Progressives, Whole Foods and Blago
The far-left fringe Progressives have their panties twisted and bunched over Barack Obama’s latest installment of change we can believe in, his selection of evangelical Pastor Rick Warren to give the inaugural prayer.
Evangelical Christians give me the creeps on GP, but I have a problem with pastors like Warren in particular because I don’t believe that the pulpit is the place to advocate for social change. Even so, I like Obama’s choice because it pisses off and further marginalises so-called progressives. They should be marginalised to the point of being a non-factor. The only thing they believe is that by not taking a stand against anything, they’re progressive. That isn’t progressive (or progress) as I understand it. It’s ideological cowardice.
I dearly wish that these people, with their cafeteria morality and shape-shifting arguments, would cancel out members of the flying monkey right like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh so that the rest of us could get on with the business of having intelligent, reasonable discourse about the remains of the day.
To draw a fine point on it, if progressives (as I’ve described them) were actually worth the energy it took to hate them, I would.
* * * * *
Last night I concluded that people who shop in Whole Foods fall into one of two distinct categories. They’re either really cool or utter assholes.
The weather forecast calls for up to one foot of snow between tonight and tomorrow, this on top of the five inches or so that blanketed the Chicago area on Tuesday night, so I went to Whole Foods to stock up for the weekend.
Even though Whole Foods has been in business since the 80s, I don’t recall seeing one until a few years ago. When I did, it didn’t occur to me to shop there (for reasons I’m still working through). I began shopping their regularly a few months ago after a friend gave a sworn affidavit that the meat there is the best anywhere. “It’s not that you can’t eat meat,” she said after I told her I was trying to give it up for good. “It’s the kind of meat that you eat. Whole Food’s meat is free of antibiotics, hormones and preservatives. it’s really, really good. You should try it.”
I did and now I’m hooked. The beef cheddar burgers and the blackened chicken salad are every single thing.
So anyway, I’m standing in line at the deli counter waiting to be helped when some Johnny Bravo soundin’ older black man strolled up and sang, “Ah, yes, I’ll have a pound of your salmon.” The woman who was about to help me looked at me. I smiled and nodded toward Johnny, what with him being so important and all. It took him 15 minutes to complete is order … because he had to taste every gotdamn thing. It was the most obnoxious shit ever. When he finally made eye contact with me –and I knew he would– I smirked and then chuckled, basically sonning him. He kinda bristled but I guess he thought better of actually saying anything. I was disappointed.
Mark me down for the utter asshole category.
* * * * *
So, Governor Rod Blagojevich is pulling a Lee Corso (of, “Not so fast, my friend!” fame) on us, huh?
Yesterday the Illinois Supreme Court refused to hear the state attorney general’s case that Rod Blagojevich is unfit to serve as governor, leaving it to the state legislature to figure out what to do with him.
Whether or not he’s impeached, for the foreseeable future, Blago and his hair aren’t going anywhere. Oh, and Illinois is down one senator in Washington. Great.
Legal experts and pundits are questioning if Blago is actually guilty of committing a crime. Talking about selling a U.S. senate seat and actually taking steps to effectuate the sale of a U.S. senate seat are two different things, after all. Maybe so, but still, wow.
What does it say about our system of government when citizens have to draw a distinction between a sitting governor being merely unethical as opposed to an out and out political pimp?
And that is to say nothing of Vice President Dick Cheney, who earlier this week said that he authorised the torture of enemy combatants. That’s, well, you know, a war crime. And no one, except, perhaps, The Hague, can or will do anything about it.