Victim, Schmictim

In Mr. Blunt and Cranky’s experience, real victims rarely play the victim card. He has friends and family members who suffer from MS, cancer, paralysis, poverty, you name it: and nary a one of them asks for pity or to have slack cut for them. No, these folks tough it out and deal as best they can. Admirable.

So when people like Mitt and Ann Romney whine about people being mean to them, it does not ring true: yes, she deals with horrible illnesses and he gets a lot of crap flung at him. But any objective observer would note that it is a helluva lot easier to deal with such problems when you have hundreds of millions of dollars than it is when all you have is Medicare and Social Security. Or even less.

When the leaders of Hamas and their antagonists both whine about the other guy beating them up on the playground and taking their lunch money, it does not ring true: because both sides are killing innocent bystanders as they petulantly bomb the s*** out of each other. Both the Jewish and Palestinian peoples have been horribly victimized over the years; and their leaders should recognize that self-evident fact and work together to ameliorate the horrific suffering of their people instead of pointing fingers at the “other side” and throwing the victim card ad nauseum.

Many other examples exist, and have done so for eons: American Christians who, though they are a majority, claim to be victimized by all sorts of phantom bogeymen; the Iranian President who exports terrorists and claims to be the victim of numerous Satanic shadowy international terrorist cabals; the wealthy who complain about taxation while paying the lowest rates in nearly a century; so many people who sit atop millions of genuine victims whilst falsely claiming to be victims themselves.

In fact, these faux victims are themselves victimizing other people. And that is truly revolting.

Mr. B & C

The High Cost of Hearing Only What You Want to Hear

According to CBS News, the Romneybots were “shellshocked” by their election loss. Karl Rove melted down in front of Fox News’s cameras and refused to believe it. All across the country, true believers totally lost it. None of them could handle the outcome: Obama won.

To the rest of us, it wasn’t much of a surprise, and for many not even a particularly big deal: the pollsters had predicted a toss-up that could go either way. It went Obama’s way. Shrug. OK, whatever. No shock, no awe, no freakouts to be found amongst the majority of Americans. So why, then, were so many Repubs and other right-wingers blindsided by the results?

Answer: they live in a bubble; watch only the news that fits their views; read only the polls that give them results matching their views; associate only with others who share their views; listen only to those radio screechers that reinforce their views; and viciously attack anyone with whom they disagree, driving them away so that contrarian views do not injure their quivering, delicate earlobes. Pretty soon, the bubble dwellers find themselves living in a filtered environment that continuously reinforces and strengthens their existing preconceptions.

When Romney’s team didn’t like the poll numbers they were seeing, they chose to believe “internal” polls that made them feel all warm and fuzzy.

When the Teabaggers were presented with proof that Obama really really really wasborn in the U.S., they refused to believe it. And still do.

When Speaker Boehner lost members of his caucus, including some of the biggest extremist loons of the lot, he chose to ignore the fact that Congressional Democratic candidates, overall, got more total votes than Congressional “Republican” candidates (it was only due to gerrymandered districts that he held onto his majority).  No, by golly, he has a mandate to continue his mission of obstruction, or so he thinks.

Ron Johnson blamed his party’s election losses on “an ignorant electorate”. This is perhaps the most instructive example of all: anyone who does not agree with his view of reality is wrong, plain and simple. The fact that he might not be 100% correct at all times and on all subjects doesn’t seem to enter his head.

And so on. These people don’t live on Planet Reality with the rest of us. They live (or at least  think they do) in a wonderful fantasy world, a parallel universe in which anything  in which they fervently  believe is a priori true and thus real, good, Godly and right. So when inconvenient reality intrudes upon their own private Eden, they have no idea what to do or how to cope.

And we wonder why Obama can’t get them to come to the table? They don’t even see the table, and they don’t want to. Until they get bitch-slapped by some big ugly facts a few more times, they are unlikely to come join us here in the real world; and until they get real, they won’t hear us telling them the truths that they do not want to hear.

And until they can hear what they don’t want to hear, there is no possibility of mutual respect and understanding, cooperation, or indeed of any constructive work getting done.

Mr. B & C

Ann Romney: Spoiled Brats Become Even Nastier With Age

Mr. Blunt and Cranky never enjoys encountering spoiled brats, or the parents responsible for their spoiling. Whiny, demanding, hateful, vicious, cruel, greedy, and loud are just some of the negative characteristics this writer finds to be most disagreeable. And the older they get, the worse it gets.

Sometimes, people can spoil themselves in spite of their family’s best efforts. These self-spoiled kids are no better to be around, but at least one can have sympathy for their parents. Other times, people grow up, get a taste of the good life and THEN start spoiling themselves. These are the worst of all spoiled brats, these narcissistic turds, because they often are able to accrete power and influence over others.

Today’s example: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/09/21/ann-romney-to-critics-stop-it-this-is-hard/  in which Queen Ann shows a sense of entitlement that would have made Henry VIII cringe in disgust. Both she and her little subbie-boy hubbie act as though they should somehow be insulated from anything but comfort and pleasantries, surrounded by a light, fluffy, sparkly existence. And when reality intrudes on their dreamscape, these two show their nasty sides; nasty sides that are truly ugly and scary.

The “Republican” party frequently complains about “entitlements”, and people who think are “entitled” to things. What they mean are people who want their tax dollars to provide some benefit to themselves or their communities, instead of going to line the pockets of special interests and corrupt legislators.

This writer suggests that there is another part of the populace, possessed of a sense of entitlement, who are far more insidious and detrimental to our society: an emerging “ruling class” of people like the Romneys who act as though they are above criticism; above the law; and entitled to anything they want, just because they want it. And if we look at the past few decades during which this subculture has arisen, we can see that it is our government that has been doing at least part the “spoiling”.

These spoiled brats do not deserve to run our country, not least because they are not representative of it. Even if that does not bother you, it would still be well to vote against these little rodents. Otherwise, we’ll have to put up with their tantrums and screeching for at least four years –  kind of like being stuck in a McDonald’s playland full of spoiled brats during a birthday party, and not being able to leave.

The horror. The horror.

MR. B & C

The Majority is Supposed to Run America

Ancient Rome occupied quite a bit of real estate at one time, and though they were a minority in most of their Empire, they were able to rule over the majority through various means. Eventually, though, the majorities in each occupied nation got tired of being screwed over, and revolted. Buh-Bye, Roman Empire.

England once occupied even more of the globe than Rome, and though the English were a minority in most of their empire, they were able to rule over the majority through various means.  Eventually, though, the majorities in each occupied nation (like America, India, Scotland, and so on) got tired of being screwed over, and revolted. Buh-Bye, British Empire

We are seeing this happen elsewhere on a smaller scale in Syria today – minority is ruling a majority and screwing them over. The majority has gotten sick of it and is revolting. Pretty soon, it’ll be Buh-Bye, Assad. We saw it in South Africa, too. Majorities eventually get tired of being boinked and rise up, usually causing a lot of death and destruction in the process.

Today, America is increasingly heading towards minority rule – a small group of wealthy individuals are using the tax code to their benefit, buying our “representatives”, using their ownership of the media to give us the mushroom treatment, rigging elections, and so on. Pretty much the same thing as Caesar and Quadaffi did in their times; and Americans are slowly waking up to this reality. When enough of them get ticked off enough, it will not be pretty.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are both members of this minority. They could be poster children for this group, in fact. They do not understand the lives of ordinary Americans, but they wish to rule a nation full of them.  Say what you will about Obama and Biden (and this writer has said plenty), neither of them was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Hell, half the time they didn’t have silver of any sort, but they each worked their own way up and made themselves successes.

Not Romney. He started rich and got richer. Ditto Ryan. They and their little clique will screw us all over to such an extent that people will start getting really pissed off.  And when that happens, it’ll be Buh-Bye to America as we have known it.  And that would really suck.

Mr. B & C

Spoiled Rich Boys Oftentimes Grow Into Entitled Men

People need to know this about Romney and Ryan, this year’s Bull Elephants: they are both rich men; born rich infants, raised as rich boys, grew up with their paths greased by wealth and privilege, and act today  as one  might expect them to act, given the lavish amounts of money available to them both. (Yes, Ryan, too, for all that the media can’t tear themselves away from Mitt’s millions long enough to look at the Ryan family fortunes.) They are privileged and have always been so: indeed, they know nothing else.

Neither man knows what it is like to have to choose between food or shelter; heat or medicine; or to be forced to live without even the basics. Neither knows what it is like to live paycheck-to-paycheck, nor have they had to make horrible sacrifices and compromises to keep a job that they loathe, but is all that stands between their family and starvation. Neither “gets” the working class, much less the working poor, even less so the unemployed or unemployable.

Once you understand this key point, then the actions and underlying logic of Paulie and Willie make sense. Ryan’s budget decimates the safety net because he has no grasp of its importance; he is unconcerned with health care, assistance, or even infrastructure for the 99.9% because he has never known want or privation (except emotionally). Ryan does not sweat about women being raped or becoming pregnant as a result because, well, when you have money, those things can be taken care of quietly. He does not understand not being rich. He cannot comprehend not being rich. Being rich is all he has ever known.

It is similar with Romney, though it manifests itself differently. You see, Mitt took seed money from his somewhat-well-to-do parents and made hundreds of millions of dollars with it. New money, not old money like Ryan’s. Yes, he was a spoiled little rich brat, but instead of spending his entire adult life in politics, Romney spent most of it making pots of cash.  So, in addition to the sense of entitlement he was raised with, he has added massive amounts of “I deserve to be treated like a king” egotism from his business success.  What he has not gotten was Ounce One of humility, perspective or understanding of those from different backgrounds or walks of life. So when you ask about his finances, he does not understand that you have a legitimate right to know about them. He isn’t so being much secretive as acting from an enlarged sense of entitlement.

Dear Readers (and especially any journalists among you); remember this every time you ask yourself “why doesn’t he get it?”: these Richie Rich clones don’t know how to “get it”. They are the product of an exclusive, isolated, protected, privileged world that most of us can’t even visualize. Likewise, they cannot visualize us and our needs, wants and sense of morals.  They are not from the America that most of us know and love.

They could have learned what life is like for the rest of us; indeed, they should have been so taught. But they weren’t. Look at their policies, proposals, and how they live: they are not part of this country, not really. They exist for others of their kind, and seek to serve them. (They might even think they are serving all of us, because of their ignorance.)  They are part of one of the smallest minorities in the nation, and don’t even know it. They don’t understand America, they won’t understand America, they can’t understand America, because they are under the mistaken and unshakeable impression that they already do.

And not understanding America, they are not qualified to run America.

Mr. B & C

Tomorrow – When minorities rule majorities. It never ends well.

Schrödinger’s Tax

Ol’ Willie M. Romney is keeping relevant information about himself and his money (as if there were a difference, and there isn’t, not really) locked in a box that he and his Dominatrix Mistress Boss wife refuse to open, thus leading Mr. Blunt and Cranky to indulge in yet another Schrödinger analogy: since we cannot see what inside the box, people are free to speculate on the “state” of ol’ Willie’s taxes and their underlying finances. And, of course, since they are free to do so, they do so. And do so. And do so. Rinse and repeat.

Queen Ann and her Consort are beaucoup cheesed off that all we icky normal people keep asking their Royal Romninesses about their tax returns. Neither of these clueless faux-royals seems to grok the whole “public servant” thing: unlike the way they have lived their lives up to now (being served by lowly little people), they are aspiring to a position in which Mitt is asking to serve us. And if he wishes to get that job, he’s gonna have to provide some information to his prospective employers, just like a cook, gardener, butler, or any other sort of servant.

Here’s the thing about Schrödinger’s concept: the only way to know the state is to open the box and end the experiment. Until that is done, folks are going to speculate about R-Money in the manner of their choosing (just as physicists do with electron states, albeit with less intellect), and Willie is gonna look more and more secretive, thus less and less trustworthy. Mitt has only himself to blame for closing the box. Why is so he stubborn, petulant, and obstinate? And most importantly, why is he so bewildered by peoples’ insistence that he open it? That’s for tomorrow’s post.

Mr. B & C

Queen Ann Shoots from the Lip Once Again

Ann Romney hath spoken from Her Queenly Perch O’ Entitlement, telling reporter Natalie Morales that She and Lord Willard will not hand out any more information about Their Royal Selves to the media, or we lowly citizens, for that matter. Clearly She and Her little nancy boy Husband have not grasped the difference between public and private sector employment.

Here’s the deal, Annie-me-lass: when one works in the private sector (like Mr. Blunt and Cranky, say), one can live as privately as one wishes. Where you live, how you live, how much money you have, none of that is anybody’s business at all, unless you choose to share it. Most sane people choose to live thus.

Once you decide to operate in the public sector, any expectations of privacy are gone with the wind. And you had to know that, since this ain’t your first rodeo. The law requires one whole helluva lot of disclosure, and lots of politicians (like your late father-in-law, bless him) have raised the bar higher than the law requires, just to make themselves look good avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Hey, you’re richer than Croesus: good on you, many of us aspire to that. You used the tax laws to your advantage: so do most Americans. You likely have family tragedies that you might not wish to share: same here. So why the secrecy, why the scaredy-cat fuss, why the stonewalling? Because there can’t be anything that bad in your privileged backgrounds – Hell, you’re probably waaaay cleaner than the majority of your prospective subjects fellow citizens.

 If you wanted a completely private life, you should have stayed out of national politics. A wee bit late for that now, though: no matter how Your Royal Romneyness feels, you are going to have to deal with the demands of the new career you and your lackey-boy husband have chosen. Suck it up, buttercup, and open up. And climb off your throne, you look a jackass up there.

Mr. B & C