Love this cartoon

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqiaetsjqk1qeetvto1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1314476245&Signature=NqWAkISLWfiqoiC%2FxhsLH4Nb%2B4Y%3D

(V): Yeah! You googled it finally!

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism.

It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan to lynch and terrorize blacks. The Democrats fought to prevent the passage of every civil rights law beginning with the civil rights laws of the 1860s, and continuing with the civil rights laws of the 1950s and 1960s.

You Might Be A Liberal If You Believe...

. that women who stay at home to raise their children are repressed by a male-dominated society, but that women who wear hijabs are expressing freedom of religion -

.If you're an "advocate" for the poor who uses "trailer trash" as an insult

•IQ tests should be used to stop the death penalty, but not to determine admission to AP classes.

•The Ten Commandments in schools will hurt the children, but “Heather Has Two Mommies” won’t.

•Spending 4 years - make that 5 years - repeating your professor’s liberal slogans is a solid education, but demanding that colleges present all view-points and actually teach the subject is “anti-intellectualism.”

•McCarthyism was wrong, but black-listing “right-wingers” from ever teaching in college is just plain old common sense. A right-winger is anyone who doesn’t toe the line on all issues.

•AIDS is caused by poverty. So is crime. And membership in the Republican party.

•Global Cooling for 10 years proves that there is global warming.

•You fly on private jets, but feel free to tell others to use only one square of toilet paper to save the environment.

•Career welfare recipients are fat because they can’t afford food.

•You preach to everyone that diversity is our greatest strength, but you paid half a million dollars more for a house in an all-white suburb than you could’ve for the same house in a black neighborhood.

•You see racist code-words in all media except in hip-hop singles such as “Kill The White People”.

•US wants to build a wall on the Mexican and not Canadian border because of racism, not because 20 million Mexicans and almost no Canadians cross into the U.S. illegally.

•There is no correlation between Islamic immigration to Europe and increased anti-Semitic attacks against European Jews.

•You bought your son a doll and your daughter a toy truck just to prove that gender is a social construct.

•You then gave your son a “time-out” for pretending that the doll is an enemy soldier. Such violence will not be accepted.

•When your 2-year-old daughter turned the truck into a “tea party” table, your immediate thought was, “I got to her too late and she was already brainwashed by society to think she’s a little woman”.

•There’s never a reason to hit a woman, unless she’s Ann Coulter or another conservative, in which case, she had it coming for having a mind of her own and disagreeing with you.

•When a Western woman travels to the Middle East, she should respect their traditions and cover up. When Moslems illegally infiltrate Europe, they have the right to expect the Westerners to adjust to them. If the Europeans don’t, Moslems have every right to riot.

•Christianity is a threat. Islam is a religion of peace.

•The Constitution allows desecration of the flag, but makes it strictly illegal to desecrate the Koran.

•You found where the right to an abortion is written in the Constitution, but cannot find where the Constitution provides for a right to bear arms.

•None of the Constitutional Rights you believe in are actually written in the U.S. Constitution.

•The First Amendment’s Freedom of Speech must take a back seat to sensitivity.

•America and Israel are the only problems in the Middle East.

•Four year old babies should be frisked at the airport because focusing on nervous young Arabs would be discriminatory.

•Hezbollah is a legitimate political party, but Republicans are just a bunch of racist haters who should never be exposed to kids or college students.

•It is wrong to kill terror leaders without a trial, but blowing up buses and airplanes is legitimate resistance.

•You aren’t unpatriotic, but you just can’t remember the last time you sided with the United States … on anything… against any country.

•Truth matters less than feelings.

•You tell anyone who’ll listen that our elections are fraudulent and then you fight tooth and nail to prevent states from requiring a photo ID to vote.

•You are more proud of Obama’s race than of John McCain’s refusal to leave his buddies behind in Vietnamese prison.

•Dan Quayle is the dumbest Vice-President ever because he believed a flash card that misspelled “potato,” but Obama is a genius despite the fact that he believes that we have more than 57 states.

•You laugh at Dan Quayle, but you still can’t figure out the difference between “your” and “you’re”.

•All recounts must continue until the Democrat takes the lead, and not a second longer.

•You announce that you will move to Canada every time a Republican wins an election.

•95% of blacks voting for a black guy is normal, but 55% of whites voting for the white candidate is a sign of how flawed our racist voting system is.

•You call yourself ‘progressive’ but oppose all progress because somebody might get fired and replaced by a cheap and more efficient computer program.

•Capitalism is the cause of poverty.

•People aren’t successful, they are privileged.

•People don’t earn. They deserve.

•The Christian Right shouldn’t impose their morality on you, but you want to impose big government on everyone else because otherwise they won’t do the right thing.

•You think that consenting adults can engage freely in every activity except capitalism.

•You think the case for global warming is proven without a shadow of a doubt, but that we need another century or two worth of evidence to figure out if capitalism and free markets work better than socialism.

•It’s obscene that oil companies are allowed to make 8.3 cents per gallon in profit with gas prices this high, but it’s ok for the government to make several times more than that in taxes.

•You are steeped in compassion, but never gave money to charity or donated blood.

•Fox News is biased, but Al Jazeerah isn’t. In fact, Fox News invented media bias.

•Rush Limbaugh and Michael Reagan are mean-spirited racists and promote hate crime, but Maxine Waters, John Conyers and Louis Farrakhan aren’t and don’t.

•Rush Limbaugh’s listeners are mindless “dittoheads,” but you have never doubted anything that you heard from Michael Moore.

•Freedom of speech means the right to scream when a conservative tries to speak in order to prevent anyone from hearing his views.

•Freedom of speech applies to terrorists, not conservative radio talk show hosts.

(V): That means you blinked.

rod03801: She's such a fake. I can't stand her. That quote is classic Pelosi. And the libs love her. They are amazingly shallow in their thinking.

(V): And Jules, we're still waiting for your explanation as to why you posted a three year old video on the KKK. What was the purpose of that? Or were you just bored?

(V): Such rubbish. The "likes of Dan?" Is that a flame?

If you don't know what a liberal is, google it.

If you don't know what conservatism means, google it.

Or do we have to do all your thinking?

Myth: The deficit was caused by Bush’s tax cuts.

Fact: For over four decades, 1960 through 2000, federal revenues averaged 18.2% of Gross Domestic Product and the trend was virtually flat. The final Bush tax rates became effective in 2003. In 2006 and 2007, well after the new tax rates were in effect, federal revenues were 18.2% and 18.5% of GDP, above historical levels. The federal government collected over half a trillion dollars more in 2007 than it did in 2000.

Myth: Republicans spent like drunken sailors.

Fact: Federal spending from 1960 through 2000 averaged 20.3% of GDP, with a slightly upward trend. The average over all Bush years, 2001 through 2008, was 19.6% of GDP – below the historical average. The 2001-2008 average deficit was also below the 1960-2000 average.

Myth: Republicans exploded the federal debt.

Fact: Per the US Constitution, "all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." Democrats controlled the House from 1955 through 1994, leaving the federal debt held by the public at 49.2% of GDP. Republicans then controlled the House from 1995 through 2006 and left it at 36.5% of GDP — below the level left by Democrat Congresses.

At the end of Bush’s presidency the debt was 40.2% of GDP. Now, two years post-Bush and four years of a Democrat Congress, the debt is 64% of GDP, the highest it’s been since Harry Truman was paying off World War II.

Myth: The deficit is due to the Iraq War.

Fact: The Congressional Budget Office calculated that the Iraq War cost $709 billion from 2003 through 2010. Total federal deficits over those eight years added up to $4.944 trillion, with the bulk of that ($2.968 trillion) added in just the last two years, after Bush was out of office.

By contrast, federal spending on education over 2003-2010 was $792 billion, and Obama’s stimulus will cost $814 billion. How often do you hear that our deficit problem was caused by education spending?

Myth: The Reagan and Bush tax cuts only benefited the rich.

Fact: According to the CBO, "The lowest three income quintiles have seen declines in their average tax rates since the early 1980s .¤.¤. The average tax rate on the top quintile has fluctuated more, with periods of increases and decreases, and was somewhat lower in 2007 than in 1979."

In fact, the top quintile (top 20% of taxpayers) paid about 25% of its income in federal taxes in 2007, about the same as it did in 1982. By contrast, the middle and bottom quintiles paid less than 15% and 5%, respectively, both lower than at any time since 1979. The bottom two quintiles had negative average income taxes – they received more in tax credits than they paid in income taxes. Per the CBO, "In 2007, about 35 percent of households did not owe any federal income taxes."

Myth: The deficit is due to military spending.

Fact: If federal military spending had been eliminated in its entirety in 2009, the deficit would still have been $776 billion, a historical high. Defense spending is less than one fifth of the federal budget and less than 5% of GDP. When the economy was doing quite well in the 1960s, defense spending was twice as high in those terms. In fact, President Bush presided over smaller defense budgets (as a fraction of GDP) than all presidents from 1941 through 1993.

Myth: "The last eight years," "the last ten years," "the last decade," "the lost decade."

Fact: From 2000 through 2007 real GDP grew 2.4% annually and real disposable personal income grew 2.8% annually. The economy added 5.5 million net new jobs in those years. The unemployment rate stood at 4.4% in May 2007, just before the newly elected, Democrat-controlled Congress raised the minimum wage.

From August 2003 through December 2007, over eight million net new jobs were created.

Fiscal year 2007 was the last one under a federal budget written by a Republican-controlled Congress, and marked the peak in real GDP, jobs, and the stock market. The bad economy of the "last ten years" was all in the last three years – under federal budgets written by a Democrat-controlled Congress.

Myth: Bush deregulated banks, causing the financial crisis. Fact: President Bush did not deregulate banks, or much of anything else. He increased staffing and spending on economic regulation more than President Clinton did. The number of pages in the Federal Register averaged more in Bush’s first term than at any prior time in US history. He signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the most sweeping regulation of business since the New Deal.

The New York Times, no cheerleader for President Bush, said in 2003, "The Bush administration is rightly pushing for the Treasury Department to regulate the two giants [Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae], along with the network of federal home loan banks." It was Barney Frank and other Democrats who helped kill such regulation. Frank said, "These two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis."

Not a Myth: The above facts are matters of historical record. The sources of many myths are computer models rather than results from the real world. Remember the economic model that said the unemployment rate would not go above 8% if Obama’s stimulus was passed? The stimulus was passed, yet the unemployment rate went above 10% and has been above 9% for the last 19 months.

The models that say extending today’s tax rates would add to the deficit assume that tax rates have no effect on taxpayer behavior. That is an assumption virtually all economists, and most non-economists, know is false. Yet Congress requires the CBO to base its predictions on that bogus assumption.

The reality is that government spending is the problem. It is absurdly above historical levels right now and is unsustainable. It is driven by payments for individuals (64% of 2010 federal outlays) and entitlements, especially health care spending. ObamaCare did not bend the health-care cost curve down, either; it bent it up.

Bernice: good point!

Iamon lyme: You're right. And for any public figure, you can always find an article or two that is critical of them. So it comes as no surprise that there are some Jews that are critical of Beck. But more appreciate him than those that do not. So it's really a minor point that Jules brings up. It's like posting that camels fart. Yes they do. But it's not significant.

77% of Democrats (and Ron Paul) Voted Against Rules Of Engagement That Protect Our Troops
Andrew G. Bostom




Florida Republican Congressman John Mica offered the following morally clear Amendment (5/25/2011-H.AMDT.318 (A018) Amends H.R.1540):


Amendment requires that the rules of engagement [ROE] allow any military service personnel assigned to duty in a designated hostile fire area to have rules of engagement that fully protect their right to proactively defend themselves from hostile actions.

The results? (tallied here):

143 out of 185 Democrats present -- 77% -- voted against this amendment; 217 out of 235 Republicans present -- 92% -- voted for it.

As for the two Republicans in Congress running who are Presidential candidates, Michele Bachmann voted for the amendment; Ron Paul against it.

(V): Uploaded by AssociatedPress on Oct 16, 2008

It's a bit dated. What's your point?

Bernice: Yes, the cycle of poverty. Difficult to break with so many entitlements making it attractive to be lazy (for some).

(V): Yeah, Biden also promised everyone free college education during the campaign. What a loser.

(V): It was dishonest. You linked it to minimum wage. It's NOT at $5.

(V): Then why did you ask?

(V): If that's the case, why be dishonest and post $5???

(V): You know what I do for a living. I'm a model and drive a cab.

BTW, minimum wage is 8.67 as of next year.

(V): Most people make more than 5 dollars an hour.

(V): you talk like an unemployed guy

(V): "You've not answered the point.. If everyone is paying crap wages then what?"

Not everyone is paying "crap" wages. I've already pointed this fact out.

"While wages are low everywhere then what."

They aren't low everywhere.


"Now.. who I work for is my private life.. I mean.. are you going to advertise who you work for on the board??"

Unemployed then? Didn't ask for details. Just what line of work.

"That, I find a very limited interpretation of why someone might not have a good ed. I saw a story of lady who was made prisoner by 'daddy' over many years. People who've been undiagnosed with the likes of dyslexia, etc."

A small number. There are always exceptions. But exceptions are not the rule.

(V): " Support as in making up the wages to a livable wage because the companies will not pay enough. Which is why low income families need support from the government via food stamps and tax credits. You may object to the word "support" but that is what the government is having to do."

If a company doesn't pay enough, don't work for them. I have tons of friends working for companies and they all own homes and cars and boats and are doing more than well. Yes there are some companies that don't pay well. But that's life. Get a second job. Many people complain about not having a livable wage but the reality is that they are irresponsible with money. I don't make a ton of money but my house is paid for. I have friends making the same amount of money as I make and they still how the banks (and credit cards) thousands. What's up with that? Live within your means. Most people don't. So what you mean by livable wage some mean earning a wage that supports their chosen lifestyle. A company isn't obligated to support your indulgences.

"... I've explained this several times, it is not hard to understand. It's why the UK gov introduced a minimum wage to stop companies exploiting workers just to maximize profits and dividends to stock holders. Not just 'blue collar' but as I've experienced, 'white collar' as well. Because of minimum wage law.. the amount of people needing support just so they can afford to live why working has decreased."

So what exactly do you do for a living Jules? Who do you work for?

"Then companies need to pay a fair wage that can be lived on then. And not as experienced here do everything they can to not pay a living wage. If not, then you just end up with one of your pet hates... illegal immigrants doing the work."

As I said, there are plenty of companies that pay excellent wages. Don't work for those that don't. And if you can't get a better job because you sat on your lazy butt and didn't better yourself with proper schooling, it's your own fault.


"Now... Dan.. can you stay on these points?"

Everyone knows who has a penchant for rabbit trails and word twisting. News Flash, it's a he and he lives at your address. But I must say, nice job this time. Your post is a perfect example (snipes aside) of how to hold a discussion. You stated your point without twisting mine. There's hope for you yet.

Übergeek 바둑이: You always take the side against big companies regardless of facts. The big auto companies were losing billions and there was little they could do to cut costs. So your idea that they were greedy is, no offense, dim. What do you think they are in business for? Here's a news flash for ya: They want to make money and lots of it.

But they were losing money. The unions were demanding more money so to compensate, the autos they produced were of lesser quality. Enter the Japanese autos, better and costing less, you had the recipie for disaster.

And labor costs are huge. When you add in all the benefits and when you consider the pay given out to all the retired workers and their spouses, it adds up big time. When you're a company that is losing money, you don't have many options. Big labor refuses to budge and big management has no vision for the future. The quality of foreign auto surpasses the quality if made in the USA so what would you do?

Meanwhile you have a great example of union thuggery in the CWA (where I was once an assistant VP). While on strike, they resort to destroying company property and disrupting service to its customers. You have union thugs threatening the lives of those who would dare cross the picket lines and one moron even went so far as to use his young daughter and place her in front of a truck that was delivering supplies to the company.

When a company makes money, it's their money to do with as they see fit. You can negotiate with them for a fair wage but in the end, walk away and find another job if you don't like what they have to offer. I worked for the phone company and they paid plenty. Then benefits were excellent and I made a very decent wage. They even paid for my schooling when I started college. They allowed me to work nights so I could go to school during the day. And they paid for all my college costs while I worked for them.

And I was just an average joe worker in the repair department answering the phone for business customers with phone problems. I dispatched repair workers. There were thousands like me across the country. And each one could have up to 2500 a year for college and night school expenses.

Not bad for a greedy big company.

Vikings: That's probably it. And I wouldn't put it past the unions to issue complaints for the kids not using union labor.

Bernice: It used to be that having a lemonaid stand was something normal in the US. Kids could earn a few dollars. It should be no big deal. But the government likes to stick its nose into everything. On one level I understand it but where does all this government intrusion stop? It's gone too far.

Vikings: True. They were just trying to make a point but I don't think things like that are as effective as local inititives.

Of course one could make an argument that even an innocent lemonaid stand could pose a health risk. After all, it's a very different world from even 20 years ago. And 40 years ago, when I was a young kid, we could go anywhere in the neighborhood and even to the lake a few miles away and mom never worried. Today, you have to keep your eyes glued to your kids there are so many sicko's out there.

rod03801: I did mention community but of course family should be on the list too. We need to look out for our own. I help my kids out a lot. I pay for special things like dance lessons and preschool costs, clotihng, you know, stuff grandparents are supposed to help with. They can't afford everything that goes into raising a family. If they were down and out, I'd do whatever it took to help them get back on their feet. My daughter and her hubby are hard workers and not lazy about their responsibilities. My son is studying to become an audioologist. When people are willing to do the hard work required in getting ahead, helping them out in the process feels good and right. ;)

Vikings: I agree that cops were just doing their jobs and I also agree that the people selling the lemonade were only interested in making a point. However, when I was little, we used to have lemonade stands all the time. Some kids still do this in their neighborhoods. But in the news there are dozens of situations where the authorities shut down little kid’s lemonade stands because the children were operating without a food permit etc. Sometimes government takes itself too seriously.

As for that lady cop, she was cute. But she was out of line. There was no need for her to put her hand in front of the camera. It goes with the job of protecting the rights of others. Which she was only there to enforce the law (the lemonaid stand clearly violated the law) she was out of line in her attempts to get the camera person to stop filming her. She should have been as concerned about the rights of the person behind the camera as she was concerned about the violation of selling goods on the Capitol grounds. The protesters got to her and she lost her cool.

" I did ask you if you thought it was OK for the government to support low wage employees via food stamps and welfare instead of the companies paying what people need to live on."

Is it "OK" for the government to subsidize people who have jobs but don't make enough money at those jobs to live on?

No. Not entirely. First, I object to the word, "support." It's not clear exactly what you mean by that.

I think it's necessary that government has SOME programs that offer "help" (different from support) for people who REALLY NEED it. If a person has a job but can't make ends meet, they need another job. It's not the job of the government to make up the difference. If the person has just fallen on hard times, the government can offer some help in the gap, but it shouldn't be a long term situation.

Where there are children in the equation, then yes, the government ought to help with some support mechanisms (again, different from support-define your terms- I mean temporary help). People need to learn personal responsibility.

In SOME cases this help will be long term. There are always situations that deem long term help necessary. And wherever children are concerned, help should always be available. It's not a kids fault that his/her parents are losers. Still, situations ought to be properly evaluated and it should never be a given that you get food stamps cuz you have hungry kids. Maybe just feed the kids and let the lazy parents go hungry.

That said, it's NOT the governments responsibility to feed starving kids. It is however the responsibility of ALL OF US. Communities ought to have MANY failsafe mechanisms in place to help feed the needy (this includes individuals, businesses, and certainly churches). Community outreach should be the front lines and the government should serve to catch those that fall between the cracks.

Lazy people who refuse to work should go hungry.

I've been on food stamps a couple of times in my life (after married with kids). We've had people buy us groceries (unsolicited) because they knew we were in need). But in the cases where I was on food stamps (due to a lay off) I NEVER collected my full allotted amount. Why? Because I didn't sit on my lazy bum and do nothing. I went out and found a job. Once while my kids were young I had THREE different jobs. I worked full time during the week and two part time jobs at night and weekends. It's MY JOB to care for MY FAMILY and not the job of any government.

The government was there to offer HELP to get me through a difficult period. But I did my part by seeking UNTIL I found a new job. And I took whatever was offered. That's how the government should operate. Offer help but expect the recipient to do their part. Help should have an ending period.

(V): The few, the proud, the brave. And we can spot a dropper when we see one.

Now if you promise to play nice, I'll answer your out of context question.

(V): Nope. It's a pattern that you show. And I'm one of MANY you have said this about your participation here. Denial won't change the fact.

Now that that's settled, I will answer your question providing there are no more s....

(V): Maybe if you actually participated honestly in the discussion instead of always attempting to be so clever and trying to spin the conversation you're way. You seem to have a penchant for consistently derailing discussions using an unending supply of red herrings.

I've come to realize you must really think you're that character "V" ! But what do I know. I'm just a turtle.

(V): Your phone may ring at any moment. Everyone has your number.

(V): yes, plus all alien life forms

(V): Oh I don't think so. I think the point is clear to everyone but you.

(V): So you're saying that you don't understand the joke?

(V): I'll be glad to answer that question. But first, where did that question come from? I mean, you posted it in response to something I posted and I'm not seeing a logical connection. I posted a joke.

It was a JOKE.

a JOKE!

A joke is a phrase or a paragraph with a humorous twist. It can be in many different forms, such as a question or short story. To achieve this end, jokes may employ irony, sarcasm, word play and other devices. Jokes may have a punchline that will end the sentence to make it humorous.

A practical joke or prank differs from a spoken one in that the major component of the humour is physical rather than verbal (for example placing salt in the sugar bowl).


Purpose

Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers. The desired response is generally laughter; when this does not happen the joke is said to have "fallen flat" or "bombed". However, jokes have other purposes and functions, common to comedy/humour/satire in general.




So I'm just trying to figure out how you came away with the question when CLEARLY what I posted was ONLY ment to be a joke.


a joke


Did you not get it? I can explain further if that will help.

(V): What case? You made a case? A basket case maybe.

You made no legitimate point. But you do win the obfuscation award!