Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Selling and believing his own bullshit

Bobby Jingle sounds like a flim flam man.
Sounds like some really low rent motivational speaker. . . like the guy that the Rotary Club in some midwest town of 900 would hire for their annual dinner where they give away a $300 scholarship to the towns top high school star athelete.
Is this guy talking about run-away gov't spending and pointing the finger at dems?! WTF? "The failure of Katrina" and pointing at the dems?! WTF? This guy is a fucking moron. Wow.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Education - Rural Access

Skepticism arises over rural broadband stimulus (AP)
Posted on Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:13PM EST

WASHINGTON - With the first concerted federal program to subsidize high-speed Internet services in rural areas, the new economic stimulus package will create some jobs and could get hundreds of thousands of households online.

Yet there's some question whether the economy would be more energized by spending that money on other things.

Because Internet access is already widespread and still being expanded even in a shrinking economy, injecting more money for broadband could simply equate to giving more coffee to someone who's already downed three cups.

"From the rural Vermont that we see, broadband is happening, happening fast," said Michel Guite, president of Vermont Telephone Co., which is based in Springfield.


I love it when rich corporate morons sit in their ivory towers and proclaim the state of something they have not got the slightest clue about. Then other morons drink their stupid like it's manna from heaven. It's so easy to dupe the proletariat on problematic issues effecting the poor, the working class, minorities, etc. Afterall, don't we all want those problems to go away?

Believe me, I didn't move out here two miles off the hard road (if you want to call that beaten pothole covered country lane a "hard road") with only a very sparse scattering of neighbors so that I could get wi-fi at the Starbucks on the other side of the hay field. I know that if I want a real latte with sugar free mocha to go with my internet, I gotta drive an hour. That's fine, as I like the banana split flavor latte out of the machine at the 7-11 over in town just fine and I've only got to drive 30 minutes to get there and it only costs me $1 compared to the $4 latte at the local coffee joint.

No, I aint lookin for hyper connectivity out here, but motherfucker, don't compare my rural Appalachia to some groovy granola chewing hamlet in "rural" Vermont. "From the rural Vermont that we see, broadband is happening, happening fast." Listen up you little wanker who wrote this story; come on down here and we'll talk about what is and isn't happening fast.

We don't have broadband out here and I don't expect we ever will. What's really sad it that the only real line of communications I and my neighbors have with the outside world are some old analog phone lines that are often dead for a couple days at a time. I'll take you out into my hay field and we'll walk along the creek and you can see the lines where they're laying down in the bottom of the creek because of erosion over the past 60 yrs when they were originally layed. Thewre was a junction box on a pole that fell a couple years ago and was laying next to the creek. Every time the creek got up it covered the junction box and our phone service went out untill the water went down and it dried up. It took almost a year and numerous calls to the state public service commission to get it fixed. Tell me about rural access. Oh, and if I drive a half mile up to the top of the hill I can sometimes get cell phone coverage.
See, there is a big difference between analog phone lines and modern digital phone lines. With digital lines, you can get DSL internet service and now you can even get cable TV. With analog phone lines all you can get is crackling fuzzy voice communications. Yea, you can run a dial-up modem across them, but because they are analog, the best speed you can get is 56k. Now, I remember when a 56k modem was blazing fast. Back in the day when we connected computer to computer to upload some pure text spec sheet or other document it was OK, but these days, with every website you go to displaying many Mbs of graphics, it's damn near impossible to use. You've gotta really want something specific to deal with a dial-up connection on analog lines.
The other solution to outside communications is satellite. That's what I have. My basic TV costs me about $50. That is really, really basic. A few cable news channels, the history channel, etc., but no local stations. My satellite internet service also costs $50. It is the lowest speed they offer as the other two higher speeds go up in $20 increments. I suspect that the speed I see on my satellite internet is comparable to fast dial-up. Images creep across the screen. Also, it seems like every other page I try to go to it cranks and cranks and then gives me a "failed to open" message. Right now sitting here, I'm getting a message at the bottom of the screen telling me "could not access blogger.com" whenever it tries to save this post. Back in the day when modems and computer communications were in their infancy, it's what we used to call cludgey [clue-gee]. So it costs me over $100 per month for my really piss poor access. In town, for $100 a user gets excellent cable TV service with some premium channels and lightening fast broadband internet access. It astounds me when I'm in town and I go on-line.

Broadband access is "happening fast? I got news for you motherfucker, it's nowhere near happening out here. I can go five miles from here out onto the yellow line road and it aint happening. another five miles takes me out to the interstate exit and it aint happening there either. If I get on the interstate and drive11 miles up to the next exit to the edge of town, it might be happening there, but that's a big town of 5000 people. A friend of mine lives up on a hill a couple miles from the middle of town and he doesn't have broadband.

So these folks want to say that broad band is happening in rural America and trying to make it happen faster would be like "giving more coffee to someone who's already downed three cups." Well kiss my ass MFer. Tell that to the kids that live around here and only get to use a computer when they're in school. . . and we all know how much time that gives them. How disadvantaged are they when it comes to learning? When they apply to colleges will their grades and general knowledge reflect the fact that they never had internet access? I don't know, but these are technology driven times.

Now let's open another can of worms. . . the poor in general. The past 8 yrs has truly proven the old adage that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. We've seen that formula take on a whole new meaning where the middle and working class in many cases joined the ranks of the poor. So if you're poor in America and you don't have access to internet service on a regular basis, how disadvantaged are you as a young student competing in an academic environment? Most social scientists agree that education is key to rising from oppression, but if educational opportunities continue to be restricted more and more, that opportunity gets further and further from what is possible.

It's like being in a knife fight: if you've got a six inch blade against some guy with a 12 inch blade you've still got a chance. If you're good, you don't even need a knife to disarm and rise and defeat the enemy, but if that guy pulls out a gun, the whole scenario has changed. It just not a fair fight anymore and it will be impossible for you to compete.

Take a look at the folks who visit your blog. Look at the folks who visit my blog. Most are comparably well off and educated people. Some might be struggling, but compared to someone living up a rural holler or a poor inner city neighborhood, they're doing ok.
So tell me again you elitist bastards how " injecting more money for broadband could simply equate to giving more coffee to someone who's already downed three cups." or "From the rural Vermont that we see, broadband is happening, happening fast,"
Don't tell me about what's happening in 'back-to-the-lander Hippieville, Vermont.' That's no more about rural America than Westchester County, NY.
Come on out here to the real rural world and we'll be glad to educate your sorry ass.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Are you kidding me?!

Are you motherfucking kidding me?!
I know, it's the NY Post, but fuck a duck, have they no sense of propriety at all?!  Are racial stereotypes and racist slams against the President of the United States or any other human being really acceptable to them?
This is truly astonishing.  Who the fuck is the editor of this piece of shit newspaper?
Just when I thought it was safe to believe that maybe times they were a changin. . . 

AP New York - The New York Post is standing behind a cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police.
The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows two police officers standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. One of the officers says the other, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Electricity, energy, community, spoiled babies, blah, blah, blah

Last Wednesday afternoon or early evening we had a big blow around here.  No, not just some wind accompanying a cold front, but I mean it whipped through here really fucking fast and furious for almost 10 minutes.  We're talking Hurricane force winds. . . no shit.  Stuff was flying all over the place.  Pieces of the house, large boards from the barnyard.  I thought I had put away everything that could become airborne, but I didn't think it was going to blow that hard.
A few minutes after the main blow let up I eased my way down into the barnyard.  What a fucking mess!  Three metal roof panels of my big old barn had been peeled open like an envelope.  A corner of the metal roof on my new equipment barn had been lifted up and bent.  Worse of all, four really big oak and walnut trees in and around my barnyard had come crashing down taking out fence, blocking the creek and thankfully, not much else.
Of course the electricity was gone and I figured it would be off for a while.  Amazingly, the phone worked.  Hell, sometimes we get a spring shower and the phone goes out for two days, but not from this cyclone. . . strange.
After sitting in the peaceful quite and candle light for a couple hours I decided to jump in the truck and take a ride to see where trees were down.  I figured there was no way off the creek, but I just wanted to see.  I got up, let the dogs out and turned to grab my coat. . . it's pitch dark out here when the electric is on, so you can only imagine the degree of darkness that night. . . I'd already blown out the candles when I heard a voice by the door.  I immediately took a defensive position and yelled "who is that" (ya do that when you live 2 miles off the hard road and your closest neighbor is a 1/4 away) as it didn't sound like any of my regularly entertained neighbors. . . "It's me, Delmer.  I'm trying to get home.  Can you give me a ride up to my house"  Poor old Delmer had been riding all over these hills trying to find a way into the creek and get home.  He'd finally parked his truck about a 3/4 mile from my place and walked, having to climb through two big ol trees that were in the road.  He was about whooped.  I gave him a ride half way up his driveway and then he climbed through a big ol oak that was laying across his driveway, but he was glad to get home.

We spent the next few days cutting trees and generally cleaning up.  Actually, I'm still cutting up trees, but the worse of it's done.  
Oh, and we also spent five days without electricity.  Not having electricity is an inconvenience.  The pump on my well doesn't work without electricity, so the only water I have is the 20 or 30 gallons left in the tank.  We still had heat since our heaters are passive gas.  We had a stove to cook on: ditto gas.  Luckily I always keep an analog phone plugged in and the phone lines never went down (cell phones don't work out here).
I gotta say I enjoyed the quiet and the solitude.  No noise, no computer beckoning, no blare of the mindless TV.  I read two good sized novels by candle and oil lamp light.  I visited my neighbors a couple times and generally relaxed for a bit.  I even went to bed at a reasonable hour.
After reading a number of other local bloggers who were without electricity for a matter of hours last Wednesday, it amazes me how different our experiences were.  Yea, it was inconvenient, especially the first day when I couldn't even get off the creek.  Did I mention how the refrig and freezer warmed up after a couple days?  I had to grab a couple bags of ice on Fri and Sat and kept everything cool enough to survive.
I'm sorry to all those who were so put out by the loss of power.  It seems like it was such a bother for some of you.  I've got a feeling that many folks aint gonna like my next idea.

Ya know, we've got energy problems in this country.  We're using too much of it.  We've been told to cut back over and over for the past decade, but consumption just seems to keep rising, so here's my plan since voluntary reduction doesn't seem to work. . . rolling blackouts.  Yea, once per week your electricity is going to go out over night.  No big deal. . . it'll be off at 6PM and then back on at 6AM.  It's only once a week, what's the problem with that?  One night a week without TV, internet, electric lights, noise.  Oh, I know, you can think of a thousand reasons why we can't do that.  Well, deal with it.  If you aint on a respirator you aint got no reason to oppose so shut-up.  If you're on a respirator, we'll work something out.  We can't shut down factories that would use more power to start up again than would be saved. . .   This plan is in it's infancy. . . we can make it work.
Imagine how much energy resource we could save by having rolling blackouts.   What a great time people in neighborhoods would have.  They might come out of their houses and mingle like real members of a community.  Back when I was a kid, folks often spent evenings walking around and visiting.  It's probably time to get back to that and what better way to do it?
We can save energy AND become human again.  What the fuck do you want?

Try it.  Turn everything off some evening and keep it off.  Make up your mind to enjoy it.  Find things to do.  Get over your addiction to stimulation that does nothing for you.
Oh, and quit whining every time your spoiled little ass is inconvenienced in some way.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

I'm On A Boat (ft. T-Pain) - Album Version

YEA. . . . .on MY boat.





The price of gas, or; bend over and think of England.

Crude oil is getting cheaper — so why isn't gas?
By CHRIS KAHN and JOHN PORRETTO, AP Energy Writers – 1 hr 22 mins ago
NEW YORK – Crude oil prices have fallen to new lows for this year. So you'd think gas prices would sink right along with them.
Not so.
On Thursday, for example, crude oil closed just under $34 a barrel, its lowest point for 2009. But the national average price of a gallon of gas rose to $1.95 on the same day, its peak for the year. On Friday gas went a penny higher.
To drivers once again grimacing as they tank up, it sounds like a conspiracy. But it has more to do with an energy market turned upside-down that has left gas cut off from its usual economic moorings.
The price of gas is indeed tied to oil. It's just a matter of which oil.
The benchmark for crude oil prices is West Texas Intermediate, drilled exactly where you would imagine. That's the price, set at the New York Mercantile Exchange, that you see quoted on business channels and in the morning paper.
Right now, in an unusual market trend, West Texas crude is selling for much less than inferior grades of crude from other places around the world. A severe economic downturn has left U.S. storage facilities brimming with it, sending prices for the premium crude to five-year lows.


OK, all together now. . . . BULLSHIT!!!!!
These "AP Energy Writers" are nothing but oil industry lackeys. I wonder how much kick-back they're getting from this article. . . free gas for life?

Man I hate this kind of bullshit, but what I hate worse is that the average prole will think "oh, so that's why the price of crude is at an all time low and gas prices are going up." You dumb fucks. How is it that all of a sudden we've got this lame assed explanation for the price of gas at the pump? "Ah" the dumb fuck proles say "it's all about Texas crude." STFU you morons. It hasn't been all about Texas crude for 30 fucking years. You're being duped. Once again the corpo-fascists are telling you lies and half truths that you're swallowing like a three dollar back alley whore.

So what can you do about it? Not much. You can write your congresspeople and let them know you are outraged and really pissed off about the price gouging that the oil companies are perpetrating on the Amurkkkin public. But most congress people are in the pockets of big oil so that won't do much good. You can e-mail the White House.

You can also get the best deal on gasoline you can find. There are on-line sources that have daily updates for the location of the cheapest priced gas in most populated areas of Amurkkka. Just do a Google or Yahoo search for "cheap gas" and you'll find them.

The other thing is to get discount gas cards. I've got a charge card with my local grocery store name (Kroger) on it and I get 15 cents off per gallon at the pump with it.

The best deal I've seen is another local grocery (Foodland) and their gas company affiliate (BP) that has something called "Fuel Links." With fuel links, you can purchase items in Foodland and BP stores that are designated "Fuel Links" items and get a certain amount off per gallon for each item you buy. I've seen my wife go into the place and do a bunch of shopping and walk out with two bucks off the price of a gallon of gas. While you're shopping you look for the blue labels by the price labels and it'll tell you how much off for each gallon that item will give you. If it's 3 cents off and you buy three of them, you get 9 cents off per gallon the next time you get gas at their pumps or a local BP station.

I also know that various gas companies offer reduced prices on gasoline for a certain period of time when you get one of their credit cards. What the hell, get one of their credit cards, use it till the time period is up and then shred it.

But in the end, you're still going to pay out the nose while the oil companies continue making record profits, so bend over, grab your ankles and try not to cry out.
When you're at the pumps, you might also want to think about those making minimum wages and paying the same amount you are. They probably aren't driving modern fuel efficient vehicles either.

Sorry TriState, I tried.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Keepin the beaches nice and wide

Feds continue combing NJ beaches for munitions

By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 11, 4:04 am ET

SURF CITY, N.J. – Back when World War I was winding down, Navy ships patrolling the New Jersey coast found themselves with leftover ammunition and no targets.
So they dumped it all overboard, probably thinking the fuses and other ordnance would never be seen or heard from again.
They were wrong. Nearly 90 years later, the fuses resurfaced, invading the shores of two of New Jersey's most popular beaches, Surf City and Ship Bottom.

The federal government is now in the third — and hopefully final — year of a cleanup that will cost nearly $17 million.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unwittingly sucked the munitions from the sea bed and pumped them ashore as part of a massive beach replenishment project begun in late 2006 to keep the towns' beaches nice and wide.


So the feds spent millions "to keep the towns' beaches nice and wide."

blink, blink.

collect myself and look out the window at that piss poor fucking excuse for a county road out in front of the farm. . . a little gravel on top of all the mud would be nice.
look out the other side of the house and think about the $500 the USDA just couldn't afford to give me last year to help out with the cost of lime and fertilizer to help restore the hay fields that were neglected for years before I bought this small struggling family farm.

WTF?

$17 million to fix a problem that resulted when you spent probably twice that amount to "keep the towns' beaches nice and wide?!" Are these motherfuckers on drugs? Question 2: Am I the only one who looks at shit like this and thinks "WTF?!"

[Don't even get me started on the geological buffoonery of even trying to "keep the beaches nice and wide.]

There are people struggling to stay alive in this country. There are children going to school in buildings that are falling apart with books that are 30 yrs old that they have to share. Need I go on about the poor state of nutrition and housing in Amurkkka?

Does anybody care or are we just too damned busy keeping the beaches nice and wide?

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Economics and weight loss. . . huh?

Economic Stimulus. . .
OK, I don't like this shit. $1 trillion dollars to do what?! Who's going to pay for this? Are we gonna turn up the money printing presses? How much is THIS going to cost my g'chidren?
So it sucks at that price, but The Prez seems to think it's totally necessary so let's get it done. Fuck those republicans. They've shown their true colors. They're NOT going to be at all cooperative, so just steam roll their ass and get on with it. If this is what we need, the sooner the better. Let's see the roads fixed, the bridges rebuilt, etc., etc.

Wall Street and the Dow. . .
Check it out. . . the DJIA has been sitting just above 8000 for the past few months. Doesn't it look like it's hit a bottom? MAybe things have stabilized? Portfolios have pretty much stabilized. Yea, I've lost my ass as have many others, but are we looking at further losses? It doesn't feel like it to me. I don't know shit about the market, but have been watching it for the past 40 years or so. What do you think?

Heat wave!!!!!
Wow. It was over 60° today. More of the same tomorrow and for the rest of the week. That's what I love about WV. . . 5° three days ago and 60° today.

Low Carb bust. . .
I'm done with low carb. I've hit a bottom. I can't seem to drop below 205. Stuck. Besides, how long can you really stick with eating meats. . . often smoked fatty pork based meats? Yea, I fired up the smoke yesterday, cooked up a sirloin pork roast and a couple pounds of Italian sausages. Had a big pig-out and now it's over. Time to switch gears. Time to start counting calories.
How low can I go? 1000 calories a day? A few eggs, a bag od spinach and a bunch of broccoli? That's less than 1000 cals. Sadly, one decent size cheese burger with a few trimmings is over 650 calories. but I'm used to having a limited diet, so maybe I should go to the other extreme and just do veggies for a few weeks. 1000 cals of veggies per day. We'll see.
But hey, a little over 15 lbs. in the past month aint too bad. Another 15 over the next 6 weeks would make me really happy. . . but I just don't think I can do it anymore on fat and protein.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Protect our food supply

FDA: Ga. plant knowingly shipped tainted products
By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 1 min ago
AP WASHINGTON – Federal health officials say the Georgia peanut plant at the center of the salmonella outbreak knowingly shipped tainted products. Previously, the Food and Drug Administration had said Peanut Corp. of America retested products after getting an initial positive result for salmonella. The agency said the company shipped the goods after follow-up tests came back negative.
But Friday, the FDA said the company sent out peanut butter, chopped peanuts and peanut meal that had tested positive even before it got back any negative findings.
Peanut Corp. denies any wrongdoing. The government has opened a criminal investigation.


Criminal prosecution NOW! The gov't needs to take immediate and extreme action against anyone they find to be complicit in knowingly shipping tainted food products to anywhere but the dump. They should also do the same to anyone who had anything to do with the fact they their own internal findings were not immediately reported to the USDA and any other interested party like the CDC or state bureaus.
This type of bullshit can not stand. We have to protect our food supply with extreme prejudice.
This company needs to be broken, sold and then brought under completely different management. No one even remotely attached to these recreant acts of poisoning innocent citizens should be left standing.
What more important job does the gov't do than protect our food supply? This is as bad or worse than an act of terrorism. These are people we trust to deliver untainted, clean and healthy food. How fucking horrible is it when someone knowing poisons their own people?

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Teenage "Sexting " and hi-tech multimedia communications devices

Teens who `sext' racy photos charged with porn (AP)
Posted on Wed Feb 4, 2009 3:38PM EST

Teenagers' habit of distributing nude self-portraits electronically — often called "sexting" if it's done by cell phone — has parents and school administrators worried. Some prosecutors have begun charging teens who send and receive such images with child pornography and other serious felonies. But is that the best way to handle it?

"Hopefully we'll get the message out to these kids," says Michael McAlexander, a prosecutor in Allen County, Ind., which includes Fort Wayne. A teenage boy there is facing felony obscenity charges for allegedly sending a photo of his private parts to several female classmates. Another boy was recently charged with child pornography in a similar case.

In some cases, the photos are sent to harass other teens or to get attention. Other times, they're viewed as a high-tech way to flirt. Either way, law enforcement officials want it to stop, even if it means threatening to add "sex offender" to a juvenile's confidential record.

"We don't want to throw these kids in jail," McAlexander says. "But we want them to think."

This month in Greensburg, Pa., three high school girls who sent seminude photos and four male students who received them were all hit with child pornography charges. And in Newark, Ohio, a 15-year-old high school girl faced similar charges for sending her own racy cell phone photos to classmates. She eventually agreed to a curfew, no cell phone and no unsupervised Internet usage over the next few months. If she complies, the charges will be dropped.


Uh, Mr. Prosecutor McAlexander of Allen Co., IN I have one quiestion for you; Who is this ominous "We" who "want it to stop?" Could it be. . . . BIG BROTHER and the THOUGHT POLICE?!

Now I gotta admit, I'm a little bit old and my first reaction to this was "What the fuck is wrong with these little juvenile delinquent punks?" My second reaction was "I wish somebody would "sext" me. And then I thought, what the hell difference does it make? It's not exactly the best decision a teenager could make in their lives, but then again, it is by-far not the worse decision they could choose from the list of Top 100 bad decisions teenagers make. I'm not even sure it makes the top 100 list.

We give these kids hi-tech multimedia communications devices. We raise them in a society where nudity promiscuity and sexuality are right out there in the open (I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I'm just sayin. . . ). Then the kids turn around and do the obvious thing that is going to happen when any group of hormone infused, mentally stimulated teenagers with hi-tech multimedia communications devices would do. Now you wanna throw them in jail for it? How the hell are the thought police getting access to these kids' hi-tech multimedia communications in the first place?

The bottom line is: Who cares if these little spoiled punks with their hi-tech multimedia communications devices are sending each other nekkid pictures of each other? Get real folks. This is the year 2009. You can't apply 1940s oppressive sexual morality to today's teenagers. WE have made them what they are today. When that first bunch of pretty little acid-tripping hippie chicks took off their tops and started dancing in the mud at Woodstock in 1968 (it was a beautiful thing BTW) the stage was set for wherever we are today.

Yes, we have to teach our children well, but we also have to dig deep and decide what's really important to us. If we're going to start arresting children and charging them with sex offenses that will be like a giant albatross around their necks for the rest of their lives simply for sending nekkid pictures on their hi-tech multimedia communications devices then maybe we ought to take a look at others who perpetrate similar acts. How bout them fellers over at HBO and Cinemax that send all those tittie movies across the broad band and our space satellite system? And those criminals who have web sites completely dedicated to nudity and fornication (I heared tell theys all over the place on the innernet, but of course I aint never seen em).

So let's get real folks. This whole issue is absurd. If you don't want your children sending nekkid pictures of themselves to others on their hi-tech multimedia communications devices (damn I love saying that!), then teach them a different set of values. If you're pissed because someone sent your little Barbie such a picture, then deal with it face to face with the parents of the little hard-on monster who sent it.
Listen-up you stooges; quit trying to get the gov't thought police and other bureaucrats to raise your stupid fucking kids. Do it yourself within your own communities and maybe they wouldn't be so fucking stupid. THAT is what responsibility is all about.

Grow up and start being responsible for your own fucking pitiful little life and quit worrying about everyone else's and we wouldn't have half the problems we have today. . . not that receiving nekkid pictures on your hi-tech multimedia communications device is a problem. e-mail me if you want my cell phone#.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Racist Subtleties

It has occurred to me recently that perhaps there are a lot of white people out there who don't always recognize racism when they hear it. I can't speak for others, but I really think that a lot of otherwise well meaning white people simply don't understand what they hear. You see, when you live with racism directed at one group or another, over time you might tend to become immune to certain subtle remarks or words that are thrown around here and there. I'm not talking about the blatant use of the "n" word or outward distain for some ethnic group, I'm talking about small subtle remarks or words that set the stage and transfix one's thinking without sounding like anything bad.
So I thought I'd mention a few of these things in my postings so that others who might not have realized what they were hearing will perhaps in the future recognize these covert racist remarks.

Subtleties of story telling:

How many times have I heard a "true story" about some dumb person or idiotic event framed with a descriptor of race or color? Many of them start out like this:

A doctor friend of mine was working in the ER of a hospital in Chicago when this middle aged black woman came in complaining of. . . .

Back in the 60s my grandfather owned a big full service gas station in Tulsa, OK. One day this car load of Indians pulled in and asked. . . .

My father was a country doctor in Tennessee back in the 50s. One night he was called to the home of a poor rural black family to deliver a baby. . .

Ya get the idea? You know this is going to be some story of hilarious ignorance or pitiful stupidity. The stage is set between some well to do or highly educated white person and a poor dumb ignorant minority. But it's subtle, because race is only thrown in that one time in the beginning. "Why," the story teller will declare, "it's not about the person's race, it's only about a true story my uncle told me."
Then why the fuck did you even have to mention the person's race? You know damn well why. You have preyed upon whatever stereotype is lurking in the minds of your audience. Sure, it might be a funny story. It might be fucking hilarious all by itself without the racial descriptor. So why did the story tell even use the racial descriptor?
The reality is, it's just another way to take a stab at one minority group or another. Hell, I don't think a lot of the people who have told me these stupid stories even realize what they are doing. They are simply ignorant of the subtleties of prejudice around race, class, color and ethnicity. When they become shocked and indignant over being called on their bullshit, they really are so because of their own ignorance.

Should you call people on their stupid remarks? Hell yes. Stop them in their tracks. Ask them up front "does this person's race have something to do with the story?" If they say "no," ask them why they included it in the story. Be confrontational. It is up to everyone with a thinking mind to put an end to racism and it needs to be ferreted out wherever we find it.

So folks, think before you open your mouth. Realize that there is lots of racism ingrained in our society. Be prepared for it.

LISTEN-UP PEOPLE!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Political karma

GOP wants mortgage relief, tax cuts in stimulus

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent –

AP – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky,. discusses the Republican viewpoint on the economic stimulus …
WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans pressed for mortgage relief as well as larger tax cuts Monday as debate opened on the emergency economic stimulus measure atop President Barack Obama's agenda. Democrats came under pressure to reduce spending in the bill.
"What we can't do is let very modest differences get in the way" of swift enactment of the legislation, Obama said as new layoffs rippled through the economy and the Commerce Department reported an unexpectedly large sixth straight drop in personal spending. He invited Democratic leaders to the White House to discuss changes in the $884 billion measure, in hopes of avoiding a party-line vote like the one last week in the House.


GOP wants what?! Oh please. Obama gave them some consessions his first go around with them and what did they do? They didn't give him a single vote. It's over. We need not give a single inch to the GOP at this point in time. Perhaps later, but we the people voted for change. . . BIG change. The GOP, after being defeated in a major way the past two years by losing the house, the senate and the presidency still wants to act like they're in charge of something. Now, I'm all for letting bygones be bygones, but while the GOP was in control of the congress for the 12 years before '06, they ignored and disrespected the congressional democrats in a way that I had never seen in my lifetime. Now they think they should be treated with the respect that they refused to give anyone else? Now they want the democrats to listen to them after they ignored the dems for 12 years? Well, they were given some respect and shown courtesy that they never gave during the first go around. They delivered nothing. Not a single bipartisan vote.

I mean, come on. Look in the mirror Mitch, you look like the biggest has-been on capital hill. You're a droopy jawed hog jowled old douchbag. We just elected a Gen X liberal intellectual to be president. Go away Mitch. It's over for you. We just don't care what you and your right wing corpo-fascist race baiting pricks have to say anymore. I hope the democratic leadership begins realizing this and quits trying to make friends with these pricks who don't want to be friends.