independent_thinker2002

Go ahead people. Defend this one.

FEMA workers masquerade as reporters - The White House - MSNBC.com

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I am a Tiki Bar Tarte, you wanna mount Le Penseur Bronze

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This is Neocon Bush 101. Did you watch the actual "news" conference? What a joke!

FEMA under Bush has certainly done a "heckuva job" don't you think?

Guest1

In defensible.
Just another example of why the federal government should be limited in its scope and responsibility.

Guest1

I miss the good old days when actual charities helped people out of benevolence, as opposed to government forced charity.

1069

Apparently, that didn't work out all that well; at least not for everyone.
People deserve a certain quality of life, below which we as a society will not let any of our members fall.
People deserve the basic necessities of life, regardless of anything else, any other variable, and regardless of whether or not we're feeling charitable or benevolent on any given day.
I know human nature all too well; I thank a god I don't even believe in for "government forced charity".
If the government didn't force it, we'd only feel "benevolent" toward cute blonde children, and allow all others- the elderly and infirm, the mentally ill, drug addicts, alcoholics, immigrants legal or otherwise, violent pimple-faced teenagers, pregnant teenagers, disabled war vets, middle-aged homeless women wearing houseshoes and pushing shopping carts- to go without the basic necessities of life, and that is simply indefensible- unconscionable- in a society as wealthy and privileged as ours is.

This way, everybody gets what they need to live, and nobody has to feel like a charity case, since government money is all of our money anyway. We put into it when we're flush (and even if we personally haven't put in, our parents or grandparents probably did) and we take out when we're in need.

If you want to be altruistic and give extra to charity on top of that- which most of us do- then feel free to.
But first and foremost, the government must see that everyone has the basic necessities of life. No one can be allowed to die for lack of food, water, shelter, or basic health care in this country, whether or not we feel they "deserve" to have these things.

Guest1

Please show me in the constitution where it is the governments responsibility to provide charity. The government has no money except for what it takes from the producing person.

"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816

1069

Screw the constitution; it was written by a bunch of old patriarchal white farts who didn't even believe that women, blacks, or native Americans were human.
Right-thinking people in today's civilized society agree that no one in our country should die for lack of basic necessities, even if we have to force these upon them because they are, say, mentally ill.

danarhea

Meet George Bush in drag.

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http://danarhea.blogspot.com

Guest1

Are you against assisted suicide, or suicide in general?
are you against abortion as well?

1069

It's an archaic document that is no longer relevant in this day and age, and in another century will be entirely obsolete.
Even now, it's a real stretch to pretend it's still feasible that we abide by it.
For instance, the government now provides soldiers with weapons; it is not necessary that citizens maintain their own private arsenals of weapons in case they get called upon to go to war.
And... everything else is about the same.
Just silly and anachronistic, in the context of today's world.
Although not as silly and anacronistic as the Bible, I suppose... but nobody really takes that literally.