2008 was a big election, Obama vs McCain, and the voting turnout was the highest it had been in 40 years, why it was almost 60 percent. We know a healthy slice of that 60 percent is easily persuaded by the last thirty second smear commercial that they saw and only showed up because they were on their way to the Seven Eleven to pick up a pack of cigs and the polls were on the way, But what of that 40 percent that didn't even vote, what's up with them?
Elections are not decided by clear-eyed reasonable people such as ourselves, but by people who are barely motivated, and a small thing like the availability of straight voting can make a difference. I think Beagles is correct in surmising that the reasons the reps and dems muster to support or oppose this bill are specious, it's all about winning,
During this year's primary season I saw the CNN guys at some remote hilltop in rugged, crusty, New England, on a cold and blustery night, and there were headlights down the road for miles, folks in heavy winter clothes were packed into ramshackle shelters waiting their chance to file through a narrow little polling place that clearly had not expected this huge turnout, It was a Norman Rockwell scene and my heart beat proudly for the intrepid spirit of The American People, and then I realized that about half of them were there to vote for Trump.
A lot of these backward countries that are in some dispute, we recommend that they hold an election, and sometimes they do, but then it turns out that everybody votes for their tribe, and nothing is settled, and we sigh and say well, they are too primitive, they are just not ready for democracy, So here we are some two hundred years into democracy and are we ready?
Whenever either of the candidates is asked a question they twist it around, well Trump doesn't even bother to do the twist, to talk about their opponent. In last night's town hall, the moderator made a point of telling them not to talk about each other, which neither of them obeyed. The big girl did well enough for somebody who hasn't taken questions in months, she was stiff and stretched out her answers to eat up her time because the moderator, Matt Lauer was surprisingly tough. One criticism of her by the tweeters was that she did not smile. I thought that was an improvement, something about her smile, so phony. Nothing phony about the Soft Baked One, it was a virtual gobsmackorama, firing the generals, keeping the oil, his secret plan, they just kept coming out like a top 40 station rolling out the hits.
After the Vietnam war there was kind of a wait, what would be the definitive movie about that war? Some people thought it would be The Deer Hunter, but as I recall it was kind of goofy, especially with that Russian Roulette crapola. My vote would go for Apocalypse Now. Whenever I hear Susie Q I see those show girls in their cowgirl garb prancing on stage before the crazed soldiers before the helicopter pulls them away, and that leads me to the scene where they get to the base where everybody is shooting and the guy asks to be taken to their leader and one guy answers, I thought you were our leader, and then there is the scene with the tiger.
I think the rural black people are poorer than the rural white people. I don't know how many black people there are in West Virginia but I suspect they are poorer than the white people, The French are a peculiar people no? But I do love to hear their women talk. When Deborah Harry broke into French, she got my attention. By the way, internet research reveals that she doesn't actually speak French. I stand corrected on ellipsis. Something about the way an ellipse drifts from the center on the long part of its orbit reminds me of those trailing periods, or maybe I am just making that up to cover myself. Doonesbury had, and still has a Nguyen Phred.
Going to Missouri tomorrow morning. Won't be back till late Monday, so I won't be posting again until Tuesday at earliest. And the Friday night seminar is cancelled. Perhaps Old Dog can better impress the young grammarians without my presence.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Pissing Off Poor People
Okay, let's call them "poor people" instead of "Black people" and, while we're at it, lets forget about the watermelons. I won't even question how anybody knows how poor people vote, as I assume studies have been done. The fact remains that anybody can still vote a straight ticket if they want to, it just takes them longer. If the poor people don't have the motivation to do this, then that's their problem. If it's true that the Republicans passed this law to discourage poor people from voting, wouldn't that just piss the poor people off and make them want to vote straight Democrat more than ever? The proponents of this bill claim that it will produce a "more informed electorate". I doubt that but, if it turns out to be true, wouldn't this newly informed electorate be well aware that the Republicans are out to disenfranchise them? If the Republicans passed this bill to help them win elections, it seems like they are shooting themselves in the foot.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still against this law because it will inconvenience everybody, regardless of race, color, or creed. I have voted straight Republican since I quit the Libertarian Party in 2004. If this was the only issue that was important to me, it would be enough to convert me to a Democrat, but the Democrats still want to raise my taxes and take my guns away, so that's that. I will be splitting my ticket this time because I'm voting Libertarian for president, and they won't have candidates running for all the other offices. I think I will vote Republican for congress as well because, with Hillary as president, we will need all the Republicans in congress that we can get. There is also this nice lady running for state legislature. She is running as a Republican, but she talks like she could almost be a Libertarian. She has been on the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners, where she has done a fine job of representing "we the people" against the vested interests. I was
pleasantly surprised when she won the primary, and I might even vote for her if she was a Democrat.
I believe that some movies have been made about Vietnam, but I don't think any TV shows have. Although MASH was set in Korea, I think it was an expression of the general anti-war sentiment during Vietnam. The movie "Battle of the Bulge" came out about the same time, and it bombed at the box office because people were not in the mood for a patriotic movie in which the good guys won in the end. By the way, we didn't lose the Vietnam War, our government threw it away.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still against this law because it will inconvenience everybody, regardless of race, color, or creed. I have voted straight Republican since I quit the Libertarian Party in 2004. If this was the only issue that was important to me, it would be enough to convert me to a Democrat, but the Democrats still want to raise my taxes and take my guns away, so that's that. I will be splitting my ticket this time because I'm voting Libertarian for president, and they won't have candidates running for all the other offices. I think I will vote Republican for congress as well because, with Hillary as president, we will need all the Republicans in congress that we can get. There is also this nice lady running for state legislature. She is running as a Republican, but she talks like she could almost be a Libertarian. She has been on the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners, where she has done a fine job of representing "we the people" against the vested interests. I was
pleasantly surprised when she won the primary, and I might even vote for her if she was a Democrat.
I believe that some movies have been made about Vietnam, but I don't think any TV shows have. Although MASH was set in Korea, I think it was an expression of the general anti-war sentiment during Vietnam. The movie "Battle of the Bulge" came out about the same time, and it bombed at the box office because people were not in the mood for a patriotic movie in which the good guys won in the end. By the way, we didn't lose the Vietnam War, our government threw it away.
Another melon head
Brilliant! The boffins were gobsmacked! I like the additional usage of English English in the everyday conversation of American English. It adds a little colour, er, color, but too much is pretentious. It goes both ways, I suppose, with many Americanisms finding their way in the speech of Her Majesty's subjects. D'oh!
The French used to have an official government office to maintain the purity of the French language, and would ban certain words lest they corrupt their native tongue. I don't know how well that's worked out for them. Some words just don't translate well, and maybe they say le hot dog when referring to the ubiquitous American tube steak, if it even appears on their menus.
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The watermelon conversation got me wondering about the proliferation of the seedless type, so I did the usual searching thing. Anybody else do that?...don't want to preach to the choir. By the way, Uncle Ken, that was an ellipsis and not an ellipse.
Anyhow, there are hundreds of watermelon varieties, many with seeds. The ones we see in stores are the ones with thick rinds and are easy to ship, often called "refrigerator" types because they will fit in a fridge. The bigger old style oblong type of childhood memories are called "picnic" watermelons, and there are also smaller types, about cantaloupe size and types with yellow or orange flesh. Discovered a new word, "brix," which refers to the level of sweetness. A search for "watermelon variety" will reveal all.
There's an old article in The Atlantic which discusses the use of watermelons as a racist trope, should anyone decide to investigate further.
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It has been stated that "A higher proportion of black people than of white people are poor." That may be true of urban areas, but I believe it is reversed in rural areas. When I think of the extensive poverty in Appalachia I think of white folk, not black. This is conjecture and not something I have rigorously researched; opposing views are encouraged.
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Are we, as a nation, losing our sense of humor? About 20 years after WWII we had Hogan's Heroes, a top rated comedy placed in a prison camp, of all places. And about 20 years after the police action in Korea we had M*A*S*H, another top rated comedy. But more than 40 years after the 'Nam we have nothing, or nothing that I recall or am aware of. Maybe we only laugh about wars we've won, or at last tied, and the loss of the war in Viet Nam is something we simply can't laugh about. Is it still too soon?
The Pacific edition of the Stars and Stripes newspaper ran a popular comic strip, Nguyen Charlie, based on a Viet Cong type character. This was while things were pretty hot in Southeast Asia, so we had a sense of humor back then. Another example of simpler people in another time?
The French used to have an official government office to maintain the purity of the French language, and would ban certain words lest they corrupt their native tongue. I don't know how well that's worked out for them. Some words just don't translate well, and maybe they say le hot dog when referring to the ubiquitous American tube steak, if it even appears on their menus.
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The watermelon conversation got me wondering about the proliferation of the seedless type, so I did the usual searching thing. Anybody else do that?...don't want to preach to the choir. By the way, Uncle Ken, that was an ellipsis and not an ellipse.
Anyhow, there are hundreds of watermelon varieties, many with seeds. The ones we see in stores are the ones with thick rinds and are easy to ship, often called "refrigerator" types because they will fit in a fridge. The bigger old style oblong type of childhood memories are called "picnic" watermelons, and there are also smaller types, about cantaloupe size and types with yellow or orange flesh. Discovered a new word, "brix," which refers to the level of sweetness. A search for "watermelon variety" will reveal all.
There's an old article in The Atlantic which discusses the use of watermelons as a racist trope, should anyone decide to investigate further.
-----
It has been stated that "A higher proportion of black people than of white people are poor." That may be true of urban areas, but I believe it is reversed in rural areas. When I think of the extensive poverty in Appalachia I think of white folk, not black. This is conjecture and not something I have rigorously researched; opposing views are encouraged.
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Are we, as a nation, losing our sense of humor? About 20 years after WWII we had Hogan's Heroes, a top rated comedy placed in a prison camp, of all places. And about 20 years after the police action in Korea we had M*A*S*H, another top rated comedy. But more than 40 years after the 'Nam we have nothing, or nothing that I recall or am aware of. Maybe we only laugh about wars we've won, or at last tied, and the loss of the war in Viet Nam is something we simply can't laugh about. Is it still too soon?
The Pacific edition of the Stars and Stripes newspaper ran a popular comic strip, Nguyen Charlie, based on a Viet Cong type character. This was while things were pretty hot in Southeast Asia, so we had a sense of humor back then. Another example of simpler people in another time?
Beagles is spot on
I see what you are saying now Beagles. I didn't quite catch the stereotyping reference, and it sounded to me like you were just dragging that watermelon in, That's the danger in talking about race, it is so explosive that a simple mention of something can well, just blow everything up. Every now and then somebody says that we should have a frank discussion about race, and everybody nods sagely, but I never think it is a good idea. I think we all pretty much know where we stand.
Okay I'll take that back right now, we don't know, because not all white and all black people feel the same. I may have some random conversation with some random black person, and in the Beaglesonian Manner of RDARP (Reasonable Discussion Among Reasonable People), come to an agreement, but that wouldn't carry on to the next black person I spoke with or the next white guy that black guy came across.
There is one thing my ilk does that I don't agree with, and that is accusing anybody who doesn't have what they deem the correct position on race a racist, This is the end of any reasonable discussion because at that point the discussion is whether or not the guy is a racist. And then there is the thing where if a guy is a racist (even if it has just been my ilk accusing him of that), why talk to him at all? So how can you have an RDARP in conditions like that? I think I was responsible for acting that way on Beagles' watermelon example and I apologize.
The way this straight voting argument goes is that poor people in general, because their lives are harder and they don't get as good an education so they don't know as much, are more inclined to have simpler ideas and don't want to bother going down that list, and even a smart cookie like myself worries about making a mistake going down the ballot, as much as a well-off better educated guy. A higher proportion of black people than of white people are poor. Therefore something adversely effecting the voting of poor people, adversely effects the black vote and blacks have less of a voice in steering the ship of state.
Did I just hear Beagles say spot on? Whenever I hear that expression, or gobsmacked, I think that that person must be a reader of the Economist, During my brief infatuation with that magazine I picked up a few terms from across the pond. There are some terms you pick up that fill a gap in American English, and I think that is one. I suppose you could say 'exactly right,' but that sounds a bit bland. 'Spot on' has more zing. And if when I write it or say it, the little finger on my teacup holding hand goes up, why so much the bloody better.
Okay I'll take that back right now, we don't know, because not all white and all black people feel the same. I may have some random conversation with some random black person, and in the Beaglesonian Manner of RDARP (Reasonable Discussion Among Reasonable People), come to an agreement, but that wouldn't carry on to the next black person I spoke with or the next white guy that black guy came across.
There is one thing my ilk does that I don't agree with, and that is accusing anybody who doesn't have what they deem the correct position on race a racist, This is the end of any reasonable discussion because at that point the discussion is whether or not the guy is a racist. And then there is the thing where if a guy is a racist (even if it has just been my ilk accusing him of that), why talk to him at all? So how can you have an RDARP in conditions like that? I think I was responsible for acting that way on Beagles' watermelon example and I apologize.
The way this straight voting argument goes is that poor people in general, because their lives are harder and they don't get as good an education so they don't know as much, are more inclined to have simpler ideas and don't want to bother going down that list, and even a smart cookie like myself worries about making a mistake going down the ballot, as much as a well-off better educated guy. A higher proportion of black people than of white people are poor. Therefore something adversely effecting the voting of poor people, adversely effects the black vote and blacks have less of a voice in steering the ship of state.
Did I just hear Beagles say spot on? Whenever I hear that expression, or gobsmacked, I think that that person must be a reader of the Economist, During my brief infatuation with that magazine I picked up a few terms from across the pond. There are some terms you pick up that fill a gap in American English, and I think that is one. I suppose you could say 'exactly right,' but that sounds a bit bland. 'Spot on' has more zing. And if when I write it or say it, the little finger on my teacup holding hand goes up, why so much the bloody better.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Clarification of Watermelon Joke
I was not trying to offend Black people with my watermelon joke, I was trying to offend the people who are saying that Blacks are too dumb or lazy to completely fill out a ballot that doesn't allow straight party voting. If I was Black, I would be offended by that assertion myself because it's condescending. If you remember, I prefaced my watermelon proposal with "As long as we're stereotyping.....". I introduced the topic by saying that the law eliminating straight party voting was unpopular, and unnecessary and that it will inconvenience everybody, not just Blacks. In my opinion, it will also be ineffective. People who want to vote a straight ticket will still be able to do so, it will just take them longer and cause the voters behind them to wait longer in line. Are hard core Democrats, or Republicans for that matter, going to split their ticket and vote for somebody on the other side just because they can no longer vote straight party with a single stroke? Not bloody likely!
Old Dog, "the good citizens of Michigan" didn't have anything to say about this law. To my knowledge, no candidate ran in the last election promising to pass this law if elected. I suppose a candidate in the forthcoming election could run on the promise of working to repeal the law if elected, but I haven't heard of any of them doing that. In Michigan, an unpopular law is sometimes overturned by a ballot referendum, but any law that contains an appropriation is immune from this tactic. The bill's authors, therefore, made sure that an appropriation to buy more voting equipment was included in this one. There was little publicity about this bill until it was already passed into law. My own daughter, who is quite politically conscious, had not heard of it until I told her about it yesterday. By the way, she thought that my watermelon joke was spot on, and she's a liberal.
All the watermelons we have eaten in the last decade or so have been "seedless", and I don't know if they even sell the old fashioned kind anymore. Of course, they're not really seedless, but the few seeds they contain are so small that it's easier to swallow them than to spit them out. I think the new watermelons taste at least as good as the old ones, and I don't miss spitting out seeds at all. As for bananas, I don't remember the old ones as being any different than the new ones. I didn't even know there were different kinds of bananas until now, which proves that you're never too old to learn something.
Old Dog, "the good citizens of Michigan" didn't have anything to say about this law. To my knowledge, no candidate ran in the last election promising to pass this law if elected. I suppose a candidate in the forthcoming election could run on the promise of working to repeal the law if elected, but I haven't heard of any of them doing that. In Michigan, an unpopular law is sometimes overturned by a ballot referendum, but any law that contains an appropriation is immune from this tactic. The bill's authors, therefore, made sure that an appropriation to buy more voting equipment was included in this one. There was little publicity about this bill until it was already passed into law. My own daughter, who is quite politically conscious, had not heard of it until I told her about it yesterday. By the way, she thought that my watermelon joke was spot on, and she's a liberal.
All the watermelons we have eaten in the last decade or so have been "seedless", and I don't know if they even sell the old fashioned kind anymore. Of course, they're not really seedless, but the few seeds they contain are so small that it's easier to swallow them than to spit them out. I think the new watermelons taste at least as good as the old ones, and I don't miss spitting out seeds at all. As for bananas, I don't remember the old ones as being any different than the new ones. I didn't even know there were different kinds of bananas until now, which proves that you're never too old to learn something.
no seeds, no levers, no semi colons
You're right Old Dog, it wasn't my discourse on sin which you disagreed with me on every damn point, it was my discussion of objective reality, another subject dear to my heart: a physical reality which we can all agree on from which to build our theories, but which if somebody denies the reality of, why then we cannot have a discussion at all. Quite true that sin was the topic of Friday night's seminar, though at the onset it was on the Oxford comma, of which I am a big fan and the twitty semi colon of which I am most assuredly not. Also discussed were italics and bolding which I find interesting because they were not arrows in our quivers back in the days of typewriters (I do miss slamming the carriage back, which, along with crumpling up papers and tossing them into the wastebasket and the cig in the corner of the mouth and the bottle of bourbon on the table, were the staples of creating great literature). And of course Old Dog stuck up for his favorite punctuation device the ellipse which is, ok I guess, but....
The thing about watermelon is that there is nothing inherently wrong with it. If some guy from Bora Bora noted that American blacks sure did like their watermelon it would be just an observation, but I would think a white guy who has lived here all his life would know that a black guy would immediately consider it an insult. Conrad meant no offense by titling his novel The Nigger of the Narcissus, but if he were writing it today he would have given it a different title.
I don't come across watermelons much these days, and I have heard of seedless watermelons, but I did not know that they had replaced the seed-packed watermelons of my youth. All I can say is, pity. I've been reading of the imminent demise of the Cavendish for years now and yet the supermarket bins are still overflowing. I usually vote straight ticket, and I would like to do it with one fell swoop of the lever, or as we do it in these dreary times of seedless watermelon and bland bananas, color in just one little circle. A waste of my important time, and there is always the risk that I might be distracted, or the devil might take control of my hand and make me vote for a republican.
The thing about watermelon is that there is nothing inherently wrong with it. If some guy from Bora Bora noted that American blacks sure did like their watermelon it would be just an observation, but I would think a white guy who has lived here all his life would know that a black guy would immediately consider it an insult. Conrad meant no offense by titling his novel The Nigger of the Narcissus, but if he were writing it today he would have given it a different title.
I don't come across watermelons much these days, and I have heard of seedless watermelons, but I did not know that they had replaced the seed-packed watermelons of my youth. All I can say is, pity. I've been reading of the imminent demise of the Cavendish for years now and yet the supermarket bins are still overflowing. I usually vote straight ticket, and I would like to do it with one fell swoop of the lever, or as we do it in these dreary times of seedless watermelon and bland bananas, color in just one little circle. A waste of my important time, and there is always the risk that I might be distracted, or the devil might take control of my hand and make me vote for a republican.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Fruitful discussions
You'll have to refresh my memory, Uncle Ken. I reviewed my posts for the past month and I have no recollection about any comments regards the notion of "sin." I know I talked about lying in the context of the two major candidates, but not sin. Perhaps you are confusing a recent post with the discussions during the Ten Cat seminar of this past Friday, when you discussed your notion of sin, at great length.
I don't know if you were born to argue. You many have simply converted from Methodist to Orthodox Contrarian. Or 'Trarian!
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The use of term "watermelon" is insensitive, but I'll give Mr. Beagles the benefit of the doubt in that no malice was intended. I will speculate that he was referring to racist imagery of times past, which is part of the historical record. Or not. This whole business of racism in the United States is a minefield through which it is too easy to stumble, and in most cases I am not qualified to speak of it with any authority. I still try to deal with folks on a case by case basis, which so far has worked well. And being a wise-ass, I'd like to say that watermelons are out of season in November during election time, and they usually no longer have those big black seeds that you can spit across the yard (or dining room).
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Watermelons aren't the only fruit that has changed over the years. We, in the Institute, may be the last generation that has ever eaten a really good banana, the Gros Michel or "Big Mike." Remember those? They died out in the mid-50s, due to a fungus, and were replaced by the Cavendish varietal for commercial consumption, which is what we buy today. But the Big Mike was, well, bigger, with a smoother texture and more intense banana flavor, superior in every way to the Cavendish.
But now the Cavendish is threatened by another fungus and may be gone from the shelves in a few years to be replaced, no doubt, by an even crappier banana. That's the problem with bananas; they are all clones and what kills one kills them all.
I've read that the Big Mike still exists in some remote areas of Africa, but I can't prove it. If it's not a rumor, perhaps there is a black market trade in them and a Kickstarter campaign could be started. Would anybody pay twenty dollars for a single banana? I might.
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I personally don't like the notion of straight ticket voting; it's too reminiscent of the machine politics of the old man Daley era in Chicago and I trust the good citizens of Michigan to decide what is best for them. Voter registration is different; there should be no impediments for citizens to register.
I don't know if you were born to argue. You many have simply converted from Methodist to Orthodox Contrarian. Or 'Trarian!
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The use of term "watermelon" is insensitive, but I'll give Mr. Beagles the benefit of the doubt in that no malice was intended. I will speculate that he was referring to racist imagery of times past, which is part of the historical record. Or not. This whole business of racism in the United States is a minefield through which it is too easy to stumble, and in most cases I am not qualified to speak of it with any authority. I still try to deal with folks on a case by case basis, which so far has worked well. And being a wise-ass, I'd like to say that watermelons are out of season in November during election time, and they usually no longer have those big black seeds that you can spit across the yard (or dining room).
-----
Watermelons aren't the only fruit that has changed over the years. We, in the Institute, may be the last generation that has ever eaten a really good banana, the Gros Michel or "Big Mike." Remember those? They died out in the mid-50s, due to a fungus, and were replaced by the Cavendish varietal for commercial consumption, which is what we buy today. But the Big Mike was, well, bigger, with a smoother texture and more intense banana flavor, superior in every way to the Cavendish.
But now the Cavendish is threatened by another fungus and may be gone from the shelves in a few years to be replaced, no doubt, by an even crappier banana. That's the problem with bananas; they are all clones and what kills one kills them all.
I've read that the Big Mike still exists in some remote areas of Africa, but I can't prove it. If it's not a rumor, perhaps there is a black market trade in them and a Kickstarter campaign could be started. Would anybody pay twenty dollars for a single banana? I might.
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I personally don't like the notion of straight ticket voting; it's too reminiscent of the machine politics of the old man Daley era in Chicago and I trust the good citizens of Michigan to decide what is best for them. Voter registration is different; there should be no impediments for citizens to register.
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