From: larocqu@gaul.csd.uwo.ca (JOHN LAROCQUE)
Subject: Re: NDP "communism?" (was Re: A vote for Reform...)
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 04:38:34 GMT

In article <C0o5wH.Cns@ecf.toronto.edu> pelton@ecf.toronto.edu (PELTON MATTHEW ALAN) writes:

>>Communism and socialism both espouse the same ideology - a system that will
>>solve all the world's problems. As a guy named Jesus tells us - we will
>>always have poor people. And unlike poor people 50 years ago - poor people
>>today have color tv's, and can spend welfare money on wasteful and anti-

>  And I wonder where you've been living, or if you've ever actually seen a
> poor person.  The hundreds of people that come into the Scott Mission daily
> don't own a change of clothes, let alone a fucking colour TV.  If you live
> below the poverty line and have a spouse and a kid, you're lucky if you can
> affor rent, heating, and food.  Luxuries are pipe dreams to these people.  
> I'd advise a reality check.

Both my grandparents were illiterates. Their children grew up poor. There were
no social programs back them. My father grew up so poor he didn't even go
to high school because the family needed money. No, poverty wasn't their
fault - but all of them to some extent escaped it. The worked their way
out of it. The stories he tells me about his childhood make think about
the people today. Poverty is a RELATIVE thing. Poor people today are
living a luxury compared to poverty 50 years ago. Work is the only 
answer, not handouts. He who works neither let him eat.

>  Of course, we all know that the poor brought it on themselves.  Never mind tha that they were born poor, never recieved an education, wouldn't even be 
> considered for higher-paying jobs, and are stuck in dead-end positions with
> no hope of ever making above minimum wage or doing anything interesting for a
> living. 

Today people can still start at minimum wage and build themselves up to
a cool $14 an hour. Like me. And I'm part time. Yes my work sent me
to university. Not all of those rich snobs who manipulate people like
their parents or OSAP to fork over 15-20000$ a year to send them there.
I say to them - you don't deserve to be here.

> And forget, of course, the omnipotent government that sets minimum
> wage at a level that couldn't support a single person, let alone their family.

Bull. If only the welfare office taught these people to manage their money
better (no lottery tickets or TV, and better shopping skills) instead of
just handing over money. Don't assert to me that "they don't get enough".
At the place I work you can get a 10kg bag of rice for $5. Don't tell me
that "they don't get enough". You've probably spent too much money on
that expensive Kraft Dinner to look for real bargains. You can live
CHEAP AND HEALTHY on a Welfare budget.

>  Lord knows most unemployed people are perfectly happy scraping by on measly
> UIC checks.  They're much happier watching "I Love Lucy" re-runs all day than
> thinking that they're actually doing something productive for society.  And
> the ones who can't work because they're disabled, or mentally handicapped,
> or illiterate -- all their fault too.

It's the government who has brought on so much of this misery. People are
hurting because of unfair restrictions on small and medium sized businesses.
Because of high taxes. Because of all sorts of government related problems.
Like landlords who earn less money then their tenants no thanks to rent
control. Don't cry on my shoulder about who is the real victim. Maybe we
could look after real people - those disabled , no physically challenged-
people with the money wasted on bailing out corporate welfare bums like
those sleazy oil companies in Nfld or sending our troops off to some war.
I have a retarded relative - a second cousin - who actually works for a 
living. Everybody can be productive. Our system is a product of those 
people who think that if you are unproductive nothing can change that
and thus as Victorian paternalists - they deserve free money. Nothing
changes.

>  I suppose it was my father's fault when he got hit by a car driven by a
> woman who had just suffered a stroke at 150 km/hr down the wrong side of
> a highway.

Far more people die on the road because the guy behind the wheel was
drunk. But go on.

>  And my friend feels very guilty about forcing the taxpayers 
> to pay for the reconstruction of his right arm after he was hit by a hit-
> and-run driver (probably drunk) while walking down the sidewalk.  

The government takes enough of your taxes that you don't need to feel
guilty about it. Maybe we should have the insurance people replace the
bozos who run the system today.

>Or my
> second cousin, who got infected with HIV through a blood tranfusion.
>  They're all very sorry, and they agree that your taxes should be cut.

My music teacher also got sick. He didn't put his heart on his sleave.
He functioned as best he could. And then one day he died. I found out
later that he had AIDS. I don't even care how he got it. AIDS is a bad
disease. But it is not the only disease. And the cure will be far
more expensive than the prevention.

The problem with AIDS is that 98% of it could've been prevented. Bad
sex practices or using drugs introduces AIDS to many people. Early on
they contribute blood to the blood bank or give it to their boyfriends/
girlfriends and down the line your second cousin gets AIDS. A sad 
disease. Maybe the people who spread the disease in the first place should
pay for him. After all they gave him the disease.

Maybe they should speed up the process for all of those new drugs. After
all they are going to die anyways. Why make things more difficult?
And I am sure that they are going to be more than willing to try them.

-- 
***FEAR*AND*LOATHING**FEAR*AND*LOATHING**FEAR*AND*LOATHING**FEAR*AND*LOATHING**
**  John LaRocque         **   "If you're the new messiah.. I'm going to be  **
**  marshall.law@uwo.ca   **   the one to drive in the nails"  MARSHALL LAW  **
***FEAR*AND*LOATHING**FEAR*AND*LOATHING**FEAR*AND*LOATHING**FEAR*AND*LOATHING**