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Monday, May 04, 2009
Ashley Herzog :: Townhall.com Columnist
Socialism, College Style
by Ashley Herzog
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If you’re baffled by college students’ enthusiastic support for Soviet-lite economic policies, you need to watch several short videos created by members of Young America’s Foundation (YAF).

In the videos, YAF members approach their classmates with a petition calling for the redistribution of student GPAs. “It would make it so that all students have an equal opportunity to go to grad school,” University of Oregon YAFer Kenny Crabtree explains. Students with bad grades would therefore be entitled to points earned by straight-A students.

Their classmates are flabbergasted.

“Is that, like, a joke or something?” one guy responds.

“Why would you take points from people who are higher up and give them to people who didn’t meet the requirements?” another asks George Mason University YAFers. But when asked if he supports Obama’s wealth redistribution schemes, he says “yes.”

Shocking? Not really. As I pointed out in my March 30 column, most college students are economically illiterate. When quizzed by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute about basic concepts, such as supply and demand, the average student’s score was 53 percent. And since most don’t work or pay taxes (only 46 percent of full-time students have jobs), they simply have no idea how capitalism works.

But they do understand grades. Students who study hard get good grades; students who skip class and binge drink every night get bad grades. Some struggle with difficult material, but with enough effort (attending office hours, seeing a tutor) most can maintain a decent GPA. Every sane college student realizes the immorality of “spreading the grades around”—regardless of who benefits.

And it makes their rationales for supporting socialism interesting.

“I don’t think people who worked for their grades should have to suffer because someone else slacked off,” one student says. Then how can she believe in wealth redistribution? “Money is different.” Another explains, “Earning money is not the same as earning grades.” O-kay.

Again, this is typical. Day in and day out, professors indoctrinate students with hatred for the greedy “rich”—which, under our tax code, includes a lot of middle-class families just like theirs, who struggle to pay the mortgage and college tuition. They’re taught to believe that people who don’t work are entitled to endless welfare benefits financed by the productive class. But when it comes to redistributing grades they earned, they don’t support it.

There is some hope for the future. As several of my fellow Townhall columnists have pointed out, most people who support Obama’s plan to “spread the wealth around” either don’t pay income taxes or are too rich to care. (And some of Obama’s biggest supporters, including Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, are living off inherited money earned by somebody else.) As soon as these students become productive business owners and professionals, they won’t want the Democrats confiscating money they worked for.

“It’s amazing how students only care about the immorality of socialism when it hurts them,” said George Mason University student Alyssa Cordova. Her classmates were universally opposed to a GPA redistribution plan.

Now, if we could just convince Ted Kennedy and John Kerry that we need to implement a “mansion redistribution plan” or “private jet redistribution plan,” we could abolish Obama-style socialism altogether.

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About The Author
Ashley Herzog is a Townhall columnist and the author of Feminism vs. Women.

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"Republic" and grades
Rich D.,
The whole "republic vs. democracy" thing is a distinction without a difference. Call it what you want: the point is, a system not controlled by elites, where ordinary people have a say. I mentioned Aristotle, but he didn't like democracy. He thought we should be ruled by the "better" people, people like himself. But he does point out, I think, that a democracy requires that the middle class be very strong. If people are desperately poor, as in Haiti, they're beholden to others with more money and cannot vote in a fully independent manner. If elections are held, they're probably paid or intimidated into voting as they do.

uber, remember that the original point was about redistribution, not grades. But as to grades, I don't know if the pass/fail proposal would really work. I've seen it work in very small colleges where the faculty-to-student ratio was low and every student was expected to get a lot of personal attention. But in larger schools, with a higher faculty-to-student ratio, it would be hard for that to work. Keep in mind that grades give you information not just on students' knowledge, but about teachers as well. If a teacher gives nothing but F's or A's, that raises questions about him as a teacher.

Uber and Unter
uber: Grades are arbitrary...

Sure. Arbitrary. Your command of English is astonishing.

"...and you demonstrating [sic] knowledge to an impartial panel."

As I said!


Ted, what are you smoking?!
This is a Republic.

Accreditation vs. Education
Of course this misses the point entirely. Grades are arbitrary and mask bias. How many times do we need to hear how Conservatives got a bad grade for disagreeing with a teacher to not understand that grades are fundamentally a misguided way of running a school.

I offer a different solution. Pass/Fail on all classes. You take the class, you attend when you want, and you demonstrating knowledge to an impartial panel. If you fail to exhibit a sufficient mastery of material you come back when you are ready. Yes you pay for taking courses and for taking the exams. Otherwise your time is yours and if you want to drink all day and all night that is completely up to you.

In other words instead of our Universities being accreditations factories we could have actual educational institutions of higher learning.


Redistribution
We "design" grades the way we do precisely because we want them to reflect the merits of individuals. We don't design our rules for money and inheritance the same way, because we want people to be able to help their loved ones or others they're concerned about. That is good.

But in a society where people have incomes literally millions of times greater than others, way beyond any possible difference in merit, it makes sense to redistribute. Not to make everybody equal, but just so the amount of misery isn't too great. Also, it's important to do that so we can have a democracy. A large middle class is necessary for democracy. In a place like Haiti where perhaps 1% of the population is rich and over 90% is poor, you can hardly have a democracy. Democracy requires that most people have the ability to think and act independently. That's been known since Aristotle. Read his Politics.

Let's consider another analogy. Let's say someone proposed a system where everyone had an equal chance to cheat. Schools would give lessons on cheating, and during tests, teachers would be required to look the other way for at least 20 minutes during each test so that everyone could cheat. The kids who studied less would have a chance to get the same grades as those who studied more. The grades wouldn't be "redistributed": you'd have to "earn" them by cheating well. Good cheaters would do better than poor cheaters. You'd get the grades you could get away with getting.

Capitalism is good, but "crony capitalism" is essentially organized cheating. People conspiring to get rich at the expense of the rest of us, below the radar of the law. If we don't fight crony capitalism, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. This economic crisis is more or less the result of it.

Ted's,um,logic
OF COURSE income is a measure of someone's merits in the workplace,just as grades are a measure of his merits in the classroom. Teddy Chappaquiddick and John Kerry-Heinz only inherited their money after someone else EARNED it. Money is transferable in a way that grades, by design, are not. What the YAF members proposed is that grades be similarly transferable. The flabbergasted students balked.

And who gets to decide whether those bank CEO's "merited" their golden parachutes? Should Pinch Sulzberger be relieved of his paycheck now befor he finishes killing off two newspapers(the NYT and the Boston Glob)? Or should he continue doing the job he's paid to do until their aren't any papers left for him to do it to? Is that the government's call, or the market's?

Why single out astronauts? Ted isn't qualified to do much of anything if that's the extent of his reasoning skills.

Poor analogy
The problem is that the analogy isn't really that close. Income is not a measure of someone's merits the way grades are. Actually, the article comes close to contradicting itself, because near the end it mentions that the wealth of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry is not based on their own work for the most part. That's a clue that income doesn't reflect a person's merits very closely. A better analogy would be if Obama was pushing an extreme form of affirmative action that would allow anyone to do any kind of work. Let's say that because I've fantasized about being an astronaut, it would allow me to be one. But I'm not qualified to be an astronaut. No one would propose anything that absurd.

For a good example of the disparity between income and merit, what about the bank CEO's who left after running their banks into the ground and still got hundreds of millions of dollars in "golden parachutes"? Did they merit that money?

Actually, I'm not blaming them entirely for the failure of our economy. What really got us in trouble was the whole mindset of low regulation. They played along with that but didn't necessarily cause it completely. However, they don't deserve all that money. That sort of foolishness shouldn't be rewarded.

dr. douglas
The principle/concept is the same. If one farmer busts his a$$ and produces 100,000 apples, why should he give it to the farmer who slacked off and produced 50,000 apples?

Next you'll talk about variables/circumstances are different and in favor of one farmer or the other, allowing one farmer to produce more apples than the other. When in fact, although one farmer may have to work twice as hard to make 100,000 apples than the other (say, bc his soil isn'as high of a quality) he still has the opportunity. Why does he have the opportunity? BC this is America. That's what liberals tend to forget, is Capitalism works, and America works.

You can apply this concept/principle to nearly anything, including wealth, and in the end socialism doesn't make much sense.

I don't mind helping the helpless, I have no intention on helping the clueless.

Equal to achieve NOT equal to receive
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/

People have rights to their money!!!!!!
That includes the right to LEAVE IT TO THEIR HEIRS. If you don't like THAT move to Red China!

-Ray
NRA Life Member
Soli Deo Gloria!!

Lon
You really don't want to see, do you?
Paris Hilton's grandfather WORKED to earn his money. She has benefitted from HIS labor by INHERITING what he WORKED FOR and/or INVESTED IN, then WILLINGLY bequeathed her. Can you honestly say that is in the same league as stealing it? No. So she inherited a fortune and does not have to work. Big deal! So did Kerry and Kennedy; neither of whom have ever held an honest job in their lives. Pelosi and Huffington married their fortunes-but every dime of those fortunes was still earned by someone's working, and/or investments that further EARNED and thereby increased their value. Or don't your investments or bank accounts EARN anything, however miniscule these days?

Simplistic, you say? How ELSE does one earn money other than working for or stealing it? You can mow a yard and EARN some money, or you can snatch an old lady's purse and STEAL her cash. Or you can go on welfare. The government, by the way, produces nothing so can earn nothing. There's your thievery-it steals from one to give to another. Very few of us are lucky enough to inherit much, but as I say even that money is the result of someone's work earning that dough.

Answer the question, moron! What other way is there to earn money that we haven't heard about?

Lon
You really don't want to see, do you?
Paris Hilton's grandfather WORKED to earn his money. She has benefitted from HIS labor by INHERITING what he WORKED FOR and/or INVESTED IN, then WILLINGLY bequeathed her. Can you honestly say that is in the same league as stealing it? No. So she inherited a fortune and does not have to work. Big deal! So did Kerry and Kennedy; neither of whom have ever held an honest job in their lives. Pelosi and Huffington married their fortunes-but every dime of those fortunes was still earned by someone's working, and/or investments that further EARNED and thereby increased their value. Or don't your investments or bank accounts EARN anything, however miniscule these days?

Simplistic, you say? How ELSE does one earn money other than working for or stealing it? You can mow a yard and EARN some money, or you can snatch an old lady's purse and STEAL her cash. Or you can go on welfare. The government, by the way, produces nothing so can earn nothing. There's your thievery-it steals from one to give to another. Very few of us are lucky enough to inherit much, but as I say even that money is the result of someone's work earning that dough.

Answer the question, moron! What other way is there to earn money that we haven't heard about?

thank you for your replies
paying high tax rates doesn't make rich people poor just as paying low tax rates don't make poor people rich. are conservatives generally opposed to all forms of graduated income tax? because the top rate used to be really high. but it has come down dramatically since kennedy. i think that's a good thing. but obama's "wealth redistribution scheme" represents a small step backwards from the tax cuts of the last eight years. if you have a problem with massive spending, that makes sense. that seems out of control. but asserting that a raise of the top marginal rate to what it was before president bush is some form of radical socialism, well, i just can't get on board with that type of rhetoric. but i appreciate your feedback.

Graduat ov UI sekes Hi-paing job
High evree-one,
Iam seking a hi-paing job caws I got a deegree from the Univercity of Idiots.
I wont to make lotsa monee now that Iam edukated. I can turn on a computor and typ good. I have a deegree that says so.
I can manage pepel and noe how to speel.
My teachers say that Iam the smartest stewdint they have cent into the workforse.

I deserv hi-pae caus iam a graduat.

put your signature here.

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oldsocialworker and 08hayabusa
I may have created some confusion by responding to an argument and taking it more seriously than it deserved. Aliveinhim claimed that all wealth is either earned or stolen. This is a ridiculously simple minded view which does not fit with a whole bunch of cases. And it was only in counting everything that was not earned as stolen that one gets the conclusion that most of the wealth in the world counts as stolen.

Take your example of Bill Gates. Think about how much of his money came from public universities and other government entities buying his products. Did the government earn that money? No, they collected in taxes. So by the aliveinhim status, also suggested by oldsocialworker, that money was theived. So Bill Gates is trading in stolen money. Because after all, receiving stolen money doesn't make it any less stolen. And if earning passes from parent to child, so presumably does theiving.

The reality, of course, is not that Gates or Ford are theives. It is that wealth is not really as directly linked to merit as conservatives pretend it is when they are trying to make arguments that require this nonsense.

The reality is that money passes hands in a variety of way. There is an element of merit involved in most cases. There is also a large element of luck. There are also background community practices that benefit, say, people in the US over people in sub-saharan Africa.

Of course this makes for a more complicated picture than one finds in Libertarian philosophy. But that is why Libtertarian philosophy is not taken too seriously by that many people.

Alive in him
When you type simpleminded things more slowly they do not become any less simple minded. It is true that the money that Paris Hilton has to spend was earned by her grandfather. Would it make sense to give the granddaughter of someone who worked hard in school a good grade because the grandfather worked hard in school and learned stuff?

Do you really not see the disanalogy between saying someone deserves money because their parents earned it and saying someone deserves grades because their parents earned it. Once one sees that difference it should be apparent how simpleminded the YAF argument above is that socialism in money is similar to socialism in grading.

If you want to argue that Paris Hilton earned her wealth because she was born into a rich family and has managed not to get disinherited, fine. I may laugh at you a bit, but you can believe silly things if you want. But even so you should still be able to see that this has nothing to do with the way that grades should be handed out in school.

Why do you think colleges are
elliminating SAT scores for entrance qualification? - so grades don't matter. It's a backdoor way of re-ditributing grades - they don't matter.

Give it time...
There was a time in this country when the idea of distributiong the wealth was considered insanity, but over a period of 60 or more years a majority of the people now believe it's perfectly normal. If the liberals want something, they will get it eventually. You see, 100 years means nothing to them, they will keep chipping away at the edges until finally the the whole structure comes tumbling down. By the time your grandchildren enter college, you can believe that redistribution of grades will be a fact. Sad but true.

Manfredo
The door is already there and open; the kids with the worst grades are free to choose to seek additional tutoring from the students with better grades. Those students FREELY volunteer their time to help, or paid tutoring can be sought.

Next.

tutors
====
just throwing this out there
wouldn't a better analogy for obama's "wealth redistribution scheme" be a system in which the kids with the top grades are required to tutor the kids with the worst grades?======
Really ? Where do you see the lessons of success being taught or more importantly, learned by those who are at the bottom ?
I see people at the bottom insisting that they cannot survive without cable TV or other luxuries. I see homes owned by low income people full of expensive items bought on credit and yet the doorbell doesn't work and they can't afford to maintain the heating system. But their children have the latest video game systems and all the new releases for it, because things like that are ESSENTIAL.

distribution
When Joe the plumber became famous I asked people who play a game called Project Reality ( realitymod.com) if they wouldn't mind a similar system. Bear in mind, points in the game give you nothing but temporary bragging rights and all the lefties on the game forums claim to not care about points. But when you start talking about taking those points away and giving them to people who didn't bother to read the game manual and waste points destroying vehicles out of ignorance,....well then it is a much different story.
I think Axl W. Rose summed it up well when he said " You can have anything want but you better not take it from me ".

just throwing this out there
wouldn't a better analogy for obama's "wealth redistribution scheme" be a system in which the kids with the top grades are required to tutor the kids with the worst grades?

Gay Conservative
Not one of them would let men join a woman's team, period. If it were allowed I would simply draft all males for my W-team and pretty much win every time.

There are actual examples of this, some men trying to join women's field hockey, or whatever, under TitleIX and not a single feminist pro-Title-IX woman supported them. Actually, the came out against it.

People, I know we sensible folks already know this but it's such a CROCK. All of it, PC, Title IX, affirmative action, Marxism and Socialism...ALL of it. It's all bitterness, revenge, envy and a multitude of other sins. Why do you think these people get to be such control freaks to begin with? Why are they all so miserable and angry? There you go...

I know it seems bleak with the Messiah and all but don't get down. Another fact, like the article points out, when people grow up by in large they tend to wise up and move Right. Thats why libs do so well with the under 30 crowd et al.

They're all bad policies and principles but sometimes people need to engage it to be reminded, hence our current situation. But, brighter days are ahead, believe me.

DR douglass
So if GPA's range were bigger you would support GPA welfare? Dumb and silly? "Mirror"...check it out. lol.

Spread the wealth
I don't know a single Liberal who supports spreading the wealth who voluntarily pays additional taxes to walk it as they talk it, so to speak. Make no mistake, its class warfare and envy, some of the most destructive things in human nature.

They preach about patriotism and compassion but then, they turn out to be tax cheats themselves in many cases. Also, there is no getting around the fact that conservatives give more money to charity.

Its hogwash, all of it. Its politics at its worst and the scariest part is its a philosophy that takes away choice and freedom and the antithesis of volunteerism. We must fight against it, yes even for those who don't know any better.

Reminds me of the kids who got called for a foul playing basketball, then take the ball and go home. They would rather nobody get to play if they must suffer any consequence.

Good for you
You picked a catchy title for a dumb article.

70% Of Something v. 100% Of Liberty

I think this is a key difference between Conservatives (fiscal & social) or Constitutionalist and Liberals or Progressives.

What would you give up if 70% of your medical care or mortgage, etc., was paid for by the government?

Would you give up 70% of your Liberty?

How about 70% of your Freedom?

70% of your right of free speech?

70% of your right to freedom of religion or association?

Would you agree to work for free 70% of the working week?

Would you agree to share 70% of your home with a stranger?

If not 70%, what percentage figure would you assign?

If you would take one or more of the above, then the government will you what type of person that you are and it will just negotiate the final percentage.

You see the fundamental difference between Progressives or Liberals and Conservatives or Constitutionalists is that we would never sell or give away any of the above for gifts or freebies from the government.

We can't be bought, but we do wind up paying the bills.

Sure, you might think that it is silly of us not to just get on the government dole, after all none of that means anything, but to us, you could not be more wrong. And, it's "free", but obviously you know that nothing is really free when it comes from the government.

"When the people fear the government, that is tyranny, but when the government fears the people, that is liberty."
--Thomas Jefferson


Hard Working......
Americans did not all amass thier fortunes from thievery as some would suggest.(Lon, and others of his ilk) Granted there are the Mellon and Carnegie empires, but hard working Americans myself included have toiled in factories and restaurants while going to school to get that degree in order to advance themselves up the ladder. (oldsocialworker) NJ is right on the mark about making choices. I've made some bad life choices but have worked harder to regain my footing and become "a functioning" member of society. Making the economy work by working for what you've got is the American way. "Don't Tread on Me" and stay out of my bank account.

Lon pt2
Inheritances also come by dint of somebody's hard work even as the heirs are one step removed from it. Having inherited gifts myself I can only say it's a generous thing for someone to VOLUNTARILY bequeath the fruits of his labor to his heirs. It is not an automatic right; it is truly a gift to be bestowed. How far different from the liberal idea of forcible theft of another's income in order that the liberal can 'feel' like he's done something good.

Chew on that for awhile.

Lon
I will type it again r-e-a-l slowly.

Wealth is either earned or stolen. That IS the bottom line, and you don't need to understand much more than that in order to be competent with money. That not everyone has the knack to become a gazillionaire does not make the gazillionare a scoundrel. Lack of that know-how doesn't make those who aren't 'rich' more virtuous than those who are, nor does it make them victims. You are either willing to bust your hump, or you're not. Obviously not all are educable for the professions but there's work for anyone who wants it, however humble it may be. Anyone who can count is capable of understanding that one does not spend more than one makes if he wants to build his assets.

You speak of the lottery as though those dollars are pulled out of someone's butt. Sir, people who work earn the money that makes up the pot are the ones who essentially fund it. In other words, every dollar that is in the free market system OR the government has been earned by someone, somewhere.

Or do you work for the government, so don't understand that?

08ahabusa
"It's always easy to spend other peoples money, isn't it?"


I have been daring the losers just to go whole hog and demand the seizure of all wealth.

Of course, we I told them that you can only go to the well once, because after you take everything there is nothing left to seek later, if you needed.

No one has said OK, which just shows they are cowards, who want us to kiss their boo-boos, pay for their tuition, give them free houses, cars, medicalcare, and pay for them for the rest of their lives.

Dr. Douglas, like the others, are chicken-sh!t losers.

Individual Empowerment
Show President Obama and the democrats that support his agenda that the tea party protest were not "astro turf" but was the beginning of a grass roots movement against government growth, control, spending and other aspects of his economic policy by signing the petition to promote individual empowerment at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Indv1776/petition.html Please copy and paste this as many times as possible to this blog and others Also send this to your friends and family who feel the same way as you

College Kids Have A Lot To Learn
The YAF is an impressive group. The video featuring a YAF girl interviewing a representative sample of campus dumb masses is classic. In their minds, grades are earned but income is distributed to fortunate people based on crooked activities or dumb luck. They definitely need a little exposure to the real world. The video can be seen at the link below.

http://edgycater.blogspot.com/

Lon
Explain to me how profit margins are theft.

Explain to me what it was that Bill Gates stole, or Henry Ford, who by the way started the middle class in this country, or Harvey Firestone, or the other tens of thousands of entrepreneurs this country has produced.

Gay conservative
Just a typical American clinging to my guns and my religion.

oldsocialworker
Lon is one of the many parasites living among us who thinks the world owes him a living.

08hayabusa
You dare make a negative comment about the Messiah, Dear Leader. You will be struck down with the liberal pitchfork for your lack of patriotism. :)

Dr Douglas
I guess you go to surgeons who got into med school through affirmative action too. You know the ones who didn't have the best grades just the right skin color.

But I guess that could be considered a racist comment rather than one of self-preservation.

It's always easy to spend other peoples money, isn't it?

Just like that Marxist in the White House. It's not his millions in the bank that he's spending, just all of ours and our children, and grandchildren's future.

I love how all the Liberals were screaming Bush squandered a $250 billion surplus when taking office to a $500 billion deficit when he left office. But it's ok for your Marxist to push us to a projected $1.85 trillion deficit in his first 100 days.

Sports stars
Can you imagine how liberals would feel if we equalled the playing field and put 5' 7" overweight men on a pro basketball team for fairness sake? Or permit a woman with a 9 handicap to play on the LPGA tour with 9 strokes given for each 18 holes? Or have the offensive lineman on the Green Bay Packers average 200 pounds because 330 pound men have an unfair advantage? Just some questions.

Tell you what, Lon
You go right ahead and work 4 days per week to send your earnings to Washington to be laundered and squandered. How dare you and those like you volunteer everyone else for that disaster?

I notice you tell yourself personal wealth has its roots in theivery. Of course, you need to tell yourself that to make pillaging others okay. Tell all the tradesmen I see busting their humps to provide services in various areas: HVAC, eletricians, tree service, plumbers, builders, stone masons etc.. That they somehow "stole" the money. These guys are taxed in excess of 50% and often never see retirement.

I have another observation based on personal and professional experience: ost poverty (at least in America for now) is caused by personal choices and behaviors. I made it out of a rough start because of choices: to get an education, to have only one child (wanted more), and to be reliable and good at my job. Furthermore, the people I see make it assume an "antipoverty" value set, and make it-the ghastly great society programs be damned!

Stop being jealous of others property and achivement and calling it a desire for justice. You are a jealous creeper, nothing more, nothing less.

First
Actaully, we HAVE NOT beeen implementing "Reagan conservatism" since the 80's- you cannot be more than 25 is you believe this. We have been implementing great society policy and practices over the past 40 years, adn that is what is coming home to roost. Look at many of our now nearly uninhabitable inner cities: ALL microcosmic examples of what happens when gov't dependence replaces personal industry as the rule.

I'm still scratching my head over where you get the idea that we've been implementing conservative policies that failed. Go research where most of the wonderful things we have in thic country got their starts and receive their funding. Hospitals, museums, schools , social services. My pay as a social worker comes from the private sector, and the private sector comes from innovative people who want to and do make money. We crush that, we're done- and that is a fact.

AliveinHim
If you are going to worship capitalism you really need to understand it better than you do. You can get money by working hard and earning it, or by being given money by someone who has it. You can also get money by winning the lottery, or having a plot of land you inherited turn out to have a valuable resource buried under it. You can become the victim of a tragedy and win a lawsuit. You can (or at least could) profit from the labor of slaves.

Obviously this is only a partial list. One could count everything that is not hard work as theivery, but then it will turn out that almost all of the wealth that is currently distributed has its roots in theft.
If one wants to count

Paranoidmystic
Very often grades/ promotions ARE awarded based upon connections, pigment of skin, and ethnic background. I often see minorities/ connected kids awarded positions and afforded unearned grades and awards. Props only work for so long, than actual skill should be required.

In my experience, most impoverished (note: I said MOST- not ALL) live lives conducive to poverty. If you produce a bunch of kids you cannot afford- you WILL be poor. If you want to party all day and club all night- you WILL be poor. If you decide school or work isn't for you , but drugs and alcohol are- you WILL be poor. That is the vast majority of what I see going on in the impoverished; and I come from humble beginnings, so I know of what I speak.

Does it trouble you at all that the only people being forced to redistribute "wealth" are the working class? Your Pelosis, Kerrys, Kennedys, Soros, etc... along with most other politicians and Hollywood stars have their millions and billions safely stowed in accounts over seas. Its working people who are being robbed of the chance to accrue wealth and do as they please with their earnings, including leaving it to their children. Your problems are much bigger than paranoia if you think casting this nation into mass poverty for all (except the politicians and stars) is the answer- and that is what ALWAYS happens under collectivism and will happen here as well.

Lon
No, I am Christian but I sure do not subscribe to your stated belief in #94.

Grades?
So let's say that the grades are redistributed so as to allow some of the slackers to attend graduate school. How well are they going to do there, not having learned how to learn? And wouldn't that mean that some of the students that DID earn those grades wouldn't get to continue their education? Does this improve the overall quality of those holding graduate degrees? Or would it lower the standard. Oh, that's right, we all know that liberalism lowers standards.

Lon
And if money isn't earned by hard work and merit, then it's coming from someone else who HAS worked hard and earned his pay by way of merit. There are only two ways to get money, after all: by hard work or thievery. The analogy is appropriate.

These kids think the way they do because Daddy (or money from scholarships donated by someone else who has worked hard) is paying for their 'education'. Ask anyone who's putting himself through college and just maybe you'll get it.

ReCon-USMC libs would
have no idea what an MOS is. They still live with their mommy

Markets
There are certainly markets involved, they just are not free markets.

Economics
Many on the left that are spinning our current calamities as a failure of free markets and conservatism, some know they are lying others are just parrots.

Our failure is seminaly simple, we have since 1913 had a central bank that has manipulated money. They create money out of thin air they artificially control interest rates, none of that is how free markets work. In a free market interest rates will find their own level and money cannot be created out of nothing it must be backed by something of value. When you literally make money and lend it at artificially low interest rates it has to go somewhere and this time it was housing. It created an artificial need and supplied an artificially low interest money to buy it, with the full complicity of every government agency and congress and the executive branch incouraging it and denying the oversight of the mortgage bankers, if you believe in conspiracy theories here you have a good one. Everybody got rich and everyone got away with it and the tax payers are cleaning it up.

Nothing in this was free market!

where is yal grade redistrib video
a url please?

hagar :)
.

Hal Donahue's Psychiatrist :(
Good luck in your chosen profession :-)Has Spector arrived for his appointment today? I understand you have managed to remove one of his personalities. Go Toomey

To FIRST in MA
You can stick your Socialism, Communism, Marxism, and any other "ism" so far up your arse that maybe they can redistribute cells from your Organs--- that have not yet died--- to your Brain, which has. Moron!

YAF
if you are a conservative when you are young, you have no heart. Who raised these creeps?

More seriously
To see why the behavior of the YAF is so silly one doesn't need to read liberals like Keynes, it is sufficient to read someone who supports laissez faire capitalism like von Hayek.

Grades are rather pointless if they are not assigned on a merit system. As von Hayek shows pretty clearly, a capitalist system is not such a merit system. That by itself is not an argument against capitalism. But it is an argument against defending capitalism on the grounds that it is a merit system.

SIMPLE ANALOGY FOR LIBERAL POSTERS

.....UNDER CAPITALISM ...

.....Two men face off for a showdown in the Old West ...the faster man walks away with his life ...

.....UNDER SOCIALISM ...

.....Two men face off for a showdown ...the sheriff shoots them both ...

.....COLOSSUS

Warrior
God determines what fetus winds up in which womb. You aren't one of those foolish atheists are you?

ReCon-USMC the left
wants government to extort the money from us because they are afraid to try and get it themselves.

Economically illiterate
It is no surprise that young adults are economically illiterate. After all, it does take some time to develop reasoned thinking. What is dis-heartening is that their guidance comes from brain dead leftist professors.

To First KY amd Marxist on the Board
I find it sad but interesting That those that failed the most in Life are the only True Blue Radical Socialist and devout Marxist .
You don't know Jack about running anything mush less your own failed lives in a land of plenty .
Simply put you are all big Time proven losers that want someone , anyone and lastly Govt. to take care of your butts from Womb to Tomb since others that are smart want .
You Sicko's know nothing about the Capitalist America I Love and Why it is a .... World you'll know not .
When I got back from my Nam being in the middle of my Third Tour there at 27 years old . I was shot in both feet and almost died twice . I spent 11 months in the Portsmouth Naval Hospital and still today walk with a painful limp .
To make matters far worse No Liberal Cos. would hire me since my MOS says 0321 , Trained Killers in Reality .I served this Country for 6 Years most of you Socialist/Marxist didn't .
All on my own with no help I became quite famous in the Furniture Ind. many on townhall know all about . Yes I am quite Rich but limit my money to those that try to help themselves first not those on chronic welfare and entitlements .
I help Marines families and will be leaving the Marine Corp Legal Foundation One million dollars ...you jerks that take much and give nothing back .You see it as Govt''Job' nd others not yours .
I created 3 huge Furniture Factories that still help the middle class today that are willing to work not live on the backs of tax payers .
I own you nothing ! I give on my own money but Obama putting a gun to my head for ""His People " is taking not giving freely .
That is Marxism you'll obviously crave . No Thanks .


First ....
I've read some dumb-troll postings but really son you take the cake.

Capitalism (particularly when married to American consititutional democracy) has created more wealth and lifted more people out of poverty ... and provided better education ... and better health care ... and longer life spans ... and a pelthora of other uncontestable "good things" than any other economic theory. Ever. Bar none. Period.

If there was a tax on low IQs you'd be paying in the max bracket ........ sheeeeeeesh.

Douglas, typical Dim
A millionaire has just as much right to his million as a panhandler has to his dollar.

If Douglas wants to help a panhandler, he should give him some of his own money. Likewise, perhaps the Obamas could give up their pastry chefs, $500 lobster snacks, elite private schools, etc.

For that matter, why should Douglas have two good legs when some have none? Somehow, that never occurs to them. Their own "greed" is "different," why, it isn't even greed. They prove they're not greedy by advocating taking other peoples' earnings to give to the poor. Some "psychologist"!

Definite Comparison
If you get a 0 GPA, you fail and are destined to work at crap jobs. If you get a 4.0 GPA, you've got a great chance of getting a good salary. This is the notion behind Government paying for the poor to go to school, even though they failed out. If we just give the chronic failures the spread out grades, we can save a lot of money on public education costs, particularly higher education. They can then be given good jobs (never mind the fact they actually have to work at them) because no one has a GPA advantage over anyone else. That's fair.

What you produce is yours, be it GPA or cash. You have no more right to someone else's money than their grades, even if it means you're likely going to be destitute. It isn't anyone else's fault that individual is destitute but that individual like it isn't anyone else's fault that a student failed but that student's.

Where the **** are we?
Ben Franklin's reply when asked by a citizen what kind of government the people had been given is worth remembering! " A Republic if you can hang on to it!"
Ten Commandments are not a "living document"! Our Constitution is not "living document"!
In reading most of these I am reminded of the Jews of the old testament and their "interpretations" of the covenant.
When Jesus came they didn't notice. They were on their hands and knees in the temple "picking the fly "kaka" out of the black pepper!!!!

And First just keeps
illustrating his ignorance!

100's of millions of Americans? osama won in a landslide? Sorry you ignorant jack off, but only about 130 million registered voters actually voted; osama received about 69.5 million and McCain received about 60 million, with the rest cast for various other candidates. Not exactly a landslide, except in the fantasy world minds of liberats. When you count the more than 2 million illegal ACORN manufactured votes that osama received and the 1 million military absentee ballots that were wrongfully rejected by osamabots in the Pentagon because they knew that those votes were for McCain, it was actually a lot closer. What a dimwit like you doesn't realize, is that more and more of the that made the mistake of voting for the messiah are realizing it and most likely will not vote dumbocrud in the next election.

Obviously, you are a government employed loser or again, living off of mom and dad, ignoring the fact that you are a product of capitalism. Like all liberats, you callously ignore the role that the dumbocruds in congress had in shaping the current economy. If you are employed by a real capitalistic company, I hope someone finds you out and terminates you. They can then give the job to someone more intelligent and deserving than a sewer snake like you.

phyl; see above dumba%$!

FROG
The Constitution does not forbid the creation of social safety nets. And majority rule must have limits. That is an important role of the courts. To prevent an elected majority from trampling the rights of the minority.

Reply to Dr Douglas
Dr Douglas states:

"The grade point average relevant to graduate school runs from 0 to 4.0 (more realistically, from 2.0 to 4.0 since students below 2.0 usually are eliminated. 4.0 is the highest possible grade - there is no need for anything beyond that (since it's impossible anyway).

In contrast, wealth runs along an enormous continuum scaling from say 0 to the billions. Given this enormous range, people on the high end of the scale (millionaires) can easily afford to have some of their unnecesary wealth redistributed, with very little if any effect on them.

The same is obviously not true of the GPA situation, where a small redistribution could affect the person's chances of getting into gradualte school (because the range of the scales is so limited)."

This is provably false. There are is an infinite quantity of rational numbers from 2.0 to 4.0 as there are from 0 to billions. The article does not state at what quanta the redistribution would occur. Thus the impact of redistribution from a 2.0 student to 4.0 student may in fact have less, identical or greater percent impact on the 4.0 student in comparison to a redistribution of wealth from someone has billions of $ to someone who has $0. From the article the comparison is inscrutable.

First @ 12:43pm wrote:
"We have seen however that Capitalism is a fantasy and a fraud that cannot be sustained. Since naked greed is the prime virtue of Capitalism, it is forever hobbled with fraud, deception, and corruption at all levels. We have seen that Capitalism only benefits the wealthy elites at the expense of the poor and middle class and threatens the fiscal integrity of our nation through Conservative deficit spending."

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Man, you must be Loyal Democrat, redux. No one can be that ignorant. As if there is no corruption and greed in the Democratic party. Ohhh, noooo, those virtuous angelic beings would never do something so contemptible as to work out sweetheart deals on loans, and accept gifts from lobbyists. They're only purpose in life is to serve their constituents.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Stop it, man, you're killin' me!

Tod Kozeluh
Lexington, KY

First is a fool
neither party is worth spit they play a game and take turns ripping us off. Its time for a costitutional convention so we can throw of the yoke of economic slavery. Wake up idiot!

First
You are out to lunch. You understand nothing--you talk in disjointed talking points made by people purposely denigrating Capitalism in favor of Socialism. You are either a Communist in ideology or a willing dupe. Either one is disgusting. First, you have no base knowledge, you just flap you jaws about nothing.

JMO51 @11:17
"Social Security and Medicare are very popular entitlement programs. That is what the people want."

So, you are in agreement, then, that a majority can trample the rights of a minority? This is why, as a libertarian, I opposed Prop 8 in California. As a Christian, I view homosexuality as a sin. But as a law abiding citizen who holds to the tenets of the Constitution, I do not believe that it is legal to constrict anothers right simply by creating a majority and passing a law.

You, sir, are on the wrong side of the Constitution, and therefore, the law.

Tod Kozeluh
Lexington, KY

Government as Charity and Capital gains
**No one except the extreme far left expects the government to create fairness. Life is not and will never be fair. But Liberals do believe that the government can play a role is reducing pain and suffering at its extreme. That is the premise behind the social safety net.**

It is not government's place to do any of this. Having been on the receiving end of government "largesse" when dealing with my niece and nephew who were in foster care, I can tell you it is the most degrading system in the world. Contrast that to the Salvation Army who treat the poor with graciousness and compassion and actually help them get out of poverty and drug addiction.

And, second, Capital gains on inheritance - that money has already been taxed. It is just robbery, pure and simple, committed by envious, greedy people who abhor the thought that someone might have more than they have. Rich people have NO effect on your life (except when they buy your services or goods). If every rich person went broke tomorrow, you'd still be the same pitiful whiner you are now. Otherwise, you'd be one of the rich!


To RetardCon in VA
You, appropriately named "Retard," deserve Socialism. Let's talk again in a few years and see how you feel then--idiot!

Fair Taxes (but not the "Fair Tax")
Try this tax approach. Assume a country with 100 citizens and a government with a budget of $100. Everybody pays $1.00 in taxes. What could be more fair?

However, in liberal land, 5 of those citizens would pay $80.00, 45 other citizens would split the remaing $20.00, and 50 citizens would pay nothing. How is that fair?

I as a citizen get no more government benefits than most and substantially less than others (i.e., WIP payments, other welfare payments, medical benefits, etc.). Why then should I bear a disproportionate share of the cost of government? Just because I worked harder and made better decisions than some schlep who thought it was cooler to wear his jeans around his knees, drop out of school, and speak in a language no one can understand.




To RetardCon in VA
Unacceptable.

*Taxes should be 100% on estates above $5 million.
*Taxes should be 100% on incomes above $1 million.

Wealthy elites have been riding the system for free and parking their money in the Cayman's and in Switzerland's UBS not paying a dime while the poor and middle class have been picking up the tab. Republicans have kept the minimum wage a "slave wage" to keep millions of Americans impoverished and without hope while rewarding corporate thieves.

Where have you been for the last 25 years?

Why do you think Obama landslided McCain and Republicans are only at 21%? There is a reason that may not be obvious to you, but is plain and clear to 100's of millions of Americans.

The facts are:
*Conservatism is a failed philosophy.
*Republicans can't govern.
*American's (other than wealthy elites) are much worse off now than they were 30 years ago since the Reagan devolution.
*Our nation became the biggest debtor nation in history thanks to Conservtive Crony Capitalism.

I'm sorry. Its a dead end system and you're married to a failed philosophy. We tried Conservatism since Reagan and it does not work at all. Time for Socialism to replace corrupt Crony Capitalism.


To ALL
Lets get one thing straight. Its taxation at 10 to 15%. Anything above that is EXTORTION.

Raw Capitalism is worse than Socialism!
Some people just don't get it.

You can corrupt any system no matter how good.

It is governments job to assure everyone has equal opportunity, NOT equal outcome (communist).

It is also governments job to set a level playing field to assure all transactions, no matter how they transpire are above board, fair and honest.

What has happened is corruption through politics. Give a congressman a few bucks and he sponsors a bill that makes you rich...bad bad bad, but it goes on with ALL politicians.

Socialism is nothing more than the government taking everything you have and giving it out (less their cut) to their cronies.

What we need is a total reordering of our polital and legal system to straighten out the mess that greed and laziness has created!


Idiots!
scurvy, don't you just hate a women that has more intelligence in her pinky finger than you have in your whole body? Wait, I just described the fear of all liberals!

First, you really need to put down the crack pipe! Are you a Kennedy or some other over privileged snot nosed punk who lives off of daddy's money? You need to remember that capitalism was most likely responsible for that money. Since you think that capitalism is the bane of all evil, you should leave it all behind and pay your own way to Venezuela or Cuba. I will bet that you would be back in less than a month. It is clear from your inane and stupid postings that you are incapable of any independent thought, therefore you parrot the drivel coming out of the liberat camp.

The next time that you come out of your rat hole, seek out people that have emigrated from the former USSR since the wall came down. Ask them what they think of capitalism, now that they have lived here for awhile, then ask them which way they want to live. I know what they will tell you, nimrod, because I work with several of them. They are scared of what they see happening here, because unlike you and most liberats, they know and appreciate the difference!

To First ...
Your Two Countries as models are a Joke since they are very small , educated , skilled and have little Crime or those on 100 % welfare .Since it is obvious you never have owned a Co here are the Facts .
I as a Man that pays 47 % in total City State and Federal Taxes sees those that that lay on their Butts ,pay no taxes , stay on drugs , have babies out of wed lock We tax payers pay for see as 'GREDDY " .
GREED IS A HUMAN THING NOT A POLITICAL VIEW SINCE STALIN , CASTRO , CHEVEZ , MAO , BIN LADEN AND SADDAM ALL BECAME RICH . YOUR HERO MULTI BILLIONAIRE GEORGE SOROS IS A CAPITALIST /RADICAL SOCIALIST .

. Educate yourself as opposed to just ranting on things you don’t know.
This is for a single tax payer. These rates were enacted in 2007, funny enough when Bush was in office according to some people making it so his buddies didn’t have to pay taxes.
here are the OMB Taxes for 2007

If Taxable income is the tax is
$0 $8,025 $21.900 + 5.1 %
$21.900-$32,550 + 11.9 %
$32,550 -$78,850 $4,481.25 + 21.6 %

$78,850-$164,550 $16,056.25 + 28.1 %
$164,550-$357,700 $40,052.25 + 35.9 %
$357,700 And Over $103,791.25 + 37.8 %
$1,000.000.00 and Over $ 370.791.44 or + 39.9 %
The bottom 4 Brackets pays 85.9 % of all Taxes in America .
51 Million paid no Taxes at all in 2007 and got back 21.7 % in welfare and entitlements benifits ..... that is Greed !
Since most are 2-3-4-5-now 6 generation on Welfare and entitlements ....... You fool !
OBAMA IS RAISING THE CAPITAL GAINS TAXES FROM 15 % TO 28 %,
CORP TAX FROM 35 % TO 37 %. the second highest in the world now .
THE PROBLEM IS ..... THEN THOSE CO.S CUT JOBS SO TAXES DROP LIKE A ROCK PAID INTO THE TREASURY .
2008 AMERICA PAID 757 Billion dollars in Taxes ..... 2009 looks like 650 Billion or less will be paid in Taxes to the Treasury .
THINK FIRST EVEN IF IT NEW AND PAINFUL .



To Warrior in AL
You said:
"...Now apply that to the Socialist program where my tax dollars are used to fund a strangers college cost through a government grant. I DON'T LIKE IT."

Its the very policies Conservatives have practiced since Reagan of handing out trillions in tax dollars to no-bid contractors lke Halliburton and KBR, paying $300 for toilet seats and screw drivers to the military, rewarding billions to Wall Street thieves who cooked the books, and at the same time given massive tax cuts to America's unworthy wealthy elites, incentivizing offshoring of America's jobs, and massive and unsustainable deficit spending that has ruined the economy.

Capitalism itself is the biggest fraud ever fosited upon the American public and a philosophically bankrupt ideology.

If Capitalism worked and we were the beneficiaries, everyone would be feeling better. But it doesn't and alway needs Savior Socialism to bail it out. But it does work and if it did none of us would be here complaining about:
*My college savings and retirement savings losing 1/2 their value due to fraud in Wall Street
*My home has lost 20% of its value because it was artificially inflated under Capitalism
*Healtcare costs are spiraling out of control because of the free-market system of price gouging consumers
*Wall Street and Auto companies needing "Cash injections" to prop up, reward and perpetuate retarded and corrupt mismanagement
*The nation is in massive debt and receivership to China because it was easier for Conservatives like Bush to borrow and spend rather than act with fiscal restraint, honesty and integrity.

Capitalism is a dead end and unworkable system without huge public deception and socialist style bailouts to sustain the unsustainable.

Lon
"when life assignments are being handed out".
By whom? You are hopeless--You have never read our Constitution and do not realize in the USA it is the individual that is responsible for what he/she does or fails to do. I have no responsibility for you or yours--if you died tomorrow I would neither pay your funeral costs nor attend your burial. There is nothing intended in that comment to defame you in any way--that is just the way life is among strangers. Now apply that to the Socialist program where my tax dollars are used to fund a strangers college cost through a government grant. I DON'T LIKE IT.

looks
Fred, have you really ever taken a good hard look at liberal women?

America's Great Lie
Free Market thinkers have long touted the wonders and benefits to our nation of Capitalism.

We have seen however that Capitalism is a fantasy and a fraud that cannot be sustained. Since naked greed is the prime virtue of Capitalism, it is forever hobbled with fraud, deception, and corruption at all levels. We have seen that Capitalism only benefits the wealthy elites at the expense of the poor and middle class and threatens the fiscal integrity of our nation through Conservative deficit spending.

The huge lie is right before our eyes! Even Bush (the darling of Conservatives) proved the unworkablity of Capitalism with Government bailouts for Wall Street thieves who cooked the books, ruined the stock market, and gave themselves multi-million doallr bonuses on the backs of taxpayers. Bush himself even cooked the books by disincluding the $12 Billion monthly expense of war from the accounting office.Fraud!

More Government bailouts for GM and Chrysler to prop up an industry that cannot manage to produce a quality product and overpays its corrupt CEO's while cheating its workers.

The U.S. Treasury running the printing presses day and night to "Create" wealth because the dollar has lost so much value and the Bush's deficit spending put America teetering on the edge of national bankruptcy

The great lie foisted upon the American public is that Capitalism is a viable economic philosophy. If that were actually true, Capitalism would never need Socialist bailouts, it would create wealth rather than deficits, it would be be unchallenged by Socialism and Communism as more manageable alternatives.

Savior Socialism should never bailout Crony Capitalism and perpetuate a bad system. Capitalism is now an quaint notion that cannot function in the modern world compared with the efficiencies of Socialism as practiced in Sweden and Norway.



to JM051
All of that said, I think the Bush Presidency was a disaster militarily and Economically and Obama has a very low bar to reach in order to do better. Obama's economic policy will not only be better for the working class and poor but also for the wealthy as well. Trickle down economics does not work, keeping a vibrant middle class and a resonable social safety net is the best way to stablize the economy and the wealthy will benefit from that as well.
________________________________________
In all due respect the Keynesian Theory never worked since it is based on trickle Up Economics (and with John Manes K it was based on ""All " paying far more in taxes ...... Germany , France and High Taxed England have lots of Rich and Poor and far fewer of Home owners than America has ,Before the Loan to the poor scandal Amercia had 56.9 % home owenship ... Over taxed Europe in no where near there ,

Keynesians were banished in the 1980s by Reaganomics but made a comeback years ago and again control U.S. levers of power. They argue that massive deficit spending by the federal government is the right policy for these times. Paul Krugman of the New York Times has asserted that the Great Depression lasted 10 years because the New Deal didn't spend enough. Japan tried to spend its way out of its postbubble malaise in the 1990s but ended up with a mountain of debt and a "lost decade" of little or no economic growth. Nevertheless, the incoming Obama administration is promising close to a trillion dollars in fiscal stimulus, and the Bernanke Fed seems to believe the way to deal with a collapsed bubble is to reinflate it. That of course takes no account of how we got the bubble in the first place.

Well, there's a lot of high-powered money out there in the huge monetary base the Fed has created. It's at the Treasury's disposal. All that can be said to the Keynesians is, "better luck than last time."

Bottom Line
Socialist are thieves. The only difference between a man who robs your house and steals your money and a Socialist who steals your money through tax laws is or may be the mask and gun. Just because the thievery is legislated that does not excuse it as a theft; Congress cannot pass a law making your home items and money open to any thief who feels a need to have your "stuff". There is a strange disconnect applied when the money can be stolen by government before the earner can actually have and hold the money he earned and rightfully owns. If Barney Frank or Chris Dodd or any other member of Congress entered your home and was caught attempting to steal the exact same amount of money you paid in taxes; you would shoot them down as a common thief. Additionally, any adult that does not pay taxes should not have the right to vote. Non-tax payers have no "real life" compelling reason to learn tax law to protect what they earn. They view all free "government" money as manna from some Godly source. We, taxpayers know, someone earns all "government" money and the government absconds it through taxes. Most non-tax payers do not understand that as a fact of life.

BHO's Redistribution
When Joe the Plumber heard the mantra about "Redistribution of Wealth" he should have asked candidate Obama -- if he would be willing to redistribute and share his over $600 million campaign funds with lesser known candidates such as Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Allan Keyes and others?

I am sure without the teleprompter we would have an answer that completely deviated from the subject. Even with the teleprompter --- WHO KNOWS?

fred the illinois troll and loser
but liberal women need have only one qualification to rise in the dims party and that is no reluctance to drop to their knees and p;rovide lip service.

As reported, various airhead women talkers from the msm have no trouble talking about their mandingo fascination for the messiah and the description of the non stop orgasms they have in his presence.

But then again many of the male talkers from the msm ha ve similar mancrushes on flap ears as well.

But I guess they all pale when compared to the love little fweddy has for his metrosexual president

college students are silly
Obviously one can see the similarity between goofing off and getting bad grades, and goofing off and getting into the womb of a poor women when life assignments are being handed out. It is shocking that so many college students would miss how similar grade redistribution would be to economic distribution.

The nice thing about the survey by the YAF members is that each side of that exchange likely went away laughing at how stupid the other side was and how superior to them they themselves are. It is not every exchange that can make everybody feel good about themselves.

Socialism
and all of these entitlements are nothing more than the evolutionists doing everything possible to prevent evolution from happening.


JMO51: People who were making money on their retirements funds will disagree with you on the Bush presidency. Record returns and record highs debunk your point entirely. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Bush's spending was a disaster and opened the door to even more spending by the current Congress. "Bush did it!" seems to be the excuse of the day, campaign promises withstanding.

Joel di liber:
You seem to be a fan of Heinlein, right? Just asking.


-Ray
NRA Life Member
Soli Deo Gloria!!

ReCon-USMC
Look I am a moderate maybe even a loveral and I have to agree with you that kids on college campuses have no idea what the real world is about neither do many of their professors. Every thing the right says about the political correctness on college campuses is right on.

What colleges need to do is apply a little academic affirmative action and start hiring academics with a wider range of economic and political views. And preventing military recuitment on college campuses on the pretense of don't ask don't tell is a travesty.

All of that said, I think the Bush Presidency was a disaster militarily and Economically and Obama has a very low bar to reach in order to do better. Obama's economic policy will not only be better for the working class and poor but also for the wealthy as well. Trickle down economics does not work, keeping a vibrant middle class and a resonable social safety net is the best way to stablize the economy and the wealthy will benefit from that as well.


"Excess" wealth?! "Really dumb"
Doc Douglas, you have referenced a bogus, nonsensical premise. Grades, like money, are supposed to be earned, & they derive their very meaning & value from the fact they SHOULD be earned. A system that disconnects the relationship between earning & receiving is dysfunctional & doomed. The analogy is in fact a very good one, & hopefully got some of these young people thinking. I've personally known a good few teens & YA's who suddenly lost a lot of their socialist leanings when they got their 1st paycheck!

If you're a researcher, you should know very well that in statistics (which is a basic tool for economists, too) "distribution" simply means a situation they found when they looked; a snapshot of who had what. Those who think like you seem confused by the use of "distribution," to conclude that something, "the system" or "The Man," actually "distributes" wealth arbitrarily. Therefore, you get the notion that your guys need to correct this perceived injustice.

Please wise up.

It is not the place of you, Pres. Obama, or any other part of government to "redistribute" wealth or to decide anyone's wealth is "excessive."

Taxation is for revenue, & government has a proper role in private wealth only where crimes or civilly actionable situations exist. It is the function of government to determine who legally DOES own what; it is NOT the place of government to decide who SHOULD have what.

True economic justice dictates that those who earn, have. Charity is an individually voluntary value, private value; the welfare state is simply a machine for confiscation & vote-buying. Those who need, ask.

I'll believe the Left means what they blather about wealth "equality" when they confiscate from their own, like G Soros, the Kennedys, the Hollywood Left, etc, they way they want to do to the upper mid-class entrepreneurs & moderately wealthy.

My own Socialist Daughter awoke !
Well I'll be . This story is close to mine and my own Daughter that just graduated from College with a Masters degree .$ 412 Thousand dollarrs later all on my back !
No She did not work either and was a devout Obama supporter as well as were all her class mates at UVA . We were at War when She came home occasionally for Holidays and breaks .
So when we threw her big Grad party I made and announcement in front of her many Obama friends supporters as well .
I said rather than give my daughter a new M. Benz or BMW or even a New Green Car .
I would give that money in Thousand Dollars Checks to poor minorities ''Disenfranchised and ''Victims families ...... her favorite words in all our arguements on Socialism vs Capitalism .
She said '''''' Dad that is wrong "" let them ride the damn Bus or Sub way !
So I am letting my own daughter ride the Damn Bus and Sub Way as well now .
Turns our her Sociology degree is useless and she can't find a real job .
She said last week . You know maybe Dad I was missing the bigger Picture here since you started with nothing and became wealthy after your 6 years in the USMC .
I grined and said Rena the only Picture you and your friends see is feeling and emotions never reality and facts .
I am signing for a 1992 Chevy She will have to make the payments on or I'm turning it back into the Used Car Co.

Don't Tread On Me
I am from the socialist state of NY but also spend much time in SC so the brainwashing dosen't last. :-) Part of the problem is (I can attest from my own children) they are too busy with daily activities to get involved. My own daughter with two young boys, when quizzed by me as to why they dont get more involved "That why I have you pop. I dont have time to get involved"

Training Kids 2 B Marxists?
Great observation!

"most college students are economically illiterate. ... And since most don’t work or pay taxes (only 46 percent of full-time students have jobs), they simply have no idea how capitalism works."

I'm surprised they scored anywhere near as hi as they did, myself. Most college students come out of a life situation of having been dependent children, having had their needs taken care of for them. If they did work as teens, it was often for luxuries rather than necessities. (Obviously, there are whole classes of exceptions).

Their life experience had in fact been individual instances of Marxism, so to speak, so they see nothing wrong with imposing Marxism on everybody.

This may be partly a product of excessive parental permissiveness as well as indoctrination & propaganda. I think if more kids had it demonstrated to them that when they rely on others for their needs and wants they are beholden to them & forfeit some freedom to them because of it, and that freedom esp to get & enjoy things goods & services money properly does buy has to be EARNED, there's be a lot fewer of these little Marxists & more young adults eager to prepare themselves to earn their own living & be under the thumb of no one.

Limited Fascism
Limited Fascism is an oximoron.

We are not a purely capitalist economy, we are a mixed economy with capitalism, a progressive income tax, social safety net, worker protections, comsumer protections, etc.

And most of us like it that way. The real differences between Republicans and Democrats are small on economic issues. They get exxagerated by the parties for electoral purposes.

Both Dems and Republicans feel the pressure to deliver for their constituents and both are a wash in special interest corporate money.

Social Security and Medicare are very popular entitlement programs. That is what the people want.

Baseballdoc short version
The ant is required to carry and feed ALL grasshoppers. The ant either dies and so do ALL the grasshoppers, or the ant refuses, lives, and all the grasshoppers die. Dont you love a story with a happy ending?

Dr.Douglas
The article compare principles, and does it well.

People have flocked here because of the opportunities afforded to the ambitious singularly by supply side capitalism; there is no denying that, no matter how invested you may be in your internal construct. The best any civilization can do is offer the most opportunities to the most people, and we have done that quite well. Your real quarrel is that life isn't fair, and to demand that it become so reduces people to nothing more than mewling ids with voracious appetites.

I really hope you are not a practicing psychologist. What a train wreck.

Every socialist I have encountered
falls into one of these categories:

Government employed/dependent, and have no idea that the money/salary received comes from the once robust private sector.

From a protected environment, like education/private schools, which exists only because of our once robust private sector.

Very wealthy, with personal wealth protected from taxation on a variety levels. This includes Hollywood people, Pelosi, Kerry, Soros, Kennedy, etc... These people do not even come close to living the same life as most Americans.

Have never had to work to support themselves and are not affected by the fallout of their ideals. Many college students and stupid provided for women fall into this category.


Another fascinating aspect is that many of the aforementioned redistribution enthusiasts simply do not care about an issue until it affects them directly and operate from an astounding supply of assumed truths. I have 25 years in as a practicing social worker, and have had college age kids attempt to inform me on a variety issues regarding counseling and policy- all with exactly NO first hand experience to refer to! Their arrogance is stunning.

dr dumbasse
so tell us mr elitist from the field of those who make up mental illnesses so they can scam some insurance money to pay for their second homes and sailboats, how would you describe the messiah.

What is the real story behind the messiah's need to posture in front of the camera.

And what is with his mussolini head pose? The jutting out of the chin while he glances over the brdge of his nose certainly gives the impression he is looking down on those around him.

And explain why he was delighted with the cover of the washingtonian where he was featured in his bathing suit and his enlarged manbreasts. Seems the fool has no idea of dignity of office.

But then again I doubt you notice these things, like all elitists you probably keep a pin up of your messiah in your bathroom where the two of you can spent some quality and personal time expressing your love of flap ears

Royinoslo
move back to wherever you came from loser and take your buddy Mark Bitchie with you!

Frog
AT least we can agree on three things.

That success is a function largely of individual efforts, but everyone who is successful did not go it alone. We all got some help be it private or public.

But for the grace of god do I.

And for those who much has been given and as far as I am concerned just being able to grow up in a country such as our is much. Much should be expected.

Private charity if important, but there are limits to what private charity can do and people would be more comfortable paying taxes if they felt the politicians were better stewards of the public trust and if they felt that the tax system was fair. Lets not forget that it was the conservatives who promoted the idea of taxing wages at a higher rate than capital. (Capital Gains) So that the person who earns with the sweat of their labor pays a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the trust fund baby living off their investments. That is the Republican way.


Why no links ...
to videos they've created? There are tons of YouTube videos associated with YAF, but wouldn't it make it easier for the reader if links were provided?

Tod Kozeluh
Lexington, KY

Dr. Dumba%$
Before I was even finished reading this article, I knew that you would be weighing in with your weak defense of the practice of you and your ilk! You are the one that is pathetic!

In your absolutely worthless opinion, you don't see a correlation between redistributing grades and money? You MORON! I can't believe someone hired you to teach college students. If I was a contributor to your institution, I would pull it until they fired you. I'll bet you would understand that "redistribution" wouldn't you?

In fact, I dare say that 90% of the "professors" out there, would lawyer up if their positions, tenured or not, were eliminated because the major benefactors of their university pulled those contributions. But, alas, they could alsways let go of their teacher's adies to save themselves!

Hope Springs Eternal
I think that the above is the only explanation that could suggest why Utopians continue to try to take from the rich and give to the poor. It has never worked and given human nature it shall never work, but like good little worker ants they keep trying to make water flow uphill. That should be prima face evidence of a mental disorder of some sort.

THE ANT & THE GRASSHOPPER - PART TWO


Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer! The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs, and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood. .....COLOSSUS

Good Samaritan laws
There are laws on the books that protect people from law suits when they've acted in good faith, and in the scope of their training, when attempting to help others during a crisis. However, if one acts outside the scope of their experise, they can be sued if their efforts cause harm or have a negative outcome. It is under this guise that we should sue politicians who have no trainging or education in economics, yet proceed to cause harm with their idiotic notions and encumbering laws.

One tax rate, paid by everyone is the only just form of taxation. To change rates based on income level is wrong. Hard work should not be punished and therefore discouraged. All laws must be equally applied to be just. If you want to exempt the first $30k of income, or whatever number that can be agreed upon, from taxation, fine. But that exemption is for everyone.

The notion of a progressive income tax is as idiotic as the progressives who are pushing fairness.

And JMO51, you're right, you don't know me. As I stated, I'm the youngest of 13 children and my family relied heavily on the charity and good will of others. But not the government. And when given the chance, we were always taught to give back. God loves a cheerful giver but it's hard to be a cheerful giver when much of what you earn is taken and distributed to the poor in the name of some politician. Still, we live frugally and do our best to be good stewards of our provisions and bless others out of our abundance.

Tod Kozeluh
Lexington, KY

Beginning in early childhood
Children are taught left is good right is bad. Then they go on to higher education and get http://indoctrinate-u.com/pages/welcome.html
SO ok they get a little older and have their own kids and move somewhat to the right. By then they have voted for approx. 12 years. Cant do any damage by then?

THE ANT & THE GRASSHOPPER - PART ONE
MODERN UPDATED VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God
for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and all call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

.....(CONTINUED) .....COLOSSUS

"Equal Opportunity" is a crime
Excellent column, excellent work by the YAF students. They took what has been a long-circulating piece of political humor(the tale of the Republican father asking his liberal-arts student daughter about her studies, then welcoming her into the GOP when she expresses shock and indignation as he suggests the same communist ideas that she loves from her professors be applied to her GPA).

I do not all children to have "equal opportunity," nor do I beleive it is in any way fair, that it is anything other than theft and a property crime, to enforce such a Marxist idea under the coercive power of the state.

Parents who get and stay married, and who conscientiously work and care for their offspring, who take pains and sacrifice to make sure their kids start out in life with advantages and BETTER/MORE OPPORTUNITES are merely exercising their liberty and their economic prerogatives under a free-enterprise system. I firmly believe in UNEQUAL opportunity; that inherited wealth and "privilege" must be celebrated and defended.

Poor people must be forced to examine their own breeding choices, and must--yes--suffer if their parents made poor decisions, were recklessly promiscuous, and so on. The sins of the father MUST be visited on the son in order for their to be social order, and morality, and property.

"Greedy Rich"
Ever wonder why you never hear about envy?

Fiscal Conservative
To JohnR22

"A young man who's not a liberal has no heart. A mature man who's not a (fiscal) conservative has no brain...or doesn't pay taxes."

Instead of a "mature" man I would say a grown up person. Also I would add that a grown man who is not a fiscal conservative maybe on "welfare" or government payroll (which is the same as welfare).

interesting
"And some of Obama’s biggest supporters, including Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, are living off inherited money earned by somebody else."

This seems like a good argument for the estate tax.

Socialism College Style
To take Ms Herzog's analogy one step further...how about we include those who don't GO TO COLLEGE and give them some of those A's / credits??? Kind of the same with the nearly 50% who don't pay federal income taxes wouldn't you say?

classroom horror
A friend of mine who teaches at a Wisconson college told me that an associate teaching another class actually suggested this sharing of the grades over the entire class...taking points from A's and giving to C's etc. The class was shocked and could not understand WHERE whe could come up with that idea. IGNORANT of economics indeed.

There is a reason for this
Check out this video follow the links to utube if you want the whole thing
http://indoctrinate-u.com/pages/welcome.html

Don't worry about the kids
This is nothing new at all. I went to college from '76-80 and most kids were on the Left. It's a combination of idealism (the Left has the Kumbaya schtick down pat) and inexperience. The overwhelming majority shifted Right once they had jobs and small mouths to feed.

I've made thousands of posts on Youtube, primarily with the under 30 crowd. And while it's true they're disgusted with "capitalism"...it's more accurate to say they're upset about excessive corporate power and what they see as profiteering. They ALL believe in a Market Economy.

A young man who's not a liberal has no heart. A mature man who's not a (fiscal) conservative has no brain...or doesn't pay taxes.

jmoxx
This safety net you speak of is used differently by libs vs conservs.....The conservs use it to catch those that fall and then give them a hand up. The libs use the net to cover all and give limited handouts so that the fools will stay under the net.

FROG
While I don't know you. I can tell you that I have never met a person who did not get some help from the charity of others whether that was private or public. I am grateful for living in a country in which the people believe in a free public education. Our national parks are a treasure, I am glad there was someone who believed in funding those parks.

I am glad we have a strong national military and not just state militias. Who knows if my mother had not gotten (government) help during a terrible flood back in 1950 in her small town in Pennsylvania I probably would not have been born.


FROG
No one except the extreme far left expects the government to create fairness. Life is not and will never be fair. But Liberals do believe that the government can play a role is reducing pain and suffering at its extreme. That is the premise behind the social safety net.

The idea that wealthy people should pay a little higher percent in taxes is not socialism. Socialism is the government owning the major factors of production. A government take over of the auto industry is socialistic but only becomes socialism if they intend to keep it that ownership.

Raising the top tax rate by 3% is not socialism unless like Joel-de you believe we have always been under socialism.

Joel-De Oppresso Liber
You are entitled to view the country through any lens that you like. If you think that since the new deal we have become a socialist country that is your right.

Of course I think most Americans including many who call themselves conservatives would bristle at the notion that they had lived their entire lives under socialist - Facist rule.

My guess is that even the conservatives would find you view to be extreme. No wonder you view a moderate like Obama as a communist facist. I mean if Nixon was a leftist, and Reagan a liberal which elected officials now in office share your views.

Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill said:

"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy."

That statement was true then and it is true today; considering the ignorant people who post for Socialism by comparing Apples and Oranges.

JMO51 @ 8:31am
Actually, the liberal way would be just the opposite. The children of college graduates would be handicapped with a lower starting point because they are the children of privilege. The poor, who liberals believe have been shat upon, are the virtuous ones who are only in their positions because they have been held back and taken advantage of. These people start out with A's and can only go down.

As for fairness, it is an arbitrary target that can never be hit. The Constitution deals with justice, not fairness. If one wants fairness, they should live in a commune. We are a nation of liberties that should not be sacrificed at the altar of fairness.

Tod Kozeluh
Lexington, KY

To Royinoslo
Taking from Paul to pay Peter is not comparing apples to oranges. You obviously have nothing of substance to add to the discussion. It is better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to engage one's keyboard and remove all doubt.

For Dr. Douglas
Dr Douglas you should buy a large Apple Orchard and nurture it to produce a lot of Apples. Once those Apples are ripe you should share it with all the people who do not have Apple Orchards. Maybe this will explain Socialism to you or would you prefer to own Orange Groves?

The Black Cherokee
I've heard of the Legacy admissions, and I'm sure it's possible that the very wealthy can buy grades for their kids. Still, I find it hard to believe that it is a major problem. There are always exceptions to everything, right?

As the youngest of 13 children, nothing was given to me. Well, nothing in the physical sense. This government sponsored redistribution crap makes me blow my stack. I work hard for what I get, and I'm happy to give a portion to those in need. But I take umberance with the government telling me to whom they think I should give.

You're right, BO is poison to our constitution and way of life.

Tod Kozeluh
Lexington, KY

binc
We do that now. Very poor people don't pay income tax. Middle class peoople pay more and wealthy people should pay even more though many hire fancy lawyers to shelter their income.

How is increasing the top tax rate by 3% socialism? Its still much lower than when Noxon was in office. Were we a socialist country then?


Alternate proposal
How about this. Students begin a starting grade in class based upon how there parents did in college. Students who have parents who got A's in college will automatically begin the class with 60% higher grades. Students whose parents didn't go to college will start out as a minus that they must overcome before even beginning to earn points for an A. That means that a Paris Hilton with the brain the size of a pea will virtually be gauranteed an A grade and the kid whose parent were factory workers or Truck drivers might is they work very very hard get a C.

Then your stupid analogy would make some sense. Real socialism is a bad idea, but not on the basis that a progressive income system is unfair, but rather bacause in most cases the marketplace does a better job then an elected official.


Economic Illiteracy
Not only most students, but most citizens (note A) and above all MOST (IF NOT ALL) POLITICIANS are Economic Illiterates.

Note A: By Citizens I also include the non-Citizens who somehow or the other end up voting in the election process.

FROG -- to some extent I disagree .....
..... and the reason I disagree is that many LEGACY and virtually all TOKEN "students" get those grades they didn't earn. Very much the same as inheritance.

BaO is poison!

TBC ~:>{)

There's no such thing as ...
a perfect comparison. However, as analogy goes, comparing GPA sharing and wealth distribution is quite sound and appropriate. The main wildcard in the comparison is HOW someone obtained their wealth. Did they earn it or inherit it? The reason this is important, only for sake of the analogy, is that one cannot inherit a good GPA.

At the risk of stating the obvious for the thinking amoung us, of course this excludes our local liberals, the analogy holds true because hard work pays off for those in business as well as for students. The amount of success one has is directly correlated to the effort one exerts in the field of their endeavor. To take from their hard won battles and give to those who have not worked as hard is nothing short of theft.

Of course, I wouldn't expect professor dingleberry or our resident Norwegian socialist to understand any of this.

Tod Kozeluh
Lexington, KY

Worse, college which is so dumbed down
it would be even MORE stupid with totally free admissions (and the implication that they would all pass).

I am about to teach a grammar course to college Eng. majors--merely the grammar the I learned in grade school.

Pub. ed. teaches so little real facts and/or skills I am not entirely sure what classes teach all day k-12.

I guess it is global warming and anti-Americanism.

enormous wealth
Dr. Douglas, I'd just bet that some poor fruit picker in Mexico would consider you to be filthy sinking rich. How would you feel about giving him some of your unnecessary wealth. Also, I don't believe the other posters that are saying you're a professor as I assume professors can spell.

apparently
The kids have never had to watch their parents struggle, had a job or anything if they think using OPM is okay.
My daughter was part of a wrestling team. They paid for sweat suits to wear in competition. They had to earn the money. A team member didn't do anything, and therefore was without. The coach actually tried to take my kid's suit for the slacker. She stood up to the coach and said no way, let him pay me because I worked my arse off to pay for it. End of story.

Let's see. . .
Grades run only from 0 (failure) to 4 (Phi Beta Kappa). Wealth runs from $0 (destitution) to infinity (ostentation). Therefore, grades shouldn't be equalized, but wealth should. Gee, that makes no sense.

Maybe I'm following the wrong argument. How about this one? Whereas wealth leads to worldly success, grades don't; so the one should be equalized, and the other shouldn't. Wait -- that doesn't make any sense, either. Valedictorians tend to have more power, options, and (gasp!) wealth than first-semester dropouts.

Let's try this: Some people are born with more wealth than others, so wealth should be equalized. . .uh, just a second. Some people are born with more academic talent than others, so shouldn't grades also be equalized?

Sorry, I'm just not getting it. In retrospect, I should've studied logic.

Dr. Douglas, My Compliments!
You personally have achieved what no other far left liberal zealot ever has at Townhall.

YOUR last name is now a BANNED word at Townhall! None of us can post it! You rank there with all of the worst four letter words imagineable that we cant post either. Now that is a career accomplishment.

I am so impressed! My compliments Dr. Douglas, you have accomplished what no far left liberal has done before.

Ok, Dr. Douglas, about the post content
You write in part:

"Herzog seems to have lifted this line of thought from M. Adams, another gifted Townhall columnist."

Comment: Possibly true, but overall a fine effort by you for the first sentence. My congratulations.

After that your Paxil abruptly wore off for the rest of the post.

Except you did describe it in the third person:

"Really dumb"

There, I discussed your complete post content.

Here it is Dr. Douglas
To Save you the trouble of looking up the post from the Adams thread:

J
Location: CO
Reply # 177
Date: Apr 30, 2009 - 2:28 PM EST Doctor Douglas?
Is that the same Doug $$$$$berry, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Oregon State University who was nearly fired for offering male students better grades for sex, but offered to the wrong student and ended up in the campus clinic with facial injuries? I definitely know this to be a fact. Doug, my friend says "hi" and wonders if he cured you of your proclivities, or at least made you think twice before making the same offer...

Care to comment Dr. Douglas?

Anderson659

I suggest you go back and read what I actually said before you continue to lie (i.e., to perpetuate DL's lie.) READ WHAT I SAID.

The other comment about sexual favors is just another dishonest smear.

And you refuse to deal with my comment.

You are pathetic.


For Dr. Douglas.
"Once again, Anderson 659
tells lies and calls names."

Comment: NO, there is no lie by Doc liberty. By the way, was the poster on the recent Dr. Adams thread correct, or a liar, when he said you attempted to trade better grades for sexual favors, and had a facial injury to show for it? You really should review that and put that to rest if it is not true. By all means review it on the thread.

"And as usual, he completely fails to deal with the content of my post. "

Comment: No, the post is an observation of your posting mentality. Your perspective on truth and what you construe to be reality. I am glad you appreciate it. Doc Liberty made a fine observation, dont you think?

Once again, Anderson 659
tells lies and calls names.

And as usual, he completely fails to deal with the content of my post.

Comparing apples and oranges
I like apple pie, but orange pie? No thanks.

Orange marmalade yes, yummy, but apple jam. Skip it.

The Dr. Douglas PSA
The Dr. Douglas PSA
Once again, I observe several TH posters have responded to Dr. Douglas. Thus, it's time once again for The Dr. Douglas Public Service Announcement:

Dr. Douglas once posted that his own university, Oregon State, was too poor to hire teaching assistants. In fact, as I learned in 5 minutes on the OSU website, OSU does indeed hire TAs. They also recognize and negotiate with the TAs collective bargaining unit. And OSU has a special award to recognize excellence among TAs.

I just want to remind everyone who's done Dr. D the courtesy of responding to him that the man is either a hopeless ignoramus, a pathological liar, an utter fool, or some combination of all 3.

The preceding was a public service announcement courtesy of Doc Liberty. As always, we thank you for your support.

Thank you Doc Liberty!

Really dumb

Herzog seems to have lifted this line of thought from M. Adams, another gifted Townhall columnist.

Sorry, but grades and income are quite different, and thus any comparison of their "redistribution" is silly.

The grade point average relevant to graduate school runs from 0 to 4.0 (more realistically, from 2.0 to 4.0 since students below 2.0 usually are eliminated. 4.0 is the highest possible grade - there is no need for anything beyond that (since it's impossible anyway).

In contrast, wealth runs along an enormous continuum scaling from say 0 to the billions. Given this enormous range, people on the high end of the scale (millionaires) can easily afford to have some of their unnecesary wealth redistributed, with very little if any effect on them.

The same is obviously not true of the GPA situation, where a small redistribution could affect the person's chances of getting into gradualte school (because the range of the scales is so limited).

This article is comparing apples and oranges and is really dumb.
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