Thank you for this, Brad.

This is one of the many points citizens should be hammering home in every political(or maybe just every)conversation they have, in my opinion.

I am no fan(with a few significant exceptions like Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich)of the current Democrats. They all seem to have recently returned from some circus camp for political contortionists expertly bending over backwards and every which way to accomodate the Completely Crazies and betraying the people who elected them to change things.

But you gotta hand it to the Repugs for always pushing the needle even farther than you thought possible on the nonsense-o-meter. I just read Tim Pawlenty slamming Obama on the goverment's economic policies after the tepid jobs report as if his Repugs have not been doing every single fucking thing they possibly could to make everything worse in every possible way.

Take the recent FAA shutdown, please....

Real cause and effect. Actual cause and effect. Deconstruct and discredit these bullshit or non-existing or exactly the opposite from reality cause and effect narratives.

Cause and effect. Reality. It could be our friend if we(as a nation)only knew it. Knew that it exists right next to us, hoping, waiting to be seen and acknowledged as we try to stumble our way through our maze of dysfunction in this completely batshit world we're currently inhabiting.

What our waking consciousness situation has become reminds me of those kinds of dreams where you can't run, can't move, though you're trying so very hard. Seems to take an effort of which you're just not capable to break free. But I've now had them where I do break free. It's gotta be possible in waking consciousness too.

"Job creators" my ass"

Exactly, at least "not in this life".

They are the plunder barons.

David: Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat. He is an Independent who previously identified himself as a Socialist.

Well I am doing my part to at least "sustain" jobs.

In the last few weeks I bought the following:
One Canon S95 --ooooh very nice
One 16G SD card
One NB-6L battery pack
Two NexStar3 drive encolsures
Two 2TB WD Caviar Black hard drives
One Hauppauge TV tuner card
One AMD Ath II 3G CPU
One Umarex Steel Storm
One Benjamin Trail NP XL
One Brother MF Laser Printer/Copier
One tank of gas for my F150
700 more minutes on my ATT phone plan
One refrigerator full of groceries

I am not sure what the homeless guy bought.

I hope he is going to the Salvation Army for meals--that is where I am sending the money (beyond the money I am sending to the Fed every quarter).

You see, every time the "rich" guy steps out of the house, the economy gets a boost.

This morning as I thought about the jobs report, I got to thinking about some of the issues relating to joblessness. There are many. And, I am sure that you all will attest, I am not smart enough to figure them out or even understand them. Well fine.

One issue though, I think, is that our education system has not prepared our youth for the rapid advancement of technology (you know the old science and math argument). If I am right, then why is it so? Again, probably a million reasons. One, I think (with my small humble brain) is that of role models. Any engineer/scientist role models promoted in the media? Precious few by comparison to athletes and movie stars. I think we need more role models to inspire the next inventor, astronaut, scientist.

Anyway, that is my thought for the day.

I will now prepare myself for the hailstorm of invectives!!

Davey C @4,

"I will now prepare myself for the hailstorm of invectives!! "

I would like to see a video of that.

You are not wealthy simply because you buy stuff. Everyone does it.

Two decades ago you were wealthy if you had 5 million dollars cash left over in the bank for a kind of slush fund.

The rich have gotten much richer as the poor and middle class have diminished since then.

So, unless you have about 8 million cash in a slush / buffer fund you are not "wealthy".

invectives: stop hurting yourself to protect your abusers.

Davey Crocket -

I'm happy you didn't lose your home through illegal foreclosures or predatory lending practices. Also happy you didn't lose your job thanks to the outsourcing of American jobs despite your lengthy list of purchases of goods made overseas instead of by Americans.

Dredd @5

Oohhkaaay.
(never meant to imply I had lots of money)

The reality is that I am very wealthy but it has little to do with money or other assets.

Video...yup I wonder what an invective would look like...raining down on me. I would probably be movin so fast I would look like a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.

--
In my younger days, I wanted to save the world...I recall once where I met this homeless guy on the street and we started talking. I told him that I wanted to help him. I would first get him something to eat and then I would go buy him some clothes, get him cleaned up and help him find a job. He looked at me and said he didn't want any of that. All he wanted was a quart of beer. There were other examples...all anecdotal of course...but with basically the same response. That is why I donate to the SA because they do provide food and shelter and spiritual guidance.

I wish all homeless persons could get and keep a job...I really do. Moreover, I do not think the "Repugs" dance a jig every time somebody loses their job. None of my friends think like that.

Brad,

No I did not suffer from "predatory lending practices." I own my own home...have been debt free for 25 years. To accomplish that I lived with very humble means, no AC, no heat, no insurance...very little living space, and very little money.

On outsourcing...I have lots to say but not the time to say it. Maybe later.

Well, while your at it Davey, why don't you fill us in on how much of your wealth was inherited?

Ernest,

The answer is "zero."

Other than good genes and good parents, the rest has been blood sweat and tears. With God's grace, of course, I am a self-made man.

Now that you have the answer, any further comments, questions???

Why would you ask such a stupid question anyhow?

Davy! Davy Crocket!
King of the Sock Puppets!

He bought lots of cheap imports hard earned cash,
He propped up the out-sourcers while the US crashed,
He thinks theat the GOP are righteous now,
He bites off the ear of a a squealing sow!

Davey! Davey Crocket!
He's so self-reliant that the Chinese venerate his name while he makes excuses for traitorous Taint Party policies and doing all he can to destroy domestic manufacturing jobs-
On the Wild Frontier!!!!

I mean, c'mon, you chose the name, Davy. No hard feelings for raining all over your personal accomplishments, but we've got Hannibal at the gates... and he/they're on the INSIDE this time.

Off logic #12

That computer you are using for your poetry...where was it made?

Where did I say that the GOP were righteous?
When did I make excuses for traitorous...?

Brad likes facts and sources you know...at least he expects them of me.

The left hates someone who is a success without some government program. They think there must have been a silver spoon. Hard work, 14 hr days, perseverance followed by success...it is not fair. Punish him!!!

This blog interface is not friendly to the iPad2 either!!

Argh!!!!!!!!

One more thing.

With all of my purchases (I did not list them all)...
Did I help the economy, or hurt it?

Based on my purchases alone, should I be praised or condemned?

Davey Crock blathered:

The left hates someone who is a success without some government program.

Thanks, Rush. If you care to offer a grownup argument for your case, whatever the hell it may be, instead of the jackassery quoted above, please feel free. It would be a nice change of pace.

Brad #15,

Another brilliant post. You and Canning are on a roll.

Invoking Rush...geeeez! Red meat for this crowd!

Re: Davey Crocket @10.

Why would I ask?

Well, for one, Davey, I suspect that yours was not a disadvantaged background. You are probably not a minority. Your parents were probably not low income; let alone homeless. I suspect that you had access to many of the benefits denied to millions by accident of being born into the wrong class.

So please spare me your Horatio Alger story.

Of course, I don't have personal knowledge of how you acquired the wealth you so proudly boast about; whether you have benefited from corporate subsidies, etc. After all, you've hidden behind a pseudonym.

The fact that you wear your wealth like its some badge of honor, however, is quite telling. I'm reminded of a line from the song, "If I were a rich man," from Fiddler on the Roof.

"When you're rich, they think you really know."

Oh, and Davey, your claim that your personal spending benefited the economy is rather myopic.

Over 80% of all new wealth created over the past thirty years went to the richest one percent. There is a limit to how much of the accumulated wealth of the top one percent can be recycled into the economy.

The real problem is that the vast majority of Americans have lost ground because of the transfer of wealth occasioned by the global class war. They lack disposable income.

The classic example of why this economy is failing is to be found in a story (perhaps mythical) I once heard about Henry Ford and Walter Reuther.

During a factory walk thru, Ford, while pointing to automated machines, said to Reuther, "Bet you'll have trouble collecting union dues from these guys."

Reuther replied: "Yeah, and who's gonna buy your cars?"

Ernest,

Aaaahh Ernest. You tempt me, but I will resist.

But allow me to quote myself:
"The reality is that I am very wealthy but it has little to do with money or other assets."
"I wish all homeless persons could get and keep a job...I really do."

You guys look at my purchase list and jump to conclude that I am rich! The conclusion you should have jumped to is that I have an addiction to technology (release me from this dreadful drug!!).

Also think you guys like me, the crazy conservative, hanging around this blog. Good target practice, eh? When I post, it seems to generate a lot of traffic (you know...hailstorm). Maybe Brad gets extra points when he can show higher traffic to his blog so that he can sell advertisement. I hope so. I hope he makes a lot of money and writes a bigger check to Uncle Sam.

BTW, I am not a minority (except on this blog!!!).

Just found this report today. Enjoy!
http://www.heritage.org/.../2011/07/What-is-Poverty

Davey, do you really think the billionaire-funded Heritage Foundation is even remotely qualified to lecture Americans on the meaning of "poverty"?

Sort of reminds me of a poster I saw a few years back of a well-tailored man leaning against his Rolls Royce, sipping champagne. The caption read: "Poverty sucks!"

Ernest,

Yup...kinda expected your response.

I didn't "invoke Rush", Davey. You did, when you pulled that enormous Rushism straight out of his ass and flung it at the otherwise good folks here.

If you're going to drop obnoxious, unsupportable, propagandistic, divisive horseshit, straight from Rush/Hannity World here, I'd invite you to take it elsewhere.

If you wish to have a grownup conversation or debate about actual issues, actual information, data, facts, etc., you will continue to be welcome. Given you have now dropped yet another unsupportable piece of RW propaganda here (the silly Heritage Foundation "report"), it looks like that's not the case.

Your "contributions" here are growing extremely tiresome, "Davey". I'm quite certain there are many other sites out there where you can enjoy your self-destructive fantasy world and commiserate with other similarly misinformed folks. While we enjoy lively debate here in this open forum, disinformation and sleazy Rightwing bumper-sticker agit prop is not particularly welcome. So if that's all you're capable of, please move on. Thanks!

Brad,

I knew it was coming.

Burning books eh? Eliminate the contrary view. I understand the liberal mind.

I am fine with it.

Please do me a favor and ban me so that I will not be tempted to post again.

You are one fine person Brad.

Bye Dredd! I enjoyed your off-the-wall ways!
Bye Ernest!! You are not very friendly.
Bye David L--I kinda like you but I guess it is over between us.
Bye Ms. Dean--You are an interesting person

Turn out the lights, the party's over...they say how all good things must end...turn out the lights...

An example of the position of the Heritage Foundation on "poverty"

Davey, Davey, Davey. Once again, Brad has a good point - once again, it's lost on you. You've completely conflated and obfuscated Brad's response above with your uncanny ability to roll over and play victim - even right after we've all watched you set your own ass-hair on fire.

Brad (to his credit)has not banned you (at this time) - and I can't imagine you mean it for one hot Christian Republican Second when you say you're leaving this blog, never to post again. I know you better than that. You like and need the attention you get here for being "our token wrong guy about everything". So save your sad goodbyes.

You are not being taken to task for having an opposing viewpoint, as you suggest above in you post even though Brad has outlined the REAL reason (in writing, even - and the text doesn't move so as not to confuse you). Many of us who post regularly here don't agree on LOTS of stuff. You are being taken to task for posting utter bullshit, over and over again; distracting everyone the threads with your RIGHT / LEFT bullshit; making every thread all about YOU and your purchases (great, btw, so happy you have money for material goods - the rest of us are clearly not as clever as you are because we can't afford new stuff made by cheap labor in other countries) After being duly and rationally deconstructed for your utter turd ball posts you cry foul, act as if some indecency has been committed against you here - make it all about your "persuasion" or your purchases.

Your pattern is clear to those of with a reading-comprehension level beyond the forth grade: You charge in here and lash and bash - post bullshit we all can dispute with one link and a google click; try to bully and frame the dialogue in a base, banal (look it up) ridiculous assertions that all of us here are LEFTIES / or LIBERALS (which I've told you repeatedly we are NOT, and to knock that off). Then, when we point out your willful ignorance to the FACTS - give you the spanking you're begging us for - you pretend to be hurt, lash out some more, and continue your insipid driveling support of your bullshit sources no matter how wrong, fact-challenged, morally depraved, and outrageously anti-American they are...

Davey C step 1: Post circuitous insults to the group while simultaneously posting something atrociously wrong Step 2: make it all about you ("I can buy things and that's why I deserve to vote more than homeless or unemployed people!") step 3: call us condescending names for pointing out where you're wrong (insert predictable Davey Crockett knee-jerk conservative talking point of du jour.) 4: Hijack the debate some more. 5. Post another unrelated link to bait us. 6. Have a good long pouting and condescending post about it. 7:Rinse and Repeat.

It's the Crockett Spin Cycle and it IS getting tiresome, buddy. You're not contributing anything to the conversation here other than reaffirming your blind allegiance to a system that works for you, but not too many others outside of your "persuasion". And you're fine with that, because you think you've worked harder than poor people, homeless people, or people who have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own...

...burdening Brad and all of us here with your shortcomings, as often as you do - makes me wince out of embarrassment for you - every. single. time you post.

Thank you, Jeannie Dean, for responding to Davey with most of the points I'd have made on my own. Points you made about Davey playing the victim, and not being banned (as he didn't break the rules here), and knee-jerking about about opposing points of view when he was doing little more than parroting RW propaganda in lieu of actual opposing points, were precisely what I would have noted. Thanks for saving my time.

As noted, Davey's substantive points, should he be able to come up with any, along with anyone else's who may disagrees with anyone here, are always welcome in this open forum. Knowing disinformation is not (and is ban worthy), however, while unknowing disinformation, of the obnoxious type that Davey seems to enjoy copying and pasting here, will be met with the ridicule it so roundly deserves, even as it is not a bannable offense --- no matter how much the cowardly, pseudonymous "Davey" prefers to play victim in lieu of being able to support his own childish, churlish and wholly unsupportable points.

It is so ironic that the well-to-do want to slash social safety net programs because they view them as "entitlements" when they view themselves as being entitled to bloated salaries, obscene bonuses and payraises, and the lowest tax rates ever seen since the 1800s.

There is no "trickle down" of jobs from these out of control tax breaks for the wealthy, instead there is an increase in the poverty rate, of which nearly 20% of children under 18 are at risk of going hungry at night.

From Wikipedia's entry on "Poverty in the US":

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses a different measure for poverty and declared in 2008 that child poverty in the US is 20% and poverty among the elderly is 23%.[32] The non-profit advocacy group Feeding America has released a study (May 2009) based on 2005-2007 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Agriculture Department, which claims that 3.5 million children under the age of 5 are at risk of hunger in the United States. The study claims that in 11 states, Louisiana, which has the highest rate, followed by North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho and Arkansas, more than 20 percent of children under 5 are allegedly at risk of going hungry.The study was paid by ConAgra Foods, a large food company.[33]

There is a 4 week waiting period to get a cot at the only shelter in Petaluma, CA and the list is growing. Many shelters in CA are full, what's going to happen this winter with so many homeless and those folks who have lost their homes, apartments and worn out their welcome camping out in friends/relatives couches and drafty unheated garage space?

There are currently at least 14 million unemployed who are looking, and probably another 10 million who are no longer being counted as being unemployed because they never qualified for unemployment insurance or their unemployment benefits ran out after the initial 26 weeks.

And to the think that recent legislation is going to cut the food stamp program starting in 2013.

Davy, all you care about is all the crap you can buy and how little you do for others except for a few token donations to SA?