{"id":36065,"date":"2013-05-26T22:33:29","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T04:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/26\/scrooge-redux.html"},"modified":"2013-05-29T10:15:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T16:15:00","slug":"scrooge-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/26\/scrooge-redux.html","title":{"rendered":"Scrooge, Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"
As Dickens wrote it:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,\u201d said the gentleman, taking up a pen, \u201cit is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.\u201d
\u201cAre there no prisons?\u201d asked Scrooge.
\u201cPlenty of prisons,\u201d said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
\u201cAnd the Union workhouses?\u201d demanded Scrooge. \u201cAre they still in operation?\u201d
\u201cThey are. Still,\u201d returned the gentleman, \u201cI wish I could say they were not.\u201d
\u201cThe Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?\u201d said Scrooge.
\u201cBoth very busy, sir.\u201d
\u201cOh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,\u201d said Scrooge. \u201cI\u2019m very glad to hear it.\u201d
\u201cUnder the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,\u201d returned the gentleman, \u201ca few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?\u201d
\u201cNothing!\u201d Scrooge replied.
\u201cYou wish to be anonymous?\u201d
\u201cI wish to be left alone,\u201d said Scrooge. \u201cSince you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don\u2019t make merry myself at Christmas and I can\u2019t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned \u2014 they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.\u201d
\u201cMany can\u2019t go there; and many would rather die.\u201d
\u201cIf they would rather die,\u201d said Scrooge, \u201cthey had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides \u2014 excuse me \u2014 I don\u2019t know that.\u201d
\u201cBut you might know it,\u201d observed the gentleman.
\u201cIt\u2019s not my business,\u201d Scrooge returned. \u201cIt\u2019s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people\u2019s. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!\u201d<\/p>\n

— Charles Dickens (1812-1870) A Christmas Carol,<\/i> Stave 1 \u201cMarley\u2019s Ghost\u201d (1843)<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

GOPer Who Got Millions in Farm Subsidies Thinks the Poor Should Starve Rather Than Get Food Stamps<\/a>
\n Tennessee congressman Stephen Fincher is very angry that the federal government is committed to preventing poor people from starving to death:\n <\/p>\n


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As Dickens wrote it: \u201cAt this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,\u201d said the gentleman, taking up a pen, \u201cit is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of … Continue reading “Scrooge, Redux”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,358],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-poor-citizenship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138354,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/20\/better-dead-than-red.html","url_meta":{"origin":36065,"position":0},"title":"Better Dead Than Red!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 20-Mar-19 11:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump has decided that fear-mongering about socialism is his path to the White House in 2020.","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/capitalism-socialism.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15768,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/10\/why-should-we-pay-for-your-health-care.html","url_meta":{"origin":36065,"position":1},"title":"Why should we pay for your health care?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 10-Sep-09 5:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's all about the selfishness. The \"I got mine -- you fend for yourself to get yours.\" The fear that someone might take \"my stuff.\" It's the attitude of a four-year-old, and a poorly-raised one at that. Vjack raises this interesting point: Have you seen any of the clips from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health Care"","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/health-care"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/Cain-Abel_Titian.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":49037,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/18\/movie-review-a-christmas-carol-1999.html","url_meta":{"origin":36065,"position":2},"title":"Movie Review: "A Christmas Carol" (1999)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 18-Dec-14 3:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a shocker: Patrick Stewart makes a great Scrooge. Yeah, I know, who'd've thunk ...?The rest of the cast here is pretty good, too. If you haven't seen this version, it's worth doing so, though I still have a sneaking fondness for my first \"Christmas Carol,\" where Scrooge was played\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6881,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/12\/12\/whats_in_a_name.html","url_meta":{"origin":36065,"position":3},"title":"What’s in a name?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 12-Dec-04 9:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"The great secret is revealed. My Special, Secret Christmas Name, bestowed upon me by Santa and his magical helpers before the Stork even delivered me, is Cutie Scrooge-Gnome. Bow, before...","rel":"","context":"In "Personality Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Personality Tests","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personality-tests"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30449,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/01\/oh-you-zany-47.html","url_meta":{"origin":36065,"position":4},"title":"Oh, you zany 47%","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 1-Oct-12 11:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"In so many words ... Embedded Link www.farleftside.com\/2012\/9-19-12-scrooge-lives.gif Google+: View post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7044,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/08\/inured_to_death.html","url_meta":{"origin":36065,"position":5},"title":"Inured to death?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-Nov-04 8:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"In reading through various folks' reviews of The Incredibles, it seems that pretty much everyone enjoyed it (with a few Scrooge-like exceptions), but that a number of people seemed sensitive...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36065"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36594,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36065\/revisions\/36594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}