On Wednesday, following the loss of Steve Goss and Cullie Tarleton, someone said in my hearing, "Well, I guess we'll never see another mountain road get paved!"Prophet, that one!
Last night Rep. Thom Tillis, one of the front-runners to become the new Republican Speaker of the N.C. House, said on WBTV that funding formulas for road improvements were going to get changed, if he has anything to do with it:
Tillis said he wants to take a look at the "equity formula," which critics say gives too much money to rural areas while not giving enough to urban areas like Charlotte.
"Like Charlotte." Hmmm. Tillis is from Charlotte.
Meanwhile, it seems all too obvious that Republicans in the U.S. House will spend much of 2011 doing only two things: (a) attempting to repeal the health insurance reform law and (b) investigating Obama (can impeachment be more than a few months away?).
On (a), we look forward to the circus.
On (b), we look forward to the snakepit.
Republicans have always said that government cannot work, and they're about to prove it all over again.
56 comments:
Yeah, really! "Top Republican lawmakers say their plans to balance the state budget next year solely through spending cuts will likely be painful for many people." (http://www.wral.com/news/local/politics/story/8572173/)
Those "many people," I generously hope, includes a fair number of those Watauga Countians who voted for Soucek and Jordan.
And then there's this too, from today's Charlotte Observer: some 1,700 jobs in NC's public colleges and universities may be on the chopping block (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/05/1812879/unc-worst-case-budget-looks-grim.html).
Who is it employs you, Mike D.?
Unfortunately, the first jobs cut will be staff support jobs. Then faculty.
Enjoy your Republican General Assembly, folks!
Only an idiot wouldn't have seen this coming. Mike D won't mind. It's what he voted for.
Mike need not worry. I hear Hardees has some job openings.
These problems you, Henery and friends, just listed are as a result of 100 years of Dems and progressives mismanagement, overspending, and goood-ole-boy politics.
You were warned, the entire nation was warned. Well, the future is here, and the bills have to be paid.
Henery....sometimes you have to actually read the articles you link to.
According to the article you cite:
the state is facing a $3.2billion budget hole, $1.3 billion in expiring taxes and the impending loss of $1.6 billion in federal stimulus money. With all that on their plate, state officials have directed the university system to plan cuts of 5 percent and 10 percent for next year."
Maybe you see this as somehow attributable to a legislature that was elected 3 days ago and hasn't yet taken office but I doubt that even the most ardent of your fellow liberals can make that leap of logic yet!
Of course, their is always George Bush! It's probably his fault.
Republicans in Washington now saying they aren't going to stop earmarks. Will the Tea Party stand up against them? Or was all that tea talk just talk all along?
Fred, do you plan to apply and get off the entitlement programs?
Fred, don't blame Mike.
Yes, Fred, fast foods and restaurants are of the very few businesses that county and Boone bosses will allow and of the very few businesses that remain here.
When I moved here in the early 70s Watauga County made a lot of kraut and many people lived in unbelievably poor housing. The only thing the government did for them in those days was to pay subsidies for the tobacco they grew. They voted every two years for old Gene Wilson to represent them in Raleigh, who of course did nothing to help them. As the Kennedy-Johnson era gradually opened up opportunities and anti-poverty programs for Appalachia, and as ASU tripled in size and outreach thanks to state support, the government, both national and state, came to their aid, both directly and indirectly. THE most stable employer around here has been the university ("the college," as a lot of locals still call it), and the captive student market for apartment rentals has allowed many to profit handsomely from housing students (though some still bitterly oppose their right to vote). Yet now, despite more than a generation of increased prosperity as a result of government benefits, an unemployment level that's one of the lowest in the state, and a tax rate that has hardly budged for years, a majority of the locals have decided to choose do-nothing representatives to the run the County, to represent it in Raleigh, and to prolong the term of Madam No in Washington. Good luck, people, it's not just road paving that will take hits. We can only hope that the bungling of next the 2 years will bring greater numbers out to vote next time.
Mike will hav lots of Republican company at Hardees but few benefits.
SQWAUK!! Shut up, boys. The voters have spoken. You now have less than 18 months to fix everything. That's how long President Obama got to clean up your shit, so now it's your turn. No blaming others for the mess. Get going on all those jobs you promised.
Gosh...you guys are right!
Look!
It's started already!
http://www2.wataugademocrat.com/story/Secondary_road_budget_cut_20_percent_id_004029
Oh..no, wait a minute, that was while Goss was not only our senator, but was on the transportation committee!
Never mind....
Oh, yes, by all means, brotherdoc, let's all praise and hail to the omnipotent UNIVERSITY, our savior, the great god of government provisions, entitlement programs, and subsidies!
We definitely do need to keep feeding more and more money, the little we have left, taxes, taxes, taxes, to this great and ravenously hungry savior and its acclaimed superiority; not to mention its HUGE SUPERSIZE EGO. (To hell with the little (local) people just trying to eke out a living and survive in the home of their predecessors.)
Let's all hail the ELITE professors and administrators, with their very lucrative salaries and extra benefits (like the County giving jobs to their spouses and hiring employees the great exalted UNIVERSITY does not want anymore). Oh yes, the professors and administrators who know EVERYTHING, who can set us straight, and have been known to give advice to God; that is, if they admit His existence. (And give the local yokels, if they are subservient enoough, janitorial and maintenance jobs and pay them peanuts.)
Oh, yes, let's remember the wonderful prophet-president, Johnson, with his magnanimous War on Poverty, Appalachia, and his Model Cities program and his war in Vietnam. (It certainly doesn't matter that we still have poverty, largely due to underemployment, even here in Appalachia. And it doesn't matter that over the decades, many local people had to leave Appalachia, because good production jobs left.
And has anyone seen what the Model Cities program, etc, has done to once-great and proud cities like Detroit? Neither does it matter that we lost so many fine young men in another war-to-end-all- wars.)
Oh, yes, let's not forget to all praise that great prophet, the STATE, for encouraging the wonderful young students to come to UNIVERSITY and granting them the RIGHT, mind you, to vote in our elections. After all, these deserving, more equal students are getting AN EDUCATION AT THE GREAT UNIVERSITY, who already know more than us 'poh lokel' folks. (Of course, it does not matter that the STATE is bordering on bankruptcy due to its longtime generosity.)
Oh, yes, brotherdoc, let's all praise UNIVERSITY and its benefactor the STATE! (If it doesn't bankrupt us first.)
The Republicans who now control Raleigh may find themselves between a rock and a hard place. It's easy on the campaign trail to say "We need to cut spending and lower taxes" but it's a different thing all together when you have to face reality. The state budget HAS to be balanced, by law. They simply can't "cut" their way out of it without raising revenue in some way. They won't lay off teachers or increase class size to 45 students if they have any hope of getting re-elected. So what are they gonna do? Stop paving roads? Close all the rest areas along the highways? Sell the state parks?? It will be interesting to see. One thing is for sure: we will be wasting our time on a Marriage Protection Amendment while people starve.
Same thing here in the county. Whether they like it or not, we have to pay for the new high school - we can't unbuild it. If they cut property taxes, it will just put us in a bigger hole. But I forgot, that's the Republican way!
Fed, do you think MikeD might soon manage the Hardees at which you seep up?
"Those "many people," I generously hope, includes a fair number of those Watauga Countians who voted for Soucek and Jordan." - Henery
"Only an idiot wouldn't have seen this coming. Mike D won't mind. It's what he voted for." - Anne
"Mike need not worry. I hear Hardees has some job openings." Fred
Henery, Anne, Fred,
Wishing personal, professional harm upon a fellow human being because they voted for someone you didn't vote for?
I hope each of you follows your dreams and experiences great success and fulfillment, both in your personal, and your professional lives. I hope you live to a great old age, and I hope that your lives are filled with love and companionship.
Henery,
You seem to have done a little research to figure out who I am and where I work. This, in and of itself, is a little bit creepy, as I have no idea who you are, and I would not try to find out unless you offered the information in friendship.
Be that as it may, if you do know who I am and where I work, I invite you to come and introduce yourself. You will a find friendly, sincere handshake awaiting you.
But dude, don't try to intimidate me by releasing personal information in a blog. What the hell kind of cowardly thing is that to do?
I knew exactly who Stumpy was and where to find him while he was alive. I shared identifying details of his life only after he passed away, and only to honor his life.
I know exactly who BikerBard is. I could give you his full name and even his home address, and we frequently disagree in our politics. But what the hell kind of asshole would that make me?
J.W.,
Would you please consider watching Henery's posts for any further indication that he or she intends to intimidate and suppress political discussion through threats to reveal personally identifying information about another individual on your blog?
Thank you in advance.
This national problem is actually quite easy to fix. Do the following and we will be sitting pretty:
1) Stop starting unnecessary wars (e.g., Iraq) = savings of $3 trillion
2) Stop fighting wars you cannot win (e.g., Afghanistan) = savings of $1 trillion
3) Cut unnecessary spending in all places, including the Pentagon (could easily save a couple hundred billion dollars right there)
4) Use all this money to invest in infrastructure = millions of new jobs building roads, bridges, railroad tracks, solar and wind projects, etc. = billions of new dollars in the economy, or if you prefer, pay down the debt.
But it won't happen because neither party (and especially Republicans) will touch the sacred cows of war and "defense."
As for the state, we could save $11 million just by ending the death penalty, which we don't use anyway (since August 2006). We could save billions by using prisons only for repeat violent offenders rather than drug offenders and petty thieves. But this won't happen because neither party (and especially Republicans) will touch the sacred cow of "crime control."
I propose a test based on the scientific method. Let the proponents of each side (conservative vs liberal) propose 3 specific measurable predictions based on each theory. Conservatives who believe the shift toward the right will benefit this country may name 3 specific measurable consequences of this election. Liberals who believe that this was a disastrous event will name 3 specific measurable consequences. Perhaps our moderator can keep the predictions and evaluate them in 2 years time. My prediction is that the gap between the richest 1/10 of one percent and the rest of us will increase significantly. Specifically I predict the Gini coefficient will climb above 47.2
Mike D., Sorry if I creeped you out. I didn't mean to. I've actually met you. I was not a poster here but a constant reader, and I think you told me you posted (or maybe it was someone else). Anyway I will refrain from personal references in the future.
And to November Is Here, I did read the article you suggested I had not read. I did not accuse the Republicans of creating a NC budget shortfall. I accused them of being clueless about what to do about it. There's a difference.
BTW, Mike D.,
Congratulate yourself: your just a better Christian than me & Anne & Fred ... loving your enemies so generousssly!
Personally, after Tuesday, I'm a lazy drunken hillbillie with a heart full of hate. (I stoled that line from Hunter S. Thompson)
Thanks, Henery,
You are not mine enemy. And please do come say hello. :)
Gee whiz, Anonymous, my post jerked your string when all I did was point out few basic facts about the local economy. Hope you have a strong heart. Meanwhile, Matt Robinson, one of those "elitist" professors over at the "college", points out some other very obvious facts about the outrageous costs of wars and prisons, but then, some people have a hard time listening to a voice of fact and reason when they have been stoked by their leaders to live in fear and anger, don't they?
Interesting thread--this one and the one below.
Mr. Mike D. seems to refuse to answer any of the questions asked of him and instead whines about people who would say he's an idiot for voting the way he did and for knowing where he lives.
I'm here looking for an apology from you, Mr. Mike D.
You voted for homophobic legislators who want to take my rights away, one of whom has even said that if gay people are dragged and beaten to death it's a poor excuse for trying to protect their civil rights, a "hoax" to be exact. Now, thanks to the likes of people like you, I'm staring at my own home state, where I was born and reared and work and live, going after me. YOU PUT HOMOPHOBICS into office and YOU DON'T SEEM TO GIVE A FAT RAT'S ASS.
So the truth is I don't know where you work, but I honestly hope you lose your job. Because your vote clearly hinges on just what counts and matters for you, not for anyone else. Maybe that way you'd look at the whole picture instead of just out your own damn backdoor.
Brotherdoc: Yes, what arrogance, what a pompous know-it-all attitude you have. You can't take a defeat, can you? You, who cannot abide someone disagreeing with your lordship's alleged superior knowledge and ability.
So, to you, it is ALWAYS the great UNIVERSITY, the PROFESSORS and ADMINISTRATION, always you Dems and progressives, who have ALL the FACTS and ALL the WISDOM.
So, YOU just pointed out a few facts, you say. Just like it's a foregone conclusion, as if you are so innocent and wise. What an arrogant snob you are! Do you think you can make those disrespectful, condescending remarks about how much better off we are that you and your snobbish kind are in our midst? Hey, BD, look around you. What is the financial and debt situation for this county and state? Who do you think is primarily responsible for this fiscal mess?
For your info, prior to your unfortunate invasion of the '70s, maybe we did NOT have a lot of material possessions, but we did very well, thank you, before your kind disgraced our land. We, the local people, certainly did NOT have all this debt, rising taxation, corruption, lies, deceit, regulations, restrictions, taxes, taxes, taxes, more corruption, debt, powerful special interests, debt, taxes, etc.
FYI, BD, I agree with SIR MATT ROBINSON of the UNIVERSITY ELITE ROUND TABLE. But he continually insists that the Dems and Progressives have ALL the FACTS and all the WISDOM. What dishonest arrogant jerks!
JW, how long will it take you to post this response? So far, it takes you 2 hours, if not, much longer.
Matt Robinson:
I do hope that last "Matt" post was not you. I have much respect for you, and it is never a good wish to wish someone to lose his job. Disagree with Mike D. all you want - I do. But I respect Mike D. and his right to his opinions, however warped they are. (No. Just kidding, Mike.) But you do know how to rile folks, I'll give you that. But interesting to note: If you DID lose your job, you would need the very programs you detest, no?
Anon - What a chip you are carrying on your shoulder. You really resent anyone with more education than you. Too bad the rest of the world and all those elitist teachers and foreigners had to invade your bucolic heaven. But you know what? Without the nasty university (that provides a substantial portion of the income for this county) Watauga county would be just a place for local residents to grow up and get away from. Cabbage, Christmas trees and non-union factory jobs would be the only employment available. All low-wage dead end work.
And for heaven's sake stop whining about taxes. Even Jesus said to render unto Caesar. Taxes are the cost of a decent society. I remember hearing the old folks talk about having to work on maintaining my rough mountain road by hand, before the state took over. Those were the good old days when my neighbor lost a daughter in childbirth because they couldn't get to a doctor. They didn't pay taxes because they had no money, and no hot water heater, and no indoor bathroom. Oh yeah. The grand old days for sure.
If you worry about your taxes and the deficit, protest the wars, and the TARP bailout, and tax cuts for the richest of the rich. But don't blame them on President Obama. All of the above came directly from Bush.
Matt,
In July of 2011, I am traveling to the Los Angeles area to be the best man in a gay wedding. You want an apology, and I am ready to offer it. I am sorry. I truly am. I hear the pain in your words. I am not an opponent of gay marriage in any way. I hear and understand how important an issue this is to you, and it is an important issue to me as well, but my vote was not about gay marriage.
At this point, in the history of our country, I believe that fiscal sanity is by far the most important issue. I refuse to allow huge swaths of our economy to become nationalized, and regardless of what some who may respond to my post will say, that is exactly the track that we were on until a few days ago. We have already seen it in the auto industry, the banking industry, and health care, and had we not voted the greatest shift in the House of Representatives in 70 years, the next industries would have been energy, telecommunications, credit, and news media.
If there were any way that I could have voted for candidates who supported gay marriage and a free market economy, you would have had to pry me from their campaign staffs. Unfortunately, I had to choose. And the choice I made was based on what I think is the overriding issue of 2010. Soon, the interest on our national debt will be so great that no matter what sacrifices we are willing to make as individuals and as a nation, it won't do any good. We have to end the credit card mentality, and we have to do it before it is too late. Then you can expect me standing by your side to fight for your right to marry the person you love.
Again, I am sorry that it has to be this way. I think I am sane, but it seems that everyone else thinks I either have to conform to their entire set of beliefs, or I should expect to be ridiculed as an idiot who deserves to get fired for having my own, unique set of views. It seems unfair to me, but I realize that it is not nearly as unfair as the discrimination you face.
Please keep the faith, follow your heart, and perhaps we can get this all worked out by 2020. :)
Brushfire; yes, you are another arrogant snob who worships at the altar of that all-consuming, socialist false god, the UNIVERSITY. And yes, you definitely think you are better than the local people.
Who funds that #$@%!=* UNIVERSITY, BF? The taxpayers in this state, the county people, who are taxed and taxed and taxed to death! But it's NEVER enough, is it? The arrogant snobs at ASU of the Bowles' indoctrination racket continually want more and more. ASU does not truly generate jobs, without taxpayers subsidizing it with huge funds from the state. Can you not understand this simple rule of economics? But the UNIVERSITY may have to do with less now, for the first time in God knows how long.
You think you have more education than I do or others. How the $#@!* do you know how much education I have? There are people from this county and area with multiple degrees and graduate degrees, PhDs, and they were/are humble and had/have far more respect for the local people, THEIR PEOPLE, than you and your arrogant snobs with your noses stuck in the air ever will. Even the ordinary working man and woman, with a HS diploma or not, have talents that the most highly indocrtrinated snob, like you, with your degree/s do not or could not ever have.
What is a BS? Ans: Bucket of $#%@!
An MS? More of the same
PhD? Piled higher and deeper.
And as for what this county would be like without that #@$%*&! UNIVERSITY, the god that you grovel on your knees towards and kiss that false altar, I will gladly take it, outdoor toilets, midwives, etc. Without that UNIVERSITY tied around our necks, thsi county would have taken a different course and be far better for it, then and now.
As to your decent society and taxes--no, it is an ENSLAVED society that has sold its once-free soul for slavery, chains, huge debt, debasement and death.
As for Bush and Obama, they are of the SAME mold, BF; a one party system with two traitorous legs pursuing the SAME destructive agenda. You haven't figured that out, have you? Yes, TARP was a gross thef for the #@%*#!* banksters, Wall Street and all. And Congress, both houses, both so-called parties, Obama and McCain, voted FOR that outrage against the people.
'Remember?
Jeez, Anonymous. Does the term "sore winner" sound familiar to you? Wanna dig up the corpse so you can kill it again?
What happened to you? Get a D in your 1st college course?
"As for the state, we could save $11 million just by ending the death penalty, which we don't use anyway (since August 2006). " MR
A 550 round box of .22 Long Rifle shells at Walmart is $18.95.
Yep, room for alot of savings there!
Geez, Henery, brotherdoc spewed his/her arrogance and lies, with BF continuing with more of the same.
Geez, Henery, I wasn't going to let either snob get away with their continuous shoving that stinking "corpse" of a grossly expensive UNIVERSITY god down our throats.
Geez, Henery, we didn't "sore winner" anything.
Geez, Henery, your kind said it was UNIVERSITY, not "college".
Geez, Henery, can't you come up with a better response than that? Haven't you been in the indoctrination racket long enough?
Geez, Henery, you and your kind are the disaster that happened to Watauga.
It sounds like e got an A in the university of life.
How educated you are depends on what you need to know. You could have a Phd. in one field and be totally ignorant in another. Also, you can find an opposing view for any position a Phd. has from another Phd. The title does not mean anything except you went to school for a long time. Whether you do anything with this schooling is another matter.
Look, look! Peggy Noonan called Sarah Palin a "nincompoop" -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/06/peggy-noonan-sarah-palin_n_779624.html
Now theres a univesity elitist.
No it was NOT me (that Matt). I'm pretty sure that one is saying he is gay. I'm married with kids (oh, and straight, too).
As for the attacks on me and my PhD, well at least I have the courage to sign my name to what I say here. And to admit when I am wrong.
This "anonymous" person is known to me. That's right, I know who you are. And thus I completely understand why you say the things you say here. And I'm pretty sure you've never admitted an error here, or anywhere else for that matter.
I do not have all the answers, and I do not think I am right about everything. I write and speak about what I know (about what I teach and do research about) and that is all. It's called getting out of the ivory tower and into the real world.
Matt, you are a very politically correct individual and so you can use your real name. And I really don't give a hoot whether you know who I am or not. Maybe JW helped you with that one.
Someone like me cannot do that now. Recently, it is very risky to comment on a blog and give even a nickname or your real name. Also, I am not the only one who uses "anonymous".
And if you think I am personally attacking you, which is not true, then believe whatever you want. Go right ahead. Why is it that people like your pals can ridicule and proclaim your arrogant superiority along with your taxpayer-funded UNIVERSITY vs the local people over and over again, like brotherdoc and Brushfire, yet we cannot point out this arrogance? We cannot object to this snobbish attitude?
I wish I could send every local citizen in this county, and for that matter, the whole western mountain region, the posts submitted by today's brotherdoc and Brushfire.
Robinson, why do you consider an honest opinion about an evident truth an attack on your degree? Do you think you are the only person with a PHD.? Do you think having this degree in some way makes your opinion more valuable than the opinion of others?
I would really be interested in your honest answer to these questions?
You really need me to answer why this sounds like an attack? When you call someone an arrogant snob? Really?
"You think you have more education than I do or others. How the $#@!* do you know how much education I have? There are people from this county and area with multiple degrees and graduate degrees, PhDs, and they were/are humble and had/have far more respect for the local people, THEIR PEOPLE, than you and your arrogant snobs with your noses stuck in the air ever will. Even the ordinary working man and woman, with a HS diploma or not, have talents that the most highly indocrtrinated snob, like you, with your degree/s do not or could not ever have."
And then you throw this on there, too?!?!?!
"What is a BS? Ans: Bucket of $#%@!
"An MS? More of the same
"PhD? Piled higher and deeper."
Nope, no attack there.
And if you really think that "ASU does not truly generate jobs, without taxpayers subsidizing it with huge funds from the state" then you are simply uninformed. The university system is one of the great economic engines of the state, because without those degrees, a large share of jobs would go unfilled, thus weakening the economy enormously. We actually do teach useful skills for the workplace, including basic critical thinking skills!
No I do not I am smarter than anyone, but there are lots of idiots out there, including people who post on blogs.
And as for this: "the UNIVERSITY may have to do with less now, for the first time in God knows how long", once again you are uninformed. The university has made cuts in each of the last two years' then again it had to do so in 2002-2003.
And then there is this???
"Without that UNIVERSITY tied around our necks, this county would have taken a different course and be far better for it, then and now."
Wow, just wow.
Anon - What makes you think brotherdoc and I are not local people?
Anonymous, I think it's quite obvious who you are, to anyone who has read this blog for any length of time. Your hatred of ASU, professors, students, and anyone who is not what you deem a "local" is tiresome and repetitive. And yet, you're obviously an educated person. Did you by any chance go to one of those public universities that you hate so much?
Mike D, it's me, Matt, the gay one.
Your whining is pathetic. Your argument that individual civil rights had to take a backseat this time in the name of so-called "fiscal sanity" is exactly the same argument held by many in the days of black slavery. Your argument then would have been the same: "We simply have to keep the cotton picked. We'll see what we can do for black folks another day."
If that's your argument today, that makes you a liar about your commitment to civil rights. If that's not your argument today, then that makes you a hypocrite.
Then again I could be wrong. You may be both.
Matt, apparently you are concentrating on my responses to BD and BF, wherever they are from, and not their initial arrogant statements belittling local people, which started this and makes them snobs to have such a condescending attitude towards local people.
Since you back up their claims for us to worship and fawn upon that taxpayer-funded UNIVERSITY, the priesthood professor class, etc, and the wonderful student body, that makes you a snob also.
Yes, I am very much aware that the indoctrination racket has recently and will continue to take cuts, Matt, because of the profligacy of the past. What's your solution, Matt? Continue the profligancy?
As to the BS, MS, and PhD titles, you can't take a joke, can you?
FYI, Mr. PhD Matt, a dear relative of mine, who had two BS degrees, an MS and a PhD, told me that joke many years ago. But apparently, you think those degrees gives you and your colleagues godlike status among the rest of us mere mortals.
By the way, that relative, a native, was beloved of his/her people, because he/she did not have the attitude you obviously wear around like a gold medallion for others to kiss.
Apparently, anyone who dares disagrees with you or does not genuflect towards you or your colleagues in passing, then to you that is an "attack", or worse, a "personal attatck".
Make sure everyone who does not kiss your ring, Matt, today, gets a stern reprimand for not granting you all due respect.
Anonymous,
Enough already. We get the idea.
"Mike D. seems to refuse to answer any of the questions asked of him... I'm here looking for an apology from you, Mr. Mike D." - Matt (the gay one, not the professor, although I suppose he could be a professor as well)
Matt,
You asked for an apology and I apologized. You asked me to answer questions which would explain my vote, and I did that.
Rather than respect that I am willing to communicate with you within the parameters you set forth (e.g. apologizing and answering your specific demands), you instead simply continue your attack.
Berating someone who has just apologized to you is really bad form. I will be happy to continue the discussion with you, but not until you get out of yourself for a moment. Let me know if you are willing to show me the same intellectual respect I have shown you. Otherwise, find someone else to complain to.
Anonymous,
The simple fact that Matt Robinson is willing to get down and defend himself in the low-blow contest you have set up invalidates your argument. If he were quite the arrogant snob you describe, he would not waste his time on your attacks.
I see Robinson did not answer the question about his idea that his opinion is worth more than that of others. In a way, I guess that is an answer.
Comments on the value of a PHD in general is not an attack on HIS degree. As for the accusation of his being a snob, well, he did choose to ignore the question mentioned above.
Mr. Anonymous, I did answer your question, and very specifically. I said I do not feel my opinion is worth more than anyone else's opinion.
And for the record, I do not wear any rings for anyone to kiss.
(I do have three medals though, if you are interested).
That last part is just a joke.
Finally, I do not "back up ... claims for us to worship and fawn upon that taxpayer-funded UNIVERSITY, the priesthood professor class, etc, and the wonderful student body" and so I regret that you call me "a snob also."
To: Mike D.
FYI, I did not start this discussion. Why don't you back up and read the condescending remarks spewed out by brotherdoc and Brushfire.
Then, Sir Matt, joined in.
And you tell me and maybe one other "Enough...."?
The politically correct can ridicule and demean the local people and their predecessors, but I, or others, cannot defend them?
What kind of gross, hypocritical double standard is that, Mike D?
Don't make me lose the respect I have for you, Mike D.
To the other Anonymous:
Do you think these geniuses will ever figure out there are at least two of us?
Talk about dense!
To the cowards, Anonymice:
All the better to confuse us all, no?
To Anon (You know, the ignorant one):
WOW! Are YOU threatened by someone with a higher degree than your obvious elementary school one! Show some respect, here, lad.
I doubt it.
He calls me "sir" and then says I am the one who is arrogant or snobby.
And yet, these are the people who bestow on me certain titles even though I do not ask for them and specifically reject them (like "sir").
These people have no courage. They even talk about me on their local radio show, by name, but have never called me to actually be on the show. They're comfortable calling me out, by name, then labeling me in a certain way ("loony left" or whatever they called me the last time), and yet they haven't even the decency or curiosity to sit down with me and ask me why I feel the way I feel or do the kind of work I do.
Pathetic and sad, if you ask me.
My question is, how long do you have to live here to be considered a "local" in Anonymous's eyes? 10 years? 20? 30? People whose families have lived here for generations don't get to make up all the rules. This is a free country, and people can live wherever they choose. I have never understood this "war" between locals and newcomers. Aren't there hundreds of locals who are employed at ASU? Are you seriously telling us that this county would be better off if ASU wasn't here? Did someone at ASU do something to you personally to cause all this hatred?
I think part of the problem is that locals resent it when people move into an area that is doing just fine and immediately try to change it to be just like the area they either ran from or were thrown out of.
By the way what was wrong with the post about the heroic Bard's hypocrisy in calling others cowards. He hides behind a pseudonym. He thinks his is somehow better than Anonymous. He loves to quote Shakespeare, so he should know that " A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
This one will probably not make it either.
By the way< Bard, one is not censored on this admirable site as much under the name Anonymous as if you use another name more unique.
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