Saw This And Had To 2013#1

 

I can always count on Professor H!

Lost Week

More and more than usual physical blockades.  Migration to new body parts.  These lessons are beyond me.

Could not write.  Could barely read.

Peeked in on the Cory Booker show.  Give the man a bounty of credit.  Until the $30 SNAP week experience is mandatory for anyone in government I fear this effort will be quickly forgotten.

Peeked in on the Sandusky show.  Poor thing.  He's chafing at the limitations of prison life.  Can anyone see that sentence and not burst into tears of laughter?  He wants to be placed in regular population.  Do It!  DO IT!

One of those will undoubtedly have a better week coming.  One deserves to rot in hell.  One is gritting teeth and begging for hope.

Back To Usual Day

Best instructor in history posted the following.  I must humbly do the same.

Professor Hutchinson has never let me down.  Thanks again, Sir.

Start The Day Out Right

Farewell George

Never forgot the first time in a voting booth.

Predictions were so clear that Nixon would be elected.

Would my vote be wasted?

I had to do the right thing and I have always been proud that I did.

Senator McGovern became the first in a long line of liberal candidates I supported.

Often wondered how different our country would be if even a few of them had been elected.

Thanks, Senator, for trying.

We will keep up the faith.

Overtime Money

Not much can keep me from last night's Project Runway; but since I purposely skipped the vice presidential debate I figured I would very, very briefly take a peek this morning.

Ryan does resembled Eddie Munster and made me want to punch him in his hypocritical face.  Biden did the snarky giggling bit overboard and made me want to punch him in his just almost pompous face. 

But Martha!!!  Martha was the Queen of the Evening!  I bet she wanted to punch both of the boys several times.  She kept her composure and her professional behavior.  Makes me wonder who should really be the candidate and who should be sent back to Speech 101 Class.

And now off to Mr. Gunn.  Another with impeccable manners.

My Day Sucked Till Now

                           Thanks to Stuart Hode and Naomi the Little Red Hen

Go Mombasa!

Kenyan high court allows lesbian marriage.

Now it will be totally allowed when it is called

MARRIAGE!

Proud To Say WOMAN

Ha Ha Ha Ha!

What a great way to end the work week!

August Step One

http://feministsforobama.org/

Time to put my money where my mouth is.  Guess what?  No money involved.  But now I am and you should be, too.

Spare Me

Small animal photos.

Orders to copy and paste to prove that I am reading your entries.
Posts with misspelled words.
Posts exclusively composed of "text-ese."
Pseudo religious pleas or instructions.

Orders to copy and paste so that I will avoid dire consequences.
Links to horrible music.
Exhortations about dead family members.
Links to gun or gun owner sites.
Images of trite encouragement. Trite images of encouragement.

Sports related links.
Political links.

Thank you.  I promise to do the same.

Mint Mint Mint Mint Mint Mint

Hold my tongue.
Please.
How I wish someone would apply for that job.
Low pay, no  benefits.
Hold my tongue.
Becoming more and more difficult for me to accomplish on my own.
There's just been too damn much gettin' away with things,
bendin' the truth of things,
changin' the rules of things,
breakin' innocent hearts and things.
All you bitches deserve and desperately need a good smack down.
Lucky for you I am still holding my tongue.

Government Math

LINK benefits have been recalculated for the poor here at Elder House.  For you lucky 1%, LINK is the current incarnation of the Food Stamp Program.  Most  benefits were reduced; however one lady told me hers was raised to $106.58 per month.  Her medical expenses went way up and so her food benefit was readjusted.  That's not going to help her cancer get any better, but at least she might not starve.

Anyway, that sounded like a lot of money.  So I tried to calculate just what she could purchase with that amount.  For a breakfast of two slices of toast with cream cheese and jam, one container of yoghurt, and a home brewed coffee: $2.73.  Lunch of a homemade tuna sandwich (no lettuce, pickles, or cheese) and a glass of water (from the tap, not purchased): $1.73.  A dinner meal consisting of one sixth of a pasta, canned salmon, and mayo casserole: $.79.  Total expense: $5.21 for the day.

That sounds really economical.  No fruit or fresh vegetables.  No milk.  Not a whole lot of protein.  No variety.  No treats of any kind. And no leftovers. 

If my friend absolutely, positively sticks to this menu she will spend about $145.88 for the month.  See the problem?  She cannot afford even this austere menu AND she will be malnourished in the bargain.

LINK benefits do not allow an individual any wiggle room.  There is no way to stock up on a bargain; soup at fifty cents a can is a great deal.  What other item could she sacrifice?  She can switch from cream cheese to food pantry peanut butter and hope that she's here the day the guy shows up with free bread.  No brand name products ever.  A one pound bag of rice or pasta can stretch quite a way.  Imagine it with no butter, no sauce, no spices, and nothing 'on the side'.  Food boredom is not allowed for the poor.

This woman worked all her life and now is literally starving most days.  Multiply that by a majority of the other tenants and that's a lot of hungry people.  LINK and food pantries and sharing with each other are the strategies they use to stay marginally nourished.  I know this to be true, even though I am not starving.  What this knowledge has done is made me far less critical.

If I see a woman with a LINK card purchasing sugar sweetened Kool Aid and beef jerky, my bet is that those are the few goodies she and her kids will  taste that month.  I do not begrudge her that small amount splurged on junk food.  And I am ashamed of anyone who would.  Not unless they have also protested the bank bailouts and defense department overspending that is.

Good Morning, North Carolina!

YOU ARE IDIOTS!

Cinco De What Oh?

I'm pretty sure that I read that Cinco de Mayo is another made up holiday.  That is, it is not a Mexican holiday celebrated by Mexicans in Mexico.  It's not even a holiday that Mexicans in the United States celebrate.  It's a holiday in the United States that commemorates a little battle that has a teeny connection to Mexican independence.  Right?

Anyway, it used to be a very big deal at the school where I used to sub.  Mexican flags on every bulletin board.  Tacos on the lunch menu. "Latino" music, or what the very white principal deemed appropriate, playing over the intercom during passing periods.  Ho hum.  This is very not politically correct, but the Mexican kids laughed their asses off.  Me too, but privately of course.

Today is Saturday, so there won't be any of these school time shenanigans.  There is the first street carnival of the season.  It's just a few blocks from Elder House where I live.  The curmudgeons are already grousing about the added traffic, accordion music, and many wandering unsupervised children. One old buzzard went on a rant because a kid was sitting on HIS bench.  Keep in mind that it is not even eight in the morning as I write this post.  Ho hum.

So many things set me off these days, I am happy that Cinco de Mayo isn't one of them.  A holiday with music, food, and carnival rides that also tweaks the collective noses of grouchy old white guys is fine in my book.  Ole'! 

Heartless Bitch

Now that Mr. Zimmerman is in jail and the outrage surrounding the murder of Trayvon is simmering, what are the news stories filling the vacuum?  I am TV-less; so I view a filtered version, an abbreviated version of what is deemed newsworthy.  And, of course, I get to cherry pick.  What I've been noticing the past few days:

FIRST:

Secret Service men caught with prostitutes in Colombia.  I can't stop laughing!  How stupid can they be?!  One report speculated that the only reason the story was reported at all was because one of the prostitutes made a fuss about not getting paid. (Which causes me to wonder even more about the IQ levels of the agents involved.  Plus in every sex for money movie or book I've ever seen or read, the payment is made up front.)  Colombian law enforcement was summoned and, I guess, the working girl got her money.  A country that protects its women!  The notorious drug capital of the world will give aid to its hookers!  This seems strangely twisted to me.  Should I applaud or vomit?

AND:

Tornadoes in the Midwest.  Is this really a surprise to anyone?  Do the residents really believe that THIS year will be different?  Must be.  There they are standing knee deep in the debris that used to be their homes and they all look so baffled.  "Wwwwwhhhhhhaaaaaa?"  Certainly I hope they receive all the help they need and I rejoice when no deaths or injuries occur.  But, come on already.  Isn't it a bit like living in a dessert and complaining about the heat?  The one entertaining part about these tornado stories is the reporters themselves.  They are surrounded by smashed houses and torn up trees and they can barely contain their excitement as they say, "EF category 3." storm.  They are bouncing in their seats like kids on Christmas morning.

AND FINALLY:

Mitt courts women voters.  Political tail chasing.  He's cute.  I hope people aren't fooled.

Nothing To Do With It

He asked me why I kept the light on over my door.
I told him it was so that my soul could find its way out if it wanted to.
He snorted air through his nose and said,  "Soul?  You're kidding, right?  What makes you think a person like you...Look you really don't even have a soul.  No soul!  Okay?"
"I don't have a soul?"
"Of course not.  Why should you have a soul?"  He turned several pages in his magazine while shaking his head.
And so I reached over and, as hard as I possibly could, slammed his chubby fingers in the silverware drawer.

Primary Time

Seriously?

This guy is such a yutz I thought his name was Mitch.

Not to disparage the Mitches of the world.

There were some fun evenings watching Sing A Long With Mitch on television way back when.

There was a semi-cute wrestler Mitch in my high school.

But, on the whole it's not an inspiring name.

Not that Rich is any better.

Since Ricky Zabel I just never have liked that name.

Richard, Rick, Dick, Richie, Ricky.

Ick.

None of them 'work' for me.

(Nothing personal here.  I'm not that crazy about my own name.)

I mean:

RICHARD NIXON?!

Case closed.

But seriously...

If America truly loses its mind and this yutz is elected; who would work for him?

The Stooges are all dead.

I know because I saw Modern Family and that kid wouldn't lie.

Well, he would; but not to any evil purpose. 

Homer has a job and is, despite evidence to the contrary, a cartoon.

Although I think he would ROCK as Secretary of State.

I don't follow much of the Kardashian news, just what I see in the grocery check out line tabloids; but isn't this one available for employment? Imagine her in any Cabinet position. Pun absolutely intended.

I am also available for any type of consulting.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Politics is such fun.