I’ll be returning to “Wait Wait” after a seven-week layoff tomorrow. I hope I can remember how it all goes. Something about the news, yes?
Speaking of news, our President exercised his 4th-ever veto yesterday, wiping out the expansion of the children’s health care program. Bush worries that it’s a move towards government-controlled health care. I found myself wishing that some Democrats would find the gonads to say “Yes, but on the bright side, it’s a move towards government-controlled health care!”
Gonads of that size still aren’t available on the Democratic side, I suppose, but this is a good start. Maybe getting the idea that a veto isn’t the end of the world and that the White House can’t always return serve with a treacherous spin might make Congress do something about… oh, I don’t know… the war. Maybe they could offer the krazy argument that supporting the troops doesn’t necessarily mean “keeping them in the line of fire forever.”
I know. A crazy thought. Everyone knows that if you cut off funding the troops will instantly be left standing there in their boxer shorts armed with only a tiny white flag and an embarrassed smile. Sorry I brought it up…
Fanny Roborat
59 comments
Steve
October 3, 2007 at 8:54 am
1How large do you think Speaker Pelosi’s ovaries should be in relation to the rest of her body in order to take on President Bush?
Just askin’.
dee
October 3, 2007 at 9:53 am
2I read this line in the veto statement this morning and my blood pressure still hasn’t come back down:
The bill also does not fully fund all its new spending…
As if any of his war appropriation requests have.
Dan Froomkin makes a good point in this morning’s Washington Post. George Bush picked the wrong time to get religion about fiscal responsibility.
waterfowler
October 3, 2007 at 10:54 am
3Congratulations…now get to work so you can pay for Fonzies’ health care.
Jim (OJNTNJ)
October 3, 2007 at 11:43 am
4Dee, more reason to fume.
The fact the the “bill does not fully fund all its new spending” didn’t stop the hypocrite in chief from passing his own “No Child Left Behind” act.
Kanye’s statement about Bush not caring about black folks didn’t fully cover the lack of compassion exhibited by this President.
becca (and brian)
October 3, 2007 at 12:07 pm
5So is there any hope of converting enough senators to override the veto? How loudly and publically can we publicize how much Bush has spent on the war so far (and is proposing to do going forward) and compare it to what is being requested for health care. Is there any way to shame folks into it?
sad and frustrated….
b
Dave von Ebers
October 3, 2007 at 12:15 pm
6Well, this is par for the course, isn’t it? I mean, why not pick on kids — mostly lower-to-middle-income kids, the ones who need help from the states. You don’t expect our Dear Leader to pick on someone his own size, do you?
Oh, by the way, did you hear the one about the evil dictator who was willing to leave Iraq voluntarily a month before the U.S. invasion … but Bush said no?? Funny stuff, really.
Cheers!
waterfowler
October 3, 2007 at 1:55 pm
7Sadly, it has to be said.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OThjMjEyZDkxZjllOWZiYzhlMDQzMzNhY WJmMGVhNTY=
hedera
October 3, 2007 at 2:40 pm
8As usual, Tom Toles is right on target about the health care issue…
hedera
October 3, 2007 at 2:41 pm
9(beat ya to it, gillian! But it published in the San Francisco Chronicle today and was too good to pass up.)
gillian
October 3, 2007 at 3:03 pm
10We’re still good, hedera. No offense taken.
hedera
October 3, 2007 at 3:29 pm
11Thanks, gillian, glad to hear it. I really liked that cartoon. It’s right up there with the anti-Marlboro man add - the one where the guy says, “I miss my lung, Bob” …
Harold
October 3, 2007 at 3:50 pm
12Why doesn’t Bush want to provide health care for tomorrow’s soldiers in the Global War on Terror? He must hate America. Can we impeach him now?
Jim (OJNTNJ)
October 3, 2007 at 4:48 pm
13Thanks for the link Waterfowler.
But are you sure you want to get into a “hey look over there, they’re doing it too” back and forth? Think McCain (during the 2000 primaries), Murtha, Kerry, the 9-11 widows, retired generals et al.
It appears that anyone who doesn’t identify as a wingbat or moonnut* or whatever the ultra far right wing is labeled these days, ,regardless of party affiliation,, is attacked for criticizing administration policy (or in McCain’s case, campaigning against the current president).
By the way, what’s your take on the veto of the healthcare bill?
*tm to Jon Swift for this phrase. I used it because it always makes me chuckle.
GW
October 3, 2007 at 6:14 pm
14I care about childrens, I just don’t want to pay for the care. (Did I say that right, Mr. Cheney?)
DC
October 3, 2007 at 7:41 pm
15That’s a good boy Bushie. Now go lay down by your dish.
David
October 3, 2007 at 8:57 pm
16The page came up, WF, but with the note that the article could not be retrieved, but my dial-up sometimes does that just out of orneriness. I did want to read it, if nothing else out of respect for the fact that you thought it was worth posting. Besides, I have no objection to the possibility of learning a different perspective, if it is factual and intellectually honest.
The Help Stop Hillary banner at the top kind of sucks, but what the hell? Didn’t much expect those folks to be enamored of a possible Hillary presidency, so no big deal. At least it’s just a simple banner, not an intellectually dishonest abomination like the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry, or comically misguided, like those bandaids at the ‘04 Rep. Con.
Totally unrelated: The ‘Horns-Gators bowl game isn’t out of the question, just not for the national championship this year, although I guess we are obligated to play like the #3 or #4 Big Ten team if we’re like 8-3.
David
October 3, 2007 at 8:57 pm
17The page came up, WF, but with the note that the article could not be retrieved, but my dial-up sometimes does that just out of orneriness. I did want to read it, if nothing else out of respect for the fact that you thought it was worth posting. Besides, I have no objection to the possibility of learning a different perspective, if it is factual and intellectually honest.
The Help Stop Hillary banner at the top kind of sucks, but what the hell? Didn’t much expect those folks to be enamored of a possible Hillary presidency, so no big deal. At least it’s just a simple banner, not an intellectually dishonest abomination like the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry, or comically misguided, like those bandaids at the ‘04 Rep. Con.
Totally unrelated: The ‘Horns-Gators bowl game isn’t out of the question, just not for the national championship this year, although I guess we are obligated to play like the #3 or #4 Big Ten team if we’re like 8-3.
David
October 3, 2007 at 8:59 pm
18I have no idea why it posted twice. Jeeze, it’s not Pulitzer material or anything, Fanny.
Tom Toles, on the other hand…
SeattleDan
October 3, 2007 at 9:36 pm
19David, all of what you post is Pulitzer material…but as we’re here at Adam’s place, maybe he has first dibs on the Prize.
Doc Nagel
October 3, 2007 at 9:53 pm
20The troops would be left in the desert without provisions? What’s the difference?
Oh, wait, now I get it. They’d get to have flags!
David
October 4, 2007 at 6:15 am
21The spirits of Sam Clemens and Ambrose Bierce live on in the mind of Mother Felber’s swashbuckling little pirate Adam. He be ‘da man.
gillian
October 4, 2007 at 5:10 pm
22There’s still more than a year left before the election? Holy shit! How bad will it get?
Boomer
October 4, 2007 at 5:22 pm
23Do consider getting a flu shot this winter, dear friends.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0439354420071005
David
October 4, 2007 at 10:15 pm
24Speaking of Iraq, this quote from Steve Clemons’ The Washington Note:
[Mir] Rosen’s concluding thoughts about our direct ownership of this refugee crisis ought to weigh heavily on all lawmakers seeking to slough off the responsibility:
It has become popular with former supporters of the war to blame the Iraqis for the Americans’ failure. The Iraqis did not choose democracy or the Iraqis did not choose freedom, Americans like to say, or the Iraqis have to decide to stop killing each other or Iraqis have to “step up.” But such complaints misplace the blame. Sunni and Shia Iraqis protested the American occupation as soon as it began, and demanded elections and sovereignty. The U.S. ignored their demands and instead imposed a dictator on them, Paul Bremer, hoping he would pave the way for an Iraqi strongman to rule in our stead. Other former supporters of the war, echoing the simplistic sentiments heard during the Balkan wars, now blame the alleged “ancient hatred” between Sunnis and Shias, who have been fighting each other for “thousands of years.” But Iraq had no history of civil war or sectarian violence even approaching this scale until the Americans arrived. Iraq is not Rwanda, where Hutus and Tutsis slaughtered each other and America could pretend it had no role. We did this to Iraq. And it is time the U.S and the international community “step up” to the resulting humanitarian nightmare.
Dave von Ebers
October 5, 2007 at 6:27 am
25Geez, David, your comments get double-posted and mine get “queued” … What, was the the occasional gibes at University of Michigan? I mean, whatsamatter wit dat? If a guy can’t have a bad attitude about Michigan, really, what’s the point?
On a more serious note, I agree with the gist of Steve Clemons’ argument, but I have to ask … where does that leave us? Isn’t the overarching question here simply this: Will our continued military presence in Iraq make the situation better for Iraqis? Because unless the answer is an unqualified “yes,” there is no justification for staying in. If the situation will improve, or merely stay the same, without U.S. troops there, then we should get out as soon as possible.
While it may be true that Iraq never had out-and-out civil war before, it most certainly does today. The so-called “terrorists” or al Qaeda in Iraq, or whatever the heck Bush wants to call them, make up only a tiny percentage of the insurgents – maybe between 1,200 and 1,600 fighters, total. The rest are factions in, as Juan Cole puts it, three separate but interrelated civil wars: Shiite versus Shiite, for control of the south; Sunni versus Shiite in the Baghdad area; and Kurds versus Arabs, Turkmen and Persians in the Kurdish areas (the last of those gets virtually no media attention; and the first is ignored because it’s not “sectarian” so, a la Gen. Petraeus, it doesn’t exist).
In any event, this civil war – or these civil wars – cannot be resolved through military means. They require political solutions or they will never end. Yet, the Bush Administration has made no effort to work to negotiate a political resolution. Here’s where I think Clemons’ argument is particularly insightful: We say the warring parties have to negotiate a peace, as though we have nothing to do with it … and that’s utter nonsense. We have as much to do with the civil war(s) in Iraq as we had to do with the civil war in Vietnam. So, there’s where I see the whole “we broke it, we have to fix it” idea coming into play.
Roll up you sleeves and get to work George. Negotiating peace is, as you like to say, “hard work” … but that’s what being president is. As if he gives a good goddam.
waterfowler
October 5, 2007 at 6:33 am
26Jim (OJNTNJ), It’s not a “look over there”, it’s a “look right @ ‘em”.
They can only hope to manufacture a situation where the right might be “doing it to”. It’s too late, they’re on the record, and they know they’ll see their own statements in campaign ads for Repubs.
Also, I didn’t read much about the bill. From all of the headlines about W. hating children and denying them health care, I could surmise that it was just the dems. trying to expand another federal program and thus need to raise my taxes, which I can barely pay as it is. I don’t have health insurance, but I don’t expect you to have to pay for it for me.
Alas, David, I can see the ‘Horns @ 8-3 this year too.
It's Pat!
October 5, 2007 at 9:00 am
27WF, I do think that your not having insurance is a problem for me - I will pay for that through higher rates and higher costs. I would much prefer you have insurance for another reason - if you have a catastrophic problem, not only would you personally have potentially inferior care, but our economy would suffer as well (unless you are currently not working, which I doubt).
This thing of not having insurance for everyone is costing us far more economically through loss of productivity than I feel is being considered.
Boomer
October 5, 2007 at 10:02 am
28wf, the S-CHIP program will be expanded to more children and funded by a new tax on cigarettes. Unless you smoke, this program will not effect your taxes. And if you do smoke, why the hell don’t you have insurance?
David
October 5, 2007 at 2:55 pm
29I took the drift of the quote to be that we cannot just wash our hands of Iraq, but have to face the fact that we bear primary responsibility for this horrendous debacle. But it does seem clear to me that every day our troops are in Iraq, the debacle is one day worse, so I want our troops out with all due haste. Actually, Iran could do a better job in Iraq than we are doing, but the Iraqis don’t want that either, and I can understand why. Our biggest crime at the moment is arming the shit out of various factions, thus making any political solution far, far more difficult. As a nation we - and because Bush/Cheney are our federal executive branch, are us on the world stage - are idiots, arrogant, self-centered, self-serving idiots. The only good thing I have to say is that even though the reason is likely anger over the fact that our non-virtual war game in Iraq is a colossal failure, it has dawned on the majority of Americans that our troops need to leave Iraq.
Also, sadly, simply leaving without assuming any responsibility for or obligation to the carnage is less evil than staying and continuing to make the situation worse, which the surge and associated strategies is doing in spades.
I am embarrassed, appalled, and morally outraged by what my government has done to Iraq, which makes what Hussein did to the Iraqis seem modest by comparison, and he was a homicidal asshole.
I have great empathy for our servicepeople who have tried to do good and honorable things in the midst of this madness, but it is a mission on which they should never have been sent, and from which they need to be withdrawn as quickly as logistically possible.
Boomer
October 5, 2007 at 3:26 pm
30Don’t forget to write your Representative and hold their feet to the blast furnace.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_ main.html
Dave von Ebers
October 5, 2007 at 3:56 pm
31Amen, David.
becca (and brian)
October 5, 2007 at 4:08 pm
32I should know this, but where can I look/check to see how Oregon’s senators/reps voted on this? I don’t know whether they’d be already in line to try and override the veto or not.
Becca
Jim (OJNTNJ)
October 5, 2007 at 4:41 pm
33Becca (and Brian), the site with links to both the house and the senate is here: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/rollcallvotes.html.
When Oregon votes on our own version, you will be able to view the results at www.sos.state.or.us. You’ll want to click on the elections link at the top of the page.
Waterfowler, as an occasional smoker, I wouldn’t mind in the slightest, paying more for a pack of smokes to help ensure access to health care for your kids and all American children.
And bear in mind, I’m lookin’ right at both sides in what they say and the spirit in which it’s said.
That said, it’s becoming more and more difficult to be a truly informed voter due to all of the misinformation, obfuscation, and focus (and diversion of attention to) trivial irrelevant minutia from both sides, but it appears to me that the (far) right plays the dirtiest and has a more prolific manufacturing factory.
To the U.S. citizenry however, it’s no longer a game.
becca (and brian)
October 6, 2007 at 10:58 am
34and despite the hiatus Adam holds off a surging Mo to claim yet another WWTDM crown.
the legend continues….
:-) B (and B)
Dirk's Diary
October 6, 2007 at 5:10 pm
3510-06-07
Dear Diary,
Comedian Rush Limbaugh really lit up the phones this week with his “Phony Soldiers” slur about veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who are speaking out against the war. That was great fun for Rush and the guys for about an hour and then … the blow-back began. Since then, he’s been moon-walking away from that comment, doctoring the tape and transcript of that program (cut out about 1-1/2 minutes of dialog) to make it look like he was talking about just one particular unseemly person.
Cheney and Bush sure liked it and are still talking it up. “Boil Butt (W’s nickname for him since Rush got out of service in Vietnam by claiming to have a “inoperable pilonidal cyst” - a boil on the butt.) sure hit a Home Run with that one. Heh, heh.”
Rush did announce on his program later in the week that he passed his court ordered drug test, ending the week on a positive note. All in the Executive God-squad are praying for this Administration’s favorite water carrier to kick his Oxycontin addiction. Just say no to “pharming”, Rush. Jeff told me that “pharming” meant when someone is “jonesing” for prescription drugs. OK, but what does “jonesing” mean and why does Jeff know about such things?! Patricia and I better have a talk with him tomorrow. Kids!!!
Dirk
Dave von Ebers
October 6, 2007 at 6:14 pm
36Oh, and another thing …
We’re loyal to you Illinois
We’re orange and blue Illinois
We’ll back you to stand
‘Gainst the best in the land
For we know you have sand
Illinois!
(Er, “We know you have sand”? That musta been some kinda 1920’s thing, or something …)
David
October 6, 2007 at 9:24 pm
37The Zooker is getting it done with the Big Ten orange-and-blue. When he first left Florida, I said he belonged in the Big Ten, and I knew when Illinois hired him, you guys would not be sorry. Go, Illini!
I got nobody for the World Series. And I hated seeing the Cubbies go down. I mean the Diamondbacks versus the Rockies in the NLCS? It was disorienting enough when the Diamondbacks won the World Series.
cooper
October 7, 2007 at 5:50 am
38I enjoy an occasional sporting event as much as the next guy, but I went to NC State and Goddard College. Both are hopelessly mired at the bottom of the pile and already out of contention, getting their butts kicked nearly every weekend. This certainly frees up Saturday afternoons and my blood pressure remains neatly within bounds. This is one of those rare lose-win situations and I’m making the best of it.
Dave von Ebers
October 7, 2007 at 9:02 am
39David, yesterday started out great, with Illinois beating Wisconsin, and ended on a sour note with the Cubs going down in flames.
I agree … Arizona and Colorado playing for the National League pennant? How can you get excited about that? Obviously, the Diamondbacks were the better team and they deserved to win … but really, how can you get worked up about teams that are younger than my kids? (Well, younger than my oldest, anyway.) Sheesh.
And here’s something that really gets me about Arizona. They’ve only been around for a few years, yet they’ve already changed their team colors. What’s up with that? I think all professional sports should adopt a rule that no team is allowed to change their team colors, period. Sorry, San Diego, but you chose to have yellow, orange and brown … so now you’re stuck with it. And all those teams that chose teal? Too bad … teal it is, even if it’s no longer trendy.
I’m not certain, but I’m willing to bet that no major college team has ever changed colors. They may change their uniforms or their helmets on occasion; but if you pick orange and blue you stay with orange and blue.
Not that there’s anything wrong with orange and blue, mind you … except for the Mets; but that’s a whole other story …
Cooper, I know what you mean about keeping the blood pressure down. As a lifelong Cubs and Illini fan (not to mention the Bears), I’ve had more heartache than I deserve. And no, it doesn’t build character. It just sucks.
dee
October 7, 2007 at 11:22 am
40Cleveland, folks. And I say that as a loyal Tigers fan. I know how much fun these last two seasons have been (well. last year was more fun than this year) and fans of The Tribe have suffered enough and deserve a little happiness. They live in Cleveland, for Lobster’s sake!!!!
gillian
October 7, 2007 at 12:43 pm
41Good point, dee. (BTW, is the team named after the sub-continent Indians or the casino Indians?)
gillian
October 7, 2007 at 1:31 pm
42Looks like I tripped the spam filter; first time for me, I think. And it all appeared to be so innocent to me as I was writing it.
As far as interrogation techniques go, maybe Mr. Bush can learn a thing or two from these guys -
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/07/wwii-veteran-nazi-interrogato rs-denounced-bushs-torture-techniques/
Zee Man
October 7, 2007 at 4:25 pm
43George Will was on “This Week with George Stephanopolis” today and I’m glad he’s finally given up on that FUBAR bow tie that he’s worn for decades
Dale
October 7, 2007 at 5:35 pm
44Dee, I´m with you in the Tiger Fans for Cleveland Club. The NY press sniffed down their nose (to mix a metaphor) at the Indians just like they did to the Tigers last year, and their hubris deserves every plague of Lake Erie locusts it gets.
A note of possible interest on a blog of a Tufts alum which features comments by Mr. Mather and son: I was in Boston this weekend for the induction ceremony of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (my mom was induced…I mean inducted). Anyway, on the program they had a list of the original 62 charter members, class of 1780. Among them, were the usual John Adams, John Hancock, your assembly of Ebenezers and Nehemiahs and, I kid you not, one Cotton Tufts.
David
October 7, 2007 at 6:31 pm
45Way cool about your mom’s inducement/induction, Dale. Love the historical tidbit, too. There just ain’t no website quite like Fanatical Apathy.
OK, I’m on the Cleveland bandwagon. It’s true, they’ve suffered more than enough for one team with an actual history.
Cotton Mather
October 7, 2007 at 6:34 pm
46Prithe, what a splendid name! Mayhaps he wast named after me! Twould make perfect sense, since I wast the quintessential Boston Brahmin.
hedera
October 7, 2007 at 8:36 pm
47OK, I am not a sports fan, as you all know; and if I were a college sports fan, it would be for my alma mater, Berserkeley (which is actually pushing toward the top of the Pac10 for the first time in generations, astoundingly enough). But even I was impressed enough to read 3 articles in the sports section this morning about Stanford’s upset of USC. I mean, talk about your underdogs! Wotta performance! (Cal, of course, was cheering madly for Stanford for the first time in HISTORY because when the Cardinal knocked USC, they kicked Cal up to no. 2 in the rankings… which doesn’t mean Cal won’t try to kick their butts in the Big Game, which may now be more interesting than expected. And keep your eye on the new QB, Tavita Pritchard.)
” … and e’en the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer.”
SeattleDan
October 7, 2007 at 8:39 pm
48The team that beats USC is the friend of my friend, hedera.
Posted-a UCLA grad.
dee
October 8, 2007 at 5:05 am
49Hmmm….”Cotton Tufts Simpson-Felber” I like it!
Dave von Ebers
October 8, 2007 at 6:48 am
50Dee, I see your point about Cleveland. But what’s a National League fan to do? I suppose I could get behind the Tribe (except, as an Illinois alum who was thrilled to see “the Chief” deep-sixed last February, I’d like to see Cleveland, um, clean up its act, too). Cleveland and Chicago have some parallels; plus, rooting for the Indians would drive White Sox fans batty … which is a good thing, by the way.
Oh, and Dan … I share your feelings about the University of Spoiled Children. Just so’s ya know, prior to beating 5th-ranked Wisconsin Saturday, the last time Illinois beat a top-5 team was way back in 1989, when they beat U.S.C. And here’s something I didn’t know. The 1989 game was originally supposed to be played in Moscow, of all places (it was to be the inaugural “Glasnost Bowl” - I kid you not), but the plans fell through and the game was played in the L.A. Coliseum; Illinois won 14-13. But how weird is that?
Dave von Ebers
October 8, 2007 at 6:49 am
51P.S. to Hedera … Go Golden Bears! (But, is there anyway Boalt Hall can get rid of that John Yoo?!)
Ann
October 8, 2007 at 9:55 am
52Oh Great Lobster, nooooo please don’t tell me it’s sporting season again! Don’t these people have a sports blog they could be posting on??
I can’t make myself wade through all these posts, trying to find the nuggets of humor and political insight. I just can’t.
On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised at all to learn that WF understands nothing about insurance and the costs that we all bear when our fellow citizens/human beings need medical care.
Dave von Ebers
October 8, 2007 at 5:37 pm
53Well, Ann, they started it!
David
October 8, 2007 at 9:56 pm
54Ann the Fair, heartthrob to any number of Felbernauts, it’s primary sporting season from late August through March Madness, so you do get 4 1/2 months of reprieve from unreconstructable collegiate athletic allegiances - it’s just one of those base realities with some of this crowd. Granted, baseball does get interwoven at the beginning and end of the baseball season, which is like forever.
But I’m ok with it being secondary to the wit and wisdom which pops up on FA like mushrooms in a cow pasture. This is the primary reason for Adam’s existence, of course. Just remember what mushrooms require.
Murray
October 9, 2007 at 12:17 pm
55Hail to the Victors Valiant, hail to the conquering heroes, Hail! Hail! Michigan…Sorry Ann.
You are right about WF. He has children with out insurance and he doesn’t want them to be covered because it would increase taxes. Who does he think pays for the cost of emergency room visits where the uninsured have to go? Once again mindless dogma trumps an intelligent program.
Ann
October 10, 2007 at 12:42 pm
56Not to mention the public education and school buses and I-don’t-know-what-all goes into raising children, all paid for by our tax dollars. I don’t have ANY children and I still don’t begrudge the money it takes to raise, educate, and protect them!
I don’t know that there has ever been a time in human history when people really lived without the support and protection of others, but I wouldn’t want to try living that way now.
Unrepentant New Deal Democrat
October 10, 2007 at 5:43 pm
57Alone, we die. Together, we live. A quote I like: The reason we are here is to help each other through this thing called life, whatever it is.
Dave von Ebers
October 11, 2007 at 7:31 am
58Ann - dare I say it? Hillary was right … it does take a village. We have 3 kids and I’d like to think we don’t over-tax (pardon the pun) the public coffers. Still, everyone of us relied on plenty of help from the state, local and federal government, and none of us would have “made it” (no sexual innuendo there) without that help. And I’d like to think that we’ve all become (ahem) productive citizens who’ve added back to the public coffers over time … and so, I presume, will my kids and most everyone else’s.
I can understand hostility towards wasteful public spending, but the conservative, knee-jerk opposition to any expenditure of public funds (other than for corporate welfare and the military spending, of course … anyone remember those $1,000 toilet seats from back in the Reagan era?) is maddening. Not to mention utterly irresponsible.
When I was just out of college, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I clerked for a law firm where there was this one (admitted) “libertarian” associate; a woman who claimed not to believe in public education, but who, not surprisingly, had gone to law school at the University of Michigan. Naturally, when I pointed out the obvious contradiction, she said “That’s different.” Not that she was predictable or anything.
People who criticize government spending are like Clarence Thomas opposing affirmative action: “Hey, I got mine! Now screw off, will ya?”
Grateful David
October 11, 2007 at 5:14 pm
59Yeah, thank you Florida taxpayers for my education in the Winter Park public schools and at the University of Florida, and thank you New Jersey taxpayers for my opportunity to attend graduate school at the College of New Jersey. And thank you, taxpayers, for all the other things we don’t even think about that wouldn’t be there except for the taxpayer-funded public sector, without which none of the private sector enterprises could even exist, for Lobster’s sake.
Common sense, not ideology, tells us what should be public, what should be private, and what should be mixed. It also tells us that knee-jerk anti-tax Republicans embrace the most irresponsible waste of tax dollars on corporate welfare and idiocy like the war against Iraq. Up is down in that fantasy world.