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| Skitter is cranky this morning too! |
I am, without a shred of doubt, cranky as fuck this morning. Warum? I think I overdid it on the elliptical on Friday. My upper left back muscle (trapezius?) hurts like hell and the pain's radiating down into my upper arm. I took yesterday off from the gym and went for a long-ass beach walk. I should feel better today, right? Wrong, I feel worse. What the ever lovin' hell!So then, I'm a bit of a grouch this morning and feel the need to share my...emmm...pain.
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Friday was the anniversary of the state ordered Kent State carnage.
If the Kent state protesters had been black, their deaths, if remembered by Republican white America at all, would be seen as a triumph not a brutal, spectacularly fascist atrocity.
As it is, The Velveeta Vulgarian wants to get back to those good old days when it was cool to kill any who dared disagree with racist vomitus and war.
“I love the old days.”
“You know what they used to do (to protesters) like that when they got out of line? They’d be carried away on a stretcher, folks.” (source)
Yes, he really said that. He really does want all who protest his catastrophically insane presidency to die or, at least, suffer horribly.How long before we're rid of this vile, pandemonious chaos demon? Paging Mr. Mueller – rainbow-hued courtesy telephone, plz!
~~~Cinco de Mayo – It’s not Mexican Independence Day (that’s September 16). It's the day Mexico successfully repelled one of its many foreign invading armies.
On this day in 1862, the Mexican army scored an unexpected victory over Napoleon’s (III) crew at the Battle of Puebla.
Like other borrowed mega celebrations, it’s a bigger deal here than in its home country. Actual history is pretty much unknown or ignored. On the main, this isn't about about cultural heritage – it's about marketing.
Festivities are mostly about food, playing dress-up and getting soused on a different adult bev than is your uszh.
Think – how many folks REALLY eat corned beef and cabbage or drink green beer on any other day but St. Patty’s. Hells bells, they don’t even eat or drink that shit in Ireland!There’s doubtless a lot more Americans who regularly have tacos and frozen margaritas but these Americanized offerings would be a wholly unrecognizable/yur-kidding-me to actual Mexicans.
Now then, I’m NOT in any way saying “don’t celebrate the day.” NO. Fuck that shit! I’m just sayin,’ have an idea of what the day’s about. Sorta like Christmas being about way more than turkey dinners and getting a brandy new iPad and shit. History, context...get some.
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A snippet from a post on ShoutyFace by author David Gerrold:
As much as we might think that the DNC does not represent us, that's a lie — it does. It's a coalition of a thousand separate state and local groups, it's a coalition of at least a hundred different demographics — People of Color, teachers, labor, LGBT, Jews, the disabled, and others who have found that the Democrats are willing to listen and act on their needs. So when Democrats get together to plan for the future, everybody arrives with their own shopping lists of what they want the party to do next.Go to the link. Read the whole thing – dude’s wise as shit.
That's healthy. That cacaphony looks like noise, but it is a process of negotiation toward consensus. It is a process that produces genuine progress, step by laborious step.
OK, I'm gonna go find a quart of Ibuprofen and a heating pad now. Happy 6th of May!
Found you by randomly clicking "next blog" at the top of mine, hoping to find some like-minded folks, who actually keep active blogs. And well, ta-da!
ReplyDeleteI fully second your commentary on Cinco de Mayo. Admittedly, I do nothing to "celebrate" the day, but I never understand the gaggle of Americans who celebrate it as an excuse to get wasted. I mean, if you want to get wasted on the fifth of May every year, absolutely have at it! But do you know what you're celebrating? Or why? Unlikely. And it's the same with St. Patrick's Day and "everyone's Irish on St Patty's Day!" I mean, I actually am about half Irish, and I don't even celebrate that. An excuse to eat a meal I have no desire to eat? Sounds appealing, but no thank you, please. Really just another excuse for people to get wasted and write it off as a cultural celebration. I'm good - I'll sit here non-wasted on those holidays, thank you. ;)
I saw this tweet last night and was all "TELL IT BROTHER!"
Delete"#CincoDeMayo—the day when many people who spend the other 364 days of the year chanting “build the wall” all of a sudden love Mexican culture."
Also, HI Sidny!
A "gaggle"!? You're gonna' fit right in here.
DeleteI was reading a blog yesterday that said that Cinco de Mayo, as we know it now, was basically a marketing ploy by some margarita companies back in the Seventies.
ReplyDeleteThat might be so. I think almost any reason is a good reason to have a holiday, though.
Not that I go partying on these party days. Back in March, I couldn't figure out why the Irish Bar down the street was so busy as I drove down the street... on St. Patrick's Day. But still, people should do what it takes to lighten their load a little every chance they get.
I agree – any excuse for lightening the load. I'd like it more if the underlying excuse was more honest-ish. Like, fer instance, we could have Irish/American and Mexican Heritage Days. Hells bells, how about Italian/American, Seneca/American, Moroccan/American, et.c, etc. Heritage Days? There're so many different varieties of folk living here, we could celebrate every single day.
DeleteUhmmm ... green beer doesn't refer to the color. Dying beer green is a marketing ploy from the seventies. Traditionally, historically, accurately green beer is raw beer, is immature beer, beer that shouldn't even be looked at for another three or four weeks. That will yes get you (as) drunk with the very high likelihood it will also make you very sick, hence traditionally, historically, accurately people who know about beer do not drink green beer.
ReplyDeleteI live in BeerTown USA. Know a little about backslider's wine, too 😎
Thank you! I didn't know that.
DeleteBackslider's wine? I wanna know more and DUDE, you should come here for one of the feasts (Italian American) in the North End. Saint Anthony's is coming up in June :-)
David Gerrold wrote: "As much as we might think that the DNC does not represent us..."
ReplyDeleteI've always been puzzled by third party folks (Green Party mostly) and how they magically expect a political infrastructure to appear overnight. Electing state and national candidates takes money, people, and time, something they have damn little of outside very isolated pockets.
Long story short, until such a political infrastructure is created the DNC is the only viable opponent to the republicans. Honestly, my opinion is that Jill Stein was just as much a Russian stooge was trump.
agreed. We need more than a sparkly star at the top of the tree to be able to effect positive progressive change. If the Greens want to get anywhere they've got to start on the town level and grow.
DeleteDid some harm, she did. Out here the Greens and Working Families are pretty well thought of - were pretty well thought of - locally with many holding city/county council, school board and park district positions. Jill Stein and her racist VP selection have pretty much wiped out thirty years of progress at the local level. I don't know about stooge, but rube certainly fits.
Delete:-( I've always voted for the Greens when I see them running for local or statewide offices. I check them out first, of course, but I'm inclined to vote Green at this level.
Delete