November 30: Can't Afford, Idle People, P.O.E. Day

"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge.  "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer.  I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry.  I help to support the establishments I have mentioned:  they cost enough:  and those who are badly off must go there."

I understand how Scrooge feels in the above passage.  I don't want to be around people.  I've had a pretty crappy day, and I want everyone dead at the moment.  Idle people.  Merry people.  Fat people. Skinny people.  I'm not discriminating here.  Like Scrooge, I wish to be left alone.

Today is traditionally P.O.E.T.S. Day.  That stands for Piss On Everything Tomorrow's Saturday.  For this week only, however, I'm proclaiming this Friday to be P.O.E. Day.  Piss On Everything Day.  I don't want to do anything but go to bed tonight.  I don't want to type this blog.  I don't want to drive my daughter to the birthday party she's been invited to attend.  I don't want to give my son his bath.  The name says it all:  piss on everything.

Everybody goes through moods like this.  There are reasons behind my crappy attitude.  I don't want to discuss those reasons right now.  I'm cashing in my Scrooge bucks.  If you meet me, don't talk to me.  If you have my phone number, don't call.  If you're tempted to send me a personal e-mail, don't do it.  I find it best to follow my instincts here, and my instincts tell me to have as little human interaction as possible.

Maybe Saint Marty will talk about what's on his mind in a future post.  Or not.  He needs to go to his safe place for a little while.



Even Dickens had bad days



November 5: Idle People, President Willard, "Carol" Dip Monday

..."Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer.  I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry.  I help to support the establishments I have mentioned:  they cost enough:  and those who are badly off must go there."

No, the quotation above is not Mitt Romney, although it certainly could be.  I tried to find a passage from Charles Dickens that could have come from the mouth of our esteemed presidential candidate.  Then I realized that anything spoken by the early Ebenezer Scrooge, pre-redemption, could have come from the lips of any Republican running for office this election.

If you can't tell, this post is going to be about the upcoming election.  One day to go, and every other commercial on TV and the radio is some kind of political advertisement.  "Vote Yes of Proposal 2."  "Vote No on Proposal 2."  "Barack Obama has ruined the country."  "Barack Obama has saved the country."  Even for a political junkie like myself, it's starting to wear a little thin.

That being said, I would like to take a few last cheap shots at Willard Romney.  (Yes, that is his real name.  If he is elected, we will have a President Willard.  Imagine what he will do for the welfare of rats everywhere.)  I was reading an opinion piece by Juan Williams this morning.  The article was titled "A Romney win would be a victory for shameless cynicism."  It was published on the website The Hill.  In the post/essay, Williams talks about how the Romney people have tried to turn every accomplishment of President Obama into a liability.  (George W. did that with John Kerry's military service in 2004.)

Mr. Obama took out enemy number one of the United States.  Mr. Romney now questions President Obama's dedication to the security of the United States because of the tragic killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya.  President Obama supported the bailout that saved the auto industry in this country.  A week ago, the Romney campaign released a commercial in Ohio falsely hinting that Chrysler was going to move Jeep manufacturing to China.  Coming from a political party that gave us Dubya, who, in eight years, started two wars and oversaw an economic recession, Willard Romney doesn't have much firm ground to stand on.  Mr. Williams quotes a Romney  pollster who said, "We will not have our campaign dictated by fact-checkers."

That is the truth.  If you check the facts, Mr. Romney is a "cipher candidate."  I have no idea where he stands on any issue.  He keeps saying, "I stand behind America," but I have no idea what that means.  He's built his entire presidential bid on cynicism instead of hope.  I can't get behind that.

This Monday, my question for Chuck Dickens is easy:

Will Barack Obama be reelected President of the United States tomorrow?

And the answer from the great book of Christmas is:

...I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate.  A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer...

There you have it.  We will escape the Marley/Republican fate of chains and poverty and hunger.

Saint Marty can relax.  The United States still has a chance and hope.  A chance and hope of Barack Obama's procuring.

I won't pay to see this movie