It ain't just an R&B song so expertly belted by Ms. Franklin gentle reader, it is unfortunately something, along with civility, that is all to lacking in our society today—at least American society, I won't presume to speak for the other nations around the globe.
I have been ruminating on this for a little over a week now, starting with the nonsense surrounding President Obama's speech to school children and the way so many on the right lost their shit over the idea. 'The very idea of the President wanting to tell our kids to work hard and stay in school! How dare he!' Alrighty. I may catch some grief over this, but I stand with many of the more outspoken commentators on the Left who believe this all boils down to simple racism and nothing else.
During a broadcast of the Stephanie Miller show on Air America this week, a guest (I apologize I didn't catch who the guy was, but it was a show when Miller was on vacation and had a guest filling in) stated something along the lines of a lot of this garbage we have been hearing about President Obama is coming from the South and that many Southerns seem to take pride in being ignorant.
At first I was offended. I am a Southerner and I certainly take no pride in ignorance, my own or anyone elses'. But then I started thinking about it more and while this may not be exactly what the guest meant, from my final take on it he may have a point after all. Thirty years ago, before 24 hour media, before the Internet, before bloggers, people got their news from the major three networks, newspapers and some magazines. And while this may be a rosy, glow, Ozzie 'n' Harriet view of things, I have this gut feeling that they were better informed than the average American today who has WAY more access to information. I think this is a particular problem with self-identified Rednecks, who while a vast section of the Southern populous, also exist any where across our nation. My point is people don't seem to care today that they aren't informed, many do take pride in not knowing about politics and history and geography, if it doesn't directly impact them, they think it doesn't matter.
The reaction to Obama's speech I think falls in this domain to a certain degree, while I disagree that it comes exclusively from the South. I believe that a fair amount of blame can be laid at the feet of the media. As Bill Maher said on his show this week, "The Media is supposed to be the teacher." And when the Media gets their knickers in a twist over a Coast Guard training episode, even though it occurred on the anniversary of September 11, before finding out the hard facts, then they are doing a disservice to Americans and are not teaching us anything but that they are not to be trusted.
One of Maher's guests, Paul Rieckhoff (Director, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) also said of the Media, "They confuse balance with accuracy." All too true. Having talking heads from both sides screaming at each other does nothing to educate the general public, it is merely a Jerry Springer-esque way to hold too easily distracted Americans' attention. That isn't news, it isn't educational and it is surely not accurate.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention how that wing-nut from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, figures into all of this. While I often, in my Anglophile heart, long for America to be more British, we are not in fact British. Therefore, it is not acceptable in our Congress to heckle our leader. What Wilson did during Obama's speech before Congress was not only unacceptable, it was juvenile, ridiculous, uncouth, racist and disRESPECTful.
Yep, there we are gentle readers, full circle back to Ms. Franklin's ode. If I had a dollar for every time I had to endure people saying during Dubya's eight years of lunacy that he should be respected because he was president, I would be a rich woman right now and not living off the government's dime and looking for work. But alas . . . . Now those same people are the ones applauding this dipshit who acted like a drunk frat boy at a comedy club. Well turn about is fair play folks. Obama is your president now, and you need to show him the respect the office deserves, even if you don't like him or didn't vote for him.
I made no bones about my dislike of Dubya, still don't, but for all my blustering, I would have been just as dismayed and outraged should someone had acted towards him in that manner. Aw, who am I kidding I would have loved it, just as I loved it when the guy in Iraq threw a shoe at him. My real problem with Mr. Wilson's outburst is less that he made it and more the reason behind it—racism. I bet you dollars to donuts that he would have never done that had it been a white democrat standing up there as president.
Finally, I know this is a bit lengthy and rambling, but I want to close with something else that Bill Maher said on his show last night (I know I need to develop a new news crush) that liberals aren't taking to the streets to protest the way the right-wing crazies are, instead we sit on our sofas and yell at the TV. Well, maybe it is time we get off our asses and show our country some R*E*S*P*E*C*T.
Showing posts with label Bill Maher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Maher. Show all posts
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Good for Wall Street
So I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher from last Friday (full disclosure, you know I dvr'ed and watched it on Sunday, but same difference). And he has this writer on there Joe Queenan who right off strikes me as a serious asshat (and no he wasn't a conservative—he was a liberal, see I am not a blanket love all my lefty-types gal after all). I will say that he made several good points, but he got my dander up when Bill asked the panel to grade President Obama.
Queenan said that if the stock market had closed on Friday over 9,000 (I believe this was his number) he would give Obama a 90-something (aka an A), but that if it closed under he gave him an 87 or a B.
What Mr. Queenan was oh-so-less than subtely implying was that if Wall Street is happy the rest of us are doing OK. Uh, dude? Not so much. I mean yahoo and all that Goldman and Bank of America are making money, but that doesn't mean that the REAL America, the folks I see in the grocery day in and day out are hunky dory. Corporate America and therefore the stock market is doing well and making money because THEY ARE LAYING PEOPLE OFF. STILL. I can't say that with enough implied screaming.
I would never say that my life or little world is indicative of how the rest of the country is going, but chew on this little tidbit gentle readers, I live on a corner, two houses down from me one member of that household has been laid off for at least six months now. My immediate neighbor just got laid off on Friday and of course I was laid off the end of April. So three houses in a row, all have members who have been a victim of this recession. And don't even get me started on how all three are women. Nothing funny afoot there at all.
So Mr. Queenan, you can take your stock market rally and shove it up your sanctimonious ass, as far as I am concerned. That is not to say that I don't believe that a lot of what Obama has done is good, I do. But some of it ain't, mostly as it pertains to the money the banks got and the fact that there weren't enough rules and regulations placed on how they had to use that money. But you know the stock market closed over 9,000, why aren't we all happier?
Queenan said that if the stock market had closed on Friday over 9,000 (I believe this was his number) he would give Obama a 90-something (aka an A), but that if it closed under he gave him an 87 or a B.
What Mr. Queenan was oh-so-less than subtely implying was that if Wall Street is happy the rest of us are doing OK. Uh, dude? Not so much. I mean yahoo and all that Goldman and Bank of America are making money, but that doesn't mean that the REAL America, the folks I see in the grocery day in and day out are hunky dory. Corporate America and therefore the stock market is doing well and making money because THEY ARE LAYING PEOPLE OFF. STILL. I can't say that with enough implied screaming.
I would never say that my life or little world is indicative of how the rest of the country is going, but chew on this little tidbit gentle readers, I live on a corner, two houses down from me one member of that household has been laid off for at least six months now. My immediate neighbor just got laid off on Friday and of course I was laid off the end of April. So three houses in a row, all have members who have been a victim of this recession. And don't even get me started on how all three are women. Nothing funny afoot there at all.
So Mr. Queenan, you can take your stock market rally and shove it up your sanctimonious ass, as far as I am concerned. That is not to say that I don't believe that a lot of what Obama has done is good, I do. But some of it ain't, mostly as it pertains to the money the banks got and the fact that there weren't enough rules and regulations placed on how they had to use that money. But you know the stock market closed over 9,000, why aren't we all happier?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Guilty As Charged
One of Obama's crew, Cass Sunstein, has written a book called Going To Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide.
If you can't already tell from the title the premise is that when we get around people who think like us we become more strident in our views and apparently the Web is particularly bad about this (so if you are reading this and find yourself not always agreeing with me—way to go for operating outside your comfort zone!).
Alrighty then, I guess I need to fess up that I am certain I am guilty of this, not that I wouldn't be a flame throwing liberal regardless, but it is easy to see that my knickers are more twisted up after a good hour with Olbermann. That being said, while the Right may not agree, I do find that folks like Bill Maher aren't exactly toeing the total Democrat line and I appreciate when he has non-liberal guests. But unlike the spouse, I can't really bring myself to partake much of FOX. I think he mostly does it for kicks and giggles, but he says it is to see what the other side is saying and I believe he is somewhat sincere in that regard.
It is interesting, because we accuse (and by we I mean me as well) the terrorists and evangelicals of falling prey to this kind of polarization and obviously all groups are susceptible to this. Equally intriguing is how our modern conveniences seem to lend to our ability to segregate rather than bringing us together like they are so often touted as doing.
If you can't already tell from the title the premise is that when we get around people who think like us we become more strident in our views and apparently the Web is particularly bad about this (so if you are reading this and find yourself not always agreeing with me—way to go for operating outside your comfort zone!).
Alrighty then, I guess I need to fess up that I am certain I am guilty of this, not that I wouldn't be a flame throwing liberal regardless, but it is easy to see that my knickers are more twisted up after a good hour with Olbermann. That being said, while the Right may not agree, I do find that folks like Bill Maher aren't exactly toeing the total Democrat line and I appreciate when he has non-liberal guests. But unlike the spouse, I can't really bring myself to partake much of FOX. I think he mostly does it for kicks and giggles, but he says it is to see what the other side is saying and I believe he is somewhat sincere in that regard.
It is interesting, because we accuse (and by we I mean me as well) the terrorists and evangelicals of falling prey to this kind of polarization and obviously all groups are susceptible to this. Equally intriguing is how our modern conveniences seem to lend to our ability to segregate rather than bringing us together like they are so often touted as doing.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Girl Crush
I may have a new girl crush. It is still the early stages and she may yet disappoint, but thus far Elizabeth Warren gives me a warm feeling all over.
The overseer of the TARP money, Ms.Warren (Professor if you're nasty!) has quite a little job ahead of her, but methinks she might be equal to the task. I first noticed her when she appeared on The Daily Show awhile back.
I, like Jon, was comforted by her no nonsense approach. Then there was her appearance with Bill Maher on Real Time. After that I was a goner. She is concise, clear, and completely cognizant of the nature of what we are facing financially. Nothing makes more sense to me than when she details how we went for almost 50 years without a financial disaster as a result of the rules put in place after the Great Depression, and how by starting to lessen those restrictions back in the late 70s and early 80s we have allowed everything from the Savings and Loan scandal to the housing bubble to our current crisis to occur.
I know a lot of people want less government, and it isn't that I think government should be running our financial industries or Wall Street, but I do think they need to put some hard and fast rules into place PRONTO to keep those guys (and gals) in check. While most humans probably strive to be altruistic, we more often than not fail and indulge our inner greed. By putting rules in place to stop bankers and brokers from that we will be doing ourselves and any future generations a huge favor.
The overseer of the TARP money, Ms.Warren (Professor if you're nasty!) has quite a little job ahead of her, but methinks she might be equal to the task. I first noticed her when she appeared on The Daily Show awhile back.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Elizabeth Warren Pt. 1 | ||||
| ||||
I, like Jon, was comforted by her no nonsense approach. Then there was her appearance with Bill Maher on Real Time. After that I was a goner. She is concise, clear, and completely cognizant of the nature of what we are facing financially. Nothing makes more sense to me than when she details how we went for almost 50 years without a financial disaster as a result of the rules put in place after the Great Depression, and how by starting to lessen those restrictions back in the late 70s and early 80s we have allowed everything from the Savings and Loan scandal to the housing bubble to our current crisis to occur.
I know a lot of people want less government, and it isn't that I think government should be running our financial industries or Wall Street, but I do think they need to put some hard and fast rules into place PRONTO to keep those guys (and gals) in check. While most humans probably strive to be altruistic, we more often than not fail and indulge our inner greed. By putting rules in place to stop bankers and brokers from that we will be doing ourselves and any future generations a huge favor.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Bonus Round
I guess I am just bored gentle readers. Yes, AIG's dispensing of bonuses to its employees is wrong, wrong, wrong. But I am having a hard time giving a shit. I can't stop it. It isn't like I will get any of that money. And in the grand scheme of things, even without the bonuses, they have WAY more loot than I. But I wish President Obama luck in getting them stopped.
And yeah it is in three parts and was pretty much the entire episode. There are unedited versions available as well. So you know, when you have some spare time, you can watch.
Then there was last week's smack down between Jim Cramer and Jon Stewart. While nothing makes me more gleeful than seeing my boyfriend Jon give someone a good talking to, my soul is more jaded than usual of late and the euphoria did not linger. That being said, if you have ever longed to see Cramer cower, I highly recommend checking the clips out:
And yeah it is in three parts and was pretty much the entire episode. There are unedited versions available as well. So you know, when you have some spare time, you can watch.
Meanwhile, Bill Maher has cut back to two guests rather than three, and although I was glad he had a conservative on last Friday night, so at least things got mixed up a bit, it was still a big shoulder shrugger. He ended with Sarah Silverman who I just don't entirely get. Guys seem to love her, and I admit she is cute, really cute, but mostly she strikes me as some sort of Freaky Friday experiment gone awry and made permanent—if a frat boy got swapped with a hot Jewish girl and never got swapped back. Ok maybe I just explained the appeal. Nevertheless . . .
Ugh. Maybe it is the never ending rain we have experienced of late getting me down, or the all too frequent sightings of Cheney lately (seriously dude, go away), but I am bored with politics. Perhaps this is just the inevitable let down from the high of an election year. I think the thing that has excited me most lately is the snarkiness displayed of late by current White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Dude has some backbone.
I may be forced to start posting about puppies or rainbows or God forbid something worse like the travails of Britney Spears.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
