Jim, please pick up line two.

[Doktor Howl]

Hello, Jim?  Is this Jim?  Hah, I was just sitting back thinking of you and touching something.  Not gonna tell ya what I'm touching, and I'm not gonna tell ya what I'm touchin' it with, but know that you are always in my thoughts.  I was thinking back to early 2009, and all the fun we had watching the po'buckers lose their damn minds over President Obama and his un-American blackness.  Remember that?  Sure ya do.  We all do; it was the most fun I've had since Nixon resigned. 

Now, I'm not going to tell you that Obama was a world-shaker or go on and on about hopey-changey-Yes-We-Can bullshit, but the man could give a speech.  He made you feel like someone was driving the train, and that yes, we will slow down to a reasonable speed on the really bad curves.  Now?  Ho ho!  There are no brakes and the lumpy orange thing in the white house is deliberately speeding up for the curves.  And while I would normally be all about that kinda "taking it to the wall" mentality, it occurs to me that this is where I keep all of my STUFF.

And then I got to thinking about all the shit you said before the 2016 election.  About how you were gonna vote write-in or vote Green or just not vote at all, because you feel that because the democrats are corrupt, they are just the same as Trump and his crowd...Because Baby Jesus knows, there is no such thing as nuance and if you aren't perfect, you are entirely evil.  You didn't feel that there was any shades to corruption, and therefore you simply couldn't vote for Hillary because reputable people had been telling you bad things about her since 1992.

Now, this sort of thinking has real-world results, Jim, and lots of people we know got hurt on account of it.  Not only that, the apparatus of government has been permanently damaged.  Like a bent frame in a car, you might not be able to see the damage after the repair man works on it, but I wouldn't take that thing on the highway.  "Wouldn't be prudent at this juncture," as one old bastard used to say.  Our children will not inherit a republic, and poor people will drink filthy water for the rest of their miserable lives.

So then I got to thinking, maybe this is your fault.  You clutched your pearls and put on your best sainted expression and told everyone how you couldn't sully your purity by voting for someone that was less than perfect, even if her opponent was a crazed Nazi maniac.  You told us that if we voted for Hillary, we'd have a right wing warmonger in the white house.  Well shit, son, you were right.  We voted for Hillary and we got a right wing warmonger in the white house...Because you - and millions of equally stupid people - didn't vote.

So next time you feel like dropping in for a beer, I'd think twice and maybe not do that.  Because me and my family and friends will welcome you with baseball bats and crowbars, you miserable, sanctimonious piece of shit.  Go fuck yourself.

*click*

[hooplala]

Utopianism has got to be the single ugliest feature of the human ape brain.

[Doktor Howl]

Utopianism has got to be the single ugliest feature of the human ape brain.

It's right up there, alongside other posturing and excuses for not thinking.  It is the same level of idiocy that gives you Trumpsters in the first place.

[Doktor Howl]

You know what I miss?  The satisfying crash of slamming the phone receiver down on someone.  Hitting an icon to hang up doesn't give you the same gratification.

[hooplala]

You know what I miss?  The satisfying crash of slamming the phone receiver down on someone.  Hitting an icon to hang up doesn't give you the same gratification.

Some friends and I were lamenting this very thing on a friday night. I was really good at it. Kids these days don't know what they're missing. Having said that, I do not miss not knowing who was calling in.

[EK WAFFLR]

You know what I miss?  The satisfying crash of slamming the phone receiver down on someone.  Hitting an icon to hang up doesn't give you the same gratification.

If you have the disposable income for it, I'd pay for dual SIM cards, buy a few cheap ass dumb phones at Walmart or whatever, and use them whenever you feel the call is gonna warrant a slam. It's pretty satisfying to throw the phone at the wall/ground/ window/whoever is in the room with you.

[Doktor Howl]

You know what I miss?  The satisfying crash of slamming the phone receiver down on someone.  Hitting an icon to hang up doesn't give you the same gratification.

If you have the disposable income for it, I'd pay for dual SIM cards, buy a few cheap ass dumb phones at Walmart or whatever, and use them whenever you feel the call is gonna warrant a slam. It's pretty satisfying to throw the phone at the wall/ground/ window/whoever is in the room with you.

Back in my energy company days, I slew many a Blackberry, including one in the hydraulic press., while my boss was asking "What's that whining noise?"

[Cainad (dec.)]

I know Bad from Worse, and I sure would have fucking preferred Bad. Bad can be badgered and cajoled and annoyed into doing at least a little bit of good if you make a big enough stink; Worse will drag the both of you down into the cesspool and declare victory.

But I imagine it's hard to feel anything but utter frustration with the Dems sometimes, when for example they pull shit like this: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/nyregion/queens-candidates-nominated-without-knowing.html

This much is certain: Helen Gambichler is running for office.

[...]

There is just one problem: Ms. Gambichler, a 72-year-old retired court clerk, did not know she was running for anything. Nor does she wish to run. "I have no idea what that's about," she said.
She had been nominated, without her knowledge, by the borough's Democratic Party leadership, which is struggling to maintain control after the longtime Queens party chairman, Representative Joseph Crowley, was trounced by the left-leaning insurgent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a June Congressional primary that sent tremors through the Democratic establishment nationwide.

Ms. Gambichler is hardly alone.

The New York Times called dozens of the Queens party machine's nominees for county committee. The candidates for 21 seats were running without their consent.

Most of these candidates did not know they were running at all until a reporter told them; two, including Ms. Gambichler, found out when they got letters from the city Board of Elections showing how their names would appear on the Sept. 13 primary ballot. Only four candidates The Times spoke to said they were running on purpose.

We told people that they NEED to get the fuck out there, get over the need for purist posturing, and get to work.

Then they did, and it turns out that the Less-Worse guys have, in fact, been working against them and hold them in full contempt. Contempt enough to stack the deck against anyone who's tired of the Less-Worse side fucking losing when it matters most. They do not, in fact, want to let the wrong sort of people in, even as they scold them for not shutting up and voting as they're told.

This is, of course, a reason to do MORE, not less. We can't afford less.

[Pergamos]

I'm a radical. I vote 3rd party when I don't think it will lead to awful. I try to push the Dems left. I hate Clinton, her husband's term led to a lot of what is currently wrong with the country and I know she helped shape his policy. I still voted for her, in the Arizona district where it almost made a difference.

On the other side of the topic I am glad trump is not a utopian, even if many of his supporters are. He's a crook and that leads to a certain sort of mess, the mess when someone takes charge to build the new world is Way worse.

[hooplala]

Radical, dude!

[LMNO]

I'm a radical. I vote 3rd party when I don't think it will lead to awful. I try to push the Dems left. I hate Clinton, her husband's term led to a lot of what is currently wrong with the country and I know she helped shape his policy. I still voted for her, in the Arizona district where it almost made a difference.

On the other side of the topic I am glad trump is not a utopian, even if many of his supporters are. He's a crook and that leads to a certain sort of mess, the mess when someone takes charge to build the new world is Way worse.

Um... I had to look it up, but the 3rd party candidates in 2008 were:

Ralph Nader
Bob Barr
Chuck Baldwin
Cynthia McKinney


So, uh... who would you have voted for, otherwise?

[Pergamos]

I'm a radical. I vote 3rd party when I don't think it will lead to awful. I try to push the Dems left. I hate Clinton, her husband's term led to a lot of what is currently wrong with the country and I know she helped shape his policy. I still voted for her, in the Arizona district where it almost made a difference.

On the other side of the topic I am glad trump is not a utopian, even if many of his supporters are. He's a crook and that leads to a certain sort of mess, the mess when someone takes charge to build the new world is Way worse.

Um... I had to look it up, but the 3rd party candidates in 2008 were:

Ralph Nader
Bob Barr
Chuck Baldwin
Cynthia McKinney


So, uh... who would you have voted for, otherwise?

Nader.  I agree with him far more than I do Obama as far as policy positions.

[hooplala]

Oy vey.

[Pergamos]

The only thing that keeps convincing me to vote Democrat is Republicans. I think that means the two man con is working on me.

[Doktor Howl]

The only thing that keeps convincing me to vote Democrat is Republicans. I think that means the two man con is working on me.

Reality is a dirty cheat.