Shorter Powertools
Posted on October 8th, 2007 by Jillian
- So-called “pre-existing conditions” are a myth of the liberal media, as this hard-hitting investigative journalism from the serious journalists at Free Republic shows.
‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard.
That freeper uses his “expose” to list the home address of a 12 year old boy and his family. Nice.
And it’s PRICELESS! HAHAHAFACE!!11 Sick kids are so funny.
Freepers are made of win, but that’s because they don’t have souls, and have to be made of something.
You beat me to it, Johnny. That’s exactly what I was going to say.
FWIW, the freepers seem to be ragging on the family because 1) the kids go to a private school and 2) the dad owns his own company and 3) they have a big house.
1) – how odd that now the freepers are championing the public schools! Do you suppose the kid’s school is a faith-based school? How elitist!
2) – isn’t it one of the problems of our health care insurance situation that small business owners can’t afford to provide health insurance for their employees – and themselves? Why now do the freepers consider small business owners wealthy and privileged rather than struggling under the burden of government mandates?
3) – A big house purchased several years ago may be a better economic choice than selling it or borrowing against it for health insurance that may cost more than the monthly mortgage payment.
The kid goes to private school on full-ride academic scholarship, and so one assumes does his sister.
Fucking asshat freepers.
g, how dare you use “facts” and “argument” against the One True Faith. Stop that.
What baffles me about this is that it seems these guys think that if you aren’t too poor to be worthy of a government handout (i.e., you’re a “welfare queen”), then you’re too rich.
You have to wonder where the middle ground is for them.
Well, no, I suppose you don’t – you just realize eventually that the closer to a Hobbesean state of nature we are, the happier they are.
the freepers seem to be ragging on the family because 1) the kids go to a private school and 2) the dad owns his own company and 3) they have a big house.
Well, that would be typical: all for the free-market capitalism wealth-making moving up the social ladder “American Dream”, except when it benefits someone who disagrees with them.
Dear Powerline,
Why do you hate children?
Yours sincerely,
N. Gently.
PS: Please actually answer this, I really would like to know.
PPS: And don’t answer it by sniffing and saying you-don’t-it’s-just, because you clearly do.
And another thing: if you could work your will, people who care in the slightest about others “should” be killed? “Should”, not “would”? Even if you were god-emperor of the world? Pussy.
Oh my lord. If you read Steyn’s article, and go to the link at “Insureblog” (no links, I’m too annoyed to bother), the douche “calls bullshit” on their claims that it would cost $1200 a month to insure the family by linking to some plans “available” for $450 a month.
The scare quotes around available should be familiar to anyone anywhere who’s ever a) had so much as a prescription for antacids, b) priced health insurance, c) arrived at the insurer’s office, quoted rate in hand and d) been laughed right the fuck out of the office.
Why, Auguste, between that and the mortgage you can get for NO MONEY DOWN!!!!!11!ONE!, you’ll have so much money left over that you can give gay abortions to all your friends for Christmas!
I already do a lot of work with gay abortionees. You know, just helping them get their start.
*banjo interlude*
You know, this is just fucking depressing, to see how much ugliness is in the world. I went to a Baltimore newspaper site to read more about the kid, and the comments on the article exposed such vile hatred that it just depressed me.
the kid was in a car accident; he and his sister both almost died and were in the hospital for months; he’s needed additional physical therapy and still has problems he will be dealing with for years. It appears he and his sister are on full academic scholarships at the school.
Yet the Bush-supporting commentors at the site called him “this 12 year old faker”; implied that his parents were at fault for the crash, called them freeloaders, all kinds of other vile things.
Imagine having your two children so horrifically injured they have to be hospitalized for months. Imagine how much that costs, on an annual income of $54,000. If they weren’t insured at the time of the crash, or had limited insurance, they would surely not have been able to get it after. Or if they had insurance, the cost of months of hospitalization would have exhausted their benefits.
Remember, the whole point of Michael Moore’s “Sicko” was not to show people without insurance, it was to show people who HAD insurance that turned out to be inadequate or whose insurance companies denied them care.
But the hatred that could make someone call an injured child a “little faker” is sick, sick and sad.
I’m just not going to read that.
Good call, Hoosier. I wish I hadn’t. I’m actually feeling rather nauseous now. Those bastards at Powerline say of their “investigation”: “The results are hilarious.”
What the hell happened to these people to make them so utterly devoid of basic human decency?
The fact is that there is a serious case of fraud here being committed by this family. It’s not new for the left to exaggerate and hide behind women and children.
For example, pro-Soviet Americans used Samantha Smith as a propaganda tool for their goals.
The case here is one of a family scamming the government and leaching off of our money to pay for procedures that they could afford.
The ultimate goal of the S-Chip fanatics is mandatory government health care. They will make it mandatory for women to abort “unfit” children, bar those with mental illnesses (real or imaginary) from seeking employment or rejecting welfare.
The same liberals behind S-Chip are the ones who overprescribe medication to children.
That is why the 15 to 24 demographic is basically a bunch of drugged-up zombies and liberals.
The liberals are essentially persuing an America similar to the Robot’s vision in I, Robot.
Jesus Murphy, if that’s the cheapest (monthly?) payment, I don’t know how most Americans afford health insurance.
A little googling and freeper might have found this item in today’s NY Times: Medicare Audits Show Problems in Private Plans: Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found.
The evidence suggests that it’s time for the gov’t to manage health insurance and health care since all the private insurers and contractors care about is making money.
But who needs facts when you’ve got the neocon angle sewn up?
What the hell happened to these people to make them so utterly devoid of basic human decency?
Simple. They like movies and TV shows. They have never had to come face to face with the natural outcomes of the policies they desire. They haven’t had to make the decisions. They haven’t had to kill. Or not kill. They haven’t stood over the dead human meat they made. It’s all so simple and clean for them.
Fox news makes it pretty, and glorious. They don’t get blood and intestines on them. They don’t have to decide what to do with an enemy soldier who’s bleeding out. Shoot him? Try to help him? Walk away? What do you do?
It’s really easy when it’s other guys who have to make it work. It’s not so simple if it’s you. And when it comes down to a decision they have to make, they’ll do the best they can, and years later they’ll tell their grandkids that war doesn’t solve anything, and to try to find another way.
But there will be a new generation of children who hate, but who are untouched by the consequences of hatred…
mikey
Oh yeah, and plenty of Americans apply for and don’t qualify for private insurance so just because freeper found a less expensive plan doesn’t mean an applicant will be covered by it. Dooce wrote about this on her blog. They pay $1200 a month for insurance and the only time, she writes, they will go to the hospital is if they are dead because a) the fucking deductible is $3000 per family member!!! and b) it doesn’t cover much. It’s the best they can get because she suffers from depression and all the other insurers turned their family down because of it.
there is a serious case of fraud here being committed by this family
Um, the family qualified for the benefit. that’s never been in question.
I’m sorry Gary or Fake Gary or Gary 2.0 or Gary Vista or whoever you are today, but you’ll have to go home now. I’m plumb Kilo’d out. Maybe tomorrow.
The fact is, Gary, you forgot about the mandatory gay abortions.
Um, the family qualified for the benefit. that’s never been in question.
It sounds like they’re making more money than the maximum and they’re hiding that.
The fact is, Gary, you forgot about the mandatory gay abortions.
While the left does plan to create evidence to make homosexuality look natural, they won’t mandate abortions for that. In fact they’ll make it a hate crime to abort a “so-called homosexual” baby along with making it a hate crime to preach Christianity.
==
WARNING! WARNING!
Moron on a Rampage!
“Our speculation was that the reason the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard have an almost universal aversive quality is that it triggers in us an unconscious, automatic reflex that we’re hearing a warning cry.”
http://www.physorg.com/news79531741.html
What’s truly puzzling about their lack of empathy is that it is a statistical certainty that many of them have struggled with huge premiums or health care bills themselves. They have had to make that choice between a doctor visit and the mortgage.
We often make the mistake of accusing coldhearted rightwingers of never having been there themselves, or never having walked in someone else’s shoes. It’s actually worse than that–they HAVE been there, and they DO know exactly what it’s like. And yet they persist in lacking empathy. It’s a step beyond cognitive dissonance into something even darker and less self-aware. I’m not sure what to call it, exactly.
They became conservative?
maybe Dad should drop his woodworking hobby
Ah, here we see the Right’s much-lauded support of the small business owner!
We will abort any and all babies whose life would not please our Sharia Overlords.
$600 a month? That would barely cover the cost of one simple dental procedure. There’s no way that plan would cover any serious medical needs, like operations, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
These are probably the people that think that
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/102006tswshootings.25c68a8.html
this guy was on to something.
Yup, when the facts are not advantageous for wingnuts, they go straight to discrediting the source.
It’s a step beyond cognitive dissonance into something even darker and less self-aware. I’m not sure what to call it, exactly.
Hard-core, deeply twisted, misguided, bitter, angry protestant work ethic with a puritan-denial chaser?
Please let us not forget that we’re talking about the same cohort that, when tornados hit and one’s barbecue grill gets flung into the next yard, it is considered proper to solicit donations for replacement of said grill – even before checking to see if the grill is actually broken.
If anyone’s interested, Bitch PhD has created a template you can download and use to agitate locally in an effort to put pressure on your congresscritters to override the SCHIP veto . . .
I give up. The human race is not worth saving. I had the unfortunate experience of reading the comments at that freeper site. There’s no point to trying to live with people like that. There’s far too much hate in the world. The complete destruction of the human race can not come soon enough.
Respond all you want. I will not be listening.
If anyone’s interested, Bitch PhD has created a template you can download and use to agitate locally in an effort to put pressure on your congresscritters to override the SCHIP veto. She made up a bunch of flyers and put them on windshields of parents’ cars at one of her son’s grade-school functions. Not a bad idea.
Spend untold billions to kill strangers ten thousand miles away. Spend money like water to keep hundreds of thousands of americans in Iraq and 100 other countries, in order to work our will on other nations.
Meantime, americans, yes, people who live here and pay taxes and try to do what they should? Fuck them. Give them nothing.
Give shiny new fire engines to towns in iraq.
Give nothing to americans who need help.
For the love of gawd, how does this shit happen? And how are we helpless witnesses to the worst kind of crimes?
Ms. Pelosi? Please. Go for broke. Take it to the limit. Start a war. You’ve got people behind you. And people who are not willing to give it all over to the haters. We care about our people, and want to help them. We are willing to sacrifice something, some amount of our well being, to make things better for people who have no other place to turn. We are willing to stand against the worst of the bigots, the thugs and those with the worst kind of tribal fears. Reach out and trust us…
mikey
I had the unfortunate experience of reading the comments at that freeper site.
Ooooh, don’t do that. If you want to retain your basic faith in humanity, never ever read Freerepublic. Or Freakrepugnant, as I once heard it aptly labeled. Truth be told I visit there sometimes for the schadenfreude, like when the Democrats took congress back, but otherwise it’s a hive of scum and villainy.
Ah, I didn’t dig deep enough earlier. The ratfucks have also posted their wedding announcement and pictures of the family. I do hope Michelle Malkin denounces the Freepers soon.
They pay $1200 a month for insurance and the only time, she writes, they will go to the hospital is if they are dead because a) the fucking deductible is $3000 per family member!!! and b) it doesn’t cover much. It’s the best they can get because she suffers from depression and all the other insurers turned their family down because of it.
And dear Hillary wants to see every uninsured American in her position. In my case, because I’ve had clinically diagnosed depression, I’ll be missing my rent because I’m required by law to pay for insurance which has been priced far beyond my means. I’ll be homeless, but the profits at insurance companies will be going through the roof, so it’ll all work out in the end. However, the insurers themselves will be immune from any requirement to limit their profits or go to a single-payer system because “They are incredibly powerful. You can’t just try to wish them away.”
She delivered the good to the insurance companies before, and now she’s ready to do it again.
Give nothing? We’ve given a lot to people in New Orleans, in fact we’ve given too much and seen no results there.
It’s a shame you all don’t want Iraq to become a successful nation.
The fact of the matter is that Hillary wants to create a permanently unemployed underclass. She wishes to bar the uninsured from having jobs, therefore dooming them to homelessness and welfare.
It’s a shame you all don’t want Iraq to become a successful nation.
It’s a shame you want America to become a failed nation.
What the hell happened to these people to make them so utterly devoid of basic human decency?
I don’t know but I think the senselessly dark wingnut soul, at least as relates to social issues, was summed up by Davis X. Machina in one of the all time great Sadly, No! comments a while back and I think this is the right context for it:
The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters who will volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it.
America is nowhere close to failing. The only flawed parts of America are governed by liberal democrats.
Every one of the 20 most dangerous cities are run by liberals
1. St. Louis
2. Detroit
3. Flint, Mich.
4. Compton, Calif.
5. Camden, N.J.
6. Birmingham, Ala.
7. Cleveland
8. Oakland, Calif.
9. Youngstown, Ohio
10. Gary, Ind.
11. Richmond, Calif.
12. Baltimore
13. Memphis, Tenn.
14. Trenton, N.J.
15. Richmond, Va.
16. Kansas City, Mo.
17. Atlanta
18. Cincinnati
19. Washington
20. North Charleston, S.C.
As Michael Savage says, Liberalism is like a mental disorder.
Did someone ask what it would take to rekindle my outrage? Witnessing such displays of grace, charm, and empathy by Freepers does it every time.
Incidentally, trolling is also a mental disorder.
And yet they persist in lacking empathy.
Empathy’s a side issue. Where is their self-interest?
Why don’t they get that if the US adopted a universal plan similar to what is offered in other industrialized countries, their access to health care would be easier, cheaper and more comprehensive?
Thanks, Lawnguylander. I see Davis X. Machina has answered my questions.
An alarming number of redstates on that list, Gary. Just out of curiosity, why didn’t you revise the list so that every city was Madison or Berkeley?
Why don’t they get that if the US adopted a universal plan similar to what is offered in other industrialized countries, their access to health care would be easier, cheaper and more comprehensive?
Because that is just so much socialist propaganda, and everybody knows America has teh bestest health care system in the world, and if you believe otherwise you are a denier of American exceptionalism and a traitor. Probably gay and French, too.
Gary,
That list is a bunch of bullshit. Where’s Philadelphia? It’s a complete Democratic machine town with a high murder rate. I demand that you revise your list to include it!
As Michael Savage says
Er, listening to Michael Sewage is a mental disorder. What a hateful, eliminationist fuckwad he is. Of course Gary’s a fan.
objectivelypro, it stems from a pair of equally delusional beliefs:
1. I pay more taxes than just about anyone else.
2. I live a good life and God will save me from bad things.
They don’t get sick, you see, they don’t get into accidents, they don’t end up homeless or living in polluted neighborhoods. Those things happen to less prudent people, to poor people. To unsuccessful people who make bad choices. If you can pretend that these things don’t happen to people who don’t deserve it, it means you don’t have to suffer the standard anxieties that the rest of us, who know we’re a couple paychecks away from homelessness, deal with daily. And if there’s one thing a conservative wants, it’s a lack of anxiety, and to be told that everything will work out fine and they can keep doing what they’re doing with no changes necessary. You’ll see this attitude behind global warming denial and the Iraq war support, as well.
Meanwhile, they are dimly aware that they’re not as successful as they should be, and their ideological leaders spend a lot of time and effort telling them this is because big government and liberals and taxes are keeping them down.
Partly this is distraction, since it’s easier for a white guy to mug people if he tells them the cops say all muggers are black. This is absurd, but people who want to believe it will. And a lot of people want to. But it’s also accurate, in some ways. Rush Limbaugh probably *is* less happy than he’d be without Media Matters telling sane people what he’s said, without taxes on his vast wealth, without government breathing down his neck about what kind of pills he can buy from whom.
The differences between Rush Limbaugh and any given Freeper are probably obvious to everybody but any given Freeper. Just because they’re not as rich as Rush now, doesn’t mean they won’t someday be, and taxes will make them unhappy then.
It’s oddly similar to poor people buying lottery tickets, and would be more poignant if poor people buying lottery tickets weren’t, to Freepers, a sign of their bad judgment that explains why they’re poor in the first place.
So if you believe that the government exists only to take your money, and will never, ever help you under any circumstances, that government is in fact “the problem”, and you further have a weird notion that you pay far more in taxes A) than most other people and B) than you actually do, government becomes clearly established as a way to take your success and give it to people who aren’t successful because they’re stupid, lazy, or in some other way morally inferior.
Self-interest is already in play. It’s just that they’re worried about the wrong thing. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. These are the same folks who are far more worried about terrorism than they are about the economy.
The only flawed parts of America are governed by liberal democrats.
Nope, nothing wrong with the executive branch, nosiree. All’s well, nothing to see here. Hunky fuckin’ dory!
fuck these idiots. ignore them.
watch this.
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=54a96b0d367da6ce96eb1401f0e127f76688ddd6
brilliant. charles ferguson smacks bremer down so hard his colon comes out his ears. and it’s a “letter to the editor” of the NY Times as a video. genius.
It’s the cities that are “flawed.” Nothing wrong w/ the “heartland,” where the “real” Americans are. Thanks for reminding me, Gary.
And not only do the Freeper types all, somehow, believe they pay more in taxes, their other big complaint is the complexity of the forms. Seriously. They resent being too stupid to do their own taxes, & resent having to pay someone else to do them (partly because it demonstrates their stupidity, partly because many accountants are, well, you know…part of that other tribe).
They must have changed out Garys. The most recent one always used the word “heartland”. This new Gary hasn’t used it yet.
When’s the next shift change?
If you are against universal/single-payer health care, you are my family’s enemy.
I’m not sure how much simpler I can make it. I guess the freeper me-vs-them mentality is sinking in a little bit.
Probably gay and French, too.
The WH says the French are the new British. And since Larry Craig, gay is no longer operative as an insult. So who’s the real traitor here?
Oh, Gary, don’t forget about high crime city Des Moines, Iowa! We have both houses of state government controlled by Democrats. We have a Democratic Governor. Three of our five U.S. House members are Dems. One of our two Senators is Teh Evil Liberal Tom Harkin, and the other, Republican Charles Grassley, repudiated Bush on the Senate floor for his veto of Schip. We went for Gore in 2000, and Clinton both times! Now sit down, Gary . . . We even have a former school board member who’s now a state senator who is a gasp! Muslim imam and an African-American! Gah! And we have a lot of Mexicans and Bosnians and Guatemalans and Africans and Hmong in our small metro area! Not to mention all the Indians who come to work in our companies downtown in reciprocation with the branch offices in India! One of my partner’s coworkers wears a sari to work. Oh noes! My next door neighbors don’t even speaka the English! Aieeeee! How will the Republic ever survive, with the Heartland so tainted and such a high crime area?
Yes, one can’t go out on the streets of Des Moines, it is such a high crime area. Um . . . oh wait. It’s not a high crime area. I sometimes leave the Drake Law Library at midnight and walk blocks to get home. How can this be, with all those brown Democrats lurking in the bushes? It is a conundrum.
Hey HOOSIER X, I know you!!
Saw your post on the previous thread about where you used to live, wondered if it was the same bldg., went to your thesis page & realized why the name was familiar. I lived in #109 there from ’92 ’til the new landlord illegally evicted me in ’03. My mailbox said BOUFFANTCO, if you remember. Think I only talked to you once or twice, other than nodding when seeing each other on the way to the Mayfair Market. Small fuggin’ world, huh?
Des Moines is probably on the way to high crime.
But in general, Kansas City has a huge area that people aren’t safe to drive through. The mayor who presided over KC’s rise to being one of the most dangerous places in the US wants to be a Congresswoman for a district she doesn’t live in.
Ultimately, the goals of the left align with the goals of the antichrist, to destroy America’s foundation and to make it weak and easy to destroy.
“So who’s the real traitor here?”
Uh, hmmm. Hrrm. I’m going to go with Dick Cheney.
Ah, I didn’t dig deep enough earlier. The ratfucks have also posted their wedding announcement and pictures of the family. I do hope Michelle Malkin denounces the Freepers soon.
yeah, that was particularly loathsome, the commenter’s on that sight are just scum.
to destroy America’s foundation and to make it weak and easy to destroy.
In other words to destroy America to destroy America for the purpose of destroying America, with the ultimate goal of destruction. Of America.
“site”, obviously
Oops. Forgot the Antichrist.
Say, Gary, who’s the antichrist? Any ideas?
Say, Gary, who’s the antichrist? Any ideas?
Uh, hmm. Hrrm. I’m going to go with Dick Cheney again.
“Ultimately, the goals of the left align with the goals of the antichrist, to destroy America’s foundation and to make it weak and easy to destroy.”
Dude, Archliberals AND the AntiChrist? Fuck God and the path or Morality; Liberalism sounds WAY cooler!
“In other words to destroy America to destroy America for the purpose of destroying America, with the ultimate goal of destruction. Of America.”
With the help of One Hundred Billion Dollars to put a giant “la-zor” on our Moonbase.
Teh Antichrist is actually Rupert Murdoch. Cheney is merely one of his many servants.
Jillian—–
Will you marry me?
Well, Johnny, sure, to us reality-based folk if the antichrist exists the most likely candidate is clearly Teh Dick. I want Gary’s opinion, though, ’cause I’m guessing Gary’s take will be, um, hilariouser.
So who is it, Gary? Obama?
who’s the antichrist? Any ideas?
Uh, hmmm. Hrrm. I’m going to go with Dick Cheney.
“a giant “la-zor” on our Moonbase.”
The memo from Soros explicitly called for sharks with frickin laser beams on their heads.
Gak!!
The Antichrist will likely be a liberal Christian, possibly one in a denomination that approves of Gay Marriage. He will be sold by the media too.
I’m headed over to the United Church of Canada website to download the Antichrist.
The Antichrist will likely be a liberal Christian, possibly one in a denomination that approves of Gay Marriage. He will be sold by the media too.
Yawn. Your eschatology is old and stale. I want to know who’ll win in a four way battle between the Antichrist, Cthulu, Bob Dobbs and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I’d pay to see that.
Oh, come on, Gary, you pseudo-troll (really, who’s having fun w/ S,N!?) everybody knows that Pope Hitlerjugend I is the antichrist.
The fact of the matter is that Hillary wants to create a permanently unemployed underclass. She wishes to bar the uninsured from having jobs, therefore dooming them to homelessness and welfare.
Fake Gary. Conservatives these days do not have enough class consciousness to even know the term “permanent underclass”, much less be able to use it in a sentence. It would be like a ten year-old who doesn’t quite understand the vocabulary trying to use it in a paper.
Where are you getting your information? I was told that he’ll be a Shriner from Dubuque. I’ve already printed up his business cards.
Who will the media sell the Antichrist to? Richard Roberts’ old lady?
“Who will the media sell the Antichrist to?”
It’s a pay per view special.
“The Antichrist will likely be a liberal Christian, possibly one in a denomination that approves of Gay Marriage. He will be sold by the media too.”
Well, that leaves out Mister Rogers, because he’s dead.
Or is he?
Yawn. Your eschatology is old and stale. I want to know who’ll win in a four way battle between the Antichrist, Cthulu, Bob Dobbs and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I’d pay to see that.
It’ll come down to Cthulhu versus the FSM.
Because they’ve both got noodly appendages.
My twelve year old daughter informs me the antichrist will, after appearing in a series of auto-insurance commercials, get his own TV series, just like the Geico cavemen. She’s a real consumer of media, that kid, so I’m pretty sure she knows what she’s talking about. A number of titles are being considered: “Everybody Loves Revelations” and “Two and a Half Beelzebubs” are the leading contenders.
“The Antichrist will likely be a liberal Christian, possibly one in a denomination that approves of Gay Marriage. He will be sold by the media too.”
Guilliani? OH! Fred Thompson!
Hail to our Lords Soros and Kos. For they shall deliver us until the promised land of Satan. Then the way shall be paved in blood for our new Islamisafacist Overlords to install Communism over the globe, as they intend to.
I live a good life and God will save me from bad things.
aka ‘I am of the elect’.
Fucking Calvin. Though this is closer to antinomianism — God loves me, therefore my supreme cuntishness is righteous — than Calvinism.
Speaking of which, is Ruppert still masturbating boars at Arizona Pig College?
“A number of titles are being considered”
Satan and Me
The Sopranos – The Afterworld
Beam Me Up, Jesus
Six Feet Under, and Still Digging
Deal/No Deal
The Price is Right – To Go To Hell
Real Dirty Jobs
“Deal/No Deal”
I think we’ve found our candidate. Howie Mandel is probably the Antichrist, anyway, so they don’t even have to change the host.
I’m disappointed in you, Gary. That answer was just boilerplate xtianist crap. Name names, Gary. Grow a spine.
The only flawed parts of America are governed by liberal democrats.
2. Detroit
Hahaha! Detroit run by “liberal Democrats”! That’s hilarious.
I think we all know what Gary doesn’t like about his list of cities. Something is “coloring” his judgment, if you know what I mean.
Gary,
along with making it a hate crime to preach Christianity.
So…you’re saying that all Christianity has going for it abject hatred and desire to kill homosexuals? Why do you hate Christianity?
Give nothing? We’ve given a lot to people in New Orleans, in fact we’ve given too much and seen no results there.
Undue grief and irradiated trailers don’t count, Gary.
It’s a shame you all don’t want Iraq to become a successful nation.
Why do you hate America, Gary?
Keep repeating Osama’s talking points, Gary, it’s really entertaining.
You know what gets me outraged? People like Gary, who can watch something as abjectly horrible as the Iraq occupation, the tragedy of suffering children, or the incompetence of Katrina relief, and shrug their shoulders, absolving themselves of any responsibility to do right by their fellow man, even if it’s eventually in their best interest to do so.
But he’ll do it anyway, and he’ll say he’s doing it for a Lofty Goal, like in service of Christ, or the unborn, or free enterprise, or American exceptionalism. Something, anything else than what it is; Schaenfraude, that and knowing he’ll never get what he deserves, because He’s Specialer Than Us.
Gary, you are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it or not, the universe is laughing behind your back.
Who DON’T these people hate? And who are they, really? If you keep a running tally, I believe all wingnuts, including teh brave jernlists at the Free Republic, fall into one of the following categories:
1. Mid to low-level Government employees on heavily subsidized HMO plans
2. Millenarian snake-handlers
3. Blue-chip kibbutzniks with empty penthouse apartments in Manhattan
4. Trailer trash afraid of how “dark” their own shadows appear when they venture away from the tv
5. Very slight deviations from the fat, rich, cigar smoking capitalist character from Loony Toons
I still bother to vote and all, but are the above folks the majority in America? The facts “on the ground” indicate in the affirmative… One word for those of you who want to remain sane: Europe. It’s really kind of nice at this time of the
yearempire.Me at 4:01 addresses the question I have: That is, surely some of these freeper individuals and/or their friends and loved ones (if they have any) have also faced illness or injury, and so MUST have some personal experience with how FUBAR the US health care system is. So how can they still be such ignorant, hateful pusbags?
Cognitive dissonance, it seems, should shake them out of it. It doesn’t seem to be happening. Is it that the dark soul, once it’s committed for so long and gains its identity from being a dark soul, can never be redeemed? I refuse to believe that. I just think it’s virtual tribalism, with a huge dose of a virtual equivalent of road rage, or something, that keeps such misfits addicted to their hatred and depravity. I don’t even know what I’m saying now, I’m just so heartsick over what’s happening to people’s souls in this country that I want to find an answer, or at least a theory, to try to pull some of them back up from that cliff they’ve overrun.
$450/month for a family of four??? Riiiiighhhht. My husband and I, two freelancers, pay close to $1200, up from around $600 about 3 short years ago. Every six months or so, we are offered the mandatory “opportunity” to re-select a plan. Of course, they all cost more and offer less. There is a “basic” plan (for around $600-$700), but my outrageously expensive migraine meds (which make it possible for me to function, work, earn) would not be covered. Also, like most people, we have experienced catastrophic illness in the family, and you DO NOT want to be on the basic plan when that happens.
Question: if prices keep rising like they are, should we give up our “hobby” jobs (you know, that we’re trained to do, and have years of accumulated expertise in), or our home?
As for the Stockholm Syndrome, I think Jillian is right. They really believe that very soon they are going to be so rich they’ll need the estate tax repealed. I witnessed this when I was taking classes at a no-name state university. Intellectually lazy C-students living in the rust belt, mainly children of blue-collar/rural families (many of whom had lost good union jobs) all thought there were $80-$100k jobs and Manhattan apartments awaiting when they graduated. They were for “employer’s rights” and against “handouts.” It was impossible to make them see that their education WAS an “handout,” no, that $2500 tuition was a RIPOFF.
Is it that the dark soul, once it’s committed for so long and gains its identity from being a dark soul, can never be redeemed? I refuse to believe that. I just think it’s virtual tribalism, with a huge dose of a virtual equivalent of road rage, or something, that keeps such misfits addicted to their hatred and depravity
Go to http://dneiwert.blogspot.com. Look at Sara Robinson’s “Cracks in the Wall” and “Tunnels and Bridges” series-es on that site. She has really good analysis of who these peope are and what they actually do think, and why they seem to be immune to ‘cognitive dissonance’.
A good place to start, anyhow.
Jean Arf,
That is totally my experience as well. That $600 quote must be from some out of state plan with a teaser rate that is only available to people who don’t have blood or organs.
It’s ironic that the freepers presume that employer provided health care is readily available for most folks. If they had their union-bashing wal-mart loving way there wouldn’t be any employer provided health care.
MzNicky: That is, surely some of these freeper individuals and/or their friends and loved ones (if they have any) have also faced illness or injury, and so MUST have some personal experience with how FUBAR the US health care system is. So how can they still be such ignorant, hateful pusbags?
I’m sure there’s a better name for it, but I call it the “Sopranos Effect” and its about identity and social proximity.
When Rich White Dad’s son gets caught with a pocket full of weed, its a “youthful indiscretion” that shouldn’t effect the kid’s future. Ask the same Dad about the poor black kid who gets caught with the same amount of the same weed, and its “how ‘those people’ are” and no sentence is harsh enough. For someone on the “inside”, having an abortion is a tragic but necessary one-off; for those on the “outside”, it is the predictable result of bad morals and low character.
Point is: empathy extends only to the limits of shared identity. When Teh Freeper gets hit with a catastrophic illness it is a tragic turn of bad luck, when its hits someone outside of his “tribe” it is the easier for him to believe that it is result of willful irresponsibility. Hence, the lesson never penetrates because his case is always special, and everyone else’s is always part of a pattern that just doesn’t apply to him.
I think utterly devoid of basic human decency is the default setting for right-wingers. Check out Scottt Peck’s book “People of the Lie” sometime about human evil. The case studies he gives are textbook freepers., especially the couple that, to save money, gave a gun to their youngest son for Christmas. Trouble was, it was the exact same gun their eldest son used to kill himself! When the kid suffered from depression and the therapest suggested that perhaps this was a thoughtless present the parents sounded exactly like freepers. “We work for a living.” “We don’t have a fancy college education.” etc. Fortunately the kid went to live with a loving Aunt and Uncle and got away from his parents.
Excellent point, kingubu. Dovetails nicely with “Cut all entitlements except the ones that apply to me/my peeps, which are necessary/deserved.”
“It’s a step beyond cognitive dissonance into something even darker and less self-aware. I’m not sure what to call it, exactly.”
Sociopathy.
Uh, Johnny C?
It’s spelled “Bob” Dobbs. I know you know this. Just don’t let it happen again.
In other news, wait. Gary Ruppert is invoking the Antichrist?
My wheelhouse, baby. Look, a year from now, for the wife’s and my How to Profit From the Coming Rapture (no kidding. Little, Brown).
To prepare, everyone should read Revelation Unveiled, by none other than Tim LaHaye. You think you know krazee? You don’t know nothin’ about krazee until you’ve seen what Pastor Tim (in 1999, before he started co-authoring the Left Behind series) blandly and soberly describes. He makes L. Ron Hubbard look like Isaac Asimov.
Meanwhile, Gary? Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior? Because it’s the only way to score a reservation on the Rapture Express. A word to teh wise, dude.
kingubu: I understand the points you make. But:
When Teh Freeper gets hit with a catastrophic illness it is a tragic turn of bad luck — except: When that freak catastrophe occurs, can the freepers afford their deductibles? Do their costs not go up afterward? They’re all fine with the copays on their medications, are they? Decent, affordable health insurance is somehow available to them all, is it? Have none of them ever been turned down for health insurance because of a preexisting condition? Do they all work for large employers that can afford to offer health insurance as a benefit? Have none of them ever had their health insurance cancelled for some bullshit reason, and then had difficulty reobtaining insurance? In other words, are they all somehow exempt from the vicissitudes of the US health-care system?
When Teh Freeper gets hit with a catastrophic illness it is a tragic turn of bad luck, when its hits someone outside of his “tribe” it is the easier for him to believe that it is result of willful irresponsibility.
More than that: when Teh Freeper gets hit with a catastrophic illness, it’s a tragic turn of bad luck, and the bennies owed to him are denied on account of ‘those people’ spongeing away all the money on babies and Cadillacs and crack and plasma TVs.
That’s to say, the vicissitudes of life that, in normal people, engender a commitment to social benefits that are available to all, are a source of further resentment towards others in Teh Freeper, because the overriding perception is that the ‘less deserving’ have creamed off the spoils.
When Teh Freeper gets a bankruptcy-inducing medical bill, it’s all because of the poor/black/brown/illegal immigrant types clogging up emergency rooms and getting sick while uninsured, and if those fuckers just disappeared, all would be fine. Same when Teh Freeper’s premiums rise: it’s all because of Those People.
Also: teh Freepers are great at being simultaneously anti-abortion and pro-sterlising poor/black/brown types.
It’s textbook fascist mentality: the markets would work perfectly if it weren’t for Those People getting in the way.
Maybe there’s not a lot of violent crime there, but did you ever look at the *soil* around Des Moines? You can’t build on it; you can’t grow anything in it. The government says it’s due to poor farming, but I know what’s really going on, Stuart. I know it’s the queers. They’re in it with the aliens. They’re building landing strips for gay Martians. I swear to God.
Jumpin Jesus on a pogo stick. Everybody knows a burrow owl lives in a hole in the ground. Why the hell do you think they call it a burrow owl anyway?