Jobs, Justice, and Peace

They marched--men and women, black, white, and brown, young and old, for jobs, justice, and peace. And in their midst was...li'l ol' me, carrying my sign ("Bring the Troops Home Now!" with a b/side of "Money For Our City, Not For War!"), and sporting one big ass grin. Fifty-one years on this planet, and today was the first time I ever joined a rally for a cause I believed in. Indeed, as the saying goes, you are never too old. 'Twas very nice to be among a group of like-minded souls, and even better, souls who sought the betterment of our fellow poor and middle-class Americans. Railing against Wall Street, railing against corporations, railing against continued tax cuts for the wealthy--you have got to love unions and African-American churches. As the poet queen (Ms. Patti Smith) said, "People have the power." Nice speech from UAW President Bob King on the need to continue marching and fighting. Virg Bernero put in an appearance and continued his Main Street vs. Wall Street theme. Debbie Stabenow put in a few good words for the President (he owes her big time). Marcy Kaptur (with whom I was not familiar), an Ohio U. S. Rep., gave perhaps the best progressive speech of the bunch. And, of course, the Rev. Jackson gave his usual stirring speech (plus we all got to recite "I am...somebody!"). A wonderful experience, but... Turnout was moderate at best (a few thousand)--yes, it was a beautiful day here in Detroit, yes it was in downtown Detroit, yes, it was a Saturday, but you'd hope this close to such an important election people would turn out for the cause. Also, when Sen. Stabenow attempted to give President Obama his props, the response was...underwhelming. One has to wonder if his administration has any clue--Democrats aren't Republicans: we don't reward disappointing Presidents (see also, George W. winning in 2004). The enthusiasm gap may be a real problem--never having attended a Republican rally (and never will) I have no idea what they are like, but the mood started great and eventually became subdued. Don't know if it was disappointment in Democrats or hopelesness in the face of corporate power and a corporate media who kisses republican party ass on a daily basis, but the disappointment was real. Finally, the talking points on Wall Street were dead on, but other than Bob King and Sen. Stabenow, very little was done to tie these people to their biggest supporters--the republican party. We really need to remind people that the republican party has never, and never will, stand up for the working people, unionized or not. It is a party for corporations and the wealthy, the poor and the middle class be damned. One other thing--if you're ever organizing a march with speeches afterward, keep the speech segment afterward BRIEF. There's a reason most school courses last an hour--that's about the limit for people's attention span. As the speeches dragged on today it was painfully obvious that people were turning their attention elsewhere (like on going home). Still: raise your fists, brothers and sisters--NO JOBS, NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE! Amen. Peace, emaycee

Helpless and Hopeless in Obamaland

Any hope one might continue to harbor for President Obama's Progressive side to assert itself pretty much disappeared when they accepted Alan Simpson's apology and announced he will continue to serve on the Catfood Commission. The man is diametrically opposed to the greatest and most successful social program in the history of our country, and once again Obama kowtows to the right and fucks the rest of us over.

Thanks once again, Mr. President, for absolutely nothing!

Which will I see first: the Giants winning the World Series or a true Liberal in the White House? Strange as it sounds given their history, I'm betting on the Giants. A Democrat leader with a spine sounds a lot more farfetched.

Peace,
emaycee

Trust us on this one...

Though, with the take over of the republican party by the idiots in the tea party movement, it's surprising to see the Detroit News support regulation of any sort, you still have to wonder if a brain scan for their editorial staff isn't needed after this piece.... A) "...even though damage from the massive oil spill appears to be far less than originally predicted...." Really? Isn't any oil spill of this nature (275 million gallons) bad, period? And tell it to the 100,000 people out of work while you're at it. Sounds like someone at the News has BP stock or else enjoys being a corporate troll. B) Taking stats from the American Petroleum Institute, opinions from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (i.e., right wing think tank), and comments from the Associated Petroleum Industries of Michigan to support your case? Please don't mind that I take their words and stats with a grain of salt. These are industry support groups who have only one agenda--make more money. They don't give a rat's ass about Michigan or her citizens, and certainly do not have our, or any American's, best interests in mind. C) Threatening to take away jobs--fuck you, next idiot please! This tactic is getting just a bit tedious--it's like playing with a child, who, when he doesn't get everything he wants, threatens to take his toys and go home. You know what? Take your fucking toys and go home. We'd be much better off without such whining and childish business leaders. Besides, I'm sure there's some smart businessman out there somewhere (compared to the idiots in the oil industry of present) who's just prescient enough to figure out how to make the regulations work and make a lot of jobs, safe waters, and profit. Who'd you rather have in charge? Peace, emaycee

Conservative=Pathetic

Anybody who wants to know what a Rick Snyder governorship (admittedly a foregone conclusion) would look like need only look at this comment from an audience member at a recent Snyder town hall meeting: "It's really nice to have a spouse who shares the last name as the governor." (For those not in the know, Gov. Granholm and her spouse, Dan Mulhern, have different last names.) Leaving aside the fact that Mr. Snyder hasn't been elected yet (another case for the rampant stupidity that is conservatism), what makes the fucking difference you ignorant and repressive fuckhead? From all accounts, it appears the Governor and her spouse have raised three lovely children and have had nary a marital problem in their years together. Who could possibly care about their choices for last names but a braindead conservative? Read 'em and weep Michiganders: if ignorance, repression, bigotry, and hatred of anything different are for you, vote for Snyder, because it's what you're going to get. Peace, emaycee

Quick Hits

A couple of pieces that caught my eye... I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but short of starting nolanfinleysucks.com, I've got nothing else I can do to refute an idiot who writes a weekly column but bitch every week about said column (besides, I think it's keeping me sane). Another brilliant moment for Finley this week--it seems, because Virg Bernero is so far down in the polls (no surprise) in the Michgan Governor's race that unforunately, the matchup will not be about ideas but about nastiness. And Finley, ever the idiot, seems to think this is a a political trait endemic to only Democrats. Jesus, what a numb nuts. Apparently, DeVos lost to Granholm in 2006 because of the nasty jobs to China meme the Granholm campaign took. Setting aside the fact that it was true, DeVos' loss had nothing to do with the fact that he ran a horrid campaign, was tied to G. W. Bush like an anchor to a ship, had zero in the way of ideas, and the charisma of a mudpie. Finley also seems to forget the Republicans with their Swift Boat attacks, Willie Horton ads, Rev. Wright crap--he has an awful selective memory or is just an out and out liar. No, the real reason there will be no discussion of ideas in this campaign is that the Republicans have none. It will be the usual bullshit: cut taxes, fellate the wealthy and give them even more at the expense of the poor and the middle class, fellate corporations and give them even more at the expense of us poor saps who actually do the work, and then watch the great state of Michigan sink even further into the abyss. Golly--can't fucking wait. The second piece, by one James Krause, is one of those pieces that I really wonder what the fuck the editor who approved the piece was thinking. I'm not really sure if said editor wants to make certain the Free Press keeps its monthly quota of idiot columns, or if he thinks it's some kind of humorous satire (I've read plenty of satire and humor in my fifty-one years on this planet, and Mr. Krause's piece has nary a scintilla of either). In a nutshell, Mr. Krause is bemoaning how horribly businesses are treated here in Michigan--never mind the fact that 85% of us are employed and that I pass opulent house after opulent house on a daily basis. Apparently, Mr. Krause is peeved because he can only afford the one Lexus instead of the two he wants (meanwhile, his employees are happy to purchase a car--new or used--once every seven or eight years), and wouldn't life be so much better if he had the two? Give me a fucking break. These people always claim to care so much about Michigan and her citizens, but there's exactly one citizen Mr. Krause cares about: Mr. Krause. Three words: Fuck Mr. Krause. Perhaps he's just not a very good businessman--plenty of other businessman seem to be doing remarkably well. Perhaps he's your typical Republican who is only good at whining about it rather than trying to fix it. My guess is he's just too ignorant to see that the lies he's been fed about upward mobility in America are just that: lies to keep dimwits such as himself fellating the wealthy and businesses at his own expense. His closing is all one really needs to see. After bitching for several hundred words about the unfairness of it all, he shows his true colors: "On second thought, no need to ask; I'll show myself out (i.e., leave Michigan for greener pastures)." What a courageous move that would be--just give up and go somewhere else where he might get his way. You know what, Mr. Krause? Adi-fucking-os. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out of Michigan--we'll be much better off without the likes of someone like you. Peace, emaycee

Tone Deafness, Part II

The line that kills me in this piece by The Detroit News' Everymom (Aside: WTF?) Marney Rich Keenan is this one: "Far be it from me to say anything that would favor Rush Limbaugh...." Too fucking late, idiot! Was Michelle Obama's trip to Spain with her daughter tacky in these trying economic times? Yes. Was the administration's response to the outrage over her trip self-serving? Undoubtedly. With the myriad of problems facing this country, was Ms. Obama's trip worthy of a commentary by anyone on the planet? Fuck no. Peace, emaycee

Tone Deafness

Livin' a dream.... I don't think there are many of us who have to work with the public who haven't had fantasies like the one Steven Slater lived. I can't even begin to count the number of customers I've dealt with over the last twenty-eight years who seem to think that because they're spending twenty bucks at the place I work, I'm their indentured servant. The customer is always right, yada, yada, yada. In a word: no. I get paid to eat their shit--it doesn't mean I have to like it, or not secretly wish them a severe case of crotch rot. I wasn't really surprised by the corporate/status quo response to this--interviewing his ex-wife (how many exes are going to have good things to say about their former spouse?), calling into question his account, etc. When the Wall Street Journal publishes a piece such as this, it's easy to roll one's eyes and think, yeah suree! It has to be a bit frightening to the powers that be that there are plenty of us who feel the same as Slater, and have frankly had enough. It's only natural that they would send out their trolls to show us the error of our cheering. What surprised me, though, was the utter tone deafness (or else naivete) of those whose job it is to comment on such matters (and may or may not benefit from the status quo). Brian Dickerson seemed to think it was not worth cheering because as stressful as our lives are, we should be grateful we have it so much better than our ancestors (Aside: WTF?). And that it was because airline travel sucks. Mitch Albom--in a column actually more sympathetic to Slater than I would have thought--pretty much stuck to the airline travel sucks meme. Leonard Pitts blamed it on our ever lessening civility. No, no, no. I have no idea what Slater's motivation was, but I have a pretty good inkling why people are cheering it. We don't trust corporations, job satisfaction is at record lows, and frankly, we're all fed up with bullshit raises and increased workload and corporate leadership that is so pathetically weak. We've seen the man behind the curtain, and he isn't nearly as endearing as the Wizard of Oz. And he isn't even coming close to helping us realize our dreams. That's why we're cheering--it was a big fuck you to our fucked up business "leaders" and our fucked up jobs. Peace, emaycee

Like a Target on your back

Well, it seems we have the initial negative effect of the Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision--by, of all companies, Target (kind of expected it to be a company like Exxon or BP, Morgan Stanley or Bank of America), that bastion of local communities and making the world a better place (but certainly not through paying their employees more than $7.00 bucks an hour or giving them better medical benefits).

Apparently their CEO has sent a letter to Target's employees apologizing for the donation to an anti-gay candidate (but not withdrawing it as far as I know). The line that kills me is this: "The intent of our political donation was to support economic growth and job creation." Leaving aside the wisdom of that decision (uh, job creation under Repuglican leadership 2001-2008 was the least since Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression, uh, when ten percent of your customers are out of work and Repuglicans are against extending unemployment benefits it's going to cut into your customers spending capabilities), the thing I want to know is, if that's indeed your goal, why in the fuck are you wasting $150,000 on a political donation? How much of that money could have gone to your employees to fuel their spending, and therefore, the economy as a whole? How many jobs could your company have created with that money?

What the fuck? I mean, really, what the fuck? I cannot be the only person who smells bullshit from Target....

Peace,
emaycee

Virg wins...BIG

Let this be a lesson to Democrats throughout the land: when given a choice between Republican-lite and a real Democrat, Democrats vote overwhelmingly for the real Democrat. The results are in, and as of five minutes after the polls had closed here in the great state of Michigan, the real Democrat, Virg Bernero, had already been projected as the winner, and the margin looks to be close to twenty points. A total rout (with lots of help from the Unions--nice work, folks!) after Democratic voters were shown the differences. Will somebody of power in Democratic circles please pay attention to this? Pretty please? And this too--Alan Grayson's camp has it exactly right. Speak truth to power and call Republicans and their ideas and whining stupid. Maybe if we get lucky eventually it will sink in that Republican aren't generally very bright and neither are their ideas. It's a win-win for the good guys. Peace, emaycee

A Tale of Two Pundits

Well this is a fine how do-you-do...

Every now and again, Mitch Albom actually gets one right--this is one of those times. In the Sherrod controversy (if you need a link, you're fucking hopeless) the NAACP fucked up. Tom Vilsack fucked up. The Obama administration fucked up. But they are not to blame. Andrew Breitbart is. Period. If anyone other than some numb nut conservidiot believes a word or story that comes out of Breitbart's cache of crap ever again, shame on them. He is nothing more than a liar and a stain on America--not just the media, but all of America. Frankly, the difference to me from Breitbart and a child molester is zero--they're both the kinds of people the country can do without.

Unfortunately, I doubt it's the last we've heard of Breitbart....

...mostly because of hacks like Nolan Finley. Leave it to a conservidiot to come up with a shitload of doublespeak to remove blame from racist Republicans and put it on the backs of those oh so lucky blackfolk here in America. Instead of penning a much deserved mea culpa, he defends Breitbart by placing blame on the NAACP for its calling the Tea Party out for its racist elements. In his ever challenging quest for journalistic relevance, Finley has actually been to a few Tea Party meetings and has never seen or heard anything racist. I work with many staunch Republicans (in fairness, all of whom are good employees and people I like), but I am often amazed at how often I hear such things as, "He's black, you know," or, "It's because he's a Mexican," or, "She's married to a colored." I'm sorry, but these are racist statements. And apparently, Finley doesn't pay much attention to the web, or else he would have seen this or this. These are picture proof of racist elements in the Tea Party--but as we all know, for conservidiots, it's easier to lie than face the truth.

And let's not forget the usual class war bullshit (Finley: "Being a class warrior won't get you fired in the Obama administration--it'll earn you a promotion."). What the fuck? When the fuck did reaching out to help those less fortunate become class warfare? This mother fucker gets paid to come up with this bullshit--now that I think about it, I really fucked up in life. I should have been an idiot and a liar and I could have made big bucks in the conservative press.

In the end, what's really sad about this whole situation is that a beautiful message got lost: it's not about color, but about helping people to make their lives better. This is what makes America great--not corporations, not the free market, not the wealthy, but common folks lending a helping hand to each other.

Peace,
emaycee