Holy Buck, Fatman!

I haven’t been this excited about the Presidential election since…since…Since I was 18 years old and walked proudly to the voting booth and voted. (For Clinton, Mind you!)

in 2000, I was sick to death over what happened. In 2004, I could barely get out of bed after the election. in 2006, I was happy we won congress back, but knew it wasn’t enough to change things.  Now, I feel renewed, like something is going to be done.

This fight isn’t over, though. When I wake up on Nov 4 and hear the words “President Elect Obama” THEN I’ll finally have a moment of hope for our country. I think now is the time to start planning my election day party……

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand. While Obama has a bunch of supporters and will probably do very well, his detractors have some interesting “reasons” why the don’t want to vote for him. Here is a sampling of what I’ve heard with regard to Obama’s running for Prez. I’ll translate for you.

“He lacks experience. He just doesn’t know what he is doing”—Random Train Guy

Translation: Black people are lazy.

“I don’t like his middle name. I’m superstitious and I just think that his middle name means something, you know, like the end of the world” —weird bar guy

Translation: He’s a MUSLIM! OMG OMG OMG! The Rapture will happen any day now! are you saved?

“If he gets Elected, man, we are going see this entire city {Baltimore} go to hell in a hand basket”–Mom of one of SR’s Friends.

Translation: Keep those Poor Black people from getting any kind of hope that , they too are entitled to the same kind of treatment that my big white ass gets all the time.

So, It’s awesome that we are seriously witnessing history. It’s also clear that this years election contest will bring out feelings in people that you may have not expected. It won’t be easy to hear it, but if we do we then can start talking about why people feel that way, and perhaps, change their outlook on things.

I’ve never written about this here. Perhaps I didn’t want to jinx anything. Maybe I thought it wasn’t my story to tell, I realized something, though. There is a part of this story that is mine to tell.

When I’m trying to ignore just about everything that I have to do at work, (well, not really–I’m just really bored) I am usually found lurking at this corner of the ‘net. A few months previous, I read a story written by a guest contributor detailing her fight with PTSD after returning from Iraq. While fighting debilitating panic attacks, insomnia and other ailments she also had to fight another fight against the Veteran’s Administration. As I read her story, I sat there, thinking, “Why should this happen? I thought that the VA was established to help Vets who were in need!” It’s true, the VA was established for that very reason. It’s just that they had been failing so many soldiers returning from Iraq. It wasn’t fair.

I few months previous, she wrote another update and by that time, I had gotten to know a Marine vet from Vietnam who held a position at the VA that could help her out. He cared passionately for all who served and would do anything to help the troops who needed it. After reading her update regarding yet another defeat from the VA, I decided that some thing had to give. Someone else needed to look at her Case. Someone who knew. Someone who actually gave a shit. So I did what I thought was right. I put her in contact with my friend from the VA.

I heard that evening that they had spoken and he had put her in contact with several people. Over time, I would receive updates from both ends. She said it was more hope then she had in a year. My VA friend said that he was doing all he could to help. Soon, someone from her congressional district was in touch. and Finally–yesterday, there was this.

The weekend before I had a conversation with another vet to whom I relayed the story to. What he told me after I told him what I had done was simply astonishing. He said, “Anyone can slap a magnetic ribbon on their car and say they support the troops. What you did is a true act of patriotism because you helped someone who needed it. Chances are she knows other troops and will tell them and the word will spread. Suddenly, before you know it, things will start to change because others will start to help.”

I replied, “I just put someone in touch with someone else.” Still kind of stunned by his statement.

“It’s a start. It’s more than most.”

It is a start. A small one, but a start nonetheless. Through the internet, I connected one person with someone who could help her out. The tubes, once again, a catalyst.

A little note: My Friend at the VA just recently launched a call center to help with the volume of calls that the VA has been dealing with. While this is also another small start, he believes that it will help those who feel like they aren’t getting enough help. Another friend is assisting on the launch of a program designed to help returning troops transition from their combat tours to life back with their families and jobs. They are extremely optimistic about these programs and I hear about them every day. I know they’re working hard to make sure that all our Vets get the treatment they need.

Have a great Memorial day weekend, folks.

Yesterday, while I drove back home from the train station, I was listening to all things considered while enjoying the good weather we’d be having. Normally, the snippets are short but informing and hardly ever infuriate me. However, listening to this over privileged southern white woman mask her racism by justifying a shitty ad against Obama because of what a former preacher in his church had said. “He’s just to extreme for North Carolina” The Ad states. The ad ties Obama with two NC democratic governors who are endorsing Obama. What? Why? What is the reason for this ad?

Huh?

Listening to the woman talk in her demure southern voice just kept getting under my skin. She spoke slowly, choosing her words rather carefully as she didn’t really want people to know what the ad really was about. Of Course, there were a few dog whistles in her carefully chosen words. “Freedom of Speech”, “A State Issue” “About the People of North Carolina”

Having once been a resident of a State I haven’t set foot in since 1996, I knew EXACTLY why she was running this ad. Back in 1996, Jesse “Don’t let THAT Boy Win” Helms was in a tight race for Senate against Harvey Gantt, Former Mayor of Charlotte, NC, successful business owner and a black man. While it was NO SECRET that Helms is one of those Strom Thurmond like southern Good “Ole Boys, he was quite challenged by Gantt and pulled all punches to make sure his base remained in perpetual fear of a black man being charge. During the election, residents of NC were subjected to perpetual ads using multiple racist dog whistles that appealed to Helm’s steady base of rich white people.

Listening to this Linda Davies speak in her slow, calculated way conjured up images of the country club community I once lived in while in High School. People would be cordial, welcoming and rather warm. When they heard my mother was Puerto Rican, well….that was it. We never saw them again. The same thing happened while I attended school there. All the kids were generally nice–except after the project on our genealogy came up. It was reveled that I was half Hispanic and although I’m fair skinned, I was also seen as less of a human in certain circles. I was called “Poodle head Spic” by the boys. There were no other Hispanic people in my school. There were only 5 black kids and they had developed a rather thick skin. Hardly anyone spoke to them and they had a tight nit group. The One black teacher was fired for teaching Black History during February after some parents complained. he was fired because of “alledged abuse of Alchohol.” He was a teacher of mine and I never thought he was ever drunk. In fact, I thought him to be quite interesting as he was involved in the Greensboro Woolworth’s sit in.

I felt like I needed to keep my background a secret, so I did. I identified as Polish from that point on and never spoke of my mothers family. Woman who met my parents would say, ” You know, those people” and my parents knew what they were speaking about. It was an ever present attitude that seemed to drape the State like the Ghost of Jim Crowe. I never understood what that ghost was until some years later.

It’s clear the ghost hasn’t been exercised.

Bitter, Indeed.

In chapter 117 in the political mudslinging game that has become the Democratic primary, the Clinton Camp seized on a quote that they believed would lump Obama into that “Uber rich John Kerry” class. Except, well..It didn’t seem to work. Why? because Obama’s comment was, well…true.

Here is what he said: (from the Huffington Post)

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Well, Let’s discuss.

All across the Midwest, jobs have slowly disappeared over the last 30 years, leaving the residents of these once thriving small towns with little options other than a job at the local Wal-Mart. What is left for these people, some who have been doing the same job for more then 20 years to do? Sure, they could go back to college, learn another trade or move to another place. That takes money, though. Rural folks in small towns kinda lack that. Anger about the loss of manufacturing “Dey tuk R Jerrrrbbbbbbbbssss!!!!!!!!!” starts to manifest, backlash against those whom they believe have taken all that they have known sets in. People become protective of their core beliefs, be it hunting or religion. Hence the “Cling on to Guns and religion” part of the quote. When times become desperate (i.e. poverty) a person may seek shelter in their bible and protection with their gun. They want to see a reflection of that same protection of their core beliefs from their leader and Viola! You have an idiot cowboy with a limited vocabulary running the country because he seems like “someone they can share a beer with” even though he doesn’t really drink. Little do these people understand is that their leaders that seemed to reflect their own feelings were actually more elitist and detached then they realized.

Reality is tough when your last unemployment check arrives and your next source of income is completely unknown. Reality is tough when you’re a small sub-contractor that was just outbid by a huge sub-contractor with the resources to hire cheaper labor and not get nailed for it. Reality sucks. Obama said that it’s easier to cling to core beliefs as a protection mechanism then to acknowledge the “Average Joe ” they elected would rather manufacturing move to China and Mexico so his corporate friends can get bigger tax breaks.

…So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

As a way to explain their frustrations. God, Guns and Country is what I like to call this mentality. A very protectionist mentality that seems to be prevalent in places where the economies are the most depressed. This is, at best, a non issue. The Clinton Camp is making a huge mistake by vocalizing this. After all, she did actively support NAFTA which was the major catalyst for the disappearance of much of our manufacturing.

UPDATE: Speaking the truth sometimes doesn’t hurt.

A self important LIRR asshole (which, incidentally, is ten times worse then the MARC Train) has been acquitted of being a self important asshole. Nothing like this to empower all self important cockstains on commuter trains all over the US.

I’ve been a train rider for the better part of 6 years now. I’ve run into a few of these self important asshole. One story in particular comes to mind.

It was early one morning and my friend and I boarded the 7am local train to DC. The train car we were seated on was empty except for me, my friend and two other riders. My friend and I were engaged in a conversation at a normal decibel, when someone said something.

“It’s just so nice to have to listen to OTHER PEOPLES CONVERSATION!” he snapped and angrily crinkled his newspaper.

“Sir, if you have a problem with our conversation, the MARC train has  a quiet car, you are more then welcome to sit there if you don’t want to be bothered.” I said, in a nice tone.

“THIS IS NOT YOUR LIVING ROOM! I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU TALK!!!!” he said, now agitated that I suggested that he move to the designated quiet car.

“Well, This is also PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION! if you don’t like it, you have two options, the quiet car or DRIVE YOURSELF!”

The guy turned to the gentleman behind him and said, “The nerve of some people bothering others in the morning!”

The guy replied, “Dude, get yourself an ipod.”

The difference between the LIRR and the MARC train is the MARC’s inclusion of a quiet car. If a train is busy and I find myself on the quiet car for whatever reason, the cell goes on vibrate and I usually sleep.  Respectful, yes—it’s the rules. I have sat near numerous cellphone squawkers, too. Sure, they have no couth, but seriously—this is what you get when you ride public transportation. You get an eclectic mix of all kinds of weird people. Some are respectful, some are not so much.YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT. That, or deal with driving on the capital beltway. And that is a special kind of hell!

Let me tell you this: If some asshole did what that LIRR Cockstain did, I wouldn’t be so respectful. It wouldn’t be pretty. I’ve been doing this for far too long to put up with some self serving vigilante type who fancies himself a guardian of decorum in public places. In NYC, of all cities! Didn’t someone shoot up the LIRR at one point? If assholes like this ride all the time, then well….I can see why someone would be driven to point of such madness.

Is right here. You WILL NOT be disappointed!

I probably STILL pay more tax then these neo maxi zoom dweebies.

The detachment of the uber rich in this country is astounding. The way they see it, this whole economic crisis is nothing more then a media fear mongering issue. The people who live in their neighborhoods, play golf at their country clubs and attend meetings at their children’s schools all seem to be doing just fine. What is all the fuss about? The people who take care of their children, manicure their lawns and clean their homes all see to be doing just fine as well. Besides, they believe that all that chatter about foreclosures is nothing more then a few people making some bad financial decisions. “It’s all their own fault, they should have read the terms of their loans!” is the common phrase repeated.

These unabashed worshipers of complete deregulation really want the person without the personal responsibility to simply read their mortgage terms and stop messing with the investment bankers who are gambling that they will be able to afford to pay back their mortgages.

I remember the days when I was house hunting. when discussing loans, creative loans were described to me as a vehicle to buy an extremely overpriced crappy ass McMansion in Suburban Utopia if you expected your income to increase significantly within a five year period. So, I understood it this way: you want to buy a 500K house? Well, hope your a first year attorney expected to pull in a partner’s salary within the next few years!  I poopooed the idea of Interest Only loans because I didn’t see a SIGNIFICANT increase in my future. Well, folks, I was right. and you know what? No one else has seen significant increases in their salaries, either. the promises of jobs galore have pretty much bitten the dust. The risk that the idiot investment bankers have taken on didn’t quite pan out. So, Overblown prices in housing and stagnant wages have given way to what? Foreclosures!!!!! Instead of people making more cash by their reset l;ike they had expected to, people found themselves either at the same place they were some years ago or worse: out of jobs completely. What’s even worse is the Rich idiots who bought million dollar homes as “an investment” expecting the equity to increase forever only to be told by their banks: “Sorry, we are yanking your HELOC because you have no equity anymore. Sorry, no vacations for you!” Astoundingly enough, some of these homeowners have decided to “walk away” from their investment and simply take the foreclosure. Personal Responsibilty? nahhhh…fuck that. this wasnt what they expected….it was supposed to be a retirement fund.

This is what pisses me off to no end: It’s okay to let the “Market work” when talking about the regular middle class folk who are constantly getting ass raped in the name of Market forces. It’s okay to rail against those same people when they get into trouble and need help because “Market forces” didn’t seem to work when it came to wages. (you know, real wages actually decreased, people)

It’s perfectly OK to use taxpayer money to bail out a HUGE bank who was deemed “too big to fail”. They made some shitty investment decisions and well, it wasn’t really their fault–it was you, stupid homeowner. YOU did this.  We can’t let the rich people drown in their own bathtub of crappy securities…..Market Forces be damned. We have to save OUR INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS!!!!

and that is the real story so far,,,

if someone offered me 50$ an hour to pick lettuce, weell..I’d take the damn job too! That’s $104,000 a year! HELL YAH I’d Take that job!

As a Matter of Fact, I really would like that lettuce picking job…..seriously. At least i’d be outside for most of the day and woudl only have to work a season to sustain my lifestyle.  o, Senator McCain–can I have that Lettuce Picking job? 50$ an hour is damn good and a lot more then I make here to sit on my ass entering numbers into a computer! Fuck, man—I’m and American and *I* DO    want that job!

I would gladly take hair brained yuppies living in my neighborhood rather than her.