Governor Sarah Palin’s Statement Regarding the IRS: Enough is Enough!
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Governor Sarah Palin has posted an essay up at Breitbart.com. Please go read it in full.
I love this woman…and to this day find it surprising when she says the things that are inside my head…and largely says them the way that I would say them. I have no ties to Alaska, didn’t grow up a hunter, and I’m a gay conservative living in Chicago…but I’ve always been on the same wavelength with Governor Palin and remain grateful that she continues to speak her mind and provide leadership, no matter what the Left does to malign and demonize her. She’s an honest to goodness American hero.
I think her essay hits the nail on the head: enough IS enough.
But, the big questions that even she can’t answer are: “When will people decide they’ve been afraid long enough?” and “How exactly do we go about joining together to stand up to the IRS and other rogue federal agencies in the Obama Regime?”.
I’m at a loss here because I’ve never been terrified of the government…since I see the government as servants of the public and people who work for us. I also think there’s nothing the government can do to you that public exposure and subsequent civil rights lawsuits won’t rectify…in that if you’ve done nothing wrong and the government targets you, then you will become the plaintiff in a successful suit against these tyrants in your near future. Governor Palin discusses in her essay how people are so scared of the IRS because they are afraid they will have their lives ruined…and I wonder again why Americans allow the IRS to have that sort of boogeyman cachet with the public.
For some reason, conservatives are a very scared people by nature. I don’t know why that is. I was raised a Democrat and I’ve always lived in big cities…so more often than not I think I might scrap for a fight. I have never been afraid of bullies, because when someone tries to push me around I just push back…and I am not afraid of taking things as far as they need to go to force the bully to back down and walk away. I think that a lot of conservative people are horrified by confrontation, since they just want to live their lives and not be bothered (while simultaneously never bothering anyone else). That’s really admirable…and it makes me think of people living in a peaceful little village on an edge of a forest somewhere, like in a storybook.
Only, every once in a while terrible dragons and hideous beasts emerge from the forest…and even the villagers in the fairytales put aside their fear and turn their shovels and hoes into effective weapons against the monstrous invaders. We really are in a time like this, where the agencies of the federal government have become the monsters that terrorize people.
It’s time to push back against the IRS, the Justice Department, Homeland Security and the rest.
It’s time to put aside the fear and to protect the things that people love most about this country…including the freedom to live without fear of our own government.
Like Governor Palin said, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
QUESTION FOR COMMENTS: Do you fear our government? Are you afraid to speak out against the abuses of the IRS? Do you ever feel like the problem is too big and there is no way that someone like you can make a difference or be heard? Be honest…because the first step in overcoming fear is admitting you have it and talking about it openly. Once you do that, you’ll see you are taking the first step to overcome fear entirely!
Today in History: Wednesday May 22nd, 2013 Open Thread
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Today I’d like you to think about all of the television shows you watch, the sites you read, and the people you listen to on the radio…and I want you to ask yourself, honestly, if these people ever give you any good ideas on how you can take physical action to put a stop to what the Left is doing to the country…or if they just freak you the heck out and leave you crippled emotionally after watching, reading, or listening to how bad things are in the world today. Because 80% of the problems we are facing right now could be solved if more people took the steps and DID SOMETHING tangible and positive each day…instead of just being terrified by what they heard on FOX News, read on Breitbart.com, heard on Alex Jones’ show, or wherever else they’re being terrified on a regular basis.
I’ve hinted at this problem in my own personal life before, but I’ve never shared just how bad it’s gotten…but I think it’s important I do so that others out there in a similar situation might have an honest talk about this in their own homes. My boyfriend Justin’s mother, CarolAnne, lives in Arkansas and is retired…so her entire day is spent in front of a TV set watching “the news”, reading Breitbart.com, tuning into Glenn Beck TV, and sitting in the dark very late at night listening to the ramblings of Alex Jones. She gets herself so worked up with all the DOOM! served up to her that the woman can no longer function; she has given up all her hobbies, has stopped gardening, she will not even go to church anymore…because she is obsessed with “the news”. The breaking point for her was this IRS scandal because she sees this as “proof” that the grande conspiracy theories she’s long believed in are all true; the net result of this is that everything she was terrified of before has become even more horrifying to her, since she believes the IRS targeting Americans shows that “this all goes deeper than we thought!”.
[ Click above to embiggen: an illustration of how a good person can be overwhelmed by the negative news she obtains from a variety of popular sources…and then how she spreads the fear and angst she feels to anyone she can reach by phone or iPad FaceTime. The only people this ultimately helps is the Left, since having a good portion of the country crumpled on the ground and crippled emotionally is a great thing for the Left. ]
What CarolAnne does with this information is this: as soon as her husband comes home from work, she berates him for several hours with her DOOM REPORTS until he just about wants to kill himself right there in the living room chair. The only place he can escape her is the bathroom…so he will go in there and turn the water on in the shower and the sink so that he can’t hear her through the door. CarolAnne, still needing to “share” everything she heard and read today, next starts dialing her phone or FaceTiming on her iPad…until she reaches her son, her daughter, her sisters, or any number of her friends. Whoever picks up then gets several hours’ worth of fear downloaded from CarolAnne.
I can tell you what happens in my home after one of the daily calls from CarolAnne: Justin ends up looking sick to his stomach and completely crumpled, like he just wants to kill himself. He then hobbles into the living room where I’m working and he grills me for several hours on all the things his mother told him. For the first fifteen minutes, I gamely deflect the negativity he’s shooting at me…because everything CarolAnne spreads is told in the tone of “We’re Doomed! There’s nothing we can do and it’s only a matter of time before they come for us all!”. After about 45 minutes of this, though, I feel like I’m the guest on a really bad talk show and question after question that’s fired at me is designed to break my spirit. Justin’s keeping me from whatever I was working on, but he doesn’t much care; his need to be talked off the ledge his mother put him on completely trumps the fact that I’m working on something (even if that something is what is paying the rent around here). After a call from CarolAnne, Justin’s so upset by the things his mother’s told him that he has absolutely no respect for my time or my energy levels.
If he’s still talking after two hours then I have to draw a line…since by this point most of what he’s saying is just repetitious. ”But, I’m afraid!,” he cries…and then repeats everything he is currently afraid of for the seventh or eighth time. It’s all coming from a place of pure terror inside him, and it mostly centers on the fact that CarolAnne interprets everything she reads or hears “in the news” to mean that all hope is lost, America can’t be saved, and that Republicans in office are deliberately working with Democrats to tank the country. No matter what I say to Justin to counter this, he’s determined to suck me down into his misery.
Honestly, I don’t know what would make him happy anymore. Does he want me to just break and say, “Your mother is right! All hope is lost! We should all just kill ourselves now!”. I imagine my personal Hades would be a gloomy corner of Persephone’s garden just to the left of where Cerberus sleeps, where a round table is set up for me to be on a “Meet the Press” of the afterlife…and spend eternity countering every argument from the likes of CarolAnne that we’re doomed and all should just give up entirely right now.
I think all of this is very much like the zombie plagues popular in movies and on the tee-vee right now…where one person gets infected with the “solanum virus” and spreads it to another person, and that newly infected family member then spreads it to others, and the whole thing just escalates exponentially. Fear is destructive and it spreads quickly (unless it encounters someone who will not break and will never give in to the fear).
Justin just exhausts me with this stuff. I escape him by hopping into the shower and turning the radio on in the bathroom, but he’s still talking through the door. Only when I’m under the water do I get any peace from this garbage…and even then I know there’s a 50/50 chance he’ll still be talking when I open the bathroom door. From his perspective, he’s just so revved up by his mother’s phone call that he “has to talk to someone”…and I unfortunately am always available as someone for him to “unload on”. It is to the point where I regret us living together and we’re having talks about parting ways.
Every day, Justin insists on forcing CarolAnne’s DOOM REPORTS on me…and every day I exhaust my energy levels fighting off the doom-infection. To break the cycle, I just don’t call up any of my friends and spread DOOM to them (the way CarolAnne spreads it to Justin and then Justin spreads it to me). Truthfully, I resent the role Justin forces on me of being the person who every day has to calm him down and tell him that “everything will be alright”. It’s a heavy load to bear that depletes my energy. After Justin’s done his damage for the night and has completely exhausted himself, he shuffles off to bed and leaves me sitting at my computer…absolutely numb and feeling dead inside. I stare at the screen and try to refocus back on what I was doing before Justin’s hours-long interruption, but it takes me a while to get back my rhythm and roll.
In how many households is something like this happening every single day?
How many CarolAnnes are out there…with corresponding Justins in that round-robin telephone chain of doom-infection?
I think the only way to stop this is to find a way to show people that if you are scared of anything in life then the best thing you can do for yourself is to TAKE ACTION against what scares you. The only known antidote to fear is, in fact, action. The problem with people who become terrified of things they see and hear “in the news” is that these national problems seem so monstrous and gigantic…which ramps the fear quotient up immensely since people then believe there’s nothing they can do about any of it.
While it’s true that we are not going to defeat the Left overnight — and that we are unfortunately in for many years of suffering and struggle — it’s also false that there’s nothing that any of us can do about these problems (so just crumple to the ground from crippling fear and cry yourself into oblivion).
I think FOX News, Breitbart.com, Glenn Beck’s channel, and all of these other sources of information that CarolAnne exposes herself to all day shouldn’t be obsessed over. I also think that the people behind this content should do a better job of reminding viewers/readers that the real power in this country rests with its PEOPLE and that anyone who is watching/reading who feels like the country is on the wrong track needs to stand up and get involved in the resistance to the Left. It’s rare to see any such calls to action…because the people who work for FOX and Breitbart or wherever just focus on putting up their content for the day…and never think about the poor retiree in Eureka Springs, Arkansas who can largely no longer function in life because she is FREAKED OUT OF HER MIND every day by the relentlessly awful news of the latest terrible thing the Left has done.
I want to ask you to look inside your heart and honestly admit if you are a CarolAnne…and if you spend any part of your day calling friends or family to spread your worry and fear to them. You might “need to talk to someone” but before you do, why not take out a pen and paper and write down the things that you are really afraid of. Then, take another piece of paper and think of positive things you can do to weaken those terrifying things.
I love writing letters and every day use up the three free faxes provided by FaxZero. I write to my CongressCritter, to the Senators here in Illinois, and to whomever I can think of that day to formally ask for an investigation into this, that, or the other. I also enjoy writing to the General Managers of news stations coast to coast chiding them for their terrible coverage of our current political climate. Justin and his mother are horrified I do this — and believe me, I hear about that all the time from them — because they think my writing letters labels me a “troublemaker” and that I’m now “on the list” of people who will soon be “rounded up”.
I swear, that would be the proudest day in my life if the Left really did roll up in front of our place in Boystown and send stormtroopers up to our third floor apartment and drag me out in a “round up” because I was never afraid to speak my mind and call out the abuses of the Obama Regime. I would rather be persecuted for telling the truth than be cowering in the dark afraid to say anything. I just don’t understand the appeal of being scared to death every day…and of then infecting the people you supposedly love with that fear.
Unfortunately, the Left is in fact in complete control of the government and is doing all it can through abuse of federal agencies to maintain that power. The good news is that a lot of this abuse of power is only achieved because a black man is currently the head of the Democrat Party and sits in the White House. In 2016, Democrats will anoint a new party head…and whoever that person is, it won’t be a black man who is untouchable and immune to criticism as far as tens of millions of people in this country are concerned. Democrats have achieved the tyranny they always dreamed of by using people’s natural fear of being called “Ray Ciss” to keep a lot of folks quiet about what the Obama Regime has been up to…but the rules are changing soon enough when this man is no longer on the ticket.
And Democrats will indeed suffer the consequences of everything they did during the Obama Regime. There will come some moment in time in the future when people just start to see they don’t have to be afraid anymore…and at that point the anger will just burst forth like a dam breaking. It’s anyone’s guess what that moment will be, but it will come. And besides Democrats in office the other set of people who will pay a huge price for what they’ve done since 2008 will be the news media. When that dam breaks and Americans at large come to realize just how much the media helped the Obama Regime persecute and intimidate fellow Americans, well there will be a reckoning for the media that will be thrilling to watch.
i really don’t know if my relationship with Justin is going to survive all of this, though. I love the guy, I really do, but we’ve reached a point where the phone calls from CarolAnne and their aftermath have done serious damage to not just our relationship, but my work product. I can’t afford to spend two or three hours every day talking Justin down off a ledge or reassuring him that the things his mother tells him aren’t true and that she’s misinterpreting what she hears and sees on TV or on Breitbart. It’s such a bizarre and exhausting position for me to be in, because CarolAnne’s a very nice woman…so she’s not doing any of this on purpose. In her mind, she’s just “trying to keep her son informed” or “just needing someone to talk to”. But, Justin just won’t let up until he has my undivided attention and gets to interview me for hours on end about all the things he’s afraid of that day. And it’s my job to comfort, console, and reassure him…until I am so drained emotionally that I just can’t do anything else that day until my batteries recharge. Lather, rinse, and repeat all of the above tomorrow. And the tomorrow after that.
It’s madness.
QUESTION FOR COMMENTS: Do you have a CarolAnne or a Justin in your lives? If so, do you have any tricks for handling them?
Do you recognize any CarolAnne or Justin behavior in yourself? If you don’t want to share in comments, shoot me an email in private and tell me why you get sucked into the spreading of Doom Reports. Maybe you could think of a few ways to use ACTION as an antidote to fear…and perhaps do something tangible every day to counter the fears that you have, so that the fear no longer overwhelms you.
Today in History: Tuesday May 21st, 2013 Open Thread
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Today there will be protests against the corruption of the Obama Regime and the weaponization of the IRS into an attack dog of the Democrat Party. I really hope you can head down to an IRS office near you at 12 noon today and join the crowds…because Americans should not stand by quietly as the revenue-collecting arm of the federal government becomes an instrument of political terror focused on conservatives and Christians in an effort to intimidate these people into ending any and all resistance to the Obama Regime.
I’m still trying to understand why so many of you out there are terrified of the IRS and the federal government, because these people all work for YOU, the taxpayers. On a very personal level, I can tell you that my boyfriend Justin’s family in Arkansas spends their entire lives afraid of one thing or another. It’s frustrating, because Justin’s mother spreads this fear to Chicago by calling Justin on the phone every night and filling his head with nightmares for three hours before he goes to bed. Which inevitably leads to me being up until 1 in the morning trying to reassure him that his mother’s conspiracies and persecution fantasies aren’t real…and that she’s doing exactly what Democrats want her to do when she crumbles to the ground in the fetal position.
YES, Democrats are indeed trying to scare Americans into ending all resistance to the Obama Regime. That’s definitely going on. For those of us who wondered where the Tea Party patriots went in the lead up to the 2012 election, we now know a lot of these people were terrified by the IRS into ending their political organizing and activity. Everyone at the IRS, in the Treasury Department, in the Democrat Party, and in the White House who was involved in this scheme to intimidate conservative Americans into silence before the 2012 election needs to spend time in prison. But, that’s not going to happen unless people stop being afraid and start speaking out about this grotesque abuse of power on the Left’s part.
America’s in a real bind here in 2013 because on one had the Left is triumphant in its power…while at the same time Republicans are largely as wimpy and reluctant to stand up to Democrats as always. The Cocktail Party’s pushing Marco Rubio to be the losing presidential candidate of 2016…and idiots in the GOP believe the media when it says “Hispanics are the key to winning! So give amnesty and Hispanics will love Republicans!”. This is akin to Br’er Rabbit saying how much he didn’t want to be thrown into the thorn patch…when all along that was EXACTLY what he wanted. It’s hard to believe Republicans can keep being so stupid as to do what the media wants them to do…but if they really end up allowing Democrats to legalize millions of Mexican peasants who are here criminally then those millions of newly-minted Democrat voters will ensure that Republicans never win another national election in our lifetimes.
The Left’s plot against America is in full swing:
(a) import as many third world peasants as possible and turn them into voters by tricking Republicans into going along with this (because these Spanish-speakers will not learn English, will never assimilate, and will depend on Democrats’ handouts to survive…in addition to looking the other way at the Left’s brutalist tactics towards opponents since this is the sort of thing the peasants are used to in Mexico)
(b) using federal agencies to terrify Americans into standing up to the Left…and the ultimate example of that is taking an agency like the IRS that people are already afraid of and actually weaponizing it to persecute conservatives and Christians (while simultaneously making it as easy as possible for Leftist groups to organize with the full cooperation of the government)
(c ) divide Americans along every ethnic, racial, gender, and class line imaginable…so it’s hard for the Left’s opposition to ever unite against the Obama Regime
I think you help the Left when you allow the fear you are feeling to overwhelm you. But that’s not saying the fear you feel isn’t real or natural. Taking Justin’s parents as an example, these are very nice and very educated people…who are not able to function sometimes because they are just so scared of the IRS coming to get them because they attended a Tea Party meeting a few times. Justin’s mother is TERRIFIED of going to another Tea Party event because she’s scare that someone from the IRS will be “tape-recording” everyone. That’s her personal obsession, the “tape-recording”…but Justin insists the IRS will be “videoing” everyone…which might just be a generational thing in terms of what people are terrified of.
I really don’t care if the IRS “tape-records” or “videos” me…or if the Left comes at me with everything its got for standing up to the Obama Regime. The only way that totalitarian governments survive is because people are so terrified of “what will happen to them if they speak out” that people stay silent for far too long. We’ve seen time and again in history that when people FINALLY stand up to despots that these petty tyrants crumble to the ground. It’s just unfortunate that so many people have to suffer before a nation has had enough of this garbage.
I remember being in high school when the Soviet Union collapsed and its satellite countries cast off the yoke of communism. I remember a teacher saying that “this could have happened years ago, if people weren’t so afraid this whole time”. She was right, because once people collectively decided they’d had enough the Soviet troops didn’t even bother fighting back. They just abandoned their guard posts and withdrew.
The exact same thing happened in Baghdad once people saw that Saddam Hussein’s shock troops would no longer be able to harm them. People looked around, saw that their neighbors were toppling statutes of the dictator, and they joined in too. But people did stop to look around to see if anyone else was doing it first, though.
I think this is where we’re at right now in this country. People like Justin’s parents in Arkansas are scared out of their minds by what the federal government has been doing in the last five years…but they don’t see any of their neighbors out protesting this. Going to a protest is too scary for CarolAnne, Justin’s mom. She’s afraid she’ll be tape-recorded there…or captured and sent to a “facility” somewhere and will then never see her family again. She really believes the Left has become this powerful that THIS IS POSSIBLE in America, of all places.
The main source of the Obama Regime’s power is fear…with the secondary font of all its power being the fact that a lot of people are still too scared to criticize a black man to do anything about this Regime’s activities (so I guess that’s rooted in fear too, in its own special way). It really all boils down to FEAR…and the fact that people who are scared will stay cowering inside until they see their friends and neighbors standing up to the Regime first.
Someone always has to be first, I guess. And then other people lose some of their fear and join in where they can. Next thing you know it, a Regime topples.
I don’t enjoy going downtown to protests, because being in a thick crowd on a hot day is not my idea of fun. But I am going because I want CarolAnne in Arkansas to know that I am not afraid of the IRS, Homeland Security, the Black Panthers, ACORN, the SEIU, the Justice Department, or any other thugs or goons used by Democrats to empower the Obama Regime. I will probably shout myself hoarse today and get a very bad sunburn in the process…but I don’t care. I think America as a nation is worth the inconvenience of heading into this throng to be part of the group of people here in Chicago that stands up to the IRS.
I wish I could convince Justin to come too, but his mother has him too scared out of his mind to come with me. That’s okay, though, because when I get back from the protest he’s going to wish he had gone. I’ll take lots of pictures and video and I’ll make him help me edit all that so we can put it up on YouTube later. And I’m sure he’ll decide to come with me to the next thing that protests the IRS’ abuse of power…since I don’t believe this matter will go away any time soon.
I think you’ll regret it very much if you don’t go to one of these protests today (if it’s at all possible for you to do so). But if you are scared, I do want to hear from you. You don’t have to leave a comment if you want to stay private, so just send us an email…and tell us WHY you are so scared of the IRS or the Obama Regime. If you’ve ever seen a reality show where people are coached to overcome their crippling arachnophobia or fear of flying or whatever, you’ll know that the first step in conquering the fear is recognizing it…followed by admitting it’s a problem and then talking out loud about how this fear is holding you back in life.
If you are scared of opposing the Obama Regime because you’re terrified of what the IRS or Homeland Security or the Justice Department will do to you if anyone finds out you don’t support what the Left is doing to our country, then today’s a great day to recognize and admit you have this fear. Tell someone about how you feel. There’s a darn good chance they secretly have been feeling the same way too…and perhaps together the two of you will help each other see that it’s unacceptable for the federal government of the United States to make its people quake in terror like this.
Yes, the Left is in complete control of everything right now.
Yes, the Left is abusing its power and persecuting Americans in the name of Barack Obama.
But, NO, we don’t have to stand for this and don’t have to accept this as our new national reality.
QUESTION FOR COMMENTS: How can YOU spread the world in your own little part of the country that it’s okay for people to talk about their fear of the government and it’s time for everyone to take an honest look at that fear and decide if this is how we want to live in the United States?
ACTION: Will You Attend An IRS Protest Tomorrow at 12 noon?
Tea Party Patriots are calling for protests at all IRS offices across the country…at 12 noon tomorrow — TUESDAY May 21st, 2013.
Will you attend one of these?
Currently, the Tea Party Patriots website appears to be down…which is either because of the large number of people trying to access the site for information on the protests…or it’s the federal government doing something suspicious to prevent people from easily getting this information. I know an article on Drudge Report today linked to a report in The Washington Examiner that then itself linked to Tea Party Patriots…so this could explain the high volume of traffic that may have crashed the site. Or, the Obama Regime could have just pulled the plug on that website. Here in 2013, after all that’s happened, I honestly can’t tell you for sure what’s up.
But the Tea Party Patriots’ Facebook page is still working…and you can find protest information there.
It’s really just a matter of figuring out where the IRS office is located near you…and then showing up there tomorrow at 12 noon. When you get there, no doubt you will quickly see other protestors.
The IRS Office in Chicago is at 230 S. Dearborn Street…downtown in the Loop. I found that information in seconds, just by typing in “IRS” and “Chicago” in Bing…and the address popped right up. To find your own local office, type in the name of your city and then “IRS” and you should be able to find it easily. The Tea Party Patriots went to the trouble of compiling this information for everyone, but with their website down (for whatever reason) you will need to look this up for yourself.
If you’ve never been to a protest before, I’d advise the following:
* Wear red, white and blue
* Try and grab some poster board and markers from the drug store and make yourself a sign with LARGE, printed lettering in a bold color like dark red or dark blue. Remember that people will need to be able to see your sign from a distance. The more clever the sign the more likely someone is to take a picture of it.
* Be clever and don’t use any profanity or anything that would make the Tea Party look bad…and remember that the Left and the Ministry of Truth that is our national media purposefully attend these events LOOKING for the one person in a crowd of 1,000 that is saying anything they can then blame on the entire group. It’s a sick game we’ve been playing for five years now that should be obvious to anyone paying the least bit of attention, but the media really has become the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party and these people truly are out to get the Tea Party or make its members look foolish.
* I think a good sign would say: SPECIAL PROSECUTOR FOR THE IRS! or INVESTIGATE THE IRS
If you have other ideas for signs, please share them in the thread below.
QUESTION FOR COMMENTS: Are you able to attend a protest tomorrow where you live? Maybe you could take your lunch break at this time if you live anywhere near an IRS office.
Today in History: May 20th, 2013 Open Thread
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How afraid are you of the federal government at this point?
I ask that because last night I spent about seven hours talking my boyfriend Justin down from an emotional ledge, since his mother CarolAnne and his father “Doc” used his weekend visit to Arkansas to convince him that it will roughly be just a few days before Democrats send someone from one government agency or another after all of them. Me, too. And you as well. All of us. They’re coming for all of us so panic right now!
It’s actually quite muggy here in Chicago. My energy levels aren’t great and I get tired very easily…and I have to tell you that it’s truly exhausting having to explain to Justin that, NO, the government is not coming for him, his parents, or me this week or next. ”If Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter and Mark Steyn and Thomas Sowell disappear…then we should all start to worry”, is what I told him…because I really believe that these people are much higher up on the Democrats’ enemies’ list than Justin’s parents in Arkansas. Wouldn’t the Left start with the most visible and outspoken critics of the Democrat Party before it starts rounding up retirees in Eureka Springs? If Ted Cruz disappears and no one can locate Darrell Issa or Michele Bachmann, then I think it’s time to panic.
I do, however, believe that the Left has complete control over all branches of government at this point and is abusing power like nothing we’ve ever seen. The reason they’re getting away with this is that the current head of the Democrat Party is a black man…and even in 2013 people are too terrified of being called “Ray Ciss” to openly challenge what this administration is doing. It really makes a lot of sense today why the Left pushed so hard to give Obama the nomination (and the presidency) in 2008…because there’s no way having Hillary Clinton in the White House would have allowed them to get away with everything they wanted to do to the country.
It’s staggering how effective these people have been, and how magically the threat of calling people “Ray Ciss” allows the Left to abuse the power of the federal government.
Disgustingly, the Ministry of Truth that is our national media keeps working overtime to claim “Oh, it’s not that bad!” whenever the latest persecution of Americans by their own government is exposed. If this was a Republican administration targeting citizens with the IRS as a political weapon we’d have nonstop coverage of this outrage…with “journalists” falling all over themselves in an effort to be first to become the next Woodward or Bernstein…and bring down a sitting President. Even if another Democrat was in office, the press would still make at least some hay out of this IRS scandal…though they’d stop short of removing that Democrat from office. But, because Barack Obama is “a black man” (as he proclaimed during a commencement address over the weekend) he and his administration are untouchable and reporters believe their duty is to serve as his loyal Palace Guard.
I really want to emphasize that point because I think it’s a nuance that a lot of people miss: in 2013, because the President is a black Democrat, no reporter working in any medium will write any story that hurts this man’s image or jeopardizes his hold on power. In fact, they would rather forfeit advancing their own careers by breaking big stories than writing investigative stories that expose the corruption and soft tyranny of the Obama Regime. Truthfully, any reporter painting Obama in a bad light HURTS his or her own career, because everyone working in every single news room across the country has been dreaming of having a black President and a black First Lady in the White House…so the Obamas must be treated forever as a brand that can never be tarnished or sullied, regardless of what the truth about either of them may be.
If you read the novel 1984 in high school (or have re-read it recently), then you just can’t help put find echoes of that fiction in the realities of today. The press has indeed become a Ministry of Truth (which, in classic newspeak, means that it serves the purpose of spreading lies that help the Regime while rewriting history to better fit whatever lies the Regime is telling today). Hollywood serves as a Ministry of Entertainment (which in newspeak means that the “entertainment” it provides is really a kind of cultural brainwashing that repeatedly states that anyone who opposes Obama is a “Ray Ciss” and that people who don’t vote Democrat are evil and must be destroyed). The IRS, Homeland Security, and the other federal agencies that have engaged in persecution of Americans (or bizarre behavior like the purchasing and hoarding of enough rounds of ammunition to put a bullet through the skull of every man, woman, and child in this country) have formed a Ministry of Persuasion that employs intimidation and fear to suppress Americans’ natural resistance to the Left (and the Democrats in office who are enacting the Left’s agenda).
I’m reminded of an old TV show on FOX in the mid-90s called Sliders. Have you heard of it? It was about a group of adventurers who had a device that opened a portal into alternate dimensions; these were parallel Earths and it was the same year, but history had unfolded differently…so that America was often unrecognizable on these “slides” through the dimensional portals. One memorable episode (titled “Time Again and World”) found an America under martial law where J. Edger Hoover had assumed control of the presidency and had ruled with an iron, cross-dressing fist for decades. In that version of our country, the Constitution was buried and all knowledge of it was suppressed…until at the end of the episode someone found a way to upload the last known surviving text of the Constitution to a computer network. This aired back in 1996…and is also memorable for me because I think it was the first time I ever heard of “The Internet” (which was often at the time called “The Information Superhighway” and seemed like something that was no meant for regular people in their homes to use).
Though I do believe Democrats have been using federal agencies like the IRS, the Justice Department, and Homeland Security to persecute Americans for political purposes…I also don’t believe they will ultimately get away with it. The Left always overreaches because they believe they can keep people terrified and intimidated and that no one will ever fight back, for fear of being audited, or of having those hoarded Homeland Security ammunition rounds used against them, or that Democrat goon squads like the Black Panthers or the SEIU will be dispatched to harass them in their homes.
I just don’t fear the government in the end because I don’t believe these people are competent enough to successfully scare 300 million people into perpetual ignorance and obedience. The country is just too big and the Leftist indoctrination that happens in the public school system is not ultimately complete enough to prevent conservative parents from teaching their children that the government is not all-knowing or all-powerful.
One of the tactics of the Left is to keep people feeling crippled and exhausted…and they’ve done a really good job of that, because after five years of one crisis and unbelievable outrage after another I know many good people who have just given up. They feel the Left has won and there’s nothing we can do about it now…but that’s not entirely true.
The majority of the people in this country find politics to be quite boring and pay little attention when discussions about Homeland Security or the Justice Department are happening, because those agencies are too abstract. The TSA is by large the face of Homeland Security, and most Americans seem to think they’re just a bumbling nuisance whenever people need to fly. The Justice Department sounds a lot like “The Justice League” and is in “a building somewhere, and they do legal stuff” in most people’s minds. Few Americans are ever involved in any sort of law suit in their lifetime and fewer still ever are defendants in criminal matters.
But the IRS is a different story. It’s an agency that people feel has too much power to begin with…and now that they’re seeing that the IRS has been used to target specific people because of the way they vote and the fact that they oppose Obama…well, this is entirely uncharted territory.
Do not for a minute believe that this will ultimately force the resignation of Obama or will allow for any impeachment of him, because the reality is that he is “the historic and unprecedented first black president” and there is no way he will ever be removed from office. But if Americans at large come to understand that electing Democrats to national office leads to abuses of power like the IRS becoming a political weapon, then the 2014 elections could wipe a great many of the Left from positions of power.
The trick is getting this information to people who don’t read political sites and who believe what MSNBC is telling them on the tee-vee. That’s the big failing of conservative political commentary. There are a lot of great writers out there and conservative sites every day have a great deal of important information on these topics. There are a lot of excellent people who read this stuff and discuss it with their families…but it never goes any further than that.
The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Entertainment, and the Ministry of Persuasion prevent the full scope of the Left’s activities and abuses of power from ever reaching most Americans. Committed conservatives know all this stuff. Committed Leftists deliberately avoid ever accepting the reality of any of it. But the remaining 30% of the country that ignores politics until a week before an election doesn’t understand what the IRS has been up to and is not yet making the connection that if the IRS was targeting conservative groups for audits in 2012 and 2013, then what sort of targeting will the IRS do to individual conservative voters in 2014 when Obamacare comes into full effect and decisions about who “deserves” life-saving medical treatments are made by people with a political agenda.
Do I believe that Democrats will pressure the IRS/Department of Health & Human Services to stall the paperwork and/or deny treatment to people who vote Republican? Hell to the YES, because this is the sort of thing the Left does…as they figure that rationed health services should go to loyal Democrat voters first and that it would probably not be a bad thing if people who vote Republican don’t get that life-saving heart operation they need. Democrats want to flood their ranks by brining in as many third world peasants from Mexico as possible, then legalizing them all, so that they can create more Democrat voters. Simultaneously, I clearly see Democrats wanting to decrease the number of Republican voters either through intimidation (i.e., vote Republican and we will audit you) or “attrition” (i.e., vote Republican and your application for medical care will be lost or misfiled so that you don’t live much longer…and therefore can’t keep voting against Democrats).
The Left has used the Obama Regime as one large scale attempt to force one-party perpetual domination in this country…and I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of it yet. But, the good news is that I don’t see how this is sustainable in the long term. We might have another three or four years of this Hell…but the Left’s ideas just don’t work, they don’t improve the lives of anyone in this country, and the Millennial generation that was indoctrinated to believe that a utopia would come “if only Democrats had complete control of everything” is starting to see that life isn’t so great in the Golden Age of Hope and Change.
So, don’t give up and allow fear to cripple you. That’s what the Left wants. The road ahead is hard — and indeed harder than anyone could have ever imagined — but just keep finding the strength to continue on just a little longer…because the IRS overreach was a huge mistake made by the Left that could prove to be a real game changer. We just need to find a way to make that so.
QUESTION FOR COMMENTS: How scared are you of the IRS persecuting you because of how you vote…and do your neighbors where you live have any awareness that Democrats used the IRS to intimidate conservatives in the lead up to the 2012 election? Start initiating conversations with people and see what you can find out.
What else is on your mind today, Monday May 2oth 2013?
Today in History: May 19th, 2013 Open Thread
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Something interesting happened earlier in the week that took me by surprise: I had lunch in a restaurant with service so bad that I didn’t leave a tip, not even a penny. I just felt the waitress was so bad at her job that I didn’t think she deserved a single cent. This went against every habit I have, because normally I tip no matter what…but I finally encountered a waitress who was so terrible she just didn’t deserve anything from me.
I’m surprised this finally happened because in high school and college I waited tables, managed a restaurant, and worked banquets in a hotel…and ever since I’ve had a soft spot for people in the food and hospitality industry. I tend to cut them breaks and overlook things (like lackluster service) because I know how hard and grueling the job can be…and how soul-killing it sometimes is to work in a restaurant in particular. Dealing with the general public is no fun…and often the kitchen staff is even worse. If you have never worked in a restaurant you have no concept of how awful chefs can be…and how downright vile “cooks” often are in the less-fancy restaurants.
I really don’t eat out much anymore because I actually love cooking and it’s just bad economics to eat out when I can make three meals at home for the price of one in a restaurant. But, a few days ago I ended up having some time to kill before an appointment and decided to have what I thought would be a relaxing lunch…and it was just a chore to get this particular waitress’ attention, even though there was hardly anyone in the place.
Her big excuse was that she had tables outside as well, which is a nice excuse to make, I guess…except when a customer is seated with a clear view outside and can see that this particular waitress was nowhere to be found. Also, no customers were seated outside…unless they were ghosts or otherwise invisible and I could not see them. Maybe I didn’t catch the theme of the restaurant and there was a required game of Hide & Go Seek I was supposed to be playing with this woman, but I could not find her when I needed something like another iced tea. She didn’t even take my order to begin with, because she was off hiding or whatever, and the hostess strangely came over and took it…and then came back two minutes later to take it again because she forgot everything I said and had not written it down, since she’s not used to taking orders. Bless her heart.
I asked to speak to a manager and I swear to this day I think they really just sent over a bus boy to pretend to be the manager to listen to me. The guy was that much of a dunce, didn’t apologize, and also said “Oh, she must be outside”. I made him look through the open windows and asked if he could see the waitress. ”Nope, she’s not out there”. Then I made him look around the dining room. ”Nope, she’s not here, either. She might be in the cooler”. I asked if it was normal for the waitstaff to hang out in the restaurant cooler and he said, “No, not really. I don’t know where she is. I was just trying to think up a place.” I started to worry that something had happened to her, that she’d fallen somewhere and couldn’t get up. Then I finally saw her coming out of the kitchen laughing and having the time of her life…so whatever was happening back there was just too much fun for her to pay attention to her tables.
When the check came, I actually stared at it for a good two minutes wondering if indeed I was going to purposefully not leave her even a penny. I’ve only experienced bad service a few times…and I thought about those occasions. While service had been slow, the waiters and waitresses had always eventually shown up with whatever I asked for…but in this case, I realized the waitress had never even brought anything to me. The food came from a runner, the iced tea was brought by the hostess and the refill by the manager. The waitress had only raced by once to introduce herself, but that was hardly doing anything for me. And then I never saw her again. Was saying “Hi I’m Vanessa and I’ll be taking care of you!” really worth a tip? She didn’t do anything to take care of me and hadn’t in fact ever set foot near my table again.
It was the strangest feeling, this breaking the habit of always tipping 20% no matter what…but I’m glad that I did. I think from now on I do need to be of the mindset that the waitstaff must earn a tip. If service is good, I’ll still tip the 20% that I always do (which is something people who’ve been in the industry do, the 20% thing) but if service is bad I’m going to ask to speak to a manager and will explain that I’m not leaving that waiter or waitress a tip because of the terrible service.
I’m always surprised when some random encounter with someone like this makes me reconsider a habit I’ve always had. It’s really smart to take stock of your default behaviors and typical reactions to things and decide if the way you live your life is really the best for you (just because it’s become a habit doesn’t mean you need to keep doing that forever). At the end of the day, I even regret having stopped into a sit-down restaurant for lunch. It was gorgeous outside, and if I had the day to do over again I really should have gotten take-out from a sandwich place or something and had a little picnic for myself somewhere in the sun. That’s what I will most certainly do next time…and maybe create a new, better habit.
QUESTION FOR COMMENTS: Have you ever purposefully left no tip for a waiter or waitress because the service was so bad? Did you struggle with the decision to do that…or have you always been someone who believes waitstaff need to earn that tip by doing a good job? As a new member of the “Tip Only If They Did A Good Job Club” I’d love to hear your take on this.
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What else is on your mind this gorgeous Sunday, May 19th 2013?
Beware the Annie Wilkes Brigade: Author Charlaine Harris Terrorized By Self-Professed “Fans” Inspired to Jihad On the Internet
Ever since True Blood premiered on HBO in 2008, I’ve enjoyed author Charlaine Harris’ “Southern Vampire Mysteries”…which I call “visiting with my pal Sookie Stackhouse” as I read the latest edition in this series each May. Before the characters migrated to TV, I was mildly aware of Ms. Harris’ series but never picked up one of the books because I thought the cartoonish cover art looked silly and the titles like Dead Until Dawn and Club Dead felt like Young Adult or possibly Romance selections…and those are parts of a bookstore in which I’ve never shopped. And, YES, I really shouldn’t have judged a book by its cover in this case, because the Southern Vampire Mysteries are great (even if I still do think the artwork is…probably not what I would have picked to market the series).
I’ve long been fascinated by the South and I realized I was gay and came out just as the Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with A Vampire hit theaters in the mid-90s. I absolutely devoured those “Vampire Chronicles” Anne Rice books and for a brief moment in time thought Ms. Rice was the absolute greatest writer in the whole wide world (which I attribute in retrospect to just an immense transference of affection onto Rice from the raging crush I had on Brad Pitt at the time, back when he was young and dreamy and playing the titular vampire who was interviewed in her book).
Preconditioned to enjoy the vampire genre by fond memories of Interview (including a trip I took down to New Orleans in 1996 or so to attend a Halloween party in Rice’s own, creepy house…that was apparently toned DOWN in creepiness for a Halloween party, if you can believe it), I just fell head over heels for True Blood from the first episode…and it’s become my favorite summer guilty pleasure ever since. The show forced me to discover the source material and I quickly became an admirer of Ms. Harris’ (who seems a lot nicer and much more normal than Ms. Rice has ever been). It’s incredibly rare for me to read fiction, because there’s always a stack of political and policy works I need to get to and more often than not for fun I like reading natural science, travelogues, or essays with a comedic bent. But, for many years each May I’d rush to the Barnes & Noble that used to be close to me in Boystown and I’d excitedly purchase the latest “Sookie Book” that Ms. Harris gifted to her readers.
I put a strong emphasis on “gifted” because, more so than works of nonfiction or contemporaneous reporting, novels are gifts to the world by the authors who conceived them. It’s one thing to report on an event you witnessed or to write up your analysis of some political scandal…but writers of fiction conjure entire universes in their imagination and often struggle for years to bring these characters to life on the page. Writing a romantic or exciting adventure story with characters you’ve completely invented in your imagination is a marvelous and precious skill…and though these writers are sharing these tales with the world instead of keeping them private, these stories and all the fictional characters in them remain the universe (and property) of that writer. As long as that person is living, she or he should forever have ultimate say over any of the characters that she or he created. They are shared with readers, but the readers do not own these characters (or the author who created them).
I’ve always felt very lucky that Ms. Harris shared “Sookie Stackhouse” and all of her friends (and enemies) in Bon Temps, Louisiana with the rest of us. Living in Chicago, I’d get to head to the beach with the latest of Harris’ books under my arm and I’d lay out in the sun on a towel by Lake Michigan and soak in all of the colorful Southern-fried adventures that she imagined in her latest 300-some page romp. No airport or $300 plane ticket was ever needed for me to be magically transported down to Louisiana for a visit with Sookie & Company whenever I’d crack open a Charlaine Harris novel. I can’t pretend the stories aren’t silly — because they are — and that often what a lot of characters did in the yarns didn’t make all that much sense. Since the vampires in Ms. Rice’s stories also seemed like eternally-young oddballs and engaged in a lot of political and ceremonial nonsense, I continue to chalk this up to equal parts Southern eccentricity and the fact that vampires be crazy.
Justin laughs at this but my favorite parts in all of the Sookie books are when she does mundane things that often serve no larger purpose: going to the law office of someone or another because she wants to write an agreement up for a loan, buying a dress somewhere for some event she has to attend (and seemingly picking out the ugliest things imaginable, but thinking they are wonderful since as a waitress in a bar in the middle of nowhere she doesn’t know any better and doesn’t have a gay male best friend to help her), cleaning out her attic or doing gardening or drinking sweet tea while sunbathing or whatever. I think I enjoy reading about Sookie’s errands because when I don’t have anywhere I need to be and I’m not working on something this is mostly the sort of things I do here in Chicago around town. Back in 2004, when I was deciding what city I wanted to live in next it came down between Chicago and New Orleans and Chicago only won-out because I started dating a guy who lived here. So, I guess through Sookie’s trips to the gas station or to the grocery store I’ve had a little taste of what it would have been like to live in Louisiana instead of Illinois in my late-20s and into my 30s…and for that I’m grateful to Ms. Harris.
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Earlier this month, Ms. Harris released the final book in her 13-volume Sookie series…and I made a big production of it here at Buzzquarters the way I used to celebrate the release of all the Harry Potter books. I enjoy dusting off my party-and-event-planning background once in a while to make themed meals for Justin and my friends. Truth be told, I think Ms. Harris’ books are just as fun as J.K. Rowling’s (though obviously geared more for adults)…and they lend themselves to all sorts of tasty recipes (that are a Southern-fried magic of their own). You wouldn’t immediately think books about blood and vampires would do that, but it’s true. I bought a small honey baked ham and cooked up a big gumbo pot of red beans and rice and made hoe cakes and peach wings to pick at all day and into the evening as I read this last Sookie book. It was just as much fun as all of the others in the series, with all the same colorful Southern touches that I love (and, of course, trips to the store and other random places that I think are amusing). I smiled so hard and so often while reading the book that my face hurt and I felt sad reaching the last chapter because I knew it was the final novel and there’s likely to be not much more Sookie after this, aside from an appearance here or there in future short stories. It’s tough when anything you love has to end…but that’s just the nature of life (for us non-vampires anyway). I just decided to celebrate the end of the series with some great food and last laughs with Sookie before Ms. Harris retired these characters…as is her right as an author to do so.
And now I’ve decided to tell you all of this because Ms. Harris is a nice and sweet Southern woman who looks like someone who could be your auntie or at the very least a cousin you are always happy to see. In interviews, she is soft-spoken and fun…and there’s just a hint of ribald wit and naughtiness behind her church lady smile. Where Anne Rice always has looked like a very strange and unbalanced person who clearly could do only one thing in life (and that’s write books about vampires and witches) Charlaine Harris could have been your fifth grade teacher.
So, it’s just impossible for me to imagine anyone on Earth hating this woman or threatening to kill her…but that’s exactly what’s been going on with a jihad of irate “super fans” who’ve vowed to personally destroy Ms. Harris because they didn’t like the ending to her Dead Ever After novel.
Read the rest of this entry »
Today in History: May 18th, 2013 Open Thread
Here in the year 2013, something interesting happened recently to me that I’ve now officially confirmed as a significant “thing”: I absolutely have no desire to see another movie in theaters. I’m pretty sure the last movie that I will have ever seen in theaters (barring any sort of radical, holographic, amazing new technology of the future) will be Jurassic Park: 3D (which I saw in IMAX at Navy Pier here in Chicago last month).
I sort of enjoy the oddity that the last movie I leave the house, travel somewhere, and pay to see while sitting next to strangers is a re-release of a film I saw back in the summer of 1993 when I was ALL ABOUT heading downtown in Cleveland to see movies after school or on the weekends. I do admit seeing Jurassic Park in IMAX was astounding…and that 3D dinosaurs were a lot of fun; I also liked the nostalgia factor of remembering seeing the movie originally with my Grandmother, Erma, when she was still alive and I was still in high school.
I adore absurdity and actively seek it out in the world, so the concept of The Great Gatsby in 3D with flashy dance numbers and more glitter than the Chicago pride parade would SEEM to be something I would have camped out for opening night (like I did to watch Marie Antoinette back in 2006). But, the movie’s been out for a while now and I still have no desire to head downtown, pay $15, and sit in a dark room with strangers watching anything. I feel great today; I have $15 in my pocket freely available to spend; my boyfriend Justin’s visiting his parents in Arkansas so I have free time…but I just don’t have any desire at all to see this or any movie in a theater.
I think I’m part of the cultural change away from going to the movies as a recreational activity. And I think there are a lot of variables part of this that are more complicated than “Hollywood doesn’t make anything good or original”…because a 3D, musical, riot of color and spectacle version of The Great Gatsby sure is considered both good and original in my book…and almost as awesome in concept as The Great Gatsby 8-bit video game for the old NES.
* I don’t like giving movie studios my money, though…because I feel like when I do that I help fund the people who inflict so much damage on this country by way of hammering the Left’s talking points into impressionable Americans. Let’s face it, the way that Democrats maintain power is by way of the Ministry of Truth that is our “news media”, the Ministry of Entertainment that is “Hollywood”, and the Ministry of Persuasion that’s comprised of all federal agencies such as the IRS that are controlled by Democrats and abuse their authority or otherwise persecute and intimidate Americans. I know that movie theaters actually don’t make any money off the ticket sales to first-run films…and instead depend on concession sales to stay in business; all ticket sales go to the movie distributors, so buying a movie ticket sends that cash to Hollywood and then gets redistributed back to the Democrat party and its Leftist masters. I enjoy limiting the amount of cash I contribute to that revenue stream.
* Because of Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, and Hulu I am now completely conditioned to watch half an hour of something, pause it, do other things, then return to whatever I was watching. I actually have two screens in front of me while I’m typing this, using that dual-monitor configuration that Justin set up for me; I’m typing on one side but on the other side I’m watching last night’s episode of Scandal. I enjoy having something playing just to keep me company while I work…and I just LOVE the ability to pause it and rewind to hear dialogue I missed…or to turn on closed-captioning to understand actors who mumble their lines (which amounts to much more of them than there should be). I can’t do any of this in an actual movie theater, because I do not had magical powers like this in public. And it’s difficult for me to sit still for two hours in a seat like I’m on an airplane. At home I can move around, exercise, lay down on the couch, yell at people through the windows if they are doing something bad outside, and get really comfortable while watching something on my screen in the apartment. If Justin’s watching with me, he talks through almost the entire movie like a little chatterbox…usually asking questions about what’s happening because he missed important things while he was talking. In a theater, the poor guy looks like he’s about to explode because he knows he has to be quiet…but he’s just got something important to say! (which usually is him telling me that the lady playing the District Attorney was also the mom on that show with the talking cat who was voiced by that other guy who usually plays District Attorneys in movies where it’s a male character instead…but he doesn’t remember any of these people’s names, only what they look like and talking cats they’ve worked with).
* Sitting next to strangers can be so weird, if oddballs decide to sit right next to us. Just once, for a change, I’d love to be the oddball sitting down next to someone else! This weirdness happens all the time, though I’ve never been able to explain the phenomenon. An entire theater of empty seats unfolds before them and people will generally choose to sit right next to Justin and me (they would probably sit on our laps if they could)…which I could understand if we chose to plop down in the dead center (where most people like to go). But, because I lost my glasses in 2008 and have never gotten around to replacing them (it’s on my list, I swear) I always pick a spot for us up near the front and over to the side, which theoretically should remain empty during the entire show. Maybe this is one of those things that just happens in life, like how terrible parts of a city gentrify after gays start moving in…since people for some reason want to live by gay guys, whom I think they expect to use magic to make everything gorgeous in that part of town again. So, I guess two gay guys sitting off to the side in an undesirable part of a movie theater instantly gentrifies the surrounding seats and is a siren’s call to other movie-goers. It must be great over there! That’s where the gay guys are sitting! I don’t mind sitting next to strangers on a bus or train. I have no trouble sitting next to them at the counter in a diner or bellying up beside them at a bar. But, it’s just so strange for me to sit quietly in the dark for two hours with people I don’t know in situations where the lot of us aren’t sealed inside a giant metal tube hurting through the air high above the country (like in an airplane, or a bus that’s been sucked up into a twister).
* It’s shockingly expensive for two people to go to a movie in Chicago…and heart-breaking for what it costs a family of four or more. I actually know a secret parking garage that’s free in downtown Chicago (email me if you ever need the name, because it’s like the Batcave of free parking in this town), so Justin and I don’t have to pay to park (which would be $12 if I didn’t know the secret). If the two of us took the train from Boystown down to a theater, it would be $9 roundtrip on the Red Line subway ($4.50 per guy each way). A 3D movie costs $15 in a matinee and I think $20 in the evenings, with regular 2D movies around $11 for afternoons and $13 at night. It’s always about $30 or so before the two of us walk anywhere near a concession stand…and I invariably break down and get us a large Fresca or Coke Zero to split (mainly because Justin can’t talk during a movie if he’s drinking Fresca). The nachos and pretzel bites with yellow-orange mystery chemicals (laughably referred to as “cheese dip”) call to me like peppy puppies in a pet store window, but I do manage to resist them. Still, going to the movies for Justin and me is a $40 affair. New movies that were just in the theater three months ago are $2.99 or so to rent on Amazon Instant video…which I prefer to the RedBox kiosks because I have a hard time managing to return those DVDs on time. It might technically be a dollar to rent one, but it ends up being $3 or $4 by the time I finally get the DVD back to the RedBox. With Amazon, it’s a digital rental so no late fees ever and I spare the universe the energy of aligning the stars and conspiring with Fate to make returning that DVD as difficult as possible for me on the day it is due. If it’s a movie I know I will watch more than twice in the future then I just buy it on Amazon Instant and it’s a $9.99 or so charge, which I think is a great deal. When a new movie comes out, I thus know I have a choice between dropping $40 (which is half a week’s grocery money) or waiting a little bit and spending $3 online for a rental (which is a really great deal since I’ll probably watch the movie twice in the 48-hour period that Amazon allows). Thanks to all the Hope and Change we’ve experienced in the last five years, I’ll take the $3 option more times than not. Going out to the movies has become something Justin and I only do if we are stuck downtown and have time to kill and can’t think of anything else to do for that two or three hours.
* Because we’re friends like this, I’ll also admit that since I live in Chicago and go to theaters that are pretty high profile I also do have some fear of somebody walking into a screening with a gun. The FBI’s stopped a half dozen or more Muslim plots in Chicago in just the seven or so years that I’ve lived here. All of these have thus far been grandiose schemes like blowing up the Sears Tower (back when it was still the Sears Tower and not the “What You Talkin’ Bout Willis Tower” like it is today), bombing bars in the Loop, exploding cars during rush hour on high-traffic streets, etc. But I think it’s just a matter of time before “The Religion of Peace” tries to blow people to pieces inside a movie theater, shopping mall, or at a sporting event. Going to a place with a large amount of people all focused on something distracting, where it’s dark and hard to hear anything but the sound coming from the speakers overhead, doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to do in Chicago. After Muslims attacked the Boston Marathon in service of Islam, I also lost some of the sense of security I had in Chicago…because I believed for the longest time that the most likely places Islam would strike would be New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, or even Las Vegas…since those are cities that the backwards, medievalist, death cult of Islam has on its radar and rails against to the riffraff and ragamuffins in the Middle East (and beyond) who eat up this hate speech like hummus. I lived in Cleveland during the 9/11 attacks and afterwards I remember our idiot Mayor, Jane Campbell, insisting that “Cleveland is a major terrorist target because we have a federal payroll center here and also the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame”. I thought she was out of her mind because no one I had ever met who was Muslim had ever even heard of Cleveland…so in my opinion attacking “The Home of Rock n’Roll” would be like the United States suddenly going to war against Andorra (which is a country most people have either never heard of or misbelieve is the planet annihilated by the Death Star where cinnamon-bun hairdos were so inexplicably popular). Chicago’s a bigger, cleaner, and more important version of Cleveland…but those same Muslims I’ve known from overseas had only a vague idea of where or what Chicago is. But, if in 2013 these monsters think Boston’s an interesting enough target for an attack then I guess all bets are off in any big city. Last year, the domestic terrorists of Occupy Wall Street attempted to blow up one of the bridges in Cleveland, too…which really makes it clear that this stuff can happen anywhere, at anytime, these days. YIKES.
I don’t think any of us should allow fear to rule our lives, though. The reason my boyfriend Justin’s in Arkansas right now is because his mother CarolAnne is beside herself over the revelations that the IRS has been targeting and persecuting conservatives. Justin was needed back home to sit with her, calm her down, and reassure her that this would be exposed and sorted out. CarolAnne’s a lovely woman — and is sweet and nice and a very good mom — but she readily admits to being terrified of one thing or another most days. For years, she’s insisted that Democrats were plotting against her personally and orchestrating elaborate conspiracies against pretty much all Republican voters…and this week sure seems to have proven her at least partly right! Great Merciful Zeus, this really does feel like something out of a horror movie…where I’ve spent so much time trying to get Justin to talk his mom off her ledge by telling her there really aren’t any monsters in the closet…but then we find out that some of her fears are real (even if they aren’t exactly what she was insisting upon).
When you get to a point where fear cripples you and prevents you from living your life, then it’s time to take a few steps back and inquire of yourself whether you are truly enjoying the gift of life you were granted. This is what Justin’s helping his mom with right now. I believe we’ve got one shot to spin around on this third rock from a gleaming sun and it’s up to us as individuals to choose whether that time’s spent in laughter or tears, adventure or terror. The world is a challenging and scary place and there seems to increasingly be more things out there that seek to harm Americans who love this country and all she stands for…but I think if we allow what frightens us to overpower us and rule our lives then we disappoint the inventive and optimistic God who created us.
I don’t think I’d ever let the fear of Muslims shooting up a theater in Chicago prevent me from watching a movie I really, really wanted to see…but I think I’d be smart about choosing the theater, the time I’d watch the movie, and where I’d sit inside just to remove as many threats as possible (figuring, I think accurately, that anything bad that was going to happen would probably happen opening night in as high a profile theater as possible…so a matinee a week after the movie opened in a non-touristy part of town might be the safest route).
Circling back to what I told you earlier, though…I just don’t have any desire to see a movie in a theater and would prefer to watch it at home on the computer screen when it finally makes it to Amazon Instant or Netlfix. Last night, the new Star Trek opened up and I was tempted to go see it because I love movies with great special effects set in space (okay, since we’re friends like that, it’s really because Chris Pine is a total babe)…but I really, really don’t want to give the studio that $15 just so they can turn around and give $5 of it to Obama acolytes. I did, however, not want to wait four months to find out what happens in the movie…so I read the spoiler-filled synopsis of this flick on TheMovieSpoiler.com (which is a great money saver, incidentally, as you can find out what happens in ALL the movies out right now without ever having to see them).
Unless it’s a movie that’s released by a pro-America, conservative-supporting, studio that will not give any of its profits to any Democrat-affiliated political group I am just not interested in buying a ticket. At 36, I just think those days for me are done and I just refuse to support the Ministry of Entertainment with full-price ticket purchase when a little patience and an internet connection can get me the same movie at home for 1/5 the cost.
[ Click above to check out TheMovieSpoiler.com --- the best and easiest way to find out what happens in all the new movies without ever paying a cent to see them. These are NOT reviews, but they are extremely detailed plot descriptions of everything that happens in the movie, kind of like mini-novelizations. ]
QUESTION FOR COMMENT: Do you feel even remotely this way about going to the movies too? Or am I completely in left field on this one?
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What else is on your mind today on May 18th, 2013 that you think is important enough for your friends and neighbors to know?
Today in History: Friday May 17th, 2013
Is this still America?
It’s definitely not how things should be…or could be…but it is the end result of electing Democrats to national office.
The unfolding revelations that the IRS has been vigorously used as a political weapon to intimidate and persecute Democrats’ enemies for the past four or five years is somehow unsurprising…considering the simple fact that this is exactly what the Left does when it holds any sort of power. A hallmark of Leftism is employing the Alinsky Rules for Radicals to devastating effect against all enemies…and Democrats consider anyone who opposes or even criticizes them in the slightest to be enemies who must be annihilated. Voting Democrat — ever — means you tacitly approve of this sort of behavior and on some level think it’s okay for government agencies to be used as weapons against fellow Americans.
We have a much bigger problem than just this IRS business, though. All of this is part of a larger cultural nightmare that’s the direct result of the Left taking complete control of our public school system and almost all colleges and universities. Several generations of children have been reared by the Left in those neighborhood indoctrination centers as “fellow travelers” who think weaponizing the IRS is okay…because it’s being done to conservatives…who are the “enemy”, as their teachers taught them in school since kindergarten. As long as something terrible is being done to an “enemy”, it’s perfectly fine with these people. The Ministry of Truth that is our national media reinforces this constantly.
Our culture has breached the tipping point…and we realistically can’t stop the Left’s complete takeover because this IRS business shows they have in fact won the Culture War already. We are an apartheid state, though, because the majority of Americans still believe in freedom and want this country to be the shining beacon of hope and guaranteed rights that the Founders engineered with our Constitution. The Left is an extreme minority in this country…and like all apartheid states controlled by a minority, the Left can only maintain its grip on power through draconian methods…and the weaponization of government agencies against its own citizens.
The Left spent 30 years in the wilderness concocting what’s proved to be an ingeniously effective plot to seize complete control of the country. But, the hard part for them will be keeping this control. I don’t believe that’s possible in a nation this size and with a population who isn’t as dumb as public education would seemingly make them. The Left promised a lot of these people that if only they could have control that a utopia would follow. Well, they certainly have that control. All “enemies” of the Left are being intimidated, persecuted, and systematically eliminated wherever possible. Yet…still there’s no utopia. This can only go on for so long before people start wondering if maybe, perhaps, their teachers in public school and professors in college weren’t wrong all those years and that maybe the people talking all day on MSNBC might be wrong in the brand of politics they’ve been selling.
Things are going to get much worse before they get any better. But, there is hope. The glorious thing about the Left being triumphant is that these people believe their own hype. They think they are the smartest people in any room — but, while they might indeed be cunning and clever, their fundamental worldview and economic theories are dead wrong. All those generations lost to indoctrination centers has seemingly required this moment in history where America is forced to see firsthand just how bad things can get with the Left in power…so that people can see for themselves how Leftist control over this country brings no one any good, save for the extreme elite on the Left who are enjoying what’s happening and dreaming of even more to come.
Americans are an interesting people, though, in that they will tolerate something until one day they just won’t take any more…and the proverbial sleeping giant awakens. There have been scores of companies that have found this out the hard way, when suddenly the public turned against them and a best-selling brand is deserted by customers, a chain of stores is forced to close because people avoid it like the plague, or some celebrity sees that nobody flocks to her movies any longer. Retrospect allows us to identify one particular event that set in motion the chain of events that led to the specific destruction of this or that product, company, or celebrity. It’s not always readily apparent when an event is occurring if that thing will be THE thing that brings down the house of cards.
This matter with the IRS has legs because it crosses a line for most Americans. It scares the bejeebus out of them, because the IRS is an understandable agency with direct impact on people. The IRS also has the power to have people put into jail…and almost every American knows at least one person who was subjected to an audit over the years. The thought of the IRS persecuting Americans with audits because of how they voted or what political beliefs they carry is terrifying. And when people start to make the mental leap and begin to understand that the IRS will be a key power player in the implementation of Obamacare…well, it does not take Americans long to realize that the ultimate goal of the Left is to systematically deny healthcare to people who “don’t vote correctly”.
It feels like we’re at that point in a horror movie where the mysterious villain finally reveals its master plan to the shocked audience…but Democrats truly do seem to want to use the IRS in the long term to identify conservatives not just for persecution in unwarranted tax audits…but to also ensure that Republican voters experience delays, hassles, and denial of services when Obamacare completely takes over the healthcare system. That means if there is a Democrat and a Republican both needing a heart transplant that the Democrat’s life will be saved while the Republican’s will not. That means one more Democrat voter in the long run and one fewer Republican in this world.
Scary, isn’t it? Like something from a horror movie…only it’s happening in real life here in 2013.
Spread the word…and start thinking of ways you can get this information out to people who abhor politics, who bore easily, and who pay little attention to what the government is doing to its own citizens.
9 Reasons to Dump Your Corporate Gym For a Family Gym
Is this a workout or a slow dance?
The joy of children also comes with the horrors of what motherhood does to the body. Trying to recapture some semblance of my former self, I joined a few fancy corporate gyms with salons and spas and pretty associates selling banana-choco-gluten-free $12 shakes, but I never achieved the results I wanted. It turns out that quitting was the answer. I finally discovered how to get fit and have a great time doing it. I joined a family-owned, martial arts gym. The following truths will convince you to ditch your corporate gym membership in favor of a much better option that actually produces results while improving every area of your life.
9. “Do you believe in love at first sight or do I have to walk by you again?”
A simple Google search on “picking up girls” will lead to hundreds of smarmy articles advising men on how to hook up at the gym. This particular sentiment — from someone claiming to be a gentleman — sums it up about perfectly:
Utilized properly, the gym is one of the finest hunting grounds for the well prepared cocksman.
Wow. Where to begin? If you’re 20 and this is the kind of thing you’re into, I’d say that guy is right. Big corporate gyms with lots of young, dumb girls would be a good place for a sexual predator to stalk his kill. However, when you’re a married mom or dad, this is not the kind of environment that will encourage your marriage. Further, it’s uncomfortable to feel as if you are being sized up by people who refer to themselves as “cocksmen.” It’s also disconcerting trying to avoid that one guy who stalks you with his eyes when you’re trying to use that embarrassing machine where you pretend to strangle someone with your thighs. Awkward.
