Stewart Gives Perspective to the Income Gap in America, and Rick Perry Rips the Constitution.
Today’s post is going to be smaller than the normal monster posts you’re used to, but that’s just because I had to write this up and get it up now. Sometimes something is too important to bury it amongst a bunch of other stuff.
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I’m usually a pretty calm guy. Most people who know me know this. But there are rare cases where I get legitimately mad, and no I don’t mean when a League of Legends match is going poorly (my exclamations there are just to blow off steam). The situations I’m talking about are those when injustice, ignorance and ignoble acts of disseminating misleading information are perpetrated to the detriment of the innocent.
And I’m mad as hell right now.
Hulk Smash!
The source of my anger stems directly from the two clips at this link and I do not provide these links lightly. Please, please watch them. I know they are meant to be humorous, and they are. Humor is a fantastic way of piercing through the facade of the monstrous. The reality of the situation behind these funny videos is what appalls me.
And to all the Class Warfare stuff? It’s like a guy pulling the trigger on an AK-47 into a crowd going, “What do you mean war?” More like Class Massacre. Yeah, it could be worse, but it damn well should be better.
Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy Two Golden Bullets... Nine Thousand Nine Hundred and...
I am not poor. Well, I am, but I don’t fit the definition of the poorest of the poor that inhabit the lowest 50%. I feel like I will have a hard time making ends meet in my life but… damn. I don’t have HALF the problem that half of Americans do. What the hell is wrong with this country? Fifty percent of our population is living in near third world conditions. OMG 99% of the poor have a refrigerator THOSE FAT CATS! Good GOD! (and yes, I am appealing to God here) How dare they get a free ride, eh? How dare they feed their children unspoiled food that they can barely afford.
How dare they live their posh lifestyles on the backs of the poor billionares?
This blows my mind. I really don’t have anything to say. I’m not even putting up a poll for this shit. I am done here. If you feel like the 50% of Americans who hold a whopping 2.5% of America’s total wealth are getting a “free ride” so that they, I don’t know, don’t starve to death, then I don’t want to hear from you. Your ability to show compassion is so minimal it’s inhuman. Get off my site.
What I will post a poll about is this little article I found about seven ways Rick Perry wants to change the constitution. There are all sorts of topics I could talk about here. From his hypocrisy about the Constitution being a near-holy document that is wrong to change, and then he is okay with all of this, to the hypocrisy about big government in some areas (abortion, gay marriage) and eviscerated government in others (healthcare), to his strides to eliminate checks and balances in Washington and other problems I have with just about all of these, but I’ll leave that alone for now. I want to hear what you think.
That’s my rant for today folks. If this has made you at least half as mad as it made me, remember this come time to vote. Good-bye for now!
- Edward L. Cheever II
Chase said,
August 22, 2011 at 11:03 pm
Now, i completely agree with you that it is sort of bs of what the underlying message is in the clips. But after studying media and film, i also know that they heavily edit clips to manipulate it to what they want it to say. That being said, i still agree mostly with you. However, in my experience, i have met some high class citizens in this country. I met a guy one day some friends house who were going through some rough times. He had a beer in hand and on welfare giving advice to them on how to get it… his advice…. LIE! When i met him, i introduced myself and he didnt even give me his name, he just asked me for a ride down the street and expected me to give it to him. He wanted food to have a neighborhood cookout and to get more beer. In fact, those same friends denied help from not only myself but everyone else as well. As far as i know they are spending their welfare money on drugs and stealing food from whatever fast food place they work at. There are two other friends i have that got out of the military almost 2 years ago now and have been on unemployment since, not even going to school. When i found out how much the government was paying one of them, i cant say i blame him for not rushing out to get a job flipping burgers.
My point is, yes there are those out there who desperately need the governments help to make ends meet. But there is also an equal amount who cheat the system and leech off of all the other hardworking people. I dont know what the correct solution would be, im not a financial genius or know enough to even suggest an answer. All i know is there are two sides to the same coin and regardless of how true the information on the daily show is…. there is always more to it.
Chase said,
August 22, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Oh and 78% have air conditioners? i guess the other 22% are in Alaska because i think all but the northern states practically need one to deal with the 100 F+ weather during the summers… in fact most Americans dont know how good we have it, how spoiled we really are compared to other countries…
Edward Cheever said,
August 23, 2011 at 4:35 am
I’d say a huge chunk of that 22% live in very warm places. They just have to deal with the heat because they can’t afford it.
See, I agree with you in the fact that there are some freeloaders in the system. hat’s inevitable. There are no doubt many people who also benefit from charities that don’t deserve it as well, but I don’t hear any good arguments for closing them down too. The thing is, the picture of just how many freeloaders there are is overblown. Don’t let these jerk-offs ruin it for those in serious financial trouble. For that matter, there might be measures to discourage or eliminate some percentage of these free-loaders. The point is, they are an addressable problem that are endemic to any system of aid.
Poverty, however, cannot be solved by paying poor people less (if they’re paid at all), taxing them more, and giving special treatment to the rich. Being rich isn’t a bad thing. Far from it. But the more society has given to you, the more responsibility you owe them in return.
It isn’t thievery. It isn’t socialism. It is good economic sense. And I haven’t heard a lick of it from the Republicans and their Tea Party guard dog.
Chase said,
August 23, 2011 at 4:59 am
http://vimeo.com/27132302 this is a video of Matt Damon at the SoS(Save our Schools) convention thing for teachers. He has some interesting opinions about the debt and it would be nice if more rich people agreed with him and quit being so greedy… also at work today, i found out that some schools are going down to 4 day weeks in order to save money……
Edward Cheever said,
August 24, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Yeah I saw that before. Really good stuff
Laue said,
August 22, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Wow. I listened to those links from Jon Stewart and read the post. That is truly crazy. The list of “luxuries” that the “poor” possess was astounding as well. I suspect they want the “Poor” to go back to using blocks of Arctic ice to store food.
Brandon Ecord said,
August 23, 2011 at 12:03 am
AND THE PEOPLE RISE!!! Who’s with me on it, eh? Miss, hangin by the way Professor Edvard Von Schlevenhimen.
glenchen said,
August 23, 2011 at 6:17 pm
Why don’t you stop holding back and tell us what you really think, Edward?
Edward Cheever said,
August 24, 2011 at 12:53 pm
But I’m worried about my readership’s sensitive hearts!
jarretwade said,
August 27, 2011 at 3:46 am
Excellent post, Edward. What’s interesting to me, is the cyclical nature of poverty and privilege. While the shareholder’s for “Major Corp” can justify paying out wages that don’t satisfy basic needs- they in turn feel it’s an entitlement to pay a higher percentage of taxes that would create or keep programs that would??? Essentially, as someone who is super rich you get over several times. You don’t pay adequate living wages or provide solid insurance programs, you get tax breaks for your corporations to build in certain areas, and you get tax breaks after you reach a certain bracket… It’s crazy to me that preservation of life is seen as an entitlement.