I grew up hearing over and over, to the point of tedium, that "hard work" was the secret of success: "Work hard and you'll get ahead" or "It's hard work that got us where we are." No one ever said that you could work hard - harder even than you ever thought possible - and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt.

I'm not a nice person.

We who officially value freedom of speech above life itself seem to have nothing to talk about but the weather.

Money does not bring happiness' - only the wherewithal, perhaps, to endure its absence.

Poverty is not a character failing or a lack of motivation. Poverty is a shortage of money.

if you search the bible, you will find no reference to birth control or gay marriage, and you will not find a word, strangely, about stem cell research. I have searched.

Even when uttered by Democrats, "middle class" often sounds like a mealymouthed way of saying, "Us, and not them," where "them" includes poor people, snake handlers and those with pierced tongues.