In the News

Do you watch broadcast news? Do you read news websites online?

I have started trying to ignore it. I'm not sure if it's my ostrich gene (one need only look at my mom to see that tendency to hide the head in the sand...) or if I just can no longer handle the crap. I do catch the big stories of the day, but I don't like to delve too deeply into the why and wherefore... it's all lies and most of it is ugly.

What I see on a day to day basis in my life is far removed from the ugly. I have an utterly amazing husband, fantastic children, good friends in my life and heart, and all the awesome stuff... a roof over my head, food to eat, something to drive that runs, and some extras, too. I'm very fortunate and I know it.

I'm wealthy in all the important things, and if someone were to hand me a billion dollars right now, I would not be happier. I'd just worry a little less about having too much month at the end of the money and I'd probably take a vacation.

One of the kids asked me near the beginning of school this year, as we were discussing how much I really enjoyed working there,  "If you won the lottery, would you quit your job?" And I didn't hesitate long. I told him and the rest of the group gathered 'round that I would not want to leave there. That I really love it.  I would have LIKED to say
No. Hell no. I LOVE my job. I imagine I'd take a little more time off, not because I want to get away, but because my man has been working   very hard for a really long time and the last vacation he had was in 1996! I'd definitely want to be with him more.
But I think he got the point. And, as I almost always do, I've digressed. I CAN stay on topic, I just mostly don't bother. More fun this way. :)

The news. Back to the news. I have mostly given up paying attention to it. I don't care which hollywood bimbo or bimboy is boinking which boy/girl/combination thereof, (I've never even heard of about 3/4 of them.)I don't care about the outcome of reality tv shows, MMA cage matches, comedies, movies... it's all white noise. Misdirection. We're supposed to pay attention to stuff like that instead of being interested in what's really going on. And sadly enough, it works pretty well on the majority of us.

I don't give a shit for the assholes we have in government from the top down, either.

No, I didn't vote for Obama. I thought then and think now that he was/is in no way qualified to do a job that requires actual thought or work, and I think what he's done to our country is criminal. I was sorry he was elected, and I think he's a shitty president. From the amazing vacations taken at taxpayer expense and  flaunting how he's spending MY money on things like a whole entourage just to do his wife's makeup on those little junkets to appointing 'czars' to circumvent the Constitution and make all kinds of shit go wrong... gah.

For the most part, all the lazy sphincters (like 'We have to pass this legislation to see what's in it' Pelosi ) who take on legislative jobs are useless parasites and I hate all of them.

They're all there to screw us... and I don't care if you agree with me or not.

I'll still like you if you don't, I'll just know you haven't been paying attention. ;)

Anyway, I finally got tired of being screwed.

Of course the screwing is still going on, but I've dismissed it from my universe. I get up, I hug my family, I go off to work, I take care of some pretty amazing people, I come back home and hug my family, I communicate with the people I care about, and then I repeat it the next day. And the next. And so on.

There is no way for me to affect the outcome of elections, control what's going on in government, avoid the amazing and appalling stupidity of the lunatics running the show, get actual facts about what's going on instead of lies, sound bites, breathless plastic people worshiping the current dictator, and shitting on the candidates most likely to beat his ass in an election.

I don't have a lot of anxiety in my regular routine when I avoid the news.

And who the hell needs it, am I right?

Knowing, for example, that former Oregon congressman David Wu porked the 18 year old daughter of one of his contributors (apparently it was consensual... but I have a hard time believing it...) and sent a picture of himself in a tiger suit to several staffers and acted, well, batshit crazy really doesn't mean anything to me. Wu, and the rest of them are only there to take care of themselves. I pretty much care about him as much as he does about me. Now he may indeed have been mentally ill during those incidents, but I'm guessing that's an excuse sort of like the temporary insanity criminals use to get away with murder. He's still a dipshit and I don't wish him well.

Same with our president, the minions he's surrounded himself with, and his gang of thieves all the way down the line. I don't give a shit for them.

And the feeling is mutual. As far they're concerned, I'm as important as an ant. Although an ant wouldn't rant. Ha.

I believe that if voting actually changed anything, it would not be legal. Sometimes I choose to vote, sometimes not.

And for those who say stupid things like, "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain." I say bullshit.

I will complain as much as I want, whenever I want, as long as I want, and in whatever form I wish to. You can certainly choose to ignore it. Feel free. I will still complain if I want.

But watching the news/reading news websites/thinking about this stuff just puts me in an anxious, angry, and helpless frame of mind. It's the helpless part that bothers me the most, actually.

So I am instead trying to be prepared for different scenarios for the future, from a lack of electricity or food or water, to a complete crash of the economy. And the rioting and craziness that is bound to occur if these things happen.

And let's be logical. Even if those things do not happen, having a supply of food and other necessary items is great when things like 2 month layoffs happen. Or when bosses say, "Gosh, we're a little short on money, can you hold your paycheck for a week?"

Anyway, I've started to ignore broadcast journalism. I absolutely do not trust these people. They all tell the same stories, use the same tone of voice, and show a lot of the same footage. NO one is objective anymore. It's actually really frightening if you think about it.

Which is why I've mostly stopped paying attention to it.
It's all bullshit anyway.

Although when this posts, the 'eviction' of the Occupy Portland movement (movement is apt, all they've done as far as I know is sit and shit in our local parks) will hopefully be over. And as I write, it's tempting to make a bowl of popcorn and sit in front of the television and watch the scumbags get kicked out. Pisses me off that lawbreaking has been allowed under the guise of 'free speech' and that Portland's mayor is about the dumbest shithead they've ever elected in that city.

They don't even know what the hell they're protesting anymore.

Idiots.