Two "bouncies" in two days; Repub friends getting fed up.

[Atman]

A very close friend, a wealthy DINK (dual income no kids), was commenting on the OWS movement on Sunday. Since Bush's second term, he's begun claiming he is a Libertarian, pretending to barely remember the Disaster President's name. I give him credit, he's begun reading Naomi Wolfe and other lefty propaganda which I admit I haven't even read yet. Anyway, he acknowledged that his handsome income is likely to see a tax increase under Obama's jobs plan, but *gasp* didn't have a problem with it. The roads and bridges in MA are in horrendous condition, unemployment is crazy...and the meager tax increase on his income ($300,000? -- interpolating from what I know of his/wife's jobs) won't impact his lifestyle. Further, he felt that he was getting screwed just like everyone else. Not from the tax increase, but by the 1%. "Everyone in the middle is getting fucked over while the bankers and CEO's don't have to pay for anything."

Okay, so we can argue about the validity of his claim that he is in "the middle," but the fact that he is even willing to acknowledge the disparity, and the need for actual shared sacrifice in order to turn the economy around, deserves some credit. BTW, his wife is a Fox-watching lost cause, which seems to embarrass him to no end. He still doesn't like Obama much, but his turn toward reason, and even begrudgingly admitting Bush's role in our current situation, is clearly a big step.

Meanwhile, one of my best friends from school daze, a Florida Republican, well-off but certainly not "wealthy," just posted a link on Facebook to Alan Grayson's appearance on Real Time, with the brief comment "I'd vote for him!" Wow. He's a gun-totin' Southern boy, and we laugh about my New England liberal-ness, but here he is endorsing one of the most liberal liberals out there. Florida's economy is a disaster, Bush shut down the space center further devastating the Central Florida economy, and he's fed up with Wall Street's plundering, too.

Will wonders never cease? I think the Dem hand-wringers AND the Repub haters are both failing to read the true sentiment in America.

[pacalo]

1. That's remarkable.

Just so that I understand better, what does the term "bouncey" (or "bouncy"?) mean?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. -->

:bounce:

[pacalo]

5. Besides the emoticon?

[Atman]

6. "Bouncy" simpy relates to the emoticon.

It's an ancient relic...when a poster would put up a positive story, they'd tend to add the "bouncy" emoticon. So any positive post is seen in the "lurking" circles as being a "BOUNCY" post. Remember, the freepers and cave dwellers are simple people, and need pictures to help them understand what is going on.

[pacalo]

11. They need something else...

like a LIFE.

[Atman]

7. .

[SwampG8r]

2. i am a life long floridian so i will mostly comment on

the grayson part.
grayson does what he says and says what he does
an honest politician here will find himself with support from both sides
we get screwed over and lied to so often that we have a tendency to keep an honest guy around
we may toss him out every once in a while but if he was right like grayson was he will make a comeback
the rest is good too
i hope more of us are seeing the truth

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. People are waking up

the scales are falling off... no matter what party you align yourself with. This is a titanic shift, and the power elites do not realize just how historic this is.

[gratuitous]

8. Excellent

Keep feeding your friends little bits and pieces. They'll grow big and strong, and soon enough produce some of their own.

[uponit7771]

9. There aren't any baggers I talk to who think the rich pay their fare share, not one would defend the

...them

[bullwinkle428]

10. K&R, and ONCE AGAIN, showing that people will gravitate toward

someone that's strong and passionate in their beliefs. How many times does that have to be explained to those that choose to represent our side in government?

[eridani]

12. Don't you wish more Democratic candidates would read the true sentiment?

I sure do.

[kcass1954]

13. Bush shut down the space center?

I know he did it, but I hear a different tale in my family. My koolaid drinkin' sister and her gun-totin' good ole boy husband blame that on Obama. (He uses the n-word rather than say Obama's name.) I just laugh at the hypocrisy - she's worked for their city for nearly 15 years, and he's been suckin' off the government teat at NASA for at least 35 years.

[Mojorabbit]

17. My husband has a ton of patients who work for nasa

and they blame Obama also.

[Atman]

18. I'm from Cocoa Beach...many of my friends are devastated.

Cocoa Beach, for those who don't know, is/was the bedroom community for the space center. It is a barrier island four miles off the Florida mainland, separated from the coast by Merritt Island and the Intracoastal Waterway. Much of the town was dredged up from the Mosquito Lagoon (like the way they built Boston). My stepfather was a director of the Delta Missile program -- I've been to the fortified concrete "blockhouses" where the launches are directed, I've been into the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building, that giant structure you've seen on tv in which the rockets and Space Shuttle were built), my wife and I attended the first two shuttle launches at the official press site. This is all very dear to my heart.

Most of the kids in town also had parents who worked for NASA, or some branch of the space industry. When I was in high school, many of my friends worked summer jobs at the space center, gluing heat tiles onto the Space Shuttle. Sure beats serving burgers.

A lot of people are flip about this because they don't realize the impact the entire space industry had on their lives. Everything from microwave ovens to modern medical research is a result of what NASA accomplished. Today, we're willing to piss it all away, years of investment by way of our tax dollars, and Americans scoff -- "What has going to the moon done for me?!" Try nuking your frozen pizza without the research done by NASA, just for starters. An entire town, actually several towns, have been destroyed by Bush's decision to out-source our space program to for-profit foreign companies.

It's not an unfair question to ask....What the fuck is left for Americans to do? We've sold the soul of our country to China and India, and now Russia. Get your degree in Gourmet Burger Flipping, my friends. It seems our only remaining industry is serving the nouveau riche.

[Contrary1]

14. Many of us from both sides are after the same goals...

Don't mistake that for compromise, there is none. Our differences are in how to achieve those goals.

Until the Repubs, and many Democrats too, can admit that they were wrong, and that 10+ years of lower taxes for the richest among us is not the answer, we are at a stalemate.

[Populist_Prole]

15. It's possible, if their egos can handle it.

Some just take the "team player" aspect of politics to the Nth degree. Partially since they are hyper-competitive and are more fearful of being ridiculed for changing their positions ( "told ya so!" ) than whatever positive epiphany may result. Classic projection I guess. I run into these types so many times, whether debating politics, technical stuff, or even matters of personal taste.

A friend of mine I don't see very often...we talk on the phone and via emails...is a very active Republican. I actually believe he is more motivated by a dislike of the Democratic party than like of repubs, and I'm guessing it's mostly over social issues, though he often extols supply-side economics as a cure all, and is rabidly anti-union. But is a struggling working stiff on the low end of middle class. Over the past 6 months or so I am beginning to see where ( and with great tact ) I am imparting the notion that what's good for business is not necessarily good for you, is taking hold. I can see he agrees with me intellectually, but since he has so much "invested" in hating Democrats and liberals in general, he just can't bring himself to make the plunge. It's not like I'm going to say "See, I was right and you were wrong all along, now don't you feel like an ass?" but the identity politics thing is damned near insurmountable in this case.

[diane in sf]

16. Your friend is in the upper 1%, that is a world of difference from the upper 1/10 of 1%

Your friend is worth hundreds of thousands or maybe the low millions (like an upper-middle class urban person in California would be if they had a paid off 4-5 bedroom home)--the upper 1/10 of 1% are worth billions and their homes frequently cost $30-40 million or more.