Signs Of The Times

My next door neighbor is a quality young man from a great family.  I'm fairly well acquainted with his father, who's a wonderful guy and a deeply devout Catholic.  A couple weeks ago, the dad decorated his son's lawn with a "Catholics for Romney" yard sign.  Thanks, Dad.

The son and I both find this amusing, since Mormons are far removed from Catholics on the spectrum of religions.  The natural retort to "Catholics for Romney" would of course be "Mormons for Obama".   Remarkably enough, there is such a group and they have signs too.

Which has led me to irreverently revamp my own Obama yard sign:

Dispatch On Drugs?

My local newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, is among the most conservative dailies in the country.  The last time the Dispatch endorsed a Democrat for President was 1916 (seriously), when they gave the nod to Woodrow Wilson.  They endorsed Romney a couple weeks ago.

So I was rather amazed to read today that the Dispatch is endorsing Sherrod Brown for reelection to the U.S. Senate.  Was I seeing things?  Had the editors been sucking on a crack pipe?

Neither.  While the editors managed to work a load of criticisms into their endorsement of Brown (with friends like these, Sherrod . . . ) and undoubtedly held their nose with one hand while typing it with the other, even the hard-rock Republican Dispatch had to admit that Josh Mandel is a creepy little weenie unqualified to be dogcatcher.

 

Another Day, Another Lie

The one about Chrysler and Chinese Jeeps?  Or the one about Obama removing the work requirement from Welfare?  Maybe the one where he claims he never said he wants to privatize FEMA and Medicare?  So many Romney lies to choose from.  Let's go with this one today:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As a result of Hurricane Sandy, both President Obama and candidate Romney said they would suspend/cancel all campaign activities.  But first thing today, Romney appeared at a "storm relief donation drive" near Dayton, Ohio.  (Hurricane-ravaged Ohio?)  Mitt applauded the effort to collect canned goods, but first subjected the charitable givers to a 20 minute campaign/bio video that someone just happened to bring along to this non-campaign event.  Oops! How'd that get here?  And who decided to show it?  Oops again. 

Mitt, you're a Big Fat Liar.  This was a brazen photo op/campaign activity if there ever was one.  If you were really interested in disaster relief, you'd show up on the east coast.  And tomato soup is lovely, but the real relief effort will take money.  Lots of it.  You're a rich guy.  If you want to provide some real private sector assistance, not that "immoral" federal money from FEMA, get out your checkbook and stroke a big one for a couple million.  Then get your goofy church to match it.  I'm sure the elders can muddle through minus a few bucks.

And has it occurred to you, dear Mittens, that most of this donated tuna fish and ravioli will wind up in the hands of the "47%", the "takers-not-makers", the people who "don't take personal responsibility", that half of our society that you, Mitt-Witt, have said you just "can't worry about"?

What are ya, some sort of enabler?

The Greatest Generation Talks About Voting

Everything You Really Need To Know

"The economy is slowly recovering from the 2008 meltdown, and the country could suffer another recession if the wrong policies take hold.  The United States is embroiled in unstable regions that could easily explode into full-blown disaster.  An ideological assault from the right has started to undermine the vital health reform law passed in 2010.  Those forces are eroding women's access to health care, and their right to control their lives.  Nearly 50 years after passage of the Civil Rights Act, all Americans' rights are cheapened by the right wing's determination to deny marriage benefits to a selected group of us.  Astonishingly, even the very right to vote is being challenged.

"That's the context for the Nov. 6 election, and as stark as it is, the choice is just as clear."

__________________________________________________________

(From the 10/28/12 NY Times endorsement editorial, "Barack Obama for Re-Election".  For the full editorial, which smartly sums up health care, the economy, foreign affairs, the Supreme Court, and civil rights, just click the link.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/opinion/sunday/barack-obama-for-president.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

The Unbreakable Whiteness Of Being [Mitt Romney]

The presidential race is tighter than the regulars at my favorite watering hole, and Ohio is the swingiest of the swing states, so we're getting mucho attencione from both sides.  They're so entrenched here in the Buckeye Land, they may owe us state taxes.  (If so, Kasich will give Mitt a waiver.)

We're seeing plenty of photos and video from their Ohio campaign stops.  I've been to a few Obama events and have been pleased to see crowds that are a broad mixture of all sorts of people.  It's an across-the-spectrum demographic representation of our future.

 

 

In contrast, I can't help but notice that the turnout for Romney is blindingly white, heavily male, and old.

 

 

No surprise at all.  The guy's a Mormon (totally white), went to BYU (all white except for few jocks), ran a vulture capital company (white guys in suits), and has lived his life at country clubs and dressage competitions (fuckin' white-out!). 

 

Now Ol' Buster's a white guy too -- I'm a pasty Dane who can't dance and can't jump.  I enjoy casseroles, Wonder Bread and mayonnaise.  But I can't appreciate the current brand of white-person politics as embodied by the Republican party.  It's divisive, greedy, incredibly mean, and just plain wrong.

 

Four years ago, most Americans could see that Dubya had been a terrifically destructive dolt, and they could see that the McCain-Palin ticket was a bad joke.  Enough were able to properly disregard race and we elected the clearly superior candidate.  We made history and it made me proud.  But since then, I'm afraid we've taken a step backward.  The simple fact of a black president -- his mere existence -- has rekindled some of the bigotry and ugliness I haven't seen since I was a kid.  The right wing has fanned the flames by shamelessly playing the race card non-stop, and I'm afraid that this time it just might work.

 

Gawd, I hope not!  We may not be "post-racial" just yet, but for our own benefit and the sake of the future, please let us be "post-old-white-Republicans."    



Throw-Back, Or Throw Up?

Pro sports teams are fond of occasionally wearing retro uniforms from the days of yore.  For today's game against the Redskins, the Pittsburgh Steelers were decked out in the height of 1930's athletic style:

To answer the title question, I'm gonna say throw up.