-gm
On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 4:49 PM, Scott Maxwell <smaxwell@umich.edu> wrote:
To me, all "good politicians" (i.e. Those that get elected and continue to get re-elected) promise ice cream. The difference between a Republican and Democrat are the flavors of ice cream that they offer the people. And for those to the right of me that disagree, I point out the last 8 years, during which the Republicans controlled the whole kit and caboodle for much of the time. They were not to interested in feed and cleaning up after the cow either. Sure, they liked to give tax breaks (there is some nice ice cream for you), but they did not really cut spending overall one little bit. They did cut spending on things THEY don't like, but they also spent a crap load on things that THEY did like (like a money pit called Iraq). And now the Republicans want us to believe that they again are the party of "fiscal conservativism" and "fiscal responsibility". Sorry, no sale here.
And as to notion of blame for the whole mess that Republicans warned Democrats...maybe that is true. But, then if they "knew" about the problems, then why did they not do something about it. The notion of blaming ANYONE side for this mess is just plain stupid. Just as it was stupid to blame all the bad stuff about Katrina on Bush. I dislike Bush...I REALLY dislike Bush...I think he was the worst President we have ever had. But, he was also a major league scap goat on Katrina. His administrations response was certainly MUCH less than stellar and Bush himself did a few REALLY stupid things from a perception point of view, but for me, there is LOTS of blame to go around and that includes the people of New Orleans. As engineers, we should all know that they were playing with fire by living in what essentially amounted to a bowl that was below sea level on a coast that could get hit by a hurricane. It was purely a matter of time before New Orleans got toasted by direct hit by a significant hurricane.
But, then everyone likes their ice cream and don't think about the things needed to get the ice cream nor the potential consequences of eating the ice cream. We all like believe out ice cream never costs us anything, whether directly or indirectly.
And now I will return to shutting up about politics, eh, ice cream (not to mention it is making me hungry for some ice cream even though it is cold out and we just got some snow).
Regards,
Scott
Adrian, MIIn a message dated 2/21/2009 8:59:45 AM Pacific Standard Time, boyd@boydconsultinggroup.com writes:
How politicans get elected,
From a teacher in the Nashville area.
Who worries about "the cow" when it is all about the "Ice Cream?
The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year.
The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.
To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot. The class had done a great job in their selections.
Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother.
The day arrived when they were to make their speeches Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best.
Everyone applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium. Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down.
The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream." She surely could say more. She did not have to.
A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure.
Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it? She didn't know.
The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream.
Jamie was forgotten.
Olivia won by a landslide.
Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and fifty-two percent of the people reacted like nine year olds.
They want ice cream.
The other forty-eight percent of us know we're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess
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Doug,
We do know that the "Republicans" warned the "Democrats" many times about the risky Subprime Loans. It started in the Clinton administration. If anyone want's to read the facts, let me know and I will send you a copy of the chronology.
Tony