I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Linkee-poo late on a Sunday

Sorry, spent this weekend working at all things. For Mom's b-day we bought her a new garbage disposal and installed it (she's been wanting and needed a new one, old one was fritzed and never worked well). Also discovered she was having problems with her other drain (solved that). Today was maintenance on the mower and mowing (first time in 3 or so weeks). Then today was studying for test tomorrow.

Surely a sign of the approaching apocalypse, I've received an invite to Phi Theta Kappa (the international honor society for community colleges).

Paul Krugman on the social contract. Lots of good points in there, including real statistics about the tax rates of the rich and another reiteration on just how fast the incomes of the rich have gone up (with a side commentary of how their tax rate is now lower than the middle class, but because of the size of their increase in wealth, that is why they're still paying a large percentage of all income taxes). (Grokked from Absolute Write)

An insight into the conservative mind concerning voter registration for the poor. Hint, they think it's un-American. That article, friends, is your standard class warfare engaged by conservatives and is a product of 3 decades of conservative political non-thought. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell).

5 comments:

Nathan said...

I read the Matthew Vadum article when it first came out and here's what I come away with.

If Vadum believes that poor people only vote for handouts to poor people, he should have the long-term goal of making as many of them as possible into rich people. Then, they'll vote for the right stuff (in his shallow little world).

Matthew Vadum said...

I'm all for that, Nathan! Welfare dependency only holds them back.

Steve Buchheit said...

Nathan, it's obviously exactly what they think.

And if that's you're position, Matthew, what have you done lately to help them out of that position? You know, other than defame them and want to remove their Constitutional Right and franchise?

Nathan said...

On the one hand, Jeez Matthew, Google yourself much?

On the other hand, I saw your response about an hour ago (Squee!) and I've tried three times to frame a response.

The short version is that I find your entire premise so un-American and so reprehensible, I just don't know where to begin. Ultimately, I realize that trying to address the specifics is a futile exercise because we appear to have no common reference point from which to start. It's as if I'm a species from one planet, speaking in light and color while you're a species from a different planet who communicates by means of rancid odors.

We'd be lucky to realize there was an attempt at communication in progress.

Good luck with your version of America. I hope you find it. Far, far away.

Steve Buchheit said...

Nathan, yeah, I haven't checked the logs yet, but I'd be surprised if his link didn't come from Google (or some other vanity search tool).

It's to bad we don't have another William F. Buckley, Jr. around. I could disagree with him, but at least I had respect for his intellect and argumentative capacity (I learned at his virtual knee, having watched his debates and tv show growing up). All these later day bloviators just are going for the shock value with little mental discipline for rigorous thought, just a lexus/nexus account. Too bad the rest of the conservatives eat it all up as if it were manna.