Comments on: SEARCHING FOR THE TRILLION-DOLLAR EARMARK

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:29:40 +0000

Facts are extremely important, especially if you can get them right. However, the more important point which Ed made is that quibbling over relatively minor matters, no matter how important each may seem in itself, should not distract our nation from the most important issues at hand. Ed conveniently provided some dollar-quantities for comparison in his argument, yet we have other issues which may not be quantifiable but are examples of issues we need to keep uppermost in our minds. For example, McCain may be either a war-criminal for dropping bombs on civilians in densely populated areas in Viet Nam, or he may be a war-hero for surviving incarceration in a POW prison in the same country. This is interesting, and important, but I question whether it is worth much discussion when the far more pressing issue is whether, or not, the USA should cease killing thousands of people in the Middle East ASAP, cease imprisoning and torturing thousands more, and cease exposing US soldiers and mercenaries to harm. Something which is potentially quantifiable, but hidden from public scrutiny, is the amount of money the USA spends building military bases all over the world (such as the 4 or 5 enormous ones under construction in Iraq). (See "Nemesis" by Chalmers Johnson)

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:28:54 +0000

Terry: Might I suggest cracking open a good book, picking up a hobby, or jerking off or getting laid? Ah, fuck it. You are probably just going to end up doing a swan dive off of a tall building after the economy collapses since money is all you care about.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:41:18 +0000

Also, does McCain think baby Trig has autism?

McCain: "And, by the way, [Palin] also understands special-needs families. She understands that autism is on the rise, that we've got to find out what's causing it, and we've got to reach out to these families, and help them, and give them the help they need as they raise these very special needs children."

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:39:04 +0000

Well Ed, I think this is really the clearest indication that you've made it. When your blog posts draw commenters to go off on barely-relevant rants while completely ignoring the content of your post, all while criticizing you for not posting about the topic that they care about, then you're a real blogger.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:37:05 +0000

If you all think this post was a defense of earmarks, or the earmarking system, your reading skills are in trouble.

If you were a serious anti-tax hawk, earmarks should be around 20th in line of your priorities.

What's with people bragging about their incomes in here? Taxes to Earmarks are such a petite bourgeois issue – all the rich people I know bitch about mark-to-market accountancy regulation.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:37:06 +0000

Um, most of the people who comment regularly are between 25-50. All of them, to my knowledge, have jobs. I know you can't conceive of anyone being "old" and not seeing the wisdom of Reaganism, but believe it or not some of us find it unpersuasive.

I made a sizeable salary for several years before grad school and it didn't change the way I felt about these issues. I had much, much better things to do with my time than piss and moan about taxes. You do not, and I can respect that.

The "you will all become Republicans when you get older" argument is as illogical as it is demonstrably false. And for the record, no one in America pays "high" taxes. Float back to RonPaul.com and pretend that your bitterness is justified. Alternatively, get a life and try to enjoy it rather than worrying about the 30% of your income that the government steals from you.

By: pmayo

pmayo — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:10:23 +0000

And the ad hominem circumstantial rears its hoary head. Of course we, the impoverished masses, yearning to be educated, couldn't possibly have an principled, reasoned stance on taxes and government spending; we're just naive, poor students, after all, not possessed of the requisite riches to reason properly. Money can't buy love, but apparently it can buy principles.

By: Terry

Terry — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:00:55 +0000

Not a very convincing post. I tend to agree with jon re:government spending.

This board primarily has students posting; you all do not pay high taxes so that probably informs your opinions. Just wait until you have careers and have to pay more, then you will think again about these "programs".

By: beau

beau — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:35:58 +0000

Pfft…facts.
You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true.