Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The Laptop Is Mightier Than The Tank


If the pen is mightier than the sword, the laptop is approaching omnipotence. Instantaneous flow of information changes our world so fast it’s hard to keep up. The power and scope of the internet is enormous and growing. It may have originated with government research decades ago, but it has grown so rapidly because government has had nothing to do with it since. It’s not clear how long that will continue though because we’re witnessing how vulnerable governments are around the world when citizens are informed. Their control over what citizens know or don’t know is diminishing fast.And it’s not just in the Middle East. Two years ago at this time, nobody in the United States ever heard of the Tea Party, but in about eighteen months it virtually took over the US House of Representatives. The United States government, however, is not so vulnerable compared to middle eastern dictatorships. Thanks to the First Amendment, we’ve always had a free press. Americans have been as informed as they wanted to be and our media has tended to keep government relatively honest throughout most of our history. Ours is a government designed to be responsive to the will of its citizenry - especially the US House of Representatives and state houses.

Here the internet threatens the mainstream media, which has become entrenched and complacent with a profound left-of-center bias. Lately, they have tended to protect politicians who share their political perspective, like Bill Clinton and the current White House resident. After wielding their power to depict George W. Bush as a moron and anointing his successor, Barack Obama, as a savior, the mainstream media ignored the Tea Party movement for about six months, then tried to portray it as an angry mob. It grew anyway, however, because the MSM no longer controls what the public knows or doesn’t know.

The New York Times’ motto has been: “All the news that’s fit to print” - the news its editors believed was fit to propagate, that is. Every evening, the alphabet networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC broadcasted pretty much what the Times printed on its front page - no more and no less. Today, however, people can find out whatever they want online and they do. They can also spread that information around to their friends and associates via email and social networks.

So, when Democrat congresspeople went home to their districts in the summer of 2009 and conducted “town hall” gatherings as they always had, they didn’t find the usual sleepy meetings where they could shake hands and renew acquaintances. Citizens had informed themselves about President Obama’s proposed health care bill and they asked questions the representatives could not answer. They knew more about the bill than their representatives did. They recorded congressional ignorance on video and put it on Youtube where it “went viral” as the expression goes, and most of those congresspeople were voted out last November in a conservative, Tea Party tsunami.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi never knew what hit her. She’d heard about the crowds her minions were encountering in their home districts back in 2009. She sensed how nervous they were too, but she insisted those crowds did not represent a grass-roots uprising of concerned citizens as her fellow Democrats suspected. She called the boisterous, town-hall gatherings “astroturf” as if they were rent-a-crowds ginned up by Republicans. Not recognizing that a new political phenomenon was emerging, she thought it was politics as usual and rammed Obamacare through her chamber. She found how wrong her assessment had been when she became the former Speaker of the House.

And it’s not just Congress. The Tea Party voted out governors and state legislatures across America and the new ones have started cutting government in formerly-Democratic enclaves like Wisconsin. The Democrats’ core constituencies - bloated, overpaid, arrogant, out-of-touch government unions are on the ropes and getting pummeled. Union demonstrators are the “astroturf” Pelosi thought she was seeing two years ago. Unions turned out their troops in Wisconsin, Indiana and elsewhere to protest state budget cuts and they were getting paid to do so by taxpayers. Public-sector parasites called in sick at their schools and civil service jobs and had tantrums at state capitols - hoping to keep the taxpayer money-spigot flowing.

Tea Party taxpayers showed up to counter-protest at their own expense. They paid to be there and realized that they were paying for the other side to be there too. They were even paying for the publicly-funded doctors who wrote phony sick notes to shield teachers from accountability in their districts.

Thanks to the internet, the Tea Party understood that they were funding public employees who don’t work as hard as they do, who have more job security than they do, who make more money than they do, who have a better medical plan than they do, who have more generous pension benefits than they do, and who pay less for it all than they do. President Obama supports his public-employee-union constituents and the mainstream media depicts them as sympathetically as possible, but it’s not working the way it used to. Citizens aren’t buying it. Why? They have their own sources of information now.

Old political play books have to be re-written everywhere. The internet is changing everything. The laptop is king.

25 comments:

Irregardless NH said...

Possibly the most depressing aspect of Tom McLaughlin's post is that he has bought - hook, line and sinker - completely into the Koch Brothers'/Freedom Works/Tea Party anti-union agenda. Just ask Karl Rove.

Thanks to Supreme Court decisions like Citizens' United, the oligarchs have successfully convinced the gullible amongst us to agitate directly against their own interests. Sadly (and tragically for the young minds he molds) McLaughlin has blindly fallen into their trap.

A depressing commentary on the state of education [sic] in America.

Anonymous said...

I mostly agree with the message I don't always like the way Tom delivers it, but that's what freedom of speech is all about. The only other thing that bothers me is I do feel that while Mr. Bush is perhaps not a moron he is not an intellectual whiz either. I always will believe that Mr Obama got elected because he is a black man. He was an opportunist who was in the right place at the right time. The voters were ready for a change, but thats a discussion for another time. I did not vote for Mr Obama because of or in spite of his skin color. I just didnt care for him. Nothing difficult to understand about that.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Irregardless; I see that you have gotten your latest talking points memo from the Carroll County Democrats and have posted your usual crap here. But I need to ask you one question; Are you willing to die for your beliefs? Because trouble is coming from all directions. The Muslim Radicles that the left is in bed with want us dead and are doing what they can to make it so from over there. and as the Union crowd gets violent as they do when bennys get taken away that we can't afford to pay for anymore and Joe Sixpack starts to fight back, the fight is going to be in your yard. That fight will be from over here. I'm sure your Allinsky strategy is doing everything it can to help this along, but keep in mind that many will die in the process. It's getting to the point where we the people will conclude that the vote will not work and therefore.....Heaven forbid when that straw hits the camels back.

So what do you propose Skippy?

Anonymous said...

I can't help but notice that the gun sales are going up and up and up

Anonymous said...

"Americans have been as informed as they wanted to be and our media has tended to keep government relatively honest throughout most of our history."

The naivete is staggering.
Tom, you truly believe this?
This would suggest that the two institutions are separate, which I guess you would believe if you were forced to "teach" the absolute BS that passes for history in the US education system for decades.

Indeed, we live in a world of corporations not nations anymore.
They tell us what they want to. Period.

As for your claiming that the gov't may have helped to start the internet but isn't really involved anymore is ludicrous. Google and the CIA have been in bed from its inception.

And, sure you can find anything on the internet that fits your worldview---the truth is irrelevant.

Anonymous said...

To the anonymous alarmist who thinks calling people "skippy" is cute - refer back to the article in the last thread about brain differences. You are wired to be scared. Relax, take a deep breath. Muslims will not be coming out of the NH woods to eat your children.

And how can any freedom loving person want to give government the power to interfere with the population from banding together in unions to protect themselves? Workers should not have benefits? They should be thrown peanuts and told "good luck with your old age and your medical bills"? Union members ARE "Joe Sixpack".

Modern Democracy, in fact all democracy was built upon the necessity of organizing the “regular” people against a tyranny of oligarchy, plutocracy, the money lenders, and the monarchs of the world.

In other words, the workers built democracy because they were tired of being ripped off by the wealthy who always seem to get their tax cut while the workers and the poor pay the largest share of the taxes. Which they in their social darwinist world view see as justice, the invisible hand bestowing riches upon the blessed.

The right to bargain collectively and to strike is needed more now than it ever has been. Our leaders have consistently bowed to Wall Street as they stole the combined worth of several generations in America in a real estate bubble, now all safely off-shored no doubt. Finally some Democrats with spine stand up and walk out on a bill that is essentially part of a corpratist agenda to consolidate corporate and state power. Essentially the Wisconsin 14 are out on strike. And a righteous one at that! America should all join the Wisconsin 14 in a mass walkout if you ask me. America needs to teach both our leaders and our wealthy right wing billionaires who’s the boss here. Our kids are paying with the loss of their very future if we don’t.

Strange how all the right wing rhetoric is about protecting Joe Sixpack while all their actions support and strengthen Big Business' power to exploit them.

As far as Tom's incessant claim that the Right-Wing controlled mainstream media are really leftists.....it is so absurd it doesn't even merit a response.

Irregardless NH said...

As far as Tom's incessant claim that the Right-Wing controlled mainstream media are really leftists.....it is so absurd it doesn't even merit a response.

Point. Set. Match.

Skippy

Anonymous said...

Thank you Skippy or Skippies in this case for more Carroll County Democrat talking points on the unions being just the working stiffs like me. Let's take the Wisconsin teachers union for example, If I had 89,000 in pay and bennies for 180 days of actual work....200 if you include the prep and whatever to give the benefit of the dought, I would not be Joe Sixpack....I'd be one of the beautiful people like you Skip. Let's say Mr. Skip who makes 89 large and marries Mrs. Skip who makes 89 large. Together they make how much Skip? Your a College educated Allinsky wanna-be, you do the math. I bet you find that they are going to be paying that extra "Rich People" tax that you and Obamma want to impose on the country.
Secondly, Did you know that even your own Liberal Icon, the hero of the left, F.D.R. was against Public sector unions claiming that the public sector doesn't produce any tangible goods and services that can be competed with and therefore the prices kept down and so Capitalism can not apply here and keep them in check. The net result is that any "Collective Bargaining agreements" that get made only serve to hurt the real Joe Six-packs out there who pay those (89 large) Salaries by their hard earned wages by working at wallmart or on a construction sight. So, I ask you Skip...Was FDR wrong? and if so, why?
Another problem is that public unions pay for the election campaigns of politicians with their dues...which is in effect my flippen tax money...to elect Politicians who are then in their pocket and will make sure they get the Collective Bargaining Moderator they want. Long story short Skip, It's corruption and it's time you look at the left side of your back yard instead of the right cause the weeds are growing fast on that side while you put weed killer on the right side.
As for the "Take a Breath" comment you made; You sound like Lord Chamberlain at the end of 1938. I ask you then Skip; By all accounts, The Fed cannot continue with this spending and remain solvant. We as a union of States give the power to the Fed to protect us in the Constitution against Radicals like them who want to kill us and die in the process. How will the Fed do this when it becomes insolvant and the Currency worthless along with all the wealth of us Joe Sixpacks out there? Coffee Talk Skip...Talk amoungst yourselves at the Carrol County Democrats meeting and answer that one for me. As for me, I'll plan for what I pray will never happen and vote and be vocal until it's time to be silent and deliberate. As for you Skip, I suggest you learn to face east 6 times daily and fit a birka on Mrs. Skip. And I promise to never use my Constitutional right to bear arms to help you. After all, you won't need me, you'll be relying on the Policeman's Union to help you, Right?

Anonymous said...

"Game, Set, Match"!!!! Skippy, This is not an Arguement to be won or lost as though we are sipping 50 dollar bottles of wine at the Volvo Tournament. I can just picture you now, "Yes, Muffy I certainly gave that little Pee-on a piece of my mind". Grow up you pompous puke and realize that it's not about me winning an arguement with you over drinks at the 19th hole, it's about educating the populous that are starting to wake up and get angry and take notice. Didn't they teach you that in the Saul Allinsky school of Revolution? It was all the Rave, and wasn't Professor Obamma teaching that class?
Name withheld for fear of being put on the Obamma watch list.

Anonymous said...

I (Skippy #2) am a Joe Sixpack public school teacher like Mr. McCaughlin. I have a wife and daughter and we are struggling to make it in this woefully underpaid and under appreciated profession. Bringing home a weekly paycheck of $496 does not allow me to hang out on the golf course...in fact it barely allows me to splurge on an occassional six-pack of Rolling Rock.

I am not a Democrat. I think both parties screw the little guy at the expense of the ultra rich. Thank you for promising to never use your constitutional right to bear your arms anywhere near me. Crazy and guns are not a good mix.

Keep breathing deep, read up on things (try reading something other than the radical right wing lies that work you up so) inform yourself and get a grip on reality.

I wish you the best, but I'm done conversing with you.

But why argue with you. You are not a rational being, You are incredibly naive about the world, and being crazily paranoid as well is a bad combination.

Mike G said...

Some good posts here about the fallacy of the presently proposed union busting being good for the middle class taxpayer.

These people promoting these so-called austerity measures and union busting are just putting more power and wealth under the control of the state and corporations.

Now I have to agree some of the benefits gotten by unions appear unfair, (trillions in bailouts to banks is unfair) but considering that gas and food are about to bankrupt us all, I can't imagine standing in line for a wage cut. The middle class are fighting each other while the elites walk away with the store.

"talking points" , now don't you know that when someone uses that phrase, you are about to get the "talking points" from the other side. Who came up with that over used and lame phrase to dismiss whatever your concerns are as a "talking point". How dishonest can they get.

Anonymous said...

Hey Skippy #2; I noticed that you didn't answer any of the questions about union corruption and what FDR said about Public Unions. I'm sorry that you didn't take home more money as a teacher but never the less it's a fact that the AVERAGE pay and benny package for those teachers out there amounts to 89 large. Because you make less doesn't do a damn thing to disprove the facts I laid out here. I noticed that all you did was stereo type me a right wing fanatic. I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I do not belong to a militia nor do I own a handgun. Why is it OK for you to stereo type me but are not even willing to accept or entertain the thought that you are a left leaning Socialist when what you espouse fits the bill? Why am I to be tolerant of your opinions but you won't entertain mine or Mr. McLaughlins without adding belittling comments or highbrow rhetoric? Why aren't you Tolerant Skip? Do you even know who Saul Allinsky is and the Movement that he has started with the Liberal Baby Boomers? Did You know that Hillary did her Masters Thesis on him and her politics follow lock stock and barrel with his philosophy.
I do breath deep Skippy. And I thank God for every breath I take.

If you don't want to answer any of other peoples points skip, then maybe it's better if you went away and be done with conversing with me. You see I took this "IN YOUR FACE" approach for a reason to take you and your far left leaning buddies down a notch and get you to stop bitching and and patting each other on the back and actually offer a dialogue as equals instead of calling Tom and anyone who may agree with his politics names and innuendos that bring people down a notch. I feel sorry for you Skip. you actually believe what your shoveling. But, when called out you jump on your high horse and call me delusional and irrational and Paranoid. All I did was throw a bunch of points at you that were from FDR himself (Your Icon) and mix it up with a little inner city style zings to rock you. Your response was all ad-homonym. But your all High brow now and won't dignify me with a response....could it be that you don't have one that holds water? I await your rebuttal Skip, as your equal!
By the way Skip do you earn any money in the long summers your not working on another job to supplement your Low income?

I would suggest that you read a book called DUPED AMERICA and maybe we can talk sometime as equals. I do listen to NPR daily and America Left on Serious/XM. I"m still breathing deep Skip...And I'm Gellin too!

And Brian; Talking points to me were meant to collectively point out the same stale flippen Arguments that I keep hearing from people that agree with you. And by using FDR as a source for my so called Right leaning "Talking Points" that according to you would necessarily follow, you showed your self to be out of touch. Or, you may just be so far left leaning that even FDR is to the right. Don't be dishonest with us Brian, tell me, are you a Socialist or a Capitalist?

Skippy said...

To the anonymous skippymaster,

You come on like a presumptious blow-hard, labeling everybody and acting like you alone have all the answers, and that everything you think is right. Relax...breath deep.

FDR is not my hero, or icon, or whatever you keep blabbing. I am with him though when he said: " If I went to work in a factory the first thing I'd do is join a union." Why are you so against the working man making a decent living? Why do you like seeing the rich and powerful exploit the working-man? Are you actually claiming that teachers are not worthy of making 50,000 a year with decent benefits? Tell me, what should they make? And how many good teachers will go into the profession making what you would offer? You are incredibly naive about teachers and the amount of work they do.

My sticking up for teacher's benefits make me a socialist? And you wonder why I wouldn't want to struggle to get a rational dialogue out of you?

Since I am beneath you, you want me to read a book. I get you know. You are one of those ignorant types who think they know it all after reading one biased book. Here's a review for you:

fFrom chapter to chapter Mister Bernstein ignores all Democratic or Progressive philosophy, or indeed simple logic, in favor of rehashing tired Republican talking points to counter Strawman arguments that no Democrat, or indeed Republican that actually held deep conversations with one, would assert they hold.

And it continues in this view for chapter after chapter, piling debunked talking point atop debunked talking point -
* Ignore Keynesian Economic theory long tested in the real world, instead he argues for the long debunked Laffer Curve.
* The Mortgage Crisis? Caused by failures of regulation? No - the 40 year-old Community Reinvestment act is to blame (Ignoring entirely the fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the required villains, were amongst the last to fall for the securities tied into the mortgage crisis.)
* Ignore the consensus of the Global Science Community - Listen instead to 'debunking' by Geophysicists paid to, y'know, find oil.

and so on . . . for 31 chapters averaging 8 pages per chapter. The arguments are highly inaccurate but they make up for in by being entirely incomplete as well - a Democrat looking to use this book as a guide to Republican dogma would do well to look elsewhere; as with most propaganda, the point is to preach to those that already believe so that any information coming from outside the echo chamber can safely be set aside.

Unfortunately, that leaves it very little audience - of no interest to the thinking Republican, nor even as use for study by a thinking Democrat.

The Unthinking on the other hand, will love it.


Open up your mind and actually THINK for yourseljf. Until you do you are not worth my time.

Anonymous said...

Skip; The Part about FDR was good except for the fact that you ignored the word "Public" union, remember, the ones that are in the Public and not the private sector. No question about the Private unions and we are in agreement that they should be there and let the "Market" dictate whether they thrive or survive. But not the Gov Bailout like the Stimulus package did by solidifying them so they could remain bloated. That's the market place at work Skip. Just like any other business. That's why the Garment Industry Unions are no longer because they couldn't compete. The Question I asked that you won't answer; "are you for Socialism or Capitalism?" The way you answer by leaving out the points from both sides and only focusing on one tells me and others your real slant. You ignore one side and only focus on your bias, as a Teacher correcting your review it would be my job to point that out and deduct points for not being thorough.
You talk about rational dialogue Skip. I have been reading you libs methodically attacking most everything that Mr. McLaughlin has to say yet you will never point out or even admit to the weeds in your side of the yard. The Tea Baggers, as you libs like to refer to us, are against corruption on both sides and are actively working to root it out on both sides and since your not willing to look at it we volunteer to help you. The fact that you distance your self from FDR now without addressing the point is called bait and switch. I'm sure that when you agree with him you will quote him yourself later on too.

The mortgage crisis Skip was caused by the Community Reinvestment act as you so rightly pointed out Skip but what you casually left out was the Weeds on your side and failed to mention that the Program itself was founded as a "Social" program By Jimmy Carter himself and actually had some success to help lower income folks get their own homes at great expense to the Taxpayer and was run by the Government owned Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac who would guarantee these loans if they failed. But with Regulation they had checks and balances built in to minimize the problem with low income people paying back what they can't afford to pay which is why they rent in the first place.
Anyway, Skip, the problem snowballed under Bill Clinton and your darling Hillary When they mandated that the regulations would be lowered to the point of almost eliminating them in the middle 90's and the Gov run Banks fanny mae and Freddy mac Guaranteed the loan (Co-signed) to get private banks to loan against their better judgment. Notice that the People mentioned here Skip are all Progressives as you so gleefully label them. Did you know that the Head of one of the Gov banks "Franklin Rains" was in a relationship with Barnie Frank, who was head of the banking commission in congress. Wow, Skip what a co-incidence. It just happened to be Barney who fanaticly called Bush and McCain, crazy for saying in 2003 and 2005 that we need to reign in these two banks and stop the hemorrhaging or these banks will fail and the Government (YOU AND ME SKIP) will have to pick up the bill for all this. History proved well skip.

I could go on and on about your failure to mention the weeds on the left with the other points in your (REVIEW),but I would write a book, if I haven't already. Man, I'd love to discuss the Oil thing you mentioned.
But suffice to say Skip the fact that you left out even more of the facts that give the whole story and not just the "PROGRESSIVE" side, I would have to deduct more points as a teacher for that failure

Anonymous said...

Had to post again here to finish as I went on too long trying to show others the bias...

I give you an "A" for effort, a "D+" for Content and an "F" for conduct Skip as you have "Stooped to my level" as you so pompously said previously. You should know better Skip, or are you just a bad teacher? At least Mr. McLaughlin taught both sides of the story and then let us decide even though he told you his "OPINION". You, SKIP, have made your opinions out to be fact without giving both sides and that makes you Biased and Propagandizing...(if that is a word) and makes you unfit to teach in our school system. I should go on with all your rants and throw them back in your face as you libs have done to Tom in the past. He has taken it well, but how will you? Game, Set, Match, Skip !!! Now, I'm done with you! Maybe you should read more Conservative stuff skip and not just talking points to rebut. I know, I'm in the loop, Skip!!! Breath deep, Skip.

skippy said...

I am not a "socialist" or a "capitalist". I am a realist who prefers whatever works best. Pure unregulated capitalism, in my opinion, is always doomed for failure as the game gets rigged by the rich and powerful and all the wealth flows to the top, like today with the top 1% having more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. I have no problem with socialist programs like Social Security.

What is "my side of the yard"? Why do you feel compelled to divide and label everything?

I'm glad you have decided to be "done with me", it will be real good for your health. I was getting worried about you sitting red faced and fuming as you tapped away at your keyboard, one eye on your Tea Party Talking Points manual, steam coming out of your ears. You are passionate, but just not cut out for any sort of rational debate or discussion. But don't give up, open up your mind and there will still be hope for you.


Again....relax, we are all in this together.

Anonymous said...

You said: "You are passionate, but just not cut out for any sort of rational debate or discussion"
Skip; Rational means give and take. If you'd said Respectfull then yes you'd be right here. But I already told you in previos posts I entered into this debate with an "IN YOUR FACE" attitude, Purposely. I've answered your points but you haven't answered mine. Rant and rave all you want about Me being the wild one but if you could see me writing this you'd be laughing at me chuckling as I tap on the keys.
You did answer though, round about like, that you are A Socialist as you are all about regulation and not free market without for the most part as you put it.
I've got a challange for you, "Teacher". I say that you should announce to all your class that we are going to average everybodys score on their tests and that way everyone gets the same grade, that way there is no "upper one percent" as you call them. they all get the same grade, no matter how hard or how little they work in your class. My prediction skip is that you will end up failing everyone in your class unless you dumb the tests down to make it all too easy to fail. The top 1 percent will stop working as there is no reward and the bottom will continue to skate as they do that anyway knowing that they will be carried. I will bet you one years salary on it skip. are you willing? If your not willing to do it then why? as to answer that would destroy your Top 1% Theory.

you see Skip, as "F-ed" up as Capitalism is, It is far and away the best system known to man thus far, hands down! Let me know if you want to discuss that point Skip.
So, now that you've admitted to being a Socialist, what kind are you? There are only 3 types that I'm aware of Skip, Unless you can enlighten me with more. Are you leaning Bolshevik, Menchevik, or Fascist? Judging by your writings Skip, I'd say you majored in Fascism, with a minor in Menchevik...or Vice Versa. I'd have to come to the Teachers break room and sip Latte's with you Skip to learn more. Do tell, inquiring minds want to know.

So your for SSI Skip? Social Security Skip, is a Failed System and will be Bankrupt in no time, as will SSDI. The Lock Box that Al Gore created doesn't exist. Another Bait and Switch Skip. But I'm sure you'll defend it anyway. Bernie Madoff put it best last week when he said that what the Federal Government is doing to the public makes his Ponzi scheme look like he's just a peanut vendor. Can you name for me Skip any thing that the Government has touched within the last 80 yrs ....since the Hoover Dam, that has come in under budget and on time...Final Jeopardy Skip?

You said: "What is "my side of the yard"? Why do you feel compelled to divide and label everything?"

Well again Skip, the Teacher is not a good student. Go back and re-read the posts that I took the time to write previously and then ask yourself again. The answers will become evident.

You said: "Again....relax, we are all in this together."

Only as far as your money and mine are going to be worthless when the Fed Becomes insolvant. You sound a little Socialist there Skip. But no, why do you think the Tea Baggers are quietly getting their ducks in a row? Because history has proven every time that when the writing is on the wall only prepared survive and even then, just barely. Read more skip, you'll see the pattern.

I'm glad you admit your a Socialist Skip. Admission is the first step toward recovery.

Have you figured out who Saul Allinsky is yet skip?

Skippy said...

I got as far as that bit about averaging grades before I had to stop. That was such an incredibly bad analogy I gave up trying to figure out your rant.

Since I don't believe unregulated capitalism works you brand me a socialist. Fine. I could care less what your opinion is. But tell me, bucky, can you give me ONE single instance of a country where unregulated capitalism was shown to be a success?

Just one....

Can't do it? Game, set, match.

Don't feed the troll said...

Skippy writes, "You are passionate, but just not cut out for any sort of rational debate or discussion."

Then your response to the SkipMaster is, 'your analogy is bad.'  Now there is some rational debate!


Skippy also writes, "Don't give up, open up your mind and there will still be hope for you."

Then you respond to the SkipMaster with, "I got as far as that bit about averaging grades before I had to stop."  Talk about perseverance and open-mindedness!


No wonder you're paid so poorly Skip.  

Anonymous said...

hey skip; the answer to your question about Capitalism is the US Constitution. It worked for nearly 150 years before Government Reg. started to make it decline. As I said Skip, it's not that it's perfect but it's the best system in the world and the best the world has seen....
Game, Set, Match

Still Pondering that Saul Allinsky Question Skip?

Anonymous said...

Anybody blindly defending what we call capitalism today is certainly suspect.
Furthermore, dragging the constitution into it is absurd. Where in the constitution did the federal reserve act get mentioned? Huh?
Why do we let a private institution calling its self 'federal' dictate our economy? The fed in combination with unregulated greed on wall street are responsible for our failing economy.
Whats worse is that the same bankers who blatantly broke the law got richer and are STILL free!!!
Capitalism----great stuff.

Skippy said...

So when asked for a country in which unregulated capitalism was successful you came up with the early years of the USA. Hmmmm, it seems that you couldn't come up with an country that didn't enslave much of the population and didn't allow half of it's citizens to vote or to work in certain jobs. It is hard to judge an economy as being "successful" or not when it is getting free slave labor. But it also seems that for far to many conservative "success" is judged solely in monetary terms. What detrimental effects the money making has on society or who is exploited along the way is inconsequential.

I'm not sure what your obsession is with Saul Alinsky...I know he was a great organizer and that he has been compared to Thomas Paine as being "one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left by Playboy magaazine, but I really don't care about him so I skipped over to the photos.

As to the "best system in the world" comment, I wonder why all the top spots in "standard of living" rankings are taken up by "socialist" leaning countries?

Anonymous said...

That's right Skip, that is why these Socialist leaning countries have 10-15% unemployment and there is rioting in the streets and the Muslims are going to control these countries within 40 years just by sheer birthrate alone. Never mind the fact that they are as in the hole debt wise as we are.

Skip; maybe you and your Che Guavera Loving Friends should move to France and laugh at us dumb americans. You win Skip, I'm stumped as to how to reply to you on this come back. Your sheer Genius has bowled me over. I should have been calling you WILE-E-COYOTE instead of skippy.

I'll start reading more "Enlightening" stuff Like you do with Playboy there Wile-E to "OPEN" my mind. Now I know why you keep telling me to breath. There must be some heavy breathing during the Playboy sessions right Skip? Word to the wise though, If you get a chubby for more than 4 hours you might want to contact your doctor.
See you on Tom's next blog post skip

Name withheld for fear of being put on the Obamma watch list.

Skippy said...

Wow, all those things wrong in socialist countries and they STILL have a better standard of living than capitalist countries! That sure is speaking volumes about capitalism.

lol

You take losing arguements hard, eh Bucky?

Anonymous said...

Why do all you libs loudly proclaim how how good it is over there and how much it sucks here? Why do you threaten to move if we elect George Bush and the like but never do when they win? Why don't you move Skip?...take Mrs. Skip with you. Maybe we should have a Government program to help pay for you move. Look at the reality of it Skip, you'll be in a better standard of living and you'll be able to make more money and hug trees and shit on Americans where they will all agree with you. It's a Socialist Utopia Skip....At least move to Canada Skip...Please?

Try that "all get the same grade" theory over there Skip. Do you think they will go for it?

Good bantering with you Skippy!