(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)
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Brief history lesson, from Mr. Doghouse Riley:
ONCE More with Feeling: it is, without question, the election of Ronald Wilson “Gipper” Reagan which marks the beginning of the decline of the American Empire, though it had been busy shooting off its toes for the previous three-and-one-half decades. It’s the election of Reagan, or more precisely, the mass-market mythologizing of him which began with the assassination attempt a couple months into his presidency, and took wing when the absurd claims about his scam economic program happened to coincide with an uptick in the business cycle (if by “coincide” one means “precede by two years”) which marks the point at which a functional voting majority of Americans decided to pull the lever for Pure Horseshit That Makes Us Feel Better About Ourselves over trying to correct some of the dumbass moves we’d made after WWII made us a military superpower.
Reagan was the candidate of 1) Jim Crow Wasn’t Really All That Bad, And Should Have Been Allowed To Die Out Naturally, Subject to States’ Rights; 2) We Weren’t Allowed To Win in Vietnam; 3) Environmentalism is Just Another Name for Godless Communism; 4) Ours is a “Judeo-Christian” Nation, and its twin corollaries, 4a) Jesus says no abortion, and 4b) the modern State of Israel is, in fact, our magical mystical 51st state. That is, the up-to-the- minute trends in right-wing dipshittery, coupled with the usual collection of antifluoridationist nuts and Gilded Age capitalist rapine. And bonus hippie punching. Delivered affably.
Tell me, really, that this isn’t essentially the Republican platform of 2012, and all the years in between. Whazzat? I left out No Taxes and National Debt? Yes, because those are to the Republican party what bikini-clad nubiles are to the producers of domestic beer. Got nothin’ to do with the product, but they do draw in the rubes. Taxes? Republicans don’t pay taxes. Debt? Who raised the debt more than Reagan? Bush II?
So someone tell me why anyone would believe, fall for, or pay any attention whatsoever to Republican make-over talk? What could possibly come of it?…
**********
Apart from that, how are the Thanksgiving preps — or avoiding them — going?
People have asked, so I’m planning a Black Friday “Artists Among Us” post (if Cole doesn’t beat me to it). Kinda wondering if there should also be a separate “Crafters” post, for those of us who just want to talk about what we’re doing (trying / planning ) to handcraft our own gifts, or just as a way to make ourselves happy…
Maude
I vote yes on the separate post and thank you. I hope you are around here tomorrow. You might be too busy enjoying being alone.
Baud
Given my obscene lack of talent in all things creative, both the Artists and the Crafters thread will depress me considerably.
Mary G
Marc Ambinder has a great piece about giving thanks to Masao Yoshida, the nuclear plant engineer in Fukushima after the tsunami. While his superiors and the government were dithering, he took action. He has cancer, but he says not as a result of working in the plant.
Quote:
Xecky Gilchrist
Is this a response to John’s claiming the party had repudiated everything Reagan ever said?
MikeJ
Reagan is the father of most of our debt. He doubled the Social Security tax, which only working people pay, to cut taxes on rich people. Every dollar that is paid into Social Security that isn’t spent is called “savings” in the SS set of books, but “debt” in the general fund.
If we weren’t saving so much, we’d have much less debt.
Rosie Outlook
@Mary G: The article mentioned that Mr. Yoshida’s heroism is not appreciated outside Japan.
It is now.
Schlemizel
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Christ! I was trying to ignore all this. I like the John that John has become since he pulled his head out of his ass & discovered the real world. If I thought he still held any illusions about that useless sack of evil St. Ronald I would lose almost all respect for him. I hope he is not still brain damaged.
hildebrand
Ronald Wilson Reagan = 666. What else do we need to know? C’mon sheeple!
SuperHrefna
I would love a separate crafters thread! Be cool to see what people are making or what sites they are taking their crafting inspiration from.
TheMightyTrowel
mmmmm dreaming about pumpkin pie. My furniture hasn’t arrived yet so not hosting a Thanksgiving (going to an aussie-american friend’s party tonight) this evening and my British partner doesn’t like pumpkin pie (or most sweets for that matter) so no squish pie this year. SIGH.
WereBear
Yes, two threads. Even in kindergarten, my Thanksgiving hand-turkey was all thumbs, but I admire folks who can do that stuff.
I am excited about the Walmart strike! I swore off Walmart years ago, but I’m with them in spirit!
Mustang Bobby
Thanksgiving prep for the Big Eat at a friend’s house tomorrow was done on Sunday when I picked up the apple pie and ice cream at Publix.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
I’d participate in a Makers Among Us thread if I didn’t need to be as anonymous as possible here. As it is I may have to out myself next weekend when my latest article and the accompanying video are published.
As it is at the moment I’m doing nothing and thinking about how uncomfortably full I’m going to feel in just 24 hours.
TheMightyTrowel
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Can you maybe out yourself without outing yourself? that is, post about your article and video but not link it to your RiD, RS nym? I’ve done that before with things Real Me and TMT do.
Alison
You know that joke or whatever about, if you could travel back in time, the first thing you should do is kill Hitler before he got going?
I say Task #2 should be to somehow convince Reagan not to run for President. I don’t know how. Tell him you’re from the future and tell him about Hinckley but lie and say he dies, and the only way to prevent it is not to run for POTUS. Or SOMETHING. But I swear, this country would be so much better off, and so much less stupid, if that man had never led it.
(PRO-TIP I AM NOT COMPARING HIM TO HITLER KTHXBAI.)
Litlebritdifrnt
DH and I went out to dinner tonight (it is a tradition in our house that I get taken out to dinner the night before Thanksgiving and Christmas due to the amount of cooking required the following day). Anyhoo, driving through town we noticed people actually camping out outside Best Buy. I mean come on folk, if you think camping out in front of Best Buy for a “sale” is a good idea then really you have no life to think of, I mean really, you have no life. Get a clue.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@TheMightyTrowel:
That’s a very good idea that I should have thought of. The whole project has been in the can since July awaiting the slow revolution of publishing schedules. I’ll make sure that ‘someone’ posts it when it goes live.
Mike in NC
Reagan was very successful on selling the public the idea of the Free Lunch.
Raven
Stunningly beautiful day on the gulf. Caught a bunch of decent sized Amberjacks, just finished a dinner of fresh red grouper, blackeyed peas, kale and wild rice.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Good observation, and though you’re being sarcastic I think you’re close to the truth. The Holidays are not as big a deal as we think they are. Advertising, tradition and promotion prepare us for something awesome and great, but it’s really just a slightly extra-busy party and family schedule plus some optional religion if that’s your thing. The spectacle and pageantry of the holidays are just window dressing if you consider what people actually participate in. I think there would be less winter time depression if we just lowered the expectations a bit.
Anoniminous
Black Friday is a Hobbesian “Nature red in tooth and claw” process where the weaker get trampled by the herd, thus strengthening America.
Just like Baby Jesus wanted.
Raven
Oh yea, my bride is going to make a Gyotaku, a Japanese fish print made by taking one of my catch, painting it in ink and rolling it on rice paper.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
This two year old has more dancing ability in his pinky than I do in my whole 43 year old body.
Hal
Sigh. Seriously? Obama wins the election, and Boehner goes right back to repealing Obamacare. But, he sure is willing to work with the President.
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/21/boehners-rearguard-guerilla-action/?hp
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Anoniminous:
As long as there’s money to be made by winding people up, a few are going to wind until they snap. Sacrifices to our true national religion: consumerism.
dmsilev
Today was prep day for tomorrow. I made the cake, my mom did the “only once a year” completely from scratch apple pie, the chestnuts for the stuffing were prepped, the bird has been cleaned, the broth for the gravy has been made, etc., etc.
And then in my ‘spare’ time I actually got done most of the final editing pass on this PhD thesis that I’ve been avoiding doing for the last while. After an earlier draft, I told the student that I was going to glue caltrops to the ‘:’ and ‘-‘ keys on his laptop; I think I’m going to have make good on that threat.
I am not a kook
@Litlebritdifrnt: Oh that is so true. I feel the same way about camping in line for phones, shoes, tickets to Hollywood blockbusters, and so on. If you anchor your identity to consumer products, you deserve to be fleeced.
JWL
While he was governor, Reagan offered a ride in his limo to a great San Francisco Chronicle columnist by the name of Art Hoppe. Many years later, Hoppe wrote that it was a disconcerting conversation, during which he felt a sudden urge to sharply crack the passenger side window with his wedding ring, just to see if it would elicit a human reaction from future POTUS.
TheMightyTrowel
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: My fictitious partner always brags about things Real Me does (although recently TMT and Real Me are getting closer together). My actual partner thinks it’s cute that I have an online life, but doesn’t really get it.
I am not a kook
@Raven: Didn’t know there was a specific Japanese art form for that, but it definitely sounds up their alley…
I was just looking at some Japanese hand made papers to frame on my boring walls.
Ted & Hellen
@Hal:
But really, why would this surprise anyone? It should be expected. Which is why it aggravates millions of us every time Obama “negotiates” with these horrible, awful people.
scav
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: you’ll need to arrange for some false flag reveals, and even then. . . . But go wild with them, start a good few fictitious parallel universes for the sheer hell of it.
Raven
@I am not a kook: Yea, she tried it with the skeleton from a Pompano but that didn’t go well. This is a whole amberine so maybe. . .
Anoniminous
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
The annoying thing is: it’s all so pointless. Anything bought during the frenzy can be bought at another time at the same or lower price.
jl
I think we need to pay some attention to the make over talk because, as long as it is coming out of the same mouths, it is an early warning signal for the next set of cons.
Other than that, it is just nonsense.
Until some one like Bruce Bartlett shows up advising a GOP primary campaign that gets more than 1 percent of the vote. I wouldn’t hold my breath.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@scav:
I do misdirection poorly, having labored heavily for years to be clear and understood. I’m assuming an alternate nym here would require different authentication/email address. I think I can swing that.
jl
@jl: As an example, Brooks’ nonsense gibberish about the ‘Burkean Revivalists’, who turn out to be retreads recycling vulture corporate, wingnut and/or social conservative reactionary doctrine in thin disguise.
Just Some Fuckhead
The Reagan that won twice was pretty freaking awesome. The Reagan that nearly ripped the Republican party apart in 1976, not so much.
As Bill Parcells says, winning is the best cologne.
Delia
I’m seriously thinking of breaking tradition on Friday and going out—to the local animal shelter and looking for another dog. My dog Pippin will be 14 in January and he’s feeling fine except for a twinge in the hind legs now and again. But he’s always wanted a friend. And my number 1 cat died last winter and number 2 cat has made it clear she thinks one cat is just fine for this household. So lately I’ve been thinking we needed to get back up to three critters in the house. I’m probably nuts.
Nellie in NZ
I had another expat over for pumpkin pie and tea this morning on a glorious spring morning. The volcano to the south is a bit murky – maybe some ash from its little eruption yesterday? But now time to wash up the tea things… so much for Thanksgiving in NZ. Except for noting that I’m seriously thankful that the wind blew yesterday’s ash the other direction!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Ted & Hellen:
Yep, Lucy and the football.
At least Clinton would occasionally grab the football and run it into the Republicans’ endzone for a score.
scav
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: I suggest friends, especially sneaky or quirky ones. that’ll help with the misdirection and the posting styles. pseudo-emails work, they don’t seem to verify active legitimate ones. A flash mob of projects serving as squid ink to dazzle the onlookers, dangerous or merely irksome.
namekarB
I remember well when Saint Ronald was the governor of the great state of California. I was unemployed at the time and just barely making ends meet when Reagan decided my unemployment check should be subject to state income taxes.
Regnad Kcin
@Ted & Hellen: Which it will be repealed when it will be repealed …
[hat-tip @PreservedKillick]
MikeBoyScout
@Mary G: thankyou. A worthy and fitting read.
Anne Laurie
@Delia:
Go for it! Dogs (almost all dogs) like having other dogs around. And I’ve always felt it was better to have an established young friend around to help me mourn when an old comrade dies, rather than go looking for a new friend who’ll never quite measure up afterwards, if you know what I mean.
arguingwithsignposts
@Mary G: thanks.
different-church-lady
Well, I’d say the surgery went about as well as a person could wish, there was no nausea this time, and I haven’t needed to take even one Percocet as of yet.
BonnyAnne
yay crafters thread! YES PLZ. There cannot be enough discussions of knitting on the internet.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Delia: I want another dog so badly but DH is against it, I think I might be able to convince him after the holidays when we don’t have to worry about leaving the house for more than a couple of days. I am seriously considering visiting the shelter after the holidays and just coming home with one. I mean once it is home what can he do about it right?
different-church-lady
@Litlebritdifrnt: Don’t think of it as camping out — think of it as tailgating before the big game.
gbear
For folks in the Twin Cities looking for a nice, sane black friday adventure, the Purple Door Potters has their annual post-Thanksgiving sale in South Minneapolis just east of Lake Calhoun. It’s become a tradition for me.
Then go over to The Electric Fetus and give a local legend some love.
MikeJ
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
You don’t actually use a real email address here, do you? Mine goes to the example.com domain. Guaranteed not to be delivered to anyone.
mai naem
@Delia: Do it. This way Pippin can help train the newbie a little and I don’t know what kind of dog Pippin is but unless he’s a small dog, chances are he won’t be around in a couple of years(just being realistic.)
Fvck Ronald Raygun. And I am going to be majorly upset if Obama and the Dems bargain like they did in 2009/2010. I’ve been waiting for this since freaking 1988. I know there’s people here who’ve been putting up with this sheet way before 1988 but I’ve put up with the continual dissing of Jimmy Carter which pisses me off bigtime because if we had listened to him on energy we may not have 9/11 happen. I’ve put up with this deification of Ronald Raygun,a fvking Alzheimers patient. Then GHW Bush and the S&L crap. Followed by Clinton who may have pushed the needle back by 5 degrees but gave us financial deregulation and right wing radio. Then the rwingers had the nerve to impeach him over a fvcking affair. Then we get Dumbya and massive corruption and massive incompetence. Then these pigs have the balls to throw dog whistle crap on Obama. Enough already. Obama needs to pull his angry black man sheet.
Steeplejack
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
I thought you were already pretty much “out.” How many audio weenies named Ross contribute to [redacted] that one magazine? You discussed your [redacted] project a year or so ago and even linked to it, I think.
divF
A blessing on you, Bernard. Let us all recall Dr. King’s words:
“I have not lost faith. I’m not in despair, because I know that there is a moral order. I haven’t lost faith, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Delia
Thanks for the input, everybody. Pippin’s a about 60 lbs, which is a good weight for him. He’s half American Eskimo and part Australian cattle dog and part yellow lab. Everybody in the vet’s office is amazed he’s as healthy as he is, so I just cross my fingers and enjoy each day. But he’s a sociable guy and I know that even at this late stage he’d enjoy a doggy friend.
Central Planning
@Anoniminous: And many times on amazon.com in the peace and quiet of your home.
Lojasmo
@Ted & Hellen:
So you don’t understand how government works? Unsurprising.
Humble Lurker
@Ted & Hellen:
Which is why Obamacare is dead and gone just like the conservatives wanted since it’s inception. Oh wait.
Mine’s not a family of ambitious cooks, especially compared to some of the food-pr0n dispensers here, but we might be trying a recipe or two we found on the internets for the occasion. Should be good.
Marshall
People generally leave out the War on Drugs, ramped up by Reagan purely and simply to bash the pot smoking hippies.