Right-Wing Fruitcake Alert: Jonah Goldberg compares Obama’s national service plan to slavery

[marmar]

from ThinkProgress:



Jonah Goldberg compares Obama’s national service plan to slavery.»

Today in a LA Times op-ed, conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg compared Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) plan to encourage volunteerism among students to a form of slavery, suggesting in the first sentence that “the black presidential candidate” might be violating the 13th Amendment:

There’s a weird irony at work when Sen. Barack Obama, the black presidential candidate who will allegedly scrub the stain of racism from the nation, vows to run afoul of the constitutional amendment that abolished slavery.

For those who don’t remember, the 13th Amendment says: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime … shall exist within the United States.”

I guess in Obama’s mind it must be a crime to be born or to go to college.

Goldberg was angered by Obama’s pledge to “set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year.” Though Goldberg eventually admitted that “national service isn’t slavery,” he insisted that it “contributes to a slave mentality, at odds with American tradition.”


http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/08/jonah-slavery/

[arcadian]

1. A black man wants to institute slavery? Holy Jebus, we're doomed!

What kind of negative, alternate, parallel, Mayan apocalyptic universe will be created if Obama is voted into office?


Goldberg's an idiot.

[gratuitous]

2. Jonah's really opposed to slavery

That's why the Doughy Pantload didn't volunteer for the military to fight the existential war of our time. The slavery thing, yeah, that's the ticket. And it's not because he likes to pick battles for other people to fight so he can personally profit, so stop saying that!

[DailyGrind51]

3. He wants them to "volunteer", because when they ask for benefits,

conservatives can respond with "You're not entitled! You volunteered, remember?"

[w13rd0]

4. What the hell is wrong with that man?

Did someone replace his balls with hot coals in his sleep or something, because he's a total wanker.

[spanone]

5. the gops are a desperate bunch

[sourmilk]

6. Hmmm...more like a criminal sentence, actually.

Still - certainly wouldn't hurt the little bastards to get up off the couch or away from the XBox and come cut my lawn, for a friggin' change!

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. So volunteerism is slavery, while the military "stop-loss" is not?

:crazy:

[marmar]

8. Up is down, left is right in right-wing world.......

....It's a scary place! :scared:

[noamnety]

10. Is he "requiring" them to volunteer?

because that's not volunteering.

If it's recommended that they do it, that's volunteering. If he's requiring that they work for free, that's not so different than court-mandated community service. I wouldn't appreciate it if I had to work 100 hours for free to get health care, not sure I would appreciate it if I had to work 100 hours for free to have access to public education.

I'm saying this as a teacher who regularly takes kids out on community service projects, sometimes for a day, sometimes for a week. But they are all volunteers, and the motivation is intrinsic, not the result of a carrot and stick approach.

[Winterblues]

9. Notice how important it is for right wingers to use the adjective "black"

in front of any person that happens to be black.. What is the purpose of that? Would his words have a different meaning if he left off that adjective...

[JMackT]

11. It depends on if the "Volunteer" work will be mandatory

If he is encouraging the volunteer work then I think its a great idea. More people should get out and help others.

It should be my choice. If I don't want to help anybody, I shouldn't be forced to.

I dont think 400 hours of community service should be a requirement to graduate from college.

[marmar]

12. As I understand it, students would get a $4,000 tuition credit......

.... but in exchange for it, they would be required to perform so many hours of community service, under Obama's plan.

[JMackT]

13. Any links?

I would be interested to read the whole plan

[marmar]

14. From Obama's website:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/


Higher Education

* Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Obama will also ensure that the tax credit is available to families at the time of enrollment by using prior year's tax data to deliver the credit when tuition is due.

* Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid: Obama will streamline the financial aid process by eliminating the current federal financial aid application and enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application.

[JMackT]

15. No mention

Of the volunteer work proposed earlier.

I still don't think 100 hours of community service should be required for financial aid.

[mwb970]

16. The doughy pantload strikes again!

Why bother even reading his columns? Here, I'll sum them all up for you: conservatives good, liberals bad. That's it. There's nothing else in his head.

[mitchum]

17. Goldberg is a half-witted son of a bitch

[underpants]

18. I can't beleilve that there was a good part of Goldberg that ran down the crack of his mother's ass

Nope not with this piece of shit