Cost of a Long Life

63 Responses to Cost of a Long Life

1. NatashaFatale says:

   June 26, 2012 at 12:13 pm

   Squirrel,

   Brooks. Yes. The man who fearlessly asks himself the vital question — “What pleases me?” — and prescribes it as the cure for the whole world’s discontents…

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2. Pornstar says:

   June 26, 2012 at 12:23 pm

   We have jobs here, not so much that people won’t do, but that we don’t have the skilled workers for, or that are seasonal only. We seem to be able to get guest worker visas for them without too much problem. Supposedly there is a problem in the south in being able to get guest worker visas for agricultural work, but i don’t know what the difference or difficulty is.

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3. MadameMax says:

   June 26, 2012 at 12:27 pm

   Brooks is such an ass. He once wrote that choosing among cell phone plans is character-building for teens in the same way that doing chores on the family farm was in days gone by.

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4. Expat says:

   June 26, 2012 at 1:18 pm

   Had to Google Brooks but then remebered his face from News Hour on PBS when I used to watch TV.

   Madam – He might have a point if developing the skills to not get ripped off by phone companies, mortgage lenders and various other hucksters is more likely to impact our children’s well being than being able to milk a cow. Mind you he did say character and not survival skills – besides kids should also know how to make, mend and grow.

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5. MadameMax says:

   June 26, 2012 at 1:45 pm

   Expat, he said it builds character, comparable to arising at dawn to work before heading off to school. The man is a fool.

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6. Expat says:

   June 26, 2012 at 2:32 pm

   The man is a fool

   Well at least Madam, and paraphrasing Anthony Quinn in Lawrence of Arabia, when God made him a fool he thankfully gave him a fool’s face.

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7. Squirrel says:

   June 26, 2012 at 6:02 pm

   Madame:

   builds character, comparable to arising at dawn to work before heading off to school.

   Hah! Balls to that. (Apart from the absurdity of it. If it had been anybody else, I’d say nobody could come up with something so stupid, but . . .) Squirrel got up at six for years to do a paper round every day and weekends so’s he could pay for books and going on things like theatre trips from school (and cigarettes, but it was mostly books). And was doing homework until 1 or 2 am often. God almighty.) Then he got up at five ‘cos when he trained as a nurse, the day shift started at 6am.

   All it did for Squirrel was make him fucking tired. Far too bloody tired to bugger about ‘developing character’. Getting into print journalism eventually was wonderful: nobody starts doing anything really until about 10 am! (And you’re often up and about till getting on for midnight or later, sometimes.) Great! That improved the Squirrel character no end.

   Actually I just quoted that because it struck me that it’s part of a sort of subterranean conservative theme (not just in the USA but it may be developing in Europe as well|). That there’s some kind of national ‘core’ of ‘character’ you can somehow go back to, which is threatened or diluted by anyone not part of it. All rather reminiscent of those Colonel Blimps and Kiplings going on about the “English Race”.

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8. gunnison says:

   June 26, 2012 at 6:20 pm

   “That there’s some kind of national ‘core’ of ‘character’ you can somehow go back to, which is threatened or diluted by anyone not part of it.

   Oh yes, I think that’s exactly right, and they’re not too “subterranean” about it either. Conservatism is almost entirely navigation via the rear-view mirror, certainly here in the US, both economically and especially culturally.

   “Going back to the things that made us great” is the mantra, and hence the resistance to contemplating how the baseline conditions have changed. What’s worse is that the mirror is all fogged up with a revisionist historical narrative as well.

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9. MadameMax says:

   June 26, 2012 at 6:44 pm

   I don’t believe there’s ever been any such thing as a “national core of character,” but Brooks obviously does. More fool he if he believes that choosing the best cell phone plan is going to teach kids anything other than how to be savvy consumers. But it’s all about consuming, isn’t it?

   Plus, he chortled with glee on NPR after Colin Powell’s WMD speech at the UN. “End of debate,” he declared, sounding as if nothing made him happier than the thought of going to war. Other people going to war, that is.

   Despicable man.

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10. bluthner says:

    June 27, 2012 at 1:34 am

    there’s some kind of national ‘core’ of ‘character’ you can somehow go back to, which is threatened or diluted by anyone not part of it.

    Yeah, the rageheads and teasacks are absolutely sure that we have a core “character”. I even found a picture of it.

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11. Expat says:

    June 28, 2012 at 9:02 am

    Bluthner was correct on the mandate as tax

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12. gunnison says:

    June 28, 2012 at 9:56 am

    Bluthner was correct on the mandate as tax

    Indeed he was.
    It was not upheld via the commerce clause, which was the approach I never did understand from day one. So there is still no precedent for compelling commerce under that particular Constitutional provision.

    Man, there’s going to be a ton of superpac money pumped into this now — will Rove et al now try to portray this as judicial activism? From this court?

    No time today for any of this – big fire meetings here in the valley.

    First things first.

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13. Expat says:

    June 28, 2012 at 10:00 am

    Good luck Gunny

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