My old man did the same thing this week end, along with "The bad guys aren't going to follow the law anyway." It seems like it's becoming the standard argument against it.
Yeah, far too many people just think that's how it is and we can't interfere, because then we lose freedom. Like some nebulous idea of freedom is better than actual security (and real freedom for some people). They think too much that the system actually works and makes the best rise to the top. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.
So the discussion needs to shift from how do I get a good job? to how can we make even the most common jobs a secure prospect for those that undertake them?
It is like a Murdoch publication but even worse. It is run by the Moonies and commonly called the Moonie times.. It is basically a subsidized hard-right hack fest.
Jerry Brown smacked on down:
Reporter: So why is it then, that were seeing from the bankruptcy though
Brown Spokesman Gil Duran: There is no bankruptcy. Thats a lie. Youre lying.
Brown: California has a $2-trillion economy.
Reporter: Why am I a liar?
Brown: [...] Are you a Moonie by any chance?
http://wonkette.com/465485/jerry-brown-to-washington-times-reporter-are-you-a-moonie
And that is pretty funny coming from someone once ridiculed as "Governor Moonbeam".
That would be wonderful.
My hypothesis is that it is based in the fetishisation of the free market and it being the sole arbiter of who earns what in America. If the most common jobs dont provide enough economic security then thats the way it is. Therefore the emphasis is on getting a good job, and if you dont get one, then so be it. This overlooks the fact that in a service based economy, they always has to be a mass body of people doing the jobs that keep the economy going. Someone has to be flipping the burgers, working the tills and cleaning the bedpans. So the discussion needs to shift from how do I get a good job? to how can we make even the most common jobs a secure prospect for those that undertake them?
Republicans/conservatives do indeed advocate torture. Visit anycomment section on any articleGAF thread about crime. These aren't meaningful differences.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/cuccinelli-asks-court-to-review-anti-sodomy-ruling
Could this be his "legitimate rape" moment? Lets bring back sodomy laws!
Reading the Wages stink at Americas most common jobs thread and others like it over the last few months on GAF has got me down on the attitudes that some people have for those at the lower rungs of our society.
The pervasive attitude that if you work a low-skilled job or dont have a tertiary education means that you deserve to live a life of little economic security or comfort has to be the most damaging one in society. It dehumanises those who may not have had the same advantages as others growing up, and looks down at people who have made mistakes in their life and use that as justification to keep them on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.
At some point the country needs to revisit their view on what it means to have an economic system and what purpose should it serve. If the economic system doesnt provide some level of security for the mass of people, then whats the point of it?
My hypothesis is that it is based in the fetishisation of the free market and it being the sole arbiter of who earns what in America. If the most common jobs dont provide enough economic security then thats the way it is. Therefore the emphasis is on getting a good job, and if you dont get one, then so be it. This overlooks the fact that in a service based economy, they always has to be a mass body of people doing the jobs that keep the economy going. Someone has to be flipping the burgers, working the tills and cleaning the bedpans. So the discussion needs to shift from how do I get a good job? to how can we make even the most common jobs a secure prospect for those that undertake them?
I would ask frame that question from the opposite angle -At what point do we ask these people...if you're so concerned about a tyrannical government, why the fuck do you keep demanding more and more money be pumped into defense spending? What is your AK-47 going to do against a drone, or tactical nukes, or any of the other crazy shit the US military has that the regular American citizen has no access to or defense against?
Better yet, why do you keep advocating policies like the Patriot Act or spying on US citizens?
At what point do we ask these people...if you're so concerned about a tyrannical government, why the fuck do you keep demanding more and more money be pumped into defense spending?
I think it's time to break out the Willy Wonka pic.I would ask frame that question from the opposite angle -
If you're hoarding guns so that one day you might kill our troops, why should we exactly give you access to more lethal weapons?
At what point do we ask these people...if you're so concerned about a tyrannical government, why the fuck do you keep demanding more and more money be pumped into defense spending? What is your AK-47 going to do against a drone, or tactical nukes, or any of the other crazy shit the US military has that the regular American citizen has no access to or defense against?
Better yet, why do you keep advocating policies like the Patriot Act or spying on US citizens?
I fear that in the future technology will replace many of these jobs. Self driving cars replacing transportation services, machines that cook food, robots and self checkout replacing customer service workers, 3D printers replacing manufacturing jobs, etc.
How exactly can and will we deal with this?
It's not like the amount of coders needed will be enough for the demand (and I'm sure that soon computers will be able to even do that to an extent soon.)
At what point do we ask these people...if you're so concerned about a tyrannical government, why the fuck do you keep demanding more and more money be pumped into defense spending? What is your AK-47 going to do against a drone, or tactical nukes, or any of the other crazy shit the US military has that the regular American citizen has no access to or defense against?
Better yet, why do you keep advocating policies like the Patriot Act or spying on US citizens?
I would ask frame that question from the opposite angle -
If you're hoarding guns so that one day you might kill our troops, why should we exactly give you access to more lethal weapons?
I've been thinking the same thing for quite a while. The rate at which technology progresses has been accelerating like crazy for the last couple of decades. This stuff really isn't all that far off, as crazy as it might sound.
We still have political party all over the developed world peddling trickle-down economicsm even after decades of failure. People are slow to change, and it's worrisome in the face of problems like this.
Tyrants always use civil servants to exact their will, those guys knows history too well.I've heard some right wingers say that they're not worried about the nice, freedom loving folks in the army, but from the jack booted thugs at government agencies like the ATF, IRS, and EPA.
Tyrants always use civil servants to exact their will, those guys knows history too well.
p.s.
They need assault rifles to fight EPA agents now?
Are they aware that the Simpsons movie is not a documentary?
huh
Wait...what?
WHAT THE FUCK
Not to mention other things as well. I know I said it before, but I STILL can't believe that people were advocating for intelligence genetic services to be privatized. I mean holy shit. Now THAT'S class warfare.
GAF is a video game hobbyist site. You aren't going to find too many poor or even working class people on this site. Most people on here are at least middle class with a significant amount from the upper class and even flatout rich. Remember the wage thread where people were arguing that $68,000 isn't a high wage? There was one entrepreneur on GAF speaking of how he overcame his humble beginnings of how he climbed the ladder to success because his parents only made a bit more than $70,000 each. I once went to a thread were someone told someone not to go into the medical sector to become a doctor because after paying tuition, taxes, and malpractice insurance doctors on average take home "only $120,000" a year.
GAF is a video game hobbyist site. You aren't going to find too many poor or even working class people on this site. Most people on here are at least middle class with a significant amount from the upper class and even flatout rich. Remember the wage thread where people were arguing that $68,000 isn't a high wage? There was one entrepreneur on GAF speaking of how he overcame his humble beginnings of how he climbed the ladder to success because his parents only made a bit more than $70,000 each. I once went to a thread were someone told someone not to go into the medical sector to become a doctor because after paying tuition, taxes, and malpractice insurance doctors on average take home "only $120,000" a year.
I make $8.25 an hour.
Some people on GAF do seem awfully blasé about the idea that money could buy you talent and intelligence in this hypothetical future.
Geez, that definitely doesn't sound like the recipe for every cyberpunk novel ever.
They don't post often but they make up a large majority of non-student GAF. Just go to a "what is your profession?" or "what is your income?" thread.Really? This is anecdotal of course but I read plenty of posts from Gaffers who identify their incomes as being solidly working class. Then of course there are plenty of students / recent graduates who dont have much income due to working part time. But I agree with you that there are plenty of others who make a solid salary but use the language of the poor and disenfranchised to describe their station. I quietly shake my head when I read those posts.
But how much do you make when you add up all the goodies Obama gave you?
But how much do you make when you add up all the goodies Obama gave you?
And don't forget all of her whore pills that she gets for free.Dax posted this from her Obamaphone.
This is the most interesting and honest defense of the current system Ive seen. Its an e-mail from a lawyer:
Jonah,
Ive read your work for years, always found it interesting and am one of those evil disability lawyers who go around convincing people to get sarcoidosis, copd and hepatitis C for the wonderful opportunity to get $1000/ mo from the government after surviving on nothing for 2.5 years waiting for a hearing, to give you an example of my last 3 hearings. I obviously feel the need to add a little context to what disability really is and isnt from someone on the front line of the issue. Take it for what its worth, but here is what you need to understand in context:
SSD beneficiaries are overwhelmingly poor, overwhelmingly uneducated and of low intelligence, and just in general people with marginal skills. My typical client is over 50, has at most a GED if that, has worked heavy strenuous jobs with lots of lifting, carrying etc. Id say about 10% of them are completely illiterate, 25% marginally literate and some are actually mentally retarded. I can count on one hand the people I have had over the years with a college degree. When these people develop a condition at age 52 and are unable to continue to do their heavy construction job, exactly what is a 52 year-old with a 8th grade education limited to sit-down work only who can barely read and write supposed to do? Become newspaper columnists? Oh, to make it even better, they cannot get any health care (in my state, you must be disabled to qualify for Medicaid) so whatever condition they have has festered and become far more serious since they had to stop working.
In case you havent noticed, the jobs available for low-skilled or marginally skilled workers have been cratering now for years. Blame NAFTA, free trade, globalization, whatever, the fact is those jobs are fast disappearing or have already disappeared. Oh, by the way, add in about 20 million low-skilled or marginally skilled legal and illegal immigrants to compete for those jobs that are available. So our 56 year-old guy with a bad back now has to compete with not only jobs he has no skills to perform, but for those few jobs he could perform, there are millions of younger people around to compete against.
SSD can be best understood as early retirement for poor sick people. If you look at it that way, it is in fact quite equitable when the potential SS benefits expected to be paid are calculated. Ill give you an example from that NPR story. The county in Alabama that has 25% of people on disability is over 50% black. The life expectancy of a black male in that county is all of 66.7 years. Currently, SS retirement age is 65.7 years roughly, meaning a black male in that county could work all his life from age 18, retire at regular age and have a 50% of drawing less than 8 months of benefits, if that, before he dies. The white male life expectancy for the county you live in is 81.1 years. At the average benefit of $1285/month, you will likely draw over $222,000.00 more in benefits over your lifetime than the black dude in the lazy Alabama county. In fact the discrepancy is probably much higher than that, as odds are overwhelming that the guy in Alabama earned far less than you do and so his benefits would be lower and yours would be higher. You can say that is only fair because you paid more taxes in, but even that doesnt even things out when you count the 16.1 years you will get Medicare benefits to the 8 months he will plus the substantial upper income tax benefits from 401Ks.
SSD modulates in a very small way the substantial advantages social security retirement gives to upper income, primarily white, educated people. If you are upper income, white and educated (notice I say AND not OR, the primary factor here being upper income more than race, poor whites are approaching black mortality rates in recent years) you have a number of advantages over poor, uneducated people. You will live longer, a lot longer on average. You will work longer, again a lot longer on average, because your work is much easier and you have many more transferrable skills, so if your job disappears, you can do something else. So if a poor, black guy draws disability from age 55 to when he dies at age 64, you can say hes lazy and got all these government benefits that you dont get, but in the big picture it is just shifting retirement to an earlier time to where he can actually see some of it. Personally, I think that is fair; upper income, well educated people have done very well over the last half century, lower income, less educated people have not. We can argue the whys but you cant really argue the whether.
If I ruled the world, I would have a different disability system; I think there are instances where it is too hard to get off disability even with medical improvement; childrens disability should certainly be changed; there should be ways to encourage work while on disability without fear of immediately losing benefits etc. On the whole however, disability is something that slightly evens out the vast advantages the fortunate have in our society over the less fortunate. I can tell you this without hesitation there is no client I have ever gotten disability for who I would trade places with, ever.
If you read this, I appreciate it, I realize it is long. Anyway, that is some food for thought.
But how much do you make when you add up all the goodies Obama gave you?
About the disability-industrial complex:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/344606/disability-lawyer-responds-jonah-goldberg
Aside from my whore pills Link mentioned, (thanks for that, Link), the only major things I've gotten recently was last week when I bought bras and BioShock: Infinite. Do those count as Obama goodies?
About the disability-industrial complex:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/344606/disability-lawyer-responds-jonah-goldberg
Aside from my whore pills Link mentioned, (thanks for that, Link), the only major things I've gotten recently was last week when I bought bras and BioShock: Infinite. Do those count as Obama goodies?
Really? This is anecdotal of course but I read plenty of posts from Gaffers who identify their incomes as being solidly working class. Then of course there are plenty of students / recent graduates who don’t have much income due to working part time. But I agree with you that there are plenty of others who make a solid salary but use the language of the poor and disenfranchised to describe their station. I quietly shake my head when I read those posts.
But this is all beside the point. While I referenced Gaf threads in my earlier posts, my commentary on how the poor and working class get treated in America are based off observations from following politics and news media for some time. The latest incarnation of the pervasive and belittling attitude towards working class folk was the “takers” meme during the election, and it was disheartening (and illuminating) to read the disdain-infused commentary of people from (mainly) the conservative side about how people in lower stations in life somehow deserve it. It’s the symptom of a culture that has placed far too much value on the individual’s role in determining their economic prosperity. It’s also one that has forgotten the struggles of the 20th century labor movement and its success in building a booming middle-class economic engine, as well as the role that Government can play in leveling the playing field and putting enough rungs on the ladder to help people on the bottom to climb their way up.
They don't post often but they make up a large majority of non-student GAF. Just go to a "what is your profession?" or "what is your income?" thread.
Aside from my whore pills Link mentioned, (thanks for that, Link), the only major things I've gotten recently was last week when I bought bras and BioShock: Infinite. Do those count as Obama goodies?
A $60 video game? You piece of shit.Aside from my whore pills Link mentioned, (thanks for that, Link), the only major things I've gotten recently was last week when I bought bras and BioShock: Infinite. Do those count as Obama goodies?
To be fair, though: "what is your IQ?", "How educated are you?" and "how many girls are you fucking at the same time right now?" threads tend to be filled with a rather disproportionate number of superhumans and geniuses compared to average plebs as well.
When an entire thread of people is saying they're all 6'0 foot tall, successful businessmen with huge cocks and salaries -- I imagine it's a little difficult to admit it when you're some dude barely scraping by, especially in a culture that hates its poors so much.
I feel the same. I think most lower middle class-working class people wouldn't be wasting time on an internet forum.Good point. I just feel that reading many threads in GAF that a lot of people here come from a somewhat privileged background. Of course I could be wrong.
<3Aside from my whore pills Link mentioned, (thanks for that, Link), the only major things I've gotten recently was last week when I bought bras and BioShock: Infinite. Do those count as Obama goodies?
Well...it was the premium edition, so it was $80.00. See? Here's the keychain.A $60 video game? You piece of shit.
But I have boobstraps!I don't see bootstraps anywhere in that post...
But I have boobstraps!
Well...it was the premium edition, so it was $80.00. See? Here's the keychain.
Also, I kind of lied to you guys. I got a super cute dress last week too.
But I have boobstraps!
Well...it was the premium edition, so it was $80.00. See? Here's the keychain.
Also, I kind of lied to you guys. I got a super cute dress last week too.
But I have boobstraps!
But can you pull yourself up by them?
About the disability-industrial complex:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/344606/disability-lawyer-responds-jonah-goldberg
Good post.
Holy crap at bill o'reilly segment on abortion.
said Abortion is Planned Parenthoods main business.
Holy crap at bill o'reilly segment on abortion.
said Abortion is Planned Parenthoods main business.
It's really amazing how these people are able to make completely untrue statements as if they are facts without any kind of consequences.Don't worry, Bill didn't intend it to be a factual statement.
It's really amazing how these people are able to make completely untrue statements as if they are facts without any kind of consequences.