RSS Feed MenuNow that Specter’s gone, we can turn to the real enemy – Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe! Then the only thing between us and victory will be Graham, Lugar, McCain, Murkowski, Grassley, Hatch, and some of the RINOs in the House. And the Governors, like Crist and Douglas and Lingle and anyone not named Palin or Jindal. And the Supreme Court Justices like the radical Kennedy. But time is on our side. If we get small enough, voters will finally see true conservatism, and then we’ll have to win.
Riiight.
ktward // May 1, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Franco wrote:”Where should my opinion come from if not philosophy?”Uhm … how about Reality?Case in point: Sweden. Yeah, they’re all rebelling against their ’slavery’ due to government subsidized social systems.A good illustration of that argument are the following links. Satire for ratings? Sure. Nevertheless, it serves to highlight the absurdities of the ‘Socialist’ bogeyman cries of the right:http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=225113&title=The-Stockholm-Syndromehttp://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=225126&title=The-Stockholm-Syndrome-Pt.-2″Its implementation, I am pretty sure, will be a disaster with many, many unintended consequences.”Duh. Reform is never painless. Are you suggesting this is new?”Medical malpractice reforms would make a huge difference. One law that limits claims and/or make the loser pay – or even to make it fairer – loser pays half, would do wonders.”I would go one step further, like Canada: in terms of all lawsuits, the loser pays the court/attorney fees. In this scenario, we do not need to limit awards.”And if you raise taxes to the point where you are in effect working for others more than you are working for yourself, you begin the slippery slope to slavery.”Your use of the term ’slavery’, given our country’s heritage, borders on offensive in present context.Two points:1) My taxes have not been raised, they’ve been lowered. Perhaps you make more than $200k and will, in 2010, go back to Clinton-era tax rates of 39%, a whole 3% more than where you are now. Boo-hoo.2) This does a good job of illustrating why your alarmist rhetoric lacks substance:http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/03/should-we-pity-rich “I want to do what is right and convince others (not you necessarily) not just do what seems to be popular.”Seems to be popular? How about what is recognized across the ideological spectrum and deemed to be necessary.Health care reform is not a simple problem, nor will its solution be simple. But I’ve yet to hear any convincing legitimate argument from you, just old and tired conservative bogeyman talking points.
ChristianMiller // May 1, 2009 at 4:15 pm
ktward Ha! Great rhetorical device…reality!Oh yes. Sweden. I’d go there if they’d let me in. But they won’t. They let very few people in. Here in America, we let everyone in, and have been for years. My point? Sweden’s vaunted health care entitlements would suffer badly if they had the same open borders immigration policy as we do. If they had to contribute to their own defense, even more problems for their socialism. They are a very small stable country that isn’t at all similar to us demographically, so the example is rejected. How about Britain? They have it, they are closer to us than any EU country why not go by their example? Not idyllic enough for ya?”Duh. Reform is never painless.” I bet you say that to all the conservative reforms proposed too. And I’m sure all the Universal Health Care advocates are making us aware of that fact while promoting their cause too…”Your use of the term ’slavery’, given our country’s heritage, borders on offensive in present context.”African-Americans don’t have a monopoly on the word, bud. Slavery was around before Africans were enslaved and it is around today in various forms and may be around even more in the dystopian future if we are not careful. It was abolished 150 years ago here, that’s not “present context” in my view. I know you might like to hang onto that as being vitally important and relevant but it isn’t anymore. Not all, in fact, very few slaves were whipped and beaten, but they had free health care and “free” food and lodgings, they just couldn’t do anything else but work for their masters. But slavery is slavery whether you are beaten or whether you get to stay in the “house”.And go ahead and be offended. Y’all are professionals at being offended. Slavery, slavery. So there! Be doubly offended, you love to be offended , I’m doing you a favor.I’m not going to read all your links, but I did read the Mother Jones article. Great Republican mag there!Partisan drivel.
ChristianMiller // May 1, 2009 at 4:19 pm
ktward continuedFunny when leftists argue (others do this too, to be fair, but it is quite predominant with leftists) they cite the whole when convenient and at other times they cite parts. What heart surgeon is going to give up his practice because his taxes are a bit higher? Well, that looks pretty convincing on the surface – except when you actually see a shortage of ob/gyns in various parts of the country, mostly due to high insurance premiums (and a lawsuit happy demographic of patients perhaps) but taxes are a significant factor too. Bottom line they can’t make money and pay off their loans. So there IS a reaction at some point, and we are, and will be, creeping toward that point relentlessly so it is inevitable. Once Universal Health Care is enacted, pay for all doctors will go down significantly. Pay for nurses, who are vital, will too. So the squeeze will happen on both sides, pay and taxes. Don’t forget, lower pay from the top income receivers results in lower revenues for State and federal Treasuries. Look at NY State. They had to raise taxes on nearly everything they could to make up the shortfall from Wall Streeters. They even are taxing clothing and shoes now, something that was previously immune for obvious reasons. Now a mother in Harlem or the Bronx has to shell out another 8% for her kids shoes, because the rich aren’t so rich anymore. Which brings me to what happens long-term re the MJ article. The active heart surgeon has already made it, he/she has already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in med school and working years for lower wages than they are making now. So no, not many, or any, are going to stop their practice at its peak based on an incremental (for now) tax increase. But how many students are going to choose medicine under these new rules? Will the same number and quality of doctors be willing to go through all that hard work and high investment working for lower wages for years for only a moderate payoff? In Britain they are experiencing a shortage of doctors and the quality of doctors is going down. As to taxes, where do you think the money is going to come from to pay for the stimulus and the massive new federal budget? Are you really that naive? And taxes are everywhere already. Property taxes, State income taxes, sales taxes, inheritance taxes, taxes on lottery winnings (what a scam; the state gets money from the mathematically challenged and then gets almost half of their winnings back in taxes!) There is an 18 cent Federal tax on every gallon of gasoline you buy, plus whatever State tax which is considerably more. Now the government gets this money and they don’t have to do ANYTHING for it but collect. And what are they doing really? Roads Schools military all that yes, but the SEC? The FAA? the FDA? The CIA? The FBI? The IRS? The ATF? The Border patrol? The prison industrial complex? The DEA??? Great stuff all that eh? You like all that stuff? As a leftist you should Also want the government to be starved.The oil company making “record profits” makes less per gallon of gas than the state in which it is sold, and they have to invest money to drill, refine, store, distribute and retail it!Cigarette taxes are far higher than what the tobacco company makes as profit. This means the State has more incentive for you to smoke than the actual tobacco company!
ChristianMiller // May 1, 2009 at 4:20 pm
ktward continuedSo we are taxed from all sides and it is getting close to 50% the tipping point. I have traveled and lived in Europe have many Euro friends both here and there and I’m telling you that the ones in Europe say things like, “Well, I could be a manager but it is a lot more work and not really much more money (taxes and other socialist factors) so I’m not really interested.” What this means, and I’m sure you have seen this in your own life on one level or another, that the kind of person who wants this job for not much more money is getting something else out of it. Usually the type of person attracted to this job when the financial incentive is removed is the control-freak the manipulator, the kind of person who likes power and likes to be the boss, or the narcissist who likes to command the attention of his underlings. This happened in spades in the Soviet Union and one big reason why the whole country collapsed. I have to ask why are you here? I asked Spartacus the same question. Obviously you are a leftist. This is a Republican site. I am not posting at some Dem site, so are you trying to convince us of something? Personally I’m done trying to convince committed leftists anything.
DBKP FLASH Headline News » RINO Writers: Biting the Ankles of a Not-So-Big Base // Dec 5, 2009 at 11:28 am
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