Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Politics / News / Life Required Independence Day Listening
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 5:03 PM
I listened to two recent This American Life episodes today—while weeding—and I wanted to recommend 'em to any Sloggers looking for something to kill a little time between now and fireworks. Both made for great July 4th listening: "Take the Money and Run for Office" and "What Kind of Country."
Happy birthday, America!
1
What Kind of Country...
"Around that time it occurred to me that as a country we just keep having the same fight over and over again.
There's one group of people who believe that the size of government is a real problem, and who think that we should have a smaller government that delivers fewer services and costs us less in taxes.
And then there's another group that doesn't think that...."
Let us explain it to you, NPR....
The first group are the half of the country that actually pay taxes.
And the second group are the moocher half that pay ZERO Federal Income tax and in fact get a check from the government.
OF COURSE they want more government. And don't give a shit how much it costs.
Because it won't cost THEM a penny.....
Do you see how that works?
"Around that time it occurred to me that as a country we just keep having the same fight over and over again.
There's one group of people who believe that the size of government is a real problem, and who think that we should have a smaller government that delivers fewer services and costs us less in taxes.
And then there's another group that doesn't think that...."
Let us explain it to you, NPR....
The first group are the half of the country that actually pay taxes.
And the second group are the moocher half that pay ZERO Federal Income tax and in fact get a check from the government.
OF COURSE they want more government. And don't give a shit how much it costs.
Because it won't cost THEM a penny.....
Do you see how that works?
2
Ira Glass:"You would think that the very last thing that a city would cut would be police protection. That's one of the most basic things we want a government for. But of course, in this recession, police are on the chopping block in a way that they have not been in decades. ..."
That's easy, Ira-
For every police officer actually working and protecting the public there are 2.3 who retired at 45 and are drawing a pension greater than their salary was, with full benefits, and they will draw that pension for 40 years, compared to working 20.
And the public "service" unions protect those retirees, even at the expense of currently working officers.
Because public "service" unions don't give a flying fuck about the public or service.....
That's easy, Ira-
For every police officer actually working and protecting the public there are 2.3 who retired at 45 and are drawing a pension greater than their salary was, with full benefits, and they will draw that pension for 40 years, compared to working 20.
And the public "service" unions protect those retirees, even at the expense of currently working officers.
Because public "service" unions don't give a flying fuck about the public or service.....
3
Grover Norquist
When you try and cut the size of government without reforming it, you have serious challenges. In New Jersey, the examples you used, organized labor in the public sector is very strong. And so you can't come in and say, could we work different hours or different days? Or how about that we lay off the 10% incompetent guys on the police force? No, you lay off the most recently hired guys who may be the most competent.
Ira Glass
In fact, this is exactly what happened in Trenton. They fired all the younger cops and filled their slots by demoting 2/3 of their supervisors. It was pretty ham-fisted.
When you try and cut the size of government without reforming it, you have serious challenges. In New Jersey, the examples you used, organized labor in the public sector is very strong. And so you can't come in and say, could we work different hours or different days? Or how about that we lay off the 10% incompetent guys on the police force? No, you lay off the most recently hired guys who may be the most competent.
Ira Glass
In fact, this is exactly what happened in Trenton. They fired all the younger cops and filled their slots by demoting 2/3 of their supervisors. It was pretty ham-fisted.
4
Ira Glass
"A great article about Norquist in The New Yorker in 2005 ends with Norquist running into somebody who he knows on the street, who asks him, "How's it going?" Norquist replies-- and this does not seem like a brag but just a statement of fact the way he says it-- "We're winning." When I interviewed him at his office two weeks ago, he said this past year, he has definitely been feeling that same way.
His side is winning."
Actually, Grover owes the Liberal's credit.
They have finally bankrupted state and local governments to the point that everyday folks are sickened and angry.
"A great article about Norquist in The New Yorker in 2005 ends with Norquist running into somebody who he knows on the street, who asks him, "How's it going?" Norquist replies-- and this does not seem like a brag but just a statement of fact the way he says it-- "We're winning." When I interviewed him at his office two weeks ago, he said this past year, he has definitely been feeling that same way.
His side is winning."
Actually, Grover owes the Liberal's credit.
They have finally bankrupted state and local governments to the point that everyday folks are sickened and angry.
5
Grover Norquist:
"Up until the Tea Party movement, there was too much of a willingness of Republicans to allow spending to drift upwards. That was the Bush story. Bush got the message, don't raise taxes. He didn't get the message about spending less and reducing total government spending from where it was. So the Bush years were lost years for limited government.
"It took the shock of Obama's massive spending increase to scare voters enough to create the Tea Party movement, who then entered the modern Republican Party and revigorate it. And saying to the modern Republican Party, stop spending so much. Big, big change in the modern Republican Party. That's one of the things that gives me real hope. From Christie's New Jersey to Scott's Florida to Kasich's Ohio, to Boehner and Mitch McConnell in Washington."
.
Obama is stealing 40ยข of every dollar he spends from our children.
And as the rising generation starts to realize that and what it will cost them in lost economic opportunity they will be Mad as Hell.
"Up until the Tea Party movement, there was too much of a willingness of Republicans to allow spending to drift upwards. That was the Bush story. Bush got the message, don't raise taxes. He didn't get the message about spending less and reducing total government spending from where it was. So the Bush years were lost years for limited government.
"It took the shock of Obama's massive spending increase to scare voters enough to create the Tea Party movement, who then entered the modern Republican Party and revigorate it. And saying to the modern Republican Party, stop spending so much. Big, big change in the modern Republican Party. That's one of the things that gives me real hope. From Christie's New Jersey to Scott's Florida to Kasich's Ohio, to Boehner and Mitch McConnell in Washington."
.
Obama is stealing 40ยข of every dollar he spends from our children.
And as the rising generation starts to realize that and what it will cost them in lost economic opportunity they will be Mad as Hell.
7
oy. whatevs to the previous six comments.
just wanted to say, dan: you're a gardener too? just when i thought i couldn't love you more ;-) spent part of my day weeding too, peas and leeks. how 'bout you?
just wanted to say, dan: you're a gardener too? just when i thought i couldn't love you more ;-) spent part of my day weeding too, peas and leeks. how 'bout you?
11
I sat on the deck and watched my husband do some yard work. It included trimming branches off a tree, so I wisely decided that not participating would be better than getting a finger sawed off, if I "helped". I did make breakfast though, so I wasn't a total slug today.
13
I would listen, except that I find Ira Glass more irritating than fingernails scratched on an old chalkboard...
16
@1,
Good lord you are stupid.
Ok. let's say we don't let any more taxes go to them (the poor). they're just left to their own devices. What do you think the outcome would be? Do you think they'd all have jobs? Do you think all of those who didn't suddenly have jobs would just vanish?
If you believe either of those, I'd like to hear your reasoning how that would happen.
If not, then what would your strategy be? Ignore them? Good luck with that.
Good lord you are stupid.
Ok. let's say we don't let any more taxes go to them (the poor). they're just left to their own devices. What do you think the outcome would be? Do you think they'd all have jobs? Do you think all of those who didn't suddenly have jobs would just vanish?
If you believe either of those, I'd like to hear your reasoning how that would happen.
If not, then what would your strategy be? Ignore them? Good luck with that.
17
I'm taking a break from worrying about the state of our country today. Today is the day to celebrate the idea of America. My deep concern will return tomorrow and I'll listen then.
18
@1-5 yeah instead of putting people to work let's cut more jobs! After all the 1% has done a great job of creating jobs with all of the tax cuts they have had for the last decade...our unemployment rate is fantastic isn't it? It is so wonderful that they are out there sharing the wealth instead of stockpiling it! And as for pensions you are so right old people should work, what's with the idea of letting people retire? Work until you die, no rest for the elderly!
19
The one thing the 1% has is money. And it costs chump change to hire some piecework bozos willing to work for minimum wage trolling the Internet and posting in comments sections. In this economy, I can't blame the desperate for taking the few jobs available. But honest prostitution would be a step up. Of course those posters probably don't have the bodies for it.
Anything on the Internet attacking the 1% or suggesting raising taxes on the wealthy gets an immediate response from the paid troll army, even if it's 3:00 am.
Anything on the Internet attacking the 1% or suggesting raising taxes on the wealthy gets an immediate response from the paid troll army, even if it's 3:00 am.
20
@5 Conservatives like to feign concern over how our children will be saddled with a huge national debt, while cutting back on primary education (saddle them with ignorance), cutting back on funding for universities (saddle them with massive private debt or - if they decide not to continue their education because of the cost - saddle them with ignorance and fewer opportunities for success). Somehow, in conservative land, the question is not whether or not to screw children with your policies, it's how and when. You guys just don't like to pay taxes, and the "caring about children" stuff is bullshit. Given the opportunity, you'll reduce - or cut completely - prenatal care for healthy pregnancies, healthcare for children, funding for primary, secondary and tertiary education, and gut programs like Head Start and subsidized meals for poor kids, and try to make it harder for kids in orphanages to get adopted into loving same-sex homes (because your effective but homophobic election strategy is more important than those children's lives). You're only too happy to gut regulations that protect kids from mercury and other emissions from power plants and incinerators. You deny climate change, even though our children will be the ones who have to live with the consequences of a warmer planet, and refuse to do anything about it because you simply don't believe in it, or - more accurately - understand that 6 billion people could change the atmosphere by burning shit and pumping the exhaust into the air all the time.
So, you people don't give a rat's ass about children.
So, you people don't give a rat's ass about children.
21
16
funny thing.
the best predictor for when an unemployed person will get a job is when their benefits run out.
as long as you pay them not to work they seem unable to get a job.
with in a few weeks of benefits ending they are employed.
amazing........
funny thing.
the best predictor for when an unemployed person will get a job is when their benefits run out.
as long as you pay them not to work they seem unable to get a job.
with in a few weeks of benefits ending they are employed.
amazing........
22
poor bitter envious hipsters.
fixated on the "1%".....
it is the shrinking 50% that conservatives are concerned with.
the shrinking half of the country that pays taxes.
that employees people in their small businesses.
that are the Heart of America.
that are being outnumbered and outvoted by the Moocher 50% who look to the government for the answers to all their wants.
once we reach the tipping point where more people are taking from the government than are paying to support the government it is a quick drop to the end.
the only thing saving us now is that the Moocher 50% are too lazy to get off their asses and vote....
fixated on the "1%".....
it is the shrinking 50% that conservatives are concerned with.
the shrinking half of the country that pays taxes.
that employees people in their small businesses.
that are the Heart of America.
that are being outnumbered and outvoted by the Moocher 50% who look to the government for the answers to all their wants.
once we reach the tipping point where more people are taking from the government than are paying to support the government it is a quick drop to the end.
the only thing saving us now is that the Moocher 50% are too lazy to get off their asses and vote....
23
did you hipsters see the report today that unions spend less than half of what they extort from their members on advancing the best interest of those members?
in fact, if you scored them using the criteria used to evaluate charities those guys would be in prison....
all the dough seems to go to junkets and perks for union fatcats.
shocking.......
in fact, if you scored them using the criteria used to evaluate charities those guys would be in prison....
all the dough seems to go to junkets and perks for union fatcats.
shocking.......
25
Speaking of America... (We were speaking of America, weren't we?)
This photo tells you everything you will ever need to know about the Romneys: Ice Cream Photo Op.
This photo tells you everything you will ever need to know about the Romneys: Ice Cream Photo Op.
27
I'll never understand the people who don't hide unregistered comments. You're the ones keeping the trolls alive.
28
Leave the Dan Savage-obsessed troll to play with itself in the dark corner please.
Don't feed it, pretend it is different people, or think that it has a rationalization for anything it says.
Don't feed it, pretend it is different people, or think that it has a rationalization for anything it says.
29
did you know that since membership became voluntary the rolls of public "service" unions have fallen by half?
it seems even public employees hate unions.......
it seems even public employees hate unions.......
30
@25
give the guy a break. his religion won't even let him drink coffee...sad that he has to resort to a phallic amount of ice cream for his kicks.
give the guy a break. his religion won't even let him drink coffee...sad that he has to resort to a phallic amount of ice cream for his kicks.
31
@25 Mormons can't drink coffee or tea, but I don't believe they have a specific restriction against caffeine in other beverages. Or at least the ones I've chatted with don't. They were huge consumers of colas and Dr. Pepper.
Anyway, it doesn't look like he's getting any kicks whatsoever from the ice cream. In fact, he looks quite revulsed by it.
Anyway, it doesn't look like he's getting any kicks whatsoever from the ice cream. In fact, he looks quite revulsed by it.
33
@31
I assume that was actually directed at me, but seriously what the fuck are you talking about?
I assume that was actually directed at me, but seriously what the fuck are you talking about?
34
@27 yeah, I know it's generally a bad idea to open the unregistered comments but sometimes there are interesting thoughts there. #apologies for feeding them
35
27
it totally true, matt
if you keep your head far up your ass and never expose yourself to The Truth life is much easier for the Clueless Left.
now run along and let Rachel Madcow lull you to sleep with another bedtime fairy tale......
it totally true, matt
if you keep your head far up your ass and never expose yourself to The Truth life is much easier for the Clueless Left.
now run along and let Rachel Madcow lull you to sleep with another bedtime fairy tale......
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