A neighbor of mine needed her heat pump fixed

[OffWithTheirHeads]

This is what I do so she asked if I could help her out. She just got laid off and can't really afford to call an HVAC contractor so I told her I would take a look and see if I could fix it free or cheap. When I walked into her condo tonight, the first thing I saw was a Christmas card from George and Laura prominantly displayed on her kitchen counter. Fuck her! She can pull herself up by her laid off Republican bootstraps. There is no way I am fixing this for her. She can call a nice UNION contractor and spend the several thousand Bush bucks it's going to cost to fix her sorry ass heating system cause I have a basic "Let Republicans help themselves like they help others" Policy.

Seven years ago, I would not have reacted this way. In fact, seven years ago, I fixed her system (she was out of work then too) for a couple of Fosters beers. Today, I have no sympathy for Repukes in distress, only joy. May they all rot in hell!

[Captain Angry]

1. Two things.

1: I would have said, you could burn that card to keep warm while I work...

2: You misspelled bullets in your signature.

[OneGrassRoot]

81. Completely unrelated, trivial DU question:

Obviously I'm an idiot, but people keep referencing people's signatures (you reference bullet being misspelled)...where are these signatures people refer to? I looked in the profiles but don't see anything and never see anything in the actual post. Is there something disabled that I'm not seeing (other than my braibreakthrough) B-)

[immoderate]

86. Signatures...

Hit the Options icon. Click on Preferences. It's near the ennd.

--IMM

[OneGrassRoot]

91. Thanks! :) n/t

[EFerrari]

2. What you resist, you become. n/t

[tabasco]

7. LMAO.

Spoken like a true prophet.

[EFerrari]

10. Tip your waitress.

Do not fold, spindle or mutilate.

No parking.

:rofl:

[pscot]

3. I'm glad you got that off your chest

Now go do the right thing, and fix her fucking heat pump. We've got to rise above that shit. You're better than that. Peace, brother.

[rusty quoin]

9. I know how he feels. I have seen the name liberal slandered so much,

over the years, that I have lost my compassion for those who hate me. If he fixed her heat pump she would still hate liberals.

[King Coal]

115. Fix it. Then have a nice discussion with her. If she remains a Bush fan,

send her a bill that will gag her. And then she can either pay you or owe it to you.

[roguevalley]

139. ask her about liberals and tell her you're one when you're done.

then ask her where all the conservatives are or do they only work for money and talk a good show about caring about others.

[Lorien]

143. If I'm doing a conservative a favor I talk to them about current events

WHILE i'm doing it. They want me to keep helping them so they bite their tongues, and in the process I sometimes get through to them.

[hack89]

193. Where does it say that she hates him?

Just because she presumably a Republican? I know many republicans - none of them hate me. They may disagree with me but they respect my views.

[Djinn]

27. why?

Republicans are fond of telling people they shouldn't expect "something for nothing", so she bloody shouldn't either. That said I'd probably fix it anyway but I'd wish I didn't.

[radfringe]

76. I'd fix it and then put up a sign

repaired for FREE by a "Librul Democrat"

or just paste a DU bumper sticker on it

[pacalo]

103. Oh, I like that, radfringe!

Write Repaired for FREE by a "Librul Democrat" on a sticky note & stick it over the prominently-displayed Christmas card.

Republicans spew their hatred about our liberal principles, then when it comes back to bite them, they think nothing of asking for help. Limpballs is a classic example.

[frogmarch]

126. I love both of those!! I'm going to keep them in mind to use myself! nt

[Sherman A1]

62. Agreed and Well Said.

I have a strong Republican, Social Conservative who delivers to where I work and we often talk politics.He supports Huck and I support DK. We both know that we will not change each other's minds on issues, but through our discussions we often find some areas of agreement (mostly local issues). I would help him if I could, as he would do for me. It's a matter of helping someone in need and politics take a far backseat to that.



:hi:

[KharmaTrain]

97. It Depends On The Person

For many years I worked for Repugnicans...most were fiscal conservatives but a few fundies and social conservatives as well. Work always came first and through that we developed friendships that could transcend politics and religion...thus we could talk about issues, agree to disagree but still have a thoughtful discussion. I enjoyed those as I learned a lot of how the other side thinks...it made me think as well.

However, I've also encountered many talking point ditto heads...Rush Limbo parrots who don't discuss, they attempt to out talk. All problems are either the "libruls" or Clinton's fault and the last thing these people will accept are facts and responsibility. Sadly, I encounter more of the later than the former these days.

Cheers...

[Th1onein]

83. I agree with you.

Rise above it. Be an example of what a liberal is.

[Tesha]

113. NO! Actions have consequences.

Republicans are really big on self-reliance, and planning
ahead, and religious, not practical charity.

Let her learn that these actions and intentions have
consequences. Maybe her church will pay to get her heat
fixed. Maybe a "Christian" HVAC company near her will
cut her a break. Maybe the local Republican committee
will bail her out.

Otherwise, let her pay the full going rate or freeze.

Here in New England, Joe Kennedy is running TV commercials
every night explaining why he still thinks its a good idea
to help poor folks out by giving them free Venezuelan
(CITGO) heating oil so they don't freeze to death. Apparently,
folks have been giving him shit about accepting charity from
Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelans. Folks who are probably just
like this woman.

Tesha

[Ishoutandscream2]

4. While your frustration is certainly understandable

I have a feeling you will have a change of heart. You've helped this lost soul before, and I bet you will do it again. :)

[kdmorris]

5. So, when you have a chance to show compassion

and to show another human being what we have all been fighting for the last 7 years, you decided to act like a Republican.

Way to go.

[rusty quoin]

11. It's called being human. He's an HVAC guy, not a priest. n/t

[Hoof Hearted]

41. Why, pray tell, (based on the OP) is the poster a HE? and what about being an HVAC

tech precludes one from enlightened compassion?

[Richard Steele]

55. He's been here at DU a long time. Many people know he's a man.

It also says so in his profile.

[Make7]

59. It says 'male' in his DU profile. Perhaps that makes the poster a HE. ( n/t )

[Hoof Hearted]

60. Well then, on to part b, if you will

What exactly about his status as an HVAC tech should diminish his capacity for enlightened compassion?

[Richard Steele]

64. One has nothing to do with the other.

[Make7]

72. Nothing. ( n/t )

[kdmorris]

98. So, only priests have compasssion?

Does that mean you can only have a moral compass when you have religion? That's an entirely different thread, though.

You one line quip doesn't do much to shed light on the fact that letting someone freeze to death is INHUMAN. Her heat pump doesn't work and she doesn't have enough money to pay someone to fix it, ergo... her heat pump isn't going to get fixed. I don't care who you are or what you do for a living. This sort of callousness does nothing to further the cause of justice and humanity that the Bush administration has destroyed in our country these last few years.

My sister is a Republican. And a member of a Southern Baptist church, a true "Religious Right" type. She is completely the opposite of me in most ways that have to do with what to believe in. But she still loves and wants to feed her children, she still loves her husband and her animals, she still wants the same things that we do. She's just fucking confused on how to get it. If I had this opportunity, as I have in the past, to do something kind for her, to help her out, I would in a heartbeat. I WANT her to know that my values are good and honest and that I wouldn't turn my back on another human being just because I'm an atheist and a Democrat. She's been told I would and believes it.

Now, you may say that's different because she's my sister, but I say it's not. There is a Buddist saying, which I'm sure I'm going to manage badly that states, "Everyone is your mother". This basic concept is something I feel that we should live by always. Treat every human being on this planet as if they are your family. Once they show they are evil, you can disown them, like the leadership of the Bush Administration. But for some poor, deluded fool like this woman.. compassion always.

How does the OP know that she STILL supports Bush? Maybe she got stuck on a mailing list. I get shit from Mel Martinez all the time because he's my senator and I wrote him an email a few times about how much he sucks. But he still sends them. Does that make me less worthy than someone else?

[Crabby Appleton]

179. My sentiments exactly nt

[FogerRox]

197. Though the guy does run a business

[kdmorris]

206. But...

he was willing to do it cheap or free right up until he saw the card. THEN he says "Fuck it". THAT'S lacking in compassion. I can see if he had a policy of not doing anything for neighbors unless it's official, etc.

Since the OP hasn't even bothered to show back up, it probably all bullshit anyway, so I doubt it even matters.

[dweller]

6. just forget borrowing that cup of sugar while you are at it.

dp

[magellan]

8. I agree with you

Rethugs don't learn anything because we're always willing to help them out of their messes. They take advantage of that and then turn around and screw us to the wall. Much as it goes against my nature, I would feel as you do. Give her the number to the WH and tell her to call her compassionate Christian leader for help.

[Bobbieo]

14. Out of curiosity - what does one do to get a Christmas card from

George and Laura.

I have never personally known anyone who has gotten a Christmas card from the White House from either party.

[magellan]

20. I remember my parents getting a Christmas card from the Carters!

But I don't know how they did it. My mom was a Democrat so she was no doubt behind it...but she's no longer with us.

[Bobbieo]

25. Magellan - She must have been very active in party politics. Good for her!!!

[ingac70]

32. I got a Christmas card from the Carter's last week...

I donate to liberal candidates causes and was involved in a Habitat for Humanity House years ago.

[XanaDUer]

185. We just got a Christmas card from the Carters.

We live in GA.

[Cha]

199. I get Christmas cards

from the Carters. Just opened mine today and it has a Sweet Dove on it with a picture of Jimmy, Roslyn, and Peeps from The Carter Center inside the Dove.

I treasure them cause the cards are from real people..not some bogus puppets.

[ingac70]

28. Donate money to their campaigns...

she shoulda saved for a rainy day instead.

[Captain Angry]

30. My dad got a card from Reagan.

He worked in the Pentagon at the time as an aide. Really low level stuff for a young Air Force captain.

All DoD employees got one.

[loudsue]

35. She donated.

That's where the $$ went that could have fixed her heater.

[FormerDittoHead]

38. You got it. She wouldn't be showing the card off if she wasn't proud of it...

But let me address this to the OP and be sarcastic and suggest he follow the advice of all of the other "What Would Jesus Do?" posters here trying to peer-pressure him into fixing the heater and wonder aloud if perhaps with the money she'll be saving she won't maybe donate it to the Republicans?

I'm with the OP - you were there, we weren't. I'm with you, pal.

[tom_paine]

67. Good point. The money the OP saves her will go right into Bushie coffers.

Besides, maybe tasting some of what she is condemning others to will result in a new appreciation and a change of heart.

Tough love.

[hfojvt]

44. I got a Christmas card from my state senator

but nothing from the Governor. I hope that Senator faces a primary challenge too.

[bunkerbuster1]

99. I suspect it could have been something rather non-partisan

Like the President's Fitness Initiative or suchlike.

Not saying that's what it was, but one might keep that in mind. Hell, if I'd managed to get on such a list I'd probably display such a card prominently myself... right next to a card I received from a rather conservative friend that pokes fun at Bush. But that's just me.

[Dorian Gray]

112. Usually if you are a donor

you get one. But I think you have to donate quite a bit to be on their radar for a Christmas Card.

[Tesha]

116. Donate to a campaign.

We get cards all the time from Tipper and Al and some
of our more-local political families.

Tesha

[MilesColtrane]

120. Campaign donation usually gets you on the list. n/t

[DFW]

203. I got them every year from the Clinton White House after 1994

No for any contributions, but there was one little thing:
When we first met in 1995, I gave him an antique ornate
levee bond from Arkansas from 1871 that I had found in an
antique shop in France. He had it framed and told me he had
it hanging on the wall in Camp David. As it was worth less
than $200, he was allowed by law to keep it after he left
office, although I never asked him if he did (the same shop
had another one 2 years ago, so I sent him that one, too).

Anyway, he had never seen such a thing, and was really excited
when he first saw it. I got Christmas cards from him every year
from the White House since (and from him after he left office, as
well). I'd hate to have his postage bill, although I think he
has some kind of franking privileges as an ex-president, so in
that sense I really DO pay a part of his postage bill.

[aikoaiko]

12. in San Jose, its not like she is going to freeze to death

She can bundle up at night. The cool air will help her sleep.

[uppityperson]

13. Help her, then when it's fixed, tell her you almost didn't and why.

peace

[tularetom]

15. Ain't nobody more wingnutty than MY neighbor

She was married to our local R/W district attorney and she was so nutty he left her (for his 25 y.o. secretary). She used to argue with me all the time over politics and once threatened to sue me over an incident where I disposed of her dead pig while she was on vacation. But last New Years Eve she came over in a snit because she had a cow ready to give birth and her son who was supposed to deliver the calf for her, bailed. My son in law and I went over and got the calf out. She's been my new bestest friend ever since. She still thinks I'm a commie but she at least listens to my rants. She now agrees that bush is the worst thing thats happened to the country in many years (I still say forever). And she apologized to me over the pig.

My advice - fix the fricking heat pump and get in a few sly digs while yer doin it. you might make a convert.

[EFerrari]

17. That pig part is really impressive, tom.

:)

[tularetom]

19. The sucker really stunk

I drug him out to the road and called the rendering plant to come and pick him up. I don't know WTF she expected me to do. I could smell it clear over at our house (1/2 mile away) when the wind blew.

[Yuugal]

74. and thus another pallet of hot dogs was born :) nt

[trotsky]

88. LOL

That is absolutely disgusting but unfortunately true. ;-)

[zabet]

94. Actually...

when dead hogs are 'rendered', the grease
is removed and the rest is cooked down into
a protein meal to be added to pig feed. Yes,
they 'cannibalize' the dead pigs by feeding them
back to the live hogs being raised for slaughter.
The grease is partially made into lard, and the
'fine grade' of fat is used by make-up companies
for chapsticks and lipsticks bases. These same
companies also buy the pigs red blood cells (after
the plasma is removed) to color lipsticks and rouges.
Ladies, if you wear makeup, you may have pig parts
on your face.

[loudsue]

107. Eeeewww! And I thought these were just old age spots.

It's pig shit.

[zabet]

121. ....

:spray:

[emilyg]

16. Please help her.

[Buzz Clik]

80. agreed.

[Cronus Protagonist]

18. Sometimes a parable is in order...

Republican Hot Air

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The woman replied, "Your are in a hot air balloon approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."

"You must be a Democrat, " said the balloonist.

"I am," said replied the woman. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help so far."

The woman below responded. "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

by Unknown

PermaLink: http://cronus.com/hotair/

[rusty quoin]

21. That is excellent. It really makes me think, since we are all in the same boat.

It is like having reckless brother who keeps getting you into trouble, and you keep bailing him out. Is that our future?

[Cronus Protagonist]

176. Exactly and at some point you have to let him fall

If only to be kind and give him a chance to pick himself up like he dearly wants to be able to do himself.

[NuttyFluffers]

195. "cruel to be kind, in the right measure."

it's not just a Letters to Cleo song.

[barbtries]

49. that is great.

[FormerDittoHead]

117. Excellent. PEOPLE - IT'S NOT THE OP'S PROBLEM! Go, TMFUN!

There are OVER A MILLION *KIDS* who need HEALTH CARE. KIDS.

Those kids asked (indirectly through our Congress and Senate) the guy who sent this woman a Christmas Card, for Bush's HELP and sign in the SCHIP program.

But Bush said, "No, fuck you little kids, you can get SICK, some of you kids will FUCKING DIE, MAYBE THAT WILL TEACH YOUR PARENTS A LESSON, BUT THE MONEY OF RICH PEOPLE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR LIVES..."

This woman didn't take the card and tear it up in little pieces and burn in while stomping on the ashes. No, she fucking put it up so everyone could see where her "pride and joy" is at this holiday season...

And you "do gooders" here at DU are giving tmfun a hard time over not taking his time out and helping to save her some of those lower taxes she's rolling in while our schools are falling down and we SHOVEL MONEY into those MURDERERS at Blackwater and Halliburton?

We can't pick our family, but we can pick our friends.

Thank you TMFUN, for STEPPING UP and making the HARD DECISIONS when they have to be made...

NO SARCASM.

[elizfeelinggreat]

129. Yes

And if every time they whine about their problems they are faced to admit their problems PALE in comparison to those who really need help because of their party's actions it might just make them think a little bit.

(say, Katrina victims still without their homes much less a bad water pump ...)

[HughMoran]

161. Excellent

That's a keeper.

[Cronus Protagonist]

177. Yuo! It sure is :P

n/t

[pleah]

209. Bravo!!!!!!

That sums it up so well. It really boils down to how you feel about yourself in the end.

After reading more of the posts, I am torn, I see both sides. But, again, it is your call. It really isn't for me to say.

[MilesColtrane]

22. I think, in the 80's, I remember a Penthouse Forum letter that started out the same way. n/t

[EFerrari]

26. LOL

[SidDithers]

128. Bow wow chicka chicka bow wow...nt

Sid

[WillowTree]

23. So if I understand you correctly...

....you've decided to act just like those you hate.

Way to spread the progressive word, tmfun! Merry Christmas.

[Make7]

24. I hope people are willing to help you when you need a hand.....

... regardless of how you decide to act in this situation, or whether or not they agree or disagree with your politics.

- Make7

[MindPilot]

29. Are you sure she's a Republican? Sometimes a card is just a card.

I got cards from the Reagans and the Clintons long before my political activism encompassed any more than voting. I guess you just get on the right list. Or the wrong list depending on how you look at it. She may just be proud she got a card from the Whitehouse regardless of who occupies it.

There are those times I wish I didn't know how to fix anything because it never ends. I guess the real key is how she reacts. Does she expect you to help her out or is she genuinely grateful? If she falls into the former category, then let her pay somebody.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. It's about the Karma, dude

You help her and then when you need help, someone will be there for you.

[dweller]

33. anyone interested in a collection fund for a case of Fosters

to help tmfun celebrate his successful completion of the the heatpump repair?

i'm in for $5. My money is where my mouth is.

burp.
dp

[Speck Tater]

34. I hve only one thing to say about that.

We don't show compassion because THEY need it. We show compassion because that's what WE need to do.

You blew a perfectly good opportunity to demonstrate what being a liberal is really all about.

[Occulus]

119. And suppose she already thinks liberals are all stupid anyway

and here comes another one, doing something for free that he could/should have charged for.

See! Liberals really are stupid! That's what they're all about!

^^^ Thoughts going on in her head as he fixes her heater ^^^

We've often heard it said on this board that Publicans don't and won't "get it" until it's their own fat in the fire. Well, here's a case of a Publican's fat being in the fire- and a whole bunch of people are, predictably, telling this poster to pull their fat out, even though it's just not his problem in the first place.

When are people going to start realizing that, instead of fixing up all the Publicans' messes all the damn time, we should instead be leaving them to live with the consequences of their own actions?

[depakid]

36. Unfortunately, I've come to the same conclusion

Republicans have no empathy and little sympathy for anyone other than their own- and actively oppose programs that would actually help people (and the overall economy). Yet inevitably, they whine the loudest when something happens to them personally (sometimes as a direct result of policies that they tirelessly promote).

Given that prevailing mindset, I reckon when something like this happens, they can solve their own problems- might just be the best thing that could happen to them in the long run. And probably the ONLY thing that might bring them round to their senses.

Under the curcumstances, and irrespective of some of the other posters' approbations, I think you're doing exactly the right thing.

[Hoof Hearted]

46. If you think that poster did the right thing you need to change your avatar

The victims AI are trying to help are people who were either persecuted or left to rot not by justice, but ideology. I would hope an advocate of AI could understand that, and recognize and restrain those tendencies in themselves as well.

[depakid]

56. Simply choosing not to go out of one's way for a Bush supporter

(who'd deny similar help to so MANY others) isn't EVEN in the same ballpark as looking out for victims of regimes that the administration that they actively supports (and emulates in its own country).

Nope- sorry if you're offended, but I learned the hard way about who to help- and who to pass by, and I choose to no longer be a sucker. Seems to me that if others on the left were to learn that lesson too, progressives wouldn't keep getting stepped on, kicked around and played for fools.

Sad reality- I don't like it, but that's how it is in the states, and it's one of the reasons why I'm well on the way to being an expat.

[tom_paine]

68. Hear hear and well-said, depakid!

:toast:

[Habibi]

189. I agree with you.

I think that Bush supporters, like children, need to be taught consequences. While it hurts my heart to say so, I think the OP needs to be okay with letting his neighbor find another solution, one that might cost her money. It's not like she's out on the street and he's refused her food or shelter.

[kster]

37. I can't give you advice, but, whatever you decide

I am with you.

[Hoof Hearted]

39. What did you do?:

Out of curiosity what HVAC fix was required 7 years ago and now?

[tom_paine]

40. I wholly agree and make sure you LET HER KNOW why you are doing what you are doing.

After all, she wouldn't want to take help from such a Dirty America-hating Liberal like yourself.

I wholly agree. DO NOT break down and feel sympathy for Bushie Monsters, for she would feel NONE for you if the situation was reversed.

No aid to the enemies of America and freedom. NONE.

I am with you, my friend. And fuck all those people who talk about karma. You are only karma's instrument to deliver her bad karma back to her.

Yes, she should take her Bush-loving laid off ass out and pull herself up by her Limbootstraps.

And make sure you let her know IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS.

[raccoon]

166. I second that emotion. nt

[symbolman]

42. maybe read a good book instead?

Mark Crispin Miller's "Fooled Again" about Republican Vote Theft is now in Paper back... :)

[gauguin57]

43. You need to do what you feel is right ... but I vote you try to fix her heat pump.

Repugs think Dems have horns, kill babies, do drugs, have sex in the street and want to tax them to death.

After you fix her heat pump (if you can), make sure and figure out some sly way to let her know you're a Dem. Like, "Wow ... I'm a lifelong Democrat. I guess I won't be getting one of those Christmas cards this year, heh heh heh. Well, Mrs. Smith, you should be getting heat now. Good luck with your job search. If I hear of anything, I'll be sure to let you know. Take care of yourself. I hope things turn around for you real soon. Glad I could help."

Show them you're a true Dem -- a person who works to help people down on their luck. Show them you're more "Christian" than so many of the so-called "Christians" who are out there trumpeting their religion (meanwhile tromping on everyone and trying to take away our rights).

I understand your frustration. But I think this is a "teachable moment" for those deluded Puggies next door.

[Downtown Hound]

50. I don't have horns!

[tom_paine]

70. You don't teach Nazis. You fight them.

As depakid said so correctly above, maybe if more of us on the Left understood this, we would keep getting our asses kicked by the Kinder and Gentler Nazis "because THIS time Lucy's REALLY going to let us kick that old ball!".

[FormerDittoHead]

95. Exactly. What if she had a Swastika flag and pictures of Hitler? Should he fix the heater THEN?

Yes, sometimes, politics DO matter. If she were a member of the KKK, and her brother were a skin head, would it MATTER?

YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT IT WOULD MATTER.

tmfun isn't a Hillary supporter not helping a Obama supporter... He's not denying help because she DOESN'T have a Hillary '08 bumper sticker on her car...

Think about it. It isn't Christmas, 2001, when we were all "supporting our troops"... It's NOW. We're not even talking about a worn "Bush/Cheney '04" bumper sticker on her car. Why the FUCK was she showing that card if she wasn't... THE ENEMY. (note: no sarcasm emoticon!)

AFTER FUCKING LYING US IN TO A FUCKING WAR AND KILLING MILLIONS, SHE DISPLAYS THAT CARD LIKE SHE'S PROUD OF BUSH???

After Katrina. After one fucking lie after the other, screwing us over again and again for GENERATIONS... What fucking person would be PROUD of being a Bush supporter? If I had made the mistake of supporting him (and I did vote for him in 2000) if she's not ABLE to admit her mistake by NOW....

And these people here want him to help her save the money fixing her heat pump so she can help support Huckabee or whoever...? Onward Christian soldiers... while she and her friends are fucking us in the ass!??

You go, tmfun! tmfun is a good, helpful neighbor, he's shown it in the past, but damn right, there's a point where you have to draw the line. tmfun was THERE - it's HIS call...

Here's to tmfun for doing the right thing, and not trying to kick the ball yet again...

[Occulus]

118. The whole time he's saying those things, she'll be thinking, "sucker!"

And in the end, she'll still be a Bushie, she'll still think he's a filthy librul- AND she'll have her heater fixed for free. Since she probably already thinks dem nassssty libruls are stupid anyway, fixing it for free will only reinforce her opinion- not change it.

I've dealt with these types before. Users, one and all, and the very best thing you can possibly do is let them know you're onto them. I've been suckered before in much this same way, and got ripped off for many hundreds of dollars worth of property.

He shouldn't fix her heater, he should tell her why he's not, and he should refer her to possible companies that will do so at the going rate. What he shouldn't tell her is that he picked all-union, all-Democrat businesses for her to choose from.

I also agree with an above poster that the money she saves will probably go right into the RNC pocketses. If he fixes it for her for free, he'll only be allowing himself to be played.

[pnorman]

45. I don't believe many here at DU could "out-left" me.

But my own feeling is that if she was a "decent" sort of person, and if I had the expertise and time, I'd FIX her machine. And I'd refrain from (or I'd try to) dropping any snarky comments. I'm not a card-carrying Christian either, but that's also part of my belief system.

pnorman
"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before." (Jacob Riis)

[ProfessorGAC]

105. Yeah. How's That "Don't Fight Back" Thing Worked The Last 20 Yrs?

It's a large part of the reason we got into this pickle.
The Professor

[Gormy Cuss]

133. I agree with you.

If she has always seemed decent to me and others, I'd be inclined to help. I wouldn't do it for free however. That's where I would draw the line. I'd charge her the going rate. She still is getting a bargain because she knows me and didn't need to shop around. I wouldn't get into politics with her either.

[pnorman]

201. With all due respect to the two DUers who responded to my posting,

I seen no particular reason to modify or "explain" it. Nor do I see any reason to respond individually to each one.

That quote by Jacob Riis, was something I had first spotted in an office in the Seattle Labor Temple several years back. I jotted it down, and it has remained with me to this day. As for it's "relevance" to this discussion, I see no particular reason to explain that either. If you don't "get it", I sincerely hope that you will some day.

pnorman
On edit: I'll assume that: 1). the "fix" is "simple --ie: something that an expert could do while she was making a pot of coffee, and: 2). that she wasn't in a position to afford a full-service house call by a professional HVAC person.

[CRF450]

47. Regardless of political standing, they're people just like you and me

Atleast have some compassion and help try to fix it.

[tom_paine]

52. Are they now?

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000651

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

[CRF450]

54. Depends on who you look at

Many repubs who are just your average joe are decent people. My dad who's a registered repub (aside from political beliefs, though their are some things he agrees with on the dem side) would probably be one of the nicest guys you'd meet.

[tom_paine]

63. I understand that, but it changes nothing.

I have lost patience with all the "Rolfs" of the world. (if you have seen "The Sound of Music" you will understand my metaphor, if not you might want to Google it)

For twenty-five years since the inception of this latest most virulent form of Bush-Limbaughism, which self-selects for the evil and the gullible the same way Nazi Propaganda did 70 years ago with it's talk of demonization, dehumanization, eliminationism and absolutism.

I watched in growing horror and disbelief, "Surely this cannot be growing into what it looks like," and so forth. But it was, and now that the Bushie cancer has metastasized it is clear.

I would never say the Bushies were subhuman or anything like they say about us, on the contrary history shows they are all too human. But one reaches a point where denial becomes impossible and compassion for those without conscience become equally impossible.

And with all the Bushie Evil now in plain sight, they literally, with their aggressive attacks and defeats of things like S-CHIP and LIHEAP expansion, even as the middle class dies and the working class drowns, have become the embodiment of the Ebeneezer Scrooge philosophy, andthose are the least of their unethcial acts, not even rising to the status of their many openly performed felonies, which their followers accept and support without quiestion:

"Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? My taxes pay for these institutions and that is enough."

"If they would rather die then they had better do so, and decrease the surplus population."

And for all the Good Germans Who Really Didn't Mean It When They Were Following Hitler, I have no compassion left for them, either, and I don't give a good God damn how "nice" they are to their family and friends. The bloody-handed blight and stain of following criminal sociopaths, or as some would term it "evil", is too great to outweigh whatever niceties they have done for their family and friends.

I invite you to read "Defying Hitler" by Sebastian Haffner and "I Will Bear Witness" by Victor Klemperer. They show conclusively that not just a few Nazi supporters but MANY Nazi supporters were awfully nice in their personal lives to their family and friends.

It carries no weight with me, anymore.

I understand and respect your position. I would not try to argue that you change it. I just strongly disagree with you at this late date.

[CRF450]

71. Agreable points, but totally ignoring/avoiding someone in need of help...

Simply becuase of political stance is doing nothing more than helping us stay divided and spreading more ignorance. The OP hasent given much detail at all about the lady other than just say that he saw a christmas card from the pres on the table. When it comes to helping someone, politics/beliefs should be put in the backseat.

[tom_paine]

73. It's too late. The Bushies have already purposefully and carefully divided us

and it is irrevocable. They have programmed their followers to hear nothing but Bush Party-Approved Lies (which is very savvy, from a tyrant's point of view because it means once you program someone into a Bushie, like the Nazis before them, they cannot be turned back but for the rarest of exceptions), sort of pulling up the ladder of the mind behind them.

How many conversations have you had with Bushies where you laid out the ironclad and irrefutable facts, not just opinion or speculation, but literally the hard data? And of those times, how many times did they dismiss that hard data as "Liberal Propaganda" ("Jewish Propaganda", to use the old Bushie 1930s vernacular)?

Thus they are armored against reality and against facts. Only that which coems from THE PARTY gets through.

Anyway, I am straying of the topic and into the hows of it all. The bottom line is that we ARE divided, and thanks to the most modern techniques of advertsing, psychology, marketing and PR, it is irrevocable (absent an upheaval like DubyaDubyaThree) and set in stone.

Period.

This is a tragedy for us all, but it is not a tragedy our side initiated. Hell, if our side had recognized this and fought back twenty years ago, this may never have happened. But it has happened.

The true tragedy is that you are right, and that, absent the Hellish Carnival of Totalitarian Liars, their Unquestuoning Followers, and Gullible Dupes that plague us today, this would not even be an argument for I would be in full agreement with you that this person should be helped regardless of their political affiliation.

But this is no longer simply an issue of a few political disagreements, not even close. For years they waged their "Cold Civil War" designed to eradicate us, if not literally then politically, and I believe that we are kidding ourselves if we fail to notice that throughout history one has almost always led to the other, eventually.

I wish that we still lived in a time and place where I could fully agree with you, but as if we lived in 1936 Germany, I cannot agree with you as it applies to the here and now.

[mwb970]

78. Where on earth did you get that picture of Coulter?

That's the best I've ever seen her look! Of course, she doesn't look like that in person. The right-wing hatred shows in her face and makes her as ugly as the others. Maybe this is actually a sketch of someone else?

[tom_paine]

136. I pulled it out of Google images, so I don't really know what site it came from

Yes, it is a ridiculously flattering picture of someone so ugly on the inside and out, but the quote was what got me to print that particular one.

:puke:

[pepperbear]

48. Could be a missed opportunity for some much needed discourse. n/t

[NNN0LHI]

110. My experience has been that reasoned discourse is not possible with Republicans

Might as well be talking to a wall. About the time I thought I just might be getting through to them they get their daily dose of Fox news and revert right back to their knuckledragging ways.

Never fails. Can't reason with idiots. And every Republican I know is an idiot.

Don

[donheld]

51. Can't say as I blame you

Helping her anyway might be the right thing, but certainly wouldn't be the easy thing for me.

[Downtown Hound]

53. I'm not really an advocate for reaching out across the aisle

or trying to "teach" Republicans things they should already know, like invading a sovereign nation is wrong, but in this case it seems that they have driven something out of you that's rather sad to see go: your compassion. When you give that up then they really have won.

Your options here are essentially as such: you can tell her to go to hell and tell her why, in which case you'll probably solidify her hatred of liberals even harder. For the most part I really could care less what Republicans think of me or us, but I think it's what you've lost that really counts the most.

Or you can help her, and while it probably won't cause her to undergo a radical political transformation, it will prevent you from succumbing to the kind of hatred and indifference that we have for so long condemned. Ultimately this really isn't about her or her politics, it's about you. When you look at yourself in the mirror every morning, what kind of person do you want to see there? One consumed by hate (justifiable hate though, in my opinion), or one motivated by love? I think the latter is more preferable, for your sake, not for hers.

[Occulus]

123. But that's if you're dealing with people who think compassion is a noble trait

Republicans don't think that way- they see things like compassion, empathy, etc. as weaknesses. By fixing her heater, as I stated above, he'll only be proving how gullible liberals are. By saving her the money, he'll be enabling her to donate more to the Publicans. By not making money himself, when he could, he'll be proving to her that liberals really don't have much business sense.

In other words, all the things you see as good about fixing her heater for free will only be seen to her as confirmation about how wrong liberals really are. Remember, with these people, black=white, up=down, compassion/empathy=bad/weak.

"you can tell her to go to hell and tell her why, in which case you'll probably solidify her hatred of liberals even harder."

In keeping with their whole opposite world mentality, refusing to help her- and explaining why- just might make the bulb go off for her. As I said in yet another post above, they don't "get it" until it's their problem. This is sort of like the war and starting a draft, and how so many on here seem to think doing so and putting the well-off kids in harm's way will wake the country up to oppose the war even more.

Well, now she has to come begging to not be cold, and it's only right that she be forced into fending for herself, given that her party- the party she very obviously donates to- feels that's how it should be for everyone.

The mentality you're advocating is called the "please, sir, may I have another" mentality, or better yet, the "Lucy and the football" mentality. Instead of trying to kick that ball, we need to start kicking the shit out of Lucy instead.

[Downtown Hound]

135. Your post is disturbing on many levels

First of all, as I said before, ultimately this has nothing to do with what the fucking Repukes think. This is about what kind of person you have become. I have a downright redneck roommate. He's racist, and even a little unstable at times. I didn't know him before I moved into this place, if I did I would have thought twice. A few months ago he was laid off from his job. He was having a difficult time finding work in time to pay his rent. So I had two choices, let him end up on the streets just as winter is approaching or help him out. I helped him without even thinking about it. I paid $400 of his rent and my other roommate paid the remaining $200. Why? Because my liberal ideals always come first. No one in this day and age of humanity when we can travel in space and send messages around the globe in a fraction of a second should have to live without shelter. NO ONE. Those ideals hold even when I don't like the person in question or disagree with everything they stand for. My roommate has since found a new job and can pay his own rent. By helping him, I very well might have saved him from going out and robbing somebody, or getting himself in trouble. So I might not have only helped him, but I might have helped a total stranger too. Acts of hatred and love both can have long chains of consequences. No matter what we think politically, we are all bound to each other whether we like it or not.
Just as I expect police officers to put aside their personal feelings and do their jobs professionally, which means treating somebody they've arrested decently even if he's the biggest lowlife on the planet, I expect myself and all true liberals to put humanity and compassion over their personal feelings. When we are able to do that as a race then we will really start seeing some change. But succumbing to the kind of hatred you're talking about is a path to defeat, not victory. It's a path that says we only help those that are like us. Our love is conditional, not universal. Sounds a lot like those fundamentalist Christians we're always bashing.

A wiser man than myself once said, those who mistake mercy for weakness do so at their own peril.

[tom_paine]

138. You are both right and wrong. And I find that equally disturbing.

I am reminded of the sick little Jewish boy in Sebastian Haffner's "Defying Hitler" during Hitler First State-Sanctioned Jewish Boycott, which you should read, for it is not fiction, but an autobiography of the period 1914-1933.

"Yes, it is horrible," (his brother) said, "I don't know what will become of the boy. He can't stand injustice and he has no means of coping with it. Do you know what he told me yesterday, after all this happened? He would like to save Hitler's life and then say to him, 'Right. I'm a Jew, now let's talk things over for an hour..."

You should read the book and take the blinders from your eyes. How naive the little Jewish boy was, and likely he died in a concentration camp in a pile of his own blood and feces.

Shall we be that little Jewish boy...if only we could save Herr Hitler's life surely he would see the error of his ways?

NO...HE...WOULDN'T!

I've said this before and I will say it again: In 99% of all the situations in all the world, yours would be the right way to be. This happens to be, God help us all, the 1% of the time it is the exact wrong thing to do, like the little Jewish boy if he had ever actually had the chance to save Hitler or let him die.

Let me also make note that, even now, if I saw a Bushie dying I would give them CPR and save their lives if I could. Even now, I cannot be as ruthless or conscienceless as those who seek to eradicate us. But anything shy of that life or death situation? Never.

You are both right and so very very wrong and it is a tragedy for us all that this is the case.

[Downtown Hound]

184. Whoa, hold on there turbo.

We're talking about fixing some random lady's water pump who may or may not be a Republican, and you're comparing this to saving Hitler's life? You might be overdoing it just a teenie little bit there.

First of all, I never said that doing this act would turn her into a liberal. The motivation for helping her should go beyond politics. It should be done without the expectation of gaining personal reward. I can pretty much guarantee you that if he doesn't help her, she will definitely not become a liberal. If he remains silent and doesn't tell her why he's not helping her, then she will continue on as she always has. If he tells her he's not going to fix her water pump because she's a Nazi, then she'll likely go away very offended and not listen to anything liberals have to say afterwards.

Now if he does go and help her, and assuming the subject of politics arises at some point in the conversation, then either she's going to listen and maybe learn something, or she won't. Either way, the outcome is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of the world, but in the latter, the OP did something nice for a fellow human being and kept his humanity intact. If he'd refused, he'd be letting a bitterness and a hatred into his heart that over time can become very corrosive and poisonous. It's really about him more than its about her.

[tom_paine]

200. Oh Lordy, you just keep missing my point there "turbo"

If you think I am comparing this HVAC repair to saving Hitler's life, you are mistaken.

My "Nazi" points are not meant to directly equate to this particular sitaution in scope, but to point out that we have passed a point of no return in this country, and we do ourselves and our nation a dissrvice by ignoring that fact.

I cannot help it. I have been watching this unfold with growing horror for more than twenty years, this national sea change of ours, how long have you noticed it's rise or it's roots for?

Ten years? Five years? Last week?

I had, early on, stopped arguing this single instance of "to help or not to help" and brought the Big Picture into play. Again, if you had been following Hitler's rise from, metaphorically-speaking, from his first days on stage in a tiny beer hall, watching him swell with power and followers daily for a decade or more, you'd be freaked out, too. You'd be screaming at the top of your lungs, too. You'd be sick of the preliminaries and would jump too soon to the Big Picture, too, forgetting that the Big Picture is impossible to view without the knowing the underpinning facts.

And you too, in your efforts to get the message out to people, might be self-defeating in your instant leaps to try and explain what can't easily be explained with brevity. Self-defeating because what others keep viewing as childish hyperbole is actually built on a solid base of fact and history.

I am sorry if you find this insulting, as I have said before in almost any other situation and time-period, tmfun's and my view (and all who share it) would be wrong wrong WRONG. No doubt about it.

It is almost always a mistake to bring the Big Picture into play into a conversation like this, and I forget that, as Americans, we are some of the most information-deprived people on the Earth.

(ironic, isn't it, in this hyper-information age could contain so little information)

I forget that, for most people I talk to and meet, it requires 20 or 30 minutes of conversation just to get them up to snuff on topics which should be a matter of common knowledge and probably would have been 30 or 40 years ago before our media became the laughingstock carnival calliope of the world, all distractions and nonsense.

I apologize if you find this insulting or degrading, it is not meant to be but I won't waste time tiptoeing over people's feelings trying to find just the right euphemisms anymore. It is too late in the game for that.

Now you have a choice. You can get all angry and blow me off as a :tinfoilhat: , or you can have the courage of your convictions and click on my Naomi Wolf YouTube link below. Naomi Wolf, a respected author who saw what I have been seeing unfold these past two decades, and a woman who went out and did the research, dotting the Is and crossing the Ts.

You may find my comments hyperbolic, but I would be surprised if you found hers similarly so. In either case, if you want to know where I am coming from, if your convictions are are strong enough to withstand challenge, then you will take the time to sit down and watch it.

Peace. Please look at it. If you find it interesting or compelling, plese click on some of the other links I have peppered througout this thread.

[barbtries]

57. someone else mentioned you could help her out

and teach - attempt to teach - her something in the process. think of how much NOT helping her is resulting in YOUR feeling rotten. and tell her this. my idea is you say okay i'll help you but you first must throw away that fucking card, because i can't work next to a picture of the symbol of everything that has been wrong in the world for the past seven years. if she refuses and expresses love and respect for the bushies (and appears to believe that the bushies give a flying fuck about her), say okay, have them fix your heater.

but you might find out that it is as someone above suggested, that she just kinda felt it was special to get something signed by a president. my son made the president's list in 5th grade, and it was so frigging ironic to me that the first time any of my 4 children accomplished that, the president was a BUSH! what should i have done? well i don't know if it was the most right way to handle it but i let him know how proud i was that he did so well in school and how sad it was that the president was a bush, and when i bragged on him to others i expressed the same sentiments.

also, all freepers are not heartless assholes. some of them are wonderful loving people whose heads are stuck up their ass due to willful ignorance which is not malicious. when i was preparing to move out to NC a few months ago, my sister - who has expressed disdain for both al gore and michael moore to me in conversations, and with whom i dare not talk politics for the sake of my own blood pressure - sent me (at the urging of my son, who gave me a surprise bon voyage party) $1000 for the trip. it was a complete surprise and without it we could be living in the raleigh shelter today.

and by the way what does she do? why'd she get laid off right at christmas time? is she asking for help that she needs or a hand-out because she can? if she can afford to pay you, charge her. if she won't trash the card, charge her more.

[tom_paine]

66. Please see my Post #63.

One thing I have learned these past seven years, and that is all of us us have TWO consciences, two hearts, if you will.

One is the conscience by which we conduct our personal, daily lives. The other is how we view and act towards the rest of the world who are strangers to us. I have also learned that quite often, but not always, one has nothing to do with the other.

How do you think so many nations in so many different eras of history have conducted such evil atrocities time and time again?

I'll say again: I admire your point of view and would not ask you to change it. I would just ask that you understand and respect mine, which I believe comes from as legitimate a wellspring of truth that yours comes from.

[zalinda]

58. Have you told her the reason you don't want to help her?

If you don't state your reasons, she won't know why you have not helped. Anything you don't do, will get lost. There will be no message to her. Sit down and talk to her about your reservations, like your being a liberal and and dem, and you aren't sure she really wants help from someone like you. Or mention something about boot straps. But, communication is the best remedy for what is going on.

As for the Christmas card, she may not be a Bush lover or hater. She just may be proud that she received a card from the President, no matter who it is.

zalinda

[pamela]

61. That's harsh.

If you've known her for 7 years and didn't know she was a Republican, she must not be a foaming at the mouth type. You liked her enough to offer to help but now that you've seen a card you want her to rot in hell? That's just sad.

When my grandparents, who were life-long Democrats, celebrated their 50th anniversary, my aunt had the White House send them a card. It was from Nixon and, as much as they hated him, they kept that card and even had it framed. When my parents celebrated their 50th a few years ago, I went on the White House web site and applied for a card, too. They are both Independents and hate Bush and voted for Gore and Kerry, but they liked having a card from the White House. Damn, I'd hate to think that someone would see that card and be mean to my wonderful parents because of a mistaken assumption about their political ideology.

I vote for "fix the fucking furnace." I'll pitch in 10 bucks toward the case of Fosters.

[B Calm]

65. I quit eating at a local restaurant because they displayed pictures

of George and Laura Bush dancing at his inauguration ball. Good for you!

[orleans]

69. either way you're not going to be happy with yourself

you're in one of those stupid positions that always leave me feeling icky

if you don't fix it you'll probably start feeling guilty and then ashamed for acting like such an asshole

if you do fix it you'll probably start feeling resentful of her for asking you and then like a sucker for doing the republika such a nice favor

(at least that's how i would feel/respond to the situation)

sorry you've been selected to be put into this position

[Caretha]

75. What a conundrum

How about this. Fix her heater but tell her you need a favor in return. Find a local charity that serves Christmas dinner for homeless people and tell her, you will fix her heater if she volunteers to help serve them on Christmas day.

[Tyler Durden]

77. My wife tore down a Bush calendar at work.

12 months of Pro-Bush photos were too much for her. It's not as brave as what you did (and it WAS brave) and don't let anyone tell you different.

There is no law requiring charity to people who are killing the country by proxy.

[REP]

79. If I got a card from Pickles and Pickled, I'd probably display it, too...

...for the same reason I have Nixon memorabilia - a black sense of humor. Just saying. There's a chance she's being ironic - there's also a chance she has brain damage.

[MadHound]

82. You have become that which you hate.

Basing your actions, relations and charity on what party a person is. You are full of hate and venom and are allowing that hate to control you. Have you ever thought that by going ahead and helping this person, that you can show by example what true compassion is all about?

Sorry, but I think that you have made a mistake, and you have allowed politics to control your life. This was a neighbor in need, apparently a person who you have some sort of relationship with. Yet you are willing to throw this all overboard because she voted for Bush. You should hope that there is no such thing as karma, 'cause I can see it coming back to bite you on this one.

I have friends and neighbors who are conservatives, who voted for Bush, and yet I still manage to remain friends with them because politics is not the topmost thing in our lives or friendships. Sure, we have our little dust-ups and arguments over politics, but since it isn't the most important thing in our lives, we can let go and relate on many other different levels.

Your action is mean and spiteful, and certainly not a liberal or progressive outlook on life. Perhaps you should reconsider your action, and the importance of politics in your life, and go back and do the right thing rather than becoming that which you hate.

[greguganus]

84. Great response. n/t

[MedleyMisty]

208. Will it still not be the most important thing in your lives

when the effects of global warming really start showing up or when the camps that Halliburton is building start getting inmates or, if you require something more immediate, if you have a health crisis and don't have insurance or are denied coverage for the treatment you need? And I'm guessing you're heterosexual and can marry the person you love and have all the legal rights of marriage, but that's not true for everyone else. And I don't suppose you're a poor young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy either. And I guess you haven't been outsourced or laid off or only able to find a crappy job where you're treated like a slave.

Politics is life and policies enacted by politicans have a real effect on everyone's lives. Like in my hometown the government is using eminent domain to take an old couple's home away from them and everyone's all upset about it. I bet they never even knew about it before it came to bite them in the ass. That's the price you pay for ignoring politics - you hand over control of your life to evil mf'ers. And that'd be okay if it was just control of your life, but no, it's control of my life and the lives of millions of others too. People who vote Republican have blood on their hands, and ignorance is no excuse.

[Fierce]

85. My in-laws got one, and they have no idea why.

They have it out because it's funny.

[many a good man]

87. Bushlovers can go to hell

I wouldn't say that about all Republicans but this lady idolizes bush by displaying his graven image in her home.

Maybe you should inform her about state-sponsored energy assistance programs that might help her out. You know, the ones we all pay for in taxes because we all aren't lucky enough to have friends that are certified HVAC technicians who are willing to work for free. Working for free takes a day's paycheck away from someone else who might need the money this time of year.

So work for free to help a goddam bushlover and you wind up stabbing a workingman in the back!

[immoderate]

89. Engage her. I would ask her why she has the card.

Ask her why she votes against her own interests, if she did. Let her know it's a liberal that's getting her out of this mess. Maybe you can enlighten her.

--IMM

[Marie26]

90. Oh, great

If I could negative recommend this post, I would.

[Name removed]

92. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Steven_S]

93. I have been in your shoes many times - tmfun......

I am a retired plumbing & heating contractor. I spent 27 years in the field, on my back and on my knees. I have been annoyed and tempted to do what you did many times over the years.

I would be reluctant to put myself on the hook for several thousand dollars to someone who isn't working. I might have done what you did, but for business reasons, and not because of an assumed political affiliation.

I always thought of it as a challenge and opportunity when I came across obvious Bushies. Careful questions usually starting with "Did you know" and discussions about current events would always boil down to their world-view and values. Always. Just plant the seed and move on. Sometimes you can open their eyes and sometimes you can't. This is of course assuming I had the time to chat.

You always have the right of refusal - It's just the underlying anger that you should look at.

[Froward69]

96. Roughly simmilar situation here

my neighbor was flipping houses he built himself a very nice garage behind his house. just before he scraped his lot off. before the mc-mansions he built sold. well, they STILL haven't sold. he has a garage to live in and a hole where his new house would be built. (if he had the money.) the cold of winter is turning him into a Dem. I am neighborly and lent him my garage heater. his wifes paychecks are building their new house. at a much slower pace than he had been throwing up those mc mansions. he routinely builds houses with about 10,000 sq feet. I am happy in my 2200sq feet. (same block) he tells me its not enough room to change my mind. i tell him that 2200 feet is one fifth the volume to heat in the winter. he gets puzzled as to why i would worry about the heat bill. The last time i talked to him I asked if he was building them green. he replied that they were insulated. I asked about solar panels or wind turbines. he looked at me like i was crazy. I then said if he had a clue about those types of instillations I would hire him to retrofit my place with them. he labeled me a crazy liberal. I took my heater back.

[raccoon]

169. "I took my heater back." Good for you. After you did him a good deed, he calls you

"crazy liberal."

[hootinholler]

100. What would DeNiro do?

:shrug:

-Hoot

[Le Taz Hot]

101. Uncool.

This person is in need and it's the right thing to do to help her out. Show her what progressives really stand for.

[Gold Metal Flake]

102. Let me see here...

To some, donating time and money to repair a heat pump for someone who is a class traitor when it is convenient is akin to pulling someone from a burning building. Sorry, this would not have been an errand of mercy. I'm sure she has a credit card she can impose on just as easily as she tried to impose on you.

I, too, provide services that are not easy to get, and sometimes I provide these services for cheap or free. I choose to whom these services go. Try getting someone to fix your Berringer PA amp for free, it's not a trivial gift. You decide to whom you will gift, and why. No one else should have a say in it, especially those who just like to kick up dust on message forums (or who are paid to).

Times are hard for those who seek freedom and who are trying to save this republic. Save your support energies for your allies. It's important.

[LynneSin]

104. Instead of rejecting help - use it as an opportunity

Here's a chance to not only help her but talk to her about her politics. Remind her that any benefits she is getting while unemployeed are there because of Democrats.

Perhaps she just needs someone to reach out to her. See Democrats are like Jesus - when they see someone in need they reach out and help regardless of what kind of scum they might be. Repukes are like the rest of the bible - if they don't believe - kill em.

[Catherine Vincent]

106. I would still try and fix it but I would let her know that you don't care

for the Bushies. Get her to put away the card while you're at her condo.

[Kingofalldems]

108. Go ahead and fix it

Make sure she knows that a proud liberal is fixing her heat pump free of charge.

[npincus]

109. Karma, my friend.

Perhaps your kindness and positive influence could help her see the light.

[Dorian Gray]

111. Happy Holidays....

[Javaman]

114. If I was you, I would fix it, but while fixing it I would go on and on about how

awful moron* and stepford are and how he* is destroying the country.

tit for tat. :)

Education is the secret to overcoming ignorance.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

122. Shame On You.

To refuse help for another in need based on their choice of politics (which they have every right to), is not only shameful, but absolutely puts you in worse light for the lack of action than she stands in for her choice of politics.

Offering help or willingness to help should be a product of who YOU are, not who THEY are.

[B Calm]

124. Don't listen to these wussies, you did right! Have I said today how much

I hate these bastards!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

127. So Being Kind To Someone Now = Wussie? Let Me Tell Ya Somethin Son:

If you can feel that level of hatred for someone merely because they kept his christmas card, then you have all sorts of growing up to do and are every single bit as bad as anyone on the right is. Sorry pal. You're just quite simply wrong and I'm thankful that most people on this site wouldn't have such an immature and disillusioned perception as it relates to helping those in need.

[tom_paine]

140. I never had these feelings before in my life, OMC, as I suspect the OP didn't either.

But eventually, the last straw came and I could no longer deny what I was seeing.

How'd that turn the other cheek and be a better person work on the Nazis, who are so very similar in pyshcology to the Bushies?

It didn't.

Throughout this thread I have constantly said that yours is the right kind of sentiment sadly misplaced at the one exception to what should be the ideal view of life.

Plus, it's not as if the OP is watching while someone drowns and dies, just choosing not to help them for free, with an HVAC problem.

Let me ask you a question, were all those "nice" Jews who died in the camps doing the right thing, or should they have fought those Nazi bastards with every fiber of their being once they knew what they were (let alone helping them with several thousand Deutschmarks of free labor)?

I know, I know, you strongly disagree with me. Well, maybe you should read Sebastian Haffner's "Defying Hitler", Victor Klemperer's "I Will Bear Witness" and "Diary of a Man in Despair" by Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen before you condemn me, tmfun, and the rest.

99% of the time you would be so very correct in what you say. It is our tragic misfortune to be living during the 1% of times/places where it is not.

A tragedy for us all, like Germany 1933, but not one of our (we are the New Jews, you know) making.

I respect your view on this, OMC, and I wish you could see your way to respect mine/tmfun's, even though you do not agree.

========================================================

On another note, OMC, I very much hope things are going well for you and your family in the aftermath of your tragic loss. I am praying for you and yours.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

163. With All Due Respect,

You are trying to draw a comparison of deserved compassion between nazis and a woman who has a christmas card from bush on her table. That just ain't gonna cut it. Sorry.

On a real note though, thank you for your well wishes and I hope all is going well for you as well.

[tom_paine]

172. We must agree to disagree, then, but I would add these references to bolster my position

Before I start, I would like to add that I do agree that her displayed Christmas Card does not fully prove that this woman is a Cruel Loyal Bushie. I have in one of my later posts advised tmfun to confirm this and then proceed according to what his conscience dictates. But if she would turn out to be a Cruel Hannitized Loyal Bushie, then I stand behind my words.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000651

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc

http://www.amazon.com/Conservatives-Without-Conscience-John-Dean/dp/0143038869/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198187243&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Defying-Hitler-Memoir-Sebastian-Haffner/dp/0312421133/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197208607&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Will-Bear-Witness-1933-1941-Paperbacks/dp/0375753788/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198184253&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Man-Despair-Frederich-Reck-Malleczewen/dp/0026014009/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198184347&sr=1-2

I keep telling you that it isn't hyperbole, not in the least. It is kinder and gentler and subtler this time around because the Bushies couldn't "make the sale" because the original product they are trying to repackage and rebrand is so universally disliked by their "target audience".

You don't believe me or agree with me. That's OK, because I would rather that it turns out I was full of melodramatic hyperbole. I always have and I always will felt this way. But the evidence continues to mount and more and more reasonable people, like Naomi Wolf, John Dean, and former Reaganites Paul Craig Roberts and Bruce Fein, are saying so. They are doing the research, dotting the Is and crossing the Ts, as it were, on what I have been saying in my less professional, less measured way all along.

Naomi Wolf went out and did the research that I cannot relate nearly as well or as eloquently, partly because I am very freaked out from "staring into the eyes of the basilisk" and recognizing what it was from the very start.

If you look at only one of my references, please take the 47 minutes to view Wolf's YouTube presentation. If you decide to make it two, please listen to the BBC radio show or read Harper's, which synopsizes and verifies it. To my mind, they constitute reasonable proof (in the form of 1935 Congressional testimony sealed for 70 years) that my hyperbole is nothing of the sort, though my sometimes "freaked out" presentation is not the best vehicle for advancing these reasonable conclusions based on available facts, some long suppressed.

In mutual respect I clasp your hand in friendship,
tom

[fascisthunter]

142. Sorry... Those Supporting the Actions of Bush Do Not Deserve Help

They threw us all out into the cold and KNOW IT!

[B Calm]

144. Sorry pal, but the republicans have been good teachers. You

bow down to those son of bitches and they'll walk all over you!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

164. No One's Bowing Down To Anybody.

We're talking about someone being willing to help someone who is genuinely in need for god's sake. Some are overdramatizing just a taddddddd, with all due respect.

[B Calm]

178. That's what Pelosi says too...

Give a con an inch and they'll take a mile!

[EFerrari]

137. You "screw your Republican neighbors" posters mistake kindness

for weakness when in general the reverse is true. It takes a stronger stomach to do something for someone you disagree with than it does to walk away from them.

The sentiment is somewhat reminiscent of the other side which consistently mistakes community building for weakness.

[tom_paine]

145. You are 100% wrong about that, I think. Kindness to others is not weakness.

You are missing the nuances of the difference. I'll say it again: Kindness to others is not weakness, and I admire people who have the internal strength to help others in this situation.

I'll say it again that this is not merely a matter of piffling political differences. I simply cannot imagine feeling this way before 2000 and you are right that, from an idealistic view, this position is reprehensible, under normal circumstances.

And there is a huge difference between someone embracing the Bushie view of kindness and empathy and compromise being Liberal Weakness, and not to wanting to benefit someone who holds these beliefs (which is a far cry from saying we would let them die or denying them CPR if we were the only ones around who could do it...and I suspect that like me, if something was that serious, tmfun would give the Bushie CPR and saqve their lives, if the situation was that severe).

It is not we who equate kindness with Liberal Weakness, and for you to suggest such is to flip this dialogue on it's ear with a basic assumption that is exactly 180 degrees from what we are saying.

[EFerrari]

147. From the OP:

"Seven years ago, I would not have reacted this way. In fact, seven years ago, I fixed her system (she was out of work then too) for a couple of Fosters beers. Today, I have no sympathy for Repukes in distress, only joy. May they all rot in hell!"

If we go this route, the terra-ists win. They have divided us from people with whom we have more interests in common than not.

No, I'm not wrong. Bush or no Bush, my values are my values. I don't claim any kind of betterhood. There was my community before these murdering bastards and there will be my community after them. The more we can stay together, the sooner we will recover. And yes, that includes the people who have pictures of the First Felons on display.

And, for the record, I am no wuss. I don't let idiot Republicans who vote against their own interests shape my behavior because I have a brain.

Edit: tom, I notice I'm grumpy today. I hope I haven't been rude and if I have, I apologize.

[tom_paine]

149. You haven't notcied the Bushies have already helped the terrorists win?

(almost as if they were working together towards the same goals, eh?)

And it was the Bushies themselves, not the terrorists, who divided us into Americans and Bushies, or have you forgot the 80s and 90s, Limabugh, Hannity, O'Reilly and Coulter, et al?

We must agree to disagree here. I believe your base assumption of tmfun's motives backwards, and I think the comment you quoted actually demonstrates my point.

Neither tmfun nor I would have EVER considered making a value judgement like that conditional on helping someone until and LONG AFTER it became clear they thought of us as subhumans.

Like I said, you have helped prove my and tmfun's point. But we must agree to disagree, for this is a fundamental difference we will not resolve with dialogue.

PS: You have no reason to apologize. I am pretty hot under the collar, too and so my apologies for any unintended rudeness go back at you.

Peace.

[EFerrari]

151. As far as I'm concerned, the BFEE ARE the terrorists. n/t

[NashVegas]

125. Enjoy Your Fit. Now, Go Be Pleasant

Walk back next door and tell her that it looks like a job that's going to take more time than you've got room in your schedule for.

Laying the political smackdown on someone you can help, but choose not to, isn't going to win her over to your/our side.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

130. That's why I don't give to charities

There's no telling how many of those "needy" people might actually be Republicans. I'll be damned if I'm going to give my hard earned money to them when they should be helping themselves by seeing the error in their ways. Secretly I relish seeing anyone I suspect of being a Republican down on their luck. The elderly person down the corner from me whose bedridden will get no help from me. I know for a fact she's voted Republican in the past and as far as I'm concerned she can lay there and rot. It's the least she deserves.

















:sarcasm:

[tom_paine]

175. Not the same thing, but a nice flourish of a jab and jibe.

n/t

[Ganja Ninja]

131. I'm sure this person has many a time slandered and libeled ...

"the damned liberals". You don't owe her any favors. If she's got problems tell her to write a letter to Bush and see if he gives a damn.

[Neecy]

132. well....

What some who are talking about karma might be missing is that she asked you to do her a "favor" - ie, supply her with possibly thousands of dollars worth of free labor. This isn't a case where you offered your services unasked and *then* saw the Bush Christmas card. This is someone who wanted something for nothing and was willing to impose upon your good nature.

For this reason, you have every right to turn her down, regardless of her politics. We all have to make a living. The fact that she expects others to pay the freight, like so many Republicans, is incidental and makes it possibly satisfying to turn her down. But in the end this is a business decision and you should do what's right for you and your family, not for someone trying to mooch thousands of dollars of free labor.

[krispos42]

134. "So, lady, ever wonder why you're laid off?"

"Do you realize that it's a direct result of Republicans taking their corporate profits that are paid for in large part by Bush's tax cuts and Republican deficit spending and investing that money in factories in China and customer-service centers in India?

"Do you realize that unregulated capitalism destroys the free market, because monopolies, trusts, and price-fixing are so much more profitable and certain than competing for business?"

"And do you realize that the corporate Repulican party uses the Christian-based 'wedge issues' as tools to get their wealth?"

"When you voted for Bush, when you vote Republican, you are saying 'I am voting to lower my wages, make health insurance and health care incredibly expensive, profitable, inefficient, and unresponsive, and make my long-term employment prospects doubtful at any given time.

"Now I'll look at your heat pump for free, but you have to read Don't Think of an Elephant cover-to-cover, and then discuss it with me next week. You're laid off, so you have plenty of time."

[fascisthunter]

141. Good for You

Did you tell her no and why?

[The Straight Story]

146. Kind of reminds me of Christians who don't help non-christians....

believe as I do and follow my ways, or you don't get jack.

[tom_paine]

148. No, it reminds me of Jews who don't wish to help Nazis

It is saying, you think me subhuman and wish me ill, until you need my help, then tomorrow you go back to hating me and wishing me ill.

Because of that, I do not wish to help you.

THAT is the correct analogy here.

[fascisthunter]

156. .

[The Straight Story]

167. So my dad and sis who voted for bush are nazi's?

I will have to call and let em know :)

[tom_paine]

174. Maybe just Good Germans Who Were Duped.

Personally, I wouldn't let them know if I were you. You might get turned in to the DHS/Gestapo. :evilgrin:

On a more serious note, the tragedy of shattered families is a near universal when authoritariansim, be it from the Left or Right, rears it's ugly head.

In truth, I cannot answer such a question for you, only you can answer it for yourself and of course, for most people, standing behind family members no matter who they are and what they have done or supported is a constant in life, and is the right thing to do.

Family is family, after all.

We live in a time of the greatest tragedy, when what actually was, for all it's imperfections and terrible thing we did like Native American Genocide, Slavery, etc., a beacon of freedom, liberty, and human rights for the rest of the world (especially compared to other countries "in our weight class"), is now being literally eradicated from within.

I have no answers. It's tragedy all around for all of us. And I would never advocate turning one's back on one's family.

As in 1933, there are no good answers for anyone out there.

[slackmaster]

168. That's extrapolating a lot of someone's internal thoughts and feelings based on a Christmas card

tom_paine, WADR I think you are devaluing the suffering the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis. By a lot.

[tom_paine]

180. I agree with your first point in your post title. See my post #158.

I STRONGLY disagree with your second point that is the body of your message.

How is it devaluing all my fellow Jews who died in the Holocaust by pointing out the dreadful and multiple similarities between their murderers, how they rose to power, and the Bushie Tyrants and how THEY rose to power, so that maybe we can turn this thing around BEFORE another Holocaust occurs?

I don't know about you, but when I vowed "Never Again", I didn't just mean "Never Again as long as it is Jews being killed and as long as tomorrows totalitarian monsters come in an easily recognizable forms identical to those the last bunch used."

Because if we wait for that, it will be a long wait. Marketing 101: If you are trying to re-brand a thing which is universally disliked, even hated, by most of your target audience, the LAST thing you would want to do is behave in any way which forments mental connections between the Old, Hated Product and your New and Improved Product.

That's just bad advertising and marketing practice, and if there is one thing the Bushies excel at, it is advertising and marketing.

Oh, and here are some references to chew on, also:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000651

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc

I strongly diagree with you. I am not devaluing their suffering, I am honoring their memory by trying to make sure the grandchildren of America's Greatest Nazi Allies do not succeed where their grandfather failed, no matter if some other group will be the New Jews, this time around, and whether or not the Final Solution to the Liberal Problem is Industrial Death Camps or some other "kinder and gentler" solution.

[tomreedtoon]

150. tmfun, WHAT IS YOUR REACTION???

There's been a lot of people weighing in on this decision of yours, not to help the Republican lady. But you haven't responded so far. Do you have any further thoughts?

Because if you don't, I will have to assume that this message was a plant, that you're a Freeper trying to prove that the people of DU are cold-hearted bastards, and that we are all Grinches. If you respond saying a yes or a no, then I can accept whatever decision you have made (although I think you're crazy not to show her some goodwill). But if you are silent, then this message is a hand grenade thrown into DU from the direction of the Right.

[OzarkDem]

154. He's probably out fixing her furnace

He's posted here many times before, so I don't think he's a disruptor.

[EFerrari]

155. Of course he's not. And, lol, he probably IS out fixing her pump.

lol

[Evoman]

152. Who knows...maybe she is apolitical and just puts up any card she gets?

I wouldn't just assume a person's politics. Put out your feelers before you condemn her.

[tom_paine]

158. Evoman is correct, tmfun, you should double-check and make sure before

you act either way.

That is sensible, rather than making a snap decision based on a displayed Christmas Card.

[OzarkDem]

153. My step dad was in HVAC - people can be very inconsiderate

They expected him to spend his weekends, evenings and holidays fixing their broken furnaces and air conditioners for free, just because they know him personally. It can become a real problem after a while. This woman's case is even worse since she's asked for free maintenance on a prior occasion.

HVAC contractors have to make a living like everyone else and they also deserve their free time. I doubt many of the people on this forum or who work in other businesses would provide as much free goods and services as these people are expected to provide. If people planned in advance and had their furnaces checked regularly, they wouldn't fail with no warning on a cold night when you don't have money in the bank.

I would offer to help her by doing the minimum amount necessary to get it running again. If it ends up being very time consuming or costly to you, give her an invoice and tell her you will allow her to wait until she's working again.

[EFerrari]

157. You have to know that things are bad when we have to make

all these calculations. I mean, it's not even about having good boundaries or interacting socially in an appropriate way any more. It's about survival and at so many levels.

I pay one of my homeless neighbors $25 a week to clean up this property -- a four unit condo building. I thought that would be better than my other choices re hiring someone, juggling it myself or handing out money. He comes rain or shine and I'm having a hard time keeping up myself.

2008 can't come soon enough.

:grouphug:

[alfredo]

159. Wear a button that makes clear where you stand. If she asks about it,

make your pitch for democracy.

[HughMoran]

160. Boy, can I ever relate to those feelings

I am no longer able to shop at the local shops where I know the owners are right-wing whack jobs. I will help out the Republicans next door as I do not know much about them and they seem nice enough (and don't put political signs in their yard), but I cannot help those who I know would stab me in the back given an opportunity. I may have helped the lady - albeit with a constant lecture on the horrors of right-wing philosophy. If she didn't like that, I would let her deny my help.

[CONewRevolution]

162. Just a thought...

Neighbor lady can't afford to pay for the fix -- but she does have something of value to her to offer in exchange.

If the HVAC unit can be fixed for free or inexpensively, offer to repair it in exchange for the Bush card.

Explain to her that the card and what it represents are offensive, and that you will be destroying the card after she exchanges it for the HVAC repair.

Burn the card, videotape the whole process, and post it to YouTube along with an invitation for video editors to juxtapose your footage with footage from Iraq, etc.

Then take a well-deserved rest, basking in the knowledge that you helped another human being while at the same time making your own political statement.

Hmm... we can give the freepers a whole new name to call us -- "dad-gum card burners!"

Enjoy.

[Nickster]

173. Brilliant idea. Thumbs up!

[slackmaster]

165. That was real neighborly and tolerant of you

Nice to see my fellow Democrats setting a good example of human kindness at this holiday season.

On a serious note, one of the first odd jobs I did right after graduating from college in 1980 was as a handyman for a very wealthy woman who was a Reagan supporter. I found her to be a pleasant, kind, generous person in spite of our extreme political differences. (I'm close to the center now, was way to the left at the time.)

[alphafemale]

170. I'd of helped anyways. Being a good neighbor goes WAY beyond politics.

That was really petty.

Reverse the situation.

A DU'er in need of heat had a neighbor who was able to help --BACKED OUT because they disagreed with a PICTURE?

Hello?

There really, truly are instances where politics don't matter.

You just help.

Because you can.

Questioning where the help has gone negates doing it.

[RubyDuby in GA]

171. For what it's worth - my boss gets crap from Bush/GOP all the time

and he's a Democrat and so is his wife. He usually lets me have it because he thinks its funny when I put pointy devil horns on George and tack it to the wall.

Maybe she got it by mistake or someone put her name on some list. He got his because we (our firm) joined the local Chamber of Commerce.

[live love laugh]

192. Yeah, but do they "prominently display" them? I have gotten them and gotten rid of them

as quickly as possible. I certainly didn't display them.

[RubyDuby in GA]

205. He displays them when I'm done

:)

For instance, right now we have one of dumbass - in - chief sitting in the Oval Office with a pen in his hand and he's holding the phone up under his chin like he's on an important call and working really hard (because after all "being President is hard work). I've drawn the necessary devil horns and have a little tail coming up from behind the desk.

[dave123williams]

181. That's kind of cold. You should have helped that lady.

It would have been a great opportunity to find out exactly what the fuck those people see in Bush, and why they so consistently vote against their own interests.

I'm guessing it's because he said he shared their religious beliefs (but didn't really mean it). That's just a guess.

[Pathwalker]

182. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Several very wise people have said this in the past.

[depakid]

187. New Rule: treat others the way THEY choose to treat others....

Turn the other cheek to torture supporters and you'll more likely get a big smack in the face.

[B Calm]

202. Exactly! The cheap labor bastards will continue to exploit you when

they find out you'll work for nothing!

[Fierce]

183. Would you have done it if she paid you?

If so, what does that say?

And are you union?

[KT2000]

186. Gotta go with tmfun

on this one.
Sometimes you have to take a stand.
That lady can live in her world where the horrible actions of her beloved president have harmed so many and she holds no responsibiity for it. She is so oblivious to the suffering that she shows off the card.
Repukes are awfully good at refusing help for others and turning around to get free stuff for themselves. In their minds, they deserve it because they are superior people. This was the second time she wanted this person's help!

Good for you tmfun!

[XanaDUer]

188. Ah, don't worry about it...

Why should you do thousands of dollars of work for free for her? And, this is not the first time she has imposed on you? If she is a Republican, she understands, I am sure, all about free-market policies and is not looking for a handout. I am sure, if she is a Republican, she will find another good-paying job very soon, Republicans being all bootstrappy and extra-talented, with lots and lots of employable skills. :eyes:

Now, if she is a good neighbor, you have known her for a long time, and she has done favors for you, I say fix the furnace despite whatever Christmas cards or whatever junk is in her apartment,

If not, then I guess I hope the lady has a lot of sweaters and finds gainful employment very soon. If you feel guilty, is it possible to find some poor family and fix something for them, instead?

[ileus]

190. She really should get out and find a job, I'll agree with you on that.

There's no reason for not having a job in this country if you have any skills at all. She'll be okay.

[AllieB]

210. The economy is pretty bad, and there's a lot of skilled white-collar workers

who are unemployed. On what facts do you base your assumptions?

[live love laugh]

191. Ya' done good. n/t

[Canuckistanian]

194. Tough love

It's the only way to get people to see the error of their ways.

So why didn't she get George & Laura to get her a job?

Sorry, I also have no sympathy unless this woman has a mental illness.

[proud patriot]

196. Help her ,but be sure to tell her that she was helped by

LIBERAL VALUES and not the traitorous president cheney and his little
monkey shrub.

[Cha]

198. So what'd you

tell her?

[DFW]

204. I'm trying to think how I would have reacted, as I was in a somewhat similar situation

I think I would have first told her straight out what I thought about her "friends"
George and Laura, and then seen if she still wanted her place repaired by a "libbrul."
Even so, I'd have a hard time seeing someone suffer in the cold, no matter what kind
of political moron they might be. Yes, even if they themselves think that others who
suffer in the cold have brought it upon themselves for the sin of being born poor.
So I'm a bleeding heart. So sue me.

My thing was this: I am close with a small company in Dallas whose head accountant was a
flaming Bushie. He just worshipped the ground all Republicans walked on, said all I was
was a tax-and-spend liberal, the usual line you get from National Hate Radio, which he
listened to on the way to work. I also know from the women who worked under him that he
was always the last to arrive and the first to leave, and never lifted a finger if he
didn't have to, but was only too quick to take credit for stuff the women under him had
really done.

Well, Bush got into office, and he got laid off. One of the women under him took over
the accounting, and suddenly their finances ran like a well-oiled machine. But he was sure
that "Republicans are good for business," so he would find another job immediately. A good,
young, blond, tie-sporting Republican in Texas, there should be companies lining up to
grab him, right?

Apparently not. I know all this from a mutual acquaintance at a local Republican-oriented
investment brokerage. He was still looking for a job years later, and even I was asked if
I knew of a good position for him. I said, look, you know what I do (sorta), and at that,
I'm station chief for Europe, what the hell would I know about corporate accounting jobs
back in Texas? This guy must have been totally devastated. A good clean-cut lazy Republican who
spouts the party line verbatim, worships Bush and can't find a job in Texas? What was wrong
with the world? Or, rather, as I saw it, what was right with the world?

If I knew the guy were freezing and could help him fix his heating, I'd still do it. But
PLEASE don't ask if I'll lift a finger to help him find a decent job. This is HIS economy,
he got what he wanted. Remember the sorcerer's apprentice from Goethe's Faust: "Die Geister,
die ich rief, werd' ich nun nicht mehr los....."

[lame54]

207. when i read the title porn music popped in my head