Long week

[altivo]

It really seemed that way, probably in part because the one before was so short.

The news was all disgusting, pirates and teabaggers and such. Really. The same people who four years ago were angrily saying "We won, you lost, so get over it," are now whining and complaining because they're the ones who lost this time. Amazing how short their memories suddenly became, isn't it? Texas wants to secede from the country all over again. I say let them do it and see what happens. They didn't manage too well as an independent republic a century and a half ago.

Oh wait, I must have learned that out of textbooks that lied about everything. After all, they taught me evolution too. And civil rights for minorities.

Tomorrow has to be a garden day, since it's supposed to start raining by evening and keep raining the rest of the weekend. Time to sleep now I think.

Comments

[schnee.livejournal.com]

"Let 'em" is what I always say when Texans want their state to secede, too, or at least ponder aloud whether it should. They'd get what they want, and the rest of the country wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. :)

Plus, it'd be fun to watch, at least from a distance. :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Not fun for a lot of people in Texas, I'm afraid. This stuff is so childish it's pitiful.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Certainly not for them, yes - but I'm just being cynical, anyway.

But OK, hint taken. :P

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Maybe they should let everyone who wants to leave out first :)

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish MY area would break away from Westminster and declare independence. :D

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*snicker* What would they do then? Join Scotland?

I'm having this image of a large chunk of Britain being sawed off and floated up toward the Shetlands or something.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Not sure. But the loathing for the capital is every bit as strong here as it is in Scotland. Like you said, England is a mix of very different portions. I do think that people's tollerance for their idological opponents (Texas in the US's case) seems to be waning recently.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

If you do, can I move in your country? :D

^_^ Remember the Alamo...

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

LOL The idea of Texas succeeding :P They better start stocking up on canned goods and shotgun shells...

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

They're already stocked up on that stuff. What they're short on is brains, always have been since Sam Houston and Steven Austin died.

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo...

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Sounds liek they would be safe from a zombie invasion o.o

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I think they ARE the zombies. Or at least, their politicians are.

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo...

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Hmm... That is a bit worrying. I hope they do not know how to use those shotguns.

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Not very effectively in most cases. Their aim is badly deadened by the consumption of too much beer.

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo...

[soanos.livejournal.com]

I surely hope so. :P

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo car rental :P

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* Ironic, no?

I don't know a thing about Sam Houston. Now John Houston made some good movies in his lifetime- but Sam Houston? *shrugs* I guess that's like comparing the 1870's with the 1970's :P

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo car rental :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

More like the 1840s with the 1970s. Between them, Sam Houston and Steven Austin were the ones who created the Republic of Texas after defeating the Mexican army in 1836. From 1836 to 1845, Texas was an independent country, most of that time with terrible economic problems and always under threat from Mexico. In 1845 they joined the United States in order to gain economic assistance and military protection. That helped set off the Mexican-American War.

Then in 1861 they seceded from the Union again and joined the Confederacy, which of course lost the war in 1865 and Texas was once more part of the US.

Not having learned much from history (probably because the schoolbooks in Texas have everything removed that could possibly offend anyone, including the Mormons, the Baptists, and those who are still fighting the Civil War and the Mexicans in their imaginations) now they think they should try it all over again.

Houston and Austin had their defects of course, but they were remarkable statesmen who managed to do something almost impossible when they pulled together a bunch of quarreling factions to create a constitutional republic. That's why there are statues of them scattered all over the state and two of the largest cities are named after them.

And if you'd rather see it as a movie, you can. James Michener wrote one of his long novels based on the historic events. That was turned into a television series that eventually was released as a long video (two VHS tapes, I dunno if it fits on one DVD.) It's pretty good actually, with a bunch of big name stars, and fairly true to the historic events.

Re: ^_^ Remember the Alamo car rental :P

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*makes a note of it*

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to get over the fact that they were calling these protests "teabagging parties". I mean, seriously?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

This is amusing. The gay slang term is irrelevant and, I think, too new.

Wikipedia has missed the background story entirely.

It's supposed to relate to the Boston Tea Party, of course, when colonists dumped imported tea into Boston Harbor to protest the British taxes that had been imposed on tea.

The association with tea bags began during the Clinton administration, if I remember it correctly, with some Gingrich conservative who started encouraging people to "mail a tea bag" to their congressman to protest high taxes.

Of course, these pea brains today complain about supposed deficit spending and completely ignore the level of deficit spending during the Bush administration, which they never questioned for a moment. Clinton left office with a nearly balanced budget, but it didn't take Bush long to wreck that by tripling spending while cutting tax rates. They call Democrats "tax and spend" but as far as I can see, Republicans are just "spend and spend" and if there isn't enough money they'll print more. Of course they prefer to spend it in rather different ways than the Dems do. Corporate handouts, gratuitous wars and military pork are at the top of the Republican list, while the Dems favor poorly designed social programs.

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia has the article you're thinking of at Tea Party protests. I'm linking to the other article on purpose.

That all being said, I fully agree that the whole thing is indeed pretty silly. The original tea-party protests were actually in response to an import tax that got lowered by a British tax act, putting tea smugglers out of business. Trying to draw parallels with the current situation really doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nope. That article misses the intermediate incident as well. Everything is so swamped with coverage of the current nonsense that I can't drag out the news items from the 90s to which I'm referring, but it was a real incident that had national coverage. As I recall it was a southern Republican congressman who started the thing, telling people to mail teabags to their representatives and the White House to protest "high" taxes. Of course, the taxes are always too high for those people. They want to pay NO taxes, but they still want roads and airports and schools and stuff... for themselves, but to hell with everyone else.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I think the term "suck it up" applies here :)