In between giggling and snickering, Vice President Biden managed to get a few memorable one-liners in:
“That’s a bunch of malarkey!”
“I don’t understand what my friend is saying!”
“We did not know they wanted more security”
“Incredible!”
“It’s not my position to reveal classified information but we are confident we could deal a serious blow to the Iranians” (no pun intended?)
“This is a bunch of stuff!!”
“FACTS MATTER!”
“Let’s take a look at the facts. Lets’ look where we were in office. …$1.6 trillion in wealth lost. WE knew we had to rescue the middle class, we rescued GM, we moved in and helped people refinance their homes”
“I’ve had it up to HERE with this notion that 47%…its about time they took some responsibility”
“Just get out of the way!”
”Any letter you send me, I’ll entertain”
“We saved $716 billion dollars”
“Who do you believe?!”
“That’s not what they said!!”
“LOOK!”
“Use your common sense. Who do you trust?!”
“We want to extend the tax cut for…permanently!”
“They’re holding hostage the middle class tax cut”
“Just let taxes expire!”
“97% of small businesses make less than $250,000/year”
NEXT Sentence
“96% of small businesses make less than $250,000/year”
“We don’t cut it.” (The American people agree.)
“Let me tell you what my friend said…”
“I’ve been through the whole country- mostly in a helicopter”
“We are leaving!”
“You are in a country that is heavily populated” (Are there countries that are not?)
“None has to pay for contraception”
“Keep an eye on the Supreme Court”
“I hope I’ll get equal time”
“My whole life has been dedicated to leveling the playing field”
“We inherited a God-awful circumstance. People are in trouble.”
“Honey, it’s gonna be okay!”
——————————————————————————————————
If something happens to Obama, this is what you’re left with.
Have you ever thought about how incredibly exhausting it is to argue with a liberal? Besides the name-calling and the lack of logical reasoning, sometimes their irrationality can make it feel like you are the crazy one. But that’s simply not true. First, you have to strike the word ‘liberal’. The official definition of liberal is “Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded, lacking moral restraint.” While the ‘lacking moral restraint’ is correct, a more appropriate term is ‘progressive‘ (a very thorough definition). So, here are a few reasons why just listening to a progressive will make you go cuckoo.
10. They will tell you that everyone should be more tolerant, just not of God or Christianity.
Tolerance is defined as ‘a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one’s own.’ Ever been called a racist (see #7) or a bigot by a progressive? Their mantra is ‘tolerance with exceptions’. If you’re white or male or Christian, you are scum. In the 1960s, the atheists and the ACLU combined to convince the Supreme Court to ban both formal prayer and Bible reading from the public education process, then they took the 10 Commandments out of Courthouses while attacking the US Dollar and the Pledge of Allegiance. War on Women? How about the War on God.
9. They will tell you that you should join a union.
Yes, we see how well that worked out for GM, Chrysler, the Chicago Public School Children and Wisconsin. John Hawkins outlines why unions are bad for America here but he says they damage entire industries (true), they ruin public education (double-true), unions cost taxpayers billions (yes, also true), they are anti-democratic (couldn’t be truer) and they are bankrupting cities and states (yep, true too). Some also say that unions lead to unemployment. Instead of demanding collective bargaining rights, why don’t you try working hard, receiving raises and promotions because you earned them and have some personal responsibility. You may find out that you’re more reliable anyways.
8. They will tell you that corporations aren’t people.
And that is true. But who creates a corporation? Who runs a corporation? Who invests in a corporation? Who PROFITS from a corporation? Who gets in trouble when something goes wrong? That’s right, people do all of those things! So why should you tax a group of people different than one individual person? Please distinguish, my progressive counterparts. Back. Up. Your. Statements.
7. They will tell you that the Republican party is only rich, old, white men.
Allen West, Marco Rubio, Sarah Palin, Artur Davis, Nikki Haley, Clarence Thomas, Renee Armore, Janice Rogers Brown, Keith Butler, Jan Brewer, Herman Cain, Michele Bachman, James Weldon Johnson, Martin Luther King, Sr., Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Susanna Martinez, Mary Fallin, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowksi, Olympia Snowe. Shall I continue on?
How can progressives claim this is so when they are represented by people like Harry Reid, (formerly) TED KENNEDY, Bill Clinton, Mike Beebe, Jerry Brown and Andrew Cuomo (to name a few)? Instead of r-i-c-h, o-l-d, w-h-i-t-e, it should say h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e!
6. They will tell you that we should just open the borders and welcome everyone with open arms and a smile.
Please tell me what happens when you illegally cross the border of another country? Israel, Mexico, Iran? Russia? Canada? Shall we revisit the case of the hikers in Iran? Give me a break. Our current debt is over $16 trillion. Do we need to be responsible for more handout recipients? The short answer is ‘no’. If it’s that important to come to the United States, do so legally. There is not a valid argument that states otherwise.
5. They will tell you that there is a War on Women.
Abortion. Equal pay. Working outside the home. Progressives will try anything to say the GOP tactic is to keep women barefoot in the kitchen with a baby and a submissive attitude. Think again. Republican women are powerful, too. They just don’t wear pant suits.
4. They will tell you that gun control will make our communities safer. First things first: there should be NO restrictions on a 2nd amendment right guaranteed by the Constitution. But, since our government seems to be hell bent on ensuring we have as few rights as possible, let’s review why gun control won’t help. If someone shoots at me, I’m shooting back. If ‘legal’ gun owners are forced to surrender their guns, they will be sitting ducks for the ‘illegal’ gun owners. There will still be a black market for guns. It’s very simple and people have the right to protect themselves. Progressives just don’t think so. Georgia Tech campus ring a bell?
3. They will tell you that we can tax our way out of debt…and we must tax the rich the most!
They’ve got to share! Correct? NO. According to Mary Katherine Ham’s article in the Daily Caller, “The grand total of the combined net worth of every single one of America’s billionaires is roughly $1.3 trillion. It does indeed sound like a “ton of cash” until one considers that the 2011 deficit alone is $1.6 trillion. So, if the government were to simply confiscate the entire net worth of all of America’s billionaires, we’d still be $300 billion short of making up this year’s deficit.” And what about the notion that 60% of collected taxes come from the top 5%? This goes back to number 8. Yes, it’s true that some wealthy people are taxed at a lower rate, but they also pay taxes as a corporation, on investments and other earnings. They contribute significantly to our economy and the government black hole. Paul Ryan told Hardball in 2011, ‘several small businesses file as individuals. Small businesses are the largest source of employment in our country. If we taxed the “wealthy” any more, these companies would have to lay more people off and stop hiring. This would be disastrous for the middle class in our country.’ Need I say more?
2. They will tell you that Obamacare is not a tax increase.
This one is my favorite. Especially since the Supreme Court just ruled in June that it is, in fact, a tax. Oopsie daisy…now what do they say? It’ll save money in the long run. Everyone needs health care. WAKE UP, FOLKS. Healthcare and health insurance are two very different things. No one is owed anything in this world. All of this is besides the point because this is something people are being forced to pay in an effort to redistribute to those in need. That is a tax. (a tax is a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.) Ding ding. We have a winner. $788 billion isn’t going to just ‘appear’.
Another fun point to this argument is the notion that insurance companies support Obamacare. How about this whistle blower illustrating how much was spent lobbying AGAINST the healthcare bill. No private company wants this. Consider today’s news with Darden and employee hour cutbacks.
And the number one reason you can’t talk to a liberal… 1. They will tell you that George W. Bush is responsible for everything wrong in the world.
I will call a spade a spade. George W. did a lot of things wrong. A lot. I won’t get into specifics because this blog isn’t about him. It’s about what he didn’t do. He did not create the housing crisis single-handedly, he did not ring up more debt than all other previous presidents combined, he didn’t kill our soldiers and for the-love-of-pete, he did not make Hurricane Katrina happen.
So there you have it. Anytime you hear any of the above 10 phrases, it’s best to just walk away. Because you won’t win.
You can listen to the mom’s of the world who say “If a friendship can be undone, it was never really a friendship.”
You can listen to the hippies of the world who say “Can’t we all just get along?”
But is politics reason enough to drop a friend?
The current situation is very sick and twisted. Long passed are the days of keeping mum on politics and religion. Our country is so divided, so separated, so broken.
I’ve lost a few Facebook friends because of politics (Heaven forbid!) and I’ve seen family members take “time-outs” over disagreements over politics. But I recently lost a really close friend because of political beliefs and it made me question where politics falls in our daily lives.
When you think about it, our political views are based on core beliefs, religion, morals, and ethics (or the lack of all of the above for some). Are these things we can sacrifice for friendship? Or are we sacrificing friendships for politics?
A study was released in March by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that 18% of people have defriended or blocked someone on Facebook because of political postings. Another 28% said they counter with rebuttal or competing post.
As a blogger, I’m certainly not one to stand down from my views or keep my mouth shut on an issue. But throughout my life, I’ve surrounded myself with people who live life like me…my friends have a faith of some type, work hard for their earnings and are good people. Can I spend time with someone who doesn’t believe in working hard for things that they want? Do I want to go shopping with someone who is still living off Mommy & Daddy at 25? Can I discuss relationship issues with someone who thinks my tax dollars should pay for their abortion or birth control? The answer is no.
Let’s not get it twisted. I won’t break off a friendship because someone supports a different primary candidate than me or thinks we should give foreign aid to Israel but not Peru. It’s more about the rhetoric and tone BECAUSE of the great divide. Republicans are called bigots, racists, women-haters while Democrats are labeled system-milking, abortion-getting liberal swine sluts. Whether the names are true or not, the dialogue is no longer respectful-from either side. Our discussion of politics has become immensely PERSONAL. I can hardly stand the sight of someone who supports ObamaCare because of 1) how its going to affect me and 2) because of their lack of understanding of actual issues. So when it comes to a morale-based talking point, where do you draw the line?
You can certainly choose not to discuss politics with your friends, but I would argue that there is a growing trend of politics bleeding into every day life. Political views are now like a fashion accessory. And with the ever-evolving policy changes we are seeing, it may become more and more difficult not to resent someone who supports a policy that will negatively affect your personal and financial freedom.
Because I am tired, speechless from stupidity and unable to translate this evenings debate into words, I have decided to publish my notes from the debate ‘in the raw’. We’ll see how this turns out. I have edited down from the 4 original pages to some highlights from our dear leader.
Notes in ‘regular font’ are things the candidate said (indicated by their name)
Notes in ‘bold’ are my own thoughts
Whenever you see lines resembling “jfkdlhflksdhfjksdhf”, you can insert your own expletive.
9:00pm Gosh I hate how Obama walks. He is so pompous.
O: Michelle, next year we won’t be celebrating our anniversary in front of 40 million people…exactly. Cause you’ll be back in Chicago. O: The auto industry has come roaring back (lie), the housing market is has begun to rise (lie) I wish he would keep his hands down. It’s so distracting
R: Romney: 5 basic parts to encourage growth: energy independent, open up more trade, make sure people have skills need to succeed, balance the budget, champion small business . Small businesses are at a 30-year low.(WHY AREN’T YOU MENTIONING OBAMACARE!!!!!)
Obama: Trickledown- Improve education. Made enormous progression drawing ideas. Race to the Top (YOU DIDN’T BUILD THAT!) Hire 100,000 teachers? (WHOS GONNA PAY FOR THAT?)How do we deal with our tax code? How do we have enough revenue to pay for that? How can you call it addition to the deficit when the money is never pulled or supposed to be pulled from the people? Cuts aren’t spending! They are opposites!
Obama: I cut taxes for middle class families by $3,600. We do best when the middle class is doing well
(Uhh What did Joe Biden just say yesterday? Middle class has been Barry’ed?) They can now buy a computer for their kid going to college, helps business. (LOL!)
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9:28 pm– first mention of Blame it on Bush.
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Obama: go back to bill Clinton tax era. Encourage job growth and make investments in education and energy (HOW?) 97% of small business would not see increase. Millionaires and billionaires are not small business (DEFINITION OF SMALL BUSINESS…make sure to look it up …………………)
For the record, folks, the definition of a small business is “A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales”
Obama: Cut those things that aren’t efficient…77 gov programs. aircrafts that the air force order, 18 education programs that weren’t helping kids learn, Medicaid/medicare fraud, cut $1 trillion out of discretionary budget,
$4 trillion deficit proposal: Its on the website…$2.50 for every cut, we ask for an additional $1 (WTF? I don’t know what you are saying. And I thought many of your constituents were at a disadvantage by not having internet. Now you tell us to visit your website so we can “see what’s in it”?) Quit smirking.
Obama: Governor has ruled out revenue to address the deficit. (DUH! That’s what he just said you ding dong!)
Obama: Social Security is structurally sound. (Sir, get a grip.) The mere concept is ludicrous.
Obama: 4 years when I ran for office, I had same conversations. Small business couldn’t get affordable costs. Biggest driver of federal deficit…THEN WHY THE DSHDKASHDKASHDKSAH WOULD U MAKE IT A GOVERNMENT THING? People cannot get coverage. Insurance companies impose limits. (Aren’t there limits in car insurance too? You have to protect private companies at some point)
UGH!
Obama: This was a Republican idea. When he talks about this unelected board, group of healthcare experts to figure out how we can reduce the cost of care in the system overall. 2 ways to deal 1)leave a whole bunch of people uninsured. 2)how do we make the cost of care more effective. When completely implemented. Healthcare premiums have gone up but slower than 50 years. That’s like already getting a rebate (No words, just sweat and headaches)
Obama Race to the Top: we will give you more money if you initiate reforms. Lets’ hire 100,00 math and science teachers. Hard pressed states can’t do that. 100,000s of teachers laid off over the last few years. Government can’t do it all. We will have a better trained workforce. (Please tell me…if you couldn’t afford to pay them then, and they’re still broke, how can you pay them now? We’re looking for money in all the wrong places. Where’s waldo? Lets put wood on a burning fire when we should be looking for water to solve the problem and then find new, better materials to make for a sturdier system).
obama: significant program. Race to the top…budget reflect choices. Making college affordable…we were sending $60 billion as middle men. So they cut the middle man. Keep low interest rates. (these things are not related! you are off your rocker. Student debt is at an all time high…over $1 trillion!!!! why are you encouraging this!!!!!!)
10:29pm
I’ve had enough. Exhaustion sets in. And it’s over. But never too exhausted to argue with people on Facebook about their own commentary throughout the debate. Thank you and good night.
No really, they are. Okay, not ‘ugly’. Less feminine. Last week, UCLA released a study showing that the GOP has a more feminine face. Their findings seemed significant: “Female politicians with stereotypically feminine facial features are more likely to be Republican than Democrat, and the correlation increases the more conservative the lawmaker’s voting record,” said lead author Colleen M. Carpinella, a UCLA graduate student in psychology.
Did we really need a study to tell us that conservatives tend to be a bit more on the feminine side?
So why is this so? Upon my immediate desire to research this further, I was impressed by the plethora of results already on Google regarding this topic. Things like ‘Ugly Comments by Ugly Liberals, LiberalsAreHypocrites.com, and ‘Why are Liberals So Butt- Ugly?’ But I wanted to stick to liberal and conservative politicians and figureheads, not people who mouth off to stir controversy. Some people said it was because ‘conservatives have more wealth’. I thought that was funny. I had no idea Hilary and Bill were scraping for groceries or that Elena Kagan was receiving WIC benefits. Another ‘reasoner’ stated that liberals look the way they do to appeal to the people they want to vote for them. What? There really isn’t a ‘reason’ except that ‘people think so’. But that’s reason enough for me.
I’m going to go ahead and make my own associations here: class & femininity. I’ll also fully disclose that I am a bit old-fashioned. I like long hair, skirts and dresses and looking like a woman. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t spent any time around men who said “Man, did you see how good that chick looked in her pant suit?” Love ’em or hate ’em, you cannot deny the class that conservative women exude.
But you can’t tell me that you have to have a pixie hair cut, wear a pant suit and a pinkie ring to be powerful and successful. It sometimes seems like liberals get so hell-bent on being pro-choice, pro-equal pay, pro-free-birth-control, anti-objectivity feminists, that they forget to be feminine. They forget that they are actually women.
Would it kill you to put on a skirt or a shift dress? Would using a hair dryer and a curling iron mean you no longer believe in equality? A little blush? I don’t think so.
Every so often, I have the opportunity to discuss something I’m passionate about in my graduate classes. Below is the PDF file of a policy paper for my Higher Education Seminar class. In it, I discuss the student loan opportunities, implications of “over-receipt”, how it’s effecting our economy and the failure of proposed legislation on the federal level. Personally, I believe in a complete cessation of federal student loan lending, but that extreme measure has a small likelihood of taking effect at this time. The paper is broken down by headers in case you prefer not to read it in its’ entirety. I also included a class handout which briefly details the overview of the paper with graphs, charts and bullets…for people who like pictures!
Note: Just because you are not a student, doesn’t mean the mountain of student loan debt doesn’t affect you. This is an overall economic issue, not one affecting only a single generation of millenials.
Dear Texas, You’ve been doing a lot wrong lately. Sincerely, America.
Last week, as our country was outraged by the events and tragedies in the Middle East, here at home we were further denigrating America. A Texas school district removed an American flag [pictured below] with Obama’s face on the right side and the words “Obama 44th President. 56th Inauguration January 20, 2009”. What is this…Cuba?
The flag was displayed in a classroom in southeast Texas for nearly a week before it was removed. After a flood of emails from parents, the principal removed the flag herself. Diane Boyett, communications director for the Victoria Independent School District said “the flag was displayed in a disciplinary classroom reserved or in-school suspensions and used by “very few students“. She also said the teacher meant no disrespect and that it had “no political undertones”. She compared it to placing a picture of George Washington or John F. Kennedy on the wall in a classroom. Seriously? Displaying a photo for learning purposes and posting political memorabilia are two very different things.
Teachers claim day in and day out to be “public servants”. Public servants are not allowed to campaign while in the classroom. And let’s not forget what a terrible example this is setting for children: defacing a flag, honoring a politician, forced political indoctrination…the level of offensiveness is beyond measure.
Our flag is a symbol of our freedom. The epitome of America. Representing vigilance, perseverance, justice, and valor. It used to be disturbing, upsetting and reprehensible to deface a flag with “any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture or drawing of any nature” (US. Flag code). Now people just smile and flip the TV back to ‘The Voice’ or ‘Honey Boo Boo’. Before you are a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or whatever you’d like to label or not label yourself, you are an American. Never ever ever should someone’s face appear on the American flag.
If you don’t see something wrong with this…you need to take a cold shower and wake up! With the violence overseas where they are removing OUR flag and replacing it with things we don’t believe in and killing fellow Americans, we should, at a very minimum, respect the flag here at home.
Saturday I attended the Cobb GOP Breakfast. It was my first one since primary season, seeing as though I was still weeping and eating birthday cake for the August one. These breakfasts generally have the same schedule every month: some time to mingle, formalized prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, introduction of present elected officials and then on to the main speaker. This time, all was status quo until the elected officials were introduced and you heard several loud, overarching boos. They continued during each briefing by elected officials. When I turned around to see the boo-ers standing in a small group wearing Ron Paul shirts, I was overcome with disappointment.
I proudly supported Ron Paul during the Primary as well. I am a staunch Constitutionalist, I believe in the smallest form of government and vehemently disagree with many of the policies that have been implemented over the last few years- the NDAA, Obamacare, and ARRA to name a few. I sometimes feel misrepresented by parties and my elected officials and more often than not, feel many freedoms are slowly slipping away. But I’ve also accepted that Ron Paul is not the Republican nominee and if I would like to participate in Republican activities, whether it be on a personal level or a professional level, I need to be respectful of their causes, initiatives and goals.
During the booing, you could just see the Republicans in the room seething and becoming more and more irritated with every shout, cackle and disruption. It was truly disrespectful. I was sitting close enough to the gentlemen to overhear Congressman Phil Gingrey stop them on his way out. He said he appreciated their attendance and to please call his office if they would like to set up a meeting to discuss some of their concerns. The gentlemen shook his hand and then snickered and made even more nasty comments as the Congressman walked away. After the meeting as everything was breaking up, I walked up to the group of gentlemen and asked them why they attended the events if they hated Republicans so much. It immediately escalated to one gentleman yelling at me about my beliefs and shouting about my ignorance which drew a “You don’t KNOW me” from me. After explaining my disconcert with his delivery and my thoughts on party rejection of his message because of his delivery, the man admitted that he could be a bit brazen, brash and ‘in your face’ but that if he ‘changed’ one person, he won. I stated again that he is on Republican breeding ground and suggested a few different ways to garner different reactions. I extended my hand for a handshake at the end of our heated discussion and asked them to please consider my points.
But here is the thing: The venue is all wrong. You have to know your audience, man. We were at a REPUBLICAN breakfast to rally for REPUBLICAN ideals and to initiate a REPUBLICAN grassroots effort. I don’t attend Democrat events in an attempt to alter their opinions on gun control (or the lack of need for it), abortion, affirmative action or any other issue. It wouldn’t make any sense. It’s like yelling at a brick wall. My mom always told me you get further with honey than with vinegar and I certainly never received any recognition for throwing a temper tantrum. If you’d like pancakes for dinner, instead of saying “I WANT THE ******* pancakes you *** ** * *****!!!!” maybe try “I’d like to have pancakes for dinner some time this week. Is that something we can discuss?” Compromise. Act like adults.
Republicans shout that a write-in or 3rd party vote is a vote for Obama. Ron Paul extremists shout that Romney=Obama. But the cold hard reality is that both groups need each other if they want to make any progress.
Do I believe that the Republican Party, on a local and state level, should make a more concerted effort to address the issues and concerns of Ron Paul supporters? Yes, I do. Do I believe that many Ron Paul supporters have been acting like children and therefore discrediting the rest of us? Yes, I do.
So let’s recap. I support their message.
I believe in dissent.
I don’t like boo-ers.
I don’t support their method of delivery.
I don’t condone disrespect or temper tantrums.
I want real change.
I want Obama out of office. The options are a) incremental change with the Republican party or b) full-on revolution.
Which is going to stabilize things for our country that we so desperately need?
Student loans. Two words I escaped in undergrad but responsibly and begrudgingly chose to assume for my graduate degree (currently in progress). I’ve blogged about student loans in the past, but now that I am actively going through the process, my convictions have strengthened.
My decision, after much contemplation and research, to assume student loan debt was not an easy one but necessary if I wanted to make that “investment” into my own future. (Note: I do not plan to “Teach for America” or work for the Feds, so it’s safe to assume that I will pay back every penny with sufficient 6.8 % interest.)
I could NOT believe how easy the application and approval process is. You fill out a few questions about yourself and your financial state (and at my age, both of these are minimal), submit, wait, and APPROVED! You then complete a 15-minute webinar on loans, sign a “digital signature” and your loan is assigned to a master company who you deal with directly. The money is directly deposited into your account. After doing this, you don’t really hear from your loan host, except for a few ‘holidays’.
This year, I received a “birthday card” (via email) from my student loan host…on the wrong day. They don’t even have my date of birth correct in their database. Fabulous record keeping. Sure, this is a minor feat, but when you can’t record-keep correctly, it makes me question what else you can’t do correctly.
Then, just this week, I received a “Welcome Back!” email from my loan host as well. Please see the ‘circled’ sections below:
A few things to consider before we move on:
There are subsidized loans, which allow you to hold off on accumulating interest until graduation day; and unsubsidized loans, where interest begins accumulating from the day you accept the loan. With unsubsidized, you can either a) pay the interest during your time in school or, b) have the interest funneled into the final loan amount and end up paying interest on interest. (initially, you can choose subsidized over unsubsidized, but subsidized maxes out earlier than unsubsidized)
Being the stingy, OCD person who would rather spend that money on something else, that I am, decided to take ‘option A’ in regards to my unsubsidized loans to ultimately reduce the amount I have to pay back. You would NOT believe how difficult this process is.
Let’s talk about how unrealistic student loans are.
Where in real life are you expected to make a monthly payment without receiving a bill or some sort of “payment voucher” etc?
Where in real life can you REDUCE THE TERM OF YOUR LOAN because you’ve gone 10 years with on-time payments? (I’ve yet to meet a mortgage lender who says “Thanks for being on-time for the last few years. We’ve wiped your slate clean, the house is yours!”
We saw with the mortgage industry what happens when you assume more debt that your asset is worth. So why are we allowing students to pull out the maximum [graduate] loan amount of $20,500/year when tuition can often only cost $5k-$6k? Imagine how low payments would be or how quickly you could pay off loans if only the bare minimum was accepted?
Another problem: deferment. I fully support our armed servicemen and women and agree with deferment while they are fighting for our freedoms overseas. I do not support deferment for those experiencing “financial hardship”. If you are unemployed, you can defer for up to three years. Really? I guess this is better than allowing unemployment benefits to be put towards loans, but still. How is this even an option? Maybe you should have selected a degree in something other than Art History or Gender Studies through Social Work.
Finally, cancellation. Whose idea was this? I would love to know so I could take them for a long walk on a short plank. Like I mentioned above, loan amounts can be taken out to far exceed the cost of education. Now there is an option to cancel loans for a variety of reasons. If you plan to cancel the loan based on “service”, don’t disperse a loan at all. Simply don’t charge tuition for said person. Allowing them to take out sometimes 4x the loan amount and then canceling the entire thing…???Heaven only knows what we’ve actually paid for in tax dollars.
The last thing I am implying is that students are not responsible for their own loans. They absolutely are. But, back to the email….
Why would you send emails saying “You don’t need to do anything!” when in reality, you do?
Why would you cease correspondence after signing loans until 6 months after graduation when the payments begin?
Why would you omit the fact that you can start making payments on your loan amount starting the day you assume them?
Why would you allow telephone operators to say payments cannot be made over the phone and make online account set up extremely time-consuming in an effort to discourage early payment?
I’ll tell you why: Because student loans are a feeder into the dependency of a nanny state.
With student loan debt at an all-time high, approaching nearly $1trillion dollars, we should be scared. We should be making moves.
We should absolutely encourage people to begin paying money back immediately upon the commencement of the loan. Even if it’s only $10 a month, some sort of effort, some sort of action should be promoted if it won’t be required.
We should ONLY allow tuition costs paid directly to the school + a book allowance to minimize repayments and loan withdrawals.
The student loan program is entirely broken. It is only working for that small percentage that actually pays, or intends to pay, back the full amount + interest. I call for an entire moratorium on the federal student loans industry. Otherwise, cost will only increase as those of us who make every effort to repay them are left with the burden of compensating for those who do not.
Back in May, I published a post detailing John Albers’ redistricting shenanigans in regards to Brandon Beach and the primary race in Senate District 21. I expressed my support for Brandon Beach in the district based on my personal interactions with him and his plans for Fulton and Cherokee counties. Apparently, this is like armed robbery of a preschool because within hours of my posting, “insiders” were calling people in my circle asking who I was and why I would do such a thing. I’m talking staffers at the Dome, attorneys and other consultants. My personal policy is support the person I think is best for this office. This is not always the incumbent. You would have thought I was the only person on earth to ever go against an incumbent. Imagine Senator Rogers’ surprise when there were a few others who weren’t on his side. Unfortunately, I succumbed to political pressure and took the blog down. This is also against my policy and what this blog stands for and for that, I apologize.
Now, there are a few things to understand. It’s been two years since I worked on the Albers Senate campaign and I sealed the bad memories solely on the fact that I have had no issue succeeding since I left Mr. Albers and figured he would self-destruct on his own. Even though I did not sign a confidentiality agreement, I originally planned to just “let it go”. And since I worked on his campaign, I know some of the mischief he encountered in a last-ditch effort to win his campaign- this is all besides the point but tuck it away for conclusion-drawing later. But since then, John Albers has made numerous attempts to discredit my reputation and defame my character. (You can read why Mr. Albers doesn’t care for me here, here, here, here, here or here.) I also spent a legislative session at the Capitol this Spring where Mr. Albers consistently and maliciously spent numerous hours bad mouthing me to aides, other Senators and staffers and accusing me of stalking him to any one that I networked with. Yes, you read the correctly: stalking. What Mr. Albers didn’t know was that I have plenty of friends down at the Gold Dome who cued me into what he was doing. At first, I was upset, as any young girl trying to start her career would be. How could an old man use his political power to try to sway others’ opinions of me? I also heard other initiatives that Mr. Albers took in an effort to get me to stop blogging, but none of them worked. I know he doesn’t do this with the AJC or the former Beacon Newspaper. Did he just think he could behave like this because I’m young? After some thought, it hit me: John Albers is scared of me and by doing this, he was attempting to disgrace me by making me look untrustworthy and misguided. As I realized what was happening and I heard some of the reactions, I realized that I had more fans at the Capitol than Mr. Albers and I was just a little ‘ol intern. I couldn’t help but giggle when someone said “Get real! You certainly have better taste than that!”. After a few months, however, this warranted action and Mr Albers received a certified letter explaining what slander is (in case he didn’t know) and demanding that he stop, with threat of a lawsuit.
I have not been a saint when it comes to blogging about Albers, it’s true. But because I helped get him elected, I feel obligated to hold him accountable for his decisions at the Dome, not to mention, I grew up in the district and many of my friends and family reside there. After the first blog I posted, John called me and asked me to take it down. I would not, simply because nothing I stated was untrue. I have always stuck to the issues and legislation when it comes to my assertions about ‘ol Johnny (except when I said I thought he was going to shoot someone out of a cannon) and I have encouraged him to correct me when I am wrong. So far, I have not misstated the facts and he has not attempted to correct me. He has resorted to childish measures and his actions are simply unacceptable. Shame on you, Senator. The people of District 56 and the citizens of Georgia deserve better than someone who will resort to slander and throwing their weight around when challenged by a youthful blogger who is simply demanding responsible government and adequate representation.
“Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation’s heart, the excision of its memory.”
The Perspicacious Conservative 