Monday, June 24, 2013

TMI

I haven't written anything for over a month, but I didn't know why.

At first I thought it was just blogger burnout... or writer's block, although I don't consider myself much of a writer, per se. But it's more than that and I realized it this morning.

I'm just freaking grouchy and I don't want to drag my family, friends and readers down here with me.

So, I'm grouchy because?? Here's some examples.

Headline this morning: "Designer Makes Bulletproof Clothing for Kids." Seriously? THAT is how we are going to protect our precious babies from being slaughtered by guns in this country?? I'm so appalled, I'm nearly in tears.

I saw a sponsored tweet this morning from Walmart which read: "Summer is made for cookouts: Grilled pork, couscous and dried cherry salad with citrus vinaigrette," with a link to their website for the recipe. Innocuous enough, right? Apparently not because someone who calls himself "I am Sparcatus ‏@SmillingHK" got his panties in a wad over a Middle Eastern ingredient and responded to the tweet in this manner: "@Walmart Thank you so much no couscous for me. And WTH is couscous anyway? Do you sell burquas and goatmeat now too?"

Speaking of racism, Congress wants to reform immigration by securing the border between the US and Mexico with more fence, an additional 700 miles to the existing 698 miles, which would consist of not one, but two parallel barriers. And to patrol that 1,398 miles of fence, Congress wants to almost double the number of Border Patrol agents from 21,394 to 40,000. We are talking about building something to rival the Berlin Wall, which of course, we so self-righteously challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down!" in 1987. The price tag? A mere $30 billion. But they'll be happy to cut SNAP, Meals on Wheels, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, you name it. We just don't want those people coming across the border.

And while we're talking about racism....two words: Paula Deen. It's more than her use of the "N"-word. I cannot wrap my head around the idea that she would not only consider throwing a party for her brother where the wait staff would dress up like slaves in long sleeve white shirts and black shorts and have “a bunch of little n——s” to “tap dance around,” but she would think nothing of describing the outrageous idea in a deposition. Or that she would think it is okay to call a young black man who worked in her restaurant, "my little monkey." Or when the producers of her television show had to talk her out of making a "Sambo Burger." Paula Deen's fans support her and are infuriated that her show will be cancelled. They seem to care little that her behavior is indefensible. For the record, I sent a message to Bob Tuschman, General Manager/Senior Vice President of the Food Network, thanking him for his brave decision. He has more guts than the majority of Congress who turn a blind eye to the racist comments made about our President.

The War on Women continues daily. Yesterday it was Texas. I'm not going to recount the legislative details here. You can Google it if you're interested. But it's happening all over the country. Before Texas, it was Ohio and before Ohio, it was Arkansas. Personally, I think the women in Congress should repeatedly introduce bills to legislate the use and care of testicles and penises, if only to make a point.

Does the name Edward Snowden ring a bell? He's the NSA contractor who downloaded classified national security information to innumerable thumb drives and four laptop computers, fled to Hong Kong and basically said, "Neener, neener, neener!" He then proceeded to create a Power Point presentation accusing the NSA of illegally spying on Americans and how he was saving us from a tyrannical, out of control government. After an interview, or maybe several interviews, with a reporter with The Guardian where he revealed a portion of the stolen information, he fled Hong Kong to Russia and supposedly on to Ecuador where he will seek asylum. But before he left Hong Kong, he allowed officials there to download the classified national security information from his four laptops. Some are calling Snowden a whistleblower, others are calling him a hero. I think he's a creep and criminal. Oddly enough, as I write this, it is being reported that Snowden pursued the job at Booz Hamilton in order to gather NSA surveillance evidence. That answers my question about why he would leave a position making $200,000 to take the job at Booz Hamilton $120,000. Wouldn't that make him a spy??

I sat and watched in horror last night as Nik Wallenda walked a high-wire across the Grand Canyon as his wife and children and a sizable portion of America looked on. When Wallenda was about a quarter of the way across, the cameras panned to his wife's face. I said out loud, "Dude, you are a fucking moron! You have a wife and three kids and you are going to risk dying while they watch?!!! You are a narcissistic idiot!" And I meant it. But he is being glorified everywhere. I just sit and shake my head.

And finally, I would like to officially and publicly state that I am really not interested in hearing anything further about Kim and Kanye and North West.

It feels like our country is truly going to hell in a hand-basket and I feel helpless to do anything about it


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Terri! You returned with a wonderfully biting, insightful post full of truths about which more people need to speak out. Plus, isn't it a lot better to be grouchy with your readers, who have grouchy (or cranky, as my husband says)days of our own than to take that out on the people with whom you actually have to live? At any rate, I always enjoy reading what you write, grouchy, funny, informative, or whatever. Oh, since I guess with the paywall, I'm not Gravel Gertie anymore, I'll simply sign this:
Val Hightower

Anonymous said...

I agree with you on everything but Wallenda.

That Snowden is reaching out to such bastions of democracy as Russia, China, and Cuba for assistance kind of says it all.

Meishas Mom said...

Glad you are back!

Terri said...

Wow, GG is Val? Cool. I no longer visit the LCD website either. They want me to pay for a subscription to post entries there to my blog in order to increase the hits to their website. Um...no thanks.

Karin - Really. Seeking asylum from the big, bad U.S. in the bastions of freedom of Russia and Venezuela.

Meishas Mom: Thank you. I visited your blog. Your daughter is just precious.