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I’ve noticed a pattern in rightwing propaganda and conservative-biased media. The $100,000-a-year worker seems to be a theme. Of course, this is bullshit — liquor store clerks and garbage truck drivers make nowhere near 100 grand. But pro-business, labor-hating organizations like the BIAW and Fox 13 News want you to believe they do. It’s part of their divide-and-conquer strategy. They’re trying to divide the opposition to GOP Rape Economics by pitting workers against each other and stirring up resentment by falsely telling $40K-a-year cubicle slaves that state liquor store workers and Waste Management’s drivers make $100K, when the liquor clerk actually makes $28,000 and the garbage truck driver gets paid $56,000 for a dirty, dangerous, and physically arduous job. They do this by counting two workers with similar names as one employee, adding in benefits and employer taxes, counting vacation pay twice, and so on. Look for much more of this — the people who got the Idiot Class to believe Obama is a foreign-born Muslim will be easy to convince that everyone except them is making $100,000 a year.
Hey Rog–
Allow me to enlighten you on a few things.
Oba-Mao made the Drill Baby Drill announcement because indications are rising oil prices peaking at record highs in 2012 (his re-election contest year).
Take a look at Oil Future Prices. Lots of trading in the $120–130/barrel price range for 2011 and 2012 Futures.
I have made Gold plays to capitalize on this inflationary move.
If Oba-Mao cannot stop the move to record oil prices, he’s got another serious re-election problem on top of a mountain of others. But this one will really cost him votes.
High energy prices will kill any economic expansion.
Also watch what happens in Vallejo, California.
The Judge has already set aside some Union contracts. The big one still to be resolved is related to Government Worker Pensions.
Many, many municipalities and states are in the same postion. Unsustainable promises.
The idea of Government Employees retiring at 55 while private sector workers go until 65 and still have little saved is not going to fly.
Lots & lots of litigation ahead.
Government Employee Unions vs. everyone else.
No where else in the world could Sean Hannity make the kind of coin doing what he’s doing.
Why can’t he just stick to conservative ideals in politics and leave it at that? Why does he want to kill the Golden Goose by pandering to Teabaggers by envoking a domestic terrorists like Timothy McVeigh?
What do McVeigh, al Qeada, Hannity and Teabaggers have in common? They all hate America’s Governmet of the People, By the People and For the People.
@3 Of course, in the mind of any Cheap Labor Conservative(tm) worth his golf shoes, there’s no such thing as a “sustainable promise”.
re 2: Or — he’s co-opted your 2010 election meme. It won’t go into effect for years and in the meantime, we’ll be developing alternative energy sources with the billions set aside for that purpose.
Sucks to be you.
Teabaggers are cheering some right wing Jesus Freeeeks for planning to kill cops. These teabagging idiots have NO coherent set of moral principles.
Yeah, baby.
You and Daddy have mail. And cooties.
Mr Cynical @3, if your knowledge of stock trading is as bad as state employees’ retirement systems, especially Washington State, then you must not do very well. Employees who could retire at age 55 were hired before 1978, there are not too many of those left now. After that date, the retirement age is 65. If an state employee retires before that age they are penalized heavily. The further they go from age 65 their retirement check becomes so small they can’t afford to live on it. Also the latest retirement plan only pays half as much as the two older plans.
If you hate Washington State’s retirement plans, you must really hate the military’s. After twenty years of service, some where around 40 years old, they can retire. Unlike state workers who pay into their system, like a IRA or a 401k, the service people don’t pay into their retirement plan. It is an extra benefit that most working people don’t get.
You know Cynical, you come across as a greedy, jealous man, thinking that someone is getting more than you and yours. If you don’t think a service person after twenty years of dangerous, demanding, physical work, or a state worker with also demanding, physical, and sometimes dangerous work, who also paid into his retirement doesn’t deserve their retirements, then you are truly pathetic and un-American.
In a late ’60s photo, Dwight Macdonald (America’s 2nd or 3rd or 4th or 5th best writer) is wearing this button … Who is/was McCarthy?
[ ]A. Activist Jenny
[ ]B. Writer Mary
[ ]C. Activist Joe
[ ]D. Dummy Charlie
Tea Partiers sucking out of the public trough – including our own Liberty Belle. Typical.
http://blogs.alternet.org/spea.....y-love-it/
This site has future prices quite a bit less than $120.
http://futures.tradingcharts.c.....?market=CL
@2
1. Obama ran on an “all of the above” energy policy. Drilling off the coast of the Carolina’s and in the Chukchi Sea is and has been part of that plan.
2. Oil’s record high was $145.29.
3. Oil prices will both go up and become more volatile over time. There is nothing Obama, or anyone else, can do to change this.
Chief Petty Officer @ 10:
Mr. Cynical Ass Clown has ZERO fucking idea about trading stocks.
He’s the only guy in the world who ALWAYS catches stocks at their very lowest and sells at the tip top.
He’s also the only guy in the world whose favorite team has won the Super Bowl every single fucking year since SB I.
He’s also the kind of guy who’d hold a stock position until it’s a loser because he doesn’t want to pay the capital gains tax. In his peanut mind it’s better to take a loss and not pay a TAX then to make even a slight profit and pay the C.G. tax.
He’s also attacks the mother’s of soldiers who’ve died in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Pat Tillman should be stripped of his Silver Star.
He’s piece of shit to be ignored, unless of course, you’re like me and you like stirring up the hornets nest just to watch him become all unhinged and angry. That’s when he goes on the attack and calls me an envious atheist.
What he really is, is a retired school teacher living off guvmint retirement that’s so shitty he had to move to Montana in order to live within his means at the bottom income ladder.
why does gbs hate teachers?
The video uses Hannity’s quote out of context and is disingenuous, btw. Hannity seems like a good, wholesome, Republican. I bet he enjoys a good lesbian, S&M, strip scene every now and again!
Maxie Pad @ 16:
I love teachers, I hate lying teachers like Mr. Cynical Ass Clown.
Gobbling Ball Sack…
ohhhh, I see….you hate teachers who dont think like you do….
fascist much?
got a poster of the Dear Leader above your bed?
@2
Good thing Obama and the congress raised mileage requirements!
That is over-the-top, even for Hannity. Yet, those people cheer. They are toxic. They don’t have the slightest notion what this nation’s founding values are. Fortunately, the Republican Party is tying its political future to these crackpots. Good luck with that strategy, you halfwits.
Glad we got that cleared up. I don’t like teachers who think about lying.
Hmmmm . . . you’re not such a dumb piece of shit after all.
not to worry PL, the political pendulum will swing back to the right eventually…and then back to the left again, and on and on.
It always has and always will…..
the kooks the far left and far right always fuck shit up…but at least they keep the pendulum swinging
@22…you mean like lying about raising taxes?
ohh…..that kind of lying is OK….
@2 Geez, Klown, why are you buying gold to hedge against oil going up, instead of oil stocks? I’m glad you’re not my investment adviser!
EXACTLY!!
READ — MY — LIPS.
NO — NEW — TAXES!!
Baaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa
Dolt!
Maxie @ 23
The pendulum will never swing as far to the right as you are. In this country, it’s never been that far and never will be.
@21
The quote’s taken out of context. The Big H was responding to something someone on the left said. We don’t need to do that sort of thing to make righties look like fools.
CPO @ 10 spews–
Folks in the private sector have lost their retirements. Unsustainable promises were made to State Employees because of Union Lobbying and Union bought & paid for Democrats who sold taxpayers down the river.
Something has to give CPO.
Your knee-jerk response is to throw out a sob story and name-calling.
The economy is very fragile.
Unsustainable promises to government employees who are users of resources & do not create wealth is the issue.
We must do something.
You cannot raise taxes without killing the economy.
I’m simply pointing out this is a huge issue that is not going away without some action that will have some consequence to someone.
Watch.
Agreed. They’re already fools. All we need to do is keep reminding everybody of it.
15. GBS spews:
Untrue
Untrue
GBS is envious. He spends his time gnashing his teeth over the success of others rather than focus on his own situation.
Now he is melting down with jealousy.
It’s pretty pathetic.
13. Ryan spews:
Look at the Call Options Ryan.
@27…the difference is: you voted for queen crook christine, I didnt vote for bush I.
feel like a sucker? well you should….
@28…and how far to the right is that? I didnt realize that following the constitution was a “far right wing” thing….
perhaps for you socialists/fascists, it is….
Maxis @ 35
Any chance you want to put your constitutional knowledge up against mine? How about respect for the Constitution? Don’t go there, Maxie. Really. I mean it.
pl@36 – he’s an ignorant coward..
Wow, Goldy posts a Kos TV clip and Stupes is nowhere to be seen.
Incredible…
@3 “Government Employee Unions vs. everyone else.”
Yeah, and we win, because in this country contracts are still enforceable.
@5 What the Klown Klass doesn’t realize is that when union contracts and public pensions aren’t enforceable anymore, all the bonds and other IOUs they own in their private retirement accounts won’t be, either.
@37…Racist YLB! how ya doing??
turning tricks yet?
@6 Cynical is pissed because Obama enacted the Mitt Romney Mandatory Health Insurance Plan.
Roger Rabbit Quiz
Here’s a pop quiz for you stupid teabaggers. Let’s see how alert you are.
What percentage of America’s approximately 50 million uninsured people are on welfare?
[ ] 1. 0%
[ ] 2. 15%
[ ] 3. 35%
[ ] 4. 48%
[ ] 5. 100%
Max, 27 people arrested for raping a 7 year old girl in Trenton, NJ. Are these some of your heterosexual friends? Maybe they even eat pussy like you.
@16 GBS doesn’t hate teachers. He only hates retired Republican teachers. Me, I don’t hate Cynical, I pity him. Sucks to be him.
@43…..well I dunno gman, maybe they do. But with that said, they should all be put to death for rape of a child.
no mercy for child rapists….ever.
@44…..goebbels rabbit and his fascination with hating other people who think differently.
just like his namesake. thank god people like goebbles rabbit are not in charge, or the streets would be running with the blood of the people they hate.
we have seen your type before goebbels rabbit: germany, russia, cambodia, china…..
@25 Well, apparently it is, because Reagan raised taxes 5 times and got away with it, although his understudy (the “read my lips” guy) didn’t when he tried it.
@46 – all heterosexuals too.
@48…your point?
@49 – heterosexuals are more violent and people hating people, the downfall of society.
@49 – heterosexuals are more violent and people hating people, the downfall of society.
I have a modest proposal for the moderator: Since 60% of Republicans think President Obama is a Socialist, and since Cynical’s use of the term “Oba-Mao” is ad hominem, inflammatory, and reinforces/promotes ignorance, bigotry, and hate, all posts where Cynical uses the term “Oba-Mao” should be deleted.
oh..here we go again with gman’s “heterosexuals will be the downfall of society” rant again.
..rolls eyes…
@52….curious…what does the term oba-mao have to do with bigotry? and how is it inflammatory?
strange, I didnt see such protests when the left was spouting “bush is hitler” and “bush is the devil”…
how many times was bush burned in effigy during anti-war or anti-bush protests? lots.
now the same people that pulled those stunts are all of the sudden uber-sensitive to obama being called names?
LMFAO….
@30 “Folks in the private sector have lost their retirements. Unsustainable promises were made to State Employees because of Union Lobbying and Union bought & paid for Democrats who sold taxpayers down the river. Something has to give CPO.”
The pension issue is discussed in this Barron’s article.
http://online.barrons.com/arti.....rticle%3D1
Which, by the way, says Washington has one of the country’s best pension systems and is one of only 4 states that is 100% funded.
http://online.barrons.com/arti.....rticle%3D2
Oh, and Cynical, the reason a judge could abrogate Vallejo’s union contracts is because the city is in Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Washington is not.
No rant just the bitter truth. Go eat more pussy.
@56…..gman, feeling a little more self-loathing than usual tonight?
those same heterosexuals brought your sorry ass into the world too in case you forgot.
BUTT HEY! there is some good news for ya gman! RIcky Martin is out of the closet! ass-blasters unite!
@56..oh, and trust me, I will eat more pussy.
:)
@52 I just use the scroll key.
@58 Just make sure you wear a helmet so you don’t get killed like that guy in Enumclaw.
@46 “thank god people like goebbles rabbit are not in charge”
Last time I checked, we are, and the streets are running with the spittle dribbling down the chins of people like you.
I bought Chevron six weeks ago for $71 and it closed today above $76. I mean, how dumb can people be to sell CVX for $71 just before the summer driving season? This stock sports a 3.6% dividend yield, and has a single-digit forward P/E. What stupid idiot let me have it for $71? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Meanwhile, Klown’s gold hasn’t moved since January. I guess Republicans want me to have their money, because they’re selling me their oil stocks for dirt cheap, and hanging onto their gold … I think Cynical’s been listening to his own investment advice for too long.
@53
On that one we agree.
There goes Max the coward’s favorite politicians…
http://republicanoffenders.com/Pedophiles.html
One day Dori is lovin’ ’em for their low taxes and family values. The next day Max is calling for their heads..
What a great world in which our dear right wingers dwell..
wrong again goebbels rabbit..people like you are not in charge…and more than likely, never will be.
Maxie @ 54
You don’t think that calling our president “Oba-Mao” is childish, the kind of dig bullies use in playgrounds, as well as offensive? Comparing a democratically elected president with Mao is kind of preposterous, wouldn’t you say? And, “goebbels rabbit,” you don’t think that is making light of the monstrosity that was Goebbels? Cynny, Puddy, and you who use these nicknames, or whatever we might call them, show yourselves to be less than serious thinkers. You are jokes, not to be taken seriously.
Hannity being facetious. Heres your ilk tards at their finest. youtube.com/watch?v=z6b1VOAATNk&feature=player_embedded
@66
thats funny, you didnt seem to mention any problems with calling bush “hitler”…wonder why that is?
and you still didnt explain how calling obama “mao” was bigoted..
two things you avoided me thinks
nice try at evasion..but fail.
68
I always referred to Bush as GW or GWB. How offensive is that?
I didn’t say that referring to Obama as “Mao” is bigoted, it is simply playground idiocy. Comparing him to Mao is like . . . ah, well, talking to you folks is like pissing into the wind.
Yawnnn.. Poor Max was dropped on his dead.
Been touched ever since.
@70
turning tricks yet?
@65 I see you slept through the last 2 elections.
@70 “Poor Max was dropped on his dead.”
That’s what I suspected, too. See, e.g., #71 (and all of his preceding posts).
Good Friday. If you are discouraged, just contemplate these Bible Verses to understand the depth of God’s love for you and that He does understand our pain–
Matthew 26:2
Matthew 20:19
Matthew 27:31-38
Mark 15:32
Acts 2:36
Philippians 2:8
Hebrews 12:2
Mr Cynical @ 30, again you show your ignorance with this statement, “…government employees who are users of resources & do not create wealth is the issue.”
Without going into a long dissertation here are a few examples of public employees and agencies creating wealth. The sale of timber on DNR properties goes to public schools and bring jobs to the local economy. Cattle grazing permits, hunting, fishing, camping on DNR lands bring wealth to the state. Camping on State Park land brings wealth to the local communities from the campers buying supplies and fuel. Fish & Wildlife’s hatcheries provide hundreds of millions of dollars to the state economy by the fish they produce. WADOT keeps commerce flowing by keeping the passes open and highways repaired. Also if you are truly a retired school teacher like GBS says then you should know that the education and training provided by schools and colleges creates wealth.
Actions by the Governor and the legislators to reduce state government have happened and will happen again. Reductions in force, hiring freezes, closing programs within agencies, furloughs are just a few of these actions. And there is more to follow. The trouble with our state’s taxing system, sales taxes, things like RIF and furloughs will cut that revenue source even more since the state is a large employer thus making even more revenue shortfalls.
Just some little self-help info. for most of you Libtards:
Overcoming Liberalism: A 12-Step Program
Step 1: Admitting that you’re a liberal
This is the first step for every liberal on the way to recovery. It is important to understand that you’re not “progressive”, “moderate”, or “enlightened”. You’re a liberal, and you need to be honest with yourself about that fact.
Step 2: Pledge to support your beliefs with facts
Realize that truth is more important than moral superiority and is the only way to come over to reality. You must research beyond propaganda from the Sierra Club, Hilllary Clinton, and CNN to understand things as they really exist in the world. You can no longer argue based on “feelings” or emotion. You will actually need to back up your arguments with real information. This is a difficult step, because it means you can’t be lazy any more.
Step 3: Love America
This may be the most difficult step for those of you who are hippies and peaceniks. Admitting that the country you hate actually stands as a beacon to defend freedom throughout the world can make some of you physically ill. You might want to make a visit to a military cemetery to better understand that these men and women gave their lives so that you could spew hatred. Otherwise, you would currently be living in a police state that would never let you wear that nasty patchouli oil, let alone speak out against your government.
Step 4: Take a college level economics class
A Socialist is defined as someone who’s never taken an economics class. Most Socialists have a hard time balancing their checkbooks, let alone explaining the simple concept of supply-and-demand. It’s time to flush your complete ignorance of basic economics down the toilet and understand how the world actually functions. This concept will be very important for the next steps that involve communism, facts about corporations, and the inefficiencies of government.
Step 5: Say “no” to Communism and Socialism
While this concept is obvious to most of the free world, it is an important step in your recovery process. If you have difficulty with this step, spend a week living and working in Cuba.
Step 6: Corporations are not evil
If you’re reading this article on-line or in an email, it’s thanks to corporations. If you get some kind of paycheck, you can thank corporations. If you work for a nonprofit or the government, you still have to thank corporations. The nonprofit sector and the government wouldn’t have any money to pay you without corporations. It is also important that you understand that making a profit doesn’t equate to “greed” or exploitation. Capitalism has created the greatest society in our world’s history. Even communist countries need corporations to survive, so enjoy a nice, hot cup of reality.
Step 7: The government is inefficient
If you are one of those liberals who believe the government should tax us more in order to take care of society, you need to pay special attention to this step. You need to realize that government bureaucracy will waste most of your tax dollars, while the private sector will put your money to much better use. Even most Democrat politicians understand this to some degree, which is why Hillary’s socialist healthcare proposal was voted down by a majority of both Democrats and Republicans. Go to your local post office or call the IRS to ask a tax question if you need a reminder about government inefficiency.
Step 8: The earth is not your “mother”, and she’s not dying
The time has now come to stop your donations to Greenpeace, The Sierra Club, and every other EnviroNazi organization to which you belong. Face the reality that the earth, society and our environment are better off today than ever in recorded history and that they are continuing to improve. I realize that many of you tree huggers will have a very difficult time letting go of the Douglas Fir on this one. I would suggest reading The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg. Mr. Lomborg is a former member of Greenpeace and is currently a statistics professor at a university in Denmark. He set out to prove the world was in bad shape and ended up surprising himself by proving the exact opposite.
Step 9: Stop smoking the wacky tobacco
Okay, some of you might need to enter another 12-step program to complete this step. Marijuana is distorting your sense of reality, and you need to stop using it. Besides, you’ll save a fortune on snacks.
Step 10: Eat a hamburger
If God didn’t intend for us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat. You can put your sprouts and tofu on the hamburger, but get some meat into you. You’ll look and feel better than you ever imagined. You can always remind yourself that Nazi propaganda hailed Adolf Hitler as a vegetarian to get you through this step.
Step 11: Stop re-writing political history
It’s now time to admit that Bill Clinton is a lying-cheating-sexist-racist idiot, Hillary Clinton is one of the worst role models for women in this country, Al Gore really did lose the 2000 election by every vote tabulation you attempt, Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War and didn’t create the homeless problem, John McCain is not a typical Republican, and Jimmy Carter was once a nice man but no longer, and has one of the worst presidential records of anyone in history.
Step 12: Be a missionary
Once you have completed the previous steps to overcoming liberalism, it’s time for you to share this awakening with others who are not as fortunate. Go out amongst the liberal sheep and spread the good word of your freedom from the chains of ignorance that once bound you. Congratulations, and welcome to reality. Good luck!
@75 – Good start, but you don’t go far enough. Anyone who says that government workers don’t create wealth has their head so far up their ass you could toss them a flashlight and they could do their own colon screening. Without government, there is no stability. There is no transportation, communication, educational or financial infrastructure. There is no security. There is no medicine.
Now, maybe conservatives see such a state as a utopia (either that or they’re too stupid to see where their idiotic policies inevitably lead); but most sane people would call such a place “hell on earth.”
Instead of hating on government employees, people should be thankful for all the benefits–including opportunities for creating wealth– we enjoy every single day as a direct result of their labor.
Mark @ 76: Not that you care, because you would rather argue with a straw man, but here’s a short response:
“Step 1: Admitting that you’re a liberal”
Done, and proud of it.
“Step 2: Pledge to support your beliefs with facts”
Easy enough, facts tend to have a liberal bias.
“Step 3: Love America”
Been there, done that, still do.
“Step 4: Take a college level economics class”
I took four of them, not counting the economic theory included as part of Western Civilization (three quarters) or Western Political Theory (another three quarters).
Step 5: Say “no” to Communism and Socialism
Okay, no to Communism. Socialism, however, is a continuoum, as every industrialized nation has greater or lesser degrees of government control over means of production. The devil is in the details.
Step 6: Corporations are not evil
Like people, some are, and some aren’t.
Step 7: The government is inefficient
An overstatement, and the core of the wingnut philosophy. Some governmetn is inefficient at some things. Sometimes the greatist efficiency isn’t the best goal, especially in the pursuit of justice (the Nazis had a very efficient judiciary, especially in the final days of WWII, if you didn’t care about the outcome). In some things, government is more efficient than private enterprise.
“Step 8: The earth is not your “mother”, and she’s not dying”
Tell that to the polar bears.
“Step 9: Stop smoking the wacky tobacco”
Quit when I was 18.
“Step 10: Eat a hamburger”
I already eat too many hamburgers. I had one for lunch. My doctor is telling me to cut down, which I’m sure is good advice.
“Step 11: Stop re-writing political history”
You first.
“Step 12: Be a missionary”
I’m trying to schedule a vacation from work so I can go on a missions trip to Ecuador with my church. But we aren’t going to be talking politics.
““…government employees who are users of resources & do not create wealth is the issue.”
Let me think… soldiers, firefighters, paramedics, teachers, ferry workers. prosecutors, judges, jail guards … that’s a pretty broad brush you are painting there.
Every complicated system, such as our economy,requires infrastructure. Without it, we pretty much end up back in an uncivilized society, which in the words of British political theorist Thomas Hobbes, life was “nasty, cruel, brutish, and short”.
Sometimes heads of companies come in and they try to “cut the fat” by eliminating or drastically reducing everybody but the salesmen and some of the production workers. It can work for a short while, but problems are soon encountered. Parts aren’t ordered, shipping mistakes are made, salesmen use the wrong pricing structure, customers can’t get through to a representative, bills aren’t paid, regulations are ignored (the people that knew them are gone now), etc. Eventually the thing collapses, but often the guy who caused the problem is long gone by then.
It doesn’t work for private businesses, and it doesn’t work for government, either. Those programs/services were put there for a reason, and if you eliminate them you eventually find out why – the hard way. Bush paid the price when FEMA was dismantled in favor of outsourced contracts and local government doing most of it themselves – when Katrina hit the infrastructure of professionals who knew how to get priority supplies where they were needed were gone.
@57 – those same heterosexuals brought your sorry ass into the world too in case you forgot.
Max, my father is gay. Thanks for asking.
well that certainly explains a few things…
rhp @ 78
Nice job. They really don’t get it at all, do they?
@81 – yeah, like for one thing, you are a moron.
@83….go seek some psychological help…you really do need it…
@76 Mark, you don’t have to keep proving how STUPID you are, because we already know.
Step 1: Admitting that you’re a liberal
Of course I admit that I’m a liberal. I renounced the conservatism I grew up with and found my true political self over 40 years ago. It was the best thing I ever did for myself and my country.
Step 2: Pledge to support your beliefs with facts
We do that every day on HA, but no amount of well-researched information will ever satisfy people who are impervious to facts.
Step 3: Love America
We do, you don’t. Your actions turn your rhetoric into empty hot air. You have to go all the way back to Eisenhower to find a Republican president who didn’t treat the Constitution like toilet paper.
Step 4: Take a college level economics class
“A Socialist is defined as someone who’s never taken an economics class.”
Given your inability to get this simple definition right, it doesn’t matter how many economics classes you took, or whether you went to college, because the instruction was wasted on you. To which I would add that, inasmuch as I had a perfect straight-A gradepoint average in my college economics minor, I’m not inclined to listen to your silly pontificating on economics, a subject about which you know nothing.
Step 5: Say “no” to Communism and Socialism
That’s exactly what I did when I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1968 and risked my life in Vietnam to fight the communists. And your contribution to saving the world from communism is — ? What I’m asking, boy, is whether you walked the walk like I did, because talk is cheap in this world.
Step 6: Corporations are not evil
Neither are cars, but that doesn’t mean you release the parking brake and let them roll down the hill with no one at the wheel, because they’re liable to cause damage if they’re not intelligently steered.
The current situation we have in this country of CEOs and captive boards accountable to neither shareholders nor regulators simply isn’t acceptable. Neither is the Wingnut Court’s decision to allow corporations to spend money belonging to their shareholders on political campaigning that isn’t approved by the shareholders. That needs to be addressed legislatively, and if the only way to address it is by repealing the statutes that allow corporations to exist, then let’s do it, because we need democracy more than we need corporations.
Step 7: The government is inefficient
Democracy is a less efficient method of making societal decisions than any form of totalitarianism, but is superior to the latter on every other ground, not least the morality of results.
As far as bureaucratic efficiency goes, most experiments with privatization have not produced cost savings for taxpayers. The reality is that corporate bureaucracies are indistinguisable from government bureaucracies. In the health care sector, private insurance companies spend more than 20 times as much on A & O as the government-run Medicare and VA programs do.
So, wingnut arguments that we should privatize government functions because private companies are vastly more efficient just don’t hold water. That’s bullshit.
Step 8: The earth is not your “mother”, and she’s not dying
Lomborg is a quack, you fuckers have no right to destroy the planet — it doesn’t belong to you — and we’re not going to let you.
Step 9: Stop smoking the wacky tobacco
And get a lobotomy like you did? You’re so fucking removed from reality there’s no other explanation for your stupidity.
Step 10: Eat a hamburger
I don’t mind if you kill yourself* (*heh! just kidding! wingnut joke) but it’s idiots like you who are driving up health care costs for all of us.
It’s pretty goddam obvious you haven’t talked to a doctor in the last 25 years, because if you did, he’d tell you to stop eating beef. Never mind e. coli and the endless tainted beef recalls; even when the stuff isn’t tainted, it’s bad for your heart and arteries — so bad that my doctor called beef “a killer.”
You don’t have to be a vegetarian. There’s fish, poultry, and so on. Fish is naturally good for you, but there’s a problem that we’re polluting the oceans so much that fish now contain a lot of bad stuff — some types are worse than others, so research this before you eat. Also, refer back to item #8 above.
Step 11: Stop re-writing political history
Despite Bill Clinton’s zipper problem, and propensity for fudging — call it lying if you like — under oath, he still was a thousand-times-better president than your recently departed organ-grinder monkey. This is not an endorsement of Bill Clinton’s character; all I’m saying is that when you vote for someone who makes Bill Clinton look good, there’s a serious problem with your delusion that you’re some kind of “patriot.”
“Al Gore really did lose the 2000 election”
Bullshit.
“Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War”
Bullshit. The Cold War isn’t over; there’s still China, whose leverage against the U.S. was immensely strengthened by G. W. Bush’s reckless borrowing from the Chinese. As for the late and unlamented Soviet empire, many people contributed to its fall. I would put Gorbachev at #1 on that list, with Pope John Paul II close behind, and Lech Walesa also belongs on that list, as do (going farther back) Truman and Churchill (who drew the line in the sand) and all the Republican and Democratic presidents who followed them. Does Reagan belong on that list? Sure, but the rightwing claim that he single-handedly brought down the U.S.S.R. is poppycock.
“John McCain is not a typical Republican”
I agree. He spent most of his life as a dissolute playboy, and during his Navy flying career single-handedly wrecked more taxpayer-owned airplanes than most entire squadrons do, in fact he did only one thing noteworthy in his entire life, which was refusing to be sent home ahead of his fellow POWs because of who his daddy was. That one act puts him in a class way above every other Republican politician of recent memory, nearly all of whom were low-life draft dodgers.
“Jimmy Carter was once a nice man but no longer, and has one of the worst presidential records of anyone in history.”
Jimmy Carter was and remains a decent man who wasn’t tough enough to be president in the kind of world we unfortunately must live in. But he wasn’t the guy who cut a deal with our Iranian enemies to keep our diplomats hostage until after the election and then secretly pay off the Iranians with arms — that would be your boy Reagan.
Step 12: Be a missionary
It’s never occurred to me before, but come to think of it, that’s what I am. I’m doing God’s work here on HA. You, not so much. You’re a mere deluded fool.
Lomborg isn’t even a qualified scientist; he’s a political scientist who dabbles in economic statistics and cost-benefit analysis, in which fields he is a dilletante.
Many articles and commentaries have been published which take Lomborg apart, as he should be, but one of the more important recent works is “The Lomborg Deception” by Howard Friel and Thomas Lovejoy. This is a meticulously researched book that exposes Lomborg’s use of footnotes and sources as a sham. Other authors who have tracked Lomborg’s assertions to their purported sources agree these sources don’t say what Lomborg says they do.
Lomborg is a charlatan costumed in ersatz academic togs. If you want to debate environmental issues, find a more legitimate source than this dishonest polemicist.
Markie @ 76
I don’t suppose you recognize that Rabbit just shoved your ass down your throat, even though you might be currently be choking, do you?