Sorry dear but you're in no position to disagree. You are "not" military. You are the spouse of a military person. Different mind set.

Drmiler, I don't know what happened, but you used to be a rather intelligent, sometimes witty writer even when I disagreed. Now, all I ever see from you is hate filled ignorance.

I hope things are going well for you, dr. I'm a little concerned, frankly.

I'll partly retract my previous statement. I am glad that you did apologize to Brandie, at least. But my concern remains.

And it is the concern of a person that sees you as the intelligent, capable contributor you are. I do hope things are going well with you.

I'll partly retract my previous statement. I am glad that you did apologize to Brandie, at least. But my concern remains.

Well then Gideon I have to presume you didn't read the whole apology.

Tex, I would have done this on JU but you blacklisted me so I can't. I wish to offer my apology for being so rude to you on rightwingers thread. What I said is the way I feel, but it could have been said in a lot better way. The way it was said is inexcusable at the very least. Little Whip said it for me later. We sometimes forget who we are dealing with (meaning you) after having dealt with the likes of col gene and dabe. And like most "idiots" I tend to lump all liberal types together. Even if they're cut from different cloth. Whether or not if you come back to JU...I don't want to be the reason you go. Please except my apology. John J. Miller Pittsburgh, PA Remember: A good friend will come and bail you out of jail... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, Damn...that was fun!" "Illegitimis non carborundum"

Or what I posted on a different thread:

I didn't mean to be so dismissive. Like I told para...They (you) are "part" of the military and rightfully so and hopefully always will be. Ya'll are just a "different" part is all.. Your one sentence is what I was aiming at and obviously missed. I do not fully comprehend what my husband, or his fellow Soldiers, experience throughout the day or while on deployment Nor can you, because you're a different part of the equation. Hopefully I said that a little better that I did the first time. You take care now and come back soon. Like I said I don't want to be the reason for you leaving. John J. Miller Pittsburgh, PA Remember: A good friend will come and bail you out of jail... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, Damn...that was fun!" "Illegitimis non carborundum" -----Original Message----- From: Brandie Neal [mailto:brandie0121@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 1:30 PM To: John J. Miller Subject: Re: Apology John, I absolutely accept your apology and appreciate that you cared enough to take the time to offer it. I realize that you are not one to worry with using soft words, and I accept that about you. What hurt me was the dismissal of my views and experiences simply because I am a military spouse and not a service member. I do not fully comprehend what my husband, or his fellow Soldiers, experience throughout the day or while on deployment, but I am intimately familiar with many of the expectations the military has for him, as well as with the ins and outs of military life. I have sought out ways to be supportive of, and involved with, his military career, and I do not take my obligations as a military spouse lightly. To have my experiences dismissed out of hand was extraordinarily hurtful to me. I also want you to know that while to you I may seem obtuse or similar to the liberals that you battle day in and day out, I am truly sincere in my beliefs, and search constantly for what is right and true. I am not one to refuse to concede or admit to being wrong. I am willing to examine my beliefs and adjust them when needed. We will not always agree, but I can promise you that I will give thought and consideration to the views and evidence presented by you and others. I may not always (or even regularly) come up with the same conclusion as you, but I am, and will continue to be, willing to read, learn, and think about the ideas you present. Thank you again for this humble act of kindness. It is greatly appreciated. Take care, and have a great day. Sincerely, Brandie aka "Tex" "John J. Miller" wrote: Tex, I would have done this on JU but you blacklisted me so I can't. I wish to offer my apology for being so rude to you on rightwingers thread. What I said is the way I feel, but it could have been said in a lot better way. The way it was said is inexcusable at the very least. Little Whip said it for me later. We sometimes forget who we are dealing with (meaning you) after having dealt with the likes of col gene and dabe. And like most "idiots" I tend to lump all liberal types together. Even if they're cut from different cloth. Whether or not if you come back to JU...I don't want to be the reason you go. Please except my apology. John J. Miller Pittsburgh, PA Remember: A good friend will come and bail you out of jail... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, Damn...that was fun!" "Illegitimis non carborundum"

Although I do appreciate even the partial retraction.

RW, Well, when WHITE friends of mine lobbied the Wisconsin State legislature because the legislature didn't want to fund their child's PRIVATE education (incidentally, these individuals were STAUNCH Republicans), when Republican senators such as Bob Dole staunchly supported farm subsidied for decades, and when businesses DEMAND economic incentives to relocate, you can't tell me the entitlement mentality isn't JUST as pervasive among MANY whites as it is among MANY blacks. It's not a race thing, it's an ignorance thing.

I'm sorry, Gid...I'm not making the connection between the quote you highlighted and what you wrote. Maybe I'm just dense here?
I don't agree with farm subsidies...people should pay for their own kid's schooling if they don't want him/her in a public school...and I have to admit to knowing little to nothing about relocation incentives.
But, when a certain person or persons gets a virtually free ride for so very long, others in that person's vicinity may start to question why they can't get at least a smidgeon of the pie for which, after all, they're ultimately paying. They start to see the unfairness of it all, and they're perfectly correct in that view.

My only problem with Tex is that she steadfastly refuses any and all opportunities to see this particular subject differently, even down to simply asking the opinions of those she trusts. It frustrates me; I don't REALLY care how she feels about the welfare thing. I mean, I can probably even make a very good guess at how she feels about it.
My problem is that she claims she's never even heard of a racial bias in goverment benefits and programs. Everyone knows about it. EVERYONE! That's what bugs me to no end...if she would just say "okay...it DOES often seem that there is a racial bias in favor of minorities", it might take some of the irkiness away. But she won't; because she says she's never heard of it, and absolutely refuses look into it.
HOW could she not hear about it? WHY won't she just ask people what they think? That's the "bubble" I say she lives in. Maybe I should have said "cave", I don't know.
I'm not sure why this irks me so badly +LOL+...it just does. And I am chuckling here, because I KNOW that it bothers me waaaay out of proportion to anything it actually affects. Who really cares? But it bugs me and I offended her by being a jerk myself, just like the guy in the MRE line...the comment that opened the gates.
I do see her as deliberately naive...I can't help that, and won't apologize for that. I do apologize for treating her like a child. That's not fair to her.
Thanks for posting, Gid.

Zoomba:

Sorry to have missed your post. I'll answer it now as best I can. First, I really don't think it's fair to compare me to those two pointy-headed nincompoops....I will listen to reason, if it's presented to me.
While the burden of proof does, indeed, lie with me, I did not feel the need to go out of my way to prove a fact that is so blatantly obvious and well-known to most of the population that it has become part of our national identity and a target of pop culture satirization. I'm not talking about Bush and his policies, global warming or Social Security or the war in Iraq; I'm talking about welfare and other race biased programs; things that everyone KNOWS are race-biased. Everyone knows about it, even though there's no actual way to prove it...look, I'm tired of saying that, so I'll just stop. See my answer to Gideon, above, and what I wrote to LW earlier. I posted an apology to Tex. What more can I do?

Sorry dear but you're in no position to disagree. You are "not" military. You are the spouse of a military person. Different mind set. Drmiler, I don't know what happened, but you used to be a rather intelligent, sometimes witty writer even when I disagreed. Now, all I ever see from you is hate filled ignorance. I hope things are going well for you, dr. I'm a little concerned, frankly.

And if you think I was intelligent and sometimes witty as a writer then why am I still blacklisted on your threads? You're not b/l'd on mine.

How about letting ALL people be held accountable for their actions Rightwinger.

That is better.

It's not a race thing, it's an ignorance thing.

I wish I had more insightfuls, and GREATS!

Keep in mind that some of these handouts are open to others (welfare is an example of something that ONLY HAD A MAJORITY OF BLACKS ON IT FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS... so who was on it before and was it a hand out when a white person is on it?)

---JoeK


As it had to be pointed out to me by a wise blogger here, the whites would be the greater number using the benefits by simple virtue of their majority in the population. It's when you break it down that you see that a greater ~~SEGMENT~~ of the black population has historically been on the recipient roles, as opposed to the white population.

Even now, as a black person wanting to open a business, a white person might be more open to talking about it and even joining up, while a black person, on average, would be more sceptical.

---JoeK

Not sure what this means, Joe....

I am not suprised (and I don;'t think any one should be) that a person of color said that. We are all human and there are those who are dumbasses. Black people can be dumbasses too, but it would seem that because we are black, we are not allowed to be stupid.

---JoeK

Oh, but they are...stupidity on the part of blacks is whole-heartedly encouraged by liberals in the government and their race-based programs.
In fact, it's how they do business with them; the more dependent they can keep blacks on the government to take care of them, by giving them virtually everything they need because of their skin color or racial background, in other words, the "stupider" they can keep them, the easier it is to keep extorting votes out of them. Keeping blacks "in the dark", so to speak, is a big part of the Democrat Party's platform.

I do feel that dispropotionaily that black people think on more racial terms that white people without foundation in logic, but that will diapate as the younger generation gets older and as the children become young adults

---JoeK

Sorry, but this isn't my experience. To the contrary, I've always found older blacks to be the more accepting of the generations, because they actually lived through Jim Crow and segregation, having to use separate restrooms, telephones, water fountains, even lunch counters. They remember well how bad it was for them in their youths, and can better appreciate the changes that have been wrought, in their favor, in the last 40 years.
The younger blacks, on the other hand, are the ones who've never had to live with segregation, and have had 40 years of government handouts and liberal patronization; not mention the destructive influence of race-baiting conmen like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and their chorus of supporters, who've made an extremely comfortable living by constantly telling blacks how bad it still is and how Whitey is keepin' 'em down. Rubbish, and we all know it. But, blacks keep on ingesting the Lie, much to the detriment of race relations in Modern America.

It will disapate as education reaches into the families (I shouldn't be the ONLY child of 20 cousins to have a gegree, but in the future it will be higher ANDbe more expected for faily and friends to go) and neighborhoods (I shouldn't be the only one on my block to have a 4 year degree), as wealth reaches more families, and as both the father and mother raise their child.

--JoeK

I do agree with this: that you shouldn't be the only one with a degree; with so many government grants and scholarships exlusively set aside for the use of black students...college education should be common in the black population...but, hey--Whitey's keepin' 'em down, right?

I can only hope that the last half of your statement is true, but with the government having made it easier to raise families with only one parent, it's becoming less and less necessary.

I hope you're right, I really do, but we may never live to see it.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks, middleman. Link

As I have said many a time and will repeat many a time, it takes more than a generation to give black people a chance to make things that others are use to having (wealth, power, education, central family unit) something of a normal thing rather than something special.

hmmm.... I have been trying to see your view, but I have a few questions that I don't have answers to:
1) How do people from other countries, like Russia, who are still living in poverty and suppression able to come to the US and prosper?

2) Who is a "family unit" (both parents raising a child) something that black people have to work to have? 

3) Why do blacks not have the "skill set" that white people do?  I grew up in a very poor community, and there were plenty of uneducated, poor people who figured out how to make a living by working hard.  How does the color of their skin change that?

The only thing that I took away from your comment is that black people are different from whit people (or Asian, or American Indian, etc.) because they are using the past as an excuse for the present, which I really don't want to believe.

There should be no reason that a color of a person's skin changes my view of them.  Actions are all that matter.  I refuse to hold somebody to a different standard just because of the way they look.  I don't care if you are white, black, beige or purple, you have the ability to take accountability of your own life and make something of yourself.

3) Why do blacks not have the "skill set" that white people do? I grew up in a very poor community, and there were plenty of uneducated, poor people who figured out how to make a living by working hard. How does the color of their skin change that?

Good question. I guess when you have everything you need in the world handed to you, you forget how to do things for yourself? Thanks for posting, Karma.

You too, LW.