The American Spectator

CB| 3.12.10 @ 6:48AM

I usually think about two or three of the items you listed every day. Now I have many more to think about. I will share this article with my seventeen year old son so he will have a better understanding as to why I yell at the TV....

crookedwren| 3.12.10 @ 9:03AM

I yell at the TV, too. I guess it's a little like Alice yelling at the durned Looking Glass.

Alan Brooks| 3.12.10 @ 12:30PM

O don't watch TV or listen to hate radio (right or left, it's all gobbledygook) anymore. It's not what is being said, it is the tastelessness of it, based on revenge, it used to be living well was the best revenge, now it is transfering aggression by way of vulgarity. Those involved in the 'Adult' (immature) industry are getting revenge.
We wont be destroyed like Rome, but as liberty seeps down to the grass roots the venomous vulgarity at the bottom will flow upwards.
Every problem we solve causes other problems; for every gain there is a corresponding loss.
And what we lose most is dignity and peace of mind. Want dignity? go to a decent house of worship-- you wont find dignity anywhere else.
Welcome to the monkey house, welcome to the 21st century:
"All Things Tastless and Vulgar"

Alan Brooks| 3.12.10 @ 12:36PM

All Things Tasteless and Vulgar.

Sam Vaughn| 3.12.10 @ 2:30PM

Alan, once again you give me pause to think...in that spirit I net it out differently... we're seeing the last gasp of the Baby Boomers in politics. We all know them, adolescents who fondly recall the glory of tear gas, trashing the student center and ranting like a 13 year old's run amok with a loudspeaker. They've run through the dormitory hallways of life, sucking the life out of Daddy's credit card, perpetual rebellion from being responsible for anything whatsoever. Now they want to hand that glory (debt burden) down to the next generation only to spend their retirement years still running through dormitories with a bong in one hand and their children's paycheck's in the other.

I never thought I would see an entire country in peril because a bunch of rich baby boomers never had the courage to grow up.

Alan Brooks| 3.12.10 @ 4:09PM

As Dickens (not that Dickens is a writer I would read more than one book of) might say: it is the best of times and the worst of times.
Things are better than you think, but worse than you think.
Better because materially things are improving. Worse because that means a Manson can do as well as a Mother Teresa. Technoscience is no respecter of persons. Manson is about 77; in the past he would have lived to maybe 70. And his standard of living is far better than that of innocent homeless people. THe Gitmo detainees are doing even better than manson is, because it looks bad in the papers if it leaks out they aren't getting good meals and so forth. Dearie me, only ORGANIC falafels for those dear little jihadists at Gitmo.
We want to be humane, but that means the v. worst people may do worse than the best people. Jesus was crucified at age 33, but Manson is 77 and counting.
Again, material progress is no respecter of persons.

So much for justice.

Alan Brooks| 3.12.10 @ 4:45PM

No, wait Manson is 75. But here is a quote from which you can infer how little justice exists:

'As the fortieth anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders approached, in July 2009, Los Angeles magazine published an "oral history", in which former Family members, law-enforcement officers, and others involved with Manson, the arrests, and the trials offered their recollections of — and observations on — the events that made Manson notorious. In the article, Juan Flynn, a Spahn Ranch worker who had become associated with Manson and the Family, said:
"Charles Manson got away with everything. People will say, 'He's in jail.' But Charlie is exactly where he wants to be."

Tenn Slim| 3.13.10 @ 8:22AM

Sam
Your post is spot on. The adolescents really never did grow up. The USA is being run by children. Amen.
Semper FI
end

ExPat| 3.15.10 @ 4:46AM

Sam,
I am one of the adolescents you refer to from the 60's. Fortunately I grew up. David Horowitz grew up, as did countless others. The problem is that, as you say, Those in power now never did. God help us!

basur| 10.27.10 @ 6:37AM

When ever the government refers to "green jobs" think of three wonderful things: dark, cold, poor.

Kenny| 3.12.10 @ 7:08AM

Is this how civilizations die -- they acquire so much wealth that people lose their common sense?

The one madness I'd like to add is that the killing of millions in innocent unborn babies goes on without barely a blink of any eye while at the same time you have to darn near move earth and heaven to execute a guilty murdered. Go figure.

DukeD| 3.12.10 @ 11:55AM

“The one madness I'd like to add is that the killing of millions in innocent unborn babies goes on without barely a blink of any eye…”
Right on Kenny.... I couldn't agree more! Perhaps a starker contrast would be how we move heaven and earth (or peoples homes) for the survival of some owl's nest yet we have killed millions of babies... that's right.... babies. Sometimes I get so sad about that............

bobu| 3.12.10 @ 7:09AM

It is painfully clear that this "ACORN Administration" is a criminally- destructive enterprise. In an earlier, saner time this crowd would have been considered traitors.

ontheright| 3.12.10 @ 9:59AM

McCarthy comes to mind...

Bill Kipling| 3.12.10 @ 12:35PM

Senator mcCarthy was RIGHT..look at the Verona Files from the KGB

Jon B| 3.13.10 @ 5:07AM

Traitors? how so?

Yet when Mike Connell, Bush's top IT guy for 20 years, admitted he helped Bush steal elections electronically as early as 2000, and especially in 2004 in Ohio, MSM barely covered it. Connell, under subpoena, had already revealed he was ready to testify. Threatened by Rove in the summer of 2008, he died under suspicious circumstances when his plane crashed December 19th, 2008. Someone had sabotaged his plane twice since the summer threat, and he had it taken care of, but not the last time...

Is Connell a one off fruit loop? Not according to his co-worker Stephen Spoonamore who did testify about stolen election in Georgia when Saxt Chambliss, down by 6 points in the polls, won the next day by 7 points over Max Cleland. Spoonamore found that the President of Diebold installed a patch in heavily democratic districts that altered the vote totals.

Connell said that he created the program that sent the votes of Diebold machines to a Republican firm in Tennessee before they were sent to the central Ohio tabulating computers. Connell also directed the job of deleting the White House emails to the same firm.

Actual election theft admitted by conservatives with a conscience. You've NEVER heard about it. But you think ACORN is a problem. You guys are a joke really.

Nick| 3.13.10 @ 8:43AM

Pay no attention to Jon B, folks.

He peddles lies and marxist propaganda. Oops! Redundant.

Like the lie that President Reagan gave the Soviets $425 billion.

After 3 days of trying to belittle those of us who called him out on his lie, he finally admitted his fabrication.

Although, now he claims it was a mistake That it was actually $425 million, but he offers no source. Just his deeply flawed memories.

Al| 3.12.10 @ 7:23AM

As long as the media defends and promotes the madness, the wheels will stay off the cart.

stu| 3.12.10 @ 7:33AM

clearly we are experiencing the "progressive" destruction of the USA

Warrior| 3.12.10 @ 11:48AM

Sadly, it has been both parties who have led us here. While the progressives like to use the "express", the GOP used the local while they had the power. In contradiction of our Kenyan in chief, we need to use chain saws and bunker busters on our government and budget, the scalpel is to small, dirty and controlled by very shaky and unreliable hands.

I'm ready to break out the tar and feathers and the next tea party. Let's really go old school.

Richard Baker| 3.12.10 @ 7:50AM

Time to water the Liberty Tree.

Don| 3.12.10 @ 8:47AM

Ensuring every household has access to highspeed broadband internet, before ensuring that every high school graduate can read.

rjgarfunkel| 3.12.10 @ 8:50AM

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "that the price of civilization was paying taxes." Simplistic rhetoric about taxes won't solve inherent problems. Our federal taxes are quite low, reflective to the rest of the civilized world. The average upper middle class taxpayer pays about 18% taxes after deductions, and the pay roll tax for SSI and Medicare provide important benefits and a safety net to all Americans. I suggest when the the writers to this blog, who wish to return to States' Rights and the Articles of Confederation want to protect the country, go raise your local militia with your muskets. I also suggest that you and your parents return your SSI checks when they come in the mail, and pay your doctors directly. Head in the sand luddite perspectives beg the issue of reality.

Richard J. Garfunkel
Host of The Advocates
wvox 1460 am radio
www.wvox.com

crookedwren| 3.12.10 @ 9:01AM

I WOULD return any SSI check I received -- if I had never had to pay into the system. BY "LAW," I've had to put whatever little I had there -- instead of into my own retirement plan.

So, no, they've forced me into the system, and I'm not wealthy enough to return to them what they've taken from me. The fact that they haven't invested it, so that there is enough increase, is not something I can control. In fact, they've STOLEN my money, used my SSI money for other things.
If they were a private Corporation, I could bring criminal charges against them -- and they would go to jail.

Alice once again.

tonypal| 3.12.10 @ 9:17AM

Federal taxes are quite low according to who, you? Here's an idea for you and your radio audience: You can voluntarily pay more taxes. Just calculate the absolute minimum amount you need to survive and send the balance to the US Treasury.

Pete| 3.12.10 @ 9:51AM

Fellas, forgive Dick. He knows he is about to go off the air due to lack of audience. You just can't spew BS all the time and expect to make a living unless you are a politician.

victor| 3.13.10 @ 1:35PM

Well then, let's all give "Richard" a piece of our minds, God knows he could use one, on Wednesday at 12 Noon @ 914-636-1460
You have to be quick, he only has an hour to fill.

victor| 3.13.10 @ 1:47PM

Ooops.
That should be 914-636-0110

Harry| 3.12.10 @ 9:59AM

Mr. Garfunkel seems to have missed state taxes, sales taxes and all the "invisible" taxes tacked on to everything we buy. At the end of the day, the total rate can get over 50%.

jeff| 3.12.10 @ 11:57AM

No kidding. Every thing that moves or doesn't move is taxed. Look at any invoice and there is some kind of tax added in. Cable tv, phone, cell phone, airline ticket, water bill, electric bill, rental car, and the list goes on.

Meanwhile federal, state county and local goverments fail at providing even the most basic services while the media scolds us for being unwilling to kick in even more money.

Paul| 4.25.10 @ 1:09AM

Well said Jeff. Totally agree that everythings got taxed. They added taxsss to everythings that they can possiblely think of.

ontheright| 3.12.10 @ 10:10AM

Richard,

With all due respect...the average upper middle class tax-payer pays closer to 50% of every dollar earned on taxes (all types); making an argument "...taxes are quite low..." and isolating the conversation of tax burdens to only the income tax is disingenuous and borderline fraudulent.

Regarding returning SSI checks that have been bought and paid for by retiring seniors, you are delusional...the quick and easy fix - remove every able bodied person from the welfare roles. Then, attack the blatant fraud in MOST govt. run entitlement programs - no more turning a blind eye. Hold politicians AND those who perpetrate fraud against the system (read: taxpayer) accountable and throw them in jail! Then, abolish the fed income tax and implement fair tax - rates can be discussed/debated as to what is truly fair. Then, drastically reduce the size of govt. and cut spending in half, at least.

Jim Woodward| 3.12.10 @ 12:06PM

It might surprise you to know that you cannot return your SSI checks. Plus once you are eligible the government will hound you to death to get those checks to you whether you want them or not.
You can of course donate them to charity if you are well off.

mujalan| 3.12.10 @ 3:22PM

Richard,

As other here have duly pointed out regarding SS checks the Feds have first confiscated the money and held it a while before giving it back. In the meantime they have spilled quite a bit of it.

FN| 3.12.10 @ 9:02AM

The values of the weak prevail," wrote Friedrich Nietzsche, "because the strong have taken them over as devices of leadership."
This brief and rather cryptic remark contains virtually all we need to know about why contemporary movements like multiculturalism, feminism, homosexualism, and anti-white racism are such powerful trends in modern American and other Western societies.

Robert Pinkerton| 3.12.10 @ 12:28PM

Eric Hoffer once wrote (I forget chapter & verse, and would be grateful for citation directions.) "Woe to the weak when they are preyed upon by the weak."

J.C.EATON| 3.12.10 @ 9:09AM

Dick: First, Justice Holmes was a very scarred and troubled misanthrope whose utterance and your quote was "simplistic rhetoric." Secondly, SSI is an off the Social Security books program that takes tax money and compensates handicapped people. Your use of the term is ignorant. Third, who gives a rat's ass what your so-called civilized nations pay? They"re pretty much bankrupt too and don"t spend siccum to defend themselves, instead leave it to our benificence to pay for it. Fourth, your showy f
reference to the Articles must have seemed glib to you but not to me and totally misses the point you stumble upon. That point being IF the taxpayer funded philanthopists you're so giddy over followed the CONSTITUTION in any meaningful respect, we would have not only happier governance but LOWER taxes. Luddite twit.

Ken (Old Texican)| 3.12.10 @ 10:48AM

Heh!
I have a sneaky suspicion that (Tom S Missouri) is a "false flag" plant here among us from the communists, (pardon the shorthand).

Fellow conservatives, please keep in mind that this attempt to smear us is only a beginning of these "false flag" operations. Some of them might actually be "provocateur" activities employing violence as time goes by.

Be aware...and be alert.

The American people of good will cannot be beaten.

At the end of the day we will crush the communists, (pardon the shorthand), and the whack job haters.

Cal Mark| 3.12.10 @ 11:52AM

"...just as the right wing is inevitably proven wrong..."

The only leftie president to be reelected on his own merits in the last 3 generations had to move right--and even then, won significantly less than half the popular vote.

You were saying?

Troll Watch| 3.12.10 @ 11:52AM

I have to agree with copyleft and not Ken on this one. These Corporatist fools like copyleft are closer to being fascists than communists. They want to shake down industries not have the state take them over. He is already using the jingoistic REAL American talk. If he develops a racial angle we'll graduate him to Nazi. If you must respond to copyleft I propose you refer to him as Il Duce.

bob s| 3.12.10 @ 12:33PM

TW: I'm sure you mean to refer to him/her/it as "Il Douche"

saleboter| 3.12.10 @ 10:51AM

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Richard| 3.12.10 @ 11:25AM

Thanks for mentioning Robert Howard. I did not know his amazing story until I followed up on your reference. He was a giant to be sure.

Richard| 3.12.10 @ 11:58AM

When ever the government refers to "green jobs" think of three wonderful things: dark, cold, poor.

Petronius| 3.12.10 @ 12:08PM

We face these present circumstances because our "conservative" parents lied to us. We were told to embrace honor and fair play, and obey their rules which they violated in front of us on a daily basis.
When we followed suit, we got punished. Their duplicity and hypocritical effrontery spawned liberalism. Not a day passed back in grade school when I didn't overhear somebody who had been punished without cause proclaim, "when I have kids, I'm gonna let them do whatever they want."
So here we are: blinded in Bob's kulturesmog and oblivious to the fact that honorable behavior seldom leads to success. A basketball coach at St. Louis U lost his job because he refused to recruit sociopaths with illegitimate kids. Go figure. The bottom line is we are governed by mobocracy. Only large cohorts of grievants and supplicants get their way. White individuals have only one that reflects and echoes traditional American values. Were it not for the National Rifle Assn. we would already be long gone. The hippies and their spawn hold the whip and declare their intent to subjugate us. The Republicans could care less as they have money and gofors hastily renting them apartments in Zurich. And we can have as many teaparties as will, but with the trash controlling the state and all cultural institutions, we're for the chop. The coin is in the air.

DNeal| 3.12.10 @ 3:53PM

Petronius,

Your parents were correct in paraphrasing the Bible. Do not return evil for evil. Do you wish to become as that which you abhor? A true man of principle maintains his way despite the wicked.

Petronius| 3.12.10 @ 6:35PM

Yea: I paid in dearest coin, first refusing to knuckle under and become one of them; second by calling them on it, and lastly joining and later abandoning the liberal camp after having my chain pulled by their ilk also. In the end my small estate and few friends came the hardest way of the working stiff. It's lonely being a right wing anarchist. But every institution has it's clique with two sets of rules: the ones in the book and the unwritten (real) rules dictated by those in authority but not written or agreed to publicly. The price of admission is SUBMISSION. I passed up a management position because I refused allow my integrity become a casualty to the will of others. I'm a pariah at the union hall since I do not gainsay their sandbox mentality. I refused to consider marriage and a family because I knew at 14 I could not become successful and independent on my own terms. That goes double for anybody else with street smarts in negative figures. In the final analysis, no degree, (strike 1). no fraternity connections, (strike 2). Not a member of any protected group promoted to the head of the line by the federal judiciary, (strike3). I'm out. What's left? Wits, weapons, and my Constitutional Oath.

Northern Rebel| 3.12.10 @ 12:13PM

ontheright:

I'm puzzled by your comment regarding McCarthy. Senator McCarthy was absolutely right when he said the government was loaded with communists.

He was demonized, and drove from power for being correct! He was Borked before there was a Bork.
They did the same thing to Gingrich, and Delay, and anybody else who challenged socialism/progressivism/communism/fascism.

Senator McCarthey was an American hero, whose record was distorted by enemies of America.

If we had listened to Joe, there would be fewer people in this country like copyleft, trying to destroy the values that make our country the last best hope for mankind.

bob s| 3.12.10 @ 12:37PM

The Venona files proved Joe McCarthy correct.

Alan Brooks| 3.12.10 @ 12:33PM

All Things Tasteless And Vulgar

Ralph Novy| 3.12.10 @ 1:10PM

Mark:

You make it clear who exactly is mad and angry here.

Tain't me -- nor most other folks.

martin j smith| 3.12.10 @ 2:16PM

I agree TV is a big probloe, but i would also add that our school system is a big time factor and other things such as video games,social networking--which has a positive and negative attribute and other other thing: We have had it too good. You compare our economy since WWII to any other nation and we are far ahead of any.( or were till now ). The generation of 15-40something have in many, not all cases, but too many to be spoiled brats. And their parents who profess the " I will give everything to my kids no matter what" are enablers. In other words, its a big social mess.

Martin Pal| 3.12.10 @ 2:25PM

Comment on one point: If you want to "win the wars" we are in, you wouldn't be kicking out qualified gay Arab linguists or any other soldier fighting for this country. Or would you?

Why would allowing gay men and women (who already do and always have served) scare you? What exactly do you think will happen? It hasn’t happened in the countries gays and lesbians are now serving openly in: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay.

If you don't like it, why don't you go live in one of these countries that do not allow gays and lesbians to serve openly: Cuba, China, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Jamaica, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Tony in Central PA| 3.12.10 @ 5:05PM

One question I frequently ask when somebody brings this subject up is " Do you believe that homosexual people are inherently more virtuous than heterosexual people ? ".
Think about your answer carefully.

Jim Hlavac| 3.12.10 @ 3:36PM

One silver lining in these Obama times is that it is all becoming so clear now. For decades it was so foggy. Those of us who railed against it all were told "oh, no, you're nuts" by the most reasonable people. And now it is all coming out into the open. In fact, it seems to be coming out far faster than could be predicted. The dividing line is sharper and sharper everyday. The clear and obvious danger of maybe, what, a million senior nutjobs is now seen. On the other side are tens of millions of people, growing in number daily, who are just miffed out of their minds and are not going to take it much longer. When a Scott Brown can get elected in Mass, that's one sign. There are just as many other signs of reality coming to Wonderland, or is it Munchkinland? To go to another movie, the curtain is drawn back, the wizard revealed, and we only have to click our heels and we'll be back in Kansas.

Louis Jenkins| 3.12.10 @ 4:45PM

Alice in Wonderland? This should be retitled "Dante's Descent" and Lucifer is in the center of it all. This nation is reaping what it has sown.

CJohnson| 3.12.10 @ 5:24PM

Eat this and bite that and you will eventually grow accustom.

Martin Pal| 3.12.10 @ 5:39PM

Mark Hyman, how can I believe ANTHING that you wrote or quote in this article when you link some of your statements to such outrageous spreaders of misinformation like your honorable Dr. Scott Lively, a man with such distorted views that he has to travel to Uganda to get someone to listen to him. It is sad that many people have to spend their time analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the GLBT community and others by conservative and/or religious organizations and individuals such as yourself. After all, lies in the name of truth/God are still lies. No wonder you identify with Alice in Wonderland. Excuse me while I go dance the Lobster Quadrille.

mitch| 3.13.10 @ 12:21AM

Dude, you need to calm down. Seriously. You conservatives have a stick up your butts.

Yosemeti Sam| 3.13.10 @ 1:00AM

Fellow - Americans!

Why address posts from drive-by lefties?

Here today - gone tomorrow!

If one is compelled to respond to their fatuous
dogma flailings - then at least ASK them where that damned Mao Zedong White House Christmas tree ornament is at.

They would/should be ones - in the know!

WAKE UP| 3.13.10 @ 1:31AM

"He was a romantically overwrought petty bourgeois who, under the conditions of a dictatorship, was granted the power to bloodily live out his inclinations. Such a man would only have had his chance in a society which was itself utterly deranged."
Thus the great German journalist Joachim Fest described Himmler - though you can be forgiven for thinking it was about Obama and his minions.

Susan Brei| 3.13.10 @ 2:55AM

Sorry, can't forgive you. That whole Obama to Himmler thing was a HUGE stretch. The only thing they have in common is idealism.

Obama wants America to be a place where everyone has equal opportunity, where your status (racial, sexual, socioeconomic) does not hinder your ability to reach lofty goals if you're willing to work for it. He wants America to look more like Canada or Europe, where universal health care and low-cost college education are the norm. In short, he wants America to not only be a NORMAL capitalist industrialized nation, but he wants us to be BETTER than they are. Obama is repleat with the standard (almost boringly so) set of ideals we all grew up seeing on PBS kids shows growing up. He's an "I'm Okay You're Okay-ist".

Himmler wanted Germany to be a great military power, and wanted to cleanse the Earth of non-Aryan people... especially Jews.

Sorry. Big, big difference.

aware| 3.13.10 @ 8:55AM

"An idealist is one who who thinks that because rose pedals smell better than cabbage it would also make better stew"....H.L.Mencken

Nick| 3.13.10 @ 9:07AM

Aware,

Awsome Menken quote.

I'm using it as much as I can fit into conversation, from now on!

Thanks!

Margie| 3.13.10 @ 12:40PM

'cept it's rose petals, not pedals. Unless of course he meant Rose peddles rose petals. Or something. :^)

WAKE UP| 3.13.10 @ 6:49PM

Susan, my point was not that Himmler and Obama are identical (far too simplistic), but that such men can only come to power in a deranged society - and the question is, Does that apply to America?
I think it does: you have elected a President who is alien, detached, UN-American, and most disturbingly, clearly does not love "his" country - and you are headed for disater as a result. Watch that space.

WAKE UP| 3.13.10 @ 6:49PM

Susan, my point was not that Himmler and Obama are identical (far too simplistic), but that such men can only come to power in a deranged society - and the question is, Does that apply to America?
I think it does: you have elected a President who is alien, detached, UN-American, and most disturbingly, clearly does not love "his" country - and you are headed for disater as a result. Watch that space.

Susan Brei| 3.13.10 @ 2:43AM

As a blind female from a poor family who doesn't believe in God... I am happy for many of the programs you hate so much. If it weren't for the Civil Rights Amendment, I would have never been taken seriously as a human being. If it weren't for Social Security Disability, I would be dependent on churches (uggh) and spare change on the street rather than enjoying enrollment in a top tier law school.

I think you're confusing the introduction of social programs (some of which honestly do not have merit) with the REAL reason American society has fallen apart to this degree. If you'd like to know what that reason is, read the book "The Geography of Nowhere", the blog "Clusterf--k Nation" or listen to the podcast "The Kunstercast".

The downward trends in American society has more to do with deindustrialization, the misallocation of resources and increasing isolation from community than it does about welfar and civil rights.

If I'm wrong, please explain how making 60K and up as a blind lawyer paying taxes into the system and money into the economy is worse for America than being a dependent, penniless blind woman? Do you regret that investment?

It'll pay back more dividends than our modern Walla Street.

Tenn Slim| 3.13.10 @ 8:47AM

Opine
1. Congratulations on your success. It takes a lot of courage, guts and plain hard work to do what you are doing and have done.
bt
My opine.
1. Success for the impoverished, ie: folks that are just plain out of the arena of possibilities for one reason or another, does require help. Help in the form of Dollar assistance, mental and emotional assistance and a lot of mentoring.
The Philosophical question, moved to in your post, is where does this "help" come from.??
For me, it came from my upbringing, ie:
The WW2 folks I worked for as a youngster, the USN Mentors I associated with as an adolescent, and the various religious mentors I met in my daily life. Finally, I do admit, from my association with my Creator. IE G..>
Now, each one of us has to walk their own path. For me, I chose the path of Individual Reliance, guidance from my associates and as little as possible assistance from the DC Guvmnt. It has proven to be a successful path, albeit not as littered with Dollars as some, but sufficient.
Again. Your path has led you to success, and apparently the DV Guvmnt helped. For a LOT of others this path leads only to dependence. A lack of inner character perhaps? but then, each of us takes advantage of given opportunities in different ways, ending in different environments.
Semper Fi
end

Nick| 3.13.10 @ 9:03AM

Miss Brei,

It is not an "investment", it is theft.

Congress is only empowered to appropriate funds for a limited amount of reasons All laid out in the Constitution. You should know this, being a lawyer.

Why should money be taken from me and given to you? Because your blind. Because your family was poor? Or, because you're a woman?

You had no right to that money. If you were smart enough to earn a law degree, assuming it wasn't given to you because of affirmative action, then you were smart enough to succeed on your own. Without stealing from the rest of us.

It does not matter if, in theory, you contribute more than what have taken. Which is debatable. It is the priciple involved.

Again, you had no right to take private propery from your fellow citizens for your personal gain.

Nick| 3.13.10 @ 9:09AM

That should be: Because YOU'RE blind?

JHB 76| 3.13.10 @ 3:56PM

If it took all of these programs for a person with a handicap to succeed then how do you explain someone like Hellen Keller?

Tenn Slim| 3.15.10 @ 9:45AM

I think you're confusing the introduction of social programs (some of which honestly do not have merit) with the REAL reason American society has fallen apart to this degree. If you'd like to know what that reason is, read the book "The Geography of Nowhere", the blog "Clusterf--k Nation" or listen to the podcast "The Kunstercast".
Opine
I returned to this post, after checking out the offered sites.
Leftists every one.
Nuff said.
end
Semper FI

Tenn Slim| 3.13.10 @ 8:35AM

"By any measure, the U.S. leads the globe in spending the most money on public education and yet, academic performance continues to plummet."
Opened the AMT posts today, with the news that OBNA is about, or will possibly, someday, revamp the NCLB act. The CZAR IN CHG has already initiated the Top Down Goal or some such title, to spend Billions on education. While we have been rightly conceerned about HC, the Educational Czar has been right in there doing his da.... to pervert the educational system.
Consider, from the above list. ALL the items literally depend on the implementation of the HC controls, directly or indirectly. If one adds the Cap of Carbon bills that are springing up, the HR 2159 Weapon Control bill, and the invisible EPA regs changes, the FCC Fairness regs changes, the Delay of the DEA agency for oil exploration, then one can grasp the abyss edge.
Folks, without a doubt, the Tactical Battle is being won by the OBNA. Kudos to them. They came into the DC world and turned it Left, and are continuing to turn the wheel.
We now fully, and I include the remote USA Electorate folks, understand the reality of the current Admin. We get it.!!
SO. What to do.
My Opine
1. Continue the Drip, Drip, Drip of emails to the Congress. Some have seen the hand writing on the wall and are going home.
2. Continue the Opine Posts across the Net. We have literally millions of readers that we never see. Our words do make a difference.
3. Educate our kids, our grandkids, our families. Do this via the literally thousands of Common Sense articles available on the net for printing. Burn the Ink, print, mail via USPS and write in your personals.
4. Have Faith. We, the USA Electorate withstood Reconstruction, W. Wilsonians, Teddy R, FDR, John Dewey, Gus Hall, LBJ Wars on ... and the list goes on and on.
We can and Will PREVAIL
Semper Fi
end

Tenn Slim | 3.13.10 @ 8:59AM

Obama wants America to be a place where everyone has equal opportunity, where your status (racial, sexual, socioeconomic) does not hinder your ability to reach lofty goals if you're willing to work for it. He wants America to look more like Canada or Europe, where universal health care and low-cost college education are the norm. In short, he wants America to not only be a NORMAL capitalist industrialized nation, but he wants us to be BETTER than they are. Obama is repleat with the standard (almost boringly so) set of ideals we all grew up seeing on PBS kids shows growing up. He's an "I'm Okay You're Okay-ist".
Opine
Sorry Susan B.
Mr Obama, by his ACTIONS wants the USA to be a mirror of his own personal ideas. Just as every President does and has.
Unfortunately, for the USA Folks, that concept is essentially a watered down version of the French Socialist state, A upgraded version of the 1940s British Labor state, and if taken far enough a modified version of Islamic Sharia Law. I am certain you are familiar with the Sharia Laws currently in vogue in Britain.
Gone, via the PBS litany for some 50 years, is the concept of Individual freedom, Individual Liberty, to FAIL or to SUCCEED. Your experience with the Dollar Support for your life, has clouded your vision. We are inherently OK, Fiscal Support from DC does not make us OK.
We get up each AM without support from Podesta, Gietner, Pelosi or Reid, or ACORN.
We attempt each day to do our best, to succeed as you have, w/o crutches, w/o interference in our daily choices, IE Salt or no Salt on my greasy hamburg??
and the list goes on.
Again, you succeeded and given the INDIVIDUALISTIC OPPORTUNITY so will countless others.
End
Semper Fi

Liberal Reader| 3.13.10 @ 12:10PM

Mad Hatter Glenn Beck showed anti-Catholic, anti-Christian bigotry this week when he compared churches that value "social justice" to Nazis and Communists.

The most cursory reading of the Gospels as well as the teachings of the Catholic Church embrace the notion of "social justice" quite firmly. The Pope himself -- like the last Pope, John Paul II -- has spoken about the duty of Christians to work for social justice.

So what I guess I'm saying is that "conservatives" in media tend wildly from traditional norms and values.

Beck, Limbaugh, the rest of them: they're show business.

And that's fine. But when people turn to them for their political philosophy, American history, and views on religion, they are debased.

Nick| 3.13.10 @ 3:42PM

Marxist Reader,

You sound like Fr. Coughlin!

"Social justice" as defined by liberals is an evil that must be avoided at all cost.

"Social justice" as first developed by Fr. Luigi Taparelli as a way to refute René Descartes was based on Christian virtues, and therefore good.

It's too bad it was co-opted by you fascists/socialists.

Petronius| 3.14.10 @ 1:17PM

Bravo Sierra
The magpie clerics who have inflicted 'social justice' upon the catholic laity not only refuse to explicitly define it but are fully aware that they are violating the 10th Commandment. The infantile tripe they parrot is from The Declaration of Interdependence, by Will Hutton. He is a communist who writes for the Guardian and the UK Observer. What galls me most is that the economically illiterates who have taken Holy Orders view their Office as license to wheedle and extort money and resources from us and claim they are doing God's work. Parasites with portfolio they are and will remain as they add nothing to the material economy. Ask the Catholic Workers who put their mouths where the money is by giving away more of their paychecks than they keep. These few are altruistic to extremes, but they made that choice.
"Social justice" has no relation to altruism and certainly not to Grace. It is the paen of the perpetual slacker who demands validation through impoverishing all others.

Nick| 3.14.10 @ 1:41PM

Petronius,

Excellent post, sir, just excellent.

Remember, the "Gates of Hades shall not prevail against" Holy, Mother Church.

God Bless!

Petronius| 3.14.10 @ 8:51PM

FYI
I'm excommunicant since the weenies kicked me out of their suburbanite litterbox a couple years back. That's what churches are in very truth but I digress. I believe the only way that honest and virtuous people can survive is by eliminating all the predators, and banishing the perverts and parasites in our midst. It will not happen unless we adopt the mindset of Oliver Cromwell. All practitioners of these behaviors must be rooted out and put on notice. They must forgo all that causes demonstrable harm to others or live elsewhere. If we cannot regain cultural primacy for these imperatives that made the United States great and beneficial to the world at large, we are doomed to suffer all the rest of our days because snotty intellectuals opine that, "we've got it too good."

Martin Pal| 3.13.10 @ 12:50PM

Tenn Slim writes: "We attempt each day to do our best, to succeed as you have, w/o crutches, w/o interference in our daily choices."

You're only talking about the Government here. Religious institutions provide "crutches." So do families. "And the list goes on." No one way works for everyone. Even golfers have handicaps. People used to think the military was a crutch for people that couldn't do anything else.

Margie| 3.13.10 @ 12:55PM

Mad Hatter Liberal Reader writes again on a false premise.

Social justice?

2Thess. 3:10~ "..if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat."

aware| 3.14.10 @ 11:57AM

Not to mention rendering unto Caesar or crushing the people with impossible burdens so they can't take care of their own family, thereby violating the spirit of the Law.
Not a big Beck fan(though Moron Trivia is one of the funniest things I've heard), but his quoting from Samuel about what the king will mean is dead on the money. (The first state was Nimrod's, and how did that turn out?)
Since the Left is always beating us over the head with "separation of church and state", it is suspicious when they start to worm their way into the realm of faith(I smell a rat). They wouldn't wander if their god(the State) wasn't so pathetic. They never understand that the State interfering in church is always worse than the other way around.

Or what about Amos saying "you oppress the poor with taxes and unfair rent". The tax part needs no explanation, and just substitute adjustable rate mortgages for "unfair rent" and the parallel becomes stark. This is what "social justice" looks like in the hands of the State.

Margie| 3.14.10 @ 1:49PM

The Left's view of America is: The "great" Rev. Wright's, and we know what he said.
The Left's so-called "social justice"= HANDOUTS.
They know, and they know we know it about them!

Liberal Reader| 3.14.10 @ 12:32PM

What work did the multitude do to earn its loaves and fishes?

What toil did the bridegroom do that entitled him to have water changed into wine for his wedding celebration?

Liberal Reader| 3.14.10 @ 12:40PM

Truly it is written:

And Jesus came unto where the blind man was begging, and He said: Sir, your insurance has lapsed, and truly, I say that thou hast not done a good days' work these many years. Why should I heal thee?

And the multitude was smitten by the wisdom of the Lord, that the free market shall reign, and its Invisible Hand shall separate the Sons of Darkness from the Sons of Light, and the wealthy shall inherit the world, and the Poor shalt truly be forgotten, and the Lord shall say unto their free-loading multitudes: Curse God, and die.

For truly shalt capital gains taxes be abolished, and estate taxes, and all manner of taxes with which the fabulously wealthy are burdened, and the poor shalt eat salt bread, and weep, and not be comforted.

For He has lifted up the strong, and trounced the weak and the humble. He has sided with the winners, and cursed the defeated, for He can't stand a loser and loathes those who cannot figure out how to exploit others and Get Ahead.

Nick| 3.14.10 @ 1:12PM

Marxist Reader,

"14When you have come into the land, which the Lord your God will give you, and possess it, and shall say: I will set a king over me, as all nations have that are round about [...] 16 And when he is made king, [...] 17 He shall not have [...] immense sums of silver and gold."
- Deuteronomy 17: 14,16-17

"14 And the weight of the gold that was brought to Solomon every year [TAXES], was six hundred and sixty-six [666] talents of gold: 15 Besides that which the men brought him that were over the tributes, and the merchants, and they that sold by retail, and all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the country."
- 1 Kings 10: 14-15

Are you claiming ObamaCare will make the lame walk, the blind see, and the mute speak?

Try to remember this Commandment:
"2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 You shall not have strange gods before me."
- Exodus 20: 2-3

victor| 3.14.10 @ 4:26PM

That's because Simple Reader believes only in Government, not God.

Try to remember his Socialist Commandment:
"2 I am the lord your Government, who brought you out of the land of the Republic, out of the house of Conservativism. 3 You shall not have strange governments before Socialism."

Why would you need God when you have Government?

Obama cannot save you from Eternal Damnation, only from infernal Conservatives.

Socialist Reader's motto is:
Let Go,
Let Government!

Nick| 3.14.10 @ 8:10PM

Ha-ha!

Nice, Victor!
I like it.

Margie| 3.14.10 @ 10:55PM

He IS good, isn't he? :^)

Ralph Novy| 3.15.10 @ 2:37AM

Liberal Reader:

Not too bad. Will pass that around a bit, if you don't mind.

Reminds me of Twain's War Prayer.

Nick| 3.15.10 @ 9:42AM

Mr. Novy,

Why do you only post "drive-by" comments?

Why don't you engage in conversation and debate your views?

aware| 3.14.10 @ 2:07PM

What part did the State have in any of this? The tax system here is about taking from those you "feel" have too much and giving to those who are favored by the State. A vast spoils system.

No one was deprived("cept the kid with a lunch, but he ate too) so that the multitudes could be fed and the wine thing was so the disciples would believe(again wine was not taken from some to give to others) and at the request of His mother.
Nice try, but you are neither the first nor will you be the last to try to twist scripture and draft the Almighty into your cause.
The money we are talking about is NOT yours and it is not the property of "government", yet you and the criminal State sure talk like you have sole ownership as well as sole authority on how and where it is spent. Criminal thieves own nothing but nerve. You have the State on your side but not moral authority.
Collectivists always go warm and fuzzy when they think about all the "good" things they do with other people's property, cause they don't think about the gun pointed at the real owners to get the wealth in the first place. Bad enough to be a no good thief, but then to try to read the Lord into the act shows you have no honor at all. That goes for that vast criminal gang we call "government" double!
"The kind of people who would have government impose their ideas are people who's ideas are idiotic" also from Mencken.

Margie| 3.14.10 @ 2:17PM

Aware & Nick~Very well said!

Nick| 3.14.10 @ 8:09PM

Thanks Margie!

Don't you love it when liberals think they know something about God and His inerrant Word?

It is because they have rejected God that they are liberal in the first place.

Marxist Reader probably hasn't picked up a Bible in years.

Margie| 3.14.10 @ 11:06PM

Well, liberals use it, sadly, to try and justify their way, but it isn't His Way.

Maybe LibRead will have a Paul type conversion one day. After all, you never know who's gonna turn.

When the scales fall from his eyes, he will also be able to turn from Liberalism.
One can only hope, and pray.
See that, LibRead.. whoever you are?

Ralph Novy| 3.15.10 @ 2:43AM

Wow. If YOU'RE "aware," I sure don't want to meet your evil twin "unaware."

aware| 3.15.10 @ 5:31AM

Then don't look in the mirror.

Northern Rebel| 3.13.10 @ 1:15PM

Susan B.:

It's too bad you don't give yourself some credit for your accomplishments.

Perhaps you'll get the chance to represent "President" Anti-Christ one day.

I love how the socialist-progressive-commies are quick to dimiss constitutional conservative talk show hosts as "entertainment", yet work so hard to shut their voices down.

I don't like the idea that The Daily Show is the way many of our young people are introduced to politics, but I don't think it's nesessary to stifle Jon Stewart.

I guess it's because I know kids eventually grow up. They just havn't been mugged by "civil rights" yet. Once they see how the money that's removed from their paychecks is actually used, they usually come around.

Oldefarte| 3.14.10 @ 5:09PM

Well said. WAKE UP, AMERICA [in November]; and, if you don't, KISS YOUR COUNTRY GOODBYE!!!!!!

Tenn Slim| 3.15.10 @ 9:42AM

ALL
HC via Ms Pelosi and Sen Reid is out there.
House.gov 03.15.2010 reconcilation2010..
A 2307 page document, full of goodie for one and all. Truly a Mad Hatters Dream.
Semper Fi

Martin Pal| 3.15.10 @ 5:27PM

Nick writes: "Don't you love it when liberals think they know something about God and His inerrant Word? It is because they have rejected God that they are liberal in the first place."

I write: And readers should believe anything you say, because...? God is all about choosing sides now?

Oldefarte writes: "Well said. WAKE UP, AMERICA [in November]; and, if you don't, KISS YOUR COUNTRY GOODBYE!!!!!!"

I say: The sky is falling, the sky is falling! If many of you guys truly don't like Government, then stop paying so much attention to it. Stay out of it. What you resist, persists.

Northern Rebel writes: "I guess it's because I know kids eventually grow up. They just havn't been mugged by "civil rights" yet. Once they see how the money that's removed from their paychecks is actually used, they usually come around."

I say: "Mugged by civil rights?" Do you even comprehend what you're implying? As for the money from our paychecks: I didn't hear you complaining about the money going to a million dollar a day unnecessary war that conservatives got us into. A conservative estimate.

Tenn Slim writes: "HC [...] Truly a Mad Hatters Dream."

What frightens you all about a better healthcare system? From reading so many of the posts on this site I think you could all benefit from some mental health care.

Nick| 3.15.10 @ 7:12PM

Mr. Pal,

Is English your second language?

I didn't write that God is "choosing sides." I wrote bleeding liberals are choosing sides, the wrong side.

You can believe what I write, because it is true. Especially when I quote the Bible. If you don't believe what I write is true, then refute me. If you don't believe the Bible is true, you are not a Christian.

MainStreet| 3.16.10 @ 12:51AM

Great summation and makes one stop and think. Currently reading about our Founders and realize not only how crazy our world has become, but also how far astray we are now from what our founding fathers gave us in the Constitution and Bill of Rights and in their thought processes in their development.

Martin Pal| 3.16.10 @ 6:36PM

(St.?) Nick writes: "I wrote bleeding liberals are choosing sides, the wrong side."

I say: Well, if I understand English correctly you are saying that liberals are not choosing the "right side," -- which is the side of whom? God? Wouldn't that imply there is a side that God chooses?

You wrote: "It is because they reject God they are liberal in the first place."

You write this and say I can "believe what you write because it is true?" You think all liberals reject God? If you truly believe that then I repeat: "Why should I listen to anything you have to say?"

Nick writes: "You can believe what I write, because it is true. Especially when I quote the Bible. If you don't believe what I write is true, then refute me. If you don't believe the Bible is true, you are not a Christian."

I say, "Well isn't that special, Mr. Church Lady. Doing a little superior dance are we?" Just like statisticians can make statistics say/mean whatever they like, so can you by quoting/interpreting passages from the bible. It wouldn't be the first time. And by your post above ("you can believe what I write because it is true"), it appears that you are almighty, omnipotent and all-knowing and that any attempts at enlightenment would be futile. Deaf ears, so to speak. Must be a burden to be so perfect. Even Mary Poppins was only "practically" perfect.

Nick| 3.16.10 @ 7:30PM

Mr. Pal,

Is there a refutation in there somewhere?

Instead of using lots of words to say the same thing over and over again, try rebutting me.

Discredit me, with arguments, rather than copying and pasting what I wrote and adding your own feeble attempts at humor.

Now, explain your twisted logic. If I choose to follow the Pope, I'm implying that the Pope has also made a choice? How am I doing that? If someone chooses to reject God, how has God made a choice?

Are you claiming someone can be a Christian and not believe the Bible is true? How exactly does that work?

I am far from "omnipotent" or"perfect." This is why I need the Perfect Love of Christ.

Let me be more accurate. The more one rejects God, the more liberal they become. As the word "liberal" is used today.

Martin Pal| 3.17.10 @ 2:37PM

Nick, you're so demanding!

You say: "Let me be more accurate. The more one rejects God, the more liberal they become. As the word "liberal" is used today."

It is people like you who are defining "liberal" this way. Doesn't mean you are correct.

If you are putting forth the notion that liberals are "choosing the wrong side" which is not God's side, which is what you wrote, then it logically follows that God must be on one side or the other which logically follows there is a choice.

Your posts and the language you use tell me that you are somewhat of a bully. Do this, do that. I am right. If I am not, prove it. Bully tactics. It's never a good idea to provoke bullies because they always have to be right. And they feel they are when people don't want to play their game, whereas it's really because it's not worth it. You write that you are far from perfect, but in every post you try to show it.

As for feeble humor, you could use a good dose of humor, in any amount, feeble or otherwise.

Nick| 3.18.10 @ 8:10AM

Mr. Pal,

I didn't write how "liberal" is being DEFINED. I wrote how "liberal" is being USED today. Which means liberals are leftists. The farther left one goes, the more they reject God.

Now, when you wrote, "God is all about choosing sides now?", did you mean "Is God doing the choosing, now?" Or, did you mean "Believing in God is about choosing sides, now?" I may have misunderstood you.

If it was the latter, then the answer is YES. One either CHOOSES to accept God or reject Him. Not just now, it has always been this way. It is a voluntary act. Which could make your statement correct, if that is what you meant.

God is God. He is pure Love and Holiness. If you chose Him, you chose what is Good and Holy. If you read the Bible, you will see that those who reject Him, have chosen the evil side. It is called sin.

So, your logic is correct. In this instance, anyway.

I don't know how I am "bullying" you by stating the truth. If you keep reading my posts on this site, you will see I have a great sense of humor. I make people here laugh all the time.

Nick| 3.18.10 @ 8:12AM

Also, I assume by your silence, that you are not claiming someone can be a Christian and not believe in the Bible, right?

Martin Pal| 3.18.10 @ 5:36PM

Nick writes: "I don't know how I am "bullying" you by stating the truth."

I didn't say you were bullying me. I said you are a bully. You remind me of Lily Tomlin's line her Edith Ann character says: "I am not bossy, my ideas is just better."

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." In the sense of meek being those people who are teachable, or looking at it the other way, people who allow themselves to learn and accept and grow. You are not teachable as you are so convinced you have the truth of everything. That is not meek. You are not as a willow bending in the wind. You are rigid and adherent. You do not allow yourself that luxury because you think that would demonstrate some weakness. After all, you are just stating the truth, right?

There is an obvious desire in your posts to control everyone. You write what you say are truths, like the definition of liberal, then you change it to say it's how you were "using" the word, not "defining" it. As if that's a difference.

I wrote: "It's never a good idea to provoke bullies because they always have to be right. And they feel they are when people don't want to play their game, whereas it's really because it's not worth it."

You even had to refute my statement of your needing a good dose of humor. Must be exhausting to be right all the time. I know it's exhausting to be around people like that.

Nick| 3.18.10 @ 8:56PM

Mr. Pal,

You figured all that out about me from a few blog posts, huh? Wow. You're some kind of Kreskin, aren't you?

I'm not even close to knowing "everything." I try to learn something new everyday. Do you think I've always been this conservative? When I was in my 20's, I was much more of a mushy-moderate. And knew a lot less.

Doesn't my admission that I might have misunderstood what you wrote prove I can "learn and accept and grow"?

The way "liberal" is "used" today, politically, is to describe people on the left. It was not defined by me. That's just reality.

I simply made an observation of the correlation between how far left someone is, and how much they have rejected God.

Again, I am far from being right all the time. Just look at my terrible grammar.

I just like pointing out when others are WRONG! It's fun.

Martin Pal| 3.19.10 @ 3:59PM

Nick,

You say: "Doesn't my admission that I might have misunderstood what you wrote prove I can "learn and accept and grow"?

No, it proves that you wanted to make sure you were right.

You write: "I simply made an observation of the correlation between how far left someone is, and how much they have rejected God. "

An observation that, as it happens, I just read an article with this topic that mostly refutes that notion in many ways, but observations can be subject to all sorts of criteria.

You say: "I just like pointing out when others are WRONG! It's fun."

Ah.

Nick| 3.19.10 @ 7:11PM

Mr. Pal,

Then you can consider yourself corrected.
It was fun!

Martin Pal| 3.20.10 @ 12:00PM

You're half-correct.

Nick| 3.23.10 @ 7:45PM

Mr. Pal,

No, I'm ALWAYS right. Remember?

Martin Pal| 3.25.10 @ 4:29PM

"On" the right, is more like it.

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