JK Rowling: for April 15
An inspiring and patriotic story from the creator of Harry Potter.
“Nobody who has ever experienced the reality of poverty could say ‘it’s not the money, it’s the message’. When your flat has been broken into, and you cannot afford a locksmith, it is the money. When you are two pence short of a tin of baked beans, and your child is hungry, it is the money. When you find yourself contemplating shoplifting to get nappies, it is the money. If Mr Cameron’s only practical advice to women living in poverty, the sole carers of their children, is ‘get married, and we’ll give you £150′, he reveals himself to be completely ignorant of their true situation….”
…”I am indebted to the British welfare state; the very one that Mr Cameron would like to replace with charity handouts. When my life hit rock bottom, that safety net, threadbare though it had become under John Major’s Government, was there to break the fall. I cannot help feeling, therefore, that it would have been contemptible to scarper for the West Indies at the first sniff of a seven-figure royalty cheque. This, if you like, is my notion of patriotism. On the available evidence, I suspect that it is Lord Ashcroft’s idea of being a mug.”
Another country, another election cycle, but how true. Read the whole thing and rejoice in filing your tax return: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7096786.ece
Wow. Now, that’s what I call truth. It’s humbling to be reminded that that’s the situation for so many people in the world, even in the so-called rich countries.
Thanks for posting this, Ms. O’Brien Steinfels.
So now we know… Rowling based the Death Eaters–the Dark wizards and witches–on the Tories. :)
The Tea Party had a big rally in Lansing yesterday, and I confess I’m stymied by the battle cry of “Take back Michigan!” and “We want to be left alone so we can pursue life, liberty and our own happiness!”
What are we supposed to take back Michigan FROM? Don’t we run it? Don’t we have a chance every two to four years to hire new legislators? How do they want to be left alone?
I did notice that the partiers drove to their rally on roads paid for with tax dollars.
That their freedom to assemble peaceably was ensured by cops, paid for with tax dollars.
That they held up hand lettered signs they were able to write thanks to a teacher paid for with tax dollars.
That they quoted the many works fo Ayn Rand, which they have been able to read for free thanks to public libraries paid for with tax dollars.
And that they parked in parking structures, erected for the convenience of the public with tax dollars.
Anyone else see the irony?
Sort of like all the people receiving Social Security and getting their health care paid for by Medicare railing against a “government takeover.”
I am completely flummoxed by these “tea party” events. Is this because i live in New York City, the home of socialism! and oh yes, Wall Street?
The NYTimes ran a survey of teapartiers yesterday, and many seem to be your basic white educated upper income guys. My better half says they all listen to too much talk radio. And then many looked like they’re retired; do they have nothing better to do? Here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html?scp=2&sq=Tea%20Party%20survey&st=cse
Some very loud guy interviewed on the Newshour informed us that taxes have steadily gone up under Obama… Reallly? his first year was on Bush’s last budget; he’s sent tax credits to ooodles of Americans, etc. So where does this guy get his “facts.” Bush’s wars go on costing billions (or is it trillions?).
About these polls and self-description –
No doubt the responders told how many years of college they had, but does 4 years of “college” make one educated? Well, maybe, if you’ve gone to the sort of college that teaches you how to begin to think critically and what science is about, but I fear most do not, Just look at the signs at the Tea Party ralllies.
It seems that most colleges now allow the various majors to demand most of the students’ college time, but it has been disastrous for general education. True, as majors become more and more technical they require more and more courses. But let’s not fool ourselves — something else has been lost.
Interestingly, on Canadian TV news last night a reporter at a Tea Party rally (maybe the one in Lansing) asked a nice white haired lady exactly how she squared Jeanne Follman’s Social Security & medicare support systems and prefaced her reply as an example of how Tea Partiers delude themselves. Wished, I’d recorded her reply.
Perhaps the same nice white-haired lady on the Newshour said she was not against taxes, not against social security or medicare; she was against the health-care bill….What does she mean? I don’t know, but I did wonder if she meant government spending on her was fine, but not on poor people.
I saw the Times poll you refer to. I think one Tea Partier summed up the membership more succinctly on his placard: “White, Male, Bitter.”
But the cause of the beefs eludes me. At the Tea Party here in the village last summer and at the one at the Capitol yesterday, no real themes emerged, just a general sense of disgruntlement.
I am reminded of that scene in “The Wild Ones” where a floozy asks Marlon Brando twhat he’s rebelling against, and Brando says, “Whaddaya got?”
Here’s a possible Election 2010 scenario. The Tea Party candidates, however many there come to be, will run to the right of the Republican party candidates. The Republican party apparatus seems to be having a meltdown with Karl Rove going mano a mano with Michael Steele. This could mean a further fracturing of conservatives, in effect some contests going so far to the right that they lose independent voters. If the Dems get/keep their act together, they could keep their majorities in Congress. Wishful thinking?
Ms. Steinfels –
If a front page headline in yesterday’s WSJ, “Evidence Mounts of Strong Recovery” is prophetic, and if health care reform has started to kick in by then, and if the reform seems to be working, the prospects for the Democrats will look even better. Lots of ifs there, but . . . .
“Bush’s wars go on costing billions (or is it trillions?).”
Are you sure President Bush is still Commander in Chief? I could have sworn that the American citizen the Democrats assassinated last week without trial was done by a different President.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/title-2/?ref=opinion
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html
“But the cause of the beefs eludes me.”
I reckon these protesters prefer a higher growth, lower unemployment rate, especially youth unemployment rate, economy versus the type of economic model preferred by the Ruling Party. So if your preference is the former, you are at a structural disadvantage and it is inherently frustrating if one is so inclined to allow themselves to be frustrated.