Twinkies Extinct

And they said they would survive a nuclear blast.  HA!  Anti-labor business people want to paint the picture that union demands were the demise of Hostess.  Slow down as it's not that simple.  It's like trying to blame air travel for the demise of rail travel.  Technology and tastes have changed. 

Hostess is latest statistic of an antiquated business trying to survive in today's world.  Way back when the Hostess business model was created unions proliferated in private enterprises.  Americans were not obese.  The Bored Moms on Prozac Committee had not yet been established to ban sugar in the classrooms.  Twinkies actually tasted pretty darned good and had not yet been cheapened to taste like chemical waste by-products. 

Hostess tried to survive as a viable business, but producing sugary toxins was doomed to eventual economic failure.  Unions could have cut their wages and benefits to nothing and slumping sales would have done Hostess in. 

Still, it's unfortunate that so many will lose their jobs.  However, the purpose of a labor union is not to guarantee jobs that are obsolete and to coddle the otherwise unemployable. 

Are we figuring it out yet? 

Thanksgiving: Finally Managable

This year it will be mellow.  I'm so used to cooking for a crowd for Thanksgiving that I actually feel guilty for not being stressed out about having a clean house, groceries purchased, etc.  I am rid of the drunken in-laws this holiday.  I just can't handle Melting Snow Woman passed out at the kitchen table at noon from booze and pills feeling up nieces and nephew in the process.  I can't handle the mother of Melting Snow Woman enabling her and making excuses for child molestation. 

This year I finally said NO to the sickness.  I do have a rather legitimate out as my kid had oral surgery today and will not be able to partake in the meal.  Whatever.  It was the perfect excuse to gracefully bow out and let them all enjoy a drunken child molester ALL TO THEMSELVES. 

I will be cooking a dinner.  However, my guest of honor this year is an extremely nice young lady who was abandoned by her mother.  This teen is all on her own with no family to spend the holiday with.  She is gracious beyond belief that she is here and gets what she calls a "real" Thanksgiving dinner.  A couple other teens in a similar situation will also be here. 

That, IMHO, is what it's all about.....
Happy Thanksgiving. 

Letter to the Tea Party

Dear Tea Party,

We are in a big mess right now.  Look around you. Since 2000 the national debt has skyrocketed, the banking industry robbed us of taxpayer money, and the job market languished. Now all this is coming to the fore front and all we do is bicker amongst ourselves like petty children pointing fingers at each other over who is responsible for the depleted candy bowl and threaten to storm out of the room if we don't get our way. Splintering ourselves as a people over petty distinctions is not going to actually address the matter at hand, and this is the true cancer choking our democracy.

If we want real change its going to take ALL of us working together to fix this problem. Yes, it's going to be painful and we are all going to have to eat our own bitter fruit. Taxes will need to go up, social spending will need to be reduced, the military will need to reduce itself in size. Only by following a middle ground can we find our way and correct this mess, but its going to take sacrifices from all of us, rich and poor, conservative and liberal, and all the races and that comprise the proud American people. After all, is this not the spirit of America working together for a common dream?

Tea Party Secessionists: It's time to stop acting like spoiled children and address this problem like a grown-up. You are welcome at the discussion as that is the governmental forum by all means; but, you need to understand that most civilized society looks upon the proverbial "my way or the highway" mentality as counter productive and juvenile. If you want the people to take you seriously, then you must be willing to listen to the other side and respect each other as well as make sacrifices that you find unpalatable.

It is my sincere hope that you see reason and return to the bargaining table and help formulate a way forward. Till then holding your breath and stomping your feet is not impressing me.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Patriotic Citizen of the United States of America for Tolerance, Understanding and Compromise.


p.s.  I am active duty military.
p.p.s.  Letter written by son of Quiet Rage

McMansions: Finally Out of Style

Thank God that the fascination of lopping off hillsides to build your conspicuous-consumption-trophy-McMansion house is finally out of style.  It's overdone, obnoxious, and gross.  Plus, it's bad for the environment.  Nobody needs 6,000+ square feet.  You're just showing off.  Nobody is impressed.  Talk about an environmental crime.  You're a resource pig.  Yet these same people howl like crazy if widening the road is proposed or an apartment complex is proposed.  

Patraeus Quits CIA Over Affair

......and by the way...... his book is coming out soon if you want to read the dirt...timing just a little suspiscious.....  (yawn) extra-marital affairs are sooooooooo over done.  Nobody cares even if some psycho bitch sold secrets to the Chinese. 

Schwarznegger also tried a similar tacky publicity stunt.  Hint:  Nobody is buying his book, either. 

Being a Republican is a Medical Mental Disorder

I was watching CNN news last night.  They had a segment where some human behavior specialist reported on the brain scans of republicans and democrats.  According to this human behavior specialist, the areas of the brain that respond to feeling threats and also fear (whether real or imagined) are far greater in the brain scans of republicans than the brain scans of democrats. 

My immediate conclusion is being a republican is a certifiable medical mental disorder.  Hopefully, they can make a little blue pill for that....... 

The Angry Orb

Ok... please move to Arizona or wherever and get your guns for the coming racial war.  You hate Mexicans.  Fine.  You say they reproduce like rabbits.  True.  They suck up emergency room resources at hospitals dropping their anchor babies along the way.  Also true.

What you Republicans don't want to deal with is your own process in creating what you've come to hate.  You can't suck and blow at the same time.  I still am waiting for one republican to dare give me a straight answer as to why they hire illegals but then bitch because they're here.

You hire illegals so you can slip them cash under the table, avoid payroll taxes and workers' compensation, and keep them from asking for too much as you know they will do anything to avoid deportation.  All the while you're sending your kid off to some expensive school and driving the latest luxury car. 

Perhaps if you offered them legitimate employment they would have access to birth control through health benefits and also stop using the emergency room as their drop in clinic.

I'm also still waiting for republicans to refuse social security and medicare.  Republicans claim that they've paid in as well as the employer and it's not a handout.  While that is true in the very superficial level, the money all you republicans will ultimately collect from both programs far exceeds contributions you and your employer put in.  

Nobody is getting off the hook.... you Democrats need to put your money where your mouth is.  You also love getting the cheapest bid and low prices so you also feed this madness. 

After Obama Victory, Shrieking White-Hot Sphere Of Pure Rage Early GOP Front-Runner For 2016

Calling Your Bluff

So, the Dow fell today because of the election results (or so they say).  Yawn.  Your Wall Street scare tactics do not phase me.  You Wall Street greed freaks are too scared of long term losses, so your little temper tantrum today will not play into the big scheme of things.  You have too much money invested as well.  You greedy little bastards hate to see your own portfolio dwindle. You're too selfish and self-centered to lose profits.  The market won't collapse.  You look like the little kid who did not get his way and will hold his breath until he dies.  Please.  PLEASE hold your breath until you die (and then die -- really -- we won't miss you). 

If you continue to free fall, just where are you going to call for your bailout?  Oh, wait.....   you HATE government, taxes, and market manipulation, and freeloaders....... but wait.... they are describing YOU!!!!!!!

Election Aftermath

I thought all the political b.s. would disappear after the election.  It's even worse.  I opened up my Facebook and there are countless posts spewing jabs over the results, and Facebook fights between the political camps. 

I think we should do away with needing to claim we belong to a political party.  We don't need to wear it.  What's next, donning a blue or red dot on our foreheads?  It's only dividing us.  The other component fueling the "your side is a bunch of ignorant liars" is the ease of posting such opinions via social networking.  The human factor is taken away.  It's so much easier to be condescending to opposite viewpoints when the actual face-to-face delivery is taken away.  We're internet bullies all. 

So far what I've gathered from Facebook posts is that the pro-Romney crowd fears government handouts and welfare.  On the surface that sounds very appealing.  What is a handout?  Is it when you receive a benefit that is greater than the price paid for it?  Farm subsidies?  Social Security?  Medicare?  Student Loans? 

We all receive government benefits.  Nobody is above it - not even the top 1% as they get most of their contract awards to fuel their so-called private enterprises from the government. 

Romney Concession Speech

This is one moment where I think Michael Jackson would have handed the latent gay Mitt Romney a tissue to wipe his batting eyes swelling with tears of defeat. 

Boo-hoo Mitt.  I guess your special Mormon underwear and references to God failed you.  Just WHERE is this mystical being you all were so CERTAIN would victoriously sweep you to the White House steps now?  Oh, I guess God voted for Obama.  How are you religious freaks going to spin that one? God is now evil?  God does not know what He is doing?  I'm waiting for the God-bashing-because-my-candidate-did-not-win to begin. 

I'm sure Fox News will schedule a special news conference with God.  Personally, I can't wait to see it. What?  God is not available for an interview?  Shocker. 

Obama Victory: Sending a Message

I'm not naive enough to think that one person can change the world.  Jesus Himself could not even accomplish that.  Why do we expect so much from a mere mortal elected official?  More importantly, we need to look inward to our own moral compass and act accordingly.  How can you expect other people to act with integrity when you are an untrustworthy flake?

Whatever.  I'm getting off topic.  I correctly predicted that despite the rising red tide of republican corporate greed (and also anti-tax asswipes who are first in line for any and all government benefits) that Obama would ultimately win the hearts of republican women voters. 

I keep trying to get through to republicans, but they are not listening....  Here is a CLUE for the billionth time:  You can't treat people like shit and then turn around and expect them to vote for you.  I know you would rather go back to the days where women were not allowed to vote, but it's too bad that women and people not born of white privilege were given the right to vote and you're forced to at least recognize us on a superficial level. We are human and worthy, too.  Republicans need to go deeper than profits and control. 

Hint for the future:  The Good Ol' Boys Club is out of date.  Adapt or die. 

The Safeway Drunk

I'm so glad I'm detaching from Clan Whack-o.  Yes, I have my own co-dependency and denial issues to contend with, but this one makes mine look so miniscule in comparison. 

About 2-3 years ago an in-law had weight loss surgery.  You know, the kind where they basically cut your stomach out.  Yeah, she was a fat, lazy slob.  It did not occur to her to try exercising.  Go for the $50,000 procedure right out of the gate.  I'll save the part about expensive health care for another rant.

Anyway.....  since the surgery she has become a drunk addicted to pain pills.  All she did was trade one addiction (food) for another (booze and pills).  The root of the problem was never addressed.  This in-law is drunk by 10:30 in the morning.  Her own kids can't stand to be around her. 

Enter Safeway.  One night the drunk in-law wants more booze (she was already inebriated).  She walks to Safeway to get it.  She gets it.  On the way home she trips on the sidewalk and smashes her face and ended up in the ER room. 

Get this:  Now the mother and husband are going after SAFEWAY saying they never should have sold her the booze.  WTF???????  It's all Safeway's fault!  You've got to be kidding me!  This is the kind of co-dependence and denial that drives me INSANE.  It's her own damn fault she tripped.  Classic example on how this messed up family will never change.  Everything is always somebody else fault. 

Which brings me to the approaching holiday season.  I've already bowed out of Thanksgiving as there are super important Brady Bunch re-runs to watch.  Now all I have to do is dodge hosting anything for Christmas. 

Jesus Freaks on Facebook

The only thing worse than people soap-boxing about their political viewpoints on Facebook are those who constantly feel need to "spread the love of Jesus" with constant bible quotes, pictures of Jesus in french toast, etc.  I don't find it at all strange that the source of this online annoyance is usually the same pool of people.

I'm glad you Came to Jesus.  Happy for you.  Really.  Don't try to bully me by chain posts that read, "delete only if you love the devil" and "If you don't forward this to everybody and re-post you are evil incarnate."  

I have my own spiritual path I'm on.  Is Jesus part of it?  Perhaps.  Regardless, religion is very personal.  Please, Facebook Jesus Freaks, concentrate on your own faith.  Don't assume faith is a one-size-fits-all and your beliefs are the ONLY way.  How arrogant and self-righteous.