Republicans Hold Senate Hostage for Rich Friends

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Wednesday December 01, 2010 · 10:42 AM PST

2010/12/01 · 10:42

Some of you didn't vote in November. I guess you were busy. Halloween was crazy, and then it seemed like there was barely enough time to plan Thanksgiving. Now we're approaching the nation's most sacred shopping excuse, and I bet you're too busy to read this.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced this morning that Republicans will block any legislation from coming to the Senate floor until two key economic issues are addressed: funding the government (the "continuing resolution" which must pass to prevent a government shutdown) and the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts.

You read that right. These schmucks are so arrogant, they are telling the world that they will shut down our government (again) if they don't get an extension on tax breaks for their super rich funders. Has there ever been a more blatant example of elected leaders screwing over low income and middle class Americans simply to satisfy the wealthy patrons who provide the lifestyle they feel they deserve?

Poll

25 votes Show Results

Should tax breaks for rich Americans be extended?

25 votes Vote Now!

Should tax breaks for rich Americans be extended?

Sure, why not? Were all going under anyway.

2 votes

No. I'm calling my senator to demand an end to these tax breaks.

23 votes

America's Fatal Daddy Obsession

HickAtLarge

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Saturday August 28, 2010 · 4:34 PM PDT

2010/08/28 · 16:34

Now I finally get it. Glenn Beck has figured out what George W. Bush and his handlers figured out years ago, based on the popularity of Ronald McDonald Reagan: Americans do not want to think for themselves. They want a daddy. They say they want to be independent and free of government influence, but these are the rantings of a teenager.

Every day thousands of Americans give up responsibility--to God, to Rush Limbaugh, to Beck. For eight years they handed over all moral and social responsibility to Bush, and today we see the results. If we are in an economic depression, if we face obstacles we may not be able, as a nation, to overcome, it is entirely due to our childlike dependence on self-serving politicians and celebrities to tell us what to believe, how to invest money, when to buy a house, which leaders to vote for.

All of the people attending Beck's rally are looking for a Big Daddy to tell them what to do, so they don't have to think and they don't have to face the reality and uncertainty of adult life. THIS is the characteristic that will undermine and destroy our society, while Beck and Limbaugh get rich.

Peace Prize in Snarkville

HickAtLarge

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Friday October 09, 2009 · 10:48 AM PDT

2009/10/09 · 10:48

Yes, Obama should crush "don't ask, don't tell" and make a real commitment to equal rights for all. Yes, he should tear off the Spock mask and go all Kirk death match in Congress to get us a public option. But how, exactly, is a Nobel prize a BAD thing? Explain, please.

The news broke this morning, and already the message boards and comment sections are crowded with "words of wisdom" from disgruntled citizens who have heard that the prize might be "an albatross around Obama's neck" and just want to get in their two cents to confirm that it sure will be.

Where did the energy and desire go? Where did we get so cynical and why are we misdirecting our anger and cynicism toward a man so respected by the rest of the world that it actually baffles us here at home?

Poll

49 votes Show Results

Is there any real reason Obama should not receive the Nobel Prize?

49 votes Vote Now!

Is there any real reason Obama should not receive the Nobel Prize?

Yes, because he hasn't accomplished enough

6 votes

No, because he's working in the right direction

43 votes

Libraries: A World Beyond Our Doorstep

HickAtLarge

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Wednesday September 16, 2009 · 12:42 PM PDT

2009/09/16 · 12:42

My parents grew up poor during the Great Depression. They had a child only a year after they had run away and married in a romantic attempt to escape the poverty and ignorance of their hometown communities. By then World War II was underway and my dad joined the Navy. After the war he and my mother raised four kids and took whatever work was available in the small towns to which they had reluctantly returned in need of help from their families. They never had the chance to go to college.

When I was growing up, I think we owned fewer than a dozen books. This was because of poverty and priorities, not an aversion to literature. My parents loved to read. When they realized that I was a writer they were delighted. They read all of the stories I wrote as a child--no matter how gruesome or bizarre--and begged for more. They were my best audience.

My dad drove me to a second hand bookstore, the only one we had ever heard of, miles from where we lived by that time. He would buy himself an Erle Stanley Gardner mystery and wait outside, smoking and reading, while I shopped for as long as I wanted. I would buy a few paperbacks, take them home and read them, then bring them back to trade in for more. My dad always came up with the extra change needed, and never balked.

HickAtLarge

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Thursday September 03, 2009 · 3:09 PM PDT

2009/09/03 · 15:09

Politicians do many different things. One thing they all do is work to get elected. So when you tell people in Congress what you want, remember to let them know that your vote depends on what they do.

Here is what I wrote to my U.S. senators via email at their sites online. Feel free to cut and paste and adapt it. Put your name at the bottom as I did when I contacted my senators. Or write your own note.

Whatever you do, let your senators and your reps know what you want. Do it today. This issue will decide how we live, and it will decide what Obama's administration will be able to accomplish in the years ahead.

Pass it on.

HickAtLarge

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Saturday August 29, 2009 · 12:39 PM PDT

2009/08/29 · 12:39

Today we say farewell to Edward M. Kennedy, who overcame tragedy and personal failure to become a powerful voice and a force for good in the Senate. With condolences to the Kennedy family, let us renew our hope that President Obama will stand strong and lead us to a better place. Kennedy devoted his life and career to the idea that all people deserve compassion and that compassion is not merely an attitude. In a nation as great as ours, no one should go hungry. No one should be without the medical care they need. No one should be deprived of an excellent education. No one should be homeless.

HickAtLarge

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Friday August 28, 2009 · 1:18 PM PDT

2009/08/28 · 13:18

Oh, woe! To think that I have to reinstate this blog in order to gripe about the very person I fought so hard to elect!

But the time has come for progressive liberals to shout out what we want. So here goes:

Dear Mr. President,

Will you PLEASE tell your people to stop begging me to attend vigils and to donate ad money? I don't HAVE any money left. I gave all of it to you. And if I wanted to be a politician, in addition to what I actually do with my own life, I'd be sitting in Congress right now, instead of my living room.

Poll

134 votes Show Results

Is it time for Obama to man up & kick the opposition?

134 votes Vote Now!

Is it time for Obama to man up & kick the opposition?

Yes, it's time and it's the right thing to do

127 votes

No, it will only make things worse

7 votes

Why Can't Oprah Love Me When I'm Fat?

HickAtLarge

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Tuesday December 09, 2008 · 11:02 PM PST

2008/12/09 · 23:02

My holiday wish came true. Oprah got fat again.

Is that mean? Well, hang on. Sometimes I am fat and sometimes I am not. Most Americans live in the not fat-fat-not fat zone with me.

I know the reasons why I get fat: eating and drinking and sitting around. And I know what makes me thin: going hungry and forcing myself to do boring things over and over and over. Naturally enough, I spend a little more time fat than not fat, each year. But you want to know something? I don't care.

HickAtLarge

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Saturday November 29, 2008 · 6:17 PM PST

2008/11/29 · 18:17

Last year I wrote a Hick blog review of the Swiss Colony Catalog. In light of this year's seasonal acquisition madness, I think it's worth posting here. And I am sure most of the items it describes are still available for discerning shoppers:

Whitey Christmas

Oh, thank the stars and sweet Jesus! The Swiss Colony Catalog is here! Now my holiday shopping will be a breeze, and I can "buy now, pay later" because my credit is pre-approved!

The sticker on the front warns me that this is my Final Catalog, because the Swiss Colony people won't bother me with "unwanted catalogs." I'm not sure what that means, because I don't recall asking them for this catalog. But, you know what? Sometimes unspoken prayers are answered, aren't they? Right? Am I right?

So, let's go shopping!

Poll

27 votes Show Results

How soon will YOU send the Hick a John Deere Pocket Watch?

27 votes Vote Now!

How soon will YOU send the Hick a John Deere Pocket Watch?

Uh, soon

5 votes

Not until the Hick's birthday

3 votes

When I get around to it

3 votes

When hell freezes over

16 votes

Man Killed on Black Friday: A Hick Plea

HickAtLarge

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Friday November 28, 2008 · 2:15 PM PST

2008/11/28 · 14:15

Last year, prompted by the arrival of an unsolicited Swiss Colony catalog on my doorstep, I posted Whitey Christmas on my blog Hick With a Master's Degree. This humorous piece was intended to point out just how ridiculous the Pseudo-Religious American Shopping Season has become.

This year, I'm not laughing. Because we are now at a crossroads, exemplified by one tragic event.

Today, on the east coast, the most eagerly anticipated shopping day of the year began with a mob of people trampling a man who had the unfortunate duty of opening the front door to a Wal-Mart store. Following the event, while the man's fellow employees tried to clear the store, many of the people who had stood in line for hours refused to leave.

Poll

228 votes Show Results

Are you ready to stop the holiday shopping madness?

228 votes Vote Now!

Are you ready to stop the holiday shopping madness?

Yes

217 votes

11 votes

Calling All Hicks

HickAtLarge

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Monday November 03, 2008 · 10:40 AM PST

2008/11/03 · 10:40

This week my people--hicks, hillbillies, white trash, rednecks, and crackers--have a chance to make history. We can save our lives and the lives of our children and unborn generations of Americans.

We can start to rebuild our economy and create a stronger military that will be able to protect us at home and around the world when necessary. We can repair damages to parts of the country hit by natural disasters. We can spend more money on our children, and see to it that they receive the kind of education and medical care that currently only rich people can afford.

How do we achieve this? My friends, all of you who are routinely shunned by liberals and universally mocked by media regardless of its affiliations, YOU can help sway this election by voting for Barack Obama and thereby telling Washington that you are fed up and will not take it any more.

HickAtLarge

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Friday September 26, 2008 · 1:45 PM PDT

2008/09/26 · 13:45

Ever since Tina Fey put on her Tina Fey glasses on SNL and portrayed Sarah Palin proclaiming: "I can see Russia from my house!" it has been a delight to watch the women of TV news. Every day, they step up to the plate to ask John McCain and his running mate tough questions that any person running for these leadership roles ought to be able to answer--questions that Barack Obama and Joe Biden have no trouble addressing thoughtfully and coherently.

First Rachel Maddow called out the McCain campaign for lying in their ads. Then Campbell Brown reversed the charge of sexism by asking what we were all thinking: Isn't it sexist to protect a female running mate against reporters? Now comes Katie Couric, no doubt permitted to talk in-depth with delicate flower Palin only because the McCain people thought she would be a pushover.

Well who's a pushover now?

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Republicans Hold Senate Hostage for Rich Friends

America's Fatal Daddy Obsession

Peace Prize in Snarkville

Libraries: A World Beyond Our Doorstep

Steal this health reform note and use it

Champion of the People

Man Up, Obama

Why Can't Oprah Love Me When I'm Fat?

Whitey Christmas

Man Killed on Black Friday: A Hick Plea

Calling All Hicks

Let the Girls Do It