Can’t Bring Yourself to Type the Word “Ass”?
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I totally agree that there is tremendous hypocrisy amongst the “self-reliant” rural Republicans (well, with all Republicans, really) – happily sucking up resources from Gommorah/Seattle. This is a microcosm of the entire country, with rural/Republican zones receiving far more services than they pay for, the resources for this coming from the coasts, specifically the cities on the coasts, and cities in general.
However, shouldn’t the rich pay more in taxes? Isn’t that the basis of a progressive tax system? Aren’t we in Seattle and the Puget Sound in general, statistically wealthier than our eastern fellow citizens?
From each according to your ability, to each according to your need, right?
I say this in all earnestness – shouldn’t we be assisting our down-on-their-luck bretheren to the East because they cannot help themselves?
Waiting for our conservatives to weigh in on this issues . . . waiting . . . waiting . . .
*crickets*
re 1: Not when they are ignorant ingrates who vote against not only their own self interst, but my self interset as well.
Look for two years of divisive BS from the right. We should start naming our Democratic Bills as they are really intended.
“Healthcare for Dumbfucks” would be a good start.
I used Rep. Glenn Anderson (R-Fall City) nifty PDF (link at SLOG) to calculate how much the red counties are sucking from the green counties.
Ready for this? $2,465,600,000 (calculated from 2008 data)
How much was it we needed to balance the state budget again?
@3
I like that – “Healthcare for Dumbfucks”
# 1: I don’t have any problem at all with the wealthier portions of the state subsidizing the less-wealthy portions. For example, transportation expenses (as a percentage of population) is always going to be greater in a rural area, where there are fewer taxpayers per mile of road.
What I, and many others here, don’t like is the continued insistence by Republicans on the eastern side of the state that somehow they are subsidizing those of us in more urban areas on the west side of the Cascades. It’s simply wrong, and Goldy’s articles on this have proven that repeatedly.
Hey, I don’t mind bailing out a friend or family member who’s down on their luck. I will probably put a limit on it if the requests are repeated. But if they loudly insist to everyone that I’m stealing from them even while I’m sending them money, then that’s another matter all together.
I think, for me, the notion of the more wealthy paying more that supports the less wealthy is a no brainer.
I think that this is probably a fair situation, in terms of justice.
However, the Republican hypocrisy about such ‘welfare’ is nauseating, and all too familiar. It needs to be made loudly clear and widely understood that the only way communities in rural areas survive is through the support they receive from sustainable places like cities.
(Cue wingnut cries about cities being dependent on rural farmers – which while partly true ignores the interdependence between the places of wealth generation and places of food generation. Once again we get back to the fact that we’re all in this together, and the Republicans claiming moral superiority over their urban/brown/liberal/feminist are once again full of shit.)
It’s about time Western Washington “secede” from the state and become our OWN state. I’m tired of the welfare queens of Eastern Washington taking all MY money!
I’m sorry Mr. Rural Republican that your LIFESTYLE CHOICE was to pick a low paying government sponsored job and not a high paying high tech job like mine. I’m sorry you don’t make enough money to pay for your OWN city services, so you come crawling to me to ask for MY money to pay for your rural lifestyle choice. Why should I pay for your mistakes? So you didn’t want to get an education or get a good paying job and now that’s MY fault and I have to subsidize your schools and city? Socialist!
(sarcasm)
Sure looks like Republican counties being fed with handouts from Democratic counties. Now we know who the real “welfare queens” are.
The amount of state money flowing to greedy rural Republicans is nothing compared to the federal subsidies these leeches get in the form of “reclamation” projects costing in the hundreds of billions. Taxpayers have spent, on average, over $2 million on every single farm, ranch, and homestead west of the Mississippi River to support a lifestyle that wouldn’t exist anywhere except in cowboy movies without gummint socialism.
You know, I’m about as leftist as it gets (-8, -4.5) but you know what really bugs me?
My liberal brothers and sisters are pussies. I couldn’t believe some of the comments at Goldy’s slog post.
Heads Up: These fuckers (the Rs and their ilk)are not only criminally insane, they literally want to kill us!
This is war, motherfuckers!
And the sad fact is that the other side is likely to continue to prevail because they understand this — and never give up.
Our empathy for them is killing the rest of us. Fuck them! Let them eat dirt!
The welfare counties
The counties who are sucking at the state’s teat the hardest.
Lincoln gets $1,961.90 per person
Adams gets $1,770.49 per person
Ferry gets $1,707.01 per person
Yakima gets $1,688.41 per person
Garfield gets $1,478.26 per person
Stevens gets $1,313.77 per person
Asotin gets $1,267.28 per person
Columbia gets $1,204.82 per person
Klickitat gets $1,200.00 per person
Okanogan gets $1,171.15 per person
Pend Oreille gets $1,167.94 per person
Douglas gets $1,054.55 per person
Franklin gets $1,030.46 per person
Wahkiakum gets $1,012.05 per person
@12
Dang, Yakima County has enough people and businesses that they shouldn’t be that high on the list.
Is there a local conservative blog or two, that we should post this at, to get their opinion on this horrible socialist program?
New slogan for the state Republican party. Oh hell take it national, Rick Perry is clearly a believer in the new right. “From each State (County) according to their abilities, to each State (county) according to their needs.”
Yes it’s blatant troll bait but the flaming hypocrisy seems to have stunned them to silence.
The only thing the Republicans can count on is that the MSN will never point this out.
We need to rebrand this giveaway as “Handouts for Rubes and Republicans”.
I can see it now: Republicans vote overwhelmingly in favor od Handouts for Rubes and Republicans.
Rubepublicans?
Let’s bring this conversation to Sound Politics.
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/014547.html
What could be more predictable than an editorial in the Republican Times?
“STATE Rep. Reuven Carlyle urges lawmakers to consider which of Washington’s 39 counties pay more in taxes and which receive their fair share back in state spending. King County, as the prime example, generates 42 percent of taxes but receives only 26 percent in state expenditures. That’s an interesting fact, but do not go there. It is no way to run a state.”
I just took your advice and went over to Sound Politics
OUCH
what a cesspool. Never been there before, but my gawd, how do those people get through the day?
@20: That particular post is less than totally insane and relatively untypical of (un)SP.
If you click around you’ll soon realize it’s basically the local Freeper analog.
The blog linked below is a good way to get a sense of the crazy without actually going there:
http://vikingkitties.blogspot.com/Freeper Madness
Arrrgh! Screwed up the link @21). This should work:
Freeper Madness
It’s kind of like watching a slo-mo car wreck over there.
Also, on most threads there aren’t many posters, and many of the comments seem to be dominated by Pudge and Timmeh Eyman – yuck. Not much in way of community.
There are so many idiots posting here with remarks like “This is war, motherfuckers!”
So far on this thread there is only you.
Re: Sound Politics
It’s rather funny reading Tim Eyman rally the troops in such a condescending way. He almost pulls earnest off… just kidding. It’s obvious he knows he is the leader of the blind.
It appears that this topic is more about hypocrisy and not a discussion about tax redistribution and the potential unfairness of it.
Would anyone really change state tax revenue distribution because the recipients of the taxes don’t share the same political views, or because they they are ungrateful?
Why not just make the topic, “People can be hypocrites and I proved it!” and turn the comments off? There doesn’t really appear to be anything to debate here.
@27,
With respect to levy equalization I would.
While I agree with Goldy that the state basic grant is currently insufficient and as such is not meeting the constitutional obligation, I prefer to treat that as a separate issue.
As it stands levy equalization amounts to a property tax subsidy to districts below the levy lid. These are districts with untapped local capacity. But rather than raise a local levy to improve their schools, property owners in these districts prefer to receive the money from others. To pay for JV football, band uniforms, and art room supplies. I object.
The transfer of funding serves as a fig leaf. It allows business and civic leaders in these districts to maintain a pretense that they “manage” their operations better. Presumably because they are “conservative”. It’s bullshit. And all this really accomplishes is to keep their property taxes artificially low. If things like after school arts programs, field trips, JV sports, and math fairs are important enough to them, they’ll raise a goddamn levy and pay for them. Either that, or these very same proudly conservative business and civic leaders can face the kids in their communities and tell them to fuck off. We’ll see how proud that makes them feel.
re 27: When someone takes my tax dollars and votes in Republicans who, in turn, support a ‘world economy’ that, boiled down to its real meaning, is just a way to use slave labor without the moderating effects of tariffs, then they better look out.
They should not get my tax dollars.
@18, 21, 22
I’ve had a bit of fun jousting with someone called “Pudge” over at SP.
What an asshole.
Very much like Puddy, he goes on it great detail, trying to overwhelm with word-salad, all the while mangling the language and making a mockery of debate. And he likes to bandy about the work “science” Makes me cringe.
Anybody know this guy?
@30
I don’t know who is his but I’ve seen his name on the Seattle Times comments and I think Publicola.
On a different note, how many of you go to Drinking Liberally?
Those green counties are where all the wealth is produced by the private sector. That’s why Thurston and Pierce Counties aren’t green: they’re mostly populated with government jobs. Government can’t create wealth: only the private sector can do that, and, in this state, it’s done in those counties that are green on the map. It’s also where the “progressives” of every ilk are likely to congregate. I don’t think of Tonasket as a “progressive” mecca, but I’m sure most people would think of Seattle as one.
Are Microsoft and Boeing Republican companies?
re 32: “Government can’t create wealth: only the private sector can do that….”
Roads, bridges, infrastructure of all sorts, education.
We have the ‘private sector’ to thank for that wealth producing stuff?
Sure.
@32
you have never been to Skagit or Whatcom county have you? They are rural and heavy on the farming.
Hardly the places where “liberals congregate”..
I think biggest explanation of the chart has to do with population density more than anything else….and of course goldfarb did not mention the size and scope of the indian resevations in the areas he is trying to insult.
nice try goldfarb, but you fail again…just like on the olberman screed…
LS @ 30
Oh Pudge is quite well known in these parts.
Go over to effinunsound.com and do a search on Pudge. Carl, Lee and company have written extensively on him.
Pudge’s real name is Chris Nandor and he’s one of the principal developers of Slashdot.com
After trading barbs with him a bit he’s bound to call you a liar.