The Longest Winter Hiatus in History

It kind of stretched to about 8 months there, didn't it? I'll be getting back to The Peoples' Business soon, I expect. In the meantime, I took a quiz, and here's what I found out about myself:

Which Biological Molecule Are You?

You are an enzyme. You are powerful, dark, variable, and can change many things at your whim...even when they're not supposed to be changed. Bad you. You can be dangerous or wonderful; it's your choice.
Take this quiz!








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Furman Professor Offers Lame Defense of Capitalism Gone Wild

What can I say about this lame defense of Bob Nardelli and capitalist greed gone wild in general, except that it's absurd.

While I can appreciate Smythe's moral outrage on some level, the part that made me really angry was Smythe asking us to feel sorry for the poor CEO after he crashes and burns:

The CEO's future in the business world is rather bleak once the axe has fallen. Unlike professional sports, where the same coaches disappear and reappear with alarming regularity, CEOs are generally not rehired in any capacity by other firms. As such, compensation must be higher to encourage quality people to take on the risk.

Here's a quarter--call someone who cares.

Sure, he's not going to be getting another CEO job, but what Divine Authority decreed that the only alternative is to pay him enough so that he never has to work again if he fails? The CEO's "reward" for failing is that he and his family get to live indolent, useless lives on the mass of money they got from his CEO job? My goodness, sounds like something we should all aspire to! (Pardon the sarcasm.) Seriously, that is just so wrong, the stones should cry out.

Can't get a job in any capacity? You're telling me a failed CEO can't get a job at Wal-Mart? I would say that's exactly the right place for a failed CEO. Make him sell his fancy house. Make him sell his Bentley, and every other trapping of obscene wealth that he owns. Let his kids to go public schools, like most people's kids do. Let him remember what it's like to be a minimum-wage worker getting screwed financially while the CEO was drawing that obscene level of compensation. Remind the CEO how it feels to have to choose some months between eating and getting your car repaired. Remind him how it feels to have to split your blood pressure pills in half to make it through the month. Let him have to deal with sociopathic managers and apathetic coworkers--this time, from a position of utter powerlessness.

What is it conservatives are always telling us... "there are consequences for your actions, you have to take responsibility." Well, what is so damn special about a CEO, that he should be protected from the consequences of his actions? The rest of us lose our jobs, we end up at the Salvation Army!

There just aren't any valid reasons why someone like Nardelli should be protected from the consequences of his actions. Smythe can be morally outraged until until the cows come home, but what changes as a result? Talk is cheap. Nothing changes if people aren't willing to challenge or change the flawed assumptions that are the status quo.

Now for the good news!!

Allow me to offer in contrast the example of Jim Sinegal, the CEO of Costco. He has been called an "old school capitalist." CNN Money reports that Sinegal earns $450,000/year in basic salary and bonus. The rest of his compensation is tied to the company's performance. Costco has never reported a negative monthly same-store sales result. Sinegal has rejected bonuses when he felt the company "hadn't performed up to our standards." Costco also pays 92.5% of its employees healthcare costs--unheard of in this day and age. Sinegal believes that "if you hire good people and pay them a fair wage, then good things will happen for the company". Well said, Jim!

Here are the references for my statements and quotes above; you can of course Google "Costco Jim Sinegal" for more if you're interested:

CNN Money article

Time magazine article

New York Times article

Personally, I'm thrilled that we're getting a Costco in Greenville. Too bad it'll be on Woodruff Road, but when I want or need to do that type of shopping, I certainly want to support a more ethical capitalism than what the craven Ferengi Nardellis of this world have to offer.

Winter Hiatus

I've decided to take some time to refresh and regroup, mentally and spiritually. I expect to begin blogging again after the new year. In the meantime, I hope you'll visit a very interesting blog I found recently.

See No Evil: The Blinding of America

For the urgent struggle now is not that of liberal values against conservative values, but of those who really care about goodness against those who only pretend to.

And visit OpEdNews.com for some superb liberal commentary.

The Latest Gems from Alain's Newsletter

Alain's Newsletter from a couple of days ago featured a couple of particularly pertinent articles that gave me the opportunity to do some liberal framing on behalf of the home team. :-)

First off: A Culture of Corruption Destroys Careers--Except for Democrats.

Another article authored by John "Lollipop." I've mentioned him before. Anyway, the title of the article is pretty self-explanatory.

My response:

Subject: You Really, Truly, Honestly, Do Not Get It???

Well, let me explain, since you folks are apparently too blinded by your own self-righteousness to figure it out on your own.

The one thing Americans hate more than corruption is hypocrisy.

The reason you don’t get a pass on your bad behavior is that you’re not merely corrupt to the bone, but you are ALSO big, fat hypocrites.

How about you go crawl into your respective corners and suck your thumbs for a while.

How about you take some personal responsibility for your actions. It’s your own fault, so just deal with it, you big fat whiny babies.

And take some time to contemplate the fact that Americans still LOVE Bill Clinton, in spite of the fact that he’s a skirt chaser and an admitted adulterer.

P.S. "Speaker of the House Pelosi" :-DDD

The second article was: A President's Betrayal of God, Family and Country, by Alisa Craddock, bemoaning the fact that Mr. Bush and his do-nothing Congress haven't really gotten much done on behalf of the Christian Right.

My response:


Subject: They Were Laughing at You Behind Your Backs the Whole Time

I’ve been waiting six years for you people to get your reality check. As you are now painfully aware, the Bush people were laughing at you behind their backs all along. They were just using you so they could have power for themselves.

Once again, it’s your own darn fault. So, you folks of the Christian Right though you could "play ball" with the Bush family? As you now see, you were way, way, out of your league. Now you will have to deal with the consequences of your own pride and arrogance.

Even in the face of your humiliation, the [lady's name who defended the President] of this world are still defending this dry-drunk President and his Administration. You people are the most pathetic sycophants in the history of the world. I have neither a jot nor a tiddle of sympathy for any of you.

Ahhh, that was very satisfying.

Zombie-like, "War on Christmas" Resurrected Again for 2006

The American Family Association has taken Best Buy to task for their choosing to stick with "Happy Holidays" this year instead of letting the Christian Right bully them into saying "Merry Christmas."

See if you get the disconnect here, as presented in the AFA's action alert (which I received by email on Wednesday):

Dawn Bryant, a spokeswoman at Best Buy Co. Inc., says their advertising will not be using the term "Merry Christmas." "We are going to continue to use the term holiday because there are several holidays throughout that time period, and we certainly need to be respectful of all of them," Bryant said. Click here for reference article.

While many other retailers have decided to begin reusing "Merry Christmas", Best Buy will not be among them. Best Buy considers the use of Merry Christmas to be disrespectful.

Best Buy states they want to be respectful to everyone by using a more generic word (and indeed "holidays" means "holy days") that covers all the seasonal holidays; but somehow, the AFA translates that into disrespect. Did I miss something?

I had to go to Wal-Mart today. Target doesn't sell L'eggs knee highs anymore, and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $2.50 for a pair of knee highs I'll probably put a run in the same day. Hubby and I were recently talking about what we would do if a greeter or other store employee said "Merry Christmas" to us on our way in or out. LOL.

The short answer will be, "I'm agnostic." The long answer will be, "I'm a witch, we celebrate the winter solstice... I want to speak to the manager!" If I'm in a bad mood that day (which thankfully doesn't happen often), it'll just be "f**k off."
<;}>

Well, That Didn't Take Long...

Conservative propaganda handlers are already telling their sheeple what to think about Tuesday's elections. Here's an overview for your reading... uh, well I'm not sure I'd call it "pleasure"... but if you're like me, you might get a laugh out of it. LOL.

* Rev. Lou Sheldon over at the Traditional Values Coalition is happy that no one's gotten killed over the election results [yet]: "Tuesday our Congressional leadership changed, but our lives and our government are still intact."

Well, you know what they say about cockroaches--if you see one, that means there's 200 more hiding in the walls. I live in an old, unrestored Craftsman home, so I get that, totally. I have the bills from the Orkin man to prove it. Remember, for every Eric Rudolph, there are a bunch of wannabes looking to earn their way into heaven with a "righteous kill."

Alain's Newsletter informs us that "Somewhere in a Cave, Osama Bin Laden is Celebrating." Article author John W. Lillpop (sounds kind of like "Lollipop", but who would take John Lollipop seriously)? Anyway, Lillpop informs us that Osama is a devotee of CNN, and that with the exception of Wolf Blitzer, CNN is "unfair and unbalanced." Lillpop also claims that "John Zogby [of Zogby poll fame] reportedly sent text messages to Osama every time a race was decided, and gave OBL a personal live call once the Democrats achieved majority status in the U.S. House." He also says that Osama BL sent a congratulatory letter to Nancy Pelosi.

I'm not making this up, I swear!

OK, I realized by the end of the article that this is probably an attempt at satire... but sorry, even in satire mode, this Lollipop guy is still, apparently, crazy as a bedbug. Other bizarre or downright wingnutty items provided courtesy of Alain include A Divided Nation Without God (couldn't happen too soon for me) and Did Liberals Lie About Weapons of Mass Destruction? ROTFLMAO!! *Liberals* lied about WMD??? That's rich. Yeah, maybe that happened while Republicans were busy shutting liberals out of Congressional affairs. How about instead, we ask Colin Powell.

Under Alain's aegis, writer David B. Thompson says that politicians are "too nice"-- and the fact that they're "too nice" means they're unsuitable for office. He goes on to talk about how Americans are just stupid and how we need the Bible to tell us how to run our government.

Shoot, if Tom DeLay is "nice," I hate to see what conservative Republicans have in store for us next! I'm guessing that up next are The Antichrist and The False Prophet.

(Is Dick Cheney the Antichrist?? Nobody, unless you've made a deal with the devil, has four heart attacks and lives to tell about it.)

Jerk.

Now that some of the worst conservative crackpots lost their seats in Congress yesterday, RightMarch.com is worried about the remaining RINO's in Congress. Having finally grokked their actual irrelevance, these Christian conservatives have decided to stubbornly proceed as if nothing has changed. They are asking their supporters to "FLOOD all of these legislators with faxes RIGHT AWAY. They MUST KNOW that you want CHANGE in the GOP, and not the same old "business as usual" of the past. It is CRITICAL that you ACT TODAY! If we can FLOOD the offices of these Congressmen with HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of faxes, demanding that they POSTPONE the leadership elections, we CAN finally get the GOP back on track with true conservative values, instead of the compromised party we've seen for the last number of years. We need YOUR help. Send your Blast Faxes to EVERY SINGLE U.S. REPRESENTATIVE AT ONCE, NOW:

[and they provide a link to go do it]

NOTE: For ONLY $49.00 - about what it would cost you in time and telephone charges - you can send Blast Faxes to ALL 232 current GOP House members AT ONCE. The vote is scheduled quickly, so TIME IS SHORT! Don't let a bunch of defeated "RINOs" simply rubberstamp the leadership that contributed to the defeat of so many of their colleagues - Send YOUR Blast Faxes NOW!"

Now that's what I call message discipline! Somebody call Ron Popeil.

(And NOW!!! send your Blast Faxes NOW!!!)

SC Elections Went About as Expected

I had hoped for ;->, but not expected, a Democratic revolution in SC. Oh, well. View the Greenville county election results here.

By my estimation, a percentage of people in this state are stupid as s**t. I'm talking about stupid people who move and don't change their addresses at the voter registration office or on their drivers licenses; people who pitch a fit at the poll for a problem that is their own fault; people who show up to vote even though they have no clue what's going on; people under 50 years of age who just can't seem to figure out how to vote on a touch screen.

In Arizona, however! Christian Right F***s Itself in the Ass on Gay Marriage Ban! This issue was listed as Proposition 107 on the Arizona ballot; AZcentral.com is reporting that the ban failed, with 51.4% of voters against the ban vs. 48.6% of voters in favor of the ban.

And speaking of people f***ing themselves in the ass in Arizona... [toothy grin] some of y'all who've lived in Greenville a long time may remember J.D. Hayworth, who whas a fat, bloviating blowhard of a sportscaster here in Greenville on WYFF for a time during the 1980's. [grin] Hayworth later moved to Arizona, lost weight, got married/had kids, and went into politics, serving Arizona's District 5 in the U.S. House of Representatives. AZCentral reports that Hayworth lost his Congressional seat to Democratic challenger Harry Mitchell.

The City of Greenville's smoking ban has been a hot topic for a few weeks now. Arizona voted on a statewide smoking ban for restaurants and bars (Proposition 201); Arizona voters passed the ban, 54.2% voting for it, 45.8% voting against it.

Sean Hannity is trying to decide whether he wants to eat the foot that's sticking out of his mouth today, or remove it and help himself to some humble pie instead.

Speaker of the House Ms. Nancy Pelosi :-) (or, 3rd-in-line-for-the-Presidency Ms. Nancy Pelosi, if you prefer) is wasting no time applying herself to conducting the peoples' business. Way to go. :-)))

Take a Stand for Liberty and Justice

As a heterosexual, happily married woman, I'm voting a strong NO on the so-called "Gay Marriage Amendment" that will be on Tuesday's ballot--and I hope you will, too.

Here is the text of the Amendment on record with the SC State House.

My reasons:

1) The Church--anyone's church--has no business inserting itself into the bedrooms of consenting adults. If you don't like homosexual sex, don't have homosexual sex yourself--but don't tell other adults they can't have it, either. It's not your business, it's not your right, it's not your responsibility to do that. Deal with it.

2) The amendment affects the rights of adult *heterosexuals* to enter into the domestic partnerships of their choice. The most onerous result of this is that children born of non-religiously approved unions may be denied insurance benefits as a result. The state should not be backdoor-forcing the parents of children in this state to get married just so the Christians in this state can feel religiously vindicated.

3) The Amendment affects private business owners' right to offer whatever benefits they choose to their employees.

4) The Christian Church should not become the de facto governing body which regulates marriage in our state. In case you haven't noticed lately, there are quite a few post-Christians and non-Christians living in this state.

5) The Amendment is a blatant example of how the Christian Right engages in "judicial activism"--at the same time they are screaming about liberals doing the same thing. THE HYPOCRISY NEEDS TO STOP.

6) And the most important reason to vote NO: I really, really want to write a blog post on Wednesday 11/8 entitled Christian Right F***s Itself In the Ass on Gay Marriage Bill.

Please take a stand on Tuesday for liberty and justice--vote NO on Amendment 1.