What's In A Name? -OR- BOHICA baby!

I'm struck anew at the ease and speed of Conservative re-framing and redefinition to avoid responsibility. Witness the freepers and Con-shills spewing forth on our "Consumer Economy". Should there not have been at least a moment of silence upon the passing of our THEIR beloved MARKET ECONOMY?

The disinvestment, the shift, shift and shaft, the M&As, the downsizing, the "gun to our head" demands for union concessions, the outsourcing... In a nutshell; the shell game. The BIG CON.

In recessions of the recent past, the big question was always how to jumpstart a market economy. After decades of devaluing industry, manufacturing and the workers who toiled to make it profitable, we no longer have much to market. This creates a conundrum. What to do? What to do?

Change the NAME! Yeah, that's the ticket. Market economy is so last century! We are now a full-blown CONSUMER society. People have forgotten the pitfalls of the Coolidge era. Their only frame of reference now is "It's A Wonderful Life" and that's such a feel good flick that we can safely overlook the underlying greed and stupidity that Capra was trying to document.

You can't hep but just stand back and admire this type of BALLS. Even while your own are being busted, not just flagrantly, but with relish as well.

Now even the Potters are crawling to Potter as though they are worried there might be a crumb they've missed. The spewers are there, out on point. Pointing fingers in any/all directions to offset the growing finger being raised toward themselves.

Here we go again. While the spewers explain it their way, and well-meaning but somehow hapless congresscritters debate the conveniently re-framed causes and effects... Profits successfully sequestered. Risk successfully donated to the future generations.

Amen.

Weekends Are For Lovers -OR- Get Out There!

Fight the H8

When you can label and segregate ONE identifiable group within a population and legislate against them with ANY level of success, the whole grand experiment known as the United States of America is exposed as just the same old shit. Ultimately, it's the rights of the INDIVIDUAL in a FREE SOCIETY at risk whenever any right needs a disclaimer.

Demonize, Marginalize, Separate, Spindle and Mutilate is a scheme, not a plan.

Update: Chilly and windy. Offset by the warm feeling that came from being there.

So Many Blowholes, So Little Time -OR- I gotcher Loophole Right HERE. Updated!

Time is running out. All roads lead to Nebraska.
Crossroads of America. A tradition of WTF?
Time is running out. Send before midnight tonight!

Safe Haven



The current count is 25 teens who've been "abandoned" under Nebraska's SAFE HAVEN law. If you, or anyone you know, has a toddler in his or her terrible teens, let them know that help is out there.

Update: Busy morning
MidDay Update it's catching on!

As a public service:
Nebraska Airports

Eatin' Crow -OR- Life's Tough Get a Helmet

Is anyone outside the "nuclear media" paying attention? Does trotting out sotted plants, paste-eaters and avunculars of the pundit class (or their wannabes)have any positive effect in getting peoples' heads where they need to be to move forward? Does any thinking person not understand that the constant churn and chumming by which the 24 hour news industry thrives is its only product?

By trivialization and dispersal, their function propels wasteland rather than knowledge. Showing the people how sausage is made is generally agreed to be a bad idea unless your goal is to put people off sausage. Showing the choice bits and exotic seasonings while rancid excrement is being piped into the casing isn't just dishonest, it's sickening. Our future's been dropped. It is being kicked around the floor, stepped on and abused. Why, oh why, is the fringe the only place where it's even mentioned?

When Jefferson stated it plainly, "If it were left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." he failed to consider the full ramifications of having both, in spades.

I sit out here in the fringe contemplating our productivity and have faint hope that it's going to get better anytime soon. Right now it's just painful. D-fence! We need the ball, but there's still 67 days on the clock. I see nothing on the scorecard that hints that the stratergizing within the bunker will tend toward facilitating "Change". Too much time on the clock! The game is slipping away. The season is shot.
The R's are playing for draft choice and our media is lapping it up.

Fueling their base? Why can't the little bitches just own their shit sandwich?
Why isn't there a heaping platter of CROW being served and eaten? Enough with the historical significance, the historical references, the classification by genus and species. Just eat it, admit that the shit you pulled was done the wrong way, for the wrong people, for the wrong reasons and then maybe you can begin redefining your tainted brand identity. Oh yeah, and help clean up the refuse, stanky dumps and vomit piles you left behind after the party.

Because in ALL of the "coverage" what I haven't heard is RESPONSIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, or HONESTY. Just third-rate sideshow shilling, shucking, ducking, whining, crying and blaming. Where's that standing tall, flag-waving, patriotic act you've been playing? I know it ain't pleasant, and I admit to looking forward to watching you eat the Misery Meal you've plated up, but you can't keep trying to feed it to the dog or hide in under your napkin.

Bon Appetit!

When I think back on all the crap I learned about high school -OR- Now or Later?

Back in July, during a brief lull in the non-stop Presidential race, I posted some backround about our local high school debacle. When I look for some constant in the universe, Proviso High Schools never disappoints. The most recent report cards are out revealing that only 2 of 10 students in the two main school campi meet or exceed standards. 80% Fail for NCLB measures, but the district still maintains a 75% graduation rate?

I can't say exactly when the stories stopped having an effect on me. I'd probably written a OED's worth, read another library wing's worth and talked enough to exceed an unlimited talk plan. Nothing seemed to matter. Nothing was going to change.

It was a problem. Everybody agreed on that. Paradox took over from there. High School district 209 was/is setting new standards in education. Across the board, they were a snapshot of failure. Within the institution the problems were blamed on the community at-large. In the community at-large, it was a problem within the schools.

As consequence, it repelled the students who make any high school "normal". Its average students disappeared and the district's attitude seemed to be "good riddance". By not having to contend with them, they could concentrate on remedial programs for lower performing students. Yet they still had to maintain the appearance of a "normal" high school. The cream was still the cream and performed as smart, motivated students do in any setting. So how bad could things be. The top of the class validated the institution as capable of providing quality.

If people chose not to take advantage of its offerings? That's their problem. It was seen as a racial problem, external to the schools, within the communities. The message to the community was "Go Away! We're in charge. Just keep giving us $70 MILLION every year and we'll keep the lights on."

The bright side? Four years ago the district dropped a $40 Million lifeboat in the form of a magnet high school. They will graduate their first class this year. So 100 kids in a district of 5000 avoided having to deal with the district's baggage and 5000 more students are apparently thriving in the area's private schools or in the public schools serving their new zip code.

The statistics are numbing. The situation intractable. The anecdotal evidence discouraging. The new superintendent is still studying the issues and potential solutions. Her jury is still out that 209's problems are unique stemming from institutional failure. She has started projecting blame out to the 10 communities.

I've seen that film before.

2-4 2sday Veteran's Day

2-4 2sday Peace Queer edition

Todd Snider has a new album. (and why shouldn't he?)
Rumor is that it's the first of a trilogy (oh, those marketing gurus!)

No, OH NO, You can't do that - OR - Nope, not that either.

Remember that LI BUR AL media we have in this country? You know the ones who were in the tank for Obama? Positively salivating over the prospects of a black president? Well, just so you know how empty -and utterly ridiculous- assigning an ideological political empathy to an entity whose sole function relies on the friction of our interactions could exhibit anything but feigned interest in its own ideology, I offer up the past 5 days as evidence of said emptiness.

The "yeah buts" have been flying fast and furious. The lead may be Obama's elected, yet the bleed is what he will absolutely, positively NOT be able to do. Taxes, health care, the wars, Congress, this, that, the other thing, Obama can't do anything different than what his circumstances dictate. Any perceived move to alter the prolificly successful status quo would cause a panic. There can be no "hard over" on our present course. The President-elect, despite his victory, will be leash trained well before the first inaugural dance.

Now is no time to be pissing off the minority party? Now is not a good time to do anything that might send the wrong signal to corporations that he fully intends to make good on his campaign promises. He NEEDS them now and accomodations will be made to their demands.

I hope you're watching this unfold. Before euphoria and hope could get its first gulp of free air, it's being smothered with the well-meaning self-serving, and still consistently WRONG urgings of the purveyors of the same-old-shit. If there's a bias, it's definitely not a LI BUR AL one. Can we retire this excuse along with the rest of the tired out, used up, empty shit and just get on with it?

You don't know,
You've just been told.
and told. and told. and told.
What you say is just too bold.

Are we really this stupid?



or do they just think we are?

How deep is your schism? -OR- The First Thing Ya Know

The big secret that us Dirty Fucking Hippies have been been screaming politely since the first wedges were driven into the heartland is that we truly, madly, deeply admire the salt-of-the-earth folk whose real world view ends at the county line. We don't want to alter your way of life. You know what's good for you, you always have. Your way of life is safe from us.

We buy your goods and services. You've not really complained much about the stuff we ship back to you. What you have also seemed to buy is the bullshit being fed to you that we want to turn you all into godless queers who hate America. We are not your enemy. WE are BOTH being used. AND abused.

It should be evidence enough that scary, fictional,dramatized exploits of city folks have been 100% imported into your communities. Aberrations happen. Random "crime" is RANDOM. I and my ilk have not put effort into invading your turf despite what you view on the satellite feed.

There is no DFH conspiracy against you. If you just parse it out rationally, you will know this to be true, so don't be scared. In many ways we've tried to bring your way of thinking into the densely populated mean streets of the city.

We just have differing soil conditions. Some of our once fertile ground has been been turned squalid by abuse, neglect and improper stewardship. We have squatters in the public square, rats in the silos and licentious blowholes in seats of power. You have the same problems, just on a smaller scale. You work around your obstacles the same way we do in the big city.

For city folk it has been relatively cost effective to let the mouths run. Only when their rhetoric crosses the line do we pay attention. You'd do well to really evaluate the impacts your proxy enables. We are, after all, in this together.

And the Problem Was? Right. Not Enough Lipstick -OR- What ME Gloat?

Meanwhile back at the Post Victory Game Pep Rally...

The Cool Kids are seriously peeved that the Losers won. "We NEVER Lose.
We don't know what to do now, ya know? Usually we'd be making fun of the Losers and giving them wedgies. Now they're riding around OUR town honking their horns and having fun. That's OUR thing.

Where's our UNITY? How can we be dismissive and disdainful NOW? Hey, I know. Okay,Kids let's shun our very own losers. Let's turn on THEM and pick them apart for not winning.
We're still good at that aren't we?

OMG The Right WERE RIGHT! - OR- Of Equal Supercilliousness

This can't be a good omen, eh?

Going to the Dogs
We are excited to inform you that you can now register your dog or dogs for I Do, Doggone It!

You can find the registration form here.

When you fill it out, please complete it as thoroughly as you can. You'll notice we ask questions that might seem off-the-wall (such as your dog's age and gender), but when you think about it, this whole affair is more than a few inches off the beaten path.

We will provide fun updates in the near future, and keep you posted as our tally of soon-to-be betrothed four-legged friends climbs toward the current record of 178 couples. With 24 days between now and the Big Day, we have plenty of time to make history!

(Speaking of history, and to give you a frame of reference, I Do, Doggone It! comes four days after the U.S. Presidential election between the Dems' Barack Obama and the GOP's John McCain.)



Holy Self-Righteous Indignation Batman!

Can Baby Q be far behind?

Random thought -OR- Market Response

Another record drop for DJIA? Claimed to be a "reaction" to Obama's victory?
With the up and down volatility playing out in the supposedly deregulated markets, there does appear to be a regulated pattern of behaviors. Just because there isn't a government puppeteer, doesn't mean that a determined ad hoc organization isn't colluding in violation of long-standing rules.

This should at least be checked. SEC? DOJ? FBI?

Pruners, loppers and axes Oh MY! -or- Shovels, Rakes and Implements of Destruction

Here in DIY nation. We don't have the luxury of relocating to our summer home, time share or ski chalet. We understand that change and improvement means living in/with less than ideal situations and circumstances while the process works its magic.

We're familiar with dropcloths and temporary bracings. We adapt; we deal; we survive.
We aren't extreme. Ty isn't showing up with an army of skilled craftsmen, tradespeople and volunteers while we jet off to Disney World or Space Camp.

What we also understand is that what is currently in place has to be ripped out before our dreams can be fulfilled. We've seen the nightmares that cutting corners and not doing the proper prep work bring.

So, in that framework, knowing full well that we can't simply slap another layer of wallpaper over the mistakes of the past, it's time to don the hard hats, steel-toed boots and dust masks, pick up the tools and commence to work.

All the excess shit has to go.

The plumbing, wiring and HVAC? The mechanicals of our house have to be addressed. Another half-assed fix won't do it this time.

The Unsung - OR - Everybody Did Their Part

Lest we forget...

John Sidney McCain was undone, in no small part, with an assist from the Borg. This Borg specifically.



Seven of Nine.

In this episode of Peabody's Improbable History, the most stunning thing to me, in hindsight, is that we couldn't have done this without Jack Ryan, Richard Nixon, Ted Stevens, Alan Keyes, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell et al. showing us the destructive, despicable standards that slowly, but surely motivated the storming of the castle. Their arrogance in assuming that they, in any way, spoke for or reflected the best of America.

Packaged and parlayed selfish self-righteousness into a small-minded but formidable electoral force was not proof. Not sustainable. Not good for America. Thinking good people would sit by, allow and forgive such flagrant and egregious abuse of their trust was hubris on a wholly new scale. In the NOW, the markets will not dictate.
They will be petulant and whiny, but they must conform to a new directive.

The opportunistic parasites planting the IEDs of their own demise. By dismissing the real deal and believing their own hype, while the rest of us were kept busy and distracted by their unending sideshow, trying to sandbag against the rising tide of shit. The "little people" growing cynical and disgruntled by the spoon-fed swill being served. ENOUGH. How do you like us now?

Transformational politics. Notice served. Brace yourself for a wild ride.
We are moving forward. WE will not be assimilated into the old ways. The King is dead. Long live the PEOPLE.

Oh what the hell, one more... -OR- Nuff Said UPDATED

Lines at 5:30 am. Lines at 6 am. Lines at 7 AM... Is this an election or an all day coke party?

It's too early? So I'll be poll watching, looking for an opening.
It could be worse. I might be William K. Wolfrum. He is live blogging Faux News coverage HERE. I'm sure it'll be amusing and entertaining in a sense, but... oh, the humanity...

UPDATE: Done. Lots of love in the lines. Incident report: Indignant woman became somewhat loud when told she could not wear her MePalin pin inside the polling place.

Exit observations via the small grocery store across the street... Potatoes are a big mover. "I VOTED!" stickers gets you 25% off. BMW parked outside had W bumper sticker just beneath the OBAMA 08 sticker. I'll take the vote, but to be stupid AND LAZY?

Portal to portal elapsed time: 1 hour.



Yet I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the reign?
And is this still a possibility?

There and Back Again -OR- So I got that going for me

Let the eulogizing begin -OR- Thhhhhhhat's All Folks

Brand Identification -OR- A Turd is a Turd

[click]
Tonight on the Factor, Barack Obama unmasked
[click]
Tonight on the Countdown, Bill O'Reilly unmasked
[click]
Welcome to the Jerry Springer show. On the show today,
we put evolution on display.
[click]
Don't go away, it's time to play The Family Feud...
[click]

Mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter...

Be it Demoncrats in Chicago or Repugnants in Texas, Alaska, the genus is the same.
Let's play dueling blowholes? (Cue theme music)

Make it stop! Tomorrow! YES. WE. CAN.

January 20, 2009. YES. WE. WILL.

Unabated, unimpeded, unswerving, unconditionally.

Domestic Shock and Awe Baby.

I see light at the end of the tunnel.

My Friends - OR - Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

MePalin troupe cramming for Tuesday's FINAL EXAM

When you don't have anything good to say, make sure you're on camera when you say it.
(Remember: Extra pointage for bulging veins)

Spewing nonsense and divisiveness has kept this race close. Keep it going.
(You never know, some undecided voter might not know that B.O. is Black, might not have heard of Ayers or Wright...)

When you're pointing fingers at the opponent, nobody is looking at you and what you've done. Point baby point! And do NOT under any circumstance, open your own closet door.

There are many ways to run a campaign. Try to do them all in the same soundbite.

My Friends, I came into this `not getting it'. If polls and trends and comments are any indicator, I still ain't getting it.

The only thing we have left is fear. When showing yours, try to project it, catapult it...

When you HATE government, you're probably not the best choice to RUN the Government.
Try to hide your contempt.

The Silent IN YOUR FACE Majority - OR - Even Hogtied and Hamstrung Things Will Be Better

Obama and the Runaway Train
The race, the case, a hope for grace.
By PEGGY NOONAN
Noonan pleading to misdemeanors for 40 years of abuse

Obama's gonna win...Blah, Blah, Blah.... Can't we just be nice and get along?...
moreshitmeltinginhermouth... I will just lie back and think of Reagan...

So what's the frequency Peggy?

"There is for instance, in the words of Minnesota's Gov. Tim Pawlenty, "the runaway train." The size and dimension of the likely Democratic victory seem clear. A Democratic House with a bigger, more fervent Democratic majority; a Democratic Senate with the same, and possibly with a filibuster-breaking 60 seats; a new and popular Democratic president, elected by a few points or more; a Democratic base whose anger and hunger have built for eight years; Democratic activists and operatives hungry for business and action. What will this mix produce? A runaway train with no one to put on the brakes, to claim a mandate for slowing, no one to cry "Crossing ahead"? Democrats in Congress will move for innovation when much of the country hopes only for stability. Who will tell Congress of that rest of the nation? Mr. Obama will be overwhelmed trying to placate the innovators.

America enjoyed divided government most successfully recently from 1994 to 2000, with Bill Clinton in the White House and Newt Gingrich in effect running Congress. It wasn't so bad. In fact, it yielded a great deal, including sweeping reform of the welfare system, and balanced budgets."

See, I didn't say it. Tim Pawlenty did. I'm not saying I agree with him at all. I'm just presenting his 3 word descriptive and propping it up as a perfectly rational fear. See, I've defined the situation, condensed the clusterfuck down to a digestible bite and swallowed like a good Repugnicant should.

Can't a sister get some love?

Peggy don't get it. Never has; never will. Her blinders will not allow her to dwell upon responsibility, accountability, culpability -which in her lexicon spells out retribution rather than ownership- of the transgressions for which she cheered wildly.

Rachel Maddow asked President-elect Obama why he hasn't used his campaign to repudiate the Conservative operatives of opportunism that led America down the primrose path back in 1980 1968. When Nixon laid the foundation to loot and pillage the "Great Society", blew the corporate benefactors then re-wrote the elections handbook. So that when St. Ronnie went back on every single one of his declared principles save one; To be teh biggest, bestest, bravest bullshitter on teh block. EVAH. People simply shrugged and were thankful that the Nixon era had faded.

That point in time when we walled off our long-term interests, opened the outlet store, merged and were acquired by the elite and wannabe elites. Sold off chunks of America's investments because the silly workers didn't get it in writing (or trusted their leaders to keep the trust). Pimped disinvestment, downsizing, deregulation while discounting workers, work and their relative worth.

Why would we want need to revisit such unpleasant pages? After all, the table setters and many of the gluttons have since passed on. We have our Knight in Shining Armor. We'll have the majority. We'll have the pleasure of mucking out the stable, clearing the empties out of the shrubbery, tidying up... So much busy work that contemplating an audit, reconciling the accounts, setting up a billing and collections process, is just foolish dreaming.

Obama's reply? First I have to win. [twinkle in his eye?]

Then maybe I can build the case and prosecute it to the full extent of the law? Stay tuned.