How WE view trolls
Posted on 05/20/2003 7:37:40 AM PDT by new spartacus
Sunday was a gorgeous day here in Los Angeles, clear, windy, just a hint of smoke from the fire up above Santa Clarita.
The SO – who is the “perfect pillion” as well as a pretty good rider herself – and I took the motorcycle out and spent the day with some friends riding through the canyons up there, and on the way I was strongly reminded of why I am a liberal.
First, the clean air.
The population of Southern California has gone up by about 60% since 1970, according to the Southern California Association of Governments. Auto ownership and use has grown faster, probably about 25% more, I’ll estimate, so we’re looking at a 75% increase in vehicle-miles. We’ve probably lost a bunch of manufacturing and refining, but employment is still a whole bunch higher than it was back then.
And I remember summer days in high school when you couldn’t see the end of my West LA block for the smog. Two-a-days in the pool at school when you spent the day with “aqualung”—a chest so sore you couldn’t raise your voice.
My sons haven’t had those problems (I am aware of the higher incidence of asthma, but there’s a bunch of interesting epidemiology on that). I don’t think their children will, either. Why?
The damn bureaucrats, and their command-and-control bureaucracy. Personally, I think there are more refined tools available to us in the Information Age … Precision Guided Munitions of regulation, rather than the crude daisy-cutters. But if we don’t regulate, we’ll choke.
Next, the infrastructure.
Our normal ride, up Bouquet Canyon, was closed due to the fire, so we rode up San Francisquito Canyon instead (past “A Place to Shoot”, a pretty decent firing range).
In the canyon you can see the remnants of William Mulholland’s last great project, the St. Francis Dam, which failed catastrophically in 1928, killing at least 500.
But Southern Californians live on the desert because of the infrastructure that gives us water, protects us from floods, lets us move around, etc. etc. etc.
I know that each of these is the heavy boot of man’s dominion over nature…but unless we are all willing to live like Gabrielinos, we need it.
And the infrastructure isn’t just physical, but social as well. I have a bachelor’s and a master’s from the University of California, and it is a truism the public university has changed people’s lives.
Finally, charity and hope.
We spent Saturday night at the annual fundraiser for the St. Joseph’s Center in Venice. This hasn’t been a brilliant year for us financially, but we managed to give some away anyway, and enjoyed the company of a bunch of people who were doing pretty much the same thing.
I’ve always felt that I was an economic liberal because I enjoyed my nice things less when I had to either worry about someone trying to hit me on the head and take them away, or eat my meal in the window of a restaurant while a starving family stood outside.
Look, I know that the biggest beneficiaries of the welfare programs in the last fifty years have been the people who work for the welfare departments.
I know that we’ve grown dysfunctional cultures like mold on bad French cheese.
But does it tell you we’ve accomplished something when the biggest nutritional problem among the very poor is obesity?
Now, after I have unleashed the nefarious left on FR, I must go do some actual work...
(Probably meant to reply to post #1, and just clicked on yours.)
It's ok- we don't really mind the critiques or feedback.
As to air and water purity, do they really think conservatives want to live in a world of smog? If these were the only things that the liberals were doing nobody would mind. However, it's the systematic destruction of the values of this country that has become the concern.
This guy has to ask himself why it is that the America haters have glommed onto the liberal agenda. He also has to ask himself what makes him so qualified to establish the rules for the rest of us.
1st prize will be a week-long vacation to Valhalla with deluxe accomidations.
2nd prize will be a weekend get-away to the Viking Kittie mystic stronghold.
3rd prize will be shooting lessons from the Viking Kitties' very on Sniper unit!
Post your entries on this thread or at The Cult of the Viking Kitties by Noon EST 5/21. Winners will be announced by 5PM EST.
That's the true line of separation between liberals and conservatives.
And "mold!"
Yes, quite. Let me count the ways:
So yes, we are better off now than we were four years ago. Why? Probably because we didn't make our living by sucking off the government teat and actually did something with our lives.
Like, duh?
-Jay
I think it's time to discard the practice of referring to the Leftists as "rats." The reasons are many (not the least of which is that it's denigrating to the rats).
You see, I have pet rats. And in knowing these little furballs, I've come to better understand their qualities. In this, I've noticed some stark contrasts between Democrats and Rats.
For example:
When resources appear scarce to my rats, they follow the example of the more productive rats and learn how to do better.
When my rats get annoyed with other rats, they just avoid them and go about their merry business.
When my rats find a destructive element in their territory, they either destroy it or evict it.
Now you tell me who the dumb animals are.
-Jay
LOL..............wonderful post, and perfect ending line!
VIKING KITTIE ZOT!!
Our military is strong, our economy is on the rebound from the Clinton recession, the terrorists who grew and multiplied under the debauched xlinton, are being captured and crippled.........need I go on??
Am I better off now than I was when your dirty boy left office????.......not even debatable.........YES!!!!!
btw, cute pic of the man who's saving you leftists from yourselves.....
I know, I did not mean to yell. I just get fed up with the moral superiority.
I give to what I feel passionate about.
I do not write articles about how great I am for helping those little people who cannot help themselves.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.