when you're poor sometimes you need some beer and some smokes to take the edge off how bad it sucks to be poor & I mean that seriously & anybody who doesn't actually know that in his bones is my fuckin enemy, getting all aggro about "they're on food stamps but they bought beer!" is some miserable human being shit
dudes like this do make it easier for me to pull the level for the Dems so I appreciate that anyway
― perry en concrète (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 5 July 2012 19:23 (eleven years ago) link
lever
tbh it would make more sense if dude was getting incensed about ppl buying soda with food stamps than it does to get incensed about buying beer with not-food-stamps
― I see you, Pineapple Teef (DJP), Thursday, 5 July 2012 19:24 (eleven years ago) link
lotsa people on ilx have pretty much said the same thing as the republican dude
― iatee, Thursday, 5 July 2012 19:30 (eleven years ago) link
just always w/r/t white poor people
― iatee, Thursday, 5 July 2012 19:31 (eleven years ago) link
What is so extra dipshit about the shocking "buying beer with leftover money scenario" is that it is so irrelevant to the larger issues. IT HELPS THE FUCKING ECONOMY WHEN POOR PEOPLE HAVE MORE MONEY TO SPEND ON STUFF BESIDES JUST BASIC SUSTENANCE.
Buying beer, or any other damn thing, is economic activity. Of which there is not enough.
Toploading the economy (tax cuts, tax deals, tax incentives, tax shenanigans) doesn't work as an economic stimulus. However, all money that goes to (or stays with) poor people - or lower middle class people, or even middle-class people - instantly begins circulating through the economy. Even rich people benefit, they just have to wait for the less-rich people spend it.
It's not about who "deserves" it, it's about a more vibrant economy means more money for everybody.
Hey Democrats. Try making this argument instead of pretending that you are "free-market" and "anti-deficit" too. Go on, you can do it. Lord knows you use up enough airtime.
― Vic Perry, Thursday, 5 July 2012 19:35 (eleven years ago) link
This is so fucking OTM. These shitheads have no idea what a working poor lifestyle is like. Some one who can't comprehend how you feel when you're down and out and broke; are they even human ffs?
― 'Sit pax in valle tamesis' ('Let there be Peace in the Thames Valley') (Viceroy), Thursday, 5 July 2012 23:01 (eleven years ago) link
Via Amy Sullivan at TNR, we read this amusing story from the Livingston Parish News:
Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Watson, says she had no idea that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s overhaul of the state’s educational system might mean taxpayer support of Muslim schools. “I actually support funding for teaching the fundamentals of America’s Founding Fathers’ religion, which is Christianity, in public schools or private schools,” the District 64 Representative said Monday.“I liked the idea of giving parents the option of sending their children to a public school or a Christian school,” Hodges said.Hodges mistakenly assumed that “religious” meant “Christian.”
I am guessing that in Louisiana it will mean Christian, unless the ACLU intervenes.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 6 July 2012 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_07/leaving_it_to_the_parents_in_l038357.php#
More on Bobby Jindal's voucher plan. Ugh
― curmudgeon, Friday, 6 July 2012 15:38 (eleven years ago) link
yup it's gross: public schools/public teachers will have their work evaluated on the basis of their students' standard test scores. the voucherized schools? not at all.
so the solution to poorly performing schools using taxpayer money with not enough oversight or direction is... give taxpayer money to schools with no performance record at all with zero oversight. liberty!!!
― goole, Friday, 6 July 2012 15:41 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/07/louisiana-gives-us-taste-mitt-romneys-education-policy
― goole, Friday, 6 July 2012 15:42 (eleven years ago) link
scary stuff
― curmudgeon, Monday, 9 July 2012 17:27 (eleven years ago) link
more scary stuff from the Head Bomber:
http://www.esquire.com/features/obama-lethal-presidency-0812
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 10 July 2012 20:05 (eleven years ago) link
Last night I heard about 6 seconds of James Carville on the radio before I could hit the off switch. Still recovering.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 July 2012 16:56 (eleven years ago) link
How horrible.
― Neil Jung (WmC), Thursday, 12 July 2012 16:57 (eleven years ago) link
my thoughts & prayers are with you doc
― max, Thursday, 12 July 2012 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
so, the NYC BOE finally certified Rangel's primary win after 2 weeks! A comedy of ineptitude.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2012/07/6134025/whats-board-elections-going-do-about-elephant
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 12 July 2012 19:18 (eleven years ago) link
When I mentioned I am going to get rid of Obamacare they weren’t happy, I didn’t get the same response. That’s O.K, I want people to know what I stand for and if I don’t stand for what they want, go vote for someone else, that’s just fine…But I hope people understand this, your friends who like Obamacare, you remind them of this, if they want more stuff from government tell them to go vote for the other guy — more free stuff.Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/romneys-free-stuff-speech-is-a-new-low-20120713#ixzz20W4lNIPp
But I hope people understand this, your friends who like Obamacare, you remind them of this, if they want more stuff from government tell them to go vote for the other guy — more free stuff.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/romneys-free-stuff-speech-is-a-new-low-20120713#ixzz20W4lNIPp
Out of the mouth of a rich man's child.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 13 July 2012 15:23 (eleven years ago) link
Your ENTIRE LIFE is built on free stuff, you asshole.
good morning!
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 13 July 2012 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
The whole Republican meme regarding rich people who have made it, and suggesting that the rest of us are just jealous, ignores that taking advantage of family wealth and benefiting from manipulation of tax rates and deductions and off-shore accounts is not hard work
― curmudgeon, Friday, 13 July 2012 15:29 (eleven years ago) link
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/meet-the-house-dems-who-voted-to-repeal-obamacare.php?ref=fpblg
The 5 Blue-dog Dems in the House who voted to repal Obamacare
― curmudgeon, Friday, 13 July 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
repeal
vote for repel
― blossom smulch (schlump), Friday, 13 July 2012 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
just to make sure everybody gets that one
welcome to the role of government on behalf of the governed. The principle at play is that you elect and pay people to protect your interests - and that includes murdering people who are demonstrably not in your interest. This was true when it was waged as siege warfare, and frankly if you can imagine having a clue about the nature of siege warfare, or trench warfare, or any other kind of warfare that involves thousands of people and famine and pestilence, as it has for millenia, then this kind of warfare - 3am helicopters, robot assassinations, and self-destructing computer code - should be recognized for what it is - the most civilized form of war that this species has ever seen.
I've been sick and tired of domestic progressives' snark about foreign policy for as long as I've been legal to drink. Learn some fucking history. Nation states do not care for one another. Death is measured in dollars. Deals get made. The deals getting made now are the best deals we have seen - as a species - since Adam and Eve.
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 14 July 2012 04:10 (eleven years ago) link
On the topic of WH go codes for sketchy sounding shit, please to whine about stuxnet sometime. I guarantee you don't have a leg to stand on unless you prefer a land war with Iran on principle, and if that's the case, bring back the draft.
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 14 July 2012 04:13 (eleven years ago) link
I'm that guy.
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 14 July 2012 04:15 (eleven years ago) link
lol
― perry en concrète (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 14 July 2012 04:30 (eleven years ago) link
you're so right, that 16-year-old boy hanging out with his buddies on the beach was demonstrably not in any of our interests.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 14 July 2012 05:21 (eleven years ago) link
Rich man/government teat types are a really audaciously blinders-on sort of crew. As mentioned before by myself and others, Obama gets shit for going on vacation, including to placed like Hawaii, where he was (allegedly!) born, but he needs to go somewhere because unlike Bush, or Reagan or Romney he is not independently wealthy and owner of a family homestead or retreat. And before that you had someone like John McCain, who is not only also independently wealthy, but has literally been living off the government from the moment of his birth on.
I'm not sure why folks like Obama pussyfoot around this stuff. Bring on the class warfare, I say.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 14 July 2012 13:35 (eleven years ago) link
tombot's right of course: one must either object to the entirety of the country's foriegn policy ("domestic progressives", lol) or unquestioningly assent to its every aspect (tombot). there's no in-between
how does that old saying go? to a guy who supported the iraq war, every problem looks like an iraq war. or something
― k3vin k., Saturday, 14 July 2012 13:44 (eleven years ago) link
ah, CIVILIZATION.
snarkin' on, like Jesus would.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 14 July 2012 13:46 (eleven years ago) link
apparently there's a cover article in Foreign Affairs arguing to let Iran have nukes, bcz every nation that's gotten them has started to behave more responsibly? I can assent to that. We don't need no fuckin' land war.
(also we shouldn't have shit to say about nukes, EVER #harrystruman)
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 14 July 2012 13:49 (eleven years ago) link
one reason ... many of the people who go off on government spending for The Poors whilst they themselves have been the beneficiaries of government largesse are military veterans. McCain is the most obvious example, but this includes your friendly neighborhood Teabag who served in, say, the OG Persian Gulf War and who now shouts his belief that "Obama = Hitler" when he isn't cashing his VA disability check.
attacking military veterans, or their benefits/preferences in hiring/etc., is tantamount to defending child molesters or killing kittens.
― kurwa mać (Polish for "long life") (Eisbaer), Saturday, 14 July 2012 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
i.e, the Teatard military veteran "earned his benefits and privileges." those lazy shiftless layabouts on welfare/unemployment/Obamacare haven't. or so that's the mindset.
― kurwa mać (Polish for "long life") (Eisbaer), Saturday, 14 July 2012 15:03 (eleven years ago) link
Watching Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation trot out the usual blame both sides and why can't they get together arguments. Ugh. At least Robert Reich was on there. Now Schieffer is denying he's part of the Romney campaign because they are using footage of he and David Brooks in an ad about how Obama is just Mr. Negative
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 15 July 2012 15:16 (eleven years ago) link
I started watching a segment of Meet the Press but Grover Norquist was there and I can't handle that.
― Legendary General Cypher Raige (Gukbe), Sunday, 15 July 2012 15:20 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/disclose-act-new-donor-transparency-law-blocked-in-senate/2012/07/16/gJQAbm7WpW_blog.html
The Senate has failed to advance legislation that would require independent groups to disclose the names of contributors who give more than $10,000 for use in political campaigns.
The measure, known as the DISCLOSE Act, died in a 51 to 44 vote on a procedural motion. It needed 60 votes to move forward.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 15:56 (eleven years ago) link
bcz every nation that's gotten them has started to behave more responsibly?
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 15:58 (eleven years ago) link
you mean like Israel? or North Korea? Pakistan?
Republicans say the measure could have a chilling affect on political giving, subjecting campaign donors to intimidation from their political opponents.
The bill is a response to the 2010 Citizens United ruling, in which the U.S. Supreme Court said that corporate campaign donations are a form of free speech and cannot be limited by government. Some nonprofit groups and unions are not required to reveal their donors. The bill would require speedy disclosure of big donors.
Intimidation, huh?
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 15:59 (eleven years ago) link
if you can imagine having a clue about the nature of siege warfare, or trench warfare, or any other kind of warfare that involves thousands of people and famine and pestilence, as it has for millenia, then this kind of warfare - 3am helicopters, robot assassinations, and self-destructing computer code - should be recognized for what it is - the most civilized form of war that this species has ever seen.
tombototm
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:00 (eleven years ago) link
fwiw I still don't like it, but it's better than firebombing Tokyo
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:01 (eleven years ago) link
ugh
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:02 (eleven years ago) link
v easy to say when you're not on the receiving end of a pushed button
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
i think we're having a means-ends disagreement here tom...
― du. duplass. duplass mich. (goole), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:04 (eleven years ago) link
tmi
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:04 (eleven years ago) link
automated warfare: so fresh, so clean.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:06 (eleven years ago) link
Wasn't this argument explicitly rejected by the Supreme Court in regards to the California Prop. 8 donors?
― Marco YOLO (Phil D.), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:07 (eleven years ago) link
the important thing about it is that less people die. that is all. that you can't see that as an improvement is weird.
xp
― the alternate vision continues his vision quest! (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 16:07 (eleven years ago) link