NOT HERE IN THE BASIN
There'll be no organized disruption of any town hall meetings here.
Our lefties and righties are all too civilized to behave so crudely. They realize it's a little difficult to maintain you believe in civil discourse if you're behavior's disrupting it.
If our people were going to moon or something, they would have already done it at a School Board meeting.
posted by UMRBlog @ 10:53
23 comments
23 Comments:
I don't want to diss "The Basin" cuz I <3 my Quincy Boyz, but when was the last time our wonderful specially selected congressman had the courage to show his face in "The Basin"?
It's easy to be "civil" when Durbin/Burris/Hare don't show up in "The Basin" to answer questions about HR3200, stimulus, GM takeover, etc.
You are lucky---our specially selected congressman LIVES in the QCs.
Count your blessings.
Crudely? Really?
Our lefties just denied someone the right to speak to the people who work for him. How's that working out for your mayor? Civilzed my ass, more like arrogant elites.
Hare I think two public forums since he took office. Durbin's here all the time. It is very difficult to find a calendar month that he isn't here for something. True, it's not always a public forum, but he's here a lot.
When Burris was Comptroller, we just always set an extra place for dinner. He was over here all the time. As AG, not so much.
If Phil lived here, he wouldn't be the specially selected Congressman, would he? He'd have about as much chance as, Oh, just to pick a name, John Sullivan.
All of which reminds me, I owe you a couple of more installments of a history lesson. My Bad, day jobs and broken bones make life non-linear.
TYFCB
1643,
Are you saying that because someone didn't get to speak at a council meeting one night, that justifies disrupting/interrupting an elected official's public forum?
My point was--and it is the same one made by Mr. McQueen--that our people are generally polite and civil in their discourse on public issues.
You oppose civility? That would be an interesting logic string.
TYFCB
Well I am just shocked that now Andrew Breitbart, Glenn Reynolds , and Tucker Carlson have made plans to be at the GEM CITY .
Maybe Durbin will come and listen ?
;)
I hear Breitbart is reporting a stalker for Q-city!
TYFCB
I will ask him about it when he calls today .
What is the deal with the SIUE aka Brown Shirts ? Two attacks on Tea folks day one.
Yeah, where's that inspirational leader, Rodney King, when we need him.
TYFCB
The noisiest and rowdiest are just indicators of the outrage brewing in the majority, as shown in the polls.
Remember, one of Obama's main "mentors", Bill Ayers, believed in bombing government buildings. It was so "hip" then, and Ayers' attitude is still prominent in liberal enclaves.
The left has the history of disruption and violence, yet a little noise from the middle class and they are being labeled as domestic terrorists, by those government authorities backed by unions (who have their own history of violent methods).
The far left is attempting to takeover corporations and health care and to skyrocket our energy prices ... perhaps there is good reason for some outrage.
It seems there may be a different group of people at any town hall on these issues, than at school board meetings ... and hopefully they would peacefully ask Hare or Durbin some very probing questions.
Broken bones? You didn't try to take on another attacker with a golf club, did you? Or did the mad honker follow up to exact some revenge?
Yeah, I get "outrage" but expressing outrage and purposefully disrupting a public forum are two completely different things, which was my original point.
Look at the first School Board meeting here after the budster took over. Many outrageous and some scurrilous things were said. But they were said sequentially and in turn. With a couple of short-lived exceptions, nobody tried to shout anybody else down.
Contrast that with the meetings in, say, Maryland.
Bill Ayers may be a bad man (He has certainly done many bad things) but that doesn't justify other people behaving in an anti-democratic (note small "d") manner. In other words, passion is no excuse for bad behavior.
I don't think you can find a situation where Obama's taken a contrary position. Even at that, these congresspeeps having the Town Halls are just discharging an obligation to be in touch with their constituents.
You just can't say your for representative government and disrupt meetings with the representatives at the same time. Synapse interruptus.
TYFCB
I had a complete schizophrenic moment last night flipping between FoxNews and MSNBC coverage of these protests/angry mobs. If you ever want to see how polarized the "mainstream" media can be give it a try. That being said, I do want to know how folks can decry government involvement in healthcare and "socialism" but then happily cash their social security check, lap up the medicare benefits and check in to the VA hospital.
"Are you saying that because someone didn't get to speak at a council meeting one night, that justifies disrupting/interrupting an elected official's public forum?"
No. McQueen did exactly the right thing. I'm saying you are less than honest when to fail to criticize the actions of the council and the mayor.
I bring up Ayers just to show the disparity between the media/elite "acceptance" of lefty bombers, versus the intolerance toward vocal middle classers.
http://steynian.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/william-ayers-american-flag-poster.jpg
Of course calm discourse is preferred, but when polls show more than 50% oppose current proposals, it would be wrong to judge that whole 50+% by the actions of a few that might be a little unhinged and get spotlighted on the news.
As I see it, The Basin demographics and smaller town atmosphere would indicate a low probability of union thugs or middle class terrorits dominating a meeting ... if we even get to have a meeting.
1007,
Excellent final point. Folks decry entitlements while happily consuming theirs.
TYFCB
1023,
Gosh, I was writing about federal elected reps' town hall meetings. I didn't think a discussion of April Actions of a Local Government fit in there too nicely.
It's a little bit of reach to denounce my failure to link these two non-related capers as "dishonest."
Maybe teach that pony another trick?
TYFCB
1114,
Who dissed the concern of the people with concerns about HCR? I was talking about the people who exhibited anti-democratic, uncivil behavior.
Who knows, I might even be one of those people who have concerns about major alterations in our HC delivery system.
If someone is doing what you suggest, that is lame.
For my part, I am confident I have done many lame things in my life but that is not one of them.
TYFCB
>I do want to know how folks can
>decry government involvement in
>healthcare and "socialism" but
>then happily cash their social
>security check, lap up the
>medicare benefits and check in to
>the VA hospital.
Uhhhh, the comparison does not stand.
Fact is you and I *pay* our hard-earned money into Social Security and medicare, and soldiers certainly have earned their trips to the VA hospital. Those are not given out free just for existing (mostly)--they're given for having contributed.
So SocSec, Medicare and VA Hospitals aren't "entitlements" in anything like the way welfare, farm subsidies, and buying up automakers are entitlements.
You have not paid in the amount of money you will receive in Social Security and Medicare. Guaranteed. You will retire on the sweat of your children and grandchildren. Also, if government subsidized healthcare is so wretched, why do you find it acceptable for veterans to be on it? Don't they deserve the best?
As long as we're going totally off topic, farmers don't do anything for farm subsidies?????
Not written by a grain farmer.
The Veteran Hospitals were set up by the cheap politicians and were allowed to continue by cheap Americans. Veterans should be give a Gold Visa card upon retiring from the military to be used where ever. My father went to the VA in St. Louis once, I couldn't get him out of that filthy place fast enough. Lousy cheap ass politicians make sure they have the best. And what the hell do they do for it. As for Social Security, let me keep my money and stay out of my life. I'm happy to take care of myself.
That's exactly right, UMR. For the vast majority of subsidies, they do nothing. They agree not to grow something and are reimubursed for that.
Regardles of whether you get more out than you put in, SocSec and Medicare are investments you have made, not entitlements handed out. Poorly managed, badly invested, and crappy payout to boot (could do better in the private sector) but again, not entitlements in the same way as welfare, subsidies (farm or whatever) or the other methods of doling out money "just because we can", also known as "bread and circuses".
All of which simply goes to show that its not a clear-cut issue--not everything is, not everything isn't, some are sometimes and not others. Yeesh, what a mess.
Or to put it another way...
Is the money you will get back from your IRA and other retirement savings an "entitlement"? Cause you'll get back lots more than you put in (if you've done it right).
Of course it's not. You've worked and you've (hopefully) invested wisely.
Sorry we're straying off the reservation here UMR.
I agree that there are fundamental philosophical differences between SocSec/Medic. and the welfare program. However, if it were true that recipients would only take out their principal and interest then we wouldn't have to worry about the programs running a deficit. Thus, most recipients are getting "unearned" money. This is creating a situation where, as a young person, I have no expectation of these entitlement programs paying out the same level of benefits that you are receiving when I retire, which I'm fine with, I can save with the best of em. But let's not pretend that the folks harping about socialism are aggressive in defending socialism that benefits them.
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