[Pokey78]

[El Conservador]

I am saying that the best bet at saving the next generation of Susan Moores is if the US declares European welfare systems a national security threat.

QUOTE OF THE DAY!!!

[atomicpossum]

Wow, There may be hope for Britain after all.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - SOCIOLOGY - WELFARE

[AreaMan]

Wow, I guess my initial assesment of the British as a bunch of tea-drinking inbreds was a little premature.

The UK is, of course, doomed if there are 5 or 10 of the welfare sponges for every 1 like the author.

[McGavin999]

The purpose of a helping hand is to lift people up. Instead it has become a jackboot that holds people down. You are no longer helping people when you take away their will to succeed.

[prairiebreeze]

Two excellent Steyn articles in one day! It's a good day indeed.

Prairie

[Timesink]

Mother and Daughter

[Paleo Conservative]

Happily, not all recipients waste their time on the dole: Muhammed Metin Kaplan set up his Islamist group, Caliphate State, while on welfare in Cologne; Ahmed Ressam, arrested in Washington State en route to blow up Los Angeles International Airport, hatched his plot while on welfare in Montreal; Zacarias Moussaoui, the "20th hijacker" currently on trial in America, became an Islamist radical while on welfare in London; Abu Hamza became Britain's most famous fire-breathing imam while on welfare in London; Abu Qatada, a leading al-Qaeda recruiter, became an Islamist bigshot while British taxpayers were giving him 10 times as much per week as Susan Moore. It was only when he was discovered to have £150,000 in his bank account that the Department for Work and Pensions turned off the spigot. If only the Susan Moore-ish super-spongers were as purposeful as the neo-Moorish super-spongers.

[irv]

Teachers are uncomfortable with the notion of an "opposing side" one must strive to "beat" - just as, in the war on terror, many grown-ups are uncomfortable with the notion of "the enemy"

Close, but no cigar. Many of the same people who won't admit that Islamist terrorists are America's mortal enemies, have no problem at all claiming George Bush is America's enemy.

Weird, but true.

[jolie560]

It's always amazed me how many career welfare prople are 'fat'.

[NovemberCharlie]

If only the Susan Moore-ish super-spongers were as purposeful as the neo-Moorish super-spongers.

I had to reread that line to get it.

[July 4th]

to the progressive mind, there are no enemies, just friends whose grievances we haven't yet fully acknowledged.

Spot-on.

[mollynme]

there are no enemies, just friends whose grievances we haven't yet fully acknowledged.

Bingo! What a perfect description of the antiwar protesters' mind set.

[Gritty]

BTTT

[Dog Gone]

Amen.

[headsonpikes]

The welfare state, like public schooling, is essential to increasing the power of the State over mere humans.

So far, it's working wonderfully well!

[mrustow]

Teachers are uncomfortable with the notion of an "opposing side" one must strive to "beat" - just as, in the war on terror, many grown-ups are uncomfortable with the notion of "the enemy": to the progressive mind, there are no enemies, just friends whose grievances we haven't yet fully acknowledged.

Although I'm a Steyn man, in this case, he's wrong. (And he's echoing Lee Harris, and should be man enough to admit it.) Socialists today are uncomfortable opposing the enemies of the West, because THEY are enemies of the West. Thus, they see the 911 attackers not as their enemies, because they consider them to be allies.

[hattend]

BTTT

[Schattie]

He makes a great point that is overlooked about the welfare state: it allows bright, intelligent and decent people to make absolutely nothing of themselves and in a sense making nothing of yourself is like dying.

Excellent point.