I have been trying to persuade the S.O. for this entire week that we need to head up into the mountains in Tennessee. She resisted it all week-till she called me up yesterday and said she wants to go.
So off we go today- I had to put the details together less than twelve hours ago by phone and internet. One of these days Alice! One of these days!
Speaking of internet-I’m not taking a computer with me. Going to try other pursuits this weekend.
In the meantime-why not read Matt Taibbi’s most excellent article about the Teabag nation-which can be found here. Its a great read-made even better by a lot of great quotes that prove the “movement” has no ideas, not that it ever did have any. Lots of money quotes but this one probably epitomizes the frustration of those of us who see through the charade the best:
You look into the eyes of these people when you talk to them and they genuinely don’t see what the problem is. It’s no use explaining that while nobody likes the idea of having to get the government to tell restaurant owners how to act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the tool Americans were forced to use to end a monstrous system of apartheid that for 100 years was the shame of the entire Western world. But all that history is not real to Tea Partiers; what’s real to them is the implication in your question that they’re racists, and to them that is the outrage, and it’s an outrage that binds them together. They want desperately to believe in the one-size-fits-all, no-government theology of Rand Paul because it’s so easy to understand. At times, their desire to withdraw from the brutally complex global economic system that is an irrevocable fact of our modern life and get back to a simpler world that no longer exists is so intense, it breaks your heart.
There is a lot more. Read it! And have a nice weekend.
Enjoyed the article. Confirmede everfything I have obsereved on my tea bagger friends, co-worker and acquaitances.
One of our local docs is a confirmed Ron Paul quoting, Palin-Beck worshiping Tea Bagger. One day at lunch she declared since M’care/M’caid were evil instruments of the government and destroying our nation and way of life she would no longer participate in these programs. Lasted less than one week.
Guess evils of said programs are migitgated when tea bagger income is adversely affected. Proves the moral, ethical and intellectual bankruptcy of the whole Tea Bagger nation.
Foggy,
You press against the limits again. Nobody who disagrees with you is morally, ethically or intellectually dumber than you are. I get that you disagree but you need to understand that those who disagree are way way smarter than you are and none of them voted for Obama and none of them feel any shame for that.
You go on with the tea bagger crap and I’m going to get myself banned because I’ll counter your vile puke with facts.
You and your ilk HATE and you make it very clear that you HATE. Tell me Foggy, of all those campaign promises that Obama made to you how many has he kept? Gitmo shut down? Pulled out of Iraq? Ended the war in Afghanistan? Unemployment kept under 7%? Just what happened after you elected a dominant majority in the Senate, House and Presidency? Got everything didn’t you? How, after all could such an avalanche of Democrats fail to carry out the wishes of the democratic republic since they had the votes to carry every single aspect of the Obama campaign to fruition?
From a neutral perspective, and I am a neutral perspective, it looks to me like some people have gone crazy.
Why do you hate the Taxed Enough Already Party? Is it that you are one of the 42% that pay no taxes and still think that other Americans owe you a living with their taxes? Do you think we need to spend our money bailing out scumbag Palestinians? Pakistanis? Africans?
Why do you think the government has an inherent right to our income even though the founders explicitly forbade it in the Constitution?
What do you think about CA prop 13? Yes I know some that think that paying $571 MILLION for a school in LA is a little over the top and perhaps we could have got the same thing for a tenth the price but teachers rule! Just imagine if home schoolers could charge the state a fraction of that for the reduction in pupil load/teacher at the state schools.
You must agree with Congress who ended the school voucher program in DC where students got a real chance at education vice the sham on offer in the public schools there. Pity the progressives killed that program dead as their very first order of business.
I have listed above several things that I find indefensible by your lot. Could you perhaps list a few things that you yourself find indefensible by the middle who really despise the wings? I’m not a winger. I’m an independent. I’m also one who swore to uphold and defend the Constitution so I don’t think it’s fair to claim that any defense of that basic article of America constitutes radicalism or wingerism or whatever you call it. Skippy likes to go to the anti side but I just want to stick to the one that ALL STATES approved and leave it at that.
Curtis,
For the last time I am going to tell you that it is not hatred to point out the hypocrisy in the so called “movement”. These people are misled, very ignorant of what is happening in the world today, and have not grasped the fact that the world has changed fundamentally and the world they seek is not coming back-if it ever existed at all.
Lets start with their fundamental premise-taxed enough. Americans are not taxed enough to provide the services needed to provide a decent society. Furthermore-as has been pointed out before that 42% pay no taxes number is a lie-among many-that tea partiers tell. I’ve demonstrated that on this blog.
And while we are discussing the Consititution-where in the Constitution is the filibuster? It is not there and that is the reason a lot more has not been accomplished. Iraq-well we would be out if it were not for the fact that there is a certain number in tea bag nation that supports war without ever amen-and Petreaus has become way too powerful and has gone native. At least we are below 50,000. I’m not sure we would have gotten there under McCain.
Prop 13 sucks-mob rule. School vouchers suck too-the better thing is to fix the public schools and pay teachers a decent salary.
Home schooling? That sucks too and people who do it are to be pitied. Part of going to school is to learn to socialize with others and I have found in general-people who home school their kids have a few other things wrong with them-like a warped belief system.
The argument that America has gotten away from the Constitution is similarly FLAWED. Health care is constitutional and so are other efforts regulate commerce and provide for the general welfare. What is not Constitutional are wireless wire taps and detention in GTMO without trial or rights for the accused.
And finally, as usual, you miss the Taibbi’s point. It is not that Teabag nation may not have some ideas that are worth discussing-it is that they do not even understand what the problem is-such is the true level of their ignorance.
Fifty years of experience has shown supply-side economics to have a 100% failure rate. The fact is that you simply cannot cut spending in a way that makes large tax cuts work in a democracy for the simple reason is that spending is the surest and simplest way to get reelected. At this point, suggesting that supply-side theory can create anything other than debt is an exercise in trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Teabaggers simply want to take the same flawed theory and try it a fourth time. For that they deserve the anger of smarter people like me.
The average teacher salary in Nj is $60,000 plus ALL health care is free, even after retirement…and that of course, is only for nine months.
Rand Pauls argument, at least if he were to give it to SCOTUS in 1935, was that if Skippy San wanted to set up a business it should be his right to decide whom he serves..
Here at the shore we used to see signs all the time that said”
No Shirt
No Shoes
No service
Its your money, your risk,…..
if you want to deny service to anyone, so be it..
Pauls contention was that SCOTUS over stepped its bounds by requiring private business to serve certain people, as oppossed to PUBLIC services, financed by the state.
Chief Justice Hughes warned FDR NOT to use the federal Governments broad constitutional powers to regulate interstate commerce.
Even then they were concerned about the encroachment of fed power.
Yes, i know its NOT 1935 but my point is that there are those who think the feds are controlling too much…
San Fran wants to ban toys with fast food, Bloomberg wants to ban transfats…next there will be somebody watching to make sure you wipe your tush….
Free will is fast becoming Fed will…we are too stupid to make our own decisions..the feds know what is right….
Its like living in Singapore.
Skippy-san,
Your’s deserves a sober response so tomorrow. Suffice to say, from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs is not my mantra. Those who will not work shall not eat. The Wall Street Journal publishes 2 articles every single year dating back a ways. Worth reading.
Its like living in Singapore.
There are worse places to live. Like the US! At least in Singapore you can get laid at the drop of a hat. š
For every NJ there are two South Carolina’s-places where average teacher salaries are less than 40K-for an occupation that requires a college degree.
As for your 1935 analogy-they made the same arguments in favor apartheid. It failed too.
Its not the amount of money one makes BUT the standard of living one can achieve with a certain salary in a certain area.
Is SC bereft of quality teachers? if so, then I guess the salary of $42,000 is not enough. (2006 numbers)
Just a small aside. The teachers union gave 1 million dollars to defeat Fenty in DC. Why?
And if I remember correctly, SCOTUS said that the internment of Japanese AMERICANS was legal too…..
So, I am not a particular fan of some of their rulings in that era but Rand Paul, at least in this regard, is not an extremist.
There is a precedent.
According to Forbes, at least, the US and Singapore don’t even make the top ten in ‘best places to live”.
Vienna is number one and since my mother was born there, I am sure she is delighted.
What planet are you living on? Singapore ranks 7th in livability.
Rand Paul is slowly but surely being absorbed by the GOP. As is the rest of the Teabag nation. That is part of the point-the tea party is not opposed to the Republican party, IT IS the Republican party. And the GOP now belongs to Fox News.
Skippy,
I thought you absolutely despised the autocratic government of Singapore? What changed to make you such a lick spittle of fascism?
I do despise the autocratic government in Singapore. But like it or not they have built a nice place to live. Good mass transit, a minimum standard of living for all, health care for all-and girls available. The goods out weigh the bads.
Skippy,
it is an easy thing to do mass transit when one can throw a rock across the place but somewhat stupid when it takes 4 hours to FLY across the place at 600 mph.
take the plane not the train if you want to get somewhere quickly.
So you’re in favor of evil government so long as you get the girl and high speed rail?
Curtis,
I’m not saying that trains replace airplanes-it is that both have their place. And if in the process-I can eliminate the need to squeeze into a Bombardier aircraft with no First Class or drink service or room for baggage-well, that’s a public service in my book.
Most Americans don’t fly cross country-but they do make trips that are 2-4 hours driving distance. With high speed rail, I could be in Mobile for a weekend on the gulf in about 2 hours instead of six. Without two hours lost checking in and getting through security.
People underestimate the value of time. When I was going to Misawa every month-taking the Shinkansen was a hell of a lot easier. Leave work at 3, take the train to Tokyo and change right to the Tohoku Shinkansen. Three hours later, I’m getting into a cab and heading straight to my favorite bar.
To take the airplane-same time. When you factor in : immigration ( you go through that even in country), and security.
As for evil government. Well if I am in a decent apartment-able to get home from the bar expeditiously and getting laid-well isn’t that providing for the common good? That’s what governments are supposed to do.
A democrat would think so, yes.
Do you get meth with that or just cocaine?
You do mean that the government exists to give you blow jobs, housing, fast transit etc right? Free food too right? And a subprime morgage and golf lessons?
Government exists to provide a decent society for all it’s citizens. If Ihave a good place to live and blow jobs on demand- well that’s ok for me.