The Sound and the Fury of Secessionist Idiots Signifies Nothing

Obama got elected by a landslide a few weeks ago, and a vocal minority in the southern states rushed to show just how stupid, ignorant and backward they are by signing a multitude of petitions asking the newly elected President to allow their states to secede.

See examples here on my other blog:

Snark Amendment: To Secede or Merely Succeed, that is the Question
Snark Amendment: Secession Wars!

I would compare this to a political version of the Jackass movies or the Darwin Awards. We stand watching with our mouths open while some poor fool attaches a rocket to his car like Wile E. Coyote before flying off into the side of a cliff. You can't talk these people out of their stupid ways. These folks are a few tea bags shy of a load. They are rowing with both oars out of the water. They are just not all there. There is no there there.

For anyone reading this who is unacquainted with the real South as it really is, and not the parody on TV, you have no idea how embarrassing such petitions are to the vast majority of people in the red states, even those who voted overwhelmingly for Mitt Romney. Let me assure you, even most Republicans do not want to re-fight the Civil War, thank you very much. Frankly, most Southerners never wanted to fight it in the first place.

The Democrats trapped inside these red states merely do a collective facepalm and point out the cognitive dissonance of people who hypothetically have a brother on SSI, a sister on food stamps, an uncle who works for TVA, a parent on disability, and a Grandma who gets Medicaid for nursing home care . . . yet they are vowing to secede from the government who pays for all that. You've got millions of people in red states who drive the interstate highways, hunt and fish in National Forests, benefit from Obama tax cuts, benefit from Obamacare (or soon will), and never give a thought to where those things come from.

In begging to secede, they are figuratively cutting off their nose to spite their face in the name of . . . spite, or anger, or outrage that a black man has once again been legally elected by a majority of the citizens of the United States. Secession-minded people will swear up and down they are not racist because how dare anyone call them that since they know and work with black people, go to school together, and are even friends with some of them! (*sigh* - yes people really say that stuff)

But of course they don't like it that people of color have just as much right to be President as a white person - and that's the problem. They are stuck in the Jim Crow days, and hate it that Karl Rove couldn't steal the election for them. And it doesn't help that they are hopped up on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh talking points.

It's racism. There is no other explanation for the knee-jerk reaction of this secessionist crowd. You can call it "bad-sportsmanship" over the election if you are a really nice person and have on your rose-colored glasses, but that is the understatement of the year.

The idiots signing these petitions are not representative of their states and they are the last ones to care that they reinforce the uneducated racist stereotype of white people in the South. They don't even think about what they are doing or how it might seem to others. Like their heroes Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, they are simultaneously selfish political narcissists and intellectual cretins. Probably everyone they know feels the same way, so they have no empathy for another view, and no respect for Democrats. It's not about thinking - prejudice is an emotion to them. They learn it at the feet of their parents, or from their grandparents, or worse - their pastors and coaches and even teachers. It's like a genetic disease passed from generation to generation in some communities - and the main sympton is rank stupidity.

Let's call this the "Sound and the Fury" crowd to quote both Mississippi author William Faulkner and his inspiration, William Shakespeare.

Macbeth: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Exactly - signifying nothing, because nothing is really going to happen. As soon as people on Twitter began making jokes about the secessionist petitions, and someone made a petition to Deport anyone asking to secede, they suddenly got all defensive. They didn't REALLY want to secede, but merely to send a "message" to Obama. What message? That they hate the President? Why? Didn't you accept Bill Clinton when he was elected? The only answer that makes sense is that Obama is black and doesn't fit their world view of what a "real" American President should look like.

No one understood the "Confederate" crowd clinging to the not-so-glorious past more than author Faulkner:

"The past is never dead, it's not even past."

But Faulkner also said:

"To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow."

It would be nice if they would think about that in Mississippi, or Texas, or Tennessee, or Alabama, etc., and if some of these idiots would think twice before rushing to the internet to show their ignorant racist side once again.

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Freaky Weather in Tennessee

We've been having a rather bad drought in the Chattanooga area, so everyone was happy when storms were forcast for Thursday. But it turned into a freaky weather situation that no one expected.

First we had severe storms with bad lightning and very little rain. Hail was reported but on my sidewalk it turned into giant raindrops that only lasted a few minutes.

An hour later, Chattanooga got squeezed between two more severe storms, and the outflow created a dry "Gust Front" wind that wreaked havoc over a wide area. I would have called it a "gustnado" because it was twisting trees first to the left then the right. This video captures it well - I'm glad no trees fell on this guy!




I have never seen waves like this on Lake Chickamauga, and for 8 years I lived right on the Tennessee River.




Unfortunately, a boat also overturned in the storm, killing a child and her grandmother.

In our neighborhood a power pole snapped in half and took down the lines. It was 24 hours later that we got our power restored, after my husband went directly to the power board building and reported it for the third time. Thank God because this afternoon the temperature inside our house at 5 p.m. was 90 degrees.

But I realize that what we have suffered for 24 hours is nothing compared to those up in Virginia and the Washington DC area this past week. I hope everyone gets the power back on soon.

Between the tornadoes over the past year, and this Gust Front, I can't even imagine what could be next. I don't want to know!

Ron Howard talks about Andy Griffith

Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC interviewing Ron Howard (my transcript):

Andrea Mitchell: Today people across America are mourning the death of everyone's favorite sheriff, Andy Griffith. He died today and joining me on the phone is acclaimed director/producer/actor Ron Howard, who played of course Griffith's son Opie Taylor for eight years on the TV series The Andy Griffith Show.
Thank you so much for joining us, our condolences. You said in a statement that Andy Griffith Really shaped your life. You were only 6 years old when you first went on the show.

Ron Howard: (crosstalk) Good to talk to you. I was actually 5 when we we did the pilot for the show.

Mitchell: Wow.

Howard: The show, which was a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show, and Danny was also an Executive Producer on the series along with Sheldon Leonard. He definitely did professionally, and personally a lot of ways because he created an environment on that set that was very creative, very playful yet extremely disciplined, and it was that simple lesson that I witnessed week in and week out, from the very first episode to the very last when I was fourteen years old, which was if you're doing it, you might as well do it well, and this is an opportunity to be involved in something that could be memorable. Just to respect that. It was never spoken that clearly, but like all great lessons it was observed.

Mitchell: How different was he from the character he played? Tell us about Andy Griffith the man.

Howard: I think the character evolved into something much closer to the real Andy. In the beginning it was everyone's design to do something broader, and a little more country-bumpkinish or something, a little closer to some of his monologues, which were broad and kind of hayseed. But as the show went on, he felt very comfortable becoming basically not providing the punchlines, but being the center of the show and became a much greater reflection of Andy.
Andy was a natural leader, extremely intelligent, a thoughtful guy who loved to laugh, who created a very humanistic kind of environment. So there was never a lot of tension on the set but there was always a sense of professionalism.



Mitchell: In what ways have you modeled your own work and life on that example, and how did he stay a part of your life?

Howard: As a kid I was unbelievably fortunate in that I was really allowed to witness this collaborative creative problem-solving process that Andy allowed. It was amazing - I was allowed to sit around listening to he and the writers talk about fixing the script and improving jokes, and which jokes were appropriate for characters, and which jokes were perhaps undercutting the integrity of characters. The other cast members were also a part of this discussion, and it was just the most spectacular education. But I think I do try to create an environment on the films that I direct where people feel safe, they show up confident, and it's a place to excel. The expectation is we're all there for a reason, and to try and do good work.
So again, without getting up and making speeches, I try to create that environment as Andy did.

Mitchell: It's extraordinary because he had such a big influence on all of us. but to know he had this long and creative and productive life, the person behind all that, is very reassuring.

Howard: I hope he's remembered not only for the Andy Griffith Show but for Matlock, and "A Face in the Crowd," and his music, and even going way back to his first monologues which he did on the radio and the recording studio which are still hilarious. And take a look at the overview, and whether it was comedy or drama, there's a reason he's so impactful on so many different mediums and styles. That's because he cared about what was doing.

Mitchell: Ron Howard, thank you so much. Thanks for joining us today to share your memories of someone with such an important influence in your life. Thank you.

Howard: Well, thank you, pleasure.

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Andy Griffith Dead at Age 86

RIP. It's so sad to see another great actor from my childhood pass away.
People Magazine Obituary

UPDATE: President Obama on Andy Griffith ~ so sweet! Yes, our generation has lost a father-figure. :(
Via TPM

Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Andy Griffith this morning. A performer of extraordinary talent, Andy was beloved by generations of fans and revered by entertainers who followed in his footsteps. He brought us characters from Sheriff Andy Taylor to Ben Matlock, and in the process, warmed the hearts of Americans everywhere. Our thoughts and prayers are with Andy’s family.

He was probably the best Southern actor because even when we thought he was being cornball, it still had a ring of authenticity and dignity, and he never had to fake his accent because he was from Mt. Airy, NC. He was the everyman Southerner - witty, clever, and sometimes profound.  His great gift was the ability to be straight man and let other comedians shine. And let's not forget he was also a talented musician, as well as a dramatic actor in Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd."

In heaven, Andy and Don Knotts (Barney Fife) are down at the Snappy Lunch having the special -

BARNEY: I don't know how they do it for 80 cents.

ANDY: I don't either, I tell you.

BARN: Three Vienna sausages-heavy on the tomato puree, slice of bread, and butter on a paper dish.

ANDY: And more than an ample portion of succotash. Don't leave out the succotash.

Then they'll drive the police car to Wally's Filling Station where George Lindsey (Goober Pyle) will offer them a coke or a nectarine crush from the cooler, and they'll set around talk about their next fishing trip or something funny Howard McNear (Floyd the Barber) said. Oh, and he'll show up too after a while, and they'll meet Aunt Bee, Thelma Lou, Helen, and Opie at the picture show. The movie playing is either something with Gregory Peck or "The Monster from Out of Town."

RIP, dear Andy Taylor.

   

The Immigration Ruling Affects Alabama and Other States

Everyone is focused on Arizona because the Supreme Court ruling obviously applied specifically to their laws. But there are several other states with similar or identical laws on the books. In Alabama on the night before the ruling, there were protest marches and vigils in Birmingham. After the ruling, opponents in that state were optimistic that the "crackdown" on illegals would have to stop:

TPM story

Alabama’s law, critics say, goes further than Arizona’s when it comes to potential racial profiling. The Alabama law makes it illegal to rent property to illegal immigrants and forces state universities and schools to check the citizenship status of their students.

Advocates opposed to the Alabama law were elated by the ruling. It represents, in their view, a death blow to the legislation they believe is discriminatory and crippling to businesses that rely on immigrant labor.

“I’m jubilant,” said Shay Farley, legal director at Alabama Appleseed, a group that is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit aimed at to throwing out Alabama’s immigration law.  

“The Supreme Court today makes it clear that with respect to immigration enforcement schemes and regulation, that is the federal government’s job.”
Beyond the implications the ruling has on the law itself, Hispanic advocates told TPM Monday that the ruling could drive Hispanic voters to turn out against Republican legislatures like the one in Alabama.

“Any state legislature that is considering [Arizona-style immigration laws] like this will hear very loudly from the community,” said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.

Mother Jones Story and Map

Along with Arizona, five other states—Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Utah—have similar "show your papers" laws on the books. Meanwhile, from 2010 to 2011, 30 state legislatures rejected bills modeled after Arizona's.

Graphic from MotherJones.com

RIP Doc Watson

It makes me so sad - first Earl Scruggs and now Doc Watson! :(

Obituary from CBS News

He sang one of my favorite bluegrass songs - Shady Grove - in my opinion, the best version ever recorded. The second video below features some gorgeous fancy pickin' with his son Merle Watson, who died an untimely death in 1985. RIP.

Vanderbilt Poll - Tennessee Could Be a Toss-Up

 Be still my heart ~ a new Vanderbilt University Poll has Obama tied with Romney in a virtual dead heat within my home state of Tennessee!

Nashville Tennessean: Vandy Poll says Gap Closing

“Tennessee is clearly a red state,” said John Geer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt. “But these data show that the public is much more moderate than our state legislature.”

The poll of 1,002 Tennessee residents who are 18 and older found 42 percent would vote for Romney and 41 percent for Obama if the election were held now. The survey, conducted May 2-9 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Vanderbilt, had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
. . .
Bill Freeman, a top fundraiser for Obama in Tennessee, said the overall poll result reflects a “tightening” the president’s campaign had already noticed.
“We’ve been tracking it for some time,” Freeman said Thursday. “We’ve watched it go from a solid-Republican (state) to a leaning-Republican to, we believe, a toss-up state now. We think we’re just a point or two behind and that winning Tennessee is in our grasp.
“And we’re especially excited about what that’ll mean to the down-ticket races across the state.”

And here's a part I love - proof that folks are fed up with our stupid Legislature:

Some of the General Assembly’s forays into issues such as “gateway sexual activity,” debating evolution in classrooms and permitting the carrying of guns into business parking lots have given Tennessee “a black eye nationally,” Geer said.

Just 22 percent of the people surveyed said it was more important to protect the rights of handgun owners to carry their weapons into any commercial establishment than it was to protect the rights of business owners to set their own rules. More than 7 in 10 said the opposite.

“The public is not wild about this stuff,” said Geer, co-director of the poll, which was sponsored by Vanderbilt’s Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. “When you aggregate opinion in the state, it’s more moderate than the aggregate behavior of state legislators. On certain issues, like guns in parking lots, they were way out of step.”

This is factual evidence for what my gut feeling tells me all the time - Tennesseans are not as conservative as our reputation as a Red State seems to imply. There are plenty of Democrats and Independents here, and our state usually runs about 50/50 in major elections. But there's still so much work to be done to drag us back into blue or even toss-up status. It broke my heart in the last election that the local Democratic Party spent more time campaigning in North Carolina than here, although that was certainly worthwhile for Obama. And while NC has had their problems with the recent Gay Marriage Amendment Debacle, the educated large urban areas of NC will still go for Obama, you can bet on that. And if NC can be a swing state, so can TN! So let's take this Vanderbilt poll as a glimmer of hope that our Democratic votes may not be wasted or cancelled out this time around, at least in the down-ticket races.

Mitt Tries to Mingle on Saturday Night Live

 SNL did a skit last night of Mitt Romney trying (and failing) to mingle with other Americans, and I think it's an instant classic that we will see hundreds of times between now and the election.

Ever since the "I had mah cheesy grits tis mornin'" debacle in Alabama, it's been obvious that Romney will say or do anything to try and fit in. Of course, all politicians pander - Obama tried (and failed) to go bowling once and got nothing but gutter balls. McCain re-branded himself as a far-right Tea Partier, then showed up at every Sausage and Beer joint in Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is always embarrassing to see that sort of thing - no one will ever forget Michael Dukakis riding in that tank in 2004 like G.I. Joe Wrong.




Pic by Jed Lewison on Daily Kos

But Mitt is in a class by himself, and it really hurts him when he comes to the South. I mean, the man came to Tennessee and in a stilting voice mouthed the words to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" while even the sympathetic Republican crowd watched agape. Yes, Mr. Romney, we know that song, thanks. Is that really all you know about Tennessee - the Walt Disney version set in the early 1800s? I'm surprised he didn't show up in a raccoon cap and a buckskin shirt, but there's plenty of time for that in the general election. I shudder to think what is going to happen to him in Texas, if he even campaigns there. Let's hope no one gives him a rifle full of birdshot to wave around in the air, and I can only imagine what he will say about the whole Tex-Mex BBQ - beans-or-no-beans debate. For goodness sake, keep him away from the border! Well, I confess I'm really looking forward to all of it immensely and can't wait for his next gaffe, LOL. I imagine he will make jokes about the TV show, Dallas, since that is 20 years out of date, as Davy Crockett was 50, no make that 200 years out of date for Tennessee.

And of course Romney will pander to the very rich - his people, the 1% - by talking about Big Oil and how he knows the owners of every oil rig and yacht in the Gulf of Mexico. That's how he acted in Daytona, Florida,  when he tried to fit in with the middle-class Nascar crowd, but ended up bragging that he knew all the wealthy team owners instead. Oh, and he taunted them for buying plastic ponchos to wear in the rain while he wore his Don Draperesque London Fog coat.
From Raw Story:

“I like those fancy raincoats you bought. Really sprung for the big bucks,” he reportedly said. Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday asked Romney if it was even worth making those kind of jokes because Democrats would attack him as a “snob.”

“You know, it’s hard to imagine all the things they are going to try and turn into attacks,” the former Massachusetts governor replied. “That’s the first time I’ve heard the one that you’ve mentioned.”

“Look, I’ve worn a garbage bag for rain gear myself,” he added. “We’re out there in the rain. The rain was getting us soaked. I didn’t have a raincoat myself. I would have liked one of those.”

It never occurred to him that taunting someone for cheap clothes would make him a snob. What do we expect from a man with a Car Corporation father, a wife who drives a "couple of cadillacs," and owns a special car elevator out in the fancy two-store gah-rahge. Good Lord.

  

I really wish that Jim Bacchus of Gilligan's Island was still alive to see this guy - what a laugh he would have! I don't know think Mitt realizes that most voters see him as a combination Thurston Howell III (complete with bags of money and Lovey by his side) and Guy Smiley from Sesame Street.

Reblogged from Leftish on Tumblr

And I have to throw in the late and fabulous Ted Knight of Caddyshack fame as well, although no one would dare toss Romney through some double doors as Lou Grant once did to bumbling Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore show. The shout-out from the audience of "We don't believe you!" on SNL will have to suffice, and certainly rings true.

SC Gov. Nikki Haley's Embarrassing Press Tour

Governor Nikki Haley from South Carolina is on an almost shameless press tour for her her book Can't Is Not An Option about growing up as an Indian American in a small southern town. And along the way, she is still trying to campaign a bit for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Is she helping him? Not too much.

She told ABC News on April 2nd that she would not serve as Vice President if Romney asked her to run, and that's probably a good thing. I'm not sure why he would ask her anyway, since her endorsement early on in the Primary season failed to deliver her state, which was taken by Newt Gingrich by 13 percentage points. And there's not much evidence that she would help deliver any other Southern states, either, although she might have diversity appeal as an Indian-American governor in the same generation as Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. The problem with both Haley and Jindal is that they do not represent their ethnic community all that well, and what should be seen as a great plus for diversity in the Republican Party is just an embarrassment.

For instance, remember when Jindal said we don't need scientific stuff like volcano monitors, but then volcanoes shut down airports in Alaska, not to mention all of Europe? And he turned down $90 million in stimulus money on conservative principal, then begged Obama for help when the Gulf oil spill happened? Why would Nikki Haley want to be compared to him for any reason, even ethnicity?

Unfortunately, Nikki Haley is about the same type of Governor, with the same propensity to flip-flop, or the "do as I say, not as I do." She may enjoy turning down Medicaid for poor people, but just wait till a hurricane threatens Charleston and the resort areas along the SC Coast, and she will have her hand out for federal disaster relief, you can bet on that.

One subject she won't be discussing on the road is her family's scandal with the IRS. Her parents are being accused of raising funds for her gubernatorial campaign through their non-profit Sikh Temple. That's a political no-no. The Palmetto Public Record reports:

According to documents obtained by Palmetto Public Record, the Internal Revenue Service has been investigating since March 2011 whether the Sikh Religious Society of South Carolina illegally supported a political candidate during Haley’s campaign for governor, violating the organization’s tax-exempt status.
As a registered nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, the Sikh temple is “absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for elective public office.” According to the IRS, even written statements of position in favor of a candidate “clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity” and may result in revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.
But documents which appear to be the temple’s own newsletters clearly advocate for Haley’s election, asking (and later thanking) members for their political and financial support. The organization also seems to have held a September 2010 fundraiser for Haley’s gubernatorial campaign, with four of the five organizers listed on the temple’s board of trustees.

And that's only part the family's problems. There is the mystery revolving around a large bank loan the Randhawa family took out to help finance a new Sikh Temple. Contractors were never paid, and the temple was never completed, but at the same time Nikki Haley was elected Governor and her family built a huge new lake house. The The Palmetto Public Record reports:

In 2009, the Sikh Society of South Carolina took out a $750,000 loan from BB&T Bank with the help of bank president Mike Brenan. The purpose of the loan was to build a new temple on the Sikh Society’s land in Chapin, but for some reason the contractors never got paid. At least five lawsuits have been filed against the Sikh Society since 2010, alleging that the group bilked contractors out of nearly $130,000.Meanwhile, the new temple sits half-complete off Broad River Road as weeds take over the abandoned construction site.
In order to recoup their money, the contractors have asked a judge to foreclose on the temple and sell the land, leaving the Sikh Society without a place to worship.
So what happened to the money? Did it “disappear” into the Randhawa family’s million-dollar waterfront home on Lake Murray, or (as our sources have speculated) did some of it go into the governor’s campaign account? Whatever happened to the money, we do know what happened to Brenan: Gov. Nikki Haley appointed him to the state Board of Education.

Yesterday, Haley appeared on ABC's The View, which was...interesting...



Video Via The Frisky  

Sympathetic conservative Elizabeth Hasselbeck tried to prompt some kind of logic out of Gov. Haley, but Haley flip-flopped aimlessly, first making the bizarre statement that "Women don't care about contraception," then telling an incredulous Joy Behar, "We don't have to have a government mandate telling us when we have to have it and when we don't." Duh, that makes perfect sense, and yet that's exactly what Romney and Santorum and a host of gargoyles like Rick Perry want to do by getting rid of funding for Planned Parenthood. Gov. Haley Meets the Etch-A-Sketch by defending the indefensible. It's sort of easy to see why she and Romney are sympatico.

Amanda Marcotte writing for Slate points out that such a comment may display another trait in common with Romney - a sense of entitlement and disconnect from ordinary people.

Haley may just be looking at this issue with blinkers, and when she says "women," she means "women like me," i.e., conservative. It is true that conservative women are less supportive than women as a whole of attempts to make contraception access easier. That's because the war on women is just as much about class as it is about gender....For women for whom $50 or $100 a month isn't very much money, this sort of thing probably doesn't matter. In fact, for many conservatives, it's clear that they believe protected sex is a luxury that should only be available, like fine champagne or HBO subscriptions, to those who can afford it.

Haley also appeared on Stephen Colbert's Comedy Central show where she made an even stranger comment, via Huffington Post:

Governor Nikki Haley (R) said she wears heels as "ammunition" in the tough political climate of South Carolina.
"It's a blood sport," Haley said Tuesday on The Colbert Report. "I wear heels and it's not for a fashion statement, it's ammunition."
"You keep them sharpened?" host Stephen Colbert asked.
"I do. It's for kicking," Haley replied.

She better keep them sharpened, for sure.