Rush Limbaugh "Most Welfare Recipients Have a Color TV and a Microwave"

[Yollam]

When Rush Limbaugh says "Most Poor people and Welfare Recipients Have a Color TV and a Microwave" and his audience of middle-aged white suburbanites take that to mean that they have comfortable middle-class lifestyles, it really displays how out of touch he is with regular people, and how out of touch a lot of middle-class whites are with the plight of poor and working people, especially those living in cities where the cost of a modest apartment has soared to the point of costing more than a whole minimum-wage income.

I'm only 37, and I can still remember when "a color TV" was still quite the luxury item. In 1980, A 19" set cost about $300~$500, and at that time a weekly minimum wage income was about $124, BEFORE taxes being withheld. A typical apartment was only around $200/month!

Today, you can get a brand new 19" color TV set made by cheap foreign labor for only about $100. A weekly minimum wage income is a paltry $226, but a typical modest apartment is around $900 and up, except in the very cheapest markets.

As for a microwave, they were $500 to $700 back in 1980. Now they start as low as $50~80 new. And are you going to tell a single mother working 2 jobs that she's rich because she bought a microwave (probably on credit) so she can put some food on the table for the kids without spending an hour doing it?

I just bring this up because it vividly illustrates the straits working people find themselves in, and the falseness of the anecdotes used by the right and even "liberal" middle class folks to imply that poverty somehow is not a problem.


America's poor and working people are sinking fast, and the "upper half" whether on the political right or left, seem to pretty much resigned to let it continue, and it fucking sucks.


"Well, ya shoulda gotten a degree"

"I did get a degree."

"Well, it serves you right for (running up your card debt/having kids too early/not getting a more marketable degree/etc. etc. etc)"


And thus it goes, with people making excuse after excuse for American businesses that will not pay a living wage, and a government that has not raised the paltry minimum wage in 8 years.



I don't live in the states now, and I make quite a bit better than the minimum wage, but I find it all quite disgusting. Why does this seem to BOTHER SO FUCKING FEW PEOPLE?

[lakeguy]

1. you can get a microwave or a color tv for free if you look

in the right places.

[DarkTirade]

7. Or close to it at GoodWill.

[greekspeak]

41. Thank you!

Truth to power!

[eShirl]

55. I got a b&w TV at Salvation Army Store for $5

they always have a few of those, less often color ones (which are $10 last I checked)

I'm sure the microwaves are around the same price range

[B3Nut]

80. Thrifts around here have lots of color TV's

don't hardly see B&W anymore. I haunt the thrifts semi-regularly trolling for 70's stereo gear...always looking for classic Pioneer, Sansui, etc.

My living room TV (26" RCA console) came from a yard sale a block away for $8. Spend around $12 for a universal remote to run it...more than I paid for the set! :D

Oh, and Rush Limbaugh is an idiot.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Kurovski]

105. A BIG FAT idiot.

[DarkTirade]

117. My old roommate got a TV from there.

I was always too broke even for that though. :)

[Canuckistanian]

68. Or pawn shops

I got a great color TV at a pawn shop for about $70. And microwaves are $5 - $20 at garage sales these days.

[MrPrax]

92. That's the fun part looking

for that shit for free...including computers and a whole host of perfectly good crap tossed out by people who want the latest...

When Rush is lurking around in alleys for his 'fix', he might check out all the crap sitting around...even binners have problems unloading that stuff--glutted.

[alphafemale]

2. What burns me is pointing out people on food stamps/welfare being fat.

No mention that the inexpensive food is often fattening with little nutritional value. (hotdogs, fatty meats, white breads, "juice" drinks)

And the fresh vegetables, whole grains, real juice, and lean cuts of meat are more expensive.

[Syrinx]

8. excellent point

Hadn't really thought about it that way. Thanks.

[izzie]

33. I still can not believe I pay 3 dollars for a loaf of bread.

I frankly go early in the day to look at the half price bread. Silly but I just can not get over the shock of that for good bread. Even on welfare I would think a colored TV and oven could be had. I just had to buy a new oven and I could not get over the cost. Last I bought was very high and I got a small one for under 30 dollars. Works fine. Lots of those rich people really do not get normal people at all. It is like people who have no children telling you how they would bring up theirs.

[greekspeak]

43. Thank you TOO! Truth to power again

I have seen many overweight people who were dirt poor. White bread is cheap, and so are a lot of those snack foods at the day-old places. Hot dogs, "blue box" macaroni? Cheap. Ramen? Cheap. Do you have to eat, even if you are dirt poor and on welfare? Yes. Fuck these heartless, greedy slimeballs. Do they think people enjoy eating a constant diet of junk?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

108. for their information, no we do NOT

what I wouldn't give for the extra money to buy FRESH fruit and veggies. :(

Something is totally wrong with the world when crappy canned overprocessed stuff is cheaper than fresh.

[AllieB]

47. That's why diabetes is so prevalent among the poor also

all that white flour, white sugar and preservatives. The cost of good food has skyrocketed in the past 3 years, so now it's even more difficult if you want to eat healthy.

[etherealtruth]

53. In addition to the expense ....

Fresh produce is generally not available in the poorest neighborhoods

[eShirl]

56. cheapest foods you can get are rice, pasta, potatoes and dry beans (n/t)

[xmas74]

81. And, what they supplement their diets w/ from the local

food pantry is usually not the healthiest.

My soon-to-be six year old and myself volunteer at the local food pantry once a month. Most of the food tends to be canned meat (think generic Spam), boxed mac and cheese, a couple of cans of veggies and maybe a can of fruit. The rest is seconds or discontinued candy, snack cakes, etc. If we're lucky we get some extra powdered milk that we divide up into ziploc bags.

If you get an appointment in the fall you might get some game (deer, elk, etc) that has been donated by a citizen and sometimes in the summer a backyard gardener will have an overflow of tomatoes and cucumbers-first come, first serve.

If all you can afford is junk that is what you will eat.

[girl gone mad]

3. I hear the same argument about the uninsured..

owning plasma television sets.

As in, they could all afford insurance if they would only stop buying plasma television sets and ipods.

Well, a plasma tv is a one-time ~$2k expense (I don't own one, so I don't know exactly), but insurance for even a healthy young person can be into the hundreds, every single month forever. If you have any pre-existing conditions, forget about it.

Plasma TVs, microwaves and ipods are not the problem.

[Random_Australian]

4. Those who are affected by it, spend all there time just putting food

on the table. Those who are emotionally affected by it, I don't know. Those completely unaffected by it, the RWers, commit the fundamental attribution error.


Everyone else: "Rush Limbaugh is a triple batshit crazy pampered bastard who has never suffered any comparable hardship in his entire life"

[Warchild]

5. pffffttttt

Rush Limbaugh is just another shit stained scum float in the neo con buffoon parade.

[Syrinx]

9. I must say that's an interesting turn of phrase :)

[Richard Steele]

101. He's the greasy film on top of the backwash.

And anyone who thinks that color TV's and microwaves
are a sign of affluence is about 30 years out of touch
with American reality.

[killbotfactory]

6. I guess he and his audience has never been to a thrift shop

idiots

[aquart]

10. Or used Craigslist.

[Yollam]

22. But don't you see? That just shows how GREAT AMERICA IS!

That worthless, wretched, smelly poor trash can go to a, what did you call it - Goodwill? a Goodwill and get a TV and a microwave for nothing!

Why over in communist western Europe, they all wear loincloths and ride smoke-belching minibuses through their rubble-strewn streets to work because they're all so broke from paying their entire incomes for that lousy rationed national healthcare. And they can only afford cabbage soup to eat before sleeping in their unheated rabbit-hutch-like hovels! Our poor have it better than their middle classes! :eyes: (I actually heard Limpballs say that last sentence one time!)

Because of people like Limbaugh, millions of Americans are blissfully ignorant that the standard of living for MOST Western Europeans is actually much HIGHER than it is for MOST people in the US. (sigh)

[NMMNG]

11. You aren't kidding

I've been apartment hunting lately and am entirely flabbergasted. After searching all of the towns and cities in a 30 mile radius there are only two cities that have apartments I can afford. Even in the craphole town I currently live in now, where there is no mall, stores, theaters, parks or anything of interest, the rents range from $900-$1200. With two full time jobs I can't afford that.

I've ruled out one of the cities because after reading reviews at this very helpful site I've determined that all of the affordable places there appear to be crime-ridden roach motels. That leaves me with only one city left. Fortunately it happens to be the city in which one of my jobs is situated so it reduces commuting time and distance, thereby saving me some gas as well.

As to the appliances many quote as being the trappings of wealth, thanks to stores such as Wal-Mart and online discounters, one no longer need be rich to have such things. You can get an Emerson 20" Flat screen TV for $99.78. And you can watch your favorite videos or DVDs on that TV with this combo drive for just $89.87. Heat up your dinner in this 800 watt microwave ovenfor a mere $59.99. And so on, and so on.

So the comfortable and wealthy need to think again before they pounce on the poor for having "luxuries", for they are not as luxurious as they seem at first glance. And it is not nearly as easy to climb the ladder as one thinks--not when a rathole for one costs $800 a month or more.


edit to fix link

[rman]

12. the value of those two combined doesn't even cover one year of healthcare

[alphafemale]

15. More like one month, really.

You could get both - NEW - for about $150 or so. If you bought cheap models.

[kdmorris]

19. Depends on if you have a family

At my work, I pay $144 every two weeks for health insurance. There are people there who make $6.15 an hour that cannot afford that and get Florida medicaid for there children instead. They usually go completely without health insurance themselves.

I had a microwave and color TV back in the 90's when I was on welfare. The color TV didn't have cable or anything, but it was given to me by my sister. Got the microwave for $10 at Good Will. But everything else sucked. Once my car broke down, I was pretty screwed (NO public transportation back then where I was living. I loved the "take a cab" sort of advice I got from people). And food stamps sure as shit don't cover food for the whole month for me and 3 children. I bought "good" food though. If I had invested in macaroni and cheese, I could have made it last longer.

Rush Limbaugh has never had to worry about how he is going to feed his children. He's never had to make a bag of rice and a block of commodities cheese last until the end of the month when the food stamps run out. But he's saying all that shit to make sure that the "War on Poverty (the Poor)" lasts longer.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

115. cheese rice!! yum

now, throw a can of mushroom soup into that, and you've got a meal for 4!

Seriously, my mom used to come up with the best stuff by scrounging and mixing... one of my favorites was a can of vegie soup, a can of mushroom soup mixed together and poured over rice. yummy. It used to cost about a $1 to feed four, now the soup itself is over $1 a can. :(

[Fovea]

77. More like a week's worth of meds for me.

And I can't get insurance for any price an average person could afford.

[acmavm]

13. What I wonder is how many illegal drugs are running through his system

when he says this shit.

[Pushed To The Left]

14. Well, if people on welfare have it so good

why don't the members of the right wing trade places with them? Why don't they quit their high-paying jobs, move to the ghetto, and go on welfare if they think that it is such an easy life?

[B Calm]

16. Exactly! I like to see how far they can go working for minimum wage

[Yollam]

17. I had intended to mention that many of his listeners, due to their age...

...still tend to think of those as luxury items, because that's what they were 30 years ago, and 30 years ago, health care was almost affordable. These are people in the age group that balks in shock at the price of a gallon of milk as they slowly pull out their checkbook to pay at the supermarket, but then bitch about what parasites the young and the poor are...

You know, the ones where you'd mow their huge freaking lawn for them when you were a kid and then they'd give you a crisp quarter, or dollar bill, (depending on your particular generation) because they actually still thought it was a fair price for an hour of sweaty work ...

[bunkerbuster1]

62. Rush's audience think cell phones are a luxury too.

It hasn't occured to them that something like a pre-paid Tracphone might be the only phone a person has, and that it's cheaper than any monthly-fee landline service.

(Of course if you don't have a phone number, it's almost impossible to secure employment.)

[donheld]

18. Let the poor put Rush's head in a microwave,

and watch it explode on their color TV.

[rodeodance]

20. I will just hope he will finally self-destruct when a positive drug test

shows up.

[charlie]

21. That old chestnut

Rush is just doing a variant of the "welfare deadbeats (read: blacks) all have color TVs and Cadillacs" we used to hear in the 60-70s. Racist fucktard knows the subtext he's angling for, he's just too dumb to know what passes for a premium appliance nowadays.

[B Calm]

23. Didn't Rush Limburger except unemployment compensation

at one time?

[charlie]

25. Yes, he did

Used a credit card to live on 7-11 "food", paid a kid to mow his lawn when his weedy lot drew complaints from the neighbors. All of those have been recounted by him as examples of his hardscrabble life before he became king of the airwaves, BTW.

[Hubert Flottz]

24. Rush is burnt out.

His mind is blown.

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. You can get a microwave at KMart this week for 29.95 on sale.

With a turntable even. To be fair. A modest apartment in the Midwest is usually between $500-700 dollars...still not affordable on minimum wage.

[Yollam]

28. The VAST majority of Americans don't live in the midwest...

And in towns like Chicago even, it ain't that cheap...


When I first shopped apartments in the Brickell Village area of Miami in 1999, a typical, older 2 BR apt. was around $450~500. By 2002, it was $700. Now the typical price for an older unit is around $900~1000, if you can find one. They are quickly being torn down and replaced by luxury high-rises.

In San Francisco, until this spring, we paid $1300 for a small 2 BR BASEMENT apartment, and EVERYONE told us what a great deal we were getting!

[ScreamingMeemie]

35. I work in real estate and the majority of the country is not living in

Chicago, Miami etc... All I mentioned was that, actually, apartments can be had modestly for $500-700/month outside of major cities. Not just the midwest. But it is goofy to argue on that. $500-700/month still can't be paid on minimum wage.

FWIW, my brother's apartment across from Wrigley Field was rent controlled $500 until they co opted it a couple of years ago. He's now paying $850 rent controlled for an infested Dump in West Hollywood. Incredible, eh?

[IndyOp]

36. Agreed. $500-$700 still can't be paid on minimum wage...

$5.15 per hour x 40 = $206 per week x 4 weeks = $824 per month GROSS

If rent is $600 that leaves $224 per month for food, clothes, health care, transportation...

...and this is without bothering to take out taxes.

[Yollam]

39. True but you needn't be in a city to pay through the nose.

Almost no place in California is cheap anymore. It doesn't matter if it's a burg like Eureka or Half moon bay. An apartment is over $1000. Places like Fresno and Sacramento - $800 and up. There are a couple of hellish pockets of California like El Centro and Lake County where rents are still in the $700 range. My point was more that the midwest and mountain west are two of the most sparsely populated areas of the country. Rents in my hometown of El Paso still start below $500/mo., and a new home can be had for about $100K But then again, El Paso's average family income is half the national average...

[ScreamingMeemie]

44. But Detroit's is not (for those of us left with a job)

and rents are still there. The point of my post was, whether or not the price is $350, $500, 750...or higher, a minimum wage just isn't going to cut it.

California has never been cheap. This is something I've spent a great deal of time studying over the past ten years. It's rather interesting to watch the trends. Most agree that California should be cut out of the equation due to its market being driven by pure desire and impulse.

[Yupster]

91. Out here in West Texas

you can still get a decent apartment for under $ 300 a month and a three bedroom two bath house with a garage and fireplace for $ 75 k.

Why do so many people pay such ridiculous rates when you don't have to?

Alright, well we don't have trees and we're centrally located meaning 300 miles from anywhere, but geeze, every business in town is pleading for workers and the cost of living is very low.

Come to West Texas y'all.

[Yollam]

95. Do you live in Midland/Odessa?

Because I'm from El Paso and even El Paso is not that cheap. Only fleabag studios go for $300, and houses pretty much start in the $90s. And El Paso is ranked as the cheapest mid-sized city in the US to live in, last time I read...


And do you really expect everyone to up and leave their home - everyone and everything they ever knew for the desert? I don't know about Midland, but El Paso has very few good jobs.

[Yupster]

113. Here's a listing from

www.mywesttexas.com

http://www.homeswesttexas.com/property.php?id=66121

Yes, El Paso is more expensive than Midland, Odessa, Big Spring area. Not nearly as nice either but that's my biased opinion. I lived in Anthony for a while so spent quite a bit of time in El Paso.

Are there good jobs in West Texas? Are you kidding? With the oilpatch booming the way it is currently every business is looking for workers and there are every type of job available, good bad and medium.

The high pay of the oilfield has sucked workers from every other profession so everything from the parks department to the school district to retail businesses are looking for workers to replace the ones who quit to work in the oilpatch.

Do I expect people to pick up and move their families looking for a job? That's up to them of course. Some people have said they haven't had a job in three years. I'd move if I was them, but that's a personal decision.

The desert? Yeah. It's not the most beautiful place in the world, but it has its nice parts too. It's a nice place to bring up a family and the cost of living is extremely low. Anyway, best wishes.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

27. America is so poor..... that she can't even afford to rescue her

own people during the aftermath of a killer storm... pity.

[Minnesota Libra]

29. They expect people to live with no running water and rags for clothes.....

....how dare them :freak:welfare people:wtf: want a better life anyway.:spank:

Never mind that a person can buy a microwave oven these days for $60 and a decent color TV with a remote no less for $100:hi: if you watch the sales. Oh, and never mind the fact that some welfare people ask for such items as birthday or Christmas gifts.:woohoo:

[NoPasaran]

74. How dare they!

How dare welfare recipients have anything better than a crystal radio and an open fire to cook over!

[w8liftinglady]

30. I had this argument with someone over a BIRTHDAY CAKE/food stamps

I said-why punish this parent who is trying to bring a little joy into what must be a gloomy world for that child.

[Yollam]

32. Some people are so bitter and shitty-mean...

Even if these people HAD made nothing but bad choices all their lives, does that means kids should starve because companies refuse to pay the parents a decent wage? I just don't get it.

[Nobody]

37. You must have heard about the same incident I did

Or this is common.

Damn damn damn, why do the have-too-much crowd resent the have-nots when they have anything at all?

[w8liftinglady]

40. no-a discussion i had with a co-worker

re something she saw at the store.

[NavyDavy]

54. So what happened at the store?

Just being nosy, sorry, its my nature.

[w8liftinglady]

116. the coworker had an issue with someone she saw buying the cake w/FS

[Minnesota Libra]

93. Perfect come back for such people is "Scrooge I think said it best........

.....are there no prisons, are there no work houses? On yes, some people would rather die than go to those places, in which case maybe they better get on with dieing and reduce the surface population." Shuts them up every last time.

[WePurrsevere]

31. Some have also hit on hard times (divorce, loss of job, etc) and had...

these items from when things were better. Geesh... it's not like their value stays with them since you can go to Walmarts and pick up an okay cheap new for under $100.

The fact is that bottom feeding scum suckers like F*l*ush and his RW bobble head followers are no better then play ground BULLIES that pick on and abuse people and pull wings off of beautiful living butterflies for the shear perverted fun of it until karma kicks THEM down and they go whining and begging hat in hand for help from those they people, organizations, gov programs, etc that they belittled, attacked, dismantled and bullied.

They came for those welfare people
but I didn't speak up because I had a good job and didn't need welfare.
They came for the poor
but I didn't speak up because I was middle/upper class.
They came for the disabled and seniors Social Security & Medicare
but I did't speak up because I was healthy & young.
and then they came for me and when I looked around for help there was no one and nothing left to help me.
***(with credit and gratitude to Niemöller for the original)

[BuelahWitch]

34. Excellent post

You're right, they blame the poor for their own plight, not the businesses that put them there. Color TVs and microwaves are nothing.

[Nobody]

38. Let me translate: All poor people should be living in cardboard boxes

So we rich people can have vast parklands and armies of servants who have been carefully vetted and referenced, who we can toss onto the streets any time the spirit moves us to be cruel and uncompassionate.

This time period existed. Thankfully we've moved beyond. Or have we? Our species doesn't deserve to make it to interstellar space if this is what passes for civilization.

What I will call the Warriors' Ethic" seems to be ignored by all these chickenhawks. They want war, but they sure don't want the "Warriors' Ethic".

The "Warriors' Ethic" is fight like crazy and leave no one behind. Go back and rescue your fallen comrades.

There are a lot of fallen comrades being left behind on the battlefield, and the chickenhawks are setting a banquet table complete with Champagne for the vultures.

What happened to our sense of community, where people aren't dead-set against helping those who need it most? Is "community" now a dirty word?

[OnionPatch]

64. Yes and maybe

they don't need those stoves they have: they can cook on fires like in the good old days. And an automobile? Who needs one of those when you can ride a bicycle? (The kids can ride on the handle bars) Running water? Maybe they should just put community wells down in the ghettos and the women can start carrying water jugs on their heads. :crazy:

Seriously, you can buy a microwave at the thrift shop for twenty bucks. He's got to be kidding. I think what people like Rush really want is for poor people to be punished for their "poverty". "How dare those poor people not suffer more?!!"

[DemoTex]

42. Ru$h, many prison cells have color TV.

Check it out. Please.

[tanyev]

58. Beat me to it. :)

There's a lot of recidivism with drug addicts. I have high hopes that someday Rush will get to experience the luxurious accomodations of a jail cell with TV and microwave. A lot of prisons even have fitness equipment. Why, it's practically a spa!

[Cobalt Violet]

45. Lots of people are making a good wage one year...

Layed off and can't get work or work for less, or go on welfare for one reason or another. I suppose the ones on welfare are suppose to renounce what ever they have earn in better times.:crazy:

[htuttle]

46. "...Many of them own those horseless carriages, too!"

"...And them new fangled 'telephone' things!"

I'm thinking it's been quite a while since Rush went appliance shopping. He probably pays someone to do that for him. :shrug:

[noahmijo]

48. Pff Rush is a dumbass community college drop-out

Before you pounce I call him that because he once berated what he referred to as "Public college business students who don't understand the economy at all"

[rocktivity]

49. Rocknation: Most drug addicts have jail terms.

Most TVs only come in color. And microwaves can come in very handy, especially if you have to warm baby food.

:headbang:
rocknation

[DemonFighterLives]

50. You can't stay sane and listen to that fatheaded pig

I'm not impoverished, but I got my last microwave as a hand me down- free and had an old standby that I paid 100$ for used and it was still going when I gave it to my brother in law. When I invested in a cabin in the Great White North and needed one, the wife got a nice one at Savers for 8$. The last TV we got for the cabin was a freebie from some friends who were going to give it to Goodwill.

Sheeesh Rushblob, you may as well concentrate on getting your head straight before you condemn anyone- druggie loser- hell has a place all warmed up for your ilk.
:rant: before breakfast even :donut:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

51. Most first-time drug offenders are in prison...piss off, Rush.

[Canuckistanian]

69. Just the poor ones

The ones who can't afford lawyers who charge the equivalent of my yearly salary every week.

[sellitman]

52. Most Drug users can't afford a good lawyer asswipe.

What a worthless piece of shit this man is.

[BlueEyedSon]

57. Come on, everything he says is BS

[dogday]

59. I guess by Rush's standards

toilet paper would be a luxury.. Or at least the two-ply kind.....

[noonwitch]

60. Most people on welfare have hand-me-down tvs and microwaves

Their extended families know they don't have enough money to buy that stuff, so when they buy new tvs or microwaves, they give their less fortunate relatives their old ones. Or, you get one as a gift but you don't need it, so you give it to a relative that does. That's also why most have vcrs or dvd players.

They have cell phones because they are less expensive than land lines, however, and more convenient when one is looking for work and making sure kids get to school and all.

My family does this and we aren't poor. We just don't like to be wasteful.

[The Backlash Cometh]

61. I'm sure Dick Cheney's welfare t.v. is a 52 inch plasma.

[Zynx]

63. Wow. A microwave and a color TV.

What huge luxuries. I suppose they might even have a washing machine in their apartment building or at least near by too.

[peekaloo]

65. and rich assholes have lawyers who can keep their asses out of jail.

[burythehatchet]

66. Something you have to remember about him

Many people would be contrite and somewhat humbled by having been shown to be such a hypocrite. But Rush is the antithesis of a human. His pathology dictates that when he gets away with it, it just means that he has license to ramp up the hate. Expect a lot more venom to spew from his piehole.

[Vanje]

71. Bullies dont DO contrite

And Rush Limbaugh is, above all, a bully.

[Yollam]

85. TO be fair, I am quoting him from at least 13 years ago...

...when I still listened to his show. He also printed it in one of his "books".

I have no idea what kind of bilge he spews now, but this particular thing has stuck in my craw for quite some time.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

67. How many people on welfare are pissing in a bottle to avoid jail?

nm

[devilgrrl]

70. Yes Rush, most corporate CEO's do have color tvs & microwaves

:eyes:

[unblock]

72. tvs and microwaves can save money

tv is a very cheap form of entertainment (assuming you don't get EVERY premium cable channel). unless you want welfare recipients to get zero entertainment at all, the alternatives are more expensive.

microwaves are also cheap to operate and give you more time to work that second and third job.

[Canuckistanian]

73. Boy, life must be paradise on Welfare

These conservatives make it sound so appealing. You get to sit on your ass all day, watching color TV and enjoying all the modern amenities like microwaves, maybe a VCR....

Never mind that they never have any nutritious food to put in the microwave.

[Canadian Socialist]

75. On a little of a tangent

A few years ago, the Solicitor-General of Alberta decided that the prisoners in the local lockups shouldn't have access to colour tvs. So he took them all out, (even though they had been bought by the prisoners themselves!!) and was going to replace them with b/w tvs. Problem was - there are NO MORE b/w tvs being made. So, unionised civil servants spent x amount of time (and my tax dollars) removing the tvs, then spent x amount of time replacing the tvs. Good job, Conservative SG! Gawd, these so-called conservatives piss me off!

[kiteinthewind]

76. Excellent Post!! I am also sick of those 'talking points' they vomit back

about the poor. All great points, because, of course, WE get it, and THEY don't! They are so completely out of touch with America, and esp. the poor. I esp. agree with AllieB and alphafemale's points. They are on the money!
:kick: :kick:

[HughBeaumont]

78. Why would ANYone defend Big Business?

"What'ya got against PROFIT? It's Capitalism, s'pose you want comm'nism, Rrrrarrr??"

Yes, because I don't believe it's right that corporations get their way 70 million fold over the rights and needs of the citizens, I'm OBviously a card carrying Commie. Gee, conservaturds, you got me pegged.

We don't HAVE capitalism. We haven't had it since the late 70s. What we have is robber baron unbridled corporatism, which Reagan and Bewsh 41 enabled and Bewsh 43 is doling out taxpayer dollars to in droves. So I guess Americans who are considered poor have to be rained upon at night and live in dirt-floor squalor to meet Rush's satisfaction.

Food Clothing and Shelter are basic human needs outlined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human rights. Of course, conservadouches don't read, so I'm not surprised they didn't know about that.

[cascadiance]

79. And remember when electric watches were luxury items too!

Now they are disposable gift items that people might get even in a cereal box! Even Rush probably would have a hard time selling the old idea that having an electric watch is a luxury today.

[DUHandle]

82. Limbaugh’s rant is drawn from a 1990 Heritage Foundation white paper

by Robert Rector



http://www.heritage.org/Research/PoliticalPhilosophy/BG791.cfm

[leeroysphitz]

83. Yes and many homeless people have SHOES. So what?

Let's just wait until people are already starving, homeless and dying of illness before we bother to lift a finger.
That sounds like a great idea. We can go back to the good old days when seeing the frozen corpses of "fat" "lazy" poor people on the streets of our cities was the rule and not the exception.

Limbaugh would rather his taxes (or ours rather) go to city employees disposing of the bodies of the poor rather than helping those in need BEFORE it's too late. It's cheaper for him so I guess he see's it as the "lesser" of two "evils".

This is what the Limbaughs of this world would take us back to but according to them WE (liberals) are the ones trying to start "class warfare" in this country.

I'm tired of having to react to his greed and ignorance. When does the revolution start? I'm ITCHING to see someone shove his fat ass up against the wall...

[jmowreader]

84. Ninety-five percent of all Americans have a microwave oven

My store carries six different microwaves under $100 and four of them are under $50. Almost anyone can afford that.

They're made in China, but they're good quality products. I've had a $49 Magic Chef for the last two years. It works just fine, and it's nice--digital controls, turntable, 1.1-cubic-foot cooking cavity...

You can get a $39 model with a 0.7-cubic-foot cavity, digital controls and turntable. That unit doesn't sell very well because it's so small, but we still move three or four pallets of them a week. (As opposed to a full truckload of the $49 ones.)

I've seen people who have three microwaves, a two-burner hot plate and no range. Ranges are three or four hundred dollars apiece for a cheap one and you need that all at once; microwaves are $50 each and you can buy them one at a time. You can cook many things in a microwave...get one that costs more than $75 and look at the little cookbook they give you. It's all fresh food that you nuke to perfection; I guess they think you can figure out canned vegetables and baked potatoes yourself.

As for the color television...Target next door to me sells sub-$100 color TVs as fast as they can put them on the shelf, and Wal-Mart doesn't even bother putting them on the shelf--they just stick a full skid of them in the middle of the aisle a couple of times a day.

This sounds like the "welfare queen with six kids driving a Cadillac to pick up her food stamps and AFDC check" Ronald Reagan used to gut the social services system in this country. Yeah, she had six kids and she was driving a Cadillac, but someone forgot to tell ol' Bankruptin' Ronnie that four of the kids belonged to the neighbors (who had her watch them while they worked) and the Cadillac was a model that was 20 years old and that cost $500 because it has one of those newfangled engines that runs on four cylinders. (We call this magical technology "worn the fuck out and in need of an overhaul.")

[No Exit]

86. You're right about the apartment thing

My college-age son, who has been living at home, wants to get an apartment, but rents are out of the range for any such person.

I don't get it. All I see around me is construction, ripping out more wooded areas, construction, ripping out still more woods, construction, etc., etc. There should be a f**king GLUT of multi-family housing by now. Yet apartment rents are indeed beyond the capacity of full-time minimum-wage workers.

Just more of the elimination of the middle class... until we reach the goal desired by Bush and his billionaires and trillionaires club: Their class, and the millions of unwashed poor, and nothing in between.

[gollygee]

87. It's pretty easy to get both free on Freecycle

in fact they're both frequently requested items.

[catmandu57]

88. Layaway is your friend

I would wager that a great many of these "luxuries" come either from using layaway at ones local discount mart, parasitic retailers like fingerhut and rent to own who charge usurious interest, good will, or hand me downs.

Being poor is one of the hardest jobs going, it's so easy to slip away, I would bet that most of the pigboys audience is just a slim hair from joining the ranks themselves and are scared to death of it.

This is an old old reptile tactic, divide and conquer, distract, don't look at the true cause, we need a revolution on the scale of the French revolution, I wonder what aristocrat tastes like?

[spanone]

89. Oh Yea, and most felons are in jail.

[lpbk2713]

90. You can get either one any weekend for $20 at a yard sale.

That's not such a big expenditure. Limbore wants to imply people on the lower end of the income scale buy a lot of high-price items from the big box stores when that is not true. I can say from personal experience that yard sales are a way of life for many folks.


Just the usual lies, exaggerations and distortions from pimple-butt Oxy-Rush.

[Autonomy]

94. I bet most welfare recipients have a phone and hot water, too!

They're living like queens on my dime!

[zbdent]

96. I would bet that

those "color TVs" and "microwaves" that the people on welfare got were purchased at a Salvation Army type thrift shop . . .

Hell, people on welfare can afford computers and you can practically get printers 10 for a buck these days at thrift shops . . .

[BiggJawn]

97. Why should I concern myself with the drug-induced rantings...

...of a self-admitted Felon and addict.

Hey, Rushbo, what about that spouting from 1995 that all drug addicts ought to be locked up forever?

You first, doper-boy!

I hope they come down on him like a ton when he re-lapses.

[redqueen]

98. Why doesn't it bother more people?

I only wish I knew. :(

There's a popular talk show host down here who says that people on food stamps should be forced to buy the "YOU SUCK" brand.

This is what passes for "humor".

Then again, maybe it's no big deal, because it's only supposed to be funny... not to influence anyone.

[iconoclastNYC]

99. TV is the cheapest mode of entertainment there is

So is it any suprise that the poorest people who have a TV?

It's not like you can spend $100 on Broadway or $10,000 a year for country club green fees.

[DanCa]

100. I never spent my disability check on oxy cotton

You fat sanctimonius draft dodging asshat. The next thing that you'll tell me is that my wheel chair is a cadillac. :mad:

[Festivito]

102. ..provided they still have electric in their car or cardboard house.

Wow. $35 in questionably dependable garage sale capital.

Living large, eh Rush?

I bet you could supply a hundred poor folk just on how much you ended up paying for each one of those pain pills you used to take. That could be thousands and thousands of poor folk. Imagine looking at how many your habit of changing wives could support out in the real world.

[Cleita]

103. It's typical "blame the victim" syndrome.

I had a color TV back when I could barely afford the rent because I bought one at a garage sale for $15. So that means nothing.

[DanCa]

104. Can Rush Survive on 427 dollars a month?

Cmon you piece of crap put your money where your mouth is.

[DanCa]

106. Check list

Let see a couple of athiest were laughing at me because I pray to a personal god.
The President thinks that a fetus has more rights than a disabled person.
Over in the lounge a couple of ass hats were laughing because my hands tremor so much because of parkinsos that I have a hard time typing and that I can't feel the key board
The catholic church doesn't want me in because I am pro stem cell, for gay rights, for the seaperation of church and state, and that am pro choice
Now this ass hat is trying to take away my disbility.
Ah well it looks like i got quite the enemy list. I must be doing something right. :sarcasm:

[Coexist]

107. I agree with you

but don't know how to respond. If I start it might get really wordy. Lets just say I am a union democrat. And I feel your pain. My hometown was a prosperous lower middle class steel town that had the steel plant shut down. It sucked.

[jsamuel]

109. bothers me

a lot

[Catherine Vincent]

110. What's wrong with buying a USED color tv and/or microwave?

[Coexist]

114. new ones are not expensive - check it:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7017596&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03004&id=1099394250784

13" tv at Bestbuy for $49.99

http://www.kmart.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=134614&Ne=0&Ntk=All&N=176&Nty=1&categoryId=176&pCategoryId=0

Brand new microwave for $24.99

Not hard to find.

$75 for both - and you know those store just throw credit cards with 29% apr at people.

[Mr_Spock]

111. ..but can they afford the expensive drugs that Rush takes every day?

What a fucking ass hole Rush is - just an ass-hole, plain and simple.

[michael_1166]

112. Rush Limbaugh should think about the luxury

of a drug addict having a radio show.

[butterfly77]

118. I get so fed up with these lying ass hypocrites...

Lets ask them how many abortions their wives and daughter and girlfriends on the side have had, and how many of them discriminate when welfare mothers or people of a different race apply for jobs. Why is it that a black person has to have all of these degrees that a white person with a high school diploma can get with out degrees.These people believe that things are like it was in the sixties just like they think they can fight wars the same way they did in WW1 and 2. They are getting richer and richer and expect the rest of society to live like they are in the 50's and 60's. They really believe that people of other races are not knowledgable about what is going on in the world!

[ComerPerro]

119. Most of what they can afford to eat is microwavable. Thats all they get