Yeah, I kinda stole one of Rachel’s segment titles and put my own spin on it. What are you going to do about it? First, a bit of the personal. My dad is coming for a visit tomorrow, which means one thing–cleaning. I fucking hate cleaning. I loathe it with every fiber of my being, and I don’t have to qualify it this time. Why do I hate it so much? First of all, you have to be hypervigilant in order to keep what you just cleaned crumb-free. I cleaned the kitchen on Friday, and there are alredy ground coffee crumbs ON MY CLEAN COUNTER! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. If I had been a housewife in the 50s (stop laughing! I wouldn’t have had much choice, now would I?), I would have been popping valium 24/7 to deal with the insanity that is cleaning. Plus, you have to keep fucking doing it. What kind of sick shit is that?
In addition, I get thermally hot while vacuuming–which I did today. I wear boxers and a sports bra, but it’s still too much clothing. If it’s dark enough or I’m in a room that has the shades closed, I take off the sports bra. I would take off the boxers, but I wear a pedometer, and I need to clip it somewhere. I have my hair up in a bun, and I’m still sweating bullets. The whole time, I am thinking dark, evil thoughts. Who needs that shit?
So, why the hell am I nattering on about cleaning? Because I can, first of all. It’s my blog, and I’ll bitch if I want. However, the bigger reason is because cleaning reminds me of the Republican party. No, really. Listen up. Every day, we hear the same things from the Republican Party. America really is a centrist-right nation. We can fix the economy by implementing a spending freeze and through tax cuts. Free market, free market, free market. Obama is soft on terror; he hates America; he’s an Islofascist Muslim; he hearts Hugo Chavez. Blah, blah, blah. The same damn talking points over and over again.
The sad thing is that they really seem to think that tax cuts and spending freezes are the solutions. Come on, GOP, you’re better than that, aren’t you? Your policies have been implented for the last thirty years, give or take a few years. They didn’t work. You need to let it go. Right now, I am too weary to work up much moral outrage each time the GOP or one of the rightwing talking heads spews out another piece of shit. In fact, I wish I had a General Outrage stamp I could use every time a Republican trots out a tired old canard. I can’t be bothered to get worked up every time the GOP gets its knickers in a twist because of some supposed faux pas by President Obama and/or the socialist/fascist Democrats.
The thing is, I get the manufactured outrage from Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, et al. They are publicity whores who need the attention. In addition, they get paid to rile up the base. They get paid very well. Limbaugh is getting paid $400 million through 2016. Beck, $50 million for 5 years. Hannity, $100 million for 5 years. In other words, they have to incite a lot of hate for the money they’re being paid. I can also see how they might be indignant about taxes being raised because they are actually affected by the repeal of the Bush tax cuts. Yeah, they will still be richer than fuck, but guys like them are always more focused on what they’re not getting than on what they have.
The part that galls me is that they portray themselves as middle-class American folks, just like their listeners. It would be laughable if their audiences didn’t believe their “we’re all in this together” bullshit. I wonder how many of the teaballers realized that Limbaugh and the others are just spouting what they’re paid to spout.
At any rate, I have a bigger bone to pick, and it’s with the traditional media. Guys, the GOP is not in power any more. John McCain lost the fucking election. Stop treating him like he’s god. In fact, stop treating all the GOP leaders as if they are anything less than silly and inconsequential when they bleat about Obama not being bipartisan enough and such shit. If you really believe it’s your job to deliver the news, you have to stop kissing GOP ass in order for your words not to smell like shit.
I stopped believing traditional media during the whole WMDs debacle. They haven’t done much to redeem themselves since. I don’t mourn the passing of newspapers because newspapers gave up on content years ago. They went straight to business mode, and they lost whatever credibility they had when they made that decision. Yes, I will mourn the passing of investigative journalism, but that has been a dying breed for years now. We are in the era of infotainment, and the big news conglomerates aren’t going to let a little thing like facts get in their way of a good story.
It’s not about news these days–if it ever really was. It’s more about hyping whatever talking point they want to make rather than to really inform. I don’t have cable, but even if I did, I would never watch CNN. I’ve seen glimpses of it, and just looking at the screen gives me a massive headache. All those stupid graphs and that blasted crawl at the bottom of the screen drive me fucking insane. I think it’s Lewis Black who said, “We watch TV because we don’t want to read.” How the hell am I supposed to listen to what the “news anchor” has to say if I have to read the totally-unrelated crawl at the same time? I hate all the breathless tones, the teasers for upcoming breaking news, and the frivolity that passes for news these days. It’s a sad commentary that I can learn more about what’s going on in the world from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert (and laugh my ass off while watching them) than I can from any so-called news outlet.
In short, shape up media and GOP. I am tired of you repeating your shit over and over and over again like it means something. I’m tired of the obfuscation, the vapidness, and the pure inanity of all you do. If you can’t come up with a new shtick, then please at least be merciful enough to put yourselves out of my misery by vacating the limelight. I’m tired of the Dems having to clean up after your messes.
Addendum: I was getting out of the bathtub last night when I heard Shadow shriek. This meant that he and his brother were scrapping. I don’t mind, until one of them shrieks. Oddly enough, it’s usually Shadow. Raven is a chatterbox most of the time, but not when he’s fighting. Anyway, I went outside to make sure Shadow was ok (he was), and then I noticed that there was FUR ON THE CARPET! I became the shrill housewife immediately, screeching about how I had just vacuumed an hour ago and could they please not do that????? See? See what cleaning does to me? No wonder I hate it so.
hahahaha, you shouldn’t worry your pretty little head about the politics. Politics are for BOYS! Why do you hate cleaning? Do you hate the troops too? Are you a man hater too? Jeez Minna, I thought I knew you
*ROLF*
You crack me up. Cleaning sucks because it’s never-ending. There is no end point, and nothing can ever be clean enough. Bah.
ha, want to talk dust?
No. Fucking hate dust. It’s everywhere. You can’t get rid of it–only move it around.
Yep, I hate cleaning too. Sorry you’re going to the “white glove” extreme. My cat used to wait until I thought I’d completely cleaned a room, He’d reach his little paw into some deep dark small place, and drag a dust bunny into the center of the room from what sometimes seemed another dimension. The little fucker!
As for the Republicans & the media: I agree. The only press these jerks should get for their desperate power-grasping crap is from The Onion. The mainstream media’s irony-free coverage of their rhetoric is chickenshit servility at best, the laziest form of yellow journalism at worst.
Choolie, that is just like a cat to do that. Little buggers.
Media–most of what they report these days used to be saved for the back page of the tabloids. Sad.