"Don't hurt people and don't take their stuff" - Matt Kibbe

8/26/09

Boycotts, Spies and Cheeky Bloggers


The recent Whole Foods and Glenn Beck schemes have brought an old tactic to the fore once again. I have always wondered just how effective politically inspired boycotts are.
My observation would be that they are more satisfying to think about than to actually participate in.
Of course, we have all engaged in them in our personal life, even if subconsciously. But it's hard to stay the course, no matter how strongly you feel about things.

So far, I have been successful in my boycott against the purchase of Ben and Jerry's. However, that is owing entirely to the fact that I buy ice cream by the cone-ful and I have never seen it offered in that quantity in any of the places I frequent in search of the last unregulated narcotic.
All my fantasies of driving anyone who disagrees with me out of business would melt more quickly than the product itself if I was actually confronted with the choice of, Ben or none at all. Such is the nature of my addiction.

The same can be said of all the saloons I regularly boycott that serve beer priced at $6.75 for twelve ounces, a price which never gave me pause while attending the White Sox game recently. Beer at the ball park is the same addiction as chocolate chip cookie dough at the Plush Horse ice cream parlor.

But the topic under consideration here is the formalized, somewhat organized variety, not the "I'll never buy anything at Walmart" type practiced by retired GM assembly line workers. (A practice only adhered to in broad daylight)
All the studies I have seen show that boycotts don't work. They don't work with Cuban cigars and it won't work with the Glenn Beck program. Anyone who has even a faint line on the brainwave graph can figure out that the people who would participate in such a boycott don't actually watch the Glenn Beck program. As for the advertisers on the Fox network, they certainly have plenty of activity on their charts.

Then why do I have the vague feeling that in my case, it is working? It's only because, ever since I began writing on this blog I haven't garnered a single new client for my non-profit, nano start up business. Just compare that to the throngs that stormed the turnstiles prior to my somewhat controversial remarks being widely circulated on the net. (OK, never mind on those last two things)

Aside from the secret boycott of my services, another concern is the disappearance of the pretend trash pickers in the beat up white pickups who used to suspiciously circle my house. (They are actually spies for the vast left wing conspirators commissioned by the White House to turn in the names of dangerous bloggers like myself)

I say used to circle my house because I haven't seen them lately. But with my Jr. detective badge secured just above my beer shelf, I have subsequently made the connection between their absence and the proliferation of the Prius and other guilt-mobiles doing the same thing.
It's obvious that the spies have all participated in the patriotic stimulus plan for America by turning in their old gas guzzling spy-mobiles for eco-friendly sneak and peek cars. All in the interest of replacing the CIA water sport fanatics with a new legion of unpaid snitches reporting on their neighbors over the Internet.

So, boycotts don't work, except when used to intimidate freedom blabbermouths on tiny blogs who have trouble writing with a tongue stuck in their cheek.

8/19/09

Look Who's Coming to Dinner

In an earlier essay (Reflections on a Tea Party) I made comment on what one of the elected elite, in that case Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), said when she referred to her fellow citizens as “despicable”.

Since then the insults directed at any dissenters of the "Hope and Change" agenda have been coming faster than the trade-ins at the government motors dealerships.

The people have been called Brownshirts, Astro Turf, mobsters, conspirators and a host of other names by the people who were elected to represent them. The blow back that ensued caused many of them to retrench a bit. But not all of them.

Always an amusing fellow to those who follow the follies in Washington, Rep. Barney Frank has a new comedy routine which he has been trying out on the Town Hall Beating folks in his district.

I was somewhat distracted by the angry brownshirts who served as the straight men for Barney so I'm a tad befuddled about his actual plans. It seemed like he was looking forward to talking to a dining room table on a different planet or something, but I'll have to review the tape to report on all of it accurately.

In any case, it appears that the reception he received by his constituents was louder than Tiger's pre-shot routine.

I am always amazed at the re-election rate of these attack-dog politicians but I guess the electorate in his district enjoys the masochism thing at least as much as Barney's former roommate's clients. (his live-in lover was running a male prostitution ring from their abode, an activity which somehow eluded him but didn't seem to be a problem for the voters)

So enjoy the video of the town hall carnival and just be glad you don't live in his district where you are as dumb as a dining room table instead of being merely despicable in Rep. Schakowsky's district.

8/13/09

Another glass of Whine


In recent months my wife and I have looked forward to rainy days (sort of) as an excuse to have lunch together with a nice glass of wine at a local winery/restaurant. It's the pleasant kind of wine, not the kind being served lately by the health care Sommeliers.

Even as the lefts' plan for incremental socialization of health insurance teeters on the edge of temporary (and hopefully permanent) failure, the volume of the whining from the curiously astounded politicians has increased apace.
In the latest version of Hillary's infamous "right wing conspiracy", the senior citizens and middle aged working folks have somehow secretly formed an un-American Brownshirt cabal to "disrupt" the town hall meetings by asking questions loudly of their elected officials and even (gasp) asserting that those elitists actually work for us!

Maybe they belong to the AstroTurf Conspiracy. A group founded by the likes of me on the Internet in league with right wing blabbermouths like Rush Limbaugh and Fox news. Presumably little bloggers such as myself are the ones the left has encouraged its useful idiots to report to the government for opposing the effort to utopize heath care. (I did notice a suspicious white van cruising past my house lately, but it turned out to be a garbage picker looking for a saleable item for the flea market)

It seems the apologists for government interference were caught unawares as the sleepy populace finally arose from its bed of apathy. It wasn't last night's dream that awoke them, but the prospect of a future nightmare that will make the one on Elm Street seem like a pleasant comedy.

With any luck, this latest takeover attempt was the tipping point which will keep everyone awake and alert at least until after the next election, when nap time will probably resume. Or perhaps it will arouse them to realign their lenses long enough to see through the blur of rapid fire lunacy that has passed for thoughtful contemplation on myriad other "problems" such as global warming, the failure of capitalism, American image erosion by elite Europeans and meanie treatment of murderous jihaddists at Gitmo. (The latter have superior living conditions inside the compound than the poor Castro led populace outside of it, but that for a different essay)

I have a suggestion for head busybody Nancy Pelosi. Clarity is important for a good wine, and in the interest of it, rename your California hobby vineyard, The Whinery.