The Andre Bauer solution: Starve the poor, they’ll stop breeding

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.”

Substitute “food supply with “health-care” and it’s the same mind-set.

Geez.

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good afternoon everybody….this guy must have skipped his meds that day…

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Ah, a new con hero hits the stage.

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“The Obama administration soon may guarantee as much as $18.5 billion in loans to build new nuclear reactors to generate electricity, and Congress is considering whether to add billions more to support an expansion of nuclear power.”McClatchy.

Going nuke to create jobs.

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I’d say a lack of guidance in the area of human compassion during the formative years breeds angry individuals who harbor lifelong contempt and disdain for others. Perhaps if we could find some way starve our youth of exposure to hateful parents and wicked grandmothers…

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… And get hateful politicians off the government dole. They might breed!

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Bauer’s granny may have not had much education, but she had a pretty good grasp of Darwinian princples. It’s just that we are not talking about ferral animals here, but G-d’s noblest creature. There is a moral element and, left, right and center, our collective moral compass is out of whack. And as a sidelight, I doubt very seriously that Granny Bauer would appreciate her grandson’s use of the lesson she was trying to teach. I doubt she was, as professional skeptic insinuates, “wicked.”

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Bauer may be Lt Governor but he is ignorant of history. Poverty breeds a larger population, always has and probably always will. Check out St. Augustine’s writings 410 to 420. He proved it then and it has not been disproved since.

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Jay,

It is sad he said this to become Governor of South Carolina.

They want to go backwards.

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JAY

“…only a small percentage of those born into poverty escape it.”

I have no data at my disposal to rebutt this contention, but I would be inclined to disagree on the use of the adjective “small.” I would contend that precisely because of such programs, school lunch and government subsidized higher education (i.e. Hope, etc.) have moved many from poverty. Say what else you will about “hand outs” down here in Uncle Sam’s Oldest Colony, we’ve come a long, long way in the last half-century and no small part of that has been due to education, itself a government subsidy.

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Disclaimer: From time to time I’ll address one absurd assertion with another, equally absurd. I have no idea what kind of person Granny Bauer was, but I’m left wondering whether Bauer was taught any compassion during his youth, and whether it would have made a difference.

Alternatively, His upbringing could be completely irrelevant, and the man could just be another sleaze-ball politician who’ll say anything in order to pander to his perceived base.

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professional skeptic

“..the man could just be another sleaze-ball politician who’ll say anything in order to pander to his perceived base.”

I would be inclined to agree with this.

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How is it that the USA is the first nation in history in which the poorest are the most obese?

Maybe it’s because calories are so cheap in the ‘hood. Fast-food, convenience stores are prevalent but not so grocery stores–and even if they were, quality food is expensive whereas fast-food is filling and cheap.

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“It amazes me how some Republican politicians claim a monopoly on Christianity and then go out and say and do some of the most un-Christian things imaginable,” said Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod, who participated in a candidates forum in Columbia along with Bauer Saturday. “… Bauer’s comments are despicable and the total opposite of the Christian values Bauer espouses.”

“This is out of love and compassion,” Bauer said. “If I have to take a hit, then fine. … I will take short-term pain for long-term gain.”

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/82910.html

I guess Yucca mountain is back open for the nuclear waste.

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I’d sure hate to hear his thoughts regarding Haitians and what he would do to them should any of them refugees head toward his state.

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I’m willing to guess that roger has never lived in the ‘hood. He seems to describe it oh so well, but doesn’t have the faintest clue that Publix, Kroeger, nor Trader Joe’s builds too many stores in the hood. The grocery stores in the hood don’t typically have many healthy choices to choose from anyway.

Go shop in the hood for a few months, then rant about the choices.

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“Why not take a ride around the projects?”

Though the term black was gutlessly omitted from the above (just covert bigotry) please redact to read “Why not take a ride around white trailer parks.” and note how it works just as well.

Too bad, because notwithstanding the “color blind” racial animus, the message is of some value…

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Good job, Jay.

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Are they too damn lazy to turn on a stove or operate a microwave and prepare food themselves?

It’s not a matter of motivation it’s a matter of cost.

“It’s a question of money,” Drewnowski said. “The reason healthier diets are beyond the reach of many people is that such diets cost more. On a per calorie basis, diets composed of whole grains, fish, and fresh vegetables and fruit are far more expensive than refined grains, added sugars and added fats. It’s not a question of being sensible or silly when it comes to food choices, it’s about being limited to those foods that you can afford.”

Energy-dense foods not only provide more calories per unit weight, but can provide more empty calories per unit cost. These foods include French fries, soft drinks, candy, cookies, deep-fried meats and other fatty, sugary and salty items. The review shows that attempting to reduce food spending tends to drive families toward more refined grains, added sugars and added fats. Previous studies have shown that energy-dense foods may fail to trigger physiological satiety mechanisms – the internal signals that enough food has been consumed. These failed signals lead to overeating and overweight. Paradoxically, trying to save money on food may be a factor in the current obesity epidemic.

Acquire some empathy.

Geez.

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Great quote El Jefe. Kind of the “teach a man to fish” ideal.

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Oh yeah Kanchak…kidney beans are SO expensive. So are canned beans and the like. WAY more than McDonald’s. Why dont you acquire some common sense!

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Excellent commentary.

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Not to sound insensative but I used to hike quite a bit in the mountains. The forest service always warned people not to feed the bears. This was not because of safety concerns for the hiker, but because bears very quickly become dependant on handouts and spend their time and energy looking for handouts rather than foraging which is their natural instinct.

Of course we should provide basics for those who have nothing. I think the issue is what are basics. Between section 8 housing, free lunches, earned income credits, food stamps, peach care, free child care, etc. what we call poor in this country is solid middle class in many europeon countries.

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Lemme guess: This is is “STAUNCHLY PRO-LIFE,” right? Of course he is.

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roger,

Also a commentary on the current American war on poverty – give them everything they want and need – to hell with the rest of society.

Heck, if we gave every family on welfare $100,000 a year, we would not move that many out of poverty. Now, if they earned $100,000 – that is a different story.

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AmVet–
There you go on the trailer parks again! I’m tellin’ ya…

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…low end grocery stores dont sell canned veggies…I didnt know that!

Many strategies for health promotion over the years have presumed that good nutrition was simply a matter of making the right choices. Drewnowski noted that access to healthier diets could be sharply limited in low-income neighborhoods simply because of the food environment and the nature of the available food supply.

Lotsa things you don’t know–that’s why I provided a link.

Geez.

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SoCo–
Your point is well made. I live in Buckhead. The departmental offices for my program are in the hood. Unmentionable does our food shopping. When he’s out to pick me up from a meeting, he sure doesn’t use the time on his hands for grocery shopping. The nearest supermarket is miles away and the quality and quantity (and prices) of the goods offered are a heap sight worse than those at any of the six chain supermarkets within walking distance of home…

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“McCain says there’s not much that can be done about campaign financing now. Still, he predicts a backlash over time from voters once they see the amount of money that corporations and unions pour into political campaigns.”

On day three, McCain admits corporate power is here to stay.

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It is my stereotypical repost to inane stereotypes, josef.

Apparently Bauer and the conned want one thing and one thing only – to eliminate ALL social welfare.

Thus leaving more for the fascists who already own the country and are in the process of selling it to the highest bidder.

Time to get really proficient in Mandarin…

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Hey ROGER,
I have see the lazy poor people you refer to. I have seen the trash strewn areas around poor housing. However, these are the exceptions. Before raging against those that you obviously see as inferior to you, please consider that the majority or people receiving gov’t assistance work hard, but just don’t have much to show for it. Marta and the CCT are full of single parents getting home from work late after working at a job that doesn’t pay a living wage. It’s a complex problem, but please don’t assume that the majority of poor people are lazy. It simply isn’t true. And to “punish” ANY child for things they have no control over? I don’t care if their parents are lazy or not… it isn’t their fault. They are human beings. WWJD?

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Let’s hope the people of S.C. will get motivated by this and VOTE this guy out of office. Let him go out and look for a real job. Maybe we can even stop him from breeding.

PLEASE VOTE!!!

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@El jefe

Do you know where any of us could get a job paying $100,000?

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Well, the guy’s got a point. Give Those People food and they won’t work for it. Give them health care and they won’t get healthy and stay that way. Make the men get fixed and they won’t be the Baby Daddy of so many welfare kids.

If we cut out all this welfare pretty soon everybody would have plenty to eat and live in good places. And we could get another Tax Cut.

It’s just my opinion but it’s very true. Of course, I reckon if I was poor I might could feel a little diffrent. But I ain’t and I don’t.

Have a good Sabbath everybody.

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Wow. Talk about trying to change the subject.

How much hunting did Jay have to do to find this extreme voice?

Nice to see that Jay, like Obama, has such keen insight into the issues that Americans are really concerned about. I don’t blame Jay for ignoring the important political news of the day in favor of this irrelevant gibberish. The reality of the situation for the Dems is so dire that reflexive smearing of opponents has become an even more attractive option than usual. Jay isn’t as blunt as Olbermann with his crass attempts to smear those who don’t share his ideological views as racist, but the intent is the same.

The White House has responded to the latest round of challenges with a call for more partisanship. Liberal pundits have responded as usual by smearing political opponents as racists. Neither of these strategies are going to help their cause.

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Dear frank:

I assume from your comments that you think that it is acceptable to help those in poverty as long as that help comes from a “Charitable” Organization and not from the government. Is that because the “Charitable” Organization is capable of doing more with the tax breaks than the government is capable of doing with the same tax money or are there other factors involved here as well. Could it also have to do with getting that direct feedback from those that are helped instead of no feedback when the money is directed through the government amongst other things. You seem to be well informed regarding Andre’s efforts so surely you would not mind sharing some more with us. Thank you ever so much in advance.

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Nice try, Bookman, Race bating again. It’s the only thing you seem interested in writing about.

Let’s try to approach the issue from a standpoint that liberals never want to discuss – basic fairness. here is a difference between something that s fair and something that is guaranteed. Liberals who want the US to move more towards a European model conveniently forget that the ancestors of a majority of US citizens fled Europe precisely because of the European model. In the US, the citizens simply want one thing – that they be given a fair shot. This doesn’t mean everything is guaranteed. It just means to given everyone a fair shot to succeed. However, success is a personal choice. This is the way it’s supposed to be in the US. This is why the US was created.

True, we do need a safety net for the truly needy and unfortunate. But, that system’s been abused and expanded far beyond recognition. If it were up to me, everyone who is unemployed should be required to prove inability to work. Those that can work should be placed in a civil service sector of the military. Simply collecting food stamps and unemployment when you are otherwise able bodied just isn’t fair. And that’s the problem. When something like 20% of the population supports everyone, things are way out of whack. It’s not fair to penalize the wealthy (or the middle class) just because they’re successful. They give a ton on their own anyway. I’ve found these people to be far more generous and charitable than their equal counterparts of your beloved Europe.

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This coming from an official whose state is last in SAT scores in the whole country.Now we know why.

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Did someone play the race card. I thought we were talking about Andre’s constituency.

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“Now I’m all confused. Is he for breeding or against it.”

I don’t agree with the offensive statements Brauer made above, but it seems to me that he thinks that “breeding” should be done with the expectation that the “breeders” are going to take care of their children.

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Yet if you look around the world, the opposite is true. Poverty levels are highest in those societies that make little attempt to address it, and lowest in those that offer some form of safety net.

Poverty level for a family of two, Bookman’s hypothetical woman and child, is $14,570.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/09poverty.shtml

In France it is $13,080.

Raise your hand if you’d like to raise a child on $13,080 per year.

In France the per capita median income is $37,200.

In the United States it is $47,000 just sayin….

It’s all about what you want for yourself and the opportunity to get it.

(Stupid statement by the lt gov, duh.)

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How can we get Lt. Brauer to take care of things here in Georgia. He has hit the nail on the head. It is cruel and vicious, but it is the way it is. We need more logic, and not the feel good compassion streak tjat want us to save a constant problem such as Haiti. Fix the problem not apply a bandaid.

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@john…are you part of the 20% that supports us?

@SC cititzen…Mr. Bauer cam from a broken home? Well that settles it…If he can make it everyone can…I will let the poor children know this immediatly….

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Nice spelling Highschool dropout…The name is R O G E R…not Rodger. Thanks for expressing your ignorance.

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I’m sure Andre Bauer will mention that in his next speech, getalife, pointing out how government handouts create a lazy, dependent corporate class, etc.

Excellent case in point about the mindless waste that is government bureaucracy.

Anybody want to take a guess as to how much nuclear regulations, the utter total waste of burning coal, the soaring cost of natural gas used for energy production and the needless deaths suffered from smog have cost We The People of the United States?

Does anybody even have a calculator that will go that high?

And now the Great Monolith wants to subsidize nuclear energy?!?

Something they should have done forty years ago?

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Geez, an hour and roger still didn’t address “quality”. I take that to mean that he realizes there is a difference in the quality of food available in the “hood” vs. well-to-do areas. Good. Now that we know there’s a problem, let’s find a solution…

Jackie @ 2:12

Thanks for that follow thru. I’m always tickled at how people always know the problems of others without walking a day in their shoes.

I don’t know how the ilk or race card got played, but they so often do here. This isn’t about race. It’s about class, and how we’ve divided ourselves in our society.

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Well, I can quote a whole slew of early 20th Century Progressives (liberals) who thought the best way to eliminate poverty was to eliminate poor people. Yeah, the same folks that touted eugenics (which led to the Holocaust). Until I actually see Americans starving to death, this column was more hysterical nonsense from a devout Lefty.

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Go Jets.

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Couldn’t we just starve Andre Bauer instead?

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For those of you who allow the media to color your view of places like “the hood, the projects etc.” You would probably squirm if day after day our local media poured the likes of Eastern Kentucky, parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee, replete with a trailer park culture, into your living rooms. A little history lesson about projects in Atlanta: Grady Homes, Capital Homes and Techwood Homes, though they are no longer around, were hand-me-downs that were once populated by poor whites that later became populated by poor blacks. Don’t believe me? Ask granny or great granny. L.B. Johnson’s War on Poverty was catapulted by the dreadful conditions of Appalachia not the slums of the inner cities. But conservatives keep you focused on and angry about inner cities and your tax dollars. Dare they put things into a historical perspective. Probably some of them or their relatives – though they will nerver admit it- probably escaped from those projects via government subsidies and have moved on up.

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Geez, an hour and roger still didn’t address “quality”. I take that to mean that he realizes there is a difference in the quality of food available in the “hood” vs. well-to-do areas. Good. Now that we know there’s a problem, let’s find a solution…

ABM- Yes, I’ll bet there are lots of high end grocers that are just dying to open up shop in an area where they will get robbed a few times a week. Or killed.

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John @ 2:39 . If the government were to re-direct some of this money to serve the lazy ghetto blacks so that you would go get yourself a real education, would you take them up?
I don’t know where to start. The “European Model” about which you speak did not exist when America’s largest source of immigrants was Europe; it’s an entirely new phenomenon , relatively speaking.

My ancestors left Cork during the potato famine, not because the British government was so generous in their provision of bounty to the poor.

America’s immigrants have, almost without exception, been poor folks; hardly the kind of folks who leave a “welfare/nanny state”. If that were the reason (fleeing a welfare state), we’d be the recipient of the world’s wealthy, not the world’s poor.

Effing idiot. Just like the rest of the retardican party.

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@mike

Typical of how one would respond to factual information, innuendo.

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Whiner

It doesn’t have to be high end to be healthy. Just quit pushing the ready-to-expire food that no other stores can sell into those markets. And even Atlanta shows that you don’t have to be in the hood to get robbed. I’ve seen quite a few stories on the news about robberies in Cobb, Gwinnett, Lenox Rd. area. to name a few. Crime knows no boundaries nor does it have a color or race. Don’t hide behind excuses, just find a solution.

If Conservatives don’t want “welfare queens”, then propose a viable solution to the problem.

If Conservatives don’t want “handouts” like food stams, find a viable solution.

The same goes for Liberals. Quit whining about the problem, and do something about it!!

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@Mrs. Norris

There are many that believe birth control is ungodly and should not be given to ANYONE. The solution to the problem is abstinence. If someone does engage in sexual activity and a child is created, the child should be born and the parents should be held accountable for the well-being of that child without any help from anyone.

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I would also point out to Gordon and others that most of the piece deals with the larger “gov’t causes poverty” argument rather than Bauer’s “breeding” comment.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but after seeing this headline and starting the story with the breeding quote I doubt too many people searched the rest of the piece looking for the “deeper meaning” the piece was supposed to be addressing. ‘Specially since it’s been splashed all over every lefty blog known to man already.

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After reading this story, I say “Starve the journalist!” Bookman takes one inapproriate political story out of context and throws it out as a typical thing from South Carolina or Mississippi or Alabama….just so it is Southern and Republican. I am not holding my breath to see such a twisted story from another region being blasted by Bookman. Maybe one from Alaska with their former governor being mentioned and blamed. That is the only possibility..

As seemingly bad as Bauer’s statements were, politically and less than thoughtful, such rhetoric is by no means attractive to people of South Carolina. as Bookman subtly suggests. Lesser aspects of it are true, but smeared with misinformation.

Human beings are seldom “inspired” by poverty. But, removing all efforts for self maintenance are not “inspiring” either. Therefore, some balance must be maintained for self determination.. There is an overall effort to maintain the health and habitat of children as it should be. From there, the behavior of adults is less easy to influence….

The government should be the protectors of citizens, not total support for those who are able in mind and body. We are going from simple support to an adult nanny system from the government. It is not good for the country or for those with inate abilities..

Andre Bauer may speak inappropriately without thought, but his actions belay accusations. He is out personally trying to help the poor.

The Christian is directed to love and cherish every individual”Love thy neighbor as thyself”. But no where have I read that the government should take care of the poor.. It is the free individual who is responsible, individuals who work with others even when there is no profit or politics involved.

Good job, Bookman. You have relieved liberals of any guilt about the poor. They can now sit back and let the government take care of the poor while you, with poltical finesse, pinpoint Bauer’s misspeak.. Relax and be proud even if it does more harm than good…

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There were only about 672,000 South Carolinians living below poverty level back in 2007. They’ll hardly be missed out of the total 4.5 million living there. Add in the tourist count and the percentage of poverty stricken looks even less significant. A drop in the bucket.

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These two publicly chastised bloggers, in my (useless) opinion, are in fact exceptionally reflective of a repudiated, dwindling and dying breed – those that have inanely hijacked the now utterly meaningless term “conservative”.

And I believe these men, who in spite of that highly dubious claim otherwise at 3:28, do in fact see the statements and assessments made by the current Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, as being essentially correct.

I would presume that the esteemed Mr. Bauer’s unapologetic apology will be regarding that ever-popular neo-con trait of being tiny vocabularied, trip over their tongue, “taken out of context” purveyors of “poor choices of words”.

But goodness, conned, your timid euphemisms and transparent enmity aside, you fool almost nobody outside of your petering out fringe that is still stuck in the McCarthyism and Jim Crow of the 1950s.

We have net the enemy and he is us. ~(The real) Pogo

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“Bauer’s misspeak.”

It’s your ideology silly.

What ya eatin?

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What are you talking about? My brother teaches 12th grade English in a poor, rural area of Georgia. 40% of his female students are either pregnant or have already given birth. A few are on their second kid. Why?

It’s because they are encouraged from a very young age to have as many kids as possible so they can receive more government assistance. They have told him that repeatedly for years. They (and their parents) are utterly dependent on the government for their existence. There is no thought given to college, or jobs, or effort. The game plan is to get pregnant and live off the government. Which is the same thing as living off of people like me who work hard and help produce the wealth of the world. I am literally keeping them alive by my continued afforts. If I (and people like me) stop putting in that effort, they would literally starve to death and die.

Bauer’s message sounds cruel, but we have got to stop handing out fish, and teach people how to fish instead.

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Getalife,

Tell us the stories about what YOU do personally for the poor. What ya smokin’?

AmVET ,

Tell us what YOU do personally for the poor.

TaxPayer,

Tell us what YOU do personally for the poor..

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Dusty,

The last thing I will do is tell you anything I do so you can use it against me later.

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@Police Line

You can believe what you want, but, Tet is a ancient religious celebration of the indigenous Vietnamese population and it happens every year on the lunar New Year. If you were there in 1967, so be it. I know the Tet offensive happened every year the USA was in Viet Nam.

As an aside, where were you stationed during Tet of 1968 as I was there myself? Still a part of the 3rd Marines?

Your argument about the Tet offensive happening only one year is specious.

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Jackie,

Anyway, the Tet Offensive was a disaster for the north. A total defeat. The media painted it differently and people believed them.

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@El Jefe

I am in agreement with you. Tet and any other major offensive initiated by the North Vietnamese or Viet Cong was a military kicking inflicted by the USA. It sounded bad and appeared to be so when the Viet Cong got into the embassy in Siagon and Hue/Phu Bai during the 1967 Tet offensive.

Problem resolved and the USA marched forward. As you may know, we did not lose a major offensive thrust by the North/Viet Cong during the entire war.

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getalife,

A LIKELY EXCUSE! Give up those “smokes’ and give the money to the poor..The government is already broke.. It is up to you.

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Lets make Haiti the 51 State!!!

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I am conservative, but…This guy should not be elected dog catcher! He does not represent any people I know.

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JB, I really did try to wade through Rand’s magnum opus. But it was just gawdawfully insufferable. (As was The Fountainhead.) Anyway, I’m reasonably sure that virtually no one in the already very poorly read far right wing has made it past page 30.

Dusty I’m a big Swift fan. I eat them.

(And for “all” you do, this Bud’s for you. Nope, that ’s not right. Let’s try again. GFY.)

Empty words about teaching the poor to fish notwithstanding, the conned answer to teenage pregnancy?

Ensure their is NO sex education.

Ensure that there are NO contraceptives.

Nope, sorry. Just say no!

There are NO alternatives. Our Puritan Republidogma commands you to wait until you are 21 AND married. Think about jeebus or something/anything? else other than the evil and unclean S-E-X word. And even then, don’t enjoy it. It is for procreation purposes only.

If it happened to good, conservative, well-off, white girls, well that would be a different story.

What???

Oh.

I forgot about Bristol…

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[...] a forum in Greeneville on Saturday, Bauer, who is running for governor, told the crowd: My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding [...]

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pants on the ground
pants on the ground
lookin like a fool with your pants on the ground

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I liked Atlas Shrugged better when it was still fiction.

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“We did, it’s called work.”

Which is downsized, outsourced, or whatever the market dictates. It’s a good idea, but where’s the plan? How do you provide work? What is work? How much does work pay? Is it stable work? Who benefits from the work?…

It’s easy to throw around ideals and all, but when it comes down to planning to the details, none of us has a clue what to do, do we?

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43 States lost jobs last month, GE profits down, Harley Davidson lost money and Obozo goes to Ohio and told all the union people that windmills and solar panels will save them. I don’t understand this man. WATCH THE STOCK MARKET NEXT WEEK.

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Chapter 13, Social and Industrial Justice, of Theodore Roosevelt’s Autobiography makes for very interesting reading.

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On a similar note:

Americans are the most generous people on the earth. In 2008 WORLD Magazine reported that, “A new study by the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Prosperity says that Americans account for 45 percent of all philanthropic giving worldwide. Not only is that significantly more than any other nation on earth, it’s also dramatically more on a per capita basis. One example: The average American gives 14 times more to charity than the average Italian.” (Of course, the most recent evidence of this is in the Haiti tragedy.)

The Hudson Institute also revealed that the U.S. government gives more than any other nation on earth. According to their study, in 2006 the United States gave out $23.53 billion in aid, almost twice as much as No. 2 Great Britain ($12.46 billion). However, when private giving is included in the numbers, the U.S. total rises to $192 billion. (BTW, charitible giving of Americans in 2008: $295 billion.)

WORLD Magazine also reported that the results of the Hudson Institute study came as no surprise to Arthur C. Brooks, a fellow at the Hudson Institute. “Americans give at least twice as much as anyone else,” Brooks said. “And we’re giving now more than ever before.” WORLD adds that, “Brooks said the myth of the ‘ugly American’ has persisted in part because ‘it’s in the interest of a lot of people’—those who want to see the size and role of government enlarge, for example—‘to portray Americans as callous and uncaring.’”

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That should read: Charitable giving of Americans in 2006:…

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Atlas Shrugged is supposed to be released as a movie in 2011. So far the only casting is that gorgeous African-American, Charlize Theron, as Dagny Taggert.

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Tilli, Thanks for grounding us in reality. There are plenty of examples of the best and worst of humans of all ideologies.
Please everyone, cut the name calling, SHOUTING, & generalizations of right wing/ conservative, left wing/ liberal, christian or whatever! You don’t support your position by attacking the opposition; only the oppositions’ opinions.
Sigh, what ever happened to civility in discourse…?

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I’ve heard people talking about Atlas Shrugged all the time. Guess I’ll have to google it or read it so I can understand what people are talking about.

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Well, I think Hawaii is the perfect place for the Republicans to hold their winter olympics. They should have an event dealing with finding out what is really in block #23, for one. Maybe even a mad dash for an eye witness accounting of Obama’s birth followed by an Iron-man event to see who can get the information to a FOXY news host first… .

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It is a race issue. The human race, and this mutant’s a couple chromosomes short.
If he calls himself Christian you know he’s a liar.

I know a man who speaks that way. I don’t let him in my house.

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taxxie- The Repugs are prolly tallying up how many dummycrat Congressman are ripe for the pickins.

They’ll be in Hawaii for quite a while, I’m guessing….

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This piece just became part of the curriculum on poverty for the February Leadership Macon class I am teaching.

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The Repugs are prolly tallying up how many dummycrat Congressman are ripe for the pickins.

That shouldn’t take more than a week or two given that a lone Republican tallyman won’t even need to take off his or her shoes.

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Yeah, they will go after welfare now .

Obama will try to quell the riots.

What did the SC think would happen?

Do they hate America that much?

WTF?

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“And I am not ignoring your “downsize” rant, I just failed to comprehend what the hell you are talking about”

My question was about a viable option, and you stated work. My response in a few questions was merely asking how is work “viable”? Being such a generic answer for a problem that so far has eluded any previous generic answers, I’m asking for specifics. Work can’t always be guaranteed any more than breathing. If there’s no work, how else would people wean themselves from welfare? Work can be outsourced, such as textiles were to Central America, call centers were to India, computer chips in Israel, and so on.

With the desire for positive returns, the capitalist will always seek to minimize costs in order to improve profits. Even if jobs that were previously outsourced reappeared from nowhere, they would not come back at the same or even a comparable payscale. The cost of living here will not depreciate just because more jobs are coming back, so you’ll still end up with people in poverty, even if they are employed. Capitalism exists because there are those with vast capital and those with minimum to no capital. If that were not the case, it would not be capitalism.

I wasn’t trying to be funny or play got’cha, I’m just curious if anyone has given serious thought to a detailed, viable plan to combat poverty. The way I see it, there will always be poverty in a capitalist society as there will be the extremely wealthy.

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Geaux Saints!

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SoCo–
Great granddaddy had a plan to combat poverty, but it wouldn’t be any more popular today than it was then…let’s find out where the money went from Adams County Mississippi…

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Saints vs. the Vikings.

a gentle-manly game amoungst men and warriors.

and who is this Bauer fellow and who really cares? Is the ajc not a “local news” outlet?

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compare the demographics of CT to MS or SC or see if any of you smart people can come up with the constant to what this Lt Gov is saying.

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Geeze….I think what he’s saying is – it’s NOT the government’s job to feed the poor. Check the constitution and you’ll see he’s RIGHT!

“Tax the rich, feed the poor ’til there are rich no more”…..Alvin Lee, 10 Years After.

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let’s find out where the money went from Adams County Mississippi…

Reminds me of when I see a film of a coal train running out of West Virginia or wherever. The local people get some benefit from it but the real money goes out on every train. That’s just one example though, there are others.

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OK, I’ll go with the Vikes to mix things up a bit.

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Hillbilly–
West Virginia is a prime example of what I’m talking about. Imperialism, plain and simple…in two generations it went from one of the most economically self-sufficient and widely educated parts of the empire to a basket case of dependency and illiteracy, all to enrich the Carpetbag Scalawag overlords…and, no, I’m not trying to poke the Bruin…

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Did someone say coal. They get something left behind all right.

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Reminds me of when I see a film of a coal train running out of West Virginia or wherever.

And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking
Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.

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Enter your comments here

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In SC 28% of the population are black but 58% of the children are on food stamps. Bookman uses this fact to make the point that it isn’t about demographics. However, Bookman doesn;t breakdown the demographics % of that 58%.

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Perhaps one solution to the “breeding” problem would be if you accept any “unearned” governmental help (food stamps, AFDC. peachcare, housing) and you are femaile, you have to have depoprovera installed and checked every time you come in to collect. And if you have a child even with the depo in place, you get no further benefit. For the men who collect, I don’t know?

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It continues to amaze me how liberals such as Jay find no problem in taking $$$ from people who work for it and giving it to people who do not. Even though it is stealing, you liberals just feel so good about helping people with other people’s $$$$. Me, I call it stealing – even if the government calls it taxation. And before you comment, I will put up what I give to charity against anyone here.

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However, Bookman doesn;t breakdown the demographics % of that 58%.

About half black, half white. Does that help.

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And offer free “snips” for male and females with maybe a $1000 cash incentive.

I speak as a 38 year teacher who has had hundreds of unwanted, neglected kids. I now see the 2nd generation of them. My community has no black folks but 16 % Latino, with many families, especially Guatemalan, with 8+ children. Parents are illegal aliens, but kids are American citizesns.

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Actually, the Lt. Gov’s premise works in the larger picture in our financial markets. As long as you keep rewarding bad behavior with bailouts that provide safety nets to those who irresponsibly invested and those who irresponsibly loaned, you’ll never teach them to be responsible.

The nanny-statists continue to dream of a world where no one can fail . . .

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Oh, and Bookman? A bit of an exercise in hyperbole on your part maybe? Clearly, you make a conclusion that the Lt. Gov. did not make, especially if he was using a metaphor. You do know what a metaphor is, don’t you?

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Yo, TaxCheat! Maybe you might want to post something a bit more recent than 19 months ago.

And in case you missed it, tort reform being discussed in 2010 is for health care related issues.

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Finally! Something that isn’t constrained by a bunch of stoopid regulations.

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catlady–

You and I have talked before on the matter of breaking the cycle with the latino population. A bit of good news for you. The other day a young man came in to see me. You know what it’s like as a teacher as you try to recall who he was. It didn’t take but a minute, but what he had to say was really why you teach to begin with and what keeps you going. It turned out that he had gone on to college and was doing quite well in the music industry. He wanted to thank me for “having ridden my b*tt” and particularly for the “money for the school trip to Jekyll Island. It changed my life.” And what did he want to know? If he could do a benefit performance for the kids now who might not be able to afford the spring trip. You never know.

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@@

Your comments at 7:35–

“I see no difference whatsoever.”

And neither do I, but my fellow liberals don’t want to hear it….

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@@

There may be no difference to the two you describe, but the abortion issue can be taken care of thru sex education and parents being parents instead of buddies. I think the poverty issue is a little more complex if not impossible to solve.

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“If Mike and John believe this is somehow about race rather than about poverty, it says more about the mindset they bring to this discussion than about anything written here or implied here.”

LOL. So says the pundit who turned “uppity” into a scandal worthy of two columns. You are one step above Olbermann in the business of accusing those who dare not share views as being racist.

Do you ever get tired of being such a hypocrite?

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State Rep. David Ralston will keep his committee chairmanship despite getting hit with a $347,318 late tax bill from the Internal Revenue Service, House Speaker Glenn Richardson said Tuesday. The IRS says Ralston, chairman of the Non-Civil Judiciary Committee, owes individual income taxes, penalties and interest from as far back as tax year 1996…

Wow! What a tax cheat. By the way, who is this Ralston guy.

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Jay writes “I would also point out to Gordon and others that most of the piece deals with the larger “gov’t causes poverty” argument rather than Bauer’s “breeding” comment.”

Then why even bring up Bauer? Government causes poverty (or not) is an interesting topic that deserves debate. Bauer is not. He is an idiot. Most on both sides know that. He is just red meat for left leaning bloggers.

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On August 14, 1768, the anniversary of the first protest against the Stamp Act, Sam Adams and his fellow patriots gathered under the “Liberty Tree” and sang this song. The Torys claimed that taxes went to the poor too.
I like to think it was sung to the tune of Tom Petty’s “I won’t back Down”.

In freedom we’re born and in freedom we’ll live.
Our purses are ready. Stead,friends,steady.
Not as slaves, but as freemen our money we’ll give.

Swarms of Placemen and Pensioners soon will appear
like locusts deforming the charms of the year.
Suns vainly will rise, showers vainly defend,
if we are to drudge for what others shall spend.

All ages shall speak with amaze and applause
of the courage we’ll show in support of our laws
to die we can bear—but to serve we disdain
for shame is to freemen more dreadful than pain.

Dedicated to Taxpayer and the other Torys.

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and when the aint’s, go marching in.

oh when the aint’s go marching in.

who dat?

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I’m back among the living!!

What’s up with this wacky weather? Maybe this is why I can’t get rid of this cold!!!

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Gordon,

If Jay B really meant to have his piece centered around the “government causes poverty” angle the headline would have been The Andre Bauer solution: Get rid of government to ease poverty rather than The Andre Bauer solution: Starve the poor, they’ll stop breeding.

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what makes them “parasites”, Keith?

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midori–
Welcome back to the living. Had it and it ain’t no fun…but drugs, sister, drugs! Thank G-d for big pharma and cadillac insurance!

@@

Not being a breeder myself, I’ve got some real problems with how straight men are let off the hook in all this and, even though they don’t want to hear it, no small part of all this is due to the “don’t need no man” ideology of the feminist movement of the mid to late 20th Century.

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@@

I missed that artice, somehow. Sounds like something interesting to read. You’ll have to post that link for me.

I’m a pessimist when it comes to poverty. I know it “sounds” wrong, but this is how I see it. Capitalism exists because of the differences in the distribution of money. There’s always going to be some with more than they could ever use, and there will be some that will not have enough just for basics. Even if you try to limit the extremes, those differences have to exist in a capitalistic economy. Once you try to even things out, you begin to morph towards communism and away from capitalism.

If you beat the system and move up economically, there’s going to be someone else who moves down. The problem we have now is mobility. There’s not much mobility in our economy now. The system is gamed so that the top stays on the top and the bottom stays on the bottom. The only movement is in the middle. The only way to break that cycle is to remove those at the top and change the rules of the game. The problem is, those at the top have control of those who make the laws, and I doubt it would be anywhere near easy to remove them from their seats at the top of the economy.

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Jay,

While I agree that the poor are oblivious to market signals, could it be that government programs do cause things that indirectly cause poverty? Isn’t there a correlation between the Great Society and the breakdown of the family, particularly the African American family, in America? And isn’t that one major cause of poverty?

I agree the problem is complex and requires serious debate. I agree that entitlements for the poor aren’t near the problem that the right makes them out to be. But entitlements for the elderly are because we cannot afford them. I do have to say your Connecticut/South Carolina example is weak because Connecticut is a wealthy state and South Carolina is a poor one. Poor people don’t live in Connecticut because they can’t afford to, and the state can afford a more robust public assistance program. The opposite is true in South Carolina.

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thanks Josef – antibiotics and Mucinex are now part of my standard diet.

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I’ll let you know when that time machine is safe to try. It still still has a few bugs in it.

Whatchootalkinbout?

Sherman and Mr. Peabody perfected the Wayback machine in the mid 60’s.

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“antibiotics and Mucinex”

You’re not getting the good stuff. Try antibiotics and Robitussen w/codeine.

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Southern Comfort,

do they sell Robitussen w/codeine over the counter, or do I need a prescription?

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If you beat the system and move up economically, there’s going to be someone else who moves down.

SoCo,

I was pretty much with you until you had that train wreck. Why does somebody have to fail if someone different succeeds? We aren’t a board game with a a fixed amount of capital.

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Oh how some must yearn for the good old days of tea parties. jt, this one is dedicated to you.

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Midori

Got it by prescription.

RW

I don’t see it as someone else failing. If everybody ends up rich, who’s poor? I’m not saying that someone ends up in the poor house, but wealth would still be relative. If the richest has $50 billion in capital and the poorest has $1 million, the low end is still the poor end. Even if we maxed out our economy and everybody in the US was wealthy, how would we attain that wealth? It would have to come from somewhere. Maybe another country, but it wouldn’t just materialize out of thin air.

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thanks, SC

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Marion Berry, no not that one, the Democrat from Arkansas is going to retire from the House. Since Repugs are dead and Dems control the world you’d think a few less Dems would be packing it in.

Unless the dead little regional party that needs to get in touch with their inner moonbat isn’t really dead after all.

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Just remember that Democrats have a need to be needed, so keeping people poor gaurantees loyal voters who vote for a living. That war on poverty in the 60’s really worked didn’t it? We now have 4 generations of people breeding for a living and filling up the jails.

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SoCo,

Our economy doesn’t max out, although the federal cut of it needs to.

But leaving aside the snarkiness what I’m saying is that if I have a great new idea/product tomorrow and make millions from it it’s not going to bankrupt someone else. I may acquire some of the wealth that someone else had acquired, but my idea/product will enrich their life and most likely ancillary businesses will also grow out of how to put my idea/product to other uses.

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Writing in Sunday’s Washington Post, Mr. Plouffe said Democrats need to quickly pass a broad health overhaul, get serious about job creation even as they tout the impact of last year’s stimulus package, turn up the heat on Republicans over the deficits incurred in the Bush years, and stop grousing about the political climate.

More of the same!

He’s a blooming idiot just like the rest of them are.

Excellent!

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ABM- You’re a junkie?

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RW–
Your point is well taken, but let’s say your product does take off an make you millions, you’re still, nonetheless, making it off the work of others and not your own sweat…and, no, I’m not being snarky myself, but, well, welcome to the parasite class at the top rather than the bottom….

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IR/YW

Of course he’s not a junkie. He has a script. Junkies don’t…

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josef,

But I’m providing an opportunity to make a living for many others so even though the dollar amount is different everybody along the way gets their standard of living upgraded so it doesn’t mean someone has to fail for me to succeed and any of those people could have been the one that came up with the idea/product in the first place or they could come up with one of their own and lift up another set of lives.

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Enjoying the econ discussion, even though I hated the subject in school. Gotta call it quits though. Meds kicking in and the alarm clock will still go off in the morning regardless.

See y’all later.

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These cajuns are going crazy down here

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I was thinking about buying up one of those cheap mansions down in Dunwoody and converting it into a manufacturing facility for cast urethane parts. I’ve already located a cheap source for my isocyanide over in China. I just need to get a few regulations out of the way so I can make an affordable product.

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barney miller’s on…g’night

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getalife,

I just told Honu on email that the Saints are playing just as dirty as her beloved Steelers did last year so they should be a cinch to win the Super Bowl.

Just make sure they don’t give up the roids after they win like Pittsburgh did or you’ll be has beens next year.

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RW,

Precious is not having fun out there slapping butts and singing pants on the ground but with all the fumbles, this game should be over.

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Not as slaves, but freemen our money we will give.

Sam Adams

It’s peach pickin time.

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What does everyone think of this solution?

$2,000 to anyone (not just poor, any woman of child-bearing age, and men of all ages) who has a vasectomy or their tubes tied. 3 conditions:

Must be 21. Must wait 6 months after signing up. Must receive counseling beforehand (early in the 6 month period), where everything is explained.

What do you think?

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I am a social worker, and I can tell you firsthand, that there are many many people out there who take advantage of the “system”. I completely understand where Mr. Bauer is coming from. I have worked cases where a family of able-bodied men and women are collecting 8 social security checks, received food stamps, were given a free car, and education for free. I know firsthand that the current system only perpetuates a culture of poverty, as the children get to the age of 13-15 and have kids themselves, only to hop on the “Freed Lunch” government express. To all the people out there who think it is evil to have a constructive debate about this topic, well think about the fact that states are running out of cash, and if this problem continues to perpetuate itself, this entire country is going third world! Think about that!

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LOL, RW — Ya got me!!!

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Natalie,

people have been abusing the system as long as the “system” has been in operation.

think about “that”.

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Out of field goal range.

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OT.

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Good one RW.

Hey Andy,

Please pick the Vikes in OT.

Thanks.

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Crazy game Andy.

We need this first down .

Then kick a field goal.

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Midori,

Mass sterilization? Being a little dramatic aren’t we? No one is forced to do anything, and have plenty of time to change their mind to avoid a heat of the moment decision. What purpose would my suggestion serve? Avoiding unwanted pregnancies. If a women can decide to have an abortion, then why not this? And one of the major points of Jay’s article is that people often do not think for themselves. You haven’t given one reason why this isn’t a good idea. We would save a lot of money but more importantly a lot of misery.

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No Midori. Go back and read it.

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Congrats to the Saints. Lord I hate the way the pros do overtime.

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No disagreement here (I’m conservative by the way) that Bauer’s comments are reprehensible. However, let’s not pretend that the right is the only side that is extreme in its lack of compassion and value of life. Peter Singer, a philosopher influential to many on the left, has suggested that the most responsible course of action for the elderly and extremely handicapped is to let them die so as not to drain society’s resources. Population control advocates say that the most responsible course of action for the environment is to limit the number of children per family with all that it implies about forced sterilization and abortions. By the way, that policy would affect the poor more than the wealthy.

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Well at least there is a reason to watch the Super Bowl now.

Congrats New Orleans.

Hold that line, baby hold that line
Get up boys and hit ‘em one more time
We may be losing now but we can’t stop trying
So hold that line, baby hold that line

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQmB9IsTNw4

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I think the Colts will be favored because they have won before.

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“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.” –Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Ludlow, 1824

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He’s right. It’s about time somebody on the right grew some courage and stated the obvious.

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The first odds site I’ve seen has the Colts opening as a 5 point favorite so my oddsmaker prediction is pretty close.

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Jackie:

I guess you finally got the true scuttlebutt on “Tet” and “Marine supply problems in V.N.” at my 6:22 post. Good for you. You’re a hard nut to crack ……………

There’s a lot more if you want to take the time to do the research.

Gerry Owen !

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I don’t think he means starve anyone. But government handouts are another thing.

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@Police Line

If you only use the Wikipedia post for 1968, of course you will prove your point about the 1968 Tet Offensive. Try that same search for any year and the associated Tet offensive and you will get the same results. If you will look back at your previous posts, you will see YOU said that Tet only happened one time and it was in November.

Secondly, everyone that paid any attention to the Viet Nam experience, knows the Marines were put in a untenable position. The Marines were not designed for jungle warfare and they only know how to go forward. When they were pinned down at Khe Sahn, most notably, of course they were short of food water and other supplies. The military leaders made a decision to take a stand to defend a hill that was not strategically significant; they wanted to show that they upheld the “tradition of the Marines, to never retreat.” Another operation the 1st Cav was used to move the Marines out of the bear-trap they were in. And as far as food was concerned, the C-130’s brought in hot food and fresh water using touch-and-go techniques on the bombed out runway. Anytime you see that technique, this is where it was developed. So your argument about having/not having fresh food or water was due to the fact the Marines were surrounded and being pounded by more than 1,000 rockets, mortars and sapper attacks daily. The Air Force did yeoman’s work.

Given this information, you are trying to pick selected information to make your points. Does not make a cogent argument.

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Josef and Kamchak, I suspect ‘Roger’ is a troll and suggest just ignoring his ignorance.

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All this reverberates throughout the economy. Because we haven’t built nuclear plants, for example, we now rely on natural gas for 20 percent of our electricity. But burning natural gas in utility boilers is a complete waste of a resource. Natural gas’s best use is for home heating and cooking and as a feedstock for the chemical and fertilizer manufacturers. Yet gas is the only kind of conventional electric generation environmentalists will allow. Because of this new demand, natural gas prices quintupled after 2000. As a result, more than 100,000 jobs in the chemical industry moved abroad. Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical, told Congress in 2003 that his company was shifting its “center of gravity” to Europe and the Middle East to be near gas supplies. “Dozens of plants across the country have closed their doors and gone away,” he testified. “They’re never coming back.” -AmSpec

Environmental terrorism has consequences.

Bad consequences.

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Capitalism, and specifically American capitalism, has raised more people out of poverty around the world than any liberal or progressive program ever has or possibly could. Progressive ideas, on the other hand, have killed more people in the last 100 years than any other man-made cause of death.

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I wish I had been in on this one from the beginning because after reading it, I’m without words. I find it hard to believe that people can feel like that.

On a more serious note, I ask for a little spiritual aid to whatever diety you pray to. My youngest daughter had a heart attack (fluid around the heart). Doctors are searching for an infection somewhere.
Thanks for your help in advance.

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Normal…what is her age?

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Normal, as a fellow parent you have my thoughts and as for prayers, I’ll petition the Republican Hummer-drivin’ baby-incineratin’ version of Jeebus if it’ll help.

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Capitalism, and specifically American capitalism, has raised more people out of poverty around the world than any liberal or progressive program ever has or possibly could.

I know this is going to be hard to get your head around, but American capitalism exists because of liberal and progressive programs. Absent these, you’d just have one cycle of revolution and violence (with the attendant placing of industry captains’ heads on pikes) after another.

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sfd…if you could fetch them unemplermint numbers I’d be much obliged.

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Outhouse, teach a man to fish, and he googles this thing called the United States Department of Labor on his Interwebs.

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Normal,

My thoughts and prayers are with your daughter, and you too.

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Police, Given this guy’s 11:53pm post it’s clear he’s among the great pretenders. You were too kind to him in your reply. He never served in Vietnam combat. He doesn’t even know how to spell it.

Semper Fi
3rd. Recon 66-67

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It is about time someone spoke the truth. I have been in public education for many years and I have said repeatedly that you can legislate teachers to death, but until you legislate parenting nothing will ever change. Maybe if we paid for the first child of a teen not fit to parent they will figure out how to prevent more. I don’t think we should keep rewarding them for “breeding” because they know they will continue to get more money, while their children suffer from lack of emotional and mental stimulation. I say go Andre, keep up the good work!

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There are way too many people with a cel phone, cable tv, internet, ect getting a free or reduced lunch. If you truly can not pay $10.00 a week for lunch how in the world can you afford these other things. If you get help from the goverment you should have to do something in return for it. I don’t think having a drug test and going to teacher meetings is too much to ask. And if you have 1 child that you can’t afford then why in the world why should the goverment help you with the 2nd child you have? I was raised to believe that you work for what you get, if you are already working 40 hrs a week and still need help, the fine you are doing your part. But if not you need to do some type of charity for 40 hrs a week to earn your hand out.

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In listening to Bauer’s comments, he makes a very common mistake of claiming that a correlation (e.g. free lunch / low test scores) equals causation. The low test scores that may be seen in poorer-area schools are due to many different factors, and its is both simple-minded and ignorant to assume that receiving free lunch is the root cause. To anyone with a college education, the “persuasive evidence” given by Bauer sounds like ignorant bs.

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[...] that we should try to starve the poor out of existence,” Jay Bookman writes for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. “Deprive them of food and they will cease breeding: Problem solved, neat as that.” [...]

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Gawd bless America and somebody lock this idiot away-what a dumbass!

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[...] Jay Bookman at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (blog): Apparently, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer believes that we should try to starve the poor out of [...]

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If his grandmother was not educated and he is not smart, then this is a genetic issue of learning limitations and he should stop breeding.

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[...] comment starts at 1:52 The Andre Bauer/Republican solution a copy and paste __________________ Keep your friends close, and your enemies [...]

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Jay, your logic is flawed (a not uncommon trait when liberals attempt to use it – no offense). But Missippippi is far poorer than Connecticut. It would make perfect sense that their transfers to the poor are lower than that of CT.

But just look at the evidence. Those that receive transfers will only work when the return from working has a significant marginal benefit over the transfers. Most choose to take the money and stay home. Those are the facts. Attacking someone for an extremely poor choice of analogies, does not change them.

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Wait a minute………….I’m one of families receiving food stamps, my husband works his ass off and we still don’t have enough money to pay our bills and food. We do without many of the things most people have as necessities. Beyond income tax we pay many other taxes like everyone else, we would have plenty for our family if they (the Gov’t ) didn’t take our money from us. So ask yourselves this? “Why do they take our money-that we need for food-(taxes) and then give it back the in the form of food stamps? I’ll tell you why, Our country is quickly turning into a Socialist Gov’t.

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Hee hee. Thatcher drove the British economy into the ground, and it took the Labor Party to bring it back.

As a BRITISH magazine points out:

A theme of this special issue of the New Statesman is forgiveness. Writing on page 12, Oona King asks, rhetorically, if she can forgive Mrs Thatcher for all that she did and said. For Paul Routledge, whose article begins on page 26, there is no such self-questioning. There is only certainty – Thatcher is, and always will be, the unforgiven.

Our view is more nuanced. We recognise that the Labour Party was defeated at the end of the 1970s and that a social transformation was necessary. Our final verdict, however, must be this: Margaret Thatcher is guilty as charged.

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/02/margaret-thatcher-mrs-labour

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Blame it on Reaganomics moonraven. I know many Georgians whose kids are also on Peachcare. Even those working in places that GIVE health insurance because they are not paid enough to afford to put their kids on their own insurance.

They deny that this is “welfare” but in fact, it is. Fact is that they also take from Moonraven and GIVE to DCW. The government BORROWS from payroll taxes so that those who make more money have to pay LESS in INCOME taxes. Expecially since the Bush tax cuts. Money was borrowed from the Social Security projected surpluses to give tax cuts to those who earn FAR more than the top salary that payroll taxes are collected on.

Simply put. a person who got a 100,000 dollar tax cut was given eight times more than he ever could have paid OUT in the payroll taxes used to fund the Bush Tax cuts.

Seven people paid for the tax cuts given to the top two percent of income earners.

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NJ – As long as you blame everyone else for your failures, Well…

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I do not have a problem with the fact that REPUBLICAN Lt. Governor Andre Brauer may (allegedly) be gay. I am, however, horrified by his lack of humanity. If the people of So. Carolina have any dignity at all, then they should collectively run him out of office; it is their duty, so that this mindset should never rear its ugly head again. The people of South Carolina have a double whammy–Sanford & Bauer.

Oh and to add insult to injury, with that open-gaping wound that he calls his mouth, he makes a public apology to the dogs. Such ignorance and hubris! SHAME ON YOU ANDRE BRAUER. Your represent the least among us. You despicable coward!

Bev of Boston, MA

P.S. I wonder if Fox News had any coverage on this story? If so, I bet it was a passing blurb that only a dog with high-pitched hearing could hear!

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Furthermore, “RLJ:” Although I do not agree with most of Singer’s humanistic approach to life and death, I do agree with his notion regarding the “Haves” and “Havenots, ” This philosophy, of course, escapes the mindset of most Republicans!

Bev of Boston, MA

Read below:

“In “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, one of Singer’s best-known philosophical essays, he argues that the injustice of some people living in abundance while others starve is morally indefensible. Singer proposes that anyone able to help the poor should donate part of their income to aid poverty relief and similar efforts. Singer reasons that, when one is already living comfortably, a further purchase to increase comfort will lack the same moral importance as saving another person’s life.”

“Singer himself reports that he donates 25 percent of his salary to Oxfam and UNICEF. In “Rich and Poor”, the version of the aforementioned article that appears in the second edition of Practical Ethics, his main argument is presented as follows:

“If we can prevent something bad without sacrificing anything of comparable significance, we ought to do it; absolute poverty is bad; there is some poverty we can prevent without sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance; therefore we ought to prevent some absolute poverty.”

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[...] In South Carolina, Lieutenant Governor André Bauer said the state should not be providing nutritional assistance to schoolchildren, lest they breed.  Bauer, attempting to “clarify” his remarks said his reference to feeding stray [...]

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Feed the fetus! Starve the Child!

The best the god-fearing GOPers can come up with.

The child comes to school hungry whether mommy or daddy feeds him the night before. The school should refuse food–even a stray dog can get a bone.

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[...] said we should stop feeding the poor so they will stop “breeding.” Read a post on this here. You may guess it is “hunger time” again in my (academic) life, and in conjunction with [...]

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He is damn right.

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[...] [...]

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