What was the question?

I've been looking at Foxnews a bit lately. I don't know why- maybe the heat is getting to me. Really, it's exactly like reading the 'tards on Topix as it is exactly where they get all their....facts....and information.... Honestly, it isn't much different than MSNBC. You truly cannot have one without the other and my bone to pick with Fox and the RNC is that, if they had their way, there would only be Foxnews. In fact, a recent poll of the folks in the Foxnews cafeteria, 100% of the respondents said just that! So, there ya go.

This morning, a nice looking, surprisingly dark-headed, woman on Fox was deriding president Obama for not having solved the jobs crisis here in America. Her non-blonde self was incredulous that Obama had driven the metaphorical car out of the ditch and into a metaphorical lake because he wouldn't let republicans drive! Well, metaphorically speaking, these assholes just don't get the part where they lost the election and, they don't get to be president. I know how that goes. I never got so much input on my life as I got after the divorce from my ex-wife. Oh my! She had answers I didn't even have questions for! Well, that's the way that goes. Ex-wives and 2nd place finishers are like that.

Well, we have a serious job shortage here in America. I'm not working near as much as I did last year at this time. Something needs to be done and soon. The reasonably blonde hostess of the Fox segment asked the dark-haired gal to imagine that she were a democrat strategist for a moment. The lady cringed at that. Democrats are awful, horrible people and NO ONE should aspire to be one even for demonstration purposes. But, if you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem so, she was asked what she would do to solve the unemployment problem.

Tort reform.

TORT REFORM???? You stupid fucking whore- TORT REFORM??? How the fuck does tort reform get me, my brother-in-law and millions of others working again???? People suing doctors did not bring down this economy. I'm a dumbass but I suspect it was Wall Street shenannigans, two unfunded wars and tax cuts for rich folks (for starters)  but, I'm a fucking partisan hack. What do I know?

The stupid-fucking whore went on to add that repealing something she called *Obamacare* was also the answer to the same question....

You can complain all you want about Obama but, clearly ABSOLUTELY NO ONE has offered a viable solution to unemployment. The republican party and it's militant arm- the various tea parties- offer the same non-help that the non-blonde offered up. Eliminate medicare. Permament tax cuts for the super rich. Eliminate NPR. Make Anthony Weiner quit. Break unions. End collective bargaining. Yada-effing-yada. End social services.

Not a one of these solutions creates jobs. I guess no one knows how to actually create jobs. The Bush tax cuts did not creat jobs. Obama slightly extending them did not create jobs. Permanently extending them will not create jobs.

But somehow, fucking talking about them will create jobs?

Maybe. Fox seems to be running out of blondes.

It ain't over 'til it's over, y'all!

If you watch way too much History Channel as I do, you know full well that it's the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. If you live in the North, you know this marks the beginning of the war that ended 146 years ago. If you live in the South, you know that it began 150 years ago but, hasn't ended yet....

I've lived about 1/3rd of my life in the South and have many southern friends. This gives me leave to speak about the *differences* moreso than some southerners I've known who disparaged the North while never having visited nor lived here. (Ferrerman's note: I once had a boy from Kentucky convinced that we didn't have any game up North because southerners had killed all the deer. The boy was stupid but, he wanted to believe this so, he did. He had claimed we don't hunt. WE do. I don't.)

Anyways, aside from geography and accents, there is really no difference between Northern Americans and Southern Americans. Well....wait a sec....I think it's safe to say that, after 150 years there are exactly zero "Yankees" who wake up each morning screaming: "WOO HOO! WE WON!!!!" while there are surely a thousand or so "Rebs" who lose sleep at night wondering "how the heck did we lose???" No one up North cares  that "we" won. Most, if they think at all about the Civil War, likely think about it as a horrific chapter in American history that had something to do with slavery....

You know that, educated in the North, I was taught that the Civil war WAS NOT about slavery? I don't recall what they told our gradeschool selves was the cause but, IT WAS NOT ABOUT SLAVERY! I think this was a compromise reached after the war because neither side wanted to face the reality that several hundred thousand white men died for black folks. I know your average white, southern male does not want to believe that so, they call it "The War Of Northern Agression" and mumble something about 'state's rights'....

So, it was about slavery. Other shit too but, like a divorce, your spouse cheated on you and it doesn't matter that they also squeezed the toothpaste from the middle. They fucked their boss/neighbor/maid and that is what brought about the end of the marriage.
I bring this up because a HC promo for the show, "American Pickers" shows a drunk, old redneck talking about "yankees rolling up on (his) property", referring to Mike and Frank.  I don't know if the guy was drunk but, judging by his eyes, he musta been hitting it pretty hard the night before or maybe up all night crying about the war. Maybe both. OK, he mighta been swimming in his cement pond. Whatever, his attitude annoys me. HE annoys me. Even if he's just being cute and stereotypical, he's a few generations from being directly affected by the war and, unless the idiot is upset about Civil Rights- and especially if he is- he can go fuck himself. I don't wanna hear about it! War's over, we won- I don't wanna hear about it being anything but history.

Speaking about modern north/south *rivalry*, NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip pointed out that, if you go maybe 20 miles outside of any big city, "you're in the country". True that. From Maine to California, country is as country does, whether it's frying chicken or putting old Chevy's up on blocks in front of the trailer. I promise you, city folk are looked on with suspicion whether it's Memphis or Chicago. I believe Darrell is from Franklin, Kentucky and about the war itself he also noted that "....Kentucky served refreshments to both sides". I recall pointing that out to the boy from Kentucky and smiling as I told him my grandfather- my daddy's daddy- was born in Kentucky. I'm sure it upset him that someone like me could have southern roots and also be taller than than him.

BUSTED!!!

The National Nightmare is over. Long live the National Nightmare.

If I had a dollar for every time a birther simply and compassionately said: "ALL he has to do is show us his birth certificate...." I'd buy Donald Trump and fucking give him to China.

Today, of course, president Obama did show his long-form birth certificate and, within 3 seconds those same easy-to-pleasy birthers were, not pleased. Turns out they were bluffing about that "....all he has to do...." part. They didn't mean it. They lied.

I think Obama and the rest of us knew they were lying all along. Very few people truly have the guts to admit that they are retarded racists and even fewer to apologize for it. I don't think I know of one who WAS satisfied after this mornings press conference. Birthers is as birthers do. Not a one of these kochsuckers needed proof to sway them. Their feeble minds were made up as soon as it became clear he was going to be POTUS. Like drunks in a bar who promise to leave after "just one more..." these birthers, drunk with the power of annoyance, ain't intending on going away. Ever. You can throw the drunks out. The birthers though, no amount of proof to their contrary is enough. Lies and conspiracy are their booze. They cannot get enough.

Obama did the right thing this morning. Why didn't he do it 2 and a half years ago? He didn't fucking have to! He had then satisfied the powers that be that he met the requirements to hold the office of the presidency and, like every previous candidate for president since we started growing them here, he did not HAVE to show his BC to the public. But, unlike every previous president he was black. There is NO doubt in my mind that this birther crap and 99% of the opposition to him is because he is black. This would NOT have happened to a white president. Remember that John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. That was kinda dicey but, he had two white parents. And, he didn't win. So, I guess we'll never know?  Yeah right...

I think he was wise to let it play out. If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the bodies of your enemies float by.  Sideshow Donald showed up as if HE had discovered the birther *issue*. Now was as good a time as any to OFFICIALLY dispel the birther bullshit while one of the biggest assholes in the country was exploiting it. It was really brilliant. of Obama. Though this crap has been out there, it has been amongst the out-there crowd and kind of winked at by more mainstream republican politicians. At *best* it was kinda-sorta endorsed by no one more official than Limbaugh or Beck and though they are very popular amongst the bagger crowd, they're not trying to be politicians. Sideshow Donald was at least pretending to maybe be running for president.

Trump thought he was playing Obama. Obama played him.

Very well played, Mr President. Played like a Harvard man at that....

HAPPY ANNIVERSERY, YA FUCKING BAGGERS!

As some may recall, the tea party came to be on this date, two years ago after a rant by Rick Santelli who has largely been forgotten by the tea parties he founded, except today when he gets a mention in this blog and in the Chicago Tribune.  About two months earlier Barack Obama had taken the oath of office and totally ruined America which was just fine, thank you very much, with George Bush in office, enjoying cheap gas, full employment and absolutely NO Sharia law!

I'm not buying his founding fatherness. I think the tea parties came to be early in the Fall of '08 when republicans realized even chicanery in Florida wasn't gonna get John McCain elected. This was surely cemented when Palin was chosen as his running mate and was really solidified when even the price of gas being magically raised to over $4 a gallon could not deter the American voter from hope for change.  I think Rick just showed up early at a party metaphorically drunk and disorderly and then went home and passed out. If he was some kind of hero, wouldn't he be on Foxnews and running for president with the rest of their emplyees?

After the shenannigans in Wisconsin earlier this year, it's quite evident that all the tea parties are fronts  for wealthy (republican) corporate interests. They get the governor that they pay for. The next one will have Caller ID, I think.  These people (and companies) already pay scant little in taxes so they really can't bitch about that. But, profits would definitely go up with pesky unions out of the way. Next to fall by the wayside would be that horrible minmum wage act. Only socialist/communist/islamists would set a bar like that! Capitalists don't need that! Why limit people? If the free market dictates $2 an hour as an acceptable wage, it is a FREE MARKET saying that, by golly!

Oh, I'm sorry- does that seem ridiculous to you? Well, eliminate social programs along with the minimum wage, unemployment benefits, workman's compensation and all the etc's unions and democrats brought us and $2 an hour might surely be better than nothing at all.

The American Dream is still alive. We've just exported it to China is all.

The Geat Contenders

Yesterday, President Obama announced he would seek a second term. No surprise there. Despite what you may hear on Foxnews or read on Topix, the man is pretty much a lock for a second term as he's done a commendable job in an extremely challenging economy. I mean, his most recent challenger, Donald Trump, is, well- Donald Trump, a guy who two weeks ago was the subject of a Comedy Central Roast. No person EVER in the history of politics has been roasted on CC and gone on to become president of the United States. You just can't be taken seriously as a world leader if you've ever joked about Lisa Lampenelli's vagina. This is why we've never had a President Hasslehoff. It's why we'll never have a president Trump. One of many, perhaps the best.

But, despite that, Trump is their Great White Hope of the week. Despite bankruptcies, failed marriages, affairs, and a blond beaver pelt on his head, this week at least, he is THE republican to lead the country. Well, until Palin decides she's the man for the job.

Oh there's 8 or 9 other early contenders but they're all about as silly as Trump although he's certainly the least serious of the their candidates. He doesn't want the cut in pay- nevermind the responsibility. None of them want the responsibility. A few might think they do, think they can handle the job but, most I think are like Palin in that having to put up will make them shut up. She makes money everytime she opens her mouth. She's just smart enough to know that, when her words become US policy, she's done making money. It's easier and more profitable to criticize the president rather than be the president.

I kinda wish one of these assholes could be president, right now. These teapublicans are threatening and promising so much, I think because they know they've got nothing and very little chance of winning in '12. In '08, after 8 years of Bush, they merely fielded a team in McCain/Palin because they had to, not because they thought they could win. They've got to put a horse in the '12 race too or people will talk.

And actually, they're doing pretty good (it seems....) in the lesser, off-year elections. They took the house and several governorships this past November. With a nod towards the myth of their fiscal *responsibility* (cough- they are politicians- HELLO!) they do seem to be getting more bang for their buck at the state level. It costs like $500 million to run for president. Take a look at their candidates. Would YOU spend that kinda dough for any of those lunkheads to finish second to Obama?

Obama is actually the best candidate the republicans could hope to have. The republican base hates him so much they wanted him impeached before he even got elected. He's everything they need him to be, whenever they need him to be it. NOTHING is too ridiculous for their base to believe where Obama is concerned. In fact, I think your average republican enjoys hating Obama so much, they're secretly wishing he could stay president for ever. He's easy. All you have to do is FUCKING HATE EVERYTHING HE DOES! There's none of the pressure associated with having your own guy out there making policy every fucking day for 8 fucking years, invading countries just because they're there and not being accountable for anything. So much easier to have the other guy in there and blaming him for everything. He could cure cancer and you could condemn him for ruining the mortuary business. Does it get any better than that? They're gonna have to run somebody, eventually. Maybe Bristol Palin's kid? Nah. Sasha would trounce him. Yep.

It's a living!

I have found a couple of idiots in the threads who have a rather unique perspective on the reichwing quest to eliminate unions from our employment landscape. They think that unions are holding them back in their quest for more pay and that they, and you and you and you, can better negotiate your wages, all by yourself. Interesting. I wonder who told them that?

One of them reports that she was told by her boss that he wanted to pay her more money but that if he did, he'd be in violation of the union contract. She's never mentioned the union or what type of work she does but, I don't think it involves rocket science or brain surgery. Likely she makes widgets in a factory. She's also very upset that lesser employees than she make as much money as she and get the same raises. The outrage.

Like alot of people who don't belong to unions, she feels that unions were once a viable force in this country and they did some good but, now they just support democrats so, fuck 'em!

Yikes. Unions are supporting democrats AND keeping individuals from getting their due in the lucrative widget-making business.

So, thank you, union men and women of the past for your blood, sweat, tears and collective bargaining but, we don't need you anymore and can do oh-so-much better without you. The bathwater is dirty now, out with the baby! Thanks too for the 40 hour week, 8 hour day, overtime, child labor laws and all the other evils you wrought upon us. These things all *seemed* nice and necessary at the time and we enjoy them now (thanks to you all, admittedly) but we don't need you and your dues (and support of democrats) anymore.

Of course what the widget-making gal is missing here is that ALL of those other perks will go missing too once unions are on life's milk carton. She doesn't realize that and suspects they all would have evolved naturally WITHOUT unions as employers realized that, to keep good workers, good workers should be rewarded. Even OSHA, she said, would exist today, brought into creation by employers concerned for the safety of their employees.

Could you imagine a bunch of fat-cat mine owners sitting around, lighting their Cubans with hundred dollar bills and creating an organization to oversee their safety efforts and fine them tens of thousands of dollars for violating their regulations?

Sheesh. I'm not union. Never have been and likely, never will. But, I do have a dog in this fight. I have friends and relatives who are public and private sector union people and I, as a tradesman, also value the past struggles of the unions and the aforementioned good things they brought us. I know that when the unions are gone, those benefits will be gone too. Without collective bargaining, without the prescence of unions, wages will be whatever employers want to set them at. The same with work hours. Safety costs money. Fuck safety.

And fuck the widget-maker if she thinks she's special. There's 300+ million people who all feel they are special. Sans her union- sans ALL unions- when she asks for a raise she'll GET a cut in pay. If she doesn't like it, she can lump it. With a labor pool over 300 million, her boss will have no trouble getting someone to take her job at HIS price. Eight dollars? Five? Two? Who knows?
I'm sure corporations salivating (masturbating?) at the prospect. It might get ridiculous at first, bordering on slavery or indentured servitude but, it will even out. I promise you won't be making what you used to, no matter what you do for a living.

"....do for a living...." Those words will soon be literal in our country. You will be taking what your given because....you ARE working for a living. Without unions, there will be no recourse. No one will have your back.

The republicans/teapublicans are already trying to also get rid of unemployment insurance, workmens compensation, the minimum wage- anything that *smacks of socialism* and might inhibit corporate profits.... As if that weren't insane enough, it's more insane that ordinary working people would support them in this. That's like wanting to make love but going to a prison to do it. Oh- you'll get fucked for sure. you just won't have any control over where, when and how much.

Forget what the unions have fought for while you give it away. That you are willing to give it away shows how weak, foolish and ignorant you are. This is America. From the ashes of this insanity, brave men and women will one day rise up against the oppression. It will take blood, sweat and tears. People will die. But in a few generations, these brave men and women will prevail. All will benefit from their struggle and we'll have what our brothers and sisters had back in the 20th century, what the fucking pussies of the 21st willingly gave away. Their chidren's children will have all this too....

Or, we could fucking fight to keep what we have....now? Ya think?

Not Thy Brother's Keeper

Like alot of Teapublicans, *Raptorkitty* and *prioroffenses* hate absolutely everything about liberals, Obama and all things relative to the current administration. They even hate their relatives who might be relative to the Obama administration.

The Teapublicans want to eliminate every government service that might have a whiff of socialism about it. Whether it be education, social security or- more simply put- ANYTHING that could be paid for with taxes that might help those who can't help themselves. RK and Prior belive that life is every man, woman and child for themselves unless a church wants to help out. That's OK as long as it is a Christian church and not some mosque that is merely a front for terrorists. They have guns and live in the crime-free country parts of Michigan and Colorado, respectively. These are idyllic utopias where neighbors help each other out (which is "OK" too, maybe a loophole?) no one gets pregnant out of wedlock, and everyone practices family values. Practice- hell- they LIVE family values!

Yet both recently wrote in the threads how each had a sibling that was lost to them because of the "liberal values" of alcoholism/drug abuse and homelessness.

Yes. These two equate these things with liberals. The guy downtown, begging for change (dare I say: HOPEing for CHANGE?) just might as well be the Democratic Senator from Illinois. No difference. Same ideals, though the Senator might dress a bit better and likely has a home, he just begs for other peoples money, just the same.

RK and Prior HATE this. To illustrate this, they told the stories of their *tough love* approach to the wayward, *liberal* siblings. They refused to give them money lest they might blow it on cigarettes, beer or gambling. Some family members took issue with this but, they held firm. RK confessed to once giving her brother a gift card and regretting it because he likely spent it on his bad habits. Twenty years of tough love and the guy hadn't changed. Liberals- what are ya gonna do??!! Some just people just don't get it.....

And some of those people are RK, Prior and the teapublicans. They don't get it. I suggested to RK that, in lieu of cash, perhaps she could sent her brother clothes.

"I don't know what he likes to wear!" she protested.

Sheesh. Like homeless people have a dress code? Had she ever seen any? Many wear coats in summer because they have no place to store their winter threads. They're not fashionistas. If you're really concerned that your hard-earned money *might* go towards vices, clothes or food would seem to be the way to go for the homeless family member.

But, RK and Prior insisted that "real Americans" pull themselves up by the bootstraps and improve their lives without government help, just as the founders intended! (Ferrerman note: A google search of the Constitution couldn't find this intention of the founders. By golly, that piece of paper is more widely interpreted than even the Bible!)

But, I digress. These two soul-less bastards, much like the teapublicans themselves, are simply cheap. They just don't get that, if your *liberal* sibling has been depending upon the kindness of strangers to get by in life, for the last 20 years, it just mightcould be they have mental/emotional issues that bootstraps and tough love just ain't gonna cure. How long do these people- the teapublicans- have to pound on the square peg until they realize that it's just NOT going to fit into the round hole?

The teapublicans seem to think that a little bit of Darwinism is needed to thin out the herd. To expedite this, eliminate ALL social services to the poor and commence bootstrap-pulling. Those who can, will. Those who can't, will die and no longer be a burden to society. Homeless children should encourage their homeless parents. Or else....

Charity begins at home, after all.

Evidently, it ends there as well....