Even a Conservative White Guy Could Do It Better.

Even a conservative white guy could do it better. All due respect, madam bozette and brotha prez, if you can’t handle the responsibilty…

Former Senator Obama, Representative Pelosi, you were in office voting on the things that have been happening for the last four years*. Don’t hand me this whiny ass “it’s the former administration’s fault”. BULLSHIT. Start acting like responsible adults and get in there and do the job you were hired to do.

FOUR YEARS, you’ve been fucking up this economy so you could get in power. Congress, not the President, is in control of the purse. Grow the fuck up, or get the fuck out.

Thank you,
motownmutt

*since 2004 and 1987, respectively

Are You Commenting Or Communicating?

I once said that twitter can seem like trolling, jumping into people’s conversations at any point with a comment.

I logged in as I was going to sleep last night, and thought I’d look up a science article or something for some reading when I saw someone had replied to one of my comments from earlier in the day.

@motownmutt Would that you were working in 19th century America.

so, I go to see what he’s replying to:

which is to say, I don’t have much sympathy for the entitled class.
about 19 hours ago from web

I’ve only got run off of one union job before, and I guarantee my partner and me were far more productive then any four of the union chumps.

okay, well it’s true. I was sent packing from a union job by some guys who appeared to be standing around not doing much. I don’t have much sympathy for them. If someone’s willing to do a job better and faster than you, get out of the way. An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.

Somehow, this ballooned into me being misquoted, “you’re saying they’re all lazy”, or something. Read what you want into it, I said my partner and myself were better fit for the job, but we were prevented from doing it. That’s not a badge of honor for the unions, trust me.

I never did find that science article to read.
Why did the auto companies die?

Additional thoughts:

It occured to me that what pissed me off about this, is that while I was trying to answer questions that were being asked, a back-channel discussion was going on, in which I was being compared to a troll. Here’s the thing: I made a general comment, the reader engaged with me, started making extrapolations of his own, but not once answered my counter questions. It seemed like I was doing all the effort addressing questions, but when I posed questions of my own, the person who engaged me happily skipped on to the next non-sequitur. I’ve had thought provoking discussions with people who didn’t agree with me, and maybe they were having back-channel discussions the whole time without me knowing, but this time I discovered that the person was just making fun of me. Commenting on something I said, than calling me a troll seems a bit trollish, wouldn’t you agree?

In a nutshell, it seemed rude and disrespectful.

Sidecar Cow: I think this is how government health care would work.

Walls or Bridges?

I’ve been unable to write anything I feel is worthwhile on a subject that is heavy on my mind lately. Honestly, I’m weary of the subject, but seeing my nephew grow up and ask questions, I felt that I had to try. But what can I say to the culture I see him identifying with?

My own experience is that I was raised in the late 60’s with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream very much alive. I’ve looked online, and see that the term “white flight” is associated with “whites who did not want to raise their kids in integrated schools” or something to that effect. I can tell you in my father’s case, this is very much the opposite of the truth. My father very much wanted us to be raised in an environment where we were all equal, regardless by the happenstance of our skin. We left the city because we were the target of being beaten up, not because we didn’t want to live equally among others.

I had hoped that we had made much progress since those days, but I still see race based animosity, and honestly, it breaks my heart.

A study I came across mentioned that those who participated in the Detroit and Newark riots of 1967 had 2 characteristics that I still believe are fostered in today’s culture: Pride in race, and hostility towards whites.

Talking about race wearies me. Talking about race is many times an exercise in exclusion, rather than inclusion. I don’t hold it against anyone to talk with pride about their race, but by the same token, it’s a foreign concept to me. I understand some feel a sense of shared suffering that binds them together, but I think that fostering an exclusive pride from generation to generation is a hindrance.

I don’t like the “N-word”, yet it is used exclusively, and publicly. Does that do anything toward healing racial differences, or does it only provoke further tension?

Anyway, for now, I’ve got things to do. I’m not proud of my race, but I don’t apologize for it, either. I know that we tried to live equally, and were treated to racial hostility and violence. I’d like to see those bridges finally crossed where we can celebrate our unique contributions, rather than putting up walls of language and culture that separate us further.

More later, most likely.

Ain’t America Grand?

We live in a culture where a talk show radio host can lose his job for racially insensitive comments, but a judge can be nominated to the Supreme Court in spite of them.

Testing Windows Live Writer

Okay, now what?