The Tea Party is a congregation of confusion. The gathering in the Food Lion parking lot yesterday in Boone (as documented in 91 photos by Lauren K. Ohnesorge) was big on dissatisfaction with all government and thick with Social Security recipients and people benefitting pretty directly from Medicare. Take it all away, they were saying. Take every last vestige of it away.No they weren't. They weren't saying that at all. They were saying stop all spending that doesn't directly benefit me and my immediate family. Ah, human nature, you wiggly little worm!
Favorite documented illogic: Said a Tea Partier to Ms. Ohnesorge:
I truly believe that if [deep-water oil drilling] weren't a political football, maybe most of that wouldn't have been spilled out already .... I think there are means available to us internationally that we just haven't utilized and it's just horrible, horrible. That spill could happen anywhere ... but now to take away the ability of those people down there to make a living by putting the moratorium on drilling, why? First order of business, stop the doggone leak.
1. It's debate that leads to disastrous oil blow-outs. Has nothing to do with corporate mismanagement or colluding corruption in the regulatory agency charged with overseeing the management. But Tea Partiers are opposed to all government regulation, so...?
2. Ah, the phantom foreign fix for this leak, the unseen but knowable solution that Sarah Palin said was out there. Because Tea Partiers love to rely on foreigners.
3. Damn a moratorium on more deep-water drilling! Just because we've recently proved that the worst can happen and that there is no easy fix for it, and perhaps no fix at all, we should keep allowing deep-water drilling. That's freedom, baby!
4. The government can't do anything right. The government should stop the leak immediately. It's easy. And hardly contradictory at all.
Let's give the government to people who hate the government! Yeah, that's the ticket!
Sorry but this is ALL I can think about with the idiots out in the WAL-MART parking lot! http://img.buzznet.com/assets/imgx/7/6/7/1/2/7/1/orig-7671271.jpg
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the Wal-Mart Welcome Guy said today that the next time these old farts Republican tea baggers show up in his parking lot, he was going to turn loose his blue tick hounds on them to assure that his social security check arrives on time.......
ReplyDeleteGOP ( Grumpy Old People ) on Medicare protesting government involvement in health care.
ReplyDeleteThis is the informed Fox News and Rush listeners, what silliness.
These crazy people will be at the polls this fall and do have their perfect voice in Ms Foxx.
You all seem afraid of the political process. Very afraid.
ReplyDeleteIndeed there is reason to fear uninformed people showing up in masses at the polls! Well, duh!
ReplyDeleteI would like to know where they found three African-Americans in Boone?
ReplyDeleteThe Tea Party seems to stand for what the far left wants to stand for. The far left has become enamored with big government for some odd reason to the point it is all they can think about. The Tea Party movement doesn't make a distinction - they would just as soon vote out a Republican as a Democrat. This movement in my opinion is refreshing, relevant, and needed. With the Tiawaneese skimming Ship named "The Whale" arriving 71 days after the leak started, I can identify with their dissatisfaction of President Obama's response to the oil spill.
ReplyDeleteDog Tom
Dog Tom
ReplyDeleteWhat would have been your expected amount of time to secure and move a ship that size over half way around the world?
Why is the Tea Party make up mostly of Americans recieving the largest share of the Federal budget ( Medicare and Social Security) complaining about fereral spending and increased health care coverage for others?
"refreshing, relevant, and needed"??? More like uninformed, embarrassing, and lily white.
ReplyDeleteDog Tom - Can't you see the irony in what you said? Tea Baggers want small government and low taxes, but demand rapid mobilization of massive resources from the government when private industries create disasters. It's like they are all kindergarteners who think money magically appears from an ATM. I think the point is that progressives (liberals, left-wingers) understand that someone or something will inevitably fill a power vacuum, and we prefer it be elected government employees who must operate in daylight and be accountable to the electorate.
ReplyDeleteHistory and evolutionary theory tell us that there is no such thing as a "free" market. Without an effective immune system (regulations and oversight)there will always arise parasites such as Mafias, monopolies, or corporations who tilt the playing field to their advantage and the detriment of everyone else.
"we prefer it be elected government employees who must operate in daylight" - Brushfire
ReplyDeletePriceless.
Or non-elected government officials who operate behind the scenes, but whatever. Don't let reality get in the way of a good fairy tale.
Even a small federal government HAS massive resources. The Tea Parties want these resources manged effectively. Keeping skimmer ships away from an existing oil spill using the excuse there might be another oil spill is not effective management. It is idiocy.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the Tea Parties can change the people that made this reticulations decision.
OK Mike - government officials who are supposed to operate in daylight. It's up to us to make sure they do.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, do you really think our government owns a fleet of oil skimmers?
Brushfire:
ReplyDeleteI think for the mostpart, your posts are great. But MAFIA as a parasite?? Not so. They provide a host of services to us, including wacking the real parasites of our society- other MAFIA members. In fact, I think we need to put a hit out on Bin Laden - the MAFIA would get it done!
POV said:
ReplyDelete"What would have been your expected amount of time to secure and move a ship that size over half way around the world?"
A lot less than 71 days. Also, the administration turned down 3 Dutch skimming ships offered at the very beginning of this disaster.
"Why is the Tea Party make up mostly of Americans recieving the largest share of the Federal budget ( Medicare and Social Security) complaining about fereral spending and increased health care coverage for others?"
Do you have a link to back up this claim? These people payed into social security so why shouldn't they recoup what they put into the system. Isn't that the way it is supposed to work? I fail to see what is wrong here.
Dog Tom
Brushfire said:
ReplyDelete" but demand rapid mobilization of massive resources from the government when private industries create disasters"
Not ironic at all. Tea Party members want limited government to do what it was created to do - keep America safe. I can't think of a better role for the federal government than to protect American shorelines against oil. As for the private industy creating disasters, that is not quite accurate. It were the liberals in Congress, as part of the environemntal movement, who wouldn't allow drilling on land or in shallow water. What did the private sector do? They moved offshore where it is very difficult, dangerous, and potentially disastrous to drill. I don't see how BP can be held accountable here - they were set up for failure.
" who must operate in daylight and be accountable to the electorate"
I don't really know what to say here. Trusting a politician to operate in the daylight? You don't seem to like Ms Foxx very well - would you want a bunch of those operating in the daylight? Unless you are saying that only liberal, left-wingers are the ones operating in the daylight? Who was the Congressman with 80K in the freezer?
A free market is our last best hope in righting this listing ship. We should have let GM go out of business due to the fact they make/made inferior products. Another corporation will most certainly fill that void without the regulations you talk about. The free market economy has brought us thus far, why change to a system that has never been productive at anytime in history? Unions are another one that needs to go!
Dog Tom
Dog Tom said: "I don't see how BP can be held accountable here - they were set up for failure."
ReplyDeleteThen you simply have not been researching the spill at all. BP made numerous decisions along the way, including on the very day of the disaster, that led to the blowout.
I agree that Congress decided not to allow drilling in more shallow waters, and that the regulators did not regulate at all, so the spill is much more complex than "BP is at fault." But the failures that directly led to the spill are without any doubt BP's.
So if you blame this on Congress and not on BP, you are simply foolish.
Dog Tom:- You blame the unions? Really? It was a much more unionized country in the 50's that produced the rise of the strongest middle class in history.
ReplyDeleteAs far as politicians operating in daylight - those of Mrs. Foxx's ilk will try to operate in the dark of course, but there is a free press, such as it is, that keeps her inane,absurd and/or hateful statements in the public record.
What did you ever hear about BP before its disastrous chickens came home to roost?
and the tea partiers are the paper again. pay particular attention to dr. carolyn love's comments to the Democrat.
ReplyDeleteBrushfire said:
ReplyDelete" You blame the unions? Really? It was a much more unionized country in the 50's that produced the rise of the strongest middle class in history."
I can only agree with you. You are right. The 1950s did have many, many more unions than we have now. This fact in itself led to the decline of manufacturing in the United States. With workers being over-paid for doing nothing in some instances, coupled with high taxes and tough environmental laws, the companies moved overseas. Hence the unions caused their own demise! So yes, you are right, the unions were much more powerful in the 1950s and did make a strong middle class for a decade or two until the market corrected and corporations were forced out of the United States. Now the unions are a shell of their former glory as again their initial success contributed to their impending demise.
You mention free press as a way to highlight the deficiencies of a potitician like Foxx. You are right again. Foxx's lying, cowardly, and insulting style needs to be highlighted, however my fear is that we won't be allowed in the future to continue to highlight her inherently evil ways.
You see, liberal politicans operating in the dark want to place government controls on the interenet and media. How would you like a fairness doctrine that dictated what internet sites you could use or what media is allowed to report on? Have you heard about the Internet "kill switch" that Congress wants to give to the Executive Branch? Does this kill switch make you nervous in the least?
Dog Tom
Dog Tom - Please remember that the unions came into being as a response to horrific injustices. There must be some method of preventing the horrible abuse of workers that occurs throughout history when there are no checks on the ability of capitalists (nobles, ruling class, whatever) to exploit workers. Think feudalism, French revolution, The Grapes of Wrath, and migrant labor camps.
ReplyDeleteAs for economics, that is NOT my area of expertise, but I believe NAFTA and the tax incentives to ship jobs overseas account for most of our loss of manufacturing jobs. Another huge factor is that business in America is supposed to provide health insurance to employees. Most of the burdensome costs that drove auto plants into bankruptcy resulted from the health care costs of retired employees. If we had reasonable single payer health care, businesses would be MUCH more competitive on the global scene.
Brushfire,
ReplyDeleteSo where would the money come from?
What is the difference between the company paying for the health insurance of the employee, and the federal government jacking money from the employee's check every month and providing 'free' health care? In my book, that's a zero-sum game.
I suppose the difference is that if the federal government does it, it doesn't have to be good, so they can do it cheaper,, but I don't even believe that. I think the federal government could provide health care for every citizen in the United States, for about 40% higher cost than we have right now, and deliver a product with 40% lower quality than we have now. But there would be a whole bunch of new bureaucratic jobs created, taxpayer funded jobs that would suck off of the economy like leeches.
Mike - Do you know how much money is being spent on war right now? When we get out of these god-forsaken miserable entanglements on the other side of the planet we will have about 12 billion dollars every month to spend on health care jobs that will stimulate our economy.
ReplyDelete"Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
This is still true.
Also we need to (bluntly put) soak the super rich. The founding fathers recognized the destructive and destabilizing effect of a class society where the nobility have way too much power and influence on matters of state. The period in my lifetime, when we were achieving our greatest accomplishments was the 50's and 60's when unions were strong, tax rates for the top incomes exceeded 90% and we invested heavily in social programs, science, and infrastructure. But war got us in debt then, too.
Well said, Brushfire. That time period is also when that generation saw the greatest jump in personal wealth. My parents' generation built a house for 10thousand and depending on location, sold it for 350+ thousand. Not a bad investment!
ReplyDeleteBiker Bard, When I grew up, a family could live with dignity, decency, and even some luxuries on one income. CEOs made 42 times what a factory worker earned. Now the CEOs of Wall Street earn 550 times what an average worker makes!!!
ReplyDeleteIf someone works 10 times harder than you or I do, they should earn 10 times as much money. But no one can work 550 times harder than you, or I. These people are the moral and ethical equivalent of the nobles in medieval times, who lived their dissipated corrupt lives off the sweat of the peasants. They are parasites.
Brushfire: Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteBrushfire,
ReplyDeleteI agree. I would like to see tax law changed so that ultra-rich individuals who do not create jobs (hoarders) could no longer incorporate and file as small businesses. That way, we could avoid the Marxist 'attack by death-grip taxation' on small businesses while preventing the plutocracy you so eloquently describe.
Mike D:
ReplyDeleteGive up that Marxist nonsence! According to USA Today, our tax bills in 2009 are at the lowest levels since 1950.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2010-05-10-taxes_N.htm
What gives, Mike D. No smart retort?
ReplyDelete