Typical lefty thinking there. Obviously unable to use any form of logic to reach a conclusion. These people let their hatred blind them and they come up with all these insane rants.

Good thing the Grown ups have been running the country for awhile now...

"I feel your pain" doesn't translate out to "I feel your pain - and will do something about it", though it DOES imply that something will be done. That usually the something is "Shelve the problem and drag it out next election as an issue" seems to be lost on folks is rarely noted.

Hitler and Stalin 'meant well', so they're better than Bush. You gotta be shittin' me. I read the comments there...

Man. It's... ummm... I got nothin'.

So when will Pete Mehlman be getting his own gig on WizBlue?

"They honestly thought were doing good things.." Yeah, "eliminate" sounds so much nicer than murder. Hoh-lee crap!

Remember the writer is a forgotten and unemployed Hollywood wonk that helped write a tv series about nothing. He's been nothing about nothing for years so you can overlook his idiot ravings. How else was he to get his name in print one more time before he overdoses (suicide) like half of Hollywood.

Talk about 'Hate Speech'. The libs got that one under control

in fact, that his post reads like rantings of a paranoid schizophrenic who's off his meds.

Oh, so that's where bryanD goes to write during the day...

So when will Pete Mehlman be getting his own gig on WizBlue?

When he comes to Wizbang Classic, rants, whines and slings enough poo. You know, the WizBlues guys have to vet their potential contributors. They need to be sure someone new is radical enough for Blues POV. Not even one little posting on HuffnPuff is enough proof. You have to prove you're disruptive and whiny enough for WizBlues.

"What about my rich friends' good?"

A very concise distillation of the Bush vision for America. Follow the money.

This idiot reminds me of a couple "progressives" that called into C-Span's Washington Journal a few days ago.

The subject was whether Gitmo should be closed, one nutjob said yes because those in Gitmo were receiving the best health care while millions in America were uninsured.

Another claimed it should be closed because "we" didn't know whether "innocent" U.S. citzens were scooped off main street of Podunk Iowa and sent to Gitmo.

The shear stupidity of the majority that called in were so detached from reality I thought I had somehow tuned into The View or the Olberfool.

"Oh, so that's where bryanD goes to write during the day...
Posted by: James Cloninger"

(Me sooo tempted to pick up kim==="s felch meme, but no!!!) I sell oil paintings to Jew$$ and homosexual$$ (and the lesser ones to goths *insert coins*) during the day.

And by "day", I mean 1 day(or 2 or 3)/ month. The rest is Bryan Time at variable levels of discipline.

Even my friends kind of hate me for it. (I can tell.) But I'm a sharer: one of Max Eastman's "hosts". (see Host and Guests, his tour de force essay. The best writing guidelines fulfillment ever written, perhaps, speaking of "writing", James!)

Groucho -

Quick question - when did you ever hear of a poor man giving someone a job?

Rich people buy things - which have to be made, shipped, fixed, installed... They go to restaraunts, which have to buy food, employ cooks, servers, cleanup people... They travel - which requires a pretty significant infrastructure for both transportation and tourism. Rich people were the first air travellers - now pretty much everyone can fly. They invest money - which provides fuel for the economy to grow.

Follow the money? Sure - but it moves pretty damn fast, and in ways you don't expect.

A poor person isn't virtuous because they're poor, a rich person isn't virtuous because they're rich. There's no wall keeping the poor person poor, or the rich person rich - they're both a product of their choices and environments. The rich person is more likely to come from an environment where education is prized, the poor person from an environment where education is seen as a useless thing, or even bad for you, after all, to some it's 'acting white' - far better to keep everyone down than let some who actually strive for something better escape.

I spent about six years after I got out of the AF trying to get my feet under me, living paycheck to paycheck and sharing an apartment, seeing how far ramen would stretch. (You ever stretched out one of those blocks? Boy, those noodles sure are long.)

I've lived in pretty-near poverty, but since I've gotten married (another choice which separates the 'rich' from the 'poor') we've worked our way into upper-middle-class respectability. We spend money - putting the little guy into private school (helping employ good teachers) and bought a popup camper trailer (helping employ the folks who build, transport, and sell the things) and travel within about a 500 mile radius, going to museums, tourist attractions, and state parks. Again - putting money into the economy through small purchases...

So - screw the rich? Sure, bud, but only if you really want to screw yourself. Because that's what it amounts to - all you've got to do is look at the history of the Luxury Tax and what it did to the light aircraft and small boat makers in the US, while costing about twice what it brought in from revenue.

kim: What's going on? Is not getting banned taken as an intellectual affront where you come from, or what? And yes, I had to look up "felch". Despite a wayward adolescence in German porn bars, I've never heard the term. And my Deutsch was limited to "Swei bier, bitte."

groucho

I suspect you have no clue about economics, capitalism, morality or values. I even bet you've never held a real job, either.

You're an academic, correct?

Must not forget: Hashish? Zehn grams, zweizig marks? Gut!!!

"Max Eastman's "hosts". (see Host and Guests, his tour de force essay..."

Correction: Max Beerbohm.

....who don't see Bush's malevolence...

Wow....just wow.

Is Peter any relation to the late Larry "Bud" Melman? Both appear to be comic geniuses.

/snark

You could argue that even the world's worst fascist dictators at least meant well....

Not even in the realm of satire would that be close to being considered remotely humorous...

It's....FUBAR

That's a sock-puppet at 12:01 AM. Or at least the asshole of a sock-puppet.
===============================

I channeled "Bud".

Even he'd be rendered speechless by Mehlman's stupidity...

Hey, Darleen - I come from a blue-collar family with a lower-class economic earning. Oh, and I'm not an academic either. And guess what?

a) Trickle-down economics don't necessarily work. So what's great for the rich man isn't necessarily best for the country. There's a reason why George Bush himself coined the term "voodoo economics" when he was running in the primary against Reagan in 1980.
b) Corporations are amoral creations which don't necessarily care if they produce long-term harm, as long as they produce profits for the company this quarter. For this reason, regulation of rich men's actions as the heads of corporations is a good idea.
c) realizing these realities doesn't make me a communist, or even the slightest bit anti-capitalist; it makes me a realist.

Peter Mehlman honestly thought he was doing good analysis.
================================

jim

Look at history... has tax cuts that shrink the "progressivity" of the income tax increased or decreased tax revenues?

Each time... be it by Dem JFK or Reps Reagan or GW, tax revenues have increased.

In the words of JFK "a rising tide lifts all boats".

And what is "rich"? Someone who makes $50K a year? $100K? $200K?

In California a 3 bed 2 bath 1200 sq ft house is going to cost you 400K-500K or more, necessitating a combined income of 100K or more.

Houses in COMPTON average $500K!

"Progressive" income taxes are confiscatory "wealth" distribution schemes. The hysterical support they receive is born of sheer greed (the wish for the unearned) or envy. For every middle manager who believes socialism grants him a "right" to a vacation home just like the founder of his company there are three clerks below him that believe it is their "right" to have a stainless steel refrigerator and professional stove just like his.

Jim, one thing is certain, trickle up economies have never worked. If you are so sure a government controlled economy is such a good idea, go live in Europe for a while. I suggest that economic powerhouse, France. That seems like a fine place to try to grow your wealth. Those on the left do not believe in freedom hence they cannot fight for it. I suspect the real left is using the 1917 Russia template. If the United States suffers a devasting defeat against radical Islam, or some other entity, the left feels they can dominate and dictate the nation. The real problem comes when their plans fail and they must sacrifice a portion of those who supported them. Who would it be, the undocumented immigrants, other minoritys or the elderly? Probably all of them. Jim it is understandable to lie to us, but I think you may be deluding yourself. Face it, Jim, you are a communist.

If Bush was 1/1,000th as bad as the leftists say, they would all be rounded up and put in concentration camps. Instead, they are all free to write crap like this Mehlman chump. And don't forget Rosie. Fire has never melted stell. Google it!

Lefties= The government knows better.

It goes on and on. Republicans KNOW that we are the government. Lefties think the government is a separate entity from themselves. ww

'....he cared about people.' What a joke. The only thing the Clintons care about is power, and they will use any means possible to get it. They could care less about the people.

Welcome to the American leftist mind -- where genocide of your own countrymen can be "well-intentioned."

It is absurd to make comparisons between our current president and Hitler and Stalin. I think, although it may be a nice intellectual exercise, it's difficult to even make comparisons between presidents because each has faced unique circumstances during their term(s). I think Bush should stand or fall on his record and his decisions without comparing him to anyone else.

I wish my friends from the left would leave out the extremist comments about Bush. They are stupid and insulting. There are many many things about this man and his administration that can be debated openly and honestly. He has several accomplishments which should be acknowledged - No Child left Behind and some positive economic results. He should be given credit for those accomplishments.

On the other side his foreign policy and conduct of the war are disasters - but those things should be fairly debated. His administrations executive power grab, the disgraceful secrecy of this administration and the abridgement of civil liberties are also issues which can and should be seriously debated.

He is not an evil man (though I sometimes wonder about Cheyney ) in my mind, just a bad president. I don't doubt his sincerity. just his decisions.

From the Melhman piece,

Even with the low poll numbers, liberals still feel stymied in conveying just how bad this administration is

Uh huh. That why this piece was never written or published ?

JFO:

Good post.

I'm not an academic. Sorry.

Like JLawson, I too spent several years getting my feet under me after I left college hovering around the poverty line, or below. I've since completed my education and have done OK for a middle aged white guy. What Lawson's voluminous response to a single line post is largely what should be good about America and I agree with much of it. My problem is not with wealth, but the degree of political influence it has been allowed to wield in this administration. Drug companies and HMOs should not be driving our health care policies. Big energy should not be having secret meetings with Cheney to write energy policy. Timber,chemical and other large corporations should not be able to control environmental regulation. Virtually every department of the gov. is headed by Bush yes-men, cronies of dubious qualification, who give corporate interests carte blanche in peddling their interests.

Maybe this is OK with you, I don't know, but I think things are top heavy to the point of doing more harm than good to the general public's well-being. Conservatives rail against the "redistribution of wealth", but what do you think is going on with tax breaks for the wealthiest corporations and individuals? Tricke-down is a myth propogated by those who stand to collect the biggest pot of gold in this bit of legalized thievery.

Bush and Cheney should just drop the pretense, declare they are above and beyond our constitutional government, form a third party, the Plutocrats, and declare themselves co-Chancellors for life.

groucho, and JFO, nice comments. You are both sensing the myth of Bush's incompetence. In fact, we've had an awfully good run for these first years of the century and it will eventually be recognized. You are smelling the truth through all your media propaganda.
==============================

Maybe this is OK with you, I don't know, but I think things are top heavy to the point of doing more harm than good to the general public's well-being. Conservatives rail against the "redistribution of wealth", but what do you think is going on with tax breaks for the wealthiest corporations and individuals? Tricke-down is a myth propogated by those who stand to collect the biggest pot of gold in this bit of legalized thievery.
-------------------------------------------------
I think this is a problem with the liberal or progressive policies. When you want the government to have more power, the more power will breed more corruption. Fascism is simply government using its power to get in bed of big corporations. IT is simply another variation of communism where the gov itself is the single biggest corporation. The liberals are a danger to this country. For example, the liberal democrats are showing the dictatorial tendency in power already. They are trying to squash market competition by using the power of the gov to shut down talk radio.

I think progressive/liberal policies are a disaster given the experience with fascism and communism.

I don't doubt his sincerity. just his decisions.
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I think FDR made a much bigger mistake at Yalta in giving away the whole Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union. Again, his liberal/progressive advisors had given him bad advice regarding the Soviet Union.

The progressive/liberal policy of cut-and-run in Iraq again is a disaster in encouraging the jihadists that America is about to collapse and will hasten the next war (just as Yalta gave way to the global cold war and various regional hot wars).

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010256
Today, this same dynamic is creating a moment of great danger. The radicals are becoming reckless, asserting themselves for little reason beyond the conviction that they can. They are very likely to overreach. It is not hard to imagine scenarios in which a single match--say a terrible terror attack from Gaza--could ignite a chain reaction. Israel could handle Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria, albeit with painful losses all around, but if Iran intervened rather than see its regional assets eliminated, could the U.S. stay out?
With the Bush administration's policies having failed to pacify Iraq, it is natural that the public has lost patience and that the opposition party is hurling brickbats. But the demands of congressional Democrats that we throw in the towel in Iraq, their attempts to constrain the president's freedom to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program, the proposal of the Baker-Hamilton commission that we appeal to Iran to help extricate us from Iraq--all of these may be read by the radicals as signs of our imminent collapse. In the name of peace, they are hastening the advent of the next war.