Whee, Change Comes Roaring

Tags

Election 2012, Humor, labor, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, satire, women's rights

 

Last night the thunder and lightning rolled in and it rained most of the night. At 4 a.m., Diego nuzzled me awake to go out, and noticing that it was still showering at least, I realized that our walk today was caput.

The Contrarian woke when a wet Diego jumped full-tilt into the bed and wiggled his happiness. After removing said dog from my now wet side of the bed, I told him (the Contrarian that is) not to waken me at 5:45 for my walk. “No walking today,” I mumbled, “It’s raining. Maybe I can take him later for a walk around the neighborhood.”

Well, it’s still going at a slow but steady pace now at 9 a.m. This is wonderful since we so need the rain, and a fun day for me. A load of laundry is now in the dryer, and I’ve cooked up the ingredients for a new Southwestern adapted salad to go with steaks today, called I think Foothills Salad. Roasted red potatoes, bacon, corn, chiles, and a nice spicy dressing. While I compose this, I listen to the second half hour of Chris Hayes, “UP“. It’s all good.

Well, now after two conventions, let the games begin:

Now people have different opinions about the President’s speech. Mindful that the jobs report was not good, I think he set the right tone myself.

And certainly it got bigger and bolder and more exhilarating as it built to the end.

At the close of the day, one can say that the DNC put on a well-planned show that seemed to state their position quite well, while the RNC was negative and devoid of much energy and peppered with forgettable speeches for the most part except for the Eastwood debacle.

The debates should be something else I’m guessing.

Speaking of which, I think that the Dems pretty much laid to rest that silly question.

Of course we are better off. We aren’t all picking garbage from the dump for dinner tonight.

Stephen Colbert had perhaps the best line. It went something like this and I do paraphrase:

“Mitt Romney keeps asking us if we are better off today that we were 4 years ago. He better not answer that question himself since he’s only given us 2 years of his tax returns.”

And the beat goes on.

Bill Clinton said it best:

“They’re argument is this: we broke it, you haven’t fixed it fast enough, hire us again.”

Let’s face it, Romney is more “European” in his outlook than Obama as he so tries to paint. Romney’s economic policies have already been tried. First they were the essential policies of the Bush fiasco. And second, look to Ireland, Britain, Spain and so forth if you want to see how well drastic spending cuts work to restore an economy.

As more and more economists point out, the debt crisis is a problem, but not THE problem. You put people to work building infrastructure, manning our schools and fighting fires and policing the streets. When the work force is engaged and gaining wealth, the economy picks up, surpluses can then be used to pay down the debt. A debt I might remind you, we owe ourselves. China owns but 4% of our overall debt much as the GOP would lie to you to the opposite.

I guess I wonder why the GOP thought this crap “We built this” would work. Have they not added up the numbers? the entrepreneurs of the world constitute only a tiny fraction of the total population.

Most of us are, were, or will be workers–working for somebody. And we know to our core, that no “job creator” creates anything but an idea with the worker who actually builds.

Eric Cantor had the audacity to tweet something to the effect of “congrats to all those who risked money and built a business–this is your day!” Yeah, it’s not labor day Eric, it’s bosses day. Are you people proof that a human can function completely devoid of a brain?

If you have ever met a pathological liar, well, I need not say more.

It’s mind-blowing to know someone who lies because it’s simple part of their DNA–about things that aren’t even important.

Like running a marathon. Why would you lie about that?

See you don’t even do it intentionally really. It’s just something that comes out of the old pie hole when you open it. Such people should be kept in locked rooms with simple repetitive tasks to perform.

They should never be considered for political jobs. But sadly, such types fit in so well in our present political climate.

See, Willard said all the right things about stupid puddle, Akins and his thoughts about rape and pregnancy.

But then Willard went to Iowa and publicly embraced Steve King (R-IA) who has given Akins a pass (I have no reason to know if he’s right or wrong, personally), and who calls immigrants dogs, and who thinks dog fighting is an okay thing, and who isn’t sure the President is an American, and  who is just an all-around IDIOT on any subject you can dream up.

And then you know.

Willard really doesn’t care anything about Akins and his kind. His handlers told him to say it, so he did. And he certainly didn’t mean it, because he doesn’t mean anything other than “let ME be president.”

So the choice will soon be ours.

Ninety-nine percent of us have made up our minds.

One percent of the rest are dead in their beds and just haven’t been found yet.

The rest are dead in their souls and haven’t heard a single thing since they spend all their free time watching professional wrestling.

It’s pretty scary knowing that.

So getting out the vote is the key now.

Do what you can will you?

It could be kind of important ya know.

 

Related articles

• Poll: Obama Approval Up After DNC (thinkprogress.org)
• Per Gallup, Obama approval ratings surge during convention (and his lead grows) (dailykos.com)
• Romney Hoping For Bad Job Numbers This Week (alan.com)
• Stewart Rips Into Fox For Its Hypocritical Coverage Of RNC And DNC Conventions (mediaite.com)

 

Thinking is Against the Law

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Catholics, foreign affairs, GOP, labor, labor unions, LGBTQ rights, Libya, Maine, Obama, Wisconsin

I was one of those who believed that the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya was needed. I was and am all too aware of the dangers involved.

As predicted, those of the Right are not satisfied regardless. No matter what President Obama chose to do, it would be wrong and they would shout it out to their base.

Obama said American involvement in any leadership vein, would be short, a matter of days rather than weeks.

It seems he was truthful. Rebels have been able to retake the town of Ajdabiya. Given air support and the taking out of large artillery, they can fight Qaddafi forces and prevail. What is of even more significance is that Qatar and the UAE are both flying jets in the no-fly zone.

It may come to be that once again we have underestimated Barack Obama. I can but imagine that the naysayers those who are GOP presidential hopefuls and others are chewing their hats about now. They pray for failure to enhance their power. That’s the GOP way.

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You may have missed this: Maine’s ReCorpricans are at it. The Guv, has declared that murals which depict Maine’s labor history will be taken down from the State Department of Labor. Additionally, conference rooms long named for labor leaders like Caesar Chavez are being changed, to reflect “pro business” goals. [h/t to Infidel753]

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If you listen to Foxy Noise, or any of the typically wingnut GOP leadership, the power and prestige of the US is at an all time low, due to the “bungling foreign policy” of one Barack H. Obama. Oddly enough, that doesn’t seem to be the way the WORLD thinks of us. A Gallup poll suggests that we have rebounded quite nicely from the abysmal low Chimpy left us in to a respectable level once again. Read it and weep teabuggers. [h/t to Infidel753]

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Guv Walker in Wisconsin has decided to defy a restraining order issued by a Madison judge, and has published the union killing bill anyway, giving rise to the question of whether it goes lawfully into effect or not. Under the Lobsterscope has the story with plenty of links.

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Official Vatican teaching is one thing. American Catholics are quite another. Recent polling by PPPI shows what has been consistent in other polls (Pew for instance) for some time. Namely that Catholics in the US support LGBTQ rights including marriage at a higher rate than any Christian group.

The Progressive Catholic Voice reports that Catholics retain an “underlying social justice” position that prevails over the official teaching of the Church. I of course, applaud this fact. Basically most Catholics I think agree that Magisterial teaching is basic to formation of conscious, but as the writer states here, is not absolutely controlling. Primacy of conscience, long upheld by the Church itself, causes Catholics to weigh the circumstances alongside of doctrine and decide moral issues in light of many factors.

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What’s on the stove? scallops with linguine in a lemon butter sauce, with foccacia and salad.

Related Articles

• Libyan rebels regain besieged city of Ajdabiya (independent.co.uk)
• News From Obama’s Iraq (slog.thestranger.com)
• NOM Denounces Catholic Marriage Poll (joemygod.blogspot.com)
• Surprising Results in Evangelical Poll (whitehouse2012.wordpress.com)

Laboring Through My Confusion

Tags

Democrats, fundamentalists, GOP, labor, Labor day, poverty, racism, right wing, social issues, unions

Today is Labor Day, and most Americans are busy doing the last hurrah of summer. Whether at the beach, the lake, the baseball stadium, or in the back yard, folks are cooking the brats and ribs and burgers, trying to pretend that the inglorious summer is not at an end.

That is how most people respond to Labor Day. It was once a day to celebrate labor and the working man, woman and child. It was an extra day of rest for the laborers who with sweat and muscle, make America go. It was in some sense a recognition that the little guy mattered.

Like most of our national holidays, it is seldom remembered as it was envisioned. It has become but other occasion to make potato salad, buy an extra few six packs, and loll around the back yard “enjoying” the day. It has always been, in reality, a day when women cooked more than usual, kids went wild to the near insanity of parents, and dad tried to snooze undisturbed by any need to mow or weed whack. Men and kids always get the better end of the deal.

In truth, I don’t recall as a child finding it any different than it is today. I grew up in a working class neighborhood, in GM town, otherwise known as Flint, Michigan. Most all our parents were factory workers or at least workers in service industries to GM. They were union folk. They were Democrats.

If my father was true to his classification, most didn’t think of themselves ironically as working class. We were taught that America was a classless society, and we believed it, no matter how untrue that was. We knew that in general, USA excepted, there were the rich, the middle class, and the working class. Below that were the poor. 

The poor were a foggy group of misfits. Mentally and physically disabled, the drunks, those raised by unfit people who were never properly educated or socialized. The lazy, all those who were just “different” and unable to cope. The homeless, and all who through some unknown, unnamed catastrophic occurrence  found themselves down and out, riding the rails, not able to hold down a “steady” job.

The poor were so far out of sight, that being working class was not acceptable. After all, the economic elites had historically insulated themselves from criticism by making sure that we all got that concept of “work ethic” somehow attached to the Protestants. They shamelessly appropriated Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.” Together, both concepts diverted attention away from their excessive greed and self-designed right to live in extreme largess while huge portions of the world suffered terribly from want.

The average working class person had it drummed into their head that if they were not where they wanted to be, they had no one to blame but themselves. They hadn’t worked hard enough or frankly, they were not smart enough. Add racism to the mix, and the working class began to feel downright middle class, though they were never that.

Nothing has changed much. Racism has, if anything, enlarged. It’s almost okay to blame blacks again, since its so easy to mask it by hatred of that commie Obama. But there are others now. Latinos are fine targets with their immigrating ways. Muslims are even better, with their actively violent ultra right wing.

The economic elites have continued to be successful in turning inward the natural economic desires of the workers. It’s still all their own fault. The elites still have a right to own six homes and gild everything they own with gold just cuz it looks nice. Anyone who tells the worker differently is nothing but a low down scummy intellectual elite, which is just code for liberal Democrat.

Somehow they manage this while all the time going to those same elite schools and getting that same elite education. But they don’t use their education for the betterment of mankind, no they use it in the good old American way–to feather their own nests with excess. They sleep at night just fine, thank you very much, because they actually have bought their own rhetoric.

And the workers cling to God (but only their fundamentalist version) and don’t see that their version of racist/social conservatism is diametrically apposed to everything Jesus taught and died for. They are appalled when you suggest it. They can point out the verses you know, the ones they like a lot, that tell them that they are doing right to question the right of the so-called poor to be helped. They can find that in the bible, that there are poor and then there are lazy, and the lazy can get a job. God wants people to be prosperous, so if I got mine, I worked for it, like I’m supposed to, and you should work for yours. Cuz I found this verse in Timothy, or in Proverbs. I forgot the ones in Galatians and the ones in Isaiah, and the ones in, oh you get the idea.

And the workers are no longer Democrats so much any more. Their fundamentalist visions have been co-opted by Republicans who dangle the bait of abortion reform, stopping the perversion of gay rights, and all those other sexual things, and they now vote against their economic interests. They do this quite happily. They are right you see. Obama is the anti-Christ. He is not a Christian. He is not patriotic. He is not a citizen. He is a dirty, low down, Democrat, socialist, fascist, communist, baby killing, Muslim. He must be because they are white and they are right, and something has gone very wrong in Smallville USA.

They don’t see any of this of course. They munch the hotdogs and pop a top, and grin as the kids run through sprinklers, and wives yell out the back door, “is the charcoal ready yet?” It’s Labor Day. Oh it’s good to be middle class.