Jesse Jackson Jr.: Hey, Why Don’t We Amend the Constitution to Give Every Kid a Right to a Laptop Computer… and an Ipod… and Ponies!
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]
(Note: the part about “Ponies” is a joke. He never said that, as far as I know.)
I guess you have to give him credit for not claiming it is already in the Constitution, right?
Still basically his solution to all our economic woes is to create a new entitlement, forcing the government to spend taxpayer dollars to buy stuff:
When asked later whether his free Ipod amendment could be satisfied with a free Zune, he was quoted as saying, “of course not. That would violate the Eighth Amendment!”
I mean you gotta love the specificity of it. Not just the misnomer “mp3 player” but a specific brand. No word on whether he would require a certain amount of memory in it.
God, there is so much wrong with this I hardly know where to begin. First, there is nothing presently in the Constitution that would prevent the Federal Government from buying a bunch of laptops and Ipods and giving it to everyone and… No, wait, delete that. I don’t want to give them ideas. Still you have to be amazed with his economic analysis which seems to be completely unconcerned with issues such as “how the hell do we pay for that?” I’m sure our credit will still be good with China, right?
Of course if you oppose this proposal because it is wildly irresponsible socialism, then clearly you are a racist.
Joking aside, this is the fundamental shift in the relationship between the individual and the state that is being brought about by Obamacare. The state becomes the provider of everything. And the government big enough to give you everything is the government powerful enough to take it away.
A case in point, the Daily Mail reports that Dr. Daphne Austin, described as “a leading [National Health Service] official” has said that any baby born below the age of 23 weeks should just be allowed to die. This is what central control leads to: people start to play God with your life and the lives of others. And people become valued simply for what they give to society, instead of life being inherently precious, while sugar-daddy government shows that it can give and it can take.
H/T: The Blaze.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
Unicorns dammit! I want Unicorns! I hear they sh*t skittles too.
dfbaskwill (ca54bb) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:19 amGood old Rep Jackson doesn’t care how it gets paid for. That’s China’s problem. Just do it. Oh, isn’t that Nike’s logo? Oh, well, that’s from China, too. But I heard it was all kids in the getto (SP?). So that would mean that pigmentally challenged kids wouldn’t get one. Is that racist? You have to ask any more, as almost anything is nowadays.
TimothyJ (5a11f5) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:22 amAmerica is broke and poor and already it has to stand in the street with its cup out begging hard-working Chinese people for spare change.
I don’t think Mr. Jackson’s plans are very realistic.
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:26 amHard to imagine he went to St. Alban’s huh.
narciso (bcb6cc) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:32 amThere are three types of Democrats:
1. Those that have never read the Constitution.
2. Those that have read it but don’t understand it.
3. Those that understand it and don’t like it.
JJ Jr. is probably in the #2 category, but wouldn’t rule out #1.
beer 'n pretzels (3d1d61) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:36 am“the fundamental shift in the relationship between the individual and the state that is being brought about by Obamacare.” No, it is being brought about by ignorance of the meaning of the concept of “rights.” And it goes back many decades at least. Look at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948: it includes “rights” to all kinds of goods and services, though not by brand-name.
gp (72be5d) — 3/7/2011 @ 11:57 amThey did this in Detroit with stimulus money. Some of the laptops were sold on ebay.
∅ (e7577d) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:06 pmHe continually repeats, “He says…” as he’s going through this litany. Who is he quoting?
Gesundheit (aab7c6) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:10 pmI don’t want a computer or an iPod. I do want
27-inch iMac
Remove Save
Ships: 1-3 business days
Part number: Z0JP
Configuration
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x4GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User’s Guide
Magic Mouse
Apple Remote
iWork preinstalled
And the iPad2. JJr is woefully behind.
JD (7b97b3) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:11 pmLovely. Junior is a scum sucking maggot, just like his daddy. More freebies for Afr-Americans…just what our bankrupt nation needs to pony up for! These human cancers have sucked all of the life blood (and $) from this country.
DakMan (ecf5f8) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:11 pmA.W. – They can just create a tax credit to pay for it. People, assuming they file a tax return, can file for a rebate of their required purchases on their tax returns and the Treasury Department will pay for it. Problem solved.
This ain’t rocket science. Heh.
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:13 pmJD – You forgot your f*cksaw.
daleyrocks (ae76ce) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:14 pmDakMan – their idiocy has noting to do with their race.
JD (7b97b3) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:17 pmi think dakman has mobied before.
or is it “mobyed?”
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:28 pmYes, but DakMan’s idiocy has everything to do with him being a plant.
Nice try, but likely good enough to fool the LGF minions.
beer 'n pretzels (3d1d61) — 3/7/2011 @ 12:31 pmThe sad thing is, all the laptops and ipods (wonder if he meant iPad?) won’t make a diff, won’t make school more “fun” or “relevant” or twentyfirst-centuryish. There’s nothing you can do to make students care about their own education, if they don’t care themselves.
carol (5a5d33) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:06 pmcarol
that’s a good point. maybe he just meant Ipad. which is less dumb, but still pretty dumb.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:08 pmIf we provide free laptops and ipod pursuant to the Constitution, does that mean that the recipients are all entitled to any upgrades that come out?
Rochf (f3fbb0) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:21 pmat this rate who’s gonna be unemployed is Santa and a whole passel of elves heretofore extraordinarily industrious elves, and it’s troubling. It really is.
happyfeet (ab5779) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:23 pmtroubling not unlike my punctuation
happyfeet (ab5779) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:25 pm‘feets – *most* things are unlike your punctuation …
(innocent smile)
Alasdair (e7cb73) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:34 pmAll these laptops and iPods will be made in China. Wont help our unemployment much.
Hazy (4e0dda) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:47 pmDakMan – their idiocy has noting to do with their race.
Comment by JD
You are probably right. Often we try to understand why people act like complete jackasses, Obama for instance, but it’s more likely a function of being Democrats and we mistakenly attribute it to race.
kansas (7b4374) — 3/7/2011 @ 1:58 pm______________________________________
his solution to all our economic woes is to create a new entitlement
One reason communities on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder can be so foolishly, mindlessly liberal — and therefore enthralled by people like Jackson Jr — is they have everything to gain, little (or nothing) to lose. IOW, when people are on the bottom of the heap, it’s almost impossible for them to go anywhere but up. So they can support idiotic politicians and governments (at the local, state and federal levels) and shrug off the consequences. From that is born variations of grimy urban America, Mexico, Greece, Venezuela, etc.
That’s a key reason why folks higher up on the pecking order (particularly at the middle-class level) but who also embrace leftist thinking and policies — and who are not employed by the government — are saps and suckers.
Mark (411533) — 3/7/2011 @ 3:57 pmSome town on Long Island had the brilliant idea to give every high school kid a laptop. They were horrified to discover within a short space of time that the students produced way less work and instead used the freebies to mostly look at porn. (No firewalls. The district claimed it was an oversight – not stupidity).
So if Jesse Jackson Jr is suggesting that every kid should have a laptop, I hope he isn’t dumb enough to think it will produce better, more well informed and educated young people…in academic subjects anyway.
Dana (9f3823) — 3/7/2011 @ 5:47 pmporn laptop is great for porn
happyfeet (ab5779) — 3/7/2011 @ 6:00 pmExtremely well said, Mark. That is core to the progressive movement’s most cynical leaders today. Alinky wanted more desperation and agitation, not progress. As do his radical followers.
Give a man a stake in our republic’s success and they no longer need the government’s goodies, but are ironically far more invested in a government that can persist.
Dustin (c16eca) — 3/7/2011 @ 6:04 pmThis is nothing new. Jesse Jr. has introduced this amendment into every new Congress of which he’s been a member. It gets shuffled to the very bottom of Judiciary’s committee schedule and goes no further.
He’ll be doing it again in two years.
Captain Ned (d86d5a) — 3/7/2011 @ 7:30 pmIn her defense, allowing persons to die due to pre-existing conditions (absent a contractual obligation to treat the condition) is a far cry from shooting or poisoning persons to cause death.
Michael Ejercito (64388b) — 3/7/2011 @ 8:17 pmA lot of ignorance going around these days.
Ran (489e9a) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:22 pmYou are right Ran. The Democrats (the party of slavery, Jim Crow and the KKK) proved too strong for J.Q. Adams.
Have Blue (854a6e) — 3/7/2011 @ 10:48 pmHe’s using that wacky definition of “right” where it’s not enough for the government to stay out of your away; instead the government provides it for you. By his reasoning, the “right to keep and bare arms” means the government should be buying everybody guns. And since the Left always wants the 2nd Amendment to be about military arms… I want a SAW. And a tank.
And I guess the right to freedom of religion means the government will make a religion for me. Royism. Our central tenants are sleeping late on weekends, and sleeping very late on weekdays. And tanks.
What a useless little man.
roy (f572a6) — 3/8/2011 @ 12:21 amWait, I thought it was Teh Internet™ that was for porn…?
Darth Venomous (c8614a) — 3/8/2011 @ 8:43 am