Atman tells us a little story

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021142368

Oh my.

A little story from Pedro Picasso.

Atman (24,383 posts)

A little story I wrote for all the people my age...

I posted this on my FB page this morning because, being from Florida, I see tons of my old school buddies hating on Obama. People who I alway took to be more liberal in nature now saying they love Romney and Ryan. So instead of just saying "you're wrong," I tried to address in a way that might make it easier to understand what Mittens and Paul want to do...

--------

This is for everyone my age, the Class of '77 (and any thinking underclassmen, too);

Imagine back when you were a teenager. Mom & Dad promised you that if you got a job and worked hard, and put at least $20 a week into a savings account, that when you turned 16, they'd match the money you had saved and buy you a new car. So get get a paper route, and you work at McDonald's and you mow some lawns,

In two years you've faithfully put your $20 in the bank every week, and now have over $2000 saved up. You've cut out pictures of your new car and taped them all over your bedroom ($4,000 would buy a lot of car in 1977), and you've envied the sweet rides your older brother and sister got with the same deal they made with Mom & Dad. And now, with your 16th birthday just a couple of months away, you can almost smell that new-car smell; you've even bought a couple of 8-Track tapes for the car's bitchin' stereo.

Better still, you can finally quit the stupid paper route because McDonalds has promoted you to the front line after years of cleaning toilets and deep fryers. In a couple weeks, you'll no longer have to ride your bike to work.

The week before your birthday, you bring your passbook and car pictures to Mom & Dad. That's when they drop the bomb on you...they want to take a two-month trip around the world. It's going to very expensive. Therefore, they're changing the deal; now you don't get the car until you're 20.

Oh, and about that money you've saved up...Dad has already withdrawn half of it from your bank account, but he's going to give you a coupon for $1,200 you can apply towards that $4,000 car. And good luck finding someone to give a loan to a 16 year old, because he's not going to co-sign the note.

Welcome to the Romney-Ryan presidency. People our age are getting royally screwed, and it doesn't have to be. Their budget plan cuts their millionaire taxes by a whopping 10%, raises our taxes, adds $4 trillion to the deficit, and does absolutely nothing to balance the budget. And you hate Obama why?

Horse with no Name (29,371 posts)

4. Nice.

I know that with a chronic illness and trying to keep in the workforce and trying to just keep sustaining with the high insurance premiums...until I was 65.

Now...honestly I don't know if I can hang on.

I'm 50 and all I can do is shake my head.

^^don't hang on, Ms. Ed.

Just give up.

It's all for the good of humanity, that you just give up.

salinen (6,977 posts)

8. Sorry to say this but this'll reinforce their ideas that the government (represented by your parents) aren't there to coddle you anyway. Watch, they'll say something about "nanny state"

they always do.

Atman (24,383 posts)

9. So you reply with "integrity," "promises," "honesty," etc.

I fully expect that some will say what you suggest, but it is irrelevant to the larger point. No one is "coddling you" by keeping a promise made to you. Further, they are outright lying to you and stealing from you in this case.

But that sort of deceitful behavior is how the right operates. Just shining a little light on it.

Okay.

Now, question.

But first, this:

Atman (24,383 posts)

26. Anyone, please feel free to share it.

I only hope it helps, even just a little.

Thanks for all the compliments!

The question is, who's the better teller-of-little stories?

Atman or franksolich?

Big Dog here doesn't count, because Big Dog is a craftsman, while franksolich and Atman just pour out words and let it stand, first draft only, story done.

Who's better at this?  Pedro Picasso or franksolich?

[BlueStateSaint]

Why didn't you make this into a poll?  Coach, he can't hold a candle to you.

[Karin]

No of course he can't.  When he tells a tale, it's dry as dust.

But

I see tons of my old school buddies hating on Obama. People who I alway took to be more liberal in nature now saying they love Romney and Ryan.

Is he allowed to say that on DU? 

And Atman, nobody believes the lie that R² is going to raise taxes.   Obama on the other hand...

[miskie]

BTW, Atman - your parable is closer to describing the truth behind Obamacare than anything else.

[Chris_]

[Airwolf]

I hope he got a lot of unfriend notices on FB.

[ChuckJ]

Imagine back when you were a teenager. Mom & Dad promised you that if you got a job and worked hard, and put at least $20 a week into a savings account, that when you turned 16, they'd match the money you had saved and buy you a new car. So get get a paper route, and you work at McDonald's and you mow some lawns,

I stopped reading after the above.

Mom & Dad never told me that they'd match anything and buy me a car. They told me that if I worked and earned money I could buy me a car.

Now if Atman's story were to reflect true dem ideals wouldn't it start as...

Mom & Dad told me that if I'd vote democrat I could sit on my ass and they'd steal enough money from those who work to buy me a car.


By the way frank, Scatman doesn't hold a candle to you.

[franksolich]

Well, Pedro Picasso's still at it, desperately pleading for compliments:

Atman (24,385 posts)

28. One Republican friend I went to HS with replied;

"Obamas plan says: Get a job. If you do well and make plenty of money, i'll take most of it and "help" the poor, lazy no goods who don't feel like working. It will be a wonderful Marxist society...."

Notice he doesn't address ANYTHING in my little story. Not the fact that the character in question HAS a job, and worked hard at a couple of jobs for years, and that while fulfilled a promise he made, his "government," Mom & Dad, totally reneged on their end of the deal. Not only did they renege, that actually took much of the money he'd already paid in, to use for their own adventures around the world.

I've gotten several 'likes,' but none of the positive comments so far are too earth shattering...

"And the plan removes funding for PBS, The national endowment for the arts and other programs. So we can fund the defense department but not the arts."

"Romneys plan says get a job and it better be a good one or else you need to pay my way too! Oh yea and if you get sick so sorry for your luck buh bye"

[Randy]

No of course he can't.  When he tells a tale, it's dry as dust.

But

Is he allowed to say that on DU? 

And Atman, nobody believes the lie that R² is going to raise taxes.   Obama on the other hand...

I'll be in the minority here. I do believe they are going to raise taxes. I think anyone who gets the job has no choice but to raise them. That being said I'm more than willing to pay them as long as they don't get pissed away. 2 guesses who I think will do less pissing....

[miskie]

28. One Republican friend I went to HS with replied;

"Obamas plan says: Get a job. If you do well and make plenty of money, i'll take most of it and "help" the poor, lazy no goods who don't feel like working. It will be a wonderful Marxist society...."

Notice he doesn't address ANYTHING in my little story. Not the fact that the character in question HAS a job, and worked hard at a couple of jobs for years, and that while fulfilled a promise he made, his "government," Mom & Dad, totally reneged on their end of the deal. Not only did they renege, that actually took much of the money he'd already paid in, to use for their own adventures around the world.

I've gotten several 'likes,' but none of the positive comments so far are too earth shattering...

"And the plan removes funding for PBS, The national endowment for the arts and other programs. So we can fund the defense department but not the arts."

"Romneys plan says get a job and it better be a good one or else you need to pay my way too! Oh yea and if you get sick so sorry for your luck buh bye"

Atman, even Carly Rae Jepsen thinks you are trying a little too hard to be loved. And that's just sad. Don't worry though - She said she would friend you on Facebook.....maybe.

[Duke Nukum]

I don't believe Toast wrote that on his own. He probably plagiarized Biden or someone.

[franksolich]

I don't believe Toast wrote that on his own. He probably plagiarized Biden or someone.

Well, he does seem inordinately proud of it, which indicates to me he did in fact write it himself.

There's the usual and customary Atman errors in spelling and grammar in it.

And it's a really short piece, as if he depleted all the words in his brain, and there aren't any more.

I'll bet he really and truly labored, sweated, over writing it.

Compare, please, with franksolich's "the primitives are back," which is being reported as it happens.

No sweat, no work, purely off the cuff.

[franksolich]

Oh, by the way, I have to retract the comment I made when posting this.

Where I theorized it was a first draft on Atman's part.

Appearances deceived me.

I'll bet he wrote, and re-wrote, the thing half a dozen times before he posted it.

[JohnnyReb]

I graduated in 1963, had just turned 17. 2 or 3 of the rich kids found a new car in the parking lot the night of graduation. I knew there wouldn't be one there for me but daddy had said that if I graduated we'd see about getting me a car. The night of graduation, I asked him if I was going to get that car. He asked, "How much money you got saved up." I told him how much I had and his response was, "You can get a pretty car with that." No, "I'll match it" or "We'll go shopping for a new one tomorrow." Nope, just "YOU can get a pretty good car with that."

Well, I bought a one owner, low mileage '57 FORD....then he asked if I had insurance on it. I told him I was planning on putting it on his, OH NO. I had to find an insurance company that would insure a 17 year old boy. That was State Farm and I've had almost all my insurance with them for over 50 years.

[franksolich]

I graduated in 1963, had just turned 17. 2 or 3 of the rich kids found a new car in the parking lot the night of graduation. I knew there wouldn't be one there for me but daddy had said that if I graduated we'd see about getting me a car. The night of graduation, I asked him if I was going to get that car. He asked, "How much money you got saved up." I told him how much I had and his response was, "You can get a pretty car with that." No, "I'll match it" or "We'll go shopping for a new one tomorrow." Nope, just "YOU can get a pretty good car with that."

Well, I bought a one owner, low mileage '57 FORD....then he asked if I had insurance on it. I told him I was planning on putting it on his, OH NO. I had to find an insurance company that would insure a 17 year old boy. That was State Farm and I've had almost all my insurance with them for over 50 years.

John, sir, this is one of the many reasons I love you, man.

[ChuckJ]

I graduated in 1963, had just turned 17. 2 or 3 of the rich kids found a new car in the parking lot the night of graduation. I knew there wouldn't be one there for me but daddy had said that if I graduated we'd see about getting me a car. The night of graduation, I asked him if I was going to get that car. He asked, "How much money you got saved up." I told him how much I had and his response was, "You can get a pretty car with that." No, "I'll match it" or "We'll go shopping for a new one tomorrow." Nope, just "YOU can get a pretty good car with that."

Well, I bought a one owner, low mileage '57 FORD....then he asked if I had insurance on it. I told him I was planning on putting it on his, OH NO. I had to find an insurance company that would insure a 17 year old boy. That was State Farm and I've had almost all my insurance with them for over 50 years.

My story is similar. The parents of one of my best friends bought him a brand new Buick Regal for graduation. A pretty dark metallic grey. The Saturday after he got the car I told my dad about it and told him that I wanted a new car. He said, "alright, load up in the car and we'll go see what they've got." Before I could get in the car he asked what I intended to pay for it with. When I told him I had intended for him to pay for it he laughed and said, "well, in that case there ain't no need for us to go to town. I thought you had some money saved or something."

Maybe it's a southern thing?

He did let me keep my car on his insurance until I took my last college class.

[GOBUCKS]

Since McGrath was fired by the junk mail company, why is he worried about taxes?

He just sits around the house all day while his wife is at work.

His tax liability isn't going to be much.

[miskie]

The cars I have owned were always "beaters" growing up - AKA what I could afford. Even the hand-me-down from dad - a '78 Chrysler Cordoba, cost me a few hundred bucks.

That's right - My dad made me pay for his nearly dead Chrysler with nearly 275K miles on it. It was oxidized paint brown, with leaky T-Tops and torn leather interior. And you know what - I felt like the cat's ass driving around in my Supah-sled !

And that is exactly how it should be.

One learns to be responsible when one invests in ones self.

[JohnnyReb]

My story is similar. The parents of one of my best friends bought him a brand new Buick Regal for graduation. A pretty dark metallic grey. The Saturday after he got the car I told my dad about it and told him that I wanted a new car. He said, "alright, load up in the car and we'll go see what they've got." Before I could get in the car he asked what I intended to pay for it with. When I told him I had intended for him to pay for it he laughed and said, "well, in that case there ain't no need for us to go to town. I thought you had some money saved or something."

Maybe it's a southern thing?

He did let me keep my car on his insurance until I took my last college class.

  ...Talk about getting your bubble busted...

Southern dads....yep, you ain't grown and your own boss until he's dead or to old to whip your ass anymore.

[Duke Nukum]

Oh, by the way, I have to retract the comment I made when posting this.

Where I theorized it was a first draft on Atman's part.

Appearances deceived me.

I'll bet he wrote, and re-wrote, the thing half a dozen times before he posted it.

He should have collaborated with Nads. That would have been epic.

[miskie]

  ...Talk about getting your bubble busted...

Southern dads....yep, you ain't grown and your own boss until he's dead or to old to whip your ass anymore.

My dad was similar - though he hailed from New Jersey, with roots in Connecticut. Granted - Those roots make me a 'Raggie' which is still used as an insult in parts of the Nutmeg state. ('Raggie' is essentially 'Redneck', with all of the same negative stereotypes attached)

[Mr Mannn]

Once again the liberal narrative fails to sway a single soul.
and poor atman can't figure out why.

[ChuckJ]

  ...Talk about getting your bubble busted...

Southern dads....yep, you ain't grown and your own boss until he's dead or to old to whip your ass anymore.

After my dad retired from his job, he went to work with me for awhile. The very first day I told him that he might be the boss everywhere else, but when he was working for me I was the boss. He just laughed.

I still get him to help me ever so often. He worked with me one day last week then acted like he got pissed off because I was going to pay him.

[Bad Dog]

My old man gave me the best lesson on car buying I've heard so far.  He helped me pick out my first car (my money) that I could afford to pay cash for.  He then told me to make car payments to myself in a separate account.  My third car was brand new and I paid cash for it & I've paid cash ever since.

His favorite game was to go into the dealership in an old pair of bib overalls & pick out the car he liked.  Then when the dealer started talking about financing, he would haul out a huge roll of cash & pay in full. 

[Tess Anderson]

Well,  that one stupid story just validates my theory that liberals look to the federal government as a parent. I looked and looked for this FB but all I could find was this:

This morning a writer named Atman posted this on Democratic Underground. He wants it to get more “shares,” so happy to oblige. Passing it along verbatim. Dude’s a few years younger than I am, but this still rings true.

http://namebrandketchup.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/a-little-story-for-people-near-my-age/

He must really be proud of this idiotic comparison of his.