Fear turns to loathing

I’m sitting here with my foot elevated, because like an idiot I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing today, and missed an entire step going out into the garage. I seem to have given myself a mild ankle sprain. It hurts like a mother, and I’m doing my best to make sure I can handle some walking tomorrow, because we have a chance to see Notre Dame go 9-0 by beating Pitt! So I’ve iced, wrapped, elevated, and Advil’d, and I’m hoping that it will be okay enough that I can handle the walking tomorrow. Maybe we need to buy a little wagon, and Ken can pull me behind him! I just laughed at that mental image.

Anyway, this is a good time to do an update. This could very well be the last one I make before the election, so I’ll try to make it a good one. I’ll warn you that I am pissed, so proceed at your own risk.

Before I get to that, let me say that I’m thinking of the people on the East Coast, and sending special thoughts for several friends who have had to deal with Sandy and her aftermath. Our good friend Raquel, in particular, is having a rough time of it, as she lives in the Village and has been without power since the storm hit. She’s been able to go on walkabout to charge her phone and find wifi, so has let us all know that she and her Mom are okay. She has also maintained her sense of humor, and I don’t feel ashamed to say that she embodies all that I love about New York and New Yorkers: tough, but with a heart of gold. Love you, Raquel, and I hope they’re right about you getting your power back TONIGHT!

Having said that, I’ll segue into why I’m pissed. While President Obama was busy getting shit done, looking all presidential and junk, and meeting with his new BFF New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Romney was left twiddling his thumbs. Out of decency, he canceled his campaign events. Well...sort of. He decided to go ahead with a rally in the quaint little village of Kettering, Ohio, but changed it from a campaign rally to a “victory rally.” Ostensibly, it was to help raise supplies and funds for hurricane victims. A couple of things, though. A) The Red Cross specifically says on their website to NOT send food or clothing. It takes up too many of their resources to sort and catalog the items, and a monetary donation is absolutely the best way to help the organization and the people it is trying to assist. But ol’ Mittens is like the honey badger. He doesn’t give a shit. So he collected items and talked about how they were going to box them all up and drive them to a donation site. And 2) because this was a last-minute shift in focus, they wanted to make sure it looked like they were rolling in item donations, so the campaign went to Walmart and spent five grand buying supplies to stack on tables. When people were told that they needed an item to donate in order to gain admittance to the rally and said they hadn’t brought anything, they were told to “grab something off the table” and then present it as their donation.

I honestly don’t know when I’ve seen such crass opportunism as Romney and his campaign are displaying. This even trumps (HA! Get it??) the Paul Ryan “I’m barging into this soup kitchen and washing clean dishes whether you like it or not” moment. As I’ve written before, I’ve got a super duper double viper Bullshit-O-Meter, and this entire campaign reeks of bullshittery.

But THAT isn’t what pissed me off the most, believe it or not! What really did it for me, and sent me from fearing what Romney’s policies would do to our country and the economy and actively disliking his  persona into the realm of genuinely loathing the man is another Ohio-related incident.

He told the crowd at a rally in northern Ohio that he “saw a story” about how Chrysler is thinking of moving all Jeep production to China. This, in a state that relies heavily on the auto industry. GM and Chrysler spokespeople immediately responded saying that that couldn’t be further from the truth; what they ARE thinking about doing is expanding production in China, which indicates a sign of health for the companies. They are not closing any U.S. production facilities. Even the Chrysler CEO had to weigh in and say no, this is completely untrue.

But Mitt the Honey Badger don’t care. He released TV and radio ads repeating the exact same BIG FAT LIE. This, despite immediate and forceful refutation from the companies themselves.

So what was it about that that pissed me off so much? He needlessly scared people. Panicked workers were calling into their workplaces wondering if they were still going to have a job. In a state where the auto industry means so much—and unemployment is lower than the national average, thanks to the auto bailout—he was purposefully trying to frighten people. What kind of an asshole does that?? These are people who are worried about their families and their livelihood, and he’s scaring the bejeebus out of them in order to score cheap political points.

All those people who think he’s an honorable man? Do you want to change your answer? To me, an honorable person doesn’t pull such a cynical, asshole move on people who are scared. An honorable person does their best to reassure those who are hurting and scared, and works his ass off to get them the help that they need (please scroll up to see that picture again).

Well, if there is any sort of redeeming aspect to this, it is that his actions and words speak of desperation. I am not taking anything for granted, but these are not the tactics of someone who is winning. They are those of someone who is losing.

As well as the tactics of someone who is a Loser. Capital L Loser.

For a little comic relief, please enjoy this clip from “The Daily Show” that had both me and Ken laughing out loud...especially the end!

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

One is silver, the other gold

Sorry for my lack of updates! Sometimes when on vacation, I’ll manage to get one or two in, but this time I just enjoyed the moment(s) and didn’t worry about updating. I’ll have lots more to write about various cool things we did (Eastern State Penitentiary was just incredible, and there was an abandoned places bonus in Greenwich Village: St. Vincent’s Hospital. We couldn’t get in, but I got some neat photos.), but today’s entry will be the people entry.

Our first meet-up was with our long-time blogger friend Dana. He was sitting on his porch soaking up the sunshine, and we were happy to join him and have a beer or two as we talked. We laughed about how our friendship started with a bizarre news story I posted concerning a man arrested for mowing the lawn wearing nothing but sandals and a dog collar. Dana and I had a long and hilarious email exchange naming various footwear and headgear, like cowboy boots and a fez, or saddle shoes and a fedora. He took us up to his apartment on the third floor and showed us his balcony where he feeds the birds, and then he showed us his paintings. I’m a big fan of abstract art, so I absolutely loved them, and we talked about the things we saw in the paintings, the feelings they engendered, and his techniques. He has begun showing some of his art with a group in his community, and I hope others enjoy them as much as I did!

After that, we headed out for a stroll in the park by the Delaware River. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and as we walked, we worked up an appetite. We went to a place I’d found online, and Dana said it was the best restaurant in town, so that sounded good to us! We got there at four o’clock, an hour before they served dinner, so we had drinks and appetizers and more conversation. We eventually ordered dinner, and there was more conversation (I keep thinking of the Lewis Carroll poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” and this stanza: “The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--Of cabbages--and kings--And why the sea is boiling hot--And whether pigs have wings.”), well into the evening. I swear, I think we sat there for probably five hours! We agreed to meet for breakfast Friday morning, when we were heading out for New York.

I found another place online, said to be the best breakfast in town, so we were batting a thousand when it came to good places to eat! I was delighted to see Scrapple, that regional Pennsylvania-Dutch delicacy, on the menu, but I assure you I did not order it. I remember my Mom making “fried mush” when I was a kid, and no sir, I did not like it. Fried mush is just made of cornmeal, but Scrapple is fried mush on steroids. It’s the non-PETA approved version of fried mush, with bits and pieces of pork parts in it. Yeah, I stuck with an omelet. But I did get to have some grits, which I love every once in a while. You generally can’t get them in restaurants around here, and I was surprised (but happy) to see them on the menu there! Mmm, grits with butter and salt. Oh yeah! [snapping out of my food flashback]

Anyway, there was more talk and agreement that it was a wonderful meeting and that we are now and forever fast friends. Dana expressed sadness that he might never see us again, but we travel quite a bit, and when we again make our way to the east coast (another trip to D.C. might be in the works eventually), he will always be on our list to see. He is truly a fascinating man, with many wonderful tales of his days in the theater. I am very grateful to have met him, and honored to be his friend.

I actually skipped a day in there, because in between our dinner with Dana and our breakfast on Friday, we met with another long-time blogger friend, Lisa. Her and her husband came into town to do a little shopping, and were kind enough to meet us halfway between their farm and Philadelphia. They were incredibly sweet and so easy to talk to, and it really seemed like we’d known each other for ages, rather than meeting for the first time! We laughed about how we’re usually kind of introverted and can be somewhat shy, but it honestly just felt so relaxed and comfortable. I rarely feel that at ease with someone I’m just meeting, but I remember exchanging some heartfelt emails with Lisa about several things, including her efforts to quit smoking. She is still smoke-free, and I am so proud of her! Yay, Lisa! Both her and Doug were wonderful people, and we hope that they might be able to stop by our place in a couple of weeks on their way to Chicago to see some friends. We would love to have them visit!

Then it was off to New York City. We met Friday night with another long-time friend, Raquel. I’ve known Raquel since PRE-blogging days, when we both had web pages rather than blogs! We met for the first time in 2005, so it had been far too long since we got together. We walked around the financial district a bit (that’s where we were staying) and then had dinner at an Italian place near Fulton Market. (I had always heard about Fulton Fish Market...apparently it no longer operates as a fish market, but there are lots of shops and restaurants in the area.) More great conversation with a friend I love dearly, and it was wonderful to see her. The food was SO good, and we had to have some tiramisu for dessert, along with a chocolate gelato with espresso sauce. Dammit, I’m going into food flashbacks again! We found a cool brewery in the area and had a couple of drinks and more conversation and lots of laughs.

On Saturday, her long-time friend (I keep using that phrase, and I keep thinking “Me love you long-time!” Gahhh!) and one of my newer Facebook friends, Stephen, came up from his home in Connecticut to meet up with us. Or as he corrected me, he came DOWN from Connecticut. Whatever! They came down to our hotel (I got the direction right that time), we walked over to Zuccotti Park to check out Occupy Wall Street (more soon), tried to see the Sept. 11 Memorial but were unsuccessful (more soon), and then just did some strolling around Manhattan. Doesn’t that sound cool? Yeah, we just strolled around Manhattan. (Yes, Manhattan is a big place. We just strolled around a very small portion of Manhattan.) I enjoyed meeting Stephen, and don’t tell him this, but I found him charming and funny and very fun to be around!

Then we headed UPtown to Raquel’s place, hung out and talked for a bit before heading out to dinner. Got to pet the puppies and say hi to Pidge (the pigeon), as well as looking at Raquel’s mom’s incredible paintings, which are replicas of old-school masters. Just amazing work. Dinner was at a Spanish place that Raquel chose in Greenwich Village. Oh, the food, the FOOD! In a wonderful turn of events, Raquel’s mom joined us for dinner, and Gloria is fascinating and so much fun! They are of Spanish heritage, so they pretty much did all the ordering of the tapas...I wasn’t even going to TRY to pronounce it! Ken and I split a paella, and oh my...I had never had paella before, and it was every bit as good as Raquel said it would be. The crusty bits on the edges...oh mama. I’m actually salivating as I write this. Then it was back to Raquel’s for a bit, but we were pretty much in a food coma by that point, so after more conversation and an invite over to Gloria’s apartment next to Raquel’s, we made our way back to the hotel. A very good day.

We had hoped to meet with another friend, David, on Sunday for brunch, but he had a friend emergency to deal with and couldn’t make it. We were just happy to hear that all was well with him, and it’s good to know that he was being a friend to someone in crisis. Next time, for sure!

There are others we would have loved to have met on this vacation, but there are only so many hours in a day. However, the people we did meet were charming, fascinating, and just generally super cool people. I have no doubt that the friends we meet the next time around will be every bit as wonderful.

Thanks to Dana, Lisa and Doug, Raquel, Stephen, and Gloria for meeting with us, and thank you for being my friends. You are beyond precious metals…you are gems.