Sunday, August 17, 2008

On Republicans, Chocolate and Whining Online

(Thanks to KMKat for the National Priorities link to the right.)

I’m having a bad day regarding Republicans.

Last night we had our annual block party, which was kind of a disaster given the downpour.

But worse than the rain …

Boy-child needed a ride right in the middle of said downpour and I happened to make a crack to the neighbor when I got back about how I had mixed feelings dropping my child off at a house with Republican lawn signs … and I realized the neighbor is a Republican.

Now, I like to think of myself as open-minded. I have a few friends who are Republicans. Really, I do. But this guy kind of pissed me off. I managed to hold my tongue, but I really wanted to ask him:

How do you think your special-ed child will be affected by the unfunded mandates of No Child Left Behind? How do you think your child affects the rankings of the public schools?

How do you feel about the prospect of your young son being sent to another country as part of an occupying force when he turns 18? Are you that confident that it will be over by then?

How do you feel about the economic cost of the war?


Ok, no, I didn’t ask the questions. But maybe I will when I bump into him at the grocery store…in the meantime I parked my car in the street, with the new special bumper sticker (see bottom of page). It will be one less spot for the neighbor's friends to park their SUVs.


On a brighter note, KMKat also lead me to a BoingBoing news video about Tcho chocolate. Who knew? Fascinating and informative. Here are the links to part 1, part 2 and part 3 of the video. Plus, possibly my favorite bit of trivia from it: Timothy Childs, who founded the company, used to be a software developer for NASA. Does that make it Space Chocolate? I gotta find me some Tcho!

And regarding on-line forums and other types of ranting … Yarn Ball Boogie was complaining about how the Ravelry forums have gone down the tubes what with everybody writing so much about nothing and I agree – not that I’ve ever participated in those forums, or any other for that matter. But I have noticed that the content of, say, comments on news articles tends to be either empty or vitriolic. Recently I read comments (I don't remember exactly where) about the Postville illegal worker bust and it made me wonder where all those anti-immigrant and anti-Semites came from?

But then, that’s what bloggers do, isn’t it? Whine online.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did I ever tell you that #1 son, now 23, was arrested at the 2004 RNC in New York? And the essay he wrote about being arrested and held in a bus garage for 40+ hours was the deciding factor with the admissions committee that approved his application to med school? Yep, that's my boy.

soxanne said...

Way to go son #1!