WE Blog

Oh, I think WE Blog is experiencing technical difficulties.

(chortles)

Why Marriage Matters

http://www.family.org/socialissues/A000000440.cfm

by Glenn T. Stanton

Is marriage an old-fashioned, outmoded institution? Is it merely a piece of paper, having no real impact on our lives?

Researchers are finding that marriage has a much greater impact in our lives than many have assumed. This is especially true in the area of adult health and well-being. Sociologist Linda Waite and researcher Maggie Gallagher explain, “The evidence from four decades of research is surprisingly clear: a good marriage is both men’s and women’s best bet for living a long and healthy life.”1 Men and women who are in their first marriages, on average, enjoy significantly higher levels of physical and mental health than those who are either single, divorced or living together. The research on this is very strong.

Leading social scientist, James Q. Wilson, explains:

Married people are happier than unmarried ones of the same age, not only in the United States, but in at least seventeen other countries where similar inquiries have been made. And there seems to be good reasons for that happiness. People who are married not only have higher incomes and enjoy greater emotional support, they tend to be healthier. Married people live longer than unmarried ones, not only in the United States but abroad.2

Research conducted at the University of Massachusetts concludes, “One of the most consistent observations in health research is that the married enjoy better health than those of other [relational] statuses.”3

Dr. Robert Coombs of UCLA reviewed more than 130 empirical studies published in this century on how marriage impacts well-being. He found that these studies indicate “an intimate link between marital status and personal well-being.”4

Alcoholism
Coombs’ review found that 70 percent of chronic problem drinkers were either divorced or separated, and only 15 percent were married. Single men are more than three times as likely to die of cirrhosis of the liver.5

Long and Healthy Life
Unmarried people spend twice as much time as patients in hospitals as their married peers and have lower activity levels.6

Research conducted at Erasmus University in Rotterdam reports that “married people have the lowest morbidity [illness] rates, while the divorced show the highest.” Professor Linda Waite of the University of Chicago finds that the “relationship between marriage and death rates has now reached the status of a truism, having been observed across numerous societies and among various social and demographic groups.”7

In her 1995 presidential address to the Population Association of America, Waite explained that the health benefits of marriage are so strong that a married man with heart disease can be expected to live, on average, 1400 days longer (nearly four years!) than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. This longer life expectancy is even greater for a married man who has cancer or is 20 pounds overweight compared to his healthy, but unmarried, counterpart. The advantages for women are similar.8 Additional research from Yale University indicates that a married man who smokes more than a pack a day can be expected to live as long as a divorced man who does not smoke. This researcher explains with a touch of humor, “If a man’s marriage is driving him to heavy smoking, he has a delicate statistical decision to make.”9

Dr. Coombs’ research agrees with these findings: “Virtually every study of mortality and marital status shows the unmarried of both sexes have higher death rates, whether by accident, disease, or self-inflicted wounds, and this is found in every country that maintains accurate health statistics.”10

Research published in JAMA finds that cures for cancer are significantly more successful (eight to 17 percent) when a patient is married and being married was comparable to being in an age category 10 years younger.11

Mental Health
Research dating back to 1936 shows that first-time psychiatric admission rates for males suffering from schizophrenia were 5.4 times greater for unmarried men than for married men. Dr. Benjamin Malzberg, the author of this study, concludes, “The evidence seems clear that the married population had, in general, much lower rates of mental disease than any of the other marital groups.”12

More recent research conducted jointly at Yale University and UCLA reports the following:

One of the most consistent findings in psychiatric epidemiology is that married persons enjoy better health than the unmarried. Researchers have consistently found the highest rates of mental disorder among the divorced and separated, the lowest rates among the married and intermediate rates among the single and widowed. They also found that a cohabiting partner could not replicate these benefits of marriage.13

General Happiness
A study published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family examined the link between personal happiness and marital status in 17 industrialized nations that had “diverse social and institutional frameworks.” This study found the following:

[M]arried persons have a significantly higher level of happiness than persons who are not married. This effect was independent of financial and heath-oriented protections offered by marriage and was also independent of other control variables including ones for sociodemographic conditions and national character.”14

Increased levels of happiness among the married was found in other studies as well.15

Miscellaneous
Additional research shows that marriage …

Provides the highest levels of sexual pleasure and fulfillment for men and women16
Protects against feelings of loneliness17
Protects women from domestic and general violence18
Enhances a parent’s ability to parent19
Helps create better, more reliable employees20
Increases individual earnings and savings21
Research conducted at the University of Colorado indicates why marriage is so beneficial to adults: “Generally, compared with those who are not married, married individuals eat better, take better care of themselves, and live a more stable, secure and scheduled lifestyle.”22

Clearly, married men and women provide better things for society than their unmarried peers. Husbands and wives are not as likely to be a burden to the health care system or be a drain on a company’s health insurance benefits because of their better health and increased ability to recover from illness quicker and more successfully. They are less likely to miss work because of illness. They are not likely to jump from job to job. They are less likely to suffer from alcoholism and other substance abuse and less likely to engage in other risk behaviors. Married women are significantly less likely to be victims of any kind of violence, either by her spouse or by a stranger. They are less lonely and happier. Happier people make better citizens, employees and neighbors. Married people earn and invest more money. They report enjoying the job of parenting better and they are more successful at it. This mountain of social science research tells us marriage is a serious and valuable community treasure.

Glenn T. Stanton is Director of global insights and trends, and Senior Analyst for marriage and sexuality at Focus on the Family.

——————————————————————————–

1 Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially, (New York Doubleday, 2000), p. 64.
2 2James Q. Wilson, The Marriage Problem: How Our Culture Has Weakened Families (New York: Harper Collins, 2002), p. 16.
3 Katherine Reissman and Naomi Gerstel, “Marital Dissolution and Health: Do Males or Females Have Greater Risk?” Social Science and Medicine 20 (1985): 627-635.
4 Robert Coombs, “Marital Status and Personal Well-Being: A Literature Review,” Family Relations 40 (1991) 97-102.
5 Coombs, 1991, p. 97.
6 Lois Verbrugge and Donald Balaban, “Patterns of Change, Disability and Well-Being,” Medical Care 27 (1989): S128-S147.
7 I.M. Joung, et al., “Differences in Self-Reported Morbidity by Marital Status and by Living Arrangement,” International Journal of Epidemiology 23 (1994): 91-97.
8 Linda J. Waite, “Does Marriage Matter?” Presidential Address to the American Population Association of America, April 8, 1995; Linda Waite, “Does Marriage Matter?” Demography 32 (1995): 483-507.
9 Harold Morowitz, “Hiding in the Hammond Report,” Hospital Practice (August 1975), p. 39.
10 Coombs, 1991, p. 98.
11 James Goodwin, et al., “The Effect of Marital Status on Stage, Treatment, and Survival of Cancer Patients,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 258 (1987): 3152-3130.
12 Benjamin Malzberg, “Marital Status in Relation to the Prevalence of Mental Disease,” Psychiatric Quarterly 10 (1936): 245-261.
13 David Williams, et al., “Marital Status and Psychiatric Disorders Among Blacks and Whites,” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 33 (1992): 140-157.
14 Steven Stack and J. Ross Eshleman, “Marital Status and Happiness: A 17-Nation Study,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60 (1998): 527-536.
15 Coombs, 1991, p. 100.
16 16Robert T. Michael, et al., Sex in America: A Definitive Survey, (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1994), p. 124-129; Edward O. Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), p. 364, table 10.5; Andrew Greeley, Faithful Attraction: Discovering Intimacy, Love and Fidelity in American Marriage, (New York: Tom Doherty Association, 1991), see chapter 6.
17 Randy Page and Galen Cole, “Demographic Predictors of Self-Reported Loneliness in Adults,” Psychological Reports 68 (1991): 939-945.
18 18Jan Stets, “Cohabiting and Marital Aggression: The Role of Social Isolation,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 53 (1991): 669-680; Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1992,” U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, (March 1994), p. 31, NCJ-145125.
19 Ronald Angel and Jacqueline Angel, Painful Inheritance: Health and the New Generation of Fatherless Families (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1993), pp. 139, 148.
20 Janet Wilmoth and Gregor Koso, “Does Marital History Matter? Marital Status and Wealth Outcomes Among Pre-retirement Adults,” Journal of Marriage and Family, 64 (2002): 743-754.
21 Waite, 1995, p. 483-507; Waite and Gallagher, 2000, see chapter 8; Wilmoth and Koso, 2002, p. 743-754.
22 Richard Rogers, “Marriage, Sex, and Mortality,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 57 (1995): 515-526.

Is this the guy we want with his finger on the button?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/42844.html

We might not like the Samdinistas but when you are on a DIPLOMATIC mission you shuold keep your cool.

So American, you posted this spam from Focus on the Family. I know from previous postings that you oppose same sex marriage. So, am I to conclude that you want to deny these medical benefits listed in this article to people who are romantically and sexually attracted to people of the same gender?

The premise that gay marriage somehow threatens “traditional” marriage is completely unsupported. Period.

realclimate.org is an extremely biased Blog.

Not only do they delete messages they do not agree with, they interject their own comments INSIDE of posters comments to post the politically correct answer.

That’s not science, that’s dictatorship.

First, almost all of those studies are done by fundies, duh.

Second….which came first the chicken or the egg. It’s almost MOST likely that the alcoholic old man dying alone ALSO had the drinking problem long before he got divorced. In other words, it isn’t the marriage that kept him sober, it’s the alcohol that ruined his marriage.

Same can be said for being in the hospital. Obviously if you have someone at home who can take care of you you’re less likely to be kept in the hospital, not the other way around.

Studies also show that married men and women gain more weight when they’re married, which is also one of the biggest contributors to early death.

Marriage does not keep women from being abused. If you remember back when divorce was a big deal, women were stuck in abusive marriages in very high numbers.

cosmos admits that the computer climate models are inaccurate, yet he claims that they can predict the future’s climate.

cosmos is not a scientist.

cosmos has no peer reviewed papers in climate science.

cosmos worships at the altar of the Goracle.

Gas collection samples along busy city streets reveal that 1000ppm of co2 can be concentrated in worker areas.

Of course, cosmos wouldn’t recognize real technical or scientific work like that as cosmos is not a scientist.

cosmos, here is the appropriate response to this sort of post…

“cosmos admits that the computer climate models are inaccurate, yet he claims that they can predict the future’s climate.

“cosmos is not a scientist.

“cosmos has no peer reviewed papers in climate science.

“cosmos worships at the altar of the Goracle.”

Appropriate Response:

“…”

__________________________________________________

“Agnatha…

“Why can’t that name be said without lisping?”

Hey, what’s in a name?

NO one should feel safe without submitting to Islam, and those who refuse to submit must pay a high price. The Islam ist movement must aim to turn the world into a series of “wildernesses” where only those under jihadi rule enjoy security.

These are some of the ideas developed by al Qaeda’s chief theoretician, Sheik Abu-Bakar Naji, in his new book “Governance in the Wilderness” (Edarat al-Wahsh).

Middle East analysts think that the book may indicate a major change of strategy by the disparate groups that use al Qaeda as a brand name.

The Saudi police seized copies of the book last week as they arrested 700 alleged terrorists in overnight raids.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07012008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/al_qaedas_plan_b_117936.htm?page=0

IN a notable departure from past al Qaeda strategy, Naji recommends “countless small operations” that render daily life unbearable, rather than a few spectacular attacks such as 9/11: The “infidel,” leaving his home every morning, should be unsure whether he’ll return in the evening.

Naji recommends kidnappings, the holding of hostages, the use of women and children as human shields, exhibition killings to terrorize the enemy, suicide bombings and countless gestures that make normal life impossible for the “infidel” and Muslim collaborators.

Heckler,

This strategy is nothing new, it has been a, if not the, the primary strategy of the “policy implementation” arm of Islamist (as opposed to Muslim) movements (i.e., terrorists) for years. In fact, this strategy may have been what backfired in Iraq. The Iraqis got sick of the violent crap that Al Qaeda launched against most of the country, whether it was the “wrong” Muslims (Shiites) or the “insufficient” Muslims (most of the remaining Sunni population).

That being said, Naji’s words are chilling, as are the words of a number of Islamist activists around the world, even those not overtly involved in terrorism.

“LJ, just because it’s called a JOURNAL doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a bias or published, sponsored, or written by fundies.”

Wrong avenue Political Mama.

There ARE studies that demonsrate what appear to be the beneficial effects of marriage, or at the very least an extremely strong correlation between being in a successful marriage and better health. I have no doubt whatsoever that the author referenced those studies.

The point is, Focus on the Family adopts a narrow definition of “traditional marriage”, defines it as the only real marriage, and then makes the claim that “gay marriage” and liberal lifestyle threatens marriage. Of course, this claim is predicated on their narrow definition. Then, when they start discussing the studies that indicate the benefits of marriage, they implicitly assume for the reader that these benefits are implicit and indeed dependent on their narrow definition of marriage, and that they are defending those benefits from those who would “redefine” and “threaten” marriage.

The reality is, however:

1) There is no evidence that these benefits are limited to the “traditional” marriages that are the only marriages that Focus on the Family would recognize.

2) That gay marriage would threaten other kinds of marriage at all.

In conclusion, the studies may indicate a high liklihood that there are benefits to being married, but they do not support the conclusions that Focus on the Family would have you draw about the exclusivity of their definition of marriage.

More from me and the Danster:
*****
Kansas: Is it true that Bush now considers bin Laden worth pursuing as a way to shore up his legacy as a guardian of American safety? Why is he thinking of this so late in his term?

Dan Froomkin: Sarah Baxter wrote in the Times of London a few weeks back about Bush’s “final attempt to capture Osama Bin Laden before he leaves the White House.

“Defence and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt was on for the leader of the September 11 attacks. ‘If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place,’ said a US intelligence source…..

“‘Bush is swinging for the fences in the hope of scoring a home run,’ said an intelligence source, using a baseball metaphor.”

Bush quickly dismissed the report as “a little bit of press hyperventilating.”

But it would be only human for Bush to really, really want to capture bin Laden before he leaves office. So it’s worth keeping an eye on how far he is willing to go.

Since we’ve presumably been trying as hard as reasonably possible for a while now (after Tora Bora), then all that’s left, if you want to try harder, is for us to get unreasonable, right?
*****

I have to respectfully disagree with the Danster on this one. Is it unreasonable for us to enter Pakistan when that country has allowed their border areas to be taken over by Al Qaeda? I do not think so, but they do have nukes, don’t they? Life is a risk, no?

Agnatha,

AKA kansasfrmgrrl?

If so, you are intelligent and write and communicate well.

Why not try to be a little more open minded and read the article and also the footnote references?

You might learn some REAL facts about marriage!

Maybe you are being too narrow minded?

“Political_mama
Posted July 2, 2008 at 12:53 pm | Permalink
LJ, just because it’s called a JOURNAL doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a bias or published, sponsored, or written by fundies.”

Please post a link that shows those that I lissted are published, sponsored, or written by “fundies”

I would be glad to listen. Did you even look at them?

A good way to indicate whether or not a religion is a peaceful one is to look at its fanatics. Fundamentalist Muslims, Jews and Christians become immensely violent. Fundamentalist Jains are the least violent.

American

I am not Agnatha.

You, however, are STILL an idiot.

#
cosmos_originally
Posted July 2, 2008 at 1:35 pm | Permalink

Multi-nic’d ‘Regular’ posted,

“Gas collection samples along busy city streets reveal that 1000ppm of co2 can be concentrated in worker areas.”
—————

And WHAT does that have to do with the level of well-mixed GLOBAL CO2?

Graphs of CO2 data from towers at different heights in North Carolina and Wisconsin. Lower heights show the diurnal changes.
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/ccgg/diurnal.html

CO2 measured at Barrow, Mauna Loa, Samoa, and the South Pole. Except for different seasonal variations, the trends are very similar.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/insitu.html
——————————-
Yes, well mixed…

Of course, we all know those huge population centers at Barrow, Mauna Loa, Samoa, and the South Pole. I mean they have malls and everything there!!

WTF happened to all the other posts today?

The fundies couldnt take it?

The spirit one guy is still a gangsta

Angry Johnny and the Killbillies are still correct.

And Kansas is STILL as bigoted as you think!

Oh, and I forgot a couple.

Obama is still a panderer who would throw ANYONE under the bus to get to the white house.

And generalissimo franco is STILL dead…

Hank, what is the ORIGINAL source of the crap you posted. It sure didn’t come from the CIA and I strongly doubt it came from your head.

Multi-nic’d ‘Regular’ posted,

“Of course, we all know those huge population centers at Barrow, Mauna Loa, Samoa, and the South Pole. I mean they have malls and everything there!!”
—————

Thank you, ‘Regular’, for helping to point out that most of Earth’s ATMOSPHERE is not heavily “populated”.

Hmmmm… wonder if THIS link caused the problems?

Six Bullets for Jesus is STILL funny. Censorship be damned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HtUE9YkNIA

Chas
Posted June 30, 2008 at 3:01 am | Permalink

“You are one of the biggest liars here!! I do not swear at posters — Just another one of your lies”

http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/06/open-thread-629-2/#comment-376050

Chas
Posted June 28, 2008 at 9:08 pm | Permalink

“I DONT THINK SO BITCH!!!”

http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/06/open-thread-628-2/#comment-375452

#
Agnatha
Posted July 2, 2008 at 1:46 pm | Permalink

Hank, what is the ORIGINAL source of the crap you posted. It sure didn’t come from the CIA and I strongly doubt it came from your head.

Chas., is that you?

LOL

#
cosmos_originally
Posted July 2, 2008 at 1:52 pm | Permalink

Multi-nic’d ‘Regular’ posted,

“Of course, we all know those huge population centers at Barrow, Mauna Loa, Samoa, and the South Pole. I mean they have malls and everything there!!”
—————

Thank you, ‘Regular’, for helping to point out that most of Earth’s ATMOSPHERE is not heavily populated.
—————————-
Being as the atmosphere is primarily composed of water vapor and gas particles, I would certainly hope it is not heavily populated.

cosmos is not a scientist.

kasfarmgrrl,

Always the bottom line for you is name calling and more name calling.

How childish and juvenile.

It shows your maturity level.

Don’t you have any good points to make?

Maggotpunk,

I thought you claimed to be a Christian. Are you now renouncing the faith or was it a lie all along?

Call Momma about the clubhouse, boy. Also, I have a name for the minister other than Chas.

Later.

I renounce Christianism.

KFG,

The only problem is that anyone who disagrees with homosexual marriage is a bigot according to you.

When you define the words based on agreement with you, it is a little more difficult “not to be one” according to you.

“I thought you claimed to be a Christian. Are you now renouncing the faith or was it a lie all along?”

Oh I am, but I have talked personally with Jesus and he told me to renounce you as a heathen and blasphemer. He is sick of you mocking him and taking his name in vain. Deut 13:1

Oh, I bet it was “waaaaaaambulance”

hehehehehehhe.HEE HEE HEE HEE HEEEE.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAH

Sucks to be you

Maggotpunk,

In one sentence you call Jesus a cult leader and in the next you say you are talking to him.

I think I am finally understanding why you are so messed up in regards to this subject.

David Barton – 02/06/2008

February 6, 2008

Greetings!

On February 5, nearly two dozen states made their voice heard in the presidential primaries. To help equip Christian voters to fulfill their role during the election season, WallBuilders produced a Voters’ Guide that was distributed to millions of homes.

That Voters’ Guide proved to be a great threat to anti-Biblical secularists. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State therefore filed an official complaint requesting that the IRS investigate both WallBuilders and the American Family Association (headed by Don Wildmon) for distributing that Voters’ Guide.

We have absolutely no intention of backing down or altering our message. We will not be intimidated. Benjamin Franklin observed, “Make yourself sheep, and the wolves will eat you,” and Thomas Jefferson wisely advised, “In matters of principle, stand like a rock!” We will! We will not be intimidated from exercising our constitutional rights and encouraging other Christians to do so.

In fact, please urge your friends and family in states that have not yet voted to download the Voters’ Guide (click here) and distribute it. Because the real intent of the secularists is to keep Christians out of the civil arena, the Rev. Barry Lynn (head of Americans United), warned that “Any church that distributes these biased guides is risking its tax exemption and casting aside its integrity.” He is dead wrong! The Voters’ Guide was reviewed by numerous constitutional attorneys before we released it. Show him that Christians will not be silenced and that his threats will only result in more aggressive action from Christians as we take our stand as salt and light in the civil arena!

Some often marvel that the head of such a secularist group as AU goes by the title of “Reverend,” yet Barry Lynn is indeed an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (the same denomination of which Barack Obama is a member) – considered the most liberal (and fastest declining) of all American denominations.

The UCC was the first denomination to ordain an openly gay minister (way back in the early 1970s) and to call for recognition of homosexual marriages; and over 200 of its churches are led by openly homosexual ministers. The UCC is also a strong advocate of abortion and openly endorsed abortion a full two years before the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court abortion decision in 1973. They even opposed the ban on partial-birth abortions.

The UCC does not accept fixed absolutes from the Bible, but instead believes that the Bible should be defined by the current culture and context. You can certainly understand why individuals with this worldview would not want Christians to vote Biblically.

Thus far throughout the primaries, Christian turnout has been high. Let’s keep it that way! Encourage your friends, family, and associates to remain involved!

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” Dante, The Inferno (circa 1315 A.D.)

http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=6560

For all of you out there, I made a typo. Typed “balling”, instead of “calling” and then reposted with the correct post.

But, leave it to the libs and lib radicals to go off in left field……….

American I’m Independent , so put me in center field, please.

HEE HEE HEE HEEEEEE….

Gster, I both “pitch” and “catch” ROFLMQAO!

Just for you american. For every gay teenager in the world.

Survival of the Fittest
I was alone.

Vulnerable.

Separated from my pack.

Adolescents quickly smell weakness.
A ravening pack of merciless wolves,
it didn’t take them long to sniff out my fear.
I can still see them circling me now.

Their attacks were subtle at first…
nibbling at my insecurities, tasting me.
Savouring tiny morsels of my self-respect,
licking their chops
while grinning to my face
with their well-sharpened teeth.

Later, hungry jowls dripping with sarcasm,
they ventured larger mouthfuls, brazenly piercing
my flesh with malevolent mockery, until
angst, loathing–even hatred–freely flowed.
New experiences, which gave me
nowhere to retreat
to lick my wounds.

Still, it was a surprise to me
when they moved in for the kill…
remorseless fangs embedded in my throat,
howls of victory rebounding off
disemboweled innocence.
I never truly believed
that my own kind could be capable
of such atrocities.

I have survived, though my scars
remain clearly visible.
Time does not heal all wounds.
Still, it was not my attackers who severed
my faith in humanity.

It was you.

You.

Who stood silently by

and watched.

http://allpoetry.com/poem/4224747

So American are there any other alternatives other than Liberal or Conservative? I want to give you a chance to explain how that is not a false dilema.

I will even give you a hint. Moderate.

Or is gster either with you or against you?

…and the UCC um, ENDORSED abortion? WTF?

I think they endorse a woman’s right to chose.

But nice smear. You get gymnastic difficulty points.

Agnatha,

Hank thinks “Chas”

Linda thinks “ksagnostic”

I am not sure who you are, but have decided all lib lunches should be announced here. The announcements’ terroristic value of stimulating con paranoia is quite impressive.

Hey, KFG, I think I told you but I saw Angry Johnny and the Killbillies at Kirby’s Beer Store in 1998. Those guys were driving across the country in a 60’s era chevy van. They were one very strange and impressive act. [Remind me sometime, when my sweetie is not arround, to tell you the story of tatooed women]. I bought their CD What’s so Funny?. It is a prized possession of mine. My favorite song from that album is High Noon in Killsville – the lyrics for same follow. It is a story of a grocery store robbery that goes terribly wrong:

http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Angry-Johnny-The-Killbillies/High-Noon-In-Killville.html

“My boy, you need an exorcism to rid yourself of the demonic influences which have perverted your soul.”

Or, you know, he might prefer a “come to Jesus” message delivered by a gun weilding Angry Johnny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HtUE9YkNIA

“Chas., is that you?

“LOL”

No, and that is not a reply. You appear to have cut and pasted without attribution. Or is that entire post your work?

ksfarmgrrl,

Once again, your extremeism (e intended) and ignorance is showing.

Dance poodle, dance!

I love a good poodle dance in the afternoon.

American
Posted July 2, 2008 at 3:24 pm | Permalink
Same Gender Extremists do not believe in Democracy, but seek to manipulate the judicial system by stacking the courts with liberal justices to circumvent the democratic process and give “special rights” to those who would in conscience destroy the democracy for their own lifestyle choices and all this with no shame, but only with their own supposed glorification.
**********
Dude,

In all seriousness: talk to your M.D. about the new generation antipsychotics.

Equal rights are “special rights” – are you really from America?

“Extremists” are either for us or against us. Either they are Liberal or they are Conservative.

Just one of the philosophies of the neocon. Complete with the false dilema.

…collect the whole set…

OMG, you guys have to go to comment number 26 on this thread. One of the funniest pictures I’ve seen in a long time. A sheep, watching fux news.

heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×3554934

KFG says >>> “Bigotry SHOULD be walled in.”

You left off one thing… ‘And sealed in a sound proof room’

LOL

Agnatha, As you said when you told us you were a new nic but it should be obvious who you had been — it was! Seems fair for someone to change their nic if they choose but I appreciate honesty so thanks for letting us know you had changed, and the guessing game was fun.

ksfarmgrrl,

You really should run for public office, you know.

The Green Party!

In Kansas!

I dunno Chas.

Was poodle dancing banned in the USSR?

Ok, found the cap, but now I hafta find the remote.

And meanwhile…

Since this is “guess the nic” day, does anyone else think american sounds a lot like okobserver, who sounds a lot like germie?

Chas
Posted July 2, 2008 at 3:48 pm | Permalink

EVERY ONE of those strengths/values of marriage posted/copied upthread ALSO applies to a Gay Couple…. EVERY ONE of them….

———————————
I dunno, I don’t see mom and dad or grandpa and grandma on the gay list of comparisons.

“The nation’s top military officer said today that more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan to help tamp down an increasingly violent insurgency but does not have sufficient forces to send because of the war in Iraq.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070202010.html?hpid=topnews

WTF? If we don’t have enough troops to back up our forces in Afghanistan, how are we going to fight a war in Iran?
Oh please let the Draft resume. Let’s spread the casualties around so everybody gets to share the pain.

As a REAL American (Native American) I also wish you a happy 4th American. And a good holiday for all – careful with the Chinese fireworks!

‘I am not sure who you are, but have decided all lib lunches should be announced here. The announcements’ terroristic value of stimulating con paranoia is quite impressive.”

LOL!

Didn’t realize it was a ‘lib’ lunch! I read it as an open invitation. If it was on a Thursday I might have attended.

As far as paranoia is concerned, I don’t know of a group of the conservatives that sneak around with private emails back and forth planning meetings and BLOG strategy.

LOL

bth,

Happy 4th of July to you to, as I am a Real American, born and raised.

But all are “Real Americans” who believe in what America stands for and have become citizens.

What tribe are you from?

#
HLP
Posted July 2, 2008 at 4:15 pm | Permalink

‘I am not sure who you are, but have decided all lib lunches should be announced here. The announcements’ terroristic value of stimulating con paranoia is quite impressive.”

LOL!

Didn’t realize it was a ‘lib’ lunch! I read it as an open invitation. If it was on a Thursday I might have attended.

As far as paranoia is concerned, I don’t know of a group of the conservatives that sneak around with private emails back and forth planning meetings and BLOG strategy.

LOL

============================
But Hank, they can’t gossip and say bad things about us when they are there.

You know, the all seeing – all knowing progressives liberals.

(chortles)

Did they find the little leprechaun that goes with the gold?? Just wondering… :roll:

No, Chas. The little leprechaun lives here with me. He’s a keeper too! ;-)

Cherokee. Neither Eastern nor Western band – Tennessee.

Hank Price,

Can you explain why you seem to believe that “98.5%” = “perfectly capable”?

Wouldn’t “perfectly capable” = at least 100%?

If a bilge pump pumps out 98.5% of a large amount of water leaking into a boat, is that pump “perfectly capable” of keeping the boat from sinking?

LOL Steven… I agree… they CANT be American with those attitudes… ;roll:

Most people with paranoia don’t realize they are not important enough to persecute.

…and Chas and Steven Davis perform their bobble-headed act of progressive liberal agreement.

Good afternoon cosmos!

I’m a sailor! I love bilge pump analogies! I know a lot about bilge pumps! Steam driven bilge pumps, DC 8 stage centrifigal bilge pumps, portable gasolene powered bilge pumps, I could go on and on . . . .

What was the question again? I guess I am forgetful!

Hank Price,

Can you explain why you seem to believe that “98.5%” = “perfectly capable”?

Wouldn’t “perfectly capable” = at least 100%?

JPANet July 2008

Good News!

Recently we asked you to share some of the good work happening in your community. Check out the justice work happening in your community and tune in for more!

Powerful and transformative work is happening in St. Paul, MN where for the past decade local congregations have been working on a restorative Justice project in their communities. This is a process in which offenders (often juveniles) and victims get together with trained volunteers and community members to decide how to repair the harm that was caused. Click here to learn more about their ministry.

Each month we strive to highlight some of the powerful justice work happening in congregations all around the country. Do you have a story to share? Send it to palatucj@ucc.org.

Justice in Legislation

Full Speed Ahead for the Jubilee Act

The Jubilee Act continues to gain momentum. The bill has passed through the House of Representatives and has crossed over to the Senate. On June 24th the Jubilee Act passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was reported out by voice vote for consideration by the full Senate! What’s next for the Jubilee Act? It must now be considered and passed by the full Senate before it can go to the President and be signed into law. We expect it to go on the Unanimous Consent calendar, and be voted on after the July 4th recess. One Senator can block the bill and stop all the progress we’ve made in the House and Senate. Please keep an eye on your email for updates and thanks for all your hard work!

One for the win column!

A few weeks ago we asked you to pressure Congress to extend Unemployment insurance. Because of the strong advocacy done on this issue Congress has granted 13 more weeks of unemployment benefits! These additional weeks of UI benefits are extremely important because close to 4 million workers have already exhausted their 26 weeks of state benefits or will do so by March 2009. With the prices of fuel and food rising and few new jobs being created, this extension will go a long way to support families in need. The extension was included as part of the war spending bill. Also included were veterans’ education benefits, protection against Medicaid cutbacks, and disaster relief. Thank you for all your work on this!

Happy Birthday Medicare!

The Medicare Program, signed into law by President Johnson, turns 43 this month. Medicare provides health care to seniors which help them have better quality of life. Sadly, recent legislation (HR 6331) to provide funding for improvements to the program and safeguard reimbursement to the doctors who serve our seniors was blocked by the Senate last week. The bill will be voted again after the July 4th recess. This vote is critical. If you see your Senator at a cook-out or town meeting during the holiday, please urge them to do the right thing on Medicare and vote Yes for H.R. 6331. Click here for more information

Justice Events

There are opportunities to do Justice everywhere! Here are a few highlights that the Program Staff at Justice and Witness Ministries are involved in and we invite you to get involved, too!

Global Trade Week of Action

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance sponsors an annual Trade Week of Action throughout the global community in the second full week of October. The purpose of the week is to bring attention to how trade, as it is practiced now, needs significant reform. Church and community groups in all areas of the world hold events to highlight the issue. This year, a group of trade activists in South, Central, and North America are coordinating efforts. In addition, sponsors have created a song contest. Musicians are encouraged to write a theme song for the week and to send their composition (in English and Spanish, if possible) to Wally by August 15, 2008. The winner will receive a cash prize of $500. Please contact Wally at ryankurw@ucc.org for more details.

Would you like to join coffee co-op immersion trip to Chiapas, Mexico, January 24 – February 3, 2009?

The Jubilee Justice Task Force of the UCC Massachusetts Conference and Equal Exchange’s Interfaith Program are sponsoring a trip to explore the impact of fair trade and free trade on coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico. Come visit an indigenous coffee cooperative and learn first-hand about the lives of the farmers; learn the economic and political background of coffee in Mexico; investigate the relationship between global economic forces and local hardships; and learn about the role of liberation theology in the lives of Mexican coffee farmers. Cost is approximately $900; for more information, contact Stan Duncan standuncan@jubileejustice.com (781-504-6875), or Peter Buck pbuck@equalexchange.coop (774-776-7414).

Justice Partnerships

Broad Coalition Calls for New Philosophy of Public Education:

This month’s featured resource on our Public Education webpage is “A Broader, BOLDER Approach to Education”, a statement released on June 10 by sixty civil rights leaders, pediatricians, school superintendents, sociologists, educators, and including the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches. The report refutes both the strategy and the philosophy of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), by rejecting NCLB’s exclusive focus on basic reading and math, and by proclaiming that society must alleviate economic conditions that impair achievement by improving healthcare, quality early-education, and out-of-school enrichments. We encourage you to go to the project website to become a co-signer

What Does Peace Look Like for You?

He’s back! The Peace Bubble guy, Jerry Leggett, in partnership with the Dayton Peace Museum, is hitting the road between now and election day with a traveling, multimedia exhibit called the Peace Bubble Café. To volunteer or to help host a stop, to follow the tour, or just to find out more, go to: http://www.MyPeaceSpace.org. And while you’re there, set up your own Peace Space for free!

Justice Resources

Witness for Justice Op-Ed’s

Tired of reading Opinion Editorials (Op-Ed’s) which don’t reflect your beliefs on issues that are of importance to you? Are you looking for commentaries rooted in faith and justice that speak out against our nation’s social ills? Then check out the JWM’s Witness for Justice Articles written by members of our staff. Simply click the following link to read the latest issue: http://www.ucc.org/justice/advocacy_resources/witness-for-justice/

LLTVET, I’m not gay, I’m married and happily with children. I do support gay marriage.

I think marriage has benefit of being equal for all those who want it. I think the rest of that is utter nonsense.

That being my point…be married if you want, and don’t if you don’t.

There are all sorts of legal rights that married couples have that single people dont.
And I think there is an emotional aspect to it…one is less likely to sleep around…more apt to be more committed. But I’m not going to dis a single person either by saying that it’s MARRIAGE that causes all these good things to happen.

I think the people who quoted these studies were trying very hard to make a correlation.. and correlation doens’t equal causation. Just like the old alcholic….its really far more likely that he was a drunk before he got divorced and that’s WHY he died earlier rather than assigning it to marriage.

Now as far as my lunch, I think the person that is posting didn’t even attend our meeting, but it’s funny that they’re attributing it to that.

Also- I wouldn’t call it a ‘lib lunch’ as I don’t really consider mary a liberal.

By the way, I’m going to miss another day of work over this nonsense…I’m beyond irked and irritable now. 3 days with no pay I cannot afford.

GOD I certainly hope so. I’m really irked that I didn’t know this could happen too, especially when the nurse said when I called that she gets many calls about this per day…perhaps that’s a clue that they’re being deficient on teaching.

ksfarmgrrl
Posted July 2, 2008 at 3:51 pm | Permalink
I dunno Chas.

Was poodle dancing banned in the USSR?
=======================================

I thik it was — only the Russian Wolfhounds were permiyyed “dancing” permits!! :-)

Sigh. One more nail in the coffin and knife through the heart of small towns.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-01-small-to...

“Soaring gas prices are a double-whammy for many rural residents: They often pay more than people who live in cities and suburbs because of the expense of hauling fuel to their communities, and they must drive greater distances for life’s necessities: work, groceries, medical care and, of course, gas.

Meanwhile, incomes typically are lower in rural areas, making increasingly high gas prices an especially urgent concern. Rural households also are more likely to have older, less fuel-efficient vehicles such as pickups, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) says. The average age of a vehicle in a rural household: 8.7 years, compared with 7.9 years for an urban vehicle.

Rural residents do more driving, too — an average of 3,100 miles a year more than urban dwellers, the FHWA says.

A May survey by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), a fuel analysis company, and Wright Express, a company that collects data on credit card transactions, found that people in rural areas spend as much as 16.02% of their monthly family income on gas, while people in urban areas of New York and New Jersey spend as little as 2.05%.

“The people who can least afford this are getting hit the worst,” says Glen Falk, retail pricing manager at OPIS. “These are people who can’t telecommute or carpool or use public transportation or any of the other things that people in metro areas can do to ease the pain.”

You can blame your pal Nathan for any “cruel jokes” there queen bee. The situation has been many times explained.

That YOU consider me a slimer I find very flattering. It takes one to know one.

Now get on your broom and fly off and change your nic.

Lewis Black on America,
caution coarse language:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mCDZMWVWuc

Long, but well worth the read:

PLEASE READ THIS…..IT IS THE STORY OF AMERICA AND AMERICA ‘S FUTURE

Subject: Texas A&M Graduate Commencement Address

This Texas lawyer, himself recipient of an Honorary Degree, is obviously opinionated, but to say what he does, in a commencement address a couple of weeks ago, in front of a class of Texas A & M graduates, and especially the faculty, is amazing. I would have loved to have been there just to see the faculty reaction. Commencement Address ( Texas A&M) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:14:32 +0000. This should be considered must-reading for every adult in North America . It is extremely rare that anyone speaks the truth like this at any College or High School Commencement Address. Neal Boortz is a Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE ( Texas A&M), and now a nationally syndicated talk show host from Atlanta . His commencement address to the graduates of this year’s A&M class is far different from what either the students or the faculty expected. His views are thought provoking.

‘I am honored by the invitation to address you on this August occasion. It’s about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you; you’ll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet your tassels I’m not here to impress the faculty and administration. You may not like much of what I have to say, and that’s fine. You will remember it though. Especially after about 10 years out there in the real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.

This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You’ve heard the old saying that those who can – do. Those who can’t – teach. That sounds deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach.

By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma doesn’t mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my private pilot’s license many years ago, he said, ‘Here, this is your ticket to learn.’ The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the learning has just begun.

Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all you’re a compassionate and caring person, aren’t you now? Well, isn’t that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.

Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast… including your own assessment of just how much you really know.

So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear ‘I feel.’ From the Right you will hear ‘I think.’ From the Liberals you will hear references to groups — The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual rights.

That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics. Conservatives and Libertarians think — and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual.

Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives and Libertarians, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses.

In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now.

If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself to be a libertarian or a conservative, rush right back here as quickly as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven’t developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past four years.

Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your eyes. You’re going to actually get a full time job!

You’re also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn’t going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday. This partner doesn’t want to share in your effort, but in your earnings.

Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can’t manage to sell any of her artwork on the open market.

Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An agent for multi-million- dollar companies who want someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agent’s for their personal enrichment and benefit.

That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this agent has. Power that you do not have A power that no individual has, or will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to accomplish its goals.

You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It will sleep anywhere it wants to.

Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I’m sorry, there just isn’t any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can’t decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you.

So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise government for government is inherently evil. Yes … a necessary evil, but dangerous one nonetheless … somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal.

Now let’s address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they fail miserably out there in the real world.

First is that favorite buzz word of the media, government and academia: Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people – be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever – is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is based not on an individual’s abilities or character, but on a person’s identity and status as a member of a group. Yes, it’s that liberal group identity thing again.

Within the great diversity movement group identification – be it racial, gender based, or some other minority status – means more than the individual’s integrity, character or other qualifications.
Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word ‘diversity’ you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess.

We also need to address this thing you seem to have about ‘rights.’ We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called ‘rights’ in the last few decades, usually emanating from college campuses.
You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a place to live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right – the right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so.

Forget it. Forget those rights! I’ll tell you what your rights are! You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your labor. I’ll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or labor of another.

You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn’t she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time – his life – to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that’s his choice. You have no ‘right’ to his time or property. You have no right to his or any other person’s life or to any portion thereof.

You may also think you have some ‘right’ to a job; a job with a living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure you would scream if some urban outdoors men (that would be ‘homeless person’ for those of you who don’t want to give these less fortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your money..

The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are simply exercising one of theirs – the right to be imbeciles. Their being imbeciles didn’t cost anyone else either property or time. It’s their right, and they exercise it brilliantly.

By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase ‘less fortunate’ a bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoors men? That phrase is a favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you’ll understand why.

To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is ‘less fortunate’ is to imply that a successful person – one with a job, a home and a future – is in that position because he or she was ‘fortunate.’ The dictionary says that fortunate means ‘having derived good from an unexpected place.’ There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street.

If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and failure are simple matters of ‘fortune’ or ‘luck,’ then it is easy to promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This ’success equals luck’ idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as ‘people who have won life’s lottery.’ He wants you to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It’s not luck, my friends. It’s choice. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled ‘The Greatest Secret in the World.’ The lesson? Very simple: ‘Use wisely your power of choice.’

That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He’s there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or other – victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say, ‘Look! He did this to me!’ than it is to look into a mirror and say, ‘You S. O. B.! You did this to me!’

The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to either success or failure, however you define those terms.
Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school. Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle. Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another better-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle yourself with huge payments for that new car.

Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the movies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tube tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block – some large, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich.

The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people. Businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich.

Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most Americans feel for the evil rich.

Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batch of White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power. And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will be punished: ‘The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have anything to do with it. The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more ‘fair.’

You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government’s own numbers show that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and the poor who remain poor . there’s an explanation — a reason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich; while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor.

Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor So, you need to know that under our government’s definition of ‘poor’ you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, and valet, and $ million in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by our government as ‘living in poverty.’ Now there’s something you haven’t seen on the evening news.

How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To determine whether or not some poor soul is ‘living in poverty,’ the government measures one thing — just one thing. Income. It doesn’t matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel, the government says you are ‘living in poverty.’
This isn’t exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government’s own statistics show that people who are said to be ‘living in poverty’ spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.

Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare programs, which translates into an expansion of its power. If the government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of ‘poor’ is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive Compassion Disorder.

I’m about to be stoned by the faculty here. They’ve already changed their minds about that honorary degree I was going to get. That’s OK, though. I still have my PhD. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute for Insensitivity Training.. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks. It’s a trap. Think about it – the truth knows no sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you’ll be unable to deal with life, or the truth. So, get over it.

Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random thoughts.

* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down and shutting up until you are on your own again.
* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more important than your vote for president. The House controls the purse strings, so concentrate your awareness there.
* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of the country. If someone can’t deal honestly with you, send them packing.
* Don’t bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who earned it — to take their money by force for your own needs — then it is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step forward and do this dirty work for you.
* Don’t look in other people’s pockets. You have no business there. What they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours. Keep it that way. Nobody owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and leave you the hell alone.
* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers Forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don’t see highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark.
* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.
* Finally (and aren’t you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote,

1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile .. drive home in the dark.

Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if you have any idea at all what’s good for you, you will get the hell out of here and never come back.

Class dismissed’

Old Boortz sure can give a speech eh?

He sure has the Libs pegged accurately.

As the expression goes, we all start as Liberals, but grow up and accept the responsibilities of being conservative. Play time is over once you leave school, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work and stop whining.

How many YEARS have you been on public assistance there James?

“As the expression goes, we all start as Liberals, but grow up and accept the responsibilities of being conservative.”

Yeah, right – and scream for corporate welfare because it is “good for the economy” instead of taking responsibility for your own poor business decisions.

Yeah, conservatives are all against “socialism” unless it benefits big business.

Hypocrites.

HMMMM sounds like alot of people are having a hard time with Neals advice

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/06/thomas-friedman-economy-to-be-number.html

On top of it all, our bank crisis is not over. Two weeks ago, Goldman Sachs analysts said that U.S. banks may need another $65 billion to cover more write-downs of bad mortgage-related instruments and potential new losses if consumer loans start to buckle. Since President Bush came to office, our national savings have gone from 6 percent of gross domestic product to 1 percent, and consumer debt has climbed from $8 trillion to $14 trillion.

#
bth
Posted July 2, 2008 at 10:42 pm | Permalink

Gee regular – I work about 50-60 hours/week; volunteer for charity groups; pay my taxes; and help with my gradchildren. That sure is irresponsible of me isn’t it?

Boortz is full of BS.
———————–
Well Ben, you act like a conservative during your day job and family responsibilities, but you put on your liberal hat when you come to the blog.

It appears you haven’t successfully committed to a full transition.

Living it and then professing the opposite in the blog is ummm…hypocritical?

BlueJay
Posted July 2, 2008 at 10:32 pm | Permalink

Um

Neal Boortz works 3 hours a day and has for like the last 30 years.

I wish I had the transcript of the high priest of the painful truth answering my email some years ago….ON AIR.

I had let him know that those planes he loves to fly were built by people like me. I told him that SOME of those people love and agree with him.

And that many of the people who build the planes he flies….well.

I finished up by telling him that I was gonna send out a part that could cheat inspection JUST for him and the supervision that was ALWAYS on me to do so.

I like to think the Neal has me in the back of his little mind when he flies
————————————-
Confessions of a murderer.

Multi-nic’d ‘Regular’,

Found any science yet to support your (100% bogus) claim that global CO2 was around 400 ppm in the 1940’s? No. . .? Why not. . .?

grmie and her hubby learned how to live off the backs of others all on their own.

They use other people to make them money. They are parasites.

Boortz has more than me and that is a fact.

YOU have more than me.

As a person, I am more than the all of you together.

And I drive a truck when I need to thank you.

Damn I thought the old wet hen grmie would be dry by now. Guess not.

BJ must be sad to be you – someone who always envies what others have and is too lazy to get out and earn it like they did.

Good nite. Maybe tomorrow will be better for you. It isn’t to late for you to grow up.

Your spelling is going grmie.

Time to lay off posting or lay off the sauce.

Or not! This is fun and very revealing about you.

“how it works in a caplistic society.”

What is a “caplistic” society?

That sounds like a perverted cult.

Thanks linda.

And here you were leaving us for good there grmie.

Something about the posts and posters here not being worthy of your time as I recall.

When you come back (again and probably in the middle of the night) I hope that you will take to heart that it is better to be pissed off than pissed on. I hope you will take the lesson to the office with you and the people who provide you your living.

And Hank has still not explained why he seems to believe that “98.5%” = “perfectly capable”?

Wouldn’t “perfectly capable” = at least 100%?

cosmos admits that the computer climate models are inaccurate yet he lies about their ability to accurately predict future climate.

With less than half of climate data categorized and even a more tiny amount analyzed, cosmos spews another lie that the science is settled.

Only a politically motivated skank and political hack like cosmos would say ‘the science is settled’ when science is not even close to being settled.

cosmos is not a scientist.

Lets review the typical tactics of cosmos:

Start of with an ad hominem attack calling the person a liar.

“Maybe multi-nic’d ‘Regular’s church does not mind if he is a LIAR”

Bring in a complete mischaracterization of those in the discussion

“because they hate climate scientistsand the Sierra Club as much as he does?”

How do you know they hate climate scientists and the sierra club cosmos?

Has regular ever said he hates either of those?

Simply because we disagree on some things is not reason for you to lie about what we think or Regular thinks or Regulars church thinks.

Now cosmos will start to rap up his post with yet another personal attack:

“Is it because all that ‘Regular’ has is his moldy, old Industrial Hygiene ENGINEERING degree?”

And finally finish it off with another lie:

“And. . . his hatred of carbon taxes, and real climate science?”

Cosmos,

You are probably still sitting at home honestly scratching your head wondering why we don’t take you seriously?

Perhaps if 3/4 of your post was not lies and mischaracterizations, you would get somewhere.

And Nathaniel. . .

Can you explain WHY your father seems to believe that “98.5%” equals “perfectly capable”?

Wouldn’t “perfectly capable” = at least 100%?

After checking Boortz’s Texas A&M speech out further, I found the following;
‘Snopes says it’s false….they’re WRONG
‘Truth & Fiction’ says it’s false….they’re WRONG
Both are behind the times and haven’t corrected their information.
Well, I guess one can’t place so much confidence in those sources either.

“Well Ben, you act like a conservative during your day job and family responsibilities, but you put on your liberal hat when you come to the blog.

It appears you haven’t successfully committed to a full transition.

Living it and then professing the opposite in the blog is ummm…hypocritical?”

No regular – it’s just that I am intelligent enough to realize that we must as a society plan for the future. This includes such things as education, sustainable technologies, sustainable lifestyles, etc. I profess absolutely nothing that is the opposite of my hard-working and tax-paying lifestyle.

Indie
Posted July 3, 2008 at 8:21 am | Permalink

Regular
Posted July 2, 2008 at 10:37 pm | Permalink
“…… Anyone that would commit murder over their selfish ideologies is no different that Theodore Kascinscki the Unabomber…..

and that would make gwb (wpe) like Kascinski

way to go loser
———————-
By George, Indie is actually gay for me. He has followed me around the forums all day long.

BL – quick question. I could look it up of course but what is the drive time to Branson? I wonder if the 4-6 year olds would like it?

bth,
We went to and from Branson through northeastern Oklahoma to pick the grandkids up so this trip didn’t reveal that info. from around here.
Here’s what I found at FreeTrip; http://www.freetrip.com/
and is what I have found on other trips from here.

***DISTANCE DISPLAYED IN MILES***
TOTAL 299
HIGHWAY DISTANCE: 254
CITY DISTANCE: 45
0 0:00
Starting at: I-135 & US 54 299 5:08 hours

My grandkids LOVED it.
They are 9, 6, and 4 years old and loved the ‘camping’, the nightly camp fires, the cooking on the fire, etc. and Silver Dollar City and other exploring that we did.
I bought season tickets so as not to feel pressured to stay when we got tired, more likely with the adults than the kids, ha, and we could come and go over the 5 days as we wished.
We stayed in a camp cabin and took a Thetford Portapotty for the kids and wife at night.
My wife and I are pretty set up for camping as in our slightly younger days we would camp up around Leadville, CO at over 10,500 ft. and climb the fourteeners there, like Mt. Massive and Elbert, etc. those around 14,400+ ft. elevation. We have our camping stuff in large plastic containers and can just grab and go. All we needed to do with the kids is add some place settings to eat and extra sleeping bags and food.
I highly recommend you do it…they grow up so fast as is evident with our ten year old, she is almost as tall as my wife.
Great time together, they will remember, and so will we.

PS:
bth,
Those directions take you to Springfield and south to Branson as that is the easiest and fastest, but in my opinion not the best.
We, starting from northeastern OK had plenty of time so we went through the Neosho, MO area and through Cassville and Kimberling City and to Roaring River State Park for a couple of hours to see the fish hatchery and all the folks trout fishing the spring and cave, etc.
That way is slower, with switch back roads, but all good, and much prettier to boot.

I beleive the Boortz speech posted above is the one that the Boortz website says:

“No, this speech has never been delivered at a college or a university. It was written to protest the fact that such an invitation has never been offered! It has only been delivered on my radio show, printed in my book “The Terrible Truth About Liberals” and produced on a limited edition CD. The irony is that this commencement speech has been more widely distributed, and has been the subject of more comment than any commencement speech that actually has been delivered at any college or university in the past 50 years. ©Copyright 2001, 2002, 2003 by Neal Boortz.
http://www.boortz.com “

Depending on your starting point, another nice drive is to go south to 166 through Coffeyville and across that way. Then up to Branson. Longer, but nicer drive

Too far for a ‘one-nighter’ – will have to try to schedule some longer jaunts. I’ve been putting together some ’staycations’ within a couple of hours of here to give the munchkins a lot of fun ‘weekends’.

Now if I could just find a way to siphon off some of their energy …

Ben we spend a lot of time in the Branson area and can get to West Branson in a little less than 4 hours. We go 400 and miss Joplin by jogging to the north around the Carthage area. One site the kids would probably like there as well as the wife is the ‘Precious Moments’ museum.

Take 44 until you see the James river turnoff (#69). Turn left and follow it aroound until you see the Nixa turnoff. Turn south here and it will take you straight into West Branson where Silver Dollar City is and also some cabins that are very family friendly. You miss the Springfield traffic this way.

I’m not as brave as you and we are roughing it in a cabin at Big Cedar. A beautiful area owned by the Bass Pro Shop owner. There is a place out that way called Dogwood Canyon. Great place for kids to hike, catch huge trout in a catch and release area and just see nature unspoiled waterfalls and all. It is south of Branson off of 65 highway. They have wagon tours if you prefer to ride and also rent bikes if you want to ride the trails. It goes all the way down into Arkansas. If you do it right it takes the better part of a day.

littlejohn,
Right, and that’s what it says on some other sites as well. There are several references lately though to him actually getting to deliver it just lately, this year, including a date in January 2008, but upon reflection and further search I doubt those listing.
This is why:
http://therightrant.blogspot.com/2008/04/neal-boortz-commencement-speech.html