One of the most significant lessons I learned in life was working at the deli counter at King Kullen when I was young. For two summers between college I had two different managers. One was Don, the other Donna.

Don was great. He dealt with everyone on a personal level, supported his crew when they made mistakes, and rather than getting angry or irritated, he was patient and redirected us when necessary. As a result, everyone wanted to please Don. We were all there on time, didn’t slack off, and also had fun.

The next summer, I got into the deli on time at 8:00am. By the time I put my apron on, it was 8:01. A woman whom I had never seen before tells me she is the new manager and then proceeds to berate me, at the top of her lungs, for being late. Flabbergasted, I told her I was there on time. She screams that on-time means having the apron on before 8:00. This was Donna. She ran the deli like she was running a military unit. She was harsh, covered her own ass and generally indifferent to others. While she eventually gained respect for me I never had the same for her. Those of us who worked there couldn’t stand her - and in a crunch she’d be lucky if any of us lent her a rope.

The lesson I learned was very simple. It’s easy to be an asshole and sometimes very complex being a good person - not just in managerial positions but throughout life. Which path do you take? The easy one or the hard one? That depends on the fiber of the person.

This brings me to Spencer Pratt, the arrogant, callous prick from The Hills and I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Here’s a little description from EW.com about his behavior on the second show:

Heidi Pratt, as she prefers to be known now — had the imagination to apologize for her husband’s egomaniacal, pathetically lame reality-show ranting by saying, “My husband is a very new Christian,” and therefore deserves to be forgiven.

and another regarding Spencer’s personal philosophy:

“If people aren’t hating on you, they don’t care, and if they don’t care, that means you’re not doing anything right.”

Every time I see this skeleton with hair my blood boils, but it’s not just because he’s an asshole and I don’t like assholes. It has more to do with his absolute embrace of the idea that being a prick and being ruthless (too strong an adjective for people like this) is the right way to be in order to achieve success and deal with everyone in life. Secondly, how people like him have distorted Christianity to serve their selfish, self-centered world. At first I questioned who this guy’s parent’s were that he would have such shallow values since my view of the world is very simple:

We’re all on this earth together. Empathy and charity are good things, not signs of weakness. Achieving success as a decent person is much tougher but in the long run is a worthy strategy and essential to the complement of your success. We live in a world completely out of balance, where some of us live well and others in squalor - and it’s not always because of their own doing. Lifting others up is a good thing. That sorry excuse of survival of the fittest is an easy, cowardly attitude for those who’ve never had to struggle.

Spencer Pratt never learned any of this. He’s quick to complement himself on his indifference and how he manipulates others but, hey, being the dark side of one’s self is, well, easy. It requires no balance. It is very concrete. All you need to do is the opposite of what you’re taught. It’s the cowards way.

Sure. Some of this is him playing to the camera, but hardly all. This may be a result of his upbringing, but as a 20-year-old he’s only really known the Bush years - and the culture and distortion of religion that George W. Bush brought to this country is the very doctrine people like Spencer Pratt embrace. Thank God we’ve elected someone who reminds us that the world isn’t only about US. Some people - the dead-enders like Spencer - will never learn this and will continue to believe they are the better of us.

Verbal Paintball arrogance, Bush administration, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, The Hills

From Dick Cheney, courtesy CNN Politics:

“This is about fundamental beliefs and values and ideas … what the role of government should be in our society, and our commitment to the Constitution and constitutional principles.

You know, when you add all those things up, the idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy,” Cheney also said. “I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most of us aren’t. Most Republicans have a pretty good idea of values, and aren’t eager to have someone come along and say, ‘Well, the only way you can win is if you start to act more like a Democrat.’”

And here’s a reiteration of what some of these values are:

• Invasion of privacy when it pleases us

• Constant campaigns of fear to keep the masses controllable

• Free enterprise that benefits the top 1% at the detriment of everyone else

• Religious fringe/narrow minded philosophies (climate change a myth, creationism not)

• Wars based primarily on corporate interests and fed to us as patriotic necessity

It hardly ends with this small sampling. The point, however, is not lost. Cheney’s statement is a false representation of our country and the former republican party for that matter. In fact, it’s the kind of things a potential dictator might offer.

Our government is built on checks and balances not because the country believes in an extreme philosophy but due to the opposite; we are a moderate nation. Take a few people who think black and a few who think white and mix them together. What do you get?

The comforting thing about democrats (and also the most frustrating thing in terms of passing policy into law) is that they understand this inherently. In fact, democratic politicians can very rare agree on issues that are part of their party’s platform because there is no herd mentality in the party. Many consider themselves individual thinkers, others as conservatives (blue dogs) and some as radicals. In the end, we have ONE party that represents America.

The republicans, on the other hand, have veered off into Gattaca-ville. They believe their platform promotes freedom and individuality but their too blind to see the truth - situations like Teri Schaivo, phone-tapping, torture approval methods and pre-emptive wars have, until the last 10 years, been a fringe mentality. Thanks to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their Nazi-like followers this kind of thinking about what a democracy is has been pushed into the mainstream. Granted, much of it was pushed through the gauze of fear (mushroom clouds, alert levels, enemies within), but thank God America finally came to their senses.

And that brings us to Cheney. More than anything said before, this statement above proves beyond a doubt that these people never had any intention of working with the rest of us. They maintained their fringe mentality and always intended to shove it down our throats whether we liked it or not. Lets face it, if we DIDN’T like it, we were branded as traitors. As long as we did, we would cheer for the team and become blindly complacent to corruption (Halliburton), laziness (Katrina) and a lack of oversight and enforcement of laws (mortgage industry) that has undone our reputation and the world’s economy.

Current News, Politics Bush administration, democracy, Dick Cheney, Gattaca, Halliburton, Katrina, moderate republicans

From the Cullman Times:

In front of a packed room, Shelby explained how he was a staunch proponent of fiscal responsibility and that he had opposed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill Obama signed into law earlier this week.

“If we (republicans) were in control, I would have been chairman of the banking committee … and I would have killed some bills,” Shelby said with a laugh.

When Richard Shelby opens his Jack Nicholson-joker-like mouth he spews the kind of garbage typical of someone who’s begrudgingly lost and is absolutely, completely unwilling to get along - or work with - the elected winner. Unfortunately, our financial well-being is in the balance.

I’ve made no secret of my disdain for this narrow-minded, childish partisan asshole. In truth, he’s a real piece of work. A former Bush lapdog, former member of the banking and Senate intelligence committees, Shelby is always on the wrong side of the argument and sometimes the wrong side of the law as well.

Regarding the stimulus bill, he sides against the taxpayers in offering no valid alternatives other than more tax cuts and a suggestion of banking regulations which Obama has already included. Take, for example, this exchange:

After noting that since previous administrations have already placed the country more than $10 trillion in debt, local resident Matthew Glover asked Shelby what would be the problem with another $1 trillion debt from Obama’s stimulus package.

“He said some stuff about dividends … but he never really answered my question,” Glover said.

No. And he never will, Matthew. Because what he also didn’t tell you was that those “previous” administrations included our last one, of which - with the exception of one vote (170: S 1307) he was lockstep all the way with the Bush Administration on all the key votes of the last five years.
What’s more, he still feels the need - at this late date - to keep false rumors alive:

Another local resident asked Shelby if there was any truth to a rumor that appeared during the presidential campaign concerning Obama’s U.S. citizenship, or lack thereof.

“Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate,” Shelby said. “You have to be born in America to be president.”

This is not a new statement by him, either. He’s been using this line for the last few months.

Also, lets not forget his treasonous act of leaking information about NSA activities:

From Washington Post,
Thursday, August 5, 2004

Federal investigators concluded that Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) divulged classified intercepted messages to the media when he was on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, according to sources familiar with the probe.

He also refused to take a lie detector test.

And, lastly, his well-known support for the Iraq war. It helps when you know the players in that war personally:

From Bob’s Links & Rants:

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), supporting the Iraq war resolution in October, 2002:

That photo is from Joseph Wilson's The Politics of Truth

“I support this resolution because the threat posed by the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein is real, immediate, and growing.

The threat is real because Saddam possesses conventional, chemical and biological weapons. He is doing everything in his power to acquire the means to construct and field nuclear weapons.

The threat is real because Saddam has used his conventional and chemical weapons to attack his neighbors and his own people.”

So tell me, Senator, why were you holding hands with Saddam just three months after his chemical attack on Halabja?

Oh, how I wish someone would remove all the toilet paper from the bathroom before this guy takes his next dump.

Current News, Politics, War Bush administration, republican blockers, republican lies, republican losers, Richard Shelby