Nice catch by Corey (The Reactionary Mind) Robin:
Throughout his career, [Edmund] Burke’s financial state had been precarious. Much to his embarrassment, he was periodically forced to rely upon well timed gifts and loans from his wealthier friends and patrons…
Thanks to the interventions of his well connected friends, Burke secured from Pitt in August 1795 two annuities that would wipe out his debts and a pension that, along with an additional pension and the income from his estate, would enable him and his wife to live in comfort into their old age.
Three months later, when Burke took up his pen against a proposal for the government to subsidize the wages of farm laborers during bad harvest years (so that they could sustain themselves and their families), he wrote, “To provide for us in our necessities is not in the power of government.”
(Belated thanks to commentor Ranchandsyrup for the link.)
humanoid.panda
To be fair, whoring oneself out for pensions from the state was a pretty universal habit among 18th century writers. Still, this is so damn funny.
Omnes Omnibus
@humanoid.panda: The pension whoring isn’t the problem; it’s the “pensions for me, but not for thee” that is perfect.
cathyx
Keep the government out of my medicare.
Yatsuno
@Omnes Omnibus: Does this mean crop insurance makes teh Burke cry?
Baud
Factually incorrect. One can debate whether it’s good policy, but it’s clearly something government can do.
Kyle
Serious question: What was the last program, action or initiative that the GOP/Right did or had that helped the country?
humanoid.panda
@humanoid.panda: @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, of course. On some level, for someone of Burke’s background to see farm laborers as beings of inferior order makes a certain sense. Until the 19th century, this was pretty much a universal truth that the “laboring classes” should shut up and die already, even people much more enlightened than Burke. The sad thing of course is that this idea is having a resurgence after it seemed we have finally made some progress as a species.
NobodySpecial
@Kyle: Maybe the EPA?
Baud
@Kyle:
By themselves, or with Democrats working with them?
Keith G
Hillary is speaking at the CAP. Livestream is here.
Eta….Ooops that was a short speech.
humanoid.panda
@Kyle: George H.W Bush deciding not to overthrow Saddam and to raise taxes to cover up the Reagan deficits.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Listening to Tweety talk about FDR appointing Wilkie as emissary to the UK after 1940 election, he mentions Truman appointing Hoover to head a commission. “Bipartisaship…. people don’t do that anymore”.
Chuck Hagel, Bob Gates, John McHugh, Judd Gregg, John Huntsman… ETA: Ray Lahood
Yeah, people don’t do that anymore.
humanoid.panda
@Kyle: And you could argue that say what you say about how it was designed and how little it helped the real economy, TARP was pretty necessary to stop the financial system from going boom.
Keith G
@Kyle: Americans With Disabilities Act was championed by George H W Bush.
Kyle
@Baud: Something analogous to Obamacare, social security, etc. An agenda that they would have pushed and passed and wound up making the country better.
Baud
@humanoid.panda:
You could also say the same thing about Medicare drug coverage.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kyle: It was probably during the TR administration.
different-church-lady
Did
Steve Balmer’s fatherJames Taylor just forget which song he was supposed to sing for a moment there?? Martin
@Kyle: Medicare D helped. It was pretty well botched in implementation, but it did help a lot of people once it got going, and didn’t cost nearly as much as many of its detractors predicted, though it is an important part of why Medicare costs have kept going up.
ACA thankfully fixes many of the more egregious problems with it.
Kyle
@Baud: That’s what I came up with, but of course it was an unpaid-for budget buster. It just seems the last 30 years have been nothing but GOP failure.
cathyx
@Kyle: They ended slavery.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I listened to Tweety a little bit on SiriusXM earlier this week, and you could just about hear the spittle flying as he went on about TipNRonnie and BothSides and BiFuckingPartisanship. For some reason, it’s actually worse with just audio than it is watching him on teevee.
C. Isaac
@Kyle:
I feel it’s always worth praising the few things they did right. It’s positive reinforcement. It also confuses Wingers when you’re not screaming EVERYTHING YOUR GUY DID WAS WRONG/EVIL! They seem to not understand that.
Bush Sr. pushing Americans with Disabilities Act.
Reagan signing START
Nixon resigning
Eisenhower signing the Interstate Highways bill.
Redshirt
@Kyle: Teddy was awesome.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman: You win. That’s perfect.
Redshirt
I assume this serves as the Red Sox victory thread?
Baud
@efgoldman:
They started out so well.
Yatsuno
I see Betty has been busy…
different-church-lady
@Redshirt: Only if it lasts until at least Sunday night.
Mary G
Shorter Burke/GOP: Welfare for me, not for thee.
fuckwit
That’s some Burkean Balls!
(and WHY was this post not tagged with that? ya slippin’)
Bill E Pilgrim
Well don’t forget, he was the one who said “The only thing necessary for triumph is for me to do nothing”.
Also “Those who don’t know history can’t use their knowledge of it to grift”.
I think those are right.
raven
Is this Burke guy white, huh?
Redshirt
@efgoldman: Surely, what we type on the Internet has no impact on a baseball game?
Yatsuno
@efgoldman: I find your lack of faith distubing.
That and I see no strange marks on Lackey’s glove.
(too soon?)
Gin & Tonic
There’s a baseball game on. Maybe a thread for that?
dr. luba
So it’s a straight line from Burke to Ayn Rand to the Teahadis. Because Ayn signed up for both Medicare and Social Security; as a friend of hers explained, she NEEDED the medical care. Unlike all those moochers, I guess.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: Did you see Wakka-Wakka in that first inning? I ain’t counting jack.
raven
@efgoldman: Ofay.
raven
Barb burner in Starkville.
Redshirt
@efgoldman: My confidence floats all boats.
Chris
@Kyle:
Gotta separate those two things.
If you mean “Right,” then the answer is “never.” If you mean “GOP,” then the answer is probably somewhere along the lines of “last time the Right didn’t control them, or at least didn’t have a monopoly on these things.”
rea
@efgoldman: Nop, they had lot of help from Democrats in ending slavery. Winfield Scott Hancock, Benjamin Butler, etc.
schrodinger's cat
Burkean thread needs kitteh, this one likes to make lolhumans.
Yatsuno
@Redshirt: Stupid question: is every BoSox pitcher beaten with an ugly stick or something?
Ash Can
@raven: She can’t possibly be happy about that.
raven
@Ash Can: Rats. Well, MSU is pulling away anyways.
PsiFighter37
Just found out a couple hours ago that my best friend from college got axed from his job yesterday. He’s plenty smart and talented, so I’m sure he’ll be fine…but he clearly wasn’t expecting it and was in a bit of shellshock when I visited him earlier.
NotMax
@Kyle
The Do Not Call Registry.
(An exception that proves the rule is apparently mandatory.)
Redshirt
@Yatsuno: I don’t know what anyone looks like – radio only.
Yatsuno
@PsiFighter37: Oof. That bites. Hopefully he won’t be down too long.
GregB
@Yatsuno:
Jacoby Ellsbury sucked up all of the Red Sox handsome ju-ju for the next 8 seasons.
leeleeFL
@Kyle: they lost the 2012 presidential election. Untold benefits regardless of present bs
Redshirt
@GregB: I predict Ellsbury’s leaving the Sox next year based on the hipsterness of his small beard. He coulda gone full Napoli, but no.
Redshirt
@efgoldman: I saw like ten minutes last week. I only remember the beards.
raven
My grandfather used to say my hippie softball team looked like The House of David
raven
Here I am in the dugout in about 73. You like beards?
mdblanche
@raven: he was Irish, so by the standards of his time, no.
Redshirt
Uhoh. Sox down 1. We’re doomed! Wacha is too good.
raven
@Redshirt: Whacha gonna do?
different-church-lady
Gotta say, the left-field scoreboard empty of out-of-town scores is always a beautiful sight.
john f
@Kyle:OSHA, EPA, and the implementation of EITC during Nixon’s presidency. Reagan and W both expanded the EITC during their terms. Also too, cap and trade IIRC helped pull leaded gas off the market and reduce pollution that caused acid rain. Reagan’s campaigning also helped with getting some of the GOP for voting in the Assault Weapons legislation and the Brady Bill.
different-church-lady
@raven: A double and a walk is what.
raven
@different-church-lady: Da pitchers best friend.
Redshirt
@raven: Fret. A bit of anxiety.
GregB
@raven:
Holy spinach chin!
cokane
Good to see wingnut welfare has a long and glorious history
raven
@GregB: Got my Arizona Feeds lid on!
Omnes Omnibus
@mdblanche: Burke was Anglo-Irish. It made a huge difference.
Drexciya
I noticed that certain discussions continued elsewhere. I just saw them and briefly responded, if only to avoid the “omg you’re running ’cause we’re righter!” portrayal.
raven
Good night miss calabash, wherever you are.
Ash Can
@different-church-lady: The first post-season Cubs game I ever went to was in 1989 (I wasn’t able to get to any in ’84). Seeing bunting hanging in Wrigley Field in the fall was wild enough, but what really blew me away was the sight of the scoreboard. It was BLANK, except for the Cubs and Giants on the bottom left and whichever AL teams were playing that night, on the bottom right. I’ve been to a lot of games at Wrigley Field, but that was the first time I’d ever seen a blank scoreboard there, and it just turned me into a squealing teenager. It was the perfect illustration of what was happening — there were only a few teams still playing at that point in the season, and the Cubs, wonder of wonders, were one.
(Re-jiggered for clarity)
raven
@Ash Can: Shit, I got wasted in the bleachers in 71 and tore the phone off the wall in Ray’s. Little did I know it was a bookie jernt!
different-church-lady
@Ash Can:
Ex-actly!
I’ve got a great photo of myself in front of the Fenway scoreboard with “P A U L – M C C A R T N E Y” in place of the line score. Got connections with the company that provides the ushers to the concerts.
ranchandsyrup
That was me that linked it, AL. :)
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: But raven was saying good night to her daughter, Miss Calabash.
Belafon
So, two interesting things from DailyKos land:
1. The Pope suspended a German bishop because of how much money he was spending on his home. Go Pope (and I’m atheist).
2. The Daily Show segment about voting laws got the idiot, a Republican precinct chair in North Carolina, that couldn’t keep his mouth shut to leave his job.
Seems this pope is not just talking.
different-church-lady
two run homer and 103 pitches — good night Mr. Wacha.
Matt McIrvin
@Kyle: George W. Bush established the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Redshirt
@different-church-lady: Unbelievable. Wacha was dealing too.
leeleeFL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I love Tweety when I don’t want to batter him.
different-church-lady
@Redshirt: Papi’s been dealing with dealing a whole lot longer than Wacha’s been dealing.
ranchandsyrup
Oooooh bold and italic.
A.J.
Did he sell the Burkean Bells on E-Bay? ‘Cuz I think there are hidden in BoBo’s house.