The Respectfully Republican Conversation

Yeah Rock, We do not know anything about welfare. That is because some of us who grew up poor, refused to take any handouts. There were times when my father( who worked construction) could barely make ends meet because jobs were scarce back in the 70's, like today. He collected food stamps for a very short time, but felt embarrassed to do so, so he got off of them as soon as possible. I was on my own to pay for college, so I worked my way through with lots of part time jobs and good grades to keep my small grant. I payed off all my loans from college before I got married. We paid for our own wedding, so we made it affordable. We never bought a car without cash (used ones) and we never took out a mortgage that was more than we could afford. We also have one charge card that we pay off at the end of every month. Yes I have empathy for people who are having a tough time, but most people are because of the choices they made. If you spend more than you make. If you have more children than you afford, and if you insist on a college that puts you into deep debt, then I have no empathy. Why should those of us who chose wisely, and paid our own way, have to take care of those that don't, like that stupid mother of 15 in California. I know a lot of people, in my own family, who do not mind taking from the government, because they feel they should get their share. They are getting MY share. I do think the government should be a safety net for people who end up with medical debt or with unforeseen hardship. But the majority out there are in bad shape because they made stupid choices. They wanted to live beyond their means. We should not have to pay for other peoples mistakes.

I'm having technical difficulties lol... was trying to post a link to an interesting article...and it appeared en-crypted.... deleted it... will try again!

Shirl, must be a cooking day .. me and dd are making eggplant parmesan, just waiting for it to come out of the oven ... mmmmm ....  I am so rich I will eat one piece and give the rest to the dogs!  NOT!!!

We'll eat it today and then tomorrow after we eat it again, I will cut it up in individual sizes and freeze each piece so I can take it to work.  These days, everyone at work is brown baggin' it ...  

Maybe I will go put on my diamond earrings and tiara while I eat so I can remember how rich I am.  

*hopefully no one notices my "jewelry" is from dd's dress-up box!

SherriG wrote:

Nothing worthwhile in life ever is.

Ya got that right, Sherri.

The sad thing in today's economy and with all the lay offs many people are losing their dream.  On of my friend's dh and son work for the Sherriff's department.  The county is cutting back.  I think they'll start forcing them to take vacation without pay and other things.  I can't remember.  I know that we can't do without law enforcement in this economy.  There's going to be more crime.  I would be scared to death to have one of my loved ones working in a convenience store.  It was bad enough before, but now it'll be worse.  I guess we better buy our guns (we don't own one..I'm afraid of them..I shoot myself!) before the ONE takes that privilege away.

We have taken some big hits with the stock market.  Things are not looking so good around here.  I think I'll go live with my kids.  We can live with one for three months..split it up with the three of them...LOL  I'll bring my gun with me cuz I'd probably want to SHOOT them and visa versa.

Good evening Repugs............I have no idea what happens to my weekends...........but I have been reading which is always entertaining............

Not sure where Republicans got the reputation of being uncaring and heartless............my ex's parents lived in a 900 square foot home that had two bedrooms and one bath.........my MIL had 3 sons.........could you imagine being the only woman in the house with 4 males........they were definitely lower middle class.........but they were always Republican........simply because they were extremely religious and conservatism was more in line with their beliefs.........and once abortion became legal there never was any question about their political choice...........

See this is what I don't understand.............how can you be a practicing Catholic and be Democrat?..........I thought according to the church that abortion is strictly prohibited.........never understood how the Kennedy's were allowed to practice their religion and still be pro choice......of course there is conservative Democrats that are pro life but I never thought that was most of the Kennedy's..........

Another thing I have never really understood is that Democrats especially liberal Democrats are always preaching about tolerance except when it comes to conservatism...........I mean you can be on death row for murdering babies and we are suppose to forgive and even be against the death penalty but if you are a Republican and a Conservative then you are the one that deserves to be on death row.........there is no tolerance from the left for us on the far right.......(usually).....we are stereotyped and labeled as heartless and money hungry bullies which on a whole I just don't understand.............most of us are hard working people trying to provide for our families and live our lives by the rules and laws of our country.........we attend church........tithed......volunteer at our children's schools...........donate to food banks........mow our lawns............plant our flowers........and try and be decent people.........not prefect but decent............just because we believe in smaller gov't and less taxes........usually pro life.........usually constitutionalists........we are labeled as clinging to our God and our guns.......will yes I do cling to my God and I do love my guns.......doesn't make me a horrible human being or some kind of uneducated redneck............it was the way I was raised.........my parents are not horrible uneducated people either........both of my parents have masters degrees that they got solely on gi bill and fellowships........my father got into SMU law school on the GI Bill and graduated #1 in his class and got a full scholarship to get his Master of Law at Harvard........both of his parents (my grandparents)never got past the sixth grade..........they had nothing........I really don't know what their political beliefs were.......both passed away before I was born.........but I know in my home both of my parents were Republican........well that is all I have to say about that............

the future Mrs. Tom Coburn............

Shokk...if I have said once I have said a million times. It is easy for the Kennedy's of the world (and this is a broad term for the people that fall into that monetary scale) to be Dems, they can preach their line of BS to the poor unsuspecting masses and the poor unsuspecting masses will go for it and the Kennedys's have nothing to lose because they know damn good and well the poor unsuspecting masses cannot afford to move into their neighborhoods. And I would put the current prez in that catagory. He can fake altruism because he knows damn good and well Hyde Park is safe from the masses that he pretends to give a rats ass about. So the big boys and girls can pretend like they give a crap all the while feeding their egoes and the poor uneducated masses are stupid enough to go for it. It's all about power and ego, nobody is really altruistic. 

The DEMS disregard the Repubs because we are not stupid enough to go for their BS and never will be. Think about it. If everyone didn't accept their handouts and worked and prospered and strived for education, who would vote for them? The HAVE to enslave the lower class and keep them enslaved in order to have a voter base.If the Dems, the rich powerful Dems really gave a rats ass about their people why don't they share their (keyword THEIR, not our taxpayer dollars) obscene wealth? If the Babs Streisands of the world really give a rats ass about the people why do they live in huge energy consuming mansions in several different states? If the Opraha's of the world really give a rats ass about the people why don't they build or repair communities for the poor and go into them and EDUCATE the people? The truth is, if they did and the PEOPLE became educated, they wouldn't have a fan base, a political base, a voter base.

Do you remember the flack Oprah got for starting a school in SA instead of the USA(she actually does donate a lot to US schools). Well she said she chose Africa because the poor here were still rich, compared to the poor there. She also said that she felt too many American kids did not take their education seriously, and she wanted to start a school where people really want to learn. The whole key to poverty is education. As Bill Cosby loves to preach, people were oppressed by not be allowed to learn to read and write and he gets so mad that too many young people refuse to hit the books. It is not just a matter of school funding. The Chicago public schools spend more per student than most of the state. But they have a lot of parents who do not make their kids go to school, do their schoolwork, and behave in school, so the failure rate is still high. I always knew that education was the way out for me, even though no one in my family had EVER gone to college, in several generations. I did not want to have to pinch pennies my whole life, so I worked hard and put myself through school. As I said it is all about choices.

However there is one place where I believe the government does not do enough, and that is with special needs kids. My SIL is still trying to find a good hs for her autistic son. I wonder if there is anything harder than living with autism. He looks normal, but people do not understand his outbursts and she gets crap from strangers. They cannot leave him with babysitters, because no one can handle it. My sweet 17 year old nephew cares for him when he has time, to give them a break. Living with autism is truly the hardest thing. There are therapies out there but they are very expensive and mySIL cannot affort them. This is where the governement should step in. They also need to figure out whatever it is in our environment that is causing this horrible affliction and stop it!

Hey Mrs. Coburn, you sure come from a smart family. No wonder you are such a smart a$$$$.

Daisy, It is interesting you mention being catholic and democrat. I was in a group of catholic dem women last year, all singing the praises of Hillary and BamBam. I asked them how they could be dem and and catholic (they are very devout) with the abortion issue. They just danced around it. It just does not make any sense to me.

Hey GTO I thought that is what Obama and Ayers did with all the millions of grant money they got while Obama was a "community organizer"..........hmmmmmm........wonder where all THAT money went?................the FUTURE Mrs. Tom Coburn.............Shokk

For some reason, lefty-loony Democrats think we Republicans are evil and must be either stupid or rich because we believe that the government should not be stepping in to take care of us. They believe in a larger federal government. Which we then have to PAY FOR.  They implement tax plans to try to help the less privileged INCLUDING PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO WORK  by funneling money from the rest of the populace. They to believe the government must look for the greater good above the individual person in terms of welfare and do what is necessary to make the populace more "equal".   Excuse me!!  Why should everyone have the same financial equality???  Lots of people get an education and apply themselves, work overtime to achieve new skills, many work for years in a trade and move up.  Why should the guy who did drugs for 30 years suddenly want part of my paycheck?  Why do I have to pay for the education of foreign people.. I am not saying they can't go to school, but they should pay for it with a check or become legal! 

Republicans are more conservative. We believe that the answers do not lay with the government generally, but rather with the people. We want less government interference and tend to believe more strongly in property rights and less strongly in welfare rights, holding economic equity above economic equality. Many republicans are religious and tend to hold to the morals, which results in general disproval of abortions and, for some, gay marriage.

Democrats believe in abortion but not the death penalty.

I am not saying that I don't believe that minimum wage should be higher -- but I also think that wages are too low in many sectors.  I do believe that the big companies have raised the upper management salaries without doing the same for the general public.  Statistics show that the average wages have not increased like they used to.  History shows average wages doubled in 20 years.  Wages are the same as they were 15 years ago ... wages have not kept up with inflation.  I don't think bigger government is the answer but paying people what they are worth and regulating our economic pillars and foundations.

It is a shame that to the millions of people that worked their way thru school, making early sacrifices by working long hours, and saving and investing all of their lives are the ones ignored by our government.  If you lived within your means, took risk and opened your on business or worked on your own ability by accepting commissions only rather than salary, the only part of the stimulus you or your family will ever see is the amount of your money that will be taken from you and yours for generations to pay for it.

If you work for a living and try to better yourself in this country you are screwed!! If you work at a low-paying job and do not make enough money to owe any federal tax - you will now get a "tax cut" to offset the Social Security and Medicare taxes that you have to pay. This is called "making work pay". Of course if you go to school and try to work your way up - you will lose this "benefit" so where is the incentive???

My oldest dd teaches in a poor area in Houston. She has students whose parents take them out to clubs until all hours - they then come to school and fall asleep in class. Some have to take care of younger brothers and sisters so come in late because they have to wait for their parent to come home from partying. She has 8th grade girls with 18, 19, 20-year-old boyfriends. These kids go to the school where she teaches because they did well on the Texas exams. It is a magnet school - so these kids are pretty bright. Makes it harder for my dd because she sees the potential and knows if they just tried they could make something of themselves. Her biggest problem is they do not realize that they are poor and that you don't have to live on food stamps and government checks, especially when you are smart and have the ability to do better. Some of them have parents who care about them and are working two jobs to provide for their families, but others have parents who could really care less.

Oprah is right - the poor in this country would be considered well-to-do in many places in Africa and Asia. She built that school in S. Africa because she knew it would be appreciated there. Here all she would have gotten were complaints about how they didn't have this or that. Have any of you gone to see the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" if you haven't you should.

Catholics in this country can be Democrats because the church here caters to its members and does not always follow Rome. Changing with the times and all that hogwash. I think the Kennedy's have contributed lots of $$$$ to the church too - that always gets people to turn the other way.

Daisy you are making my head hurt..........these type questions like is the sky blue because it reflects the water or is the water blue because it reflects the sky are best left to the Faculty Loungers on the east and west coasts............

Oh crap.........that's right.............let's see did Oprah discriminate by only allowing girls at her school or is it only discrimination if girls are the ones being discriminated against.......let's see........Oprah backed Obama and Oprah loves Tom Cruise..........so taking all things into consideration I think Oprah probably does what ever she wants because she has earned her money and will not be accepting gov't bailouts and won't have Reid, Franks, and Pelosi telling her what to do!!!!!!!!.........that's it........that's the answer......ha..........Shokk (Mrs. Tom Coburn)