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GIVE a Little Bit of Your Service to Me
The House o' Reps yesterday passed by a 321-105 vote the marvelously named Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, or–you know it!–GIVE. It is a veritable corpsapalooza, and may serve as the gateway drug to the illiberal oxymoron of compulsory volunteerism:
The legislation, slated to cost $6 billion over five years, would create 175,000 "new service opportunities" under AmeriCorps, bringing the number of participants in the national volunteer program to 250,000. It would also create additional "corps" to expand the reach of volunteerism into new sectors, including a Clean Energy Corps, Education Corps, Healthy Futures Corps and Veterans Service Corps, and it expands the National Civilian Community Corps to focus on additional areas like disaster relief and energy conservation. ...
[T]he bill creates a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service."
The bipartisan commission will be tasked with exploring a number of topics, including "whether a workable, fair and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the nation."
This is an idea so terrible that it's hard to muster a wisecrack. For a few thoughts on why, see Reason's archive on national service.
Kolohe|3.20.09 @ 2:58PM|#
it's hard to muster a wisecrack.
It would have been easier if it was a "Congressional Commision on
Civic Partnerships".
|3.20.09 @ 2:59PM|#
Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act,
or-you know it!-GIVE
I just threw up a little, and not just in my mouth.
|3.20.09 @ 3:00PM|#
Dig a hole, fill it up.
Dig a hole, fill it up.
Dig a hole, fill it up.
Dig a hole, fill it up.
Dig a hole, fill it up.
Look at me! I'm helping AMERICA!
|3.20.09 @ 3:01PM|#
Oh don't worry they merely want to explore the idea. There is no
grand conspiracy to have conscription. First the MIAC silliness,
now this. It seems everyone is over-reacting to minor things these
days. Have you seen the latest nutcase movie one too many
times?
The Obama
Deception
Kolohe|3.20.09 @ 3:01PM|#
I guess the good news is: When's the last time a bipartisan congressional committee ever accomplished anything?
|3.20.09 @ 3:01PM|#
Isn't the implied command for every interaction with the
gubmint?
No. They are more than happy to take. The real implied command is
STFU.
Hugh Akston|3.20.09 @ 3:02PM|#
Hey Time/Newsweek, you know how the go-to cover story of late
has been to frame Obama and/or his agenda in reference to some
Great President or turning point in America? I have a concept for
next week.
The Emancipation Proclamation. But Backwards!
Call me.
|3.20.09 @ 3:02PM|#
It's not a august legislative body -- it's the fucking Special Olympics of legislative bodies.
TofuSushi|3.20.09 @ 3:03PM|#
Off Topic Again: If you
have not seen this, Ezra Klein, aka the Ayn Rand/William F.
Buckley, Jr. of the Left, celebrates Obama's outreach to Iran for
their New Year.
You Bush worshipers should be hiding in shame now.
Note, it is posted at American Progress and they do not
call it Liberal Intelligence for nothing.
|3.20.09 @ 3:03PM|#
Kolohe,
The bipartisian committe for social security reform that Greenspan
headed wa a godsend. It resulted in doubling the payroll tax...they
saved Social Security.
SpongePaul|3.20.09 @ 3:03PM|#
Oh don't worry they merely want to explore the idea.
__________________________________________
yeah i am sure thats all it is. plus, why explore unamerican and
unconstitutional ideas, oh wait, I'm sorry i forgot we are
socialist now
TofuSushi|3.20.09 @ 3:05PM|#
Gabe,
I did not know that Randite did anything good. Thank you for
finding the exception.
|3.20.09 @ 3:05PM|#
The Negro Hitler believes in service to der vaterland uber
alles.
Godwined? You're goddamned.
|3.20.09 @ 3:05PM|#
No. They are more than happy to take. The real implied
command is STFU.
TAKE is their perogative. STFU is just helpful advice. Don't you
want their advice?
Cool Cal|3.20.09 @ 3:12PM|#
"whether a workable, fair and reasonable mandatory service
requirement for all able young people could be developed and how
such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would
strengthen the social fabric of the nation."
the question, though, of how such a requirement could be
implemented in a way that respects inalienable rights has yet to be
addressed.
nicole|3.20.09 @ 3:13PM|#
Fair and reasonable...mandatory service. Okay, I just explored the topic, and it is conceptually impossible. Can I get my government grant now?
TofuSushi|3.20.09 @ 3:15PM|#
Take note that 40% of House Republicans voted for this
. . .
Progressivism on the march!
Invisible Finger|3.20.09 @ 3:16PM|#
the National Civilian Community Corps to focus on additional
areas like disaster relief and energy conservation. ...
LOL! What a fucking joke!
I work with someone who in an NCCC volunteer and went to help
during Katrina. Under my breath, I thought she was a gullible fool
(not hard to do as I work with her and that's the way she is at
work.)
FEMA told them to get the fuck out and sent them to various areas
to pass out blankets and toilet paper.
She said "That ain't help, that's KP duty" and went home.
These volunteer corps are nothing more than trade schools for
future bureaucrats. Energy conservation will consist of handing out
free fluorescent light bulbs passing out handbills on where to drop
off old phone books. No one with a sense of accomplishment will
find any of these volunteer activities rewarding. However, high
school students looking for zero-effort ways to get NHS props for
their scholarship applications will sign up in droves.
GG|3.20.09 @ 3:17PM|#
I just thank G-d I'm really, really old.
Not so fast, gramps. Our ruling class has "created opportunities"
for seniors to "better their communities and themselves" too:
`NATIONAL SENIOR SERVICE CORPS'
Seward|3.20.09 @ 3:21PM|#
I would expect any mandatory program to be rather quickly challenged under the 13th Amendment.
Juanita|3.20.09 @ 3:24PM|#
I think this is a great idea. We can use these volunteers to patrol our southern border to stop the flow of illegal dugs. I consider everyone volunteer to be a great American.
|3.20.09 @ 3:27PM|#
Cool Cal,
You mean the inalienable rights to free health care and
education?
UN declaration of Human Rights
Article 23
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to
just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment.
Article 26
Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free,
Article 25
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the
health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which
the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully
realized.
Article 29
Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and
full development of his personality is possible
Oswald|3.20.09 @ 3:31PM|#
Gabe,
If our forefathers were willing to die rather than submit to the
authority of an island nation thousands of mikes away in the North
Atlantic, then how might they feel about bending over for the
UN.
My take is that they'd simply nuke New York.
|3.20.09 @ 3:33PM|#
"Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free
and full development of his personality is possible"
"his" peronality? Did the Taliban write this shit?
|3.20.09 @ 3:33PM|#
Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act,
or-you know it!-GIVE.
Hmm. Howsabout:
Taxpayer Accelerated Kleptocrat Empowerment - TAKE.
Hugh Akston|3.20.09 @ 3:37PM|#
I would expect any mandatory program to be rather quickly
challenged under the 13th Amendment.
And any such challenge to be roundly denounced by the media and the
Party as uncaring.
|3.20.09 @ 3:39PM|#
I would expect any mandatory program to be rather quickly
challenged under the 13th Amendment.
And I would expect the SCOTUS to cower and say that it ain't
slavery if the State is your Master.
Brandon|3.20.09 @ 3:44PM|#
The SCOTUS wouldn't kill mandatory service. Not a chance.
How quaint, to expect a court to defend your liberty from an
overbearing government....
|3.20.09 @ 3:56PM|#
Best way to help the community is to promote private property rights and to oppose governmental kleptocrats.
T|3.20.09 @ 3:59PM|#
But people should help out the community. It is their civic
duty.
They try to force my kid into this bullshit, I'll help the
community out all right. I'll be all about urban renewal and
opening up jobs in the government.
Jason Kuznicki|3.20.09 @ 4:01PM|#
It appears that the version
that passed the house did NOT include Title VI, which was the
part that called for the involuntary servitude (err, mandatory
volunteering) commission. The two earlier versions included it, but
the final one passed by the House did not.
I'm not totally clear on the story behind the change. If anyone can
provide more details, they'd be welcome. I'd love to know who was
behind the change. (Or did the commission end up getting put
somewhere else and passed?)
Gilbert Martin|3.20.09 @ 4:05PM|#
"may serve as the gateway drug to the illiberal oxymoron of
compulsory volunteerism"
This isn't the only type of "volunteerism" the Obamamanicas are
pushing.
Barak the magnificant has exhorted people to base their career
choices on what (he thinks) is good for the country.
Therefore one should aspire to be an engineer, not an investment
banker because Barak in his infinite wisdom has determined that
engineers are good for the country and investment bankers are
not.
no middle ground|3.20.09 @ 4:09PM|#
Slave keepers, slave traders, and slave drivers (wherever and
whenever they exist) have no moral claim whatsoever on the behavior
of their alleged chattels.
Owned things cannot commit crimes, only people have that
capacity.
JB|3.20.09 @ 4:09PM|#
I volunteer to beat the fuck out of politicians.
Just give me a get-out-of-jail-free card and I'll start making the
world a better place.
T|3.20.09 @ 4:10PM|#
Therefore one should aspire to be an engineer, not an
investment banker because Barak in his infinite wisdom has
determined that engineers are good for the country and investment
bankers are not.
What's the line on politicians and bureaucrats? I think we've got
an oversupply of those two. Can we ban children from entering those
careers?
|3.20.09 @ 4:10PM|#
Here in California, I attended one of several "town hall"
meetings, which are being held throughout the State, to gauge the
public sentiment on how best (or most palatably) to "modernize" our
tax system here. Translated into plain English, they are trying to
knock down the barriers to and grease the skids for taking more of
our money, more quickly, in order to realize "California's
ambitious vision."
So, from those who have money, take money, and as much of it as you
can grab. With national service, it is clear that the object is to
find a way for people without money to contribute to that same
ambitious political vision, "in kind" as it were. If this trend
continues, it won't be long before we're giving up 50% of our
income, which is generated using only 50% of our time, the other
50% going to mandatory government service. Not content with making
people into "tax slaves," our leaders now push to create a cadre of
REAL slaves. How ironic that Mr. Obama may be the one to succeed at
THAT task.
|3.20.09 @ 4:12PM|#
"Owned things cannot commit crimes, only people have that
capacity."
On the other hand, owned things can be involved in crimes, and so
can be subject to civil asset forfeiture. At least, that's the
government's theory. You got a problem with that?
Tax Slave|3.20.09 @ 4:14PM|#
"Not content with making people into "tax slaves,""
I like the way you think, Mr. Merritt.
Mister Tax Slave|3.20.09 @ 4:23PM|#
"Fuck Communism, this is fucking Feudalism!"
Technically not, as long as they let us shoot and eat the rabbits
and squirrels.
no middle ground|3.20.09 @ 4:24PM|#
"Owned things cannot commit crimes, only people have that capacity."
On the other hand, owned things can be involved in crimes, and so can be subject to civil asset forfeiture. At least, that's the government's theory. You got a problem with that?
Let's see...our hypothetical slave, having disposed of one person
who held the whip, is confronted with another of the same
ilk.
I wonder what happens next?
Of course, the answer is the state has more guns so the slave will
die, and the state will preen about what a good job they're doing.
Life's not fair.
Unless and until the slaves rise up en mass and slaughter even the
nice people among the rulers. Life's not fair, sauce for the
goose edition
Joel|3.20.09 @ 4:30PM|#
I would expect any mandatory program to be rather quickly
challenged under the 13th Amendment.
I find your naive faith disturbing.
|3.20.09 @ 4:31PM|#
I "explored" the concept of Mandatory National Service in just
the moments it took me to open up my Constitution and flip to the
13th Amendment:
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction."
Do we need a "commission" to do over months or years the same thing
I could do in a couple of minutes? Hey Obama! Once they figure out
what a suitable budget might be for this commission, why don't you
just send me half for the research I did and cancel the
project...?
The hell with such screwball commissions. We need every citizen to
have and read their own copies of the Constitution.
On the other hand, given that "community service" is such a popular
punishment for the gazillions of petty crimes now on the books, I
suppose that the proper function of a "Mandatory National Service"
commission, apart from figuring out how to repeal the 13th
Amendment, would be to ensure that laws, which are particularly
easy for young people to break, are on the books of every state,
and that the National Service Corp is authorized as a way (perhaps
the PREFERRED or ONLY way) to discharge any community service
component of sentences for conviction of violating those laws. That
would be all nice and constitutional, but it would of course give
the government even greater incentive than it has now to label
EVERY citizen as a criminal, at least technically. So might the
concept of "original sin" be secularized, I think.
T|3.20.09 @ 4:32PM|#
I would expect any mandatory program to be rather quickly
challenged under the 13th Amendment.
Doesn't Maryland have one of these bullshit service programs for
the kiddies that was found to be a-okay?
alan|3.20.09 @ 4:38PM|#
Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education
Act
If that doesn't say, syntactically challenged Maoist, I don't know
what does. Hello, Madame Speaker.
JP|3.20.09 @ 4:43PM|#
If that doesn't say, syntactically challenged Maoist, I
don't know what does. Hello, Madame Speaker.
It's almost as if they're not even trying anymore.
I mean, at least put some cologne on before sticking it to
us.
|3.20.09 @ 4:49PM|#
I'm surely voting straight GOP in 2010. Not LP. Not independent.
And no way Democratic.
That's what overreaching gets you, dudes. Give me divided
government ASAP.
|3.20.09 @ 4:49PM|#
It's obvious they're not going to make it "mandatory" for everyone. What I fully expect is that they are going to make it mandatory -- maybe not immediately, but in the future -- for people who are trying to get student loans. Since the Supreme Court has long taken the view that "the government can do anything they want so long as they attach the right to receive $ or not receive $ to it", it'll be upheld.
|3.20.09 @ 4:54PM|#
"Unless and until the slaves rise up en mass and slaughter even
the nice people among the rulers."
I have been saying something similar for years: Unless and until we
start firing incumbents -- even the "good ones" -- business as
usual in DC and the State capitals and county seats will continue
unabated. Firing incumbents not only sends a powerful, clear
message, it prepares the ground, in which the seeds of that message
can take root.
The revolution I have had in mind all these years isn't bloody, but
of course at the mention of it, anyone who works in or otherwise
adores government screams bloody murder. It's hard to find anyone
who likes being fired. It's also hard to find people who like to
fire anyone. But this is what must happen, to reduce the pressure
that otherwise will grow to the point of explosion, and trigger the
kind of situation "no middle ground" describes. That's how I see
it, anyway.
I fear, however, that Jefferson was right in the Declaration of
Independence:
"...all Experience hath shewn that Mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed."
This appears to apply as well to the simple act of voting to toss
out incumbents, thus guaranteeing substantial turnover in a clearly
malfunctioning -- some says intrinsically dysfunctional --
government.
They had an excuse for apathy in the old days: regime change was
difficult and almost invariably bloody. So here in this country we
made it about as easy and bloodless as anyone could imagine it
being. Still the public won't employ the remedy. Using ballots was
conceived as a way of avoiding the use of bullets. But if we can't
bring ourselves to employ the former, the latter will be
inevitable. I invite anyone who wants to avoid that latter case to
join me in my project. Fire the incumbents! Or, said another way,
"Yes, we CAN!"
|3.20.09 @ 4:59PM|#
. . .not that I like the GOP. It's just necessary to slow down
this rush to destruction by re-introducing the possibility of
gridlock.
That said, it pisses me off that the Republicans don't really get
how much this is their fault.
Darth Obama|3.20.09 @ 5:07PM|#
"I would expect any mandatory program to be rather quickly
challenged under the 13th Amendment."
I am altering the deal.
Pray I do not alter it any further.
|3.20.09 @ 5:07PM|#
Andrew S. wrote, "What I fully expect is that they are going to
make it mandatory -- maybe not immediately, but in the future --
for people who are trying to get student loans. Since the Supreme
Court has long taken the view that 'the government can do anything
they want so long as they attach the right to receive $ or not
receive $ to it," it'll be upheld."
Perhaps not, at least if the "loan" remains a "loan" and not a
"grant." If the students still has to pay back full principal and
interest, then any national service requirement would have to be
seen as part of the interest, the value of which could be
characterized as usurious and perhaps effectively challenged on
that basis. On the other hand, the student might be able to select
how to repay the interest, with cash or equivalent-value "service."
Perhaps some or all of the principal could be forgiven in exchange
for "service," too. I would expect those or similar arrangements to
stand up in court.
Once again, I do the "mandatory national service" commission's evil
work for them in the space of five minutes or so. I suppose I
should quit giving them ideas to effect our virtual enslavement,
though. :-(
Mister Tax Slave|3.20.09 @ 5:10PM|#
I hate to pile on, but it seems that when curd boy is off doing something else, the level of discourse here greatly improves.
|3.20.09 @ 5:13PM|#
Well, the 13th Amendment explicitly exempts people convicted of
crimes, so the government could just start busting everybody for
violating any crime on the books. That should account for most of
our younger population. If it doesn't, then they can just
criminalize something everyone is doing, then complete the filling
of the slave camps.
Simple!
|3.20.09 @ 5:20PM|#
# Pro Libertate | March 20, 2009, 4:49pm | #
# I'm surely voting straight GOP in 2010.
# Not LP. Not independent. And no way Democratic.
Unfortunately, if the "division" is a false one -- if you simply
vote for the other side of Two-Face's coin, as most of us seem to
do -- you're just perpetuating the good-cop/bad-cop scam, and the
growth and power of government continues its steady progress toward
totalitarianism. Good luck with that.
The way to give a salutary shock to the system is to fire the
incumbents, even the "good ones," and replace them NOT with their
rivals from the opposite major party, but rather with independent
or third-party candidates. Additionally, I think it would be a good
idea to select from among those alternative candidates someone who
has a track record of respecting the people, knowing their rights,
and understanding the value of having constitutional limits on
authority. But in the worst case, even if you replace an incumbent
with, say, Gary Coleman, you send the message that politics as
usual isn't acceptable, and that big changes MUST occur -- that the
public is the boss, that ANY pol holds his or her job by grace of
the public, and that ANYONE can be replaced. That's the most
important message that we have needed to send for the past decade
or so, and it will continue to be important as the politicians take
their opportunity in our time of crisis to grab more power for
their "ruling class."
Gilbert Martin|3.20.09 @ 5:20PM|#
"If it doesn't, then they can just criminalize something
everyone is doing, then complete the filling of the slave
camps."
Hmmmm.
Something everyone is doing.
I've got it!
They can criminalize breathing.
After all, putting all that nasty "pollutant" carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere is a crime against GAIA and her ever so delicate
ecological balances.
We must all serve to remediate our sins.
|3.20.09 @ 5:25PM|#
"Pro Libertate | March 20, 2009, 5:13pm | #"
Glad to see we agree (see my last graf from 4:31). When the
government sends me my half of the hypothetical budget for the
"National Service Commission" that my postings here have obviated,
I'll gladly cut you in for say, a fifth. ;-)
|3.20.09 @ 5:27PM|#
peronality = personality
See, folks? That's why we have RC'z Law.
"Fuck Communism, this is fucking Feudalism!"
Technically not, as long as they let us shoot and eat the rabbits
and squirrels.
What makes you think the people behind this intend to let you have
anything with which to shoot rabbits and squirrels?
Stagman|3.20.09 @ 5:28PM|#
Unless and until we start firing incumbents -- even the
"good ones" -- business as usual in DC and the State capitals and
county seats will continue unabated. Firing incumbents not only
sends a powerful, clear message, it prepares the ground, in which
the seeds of that message can take root.
Not gonna happen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymander
|3.20.09 @ 5:29PM|#
Fair enough.
The GOP sucks ass. Did I say that earlier? I'm not looking to put
them back in charge in 2012. Just looking for a house or two in
2010. Maybe just the one would be best. Not sure. It would be nice
if they'd act all uppity like they did in 1994.
R C Dean,
Why do you think we'll be allowed to eat meat?
|3.20.09 @ 5:31PM|#
Gilbert Martin wrote, "I've got it!
"They can criminalize breathing.
"After all, putting all that nasty 'pollutant' carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere is a crime against GAIA and her ever so delicate
ecological balances."
You laugh now, monkey boy, but you weren't at the "CALIFORNIA
FORWARD" regional town-hall meeting I attended last night, during
which the idea of a "carbon tax" was matter-of-factly presented as
one potential "tool" to "fix" the State's "broken" tax
system.
By "broken," of course, is meant severe inefficiency in
appropriating and transporting taxpayer dollars to government
agencies, in order to pay for politicians' "ambitious vision" for
California. They use the phrase "our ambitious vision," but they
only seem to include the public as part of "us" when it comes time
to pay.
|3.20.09 @ 5:33PM|#
I'm hording carbon. I'm up to 18% of my body mass in pure, evil carbon. Oh, yeah.
jtuf|3.20.09 @ 5:35PM|#
This is dismal. At least I can take comfort in knowing that the pendulum will swing back eventually. It may not be in my lifetimes, but the cycle of history eventually turns full circle.
|3.20.09 @ 5:39PM|#
# Stagman | March 20, 2009, 5:28pm | #
## Unless and until we start firing
## incumbents -- even the "good ones" --
## business as usual in DC and the State
## capitals and county seats will continue
## unabated. Firing incumbents not only
## sends a powerful, clear message, it
## prepares the ground, in which the seeds
## of that message can take root.
# Not gonna happen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymander
Normally I would agree with you, especially after the public's
repeated failure to exercise the "lather-rinse-repeat" option at
the ballot box in election after election. But watch California. We
recently passed an initiative to make districts more competitive.
The effects (or lack of same) should be apparent over the next
several years. If it works, the mechanism could spread to other
States and perhaps help the voters once again select their
representatives, instead of the representatives cherry-picking
("gerry"-picking?) their voters. I'm crossing my fingers.
Stagman|3.20.09 @ 5:44PM|#
But watch California. We recently passed an initiative to
make districts more competitive.
I live in California, and I'll believe it when I see it.
Per the Wikipedia article: "In an unusual occurrence in 2000, for
example, the two dominant parties in the state of California
cooperatively redrew both state and Federal legislative districts
to preserve the status quo, ensuring the electoral safety of the
politicians from unpredictable voting by the electorate. This move
proved completely effective, as no State or Federal legislative
office changed party in the 2004 election, although 53
congressional, 20 state senate, and 80 state assembly seats were
potentially at risk."
That's right, not one seat changed hands.
|3.20.09 @ 5:47PM|#
"jtuf | March 20, 2009, 5:35pm | #
This is dismal. At least I can take comfort in knowing that the
pendulum will swing back eventually. It may not be in my lifetimes,
but the cycle of history eventually turns full circle."
You are making the assumption that the Obama Youth program, among
others, will somehow not be a huge success.
Out of curiosity, how did you manage to snake more than one
lifetime?
alan|3.20.09 @ 7:59PM|#
Wasn't it just two months ago maybe that we were told how kooky we are to think a bill like this one would even be considered?
|3.20.09 @ 8:02PM|#
I live in California, and I'll believe it when I see
it.
That's exactly why the politicians have been removed from drawing
the next set of boundaries. And it's bad enough when the majority
party imposes it's will, it is even worse when the minority party
accepts a 'safe' minority status.
Personally I think it should be done with a lottery. You win a
million bucks and sit on the commission that draws the
districts.
Anonymous|3.20.09 @ 8:04PM|#
Wasn't it just two months ago maybe that we were told how
kooky we are to think a bill like this one would even be
considered?
Don't forget that comparing the national service idea promoted in
the campaign to brown shirts was such a stupid thing and that makes
you racist and your mother is ugly!
But here's a real question: what do the
intellectuals over at Daily Kossumist have to say?
alan|3.20.09 @ 8:07PM|#
This is dismal. At least I can take comfort in knowing that
the pendulum will swing back eventually. It may not be in my
lifetimes, but the cycle of history eventually turns full
circle."
I disagree with this premise, and I have one of my own. I take it
as a given that the Chinese will never repeat the disaster of the
cultural revolution. After that disaster, they slowly turned to
capitalist economic means while retaining an authoritarian state as
we well know.
This is shaping up to be our cultural revolution. There is very
little in the way of sense or sensibility to stop what Bush started
and Obama and Pelosi have escalated. After this disaster, I am
hoping the American people will be as permanently disenchanted with
the left and crony capitalist right as the Chinese are for those
who wrecked their society.
|3.20.09 @ 10:04PM|#
"Wasn't it just two months ago maybe that we were told how kooky
we are to think a bill like this one would even be
considered?"
Oh joe, where art thou to save us?
Asshole's probably in favor of it.
And how about all the "reasonable" and level-headed people, so
careful not to preserve that delicately perceived balance of evils
between Republicans and Democrats.
Idiots.
LOL|3.23.09 @ 11:30AM|#
I wish I could track down all those people who, back in October, were telling me how important it was to vote for Obama because McCain was going to bring back the draft.
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