rest of my molars...price tag? $76. I think that the best combination is not having medical coverage for normal check-ups etc., but having catastrophic insurance with a $5000 deductible, which covers those unexpected incidents like a car accident, or a prolonged illness.
I also went to the doctor for something, and when I was leaving got a bill for $150, which they expected my insurance to cover. So I pulled out my credit card to pay, and the office staff said: "oh, you don't have insurance, and are paying immediately?" And they were a little perplexed, because they didn't know how to deal with this, and then figured it out, and my bill was reduced to just over $90. They explained that because they have to wait 3+ months sometimes for the insurance companies to pay, they charge more for insured patients. (The same goes for if you want to get your car repaired under your insurance out of pocket...my husband had to replace his windshield...if he had gone through his insurance, they would have charged over $500...out of pocket about $380.)
So it seems it is self-reliance versus thinking that if the government doesn't take care of it, there is no way you could do it on your own. Weird.
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at July 26, 2009 02:44 PM (irIko)
2
CVG -- I was thinking of your stories when I posted this. I don't think my parents ever got any sort of uninsured cheaper price at the dentist, but that sure would've been cool. I agree with you that health could be like car insurance; we currently have a $1000 deductible on our cars, which is higher than they recommend, but we have NEVER filed an insurance claim, so for us, it was annoying to keep paying every month for the lower deductible. We too replaced our own windshield last year. It seems like people could pay for regular dentist and doctor check-ups on their own. I am very trusting of the free market, but I bet that a regular dental cleaning would cost less if no insurance covered it. I bet certain dentists would set up shop to only do cleanings and we could get the price down to $30 for a quick visit...hell, like the cost of changing your oil. It's regular maintenance; I don't understand why insurance or "society" is supposed to pick up the tab.
Posted by: Sarah at July 26, 2009 03:03 PM (TWet1)
3
I read an article a while back about a doctor (GP) who didn't accept medical insurance and only charged $50 a visit. Basta! His philosophy was that it was quicker, easier, and it improved the patient/doctor relationship, because there was no else involved in the discussion.
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at July 26, 2009 03:22 PM (irIko)
With all due rspect I think the point is that there are so many people who can't afford even routine care. For instance, my friends daughter who was treated for neuroblastoma (a form of brain cancer) that was found by a very persistent well care nurse at the doc's office. She recieved a life saving stem cell transplant. Recently she had a recurrence. A recurrence they would not have not known about had it not been for a routine follow up at Children's Hospital here in Philadelphia. A visit paid for by the state sponsored insurance program in the state of New Jersey (finally one good thing comes out of that state) She is receiving Proton therapy instead of radiation because at her age the radiation would give her an automatic IQ drop of 30 points.
So pay for it now, or pay for it later - in the form of special needs education if she survives this bout and most likely state assistance to the mom (her husband who was my friend passed away 3 years ago from Esophogeal cancer, so they are a single parent household) who will have to stay home with a severely learning disabled child. The state and the tax payer will pay either way. I'd rather my tax money go to treat the disease and not the fallout of rhe treatment for the rest of the kids life.
As for dental, we have really bad teeth in my family. I had at least 6 root canals by the time I hit puberty. If it were not for my dad's dental insurance through GE I probably would not have any teeth at all. My mom was a single working woman in the 70's and 80's and just would not have been able to afford the work that was needed. So I am grateful that we had it.
I think leaving it to the parents to assume the burden of all costs for wellcare is to assume that many of them have some sort of intelligence. It would be a distaster of epic proportions in this city if there were no care available for kids with a state program. There would seriously be a lot of dead kids.
I'm not for universal healthcare by any stretch. I am however very much for well care for kids whose parents cannot afford it. And persoanlly I don't mind having my taxes pay for it. I think healthcare should be like every other important issue, it should become about states right. No healthcare for kids in Nebraska? Move to California or New Jersey where there is.
I do respect both of your opinions, I just happen to disagree on this point with you.
Mare, I believe there are always exceptions. Just like with the abortion argument. I am pro-choice, but I find it very sad that abortion is always argued for because of victims of rape and incest and in the case of the life of the mother or fetus, when those cases only represent 8-15% (depending on polls) of actual abortions...the rest are just birth control.
Universal healthcare coverage is always argued for with cases exactly like you mentioned...but why not ONLY cover those cases, and not make it universal?
It's like welfare. It's always argued for as a safety net for those facing great misfortune. I have to admit that I am partial to having a limited safety net in this country...unfortunately this has become a safety hammock.
So I agree with you, Mare. Those are cases that deserve help...but why should help be extended to everyone, letting them off the hook for taking care of something that should be routine and expected, like maintaining your house?
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at July 26, 2009 08:19 PM (irIko)
7
Here's another sob story: My mom has Lupus and has spent roughly $200 per month on prescriptions alone for the past 23 years. Not even to mention doctor visits. My family is no stranger to long-term health care problems. Still, my mother opposes changes to the system, even ones that might potentially benefit her.
On the other end of the spectrum, I have two brothers in their 20s who are in good health and who don't make much money. They shouldn't be forced to buy expensive plans that they won't use.
Like CVG, I don't like to make decisions for the whole of society based on outliers.
Posted by: Sarah at July 26, 2009 08:35 PM (TWet1)
I was speaking specifically about kids, not adults who can make their own living and can pay for visits and or policies. If the state system could get it together to treat these extraordinary cases in a timely fashion so that the kids could actually have a good shot at recovery then I'd agree with you CVG. In Grace's case she had a short window (21 days) to get to one of the 5 Proton centers in the country or go with standard radiation. She had to get a condressman and a senator to help push through the paperwork.
I don't know what the answer is but I don't think I'd want to be the person who has sit across from a parent with a sick kid and say "Sorry life screwed you but your kid is going to die because you don't make enough money to pay for the treatment"
There has to be a better answer to the healthcare issue than what's been proposed. We have the best healthcare available in the world, but the insurance companies make folks jump through flaming hoops to be able to use it. And I do think everyone should have some sort of coverage.
Even a healthy 20 year old could wake up tomorrow and get hit by a bus needing continuing nursing care for the rest of their life. If they have a policy it could be the difference between spending that time in a state hospital with a low quality of care funded by the taxpayer anyway or a private facility where it might be better.
I'm sorry your mom has Lupus Sarah, that really sucks. Is she covered by insurance or do they consider it a pre-existing condition. Insurance not covering pre-existing stuff is another thing that makes me angry about the system.
I really think we need healthcare insurance reform instead of national healtcare.
9
When I lived in Arkansas, I worked for a company that, when health coverage was offered, they decided to go with a "self-insurance" plan. Every year, premiums went up. One or two women covered by the plan have a baby? We all ended up paying for it the next plan year with higher premiums. Right now, I'm uninsured (underemployment...), but I don't want what Obama and the Dems are trying to sell us. This is a small scale where the plan had to break even. Just imagine this times thousands of participants. We - the American taxpayer - can't afford it.
They eventually added dental & vision, but I'd been paying for that out-of-pocket before. Cleaning twice a year (the premium ended up being what I spent on the cleanings out of pocket). I wear contacts, so it was nice to get that added.
Growing up, I went to Army doctors and dentists, pre-Tricare. Lucky for us, most often, we were somewhere where waiting to get in to see someone wasn't a big hassle (overseas in smaller military communities, mostly). Also lucky for us, we weren't prone to being chronically sick or injured accidentally much.
Posted by: Miss Ladybug at August 02, 2009 12:17 AM (paOhf)
10
This part of Atlas Shrugged about dentistry has been in my head for a week now:
"Then there was one old guy, a widower with no family, who had one hobby: phonograph records. I guess that was all he ever got out of life. In the old days, he used to skip meals just to buy himself some new recording of classical music. Well, they didn't give him any 'allowance' for records -- 'personal luxury,' they called it. But at that same meeting, Millie Bush, somebody's daughter, a mean ugly little eight year-old, was voted a pair of gold braces for her buck teeth -- this was 'medical need,' because the staff psychologist had said that the poor girl would get an inferiority complex if her teeth weren't straightened out. The old guy who loved music, turned to drink, instead. He got so you never saw him fully conscious any more. But it seems like there was one thing he couldn't quite forget. One night, he came staggering down the street, saw Millie Bush, swung his fist and knocked all her teeth out. Every one of them."
The Twentieth Century Motor Company shows how socialist principles - purportedly more civilized than capitalist ones - lead to savagery.
Welcome to the Twenty-First Century Motor Company. All Omericans are its employees. It doesn't pay you; you pay it.
Posted by: Amritas at August 02, 2009 03:54 AM (h9KHg)
So, naturally we just go to the escrowed set of [anthropogenic global warming]
models with their predictions made over the past 20 years or so, enter
in all data for actual emissions, volcanic activity, and other model
inputs for the time from the prediction was made until today, and then
run the mdoels and compare their outputs to actual temperature change
in order to build a distribution of model accuracy, right? Ha ha.
Needless to say, no such repository exists.
Yeah, why not?
I heard the other day that the Marines SF are going to start being trained in Pashto, Dari, and Urdu. My first thought was, "What took you so long?" Really, we haven't had this idea until eight years into the war?
I had the same thought when I read that Manzi paragraph: no one has thought to compare global warming model predictions to actual data? Sheesh.
2
PreCISEly. It's so destructive to political dogma to actually consider that you could be wrong, LOL!
Well, maybe "LOL" is inappropriate, considering the all-too-serious consequences that are being imposed on us as a result of that wrong-line dogma...
Posted by: Krista at July 25, 2009 10:24 AM (sUTgZ)
If the glueball warmening folks used actual data, then NONE of their models work. That's why they don't acknowledge things like ocean temperatures, or that big-assed orange ball and solar flare activity having an impact on climate.
Second, since when has the USMC been known for being deep thinkers? First, we'll teach them languages. Next, bathing; and finally, how to use spoons without hurting your eyes....
Posted by: chuck at July 25, 2009 11:10 AM (bMH2g)
4
During the Stalin era in the USSR, the official version of genetics was
Lysenkoism, which taught that acquired characteristics are inherited
(wrong! giraffes do not have long necks because of
stretching)--genetics of course has very practical applications in
agriculture, and geneticists who challenged Lysenkoism were actually
shot. Some of our climate-change "experts" seem to want to go down a
similar path.
People who do mathematical modeling in a responsible way and who
respect the customers they are doing it for carry out & make
available a "sensitivity analysis" which shows how the conclusions
change when any of the assumptions are varied. I haven't seen much in
the way of sensitivity analyses in the voluminous public discussions of
global warming; I *have* seen a lot of ad hominem attacks on anyone who
dares challenge the official view.
Posted by: david foster at July 25, 2009 06:08 PM (uWlpq)
What little I have seen of the language policy of the military over the last few years has been disappointing. I think German, Italian, and Japanese were taken a lot more seriously in WWII.
There is no way that a one-year course can make Marines - or anyone - "fluent" in languages that are not as close to English as, say, Spanish. Most certainly not if they're only learning "two new phrases" a day!
david,
Some of our climate-change "experts" seem to want to go down a
similar path.
That's a pretty harsh charge. I don't think "a lot of ad hominem attacks on anyone who
dares challenge the official view" will necessarily lead to executions. Americans can get very loud and angry, but they generally haven't resorted to violence ... yet.
Posted by: Amritas at July 25, 2009 07:48 PM (h9KHg)
6
Amiritas...a harsh charge indeed, and deliberately so. I have seen
statements from climate-change "experts," some of them prominent, who
have asserted that disagreement with climate change is on a par with
Holocaust denial, and some of them have asserted that such disagreement
should be prohibited. There are also scientists who feel their careers
would suffer or have suffered should they challenge the orthodoxy.
When you say "Americans can get very loud & angry but generally
haven't resorted to violence..yet," I think you're thinking about good
old rough-and-tumble American debate. But there are a lot of people in
our society today who don't really agree with our free-speech
traditions.
A guy in my high school was fond of misquoting Voltaire--"Death to what
you say and I disagree with your right to say it." He was kidding (I
think). Many of those of the "progressive" side are not.
Posted by: david foster at July 25, 2009 08:19 PM (uWlpq)
7
As a data point, the language schools and their student allocations at the Defense Language Institute are decided YEARS in advance. The Marines are probably only 3 or 4 years behind the power curve, not 8. That's par for the course.
Like I should talk--I took Russian there in 2004-5. They never got tired of telling us that the Cold War was over when justifying cutting our teaching staff or moving us to an even older building.
GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEE
This should indicate how much quality Democrats really think they're going to offer us peons:
On Tuesday, the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a
two-page amendment courtesy of Republican Tom Coburn that would require
all Members and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health
plan. Yet all Democrats -- with the exceptions of acting chairman Chris
Dodd, Barbara Mikulski and Ted Kennedy via proxy -- voted nay.
In other words, Sherrod Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse won't
themselves join a plan that "will offer benefits that are as good as
those available through private insurance plans -- or better," as the
Ohio and Rhode Island liberals put it in a recent op-ed. And even a
self-described socialist like Vermont's Bernie Sanders, who supports a
government-only system, wouldn't sign himself up.
I think Congress should be required to use the public system that they created. And I'm on board with Instapundit's idea of requiring Congress to always pay the highest marginal tax rate as well.
1
Sherrod Brown turns my stomach. I wonder when the citizens in my state will wise up--it's doubtful it will ever happen given the 'quality' of our educational system we have. But, it is quite telling how they are handling all that, isn't it??
Posted by: Guard Wife at July 20, 2009 09:26 AM (qk9Ip)
2
I agree with you 100%. The old "Do as I say, not do as I do" should definitely not apply here. This makes me even angrier over the health care issue.
Posted by: Nancy Dunn at July 20, 2009 12:44 PM (0DENp)
THINKING ABOUT GUNS
I've been thinking about guns this morning.
Ever since we started trying for a baby, I have tried to figure out what I think we should do about our guns and teaching our child gun safety. So I read the post Guns, sons & the good old days of parenting and its comments with interest. I think I agree with many commenters that it comes down to respect: children need to learn respect for the power of guns and respect for the authority of adults.
I also found a clip at Gateway Pundit about a car dealership that's giving away AK-47s with truck purchases. Can you hear the condescending sneering from the reporter? I love how she says that people might be offended to hear the dealership equate God and guns. Really? Which people exactly? The gun people or the God people? I generally find those two groups overlap. Especially the ones who are looking to buy a truck in small-town Missouri.
Ah, liberal condescension...make sure to ask him if he thinks Jesus would approve of AK-47s (I literally rolled my eyes as I typed that, heh.)
Both Hubs and I grew up in a house where guns were the norm. He learned how to use guns safely. My sister and I knew where the guns were, knew we were never to touch them and knew if we did, we'd suffer some pretty serious consequences. We never, ever did. In fact, my sister is a state trooper and while in the academy she perspired through a bullet-proof vest while learning to take her gun apart and put it back together because we NEVER touched them. Ever.
When the parents respect the power and rules regarding firearms, it sets a good example for children. It's the same with driving, drinking and other things.
We never even pointed toy guns at anything--the rule at our house, "never point a firearm at anything you don't want to kill." Good enough.
Posted by: Guard Wife at July 19, 2009 08:56 AM (M+hWl)
CANADA CARE
Via Insty, a great PJTV video called Steven Crowder Investigates Why CanadaCare Sucks...Will ObamaCare Be Any Better? It's worth watching the whole thing, but one of the most galling bits was when they go to a free clinic to try to get his cholesterol checked. The nurse says they cannot do that at the free clinic and gives him two options: 1) go to a private clinic and pay $900 for a check-up, or 2) call a family doctor and ask to be put on the two to three year waiting list. "You're young, so you have time; normally you don't have a problem at your age," she said.
And mostly the video just reminded me of military care. We don't have to wait months or years for appointments, but our emergency room and weekend clinic is exactly like this video. Plus we get to share ultrasound rooms!
1
You conservatives puzzle us. On the one hand, you can't wait to burn the planet with your SUVs. On the other hand, you can't wait a mere two or three years for a checkup. What's wrong with you? Why can't you gun-clingers accept your Omega status?
Immediate gratification is only for Alphas like us. When Obama has a paper cut, four doctors appear immediately to insure that the Imperial Finger is not infected by neocon germs that Bushaitan left behind in the (gag) White House. His legacy still haunts the One.
Learn to be patient. Health care is a right, just like food, clothing, and shelter. When the gOvernment takes care of your rights, it cannot drop everything just for you. No, it must cater to everyone within Omerica's borders, every undocumented immigrant who has needs. Eventually, the gOvernment will feed, clothe, and house you if you can wait long enough. Stand in line 16 hours for a bowl of cere-O. Wait 16 weeks for new clOthing. 16 months for a rOOm to rent.
Sharing ultrasound rooms is just the beginning. You have seen the future, and it's free!
It's starting to sound like the professor believes in the medicine
fairy, because I'm quite sure that her brother does indeed pay
indirectly for his medicine. If not, then someone else
is paying for it, and from what she's said I can understand why she'd
be enamoured of that circumstance. However, none of this makes the cost
of providing the medicine go away.
Oh, really? This is the eOn of unicOrns! Yesterday's fantasies will soon become reality. The medicine fairies that have been curing Cubans for decades will finally fly northward to save millions of dying Omericans for free!
In the coming kingdOm, everything will be free except your mind and body. You must only think gOOd thoughts, and you must work to fund others' needs so that they don't have to pay for them. Do your duties, Omegas!
Posted by: kevin at July 14, 2009 01:05 PM (+nV09)
A group of 50 black males beats up a white family, shouting "This is a black world!" while they do it, and, quote, "Akron police say they aren't ready to call it a hate crime."
Fantastic. Because we all know if a group of 50 whites beat up a black family while yelling "White power!", the police would tread lightly and not jump to any conclusions.
I think we all need to sit through a presentation:
PLEASE ELABORATE, PREFERABLY ON NATIONAL TV
Here's a perfect example of a Lefty doing exactly what the Right is accused of: being elitist and racist.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg on abortion:
Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.
To quote Ed Whelan, "Gee, Justice Ginsburg, would you like to tell us more about your views
on those populations that 'we don’t want to have too many of'?"
That is old-school Margaret Sanger creepy, and Ginsburg just said that this week.
Posted by: airforcewife at July 09, 2009 09:27 AM (CDkfD)
3
My Ford, AFW understands our plan for total equality through absolute hierarchy with alphas (Obama, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, kevin) at the top and omegas (white male Republicans) at the bottom.
Which Greek letter are you?
(Yeah, Greek is soooo Europpressive. We're working on switching to Arabic letter names. We are alifs! Woo hoo!)
Posted by: kevin at July 09, 2009 09:52 AM (+nV09)
GIVE A MAN A FISH, AND HE'LL ASK FOR 700 BILLION MORE
We just gave a man a fish and fed him for a day, and now he wants another:
The U.S. should consider drafting a second stimulus package focusing on
infrastructure projects because the $787 billion approved in February
was “a bit too small,†said Laura Tyson, an adviser to President Barack Obama.
Palau is asking longtime benefactor the United States for a 35-year
extension on direct aid funding — and hinting Washington should say yes
because of its offer to take in 13 Guantanamo Bay detainees. [...] U.S. government aid to Palau over the past 15 years has totaled more than $852 million, according to a congressional estimate.
The ridiculous thing is that we don't even have any fish to give out. The Fed is just printing new fish, but for some stupid reason, we just keep giving them away like they're real fish.
1
I saw something on the news this morning about unemployment going up and the need for another stimulus while we wait for the first one to take effect.
Remind me not to turn on the TV again.
"The Fed is just printing new fish, but for some stupid reason, we just keep giving them away like they're real fish."
And for some stupid reason, people keep taking that fish, even though they're not fishy fish!
Here's an idea. We take back the thirteen and cut off all aid to Palau forever. Nah. American taxpayer money used to benefit ... American taxpayers? What a silly idea!
Posted by: Amritas at July 08, 2009 02:50 PM (+nV09)
2
... but they might be good for *wrapping* fish in a while... ;-)
Posted by: Krista at July 08, 2009 03:43 PM (sUTgZ)
3
Krista -- Ha, you know I was totally thinking about Larry!
Posted by: Sarah at July 08, 2009 04:09 PM (TWet1)
4
You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to call one of those debt reduction companies to deal with the government. The non-profit ones, not the whack job ones.
Anyway, I'd also like someone to tell me when the last time a person got out of debt by spending more money was. In fact, I think I saw an Intervention episode about a woman trying to do EXACTLY that. It didn't work and she ended up on the show Intervention.
Maybe our government needs to be on Intervention.
Posted by: airforcewife at July 08, 2009 05:34 PM (CDkfD)
5
Sarah, Michael Jackson was the ultimate fishwrap. Guess who was still in the 'news' this morning along with the stimulus.
AFW, our government is all about intervention ... of the wrong kind.
Posted by: Amritas at July 08, 2009 07:51 PM (7burq)
6
I prefer "Give a man fire, you keep him warm for a night. Set a man on fire, and you keep him warm for the rest of his life."
Posted by: chuck at July 09, 2009 12:44 PM (GYCon)
A Conservative Teacher: This could be the very nature of the Republican Party- a party built by
people not liking big government may have trouble finding big leaders
in government. The party that loves power and elitism (Democrats) has
no problem finding elite powerful politicians.
DoDoGuRu: It would be nice to find politicians both normal and politically savvy.
Unfortunately, if you’re normal you get hounded out of politics. And if
you’re politically savvy, you’re probably a kleptocratic vampire.
1
This is indeed the problem, if you advocate for less government who is to accomplish this? I attended a tea party yesterday. We are a small, retirement and vacation community. It was held in an RV park, with very few who were not above the age of 65. We had about 50 in attendance. It was not given any publicity other than a cardboard sign at the entrance and at least one flyer accidentally seen in a grocery store. At the tea partyI found there is a 912 group meeting at the library twice a month. We plan to attend the next one.
At the tea party was a family of four, the children are home schooled. The father is undoubtedly a libertarian as he voiced the concern that even though we are denouncing more taxes we have not recognized the fact that what we need is not government action but a government of NO ACTION. Politicians are not the "no action" type, they all want some type action, that is what they campaign on. So, who is to lead us?
Posted by: Ruth H at July 05, 2009 11:19 AM (4eLhB)
2
This is so true of conservatives/libertarians, isn't it. I just think about how many times people have asked me if I'd ever consider running for an office, even a local one. My responses mainly consist of - Too corrupt for my taste - I'm too normal to run for politics - I don't have the tough skin for the personality chastising that comes with politics. Funny, how the people who probably should be in politics aren't and not because they don't have the skills. No, it's because of all the external factors (like the irrelevant harassment of questions as to whether or not a woman is the mother of her baby *cough*Andrew Sullivan*cough*) that intimidates the right people away from being our much needed political leaders.
Posted by: bdol78 at July 06, 2009 10:53 AM (W3XUk)
3
Heh... yep. Reading _The Law_ spurred me to feel more civic responsibility, though... (ha! Yes, it's possible!), so one of these days... we'll have to see what happens. I'm willing now, but not quite able.
For now, I'll have to settle for educating those I can, about true principles "and stuff" so that they can elect saner people.
Maybe we should make political service like jury duty... ? ;-)
Posted by: Krista at July 06, 2009 04:09 PM (sUTgZ)
NOT FEELING SO INDEPENDENT
I didn't write an Independence Day post yesterday. I just didn't have it in me.
Neal Boortz hates the 4th of July. Every year he refuses to work that day because he says he cannot stand people's superficial displays of liberty and independence. Americans ask more and more of Uncle Sugar and relinquish more of their freedom in exchange for government security, and then they have the nerve to celebrate being free on the 4th of July.
I've always snickered at Boortz and thought he was overreacting. But this year, I am slowly joining him...
As the future of our country goes down the tube, I had a hard time feeling very celebratory yesterday.
Many months ago, I happened to catch Sean Hannity doing a man-on-the-street interview with a young girl. He was asking her questions about what she believed people had the right to. According to her, they have the right to everything: jobs, education, shelter, transportation, health care, and so on. But when Hannity pressed her, saying that surely she can't believe that every single person deserves free everything, she frustratedly replied, "No, you're twisting my words around. Not everybody, only the people who can't afford it. If you can pay for your own college, you should, but if you can't afford it, the government should help pay." So Hannity goes, "Oh, OK, let me see if I can rephrase it. You mean we should function to each according to his need and from each according to his ability?" And the girl excitedly said, "YES, that's it, that's exactly what I meant!"
He then asked if she knew who Karl Marx was, and naturally she had no idea...
I just don't think my countrymen understand what true independence means. I don't think they understand that freedom also means the freedom to fail, to have bad luck, to lose it all. I don't think they understand what the signers of the Declaration of Independence risked and sacrificed.
I don't think they understand risk and sacrifice at all anymore.
And I can't help but note a new "long train of abuses and usurpations" with each passing day...
1
Thank you. We spent yesterday (the 4th) quietly puttering around the house. And watching the 4pm heat caused thunder and lightning storm from the back porch.
It didn't feel celebratory. Just quiet and peaceful. And ... it didn't feel wrong not to celebrate. I didn't feel like a cranky, grumpy, ol' sourpuss. It just didn't feel right to celebrate.
(And no, this has nothing to do with me being Canadian. Hubby didn't fancy celebrating any more than I did, and he's as American as they come.)
Posted by: Eowyn at July 05, 2009 03:45 PM (p9nWE)
2
I had a sobered day, a solemn day, thinking of what's happening to the independence whose origins we celebrate. We read the Declaration yesterday, as we do every Fourth, and it was pretty chilling how closely it corresponded to the way things are now. We have a clear case, according to the Declaration, for secession. . . .
3
Been a rough one for me, too... Hubby "suspended" me from politics & societal issues (which is pretty much every news story, the way I see them) for the duration of last week after HR 2454 passed, LOL... I didn't deal very well with the shock of seeing moneychangers dealing openly on the floors of our temples of government.
So... I've spent the last week trying to live "normal" life while I come to terms with fighting a losing battle against an unprincipled, ignorant populace that's bent on empowering power-hungry criminals who are even less principled, and not nearly as ignorant.
BUT... I'm clinging to this nagging suspicion that there are enough not-so-ignorant ones out here, and the powermongers can only run roughshod over not-so-ignorant people for so long...
And I'm getting prepared for (more of) the feeling of being officially classified as a nutjob minority: even though more and more people agree with those "nutjob" views, the official sanction is quite unfriendly to them. Feeling like we have more in common with our good Founders all the time, LOL... ;-)
Posted by: Krista at July 06, 2009 04:04 PM (sUTgZ)
GLOBAL TEMPERATURES
I saw Glenn Beck's discussion with Alan Carlin of the EPA this week, which is available here. And this graph struck me as too crazy to even be true.
The red lines: "UN Predictions for Temperature Levels" The yellow line: "UN Predictions: What Will Happen to Temperatures If Their Restrictions Are Put In Place" The green line: "Global Temperatures from Surface Station Measurements" The blue line: "Global Temperatures from Satellite Measurements"
So the red and yellow lines are what the UN says will happen, and the green and blue lines are what is really happening. Note the enormous plummet away from prediction.
If this is accurate, then what is actually happening on our planet is nothing like what was predicted. In which case, all decisions based on global warming predictions are moot.
1
The most obvious explanation is that the UN projections assumed Bushaitan or McSame were in office. But the enthrOnement of the cOOlest president ever has caused global burning to cease. Obama has saved the world! And to continue saving it, we must reelect him in 2012! Getting rid of the 22nd Amendment would ensure Gaia's safety for the next fifty years.
Posted by: kevin at July 05, 2009 05:35 AM (7burq)
2
Omerican unemployment figures are bloated by lazy Republicans who quit their jobs to make the One look bad. For every new job created by the One (bless Barack), two jobs are vacated by bitter gun-clingers who'd rather sit at home and watch Faux 'News' all day. Once the civilian security fOrce rounds up these slackers and makes them work for the peOple, the Omerican unemployment rate will drop to zero!
Posted by: kevin at July 05, 2009 05:41 AM (7burq)
I have always been frustrated by my lack of options. If you wish for the United States to look more like Canada or Europe, then please just move to Canada or Europe. Don't try to turn our country into something that already exists elsewhere. Because if I want the United States to look more like what the Founding Fathers envisioned, with far less government intrusion, I have nowhere else to go. There is no other existing country that matches the vision of where I want to live. (And the US today ain't exactly it either, but it's the best we've got.) Please don't turn my only option into another Canada. Canada is already Canada.
Whatever liberty we have right here, right now, in America … well, for all practical purposes, that’s all that’s left anywhere. If France had our freedoms, there would be no French here. If China had it, there would be no Chinese here. If it existed in Latin America, there would be no Spanish spoken here. And so it goes.
And so if we, here in America, throw it all away in a fit of panic or pique, then what we once called “America†will become as false as a fairy tale.
1
I feel the same way. I used to idolize Japan until I actually lived there. It's taken me a long time to appreciate America. Now I'll never leave. The gulch is here ... somewhere.
Green thinks people come here because of freedom. I would say they are mostly coming here because of the byproducts of freedom, not freedom itself. The biggest magnet is money - and the material comfort it can buy. Capitalism makes this wealth possible, but this fact eludes the immigrants who come here to get rich and elect Leftists. Very, very few immigrants come here because they loved reading the Constitution in their countries of origin. Even the politically minded may be more interested in using America as a temporary base of operations for dissident activities to liberate their people back home. Ayn Rand was highly atypical; once she came to the US, she never looked back (with the exception of her novel We the Living).
Immigrants in the past were no different. My ancestors had no idea what 'freedom' was. But they did understand money, and they came to Hawaii to earn it.
The difference lies in America's elite which has turned faux self-criticism into a sport. Nowadays Immigrants and the American-born alike are told what an eeeevil empire America is. (And they should take some responsibility for actually believing this nonsense.) Why should immigrants assimilate to such a horrible place when they can just take the goodies and vote for more supposed 'freebies'? They're not new Americans anymore; they're just new victim classes taught to demand their special rights.
Failure permeates American society, but the stench starts at the top.
Posted by: Amritas at June 24, 2009 12:52 AM (2eQQr)
Lefties have lots of options. They can move to Canada, or to France, or
to other socialist paradises. Sadly, though, they don’t—preferring to
try to replicate those
horrible experiments here, until one day, if Toren’s prognosis is
correct, we will be no different from Europe, or any of the other
statist countries.
Okay, let me make this more personal.
I have nowhere else to go.
Like Toren, I once changed countries to start a better life for
myself; unlike Toren, I don’t have somewhere else to go to now, and I
have no investments to fund a move (anymore).
This is where I am, and this is where I’ll have to stay.
Why do Leftists stay? As hard as this may be to swallow, patriotism may be part of the answer. They love America - in their own way - and want to remold it into their ideal image. But the more cynical may suggest a simpler answer: inertia. Why move to Cuba when you have a big house, a big TV, a big SUV, and everything in your language right here? How much do they really value free health care? Not enough to learn Spanish and live under Fidel. They may not like the eeeevil American empire, but they do like America the luxury mansion, though they'd love it if only it had a few more amenities ... at our expense.
Inertia is powerful. If you told me today that you had founded the Gulch and invited me to join you, would I instantly drop everything and go? Or would I hesitate and ask myself, is the world outside the gulch that bad?
How bad will things have to get before we are willing to flee to the Gulch?
Posted by: Amritas at June 24, 2009 01:18 AM (2eQQr)
I hate that I have to type this story. I wish I could tell it to you in person, with wide eyes and lots of expletives.
We took a bus tour to the Grand Canyon yesterday. And as happened when we went on a cruise, my husband and I remembered why we don't like being trapped with strangers.
Since it was a long drive to and fro, we watched movies on the charter bus. There were a couple of kids on the tour, so the bus driver insisted we watch appropriate movies. On the way there, we watched Marley and Me and Evan Almighty. You get the idea: family movies. And on the way back, this lady...
Wait, let me back up.
My husband and I were the first people on the bus, and we accidentally picked the worst seats. On a tour of polite Japanese and snoozing Italian tourists, we happened to sit behind the most hoopleheaded, annoying, creepy American family. I can't even do their annoyingness justice; it was just one of those situations where you find yourself unwittingly eavesdropping on their inane chatter for fifteen hours because they just won't shut up.
It was going to be a toss-up over whether the mom or the dad was the more annoying, but then the mom made a shocking leap into first place.
On the way back, the mom volunteered to choose the movie we'd watch. And on a bus filled with Asians and black people, this lady picked out Gran Torino.
I am crapping you negative.
Here's how it played out. Keep in mind that this conversation is being shouted the length of the bus, with the lady up front at the DVD player and me about 2/3 of the way back:
Lady: I really want to see Gran Torino. Sarah: Nooohooohoo. Not a good idea. Lady: But I want to see it! Sarah: It's not really, ahem, socially appropriate for this setting. It's very controversial. Lady: Well, what else do you want to see? No suggestions? Then let's watch Gran Torino.
Now I am starting to lose my cool and get knots in my stomach. There is no way we can put that movie in on a bus full of minorities. (My husband wondered if the Japanese people would even catch the "zipperheads" and "gooks." I said perhaps not, but everyone knows the n-word when they hear it.)
Meanwhile, I am trying to insist to the lady's husband that we simply cannot watch the movie. I tried so hard to be diplomatic, saying that while it is an interesting movie to watch and discuss, this was just not the right time and place. When the lady returns to her seat, her husband says maybe we should pick something else. The lady starts pouting. Finally, I lost it and said, "Whatever. I'm glad you're comfortable playing a movie filled with the n-word." Then the black ladies next to us start to get involved. I swear one of them went all Bon Qui Qui and muttered that she would cut her.
Thank heavens someone else must've told the bus driver the deal, because by the time I marched down the aisle to insist that the movie was absolutely unacceptable, he had already figured out the gist and put the kibosh on it.
But seriously, oh my lord. I about died.
My husband and I spent the rest of the trip giggling about other movies that we could suggest to watch: American History X, Crash, Deliverance, Pulp Fiction, and (the LOL suggestion from the husband) Brown Bunny.
We may as well have suggested porn. It might've been less uncomfortable on a bus full of Asian strangers than Gran Torino.
I hope this lady goes home, rents the movie, and then realizes what she almost did and feels like crap.
No more group tours for the Grok family. We're flying solo from now on.
Glad you stood up to the moron. And at least the husband didn't just support his poor persecuted wife being picked on by the power tripping movie critic.
Posted by: wifeunit at June 21, 2009 03:25 PM (t5K2U)
2
What I don't understand is ... why was a Gran Torino DVD on the bus in the first place? Did this woman bring it with her?
I was surprised that Pulp Fiction was among the available choices for movies on my flight today. My neighbor was watching it. (Every seat has its own video player.) But I should have figured, since I was sitting behind someone playing Kill Bill on last week's flight.
I love the pun in your title!
Posted by: Amritas at June 21, 2009 04:07 PM (2eQQr)
3
That makes sense. I guess I just don't see Gran Torino in the same light as those other movies.
4
And I'd have sat there silently and let the nitwit put the movie in. It'd have been much more fun to watch her be mortified, and maybe she'd have shut up.
Posted by: Chuck at June 21, 2009 04:55 PM (meX2d)
5
Last night after chatting with you, i shared the story, and we all got a good chuckle out of it...
We have been married for a LONG while, and do not do group things, never have as a rule. I can barely stand to be surrounded by hoopleheads in Walmart, or a movie theater...
6
I'm with Amritas on this one, what in the world are they considering "family friendly?" Good for you for standing up. Yeah, and I did wonder why you left the d off Grand when I saw that title.
Posted by: Ruth H at June 21, 2009 05:19 PM (KLwh4)
7
I don't understand why the movie was so horribly inappropriate. I would understand if you were objecting to the language or violence due to children. But to be worried that minorities would be offended I'm not sure I get. I thought it was a wonderful movie about getting beyond stereotypes and such. I would have been more than interested in watching that movie in that setting.
8
Beth -- By all means, I am willing to watch Gran Torino with people of any race who choose to watch that movie. But the key word there is CHOOSE. If you are trapped on a bus with no way to avoid a controversial movie, I think that's terrible. It's not even like an airplane where you don't have to plug your earphones in; the sound is piped through the whole bus. (And that movie would never be shown on an airplane.) The point that horrified me was that people might be forced to watch a controversial movie that they just don't want to see. I would've been equally pissed if they'd chosen Fahrenheit 9/11 or Religulous or Expelled (OK, maybe not *equally*...) just because I don't think controversial movies are appropriate for situations where people are forced to watch.
Posted by: Sarah at June 21, 2009 05:40 PM (JJVbW)
9
Wait - so the bus driver was worried about the kids on the bus THERE, but not BACK? SRSLY?
What exactly was this "family friendly" criteria that Gran Torino fit?
Perhaps that wife would have appreciated a showing of White Man's Burden.
Posted by: airforcewife at June 21, 2009 06:26 PM (NqbuI)
While British officials publicly slammed Bermuda, they were privately annoyed with the U.S. [...] President Obama's aides told Britain the Gitmo group was headed to Bermuda less than 24 hours before the ex-inmates' chartered jet landed there, the Daily News has learned.
Bermuda Premier Ewart Brown said, "We are confident this decision is the right one from a humanitarian perspective." [...] Bermuda will also receive an unspecified "small sum" to cover their costs, said a U.S. official.
The "small sum"? $200 million. Kimberly Morin says it best:
Humanitarian? How about monetarian? I’d be willing to bet $200 million that the Palau government would not have taken these detainees without Obama bribing them with a cash payout. Of course the White House says that the money has nothing to do with the detainees. It is for development for the country of Palau. What is to develop? They are a gorgeous tropical island whose economy is based on tourism. Why would we be giving this tropical island money for development in the first place? Earth to Obama - horrible recession, highest unemployment in 25 years, non-stimulus doing nothing and you are going to give $200 million to a country that does not warrant development and has absolutely nothing to do with our economy.
It costs somewhere in the ballpark of $100 million per year to run the entire facility at Guantanamo Bay. So there's two years of operating costs to unload four guys. Furthermore, Palau's GDP is apparently $164 million. Hooray, Obama just doubled their yearly intake!
Seriously, when did the whole world become the Mad Hatter's Tea Party?
1
For $200MM, we could have sent 20,000 kids to excellent charter or private schools.
Oh, wait..the Democrats don't favor allowing the escape of poor kids
from dysfunctional schools...If only they were as concerned about the
kids as they are about the Guantanamo prisoners
Posted by: david foster at June 12, 2009 09:06 AM (uWlpq)
Let me see if this works: (BTW, why can’t I cut & paste on this blog?)
Posted by: Sarah at June 12, 2009 01:05 PM (TWet1)
4
OK, it worked for me. I copied it and then used Shift+Insert to paste.
Anyway, I moved to this new site because everyone was complaining about not being able to comment on the old one. Now I am tearing out my hair trying to learn the new system and being annoyed with it, and I think I get fewer comments now than ever before. So...sigh.
Posted by: Sarah at June 12, 2009 01:07 PM (TWet1)
5
It was well before Jan 14th, and even before the November election. It was when the press and the populace started falling in love with socialism, Obama just happened along to do their dirty deeds.
Posted by: Ruth H at June 13, 2009 03:31 AM (4u82p)
6
Sarah...very hard to comment here with my old/slow laptop; also
impossible to cut & paste. Seems to be running some kind of script
which does a lot of processing for each & every character. Wonder
if there's a display mode you could change to speed things up.
Posted by: david foster at June 13, 2009 08:36 AM (uWlpq)
7
Awhile back I accidentally hit Mark All as Read instead of Refresh on my milspouse category of google reader. This was totally marked as read. Oops. It is quite unbelievable to me that things like this get shuffled to the back after mere mentions. Why do I care about Michael Jackson again? People should be turning their attention to the many things like this that are just CRAZY.
Posted by: wifeunit at July 03, 2009 09:52 PM (t5K2U)
168kb generated in CPU 0.0369, elapsed 0.1318 seconds.
66 queries taking 0.1047 seconds, 305 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
Search Thingy
There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living. --The Count of Monte Cristo--
While our troops go out to defend our country, it is incumbent upon us to make the country worth defending. --Deskmerc--
Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: The American Revolution, WWII, and the Star Wars Trilogy. --Bart Simpson--
If you want to be a peacemaker, you've gotta learn to kick ass. --Sheriff of East Houston, Superman II--
Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind. --Jed Babbin--
Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. --President John F. Kennedy--
War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. --General Patton--
We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over. --Full Metal Jacket--
Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed. --Dick Cheney--
The Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive. --Col Steven Arrington--
The purpose of diplomacy isn't to make us feel good about Eurocentric diplomatic skills, and having countries from the axis of chocolate tie our shoelaces together does nothing to advance our infantry. --Sir George--
I just don't care about the criticism I receive every day, because I know the cause I defend is right. --Oriol--
It's days like this when we're reminded that freedom isn't free. --Chaplain Jacob--
Bumper stickers aren't going to accomplish some of the missions this country is going to face. --David Smith--
The success of multilateralism is measured not merely by following a process, but by achieving results. --President Bush--
Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.
--John Galt--
First, go buy a six pack and swig it all down. Then, watch Ace Ventura. And after that, buy a Hard Rock Cafe shirt and come talk to me. You really need to lighten up, man.
--Sminklemeyer--
You've got to kill people, and when you've killed enough they stop fighting --General Curtis Lemay--
If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained -- we must fight! --Patrick Henry--
America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American. --President George W. Bush--
are usually just cheerleading sessions, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing but a soothing reduction in blood pressure brought about by the narcotic high of being agreed with. --Bill Whittle
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill--
We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other. --General George Marshall--
We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way.
--Buzz Aldrin--
America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world.
--Dinesh D'Souza--
Recent anti-Israel protests remind us again of our era's peculiar alliance: the most violent, intolerant, militantly religious movement in modern times has the peace movement on its side. --James Lileks--
As a wise man once said: we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Unless the price is too high, the burden too great, the hardship too hard, the friend acts disproportionately, and the foe fights back. In which case, we need a timetable.
--James Lileks--
I am not willing to kill a man so that he will agree with my faith, but I am prepared to kill a man so that he cannot force my compatriots to submit to his.
--Froggy--
You can say what you want about President Bush; but the truth is that he can take a punch. The man has taken a swift kick in the crotch for breakfast every day for 6 years and he keeps getting up with a smile in his heart and a sense of swift determination to see the job through to the best of his abilties.
--Varifrank--
In a perfect world, We'd live in peace and love and harmony with each oither and the world, but then, in a perfect world, Yoko would have taken the bullet.
--SarahBellum--
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. --Ronald Reagan--
America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for. It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large. --E.M. Forster--
Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. --Mark Twain--
The Enlightenment was followed by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, which touched every European state, sparked vicious guerrilla conflicts across the Continent and killed millions. Then, things really turned ugly after the invention of soccer. --Iowahawk--
Every time I meet an Iraqi Army Soldier or Policeman that I haven't met before, I shake his hand and thank him for his service. Many times I am thanked for being here and helping his country. I always tell them that free people help each other and that those that truly value freedom help those seeking it no matter the cost. --Jack Army--
Right, left - the terms are useless nowadays anyway. There are statists, and there are individualists. There are pessimists, and optimists. There are people who look backwards and trust in the West, and those who look forward and trust in The World. Those are the continuums that seem to matter the most right now. --Lileks--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
--Winston Churchill--
A man or a nation is not placed upon this earth to do merely what is pleasant and what is profitable. It is often called upon to carry out what is both unpleasant and unprofitable, but if it is obviously right it is mere shirking not to undertake it. --Arthur Conan Doyle--
A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself. --John Stuart Mill--
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." --Dave Grossman--
At heart I’m a cowboy; my attitude is if they’re not going to stand up and fight for what they believe in then they can go pound sand. --Bill Whittle--
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. --Alexander Tyler--
By that time a village half-wit could see what generations of professors had pretended not to notice. --Atlas Shrugged--
I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and everything seemed so shitty. And he'd say, "That's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too." --Alabama Worley--
So Bush is history, and we have a new president who promises to heal the planet, and yet the jihadists don’t seem to have got the Obama message that there are no enemies, just friends we haven’t yet held talks without preconditions with.
--Mark Steyn--
"I had started alone in this journey called life, people started
gathering up on the way, and the caravan got bigger everyday." --Urdu couplet
The book and the sword are the two things that control the world. We either gonna control them through knowledge and influence their minds, or we gonna bring the sword and take their heads off. --RZA--
It's a daily game of public Frogger, hopping frantically to avoid being crushed under the weight of your own narcissism, banality, and plain old stupidity. --Mary Katharine Ham--
There are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms
of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. --James Madison--
It is in the heat of emotion that good people must remember to stand on principle. --Larry Elder--
Please show this to the president and ask him to remember the wishes of the forgotten man, that is, the one who dared to vote against him. We expect to be tramped on but we do wish the stepping would be a little less hard. --from a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt--
The world economy depends every day on some engineer, farmer, architect, radiator shop owner, truck driver or plumber getting up at 5AM, going to work, toiling hard, and producing real wealth so that an array of bureaucrats, regulators, and redistributors can manage the proper allotment of much of the natural largess produced. --VDH--
Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves. --Marcelene Cox--