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Melki
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Jun 11, 2016 02:17AM
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Melki wrote: "She must be this guy's mother:"
Is he referring to morons or Mormons?
Jay wrote: "I know this group has many writers, which is probably a fairly biased group when it comes to language. However, the younger crowd these days seem to be getting slammed for poor spelling due to text..."Well she was close, I'll give her that.
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Out of the mouths of babes:
Top 10 Brilliant But Funniest Test Answers From Smart Kids
Why don't adults think of these things?
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It's interesting that so many politicians focus on finding the causes of terrorism, especially after a horrific attack like Orlando, but not on funding the resources which appear to have the best chance of lowering terror for future generations. For example:
NOTE: The article below is commentary, not news.
Closing the Middle East’s Education Deficit
We've been spending trillions on Middle East wars and containment of non-state actors with little to show for it. World security has not improved by any significant measure. Is it time to try investing in a different approach, or is this wishful thinking?
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Pakistan's religious leader explains how men should beat their wives
As an alternative, consider this short story that I heard from a buddy in the navy:
One day too many moons ago, Granddad came home very drunk and very belligerent. And let's just say, he had lousy impulse control over his fists while Grandma was in the room. Unfortunately for him, he passed out in a bed that used slats instead of a box spring.
The next morning, he awoke tightly sewn into the sheets and unable to escape. Grandma entered, carrying a bed slat. She said only, "You will never raise a hand to me again." Then, she proceeded to "slat" him from the bottom of his feet to the crown of his head.
Much later, and with cooler heads, Granddad quit drinking, and they resumed married life which they shared without violence for the next 45 years.
Moral: Beware of women who sew what they reap.
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"In the latest data, 1 in 7 Americans is living in poverty, including 1 in 5 children and 1 in 3 female-headed households."
The international community is now commenting on the ever-widening income gap in the US. If their statistics are accurate, 14% of our population is living in poverty, including 33% of single moms, which is a pretty sad commentary for the richest country in the world.
Frankly, I don't know what the answer is, but the status quo seems to get more disturbing with each passing year.
Comments?
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annual assessment
of the US economy for 2016 was released, warning:
"In the latest data, 1 in 7 Americans is living in poverty, including 1 in 5 children and 1 in 3 female-headed house..."
I'm probably not the one to ask as I firmly believe taxing the rich will solve all the world's problems.
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annual assessment
of the US economy for 2016 was released, warning:
"In the latest data, 1 in 7 Americans is living in poverty, including 1 in 5 children and 1 in 3 female-headed house..."
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always be where you've always been.
The income gap is still basically based on extremes of a bell curve. There are a handful or so of ridiculously highly compensated fields which skew the averages perversely. At the other extreme are those who, for various reasons, have done nothing to position themselves to make more money. I do not say that with any sort of contempt, just as a fact.
Government trying to provide people with a living is not working, and has not worked anywhere it's been tried. It's not sustainable, and is counterproductive.
Encourage people to be self-reliant, show them what they need to make themselves a living wage, and provide the tools. After that, it's up to each individual.
The enormity and complexity of the US economy makes it impossible to fully understand. Legislators only grasp pieces of it. This country cannot be compared to Denmark or Iceland.For example - A big portion of the money given to Israel has to be returned to this country by them purchasing American made products. (They have the best Intelligence organization in the world, and we depend on them for that.)
Single mothers on welfare have to get a job or go to school when their youngest child starts school. There are also a ton of job training programs, but we have a huge generation now believing they are entitled to free stuff.
This gives me a headache. The point is many approaches to solving the problems of poverty have been taken, but part of the issue is cultural. The old mind set this country was built on no longer exists. You are born. You work hard. You die. We have a party-down culture now.
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It won't, but getting them to at least pay the same tax rates as their secretaries would be a nice start.
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Okay, it's no longer a surprise that I disagree with you, Joel. However, in this case...
Even the government disagrees with you, Joel! Certainly not Republicans in Congress, but the people whose job it is to keep the actual statistics. [Census Bureau, Congressional Budget Office, Government Accounting Office, HUD, etc.]
It's true, Joel. There are whole swaths of our population that have squandered their opportunities. They took the money from the two or three minimum wage jobs they work and used it to clothe, house and feed their kids instead of purchasing stock options. Why can't they figure out that, on average, our total annual realized income is less than 7 percent of our wealth? In other words, we live on less than 7 percent of our wealth. Capital gains is where it's at, LOSERS!
But then, capital gains has historically been income earned disproportionately by the wealthy. That is, income from capital, not labor. Still, there's hope of joining the Incredible Shrinking Middle-Class, the SUPPOSED center of the bell curve. All one has to do is find a good manufacturing job that hasn't left the country or been discontinued due to technological advance or increased productivity. Hell, after WWII anyone could get a decent job that supported a family. Those were the good old days as long as you weren't black or Hispanic or some other off-white color.
Today, poor people have no initiative or personal responsibility. They didn't prepare themselves. They went to high schools with metal detectors instead of Glee Clubs and weekends in the Hamptons. Shame on them!
But then, college is so damn affordable these days, maybe they can get a leg up there. Maybe the parents who could barely feed them can help.
Still, some could have stayed on the family farm or ranch. There's still one or two left that doesn't belong to a corporation.
Then again, if you can't get a job, there's always jail. If you're a person of color, entry is as easy as walking down the street in the wrong neighborhood.
Perhaps, poverty is their parents' fault for not starting them off in life with $40 million like Donald Trump. All most poor kids get is new shoes and a bus pass, so rationally, they should probably blame mom and dad, not society or the government.
"According to the Congressional Budget Office, as of 2011, the top 1 percent of income earners in the U.S. get more than a third of their income from capital gains. For context, the typical annual income for those in the top 1 percent is about $1.4 million."
"The statistics that describe the magnitude of economic inequality are stark. Before taking into account the effects of redistributive government programs, the richest 1% of Americans make 20% of the income. Wealth inequality is even more extreme, with a recent study estimating that in America, the wealthiest 160,000 families have as much as the poorest 145 million [Yes, that's MILLION!] families." (Fortune)
"Just because there is a good deal of changeability in America’s class structure, that doesn’t mean that everyone has the same chances at achieving high levels of income. Compared with many of its wealthy peers, there is much less inter-generational economic mobility in the U.S. If you are born poor in America, you have a much greater chance of staying poor than if you were born into the same class in places like Canada or Denmark." (Fortune)
Ah, but then, we could always strive to be at the center of the bell curve:
"45% of Americans will take advantage of a need-based welfare program, like Medicaid or food stamps, by age 60. And 54% of Americans will experience at least one year of poverty by the same age." (Chasing the American Dream, 2014 book)
Yes, the answer is indeed personal responsibility. As in, why didn't these poor people move to a country that gives a damn about them, and really will offer them an equal opportunity to help themselves? Because face facts, in the US, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always be where you've always been." – trapped in a system that IS NOT WORKING!
And for the record: "Government trying to provide people with a living is not working, and has not worked anywhere it's been tried." – That is pure bull! It sounds remarkably like a FOX "News" sound bite because it certainly doesn't match objectively researched facts. Many governments around the world have taken responsibility for unemployment and a decent standard of living for all their citizens…and many have made great strides. The US no longer has the world's highest standard of living, the best educational system, or the lowest unemployment because these are not a priority for our government.
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Why not exactly, Brena?
You lost me on that one.
Jay wrote: "Brena wrote: "This country cannot be compared to Denmark or Iceland..."Why not exactly, Brena?
You lost me on that one."
Size and diversity...Iceland has the population of a very tiny city. Denmark is also small. We have basically 50 very different areas trying to hold it together as one country. Each state has a different economy and population needs.
I have no solutions to our problems. Economists who have spent their entire lives working on this don't have all the answers. It is a problem of scale. How do you please and provide for everyone?
This is an interesting discussion and thanks for bringing it up. I am a baby boomer, and young people think my generation screwed everything up. They think they have all the answers. We thought we had all the answers.
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You missed my point, and despite all evidence to the contrary I'm not an elitist idiot. I'm rarely even a non-elitist idiot. Usually, anyway.
If you're doing a minimum-wage job and are content, more power to you. If you need to make more money, you need to find a way to do that. That may mean finding out what it will take to make you more valuable in the marketplace; it may mean learning what other options you have. The government can and should make resources available for finding these things out (providing things like public libraries); but individuals need to take a little initiative toward their professional growth, and not depend on government to do that for them.
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I don't think scale is the issue. Social innovation is painful. It also threatens those with a vested interest in the status quo.
Women suffrage, the civil rights movement, gay marriage... It doesn't matter which major social change you pick, it had nothing to do with scale -- the size of our population at the time, or the number of states. Nor were any of these changes easy or casualty-free.
Making truly equal opportunity, full employment and a living wage priorities for our government would require painful changes, and it would be fought with every possible political dirty trick, false and vicious arguments, as well as MASSIVE campaign funding to protect vested interests.
AN EASY EXAMPLE: The Equal Rights Amendment has been introduced in the US Congress repeatedly since 1923. One way or another, it always dies on the vine. Yet, if you ask any American personally if a woman should have equal rights under the law, you will likely get the same positive answer in all 50 states. Ask any candidate for public office, same positive answer. So, where's the legislation? Still dead. Would it perhaps be very, very costly for business interests to pay women what their work is worth? Could be.
If there was a profit to be made in women's equality, the ERA would have passed decades ago.
Just as bigots did not want women to vote (19th Amendment, 1920), and the fast food industry does not ever want the minimum wage to rise, any major social change requires someone fighting the good fight, because you will be ruthlessly opposed.
Screw the economists and their theories. Income inequality cannot be changed under the current system. There's simply too much status quo money in play.
Don't be too hard on the younger generation. It will be their fight to take up.
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Actually, Joel, some of your answers are my favorites. They make me think. And, what the hell, we're all idiots (elitist or not) at one time or another.
However, let me address one of your comments: "If you're doing a minimum-wage job and are content, more power to you. If you need to make more money, you need to find a way to do that."
Consider:
1) If you have an IQ of 85 and a minimum wage job is all you can handle, does this mean that you are not entitled to a living wage?
2) If looking for opportunities to improve your income and the only one making better money in your neighborhood is the local drug dealer, is this a career that you would recommend?
3) If you've been digging coal for 35 years and the last mine in your area suddenly shuts down and declares bankruptcy, are you required to settle for a pension payment of
3 cents on a dollar just like the company's other creditors?
Well... There really is no one-size-fits-all answer. Initiative and personal responsibility are great, but not nearly enough to get the job done.
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I've been lurking over this conversation mostly because I'm lazy. However, I think I'm in the middle of Jay and Joel (my weird-ass life has blessed me with experiences from all across the socio-economic strata) and I think I can show that you are both right in what's happening in this country. Jay wrote: "1) If you have an IQ of 85 and a minimum wage job is all you can handle, does this mean that you are not entitled to a living wage?" It does not, however, in many states it does qualify that person to receive state assistance so that they can still live in decent housing; get assistance to and from work, medical facilities, etc.; receive discounted medical assistance; and more. Some (elitists) may consider that a hand out, but most people consider it a basic human decency thing to do and an example of what Joel says:"The government can help by providing the tools"
Jay wrote: "2) If looking for opportunities to improve your income and the only one making better money in your neighborhood is the local drug dealer, is this a career that you would recommend?" Not even the local drug dealer would recommend that -- they usually don't like competition. However, they are almost NEVER the only one making better money in those neighborhoods. The organization I'm affiliated with works extensively with kids from just about every neighborhood in Camden, NJ (sometimes with police protection because it is the murder capital of the country, after all). I can guarantee you there are still thriving restaurants, small mom-and-pop grocery stores, hair salons, etc. within each of those neighborhoods where adults are living proof that there are other options besides drug dealing. Also, on the outskirts of that area (as with most urban areas; Camden isn't the only one we serve) there are usually hospitals, large businesses (we have Campell's soup), etc. where if you live in the area and don't get your ass in trouble, you can (and some do) get an entry level job and work your way up. Those people are evidence to the local kids that drug dealing is not the only option for money. And, an aside: I live 11 miles from downtown Camden, and in my (uber white collar) suburban area, WE have more heroin dealers and busts than Camden does, but every kid in our high school buying that heroin is planning on a post-graduate university degree. Drug dealers are not the role models many seem to think they are. Anyway, on top of that, the kids in the schools in Camden qualify for all kinds of resources for free that I would have to pay through the nose for my kids to receive, plus don't even ask me what my property taxes are--which pay for the schooling -- because I can't answer that without a shot of aged rum nearby. So when those kids in Camden and elsewhere grow up and don't take advantage of all the resources given to them and the additional help community groups give to them and the even more additional help the NGOs give them, someone has to say enough is enough. At some point, people do have to take responsibility for their choices and their careers.
Jay wrote: "If you've been digging coal for 35 years and the last mine in your area suddenly shuts down and declares bankruptcy, are you required to settle for a pension payment of
3 cents on a dollar just like the company's other creditors? I agree with you, Jay. That is just plain wrong. No one deserves to be screwed out of their pension. However, this is where the potential elitist in me comes out. My mother's father actually owned coal mines in the Kentucky-W. Virginia area. Trust me, every one in that area has known for at least a half a century that the coal industry was dying a slow death. Yet, very very few ever said, "hmmm, I think I should go back to school. Or maybe I could be a plumber." Worse, very very few ever encouraged their children to go to college even though filial duty is strongly enforced and it is expected that every one takes care of their elders in their elderly stage. They don't even want their kids to leave or do anything different. A few years back, I had to go to the courthouse in Martin County, KY, where a judge's clerk walked barefoot as she led me down the hallway. She knew my family and many of my cousins. The whole time I was there, she went on and on about how the best friend of one of my cousins left the area after high school and "just like" my mamma "that fool girl" refused to move back home where she belonged. The clerk was simply having the same conversation nearly everyone I met had with me. No one in the area believed you should ever leave or that you are supposed to do anything to better your life. Their philosophy is you take what life hands you and pray for the strength to handle it. Mines going out of business is seldom, if ever, big surprise. What needs to happen is bigger than making a corporation pay for a better pension. What needs to happen is a cultural shift in perception. But you can't go into an area and say: "Hey! You're all thinking nonsense. This is what you're supposed to think." When you do that, they resist.
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Actually, Lisa, I wasn't promoting low IQ's, drug dealers or coal mines. I was just attempting to point out that individual circumstances can, and often do, overwhelm the most responsible people. Personal responsibility is a great political platitude, but as a cure for poverty, it's pure crap!
As stated at the beginning of this chat,
"In the latest data, 1 in 7 Americans is living in poverty, including 1 in 5 children and 1 in 3 female-headed households."
Add to that that the most debt-ridden generation of young people in US history is graduating from colleges and professional schools RIGHT NOW. There's nothing quite like starting life with your life already mortgaged.
Yes, there are government programs. However, funding a program is much easier than having the courage to honestly evaluate that program's obviously poor performance, then try something else.
How about a little innovation instead of more platitudes?
If that doesn't work, try something else.
If that doesn't work, try something else.
If that doesn't work, try something else.
Etc.
And above all else, don't look overseas to see if some other country has a solution that works better than ours. That's just not possible!
The remarkable statistic on 1 in 5 children living in poverty...That's 20% of the next generation going to bed hungry. Do their parents lack personal responsibility because there aren't enough hours in the day to work a third or fourth minimum wage job?
And, where are the facts, the academic studies, and well-documented statistics proving that 1 in 7 people (14%), and 1 in 3 single mothers (33%) are 'irresponsible?'
They don't exist because it's not true.
If you tried to attach any other negative label to one-third of working women in today's society, there would be huge protests of discrimination and a stack of court cases, but 'poverty' gets a pass. Why?
Let's cut the crap, folks. The status quo isn't working, and I'm not insane stating that platitudes about personal responsibility make great sound bites on FOX "News" but they don't address our country's problems.
If the IMF and the foreign press can see the obvious, why can't we?
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How's this for a headline:
STEPHEN HAWKING ANGERS TRUMP SUPPORTERS WITH BAFFLING ARRAY OF LONG WORDS
What were the "LONG" and "BAFFLING" words?
-demagogue
-denominator
Apparently, Trump supporters have an inordinate fear of multiple syllables. In other words, "LONG, BAFFLING" English vocabulary that's taught in grade school ('denominator') and middle school ('demagogue').
Trump himself uses a third or fourth grade vocabulary ( sample article ), which is part of his appeal, and may be why he has repeatedly stated that he loves the uneducated. They speak the same language.
Remember when...politicians could be 'plain spoken' and yet still had a normal, functional vocabulary.
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He makes Bush's folksy ramblings seem positively erudite.
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Fathers and Daughters review – mawkish twaddle meets ripe platitudes
Has anyone seen a worse review?
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"Mawkish Twaddle Meets Ripe Platitudes" would actually be a good name for a film. Jennifer Lopez can play Twaddle, and the role of Platitudes seems tailor-made for the wooden acting of Ben Affleck.
Now if it's bad reviews you're after . . .
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-be...
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I used to be addicted to baby goat videos, but lately it seems baby elephants are where it's at . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPyMT...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq8yI...
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I finally switched to bifocals earlier this year, and have found that the teeny keyhole of close-up vision located at the bottom of your lenses, while handy for checking the expiration dates on yogurt, is fairly useless when it comes to sustained reading. I keep a second pair of glasses filled with just my reading prescription which allow me to read for hours in any position until leg cramps or hunger drive me off the couch.
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I think I'm simultaneously keeping the folks who make reading glasses in business and ensuring people in need always have a handy pair nearby. I seem to buy and lose a pair of reading glasses once or twice a week.
Joel wrote: "I've just discovered yet another frustration of getting older. Reading while sprawled out on a sofa is nearly impossible to do for very long with progressive-lens glasses. What's next? Will I be co..."Too funny...You're so young! I have progressive lenses, but I take off my glasses when I am reading. I am fortunate I can read better without them. I am so nearsighted though that I plan on grabbing an extra pair of glasses during an apocalypse. I am so hard of hearing that audible books just sound like gobbledy-gook to me. My problem is finding a comfortable position for reading. I have a book ready in a month. I went with 14 point text. Large text is 16, but I wanted to go a little bigger to make it easier to read.
Joel wrote: "I've just discovered yet another frustration of getting older. Reading while sprawled out on a sofa is nearly impossible to do for very long with progressive-lens glasses. What's next?"I don't find progressive/varifocal lenses too bad for reading. I cannot reverse the car while wearing them, nor can I bear them for use with a computer screen. I have had to buy costly standard lens glasses to use when I'm at the keyboard.
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Ah, yes, the computer screen . . . big problem for me. For that, I need something in between my distance and near vision. I usually end up magnifying the whole page.
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Joel wrote: "Not sure whether to watch Game of Thrones dvds or the Dem convention tonight."Unless the Trump Chumps show up and slit everyone's throats, Game of Thrones is much better.
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Either way, if you get invited to any weddings, just say no.
Sometimes I wish my kids were still young enough to sell to the gypsies. Not that I really would. It would just be fun to threaten them with it.
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Thanks a lot, Jerry Sandusky.
Lisa wrote: "Sometimes I wish my kids were still young enough to sell to the gypsies. Not that I really would. It would just be fun to threaten them with it."This reminded me of my sister who used to threaten to sell me to the gypsies. I gave up on hoping I was adopted, and the gypsies sounded like a good plan B because I was young and loved camping.
I just got an email from Goodreads with their picks in several genres. There was no humor group. I think we have our work cut out for us.What do people want to read? Journeys of self-discovery? Humor helps you avoid that murky hole. Friendship with an autistic minority child? Humor helps you see the autistic minority child in everyone. How to have sex on a log splitter conveyor belt? Cliche at best. Who hasn't done that?
Our laughter needs to be taken seriously. Any ideas on that?
Brena wrote: "Our laughter needs to be taken seriously. Any ideas on that?"I've made suggestions to several people, but no one ever took me seriously! Thank goodness, because when the cops showed up...
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What do people want to read? Journeys of self-discovery? H..."
Maybe if someone clown-like ran for a prominent public office...
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WARNING: This almost qualifies as a rant.
2nd WARNING: I lied. It qualifies.
I've had blog postings censored in the Support for Indy Authors group, and recently been told to restrict all my postings to a single thread. Just this week, I've made the decision to no long post in the SIA group.
GR does a very poor job of accommodating humor writers. Their fear of causing offense (God forbid that you post a satire of something political or controversial!) overrides any understanding of the vastness of the humor genre. The fact is, it's nearly impossible to satirize without offending someone, and I have proposed that SIA allow humorists to post with a warning to the reader that a particular piece is political satire or addresses controversial subjects in a humorous light. They declined.
Perhaps, it's unfair to paint all of GR with a single brush, but despite the blatantly obvious appeal of humor, many groups side with political correctness. Honestly, I believe that this has driven a lot of humorists out of many groups. One humor writer sent me a private message stating that he resigned from SIA because of censorship and a lack of support. (And, no, he was not posting anything pornographic.)
As I belong to several writers groups outside of GR, I know that creative freedom in our genre is both permissible and popular. Frankly, I don't understand the attitude of many GR groups.
I do not foresee GR making an effort to attract humor writers or support our genre, and I don't think there is a solution. The craft of comedy writing is not now, nor will it ever be based on political correctness.
Hence, not having a GR pick in the humor category is not surprising.
If P.J. O'Rourke had a new book out, it may have popped up on the list. Aside from political satire and possible offensiveness, there are a lot of humorous books which are neither. There are too many humor writers to mention who are writing best-sellers. It seems like a lot to me because I read them, but perhaps as a category there really aren't that many. I don't know.
Self-publishing has produced a massive mountain of crap, and I can understand someone not wanting to sift through all that stinky shit. As Indy Authors our challenge is to find a way out of that pile. I am hoping to figure it out and welcome all suggestions.
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Aside from political satire and possible offensiveness, there are a lot of humorous books which are neither. There are too ..."
Certainly, there is a lot of humor that is non-political, non-controversial, and inoffensive...possibly. Just as one man's junk is another man's treasure, what you find inoffensive may cause someone else to complain mightily. P. J. O'Rourke, Dave Barry...hell...even Dear Abby has received complaints for putting tongue in cheek. Humorists need a thick skin no matter what they're writing or performing.
I agree that a lot of crap is published, but that's another unwelcome conversation. However, just as there is a ton of crap on the web, self-publishing is also a relatively new technology, ergo, it's the Wild West. And, to improve their own numbers, self-publishing vendors (Amazon, Smashwords, et al) are unlikely to turn down any manuscript unless it is totally unreadable. Whether the self-publishing industry will ever raise the bar is questionable, but we'll have to wait and see what the future brings.
One should also note that traditional publishers have also published their share of stinkers. However, on some "Worst Ever" lists, you'll find Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird and other classics, as well as The Bible and the Qur'an. So, self-publishing is not alone wondering: Is it even possible to sift the wheat from the chaff.
All I can suggest is that you write a good book, edit it well, and keep plugging your work. There are no guarantees.
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WARNING: This almost qualifies as a rant...."
Someone ought to do what they do at universities now: create a "safe group", where the extremely thin-skinned can hide when their sensibilities are challenged. It'd be especially funny if Melki was in charge.
The Humour Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Book of Heroic Failures (other topics)Fox in Socks (other topics)
Green Eggs and Ham (other topics)
Fox in Socks (other topics)
Fox in Socks (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Katherine May (other topics)Richard Osman (other topics)
David Sedaris (other topics)
Christopher Moore (other topics)
Christopher Buckley (other topics)
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