I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Here's one that I like:

Mary

Thanks, Wabbit!

Oh, Alexandria, I am so sorry to read this about your MIL. So much heartache for you in so short a time. Keeping you close in my thoughts.



L

I found this quote this morning and thought about everything here.  HL, I did forget to say how much I enjoyed your rant.  It was good to be reminded of all the things I did not agree with about most of the younger Bush years.  It has no factual basis, and had less back then but I do recall thinking upon his taking the oath of office the first time, with this rather strange smirky grin that he tried to hold back and couldn't.......none of this is going to be good.  Sometimes you don't need facts --- that inner knowingness we all have just puts it out there, and then as time goes by all the blanks are filled it.

So here is what I read:

My pacificism is an instinctive feeling, a feeling that possesses me because the murder of people is disgusting. My attitude is not derived from any intellectual theory but is based on my deepest antipathy to every kind of cruelty and hatred. - Albert Einstein

((((Sandy)))) Hope it's quick and peaceful. I was going to showcase Giorgio Armani's collection this week in Milan, but out of respect for you I'll wait.

First, thank you for your kind words about my Mom.  She is settling in well, all things considered.  She is a very independent and grateful person which helps.  Alexandria, I am thinking of you and your MIL.

I thought Michelle looked beautiful. The first thing I said to my husband was that their would be some negative comments from some...like she should be out feeding the hungry instead of spending money on appearing on the Oscars. 

Pip - the people who might complain about Michelle 'not feeding the hungry' on Oscar night are probably the same ones that oppose healthcare for all and food stamps for the needy.

HL - I blame the beltway media for helping the White House to sell the lie of Iraq. The media was complicit in Dumbya and Cheney, and I have lost respect for the Washington press corps ever since. It was taboo to ask about dead American soldiers - let alone dead Iraqis. What a horrendous 8 years we went through.

Alexandria, praying for peace and strength for your family.

Waving at our bartender and Libby!  Been missing you both around here.

Alexandria ... so sorry that your MIL is not doing well.  She must feel really blessed to have such loving and caring family with her.  Wishing you all strength and peace. 

Blue's link made me want to puke.  Unfortunately I've seen some of the same in our local media comments.  The good is that other people do tend to appear to call them out on their evil.  The hateful bigots badly need to be pushed back under the rock they crawled out from.  They are destroyers of civil society. 

I was raised in a military family and racism was not tolerated at our house.  It bubbled to the surface in our tiny midwestern town when a black family tried to rent a house there.  A military family, the house they were considering renting was right behind us and my father knew them ... nice young couple with a couple of kids.  It was really my first look at the open ugliness of it all.  And the fear was that they would bring their friends and 'they' would take over the town.  It all seemed so paranoid and stupid to me even at 13.  I never felt the same about the town after that and left when I was 18.

I see the same thought pattern on a larger scale with some Obama haters.  He's going to grab all power and turn 'us' into either white slaves or Muslims or whatever they can conjure up in their minds.  I'm a moderate ... not a liberal.  So I don't feel obligated to be tolerant of some stuff .  And when people start in with the 'they' and 'them' stuff my spidey sense pulls up those memories. 

Not in the closet, the more they are exposed, the weaker they become. Shine the light of day on them.

It's quite amazing to me the other thread is either not aware of or discard the word racism (or action of by implication) as a tired bromide.

I view a web page/forum, do not participate in though, that discusses my 401k, investing, etc.  The Moderator is definitely a Conservative and that racist crap directed at the Obamas that is allowed to be posted there is unbelievable.  These are Air Traffic Controllers, Firefighters, Tax Accountants, every version of federal employee, i.e. theoretically educated (most federal jobs require a Bachelor's Degree, at the least)....these are Voters, and they are not voting for Obama.  To deny racism exists on the Conservative side is putting one's head in the sand and just too convenient.

Just to change the topic a wee bit:  Is anyone besides me getting really, really tired of politicians reducing every government process to the simplest, common denominator that they think everyone will understand?  A perfect example is those who promote free-market healthcare, without understanding how/why/when/where individuals actually seek their healthcare.  It's not as though you can shop around when you're having a cardiac arrest or acute appendicitis, or that hospitals and docs  post their prices for services (aspirin, CT scans, prescriptions, full physical) for comparison purposes.  You either pay up front (without knowing what you're paying for) or you end up fighting your insurance company for the itemized bill which you no doubt find outlandish.  Would you buy a car that way?  Would you buy a pair of shoes that way?

Here's another example of more moronic reductionism, courtesy of Think Progress:

CNN business correspondent Ali Velshi slammedGov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) for likening the federal budget to family spending and suggesting that the Obama administration should not spend more than the government takes in.

“Every family has to balance their budget, isn’t allowed to spend more than they need, every business is more efficient, tighten their belt. The reality is it can be done,” Jindal said in remarks outside of the White House on Monday, following a meeting between the National Governor’s Association and President Obama. He added that the administration can implement the automatic across-the-borad sequestration cuts that are likely to go into effect on March 1 “without jeopardizing the economy” or “critical services” by focusing on “wasteful spending.”

Velshi rejected Jindal’s comparison as “misleading” “nonsense” and pointed out that businesses and families routinely borrow money to invest in their futures, reasoning that an investment made today in college education or a new equipment can lead to greater returns down the road:

VELSHI: It’s 3% of a small part of the federal budget which makes it a very big part of some major agencies. It’s misleading stuff Bobby Jindal is saying, number one. Number two when he says families understand they have to live within their budget. I don’t know a lot of families who buy a house with cash. Buying a house on a mortgage, is that living within your budget or not living within your budget? You would have to be 80 years old to be able to buy a house with cash. We have an understanding in our society, it may be flawed, that we borrow money based on our future earnings potential. All people do that, companies do that and governments do that. There’s a point at which you can say, we’ve gone too far with that or we’re too much of a risk of not paying back so we’ll end up paying a higher interest rate. When you borrow too much money, your personal interest rate goes up, credit cards go up. But to suggest within your means and balanced budget nonsense is just misleading. That is not how families live. It’s not how businesses conduct themselves. It is certainly not since the history of time the way governments run themselves.