Unfortunately, folks like these are increasingly outnumbered by those human threats to national security known as the “victims” of Katrina…
“Hey, listen, back to this health care issue with HillaryCare, I told your guy there, I’ve been taking care of my wife for over 20 years through a health care nightmare, 70 surgeries, both legs amputated and $6 million. Never once have we received a dime from the federal government. What we’ve done is we’ve made choices in our lives that we would take only jobs that would cover her, we would make career choices that would cover her, everything was geared toward what we would do to make sure that her health care and our access to insurance was preeminent in our lives. Why am I being asked to subsidize those who won’t make those kinds of responsible decisions? ”
“You go back and look at Ronald Reagan, he said, ‘Government exists to protect us from each other. It oversteps when it tries to protect us from ourselves.’ You probably have seen my wife. Mrs. Bush had her open up the second night of the Republican National Convention, her name is Gracie, and we work overseas and provide artificial legs to amputees in developing countries. We’ve gone on to achieve what this country sets out to help individuals achieve, which is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, not life, liberty, and, hey, give us everything we want, get the shopping cart out and let’s go get it. It just rankles me that we are fostering a generation of people who will not take responsibility for their own lives.”
(…)
“Well, people assume that my wife is a liberal, because they assume that if you’re disabled and have all these things going on that obviously you’re a liberal, you’re disgruntled with the health care system. And when she stood up at the Republican National Convention (I think she’s the first disabled woman, by the way, or disabled person, to sing at any convention like this, disabled woman, Republican or Democrat), I think it shocked people because she’s not about taking handouts, she’s about, ‘Hey, look, I’m going to deal with the cards that I’ve been dealt with and live a productive life and live a life of meaning.’ It’s very frustrating to me to be in a position where we have to subsidize people who are not willing to make the kind of choices that she’s made.
“Now they’re looking at raising the poverty level up because we have so many people that are poor. Rush, we go to Africa. We put legs on people — we deal with people who — I saw a lady carry her husband in on her back into our clinic who was an amputee. We don’t understand poverty in this country.“
The so-called victims of Katrina were living in self induced squalor, poverty and crime long before the wind started blowing.
Katrina has shone a spotlight on these losers and provided giant platform for the low end ‘chocolate’ city residents to bleat for free money.
Why all politicians sell out their principles and common sense for those votes is beyond me.
Must be the megalomaniac in them.
The decision that many people make is that other people should look after them; they never move out of the phase of ‘being a child’ into ‘being an adult’.
I heard someone the other day urging a friend to take welfare. It’s “free’, he said. Free? All of us who work get less money for our work because we are paying for those who won’t work – and take our ‘free’ money!!! All of us who work pay about half our salary in taxes. A great part goes for common infrastructures, but a large part goes to these people who consider it ‘free money’. What do they give in return? Nothing. Just more demands.
How about the activists who transform every such demand into a ‘human right’. Eg. ‘housing’ is now a ‘human right’. That means, that by ‘rights’, you must have a house. Given to you by the govt, ie, the people who work.
I think there should be a combination of public and private health care; but more and more should be under competitive private insurance rather than wasteful public bureaucracies.
Not everyone can move into highpaying incomes; there’s a limit on how many people the high income level of an economy can support. We still need the street cleaners and checkout clerks. That is, the services of a society can’t be geared only to the high income level people.
Contrary to popular belief, at least in the minds of leftoids, a conservative knows the difference between giving your fellow man a helping hand and being “entitled” to a handout.
Unfortunately, here in Texas, the stories of people who have taken their disaster and turned it into a rebuilding opportunity are outnumbered by the “hard luck” stories of those waiting for someone to rebuild their life in Chocolate City for them.
I often wonder how all the survivors of the tsunami are surviving without a welfare cheque.
Notice the language of entitlement contained in Dr. King’s I have a dream speech:
“In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.'”
To which I would respond “I know the feeling”.
When we white men made a deal with black people, the deal was that we would judge people by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin. What we got instead were “affirmative action” programs which constitute nothing less than an act of war against white males. I for one can’t say I’m impressed.
It reminds me of the rap ‘artist’ who was testifying before Congress about a week ago. He said when somebody did something about the conditions in his neighborhood (which led to his awful lyrics) then his songs would change. WHY DOESN’T HE start doing something about his neighborhood? Who is he that he needs taking care of? Is he not an able bodied adult for freaking pete’s sake?
ET:
I’m with you on all your points. Also, one thing that contiues to make me teeth-grindingly angry is this whole thing from the lefties about classifying high-income earners as “fortunate” and those in the low brackets as “unfortunate”.
My wife came to Canada from Russia. Her family was poor and both of her parents have been dead since she was a young teen. I grew up a little better-off. But, my family had no extra disposable income. We both went to school (private school – no taxpayer funds) to try and improve our lives. There was no “aid” from any family or friends. Student loans and credit cards were all we had. Actually, school is where we met. We each spent four years in our early twenties working 6-8 hours a day (5 or 6 days a week) for just over minimum wage while putting in 6 hours a day (5 days a week) going to school. When we graduated, we had no “assets” and nearly $90,000 in combined debt.
To make matters worse, it took nearly a year after we were out of school to find stable, full-time jobs. (I estimate I put out approximately 1300 resumes before I got my first real job). Nearly all of the people we went to school with had long given up searching for jobs by the time we found work. And we had to move to different provinces twice in three years just to keep working.
Today, we have a home, mediocre car, and a family. Our family income is now on the “high” side (compared to the “average” as defined by Stats Canada) and our debts are totally under control. For the first time in our 10 years of knowing each other, we are now able to breathe a sigh of relief that we finally feel things will be OK.
I tell this story not to be an exhibitionist. But, to illustrate why I get the urge to strangle someone when I hear those on the left refer to my wife and I as “fortunate” or (my personal favorite) “privileged”.
There is nothing special about us except that we have a strong belief that you must finish what you begin and that the best thing that any individual can do for their society is not be a burden on it.
I feel like I was born between 50 and 200 years too late. For while, in my grandparents’ generation, our attitude was the norm…today, it is considered “un-Canadian.”
“victims of Katrina were living in self induced squalor”
Self-induced? Not entirely, perhaps not even mostly. The improvident Katrina underclass was created and subsidized by decades of government action.
bryceman,
you know what else drives me up the wall
when Jack!Layton and Howard Hampton (Ontario NDP leader) talk about how they are for “working families” – as if somehow even though my husband and I work from dawn to dusk (and him sometimes all night too – he is a surgical oncologist) we would not fit into his “working family” definition. Does he think we are a “playing family”? class war baiting – it makes me sick
Kathy
I heard that conversation on Rush the other day and was also inspired
They’re for working families are they? Then why is it that the only parts of Toronto where I see NDP signs are the government housing ghettos, and the areas inhabited by the unemployed? You certainly won’t find NDP signs in areas where people actually work and achieve some modicum of success.
Maybe when they say “working families”, they’re referring to those paragons of small business: the self employed drug dealers and prostitutes.
Kevin,
Point taken.
However, there are numerous government handouts available to me in Canada. I take none of them.
I choose not to be a ward of any state. Those Chocolate bars had the same choice, but like so many in our own country, they line up at the free beer sign.
Each new taker weakens the givers. When the givers are all gone, there will be nothing left for anyone.
Oh, please, what a load of tripe. “We made choices to ensure my wife was covered.” Well, what if your only choice was a job at Wal-Mart? What if the insurance company reneged on their deal with you (as has been documented thousands of times in the US)? I have sympathy for a family that’s obviously been through a lot, but let’s get some perspective, shall we?
Look at GM, Ford, and Chrysler. They are bleeding red ink and why? Because they are forced to pay health care costs for “workers” who actually stopped working twenty years ago. Wouldn’t it be more fair if those workers were paying a portion of their pension/IRA/Social Security income for their health care?
I can’t stand the fact that I don’t have a choice to use the government or private system in Canada (yes, I always have the choice of going to the US). But, I would much rather have a mixed system of universal public care and optional private care than a US system of “no job? no health care for you!”.
And let’s look at some numbers, shall we? The average person 65 years or older in the US requires about $11,000/yr in health costs. The average person in 20-64 bracket uses less than $3,000. Once you reach 85, it’s nearly $20,000/yr. (All of these figures are courtesy of the Congressional Research Service, a non-partisan arm of the US government.)
All these people who preach the virtue of sacrifice don’t seem to mind spending a few hundred thousands of other peoples’ money to lie in a hospital bed for a few years, waiting to die. My wife and I have told each other to just pull the plug; we watched a close friend struggle through four months of AIDS complications before he finally passed away, and we don’t want to put each other, or our children through this. I don’t know if the Inuit legend of old people wandering out on to the ice is true or not, but it has its positive implications for a society as whole, IMHO. Forget the fiscal benefits; the emotional benefits of not having to watch a loved one die, slowly and painfully, day by day – please, Rush, put a price tag on that, won’t you?
It’s not like I want to die. But the idea of being a millstone around my family’s neck, where they feel obligated to spend most of their free time sitting at my bedside, is anathema to me. If the body’s run out, it’s run out. It’s definitely true we can spend insane amounts of money to keep the corpus breathing and feeding, but is it worthwhile to society as a whole? *WHO GAINS*? Does the individual gain? Not IMHO; he doesn’t even know what’s going on. Does the family gain? Not IMHO; as I noted, the emotional strain and burden they have to carry is ludicrous compared to whatever “comfort” people get from sitting next to someone on a respirator. Does society gain? Not IMHO; it costs us a lot of money that might be better used on preventative care for younger people.
I’m not railing for enforced euthanasia; it should be an individual’s choice. And I’m not advocating monopoly health care; that should be your choice too. But it kind of makes me sick that a family that suffered a lot but managed to work the system claims to be “holier than thou” than, say, a poor black mom, working a minimum wage job, whose son develops sickle cell anemia (which strikes black Americans more than whites). What are her choices? How does she play the system? The article quoted is a bunch of self-serving tripe from someone who was clearly lucky enough to win the lottery that gave them a university education, an opportunity to get jobs that a high school graduate doesn’t qualify for, a chance to get enduring medical insurance that others don’t, etc. That they claim some kind of moral superiority for doing this is the smelliest kind of cow manure.
So, is Rush off the painkillers yet?
KevinB said:
The article quoted is a bunch of self-serving tripe from someone who was clearly lucky enough to win the lottery that gave them a university education, an opportunity to get jobs that a high school graduate doesn’t qualify for, a chance to get enduring medical insurance that others don’t, etc.
Therein lies the eternal problem with the leftist way of thinking. They think that getting things like an education and financial idenpendence (which doesn’t always require an advanced degree – think Bill Gates) is the result of 90% luck (lottery) and 10% hard work. On the right, we believe (mostly because most of us have lived it) that success is the result of the reverse (10% luck and 90% hard-work and dedication).
There is no way to convince you otherwise KevinB…it really comes down to whether you think that you are…
A) Just a powerless and rudderless raft adrift in the ocean of life or
B) You are a powerboat with a rudder (intelligence) and kick-ass engine (human spirit and ingenuity) that can push against those ocean currents
Conservative/Republicans believe its B and that we improve society by encouraging individuals to discover their own talents and passions and to use their engine to achieve their goals and dreams and make their own destiny.
Liberals/Democrats believe (or at least want everyone else to believe) that its A. That if I have more than you, it’s because I stole your engine.
Yes, it is true that people who try to raise a family while working at Wal-Mart are at a distinct disadvantage. But, rather than try to tear down the acheivers who work in office buildings by taxing them at confiscatory rates, wouldn’t society be better served if we encouraged people who work at Wal-Mart to aspire to something better? There are already plenty of opportunities when it comes to student loans and education subsidies. Wouldn’t it be better if young people were raised with the idea that working at places like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart is fine when you’re young…but, you’ve gotta make sure you’re on a better career path before you start having a family? Doesn’t that make sense?
It seems to me that that is a much better message to convey to the poor than, “You’re screwed and there’s nothing you can do until Hillary gets in and starts milking those evil “rich” people and turning their money over to you (after the government takes their 60-70% cut, of course).”
kevinB
win the lottery that gave them a university education and a job that a highschool graduate doesnt’t qualify for..
You don’t win those things in a lottery, you earn them. Is that what the ghetto is, a group of people who didn’t gamble enough?
Markie,
If Rush is taking pain killers it’s justified since he is taking the largest pain in the ass in history … namely the secular progressives in the USA.
I might add, he is winning. As is O’Reilly and many others who expose those frauds for what they are.
There was a quote above that defines a compassionate state, willing to offer a hand up, not a handout.
For the most part that applies to our society. There is, unfortunately, a small loud strata of society who believe the following (paraphrased from William Gairdner’s book “The Trouble With Canada:”
Wants become needs, become rights, become claims against the state.
The irony of that approach is that we perpetuate poverty by encouraging “transactions of decline” that make us all worse off, and that is why the poor become poorer, not because capitalism and democracy are unjust.
I encourage all who want to indulge in the reality of the situation to tune into the following people.
Rush Limbaugh for great analysis of the seculars and the drve-by MSM.
Bill O’Reilly for great confrontational debate and outing of the worst kind of scum.
Dennis Miller for great humor, encouragement and interviews.
These folks I think are the three wise men of our time.
They all have streaming radio for free everyday. If sign up you can get pod casting that will accommodate your listening schedule.
For blogs, you already are at one the very best and you can find the others from here.
That’s a great line from Ronald Reagan in the story there.
It reminds me of his other famous line: “The nine scariest words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
John West:
I would add to that list someone I would put above all of the others – Hugh Hewitt.
The thing named Smitherman and its free “free” test.
Find the word “free”.
It’s the disgusting deceitful socialists at work.
…-
Grits pledge $30M for tests to detect prostate cancer
Ottawa Citizen – 14 hours ago
The Ontario Liberals are promising to offer men over the age of 50 free annual tests to detect prostate cancer. …-
(google news)
Kathy , time to get a comment section up and running at your place , it’s too good not to have one …….besides WK might just get comments envy .
beware ontarians!!, the free prostate check may be the liberal chance to implant a tracking device.
@ Kevin B:
The single black woman with the kid with sickle cell working at WalMart that you described would have her kid covered by their health insurance plan.
Almost 100% of claims are covered by the private insurance plans in the US. Not 60%, not 70% not even 80%. Its close to 97%. Rule #1 Liberals Lie.
Not all things are covered by Canada’s glorious state plans either.
giving and taking. if every dime was taken from the top 500 wealthy people in the u.s.( including oprah). the money would cover about one half of one years budget of the u.s. that would sure help eh.
Wasn’t Kathy Shaidle on the dole for four years with some bogus illness? I hear she wants to move to America to do the same thing.
As a Canadian Citizen for over 60 years, and a working taxpayer for over 40 years- it took one and a half years to get my Russian wife into this country,(thank you, third world ‘refugee’ dogmeat!)
Now- my wifey had a medical problem. And because she had no OHIP card, I took her to the local walkin clinic,I paid for a doctor to see her. I paid for all the tests, scans, etc. (The walkin clinic lost the results of the tests), and when I accompanied her back to the clinic to get the results of those tests that I paid CASH for, they had ‘misplaced’ them!?!
The doctor, (whose name I could not pronounce-even if I wanted to, sez: “Which one of you is the patient?” (The results of a mammogram). And I replies: “Do I look like I got boobs?” (Stupid ignorant shit).
Back at the check-in counter, I asked for the biznesscard of the doctor- in case I had any questions later- and instead, they gave us a waiver to sign, (saying that they would not be held responsible if anything went wrong!?!
(Healthcare in Russia is better than this!)
The Trolls are back, do some research first moron. Most regular readers have already seen this debunked but good try at an Ad Hominem attack. To be expected from the loonie left when they have nothing to contribute.
Posted by: John West at September 30, 2007 7:05 PM
I recommend Dennis Prager to the fine list.
Just an experiment to see if I can get through as the Saudi Arabia thread is blocked.
Since when is someone on the “loonie left” because they dislike Kathy Shaidle? No, I am simply bayonetting a liability. It is time to dump the old Sour Plumb Face. She has been too big for her britches for quite some time, and it is time to deflate her.
I wonder who has debunked the fact that Shaidle was on Government Disability for four years while writing a chronicle of her battle with wheat allergies or Hocus or Lupine or whatever it was that she was Goldbricking with. Seems pretty well documented.
What is interesting is that she is whining about health care. She wants to move to America (God forbid!), where she will either have to renounce the Chronic Fatigue or whatever sort of phony thing she was on the dole with, or have to have a “pre-existing condition,” meaning that she will not get health coverage for less than 1/2 the GDP of Newfoundland.
And, if she were to find herself here, I am sure that she has enemies over there who would cause trouble for her with the various nimrods in the Human Rights Commission, which would make it very tricky for her to return to Canada. So she would end up being a sick little Sour Plumb Face wandering the streets of America bitching about everything (I am assuming that Angus or whatever his name is will have long bailed out by this time, since second marriages are notoriously risky).