Archive for September, 2010
Mourning in America
Tell us in this thread what you are going to do to get these videos in front of every American you can think of.
Pay special attention to the Grandmas out there…and the Momma Grizzlies…but most particularly the Grandmas.
When all of us were growing up, whenever there was a crisis, when people were hurt and confused and didn’t know what to do, our grandmothers were the ones who stood up, took charge, and led the way. Their day-to-day identities may have been cookie ladies, baking banana bread and gossiping at the church bazaar, but when anyone was in trouble, the strongest and loudest voices came from the gray-haired women who’d held the families together since the Eisenhower administration.
Our Grandmas are all gone now, folks.
But, every day we can feel what they would be doing if they were still alive, and saw what Obama and Democrats have done to this country. Remember: we all came from lifelong Democrat households, but we know in our hearts our own grandmothers — women who had commemorative plates of Jack and Jackie Kennedy on their walls — would be going up and down their streets every day, working the neighbors up, to roil them all against the Democrats this November.
Grandmas are going to save this country. Grandmas are going to prevent Obama from getting a second term. Grandmas are going to put Governor Palin into the White House.
Because Grandmas don’t take crap from anyone, and they’ve lived long enough to know how to fight, especially when the future of their grandchildren is at stake.
Your assignment: give us your ideas for how to get Grandmas nationwide to see these videos…and stir them up in their own families to get those they love to vote against the Democrats this fall.
WEEK TWO: Bristol Palin Dancing with the Stars Watch Thread
UPDATE: ABC lets you vote like a Democrat (up to 11 times per email address), so please go to ABC.com and vote as many times as possible for Bristol and Mark:
Here’s the link: http://cdn.abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars/vote/begin?v6
Mark Ballas and Bristol Palin in Wasilla, Alaska
Mark Ballas and Governor Palin, taken with Mark's personal iPhone it looks like...and it appears the Governor, holding her own camera phone, got a shot of them together herself afterwards.
We really like Bristol Palin — she reminds us a lot of the girls we all went to Catholic high school with…and watching her on Dancing with the Stars makes us think of a lot of those girls, when they learned all sorts of dance numbers for pep rallies, the Homecoming Follies, or the Spring Arts Festival.
They weren’t professional dancers. They never had any lessons. But they had a little bit of rhythm and a lot of soul…and the heart they showed in those performances came shining through whenever they took the stage. We remember cheering and cheering for these sweethearts, and we’re going to do the same for Bristol too.
Tonight at 8EST/7CST Bristol’s dancing again, and has another chance to wear a beautiful costume, have some fun, and represent Alaska and the Palin family on the national stage.
We hope you support her.
It’s unusual for us to watch television, but we’re going over to our friend Zara’s house tonight to catch Bristol’s performance…before coming home to vote for her like crazy afterwards.
Please use this thread to talk about Bristol’s chances tonight, as well as her trip back to Alaska with her Dancing partner Mark Ballas…as featured in People Magazine this week. When the show airs tonight, we’ll try our best to live-blog it for those who can’t see the performance…and we’ll put up the voting numbers for our Bristol so that we can all vote to keep her in the competition.
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UPDATE: Looks like Bristol and Mark will be dancing ‘The Quick Step” to one of our favorite songs, “Can’t Hurry Love”. Here’s the rest of the lineup:
– Rick Fox and Cheryl Burke — “Tush” (jive)
– Florence Henderson and Corky Ballas — “Suddenly I See” (quickstep)
– Brandy and Maks Chmerkovskiy — “Magic” (jive)
– Michael Bolton and Chelsie Hightower — “Hound Dog” (quickstep)
– Audrina Patridge and Tony Dovalani — “Love Machine” (quickstep)
– Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough — “Shake It” (jive)
– Margaret Cho and Louis Van Amstel — “Dreaming” (jive)
– Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer– “I Want You To” (quickstep)
– Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya — “Danger Zone” (jive)
– Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas — “You Can’t Hurry Love” (quickstep)
– The Situation and Karina Smirnoff — “We No Speak Americano” (quickstep)
Here’s our favorite version of the song (from the end credits of Runaway Bride):
And no saying nasty things about the Dixie Chicks in comments…because the song is great, even if the girls who sing it aren’t.
Then there’s this fun Moonlighting video:
Which gives us an excuse to run our most favorite thing that Cybill Shepherd ever did with her life:
Did you know Sidetracks in Boystown refuses to play Twisted Sister on 80s Retro night? It’s a damn shame, because “We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore” is pretty much the anthem of our times. They are really weird about music there. Love the place. Hang out there a lot. But co-owner Chuck Hyde has mental issues with a lot of songs…so DJs aren’t allowed to play anything that reminds him of bad memories from his past. Evidently, the guy’s had a rough life, because the “banned songs” list at Sidetracks is longer than at any club we’ve ever known.
“Coming to America” actually makes the man cry, we’ve heard, because it reminds him of riding on a ferry on 9.10.01 since that Neil Diamond song played on a loudspeaker that day when he took a trip to the Statue of Liberty. Now, when it plays, he crumples into a ball on the ground, in tears, and wets himself. So, that song, too, is banned. It’s like Mittens Romney not allowing any spicy sandwiches in the same room with him, lest he have an uh-oh.
Weird.
But, super-funny if you have the Best of Neil Diamond on your iPhone and are equipped with speakers loud enough for Chuck to hear it in public somewhere. Not that we’ve tried this or anything. Yet.
QUESTION: Is the reason the GOP Cocktail Party establishment won't push Obamacare as an election issue because they want to protect Mittens Romney's 2012 candidacy?
Have you noticed something incredibly bizarre?
Polls show Obamacare is so unpopular, especially with Independents, that when people hear a member of Congress supported what Democrats have done to healthcare those voters literally run screaming from the thought of re-electing that person.
Republicans should be hammering Obamacare left and right, but they’re not. Why? “What are those star destroyers waiting for?”, as Billy Dee Williams would say.
We think this is all about Mittens Romney, and the push the Cocktail Party establishment is making to secure the 2012 nomination for him, “because it’s his turn, and he’s wanted to be president since the 1970s”.
If Romney is the GOP nominee, Romneycare in Massachusetts becomes a major issue, because it was the disaster that presaged Obamacare.
If Republicans run against Obamacare in 2010, then they can’t push Romney as a nominee in 2012, because voters will not accept Romney as a viable candidate once they see he was behind a similar program in Massachusetts.
Though, truthfully, as we’ve been telling you since November 2008, voters are not going to accept Romney as a viable alternative to Obama period. He is not going to be elected president…but we all must work hard to make sure the GOP Cocktail Party establishment doesn’t somehow succeed in making Romney the nominee.
The Cocktail Party cannot be underestimated, folks.
They want Romney to be the nominee because these guys have already bet everything on him. They need him to be the candidate because they are counting on jobs with his campaign…and they need those jobs to advance their careers, and make a lot of money as post-campaign consultants and lobbyists. These guys are HUNGRY. In this job market, they are not about to let secure, guaranteed, high-paying jobs with Romney 2012 slip out of their grasps…no matter how obvious it is that Romney would lose the general election (which he will).
That means looking ahead to 2012 and killing a push against Obamacare, since that would hurt Romney.
It also means that in 2011, after Republicans take back the House, and maybe the Senate, these Cocktail Party establishment Romney guys will do everything they can to prevent a repeal of Obamacare…since they do not want this to be an issue debated in the news and revving Americans up…since that hurts Romney’s nomination chances.
Are we the only ones seeing this?
We don’t know how to stop the Romney Guys yet, but we see the threat they pose, and what they are up to.
What think you on all this?
What are Muslims complaining about today? Not enough ice cream for Guantanamo detainees
All this time, Biden's lactose-powered gluttony was an expression of his devout love for Islam.
The Muslim terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay’s detention center aren’t getting enough ice cream, apparently.
This is, of course, a major outrage to Allah and will most likely precipitate all manner of explosions, mass-murders, and other demonstrations of “The Religion of Peace”.
Because Muslims aren’t getting enough ice cream, and misunderstood CAIR Bears that they are, it’s perfectly acceptable to the Left to take their displeasure out in the form of murder.
Honestly, we know people — AMERICANS — right here in Chicago who can no longer afford ice cream treats. People who used to stop off at Bobcat’s, or who’d indulge in some gelato at Whole Foods, or even who used to have a daily frappuchino or other Starbucks-esque treat as a reward, have cut back on all of this because they can’t afford luxuries in the Obamaconomy.
Prisoners — TERRORISTS — are getting a daily ice cream treat every day, but are complaining they can’t have TWO ice creams.
While many Americans have none.
Hope!
Change!
Dhimmihood!
Monday Open Thread: September 27th, 2010
What’s on your minds this Monday?
What are people talking about in your part of the country?
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Yesterday, someone asked in comments what restaurants and things to do in Chicago we’d recommend for anyone visiting — as the commenter has a daughter who will be meeting her boyfriend here for one of their birthdays.
Here’s what we would do for a fun time in Chicago…and it’s usually what we do whenever someone visits us here. We are all about doing something free for fun and going to restaurants that are a good value, so if this isn’t fancy enough for you, then let us know in comments and we can think of something more expensive (but, really, you can have a never-forget experience in Chicago quite easily without breaking the bank…and we do it all the time, actually):
BREAKFAST:
You should start your day at Orange…a breakfast/brunch only restaurant that’s on Clark near Belmont (across from the store The Alley) here in Boystown. It’s really worth waking up early for, and is one of our favorite places in the city. This is where K. went with that guy Jason he was dating for a while back in 2006, and Jason (who was a waiter at the time, at a Bennigans) acted like a baby and sent his order back THREE TIMES (first because it was the wrong order, but the rest of the time because he didn’t think it was hot enough…and we think he did that just to be Jason about it). The phrase “sometimes the universe brings you the wrong french toast” was born that day.
Orange brings cucumber infused water to the table, which is so refreshing. They have orange-scented coffee and you can start with fruit sushi called “frushi” which is adorable little assemblages of various fruits and sweet rice, served up like sushi, but with obviously no fish. Instead of soy or teriyaki you dip in fruit coulis, using chopsticks, for a memorable breakfast.
Then, for the main attraction Orange does a pancake flight every day — four little pancakes all centered around a theme. For Christmas, they had a gingerbread, a peppermint, an eggnog, and a honey ham pancake…like Christmas in a plate. Around Halloween one year they did Trick or Treat pancakes, with takes on four different kinds of candies. They also have Fruity Pebbles Babycakes with Fruity Pebbles butter…turkey sausage for the table…and a juice bar where you can mix and match dozens of exotic juices to make whatever you want.
We have never had a bad time at Orange, even when K. went with Jason. The staff is very cheerful, and a lot of them are actors in the various theaters around the neighborhood so they always know the scoop on something fun to do later in the evening so it’s better than talking to a concierge. Everyone we have ever taken to Orange has loved it, and still talks about it to this day.
LUNCH:
There’s a great lunch buffet at That Little Mexican Cafe up in Evanston that’s worth taking a ride on the Purple Line to head up there for. It’s ridiculously cheap, and it’s really good Mexican food…as much as you can eat! It’s the only time we have Mexican anymore, really, because no other Mexican place in Chicago is as good…or as cheap. AND, if you do go up to Evanston the Northwestern campus is beautiful to walk around in, and Evanston is a cute little college town. This would be a nice little adventure while in Chicago, because it’s something you probably would not have seen otherwise unless you had business at Northwestern. On nice days we sometimes just walk up there from Boystown. It takes about 2 hours, and we walk along the lakefront paths and then through the neighborhoods of Evanston until we get to Northwestern. It’s a very pretty walk, and we like looking at all the lakefront mansions, especially. A lot of ideas for columns come from these walks, actually…but if we are in a hurry or it’s rainy or cold out, we just take the Purple Line Express from Belmont or Fullerton and we’re at Northwestern’s Davis Street station in about 20 minutes. It’s less time than going all the way downtown for lunch.
Another great place that’s a good deal is Reza’s restaurant in Andersonville, which is at Clarke and Berwyn. Reza’s has a lunch buffet that’s $12 or so, and has all sorts of great things on it. There’s roast chicken, lamb, salads, rice, stews, soup, all sorts of great Persian treats. And the people who own it and work there are very nice and friendly. There are also big windows that look onto the street so you can see all the action in Andersonville while eating there…and if you are visiting Chicago, it’s nice to explore our neighborhoods like this.
DINNER:
The Signature Room at the John Hancock Building is probably our favorite restaurant downtown…because you need to factor the view into what you are spending. If you went up in the Sears (Willis) Tower, you have to pay $15 to ride that elevator with tourists. With the Signature Room, you get a better view of Chicago (including the Sears Tower), for FREE, with your dinner (or cocktails, if you are only going to the bar). The food is good and we’ve always had a wonderful time there. You are allowed to wander around the restaurant staring out the windows…and you might have to wait a little bit to get it, but you can saddle up to spots on the bar, right by the windows, and just stare out there for as long as you have drinks in front of you. We have had some of our all-time favorite nights in Chicago up there. It’s really a great place. During the summer, they have an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet that was ridiculously cheap…and there’s a brunch on Sundays that’s actually a good value for about $36…since they have all sorts of fancy things on it. To be honest though, that’s a little bit more than we’d spend on brunch (because other places we like, posted below, are cheaper and we don’t really like all that shrimp and lobster and fancy stuff).
We like taking people to Ping Pong for Chinese food here in Boystown. It’s on Broadway, just north of Aldine, across from The Closet bar and Phoebe’s Cupcakes (where you can go for dessert). Ping Pong has very good orange chicken, general’s chicken, lettuce cups, pineapple beef, you name it. It’s really great for people watching, too, since they have giant windows and you can see people walking their dogs, going to or from the gym, heading out on dates, whatever. It’s our favorite Chinese in the city, and it’s fun to get like three different entrees and then share together.
Also in Boystown is our new favorite hangout, DS Tequila, which is on Halsted at Roscoe. DS has a big menu of various tacos you can share…with our favorite being the BLT taco, with the steak and pork chili tacos being a close second. They have very good, very strong, frozen margaritas in all sorts of flavors…and for dessert they do a nice tres leches cake that’s perfect for sharing. We really like the staff here, and they are also good for telling you anything fun that’s happening in the neighborhood that night. It’s a sports bar in Boystown so it attracts an eclectic crowd, and they have the DJ from MiniBar providing the sound, which is heavy on mashups of 80s hits with stuff from today. It’s just such a fun place, we can’t say enough nice about it. NOT good for a quiet, romantic dinner…but great if you want to have a good time.
Nookie’s Tree diner is also right there on Halsted at Halsted and Buckingham. We love Nookie’s, but don’t let a server named Barry wait on you (he’s a nationality expert, and will ask you what nationality you are at the table because Barry has no manners). Nookie’s has a great fall menu, with all sorts of interesting pumpkin, squash, and other seasonal favorites through winter. It’s a great comfort food place…and ideal for meeting friends and talking. We do a lot of magazine interviews in Nookie’s because we can sit down with reporters in a side table and talk for hours and they don’t mind. It’s open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday nights, too, which is great. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner and we’ve always had a great time there (except when we have had Barry as the server). Nookie’s is BYOB, but Kafka wines is right across the street, and they have lots of great wines for under $10-15. The owner, Jeff Kafka, can match a wine to whatever you think you will be eating.
There’s a new Greek restaurant on Broadway and Barry (just north of Barry) that’s also a new favorite, though we can’t remember the name of it. It’s something like Menitholis’, and is a Greek word that starts with an “M” and has something that looks like Menthos in it. They have excellent roast chicken and all sorts of kebobs and things and the family that runs it is so sweet and charming. We really like those people.
BRUNCH:
We aren’t big brunch guys, because it’s just so cliche for gay dudes to meet people for brunch. Brunch on Sunday is also very busy most places, so try to go at 1130am, 12am, max. Our favorite brunch place is the Mystic Celt that’s on Southport near the Brown Line stop (it’s close to the candy shop Candyality). The brunch is under $15 and they have a carving station with corned beef, roast beef, pork, and other things. There’s Irish sausage and potatoes. The best are these orange pancakes that taste like Twinkies. It’s a great brunch and then afterwards on Southport there are a lot of fun stores you can shop in, or just walk around the neighborhood since it’s so pretty.
MiniBar has an excellent brunch as well. Now, we’ve always made fun of MiniBar because we don’t like the people it attracts in the evenings. These people are douchebags, and they are the pretentious gay guys and their friends (and visiting, closeted celebrities like Aaron Schock, Jesse Metcalf, Jake Gyllenhaal, and others) who like to hang out in MiniBar to be seen and do whatever else they get up to. Not our scene.
But, for brunch on Sundays MiniBar is really a great value. It’s $20, includes unlimited bellinis or mimosas, and has a nice spread of salads, breakfast items, and varying lunch dishes. It’s very low-key and cool, and the douchebags that come there at night aren’t around in the daylight. It’s kind of the best secret in Boystown, really, because people avoid the place because of the pretension at night…and don’t know how good it is as a restaurant on Sunday mornings.
We hope these ideas are helpful.
Feel free to add anything you think needs to be highlighted in Chicago.
As you’ve noticed, we tend to stay up North when it comes to restaurants and most of the above is in Boystown, Andersonville, or up as far as Northwestern, just because this is where we spend most of our time. We think the food is better, cheaper, and you’ll get better service than you will right in the Loop…with the added benefit that you’ll get to see more of Chicago while on these adventures to various places…and if you have dinner in Boystown then afterwards you can do all sorts of fun things, like see a drag show, go to Blue Man Group, hit Sidetracks for Showtunes, Comedy, or Retro night, go to Roscoe’s for karaoke, or see just how tragic and bizarre things are at the Lucky Horseshoe that particular night.
Let us know what you think if you ever take any of our suggestions…because we know most of the people who work in all of these places, so if they weren’t nice to you, we’ll make sure they get an earful about that.
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Chicago Tribune says health costs to go up at least 12% in 2011
This is interesting, because we ran a post below asking if your health costs have already gone up, and then we noticed this article over on the Tribune’s site about insurance premiums expected to increase 12% in 2011.
If we understand the article correctly, this means that whatever has happened to you already, expect a 12% increase ON TOP OF THAT to happen in 2011.
Here’s our gut take on all of this, and it spells doom for Democrats in 2012 because we don’t see a scenario where prices fall back down to pre-Obamacare levels no matter what happens in the next two years:
(1) Democrats have no idea the damage they did to their party on Christmas Eve in 2009, when every Democrat in the Senate voted for Obamacare without reading the bill, or even understanding what was in it.
(2) Currently, support for Democrats is at historically-low numbers.
(3) Many people have not yet noticed the increases in their health insurance, and some employers are still in wait-and-see mode with all of this, with insurance companies still going through the bureaucratic motions and panel reviews to decide what their rates will ultimately be. Since there is 2,000 pages of legislation in the Obamacare bill, and the authors of this disaster didn’t understand its impact on the health industry, everything is still up in the air in terms of what this is all going to mean for families’ bottom lines.
(4) Some time in 2011, at least by the summer we believe, people are going to more or less know how much Obamacare has cost them, and they should start to see the first signs of rationing and government intrusion impacting their daily lives. They are not going to like any of this, and Democrats are going to hear it from the public.
(5) In early 2012, we imagine premiums will increase again, as the chaos Obamacare has unleashed on the nation really takes hold, and an increasing number of companies decide to cancel their employees’ insurance because it’s actually cheaper to pay the $2,000/person penalty than it is to privately insure their people. This means insurance companies will have to further raise their rates for those still in the programs, to make up for the loss of revenue from all those canceled policies.
(6) Going into the 2012 presidential election, Democrats are going to have to face an angry sea of voters who are paying hundreds of dollars more a month for insurance, if they still have it, while receiving less benefits and services because of rationing. They are not going to be able to run away from Obamacare and pretend it doesn’t exist because by this time there will be many sensational stories about people in America being denied treatment or access to doctors because of Obamacare’s effects.
Democrats are tricky, and adept at manufacturing crises to distract voters…so MAYBE they’ll come up with something to make the public forget about its Obamacare anger.
We highly doubt that, though. And we don’t think Democrats can pull any trick that will mitigate the damage done to the party on December 24th, 2009.
The unmitigated, permanent, party-destroying damage of bad legislation rammed through in the dead of night without any Democrat Senators reading a single word of it.
Class vs. Crass Brainstorming: Who should be next, and what contrast should be made?
What are some things Michelle Antoinette’s been up to in the news lately that you’d like to see contrasted with behavior from former First Spouses…and which previous occupant of the White House would be the best example for Michelle Antoinette to follow in that area?
Off the top of our heads:
(1) The spare-no-expense extravagance of Michelle Antoinette’s $1 million vacation in Spain, at a time when many Americans consider macaroni and cheese to be a fancy, all they can afford dinner?
(2) Michelle’s “look at me” gifts to UN dignitaries of Longaberger baskets stuffed with pickled okra, in jars with her autograph printed on them, with silver tags on the baskets that said “Made especially for Michelle Obama” in contrast with presents other First Spouses gave that had deeper meaning with less emphasis on the particular First Spouse’s own name and brand.
(3) Michelle finding the time to attend church for only the 6th time since moving into the White House
(4) Your call…what’s something the current First Spouse did in recent weeks that caught your attention disapprovingly?
Which former First Spouse (or even a First Spouse from fiction, or a First Spouse from another country) would be a good contrast for Michelle Antoinette for whatever issue you want to highlight?
Choose one from below, or write in an idea of your own to give Chrissy-the-Hyphenated some inspiration:
QUESTION: Have your insurance premiums already gone up, or do you know of people whose premiums have gone up?
None of us here have health insurance, because as freelancers we don’t have employers who would offer us plans…and as freelancers, it’s never been affordable for us to get insurance.
Once, a few years back, one of us priced it out and it would have been something ridiculous like $300 a month or so…and that’s just not money we have in the Obamaconomy to put into the kitty for others out there to have treatments they want. As guys who are healthy, have no chronic problems, and never need a doctor, it’s more cost-effective for us to just save up a little emergency fund of our own and have that ready in case we ever have some kind of emergency.
Now, talk to us if we’d ever have families, and we guarantee we’d have our children insured to the hilt…because as dads we’d have to take responsibility for someone else, and no matter how much it cost we’d make sure those kids had everything they needed, just in case.
With nobody depending on us, though, besides ourselves, and money really tough to come by, we’re happy with our decision to not have any sort of insurance and are perfectly willing to prepare for the consequences of that. And it is our damn Constitutional right to do so.
We are curious, though, what all of you are noticing with your insurance premiums. Have yours, or those of people you know, risen recently in response to Obamacare?
We actually know people who work in the medical industry who are waiting to see what happens November 2nd. If Democrats are not removed from power, these medical professionals are going to start closing down their practices and head towards retirement. The people we know are in their late 40s/early 50s. They don’t want to keep doing what they are doing if it means taking on patients who won’t be able to pay them enough to break even, let alone make a profit. Instead of practicing medicine, they are going to pursue other fields with their medical degrees, and get into medical writing, research, and anything that is a steady paycheck not dependent on Obamacare.
HillBuzz is a great learning resource for us that many of you might not realize your important role in.
Through you, we have a chance to see into the lives of thousands of people. We want to encourage as many of you as possible to chime in on this thread and tell us what you are seeing in terms of insurance premium increases (and the departure of medical professionals from the field) because it’s like us having the ability to interview people all over the country, all at once. When we read these threads, we learn a great deal about the mood and mindset of the country.
The other day, many of you gave us great insight into parenting and various perceptions in relation to Katy Perry’s appearance on Sesame Street. That was invaluable, because it’s a peek into worlds we’ll never be a part of or fully understand on our own.
You actually give us more of an understanding for what’s going on in America and what people think than even professional JournoLists (an oxymoron if ever there was one) receive doing their own work.
Like all these bees coming back to a hive and serving up information instead of pollen.
What are people coast to coast saying about their health insurance…how do they feel about Obamacare…and are Democrats in big trouble because of what they did on Christmas Eve last year, when they rammed Obamacare through without even reading it?
What think you?
MUST READ: Personal account of why nationwide support needs to pour in for Carl Paladino in New York
Below, we’ve posted a letter we just received from a reader in New York state, talking about what she calls “The Paladino Phenomenon”. It’s really a must read, so we hope you take the time to not only invest in what’s below, but also to take a look at Paladino for yourself and think about what you can do to help make him the next Governor of New York:
Dear HillBuzz,
This turned out way different from what I started out to write, or probably what you expected. There are numerous issues and facts I wanted to address, but the more I addressed them, the more I saw it would take a New Yorker type article, which would take a week to do, and I do not have a week to do it (as much as I wish I did). So, this is more of a polemic. Writing this made me appreciate all the more the effort and work you do. I feel so strongly about this election. I cannot imagine how you could use this on your site, and hope you understand the sincerity and appreciation for you I felt in sending it. – MM
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There are several facts folks need to know about the Paladino phenomenon, and they are all very personal.
First, folks in New York State are sickened because our children move out of state to find jobs and careers. They are refugees. People’s families are torn apart because of the legalized corruption in New York. The insanely high taxes, the insanely intrusive regulatory atmosphere, the stranglehold of the government unions on our government and, more importantly, on our shoddy schools, drive young folks to places where human beings can live their lives in freedom and prosperity, and simply learn.
Second, politics in New York has been refined to a not so sophisticated insider’s game. There is one party in New York, the Parasite Party, feeding off the ever-dwindling folks who work hard, obey the rules, and want only to raise a family knowing their children can get a good education and have prospects of a better life.
What makes this aspect of the Paladino phenomenon personal is the way the Parasite Party insults and disparages the very folks who pay the bills. The GZ mosque is the perfect example of this fact of New York life. We are talked down to by the Parasites, who call us bigots and intolerant.
Third, New York is colloquially divided into an Upstate v. Downstate perspective. This is off kilter. The real division is between Manhatten, Brooklyn, the Bronx and the rest of the state. Manhattan is the capitol of the world, a treasure chest of immense wealth and immense influence (not to mention, a beautiful, astonishing place, full of wonderful people). The wealth and the influence naturally lead to the domination of all New York State. There is no Columbus balancing Cleveland balancing Cincinnati, no Los Angeles in balance with San Francisco, or Houston with Dallas.
The interests of NYC are not the interests of the rest of the state. Outside NYC, the chief business is agriculture. Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Schenectady, Rome, Utica, are not the centers of manufacturing or technology they once were. They are now struggling populations, asphyxiated with mandates imposed – - but not adequately funded – - by the state. New Yorkers are nickled and dimed to feed the Parasite Party. We are bizarrely divided between those who resent the nickel and diming, and those who are not affected. High taxes and oppressive regulations are irrelevant to a powerful elite who transcend New York State, and to those who contribute little or nothing. The elite dominates, and is indifferent to, the rest of the state, and the rest of the state knows it.
Carl Paladino understands: this is personal, it is not business. The Parasite Party is not good for most New Yorkers. They are the Soviet, and he is Lech Walesa.
For folks in Buffalo, Paladino is primarily familiar because of a series of radio ads he ran over time, at his own expense, addressing the shoddiness of the government schools locally. Paladino took the shocking position that children were being inhumanely deprived of the education they needed to live their lives successfully. His commercials began with the signature word, “HELLO!” He then would state the obvious: failure rates and drop-out rates meant actual human beings were the victims of forces for whom the well-being of the students were a peripheral concern. The implicit premise of his advertisements was this: it is within the power of our community to prepare these human beings for success, but politics is getting in the way.
Hello! Charles Dickens!
I do not know Paladino personally, although I once got a thank you note from him for something I did, something I do not remember. It was a little thing. I remember because the note was nice and thoughtful and unnecessary. I am not, nor have ever been, in a position to affect his life in any manner (nor the opposite).
I do know folks who know Carl Paladino personally. For what it is worth, I trust these folks, trust their judgment, and have no doubt they are accurate. What they say is: Carl is genuine. He is a normal human, and he cares.
He is shrewd, a great organizer, compassionate and a force of nature. He loves liberty. Paladino resonates because he is himself, understands what is going on in New York, and is fearless in saying what others do not have the nerve to say.
Paladino made something of himself. No person fed him with a silver spoon and cleared the path.
This election for governor in New York represents the essence of the Tea Party. As much as it is about taxes and education policy and legal corruption, it is above all about our culture, here in New York and throughout America. Do we have the courage to shatter the mind-control “shut up!” politics of the Left?
Carl Paladino is unlike any other person running for office today. He is totally himself.
What makes him so fascinating, is the question he implicitly throws in the face of the Parasite Party. Is it possible to be yourself, to speak your mind, and run for office with any prospect to win?
Leftists rely upon intimidation and manipulation designed to have folks not be themselves. They rely on Shut Up.
It takes bravery and courage to confront Pravda and Patrice Lumumba University, the powerful would-be arbiters of our consciousness.
Sarah Palin is the only other person so ably demonstrating exactly what Paladino is doing (well, ok, Christie). The other Tea Party folks are wonderful, they are great, but they do not have the exact personality (like Sarah) – - a personality which is a gift of life – - the blunt ability to confront the Shut Up culture.
Here is the secret of Sarah and Paladino. They are William Buckley, folks who see things as they are, who are willing to sacrifice themselves, and who love their fellow human beings so much, they dare to be themselves.
This year, Paladino is the only one up for election who is absolutely Lech Walesa. His election is the symbol of whether we keep our republic.
Addenda from CtH:
Click to embiggen. FYI: Silver is the Head Parasite in New York poli-TICKS.
Click to embiggen.
From what I’ve seen and read, the GOP in New York is wide open for true conservatives to TAKE OVER. Yes, the state is a mess. But we have one BIG advantage in that there appears to be little or no cuke and mayo RINO establishment here.
I don’t care if the very thought of affiliating yourself with the word Republican makes you break out in hives. Third parties are for fools and the Democrats here are a lost cause.
So if you live in New York State and have ANYTHING to offer … even small jobs like delivering lawn signs … find your local GOP and volunteer. Hubby Dearest did it here a few years back and found the committee nearly DEAD. His enthusiasm helped revitalize the committee, then this year, he was elected to the county committee that helped vet and endorse actual candidates.
THAT’s where we want real conservatives to be. Not on the outside griping about how the party doesn’t give us good candidates whine whine. INSIDE making it happen.
How to share this with others:
Directly below this line, it says Buzz This. Choose the one you know how to use. Note: The email option only allows for one address. The easiest way to send the blog to a group is to copy/paste the URL into the body of an email. For your friends who are stuck in the 80s, print and snail. The USPS is still in business 
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http://hillbuzz.org/2010/09/26/must-read-personal-account-of-why-nationwide-support-needs-to-pour-in-for-carl-paladino-in-new-york/
ACTION ITEM: Seek out three Liberals you know and check in with how they are feeling about Democrats right now
This will be harder for some of you to pull off than others, but we want you to see if you can strike up conversations with known Liberals and flesh out how they feel about the Democrat Party right now.
Try to get the opinions of three Liberals, at least.
This will be an ongoing project up through the elections in the fall…our little attempt to get a big picture on what the Democrat Party is facing at the moment.
Is the 2008 Obama Kool-Aid still strong in these people, or have they turned on their new god and his party?
Here in Chicago, we have identified three separate classes of these Liberals so far, based on their allegiance to Obama and how deep the sank into his cult of personality:
(1) Low level cultists = are the most vocal in their displeasure of what’s been going on. They’re the ones who are asking where the jobs are, where the recovery is, what good the stimulus did, etc. These are the people who may not admit Obama is a complete failure, but WILL admit that Democrats shouldn’t be in charge of Congress and the White House at the same time. They might never vote Republican, but they will be sitting out election day or throwing their votes away on third party crazy candidates. They seem to be in the Anger stage on the Kubler Ross scale, in terms of dealing with the colossal mistake they made in 2008.
(2) Medium level cultists = have not progressed beyond the Denial stage on the Kubler Ross scale. They are most likely to say things like “Obama’s doing the best he can, but he just hasn’t had enough time yet” or blame Republicans for standing in Obama’s way (in the face of the reality that Obama’s had strong majorities in both the House and the Senate which mean Republicans can’t do anything to stop Republicans from doing anything). They refuse to see reality, and aren’t anywhere near ready to break the hold the Democrat party has always held on them. They are blind Democrat voters, and while they can’t crow about any successes for this administration, they refuse to own up to the failures. They are going to turn out to vote like they always do, and will vote Democrat no matter what.
(2) High level cultists = become instantly irrational, emotional, and rattled when anything remotely related to current events, politics, or the news is discussed. Obama is a major sore point for them, because they believed in him with their whole hearts and are the most crushed by his failed presidency. These are the same sorts of people who would have crushed on Milli Vanilli in the 80s, screaming and yelling if anyone accused them of being lip-synchers because they wanted to believe Rob and Fab were the real deal. When Milli Vanilli were busted and exposed, these rabid fans got very agitated whenever people talked about them, walking out of a room in a rage of frustration and hurt instead of dealing with the fact they were dead wrong about these guys. We don’t expect these people to vote in November, and they might not even show up to vote for Obama in 2012 either…though they won’t admit it. They’ll just stay home and pout instead of going to vote against him.
In Boystown, we encounter mainly medium and high level cultists.
Democrats have lost the low-level people this year…and we think they’re lost for 2012 too. They’ve also lost the high-level cultists, who are the emotionally unstable Leftists who are seething with all sorts of rage they can’t really process. At their core, they know the Left has failed them, broken all its promises, and does not belong in power. But, these people won’t admit this — ever. They’ll just find something else to do on election day, but will wail against the Republicans and direct their hatred at conservatives…instead of focusing that hate on their real enemies, which is the Left itself (the ones who disappoint them and break their hearts).
How have the Liberals you know been behaving?
What has their tone sounded like to you?
What things have they been saying?
How pumped up are they to not only vote, but to work difficult GOTV operations for the fall?
We need you to become little bees in your own part of the country to gather this intel and the buzz back here and share it…because this insight into the Liberal mind is something we all know full well the national media won’t ever provide.
