Month: November 2012

Not a job creator

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 22 Comments
The Gazette Telegraph, May 14, 1978
And you people thought I was kidding about (a) having worked for actual newspapers and (2) having worked for the Gazette. Barry and I had a chat in 1978. Read it and weep.

Jesus, but I can be an asshole to no particular purpose.

A youngish newspaper carrier pops round this evening as Herself and I are enjoying some adult beverages while watching Bill Maher fence with Chris Matthews, and he offers a free copy of the local cage-liner.

I say politely, “No, thanks, we don’t like the Gazette.”

Then he asks why. Bad idea.

“Because I used to work there,” I snap. “It’s a right-wing rag and the sooner it’s gone, the better off we’ll all be.”

Except for the poor sods who write it, shoot it, edit it, lay it out, print it, sell it or deliver it, that is. Ass-hole.

Kid looked like I just shot his German-shepherd pup with a 9mm KGB-issue Makarov. I wanted to confess that I used to deliver that neo-libertarian piece of Randite shit when I was his age, but it was too late. You can’t wish the round back in the pistol.

I should order up a subscription to be delivered to Namaste Alzheimer Center, where my mom snuffed it. The editorial page might make some fleeting sense there, and if nothing else, it would serve as a handy fluid-absorption tool.

The morning after

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 6 Comments

After a late night and far too little sleep I had to get cracking on paying chores this morning, so I’ve been unable to crack wise about the abject failure of the Elefinks to accomplish much of anything in Election 2012 beyond spending other people’s money.

Look for snark to resume sometime this afternoon or evening. And thanks for playing.

Election Day 2012: Real-time snark ‘n’ bark

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 14 Comments
I voted: Nov. 6, 2012
Another feeble blow against Fascism, more properly described (by Mussolini himself) as Corporatism.

Chores will take me away from the iMac from time to time during the day, but I’ll pop in irregularly to provide my own personal lack of objective perspective on the big doin’s throughout This Great Land of Ours®. Posts will be listed below, with the most recent at the top and the least so at the bottom.

In the meantime, keep an eye on Charles P. Pierce’s Politics Blog. He’s going at it hammer and tongs over there.

And if you haven’t done so already, vote.

More below the fold: ↓

Continue reading “Election Day 2012: Real-time snark ‘n’ bark” →

Twilight of the dogs

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 21 Comments
Riding into the sunset
Is the sun setting on the American Experiment? Just remember, things always look their darkest just before everything goes totally black.

Looks kind of rural and peaceful, doesn’t it? A fisherman stands by a mountain lake just before sundown. …

Actually, it’s a pond upstream from a water-treatment plant in north-central Bibleburg. The place is surrounded by high-traffic roads, a dog-boarding operation and a hamburger stand. And it wasn’t nearly as dark as the iPhone thought it was when I shot this pic on yesterday’s afternoon ride.

Likewise, things aren’t nearly as dark as they appear to be as the minority of Americans who actually take part in their representative democracy prepare to do so once more tomorrow.

Yes, there will be voting problems, both manmade and heaven-sent. And yes, fully half the people who intend to cast ballots are clinically insane, woefully unqualified to operate the napkin dispenser at a burger joint, much less the right to vote.

But I cling to the faint hope that there may be slightly more of us than there are of them, and urge you to drag your deeply disappointed selves down to your neighborhood polling place tomorrow, and take two or three friends and neighbors with you.

Unless you plan to vote for the RomneyBot v2.012, that is. Then please to stay home, clinging bitterly to your guns and religion.