With New Year, a chance to dump ‘negative waves’
In cultures around the world, the arrival of a new year means more than the mere changing of the calendar. It is a time of cleansing and renewal, an opportunity to set past disappointments aside and to look ahead with optimism.
But let’s be honest: These are not the easiest of times in which to set aside fear in favor of optimism.
The financial meltdown of four or five years ago lingers like a hangover from a holiday party that went on much too long. The economy continues its slow recovery; Georgia’s unemployment rate last month was 8.5 percent, down a full percentage point from a year earlier and down almost two full percentage points from 2010. But it is sign of diminished expectations when a statewide jobless rate of 8.5 percent is considered evidence of progress.
And as too many of our fellow Americans know, those cold, impersonal numbers hide deep personal pain, loss and frustration. The American dream and its inherent promise that hard work will be rewarded no longer seem plausible for many, particularly the young. Only the foolish would try to deny that profound, unsettling changes are under way, and for one of the few times in our nation’s history, parents have cause to wonder whether their children and grandchildren will live in a world of reduced opportunity.
On the other hand, anger and disappointment can become self-fulfilling prophecies if indulged too long, and a backward-looking fixation on what used to be will blind you to what can be. That is as true for nations as it is for individuals. Previous generations of Americans faced times much more challenging than these and overcame them, and there is no reason to believe that we are not their legitimate and equally capable heirs.
At the moment, though, such context seems in short supply. In a new Washington Post/ABC News poll, just 40 percent of Americans describe themselves as hopeful about the course of world events in the coming year, while 56 percent described themselves as fearful. Unfortunately, a good part of that dismal showing can be explained as the aftermath of a deeply divisive, hard-fought election campaign that both political parties treated as a life-and-death struggle.
According to the Post poll, just 18 percent of Republicans report that they are hopeful about the course of world events in 2013, compared to 38 percent of independents and 61 percent of Democrats; 72 percent of Republicans describe themselves as fearful about what the next year will bring.
In the political world, such numbers have a way of compounding themselves. As Ronald Reagan knew better than anyone, and as the Democrats learned from Reagan the hard way, a party animated by the belief that this is a country in decline will find it difficult to rally others to its cause, creating a spiral that is hard to reverse.
It’s also important to remember that people of all political persuasions tend to exaggerate the importance of government and who runs it. Except in times of war, and at moments of economic crisis such as that of 2008-2009, government actually plays a relatively small role in the course of human events. At times we like to believe otherwise; we like to believe that acting through government, we exert direct control our own fate, but most of the that time, that simply isn’t true.
Faith in ourselves, each other and our country — or the lack of it — is far more important.
– Jay Bookman
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1,425 comments Add your comment
Tall
December 31st, 2012
10:25 am
Granny G @10:21am. That’s the point most conservatives have been trying to make for years now
.
AmericaShrugged
December 31st, 2012
10:27 am
“government actually plays a relatively small role in the course of human events.”
Still roflmao!
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
10:28 am
Reading the posts here so far, it appears you could generalize liberal posters as optimistic, and conservatives as pessimistic.
In light of the fact that economic indicators have all been trending upwards for some time, is this just the result of post-election blues, or is there another factor here?
Granny Godzilla
December 31st, 2012
10:29 am
Tall
December 31st, 2012
10:25 am
Granny G @10:21am. That’s the point most conservatives have been trying to make for years now
.
.
.
That they don’t care so much if brown people are here legally or are citizens, they care more that they are…..well…..brown??
Figured that out 40 years ago.
Mick
December 31st, 2012
10:33 am
Yes, negative vibes all over the landscape, that’s because of the elusive-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLsBwLhIVkk
Paul
December 31st, 2012
10:33 am
Living with open eyes
” I don’t know if the Mexicans are legal or not. That’s not the point.”
The point is, based on what you’ve told us, those ‘Mexicans” could be Americans of Hispanic origin.
Brosephus
I was driving back from Colorado and had to really concentrate on watching the road. The game was rebroadcast and I did enjoy that.
DDR
Why, then I’m in most excellent company, thank you very much!
Out for a while -
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 31st, 2012
10:36 am
We all know the Dems won because…
Obama won because the best candidate republicans could field was Romney.
Start putting some quality players on the field and then maybe you could win.
Geez….
RB from Gwinnett
December 31st, 2012
10:36 am
You idiots just don’t get it do you?!! You’re all sitting there trying to tell me we should all be happy together while you’re having the government rip me off for you’re benefit. Sorry for not being happy about that, but it ain’t gonna happen.
“parents have cause to wonder whether their children and grandchildren will live in a world of reduced opportunity.”
While I agree with that comment, Jay, I’d like to know WHY opportunity is reduced? What factor(s) is driving it? Certainly the $16T in debt witht a POTUS who has no intention of addressing it along with the need for increased revenue to cover it wouldn’t be factor would it? Knowing that revenue has to come out of people’s paychecks instead of letting them spend it as they see fit. I mean, who wouldn’t rather send their “few thousand more” to the feds instead of taking that vacation, eh Jay? How about actually sending that in this year, Jay?!!!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 31st, 2012
10:37 am
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”
– Muhammad Ali
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
— Muhammad Ali
“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”
— Muhammad Ali
Georgia
December 31st, 2012
10:38 am
THe nip stock market, (ww2 reference via dirty dozen), has been on a tear lately. Some credit the new nip prime minister named Abe (civil war reference via Speilberg movie via dirty dozen as a movie being used as the theme for a bit). But the nips get a new prime minister every 18 months give or take. SO it cant be that. I think wallstreet took money from the us market and put it in japan, (Rick Santelli suggested this while waving his arms around like a Tokyo traffic cop), HEY!, another Dirty Dozen reference. So, we can be optimistic if we buy stocks now, because that money is coming back from the nip market to wallstreet. Buy.
indigo
December 31st, 2012
10:39 am
josef – 10:20
That post is the intellectual equivalant of walkin down the street naked and showing the world how little you have.
You really are a glutton for punishment.
Elections Have Consequences
December 31st, 2012
10:40 am
“and at moments of economic crisis such as that of 2008-2009″
And our current fiscal situation qualifies as…?
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
10:41 am
DDR
working on the cut and paste skills?
moonbat betty
December 31st, 2012
10:41 am
What the World Needs Now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TybFyhlwdvU
Wishing everyone a Prosperous and Happy New Year no matter who is in office.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”
TBS
December 31st, 2012
10:41 am
josef
Your groupie as arrived…………
Granny Godzilla
December 31st, 2012
10:41 am
RB from Gwinnett
December 31st, 2012
10:36 am
Actually we get it. Have always gotten it.
We can’t quite figure out why you are always so far behind the curve.
AmericaShrugged
December 31st, 2012
10:42 am
Regnad – Fiscal cliff, debt ceiling, and a horrendous legislature motivated by greed. We have deficit-financed what little recovery we’ve had and it seems inevitable that we will either slip back into recession, have some pretty high inflation, or both.
barking frog
December 31st, 2012
10:43 am
As one year ends another begins and so it is with politics. The revolution
that occurs biannually in the US reflects how the interested feel about the
condition of their country. The observers should realize that the participants
determine the state of politics, not the commentators, and without participation
have no effect on government.
Daedalus
December 31st, 2012
10:45 am
I agree that we need to dump the negativity — and a great way to start would be to cancel the 2013 Session of the Georgia Legislature.
Nothing would be better for the people of Georgia, and especially the City of Atlanta, if we could just give them all year off.
They won’t do any good; but if they are not in session then they cannot do any harm!
Brosephus™
December 31st, 2012
10:46 am
We all know the Dems won because the 47% all voted themselves a free lunch, sometimes they vote two or three times since they don’t have a job to occupy their time.
Romney got 47% of the popular vote. Just sayin’…
Majority rule sounds pretty fair but it doesn’t necessarily result in great decisions.
Sounds like early onset American Apartheid to me.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 31st, 2012
10:47 am
While I agree with that comment, Jay, I’d like to know WHY opportunity is reduced?
The “opportunity” is reduced to a service based economy.
It’s no wonder that you have a hard time keeping employees based upon your ignorance of what a worker is looking for from their employer.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
10:47 am
And of course the DoD budget doesn’t need to be cut
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/technology/air-force-stumbles-over-software-modernization-project.html?goback=%2Egde_52234_member_196133337&_r=0
DannyX
December 31st, 2012
10:47 am
“RIP USA 1776-2012″
Guess that whine will have to be updated tomorrow to ‘RIP USA 1776-2013′
I love it when ‘unskewed’ reality meets reality.
skipper
December 31st, 2012
10:47 am
Hopefully, it will be a better year. I know the “gubment” is looking at all angles, but now is the time to NOT SCREW folks who have worked hard all their lives, and it is time to look at other areas of cutting spending. We can make sure the saftey net is there, and likewise can quit stupid spending. Although medicare/medicaid/social-security/defense are the “big’uns”, there are other programs that have become way over-grown and over-stepped the original intentions for which they were intended. It is funny….the EPA was founded (necessarily, I might add) to stop us from poisioning the world. they have now morphed into an agency that has gone too far in some aspects, and likewise has too many “helpers to the assistant district manager” etc. Of course we do not need to pollute our skies and waterways, but not allowing a farmer to push a small pile of dirt on his land (no, not dig a pond, just push dirt) without all kinds of over-inspections is too intrusive. There are many examples of crud like this in all departments, and many have grown too intrusive and have been allowed to over-step their original set goals. Every person on this blog, whether we agree as to what the specifics are or not, can name examples of programs and departments that are either too far-reaching (and expensive) or totally not necessary.
josef
December 31st, 2012
10:48 am
TBS
I feel so special!
Living With Open Eyes
December 31st, 2012
10:49 am
Isn’t it interesting that only CITIZENS of this country can practice law here. So much for the ” free market place” when it concerns professionals. When YOUR jobs are mass taken by foreign immigrants – maybe then something will be done to protect American workers. And there is no way every American can change the careers they are trained in so that immigrants can have their old jobs. And why should they have to?
AU Liberal in ATL
December 31st, 2012
10:49 am
Let’s exercise our 2nd Ammendment rights and shoot anyone who says something positively negative.
Cherokee
December 31st, 2012
10:50 am
You people who have not done construction are blind to the prejudice towards white and black people in that industry that has been going on for thirty years now.
Living, I’m in the construction business. And I’m about as melanin challenged as they come. The only prejudice in the construction industry is in favor of those who work hard, long hours, without constantly complaining about how awful their working conditions are.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 31st, 2012
10:50 am
We have deficit-financed what little recovery we’ve had and it seems inevitable that we will either slip back into recession…
Did someone say deficit?
Which brings us to the economic level. The deficits that Bush ran up in the years in which the country was teetering on the verge of a serious recession had the beneficial effect of righting the economy. In that sense, deficits not only didn’t matter, but were a force for economic good.
Translation: IOKIYAR
barking frog
December 31st, 2012
10:50 am
Romney was right, he just the numbers wrong. It was 53% of the
voters that would vote for Obama.
Granny Godzilla
December 31st, 2012
10:51 am
skipper
What if that “just pushing dirt” does have an environmental impact?
Please tell us more about that dirt?
AmericaShrugged
December 31st, 2012
10:52 am
Kam and Bro – I agree Obama looked saintly compared to Mr. Elitism and Greed personified. Oh and he had a really BIG credibility problem too.
My daughter will graduate from UGA this Spring with a very good GPA and resume but she’s not very optimistic about her career future. Why? She knew a lot of people that graduated last year who couldn’t find employment in their fields.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 31st, 2012
10:52 am
Could RB be upset because the Farm Bill was blocked by the GOP…..Milk is going to $8/gallon….that has got to be devastating to those cheese prices and, wow, suddenly we have $20 pizzas and its not from Obamacare.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 31st, 2012
10:52 am
“Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” — David Farragut
“From the last plane, to the last bullet, to the last minute, to the last man, we fight!” — Tuskeegee Airmen “Red Tails” Bomber Squad
**”We fight!” became the rallying cry of the Red Tails, who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds and adversity to help the U.S. win World War II.
I’ve seen flowers grow in stony places — So I believe. Faith is the first step. A lot of you on the blog need to take it.
I’m out — have a good one everybody!
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
10:53 am
“Regnad – Fiscal cliff, debt ceiling, and a horrendous legislature motivated by greed. We have deficit-financed what little recovery we’ve had and it seems inevitable that we will either slip back into recession, have some pretty high inflation, or both’
Ashrugged – Agree. We’re working from the same set of facts, and I, for one, believe that there are some pretty intelligent folks on both sides.
So, why do conservatives seem pessimistic, and liberals optimistic?
TaxPayer
December 31st, 2012
10:54 am
Seems like a good time for ole Twinkie to make an appearance and tell us all about how we need to stop with all the negativity.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
10:54 am
josef
I feel so special!
————————————–
Only in the short bus kind of way
breckenridge
December 31st, 2012
10:55 am
The shoe is now on the other foot in fiscal cliffhanger negotiations. Senate republicans have agreed to raising tax rates on the wealthy and democrats are now taking the role of obstructionists, refusing to even consider tying annual increases in social security benefits to inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. That is something that absolutely needs to happen but no, they don’t want to anger retirees who pay attention and vote.
It’s important to remember that, just as some House republicans refuse to vote for any legislation that contains tax increases, democrats refusing to address social security are doing so for the primary reason that they don’t want to lose their job next time they’re up for re-election. And once again they’re putting their own self-interest ahead of what’s good for the country.
“Patriotism is supporting your country at all times, and supporting your government when they deserve it.” Mark Twain
Oscar
December 31st, 2012
10:56 am
So, why do conservatives seem pessimistic, and liberals optimistic?
———-
Genetics. It’s in the genes.
Brosephus™
December 31st, 2012
10:57 am
My daughter will graduate from UGA this Spring with a very good GPA and resume but she’s not very optimistic about her career future. Why? She knew a lot of people that graduated last year who couldn’t find employment in their fields.
Not to sound as though I don’t have a sympathy gene, but that sounds like a lack of self-esteem more than anything else. Does your daughter expect someone to simply hand her gainful employment? That sounds moocheresque to me. She needs to do like everybody else and earn her employment.
As to blaming her situation on Obama, or the government in general… Government does not create jobs other than expanding the military or hiring government workers. If you, or anybody else, want the employment situation to get better here at home, you need to get off your ass and make the private sector work for you instead of working for it.
Oscar
December 31st, 2012
10:57 am
People who are afraid of change and the future are conservatives. People who are not afraid of change and the future are liberals.
TaxPayer
December 31st, 2012
10:57 am
Social Security COLAs are already tied to the CPI.
Oscar
December 31st, 2012
11:00 am
My daughter will graduate from UGA this Spring with a very good GPA and resume but she’s not very optimistic about her career future. Why? She knew a lot of people that graduated last year who couldn’t find employment in their fields.
________
With 8.5 per cent unemployment, she should be concerned. She may want to go to grad school or some other school for training toward a career, depending on what she majored in. Some degrees don’t prepare you for a specific job.
Tall
December 31st, 2012
11:02 am
….”That they don’t care so much if brown people are here legally or are citizens, they care more that they are…..well…..brown??
Figured that out 40 years ago…”
Granny G:
I’m not sure I understand your point. If it is the standard drumbeat about conservatives being racist, homophobic, etc..etc..that I get. I used to read about in Cynthia Tucker’s columns.
My position on immigration to the U.S is simple: The United States needs a steady flow of immigrants from around the world. But, there is a waiting line. My ancestors come from Ireland and Germany. They had to wait in line because it was a long swim. They also didn’t come here for handouts, because back in the 1920’s and 1930’s there weren’t any. They were just happy to get away from post WWI economic misery and British repression. Now, if you need some help you can have it.
When I see folks on the checkout line at Publix or Kroger paying with EBT cards and then wiring cash out of the country, that bothers me.
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
11:02 am
“People who are afraid of change and the future are conservatives. People who are not afraid of change and the future are liberals”
I think we’re on the right track with this one.
Conservatives = no change, & liberals = change, by definition, right?
Maybe we all sense that this is going to be “a time of changes,” and are reacting appropriately?
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
11:03 am
here you go cons, just for you LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kt3Q00iJVU
wet wiccan
December 31st, 2012
11:04 am
indigo
Your statement was that it was a choice between being an atheistic existentialist or whistling past the graveyard. Given that choice, I choose whistling. That’s all, my opinion, on an opinion blog. You are free to be as miserable as you want to be.
We just see the world differently. Maybe ony the physical is real to you, but I think the world is more than that. Energy, positive and negative, is as real as the weather.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
11:05 am
“I’m not sure I understand your point. If it is the standard drumbeat about conservatives being racist, homophobic, etc..etc..that I get”
Tall – Granny was responding to a poster who said, basically, “I don’t know if they were Americans or not, but they were Mexican.” I’m not sure what other conclusion she was to draw.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 31st, 2012
11:07 am
One more:
Common: DDR — working on the cut and paste skills?
Just trying to let some of naysayers put things in perspective. There are people out there and in history who have faced far more adversity than some of us could ever imagine; yet they came through it.
Its time for them to get real and see things as they ARE — not as they want them to be.
In honor of tomorrow being 2013 — I’m going to post something for the Conned that may help them in the years to come — this can also work with to help with the Conned’s attitude.
How to Stop Whining in Children
Smart, effective ways to stop this grating behavior in kids
One of the biggest child behavior problems is how to stop whining in children. Like fingernails on a chalkboard, whining is one of those sounds that instantly get your attention — and jangle your nerves. (A study has even proven that whining is one of the most distracting sounds known to man — something parents knew already from first-hand experience!) Perhaps that’s why children seem almost genetically-programmed to be able to do it naturally, like fish know how to swim.
Hope this works for you Conned. Good luck and God Bless!!
Granny Godzilla
December 31st, 2012
11:07 am
Tall
I’m quite sure you do understand my point. The reference to Ms. Tucket sorta’ gives you away.
1/2 my family lived through the “Irish need not apply” years as well.
Why should it bother you if the pittance gotten from EBT is spent? Why does it bother you that
another small pittance, certainly not from the EBT card is sent to others in need?
Hell, didn’t your da, grand da or great grand da send some back to the old sod?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 31st, 2012
11:08 am
When I see folks on the checkout line at Publix or Kroger paying with EBT cards and then wiring cash out of the country, that bothers me.
I think you must be at the Whole Foods with lines that beer/prom dress lines that long. You actually see them use those cards and then they go to the service desk to wire money out of the country and you read the documents to know where they are wiring the money. I am sure the privacy issues and laws being violated can be reported to someone…. be sure to check the parking lot for a new caddy too!
AmericaShrugged
December 31st, 2012
11:09 am
Regnad – I think you’re correct that some of it is election hangover. The inability to unseat Obama despite his record has caused a lot of cons to lose hope. On some level they perceive the game is over, not just for the next four years, but for the foreseeable future, and the Dems have won.
My other guess would be that the attitude differences tie to the most fundamental definition of conservative, opposed to change. As Living has been making very clear all morning, the browning of America is just one of the changes cons perceive as a bad thing. Liberals embrace the changes and believe good things will in fact come from our increased diversity.
In the last 50 years with the possible exception of Reagan, the Dems have been the optimists; Kennedy, Carter, Clinton, while the Reps gave us Nixon, Ford and two Bushes!
Oscar
December 31st, 2012
11:10 am
Reginald – Those were the original definitions of conservative and liberal. The definitions have been twisted somewhat over the years. Conservatives claim that liberals are people who want big government and that conservatives want small government.
I like the old definitions.
You are right, I think, that all almost all people sense that we are in a time of change, and to the extent that they fear it depends on their personal life outlook, whether or not they are afraid of change.
Both types of people are necessary for a society to function.
emz
December 31st, 2012
11:11 am
Good column. Attitude does matter.
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
11:13 am
“Your statement was that it was a choice between being an atheistic existentialist or whistling past the graveyard”
So, indigo, what is your take on such phiosophies as christian atheism? Is it just “existentialist” or whistler?
TBS
December 31st, 2012
11:13 am
“When I see folks on the checkout line at Publix or Kroger paying with EBT cards and then wiring cash out of the country, that bothers me.”
Do you follow these people, stand back and watch or do you just so happen to get in the same check out line then behind the same folks at the customer service counter as well?
Not saying it doesn’t happen. We could both point out fraud for almost anything either one of us could bring up.
moonbat betty
December 31st, 2012
11:15 am
Dems are optimistic when a dem is president.
Cons are optimistic when a con is president.
Pretty simple.
Oscar
December 31st, 2012
11:15 am
Debbie – When I was raising my children the one worst thing they could do was whine. That was not allowed, and if it happened, dealt with immediately.
Just like no crying in baseball.
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
11:16 am
“Both types of people are necessary for a society to function.”
Asolutely, Oscar. I’m hoping we get our “conservative” party back soon!
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
11:17 am
keep
be sure to check the parking lot for a new caddy too!
———————————————————————–
I was at Whole Foods and it was a Lexus. I swear
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
11:17 am
“Dems are optimistic when a dem is president.
Cons are optimistic when a con is president.
Pretty simple.”
mbetty – that would be a simple explanation, and I don’t disagree.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
11:18 am
DDR
If they whine are you going to spank them
Brosephus™
December 31st, 2012
11:19 am
Just like no crying in baseball.
Shiiiiiiii…. Why don’t you volunteer to get hit in the nuts with a fouled off fastball while crouched behind the plate.
weetamoe
December 31st, 2012
11:20 am
Government plays a teeny tiny role; all of our problems are the fault of congress; Obama is not at all responsible for the *fiscal cliff* drama. Evidently Obama is expendable.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
11:21 am
Bro
Why don’t you volunteer to get hit in the nuts with a fouled off fastball while crouched behind the plate.
————————————
If you can’t breathe you can’t cry LOL
DannyX
December 31st, 2012
11:23 am
“Dems are optimistic when a dem is president.
Cons are optimistic when a con is president.
Pretty simple.”
Yeah, I remember when George W Bush was president, Democrats kept telling everyone that W’s policies would lead to disaster. To think that 2 unfunded wars, a new unfunded socialist drug program all washed down with massive tax cuts would harm the economy was absurd.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 31st, 2012
11:23 am
I heard Obama is going to sign an Executive Order to mandate crying in baseball.
Oscar
December 31st, 2012
11:24 am
Shiiiiiiii…. Why don’t you volunteer to get hit in the nuts with a fouled off fastball while crouched behind the plate.
_______
I used to catch some. I wore a cup.
Usually played first base. My main fear was always a ground ball taking a bad hop and hitting me in the nose. Hated to see those ground balls coming at me.
Brosephus™
December 31st, 2012
11:24 am
NoCom
Internal crying is still crying.
I think that is the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my entire life.
skipper
December 31st, 2012
11:24 am
@Shrugged,
I agree w/you on most, but Carter, whether you are a Repub, Dem, or Independant (like me) was as bad a prez as there was……….riding in on the coat-tails of Watergate and not much else.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 31st, 2012
11:25 am
On some level they perceive the game is over, not just for the next four years, but for the foreseeable future…
It doesn’t have to be that way, but unless and until conservatives can throw the self appointed leader/mouthpieces (Norquist, Limbaugh etc.) under the bus conservatives are stuck in a rut.
Brosephus™
December 31st, 2012
11:26 am
Oscar
I had on a cup. It didn’t help because the ball hit the edge of the cup and pushed the edge of the cup into the nether region. It’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime hit, but there are probably people who remember me laying on the ground drooling through my mask.
Living With Open Eyes
December 31st, 2012
11:26 am
Cherokee- Exactly right. You don”t want anybody working for you that demand to be treated as respectable human beings. That’s why people like you love the immigrant workers-our worst conditions are better than their best working conditions. So let’s everybody strive to bring USA’s standards DOWN to the rest of the worlds’s.
Aquagirl
December 31st, 2012
11:28 am
that would be a simple explanation, and I don’t disagree.
I would…modern talk radio conservatism is about fear and hate. Despite the love of country skin deep babble, these are people who love negative emotions. Some furriner is wiring part of their tiny EBT cash out of country and they freak out. They spend hours, days, hell….a large portion of their lives re-running that moment over and over in their head. Pretty soon there’s hordes of EBT cheats everywhere and That’s What’s Rong With ‘Merica.
Mass shooting? BUY MORE GUNS! HURRY! The Brown Man will grab them from your hands and then what’ll happen when 20 guys come to rape your wife and de-masculinize your existence? These are the people who cower from government implants, Agenda 21, and all sorts of boogymen. They’ll write off the 47% who will still vote for them in large numbers. How’s that for pessimism?
Our cons are not happy people.
Oscar
December 31st, 2012
11:28 am
Bro – Ouch. (understatement)
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 31st, 2012
11:28 am
but Carter, whether you are a Repub, Dem, or Independant (like me) was as bad a prez as there was…
Not intended to be a factual statement.
I’m a Dem and I don’t perceive Carter as “bad”.
Brosephus™
December 31st, 2012
11:31 am
Dems are optimistic when a dem is president.
Cons are optimistic when a con is president.
Pretty simple.
Well, I’d like to welcome all of you to join the Party of Brosephus. We’re optimistic regardless to who’s in the White House because we practice full-fledged “I don’t give a sh*tism”.
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
11:31 am
“Carter, whether you are a Repub, Dem, or Independant (like me) was as bad a prez as there was”
Say what you will, but Carter was the ONLY US President in my lifetime who didn’t look me in the eye (through a camera lens) and lie to me. Carter holds a high place in my esteem for that fact alone. He even told many truths that others would not (”lust in my heart,” killer swimming bunny).
The most honest president we have had – would that others could measure up to him. (BTW, I’m giving Obama a pass so far, but he’s not done yet!)
weetamoe
December 31st, 2012
11:32 am
Somewhere there must be a cure for you people afflicted with *cons* rattling around in your head all day. Vermont grants green cards to those immigants willing to invest $500,000. in the state. Quite a few are likely brown. There have been, at last, promising proposals to increase unrestricted immigration for people with exceptional math and science credentials. Most of those bright folks are likely brown as well. We all benefit when brown increases green. Oh, and we in our extended family do not fear each other at all.
josef
December 31st, 2012
11:33 am
GRANNY
@ 11:07
Nothing tickles me quite so hard as somebody carping about immigration and somehow setting some arbitrary “cut off” date for ancestral arrival. I’m one of those whose lines go back to the 1600s, so anybody with lines later than 1700 are, well…you know…Then, as soon as I get too ancestrally uppity, Unmentionable reminds me that his met the boat!
Am A-ye-tli de-tsa-ya-da-ni-lv-ga!
Ka-na-gwo u-wo-ni-hi-s-di Tsa-la-gi!
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
11:35 am
Bro
This will bring back fond memories then LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UfArA_8mPs
skipper
December 31st, 2012
11:36 am
@Bro,
Never took the baseball lick, but got “Rung” in a football game. Very embarassing laying there trying to act like you hurt your knee when EVERYBODY knows what happend!
(Wow, the context of these posts can change quickly!)
Thulsa Doom
December 31st, 2012
11:37 am
josef,
Ya got nuthin. My blog groupie collection is bigger.
Aquagirl
December 31st, 2012
11:37 am
we practice full-fledged “I don’t give a sh*tism”.
Until those once-in-a-lifetime events of cup failure anyhow.
josef
December 31st, 2012
11:38 am
Regnard
@ 11:31
My sentiments to the T….
indigo
December 31st, 2012
11:38 am
Regnad – 11:13
“Christian Atheism sounds like an oxymoron.
josef
December 31st, 2012
11:39 am
THULSA
It’s not the quantity, but the quality. Mine are wackier…
indigo
December 31st, 2012
11:39 am
Kamchak
Did Jay appoint you to decide what is “factual” here and what is not?
F. Sinkwich
December 31st, 2012
11:40 am
“Not intended to be a factual statement.”
KammieSpam!
You need some new material for 2013, dude.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 31st, 2012
11:40 am
Josef
I appreciate yours and Unmentionables relatives meeting my grandparents boat from Ireland, but they said you guys didn’t bring beer
Brosephus™
December 31st, 2012
11:42 am
Vermont grants green cards to those immigants willing to invest $500,000. in the state.
When did states gain the ability to issue green cards? What you’re likely referring to is the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program administered by US Citizenship and Immigration Services. That specific program requires an investment of at least $500,000 towards a new business. There is also the E-2 Treaty Investors non-immigrant visa that can be obtained with a “substantial” investment in a business here. There is no definite monetary figure for substantial though. Both of those visas now have a pathway to citizenship, but that was not originally possible when they were first started.
indigo
December 31st, 2012
11:43 am
Will anyone here furnish me with a list of all that Obama “free stuff”?
Oscar
December 31st, 2012
11:43 am
Don’t believe American Indians had alcoholic drinks. In the southwest they like their drugs from plants. And used tobacco.
Thulsa Doom
December 31st, 2012
11:43 am
What’s all this talk about brown people being beaten down by the man? Most of those brown Indian folks that I know are making on average a lot more than Whitey. I guess all those Indian doctors and IT people forgot to get the memo about how racist America is. Granny could you please send them that memo?
Living With Open Eyes
December 31st, 2012
11:43 am
Can’t anybody see that this country is a finite land mass, with finite resources and finite wealth? If we continue to reproduce at the current rate and permit unlimited immigration all of our portions of the “pie” will become smaller and smaller. That is true and simple math, we have to quit ignoring it. Get ready to all live ten people to a house.The new normal.
Thomas Heyward Jr
December 31st, 2012
11:44 am
“Except in times of war, and at moments of economic crisis such as that of 2008-2009, government actually plays a relatively small role in the course of human events”
.
STOP the PRESSESS!!!!!!!!!
.
“Faith in ourselves, each other and our country — or the lack of it — is far more important.”
.
Quick!………………….Call 911……Decency overdose…………….Decency overdose.
Bookman’s gonna lose his Collective prog-card.
.
.
omg
Regnad Kcin
December 31st, 2012
11:44 am
“Christian Atheism sounds like an oxymoron.”
I know, right? It’s atheism for those who think that, while not supernatural, Jesus knew something about how to comport yourself in life.
Brosephus™
December 31st, 2012
11:46 am
NoCom
Thanks for the flashback… I empathize with that dude though. All you can do is curl up in the fetal position and wish the pain away.
————————-
Aquagirl
That was one of the moments that gave birth to “I don’t give a sh*tism” as I didn’t give one about anything else at that particular moment. I could have seen Lassie cliff dive into an asphalt parking lot, and I still would not have came out of that fetal position.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 31st, 2012
11:48 am
Did Jay appoint you to decide what is “factual” here and what is not?
No.
This has been another episode of one-word answers to a simple(ton’s) question.
Towncrier
December 31st, 2012
11:48 am
“It is a time of cleansing and renewal, an opportunity to set past disappointments aside and to look ahead with optimism.”
I appreciate your idealistic attempt to summon up optimism in people because it is true that without hope, we all fail. However, hope must be founded upon something credible, reliable and true. And that, apart from God, is what we are missing here. As a social conservative, who believes strongly that prosperity and harmony depend upon individual morality, I see very little hope for our future. A house divided against itself cannot stand.