A Condensed Version of History

[Hugh R]

No silly, Al Gore invented fire!

[Lothar]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

When do the threads titles which include the invented terminology like "Conservitards" and so on begin?

Conservitards - Republicans that spend other peoples' money like drunken sailors and can no longer be distinguished from liberals.

Remind me to start a thread on that.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

By Jove, I think he's got it!!

DARISC, let's parse your statement. "I got mine" translation, I worked hard and saved for it. "Screw those who think I'm going to spend a dime of it to try to fix what THEY see as problems in our society" Translation. "They" meaning someone other than me (the guy with the money) "see" their perception of problems.

Yeah, you got it exactly. Someone who wants to use my money to solve that they see as problems in society, mind you my money, not their money.

Nooo...Not exactly. You are assuming that "they" do not include succesful people who have a social conscience and are willing to contribute some of what they have to hopefully make a better society for all.

Too altruistic for your taste?

[Dan in Pasadena]

DARISC, Shhhhhhh! Altruism is NOT allowed here. Anything to do with altruism is "PC" to them.

[DanL911sc]

Hey! I like my steak rare! Otherwise carry on...

[ZOA NOM]

A young conservative, they say, has no heart.
An old liberal has no brain.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by ZOANAS

A young conservative, they say, has no heart.
An old liberal has no brain.

Who dat say dat?

[Hugh R]

Winston Churchill said that I believe.

Its not about a social conscience or compassion. Its about other people deciding what is the "right" thing to do with my money. I'll give you an example. I don't have the citation, but a few weeks ago I was reading in the LA Times about a housing project in Chicago and how the housing police were cracking down for all kinds of minor violations as, in one residents mind, a way to "clear out" some people. Be that as it may, the resident who was being interviewed was a 74 or 75 year old lady who had lived there for 50 years. Stepping outside of the main story, I said to myself "What the fu(k is someone doing living in subsidized Federal housing for 50 years!! Lets see what I've done in the last 50 years...went to nursery, elementary, and high school. Went in the military, got out, put myself through college, worked, went to school at night for my Master's degree, worked, studied and went to school at night to get professional certifications, worked.

What has she done in the past 50 years since she was 24 or 25 to improve her lot in life? Oh, and she had three kids but no husband, now or ever, that I could discern. This is a person who has been living on Federal handouts since Eisenhower. Its someone with a "social conscience" that was using MY taxpayers $$$ to allow this.

This goes on today, and I don't see how raising my taxes, with the mantra that "I'm lucky, or I'm not paying my fair share" is something I should stand for. I pay more taxes than the average family of four in the US even makes. In fact, the "average" american family doesn't even pay enough taxes to put their own kids through public school. In Cali the per student costs the state pays are $7000 so if you have two kids you should be paying $14,000 per year or your kids education, let alone police, fire, roads, flood control, etc. To pay $14K for your kids education in Cali you need to have an adjusted gross income of around $150K (9% top tax rate). Again, this doesn't include police, fire, etc. I think people should pay taxes that are "fair" by that I mean what you take in goods and services from the state should be roughly close to what you pay in. Or we should at least start with that premise and go from there. How is it "fair" that one family pays $40k in taxes and another family the same size pays two bucks? I don't think we'd have such a bloated inefficient government (case in point the Los Angeles Unified School District, which paid $12 Million for a payroll system that doesn't work), and then spends several hundred thousand more on PR firms to stem the criticism of the flawed payroll system) if Joe six pack was paying taxes closer to his "fair share".

[DanL911sc]

Clearly we must combine the ATM with the voting booth. When you vote for a local bond or proposition there must a price tag clearly listed, and to register your vote you have to stick your credit card in to withdraw funds right then and there. Then lets see if those schools get funded...

[Hugh R]

I like it!

The sad truth is that, in my mind, most people haven't got a clue what bonds really are, or how many are out there for the same things. We have highway bond monies that haven't been spent, well actually they have been spent, but not on what they were originally voted for, and they want more bond money for the same thing. State bonds are for nebulus things like "highways". Local bonds are usually for more defined things like street lights on Lincoln Blvd. between Wilshire and Venice Blvd. something you can more easily put your finger on.

[mattdavis11]

This is an appropriate contribution to the topic.

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college...
Like so many others her age, she got caught up in the liberal movement that surrounds so many college campuses, once convinced, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"

She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even sh ow up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her father asked her, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend Audrey, who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea. How would that be fair? I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work. Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

[DanL911sc]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

The same Republican party that has controlled congress and the white house during a deficit runup to the tune of $9.1 trillion?*

I suppose the right analogy for your story would if our college girl achieved her 4.0 purely by cheating. In that case her hypocrisy is an appropriate example of present day Republicanism!

* requiring $406 Billion in interest payments in 2006 alone. But hey, they didn't raise taxes, did they? What the f*ck do I care then?

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by DanL911sc

The same Republican party that has controlled congress and the white house during a deficit runup to the tune of $9.1 trillion?*
* requiring $406 Billion in interest payments in 2006 alone.

It costs money to clean up 8 years worth of piled up ****.

[DanL911sc]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

It costs money to clean up 8 years worth of piled up ****.

Actually, the Republicans controlled the house and senate for 12 years, not 8.

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by DanL911sc

Actually, the Republicans controlled the house and senate for 12 years, not 8.

It didn't really matter since they didn't have the votes necessary to override Clinton. That's the mess.

[DanL911sc]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

It didn't really matter since they didn't have the votes necessary to override Clinton. That's the mess.

That was the good part! That kept them all from doing too much damage. Its only when both congress and the presidency go to one party that things go haywire. Remember, split you votes in '08 otherwise we'll get into another mess.

[livi]

Thanks for sharing, Byron. No matter where I stand politically, I found it entertaining.

Although, according to the list as per occupation, I am apparently a conservative..

I wonder if that is similar to a Swedish socialist..

[mattdavis11]

Glad you agree that it took 2 years of clinton and a democratic congress to get us into this mess. Maybe one day.....

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

It costs money to clean up 8 years worth of piled up ****.

More like 40 years since Johnson and his Great Society began the downward spiral of America, but it really goes back to FDR

Notices, the 60s, liberals, Big Johnson's failure of a social experiment,hmmm

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Singing Billy Bass: Liberal or Conservative?