I'm a woman on the edge...

[VelmaD]

and I need to vent and maybe get some advice on how to cope with this day.

The next person who tells me I shouldn't be upset about the California recall is gonna get popped in the mouth.

The next person who tells me that Arnie is a "successful businessman" and that he "is so qualified" to be governor is gonna get popped in the mouth.

The next person who tells me they're happy because it's "one less bleeding heart liberal in office" (a direct quote from someone who may no longer be my friend after today) is gonna get popped in the mouth.

How are y'all dealing with the rethugs in your life today? My basic faith in my fellow humans took a serious body blow today and I don't know how to deal with these people without wanting to pop them in the mouth.

[revree]

1. I'm with you!

Let's use our anger and fury, though, to fight even harder. WE HAVE NO CHOICE!!!

I no longer have faith in humans, but I still have faith in the law of -what comes around goes around...

[Bozita]

2. The same anger that brought Davis down is gonna bite * next year.

Count on it.

[XanaDUer]

5. That's the only thing keeping me up slightly

there is no magic ahnuld possesses (other than cutting, cutting, cutting services) to make CA's problems magically go away.

Except he could make the Enron thing go away.

[Aristus]

3. I'm with ya,Vel.

It's tough going today. And I haven't even left the house. Every time I think it can;'t get worse, it suddenly does. I'm left with little to hope for. Let's hang together, or as Ben Franklin said, we shall most assuredly hang separately.

:hug:

[VelmaD]

8. I just hate feeling like this...

like it isn't worth it. Like the people we are working to help not only don't care, but they seem to go out and actively work against us and against their own best interests.

The person who may no longer be my friend is a perfect example. He got out of college with an MIS degree right after the tech bubble burst. He has been job hunting for a year and a half with no luck. He's a relatively intelligent human being. Yet he cannot seem to make the connection between the rethugs and the economy being in the toilet. He'll go out in 2004 and vote for shrub contrary to his own interests and I do not understand for the life of me why. He's not a fundy christian. He's not a right-winger particularly even. He's just an idiot I guess. *sigh*

Some days it just feels like the people in this country don't deserve the democracy we're fighting so hard to protect for them. I'm weeping for my country today.

[KCDem]

4. hey hon, think of it this way:

at least Texas looks that much less stupid today. :P

Seriously... I really don't believe that the Gropernator will be good for his party or for Cali. I can just see all of the allegations becoming a huge thorn in his side and a huger embarrassment for the state.

Don't listen to those fools. Sometimes, I'm glad that my only company is my 2 children.

[VelmaD]

16. You have lovely children...

so I can understand why. :-)

I'm most scared that the Texas Leg will take this personally and make a real concerted effort to win back the title of "Most Fucked Up Political Behavior" from the California electorate. God only knows what we're in for.

[TXlib]

26. "my only company is my 2 children" WTF?! What am I, chopped eggplant?!

:grr:

:mad:

[geniph]

33. SOMEBODY is SOOOO busted!

kick his butt, TXlib!

BAD boy!

[felonious thunk]

6. I'm embarrassed

I really don't know what else to say. Celebrity-worship
translates into political victory. Merit is meaningless.
The fools are electing fools and we are left without a
country.

[VelmaD]

11. One of the saddest parts of this...

is that "merit is meaningless". *sigh*

I actually had someone try to tell me today that Arnold was a "successful businessman" and that made him qualified. When I pointed out that most businessmen don't get to start out as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, but rather they work their way up and have years to learn the job and why shouldn't we expect that of a governor...I was met with a resounding silence.

[felonious thunk]

15. Sigh indeed

Arnold was a schill that pimped himself out. First in
bodybuilding, then in movies. Simple as that. He's not
a successful businessman, or really even an actor. He's
Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's his job. And there is no
merit in that.

Besides which, I tire of the "successful businessmen make
good political leaders" crap. Government is not a goddamn
business. Government picks up the slack for what business
won't do. If the government sells off its lowest value
shares, then they sell off the poor. Electing a "businessmen"
essentially is the same as "Fuck you, you're poor."

Sorry Vel. I'm probably not making you feel better am I?

[VelmaD]

17. Nope...

but it's certainly helping get me all het up to move from being sad to being angry. Angry is better...angry leads to action. :-)

[felonious thunk]

18. Yeah we got no time to be sad

There ain't no silver lining from yesterday.
Nothing good happened. Even if Cruz had won
it would have been bad for democracy.

We live to fight another day.

[VelmaD]

21. I need to get angry...

but I have to work through what's making me sad first. I'm sad because I don't believe in people much today and that puts me in a place where I don't feel like they are worth fighting for anymore. Not only do they not appreciate it, they seem to actively work against those of us who are trying to protect democract FOR THEM.

I'm tired of being belittled for caring. I'm tired of being called a "bleeding heart liberal" as if caring was something to be ashamed of...as if it won't be my bleeding heart and yours and the bleeding hearts of everyone else at DU who loves democracy up on the barricades if it comes to that.

I'm tired of watching the country I love die in the dirt while the malicious idiots laugh about it and the uninformed masses go on about their lives without a care in the world or a thought in their head.

[felonious thunk]

23. Hold your head high

It is a shame to be belittled for caring. I know
the feeling well. We're just silly naive liberals
flitting around with our liberal ideas.

But that's why we hold our heads up. We stand up
for what's right. In the face of all those who
stand up for what's selfish. We get made fun of,
laughed at by these "realists."

We'll continue to stand up for what's right. We'll
continue to worry about the rights of people that
hate us. And we will not stand idly by while our
country is taken from us. If it were easy, then
strong people like us wouldn't be working to
make it right. We are the conscience of this
country, and as much as the body might hate us
and wish we'd go away, and do everything it
can to shut us up. It can't. Cause in the end
the conscience knows what's right, and the body
knows it too.

[TXlib]

28. Well...

I believe political leaders should be something besides politicians.

I don't care if they're also teachers, engineers, businessmen/women, etc.

I just want them to have lived in the real world as a private citizen most of their lives.

[VelmaD]

29. I don't disagree with you at all...

I just want them to also have worked their way up politically. Like I said earlier in this thread, you don't start out in business as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Why should you start out in politics as governor? If a businessperson wants to run for city council or county commissioner and learn the ropes of public service and work their way up to dealing with the problems of an entire state then that's one thing. Thinking you can go from running Planet Hollywood into bankruptcy to being the Governor of an economy the size of California is a different thing altogether.

[felonious thunk]

30. I'll clarify

I don't care if they are businessmen/women.

I care when they say the government needs
to be run more like a business. It needs to
be run more like a democratic government.

[ProfessorGAC]

34. Spot On!

Government cannot be run like a business. The impact of a company running a debt leverage growth is negligible as long as the cash flow is sound and productivity is high. Overleveraging can cause BKO, but that affects only one small microeconomic segment.

Governments get cash flow through taxes and borrowing, and their assets are mostly illiquid. So, they've got no product to sell, no amount of enhanced productivity creates growth, and overly leveraging operations affects the macroeconomy.

The comparisons are more detailed than that, but in a nutshell, that's enough reason to obviate the desire to run gov't like a business. It's not even a reasonable goal.

Last Point: The guys in D.C. who came into power wanting to run gov't like a business were at or near the top of 8 companies that were driven into reorganization or liquidation. So, they want to run gov't like a biz, but don't know how to run a biz. Go Figure!
The Professor

[slappypan]

7. I don't know what to tell you

I work with lots of Republicans, of the shallowest variety. One told me today how happy she is that Arnold won, because it's "so funny" and "will piss off Ted Kennedy." I just shake my head and walk away. Most of these people never leave the suburbs, have worked at this giant corporation their whole lives, and think they can never be laid off or ever suffer any economic distress. They just don't live in the real world. I keep wondering how I got here and what I am doing among these people. I think I need to make some changes in my life.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

38. Suburbs breed Republicans

If you live in a new suburb, you have no ties to the community (except possibly a fundie church, which conveniently springs up full grown at the next interchange, and your child's sports teams), your major shopping and service and entertainment options are huge nationwide chains that look the same in every state in the country, and you probably spend a couple of hours a day in the car listening to a Clear Channel station.

Worst of all, your parents may have moved out into the suburbs in the 1960s or 1970s specifically to avoid associating with other races, so you have unconsciously absorbed the attitude that dark-skinned people are dangerous or at least suspicious.

If you work in the city, you go down the freeway and straight into a garage in your office building. Even if you are tempted to visit the city for other purposes, which is unlikely, since the mass media all tell you that cultural events and bookstores are for geeks, and besides, there are restaurants in the suburbs, you are certain that you will be mugged the first time you step outside your car. After all, wasn't a symphony goer murdered in a parking garage ten years ago?

Since your children don't work in banks or brokerage firms, they never go into the city. They graduate from high school without ever having visited the downtown of their metropolitan area, but they are certain that it's too dangerous.

While in high school, they earn good grades and maybe even take AP classes, but you counsel them not to get to caught up in academic work, because what's really important are their sports and social lives. You'd brag to total strangers if your child made the all-state team in any sport, but you'd keep it quiet if your child made all-state choir or scored well in the Putnam Math Competition, and you'd worry that perhaps the child wasn't "well-rounded" enough.

You see people who "aren't your kind" only in the media, where they're usually stereotyped, or in service positions at the lunch counter or cleaning the office.

You're tired after your long commute, so in the evening, if you have a few spare moments after household and childcare chores, you flip on the TV for a little mindless entertainment.

It's a recipe for Republicanism.

For a simliar view see

http://www.newcolonist.com/rr11.html

[VelmaD]

40. That is so sad...

because it's all true. I hate the suburbs that have sprung up around Austin and all who have fled to them to avoid paying the taxes to support the city services while they still get to enjoy the benefits.

I try to feel sorry for them. I really do. They don't know what they're missing. I grew up out in the country so it surprised me to find that I enjoy living in the city now. There are so many people and there's so much to do and see (and eat). :-)

The people you described don't even sound like they're really living. They're either working or driving...but not living.

[LuLu550]

9. I'm sorry

it must be rough being an intelligent dem in California today.
Come here...we love you and won't tell you AH nold is wonderful!
:hug:

[VelmaD]

14. I'm not in Cali...

but I have friends that are and I can't imagine if I'm this upset what it must be like for them.

Thanks for the hugs. :-)

[GumboYaYa]

10. I am not from CA, but I do have an office full of right wing

asshats. I'm coping by keeping my head down and working as hard as I can today.

Sitting here listening to the conservatives have a lunch discussion in the conference room next door, I've gotten a good dose of Arnie is great, but even worse, I get to hear them chortling about how funny it is that an environmental activist was eaten alive by a grizzly. The compassion is just oozing around here today.

Sometimes I wonder if it ever enters these guys minds how offensive that stuff is to me. If I went in there and talked about perverted Catholic priests or anything else dear to their conservative hearts I would never be forgiven. Democrats and activists, however, are fair game.

Aaarrrgghhhh!!!!!! To quote a great man "I feel your pain."

[manderley]

12. Take a deep breath and count to ten that's what I'm doing

I walked into work today and had to fight the desire to punch a couple of co-workers. I knew stupidity ran rampant in my work place but I'm speechless. I'm desperately trying to understand why they would vote for the Groper, but, nonsuprisingly they had nothing to support their choice. Apparently looking good in a suit is enough to qualify you for office.
The truly disgusting thing is that I work in an OB-GYN clinic full of woman, I mean full... there is only one male here and he did not vote for the Gropenator.
I'm so sad and angry at the same time. I just feel sorry for patients that are coming in today cause man are they getting the brunt of it.

[ewagner]

13. Maybe this will cheer you up

Caught a brief snippet of Rush this AM...he took great care to explain to his dittoheads Why the California victory was not a victory for Liberal Republicans

Hehehehehe....they can't explain arnold to anybody...they can't explain why he's a repub....the neocons are just as baffled as we are!

[burrowowl]

19. His business ventures

like Bu$hie's, have lost money: re Planet Hollywood.

[BiggJawn]

20. I've been having fun with it.

Since one of the voices I do is AHH-nuld, I've been having him say all kinds of outrageous shit all day...

"Zo, ees not such a beeg dill anymo' about Beel Clin-ton's blow jaab, ees eet? Mahn, Ah'd like to touchg DOES!"
Hard for the cons to get all gushy about their Boy when somebody else is lampooning his ass off with the puke....

[Skittles]

22. I JUST KICK THEIR ASS, VELMA

THEY KNOW BETTER THAN TO FUCK WITH ME.

[VelmaD]

25. OK Skittles...

meet me at DFW. We'll fly out to California and kick the ass of every single person who voted for that moron. And when we're done we'll kick the asses of everyone who didn't vote. And after that...we start on the media whores. :evilgrin:

Me and you against the world. We attack at dawn.

[peekaloo]

24. that's a lot of mouth poppin'!

oddly enough the Bu$hies I'm forced to interact with DO NOT LIKE AHNOLD......counting my blessings.

Eat a spicy meal and hang close to those freaks.......}(

[VelmaD]

27. Mmm...spicy meal...

sounds good, maybe Mexican food tonight. Could order from Chuy's - that always gives me a chuckle since one of the Bush girls got busted there.

[realFedUp]

31. I think this is hitting women harder today

because men voted to put this known predator of
women in an office that governs all of us.

Can you imagine how the women who were victimized
feel today...

[VelmaD]

32. I'm hoping that they feel litigious

Subpeona him til he glows then sue him in the dark.

All humor aside, what galls me is that some women actually voted for that pig. (Hell, I'm galled that men voted for him too.)

I cannot even imagine how the women he "offended" feel today. I hope they are angry and in a fighting mood and that they bring him down.

[dbt]

35. Velma, ya just gotta walk away from it

As the Irish say, there's no talkin' sense to 'em. Do like Rose does in the comics. Go lean up against a tree and let it be.

I'm serious. Close your eyes and put your forehead up against the trunk of your favorite tree. Wrap your arms around it and thank it for its service to Mother Earth.

You will be suprised at how much better you feel--rather quickly!

:tinfoilhat:
dbt

[AquariDem]

36. I'm just hoping he'll be so ridiculously bad

that all Californians will hate him. :grr: Incidentally, I think the Bay Area should secede and form its own state.

[proud patriot]

37. All Bay Area counties soundly Defeated the recall

I'm proud of my Bay Area ..We are all Stunned and
I honestly can't wait to use my "line" on someone
who voted for the groper .

Let's just say it's a "line" only a women could get away w/ saying .

[U2Fanatic]

39. I haven't had to confront any but....

about half the californians on the U2 message board that I go to are arnold supporters, so I have to watch what I say (ie not call them all a bunch of fucking morons so that I don't get banned). The strange thing is that U2 fans are overwhelmingly liberals, but somehow i get stuck will all the repubs :(

[cosmicdot]

41. standing next to you ... here ...

... take my hand ...

[VelmaD]

42. Thanks...

and thanks to everyone who replied today with their own stories or just to offer moral support. This has been a hell day for a lot of us and we've got to hang together.

I don't indulge in being depressed very often and I promise that by tomorrow or the next day I'll be back to my regular hell-raising, pissed off self. And then we'll figure out where we go from here.

:grouphug: