PROSPECT, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage and right-wing radio host Howie Carr rallied their troops Saturday at Fort Knox, speaking before hundreds of conservative activists at the second annual Economic Freedom Festival.
The event — organized by the Maine chapter of Americans for Prosperity, an Arlington, Va., group that mobilizes voters for lower taxes and smaller government — attracted about 400 people to Fort Knox.
To the receptive audience, the governor, Carr and two other speakers — Falmouth author Susan Dench and Tarren Bragdon, former CEO of Maine Heritage Policy Center — railed against the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of President Barack Obama’s health care reform package, allegedly rampant abuse of food stamp benefits and federal spending.
LePage received a standing ovation when he took the lectern to decry a federal government he said wants to keep its residents dumb, obese and poor while “trying to put the shackles of economic slavery on our children, our grandchildren and our unborn great-grandchildren.”
The governor said the only way to recover from a soaring national debt of nearly $16 trillion and an unemployment rate lingering around 8 percent is to shrink government.
The feeling of the day was light, but LePage’s speech was serious. He talked not of victories but of what still needed to be done, saying the state had failed to lower the cost of energy or reform state education in the two years since he has assumed the governorship.
He blamed the latter on school superintendents, who he accused of “double-dipping,” earning salaries and pensions after returning to work from retirement.
The governor didn’t earn points with supporters when he broke with the conservative “no tax increase” line.
“We’re gonna have to see higher taxes to pay down that [federal] debt,” he said.
But for many conservatives, cutting taxes is as much a moral imperative as it is a policy decision. Cheryl Parkman of Palermo said that regardless of how high the debt is, she was surprised LePage seemed resigned to tax increases.
“I would fight it tooth and nail,” she said. “You have to cut spending.”
Parkman’s husband, Waldo County Treasurer David Parkman, said free riders are the problem, not lowering taxes.
“We’re not creating any wealth in this country,” he said. “There’s too many people on the dole.”
Another audience member, Hazen Camber, a Manset landscaper, said he didn’t like the message but respected the governor’s honest approach.
“It’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true,” he said of the governor’s tax comment. “That’s why I like Paul LePage. He speaks the truth.”
On Sunday, LePage’s spokeswoman, Adrienne Bennett, said the governor is not advocating for new or higher taxes but is resigned to the fact that if cutting spending doesn’t rein in the debt, taxes are the only solution left.
“He’s very reluctant in saying this is the only alternative we have,” Bennett said.
LePage also reiterated comments made earlier in the day during his weekly radio address, when he said his administration would not implement parts of Obama’s health care reform package. At Fort Knox, he told supporters that “we need to put good, solid Republicans in Congress and repeal Obamacare.”
Howie Carr, a Portland native turned conservative radio talk-show host in Massachusetts, mostly cracked jokes on the stage. But he also told stories of alleged food stamp fraud and criticized supporters of gay marriage for their repeated referendums to allow same-sex weddings in Maine.
Carr was more contemplative in an interview with reporters before the festival.
“I grew up in Maine in the 1960s and it was a very different state,” he said. “There were no food stamps. There was basically no welfare. Everybody fended for themselves. That’s the way the whole country was. I like many of the modern improvements in the country, but in many ways it was a better society when I was a kid. I’d like to see that old standard restored.”
All the speakers urged activists to vote in November, though no mentions of any specific candidates were made. References to presidential candidate Mitt Romney, U.S. Senate candidate and current Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers, and U.S. House candidates Sen. Kevin Raye and John Courtney totaled exactly zero.
After the festival, Americans for Prosperity was scheduled to host a fundraiser dinner with LePage, Carr and Bragdon on the banks of the Penobscot River. Tickets were sold for $100.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
why did the BDn have to use right wing instead of jsut saying Howie carr the radio host. But i guess since the paper leans left they dont have a problem with making people assume that even moderates like Howie Carr are radicals.
Howie is an entertainer like Limbaugh.
Howie like Limbaugh are comidians. The joke is on the people who take them serious
They are actually both just scammers, not unlike those guys who pretend to have contact with the dead. They make money by telling their followers what they want to hear and saying anything that will make them a buck.
They are BOTH Propagandist!
I wonder if the rag would label Pat LaMarche a left-wing radical?
You read the BDN. You like to complain? You can’t stand the viewpoint? Don’t read it. Go subscribe to Fox, you’ll get just what you want. Howie Carr is an entertainer taking your money for saying ignorant things. Conservatives have a thing for whining. We should tax whining. That way, conservatives would feel good about supporting America.
Conservatives have nothing on liberals in the whining dep’t.
Oh yes they do. Conservatives have done nothing but whine in DC since they won the House. They haven’t passed a single jobs bill, but they have voted to repeal Obamacare, or parts of it 33 times even though they know it would be vetoed and has no chance of being law. Just for show, that’s all they are
They whine that it is bad, but have not even tried to fix a broken healthcare system. Not a single bill to help the uninsured, or, for those who can afford it, make getting health insurance a priority. Whine, whine, whine about Obama, but not any effort to do something instead. Whine, whine, whine about the “Liberal” media because it isn’t like FOX, but they never refute the claims of the mainstream media. They just go on Fox and whine some more.
Conservatives whine that liberals are pushing a gay agenda. They claim to hate the sin but love the sinner. Then when a gay conservative steps up to help their presidential candidate, they hound him from his position. Then they whine that they are a party of inclusion, and that the Dems have the gays, Hispanics and the African Americans brainwashed.
They whine about lack of African American support, then have people like Newt say that welfare and minorities are synonymous. Newt also said poor people didn’t know how to get jobs or keep them. News flash, most poor people work, some at 2 jobs. More whining about lack of Hispanic support, this from Romney at an Hispanic meeting. But the Republicans favor only the most draconian solutions to the immigration problem. Whine whine whine with no solutions except to lower taxes on the wealthy.
Tell me, why the Republicans have more African American Congress people in majority white districts than Democrats do? Little bit of liberal racism maybe?
What are you trying to say? That because there are 2 black Republicans in Congress, this somehow makes them better than the 39 black Dems? Both black Repubs are from states where a Dem couldn’t be elected if he walked on water. Also from states where the Republicans drew the lines for the districts.
But they are in majority Causcasian districts. One of which is right next door to Wasserman-Schultz. The Pelosi wannbe. I didn’t say they were better. You made some case for rascism in your previous post. I just want to know why Democrats can’t elect Black Congresspeople in majority white districts. You opened the door.
Two examples does not a trend make. You’re fishing (again).
Maybe, but poster posed a question of racism. There are any number of nationally known Republicans of a multitude of ethnicities, accusations of racism are beginning to ring a little hollow. After a while one just gets sick of it. It’s like some liberals believe a political philosphy, gender or sexual orientation has color. It doesn’t.
I see, because the Repubs are from majority white districts, that makes the Dems racist? How about you look and see that both come from heavily gerrymandered districts where electing a Democrat is less likely than sending a bottle rocket to the moon. Facts have no room in your mind, just the fact that 2 Republicans from heavily white districts happen to be black.
Tell you what, when the Republicans have their convention, look at the crowd. Every single person of color will be in the front for the cameras to focus on. They will stand out like a raisin in a bag of rice. Now, ask yourself, is this what America looks like? Then ask yourself why the Repubs convention looks like a rally at a NASCAR event rather than a convention of a party that claims to represent all Americans.
Yes, I made the case for a racist streak that is tolerated by the Republicans. Newt’s treatment of Juan Williams (black conservative) at the SC primary debate was insensitive at best, racist more likely. Newt is still a power in Republican circles. Even after he said that Black people ought to ask for jobs instead of food stamps. Most food stamps go to white folk, Newt, why do you continue to associate black folk and food stamps? There are a whole passel of such words from major Republicans, words that portray the blacks as lazy, welfare recipients. Such racist talk will get them a lot of black votes, and they want to blame it on “plantation mentality” (Herman Cain) from the Dems. How about it is because of continued tolerance of base racist messages from major repub leaders.
Jaun Williams a conservative? Just because NPR dumped him (because he did not always agree with their left-wing, liberal, “progressive” views) and Fox (Fair and Balanced) kept him on does not make him a conservative. I personally would say he is left of center or (at best) moderate!
Except for present company.
You took what I wrote as whining? Seriously? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I have heard and read ignorant remarks by Pat LaMarche. I listen and read both sides of the issue’s. Last time I looked Howie wasn’t getting any of my money.
Re: Acountian…. What has Harry Ried been doing for the last 3 1/2 years? If I remember correctly NOT A SINGLE PERSON voted for Obama’s budget!!
Don’t mistake resistance for whining.
Yes Cheese, you are right. I spoke in the heat of the moment. To come to the BDN site then complain about it….sounds like someone who enjoys whining to me!
Except in the way they do it. Usually sounds like whining to me.
Perhaps the problem is how you (we) read a statement. For instance the biggest whiner on the board is SD of the treespirit. Do I think she is whining because of what she says or is it just the sound in my head I get when I read her maudlin statements? :)
Howie Carr is a Rush Limbo wannabe.
I guess Olberman does not whine?
So what if he does?
Left wing, yes. Left wing radical? Probably not, and the BDN did not call Howie a radical. Regardless of your right-leaning preferences (notice I didn’t use “wing”), left wing does not always imply or deserve radical (unlike damYankees, it isn’t lefdtwingradical).
Howie Carr is not a moderate. And he IS a right winger so what is the problem with calling him what he is? BDN is only reporting what is.
Glad they did use right wing since that what he seems to be.
Lot of hot air at Fort Knox today and it had nothing to do with the weather!
Why aren’t you in NY? Looks like they have a great thing goin’ there…not!
Sorry to burst your bubble Nick but am a born and raised Mainah!!
Man are these guys gonna take a butt wooping on November 6th! All whine and no substance…well other than what they’re tucking behind those stretched polo shirts.
Did you happen to notice LePage forgot to tell the crowd, if that’s what you want to call it, about all of those jobs he has created in Maine. Could that be because Maine’s unemployment is rising while it’s going down in the rest of the country? You are right it isn’t going to be fun being a tea party parrot republican on November 6th.
What was the attendance count?
They are claiming 400 but viewing the video it sure doesn’t look like it unless they are counting people twice.
Wonder if they charged admission. Waste of money if so.
‘conservative activists’ just sounds like an oxymoron to me.
I’m sure everyone in attendance will be billed as a bible thumping, gun toting, bigoted hate mongering fascist’s, that are otherwise referred to as “tea publicans” or “tea baggers”, and strive for nothing other than white supremacy.
No, just selfish, deluded, or ignorant.
Well you just hit the nailed it you couldn’t have said it any better about Democrats in Augusta. Because that is what most of them are selfish, deluded, braindead, arrogant and ignorant. These folks are only good for what they did best screwing the Maine People out of their hard earned money redistribute it to lazy folks, enviros , special interest and liberal politicians. Who we are now finding out the woman democrat legislators incluidng Emily Cain, Erin Herbig, Elsie Flemmings etc. are some of the folks who went to Augusta on taxpayers time and dime looking for romance with other Democrat Legislators. This is why they got booted out of the majority because these folks did nothing but screw up our state so its dead last in everything.
Darkcat, Darkcat, tsk tsk, you are so out of the loop. You have no idea how your namecalling, misinformed rants help liberals. Read back through your Enquierer type of rant and maybe you will understand how you are helping the opposition, though I doubt you’ll get it.
Hey darkcat. How are you doing my friend? Did you get to Fort Knox for the big event today? All of your heroes were there, LePage, Howie Carr even the former Grand Wizard Tarren Bragdon fresh from Florida. Kind of looks like you wouldn’t have had trouble finding a place to sit. What on earth are you going to do come next January when there are nothing but democrats in Augusta?
The most well-known former Grand Wizard that I’m aware of had a big ol’ D next to his name – that’s right – Robert “Sheets” Byrd.
On the other hand, I have to agree with your Freudian slip. I think come January, the lefties will have done so poorly, they’ll still think it’s “August.”
Thanks for the laugh!
Funny you skipped right over Strom”I hate my child”Thurmond.That said,racists on both sides from that era were despicable.Fortunately most of them are dead.
First off thanks for pointing out the typo. I don’t know if Robert Byrd was ever the grand wizard or not, but I will agree with you he , like anyone that is a member of a hate group,was despicable. Oh an as far as republicans in AUGUSTA next January is concerned good luck on that. My thought is that it would be easier to find a skinny person in the Blaine House then it would be finding a republican in the legislature.
thank you for the reminder that it’s time to wind my coo coo clock.
Dislikeable
Mee-ow!
So people getting taxed at the 35 percent rate and paying hundreds a month on their private health insurance plan is considered selfish just because they don’t want to pay half of their earnings in taxes and even more in health care all to just satisfy you people that want to feel good when you go to bed at night because you “helped” all the downtrodden people with everyone else’s money? Call me selfish then.
If the shoe fits
Well, you nailed it. Well put.
I heard that the security included 25-30… the rest just thought the circus was in town.
Couldn’t agree more! Conservatives are usually too busy being productive citizens to take part in much “activism.” It’s for that reason “activists” are more commonly associated with liberalism.
Get those lefty wannabe commies off my porch.
There is a certain irony to calling this gathering the “Economic Freedom Festival” and holding it at a “public” park that benefits a private corporation. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that ‘politics before people’ Paul LePage’s idea of economic freedom is giving the commons to private entities.
Double Like!
This was much more than a political rally. This was a GOP celebration of the first major privatization (theft) of public property in Maine. Governor LePage and his GOP cohorts gave Fort Knox away and they did it to serve their political ideology. Then by holding this event at Fort Knox they got to gloat and rub the citizens of Maine collective noses in the dirt at the very location where this theft took place. Carol Weston should be proud (not!), and I bet she is, that she openly served two masters in facilitating these events. First the ultra-conservative Americans for Prosperity (Ms. Weston is the organization’s Director for Maine) and then the Friends of Fort Knox, for whom (also as Director) she allegedly represented in this debacle when bargaining with the Maine Department of Conservation. Geez, no conflict of interest there! Curiously, as a result of a FOAA request I have discovered that the vast majority of her correspondence during the negotiations for a lease of Fort Knox over 90% of her emails originated from her desk with the Americans for Prosperity. So I ask, who was Ms. Weston really representing? The give-away of Fort Knox will not be left unchallenged. This heritage site belongs to ALL the citizens of Maine, not just the GOP. Eventually the citizens of Maine will right this egregious wrong!
gordon williamson
Prospect, ME.
Wonders where Mr. Williamson was all those years that the Democrat Party held events at the Fort? Listening to the crickets….. As I understand it, the Fort is open to all the citizens of Maine, regardless of their political viewpoint.
My comment had nothing to do with whether the Fort should be open to republicans or democrats either! What a typical GOP attempt to change the subject. My contempt for you grows mainewtf. As is plainly clear to anyone who can read, my comment was about the GOP giving away the pubic property of Maine’s citizens to a private organization and then holding a meeting at that very venue to gloat over their victory. This is the first substantial theft of Maine public lands and the GOP calls it privatization. To make matters worse the current Director of the FOFK Board, Carol Weston, bargained with the Maine State Department of Conservation from her desk at the office of the Americans for Prosperity, the very group who sponsored this shindig, where she is also Director for the Maine chapter of this ultra-conservative political organization. Mainewtf, you should read a bit more closely before putting your thoughts to page. Curious, what the heck does wtf in your sign on name stand for?
The Governor has had the reigns for a while now and all we hear is why he can’t get anything done. A real leader he is not. He has some descent ideas but no idea how to implement them and then in the process of complaining he decides to alienate those that could help him. Not working too well for Mainers right now..
Wow.
I had to keep glancing back to the beginning of your rant.
I could have sworn you were writing about Obama.
Me too, I was waiting for the “It’s all Bush’s fault” line too.
I try not to “rant” but I guess that is in the eye of the beholder. And, yes, I suppose you could say some of this about the President also. Doesn’t make either right or helpful. The President , however, generally keeps his foot out of his mouth, the Governor … Not so much
Rant? Where? Where?
How about getting Howie & Paul up here to Millinocket…!
Take Lepage out to the pits and let him find his way back.
He has been kicking _____ and balancing the budget. His job performance is leaps and bounds better than that of Baldacci and King. He is a slugger from the old school, and many are very proud to call him friend.
Gotta love LePage’s earlier comment: “get off the couch and get a job…” . I know my son has applied through the world of online applications to 45+ sites, and went to his own Mardens to drop off an application only to be told “we’re not hiring”, and they wouldn’t even take his application to keep on file, resume and all. It’s not that easy, Gov., wish you were going through it, but wait, sometimes it’s all about “who you know” so MAYBE you’d be alright in the job hunting department! And I’m a Republican, and proud of it, but not too proud of the Governor.
Finally, someone who can think for themselves. I’m sorry about your son’s tough job search and hope it gets better fast.
45 applications is a fair amount. Did your son educate himself at all? What about appearance? If someone comes to me wanting a job, and they have their daddy’s pants on half way down their butt, gauged ears, facial piercings, greasy hair, etc., I tell them that I’m not hiring too. If they say “dude” one time in the interview, no hire.
Also, most companies check Facebook to see what a possible hire is really like. Be careful what you post. If you’re posting a bunch of punk BS on there, chances are, it’s no hire.
Companies are going to hire the best they can find these days, there are no “sympathy” jobs anymore. Character and ambition goes a long ways. I’ve had many people turn their nose up if asked if they are willing to work overtime or weekends if needed. College doesn’t amount to anything for many well paying jobs. Especially if all someone took is liberal arts.
I thought it was the law to take all applications whether a company is hiring or not?
Every politician knows you can’t run a government unless you bring in tax dollars. So the GOP plan to cut spending is to cut government. But that just means there will be less services such as MaineCare for those in need. And less money to repair roads or bridges. I guess as long as the rich guys keep getting their tax cuts, they’ll continue thinking they did a good job running the government. But the day one of them can’t cross a bridge because it’s ready to collapse, maybe they’ll see why we can’t keep avoiding taxes.
Actually, they expect the bridges to be kept up.
I wonder how many of the 400 they say was on hand were just there visiting the park like people do everyday not knowing what was going on.
Howie would like to bring the 1960’s back. Like before the Civil Rights Act? I remember the Cuban missile crisis and political assassinations. But you had a good decade, right, Howie?
LOL…Howie forgot that he would not have been able to have his liposuctions and hair implants in the 1960’s and his hip replacement would have been iffy.
Howie doesn’t go anywhere for free…. What was his appearance fee and who paid it ?
A lot of noise, no ideas…
“Maine chapter of American for Prosperity, an Arlington, Va., group” ~~~~BDN
Has Maine become a province of Virginia?
I saw that too. I wonder if it is just a money making operation headquartered in VA and shaking down the folks who think a patriotic name is a replacement for a real agenda. It goes along with a lot of other right wing things. Repeal Obamacare and replace it with…?
They don’t say what, it must be because they think the current system is wonderful. The Republican/Tea Party screams about the Dem initiatives, but only block the Dems. Their whole program is to lower taxes for the rich a whole lot, the middle class only a little, and the poor not at all. Any tiny tax relief they propose is eaten up with higher healthcare costs, higher education costs and more user fees for us all. Corps would get a free ride. They cannot point to a single case where an American expansion resulted from a tax cut. They ran against Clinton because he had “the largest tax increase in American history”. Yup, and that tax increase balanced the budget and fueled a boom.
Acountian, the debate of tax cuts or hikes helping the economy has merits on both sides, however, the “Clinton Boom” did not begin in 1993, but actually began in 1997 when the Republicans took firmer control of the budget, Welfare reform, and especially Capital Gains tax Rate reductions. The problem is spending not tax revenue
That’s not true, the Clinton agenda from 1993 on put the US towards a positive number from a current account deficit dating back to Reagan’s first term. Granted, not all of it can be laid to tax increases, but neither can your side show a definitive link to tax cuts and economic growth. Economic growth from 1991 (GBush last year) to 2000 (GHWBush first year) are: 1991 -(minus)0.2. 92, 3.4 93, 2.9, 94, 4.1 95, 2,5, then the numbers for 96-2000 are 3.7, 4.5, 4.4, 4.8, 4.1
As you can see, growth took off after G. Bush left office. It is worth noting that he was rejected by the Republicans for breaking his no new tax pledge, and as soon as he passed a few tax increases, and Clinton passed his, the economy took off. Absolutely not related to tax cuts, as G HW Bush proved when he granted huge tax cuts, the economy stalled, the deficit ballooned and in 2008 the economy tanked.
The problem is an unbalanced economy with most of the benefits accruing to the very rich and the rest of us losing ground.
http://americansforprosperity.org/maine/
I don’t care, but the Maine Chapter of American for Prosperity certainly isn’t from Virginia.
No, but the Americans for Prosperity is hdqtrd there, and is a creation of Dick Armey and the Koch brothers. Dick Armey was forced to resign from Congress he was so crooked. Koch brothers made their millions drilling oil out of gov’t and Indian lands. Now the gov’t had to pay billions to the Indians because somebody cheated them out of their money for years. Hmmmmm.
The funneled money has to come from somewhere.
‘Your facts don’t fit my story!’
-Cheescake
(I hate your screen name BTW, makes me crave a very unhealthy but delicious snack!)
Sunday nights, every other week my house.
So are you going to rail against out of state money for MUM?
WOW !! These guys really pack them in don’t they? Looks like a lot of the crowd came disguised as green grass.
“– attracted about 400 people to Fort Knox.”
More people than you can get at a Library camp-out assembly meeting. :)
Because OWS is an official campaign stop or something?
Oh come on Cheesey. We are talking two of the really big, heavy hitters in tea party land in LePage and Carr and from the pictures even you will have to agree that they are indeed heavy and one former Grand Wizard. This kind of stardom to folks from AFP Maine is like a concert with the Rolling Stones for goodness sake. When I first heard about this event a few months ago I figured they would fill the grassy area inside the Fort. Was the H.P.Hood Blimp on hand by any chance?
LePage received a standing ovation when he took the lectern to decry a
federal government he said wants to keep its residents dumb, obese and
poor while “trying to put the shackles of economic slavery on our
children, our grandchildren and our unborn great-grandchildren.”
He is absolutely correct. Keeps a good voter base if people can’t think and care for themselves.
Good technique. Use some veiled racism to work against a black guy.
How much revenue did the Fort generate today from this visit? My assumption is that the State didn’t carry the cost of this political rally on State property, right? I’m certainly hoping that everyone there, including Howie Carr and Penguin paid the State Park admission fee.
It is my understanding they paid more than just a gate fee.
Please call the Maine Heritage Policy Center and find out for sure!
I don’t recall if they mentioned a number but that was part of an earlier BDN story.
$15 bucks included a dinner which was stolen from the local homeless shelter
Nice Governor. He doesn’t respect educators at all. Way to be a role model for children, Governor.
Gov. LePage does not look very healthy. It looks like he over indulges and eats poorly. Obviously he sits too much. Eating a healthy diet might change his outlook. Maybe he’s such a grump because of his poor diet.
Agreed.I’m no fan of Mike Huckabee but he lost over 100 pounds as a governor,helped his diabetes,put through some health improvements for his state,raised the rankings and…wait for it…SAVED MONEY!Your move fat boy.
Truth? Funny, I grew up in Maine in the 60’s, just like him. We were on welfare. I knew lots of others in the same boat. He may not have seen poor people, but we were there. For him to say everything was so hunky-dory back then makes me sick. He is now rich and is trying to lie about the past. Typical Tea Party trick.
I grew up on welfare and we were a distinct minority at least in the area I grew up in. We all gathered at the town hall once per month to get our government cheese dried milk & dried potatoes. We all knew who each other was. We did get small AFDC checks.
It was nothing like it is today. There were NO food stamps, no sec 8 housing, no housing subsides, no city welfare office, no free healthcare, no free dental care, no WIC, No cash cards, no free phones, no special training programs, no head start. We also didn’t have people telling us that it was ok to be dependent on the state. The sixties were nothing like today.
What I did have was a mother that cleaned the homes of the rich people in the city to make sure us kids were clothed housed and fed. We also learned that if we didn’t care for ourselves no one else would.
WOW!
Government Cheese and afdc!
Cheesecake was a 60’s welfare queen and became a conservative.
I grew up to “never” take a handout and became what some would call a liberal.
Amazing!
It’s only because I know what dependence does to the soul and you never had to learn that lesson.
I know what “Independence” does for the soul, it frees it from guilt.
You do know what the opposite of independence is, don’t you??
Of course you do.
Slavery!
I knew what being POOR did to my soul!
I went to school with shoes with souls falling off in January. I used duct tape to hold them together! I would change socks once I got to school and let them dry near a heater!
Being poor ” socked”! With a U!
LOL
That government cheese was the Best! The corn syrup was all I thought existed to have on the rare pancake, and I will not even go into the peanut butter that was a staple in every home, Yummm! Isn’t it amazing how the food was a common denominator in our growing up in Maine and never truly realizing you were poor because we ALL were poor, the working poor.
Green Apple’s off from the Old Farm Trees!
First use was Ammo for the apple sling fight , second use was to skip lunch!
LOL
Let’s see. Food Stamps came after AFDC checks, in lieu of. Ditto the cash cards. Free healthcare? Always been with us, still is, only it is hidden and you and a whole lot of others think it isn’t going on. When I broke my arm and we couldn’t pay, somebody paid the hospital. I think you have the same affliction as Carr, that is, re-writing history.
It is likely the fee that paid for your arm came from the hospitals endowment.
Food stamps was not in lieu of AFDC. You just made that up.
We did not qualify for food stamps because of AFDC and besides people had to purchase what passed for food stamps in the 1960’s. Today they are free and is nothing like the original program.
In fact during the early 1960’s only 400, 000 people total qualified for Food Stamps until 1965 when Johnson expanded the program. We never qualified throughout the sixties because as a cleaning woman my single mother made too much money.
Still don’t know what facts are, do you? See, first there was AFDC and donated commodities, there were no food stamps. Then came food stamps, and they cut the amount of AFDC you could get. Then came the card to replace food stamps. I’m not sure there are actual food stamps anymore, I think it is all on a credit card type thing. So, you are the one making up stuff and just writing what comes out of your head and saying it is true. Next time you write, check your facts, because just coming on here and writing what you think don’t make it real and it makes you look dumb.
Like I said, the original program looked nothing like the modern program. Most people couldn’t get them and those that could had to buy them. (only 400k nationwide over 4 years)
We didn’t qualify t0 buy food stamps not because of AFDC, but because my mother worked. AFDC was distributed based on number of children not on other government benefits including food stamps. You are wrong there.
Congress was asked to include a
provision requiring states to pay “a reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and
health.” Congress refused to accept this proposal, and instead inserted the clause “as far
as practicable under the conditions in such State.”
In other words the individual states set the limits in the 60’s.
Government surplus food was available to both those that could buy stamps and more of us that couldn’t. One had nothing to do with the other.
1961 – Executive Order Increasing Food Donations to Needy
Families. In January 1961, the first executive order issued by
President Kennedy mandated that the Department increase the quantity
and variety of foods donated for needy households. This executive
order represented a shift in the Commodity Distribution Programs’
primary purpose – from surplus disposal to that of providing
nutritious foods to needy households.
The surplus food program consisted of 4 or 5 items. My youthful recollection of dried milk, dried potatoes, tins of peanut butter, flour, and dried beans. I recall standing in line with city workers on the other side of the counter cutting blocks of cheese by weight depending on number of family members.
It seems you are better at confusing an issue if the truth doesn’t line up with your thinking.
Still having problems with facts, aren’t you.
First of all, the Food Stamp program as it is known did not even begin as a national program until 1969, under Nixon’s admin. The program you are confused about, when families had to pay 50 cents, was part of pilot programs set up starting under Eisenhower.
More facts. Of course the program is so much more costly. How many people do you suppose were in the US in the 60s, and how many now? Duh! If the population has gone up 300%, you seem to think we can still feed 3X as many with the same money?
One more thing. It’s truly amazing that you took advantage of gov’t food programs then, but think nobody should have them now. Can you say chutzpah?
Thank you for affirming what i said.
Here is some history.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/rules/Legislation/about.htm
I don’t think I said said nobody should have them now.
I’ll recap for the slow to grasp.
The wide ranging benefits present now in no way resembles the welfare and food stamp programs of the sixties.
And dismissing someone’s personal experience only diminishes YOUR argument, not theirs!
Excellent post.
We do not have the money to pay for all of these free rides. I would also throw in government worker pensions and lifetime health benefits that came into being when people didn’t live as long. Municipal pension defaults are on the way. The level of free riding is not sustainable yet so many of the elites behind this system preach to us about the importance of sustainability. It is time for reality to set in and that is what’s happening.
It is time for reality to set in and that is what’s happening.
True!
People living longer is irrelevant!
Hit 60 and you get thrown out the employers door in favor of the 20 year old, any way that they can possibly get away with it!
Simple solution to that problem – make yourself irreplaceable! If you are doing the same job at 60 that some snot-nosed kid of 20 will do for much less, you SHOULD be dumped!
Everbody is replaceable!
If you haven’t learned that yet you must be a snot- nosed kid!
just one question.
how have you sanctimoniously arrived at this trite shibboleth as a conclusion:
“We also learned that if we didn’t care for ourselves no one else would.”
when you you “..gathered at the town hall once per month to get our government cheese dried milk & dried potatoes… AFDC checks. “?
I think it would be great if they went back to the government cheese dried milk, canned chicken and dried potatoes and take away the food stamps. My mom passed away when I was 9 and we used the food program for a while and we survived ok
If you were on welfare, it must have been the surplus food welfare because there wasn’t much else available in the 60’s that I recall.
What the heck is ” surplus food welfare”? The program was called Donated Commodities. And yes, there was also a money part of it. You have zero clue what the facts are. I’m not going to answer your gibberish anymore unless it makes sense.
The program was know to us recipients as the Surplus Food program because that was the original operating model. Food was distributed to the needy to offer price supports to the Ag industry. In 1961 Kennedy’s executive
order represented a shift in the Commodity Distribution Programs’
primary purpose – from surplus disposal to that of providing
nutritious foods to needy households.
I remember it as you described it. The town Office would hand out blocks of cheese in brown cardboard boxes, big bags of flour (which Ma hated), delicious cans of stewed beef and chicken, and gross peanut butter. It came to our town about 6 times a year and our parents told us it was from President Kennedy! :)
Crap. I forgot Spam….
How could you forget? (LOL). Yes, I ate a lot of SPAM too a a kid and we were working class, not on any welfare. I came to prefer it fried, though, still eat it on occasion.
Strangely enough Spam is hugely popular in Hawaii.Something like a third of all US sales are there.Not sure why.
That’s funny. I have eaten spam since 1969. :)
I haven’t eaten it in a while.”Classic Jeopardy” answer.Question was “What is SPAM short for?” Contestant answer “Spoiled Ham” (Correct answer-spiced ham” HA HA!
How would I know, I only lived it and you have done all of the research and reading. Gibberish, that would be you and your version of facts.
I lived it, too, and have to agree with you that if someone can’t afford to buy their food they and their family should go without. That’ll teach ’em.
People steering the sheep in the Tea Potty do it by telling half-truths. Three were food stamps in the 60s too. they were vouchers for surplus food.
BUT you had to buy them before 1965. Previous to that they were not widely available. Even then its not the same program today as it was then. The dollars are larger more things can be purchased that were previously prohibited. There was a time when you had to clip a coupon for milk and one for meat one for flour and so on.
Lets face it !
In the sixties there was something widely available that we just dont have access to now!
JOBS!
and wages that increase with the cost of living…
And few other countries that could manufacture what we do at a fraction of the price.
And let’s not forget a very important thing they DIDN’T have in the 60’s – Obama!
There where Obama’s in the sixtys!
Evertime a good man surfaced they got shot!
Yep but we don’t seem to be able to reduce the number of George Wallaces.
That was before the progressive movement took hold and sent the employers down the road with about a million pages of regulatory control.
Er, no, but keep up the delusion. Employers went down the road for enhanced profits in countries where wages could be held at poverty level. I remember vibrant textile and shoe industries in Maine. Spot Built wasn’t driven out by regulation. It went away, along with Nike and everyone else, for profits. CEO and exec. pay went from 2-5X the line workers in the ’60’s to 100’s and 1000’s of times the line workers today, so a little truth here wouldn’t hurt. It’s all about feeding the stockholders and nothing more. There might’ve been some regulation of the poisons the tanneries and textile mills were indiscriminately dumping into the rivers, all in the name of profit, but I guess its o.k. to poison a few kids so you can make a buck.
Also in the early 60’s the IRS wasn’t cracking down on waitresses to pay taxes on their tips, seasonal wreath makers, clammers, etc. There was a lot of ways that the poor who were willing to work could make ends meet.
Minimum wage today would have to be over $10 per hour to match the purchase power of minimum wage in 1965.
But we didn’t have access to a minimum of $5K annually in food stamps either.
Actually in 65, $5K was enough to pay your bills. I don’t think I made much more than that as an auto mechanic after getting out of the Navy. In fact $5k was a heck of a lot more than I made in the Navy as a 3rd class petty officer.
the program was so different, it is not really fair to call it the same thing.
today the EBT card can be used for lobster, alcohol or lottery tickets.
back then it was giant cans of tasteless peanut butter, powdered milk and all the government cheese yout could carry.
not the same, so don’t try and say it is
400 people,it’s a majority
Americans for Prosperity is the Koch brothers. They trade with Iran. They steal oil from Indian reservations. They think corporations are people. They want as little government as possible so that they can do whatever they want for profit, with no regulation or oversight. How anybody can be so over the top filthy rich and still be so greedy and callous is beyond me. They will do everything they can to buy this coming and every election. They only worship money. Boycott them with extreme prejudice.
You can ramble on all you want about welfare and lazy unemployed poor people… NOBODY acts as entitled as these guys do.
Interestingly, the founders also viewed corporations as deserving free speech rights, just like the eeeeeeeevil boogeymen Koch brothers and other conservatives. You should check out this cool document called the US Constitution, in which the first amendment guarantees the freedom of the press. Unless I’m mistaken, there are very few one-man newspaper operations out there. Do you know of any?
LOL, no they didn’t. There were no corporations like there are today back then, so to claim to know the founders views on that? So ridiculous.
Joke’s on you, wolf…all it takes is a plain reading of the Constitution to figure out that the freedom of the press is a guarantee of free speech to a collective group of people, which is all a corporation is. Tell me, based on your reading of the plain English of the 1st Amendment, to whom does “the press” refer?
That’s not what your initial comment said.
No but I can name a whole slew of one-newspaper cities. And one-owner multi media monopolies. Thanks to Reagan era deregulation (and Clinton too) which was sold to the public as creating more competition. Now there’s less competition and the $ has not trickled down.
You’re off topic, P. The point in question is the Founders guaranteeing free speech to a collective body of people, i.e. “the press.” Try to stay relevant.
Ever heard of a man named George Soros? He funds organizations such as the Tides Foundation, Move on.org, and numerous others. You know the guy who goes around to different countries destroying economies, and laughs about it? The one who is the puppet master for Barrack Hussein Obama. So the Koch brothers want limited government, wow!
Yes. Thank you George Soros for slowing our drift toward fascism.
Soros uses his money to promote democracy.
The Koch Bros. use their money to squelch democracy.
The two are hardly comparable.
Soros uses his money to collapse economies throughout the world. Have you honestly done done any research on the man?
Yeah, OK, Soros collapses economies. Uh-huh. I’m sure he also eats babies and kicks puppies.
Soros is the best of America.Armey is the worst.
THe best of America is a man who collapses economies, that is so warped.
It is how he makes his money for sure. That and taking advantage of environmental calamities.
It is fitting that these crooks should have their booze fest in a park named after a man who would be forever remembered as a grasping tyrant and was immortalized in Nathanial Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables, for which Knox served as the model for Col. Pynchon.
Paul Lepage, you are a disgrace to the human race and the state of Maine. It will indeed be a pleasure to vote you out of office if you even have the audacity to run for re election.
His wife has been eating too many cookies. The Blaine house is now the Blaine oink pen.
I wish I could have gone! Howie Rocks! Lapage is the best thing to ever happen to this state. I couldnt make it. I had some jobs to do. Instead of whining about the economy and blaming Lepage for my financial problems I find odd jobs to do. It’s not alot of money but it helps pay the bills. I feel alot better about myself knowing that I am at least trying instead of lying on the couch letting the state take care of me.
You could have gone and still been an odd job!
I’d take your throes of idolatry more seriously if you could spell is name correctly.
Let’s break down what we learned in this article.
We know that
1) the Republican legislature and Governor LePage just cut state income tax rates for higher income taxpayers.
2) the Republican legislature and Governor LePage just cut aid to towns so property taxes that hit lower income people harder have to go up in order to meet mandates.
3) now Governor LePage is talking about supporting a tax increase. No doubt this will be a regressive tax increase, the sales tax perhaps, placing a larger burden on lower income people and less on those with higher incomes.
4) Governor Lepage and a talk radio personality think welfare that helps our neediest neighbors should be done away with.
We just can’t elect Republican candidates who will support LePage and this damaging right wing agenda. I grew up in Maine too. I can remember the tarpaper shacks our school bus stopped at to pick up children. I can remember smelling the rotten stink of the paper mill forty miles away on crisp winter days. I can remember rolling up the car windows as we drove past the river that smelled like a sewer.
Thank you Mr. Carr for bringing back those memories of the Republican Maine of my childhood.
At least the Mills were running during the “Republican Maine of your childhood”. LePage wants to put people back to work to get them OFF WELFARE! Nobody wants to do away with welfare for those who truly need it. I have never been on welfare, I have always worked doing anything I had to do to make money. There are plenty of things to do if you want to work. You have to go out and FIND things to do. Think outside the box. Jeez there is a new business out there that scoops up the dog crap on your lawn. They thought outside the box. It does make me sick though when I work for every penny and I drive down the road and see neighbors who are on welfare but have a 4wheeler, a pool, a new riding lawnmower, always outside talking on their cell phones. I work hard but I cant afford any of those things. But I sleep well knowing that what I do have I worked for. What happened to people having pride in themselves??
”
What happened to people having pride in themselves??” Probably the same thing that happened to people telling the truth. When you are making up stories about welfare people having 4 wheelers, a pool, new riding lawnmowers and cellphones don’t forget to include the new car, computer, giant flat screen TVs, using the EBT card at the casino and the lobsters.
The lobsters part is true, when the card get charged with cash they head for the seafood dept., it is like clockwork EBT day there will be a run on seafood.
Lobster is cheaper than hamburger right now.
It is not, this practice has been SOP for years whether lobster was $5 lb. or $10, no amount of rationalization can justify this, nice try though.
I know plenty of welfare people who have 4 wheelers. They smoke, they buy lottery tickets, beer, chips, tatoos. They sell their prescription, as needed, pain meds. I think it’s lunacy to not acknowledge that this is happening all over Maine. Some people really need help. Others know no other way. Poverty is normal. Dependence on the state is normal. The worst part is .. that there are no jobs for normal people in Maine. The great outlets for income in Maine were the family farms where there was always work, and the mills and factories (now shuttered). Now the big employers are schools, health care (paid for largely by taxpayers) and retail establishments.
I know plenty of welfare people who have 4 wheelers. — They could not be on TANF, if they are they have a five year limit, regardless of family size and growth of family.
They smoke, they buy lottery tickets, beer, chips, tattoos.
— They do not receive enough to buy much or all of this stuff. Finances from TANF are highly restrictive in the form of an amount. The price of TANF is that one must be working or going to college, it is usually anywhere from 400 – 800 a month. Food stamps (SNAP benefits) would not be able to purchase beer, lottery tickets, or tattoos.
They sell their prescription, as needed, pain meds.
— Prescription drug abuse is a problem in Maine and in most states, people will make money where they can, and where there is a market. The buyers of said medications are not all poor nor are they all rich, so I would suggest this a separate argument.
I think it’s lunacy to not acknowledge that this is happening all over Maine.
— What specifically are you saying no one is acknowledging? We know there are poor people across our state, we know that the system in place is not working to alleviate the conditions of the poor. Is that poor people have tattoos? or that they have beer?
Some people really need help. Others know no other way. Poverty is normal. Dependence on the state is normal. The worst part is .. that there are no jobs for normal people in Maine.
— You just said it. There are no jobs. If I was not in college, life would be so much darker, my goals and dreams would never be realized, with or without drugs, spousal abuse, tattoos, and four wheelers. I would say that if that was the case, no college, no upward mobility, then I would have lived a “dream” that no one would want to live.
The great outlets for income in Maine were the family farms where there was always work, and the mills and factories (now shuttered). Now the big employers are schools, health care (paid for largely by taxpayers) and retail establishments.
— Frustrating, not seeing a solution, isn’t it? I would suggest that if we all put 2 cents into a community, that it would be better. We need to remind ourselves that not much separates the haves and the haves not. Before solutions can be had, we must begin to tolerate one another and the poor. Only then will solutions and healthy debate happen.
TANF recipients have unreported income via live ins not reported allowing for disposable income ie:4 wheelers etc. . Food stamp cards are sold at a fraction of their face value to generate more cash. The cash part of their assistance can be used for anything they want to purchase cigs, beer whatever. Housing subsidies are often a part of the mix something you did not mention allowing even more opportunity for fraud. Single male EBT card $200 benefit a month. No easy answers but some of the reality is not as you would like people to believe either.
What is it that I want people to believe?
I hope you’re not borrowing money to go to college. It will be the worst investment you’ll ever make unless you’re going to college for a licensed profession.
How do you know that my college investment will be a waste? Where else would I get the money and what else would you suggest me to do. Your screen name is funny, I see no bright meadows.
I don’t know that it will be a waste. But I’ve seen enough young adults saddled with college debt. Many of them are unemployed or underemployed, not in the field for which they went to college. If you’re going to college to become an electrician or a plumber or another licensed trade or profession (M.D. or Dentist),then you’re on the right track. Have you considered, Joseph, that if it wasn’t so easy to obtain a federally guaranteed higher education loan perhaps college tuition would be much less. The federally guaranteed loan is a subsidy that make college more expensive for everyone.
Brightmeadows is one of the translations of Yasnaya Polyana, the home of Leo Tolstoy.
Good luck to you.
How do you make the jump from loans to the cost of higher ed?Higher ed and insurance have far outpaced inflation for decades.Football coaches getting $Millions,new buildings,
excessive numbers of six and seven figure administrators- THERE’s the problem.Derek Bok – former head of Harvard-retired at 59 due to “exhaustion”Too many canapes?PLEASE!
Read on. There are plenty of people who see the same things I see. I am not making anything up.
See? Plenty of people see the same thing. Nothing made up. How would you know being a 4mermainer?
Don’t blame the poor Republicans – they need their 4wheeler to block voters going to the voting booth:)
Now that the bus scam has been exposed.They’ll stop at nothing and people need to realize that.
I still have not ONCE heard a well-reasoned argument for why higher earners should pay more for the same services from the government.
just because they can afford it?
that is not well-reasoned.
They should pay a percent that is fair. Instead the 1% is taxed by a lower percent then what the middle class Americans pay. The tax has fallen lower for people that have millions. These people have succeeded by the fruits and labors of those who take their garbage, those that teach their youth, by men and women who we overlook everyday that make our country great and make it possible for others to make their millions.
The powers that be, say “if you ever make it, you will have to pay more” and so people are convinced that helping the poor and educating others is theft. People who make our roads are not kings, they are responsible for the conditions of them.
The people who own wealth (millions and millions) have a hand in our politics, and have ensured tax liability would be reduced over the last forty years for themselves. While increasing tax on the rest of us. They are responsible for the conditions of the policies they help put forward, they are responsible to HUD redlining districts, they are responsible for denying GI benefits to nonwhite soldiers, they are responsible for continuous neglect of systems that do not fix the problems of our country. Why do they (1%) have to fix it, because they helped make it, they built it, they have a responsibility to our country.
There should be a clear observation: I create a livelihood for men and women, a livable wage, and a desire to grow and be a better person, because their growing in the system that I made. I owe it to them to pay my fair share.
Instead: I made my money off the back of others, I do not owe my country “more” even though I made myself from this country, I deserve every want that I have and anything less is theft by people who are not as good as me.
Lepage got booed off the stage, it was great to see the buffoon red faced and dumbfounded as usual.
I see all the little lib ankle biters are out from under their rocks and hurling their 5th grade insults…Carefull , your IQ is showing….LOL…
Ankle biters, out from under rocks, 5th grade insults. A whole string of insults from somebody who say it shows the intelligence of the person. Looks like your IQ took a dive, or rather, never took flight.
You are sensitive today.
Yes negative remarks occur, you then join in with your own. So this is what it appears as to me:
“Look they are fighting, I am better then them, they are mean and their IQ is very low” Then the man or woman who said this, jumps in with an elbow strike, thinking to themselves “Two wrongs do make a right”
If you notice bad behavior, why not say something more productive and more intelligent and more adult then becoming just like them? Are you saying it is alright, when you insult others and or the people you agree with insult others, but not okay for people you disagree with to insult others?
Please be an adult and strike appropriately and responsibly when dealing with outlandish behavior, instead of acting like a child and adding to it.
Better off now? Kids having kids to get welfare. The state is the #1 employer in Maine. Those of us who do work and provide for our own families are taxed more and more every year to pay for those who do not. Due to the ever increasing taxes and fees placed on businesses just abotu every major industry has LEFT Maine to get away form that thus once again shifting more of the tax burden to those us us who actually work without the assistance from gov.
So it is much much better for those who do nothing except mooch off others. Those who WORK not so much..
Can you prove anything you write? Can you even point to 10% of the people on welfare having kids to get welfare? Can you show that 10 industries have left ME for any reason besides geography and population? The other (Southern, Democratic) Maine is much better off than the northern Republican end. Does this mean anything? No, but from your perspective it must.
Also, speaking of mooches, how about the people who don’t carry health insurance and mooch off those of us who work and pay for health insurance. I would think that the tax they’ll have to pay with Obamacare would absolutely thrill you. This tax will not affect anybody who has health insurance. So how about it, do you want the tax, or should those without insurance continue to stick the rest of us with a 45 billion per year tax?
Why yes I can. Take a drive to Machias and go to “no daddy village” or just ask a group of girls in high school. Having a child and living off the state is considered a viable option.
What businesses have left. Well lumber, paper, sardines, lobster processing, salmon processing and most any form of production. All out wood is cut put on trucks and driven across the border. All the salmon and lobster to be processed gets put on trucks and shipped across the border. What part of this do you not see?
I have insurance I pay for myself and I like it. The issue you fail to realize along with so many supporters of the “omama heath care bill” is that it will kill insurance companies. For two reasons. First the pre-existing condition exception under this rule you can wait until you have a very expensive problem and then buy insurance thus depleting the pool of money to draw form by those of us who where responsible and have been paying into the system for so many years. The other half of that is the fine/ tax that one can pay instead of buying insurance that will be far cheaper then actually buying it. Now this is going to sound all cruel but like any other service you do not pay you do not get service. This would solve all these issues.
Lastly this law forces every American to either buy a product or pay a fine. This is wrong. SCOTUS even said so. I the CJ had not changed the word fine to tax it would have been struck down. FYI the justices are not allowed to write law so they where not supposed to do what they did.
You left out chickens. That industry went south (literally) due to restricitons placed by the state.
You forget that importing grain from the Mid-West and the South after 1973 caused the chicken industry to locate closer to the feed. Duh! Do you think a chicken house in Arkansas that is built in the middle of cornfields and only heats 3 months/year has any advantage to a chicken house in Belfast that has to truck/rail the feed 1200 miles and heat with expensive oil for 5 months/year?
All bad comes from taxes, all good comes from Republicans. That is your motto, and you’re sticking to it, no matter what the facts tell you.
I am not sure you are correct in that. When I was at UMS, my economics professor was part of a group working on saving the Maine chicken industry. The biggest problem they had at that time was getting rid of the manure, and part of the group (engineering professors) was working on converting it to electricity (through methane) that would then be able to heat the buildings. It was the regulations about discarding the manure that was the biggest financial factor at that time (late 7o’s). Not feed. I meant to say ‘restrictions’ although my misspelling due to fingers working at different speeds on the keyboard could certainly lead you to read it as ‘taxes.’
Yes, it is more expensive to bring in food and heat buildings in the northeast…but chicken farmers were able to have a thriving business for a long time. There could have been issues about processing plants, also, but I am not part of that industry so only remember some parts. It was the first time I had heard of methane as a source of electricity, and have been interested in its use as alternative energy ever since. Converting garbage to make our power seems perfect. It didn’t happen quick enough to help save the chicken industry in Maine.
No, regulations about manure were minor. I remember that era. The Arab Embargo of 1973 hit, transportation costs skyrocketed, and the exodus began. Somewhere you can find figures for production of broilers in the MidCoast region. you will see a cliff after 1973. Oil prices tripled, and the industry went south.
Yes, there were discussions about chicken guts floating in Belfast harbor, and piles of chicken manure that leaked into streams because of the long winters, the thin soil and the lack of crop farming to absorb the manure. All this was made moot when the cost of feed ballooned, the cost of transporting the chickens out tripled, and the proximity of the Delmarva Peninsula to East Coast markets made building any more chicken houses in Maine prohibitively expensive. The environmental laws in MD, where DeCoster went (at first) for instance are much stricter than in ME.
“All bad comes from taxes, all good comes from Republicans. That is your
motto, and you’re sticking to it, no matter what the facts tell you.”
The facts and history tell us that’s true!
The justices don’t write law, and there finding is appropriate, you don’t need to drum up some illogical reason to blame the court, when the outcome is not what you desire.
you are wrong
taxing is for things that are necessary and proper under the constitution, including a navy, an army, to run the federal government and to REGULATE commerce. The SCOTUS said that this is not proper under commerce… how do you tax something that there is no MANDATE to regulate?
if it (whatever IT is) is not expressly given to the Feds, then it is reserved to the people and to the states… that is the Xth amendment… learn your constitutional law, or don’t comment, telling people that they are wrong
this tax is improper.
dislike
Of course you dislike it, it’s one of those “inconvenient truths’ your side talks about!
“inconvenient” dislike
Well said! And completely correct!!!
So, going to one small town in a very Republican area proves something? Right.
Lobsters are sent elsewhere to be frozen? Yes, and when were they frozen or canned in ME? Never, there was no canning plant that moved because of taxes. The wild salmon industry collapsed years ago, and the plants that never canned them closed too. Had nothing to do with taxes. do you not understand this, that 20 years of no salmon would cause any cannery to move? Do you think the sardine canneries closed because of taxes too?
So you think the mandate is wrong, but also think free loaders should have to pay. Which is it? Either you will mandate that those who use the service pay for it, or you will give them a free ride. Can’t have it both ways.
Then come to Tremont and check in at the “affordable housing’ building in Bass Harbor. Both Tremont and Bass Harbor are bastions of the Left, and the housing survives thanks to welfare kids!
dislike
Of course you dislike it, it’s one of those “inconvenient truths’ your side talks about!
You get 1 point for being pithy, but lose 2 for being redundant and repeating yourself!
redundant dislike
We sure don’t want or need the other 22 taxes that go along with Obamacare!
Damn, I think I’m in love! Way to tell it like it is Maine_gun_guy!
Pepe says the federal government is guilty of trying to “put the shackles of economic slavery” on the citizenry while stating out of the other side of his face that “We’re gonna have to see higher taxes to pay down (Maine’s) debt.”
Psst. The emperor has no clothes.
“Economic freedom festival”. Makes a lot of sense coming from the party that has done nothing but obstruct every attempt to revitalize the economy over the last three years.
Doesn’t look like he and Howie exactly packed them in. Appears to be a pretty small crowd.
I’m sure the BDN made sure they took a picture where the least people were sitting. If it was a crowd protesting the gov they would have squished everyone together for a photo.
“attracted about 400 people to Fort Knox.”
More than you can get to a Library camp-out assembly meeting and more newsworthy than 5 people holding up signs in the rain.
Actually, about 30-40 people there. Needed glasses from all the white glare.
So you’re saying that the crowd essentially mirrored the demographic makeup of Hancock and Waldo county. Boy, you’re wicked shahp.
If you say there were only 30-40 people there then you were not there, there were probably 30 people just waiting to meet Howie, and another 60 up in the parade ground area where the band was playing (an area specifice to AFP) as far as racial makeup with Maine being almost a 100% white how many black “folk” were you expecting to see.
At least one of the Governor’s relatives:)
I don’t think he was there!
I was talking about Howie’s balding white hair. Too bad racism is the first thing republicans spew at a moments notice.
I’m sure most of the 400 people were attracted to Fort Knox because it was a beautiful July Saturday, the rest came to watch the LePage Comedy Hour.
“dumb, obese and poor”
*********
talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
Gabor Degre’s eye skillfully underlined that fact with her Page One picture. Outside of George Danby’s regular and eagerly awaited witty satirization of the man – the bully, this picture emphasized three sides of the many sided governor. Obesity is clearly one of them.
He blamed the latter on school superintendents, who he accused of “double-dipping,” earning salaries and pensions after returning to work from retirement.
Every person should look up and see what their last “retired” superintendent is doing. We had a superintendent in our town (he was there less than 5 years) retire at 57 and turned around and got a job as a consultant for the state.
It’s not really “double dipping” anyway. What people should realize is that the State is paying retirement and health benefits to the retiree anyway. If he comes back to work, they save on health insurance and other costs associated with hiring a new employee. LePage calls it double dipping and opposes it, as do others, but in actuality it saves the State money.
It IS ironic that the state government and the state retirement system can save money by paying someone entitled to a retirement pension %160 of their normal income. It’s illogical, isn’t it? I think this situation speaks more to the silliness of being able to receive retirement benefits before the age of 65 or 67 which is more the normal retirement age for all the private sector, based largely on the Social Security “ages”.
I wouldn’t say illogical. It is what it is. Regardless of how or why, it’s still a money saver. Rehiring a retiree is cheaper than hiring a “new” worker. Maybe more people should consider working for the State instead of the “private sector”. I’d say the State workers planned ahead from an early age and qualified for a job that not everyone can do. I’d ask if you want a 67 year old State trooper responding to your emergency? Now that would be illogical.
You do realize every single govt. job is paid for by people and businesses that actually produce a product or service? Government is simply one big “cost center” for the economy that has to be supported.
I understand your comment, but not the relevence to this thread. My point was simply that rehiring retirees saves money. For example, in the extreme, every State worker retires this week, and gets rehired the next day. The State no longer has to pay health insurance or contribute to the retirement system on their behalf. We would immediately save millions of dollars. And if they are rehired as an entry level employee, as they should be, we’d save even more on wages.
Maybe if DHHS rehired some past employees than maybe Mary Mayhew might be able to figure how the computer system works.
Your answer to people living in shacks that need a helping hand is to give them some tax dollars to get them on their feet but not show them how to do it for themselves and therein lies the philosophical difference between the left and the right. Remember the saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Why is this basic concept of self sufficiency so difficult for the left to understand? No one I know wants anyone to go without including healthcare, food, shelter, basic needs. The problem is how to help make that not happen. The left throws money on it and thinks that its fixed. The right looks for job creation and training. Governor LePage is doing exactly what he should be doing.
Teach a man to fish, etc. Great, but what about the cuts to education, the raising of tuition, the closing of healthcare facilities, etc. LePage’s disgust for educators knows no bounds. Who do you expect to teach the fishermen?
The difference between the left and the right is that the right believes if you allow the rich to have their way, eventually they will help the bottom. It’s called trickle down economics, and even the ones in the Reagan administration who pushed it (David Stockman most famously) now say it is a hoax.
I am definitely on the right, but no one with whom I associate is rich. I know about rich right-wing and moderate Republicans, and I have even shaken hands with a few of them. But, the vast majority of right-wing, T.E.A. Party types is not rich. We believe in freedom, including the freedom to keep what you earn, and the freedom to either succeed or fail and continue to take care of yourself. That means we do not think it is any more right to take away from those who have more (even a really, really lot more) than it is to take away from people who have less.
Everyone should have skin in the game, or they shouldn’t play. If you are going to vote to increase taxes, your taxes should be among those that are increased. If you are not paying any taxes, you should not be voting to increase other people’s taxes. Unfortunately, we are at the tipping point where there are as many people taking as there are paying. The government has become the weapon of armed robbery.
Unless those who are on the taking side become more ethical (and screaming that the ‘rich’ should pay for everything shows that many people believe in slavery and that others should be forced to work for them) everything will collapse. You might be happy to see the wealthy humbled…but there will be nothing after that.
Actually, the majority of Tea Party people I know are in debt, have more credit cards than I do, and are not leaders.
I agree, everybody should have skin in the game, and that things should exist for their own merit. Please explain the sugar boondoggle that the Republicans left intact and tried to make untouchable. It costs us billions in subsidies, ditto the ethanol subsidy.
Limiting the electorate to those who pay taxes is elitism at its worst. What is next, only the property owners?
The tax system in this country is edging to one of the most unequal in the developed world. Large tax breaks for the rich have left them with an increased share of the assets. One small example: We often hear of executives who make tens of millions of dollars per year. I don’t know about you, but if i made that with a payroll check, the tax rate would be about 30%. Most of those wealthy executives who make say 10 million, are not paid in cash, check or money order. They get a small (say 700,000 dollar) salary, and a 9.2 million stock payment. The 9.2 million is therefore taxed at 15%. Fair? I don’t think so. you might, but I don’t think so. For them to pay taxes at 1/2 the rate the working people do is unequal and should be changed.
Entitled4life, you are a pretty poor financial guru if you let you clients pay any tax. Maybe you should look at ways to eliminate the capital gains. There is no limit on the amount of capital losses that can be applied against capital gains. However, only a $3,000 loss can be applied against ordinary income in any given year.
Do a google search for tax loss harvesting. Another gimmick is the wash sale thing. Thee law says you can’t just sell stocks over and over. Imagine that, they make you hold it 61 days before you buy it back at a loss. The “loss” diminishes your tax bite. There are 1000 ways to do trades, sell you dogs at a loss, etc. to avoid most taxes. Nobody in their right mind would pay anything near 45% in taxes. The rules favor stock manipulations rather than ordinary income all the time. Shame on you for letting your clients pay the taxes, you are not going to be in business long.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/127181/Tea-Partiers-Fairly-Mainstream-Demographics.aspx
More information.
The 9.2 million dollar stock option is taxed at ordinary tax rates, it is compensation and before you accuse me of not being factual, its what I do for a living and I know exactly how stock options work. Even if you defer and choose to wait a year before cashing out to get capital gains rates, the spread between exercise and market is a tax preference for the Alternative Minimum Tax computation increasing tax in the year the option is exercised even if it is held in certificate form instead of cashed out. Gets your facts right, stock options are taxable income taxed at ordinary rates as high as 35% federal and 8.5% Maine and 1.45% medicare. That’s about 45% which would seem to be enough from my point of view.
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That is not at all what the right believes, it is what the left is made to believe about the right. Watch MSNBC (you probably get your facts there anyway).
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And what he was elected to do!
I hear ‘Tea Party’ and I think ‘bad values’. Not all Tea Party members are the same, of course, but the few meetings I’ve had the misfortune of running across in our local park were occupied by wing-nuts, racists and people who expect all the services they’ve become accustomed to without having to pay taxes to support them. I’m all for government doing more with less but with tax rates at their lowest point in several generations and our infrastructure crumbling around us the constant cries for ‘lower taxes’ are becoming ridiculous. This stuff isn’t going to fix itself people – someone has to pay for it.
Add this to the fact that none of these people were screaming about taxes or government spending while George W. Bush was starting two unfunded wars even as he was cutting tax rates for the extremely wealthy. Our national debt ran up to it’s highest levels ever under W and the fallout from his policies has continued on even after he left office. Did the Tea Party only wake up because a Democrat got elected or was it because he’s an AFRO Democrat? I know from personal experience with people I know and, unfortunately from family members, that the most likely reason is because Obama is black. The hate in their voices as they talk to me about current policies is palpable.
For me the Tea Party is motivated primarily by greed, racism and hate. That’s the impression that has been burned into my mind from the rallies I’ve seen, the images on the news and the people I know who claim membership in their ranks. The Republican Party has done much to promote the Tea Party as have Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the right-wing blog-o-sphere. Unfortunately for them the Tea Party may end up becoming their undoing.
And it can’t happen quickly enough.
Maybe you need to get on 95 south and keep going until you reach “The Peoples Republic of MA”. People like you,whining liberals, make me sick. I work for a living and have my whole life. The one time in my life I did need some assistance I got very little if any. I did however, see other coworkers that had applied and got more assistance. They were less than honest when applying for benefits. This all happened during the Baldachi regime and it was quite a common practice. This state had become the welfare dumping ground of New England but since Gov. LePage has taken office measures have been taken to stem the tide. I, personally, do not have a problem helping people that are willing to help themselves. The ones that are looking for a hand out instead of a hand up can go without for all I care but than again someone with your liberal leanings can help their plight. They can all move in with you!
If you know of people cheating on welfare, why didn’t you turn them in? You could have done something about it instead of whining.
Simple because nothing is done. I can take you to Machiasport right now and show you homes of people who get all kinds of welfare in various forms but make hundreds a day clamming or working on a lobster boat for cash. How else do you think people who are supposed to living in poverty have brand new cars, big screen tv’s and a sat dishes among all there other toys?
You are on a roll! Stick it to ’em!
They all pick on me because I’m a girl.
Nothing is done because people like you look the other way and whine. Do you think that DHHS has a crystal ball to weed these cheaters out? Like they used to say,”If you arn’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
You misunderstand. I have called wrote letters and even sent pictures of diggers getting paid CASH something not allowed. I provided names addresses and other information. Nothing was done.
The SOLUTION is simple. Make every person in America responsible for there own life. You hungry work and buy some food. You have a kid YOU get a second of third job if that’s what you have to do to support YOUR child.
You’re denying their existence, you are offered first person accounts and then you attack the person for not ” turning them in” you changed the topic instead of acknowledging the evidence, in other words you changed the subject. So either call him a liar or acknowledge that he is telling the truth.
No, I think they’re doubting the truthfulness of the post. Just like all the supposed new cars, Plasma TV boxes, and $40k snowmopbiles hanging around the subsidized housing… Funny, every time I go around those areas I never see any of it!
So somebody else got more than you,wah,wah,wah.Good things those programs were in place so you got something.Certainly those slime like Carr wouldn’t have gotten you a dime.
Maine won some distinction several years ago for increasing their citizens on food stamps (that was the program at the time) by the highest percentage. Paid solicitors went door-to-door explaining to folks that they could be eligible for a handout and that it was good for them to take it. We increased the number of takers by a huge percentage. It was considered a feather in Maine’s cap. Once you qualify for one handout, there are others that pour in. Once you swallow your pride and manage to think of it as other than standing on the corner with your handout. Someone else fills that hand without you needing to leave the house. And they don’t beg for the alms…they take it forcibly from the tax payer.
We never took aid. My father worked a minimum of two, often three, jobs my entire growing up years. We did without a lot. My father taught personal responsibility. He despised people who ‘went on the dole.’
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Like, like, like, like, like!
You say that Bubba LePage has cured the problem and MaineGunGuy says he knows several cheaters in Machias! Apperently lePug hasn’t done as good a job as you thought.
So this is what happens to a public historical site that get turned over to a private corporation? Although, Tim Sample used to perform at the fort — guess another two comedians doesn’t much matter.
Howie went to Deerfield Academy, it is where the beautiful people go. His arteries are so filled with pus he is a walking death bomb who is on the top of his own death pool list. RIP Howie!
there was no condemnations of ” those who need a helping hand” it is those who do need a kick in the butt, get off the couch, and contribute to society rather than complaining that the free ride is over at the expense of the taxpayers
The worst of Maine all in one place.
“Economic Freedom Festival?” this must be where they celebrate the big boxes putting everyone else out of business and tax breaks for the wealthiest while the rest of us pay for that freedom through the nose.
I’ll be exercising my economic freedom by not buying any of their crap.
You are kidding, right?
Read the story in Mother Jones about how one of the Koches was screwing the Indians out of a few dollars in oil royalties by shorting the pumps.The list goes on forever.
Reading Mother Jones for accuracy is akin to reading the BDN for accuracy. They’re both leftwing, anti-freedom, statist rags.
Then go somewhere else. Go sit in your finge-right echo chamber. It seems you’re already do that anyway.
The Maine Heritage Policy Center is where everyone should get their news!
Also they will issue you the brown uniforms.
Sorry they publish the facts and show their work.Fox can’t say that.
Howie Carr is NOT right wing. He’s a truth seeker with a sense of humor.
Then work to change the law if you don’t think it’s fair.Keep in mind that these six figure do nothings are the same ones who are paying zip for taxes now.How much sweeter can life get?
Statement by me, deleted.
My comment was about the double and triple dipping retired school admins.It didn’t connect to the comment it should have.It had NOTHING to do with TANF.
I am sorry, I must have clicked the wrong message to reply to. You are correct. I will remove my own post and find the correct location for it. Sorry for the mix up.
Not a problem.I did exactly the same thing a few days ago.Sometimes these threads don’t synch properly.I love your comments-well reasoned,grammatically correct and backed up by facts. More please!
Howie doesn’t work “at the public trough”, unless you call working at a private radio station and authoring several books a government job.
No hope of higher education? We were a family of seven living in a house with horse blankets for bedroom partitions and no running water. It too was in the 60’s, in the County. Alot of potato and onion soup, but happy on a pulpcutter’s income. It was rough, but we somehow saw doctors and dentists as needed. I got a degree and moved to where the jobs were.
Your rhetoric makes your comment loose much of its intended impact…..
We could have been neighbors. We started picking at 4 to earn money for school clothes, couldn’t wait to turn 16 to work on a harvester. Home was a fairly large 3 room house for 7 kids (more kids later) on a dirt road. Melted snow in the winter for water, a hand pump in the shed in the summer. An outhouse year round for the older boys, a “slop” for the girls and the younger boys. I think it is now politely referred to as “night soil”.
The seeing of the doctor (we never saw a dentist until 16) and it got paid somehow was called state aid, a form of welfare. Sorry to burst the bubble, and it is still needed. Why do you think that because you don’t need it anymore that nobody does? Glad you went to college. Grants and subsidized loans like me I suppose, and went to a state school that was subsidized I guess? Why is it ok for LePage to try to cut back on these programs. Don’t you think there are little buzlnos and acountians out there now who need cheap education? Some will leave, and a few will stay, and some will abuse the system.
You know, the right wing has no trouble believing there are enough gun laws on the books to prosecute those who abuse their right to have guns. You just have to apply the laws on the books, right? Well, there are laws to prevent welfare fraud of all stripes. If abuse is as rampant as the right wing thinks, why don’t they apply the laws? I don’t know a single person of any political stripe who thinks welfare fraud of any kind is good. Stealing is stealing I was taught, and have lived my life accordingly. There are a host of hotlines to report fraud. Whining about welfare fraud is like Charlie Summers whining about voter fraud. He claimed to have a list, but it melted out of sight when he was asked to produce it, but his side still talks as if voter fraud was rampant.
Your life story and beliefs apply to many of us Mainers. Than you for telling it so well.
“If abuse is as rampant as the right wing thinks, why don’t they apply the laws?” That is a good question and one that can be applied to many ‘laws’, as you have done with gun laws.Here in Ma. our Governor called EBT fraud as ‘anecdotal evidence’, that is until they busted 3 rings of 57 people 4 days later.Federal immigration laws that Obama won’t enforce nor will he let states like Arizona do it. The Ma. AG stated “It’s not illegal to be illegal”. I don’t believe that any voter fraud would come near swaying an election, but saying that having a photo ID is meant to disenfranchise the poor, elderly and minorities is disingenuous hyperbole at best! :)
I was there. It was a well behaved crowd who are fed up with paying high taxes to support people who do not need to be on welfare. Handicapped folks who cannot support themselves,yes, I have no problem with helping them out. Entitlements are killing this country AND state!
Lepage is trying to make us fiscally responsible.
But tax cuts for the wealthy are just great.
Dan, he is trying to make you fiscally responsible for his (LePage’s) tax cuts. Entitlement programs? which ones are you speaking of ? Can you get the numbers to back up your argument? Please do not challenge people with insults, calling them stupid, when you address a situation with empty rhetoric and no information besides people and websites that already agree with you.
If you review the topic of entitlements, you should review the historical process of tax liability for the wealthy, which has gone down for them, while yours has gone up. If you would like information from the department of labor and the federal census, then I am sure you would find the information that would prove you wrong in what you say.
I do not intend malice, I mean this as, an arguer. If you wish to spout miss information or information your ignorant of, then please become better informed, before insulting others. Sorry that this maybe a hard pill to swallow. Thoughtful debate is difficult. did you come here for debate? Or did you come here to yell?
Excellent Joseph.
LePage received a standing ovation when he took the lectern to decry a federal government he said wants to keep its residents dumb, obese and poor while “trying to put the shackles of economic slavery on our children, our grandchildren and our unborn great-grandchildren.”
Do people really believe this?
When all the bills for Obamacare and the excessive spending in the current spending in the federal budget are going to paid for in the future by some taxpayers who haven’t been born yet, then, yes, I really believe this. How can you be so stupid as to not believe it? Everything has a price. We can’t have everything for free.
That’s what I thought about 10 years ago when we we started all these wars and unfunded tax cuts.
Don’t forget the GWB Medicare drug benefit/Big Pharma giveaway to the oldsters.That will bankrupt us even more.
Don’t say you are stupid – you did vote for Governor LePage right, that’s not totally dumb:)
They like the thinly veiled racism behind the idea that a black man is enslaving them and he (all of them) needs to be stopped.
Don’t worry Democrats, Bill Maher and Obama will surely come and rally your base soon.
I’d rather have them than Ann Coulter!!!
Coulter is such a beast she could sour milk that’s still inside the cow.
form reading the posts, seems the Left can do whatever they want, but let the Right do anything and it’s vilified!
That’s sad, not to mention juvenile, of the Left. It’s the two party system people, don’t like it, move somewhere with only one party, then hope you’re part of it!
What’s with the right and their constant self-victimization?
Yeah, thank you Karl Rove.
What a Waste of a Fort!
I find it interesting that LePage didn’t talk about the Maine economy or jobs. Why is this? Why doesn’t he talk about his lack of accomplishments at the state level? Also, Howie Carr, I grew up in the 50s and 60s and there was welfare. Yes, the churches helped out a bit, but there was state and federal welfare. The churches still help out with their food kitchens, etc., however, things are much worse today. Many Mainers are earning very little money, and they cannot survive on their income because of the cost of everything. We need good paying jobs here in Maine.
Incredibly sad and yet predictable.
Howie Carr is hardley right-wing…
LOL… It must have been too hot for them to wear their girdles…and I’m not talking about Ann.
LePage is on the Chris Christy republican governor’s diet.
Must be the one that overinflates them with hot air, which comes out of every orifice he has.
““I grew up in Maine in the 1960s and it was a very different state,” he said. “There were no food stamps. There was basically no welfare. Everybody fended for themselves. That’s the way the whole country was. I like many of the modern improvements in the country, but in many ways it was a better society when I was a kid. I’d like to see that old standard restored.””
He’s full of garbage.
‘Back in the day…when I was a kid…’
Not exactly a constructive observation, and who’s world wasn’t warm and fuzzy and awesome from the viewpoint of a kid?
Hopefully “Rush” will be the next guess speaker with Lepage, just to see how far “out there” our esteemed governor “really” is!!
This are better off now for poor people? Are you delusional? Did we have a drug problem back then like we have today? We did to a degree, but now people are ripping each other’s face off because of the chemicals they are putting in their bodies. We are no better off now than we ever were. You just think throwing money at a problem for the last 50 years has made it better. How about empowering these people. There is no incentive for success on the program. This is why we are 3 generations deep into welfare. Granted some people that are born into poverty will rise to the occasion but that is a rarity. There are plenty of low paying jobs to go around, but why on earth would anyone take a job like that when the government with our tax money fulfills all their needs without them getting off the couch. In the fifties and sixties, at least people would have 2 and 3 low paying jobs to make ends meet. The same would happen today if the plug is pulled. Your liberalism has created the laziest 3 generations of people this country has ever seen. We are heading for a train wreck in this country and your party made it happen by pulling the wool over everyones head and misrepresenting what their underlying agenda is and making all you lemmings feel good about what you support, all the while, total economic and social failure is their goal, just so a new form of government can be introduced in the future, (read socialism/communism) whatever you want to refer to it as. Truly independent thinkers need to open their eyes before it is too late.
just like art linkletter’s daughter committing suicide due to her depression and the press coverage that said it was due to her use of LSD (because Nixon begged Linkletter to say so), I have a feeling that the face eating was not bath salts… just a propaganda campaign… another one
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I used to listen to Howie Carr until I got sick of his inane rambling and hatred.
I used to listen to Obama until I got sick of his inane rambling and hatred
Try taking the “Kochlear” implants out of your ears…you might learn something.
Definition/
Gov. Paul LePage: a unarmed man shooting from the hip.
How does the gov.plan to shrink government when he keeps creating jobs for friends and relatives.The gov. keeps saying cut, cut but all of his cuts are everywhere but his and the lawmaker perks lets cut some of them and really make a difference.
Apparently Paul La Pudge received a message from his handlers at the tea baggie brotherhood a union of the lunatic fringe, union bosses the Koch brothers provided his script to launch himself to the front page of Fox news. While making the Great State of Maine the laughing stock of the Country. Remember this guy is raising our taxes, fees and tolls for the average Mainer, while providing tax breaks, for those who line his pockets.
Hundreds came to the rally, huh? Really.
Out of !.4 million.Far less than 1 percent.
Festival? looks more like another GOP clown show.
Slight typo in the lede: should be “the hundreds of conservative activists”. ‘Cause that’s basically all there are.
Two Schmucks.
Two major blowhards on the same stage. That’s all the area needed-more hot air.
…
///
Welfare is only five years in our state, it is not continuous, it is not related to how many children one has. This is a fact. You can print the form and read all the guidelines on welfare from our state website or DHHS website. People can not afford fair market housing, people can not afford proper care. This must be the fault of the person who receives help, it must be that they are lazy, it must be, “that everyone is like the guy I know who does not deserve anything”.
People are full of hate, we refute experiences and want people to fend for themselves with no means to do so, then when they become a criminal or worse, we blame them for it. We expect children to just “know” and we blame them when they do not. The care and consideration of upward mobility in our society does not exist, we demand that people who were born to unfit parents remain where they are, because we will not pay and we do not care about them.
Insurance:
“I have it, you don’t, I bet you wish you paid more attention in school”
Education:
“Art programs? Literacy rates? not my problem, my kids are doing fine”
Prisons:
800,000 people are in prison (estimated 2010)
We house the largest system in the world per population with high return of the same prisoners.
The number varies per cost of head (40,000 a year – without cable tv)
The Tea Party:
Millionaires support us, we are the dogs of war, we will make sure, it is the poor that is blamed and we are the ones that are squeezed. <— historically tax liability has tumbled for the wealthy in the last forty years. It used to be very high, way higher then it is now. Fact.
Blaming and Anger:
If we blame, then we must be fixing things. If we say that there is filth, then it goes away. If we hate, then our world is just. If we look upon people with compassion, then we realize that maybe we should do something, we feel guilty for not. It is the fault of the individual not ours, it is them, they are to blame, we must blame them.
No love, no respect, just hate and a burning desire to see people fail. I am sorry that so many of you feel this way. I care for the people within my country, there are far too many people in dire straights to suggest it is an individual problem that everyone of them is a mongrel. I will not see the uncaring as our saviors, but as our detractors for a better tomorrow.
Incredibly good post.More please.
Why are there so many nick names used in the BDN comments/ Schmucks, Hot Air Blowers, Blaine Oink Pen,ETC.
oops. It is all Liberal. The hatred is contagious and the comments are vulgar and rude here. No need to flag me as I will not read this paper again. So slanted to say the least.
people had incentives to get off welfare in the 60’s.
people were rightfully ashamed to be ON welfare, and did what they could to get off of it.
Now the powers that be ensure welfare dependency… it is not for “less fortunate” it is for lazy.
it is not to help people “get on their feet”, it is to keep them off their feet.
how much would you complain if Congress passed a law stating that Blacks may not be emplyed, but MUST take handouts and nothing more? how much would you complain if congress passed a law making it illegal for hispanics to EVER speak English when they (we) are on this side of the border?
just asking, because the policies really push for what I write about… policies that push it are somehow different than laws demanding it, but the result is the same
Arranged by ” Maine chapter of Americans for Prosperity, an Arlington, Va., group “??? Wow, so impressed that Virginia feels it is part of Maine. I expect the Governor to send them a bill for all the back taxes they never paid. This is why lobbying should be illegal, they lie and distort.
Like ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN?
I love the way everyone here is in a contest to blame the lowest people on the ladder when Social Security deductions STOP when you start making $110,000 a year. Wonder what lifting that cap would do for us. Not to mention returning to Reagan’s median top rate was 50%.
So, lePage broke his “pledge” and acknowledged higher taxes would be necessary. I guess he does wander intoreality oncein a while. Too bad some of the attendees don’t see the light.
No mention of the former head of MHP? Maybe he was a “stealth’ speaker.
Just like Rush? Both of them have been chracterized as entertainers, not sources of “truth”
Let’ see. We’ve had three years of Obama and an official unemployment rate that continues to hover above 8.2 percent. But a plurality of posters here continues to whine about Gov. LePage. It would seem they have the wrong target.
LePage is the nominal subject of this article.If you want to complain about Obama there’s no shortage of places to do that.
Used to listen to ya Howeeeeee! But that was 12 years ago, you were a right of center pragmatist. Then you discovered there’s more money to be made by beating the lying drumbeat of the far right. Too bad. I used to agree with nearly everything you said. Now you’re just another talking head that figured out how to cash in on the blank stares.
Apparently Paul La Pudge received a message from his handlers at the tea baggie brotherhood a union of the lunatic fringe, union bosses the Koch brothers provided his script to launch himself to the front page of Fox news. While making the Great State of Maine the laughing stock of the Country. Remember this guy is raising our taxes, fees and tolls for the average Mainer, while providing tax breaks, for those who line his pockets.
In the mid-1980’s over dinner on a small island in a German river I engaged in a debate with a member of my staff – a former Deputy Director of a very large US government agency. The debate was precisely over the main topic in this thread (the level of welfare that is appropriate and warranted.)
My premise was first that every (able bodied) welfare recipient should be required to perform some useful service in return for the welfare they received but secondly that no child in the USA should ever go to bed hungry!
The ex-Deputy Director responded condesendingly by calling me “a republican with a heart!” (No I did not fire him and put him on the next plane back to the states!) This illustrates the difference in attitudes between those in business and many in government. One view is that welfare should be a temporary thing to help the individual become self sufficient. The other view is that welfare is something that is “owed” to the individual perhaps in perpertuity. I still hold with the former view.
Just curious: when is the last time you ever saw or heard the phrases “left wing”or “far left” used by the lamestream media??
Me neither lol…..
They are trying to hide what they are.
I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. When I was in high school (in the midwestern US) during the late 1940’s I lived alone in a two room shack with no running water and no refrigerator. I rarely had more than one change of clothes. I graduated from high school only because the principal of the small high school (a WWII veteran army captain and prisoner of war) saw something in me that I did not see myself. After graduation I immediately enlisted in the US Air Force (for four years active and four more years reserve) that earned me eligibility for the Korean war GI bill. However, since I had not been all that good a student in high scho0l, I spent three years in night school (three hours a night four nights a week winter and summer) to gain acceptance to the University of Maine from which I received BSEE and MSEE degrees.
In following years my wife (of 58 years) and I moved our family 22 times going where the work opportunities were at the time. Did we want to make all those moves? Of course we did not, but the alternative might have been to go on the dole – an unthinkable option.
The point of this post? The United States does not, and should not guarantee any (able bodied) individual a living. It should (and does) provides opportunity to make something of ones self. However, each person must make the most of any opportunity available to them. Doing so does not guarantee success, but failing to do so definitely guarantees failure!
You realize this is radical thinking today?
Unfortunately, you are correct!
Don’t forget Obama also took $$ out of the program by dropping the deduction by 2 points right at the same time the system is overwhelmed with baby boomers.The rich elderly are bankrupting it faster than anybody by having their “financial planners”hide their assets so they can bleed Medicare for decades.
It is a temporary reduction of FICA taxes.
Thanks.Sorry for the error.
If we let US corporations who earn billions and collect millions in tax breaks from the government, (the republicans are all for this spending), then don’t judge a government that wants to care for the less fortunate. Maybe there are some people who like seeing people suffer. I feel it is a crime that there are so many homeless, and homeless veterans.
There will always be abuses in the system. Police the system, don’t Kill the system
see this > http://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/
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A group of misguided people, all in one place……
Judging by the pictures of this crew, they’re eating to much government Cheese.
So what is you point Governor? You make no sense at all.
The “point” of the message is Local, State and Federal Government. In that order. The State of Maine should not even consider “ObamaCare” because it is a Federal Government mandated program and it violates our “We the People…” that we are granted as U.S. citizens and I stress “citizens.” The notion of a Federal program that states, “If U.S. citizens do not comply we will be “punished” with a tax…no fine. With the majority of comments and replies being “Democratic” I would like a Liberal to “Fact Check” and educate me the Medical School and successful clinic Obama managed that makes him an expert within the medical community. At the “Very” least, our Gov. has the ability to manage a local Maine business. Let us not forget, Angus King (I), the Liberal heart-throb supplied our public schools with Apple computers (A $3000 jukebox for iTunes) and then became a member of their board of directors. Feel free to “Fact Check” that Apple is one of the evil companies that is guilty of basically United States “Tax Evasion,” but Apple has been granted the “Hipster-Star of Approval” so the issue is mute.
In closing, the point of the Gov. “Not in my backyard, Obama.”
I suppose the Maine should ignore the Federal speed limit on interstate highways too.
You will be vilified for the truth.
Yeah, keep calling it the truth, that’ll make it so. I’ll keep calling my car “new” and maybe one day I’ll wake up and it will be!
Flat tax. Problem solved.
Flat tax, problem solved.
Flat tax, problem solved
Can anyone please stand up and ask any Democrat running for office, “Why should I work?”
I’d like a decent answer.
Two jerks.
..obama leading romeny in latest polls!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-07-08/swing-states-poll/56097052/1
I never heard of this until after the event– typical conservative,I’m afraid attitude— i’m sure they were afraid of a huge counter demonstration showing how few and pathetic this group truly is
Like the rest of the media, the BDN is now concentrating on emphasizing on Page One the nauseating squeaks and blurbs of our infamous and cantankerous governor and his fellow Tea Party clan. I was surprised Ted Nugent wasn’t featured, too.
Whomever selected Le Page and Howie Carr as the leads for Monday’s paper is another example of how the teapublican propagandists work. Say something. But make it vitriolic. The media snaps it up like bait on a fish hook.
Citing the IRS as the “Gestapo” Le Page was assured of the media attention he has lacked over the past few days. Tea Party attack calls for its clan to make such outlandish statements in order to get media attention. It must be on a regular basis and consistently bad. We are all obese, poor, and lazy.
Being governor has allowed Le Page to slander Mainers each day with the help of the media. He never has to prove anything he says. He just spits out his atrocious bile and the media swabs it up. A day or so later, his trusted spokesperson, Adrienne Bennett, will attempt to modify what the man was trying to say, until he was distracted by thoughts of a bad childhood.
Two Op-Ed pieces would have served readers much better: Maine economy’s outsourcing crisis, and Enjoy your lower priced gas. Both editorial pieces. But factual reminders of two extremely important issues facing us all: The job-robbing outsourcing, and the sudden drop in gas and oil prices.
I hope Danby’s predilection is fulfilled.
Obama to push extension of middle-class tax cuts…Just imagine, not the wealthy but middle class. Amazing
Had I’d known the rightwingers were throwing a party at Fort Knox I would’ve picketed the event.
I would’ve held up signs like…..
“The Free Market is a Lie”
“Just say No to TeaSalts!”
“Stop the Creeping Privatization of Maine State Parks!”
If anyone else are finding themselves wishing they had been able to picket this event,
feel free to post below my thread what your sign would have read.