Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Recent Entries
The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On The ONT
The Superstars of Miami Vice Cafe Quack Hats ABC "News" Ratings Down One Million Viewers, or 12%, Since David Muir's Disgracefully Partisan Debate Performance 19-Year-Old "Trans-Identified Female" Arrested for Making Terrorist Threats to Shoot Up an Elementary School "Puff Daddy" Held Without Bail as New Emails Allegedly Reveal Human Trafficking, Coerced Sex, and Blackmail The Left's Rhetoric Has Incited Another Assassin: Alaska Man Arrested for Threatening to Murder and Torture Six Conservative Supreme Court Justices Iran Hacked Trump Campaign Emails and Then Offered Them to the Democrat Party to Exploit CNN's Lone Republican Scott Jennings Blasts the Network for Allowing Democrats to Constantly Lie About Trump's "Bloodbath" Comments The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024 Captain Hate 2023 moon_over_vermont 2023 westminsterdogshow 2023 Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups
|
« Michael Barone: Obamacare is Obama's Iraq War |
Main
| Top Headline Comments 12-21-14 »
February 20, 2014
Overnight Open Thread (2-20-2014)Because there are reports that some people around here have been unduly happy... Welcome to the United States of Welfare At some point in the last year or two we quietly passed a milestone in America: As a nation we are now more benefit-takers than full-time workers. Of course there's probably some overlap between these groups but the bottom line is that getting by with government money is more the rule now in the US than the exception. So if you work full-time and aren't getting some form of government payout based on your income, you're Americans who were recipients of means-tested government benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data released this month by the Census Bureau. They also out-numbered the total population of the Philippines. Note that these means-based benefits do not include Social Security and most government pensions. Those fall into an entirely separate Big Effin' Problem category. Among the 108,592,000 people who fit the Census Bureau's description of a means-tested benefit recipient in the fourth quarter of 2011 were 82,457,000 people in households receiving Medicaid, 49,073,000 beneficiaries of food stamps, 20,223,000 on Supplemental Security Income, 23,228,000 in the Women, Infants and Children program, 13,433,000 in public or subsidized rental housing, and 5,854,000 in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Also among the 108,592,000 means-tested benefit recipients counted by the Census Bureau were people getting free or reduced-price lunch or breakfast, state-administered supplemental security income and means-tested veterans pensions*. *I'm not quite what this is but it seems distinct from the usual years-of-service-based military pensions. Wait are you paying for your own food? Come on - be a smarty and join the EBT party.
The Tragedy of the Dependency Culture Here David French looks at how the War on Poverty and easy government checks has damaged the spirit and souls of people in Appalachia. To get a sense of the extent of government dependency in some Kentucky counties, in Martin County, Ky. (a county LBJ visited), consider this: Income from government transfer payments exceeds all income from wages and salaries - a ratio that far outstrips the national average. ...Perhaps most disturbing of all - for those who seek private intervention to alleviate poverty and transform lives - it appears the avalanche of government aid inoculates the region against effective charitable assistance. In a separate report, Cheves details how charitable dollars also flow into Appalachia, to no discernible effect. In fact, local residents are often all too happy to let private volunteers do repair work they're perfectly capable of performing themselves - sometimes leaving homes in disrepair until the annual summer influx of college students, all eager to help. The tragedy of government dependence is the tragedy of the slowly-dying human heart - the loss of hope and the rejection of any personal revitalization that requires more than a bare minimum of effort (followed by immediate and dramatic rewards). In my own time working with at-risk youth in Kentucky, my wife and I found it extraordinarily difficult to compete with the no-strings-attached federal money, where it was all too easy to reject any true reform or true personal initiative in favor of the life they knew. Which brings us to the end state: Meet the 36-Year-Old Dane on Welfare Since She Was 16 Free at last from the eternal shackles of survival and responsibility. And purpose. It turned out, however, that life on welfare was not so hard. The 36-year-old single mother, given the pseudonym "Carina" in the news media, had more money to spend than many of the country's full-time workers. All told, she was getting about $2,700 a month, and she had been on welfare since she was 16. Thanks to a generous state both Carina and 'Lazy Robert' can look forward to pleasant retirement from a life of arduous non-work in just another decade or so. How You Too Can Score Some of Those Sweeeet Guvvie $$$ Hey don't get angry - start getting your share. Look all that government money is just going to be spent and wasted before the big crash anyway. So why shouldn't it go to someone like yourself who's willing to invest it in value-retaining durable goods like liquor, XBoxes, firearms, Russian brides, and full-featured bunkers. Because someone has to keep our American cultural heritage alive.Are You Responsible For the Worst Thing One of Your Ancestors Ever Did? Yes says the Guardian. A newly appointed city commissioner in New York, Stacey Cumberbatch, told the New York Times last week that she believed British actor Benedict Cumberbatch's fifth great-grandfather owned her ancestors on an 18th-century sugar plantation in Barbados. They "are related," the newspaper noted, "if not by blood, then by geography and the complicated history of the slave trade." David Thompson points out that while many on the left seem to implicitly assume sin is genetic, they also don't really understand the math of genetic inheritance. As we're apparently obliged to fret about one of Mr Cumberbatch's fifth great-grandparents, what about the other 127 fifth great-grandparents? Or the 2,048 ninth great-grandparents? There's bound to be some dirt there. And as a concerned and "reflexive" person - one apparently troubled by "privilege," "structural injustice" and the "tentacles of history" - shouldn't Ms Hanman first check whether her own distant ancestors committed any sins, whether deemed grievous at the time or as fathomed by modern standards? "You better stay away from him Could this be the ultimate Sochi fail? Kate Hansen seems to think so. The American luger filmed an unwanted hotel guest roaming the halls of Olympic Village yesterday, tweeting out the video link, posted to YouTube, along with this caption: "Wolf in my hall?!? #SochiProblems #SochiFail." In the video's description, she writes, per Sky News, "I'm pretty sure this is a wolf wandering my hall in Sochi." [Apparently this was a hoax by Jimmy Kimmel but since I already had the headline I figure why let the hobgoblin of truth and accuracy take away all the fun.] Also the 15 Scariest faces of Sochi. Yahoo group. That is all. The group thingy. And the middle class. And my Twitter spew. Tonight's post brought to you by updated Maslow: Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread and stock tips plus 1 bitcoin for S&H to maetenloch at gmail. Otherwise send your scraps to BizarroAce. Do not taunt happy-fun ball. Avoid contact with genital area. Not valid in MT, DE. | Recent Comments
mikeski:
"[i]This month, Earth will grab itself a second moo ..."
Erebus- ex-Killer Whale: " I'm pretty damned worried that Trump is gonna los ..." Martini Farmer: "In ancient times a "new moon" would likely portend ..." The Marcels: "Wa wa wa waaa-ahhh ..." I'm Gumby Damn It!: "253 Angel Oak Tree in Charleston, South Carolina ..." Yudhishthira's Dice: "I've watched Maximum Overdrive many times, so I kn ..." IrishEi: "New moon You saw me standing alone Without a dre ..." I'm Gumby Damn It!: "253 Angel Oak Tree in Charleston, South Carolina ..." Braenyard: "268 When Trump is elected, we will acquire yuge, l ..." Mr. Ray : "Alex Jones Glenn Greenwald RFKJ Tucker Carlson Don ..." Puddleglum at work: "Appalachian State is getting mauled by South Alaba ..." TeeJ: " - Is this for real? Barron singing https://ti ..." Recent Entries
The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On The ONT
The Superstars of Miami Vice Cafe Quack Hats ABC "News" Ratings Down One Million Viewers, or 12%, Since David Muir's Disgracefully Partisan Debate Performance 19-Year-Old "Trans-Identified Female" Arrested for Making Terrorist Threats to Shoot Up an Elementary School "Puff Daddy" Held Without Bail as New Emails Allegedly Reveal Human Trafficking, Coerced Sex, and Blackmail The Left's Rhetoric Has Incited Another Assassin: Alaska Man Arrested for Threatening to Murder and Torture Six Conservative Supreme Court Justices Iran Hacked Trump Campaign Emails and Then Offered Them to the Democrat Party to Exploit CNN's Lone Republican Scott Jennings Blasts the Network for Allowing Democrats to Constantly Lie About Trump's "Bloodbath" Comments The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |