# I suck and I blow; also, Communist Little Girls and Their Communisty Lemonade Stand! \[Fixed title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 8, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976 "2010-07-08T16:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/61 "2010-07-09T01:32:14Z")
^^^This^^^ I suspect **Little Nemo** is the reason they don’t have a “comments” feature turned on at that page. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/62 "2010-07-09T01:34:30Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I suspect **Little Nemo** is the reason they don’t have a “comments” feature turned on at that page. They do, however, have a traditional “Letters to the Editor” feature - and [here’s their selection about that column](http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/letters/2471406,CST-EDT-vox07a.article). Looks like the last commenter got into the spirit! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/63 "2010-07-09T01:55:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Terry Savage is right! People giving things away like this just creates a false mindset of entitlement that causes people to elect governments that just hand out welfare. We’d be better off by abolishing all government entitlements. People who are truly in need could just depend on the good will of their neighbours. Because people are fundamentaly good. Why I even heard about some little girls who were giving away free lemonade to anyone who was thirsty. That’s the kind of thing we need to see more of. And the older girls should take some lessons from them about giving things away. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/64 "2010-07-09T04:13:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Terry Savage is right! People giving things away like this just creates a false mindset of entitlement that causes people to elect governments that just hand out welfare. We’d be better off by abolishing all government entitlements. People who are truly in need could just depend on the good will of their neighbours. Because people are fundamentaly good. Why I even heard about some little girls who were giving away free lemonade to anyone who was thirsty. That’s the kind of thing we need to see more of. Either post this in the readers’ comment section, or I will! As per the original article, that was truly the dumbest thing I’ve read in over a month, and that’s saying something considering I post here. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/65 "2010-07-09T06:07:32Z")
What I want to know is, was the lemonade made from real communists? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/66 "2010-07-09T06:31:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Either post this in the readers’ comment section, or I will! I won’t be but feel free if you want. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/67 "2010-07-09T06:44:40Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Anecdote related to the OP: > > My grandfather once became infamous in his town as the man who smashed the dreams of children by shutting down their lemonade stands… :eek: eek. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/68 "2010-07-09T13:56:48Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Anecdote related to the OP: > > My grandfather once became infamous in his town as the man who smashed the dreams of children by shutting down their lemonade stands. His job was enforcement of local ordinances, and it was against ordinance to run a business without the proper permit, which the children running the stands didn’t have. So he had to be the one to bring down the hammer - the local newspaper ran an article about him and everything. I was delivering a pizza one day to a house on a cul-de-sac street in a quiet suburban neighborhood, and across the street some kids had a lemonade stand set up in their front yard by the curb. A squad car pulled up and a city cop got out, rang the doorbell, and began speaking to a woman inside. I saw him gesture toward the kids, and then heard the woman exclaim “are you KIDDING ME?” No idea whether it was a random patrol or some asshole neighbor had ratted them out. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/69 "2010-07-09T14:41:51Z")
> [@heatmiserfl](#): > > Well, what about people taking heparin? Coumadinisty lemonade could kill ya. :eek: Hey, when I was on heparin, I was \*also \*on warfarin (Coumadin). ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/70 "2010-07-09T15:12:21Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Did he do it Untouchables style, coming in with tommy guns and destroying the booth with an axe, dumping the illicit lemonade in the sewer and posing for the flashbulby cameras. > [@Rigamarole](#): > > Why yes, that’s exactly how he did it. My family is Italian, after all… Hey, in that cae, if he had to smash little kids dreams at least he did it with style. You have to give him points for that. 🙂 Much better then an insane harpy shrieking incoherently from the backseat of a car. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/71 "2010-07-09T15:18:45Z")
This is an interesting conundrum: By the author’s own admission, she makes a practice of patronizing children’s lemonade stands, in order to encourage budding entrepreneurial spirit. But is this practice consistent with the exercise of free market capitalism? She’s not basing her buying decision on the quality of the lemonade, or its price point. Indeed, she’s taking her lemonade business away from companies who have researched their products, employed quality control, and presumably offer a fine product at a bargain price, and giving it to a vendor whose product will be of uncertain quality and possibly higher price, based entirely on her desire to reward that vendor for deciding to enter the business world. > [@](#): > > “You must charge something for the lemonade,” I explained. “That’s the whole point of a lemonade stand. You figure out your costs – how much the lemonade costs, and the cups – and then you charge a little more than what it costs you, so you can make money. Then you can buy more stuff, and make more lemonade, and sell it and make more money.” And then, if your price point and quality are competitive, you’ll make money. Why is it OK to ignore that part of the free market gospel? The author is, in other words, indulging in precisely the same sort of generosity that she condemns in the kids. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/72 "2010-07-09T15:31:56Z")
isn’t it obvious that the lemonade was _pink_ and the message of the article is one of homophobia? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/73 "2010-07-09T15:38:56Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > isn’t it obvious that the lemonade was _pink_ and the message of the article is one of homophobia? Clearly pink, but not homophobic: remember Nixon’s comment about Helen Gahagan Douglas? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/74 "2010-07-09T15:55:33Z")
I’m just bummed out that you can’t leave a comment on the article at the Sun Times web site. Just point **lurking guest** in that direction and sit back to watch the fun ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/75 "2010-07-09T16:09:15Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Why is it OK to ignore that part of the free market gospel? Because this economic conservative, like so many of them, is _a fucking retard_ who has dogma instead of logic. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/76 "2010-07-09T16:14:08Z")
I’ll be generous and discount the “conservative” part, because charity is supposed to be an integral component of conservatism. In fact, I don’t think the author is a principled conservative at all, but rather a Foxian/Republican hack, which has little to do with conservative principles at all but rather just finding _anything_ to maintain a level of faux outrage against strawman liberalism. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/77 "2010-07-09T17:33:50Z")
If this [little girl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lavrenti_Beria_Stalins_family.jpg) asked you to buy lemonade, would YOU say no? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/78 "2010-07-09T17:50:51Z")
When life hands you lemons, insist on paying for them. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/79 "2010-07-09T19:14:15Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Either post this in the readers’ comment section, or I will! > > As per the original article, that was truly the dumbest thing I’ve read in over a month, and that’s saying something considering I post here. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I won’t be but feel free if you want. Since I see **Autolycus** didn’t put it up, I’m going to take that as a generalized invitation, and do it myself. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976/80 "2010-07-09T19:38:13Z")
D’Oh! And when I register, log on, and post it, THAT’S when it lets me see the comment as posted by **Auto**. Sorry about that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-suck-and-i-blow-also-communist-little-girls-and-their-communisty-lemonade-stand-fixed-title/545976.md?page=5)