Comments Posted By mannning
Displaying 241 To 250 Of 475 Comments
"Covering medical care for a kid whose parents can’t is basic human decency."
One can hardly disagree with this without seeming to be heartless. The only question I ask is: Where does it stop?
The kid is saved, so he is healthy again. but his parents cannot afford to put food on the table, nor can they furnish the kid adequate clothing. Turns out that next week the landlord is going to force them out of their apartment for non-payment of rent.
The Father has a drinking problem and is virtually unhirable. The Mother is into drugs and drinking.
What do you think would happen if the government handed this family a check every month to cover these expenses? More booze! So, you cannot prop up such families with direct subsidies, because the local liquor store will get the money first.
You set up a rent-free apartment, paid, of course, by the taxpayer. You give them food stamps. And you do give them some cash. You direct them to charities for clothing, and for more food. Someone gives them heat, light, and even a telephone or prepaid cell phone.
The Father has been through various free rehab programs, and walks out of each one directly to that liquor store. The Mother stays as snockered as possible.
We now have a family dependent for life on handouts, be they from government, from charities, or just the contributions of good citizens.
This is the all too prevalent hard core of poverty, and the way out of the trap is not clear, neither for the family, or for the government, or for the rest of us.
But, the kid got his treatment.
Comment Posted By mannning On 25.04.2009 @ 01:15
Despite the cold and the drizzle our TP here in Richmond went off very well. There were over 2,000 in the Plaza, and the program was very well done.
The people were friendly, and all of them seem to be gratified that others who thought as they do were there and were open and willing to share their thoughts.
There was a consensus that this was merely the first of a series of TPs, one a month for the rest of '09, and more in '10. Many of the crowd wanted to learn more about our money situation, and wanted to flesh out the whys and wherefores of their instinctive objections to the spending flood we are seeing, and the inevitable tax crunch that will follow.
Others wanted to sign up more people for the movement, and for help in setting up the next TPs.
All in all, a good beginning.
Comment Posted By mannning On 16.04.2009 @ 21:30
It should be an interesting evening tomorrow. Five of us from this neighborhood are going downtown to the Tea Party here in Richmond, VA to show our concerns on the tax and spend policies of this administration, and to further the movement, leading to 2010.
I intend to smile for the camera if I get a chance, but, then, the FBI, NSA, CIA, DOD, and the USAF have a damn complete file on me anyway, so what the hell! The files need updating, though, since I retired in 2000.
I wonder why the Left is so concerned about our peaceful protest demonstrations? could it be that they are trying to frighten us away from the TP?
Comment Posted By mannning On 14.04.2009 @ 13:04
OBAMA PULLS THE TRIGGER: NOW HOW ABOUT SOME FOLLOW THROUGH?
Devastating the Somali havens for pirates has a grand feeling to it, but:
Comment Posted By mannning On 17.04.2009 @ 19:09
It is my understanding that the captured crews of the ships they have docked there are being held on those ships, which means the probable loss of some 230 crewmen or so, I believe, if we bomb the port and the ships.
If we attack the port and other facilities of the pirates, I believe the pirates would set off explosives preplaced on the ships in retaliation. Hitting Somalia has some unknown consequences.
The Beckian Wing of Conservatism
Retire05:
Don't you think that true conservatives are a fraternity that includes all of the signs, handshakes, verbal cues, secret words, and other signals that verify themselves to others as being true members, and that have committed themselves fully to the tenets of Conservatism--subset "True"? No 90%, 95% or 98% members are allowed, either? It is 100% of something, or nothing at all?
We get our marching orders from the likes of Limbaugh and Beck via TV and websites, especially the coded hand signals, so that we are all on the same page when voting, demonstrating, commenting, supporting candidates for office, or writing letters to the newspapers.
We are as one in all things, or else!
Comment Posted By mannning On 13.04.2009 @ 10:53
When one hears a story that seems to put current and past events and statements together into a coherent pattern, and appears to hearken unto authority for its bona fides, it does give one pause. It forces one to examine the premises of the story more carefully, and to do a bit of investigation on the points made.
That the story seems to hold up under examination is good to know, and it becomes one more arrow in the quiver.
That the story is a concoction of coincidences, false bridges, and wishful thinking, reinforced by the storyteller's delivery, style and authority, is all too often the case, and it is sometimes not all that easy for the average Joe to take it apart. But, what it does do is make one think about it, which is mostly a good thing...I think!
Such a discovery of falsity is a great disillusionment for many, because we want the bad guys to lose, and many of these false stories, these conspiracy theories, are meant to feed on just that desire.
Lacking the time the inclination to do the work of taking such theories apart for one's self, there is one simple rule to follow: Give the story time to be critiqued or to be overcome by events--the old 72-hour rule, in other words--before one puts that arrow into the quiver.
The only problem with applying the rule is waiting for someone to validate the story, which just might take a long time, since unfavorable stories get suppressed by the media. The current example of this is the suppression of comment on the Tea Party movement by the media, until now, as April 15th comes closer.
That rule applies no less to Glenn Beck than to any other public figure that is (making up or) telling important stories for our consumption, including the media, politicians, philosophers, entertainers, and elites of all stripes and colors. Bloggers too, I might add.
The closest I have seen of a hopeless comedian morphing into a politician, and by inference, something of a yet-to-be leader in our Senate, is Al Frankin. Glenn Beck can't come near that noise level, and will not.
Comment Posted By mannning On 12.04.2009 @ 13:11
GLENN BECK AND THE RADICAL RIGHT
Beck uses calculated bombacity, and clownish faces to entertain as he educates and informs a fairly respectable audience. Such exaggeration and showmanship can be distasteful and offputting as you wait for the rest of the story to emerge. And emerge it does, sooner or later.
I welcome any commentator that can hold an audience while injecting conservative opinions into the public mind, or, at least, challenges the public to look into the subject for themselves, without the liberal bias that otherwise might prevail.
That there are more serious and dignified voices to be heard, voices that lay open the subject such that they convince the listener of the truth of their words, and of the conservative way, is quite obvious. But just who is this serious and dignified spokesman and potential leader of the conservative way? Not found yet? No? (I say no!)
Meanwhile, we have commentators such as Beck that are carrying the torch, and making an impression on people. His audience was around 2 million at last report, which is far more than is reached by RWNH or all other rightwing blogs combined, I believe.
This is a valid contribution to the cause, I suggest, and one that should be praised for its honest virtues.
As for the idea that Obama is leading us stepwise into socialism, who can say definitively at this juncture that he isn't? Not Mr. Moran, although he actually tries to do so, without a shread of evidence here to bolster his case.
That seems to me to be the arrogance of thinking one can read the mind of Obama and his minions and fellow travelers. And if you cannot definitively prove that he isn't going this way, which you would have to be able to read the future to do, you must be very alert to the actual steps that he and his leftwing-driven Congress are taking that would increase the possibility of an evolving socialistic government.
Simple folk pick up signs daily that can be construed by them to be indicators of increasing penetration of dangerous social constructs, centralization of decision-making, spending out of control, and taking over of business.
Is this what we really want?
I say no!
Comment Posted By mannning On 8.04.2009 @ 22:09
PITTSBURG SHOOTER WAS 'ENCOURAGED' BY CONSERVATIVES?
Many on the right are fearful that Obama is rather cleverly using the baloney-slice approach to the stepwise adoption of more and more, deeper and deeper socialism. Thus any baby steps today, can lead to ever longer steps tomorrow, without putting the majority of citizens on the alert to what is happening--until it is too late.
It is perhaps unfortunate that Obama's minions sometimes speak in arrogant voices about regulation, control, and takeover of an ever widening band of private sector firms. Such talk has the effect of stoking the fears of the right.
Then too, there is little trust on the right for the Obama administration eventually backing out of these controls at some point and returning such firms fully to the owners and the free market. They may hand GM back only if GM cuts itself down to Cadillac and Chevrolet by direction or coersion of the government.
We have seem only the opening moves in this chess game, and the incremental signs are not encouraging at all. Let us fire people as a precondition of government support! We may eventually have to pry the government out of most major firms' business to get back our partially mixed, but mainly free market economy.
That is, if we can.
Comment Posted By mannning On 5.04.2009 @ 21:38
LIBERAL AUTHORITARIANISM AND EARTH HOUR
One of the same kind of actions as the Earth Hour is the Tea Party fad that is sweeping the nation, despite a virtual blackout in the media.
For example, there will be a Tax Day Tea Party in Richmond VA, on April 15th, that no newspaper or radio/tv commentator has deigned to mention. (location: Kanawaha Plaza; Time: 6 pm-7:30 pm)
But, this fad has a diametrically opposed thrust; that is, to demonstrate against Obama spending, the AGW thrust of the Administration, the creeping socialism that is becoming more and more detectable, the raising of taxes that will inevitably come real soon now, and, hopefully, to send a message to the current Democratic regimes in VA and DC that they are going to face serious problems in the next election if they do not change course.
More importantly, these Tea Parties are wonderful recruiting events for grassroot workers that get the Conservative message.
Comment Posted By mannning On 31.03.2009 @ 13:55
IS OUR NATIONAL WILL 'WILTING AWAY?'
And, by the way, why are commentors ducking the challenge to name names and tell others just who the "elites" are? Is it because they are afraid? If that is so, we are really in worse shape than I thought. I can see where leftist leaning people would shy away from this, but not the conservative crowd.
WHO ARE THEY, THESE ELITES?
Comment Posted By mannning On 27.03.2009 @ 10:51
