Screwy Logic? You Betcha, Governor!
From this I took away two things.
One, that at least this one professor at an East Coast institution of learning -- Jill Biden teaches college English -- is exempt from Palin's Roll Call of Contempt, which otherwise includes such intellectuals, the Ivy League schools they attend, and pretty much the entire East Coast.
The other is teachers' pay. By saying Jill Biden would have her reward in heaven, I had assumed Palin meant that she and other teachers wouldn't be getting it in more tangible currency here on earth.
But no! Palin went on: ``I say, too, with education, America needs to be putting a lot more focus on that and our schools have got to be really ramped up in terms of the funding that they deserve. Teachers deserve to be paid more.''
You'll get no argument from me there. But wait: what pays teachers' salaries? Taxes! And where was Palin a few moments later in the debate? Back in her anti-tax groove. Taxes aren't patriotic. Taxes are bad. Taxes have to be cut, cut, cut. Did I say taxes are bad? Well, doggonit, they are.
Maybe in Alaska, teachers get paid in moose stew. Here in the lower 48, public school teachers get paid with the public's tax dollars.
First, where I live in the lower48, property taxes pay the bulk of education costs. Jill Biden teaches at the Stanton/Wilmington campus of Delaware Technical & Community College; so I would imagine state or local taxes and tuition pay a good part part of the costs. Overall, in the United States, Federal grants are a fraction of education funding.
At any rate, if paying Federal Income Tax is Patriotic, why do the bottom 48% pay zero net federal income tax? Obama wants to cut Federal Income Tax for those who pay no net Federal Income Tax. That is a rebate, not a tax cut,
Second, I did not take it as a reference to Biden's first wife at all. 'They get their reward in heaven' is old expression for teachers and others who do good work and put in long hours for low pay, It means that the value of the work is not measured in dollars and cents. My parents used to that years ago, they were educators. They also used to say, "No rest for the weary,"
Posted by: robin | October 05, 2008 at 07:37 AM
PALIN: MS HUBRIS, USA
In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance; it is often associated with a lack of knowledge combined with a lack of humility. An accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow, similar to the occasional pairing of hubris and nemesis in the Greek world. The proverb "pride goes before a fall" is thought to sum up the modern definition of hubris. In reference to someone being in hubrity: hubrity is a fulfillment of being hubristic or a continual behavior of being prideful. Victor in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein exudes hubris in order to become a great scientist, but is eventually regretting this previous desire. Faustus in Christopher Marlowe's play Dr. Faustus exudes hubris, all the way until his final minutes of life.
Posted by: DUNCAN | October 05, 2008 at 01:27 AM
In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance; it is often associated with a lack of knowledge combined with a lack of humility. An accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow, similar to the occasional pairing of hubris and nemesis in the Greek world. The proverb "pride goes before a fall" is thought to sum up the modern definition of hubris. In reference to someone being in hubrity: hubrity is a fulfillment of being hubristic or a continual behavior of being prideful. Victor in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein exudes hubris in order to become a great scientist, but is eventually regretting this previous desire. Faustus in Christopher Marlowe's play Dr. Faustus exudes hubris, all the way until his final minutes of life.
Posted by: DUNCAN | October 03, 2008 at 10:33 PM
I thought she was making a snarky comment about his first wife. I listened to radio so I didn't see Biden's response. I also missed all the winking. Lucky did she was doing well, or else she would have started unbuttoning things.
Posted by: Moose Stew | October 03, 2008 at 04:49 PM