I read a few news stories today, and they’ve put some questions into my mind.
Let’s go over these and see which side of the issue you come down on.
Let’s go over these and see which side of the issue you come down on.
Disgruntled Dems…or New Greens?
I see that two former Montana Democxratic Party bigwigs – Ken Toole and Carol Juneau – are creating a new, progressive website/organization.
This is called Big Sky 55+ and nowhere on the website will you find the word “Democrat” or “Republican,” just “progressive.”
When you go to the site’s issues page, it’s a carbon-copy of the Green Party’s issues page.
Each of the 8 issues the Big Sky 55+ group has – like Health Care for All and Climate Change and Social, Economic and Racial Justice – are key planks for the Greens (aside from the rural issue).
This does not surprise me.
Toole and Juneau are smart enough to realize the Democratic Party holds nothing for them anymore.
Here in Montana, Jon Tester personifies that. When given the option of having true progressives or corporate Democrats serving alongside him in the swamp, Tester chooses the corporates every time.
Just ask Joe Sestak.
Dems will pay lip-service to progressive causes, but only so they can trick progressives into voting for them, and – more importantly – get donations from them as well.
It’ll be interesting to see where the Big Sky 55+ group goes. My money’s on nowhere.
Taxes Too High…Or Just Lazy Asses?
Here in the Garden City, taxes are so high that 97 mobile home owners can’t afford to pay their taxes.
Still, 4,903 mobile home owners were able to pay their taxes, as well as 50,000 additional property owners.
Alas, Missoulians have soft hearts for people that often refuse to change, and for that reason, over $3,000 has been raised.
What will that money be used for? Simple – paying the taxes for people that can’t/won’t pay their taxes.
And I don’t believe for one second that they can’t pay those taxes.
Get a job!
Just yesterday on Craigslist, at least 30 new jobs were listed for Missoula.
When you own a trailer and just pay a small lot rent – about 50% of what a regular Missoula renter will pay – there’s no reason for you to not be paying taxes.
If you’re not paying taxes, you need to take a hard look at your life and figure out what the problems are.
- Are you spending too much money on drink and drugs?
- Are you not working enough?
- Do you have some kind of disability that necessitates filling out numerous pages of governmental paperwork to get benefits?
- Are you just a lazy schmuck that wants others to take care of you?
I hope these 97 households take a hard look at themselves, and make the necessary changes so they can begin contributing to society again, not just feeding off other people’s goodwill.
I highly doubt that’ll happen, however.
That’s typically the case when we continually enable bad behavior.
Informed Academic…Or Another Ignorant Egghead?
I couldn’t believe the headline in a letter-to-the-editor on the Missoulian today.
In fact, I found it so hard to believe that I had to click on it.
It’s called “Want to get a good-paying job? Major in philosophy.”
Wow…are you fucking kidding me?
The article was written by Jim Murray, who graduated from UM in 1976 with – you guessed it – a degree in philosophy.
- Back in ’76, room and board and tuition at a 4-year school cost you about $1,200 a year.
- Fast forward 30 years and the same would cost you nearly $13,000 a year.
Murray’s main argument is that a degree in philosophy will allow you to think critically. He argues this is something companies are looking for.
I’m sure it helps that Murray was a Rhodes Scholar. That probably made it easier to work in law, legal education, business insurance and other ‘cater-to-the-rich’ occupations.
I’m not sure regular, non-Rhodes Scholar UM graduates will do as well…especially when they graduate with a bill that’s about $45,000 more than what Murray had 30 years ago.
To me, people like Murray are clueless eggheads that simply don’t understand the world today.
Sure, they’ve spent their careers profiting off the world and the way it is and how much misery it creates for non-rich-assholes like them, but for the rest of us, we can see how things really are.
I feel sorry for people getting degrees in philosophy.
Perhaps that’s because I have a degree in history, and know firsthand how little people care about that, and how little demand there is for it.
