A nice piece of work, inspired by this one:
But as Beck says, talk is cheap, and the walk isn’t. I know acutely the pain of moral compromise in this area, so I have no right (or desire) to beat on Breda. But the fact is: she works for a public library. She might be making the pie, but the lard, flour, and fruit were taken from somebody else. Once you’ve admitted the principle, the only defense against expansion is argument on the basis of need. And much as I hate to admit it as a librarian, universal health care is quite arguably more necessary than “free” public libraries.
The Quick and the Dead 
well, I’ll just quit my job and start collecting welfare. Cut out the middleman.
No desire to beat on me indeed.
Hey, not beating on you, just pointing out the contradiction here. I know that working for a state university would be a lot harder than working at a private university for me, but it really doesn’t get me off the hook, given how throughly munged together public and private are in the education biz. Fact is, the government took the pie a long time ago, and now we’re just a bunch of kids arguing about how big a piece we get.
Look, both of you give value to the taxpayer, for whatever government money you recieve. You need not apologize: someone would be paying you money for your work in whatever universe you ended up in.
So let me get some value for my money here. Can you tell me what ‘regierungversschworungen” means? It comes out, in my Worterbuchlosstube, meaning either “directing the cussers” or “cussing at the director”, but I suspect something’s not right there. A LoonyJournal meme alleges I might have an interest in it. Also in barbie phones.
BTW, having just gotten around to checking on the origins of the phrase–it seems to me that “molon labe” isn’t the best omened slogal to use. The Persians, after all, did just that.
“BTW, having just gotten around to checking on the origins of the phrase–it seems to me that “molon labe” isn’t the best omened slogal to use. The Persians, after all, did just that.”
The Battle that occurred at Thermopylae was a stalling tactic. The Spartans and the rest of the 7,000 troops there never intended to stop the Persian army. They did what they had to do, slow down the superior force long enough so that a large army could be assembled to defend Athens. It was a great success and the bravery of King Leonidas and his men will be remembered forever.
TEB–That’s good if you want to be an epic hero. But for those of who prefer our friends to be alive and not become doomed heroes….Besides, to carry the parallel further, there is no indication that the army defending Athens would ever be assembled these days, much less come out the victor. In which case the bravery will never be remembered.
I always hate to have to make that point, Jeffrey, but it’s the truth. And more:
I think a lot of people know that there can be no serious compromise with the way things are. I keep pointing it out: no nation in history has ever voted its way out of straits like ours, and we won’t either. These very basic understandings are what inspire the subject of this post. That sentiment is *correct*.
But that’s all it is right now. It’s going to take a lot more than that, including serious thought of sorts that almost nobody can really face, to starve this thing into submission.
Nobody enjoys this less than me. But it is what it is, and there is no good in just waving at it.
JS-
I suspect your O lost an umlaut along the way. Regierungversschwörungen would be government conspiracies or plots. I had to put it together out of the Oxford German/English; I see where your Babelfish was trying to get it, but it tried too hard.
Billy-
“thought of sorts that almost nobody can really face”. Yes, that’s it, totally. I was disappointed in Breda’s response, but as a fellow Gemini, I know we shoot from the lip. And it IS hard, because there are no perfect answers: anything we do about the situation (including nothing) is going to suck to some degree or another….as you made clear in your own case.
I’ve become very conscious of late about how easily ONE evil person can screw up your life. One such person with the guns of the State would be even worse. And the protective power of the State (only reason to have one) just DRAGS. 6 weeks to get a toxicology report on the perp (.212!)…now we’re waiting on the coroner’s report, which is waiting on the hospital…and meanwhile this bimbo is out there to kill and maim again. Rusty has started driving like an old lady at 52; we’ve gotten a big taste of risk aversion…so it’s absolutely natural that anyone would want to avoid pissing off the Big Bad Bear. But until we all do, we’re screwed. And as other Jeffrey said, there’s no point in being a Spartan nowadays.
You know what?
The older I get, the less I give a shit.
That’s the worst, man.