From: momus	Date: October 20th, 2008 10:16 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

There is no emoticon to display my disappointment with the US population

	From: jblaque	Date: October 20th, 2008 10:29 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

Keep the business end of that new knife of yours good n' sharp, Momus.

	From: robzip	Date: October 20th, 2008 11:40 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

Well, I'm optimistic about the US population in general. What you hear and see written above is representative of the bottom 5% of society.

One needs to recognize that the bottom 5% of any group can easily be mistaken as representative of the whole, based entirely on the amount of noise they make. Just as the middle class blacks in my area face the same issues and adversities I do, they likewise despise the bottom 5% of their own race for their entitlement mentality.
That bottom 5% doesn't represent those folks at all and they damned well resent the attention they receive. Their own hard work goes unrecognized because the bar is dragged so low by the noisiest who accomplish nothing.

The other side of the coin is equally misrepresented. At my wife's church, her study group facilitator is from Alabama, moved to Ohio a few years back by his employer. His son was commenting that people here think everybody from Alabama amount to nothing more than a bunch of hicks and stupid rednecks.

My work takes me into the south quite often, and having lived there for 11 years I'm qualified to comment. Once again, the bottom 5% makes all the noise and their level becomes the standard by which the rest are labeled. I spent the last week between Texas and Arkansas, dealing with people every bit as literate and accomplished as their contemporaries in any other part of the country. Redneck by their own description, I saw no evidence of stereotype among them. All had a full count of natural teeth and none was married to a relative.

My wife fears for the country if Obama is elected. She worries that some cracker supremacist outfit will assassinate him and throw the country into turmoil. I feel that threat to be greatly overestimated. While there may be some on the extreme fringe capable of such a thing, their overall clout is minimal. Have a little hope, folks... times they are a'changin'.

	From: jblaque	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:09 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

I'm with you for the most part on this, Rob, but let's face it, all it takes is a few of the "bottom 5%" to change the world. Ask James Earl Ray.

Or Osama bin Laden.

P.S. I haven't forgotten about you, btw. Money's a little tight, and I'm going on a (what I hope will be a successful) new business pitch in Dallas on Wednesday. I'll get that calendar (+) into the mail for you when I get back. Cheers.

	From: robzip	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:26 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

I'm with you for the most part on this, Rob, but let's face it, all it takes is a few of the "bottom 5%" to change the world. Ask James Earl Ray.

True it is. There's always the actions of one individual that could occur. My point being that the bottom 5%is an ever decreasing pol, in both power and numbers.

I'll get that calendar (+) into the mail for you when I get back. Cheers.

Hang onto the money. Whatever you were going to send, do something nice for someone else, please. Your offer is appreciated.

The calendar would be most welcome though. I was just out in Texas last week. Covered the whole state pretty well. Entered on 40 to Amarillo, south to a small burg near the New Mexico border, back across Ft Worth/Dallas, down through Houston. Got reloaded in Bay City down southeast of Galveston, then headed back home. Blew the engine in the truck just outside Louisville Sunday am, a mere 3 hours from home. Seems like it yarked a piston. Much oil and smoke all over the place. Finally got rescued and back home Sunday around 6 pm. Out of service hours till tomorrow, so was off today. Best wishes on your business venture.

	From: robzip	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:28 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Got reloaded in Bay City down southeast of Galveston,

Err, make that southWEST of Galveston..

	From: momus	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:39 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Speaking of, do we have a phone date coming up?

	From: jblaque	Date: October 21st, 2008 01:07 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Yes, we do. Hang in there. I'll be seeing my partner on Wednesday in Dallas.

Unfortunately, we're having client problems right now. Simply, put one of them (the highest-paying one, wouldn't you know) is a fucking moron.

	From: momus	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:35 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Having lived in the South myself for a few years, I found that the bottom %5 you mention is usually the top %5 in income.

And the South and/or rural communities do not have a lock on ignorance and hate. I had a young, black, female friend when I lived in North Carolina, whom I asked (being a young ignorant buffoon) why she just didn't move to the north, to a progressive city like Chicago or New York. She replied "At least here, I know who my enemies are."

The bottom %5 of society. Who are they, can you point them out? Where do you get that number?
I saw a guy today at the grocery that was annoying the crap out of me drop a two pound bag of sunflower seeds on the ground. I watched, then helped him pick up every seed. (that we could find, I'm sure they will be sweeping that shit up for weeks)

My question, I guess, is how do you judge?
Who is this bottom %5? Is it %5? Is Larry, your business partner one of them? Am I? Are you?

	From: robzip	Date: October 21st, 2008 01:13 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

The bottom 5% is a figurative number inclusive of the lowest echelon of any group. How does one judge? Carefully... Sometimes they make it easy like the voice clip examples with the ignorant jackass braying. Sometimes you have to study their agenda alongside their level of accomplishment.

Those who bitch about their station in life and blame everyone else - circumstances real, relevant, or imagined - as long as it doesn't involve personal responsibility, can pretty well be counted among this group.

I see and hear people native to this land cry out about the lack of opportunity for those like themselves. Amusing when they've literally pissed away more opportunity than most of the rest of the world ever gets a shot at. It is sobering when you see DAILY, people without so much of leg up as speaking the language here, put whatever they can in a garbage bag and cross the border at night to take advantage of the opportunity they find here.

Point here being, that racist, hater mindset fears the very things that are least likely to ever happen. But that doesn't make much difference to the hater, does it? He's too lazy to learn the facts and too blinded to accept them if confronted with them.

Care to explain your 'Larry - business partner' remark? Be careful....

Chicago and New York would not be the answer to the friend you reference. Her comfort zone is among 'her enemies'. Placed in a level playing field among thousands of others just like herself who thrive and do well, who could she point the finger at if she didn't prosper?

	From: momus	Date: October 21st, 2008 03:51 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

The "bottom %5" is an ideological facade.
the lowest echelon of any group still has hope.
Personal Responsibility is the key I think we both agree on.


Care to explain your 'Larry - business partner' remark? Be careful....

I hope that you are right, and I am just crazy. I think that hate and money have more world power than love.

	From: robzip	Date: October 21st, 2008 04:09 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

I think you may be mixing ideology of bottom feeders with economics. Merely being poor certainly doesn't mean one is without hope. I'm directing my 5% low echelon category at the racist, the ignorant and proud of it haters, that attempt to impose their brand of stupidity as the standard for their racial, ethnic, or social group.

If I must make this clearer with more graphic examples, that could be done but you seem sharp enough to discern who and what we're talking about here.

	From: wobblerlorri	Date: October 21st, 2008 02:36 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

This.

	From: deliverer	Date: October 20th, 2008 10:37 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

I hope that verse that you posted is a prediction of Obama's victory over his own enemies.

Remember that monsters can be like a dark cockroach infested room when a light switch is turned on. The worst of these aren't getting the media attention and you won't hear from them but you will see and hear of the terrible things that they are capable of. The klansman who lynches an innocent black man Saturday night and is in the church Sunday morning with his wife and children is an example of that kind of monster.

	From: jblaque	Date: October 20th, 2008 10:46 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

I genuinely believe we will see violence before this thing is over, Dee - and possibly even deaths. I hope to Glub I'm wrong.

	From: shelleybear	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:29 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Once and for all.
For good or ill, America will show it's true face to the world.
We shall see what happens.

	From: sandman008	Date: October 21st, 2008 05:48 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

I hope that verse that you posted is a prediction of Obama's victory over his own enemies.

I was thinking of something from the Qur'an, myself. That'd really set 'em frothing. Like Shura 8:30.

When they plotted to poison you, to kill you, to drive you forth, they plotted well. But God plotted too, and God is the best of all plotters.

	From: jblaque	Date: October 21st, 2008 05:56 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Damn, you're good.

	From: nawlins_penguin	Date: October 20th, 2008 11:07 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

If we have President Obama I would expect there to be some reactionary freaks exiting the wood-work to vent their frustrations, to be sure. And I suppose President Obama would certainly have a percentage more enemies as a result.

However, if we have a President McCain, I suspect there may be even more bloodshed, as it would indicate the election had been swayed by the most incendiary of mud-slinging campaigns. I, for one, am deeply troubled by the possibility of a winning McCain/Palin, not just for the policy it involves but more for the violent upheaval that will surely follow. There cannot be more of the same. V for Vendetta comes to mind.

	From: laviemoderne	Date: October 22nd, 2008 12:05 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

You clearly have more faith in the population than I do. If McCain wins I don't think that anything will happen. I expected upheaval after the last election. And what happened? A whole lot of nothing.

	From: xavienne	Date: October 20th, 2008 11:44 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

Wow. I have to wonder what happened to those people to fill them with so much hate. That's truly frightening.

	From: robzip	Date: October 20th, 2008 11:53 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

I see it a lot among those held back by their own inability to achieve. It's much easier to direct your bitterness outward than to look inside yourself.

	From: jblaque	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:09 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

IAWTC.

	From: momus	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:15 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

This, spot on.

	From: shelleybear	Date: October 21st, 2008 12:32 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

"Are you familiar with H.G. Wells"

"The worst of all the things that haunt poor mortal man," said I; "and
that is, in all its nakedness--Fear that will not have light nor sound,
that will not bear with reason, that deafens and darkens and overwhelms.

	From: laviemoderne	Date: October 22nd, 2008 12:07 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

Bad genes and bad parenting.

	From: legless123	Date: October 21st, 2008 01:55 am (UTC)		(Permalink)
	Jeez

You've some scary freaks over there.

I've still got a nagging fear that some cracker will assassinate Obama. Your Secret Service guys are good but I just hope that they're good enough. (BTW - is it true that, if McCaine is elected and he dies in office, they've orders to shoot Sarah Palin for the good of the nation?)


Over here In Oz I'm following this election like a hawk and cheering Obama on to victory. Everyone I know are praying for him to win. We need him to bring some sanity back to Americas foreign policy and make America respected again.

Cheers

	From: jblaque	Date: October 21st, 2008 02:10 am (UTC)		(Permalink)
	Re: Jeez

I appreciate your good thoughts, as always. We're gonna need all the support we can get to destroy these filthy apes.

	From: harryflashman	Date: October 21st, 2008 02:16 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

I've got to come to the defense of the right wing for a moment here-- maybe I'm engaging in wishful thinking, but there are many intelligent conservatives that aren't racist piles of human garbage. Hell, I personally know some.

This (imho) no more represents the average conservative than any equally insane left-wing nutjob represents me.

	From: jblaque	Date: October 21st, 2008 02:38 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

"This (imho) no more represents the average conservative..."

I think you missed the very first sentence of the post, but yeah, you're right.

	From: harryflashman	Date: October 21st, 2008 02:40 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

Went back and re-read it. Agreed. I guess I just have a kneejerk reaction that I don't want to demonize all conservatives. I mean, we are going to have to work with some of them after Obama wins (!!!).

	From: jblaque	Date: October 21st, 2008 03:37 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

"I mean, we are going to have to work with some of them after Obama wins (!!!)."

Oh joy. ☺

	From: thewalkingman	Date: October 21st, 2008 03:27 pm (UTC)		(Permalink)

It's basically a waiting game to see how long before someone tries to assassinate him. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

	From: sandman008	Date: October 22nd, 2008 04:31 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

It has. It just hasn't got as much coverage as, say, a black prison inmate mailing threatening notes and white powder to John McCain.

	From: thewalkingman	Date: October 22nd, 2008 07:41 am (UTC)		(Permalink)

yeah, I knew about that but don't really count it. I mean a serious, organized and dangerous attempt.