He entertained a caller named Alex, who claimed to be a true independent. Among the viewpoint espoused by our one true independent was that (para) "I blame the republicans, but Obama lost me when he would not come to the table when the republicans proposed to fund a few things. That's like, if you are trying to free hostages and the hostage takers are willing to release a few, and you demand they keep all of them or release all of them, and Obama is being a real bad person by not releasing those few hostages."
Matt McNeil then pointed out, correctly, that the republicans, if allowed to fund the few things they like, would then allow the rest of government to die, and fuck anyone who gets hurt, they got theirs, or at least the blahs won't get anything, or something. Benghazi.
Matt then had a caller named Jeff, who, after implying that Alex was as dumb as a truckload of dead rats in a tampon factory*, objected to the analogy of 'hostages', with which Matt agreed, stating that it was in poor taste and minimized true hostage situation. I took pen to computer screen and wrote and yelled my objections to the comment line. Sweetie then informed me that I was an idiot and demonstrated a thing called typing. Please to contemplate:
Mr. McNeil, Mr. Wonderful,
In reference to caller Alex (and I would doubt he is a true independent, sounded like a libertarian, a conservative republican that likes marijuana and consequence-free-for-the-man sex), Matt and Jeff said that the "hostage" was a poor analogy, and not appropriately respectful to true hostage situations, "which are truly ugly" (para).
I, instead, believe the hostage analogy is truly apt, and this is ugly. Lives are at risk.
- Women and children needing the pittance the govt allows them in food aid to make it through the day
- The FDA - anyone eating chicken in California today?
- All sorts of health research
A better hostage analogy would be:
- OSHA and workplace safety
The republicans have taken the hostages (government services rated non-essential). The republicans offer to let a handful of hostages, that they either like or find politically useful (WW2memorialgate-wtf-omg, fund the full Defense budget, VA Benefits) go, in exchange for another hostage (the ACA), and then machine gun the rest of the hostages (the aforemention WIC, FDA, OSHA, CDC, ACA, Justice Dept., Commerce Dept., Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security), causing untold suffering for a helluva lot of people, except for, and I was shocked to reach this conclusion, rich white guys.
The Teahadis are that bad.
Love, paleotectonics
Is that fair? Am I making a reasonable argument?
*Watch now plz.
My wife pointed out another collateral victim last night (not nearly as critical as the ones you point out) but since NASA is a big sponsor of FIRSY Robotics through training, funding, team grants, and much more, there will be disruption to one of the primary forces that bring the program to life.
ReplyDeleteApplications for NASA grants are due this Thursday. Currently, they are going into a big black hole, and no idea when it will ever be reviewed.
How much stuff in yer home started at NASA, or from research science in general ? How short-sighted could one group of slightly evolved apes be ?
Deletealso, to answer your question, it may be fair and reasonable, but the argument needs more profanity.
ReplyDeleteMuch more.
Ohhhh, my virgin ears! Jeeves, fetch me my fucking pearls , that I might clutch them!
DeleteYes, I second the motion for more profanity! And I am pouring my energy into the web of the the world that Americans, even gerrymandered within centimeters of insanity, vote out the Rethuglican puke-puppets who created this mess ASAP in the next three election cycles!
ReplyDeletePlease not to read Nate Silver today...
DeleteImma do what I can as well.
I expect Nate is saying the House will not be in play next year. Athough Sam Wang is saying it's even odds.
DeleteIn any case, it's looking like the House loses Rs in a year that structurally favors them, even if they retain majority.
And remember in the last two cycles, this far out it was a 'sure thing' that the Dems were going to lose the Senate...but they didn't.
In any case, NASA is open again today, so gotta get that damn grant application in!
Z, your supposition re: Silver is correct. As far as grant app, GO! NOW! DO! Dammit!
ReplyDeleteFWIW, "voting out the Republican asswipes" is a set that includes "taking back the House" although not the same things. If they are reduced in number, that will be sufficient.
DeleteI want them to take a srs bitch-slapping, but I would take a bet on taking the house, ignoring the gerrymandering, focus on the fact that people are dumb.
DeleteThat should be "would not", because I am dumb...
DeleteOTOH, the Republicans appear to be willing to do this whole stupid thing all over again in January, so perhaps memories will not fade quite so much.
DeleteAlso, shut down the government and FEMA in blizzard season? What could possibly go wrong?
Those moochers probably expect gubblement help.
Delete