MrSmith1's Blog

The day I showed Lou Dobbs a box of Breakfast cereal ...

2009-10-12T18:26:11Z

I was wandering the aisles of my local Acme supermarket, the other day, wondering if I'd spot Wyle E. Coyote, when I saw Lou Dobbs. Well, I couldn't restrain myself. I approached him. He was there with an assistant, whose main job seemed to be to wipe away Mr. Dobbs' droolings.

I stepped forward and introduced myself. Mr. Dobbs, being a "man of the people" saw that I wasn't an illegal alien, and allowed me to approach him (after I had showed him two forms of ID, plus my eligibility for the Mayflower society and my sister's eligibility for the DAR, filled out a standard residency questionaire, and left a $50 deposit with his assistant), I said, "Mr. Dobbs, sir, I just wanted to make you aware of a dreadful situation." Mr. Dobbs head tilted to one side, and he gestured for me to continue. I showed him a box of breakfast cereal with a large banner on the front of the box. In huge letters it stated that:the cereal, "supports your child's immunity." Mr Dobbs was outraged. "This is America", he shouted, while his assistant wiped away the spittle, "We're a country that lives by the rule of Law ... Those kids should be prosecuted!"

It was breathtaking to see how quickly he sized up the situation. He began to rant that this meant that Barack Obama was, once again, up to no good. Obama was obviously attempting to destroy the Constitution and allow the youth of America to run wild, driving our once great nation further into chaos and anarchy ... and socialism! Giving Immunity to Children!! OUTRAGEOUS!!

And then ... I showed him the other side of the box. On the other side, were the word's "We help support your FAMILY'S immunity." To Mr. Dobbs, that made the message perfectly clear. This was not only about America's youth running wild, it was about ILLEGAL ALIEN Families being granted IMMUNITY!!

Mr. Dobbs began to froth at the mouth... He sputtered and fumed. His assistant kept wringing out the small towels, but it wasn't enough, Dobb's drool was flying everywhere. His rant was being picked up now by the in-store public address system. Instead of "clean-up in aisle three" shoppers from frozen foods to fresh produce were hearing Mr. Dobbs screaming about Illegal Alien Immunity.

"And since there has been no response from the White House on this matter", Mr Dobbs continued, "I can only assume that I am completely correct in my assessment, and that they were obviously acting in secret, plotting to poison America by letting kids, (and illegal alien kids at that), get away with ... murder!! I mean, who needs "Death Panels" when you've got hordes of kids with immunity to do whatever they want, running through the streets and killing other people's grandmothers!!" He paused, but just to take a swig of oxygen from a little tank in his assistant's backpack. "That's just the first step, my friends, in Mr. Obama's nefarious plan to destroy America. After the illegal alien children run wild, their illegal alien parents will also be given immunity, so they can stay right where they are and continue to take jobs away from REAL Americans and suck our health care system dry."

I wanted to explain to him that, actually, I referring to the plot hatched by the corporate breakfast cereal cartel, which stands to reap huge profits from enslaving the youth of America by getting them addicted to the 'sugar high' offered by their products, before turning them into diabetics who will be forced to pay higher premiums for health insurance ... To which, I added, "I guess that's just your good ol' Free Market system at work, right?"

But it was too late for him to appreciate my sarcasm. Dobbs was already screaming at the checkout girl and boxing the ears of the bag boy (who looked Mexican, but was actually Polish-Italian) His assistant quietly slipped each of them a $100 bill as the two left the building.

I could only sigh and hope that he didn't explode in the parking lot. I would have checked, but I had to keep my eye on the Road Runner, who was behind me on line, and definitely showing interest in my sunflower seeds.

Rosh Hashanah in my old college town

2009-09-20T19:08:18Z

Back in the early 70's, I briefly attended the U. of Oklahoma. Today, a friend sent me this:

http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_262043519 A fundamentalist Christian group staged a "We Hate the Jews" rally on Rosh Hashanah. At first, I found it scary and troubling, but as I read on, I also saw how some of the students reacted, (with humor and derision towards the protest) and that a "Hell's Angels" type motorcycle group tried to stymie the protest by gunning their engines to drown out the protests. (Which seems straight out of some movie script.) I think this is another story to add to support the notion that what's happening 'out there' is not just a black-white racial divide. It's an ignorant vs. educated battle that's brewing. What is the cure for stubbornly, pridefully ignorant? How do you deal with people that oppose you for who you are, and justify it through a mis-interpretation of their religion? Is the only solution for the educated to calm the ignorant by appeasement? Was that movie, "Idiocracy" more prophetic than we'd like to believe? This polarization seems to me to be beyond mending, and yet, it is what the GOP is leaning towards embracing. And that, to me, is very scary.

Now, I know they're just messing with us ...

2009-09-14T21:10:42Z

But ... On "Meet the Press" yesterday, Sen John Cornyn (R-TX), said,

"Our goal ought to be, let's give the American people the same kind of choices that members of congress have ..." Am I crazy? Wasn't that one of the Democratic mantras at one time? Cornyn, of course, used it to explain why he felt a public option wasn't necessary. As I watched the discussion, it seemed a bit surreal as Cornyn and Gingrich both mentioned Democratic phrases but used them to come to totally opposite conclusions from what the phrases meant when they were being talked up by Democrats.. I realize that this is just another way the Repubs are trying to muddy the waters and create so much confusion about all sides of the health care reform issue that nothing gets done, But I still find it annoying If you check out the msnbc.com website, the quote comes about 3 minutes into the clip with Cornyn's pic on it.

Sen. Edward Kennedy R.I.P.

2009-08-26T05:30:44Z

I just heard the news on MSNBC. Sad. Truly, an end of an era.

My condolences to his family and friends.

Please no mean-spirited taunts or snarky comments.

If you think this isn't something to mourn, just refrain from posting.

Is it me ...?

2009-05-15T19:18:29Z

"CIA Director Leon Panetta says agency records show CIA officers briefed lawmakers truthfully in 2002 on methods of interrogating terrorism suspects ..."

... Is it me or is there something absurd about Leon Panetta telling congress that, according to their records, the CIA is telling the truth. Aren't they in the record-forging, fake-document-creating business?

What to do with a million tea bags ...

2009-04-15T17:41:51Z

Washington D.C. park service representatives said that the one million tea bags the protesters wanted to dump in the park, couldn't be dumped because they, (the protesters), don't have the proper permits... So, one million tea bags and no place to dump them...

Americans Unite!! Demand the protesters not waste the tea, and instead donate the tea bags to local homeless shelters ... or to local AA meetings to replace the coffee.

In these tough economic times, wastng foodstuffs on hollow symbolic gestures is shameful.

2009-04-15T17:41:51Z

My sister's rant about men with pensions and Soc. Sec.

2009-03-20T20:41:21Z

My older sister was born in January of 1947. (I was born in December of 1950.) She got married right out of high school. Her first marriage in 1966, lasted 25 years, (although, truth to tell, the last nine and half years were a prolonged divorce battle.) Her second marriage began in 2000, and is happily ongoing.

About twenty years ago, my sister started ranting about how the problem with the world was men with pensions. I believe that her divorce battle led her to that belief. Her first husband was a police officer, who, after working on the force for twenty years, retired at the age of 44 with a full pension. He is now 64 and has been receiving a full pension of $72,000. for twenty years. His father and grandfather both lived into their late 80's, so by the time her ex- dies, he could possibly have received a full pension for twice as long as he actually worked at his job. (Is there any wonder why we're in such a screwed up economic state? But I digress.) I give all that information as background.

Last weekend, my sister let loose with a new variation on her rant, which I thought I'd run by the brainy people here and see what they think about it. Her new rant is that the Social Security ages of people with pensions needs to be raised to become more closely aligned to life expectancy, and that people with pensions should not be eligible for early SS benefits.

According to her, people nowadays are retiring too young and living too long on retirement benefits, and people with pensions which kick in after, say, 20 years, are retiring early and milking the Soc. Sec. system simply because they can. (yes, I know. insert here, the dog licking his balls joke) In other words, our golden years have become our golden decades and decades. (Golden Generations?)

Her example goes like this: "Let's say you retire at age 58 with full pension benefits and full medical benefits. Your pension is, let's say, approx. $85,000/yr. If you were born in 1946, according to Social Security, you are able to begin collecting a reduced Social Security amount begininng at age 62 or full benefits at age 65."

My sister suggests that the individual collecting a full pension from retiring at age 58 (DOB 1946) should no longer be able to start collecting partial SS at 62. We should raise their age of eligibility for SS to 72.

Being completely un-informed on this subject, I throw it out to the masses for feedback. What are your thoughts on this? ... And remember, it's not my idea, it's my sister's. I'm just posting this so I have something to say to her in response the next time we have dinner together.

What Limbaugh says, should remind us ...

2009-03-02T13:17:45Z

,,, that whenever Rush or his minions in the GOP attack President Obama, they are attacking his strength, not his weakness. That is their way.

March Forth for America!

2009-02-06T02:58:50Z

Maybe we took our eyes off the prize too soon ... So ... here's a thought:

How about we organize a Stand-up-for Obama day, on March 4th. We could call it March Forth for America, and we could get a couple million people marching on Washington to dramatically re-assert what we thought we made abundantly clear in November; WE WANT WHAT WE VOTED FOR! CONGRESS: DO WHAT WE ELECTED YOU TO DO AND DO IT NOW! SUPPORT OUR PRESIDENT!! NO CONCESSIONS TO REPUBLICAN OBSTRUCTIONISTS!! WE DEMAND YOU APPLY THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW TO THOSE WHO IGNORED THE CONSTITUTION!! We voted, you enact ... NOW!

C'mon, where are the brilliant young organizers that used to hang out here? You did great and amazing things for our cause last year, but this is now and the things you did are in danger of being compromised, or worse yet, destroyed. We are on the verge of having our victory snatched from us by those whom we defeated! I'm afraid we've rested on our laurels long enough. Time to get back into the trenches!

Maybe we need to paint the mandate in more vivid colors this time and pin it to all of the congress-person's jackets.

Bizzaro U.S. economy ... a proposal

2009-02-04T18:59:24Z

Given all the brouhaha going on about the economy and CEOs being paid outrageous salaries and bonuses, perhaps it's time to get out the Gold Kryptonite and turn the U.S. economy into Bizzarro U.S. economy.

In Bizzaro U.S. economy, CEO's would earn minimum wage and McDonalds employees and other entry level workers would earn multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses. This would, a) stimulate the economy by putting large amounts of money into the hands of the youthful demographic group that spends the most money on non-essential products. And yet, it would also encourage saving, as one's salary would decrease the higher one climbed up the corporate ladder. (You'll need to save when you're earning the most to tide you over through your lean years as a successful business person.) Then why struggle to get ahead? For the fame and glory, of course. It will quickly become fashionable to say things like, "I only earn a dollar a year ... pre-stimulas check." and only those with real status will be able to say, "I'm struggling to pay the taxes on my household staff."

Bizzaro U.S. economy ... Bring it on!!

Kathie Olsen "burrows" into TPM ...

2009-01-24T21:58:01Z

That creepy picture of Bush appointee / Stepford GOPer, Kathie Olsen has become a fixture of TPM's front page ... (Her eyes seem to follow you wherever you go in the room and from whatever angle you view her image! Just like Uncle Sam's finger on those old recruiting posters!)

Be careful, TPM, she may be embedded in your website!! Arrrrggghhhh!!!

Pete Seeger was there ...

2009-01-18T22:57:31Z

There is a photo on the Wikipedia page for Pete Seeger, who'll be 90 this year. It shows him singing for Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1940's. Today he was up on stage with Bruce Springsteen, leading the crowd in singing Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land ..."

Talk about a witness to history ... As a longtime fan, t was nice to see him there.

After the song had ended, he hustled quickly off the stage with everyone else at a speed that, for someone his age, was amazing.