How I Learned to Love the Criminal Life

This is a snoozer. Let me say that up front. I try in almost all cases to keep these posts fresh and snappy as well as informative. This is pretty much just the latter. If it helps you in some way, that’s extra good. But mostly it’s just to establish a public record and illustrate just how insane bureaucracy gets.

Once upon a time the ACA was passed. Let’s make this clear. I adore the President. I totally get why he pursued the formation of what we fondly call Obamacare. Facing Congress and its known excesses of idiots, he figured that a health care plan that they had originally put forth as the alternative to Bill/Hillary care would garner a fair number of Republican adherents and grease the skids for an easy passage.

We know that that did not happen. What follows is somewhat critical of the Act, but I am very grateful at the same time. I believe health care is the right of all human beings.

That said, here’s what happened to me.

I applied, ran into the usual snafu’s at the beginning and was left with not being “verified”. I waited several weeks and tried again only to find that the validating company no longer had my “ticket” and I could not proceed with my application. By phone I was able to do so and I don’t fault the workers who manned those lines to assist people through the process. Mine came up “may be eligible for Medicaid”. Even though common sense told me I was not eligible, I was forced to go through that process.

I went to a “facilitator” here locally in Las Cruces. She insisted that the Medicaid New Mexico laundry list of financial questions were “inappropriate” and that all that was required was how much my income was, meaning our combined social security checks. Even though I protested, she insisted and filed an application on my behalf.

Weeks later I and my husband received Medicaid cards and a stilted letter than required a phone call to confirm that we both were given Medicaid coverage. My husband bailed on that, since he is covered by the VA. I went about life, an ensured person, seeing my doctor and filling prescriptions amazed at the wonders of health care.

Until about three months went by. We received another letter from Medicaid NM, just as cryptic, requiring yet another phone call, all to confirm that my coverage had been cancelled. No explanation was ever forthcoming other than “somebody had approved your application by mistake”. They saw no reason to explain further.

I placed a call immediately to the Federal exchanges where after numerous apologies for the bonehead play by New Mexico they assured me that the for me, the exchanges were still open (even though it was July) since my original application would be marked as “still open”. They graciously completed my application, told me of my subsidy, and went through the various plans until I decided on one.

I contacted my new insurer, paid the premium and happily my doctor accepted them and life again returned to normal.

Starting in about October I started receiving solicitations from a dozen or more insurance companies for supplemental insurance to Medicare. I was advised that I needed one for sure. Before I could even contact Medicare to see about the process of applying (I would turn 65 in April of 2015), I got official stuff from Medicare.

What a delight I thought. I was “automatically” enrolled in Part A and Part B. It was up to me to decide whether I wanted any supplemental coverage. There was reference to a Part D Medicare for prescriptions I could buy but no mention of cost, other than it would cost something more.

I soon received more official stuff from Social Security, as it related to Medicare. I was told I “might be eligible for extra help in paying for prescriptions”. It had to do with being “low-income” and receiving other “supplemental assistance” of various kinds.

I immediately smelled a rat.

Sure enough an application was forthcoming wherein there was a the laundry list of financial questions that I knew would kick me out. How much do you have in savings and checking? List your investments. What is your mortgage? At the bottom of the form was something to the effect of “I don’t want to apply for Federal “extra help” but send my application to the state for consideration”.

There were no other choices. I sent the form back without filling out ANY of the financial information to conform to the requirement. I assumed that New Mexico would look me up, see that my Medicaid had been cancelled for “ineligibility” and then I could get on to the business of choosing a Part D provider.

Not so.

I received some weeks later, a letter FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (DEPT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, from Maryland) advising me that I had been granted extra help and that I could choose from eight or so carriers. If I chose none, one would be assigned to me.

My frustration started to really grow at that point. I did nothing. A carrier was assigned to me, and I received a lovely packet of information from my new insurance provider and a shiny plastic card to show my pharmacist.

I put off the phone calls that I knew were necessary, and finally steeled myself to that event yesterday. I gathered all the various pieces of information, made sure I had all the identifying documents at hand, and called Medicare.

I explained that I had been given “extra help” for Part D coverage, and that I was, in my opinion not entitled to. I was even over the cut off based on my social security alone, without adding in our savings and investment portfolio. I was advised that New Mexico had granted the “extra help” and that Medicare couldn’t remove it. I was given the number to NM Medicare, which is not really Medicare at all, but Medicaid.

That call resulted in being told that “they had nothing to do with it at all, and I must deal with Medicare.

I called back Medicare.

Same result.

I called back Medicaid NM. Same answer.

I called back Medicare. Same answer

I called back Medicaid NM. This time they told me I needed to call NM Health and Human Services.

I did. Their menu had nothing about Medicare at all as far as I could see.

I called Social Security, “extra help” division. They gave me a history lesson in Medicare/Medicaid, and after assuring me they would help, told me that the document I had entitled Health and Human Services, from Maryland (denoting the US govt) was from New Mexico. I was advised to call NM HHS.

I called NM HHS. They actually looked up my old file, which is still current because at the age of 64, I still am able to receive family planning care at the state’s expense. If I’m ever declared as having a post-menopausal pregnancy, I’ll be the first to tell them and the world. She informed me that NOBODY there deals with anything like “extra help” nor Medicare. We didn’t do it she insisted.

I got in the car, drove to the Social Security Office. I explained my situation. “They are trying to give me extra help based on a mistaken belief that I am too poor to be required to pay,” I explained. They will come to correct that in a few months, and that might leave me without coverage, and my prescriptions are expensive. I am trying to clear up the problem now.”

He looked at me like I had landed from Mars. “So, he said, “you are getting Part D coverage but you don’t want it?”

“NO! It’s not that I don’t want it. I would love to have it. It’s just that I don’t think I qualify for it, and I don’t want to be stuck with no coverage when they inevitably figure that out. NOBODY will acknowledge that they gave it to me, so I can’t even discuss the qualifications with anybody. If by some miracle I am entitled, I’m happy to have it. But I can’t find that out until somebody admits they granted it. Somebody put an “approved” stamp on this. I’m trying to find that person/entity.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

He made a phone call. He called the new insurance carrier and said, “she is covered by you, but doesn’t want it.”

I demanded the phone.

I gave her the information, “my insurance number”.

She looked up the file. She said, “there was a cross over from your Medicaid coverage directly here.”

“But my Medicaid coverage was cancelled.”

“I understand what you are saying, but they did it anyway.”

“Who is they?”

“It does not say. It appears that your status as having Medicaid caused a cross over.”

“But everybody denies they did it.”

“Ma’am I do understand. I can cancel it if you wish, but that may open a can of worms for you in trying to replace it. There is on its face no justification for refusing it, and so they might not give you other discounts. I really can’t say. I’d just advise you to leave it be.”

I looked at the Social Security guy across the table from me.

“I give up.”

“I’ve called everyone, talked to everyone. No one will admit they approved my being placed on this plan, so I can’t even ask the question of on what basis I’m entitled. I was here. Note that in my file. I’m done.” He smirked as if he had won the battle on that one.

Here I stand, beaten.  I thought I was being an honorable and honest person. The system does not reward honesty, it laughs at it. This stands as a testament should I ever be called to answer for my crime of trying to do the right thing.

Please tell me you have run into equally stupid bureaucratic bullshit?

 

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Up to My Ass in Shit

Tags

crap conversations with the stupid, Ferguson, immigration

I keep going back for more, because I can’t believe that people can say these things, let alone think them.

Let’s be blunt. I can believe that people think these things but not  stupid enough to voice them.

Let’s be brutal. I can’t believe you can be on the Far Right and be this unable to even see how stupid what you say sounds.

I mean, seriously. Be a flaming conservative. Hate people by the train-load full. But no finesse in at least pretending otherwise to the world? Do you have to Rambo deliver your stupid?

I’m admonished from time to time to be gentle, to be kinder, to be more willing to assume that people are NOT the image that they so studiously work to portray. Forgive me if I don’t have time for niceties. It’s the looks, acts, talks, walks, lika. . . . Am I supposed to assume otherwise? Why are you entitled to the benefit of the doubt?

I had two fairly long conversations this week with idiots. I am not gonna quote verbatim because that would be boring, but I’ll give you a good idea of what transpired. Names have been changed to protect the children of these bastions of extreme stupid.

One of the “discussions” involved immigration. Peggy Sue was against all that stuff. Peggy Sue said the key word was “illegal”, in fact Peggy Sue just made the whole process simple,

“They are illegals,” she said in exasperation, “they have entered the country ILLEGALLY.”

“So, what’s that mean to you? I mean illegal is a word that describes some state of mind you have. It’s illegal to drive over the speed limit, to not pay your fair share of taxes, to litter. What does entry across the border without papers mean to you?”

“THEY CROSSED ILLEGALLY,” she shouted.

I get that, besides breaking a law, which we all do, why does that bother you so much? You see I see the term “illegals” as a code word for (a) they are brown and I don’t like that, (b) they will take our jobs, (c) they will change our way of life. I see that as racist, coming to you from Fox Noise and their hate machine.

After a few hours, I got this response:

“I’ll make this clear. They are breaking the law, and it’s important to know who crosses our borders because they may be carrying diseases to infect our children,  they may be criminals, or they may be terrorists. I’m not a racist. The only racists are liberals playing the race card,” she suggested in her best recall of what Fox said.

Tens of thousands of children are born in this country every year. Do you know which ones will be criminals or get diseases, or become terrorists? If you get a new neighbor do you know this? Your neighbor is not legally required to vaccinate their children. Why do you impose this on others? Did you know that South American countries on a whole have better rates of vaccination than this country? Are there ANY verifiable reports of terrorists crossing the southern border? Do you worry about the northern border ever?

Jack Sprinkle popped in at that point with “you’re wordy. You baffle with bullshit.”

Thanks Jack, that certainly enlightened the fly on the wall.

“Typical liberal. If you disagree with them it’s because you watch Fox News!” shouted Peter Pooch. And then to emphasize the point, he added, “I watch Fox and I’m proud of it.”

Later, we gave thanks for Thanksgiving, brought to us by all those hard-working migrants across the land who pick your food so you can celebrate. Thank you Jesus, for this food. Jesús, the worker, says da nada.

Peggy Sue scrunches up her forehead, denoting that she’s thinking hard, and asks, “they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving do they?”

FACEPALMS ALL AROUND at that one. Yeah, Peggy Sue they do. Oh triple sigh.

We move on to Ferguson.

Peter Pooch is all to excited to discuss this one.

Michael Brown is described as “a criminal, a thug, a giant, or better yet Giant Thug, a 6’5″ 270 pound charging cigar stealing police attacking criminal “. It’s all summed up this way:

“Giant Thug robs store
Attacks police officer
Gets shot for it
Cop was in the right”

Um except for the fact, that the Officer was the same height, so giant is perhaps a bit much. Except that he was never convicted of a thing, so “thug and criminal” is not correct. Except that there is conflicting evidence as to whether he attacked the officer. Your conclusion that the “cop was right” is your conclusion, not the facts there.

Peter Pooch was not done, “I will take the word of a police officer over a known criminal any day of the week.”

No doubt you will, and that disqualifies you Pete from sitting on a jury anywhere in the US of A. Got that?

It got worse:

If the black community wants to get ahead in this world they need to learn about education they need to learn that the leaders they have now such as Rev. Al have been lying to them for many years There may be some racism in this country but it’s very little compared to air to 50 years ago we have black senators black congressman black police officers black fireman black politicians by the way have a black president which it entire group of white people voted for There are more black racist than there are white racist these days

I gotta hand it to ya Pete, you don’t miss a beat of the Fox News distortion. And the African-American community thanks you for all that good advice on how to be white. I’m sure they will have family discussions and implementation strategies soon employed now that they understand how to be as you wish them to be.

African-American friends I have don’t listen to L Sharpton and And they teach their children to respect the laws of this country they teach their children to get an education and they teach their children to have respect for themselves I don’t riot and they don’t loot and I don’t attack police officers they have respect for each other for themselves for the walk

Which I take to mean that Peter Pooch’s African-American friends, are just like him. I can imagine them all calling Michael Brown a “giant thug”. But then I snap back into reality. African-American “friends” my ass.

As I was telling my husband, I’m not a really nice person. I sorta like poking sticks at caged animals if you get the metaphor. But it’s awfully sad too. Knowing that racism is so much a part of our daily lives still. At least in large parts of our country. Such conversations no doubt occur down here in New Mexico, but in much more isolation I believe.

I don’t meet many in my daily life here.

There are so many errors. The conclusion that is held by so many uber right wingers that liberals and Blacks are the real racists today, because they don’t understand what the word racist means. Pretending that whites are the new “oppressed” “race”. Pretending that racism can be masked by “criminal” and “disease” and “illegal”.

Going about daily lives sanctimoniously, because you are “Christian” and “good” and “law-abiding”. Manipulating the world to reflect how you want it to be because it is what you envision as safe.

Life is mean, ugly, dirty, and freakin’ complicated. There are no answers that are definitive about most anything. There are things that are better or worse than some alternative. Life is unstable. It always was always will be. If you find a place of quiet, where life is serene, consider yourself lucky. Seek out good people and cling to them for the crazies are numerous and will drive you insane otherwise.

People are people everywhere and every time. There are not bad people, only bad situations that some find themselves in. Some of the fault is theirs, a lot of it is not. You’re not better just different. God favors no one. You don’t have any right to anything, you have only the privilege of certain advantages. If you spent half the time helping others attain your advantages instead of trying to protect your stuff, we’d all be better off by twice.

If it sounds like hate, it usually is. If you start using the word them, you are hating somebody. Stop it.

Get over yourself. You’re gonna die and be forgotten, in probably no longer than three generations.

Smell a flower. Drink a glass of wine. Watch a sunset. Smile at a stranger.

And get over yourself.

Untangling the Mess

Okay.

This is not going to be pretty.

It will probably be twenty years and a ream of statistics and analysis to even begin to sort out the variables and cross-dressing habits of the American voter that led to the bloodbath across America Tuesday. I’m only trying to pull together a few threads.

Yes, it has happened before, and in that there is no great mystery. It is common when a president is six years in that people (especially if there is any crisis of any sort) react with a resounding drubbing of the party in power as if changing the oars of the boat will somehow change the direction of the rowing.

It doesn’t usually, but it makes people feel like they have done something.

What is missing here is, of course, any objective reason for all this hair-on-fire, sky-is-falling chaotic reaction. After all:

1. W are basically out of two awful wars that were started by another president for no good reason.
2. We have essentially recovered from a near economic disaster started by another president with very bad economic policies. While the recovery is uneven, most of the reason why is because the GOP refuses to get off its “low taxes for the rich” and trickle down theories that got us in the mess in the first place.
3. The deficit is down a trillion bucks and this president has cut spending to Eisenhower levels.
4. Around 8 million people who didn’t have health care now do, premium hikes are looking like the lowest in decades, and there are very very few PROVEN cases of people getting hit with higher premiums than they had before.
5. More people have been deported for illegal entry into the country than any president since I don’t remember who.
6. Not one citizen of this country has died from Ebola.
7. Unemployment went from over 10% to down below 6%.
8. The stock market has soared to amazingly high levels and Wall Street is raking in the dough.

This list is longer, but why bother?

A whole lot of people went out and voted for utter idiots because voting for the better candidate, (if Democratic) would send the wrong message. The message that was sent, is “I really will cut off my nose to spite my face and elect a moron just to prove to you how very much I can’t stand that Black guy, and his wife who undoubtedly is using the White House bathrooms!”

That is the only way it can be explained as far as I can see.

Let’s look around the country where the people spoke about the issues. They voted in every state where it was up, to raise the minimum wage. They voted in every state where it was up, not to make a “person” from a 2-celled thing. They voted in every state where it was up to legalize marijuana. Exit polling suggested that they were EVEN IN RED STATES, more for marriage equality than against it. Yet, they voted for candidates who were EXPLICITLY against  these things.

How else would you explain it?

They say that something like twenty-three percent of the electorate are swingers. (no not THAT sort of swinging). They vote sometimes for Republicans and sometimes for Democrats. They tend not to make up their minds until the last minute. They call themselves independents. They are rather proud of that. They are smug about that as if they are somehow better for that.

I have never understood such an animal. I find independents by and large to be ignorant and lazy. Remember I said by and large.

For studies seem to confirm that independents are rather more aware of the issues than the average partisan voter. I think I get that in part. But I don’t think it amounts to much.

I think Independents are still essentially lazy.

Sometime during one’s, let’s say, twenties, it seems to be that a person who lives in a democratic country has the obligation, as a citizen to sit down and come to some idea of what they believe about the world and their responsibilities in it. It’s called acquiring a political philosophy. That means deciding whether you think that human-hood comes with  rights and responsibilities, and how best those should be met. It means determining what form of economic machine best suits those interests. It’s a matter of acquiring a basic understanding of systems and the predispositions of individuals and groups and then applying some ethical standards.

When one has completed such an analysis, it seems to me one then looks at the stated principles and the known HISTORY of the parties available to them  and determines that ONE at least is more aligned with their thinking than another. While the Democratic and Republican parties may fund themselves essentially the same way, their philosophies are different and they tend to enact legislation broadly speaking at least, pointing in fairly different directions. Not all within each party is the same, and spectrums are the best way to view each I agree, but still, one can agree that one is more this than that, which the other is more that than this.

It’s been pointed out to me that Independents can be of many flavors themselves, making this more difficult. They may be (and this is the typical split), fiscally conservative and socially liberal. That means that they may be drawn to the GOP for money matters, yet lean toward the Dems when it comes to social policies. However, I submit this is not as stark as it might appear.

Social liberals are of two types:

1. Those that basically think government shouldn’t interfere in personal choice–i.e. abortion, contraception, marriage, drugs and alcohol, true libertarians I would argue.
2. Those that think that government should help to ensure basic human rights, which include programs to assist people to a minimum lifestyle, meaning food, housing, health care, old age care, worker support and so forth.

Now, I’d be willing to bet that most fiscal conservatives are not social liberals of the second order. So that narrows that field rather significantly wouldn’t you say?

So the inability to make a choice going down to the wire is not really a war going on in their head as to whether they will vote principles of equality or economic self interest, but rather my contention is that they basically don’t care. At best political matters dance around the periphery of their daily lives. Vague chants, pieces of slogans reverberate while the kettle whistles and the microwave beeps. In between bites of ordered pizza and soccer scores is heard the chants of “he lied”, “he said we could keep our doctors”, “he’s a Muslim,” “he hates America”, “amnesty”, “Benghazi”.

On election day, these souls who want to present a fine example to their youngsters, dutifully march to the ballot box and numbly vote against that “not one of us” black guy and his uppity wife who has the temerity to tell us what our kids should eat.

And they don’t know a damn thing because they don’t even start to listen, until the last week, and they haven’t a clue what is a good source from a bad one, but those blond ladies on Fox are pleasant enough and sound like they understand. So let them understand for me.

Add to that is the fact that Republicans have become the masters at message. “I’m not a scientist” seems to deflect the average low-brow journalist, when of course it means exactly NOTHING. And because no journalist points out the stupidity of such an answer, the audience receives it as sufficient. Hells bells folks, there is a THIRD of Louisianians  who believe Obama is responsible for the Katrina recovery failures!

People are stupid, and they are willfully so.  How else explain why Brownbeck, who has driven Kansas into the ground, ruining schools, jobs, its credit rating, and who only knows what else, got re-elected when even intelligent Republican leaders in the state endorsed the Democratic candidate? How else? When people vote against their own economic interests just to show you how much they hate someone, well, yeah, you might say we have a ways to go in race relations in this country.

So it’s part stupid ignorance and part racism that led to this.

You just might agree. Maybe.

 

 

And You Thought There Weren’t That Many Stupid People

Tags

racist hate, teaparty nuts, the crazies

It can send chills down your spine just thinking about it.

I bet you had no idea before the Inter-Tubes were invented that there were THAT many stupid people in the world, and a great huge hunk of ’em live in the good ole US of A.

I mean if we are so dang special as the Righties insist with our X-CEP-TUAL-ISM, and it’s all God-given as the last best chance for humanity and all, why it seems that God would not allow that many stupid people to reside on the golden waves of grain and all that purplely majesty, noh?

Well, as I said, we lived in a our naivete until the danged old Internet showed us that there was just a lot more of them fools than we thought. Before it, one might run across only one village idiot in a lifetime. No more.

Nothing has brought forth the dancing dunces more than our current President, who happens to be both smart, and accomplished as well as exceptionally thick-skinned. The marching morons seek excuses for how a Black man (half-black as they so often point out) can be any of that stuff, so they have spent the last six years or so sweating the small stuff, attempting to uncover that he is a savant in disguise and is really a walking-talking Ken doll with some Russian/Kenyan/Marxist/Jihadist Svengali operating the levers and pulling the strings.

Two wildly unimportant in incidents occurred in the last could of days that goes to show just how ground-slitheringly anphibian these “people” really are.

The first one involves the President giving a speech somewhere, and making a joke about getting back to Chicago and his house, and finding on his desk a fair amount of old mail, including some old bills. As is apparently common, a transcript of the speech is released, and some fart-head noticed that the “old bills” phrase was omitted. The White House explained that it was just a transcription error.

But the whacked out world of conspiracy theory gunned up the motor and went full bore.

At Blaze we found these comments:

Boompa2 writes: Spyder-News Alert–It was just reported that an Operative from Citizens United, posing as a TV repair Man, infiltrated the Obummer residence. While in Barry’s office, the Operative found the stack of unpaid bills. At the top was an envelope titled “Pay Per View”-Past Due. A movie titled “Chicks With Richards{inset nickname}” was viewed 666 times @ $14.99. No wonder the joke was left out. Oh yeah, catch the 666? Boompa went boompa on his head I bet, and now sees double. Where is Boopa1? Check the cellar or the freezer.

pa-native interjects:

We all need to check our “white privilege” before judging Obolas statements…

You see, slavery existed by a bunch of dead guys years ago, many of which NONE of us are related to in any way…but we need to keep paying reparations to all the “victim classes” out there for a better America…

sarcasm of course…I know my family immigrated here LEGALLY in 1920, assimilated, loves America and has been Patriots since we hit Ellis island, where we were screened for disease, lice, infection etc etc… Gosh its good to know your lineage, right stupid idiot. Good Obola, Obama…but thanks for the history lesson…”slavery existed by a bunch of dead guys years ago, [many?] of which NONE of us are related to in any way….” Gosh prose like that warms my heart.

You might think the WSJ would attract a better class of people. You would be wrong.

five01c3 complains: So if Obama lived in Detroit, his water would have been turned off ages ago. Gotcha. Air Jordans and flip phones are way more important than water, anyway. Do I sense just a tad of racism in their five? Mixing all those lies into one bundle makes it efficient I guess.

Alone explains:

I don’t know why anyone would be surprised at this remark “unpaid bills” what would you expect from a welfare baby!

Has anyone ever noticed how the left is only concerned with itself. There doesn’t seem to be any concern for those of us that pay for them. That would e a right pithy argument dear singular idiot, if only the RED states weren’t the biggest eaters of the free pie. Facts are such damnable things aren’t they?

Right after this little “major event”, we get of course the amusing and rather endearing episode of our President being teased by a young man. The fellow, knowing his girlfriend is all kinds of nervous about voting next to the President of the USA, walks by and says, “Mr. President, don’t touch my girlfriend.”

The President ad-libs a few lines, the lady giggles in embarrassment, and when later interviewed they both seem like the nicest of people.

Everyone who saw it thought it cute and playful, handled superbly by the President.

Well, not quite everyone.

Ya see the nut jobs over at World Net Daily have a different take.

vettelover advises: Pretty sure Barry does not like girls. Yes we know, you and your ilk of whack-job believe the President is gay, that Michelle is a guy in drag and the kids belong to somebody else. Next weeks meeting of the first class morons meets at eleventy o-clock under neath the McD’s sign on NOBODY COULD BE THIS STUPID AVENUE.

You waves frantically: ObaMao is quite the embarrassment to the People of the United States of America!!! His tyrannical reign is coming to an end. Can I get an Amen!!! So he’s Chinese? Wow, that explains everything. Thanks for the info YOU FOOL.

tuffone3 wonders: If a white man said the same thing to the president, would the president have called him a brother? He is half white, after all. And why exactly are you so obsessed with his parents ethnic background again? Do not, I repeat, do not get a DNA test. You will not like the results, I am fairly sure of that.

Moga Moa has the answers:

He better worry about Obama trying to feel him up

I suspect this planned photo op was a pushback against blacks suspicion he’s a pervert homosexual. Ya know what they say, them that crows pervert the loudest are usually stinkin’ terrified that they are PERVERTS themselves. Just sayin’

I mean seriously people. I’d just hate to be a Republican and know that these are my peeps. They walk into voting booths across America and vote for the same jerks you do. I mean does it make your skin crawl? Or perhaps it gives you a big warm fuzzy. Crazy is as crazy does.

** all the above are actual comments from these publications.

Taking Out the Trash

Tags

discarding the useless, thinking about stuff

It’s the same old problem we all have to deal with. Too much in the brain, info leaking out all over the place, staining the carpet and being an utter embarrassment in a five-star restaurant. It’s time  once again to empty the overload, sifting through the flotsam,  using that awful “pile” system–this stays, that goes. I keep going to Containers R Us looking for a better filing storage system, but the fine folks there continue to look confused.

I only lay out my “garage sale” offerings in the hopes that you might find  something you need, or at least can assure me that you too suffer from the same sort of waste in your own life. Just call it my way of assessing periodically my own sanity.

So here goes:

1. There is nothing quite so gratifying and well just down right “mission accomplished” feeling than handing the husband his “honey do” list every morning. They all look so wide-eyed surprised like deer caught in the headlights. You can see that flicker of defiance, followed almost immediately by utter resignation and defeat. Priceless feeling isn’t it ?

2. There is, I am convinced nothing quite so sweet as that moment when you wake up in the morning, realize there is still time, stretch, roll over, and feel you are the perfect temperature, the bed is perfectly comfortable, the weight of the blankets is perfectly in balance and the feel of the sheets is silky soft. This must be akin to the womb I can only conclude. It lasts only a few moments and that is as it should be. You either fall back asleep or make you way up, since the feeling only lasts as I said for a few moments.  I have had great sex in my life, but I think this tops that for exquisiteness. But then, I’m 64 and perhaps I would have answered differently at say 27.  (Putting this back in the save pile, since it may have value if re-incarnation is true. I can ponder it again when I’m 27.)

3. Is anyone interested in a whole lot of random “facts” about the Green Bay Packers? Try as I might, my brain absorbs far too much of this crap every week during the season. I can assure you it is against my will, but the neurons keep firing and cartwheeling these bits of nonsense to storage areas. The big question of the week: Is Aaron Rodgers a great quarterback or the greatest quarterback? Seriously, I care? Anyway, I’m pretty much offering a whole box of trivia like this for free to any taker.

4. The moment when you realize that your pet runs the household. I struggle between fear and amusement. Who does he think he is after all? He generates no money, and neither cooks nor cleans. On the other hand, having failed to be “worth anything” he gets his way in most everything, commanding us to come out and “sit with him” even when it’s too cold, hot, windy, or whatever. He then promptly lays down and goes to sleep. He has figured out that sighing a lot and whining hits a nerve that is so irritating that it must be squelched by acceding to his wishes. I am still not sure how this turn about occurred. He started out so meek and mild and so utterly slobbery grateful to be rescued we feared he would never stop groveling. The good ole days alas.

5. Are you like me? Yeah, I know, that’s a pretty broad spectrum I guess. Okay, as in how you drink coffee. That narrows it down. I do not believe that I have drunk an entire cup of coffee since 1979, in March.  The 22, to be exact. Since then and before then, I sip. And then I forget, and then it’s cold. That used to be the end of it back before the microwave days. Pour it out, pour another, drink a bit, pour out, pour new. Today, we got us the microwave. And everyone knows that the main purpose of a microwave is to reheat your cup of coffee. Or make popcorn at work. Anybody done any study about how many times a single cup of coffee can be reheated before it’s carcinogenic? It keeps me up at night, and I gotta let it go.

6. American television, unencumbered by censorship such as all the Amazon originals and HBO stuff, and whatever else, reminds me of barely pubescent boys who have secured a Playboy and are busy giggling behind the garage. I mean such things are undeniably better than almost anything on “regular” TeeVee, but the common denominator of why this is so seems to be the penchant for these not TV shows to show a lot of frontal nudity and an even bigger desire to show simulated sex. Maybe it’s not simulated, has anybody asked? It’s hard to find “integral to the plot” in most of it. I don’t mind it much. I’m too old to feign embarrassment. It’s just something to mostly get past to the guts of the real stuff.

7. Speaking of which, it now seems de rigueur to have blood erupt in great spurts when shooting people in the land of make-belief. Now doubt it appears more “authentic”. Some suggest that making it look “icky” helps to convince children that this is a bad thing to do as opposed to in the 50’s when Matt winged his enemy who then crumpled to the ground only to arise clutching said arm through which no hint of red appeared. That apparently “encouraged” kids to pick up guns and shoot people for real thinking that nothing all that bad would happen. Seeing blood spraying everywhere, even in your face, cuts against doing such nasty things. Ya think?

8. I’m never sure just how strict I should be with myself. Some folks actually make lists of what they want to do and then happily check them off as being “done” such as “put stamps on envelopes”–DONE! The really loony ones include (5 min). I’m told a few of our more intelligent folks actually set out how much time they would devote to each subject of study each day–philosophy of man, 3 hours, mathematics 1 1/2 hours of thinking and 1/2 hour in actual calculation. I can see doing this I guess when you are 33, have 3 kids, a job and a spouse. There is a lot to be worked out so that nobody is left in front of the library and there is actually some food in the fridge. But I’m thinkin’ that the less complicated one’s life is, the less one need do this. And then there is the thing of R E T I R E M E N T, which should mean retiring from all that WORK, and just doin’ what feels good at least most of the time. I think I am still too strict with myself. The inner mother needs to be kicked down the stairs. Slam that basement door on the old bat and party!

9. I’ve come to believe that the news is really not about learning about the world at all but rather in watching the comedy of a bunch of self-inflated idiots make fools of themselves. I mean, a very few weeks ago, it was all about how hoards of terrorist children were coming to Merika to subvert our way of life. Then it was ISIS. Then it was EBOLA. In the midst of all this is the circus that is known as the “midterms”. Not tests of course, though then test my patience. I see the nurses of America are up in arms. They feel “blamed” for EBOLA now, cause they forgot to wash their hands. Do you often feel that most of the people you know are crazy?

10. The Contrarian informed me that in Saturday’s paper, above the fold, was a story about ISIS, one about EBOLA, and then the biggest news story in our parts–a coyote attacked and killed a chihuahua in it’s own back yard. I can attest to the concern, since there were signs on the community mailboxes warning everyone to “keep your chihuahuas indoors”.  We have coyotes all over our neck of the woods. Diego and I have come upon more than a dozen in a year. They of course don’t consider Diego food, since he weighs more than they do. The trouble is, the dogs in our neighborhood bark a lot, and I can’t tell the difference between, “the meter reader is on my block” from “there’s a coyote! there’s a coyote!” I do know that a siren brings out the suprano in all the dogs, Diego having one of the best howls of all. It’s quite a group sing-a-long.

Well, I feel a bit more light and airy now.

Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day. Or is it the start of a new do over?

 

More Patriotic Bullshit

Tags

fundamentalists, right wing nuts

Seldom does there rise up an example of abject stupid of such gargantuan proportions as a fellow named Todd Kincannon. It is perhaps, should be we prone to speculating on God’s designs, His way of showing the rest of humanity how not to do it.

Todd was once upon a time executive something or other in the GOP of South Carolina, and grad-u-ate, of the law school of the University of South Carolina. That second part should give parents of graduating seniors pause. Somehow that university failed to weed out the chaff and gave this fool a degree.

By now, you no doubt have heard of Todd. He is an equal-opportunity coconut of the first order. In fact, as I said, he may well be the prototype of all nut jobs.

In response to Ebola, Todd suggests that we just “humanely” put them down. He has also tweeted that we need to deal with ISIS pretty much as Columbus dealt with the “filthy savages” he found in Merika–exterminate them. He suggests that African-Americans are good but Africans are savages with AIDS and Ebola, and our President is the latter. There is more, but who cares. The official GOP is pretty much disowning the guy who seems intent on encouraging the scorn.

I rail about stupid, but not stupid in general. Nobody can be faulted for being stupid if that is their fate based upon too few brain cells. I mean one can’t control such things and the most one can hope in such a case, is that the few that exist can get together and counsel their owner to keep his beak clamped firmly shut to notify as few as possible of the infirmity of being rock stupid.

What I rail at is stupid that is willful and deliberate (if there is a difference between willful and deliberate, otherwise I’m repeating myself). There is no excuse for it. Yet people hide behind “two things you don’t discuss in polite society are politics and religion” and other such trite phrases. Another is being “too busy”. Well aren’t we all? If you want to take that route, then you by definition leave the field to those who are so rich that they have nothing but leisure or so rich they have a vested interest in things being done their way. Neither is a good thing, yet this is what we find today.

Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic, was recently interviewed by Stephen Colbert and had this rather profound remark to make:

“A thoughtless citizen of a democracy is a delinquent citizen of a democracy.”

Unlike other forms of government, we get the government we elect, we get the government we demand, we get the government that we choose. If we choose to opt out by our failure to learn the truth about all the issues that confront us, if we fail to vote, we are unworthy of the land in which we live. We are not patriotic, we are nothing but ignorant “feel-good” loafers who are so involved in our own lives that we can spare none for the country we claim to love so much. Patriotism is a good deal more than thanking veterans for their service, singing national anthems, and critiquing the correctness of Presidential salutes upon exiting Marine One.

Opinions don’t count, opinions based on actual facts do. And actual facts are discerned through a sifting process of reading and THINKING about a host of sources, determining what can and cannot be given credence. It does not involve looking for arguments that support what one really wants to be true because it suits one’s worldview, religious needs, or pocketbook.

We have to laugh at the likes of a Ted Cruz, who when confronted with the fact that SCOTUS was refusing to take up a number of circuit cases involving same-sex marriage laws, determined that this inaction constituted some gravest of all forms of judicial activism. We have to shake our heads at the continued doomsday reports from the hate groups like Family Research Council who beat the drums of impending Armageddon should people of the same sex be allowed to marry. Mike Huckabee has threatened to leave the GOP if crazier heads like himself don’t prevail and carry on the fight against this god-less movement.

The FACT is that this idiocy of fundamentalism is not something that can be traced to the apostles of our Lord. This brand of fundamentalism with all it’s “inerrancy, creationism,anti-climate change, and young-earth-ism” is of recent vintage, being born in the early 60’s, about the same time that a periodic Spiritual awakening was occurring among the Boomers. Most went the way of exploring an expansion of God, encompassing other faiths, and new approaches, but the reactionaries withdrew and made God smaller and easier to fit inside their tiny braincases.

The FACT is that homosexuality is not by any means “prohibited” in the bible, and anyone who suggests it is, is engaging in the same literalist interpretation that is  incorrect and utterly unsupported by biblical experts around the world. The literature is extensive and profound on the issue and only awaits the fundamentalist’s courage to actually read it. Contrary to their claims based on nothing, learning truth does not destroy God, but rather it makes God really God, and not some human caricature designed to make one feel okay about ones miserable self.

We are awash in a sea of stupid these days. And for reasons that should shock and astound us all, the stupidest of all seem to seek office. Like minded stupid people find solace across the Internet, finding compatriots of ignorance and losing what should be their isolated “otherness” mantle that used to keep them securely locked in their garrets tormented by a world that rejects their insanity. Such people don’t procreate, since in small town America their numbers are still so small that they seldom by chance run into someone as stupid as themselves and join forces. At least pre-Internet that was true.

Over sixty-percent of 18-20somethings in the GOP are okay with same-sex marriage. What does that tell ya? It should tell you that you need to rethink your stupid, but of course, being stupid you won’t. You’ll rail that this generation of kids just wasn’t properly disciplined with the belt as you were, and thus has grown up without real morals.

Real morality I hate to tell you, has to do with respecting other people and their rights. But you won’t learn that any time soon, since you protect your thin-skin by surrounding yourselves with others like yourselves and then telling the biggest lie of all–most people are like us. Well, they aren’t.

You have no guts, no integrity, no moral compass, and not a modicum of intelligence. You  are unable to hold up your end of a “debate” and are reduced to coded ad hominem attacks to replace the arguments you cannot make. You prefer to believe what makes your tiny simplistic world work for you, and damn the vast rest of humanity who must be wrong-headed, atheistic, commie, socialist, fascist, feminist, racist, lazy and dogs. Half of the above you couldn’t define if put to the test. You wave the flag and tout how “blessed” you are and “share if you love God too”. You question everyone else’s faith while not following a single dictate of the man you claim as your savior.

And still, and still when it all comes down to it, you have to try to cheat to win an election. So where are your hordes of followers? The two thousand who showed up for your “family values” annual lovefest? The three who showed up at your border protests? Or was it the 2 semis and 4 pickups who showed up for your Washington protest? You can try to suppress Democratic votes, but the result will be the same as last time. We will vote in greater numbers than ever before.

And you will lose, and lose and lose until finally you all retreat to your basements and your hoarded food and weapons while we continue to create a world that is fair for all. We have a long way to go, but at least we are moving forward, and you can only slow things down, never stop it.

Stew in that!

 

 

That Being Said. . . .

Ricky (I got my Smarty glasses) Perry wants to be President, mostly to prove I guess, if we were not already aware (Dubya (I’m a painter now! Bush), that dumb can rule the free world too.

Ricky (I can only count to two) got his good-hair self caught up in a scandal, one of major proportions. Indictment for a CRIME, one that carries up to 99 years (doncha love how they always go one shy of 100?) to be specific.

The crux of the indictment is that the Rickster made a line-item veto in a bill, refusing to fund a state prosecutor’s division whose job it was to investigate public malfeasance. This was a unit run by a Democrat named Rosemary Lehmberg. Perry made no bones about the fact that he wanted Lehmberg to step down.

This might seem sinister since it could be seen as Perry’s attempt to shut down investigations regarding himself or those around him for behaving badly.

However, such does not seem to be the case. The reason for Perry’s actions seem to be the bad behavior of Lehmberg herself who was arrested for drunk driving and went on (with all the video anyone would like to see) to act like a belligerant, “don’t you know who I am” sorta brat. It is quite arguable that Ms. Lehmberg doesn’t deserve a position when she acts like a horse’s ass in public and abuses lawful police actions because she thinks she’s “above all that”.

Republicans of course are screaming that the whole mess is a political witch hunt designed to take down their Texan favorite son. Which would make sense, except that:

(1) the judge who appointed the special prosecutor who sought and obtained the indictment is a Republican, and

(2) the special prosecutor is also a Republican.

(3) Ricky is so damn dumb that nobody needs to help him off the cliff, he’ll trip and fall all by his silly self.

That being said, it looks to me at least that Perry is getting a bad rap here.

Firstly, the governor retains the power of the veto in the fairly insane state of Texas and it seems rather obvious to the mentally sound that veto implies threat by its very essence. It shouts to it’s target, “do what I want, or I’ll kill ya!” which by anybody’s estimation seems a bit intimidating.

So claiming that Rick was threatening Ms. Lehmberg seems more like a “duh” moment than a basis for wrongdoing. It comes with the territory. Rick (please run all mouth speaking through my handler) would have been better to shaddup, but people with special smart glasses have a tough time doing that.

Now the county from which the indictment arose is that one around Austin (the lair itself), and one of the high volume Democratic counties in the late-great state. So I suppose it’s possible that the grand jury was over-filled with Democratic citizens who handed the special prosecutor the surprise of his life in voting for the charges. He, (the now loathed Republican prosecutor) was quite possibly just goin’ through the motions, never anticipating that any group of citizens would “take him seriously”.

That being said, it all seems like a bad idea. There is little to be gained by the Democratic party as far as I can see, but I suspect that there is little to be gained or lost by the aging pretty boy. Everybody in his party is making sympathetic mewlings about what a gentleman he is, but soon they will all return to their own private interests which may or may not include trying to cut him down at the knees to further their own political fantasies.

As they say, “move along, there is nothing to see folks.”

Don’t get me wrong, Perry is a farce, and has done a whole ton of things that are reprehensible in my opinion, first and foremost revolving around health care in general and women specifically. He has systematically let his citizens suffer to maintain an ideological idiot’s position regarding health care period, and leads a state who has more uninsured than any state in the union. This he has done deliberately.

If he once had compassion for children who found themselves brought to this country as small children and argued that they deserved an education, he was disabused of that position by a slathering, spittle spewing right wing who nearly booed him off the stage for his heresy. Since then he’s been a hardliner when it comes to immigration issues, again, probably much to the detriment to his state.

That being said, this indictment still reeks of STUPID.

We got better things to do folks.