1 Marinate the nether rod
In the squish mitten

2 Them settlers west of the Alleghenys?  Weird, they are.

3 Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process.

You can't write better government propaganda that that

4 The safety word is Beijing.

5 We must come to the realization that the "geniuses" the media puts forth to us as experts and deep thinkers in order to influence us are actually complete morons. Many of these people have never accomplished anything in their worthless pathetic lives. No, writing your opinion in a paper is not an accomplishment, nor is receiving an award from other like minded people who enjoy patting each other on the back to validate their stupidity and lack of real achievement as intelligence.

6 Uh, really, that "core competency" thing we left you?  Yeah.  "Liberty".

7
Tom Friedman's house  Knock knock. -- Who's there? Neo-communist in big house spouting crap.

Paul Krugman and Tom Friedman should be laughed off the stage. 

8 past four years of Democratic rule.

You understate it.

Since the 1930's, America has been governed by "progressives". Occasionally Republicans were elected who promised to govern as Americans, but they still bowed to the "progressive" rhetoric. Government just keeps getting bigger; budgets never shrink; only rarely do they admit they had no authority and stop trying to run some part of our lives.

For 40 years, Americans weren't even allowed to brew beer for themselves -- despite it being a common and simple practice. But the minimal relaxation of federal power, graciously granting us permission to make our own beer (with strict limits on how much, and how you can share it with others) led to an explosion of micro-breweries, generating thousands of jobs around the nation.

Now, imagine if the government loosened its grip in other areas...

9 We must come to the realization that the "geniuses" the media puts forth to us as experts and deep thinkers in order to influence us are actually complete morons. Many of these people have never accomplished anything in their worthless pathetic lives. No, writing your opinion in a paper is not an accomplishment, nor is receiving an award from other like minded people who enjoy patting each other on the back to validate their stupidity and lack of real achievement as intelligence. Posted by: Dan
--------
Are you dissing Ace here?  j/k

10 Tom Friedman? Ya mean the one who let the Saudis manipulate him into backing a bogus "peace" plan? That Friedman?

11 Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process. Without that, we can’t afford the health care or defense we need.

Oh, DIAF already, you galloping ignoramus. Government attracts and educates more of that talent? Only to the detriment of the private sector, from which revenue to pay for the gubmint talent must come.

Red China - he's still luvin' it!

12 Rejecting them entirely and just trotting out the same old tired failed policies of the past four years of Democratic rule.

The non-moronic way of saying that Friedman wants to trot out the same pig but with a different shade of lipstick.

13 Friedman is a two-bit wannabe autocrat dressed up as a "wise man."

Aren't his 15 minutes over yet?

14

Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process.

Government:  The Engine of Prosperity

15 There's a mistake in the linked blog post. I think this paragraph ------------ The issues that upset the Tea Kettle movement — debt and bloated government — are actually symptoms of our real problem, not causes. They are symptoms of a country in a state of incremental decline and losing its competitive edge, because our politics has become just another form of sports entertainment, our Congress a forum for legalized bribery and our main lawmaking institutions divided by toxic partisanship to the point of paralysis. ----------- should have been indented. It's a Friedman quote, right? I had trouble comprehending that part of your post until I realized that paragraph was misformatted.

16 Look behind you once in a while, Tom, and you'll see that you're no longer leading a parade.

17 The final, notable event which will tell you that Liberty has again been restored to this land will be when the NYT building is bought by a consortium of investors from Oklahoma and ClownPunch Sulzberger gets evicted from his apartment in Queens.

18 Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process. Without that, we can’t afford the health care or defense we need. No Tom. If it's always about what the government is doing then it's not leadership, it's a roadblock.

19 We have been a socialist nation since the 30s. We are ow converting to communism. The liberals can not see what they are doing and how it effects the economy. There cry is that "it just hasn't been done correctly" when people keep telling them that it has been a massive failure everywhere it has been tried.

Hell, even Castro has said it is a failure. The only place left in the world where communism is on the rise is in the U.S...........until now.

People have had enough.

20

I don't remember Friedman being such a doucebag during Clinton's presidency.  Seems like he was fairly reasonable.  Am I remembering that wrong?

21

Friedman's blather has the sound of desperation, like he's trying to change the course of the stampede at the last second before he's trampled. 

He's got the same problem all of the elites have.  He's convinced of it himself, but he just can't quite get people to see that he's as smart as he thinks he is.

Keep at it Tom.  At least it will give you something to do.

22

This is the plan the real Tea Party wants from its president. To implement it would require us to actually raise some taxes — on, say, gasoline — and cut others — like payroll taxes and corporate taxes. It would require us to overhaul our immigration laws so we can better control our borders, let in more knowledge workers and retain those skilled foreigners going to college here. And it would require us to reduce some services — like Social Security — while expanding others, like education and research for a 21st-century economy.

Dat be some funny shit rite thar chillin'.

23
A couple of my friends moved to Hong Kong about 6 months ago.  The couple both enjoy an active lifestyle.  Anyway, after they get home from a walk in the city, their clothes are so foul with industrial pollution that they have to peel them off and throw them in the laundry immediately.

You know - since China is so clean and fresh and modern.  Unlike neanderthal America.

The Chinese communists pollute the entire globe, and Tom Friedman is fine with it.

24

Here's another desperate lefty:

http://tinyurl.com/36da33r

I'm sure Barry will try to help him out though.

25 OT:  Iran launches squadron of flying boats.

Meet the MK 110:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzBPGfCq21s

26 I liked DrewM's essay. It's funny that there's going to be more discussion about it here than on the original blog that hosts it.

27 What Tommy Boy says is da truth. 
Here, let me nurture some creativity upside your f*ckin' heads to remind you.

28

Drew M?

Never heard of him.

29 Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process. Without that, we can’t afford the health care or defense we need.

Exactly!

Who knows how many Einsteins we could be keeping out if we tried to enforce our southern border?

30
how the U.S. government attracts and educates

Yeah, like all the talent in any federal office you have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. 

31 Tom Friedman should be required to revoke his surname, for multiple reasons.

32 Did Friedman say this with or without a pipe in his mouth?

33
Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets

Does anyone else find that sentence absolutely infuriating?   Damn freidman needs some wall-to-wall counseling on totalitarianism.

34 Nice work, Drew.  And nice blogging lately.

35 Just another self-anointed elite flapping his cocksucker in response to both of his neurons firing off randomly.  Why are we even engaging the irrelevant, anymore?

36 Damn freidman needs some wall-to-wall counseling on totalitarianism.

He's had it. He likes it.

37 Sorry, having trouble comprehending this, cannot get the words 'pug skull-humping' out of my head from the last thread. skull-humping in a middle of the week middle of the day thread? nov 2 should be all kinds of wild in moronland.

38 People have had enough.

This is something I don't think the left is getting.  Its not just that we are upset at the profligate spending and other crap coming out of DC, but that we are willing to nominate and elect just about anybody to change the nature of DC.

The citizens that can see and hear are telling the DC blind and deaf that a train is coming and trying to pull them off the tracks, but they just keep on walking towards destruction.

39

wow, no wonder this administration is crashing into the furniture and pee'ng on the floor. These people are their deep thinkers.

nov. 2nd hurry up!

can we turn this disaster around? I'm serious what..

we can defund. we can do what else? do we have a concise list of steps to derail this crap?

ugh, i'm eeyore-ing

 

40 34:  Actually, that would be 'Frei-', not 'Frie-'.

Yes, I actually remember some of my college German.

Yes, that probably makes me a bad person.

41
Friedman speaks in Theor-ese.

He's a two-bit philosopher. A bloviator. A campus wonk.

Friedman's 'ideas' are what college sophomores think of while writing essays for their humanities courses.

42 What these guys don't get is that 1/3 of all votes are cast before Nov. 2. So, the election is being won/lost right now.

43
a middle of the week middle of the day thread?

Screw that, there's college football on tonight, this is the weekend buddy.

44 Shockingly enough, Tom Freidman is also a smug, self-satisfied douchebag.

45

Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process. Without that, we can’t afford the health care or defense we need.

"Cloward and Pivan" is still raping our economy, but "Alinsky" has fucked these people over big-time. 

46
The only person who takes this dope Friedman seriously is Charlie Rose.

47

Thanks Drew:

 

I just read the TF columb in my local Dog Trainer, and needed to deconstruct each sentance down to figure out why it was wrong.  Thanks for summing it up.

 

 

48 [W]hat is AmericaÂ’s core competency and strategic advantage, and how do we nurture it? Answer: It is our ability to attract, develop and unleash creative talent. That means men and women who invent, build and sell more goods and services that make peopleÂ’s lives more productive, healthy, comfortable, secure and entertained than any other country.

Okay, nothing seriously wrong there.  Now for the next paragraph.

Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process. Without that, we can’t afford the health care or defense we need.

Given the bang-up job most if not all US government endeavors turn out, this statement is laughable.  And what has been noted here time and time again, much better than I can put it now, is that the best way to unleash such talent in individuals is to get the government out of the way. 

btw, Tom, "health care" is not a responsibility of the government.  The greatest thing about our Constitution and the Bill of Rights is that our rights aren't predicated on the government having to do a single thing for us to have them.  "Health care" as a "right" means that I have to give up liberties and money to somebody else for them to have this "right", which means it isn't a natural right at all.

49 "Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process."

This is laughable on so many levels it's difficult to know where to start.

First; it is precisely government interference in the private sector that stifles innovation. There are a few examples of government innovation; the best is probably the Manhattan Project, but one could argue that with the proper incentives the private sector could have created the atomic bomb; maybe even quicker and less expensively.

Second; I defy this smarmy little cocksucker to show us even one example of the leadership (read: Congress and Obama) acting as the catalyst for creation. He will trot out green energy, but that has been debunked as a huge money sink, without any positive cash flow. There simply are no other examples. Every time that government tries to favor an industry, a process, or anything created by man, it simple creates an unbalanced market that distorts everything around it. Anyone remember ethanol as the savior of America?

Third: Oh, fuck it. Fuck you Thomas Friedman. Go back to your McMansion and your ivory tower and your condescension that just oozes out of you.

50

I would love to know how that shlub can afford that ridiculous home he creeps around in...maybe he married wealthy, but it's a ridiculous place.

What a dickhead.

51 He will trot out green energy, but that has been debunked as a huge money sink, without any positive cash flow.

Now, that's bullshit right there.

52 The Chinese communists pollute the entire globe, and Tom Friedman is fine with it.

Posted by: Lemon Kitten at September 30, 2010 03:29 PM (0fzsA)

Then it's official:  Flathead is the NYT's Walter Duranty for a new century.

53 OT;  Gloria Allred is a giant DOUCHEBAG.

54 #58  Third: Oh, fuck it. Fuck you Thomas Friedman. Go back to your McMansion and your ivory tower and your condescension that just oozes out of you.

Amen.  Better yet, Thomas Friedman should move to that utopia that is China and see for himself the wonders their "corporate communism"  (I'm stealing that, btw) has bestowed on the people. 

Here's my Ace-style rebuttal to Tho-Mao Zedong-man - Shut the fuck up! 

55

One Meme of the Progresive movement, that really needs to be countered, is the idea that the Government is an entity unto itself... one with Wants, desires, and goals... which leads to a Government having RIGHTS.

Anytime I hear someone say "its in the US Governments interest to", I cringe... becaue the US Government is a THING, not a person... and its "interests" should be nothing more than to keep out of the way of a FREE PEOPLE.

Even on Conservative Social Policy, like Marriage... I hear its in the Governments interest to promote Family and Marriage... and I must ask... how would a nonthinking THING have interests, and HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?

Its called projection... where you put YOUR interests and beliefs onto a non thinking thing, in order to promote your own Personal Agenda.

56 Dear Tom, STFU. Love, people that can think for themselves and reject your idiocy.

57 But, I have a 9 million dollar house.  I must be right.

58

Ace, great post, Drew great post.  Now get back to work.

What better than Thomas Friedman to sound off against the Tea Party movement?  Friedman is a first tier elitist and media smarm who comes across as a self-loathing individual stylized in the mold of Welcome Back Kotter's Arnold Horshack . . . but in Friedman's case, he really thinks he's the cool Freddie 'Boom Boom' Percy Washington.  A fool trying to play cool is double the laughter and in that regard . . . Friedman is a veritable 2 for 1 special.

Friedman hails from the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park - the same burb that produced Al Franken.  Useless knowledge?  You betcha!

 

59 And for those who are curious, little Tom is sucking on his father-in-law's teat. He was very wealthy man, until recently.

60

 Answer: It is our ability to attract, develop and unleash creative talent. That means men and women who invent, build and sell more goods and services that make peopleÂ’s lives more productive, healthy, comfortable, secure and entertained than any other country.

And clearly the way to nurture this "core competency" is through a heavy handed, centralized, top-down command economy.

Everyone knows that nothing nurtures creativity like inflexible rules, unmanageable  red tape, and punishment of success.

61 So Tom is saying that, as a surprise to almost everyone, especially TEA Party members, it turns out that the goal of the TEA Party is a centrally-planned economy.

I guess isolating yourself from the world in a McMansion can have the effect of making you forget that the Soviet Union failed, some time back as it turns out.

Or, he's just a print & paper concern troll.

62

How can you take a movement seriously that says it wants to cut government spending by billions of dollars but won’t identify the specific defense programs, Social Security, Medicare or other services it’s ready to cut — let alone explain how this will make us more competitive and grow the economy?

*cough*

You have to pass the bill to see what's in the bill, cocksucker.

Now fetch me a juice box. Wonton flavored.

 

 

63 I like how he says all the tea party (kettle) is doing is letting off steam. I think that he misunderstands steam and pressure, the Tea Party is not a steam whistle on a tea pot, it is a pressure relief on a boiler, an indicator that your boiler is over pressure, and, if the condition does not get corrected, may rupture.

My wife learned this lesson while doing some pressure cooking. She had seen me do 3/4 full boil cooking vice steam cooking  before and decided to take a crack at it. She failed to turn the heat down from high when the hula dancer lifted as I had been careful to do every time I cooked this way. Fortunately she was not injured when the seal broke and released super heated flashing dinner all over the kitchen.

So this liberal "their just letting off steam" meme; I wonder if they have ever asked themselves how high that steam pressure really is and what is going to happen if they keep the heat on.

64

How cute. Thomas Friedman's in-laws are billionaires who aren't terribly fond of paying all those higher taxes Friedman wishes to impose on us.

 

65 a) These people are not as smart as they think they are and
b) we are Americans, we are not protofascists who long to be ruled by ubermensches because
c) a free government of just laws does not need experts to pull the levers and switches of government.

We ordinary folk can govern ourselves, Mr. Friedman.

66 1 Marinate the nether rod
In the squish mitten

Posted by: Rocks at September 30, 2010 03:15 PM (Q1lie)
________________

Could have been moron-ku if you'd switched it around a bit:

In the squish mitten
Marinate the nether rod
First you will blow me

67

So far so good until this:

Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates ....

A teacher I know showed me this trick that proves 1=2. The mathematical sleight is toward the middle when he divides by zero. That's an invalid step that also invalidates everything that follows.

That's what Friedman did when he equated leadership with government action. Everything after that phrase is just intellectual-sounding jibberish.

68

we are Americans, we are not protofascists who long to be ruled by ubermensches because

we r Mercians, we r not pro... pro...protofashistz who long 2 B ruleed by    ooo... oooo....oooburrr-mensas

69

"[W]hat is AmericaÂ’s core competency and strategic advantage, and how do we nurture it? Answer: It is our ability to attract, develop and unleash creative talent. "

No, Tom. The answer is freedom. Freedom.

Freedom is why we attract the creative talent to our shores. Here, in America, people have traditionally had the opportunity to be innovative and successful without some bureaucrat gumming up the works. Or, you know, breaking down the doors at night and hauling dissenters off to some remote secret prison. 

That's why people have put their life in jeapordy to come here. The freedom. Not to be developed and unleashed by some monstrous government planning agency funded by a staggering tax burden. To live free lives in which they might develop and unleash themselves.

70 I can't remember if it's Friedman or Rich with the mansion that has a carbon footprint equivalent to that of Denmark.  I'm sure somebody cares what he writes, but it is not me. 

71 Why anyone would take Friedman seriously on ANYTHING is beyond me. The guy is a fucking idiot.

72 Liberals remind me of Eugene Levy's car salesman character in "National Lampoon's Vacation;" they're forever trying to give the customer what he doesn't want. Kind of like with Health Care Reform":

"If you think you hate it now, wait til you drive it home!"

73

Fine, Tom...you want our plan?  Our real, complete, ultimate plan, laid out in such excruciatingly microscopic detail that even a nitpicking, intellectually dishonest douchebag like you will be unable to find one single thing wrong with it?  OK, here it is:

Hope.  Change.  Unicorns.

If it was good enough for you, it's good enough for us.

74 RIGHT WING = TEA PARTY

LEFT W-NG = TEE DOUBLE-U AY TEE PARTY.

75 Tom Friedman = anal polyp

76

I really do like the google interface for writing. However, I will give the new distraction free writing feature a try. Thanks for the update to the dashboard

77

Thanks so much for the upgrade!

78

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