Christmas dinner: Did the 'I' word come up?

Hope everyone had a nice holiday.

I'm wondering who discussed politics with their friends and family over the weekend. How did it go?

Can you explain?

even my ultra conservative dad said that spying was wrong

Nope it did not come up

Wife kicked me in the shin under the table I said ouch and the momentum was lost. The conversation went back to how yummy the turkey was and I tuned the whole thing out.

Oh yeah, it came up bigtime.

like that.

& on one occasion I had to bite my tongue (Walmart issue), but mostly we agreed. Gasp!

We agreed that outsourcing is harming America & if the corporations think it is such a damned good idea, then we should outsource the CEOs, CFOs & BODs too! We agreed that because of outsourcing our manufacturing, it is very difficult to find products that are "Made in the USA" & that this has hurt everyone in our country. We agreed that our debt is out of control & that it is a weakness that can be used against us. We agreed that our current system makes it almost impossible for the common man to run for office -- that if you are not already wealthy, then you must find corporate backers who will then expect you to vote for their interests if you get in office, not the people's interests. We agreed that the system is so vile & full of corruption & that neither party has the motivation to fix it.

At first they disagreed with me about Iraq -- they think we should stay there. I told them that we are spending $5 BILLION a month over there & I said that considering the state of I-25 we could find lots of better projects here at home to spend money on. I told them I was more concerned with hitting a pot hole on I-25 at 75mph & flying off the road than I was about a terrorist attack on my local mall. They laughed at that & then they admitted they did not realize we were spending that much money (holy fuck people -- wake up!) & one even said that if that was the case, then yes, maybe we should work on getting out sooner rather than later.

Overall, I think they were very surprised to find that they liked me. :rofl:

I have one son who is a big bush supporter. In the past we've had some really upsetting discussions, especially before Iraq was invaded. It's so upsetting that we sort of, without saying so, agreed to not discuss politics. I know where he stands and he knows where I stand. It was kind of funny when he drove up for Christmas and parked behind my car. When he jokingly said that he almost ran into my car it took a minute before I realized what he was talking about. Then I remembered my proudly displayed DU sticker prominently displayed on the back of my car. We all laughed and politics weren't discussed. I can't understand how he supports bush. He is a compassionate, hard-working blue-collar guy who has always supported the under-dog. I truly believe that it was the 'rape-room and Saddam torturing stories" that took root right in the beginning. I saw the same thing with my husband. In the beginning when my husband and I discussed attacking Iraq that was always what he brought up. I'm quite stubborn and I'm always saying "honey, listen to this", and then I read him quotes from DU. So, I've seen a big change in my husband's attitude. It's nice to see him switch channels the minute bush comes on. He doesn't watch Fox news much anymore either. Anyway, we had a really nice Christmas and didn't discuss politics.

No conservastives here at all but we didn't talk about bush or anyone else. just how much fun it was to get together. It was just one of the nicest times this year.

in the same conversation. Wouldn't pass that up on a bet.

and her current beau (she's been married thrice and is maybe dubious about a fourth time) and normally urges us to stay on happy topics but we did all get going on Bush and snooping etc. They're all Democrats anyway and SIL is a member of the Sierra Club.

We had dinner, exchanged gifts, and chatted about family matters.

I had an interesting conversation the previous week with my youngest son, the apolitical anti-american anarchist.

He's seen me at DU and considers DU to be a "bunch of left-wing idiots." He cannot understand why the intelligent mom who raised him to think for himself spends time here.

For the record, he has nothing kinder to say about Republicans or GWB. His take on politics:

Both parties are corrupt beyond redemption. Therefore, time, $$, energy spent campaigning or in the voting booth is a futile waste.

GWB is an ignorant, asinine puppet controlled by others, and hating him is foolish. As a tool, he's beneath hate. Criticism and opposition should be saved for those holding and manipulating the puppet's strings.

History tells him that every regime eventually collapses under the weight of its own corruption. The U.S. will too.

With the modern corporate stranglehold on the U.S., he believes that the collapse will come through revolution, not the voting booth.

He believes that the right-wing corporate/religious stranglehold on the nation is hastening that process.

For the first time, he finally allowed a 2-way conversation, and listened to what I had to say. He acknowledged all of my points, and agreed to disagree on the way to effect change.

Some of the framers of the Constitution like Jefferson distrusted political parties because of the influence of special interests. I just wish they had done something about that, like instant run off voting. But, the dominant two party system is all we have to work with at the moment. I understand what your son is saying, I just have more faith in the United States Constitution and the American people. We have weathered through other serious conflicts and times of tumultuous economic change.

Focused on the Constitution, and the ideals that it has moved us towards; acknowledging the imperfections, but focusing on the strengths of the document and the people.

who is not political does vote democratic but he rarely discusses politics. Over the weekend if Bush's name was mentioned or he appeared on TV, he let out some serious expletives and told anyone close to the TV to turn it off since he didn't want to see that man in his house during a season of peace.

He is seriously pissed. Everyone at the Fort Lauderdale party on Saturday was cussing Bush, but there was only one Rethug there. He said will never vote for them again.
I drove around Florida a bit and couldn't find a pro W licence plate and I was really looking. I was even dragged to a Walmart store in Kendall, but sat in the car and then walked around the car park looking for W plates. I didn't see one anywhere between Dade County and Fort Lauderdale.
What I did see was an awful lot of tarpalin on roofs. One of my good friends in Coral Springs said that complete roof costs have moved from $16,000 to $30,000 and people are very upset. I also noticed a lot of hurricane debris still around in both Dade and Broward. Additionally I noticed that Christmas decorations were really low keyed this year. My own clan are hurricane weary and decided to save their money for new shutters for the 2006 season. Most of the presents the adults shared were a variety of hurricane necessities. I did laugh.

Oh I did find both immigration and customs rather friendly this trip. Even the Miami airport body searchers were wishing us New Year greetings this morning.

Edit - sp.

actions speak louder than words & the repukes actions speak so much louder than their words!

We can only hope that that is the case.

My mother, who voted for boosh twice, said that she is "disgusted with him" although I did not venture into the reasons why. I suspect that is is more over the Mexico/American border issue than issues that affect her daily life, but what is that old saying? Do not look a gift horse in the mouth!


$30,000 for a new roof -- holy shit, that is highway robbery. It is nothing less than 'war on poverty' profiteering. Shame, shame on those vendors looking for profit at the expense of others misfortune.

My heart goes out to those in hurricane ravaged areas & to you & your family, Malaise.

I just spent a few days with them. I live in the Caribbean. My sister and her family only lost a few shingles on their roof but her friends need a new roof. I do feel for them but then I think of people in NOLA and Gulfport and think thing could be much worse.

Yep people are coming around.

While playing "Wreck the Nation" (a board game my daughter gave me for the holiday) after dinner-- it's like monopoly, but your mission is to spend to zero a 3 trillion dollar surplus *hehee* The cards are full of stupid quotes from * and shameful facts from his administrative decisions. We particularly enjoyed the Declare War spinner -- Declare War on the Working Poor, Environmentalists, etc. Impeachment? It was the talk of the table.
peace

I am going to search the Internets right now to find it!

I wished for during the Christmas toast - not for the NSA, LOL!

Cheers,
Lori Price