Hello Bob,   
      
    LL>> Republican Party.  Even Michael Steel admitted the GOP goofed.   
      
    BM>> Agreed.... which only enhances their commitment to a segregated   
    BM>> America (My reference here is poor [black & white] vs. the affluent.)   
      
    LL>> Not all blacks are poor.  Not all whites are rich.   
    LL>> However, an economic argument can be made, and strongly   
    LL>> supported.  Bob Dole, as a candidate for president, tried   
    LL>> to make that argument in reference to affirmative action,   
    LL>> and actually had Bill Clinton on the defensive (and on the   
      
   BK>The point of affirmative action is to insure success is   
   BK>distributed regardless of race. Only those who oppose AA must   
   BK>believe there is no racial compenent to poverty.   
      
   The point of affirmative action is to discriminate in favor   
   of minorities - in most cases meaning blacks.  Once equality   
   has been reached, affirmative action programs are no longer   
   needed and should be dismantled.  However, once inequalities   
   re-emerge, affirmative action programs should be put back   
   in place.  This on again/off again approach is the only way   
   affirmative action programs can work in a truly fair manner.   
      
    LL>> ropes).  Dole's mistake was not having a viable plan of his   
    LL>> own to replace affirmative action. Clinton managed to get   
    LL>> up off the canvas, making a comeback by suggesting   
    LL>> affirmative action needed to be "fixed" rather than   
    LL>> "scrapped" - thus winning his bid for a second term.   
      
   BK>Which is true. We need affirmative action for all the poor in   
   BK>America.   
      
   Bob Dole said much the same thing, but wanted to change it from   
   being a race-based program to being an economic-based program.   
   The problem was, he failed to do his homework, not having any   
   details for his plan.  This allowed Bill Clinton to pounce, and   
   come up with his own "fix it" scheme, thus winning the debate   
   on the matter, along with winning a second term in office.   
      
    LL>> Black folks are more discriminatory of their own than any   
    LL>> other race. There are dark-skinned blacks, light-skinned   
    LL>> blacks, blacks who pass for white ...   
      
   BK>When you are reduced to survival level your competitors are not   
   BK>those well off, but those like you scrambling to survive.   
      
   Let's see how well those who are presently on disability (SSDI)   
   manage to survive when their checks are cut by 20 percent in 2016.   
   Let's see how those on disability manage to survive when conservative   
   Republicans undo at least some of Ronald Reagan's 1984 reform that   
   expanded the kinds of disabilities covered.   
      
   Do you think the Congress will do anything to save the SSDI trust   
   program?  By doing nothing, the cuts take effect automatically.   
   What will happen is Republican lawmakers will say something along   
   the lines of "Let's compromise" to the Democrats, and then refuse   
   to go along with anything the Democrats propose.  To obstruct, by   
   any means necessary, resulting in getting exactly what they want,   
   while blaming Obama at the same time.   
      
   After gutting the SSDI program, Republican lawmakers will move on   
   to gutting the Social Security program for retirees age 65 and over.   
   Won't that be grand?   
      
   Let's defund Obamacare, and gut Social Security.  Leave everybody   
   broke and without access to quality medical care.  No more social   
   security or medicare for anybody.  But let's keep SSI and medicaid,   
   as funding for those programs come out of general tax revenues   
   rather than dedicated trust funds financed mainly by payroll taxes.   
      
   Imagine that.  Folks who never worked a day in their life are better   
   off than folks who worked their butts off their entire lives.   
      
   What we thought were entitlements are now fast becoming just a pipe   
   dream.  Maybe you think working until you drop is the thing to do.   
   After all, there are lots of folks who are in their 80s working as   
   greeters at WalMart.  But it seems to me that most folks would prefer   
   having a bit of free time after having worked for sixty or seventy   
   fucking years.   
      
   BK>When I was young they could tell us, if we succeeded in school   
   BK>we would have jobs. Now they tell kids, if they succeed in   
   BK>school it's less likely they will be the ones without jobs,   
   BK>someone else will be. Not much of a guarantee.   
      
   Social Security used to be a guarantee.  Not any more.   
   Pensions used to be a guarantee.  Not any more.   
   Entitlements used to be a guarantee.  Not any more.   
   There are only two things that are guaranteed - death and taxes.   
   The only question that remains is which takes us first.   
      
    BM>> LOL.... irony as it's best... vote for the man who doesn't give a   
    BM>> rat's ass about you.   
      
    LL>> You have to remember - we boil our crawfish LIVE.  :)   
      
   BK>Hmmm... that seems a bit... disturbing...   
      
   Not for the crawfish.  They wave their little claws out the water   
   and stare at us with those beady little eyes ...   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)