This Is Who They Are

South Carolina Gov Vetoes Abuse And Rape Prevention Funding, Calls It A Distraction

  

Quit distracting me! I'm trying to destroy a state here!

Haley explained these vetoes in the Department of Health and Environmental Control budget by writing, "Each of these lines attempts to serve a portion of our population for which we extend our sympathy and encouragement, but nevertheless, it is only a small portion of South Carolina's chronically ill or abused. Overall, these special add-on lines distract from the agency's broader mission of protecting South Carolina's public health." 

(emphasis added. By me.)

Oh. I see. Victims of rape and abuse don't make up a particularly large voting bloc? So who cares about them?

This is your Tea-Party, America. This is who they are. They do not care about anything except enacting policies to further enrich the already wealthy or damage government's ability to do anything positive. Trying to prevent rape and domestic violence? That's just a "distraction."

Mitt Doesn't Get It

I know this story is a couple weeks old, but I've been busy.

(via Think Progress)

Romney Doesn’t Dispute He Helped Send Jobs Overseas, Tells Press To Call It ‘Offshoring’ Not ‘Outsourcing’

Seriously? Do you really not get that that is so much worse?

"Outsourcing" is not necessarily a bad thing (although it usually is). If you are, say, a clothing store, and you need a computer program to track inventory, it makes sense to "outsource" that job to a company that creates software rather than trying to hire your own computer programmers who will be unnecessary once the program is written, or hoping that one of your sales staff might have a knack for computers. Outsourcing a job that is not in your company's wheelhouse makes perfect sense.

"Offshoring" is always always always a bad thing. Sending jobs to a some low-wage third-world company so you can pay slave wages to children working in prison-level conditions rather than hiring Americans who might expect a halfway-decent wage? Always bad. There's no situation in which you can justify that.

 

See? It's just "offshoring!" What's the problem?

And yes, "outsourcing" is often done for nefarious reasons, like shifting work to a non-union shop, but it doesn't always have to be villainous.

 

Manslaughter?  Your honor, my client has merely committed First Degree Murder!

“This is a fundamentally flawed story that does not differentiate between domestic outsourcing versus offshoring nor versus work done overseas to support U.S. exports. Mitt Romney spent 25 years in the real world economy so he understands why jobs come and they go,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. 

Of course he understands why they go. They go because you send them to China.

Funny Woman of the Day -- Lizz Winstead

Lizz Winstead created the Daily Show.

She was also one of the creators of Air America, and the person who discovered Rachel Maddow.

Also, she's a funny comic.

Terrible marketing --Miller Lite

Ah, the punch-top can!





Because, yeah, that's what the problem was with your product, the pour wasn't smooth enough.
Just as the Belgians have a different glass for each style of beer, so Americans who buy mass-produced light beer in a can demand a specific pouring method for every variety of watered-down swill.




Oh, and you have to come up with some sort of tool to pop open the extra hole? Oh, that's convenient! But I suppose any amount of effort would be worth it  for the smooth pour that makes your leftover dog-dish water so very nearly drinkable.
Are people falling for this? Are people actually buying this horrible, horrible product because the can has an extra opening?
God, that would be depressing!

Now in Local News. . .

Our hotel in Asheville had copies of the local paper which included this story:

Franklin kills grass on ancient Indian mound

Which doesn't necessarily seem like a crazy story, I assume it was an accident, probably no harm meant.
But then there's this:

The mayor has been censured by the town board for personally apologizing to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Censured? For apologizing? What the hell? You do something wrong, you apologize. Didn't we all learn that as children?

Alderman Bob Scott tried to secure an official apology to the tribe, but he was voted down. The Board of Aldermen then voted, with Scott opposing, to issue no apology.

These pathetic little pricks not only won't apologize, they are taking the time and effort to prevent anyone else from apologizing? What is wrong with these people?

“I do not feel that we did anything disrespectful to the Indian mound,” said Alderman Sissy Pattillo, according to minutes of that meeting. “I am hurt that these accusations are being thrown around.”

Yeah, you don't get to decide that. You don't get to decide what is offensive to other people. It's not your culture, you have no idea what they consider disrespectful. It's one thing to say that you meant no disrespect, but you can't say that they should not feel disrespected or offended. Let's say someone walked into your church dressed like this:



And he says "Oh, I'm not familiar with the customs of your religion, is this offensive?" and you say "Hell yes, it is and dammit, you made me say Hell in church!" And then he refuses to apologize and he says "I don't need to apologize, I didn't do anything disrespectful." Would you be okay with that?

Mayor Joe Collins sent a letter to the tribe on town stationary offering his personal apology, but members of the town’s board censured him for speaking without their permission.

Unbelievable! These people are children! What is so terrible about apologizing? If you step on someone's foot, you apologize. It doesn't matter that you didn't mean to step on his foot, you just apologize and get on with your life. What happened to basic common decency? When did usual societal niceties become controversial? It's like these people all watched "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" a million times and they're all channeling Captain Brittles. Grow the fuck up, city council of Franklin, NC!