But I live in the land of Teabaggers

Post #343,669 by lincoln 6/13/11 9:29:35 PM Reply	But I live in the land of Teabaggers Birthers and Tenthers. It's a daily challenge to present reality to them just to get them to admit these things exist; I've long ago given up that they have the brainpower to actually be willing to hear views other than then what Faux News tells them to think. "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Post #343,709 by mmoffitt 6/14/11 11:37:39 AM Reply	I feel your pain. I'm in NE Indiana. But trust me, there's no fixing the majority of people around here (or the Teabaggers in your area). And you'll go batshit crazy trying. Until I moved up here (some 25 years ago) I had never heard of Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly. But people here believe everything those trolls dish out. We live in a post-fact country. They (teabaggers and Midwesterners in general) no longer watch/listen/read news to inform ourselves; rather, they keep up with the news that plays to their biases. It's a sort of entertainment that strokes their egos with the side benefit of passing for news among like-minded morons. Display a counter-fact to them and these people will reject your reality and substitute their own. Notwithstanding the fact that most often, their embrace of their reality actually harms them while the truth would help them. The Midwest is strewn with terminally ill folk. The country is filled with nutbags Michelle Bachmann? Really? And she's not the problem. The problem is that she WILL GET VOTES. Those are the people we really need to fear. There's nothing you or anyone else can do to save them.
Post #343,712 by Another Scott 6/14/11 12:50:24 PM Reply	Along those lines, digby's worried about Romney and TPaw. http://digbysblog.bl...tism-in-face.html [...] Now many liberals are going to immediately roll their eyes and proclaim such over-the-top sentiment to be absurd. (And coming from Romney the job killer, it is). But it would be a mistake to underestimate the power of this message and if Romlenty can successfully persuade people that they feel their pain and will offer solutions, it will make a race. [...] [Dave] Johnson [at OurFuture] sees the release of the Ryan plan as a trap and maybe they were that smart. But I doubt it. They just got lucky with unemployment taking a turn for the worse and the administration's fumbling. But there's no doubt it gives them a weapon to hit the President over the head with, something that would be far less potent if the White House had stayed focused on the economy directly instead of the abstract nonsense about deficits. They are the ones who had the most to lose politically if the economy went south, after all. The sad fact is that the President has not conveyed a sense that he cares passionately about the problem of unemployment and very, very foolishly bought into the finance boys' advice that the key to economic success was in the hands of the bond vigilantes and confidence fairies. The "recovery summer" stuff last year was hubristic in the extreme and they are now heading into the election having to face this dolorous bullshit from people we know can't wait to enact politics that will make things even worse. And the way the pendulum has been swinging I wouldn't count on it not working. They need to get their act together quickly or this may not be the cakewalk that I and everyone else have assumed it was going to be. (See the original for embedded links.) She's right to be worried, but I don't think Obama's team are thinking it will be a cakewalk. I think they're pivoting back to unemployment (now if they'll just do more than sound concerned...) It almost never is a cakewalk, and with a well-funded campaign like Romney will surely have (if he gets the nomination, and that's still very much up in the air), it will be a close race. After all, if the Republicans can run the place for 8 years, blow up the economy, and put together a ticket in 2008 that half the party hated, and still only lose by 7 percentage points, and take control of the House 2 short years later, then it's stupid to think that 2012 will be easy. But it's too early to be quarterbacking the challenger's race just yet. An awful lot can change in the next 6 months... FWIW. Cheers, Scott.
Post #343,713 by boxley 6/14/11 1:11:28 PM Reply	I wouldnt worry about it The repos know that america wont trust them to own the senate, house and the presidency again so they will let the batshit crazies run this time. After a poor showing the dingbats will quit showing up at meetings and it will be bidness as usual in 2016 Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #343,715 by Another Scott 6/14/11 1:31:06 PM Reply	Really? You seem to be arguing that it'll be like post-1964. I don't see it. After Goldwater imploded, the Republicans had Nixon to turn to, and he had moderate/liberal Rs in the House and Senate to work with. Goldwater didn't take the whole party with him. Who would pick up the pieces if Obama wins 49 states, takes back the House, and gets 65 votes in the Senate in 2012? They're all teabaggers now. Or at least pretending to be. (Not that that can happen. There are only 10 R seats up for grabs and the Ds getting all of them would only give them 63 votes. Unless a few Rs change to Ds, and that has happened but it's rare...) Seriously, you think it's possible for them to recover after a blowout in only 4 years? Nixon made it because the Democrats imploded (Vietnam, etc.). Unless the Ds don't groom someone to take over after Obama, it's hard to see that happening (at this point). Who knows... Cheers, Scott.
Post #343,716 by boxley 6/14/11 1:35:12 PM Reply	whatju smokin? Who would pick up the pieces if Obama wins 49 states, takes back the House, and gets 65 votes in the Senate in 2012? you really think that he has any chance of that happening? Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #343,717 by Another Scott 6/14/11 1:42:31 PM Reply	Keep reading. See the stuff in the ()?
Post #343,714 by mmoffitt 6/14/11 1:22:54 PM Reply	I know I was wrong in '08, but, ... I wasn't very wrong. I did not expect the 18-24 year olds to show up. And they did. En force (note: that's the only White age group Obama carried in 2008). I think Romney will be the next president. And the reason I think so is this: even the 18 to 24 year olds know by now that despite lofty rhetoric, Obama is YAN shill for big bidness, or as the professor of African Studies at Princeton put it, he "is the Black mascot for Wall Street oligarchs." At any rate, I don't think (and here I'll admit I could be wildly wrong again) the 18 to 24 year olds will be beguiled again. That would mean Obama loses the White vote and, consequently, the White House. Michael Moore summed it up well when he said the real problem was that White America didn't like having a Black President. That's going to be a very difficult uphill battle for him. Especially in light of the fact that his first term was more like W's third term than anything else.
Post #343,718 by Another Scott 6/14/11 2:03:13 PM Reply	Time will tell. I like to think that the Internet is going to make voters even more informed over time, so they won't get disillusioned and apathetic and play into the hands of those who want them to stay home. As the "greatest generation" becomes a smaller part of the population, I think the mood will shift left as well. I also think that's why there's so much desperation in the states by the Republicans to ram through as much as they can on voter restrictions, union restrictions, tax cuts, budget cuts, privatization, etc., etc. They know that demographics are not on their side. But who knows. Only time will tell. :-/ Cheers, Scott.
Post #343,779 by lincoln 6/15/11 9:08:03 PM Reply	Re: Time will tell. I like to think that the Internet is going to make voters even more informed over time I disagree. If anything it allows too many voters to become even more uninformed as they go only to web sites that cater to their preferred biases and spoon-feeds them the propaganda they want to hear. Why do you think the right wingnuts always tell you about the ratings of specific shows on Faux Noise? Why do the right wingnuts refuse to open up their minds and visit sites that may present different viewpoints? "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Post #343,719 by SpiceWare 6/14/11 2:10:46 PM Reply	Yep All the promise of change, yet so much stayed the course (Guantanamo still open, Bush tax cuts extended, transparency, etc). Well, one thing changed - you now get sexually assaulted for wanting to fly on a plane.
Post #343,721 by mmoffitt 6/14/11 2:54:25 PM Reply	Bingo on the plane. My former student pilot daughter's experience at FWA has made her determined to never fly commercial again. And I don't blame her. I saw it and was powerless to do anything about it. It made me physically ill.
Post #343,726 by Ashton 6/14/11 5:09:47 PM Reply	Haven't flown since 9/11.. And Who-the-Fuck Would WANT TO?! (as opposed to Have-to bizness and other obligations you can't wangle out of.) I suspect that my next flight is apt to be one-way, anyway--if enough ducks stay in a row.) As the er, avoirdupois of the average passenger has risen and Spam-in-Can anti-convenience has triumphed in cabin layouts, the average passenger must look at a commercial flight today as, primarily an Ordeal, I wot. You get 'transported' to a new spot after being assaulted (psychologically and physically, often) at all stages of flight until you Exit the province of the mouth-breathers in Uniforms and then ... may have ... a limited-return of basic Rights, (well, the few still operative since sniveling Patriot Act nullification.) (While this process may be a bit less onerous than the standing-room-only boxcars heading for Belsen, it is guaranteed to kill..OK maim any happy feelings re a 'vacation', either coming or going.) But OTOH / Devil's advocate arena: indeed there Are folks who Do want to kill us--all over the place. Wonder. Why. ...since we're such a Like-able bunch of trash-talkin imperialists, so long as everyone agrees with us. Maybe the Death of Pleasurable flying exactly fits the karma we've generated? since we stole the land from its original inhabitants, while singing all those treacly psalms about brotherly love / along with that second chorus, Die Redskin! When everyone is fear-besotted, mobility suffers and dies, eh? Ergo: bin-L Won, cha cha cha -- what an ROI for a few $100K! I could almost see voting for ~~Palin~~ Cthulhu in 2012 on the grounds that this sorry ratfucking excuse for a republic, this savage, smirking, predatory empire deserves her. Bring on the Rapture, motherfuckers! -- via RC
Post #343,760 by mmoffitt 6/15/11 2:13:58 PM Reply	Wife is flying commercial on Saturday. Here's hoping her experience leads to a loosening of the purse strings sufficient to afford me an aircraft reasonably capable of a trip out west. :0)
Post #343,761 by Another Scott 6/15/11 2:22:08 PM Reply	:-)
Post #343,762 by boxley 6/15/11 2:23:49 PM Reply	cheaper http://www.flightopt...KkCFc_D7QodX1uCSQ Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #343,764 by mmoffitt 6/15/11 2:52:41 PM Reply	Not a lot. And one of these would be a hell of a lot more fun! http://www.aso.com/l...al=True&dealerid=
Post #343,765 by boxley 6/15/11 2:55:31 PM Reply	very sweet Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #343,766 by S1mon_Jester 6/15/11 3:25:36 PM Reply	There for a while the dual engines were fairly cheap. (Since you need a multi-engine rating, double the fuel costs. Looking over at controller.com...some are much cheaper (but alas, that's the limit of my multi-engine experience). Sidenote: a 1966 with only 1027 hrs on the airframe?
Post #343,772 by mmoffitt 6/15/11 4:37:05 PM Reply	Flown by a little old lady in Pasadena. (To church and back)
Post #343,791 by Steve Lowe 6/16/11 1:56:06 AM Reply	I'd rather drive. In fact I love road trips! But when they start monitoring vehicle mileage to tax you, I'm done with that, too.
Post #343,805 by boxley 6/16/11 8:14:20 AM Reply	no worries will steal someone elses bug for long road trips or buy an eprom burner Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep

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