AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE BOOMERS TO THEIR CHILDREN | Gin and Tacos
Dear people between the ages of 25 and 40,
As we near retirement, Mom and I wanted to write you kids to share a few thoughts about the lives we’ve lived and the world we’ve left behind for you. We feel this is necessary because at first glance it might seem like we are a generation of narcissistic, spoiled assholes who freeloaded off of the magnificent world our parents built for us and then cashed out before handing it over to you. This is an unfair characterization. It disregards the fact that we earned the right to do those things. We earned them by being awesome. Haven’t you seen the films of us marching around protesting The Man in the sixties? Or the Woodstock footage that documents the way we changed the world with drugs, bad music, and indiscriminate fucking? We didn’t cash out. We merely took what was due.
We grew up in a much different world (hence our endless lectures about the way things were in the fifties and sixties) that you kids wouldn’t recognize. Ridiculously cheap energy – at least until 1973 – and the fact that WWII left the rest of the industrialized world in ruins allowed us to grow up with unprecedented prosperity. Even though our parents were minimally educated, blue collar work still paid back then. Of course, none of this is anything that we did. Our parents fought the war and did the hard work. But it sure did give us one hell of a sense of entitlement!
At the 2013 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Obama joked about thinking how to portray his legacy after visiting the Bush Presidential Library.
The GOP has this survey for young voters...
So I decided to have a little fun:
Q12: What do you think about the Republican Party?
“I think most republicans think that a fetus is worth more than me. I think most republicans want to deny my mothers the right to marry. I think most republicans are xenophobic. I think most republicans are racist. I think most republicans are bigots.”
Q13: The Republican Party was founded on three core principles: Limited Government, Individual Responsibility and Low Taxes. Which of the following is true?
“Other: The GOP believes in a government so small it fits in every uterus and bedroom in America.”
Q16: Why do you vote (or not vote).
“Because it’s the best way to ensure my life doesn’t turn into The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Q20: What would a Republican have to do or say in order for you to vote for her/him?
“Have a voting record and issues stance that didn’t suggest he/she was running in 1955.”
Q50: Is there anything else that you would like to say? (Optional)
“I hope your party goes the way of the Whig Party.”
And a bonus:
I’ve always wanted to vote for “African America.”
11:52 am
“Chief Justice Roberts asked if the whole case was just about the “label” of marriage, given that same-sex couples have other rights in California. The chief also suggested he might agree that an important part of the institution of marriage was the ability to have children.”
As a child of same-sex parents (one of whom DIED of cancer before marriage rights were extended to her), I am about ready to punch the “honorable” Chief Justice in the balls.
The “label” means something. We had to fight to see my dying mother in the hospital - because she wasn’t “legally” related. Because thirty-odd years in a committed relationship and twenty-two years of parenting apparently didn’t matter if we didn’t have that “label” so contemptuously dismissed by the Chief Justice.
I mean, “Chief Justice” is just a label too, right? Let’s take it away and see if he still feels the same.
Governor Paul LePage of Maine was elected in 2010 without a majority - and a very narrow plurality (he won 38.1% of the vote, while closest runner-up Eliot Cutler carried 36.7%).
LePage has been spectacularly unpopular in Maine since the get-go, keeping state offices open in dangerous winter storms, saying that the NAACP could “kiss his butt,” making transmisogynistic remarks, demonizing teachers and cutting the benefits agreed on in their contracts, and kicking thousands of poor seniors off of the state’s drug assistance rolls.
Driving around northern New England, anti-LePage bumper stickers are pretty ubiquitous, and it’s almost certain he’ll be ousted in the 2014 elections - popular former Governor John Baldacci is even rumored to be coming out of retirement to challenge LePage.
Things that are true about Chris Christie:
- He is the governor of New Jersey
- He loves Bruce Springsteen (like, a lot)
- He is fat
- He sucks
He does not suck BECAUSE he is fat, and his fatness should have NOTHING to do with the criticisms against him. I’m so tired of the snide remarks about Chris Christie’s weight in articles, on television, and in blog posts.
Reasons that Chris Christie sucks:
- He enacted HUGE cuts to NJ’s education budget, possibly violating the state’s constitution.
- He’s anti-choice in a variety of ways, including support for mandatory waiting periods, and state-mandated parental notification.
- Believes marriage rights should only be extended to couples consisting of “one man and one woman.”
- Thinks that “the free market” is the best way to solve the health care crisis in this country.
There are more, of course, but NONE of them are “Chris Christie sucks because he’s fat.” Stop. Fat-shaming doesn’t become okay just because this fat politician sucks. Every time Christie does an interview, there’s some joke or bit or question about his weight, and even though he says he doesn’t mind, it’s at the very least a huge waste of time.
We could be asking Christie about his policies in the time we spend giggling at his waistline - we could be demanding he account for the millions of dollars he pulled from poor school districts, but no, it’s more fun to laugh at his appearance.
At worst, this interviews enforce the cultural belief that it’s OKAY to laugh at fat people, that it’s ACCEPTABLE to use them as a punchline, that their weight is any of our damn business.
Chris Christie definitely sucks, but not because of his weight.
