But you knew that.
I will never cease to be amazed that some of these right wing nutjob pundits get to keep their jobs. Wait, did I say some? In yesterday's column Goldberg says that he is shocked that Obama would tie federal college grants to some form of compulsory community service. This, Goldberg claims, is exactly like slavery, something a black man, and our constitution, should be against.
Well, I guess even white overstuffed idiots who write books in which they don't even understand their own premise (Nazis were liberals because they had "socialist" in their title) should be against slavery.
But it seems to me that when a democrat makes a proposal that a Republican ought to love - spending government money with an expectation of a return on that investment - the Republican talking point machine has to melt down and what it spits out need not make any sense whatsoever. It should invoke racial tensions, a fabricated air of fiscal intelligence where none actually exists and use all the hotpoint words.
Jonah Goldberg could easily be replaced by a machine. Or, more cheaply, his job could be off-shored to a ten year old Indian girl with a list of handy phrases next to her computer.
Perhaps that has already happened.
11 comments:
Amazing. As if volunteerism were some kind of plot against America. Slavery indeed! What a moron.
Oops, i guess they would say it's not "volunteer" if it's required. Well, back in the 30's they had the WPA and in order for people to get funds to live on they had to do some work. Isn't this the same thing? Oh, I forgot that he probably hates FDR too.
I actually think that tying college grant money to community service is a bad idea. While community service is a good thing and should be encouraged, if you require someone to work in exchange for money, it's no longer a grant; we call that a job. The government actually makes money by sending people to college due to their increased earning potential and subsequent higher income taxes. The G.I. Bill proved that. College should be free for everyone. Even if it wasn't profitable for the government, if we weren't spending all that money blowing people up, we'd have plenty of money to fund education and still have lots left over for universal health care and all that other good stuff. Goldberg is still a jerk, though. It doesn't matter what Obama says or whether it's a good idea or not, people like Goldberg will attack him regardless.
Compulsory community service in exchange for federal college grants may not be such a bad idea. If nothing else, it would weed the lazy rich kids that can afford college on their own, like Jonah Goldberg.
I liked the idea that this stuff could be done by a machine. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell invented the idea of machines that wrote pop tunes and porno. Not the same machine in his time, though they might be interchangeable now.
I can tell you that as a mother of four who works part-time and halfway supports a family with my student loans and a Pell Grant, I would have a hard ass time fitting in mandatory volunteering. I do volunteer all I can manage at my children's schools, but some semesters it is just impossible. So, I would not be in favor of such a thing's being mandatory, but I do think that a widespread effort to recruit volunteers could be very effective. If it's made to be hip (and who else besides Sen. and Mrs. Obama could do it more so- remember Michelle's dress?) then maybe high schoolers and teens might get into it. I could see a prerequisite as being more reasonable, but....
I don't know that I would term it slavery. Ok, I wouldn't, but "voluntary" and "mandatory" are complete opposites, so "mandatory volunteerism" is just a euphemism in my view.
I think one of the dangers in madatory volunteerism is that mandatory military service is not far from it, and that I would be very much opposed to. It is the way of some countries and it is very effective.
Dang girl, I'm glad you're back.
Darn it, I was going to say that he and so many other conservative pundits could be replaced by teenagers in Bangalore. And as you note, perhaps they already have been.
Damned straight.
There also isn't a private organization in the country from youth sports to the boy scouts that doesn't tie services to some sort of volunteer work.
As we say in Mexico: Que Dumbass!
The only good thing one can say about Jonah Goldberg is that he makes is SOOOOOOO easy to dismiss the right wing pundits as empty sacks of foul air. What a sorryass excuse of a human being. Does anybody REALLY read this guy?
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