It’s the Fourth of July, in case you hadn’t heard. Time to reflect on what we’re all doing here, and a time to belly up to the table for a helping of potluck. Enjoy.
WTF?? 1. Oh, it was just fine when Bush was President… President Obama says “let’s reform immigration – it’s broken and dangerous” and the Bee would add draconian and completely unsuited to the world of the 21st century. He wants to see something done, this year if possible. So what does he do? He goes to 11 republican senators who were gung-ho and ready to roll on immigration reform when Bush was president and immigration reform meant “kick all those deadbeat brown people out and bring back our pristine lily-white country where life was like the Andy Griffith show, and everyone had Aint Bee livin’ in the kitchen cooking up the chicken and every kid was kind, generous and well-behaved like Opie!” Doesn’t matter that life was never like that for most of the country, and even where it was like that, it really wasn’t like that, but you know, they’re republicans, so those facts just don’t really matter. How do those 11 republican senators explain themselves and their complete about-face now?
Some of the 11 senators whose support is critical to his plans signaled Thursday that they are not ready to back reform this time around. They also denied that they had changed their positions for political reasons.
Yeah, and my ass isn’t really wide, it’s just the way the light reflects off it. Come’on, Senators, we’re not all stupid…we know the GOP is the party of NONONONONONONO, meaning they aren’t going to agree with the President in any way shape or form, no matter what the problems facing all of us are, no matter if it were a matter of life or death. They’re like Pavlovian dogs, conditioned to say NO! to whatever comes out of the President’s mouth.
“Hey, you’ve got your foot caught in a bear trap. That must really hurt. Here, let me help you get out of it,” said the President.
“NO!!!!” screamed the republican Senator, “It’s fine! This isn’t a bear trap, it’s an electronic brace….I mean, it was a present from my wife! Yeah, that’s it!”
WTF?? 2. Those FEMA trailers were fine for the brown people when Bush was President… But now that BP-disaster-of-the-century-and-we’re-only-10-years-in-and-god-what-will-happen-in-the-next-90??? cleanup crews are having to live in them, they are just too damned stinky and dangerous. Turns out those trailers were auctioned off with all kinds of warnings like “CAUTION: slow, lingering and terrible death awaits you inside!” Why were those trailers auctioned off anyway? And what numbskull would buy one? Oh, wait…that would have been BP. Those trailers really should have been destroyed, oh, let’s see, 3 years ago. I’m picking on BOTH sides here, by the way.
WTF?? 3. Everything you buy is crap and will kill you. Maybe that was a bit melodramatic. In 2009, there were 465 product recalls of tens of millions of items, from circular saws to Jesus Fish Beads (and why couldn’t Jesus make those beads free of lead? But that’s a whole other post). Nearly every baby item on the market has been recalled at one time or another. In this Washington Post article, the writer talks at length about how it’s easy to get the products off a store shelf, but harder to get individuals to take those recalled items back. I say, with that many recalls of dangerous and defective items, the problem isn’t the recall process. The problem lies the shabby items made in unsafe and unsanitary conditions in an unsustainable economic system highlighted by the voodoo of “free market.” You see, free market doesn’t really equate to more competition. It really just equates to shortcuts in manufacturing, which directly leads to an across the board decrease in quality. It’s all about the bottom line and it’s all about not providing decent product. More effective regulations coupled with tangible and severe penalties when a company peddles dangerous crap would be in order here, because the manufacturing sector here and abroad ain’t cutting the mustard on their own quality control procedures. How about some jailtime and stiff fines here in the US, and some trade regulations for importers?
And now, for dessert. Here is the “Strikes My Fancy” item that…well, struck my fancy this week.
SMF 1. There is still some decency out there, you know that, don’t you? Nicole Parizo of Concorde, New Hampshire, lost her wallet just a few days after giving birth. Let me tell you how easy that is to do: If you had a C-Section, you’re doped up. If you didn’t, you should be. Either way, you’re nowhere near 100% and that’s when wallets are easily lost. But Nicole didn’t suffer some of the usually bad side effects of losing her wallet, such as some turkey running up the credit cards and draining the bank account. In fact, she got her wallet back, and the guy who found it stuffed some extra money in it for good measure, along with a note telling her to do something nice for someone else as payback. Pay it back, then pay it forward, and Nicole has signed up for the bone marrow donor’s list. I love a story that ends well, don’t you?
Last night, we packed a cooler and joined some friends at the Powhatan County fireworks display. The kids had a great time being mini daredevils in the bouncy-houses. The adults got a chance to talk and just hang out. No alcohol was allowed inside the grounds, so we weren’t subjected to the idiotic drunken parking lot fights afterwards. Getting out took awhile. The locals had a nice little system worked out for guiding traffic off the grounds. It was fair and equitable, but of course, there’s always some asshole who is in a tremendous hurry to leave that he actually cussed out one of the teenagers who volunteered to direct traffic. I could see another mouthing “bitch” when I wouldn’t let him cut across two rows and cut in front of me, after I had already let out 8 vehicles that were in my row, thank you very much. It was another case of “Me! Me! Me!” syndrome.
As for the guy who cussed out the traffic attendant, guess what sticker the turkey had in the back window of his mini-van? “Former embryo on board.” Yeah, big surprise, a rightwingnut, in such a hurry that he cussed out a teenaged volunteer traffic attendant for daring to make him stop when his turn to stop and allow other vehicles to leave came. Because, you know, it’s all about them. They all want “their” country back. I’m not clear on just where it went, or which country it is that they want back. I don’t think they are either. Perhaps it is the country where blacks and women knew their place. Perhaps it is the country that tested DDT on its own citizens without their knowledge or consent. Perhaps it is the country where the poor were left to die in the streets, where children were worked 16 hours per day in clothing factories, where 50% of women died in childbirth, where injured and mentally debilitated white veterans were turned out on the streets and where black veterans were medically experimented on mercilessly, where deadly lead toys were the norm, where a man could beat his wife and molest his children with virtual impunity…well, you get the picture. Things are better now on nearly all counts, but we still have a lot of improvements to make. You see, we’re all stuck on this land together. We can work together to make those improvements to the general well-being, or the rightwingnuts can sit back and cry foul over their “lost” country, the one they can’t even effectively describe and refuse to see it for what, in too many instances, it really was. We are a work in progress, all of us. From the individual to the group as a whole. The day we become utterly stagnant and trapped in the boxes of the status quo, we are doomed. We are very near that point already.
So, to those with “Me! Me! Me! Syndrome,” all I can say is: shut up, sit down and wait your turn. Cussing out a parking lot attendant and mouthing obscenities at me when you’ve got 1,000 vehicles all trying to funnel into the same one-way egress doesn’t serve any purpose other than to get you mocked in a blog and to make your own blood pressure rise. Me? I’m not in any hurry, and can’t help it if you are.
In a couple of hours, I will be sitting in a pink floatie chair in a spring-fed lake, sucking back Coronas with lime, just waiting for the brisket and steak to be cooked. I’ll be around friends that I love dearly, who I can only hope love me as well. We’ll probably do some talking about this country of ours, about those improvements that need to be made. We’ll talk about the future, because we love our land, and like good parents, we want it to be better than we were. We don’t want to go back into that past I mentioned above. We want to move forward into a better world. The rightwingnuts can join us…or sit down, shut up and stay out of the way.
Tags: FEMA trailers, immigration reform, Nicole Parizo, potluck, recalls
Bee, come on now. Do you really think that is the kind of America that the “right wingnuts” are talking about when they protest the excesses of government? Nobody worthy of being called a human being wants those things, ma’am.
I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July! Sincerely, I do!
What? There was a recall of Jesus Fish Beads??? Now you tell me!
For some reason, your WTF3 reminded me of this cartoon: a kid is showing off his new iPhone, and he says “Hey, look at this killer app. You can see the sweatshop where my iPhone was made.”
WTF?? 1. Oh, it was just fine when Bush was President… For our democracy to work, both major political camps must be tethered to some level of accountability to the people for what they say and do. And, people must pay attention, must hold them accountable. People must do that by questioning, by speaking up and by denying those found to be liars, cheats and stealers their money and votes.
This isn’t to say to parties and politicians, “Get anything wrong, and it’s all over for you.” Rather, it’s letting them know people are paying attention, that anything-goes, anything-to-win lying, cheating and stealing won’t be tolerated.
Republicans, especially the radical-right types, do what they do because those things have worked for them in the past — and show promise of working for them again this fall. They will continue to lie, to do sudden about-faces when it suits them, to deny they said what you just heard them say, and play dirty, underhanded tricks until people deny them enough money and enough votes long enough for them to get it through their thick skulls that their 1980-2006 heyday is over. They must be taught that it’s not working any more and it won’t work any more.
The question, then, for America’s voters this fall is, what message do you want to send to the people behind every one of the big messes our country is in?
WTF?? 3. Everything you buy is crap and will kill you. We need tangible and severe penalties that put greedy sleazeballs accustomed to $800 suits into orange jumpsuits for lengthy periods. We need tangible and severe penalties that ban goods from both domestic and foreign business and countries’ offenders for long periods. And we need to make it cost those offenders a bundle, to help pay for gonzo inspections and regulation, before they’re ever allowed back in.
SMF 1. There is still some decency out there, you know that, don’t you? Indeed there is, and you provided a wonderful example of it.
Bee, I hope you and yours have a fantastic time at that lake. Kick back and enjoy.
I haven’t been following politics much recently. It’s just too damn predictable. I was wondering though, with immigration reform looming, how quickly McCain’s plan from a few years ago would get slammed by the Repubs the second the president offered it.
I would submit that the hypocrisy, charlatanism, and irresponsibility of our elected officials is not relegated simply to the Republicans. I can pick out just as many, and indeed more such cases from the Democrats as from the GOP.
While it is not a contest of who is worse, the point is that we need to hold our elected officials accountable to their words for their deeds regardless of their political affiliations. I know many, especially my friends on the left, will disagree with me, but this is precisely why the Tea Party was formed and why it is comprised of people from all political stripes. We want accountability from our representatives in government at all levels. Mr. Anderson and Bee, if you are truly honest in your observations, you must agree that even the Democrats have plenty of room for improvement in this regard.
Paine, politicians in both parties should be held accountable, and yes, there’s room for improvement from those in both parties.
You’re way off base about why the tea party formed. It was a paid initiative of Dick Armey’s lobbying business. I realize some volunteers joined in with the paid operatives and that eventually a bunch of people declared themselves tea partiers and turned out for events on their own.
In typical fashion, the origin of this “Astroturf” alleged movement was fraudulent. That’s not because those in it protested health care reform. It’s because tea partiers and their events were presented as spontaneous expressions of concerned, likeminded citizens. In reality, they were planned assaults on the workings of democracy by hirelings who carried out Armey’s instructions. Their objective was to create chaos and seed fear and suspicion at town hall meetings where serious people were supposed to get important information and provide feedback.
That’s a perfect example of radical right wingers’ anything-to-win, thoroughly dishonest approach to politics. Armey is a bully, a blowhard and a liar. That’s how he got to be House majority leader when Newt “Family Values” Gingrich was speaker.
Why anyone would want to align with a movement begun by a deceitful professional lobbyist like Armey and marketed dishonestly from its first day is beyond my humble analytical capability. If I were you, I would look to instead work within an existing party or start a legitimate new one.
Bee,
Besides everything we buy is crap that will kill us-it also don’t work! This past week I had to replace a bunch of electronic crap that all died early deaths (As you may infer none of it killed me) with new electronic crap, none of which worked and all of which had to be returned for new crap that had to be messed with and tweaked to make it operate adequately. Good news all of it was also expensive as hell. Guess it’s the way we live-easier to import dangerous crap that won’t work than to make it here and pay American wages for Americans to spend here.
T. Paine, you had me till you went off into teaparty land. SW is correct sir, but I respect your willingness to be civil and wish you a happy 4th.
SW nice response my friend.
Bee I’m hoping your floatin’ was fulfilling and fun.
Anderson, while there may indeed be some merit to what you say regarding the catalyst for some of the Tea Party movement, I can absolutely assure you that the perhaps millions of Americans that are supportive of Tea Party ideals of a Constitutionally-run government based on fiscal prudence are not just some GOP-based bought-and-paid-for astroturf group cooked up by Dick Armey.
Conspiracy theories to the contrary, you do a lot of good people that genuinely care about our country a disservice if you think otherwise, Anderson.
Are there political hacks that are trying to harness this momentum for their own ends or to revitalize the GOP? I am sure there are, but they are the minority and most people can quickly see through and determine who amongst them has the country’s interest at heart and who has their own political interests at the forefront of their agenda. It is far past time that Americans come together in support of the former rather than the latter, in my humble opinion, sir.
T Paine: Ya’ll may say that, but you sure have a way of projecting just that desire through the refusal to reflect on the serious problems that have faced this country. And I did in fact have a wonderful 4th with friends, and hope you had a wonderful day too
Tom Harper: Call me sick and twisted, but the iPhone app made me LOL with the irony
SW: I fully agree that both parties need to be smacked down on a regular basis. Me? Well, I see a hell of a lot more abuses from the right than the left (lest we all forget the complete mess of the Bush administration). What we need is a new way of thinking, because if humans don’t start thinking outside the box (and I’m referring to humans in the global sense), we’re all doomed to an epic failure. I hope you had a very nice holiday, SW
Lawyer: I’m guessing..oh, 20 seconds? LOL
Oso: My parents recently got a new microwave. By recent, I mean, just a couple of months ago. The one they bought in 1982 finally died. Me, I bought a new microwave a couple of years. ago, replacing the one I bought in 2004. Everything we buy now is built to a particular obsolescence. I read somewhere recently that those one year warranties on various electronic items means that the manufacturer expects that item to last one year. A car that comes with a 3 year warranty? It’s expected to last that long without a major repair. It makes perfect sense. If you buy a Maytag washing machine now, you can expect, reasonably, beyond the manufacturer’s expectation, for that washer to last 4 years or so. If it lasts longer, you got lucky. If you bought a washer in 1978, the damned thing might very well still be going. I think my mother bought her last washer in 1992 or thereabouts. We’ve been scammed, my friend…we’ve been scammed.
Hey Bee
Just a note here, those trailers were supposed to be destroyed because the insulation they used gave off a type of gas that made people very sick. I was a stupid purchase from a stupid Bush Administration.
I’m not going to be a downer on a holiday. Needless to say I don’t celebrate it.
You all have Fun
Tim: I’m an atheist, but I still have christmas here at the house – I figure, I’m equal opportunity. I figure I can co-opt any holiday that gives a good excuse for a party
T Paine,
I’m a frequent visitor here and would like to say I appreciate your efforts to reach out. I’d like to say something regarding the tea partiers and I hope I express it well.
I work with a group who you might call typical, they aren’t deep into politics but are ardent watchers of Fox and follow Beck. All hard working,all honest.When they look at groups of tea partiers (not referring to media hype,say Fox showing a group at a town hall) they see people just like them.Who would fit in with them at the grocery store or a family BBQ.And my hypothetical town hall group, they would view my co-workers the same way.Just folks.
OK,I have several nieces and nephews who are the best kids ever,to us within the family.I’d trust them completely to care for my kids if mine were babies.Respectful,good humored.Lot of tattoos both sexes.Raider hats,baggy pants.When I see a group of young people like that at a park I have no problem approaching and talking to them.They are just like many of the kids in my family.They could come to any family gathering and fit in and be well thought of.
Yet to be totally honest,some of those kids are thugs.Even in my family.Deep down I recognize this,though it’s not really in my conscious perception cause i’ve changed their diapers y’know?If you and I met at a park (yes I’m stereotyping here)I’m reasonably certain you’d look at a group with my nieces and nephews among them and honestly observe they looked like gang members and thugs.If you pointed to some of the kids I’d raised and said this I’d be offended, yet to be honest you’d be right in some respects.
So when I look at the tea party groups and see racism and hatred, this is why. I’ve encountered them from the other side.You and I might be talking at this hypothetical park with my group on one side and yours on the other side of the park and I guarantee a very good proportion of tea partiers would view me as one of “them”. Not saying either side right or wrong, just trying to illuminate my end.Cause my side would view you/them in the same way,one of “them”.
Bee I hope you don’t mind me pontificating here.I guess being Catholic I can’t help doing the pontiff thing!
Oso, you know good and well that you are ALWAYS welcome to pontificate here, to your little heart’s content
In fact, I believe you’re allowed to post here whenever you want, too!
Why does T. Pain continue to try to maintain this absurd fiction about the Klanbaggers being a “grassroots” group? They can’t find their way to the toilet without being led by Dick Armey, and thus it always has been.
If (as it appears) T. Pain is ashamed of his associations, it’s never too late to get on a different path.
Osori, I do appreciate your intellectual honesty in the scenarios you described, sir.
Why is it, sir, that you think the majority of Tea Partiers condone or support racism and hate, when you start out by saying that the group you work with is typically made up of good honest people that are inclined to be supportive to their cause? Do you not think that this is exactly the type of concerned people that comprise the Tea Party, sir?
I would submit to you that the characterization of hate and racism in the Tea Party is an Alinsky tactic used by the progressive left to try and demonize and minimize the impact that the Tea Party has on politics.
Are there racists among them? Sure. Every large group is going to have its share of idiots, but I don’t find that to be the norm at all.
As for your excellent question regarding your neices and nephews, I would suspect that should I see such a group in a public setting I would not have any ill thoughts towards them or necessarily associate them with a gang, unless they were being loud, vulgar, and intentionally intimidating of others. (Being a Seahawks fan, I would take greater issue with the Raiders garb though! lol!
)
All that being said, people dress and project an image that they want the world to see. Most people would be a little taken aback to go to the doctor to find him in baggy jeans half way down his waist and having piercings in his face. That doesn’t mean that he isn’t a good person or a competent doctor, but that is public perception.
The same is true if a group of teens wear black garb, Raiders shirts, etc. They may be great kids, as your relatives are, but the public in general will be wary typically.
The perception one puts forth has consequences, rightly or wrongly. It is indeed the rare person that can look past the facade and see the quality of the person within.
While I typically try to do just that, I admittedly fall short some times. This doesn’t mean I will give up trying.
I appreciate greatly your reaching out also, Osori. Far better that people debate civilly and try to at least understand where the other person is coming from, even if in the end they disagree. I have many a very good friend with whom I disagree vehmently on politics and religion. That doesn’t lessen my admiration or love for them.
The nastines and name calling often found in some such debates (from both sides of the poltical aisle) is detrimental and typically speaks more about the person spewing such nonsense because it defines those that are insecure in their arguments or are too arrogant to see that they might be wrong or are incapable of learning and growing.
Jolly Roger, for the record, I am not ashamed of my associations at all. If I disagree with a friend, I will tell him so. If an association to which I belong no longer supports the ideals I do, I will disavow myself from them.
That being said, your vile characterizations of the Tea Party to the contrary, I have found this group to be by and large comprised of very good people that sincerely care about our nation and wish it to be governed by the Constitution and a government that is responsive and fiscallly prudent.
If this group were hateful and racist, as you described, I assure you that I would also be renouncing them. In the meantime, your erroneous demagoging of them is ineffectual to those of us that actually know the truth, sir.
Ms. Bee, I truly love it when you take the time to rant for us! It’s like finding gifts under the xmas tree, coffee already made in the morning, a morning paper in the driveway and not in the water-filled ditch, cardinals and indigo buntings on the feeders instead of starlings (and it’s the content of their character I hate, and not the color of their feathers…) and the general sense of “damn!” whenever you make a point on our behalf. Half the time I find myself saying, “Wish I had said that…”
Please let summer be only time you come to the computer so rarely!!! bob
T,Paine,
Seahawks fan-there’s your problem right there!
What I probably didn’t convey well is I think people often default to “groupthink” or maybe “herdthink” at times. This may cause them to exhibit behavior (or possibly an outsider viewing may perceive certain behavior)which is seen as negative.The extreme behavior is really only bought into by a minority of the group, yet the herd has their back.
Say you come to the Oakland Coliseum in Seahawk gear. The Raider fans as individuals at a store or park would invariably be pleasant, yet at the stadium some might yell at you, if you yell back more might join in. A handful might stick up for you but the majority would go along with the yelling, even if they didn’t feel strongly about it.
I would view tea partyers the same way, my co-workers are individually nice but cannot discuss politics except ideologically. So I view them as likely “groupthink” types.
Osori, you make a good analogy despite your lack of love for my sad Seahawks, sir.
I have to agree with your “groupthink” analysis.
Oso, I am just reading here and you described me and some of my more DFH type friends. When I am not at work or going anywhere, I look like I just rolled out of bed, stuck a SF Giants cap on and left the house. I get strange looks too when I am with some of my more colorful tattooed friends and these are the best people ever. Oh and TP, I have one of those doctor friends with tattoos. His patients always give him kudos for being that regular guy who made it up the food chain to be a surgeon. Just saying that looks can be really decieving if you only see the superficial.
Oso, not for nothing, I could deal with the LA Dodger hat, but a Raiders hat come on now.
Bee, as always, you have taken my words and written them down before me
It’s like lotto numbers, I always pick the winning ones, I just don’t play the game.
Jess,
I’d like to point out that I beat you by three days this time.
I’ll be sure to keep the Raider hat out of my gravatar.My big girl has hella tattoos, the small one none. Only tattoo I’ve got is “Carmen” on my arm.
Jolly I’ll welcome T. Paine with open arms…he’s always been very polite and courteous in all his comments that I’ve seen here, and elsewhere. I appreciate that immensely.
T. Paine: I had the misfortune to work with several teabaggers at my last job. One put on a nice-nice, “I love everybody” face, then dropped the term “nigger-rigged” when the photocopier didn’t work for her once. She also had a problem with mexicans. Another would drop the n-bomb whenever he thought it was “safe” to do so. Another said once: “I’m not racist, I just don’t want to live in a neighborhood with black people living there.” The fourth said similar crap on a regular basis. So, needless to say, I’m glad to be out of there, just because of those 4 people and their nastiness. So, when I see the racist signs that teabaggers carry when they go to “protests”, I’m not impressed. If, and that’s a great big IF there, the teaparty is not an inherently racist organization (due to the fact that most of its adherents are indeed racist fools), then it needs to take that face off and put on something more appropriate.
Squatlo, I aim to please:) I come by and read you often, friend – I don’t always comment, but I do read what you have to say. I’ll try to comment more often
Oso: I’ve been thinking of getting a tat myself. Probably 3 mean bees…me, Mr. Bee and Lil’Bee, of course
Bee, I want to thank you for being a lady that actually cares about civility in debate. We all can disagree vehemently about policies etc but that doesn’t mean we have to be nasty and condescending towards others as some people will inevitably do.
I have quit frequenting a few other blogs for that very reason as there are those that comment upon them that simply wish to denigrate anyone with an opposing opinion with unnecessary vileness. By the way, this is something that I have noticed on blogs on both sides of the political spectrum, so I am not picking on the left here at all.
I disagree often with those few good folks on the left that care to comment on my blog too but I try to do so without denigrating or being disrespectful in the process. Those that want to spew vulgarity at me doesn’t bother me in the least, but it doesnt’ further the discussion of ideas and does not have a constructive place in my mind or my blog.
I appreciate greatly that you and I seem to be of like mind in this case, ma’am.
As for your example of some of your co-workers, I am indeed saddened to hear such things and hope that these ignorant folks are the abberation and not the norm.
I can only tell you in my experience that I have seen none of this racist garbage with Tea Party supporters and I would be quick to speak out against them if I did. Indeed I have several friends of color that are supportive of the Tea Party ideals themselves. Further, I would like to leave you with a couple of links that refute the Tea Party racism charges.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuDAU4qQUCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC9X5moico4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1CLPhz0DHM
http://savingcommonsense.blogs.....party.html
T Paine: My apologies, the last comment you left here (just above this comment I’m leaving now) ended up in a “pending approval” bucket, and I didn’t realize it until Jess told me that one of her comments was stuck in limbo there, awaiting moderation. Sorry ’bout that, and I’ll try not to let that happen again! We may disagree about a lot of stuff, but we have agreed on a few things, and that’s good enough for me!