Friday, November 25, 2011

Happy Holidays!

This was last years Thanksgiving post: How prescient am I!? I didn't know we had the 99 percent then as a movement but we all should have. So, eat your turkey and have your little dinner time squabbles because it seems nothing much changes as long as the same old turkeys stay in power at the top.

There is this story

And this story

Then there was this story

It's not exactly a poem, but it is some of what's happening in our country during this holiday season.  I have ignored the stories of frantic holiday shoppers trampling other frantic holiday shoppers on the aptly named Black Friday.  Extraordinarily sickening this year.  Somehow more so this year than any I remember.  The dark freakshow of materialism in a down economy.  I might be one of those crazed shoppers if I had a family counting on me to provide it with all the American Christmas creature comforts (like a bigger flat screen TV than last years version).  And I might be the provider who finds death preferable to the alternative since the future doesn't look rosy unless you're one of the top 2%.  If Thanksgiving was a disappointment to children of the 99ers, imagine what Christmas will be...  Don't know what the 99ers are?  You must be a member of the TeaParty or one of the 2% at the top.

10 comments:

yellowdoggranny said...

I did the black friday 2 years in a row..and I don't know if it's because it's Texas...(we very seldom do things right) or what..but it was much better than you would think..lots of people but this is what I heard.'oh excuse me, pardon me. Didn't mean to poke you with my tv, sorry.'...over and over ..people would bump you and apologize.try to push thru and would say excuse me can I get thru?'..I bragged on it for a year...only did 2 of them..but it was the same both years.

PENolan said...

I've been paying attention to the 99ers ever since I first heard of them a few weeks before the One Nation rally. Their stories, coupled with the fact that suicide accounts for almost as many military deaths as the battlefield, have convinced me that this country is squeezing the life out of its citizens quite literally.

Something's got to give . . .

Unknown said...

I spent the last three days in solitude, except for my dogs and cats. No turkey, no prime rib, nothing special. Cleaned house, brought in firewood, and read. I've never shopped on a Black Friday and never will.

Pathetic? Maybe.

Freida Bee said...

That suicide letter is a chillingly pertinent account of what this fucked-up consumeristic society yields.

People deserve to have food, shelter and medical care provided to them if a society can provide it and if we can spend billions of dollars waging wars and lining fat cats' pockets, we can afford these items for individuals.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but this is the first year I am facing not being able to provide gifts to my children at Christmas time, but you know what, it's good for them. If I can provide their real needs first, then we are all fortunate, so we are.

Have a cozy winter, dear.

Anonymous said...

I never shop Black Friday, I don't do a Thanksgiving Day gluttony thing.

I am cutting the family budget (earned by one man supporting me and our medical'd out and no disablity pay son) to the bone to hire a man who lost his job in the wake of a kidney transplant to do some necessary repair/remodel work in December.

We are but one family with one income. And I wonder why I seem to care more than Congress. Poor Mark said we were too well-mannered for guillotines and riots. I wonder?

mbarnato said...

Story 1). Simpson always looks like he has a shallow brain-pan, and he sounds like it too. Does he forget there are still members of the "greatest generation" alive as seniors? Anyone who has ever had to caretake or advise an older parent of this "greatest gen" knows they don't speak up, they ask no questions, and they accept nothing they're entitled to in terms of benefits. No wonder they're popular w/ the catfood commission.

Story 2). Oceania has ALWAYS been at war with _____.

Story 3). It's not hard to see why suicides have increased, and the letter-writer points to all the sad reasons. Met folks over the week-end: he can't work because of disability & his wife has been laid off for a long time. They're looking at living on his disability pay. Better than nothing, and theirs is not the worse story by a long shot, but how are they supposed to make it?

Yeah, something's gotta give.....

Nan said...

In some ways (and it does pain me to say this), I agree with Simpson. The "greatest" generation is also the generation that pushes hard for tax cuts, was responsible for legislation such as Prop 13 in California back in the 70s that's led to the steady decline of that state, bitches like crazy because they're not getting a Social Security COLA this year, screams about Obamacare and socialized medicine (despite the fact that they're on Medicare), and demands discounts simply for having managed to live as long as they have. Look at the typical group of Tea Partiers -- most of them are retirees. As for them not asking for handouts, . . . in my home county in Michigan, Community Action considers every senior citizen eligible regardless of income. I know geezers who hit the foodbank every time it's open even tho' their income is more than adequate, and they end up throwing stuff away because they never use it. Getting older doesn't automatically make you good or great. Sometimes it just makes you feel a sense of entitlement.

Faded said...

I am one of those people with a family who'd love to have those materialistic black friday toys...but my girls know I have to pay the bills and they are happy with what we have. And they may pine for the big screen tv and digital cameras, but they are happy with the little extras i can afford to give them. They understand there are greater things, so at Thanksgiving dinner while the adults chatted about what they were going to get when they went and stand in line at midnight or whenever the hell they go to frickin walmart tonight,I just sat there quiet. And got up, and while they traded stories about how much money they were gonna save, I went down to the room where all the kids were playing and I hung out with the kids and enjoyed the simple joys. And i didnt save a dollar at Walmart later that night- but i didnt spend one either.

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Unknown said...

Yea! for your position on greed and materialism. I support your idea of Peace on earth good will toward folks. :-)