Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Sour Grapes Taste Good To Some People: Denial, Secession, Attempted Murder, Weird Advertising and Even Suicide. It Is Time To Calm Down People!

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Photo care of the Facebook group: You can't have a Tea Party without some Fruitcakes and Nuts



The election has been over for a few weeks now and some people cannot handle the truth.

First there was denial, many people the next day could not believe that our country re-elected President Obama. They thought they had made their case, and were ignoring any polling or especially any polling aggregate who was telling them something they did not want to hear. Karl Rove seemed to deny the Ohio vote on election night. Although the way it was publicized, you would think he was throwing a temper tantrum only a 2 year old could love, he just seemed to be in denial. And that was just the start.

Next, there are people in all 50 states who want to secdee, um I mean secede from the union. Well I am beginning to think that 48% of electorate who actually voted for the Romney/Ryan ticket want to secede. It is interesting that it is one percentage point off from Gov. Romney's supposedly private discussion to the Richey Riches of that poor 47% who won't vote for him. It turned out that he was actually four percentage points off for those who would vote for him. I also find it hilarious now that many Republicans (like AZ Gov. Jan Brewer) are now considering abolishing the electoral college. The thing is: that would not have helped Mitt Romney, he still would have lost by about 3,474,000 votes. I am all for a proper election. I know our founding fathers did not think we were “mature” enough for the popular vote, but perhaps we have grown up as a country. If we do not split up into Red America and Blue America, perhaps we will be just fine.

There also in our sour grape juice is the story of a woman in Mesa who tried to run over her husband because he did not vote. She was so upset that Obama won and think his election will hurt her family. But she is pregnant, I wonder if she will use the “hormone defense.” Not that hormones, just like excess sugar, should be a defense. You are always responsible for your own actions. I would say that jail time and a divorce are in her future and I say “Lady, stop listening to Rush Limbaugh! It is bad for your families health.” Also in Arizona is the owner of a gun shop who put out a full page ad telling anyone who voted for Obama that they were not welcome in his store. No problem there, since there are plenty of other gun shops in Arizona and at least 10 others in the Pinetop area.

Then there was the guy in Florida (not Arizona for once) who committed suicide supposedly because of the results of the election. Now he was not at all mentally stable, and perhaps just thought this was a good reason for something he already wanted to do. Any which way, it is kind of scary to me.

So, what does this leave us with?

Lastly, I would like to quote a famous saying that has gotten some legs lately. It was from the UK war propaganda department and it encouraged the citizens to “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Keep in mind that this was during the London blitz by the Nazis where bombs were destroying London. Are things for us now in the USA really that bad? We had an election that did not work out the way 48% of us wanted, well that 48% has two years to do better in the next election. So please, calm down, it is not the apocalypse, it was just an election. I posted last week my disgust that Prop. 204 did not get passed here in AZ, but I have gotten over it. So, keep calm and carry on. Have a nice Thanksgiving. Be thankful we live in a country where you can vote. Perhaps also rethink your stance on a few topics. Just sayin'!


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Prop. 204 Fought the Car and the Car (Dealerships) Won



Hilariously sad and true cartoon drawn by David Fitzsimmons of the Arizona Daily Star.


Well, actually Prop. 204 was not trying to fight anyone but was to help education and create jobs. It was to permanently keep a one cent sales tax (that we already had) and the funds were to educate our kids in Arizona and create jobs by building better roads. But many did not like the fact that the tax would be permanent. Those have to be some of the most terrifying words in red state America: a permanent tax! Prop. 204 was soundly defeated. I was all for Prop. 204 and was very sad when it was rejected by the voters mostly because my kids and their friends are going to suffer, educationally speaking.

The car dealerships certainly did not like 204, and they fought it by giving lots of money to the anti-204 groups. In the last few days before the November 6th election, Arizona televisions were awash with negative ads put on the air by groups that were funded by auto dealerships, but they were not the only ones. Many businesses that were not going to benefit from Prop. 204 put their money into bringing it down. It is very interesting that one of the super-pacs that funded money into anti-204 ads has been sited by California as doing “money laundering.” This super-pac is called Americans for Responsible Leadership. I think a better name would be “Republicans for Tax Cuts and Partisan Bickering” since they also brought down Prop. 121, which was to create an open primary in Arizona. But maybe that is probably being too truthful.

It was amazing to me that many super-pacs failed in their bid to manipulate the majority of Americans into voting their way nationally. It gives me hope that the whole Citizens United decision will not buy major elections for the rich. I guess it only works in small, local elections. The super-pac money certainly worked to kill 204 and screw the children of Arizona out of enough money to properly educate them.

Now Governor Jan Brewer says she will look into doing something about funding education. This means we need to trust her and the state legislature to fund education properly. Something tells me they will fall short. There might be enough there, but I bet they would rather spend that money for their crony friends in the private prison business. Since we won't be educating the kids, those kids might just turn to crime. Then the jails will be justified, won't they?

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

When It Comes To Talking about Your Vote: DON'T ASK AND DON'T TELL!



Meme care of Pointsincase.com


This is it! The last day, election day. I, for one, am SO HAPPY it is almost over. Unless we have a debacle like 2000. That is what some of the polls are saying. It is 50/50! It's too close to call! Well that may be the case for certain polls, but when you look at polling aggregates the story is rather clear, unless the polls are inaccurate. We shall see, but when it comes to who I believe, it will aways be the statistic geeks over the pundits.

Now that this magical day is upon us, you may get asked: Who did you vote for? And PLEASE, DO VOTE! Well, after voting, I say don't ask and don't tell! I know that military policy was oppressive to gay servicemen and women, but when it comes to a political election: do you want a lecture? Do you want to hear on how you are so wrong and they are so right? Even if their candidate lost? You have made your decision and voted and do not need that aggravation. Heck, yesterday I got a lecture because I said we should just be grateful for democracy. That person would not even see my point and wrote a lecture I did not need about how we don't really live in a democracy...blah blah blah. I know democracy can suck and is controlled by the rich, but it is a whole lot better than living in North Korea. I say these are the type of people to avoid after election day.

If I was the boss, I would ban all political chatter on November 7th for at least a two month cool down period. Maybe by January, we will mostly be talking about holiday gifts and a little about the election. Unless you know someones political leanings and you feel safe to express your feelings without getting “the lecture.” If your boss was the type that said if so-and-so wins, we may have layoffs, you definitely should not talk politics and you may want to look for another job anyway. I'm just saying since that does not sound like the best place to work. The layoffs may have been coming any which way.

Polling is a different story. If you want to participate in a poll, please do so! Pollsters should not be lecturing you on your vote and this is a way to have an idea of who is going to win. I am just talking about avoiding that annoying person at work, etc.


Lastly, it seems that Arizona may be a swing state soon, so I am feeling nauseous again... It would be great to actually have a real say in who would be president. But not at the price of the tsunami of political ads that would be saturating our lives.