OK, there’s one more. I’ll change my offer to exchange what I pay in taxes for what you pay for the dog park and what Rubystreak pays for the bike trails!
Yet the news doesn’t make any big deal about the death of a 22 year old as opposed to the death of a 50 year old, even tho that 22 year old person had their life cut short too. No, it has nothing to do with a child being cheated out of anything, it has to do with the belief that children are more valuable than adults. For whatever reason.
“Really not all that bright” seems to fit. Skyrocketing federal taxes is due to waste, mismanagement, graft and funding things that the taxpayer shouldn’t have to pay for. Being a net benefactor of federal spending doesn’t mean that I, or you, should sit idly by and let the fed flush it down their over priced toilets.
Come now, do you really believe that? Do you honestly believe a child would be better in the system of foster homes and orphanages than with a loving parent just because of money?
I’m not a fan of the welfare system because I think it’s seriously flawed, but taking children away from their parents is a bad idea all the way around. Sure, if a parent is abusive or cannot care for the child in ways other than money, I get that.
There aren’t enough homes for children now, can you imagine how it would be if we took them away from their parents? How would we pay for the orphanages? Also, foster parents get money from the state to care for foster kids, where do you think that comes from?
I want to believe you’re just saying this to get a rise out of some of these people.
That adult has already proven that he can make money - the child has not. The adult has at least started to pay off their debt to society, the child is still building that debt.
From a pure utility standpoint, all parents would pay full freight to raise their own children, so that there wouldn’t be any debt for us to hope they will pay off.
Not only is your grasp on English poor, you also don’t have a brain in your head. We paid that money out, over the course of a year, back when I was working. When we had that kind of money. Whether it was for that dog’s treatment (chemo, not surgery), or donated to charity, that money is now gone, years gone. Not that what I consider to be important enough to spend that kind of money on is any of your business…
Since that time, I have had to quit working, my husband was laid off and we were both out of work for almost a year. He is now back at work making less than he did, but at least he’s working. I cannot work full time any more and there is no part time work in the only job I know how to do. I do not have training to get another sort of sit down job. By being very careful with our money, I’ve managed to keep us from having any problems but we would not be able to withstand anything like another raise in taxes or some sort of emergency. We just need to make it another five (I think) years, when my husband will be old enough that we can reverse mortgage the house.
Or, we could be irresponsible and default on our mortgage so the fed will send us money, and/or I could take a series of jobs with employers and make them fire me when I cannot get to work on time or every day, and/or we could run up a bunch of credit card debt and then declare bankruptcy. Which do you like best?
The stereotypical welfare mother chooses to not work. Which is the major problem with welfare - you can get it by simply choosing to be a parasite. And the difference between welfare and SSDI or student loans.
Shrug. I’m a product of the public school system, back when it was actually worth something…
Clearly they do not? Exercise doesn’t improve the quality of life? And before it was bike trails, which here wind thru greenbelts that probably wouldn’t be there if not for the trail. Bike lanes are painted onto a slightly wider street. Which one are you talking about?
I didn’t say that, I merely responded to the assertion that these things are of equal or less value than a playground. I don’t care what your taxes pay for as long as they are not my taxes too.
Already have, please pay attention.
Please pay attention - playgrounds here are not park-like at all. As I said in a previous post.
Here, they are not “exclusive”. Tennis courts aren’t used only by those playing tennis, certainly rarely by actually athletic people and they are used by all ages. Bike paths are used by people who walk, skate and skate board, again of all ages. Playgrounds are used only by those who are, what? between 2-3 and 10? Except of course for the occasional visit by adults to sit on the swings.
I don’t think she is a loving parent, I think she is an attention seeking nutjob.
So being unable to put decent food on the table or clothes on the kid’s back isn’t abusive?
We’d save a hell of a lot of money if we quit paying people to have and raise their own kids. We might even discover that fewer people who cannot afford to have children will quit doing so!
I don’t say anything to get a rise out of anyone. What would be the purpose?
People (even young people:eek:) have societal worth that is not tied to their earning power. You can disassociate from the human race and pretend that this isn’t true, but you’d be in a very small minority. The rest of us get it.
Oh for fucks sake.
Did you manage to comprehend at all Not All That Bright’s elucidation of what welfare is?
Welfare is ANY transfer of funds or provision of tax concessions from the government to the individual, whether it be for helping sole parents raise their kids, or assisting home-buyers with grants to get their first home (at least in Australia). Welfare is responsible for making tax-benefits available for investment-property buyers, and for allowing five-hour, $5,000 lunches to be deductible as a business expense.
Welfare covers the whole gamut, but unfortunately, ‘welfare’ has come to be attributed only to government support of the needy. If the truth be told, there are probably more tax dollars (WELFARE) spent supporting and rewarding the rich than are spent on so-called welfare payments for the poor.
Sure, I get that you’re pissed-off about those skanky single mums getting the goodies. But in reality, (despite what you hear on tabloid telly) the total welfare budget going to them is but a drop in the bucket compared to all the other programs that attract government support. Me? I’d rather that the mums were getting MORE of the pie so that they can give their kids a better start in life, and that the scumbags who earn mega-millions anyway (and employ creative accountants to minimize their tax bill as well) got a damned-sight less.
Next?
Cue violins.
You have asserted what you value: exercise for people with bikes and tennis rackets. I value places for kids to play and people to have picnics. One is not more inherently valuable than the other, or more exclusive. Just as you say, why can’t children play in their own yards, I could respond, why can’t people exercise in their own yards? Why do I have to pay for it?
Bike lanes and bike trails were both on the budget. I use neither, so why should I pay for them?
Pardon me if I simply cannot believe that playgrounds where you live are so vastly different from those where I live. I’m absolutely positive there are benches where a senior citizen or single person could eat lunch if they so choose. Anyone could take a nice walk in the spring. Anyone could toss a frisbee or ball around.
What the hell else could you use a tennis court for besides playing tennis? Playgrounds are just parks. Anyone can use them. But of course, in your world, you have to show ID and can only be between the ages of 2-10, because you simply cannot acknowledge that maybe bitching about playgrounds is a bit ridiculous. And since you have admitted that we all pay for things we don’t use, why not just give it a rest already?
Yeah, of all the laughably ridiculous and palpably untrue things curlcoat has said in this thread – and hoo boy, have there been a lot of them – “tennis courts get used by people doing all sorts of things besides playing tennis!!111!!” is probably the best. There are public tennis courts around here, and you know how many times I’ve seen people in there doing calisthenics, or running laps, or hanging out eating sandwiches, or, gee, doing anything other than playing tennis? Zero. If you don’t have a tennis racket and a ball, you’re not welcome. Period.
Hot damn…I’m gonna git me one o’ them drive-thru social services windows in my neighborhood. I’m gonna order me up some street lights and water purification service. I’ll tell my blind neighbor not to put a checkmark on “flowers in the park” since she cain’t see 'em anyway. I’ll git me some snow removal for the road in front of mah house. Guess I’ll tell the blind neighbor to skip that one, too. Yup…this whole “ever man fer himself” thing is gonna work out reeeeal good. Shooooweeee!
You’re a fucken’ bigot Kal…what’s with all this discrimination against the blind folks. 
For some reason I always get kambuckta, Kalhoun and Khadaji confused/mixed up.
Let’s put it in simple terms for the simpletons in this thread:
Animals fuck and baby animals get born. It’s a biological urge for all animals (in a general sense) to procreate.
In the higher species, nurturing the offspring is necessary to ensure they survive to ensure the later survival of said species: if you are birthing 1000 frogspawn at a time and only a hundred survive to tadpole stage, you’ve done well as a froggy-mom. A lioness will go to more extreme lengths to make sure her cub gets to a stage when it will survive independently. Human mothers will go further, because they have the nous and the strengths to do so.
For those of you fighting the fight against the ‘rationality’ of people fucking and babies being born, keep banging yer’ heads against the wall. Fine by me.
When you try to introduce a ‘rational’ argument about how and why kids are a drain on society…it falls on its arse, because there IS no argument apart from your own misanthropic and bitter opinions. Despite how much you loathe the notion and the reality of children, they’re here to stay, and they’re OK (with some noteable exceptions of course).
We were all kids once. What’s the old saying…“Forget where you came from and you might as well be dead…?”
Or something like that.
I’m the old Aussie sheila if that makes any difference. 
And I’m the old American broad.
Wait, so you’re not actually totally disabled, you’re just only capable of part-time sedentary work?
There may be only one job you you “know how to do” that pays what you’re accustomed to making, but if you are capable of working a part time sedentary job you could make $10 an hour in a call center starting tomorrow. The only required qualifications are a high school diploma and a cursory knowledge of English. You certainly have the latter.
Assuming that your post says what it seems to say, you are also choosing not to work.