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black friday. a search for the term's genesis points to an article in a mid-70s philadelphia newspaper, but retail sales on that day have been a tradition at least since the inception of the macy's parade in 1924. most folks have off from work, they want the hell out of the house and away from the family, and it's considered the kick-off to christmas. anecdotally, it's the day merchants cease operating "in the red". historic analysis, however, shows the sunday just before christmas is the year's biggest ka-ching day -- black friday beat it only twice.
since i was a noodle old enough to go shopping on her own, i never understood the drive to join that stampede. news video of the mobs always made me a little afraid. even my mother, shopper extraordinaire, shied away from the mall and we mostly hung around doing house stuff.
the press has been nattering on about the tightening of purse strings in these dark and uncertain times. in what may be one of the world's worst economic disasters ever, the inanity is truly offensive: buy less stuff! buy on sale! use coupons! from the westchester moms full of faux humility and forgoing a new hermes bag "because it looks unseemly in these times", to downsizing or outright cancellation of holiday parties then finally through to the mom who works at wendy's and is walking 2 miles to work, to save money on gas so as to buy her daughter a winter coat for christmas. (who is falling more quickly through that non-existent safety net?)
friday on long island a wal-mart worker was trampled to death. the frantic mob had been camped out, (some for 24 hours -- perfect way to spend a "family holiday") and literally "door-busted" in the early morning dark to grab that must-have. in news photos it looks like the running of the bulls. the dead worker was a temp for one of the nation's biggest and most exploitative companies, which now seems to be playing a deadly sort of retail limbo -- "how low can ya go?"
in palm desert, california, two people shot each other at a toys 'r us.
trolling the net yesterday to escape mumbai, i stumbled upon "buy nothing day." BND . for 17 years, it's been a movement to not shop on black friday. how the hell is something like this not getting more media play? yes, it's full of insufferable save the worlders sloughing about in broken birkenstocks and no doubt stinking of patchouli, but this should be the time their message is heard and embraced. and manifested. we in the u.s. remain a fraction of the world's population and are its biggest consumers and polluters. there are 1.9 cars for every u.s household; the average home has 2.24 tvs and 66% more than 3; we throw away about 35% of our produce, unconsumed. rather than sitting on their fat asses inlawn chairs in a super-store parking lot, maybe those long island parents could have been home teaching their kids a different kind of lesson?
the other day, i made an off-hand remark to the owner that homeless people always seem to have money for cigarettes and dunkin' donuts coffee. he was quick with their reply that "why can't they enjoy what rich people do?" besides the obviousity of them being desperately poor, the krazee logic was astounding and saddening. if you have no place to live, you DO NOT HAVE DISPOSABLE INCOME. (although i'm running out of time here, the irony of that phrase bears some later googling.)
friday's desperation and dead wal-mart clerk may only be the canary in the coal mine of a seismic shift in our economy. those track-suited elbow-jabbers racing for a discount wii will not be the ones running to the top of the economic heap, i'm quite sure.
“an investment is by all right-minded people to be commended, because it brings comforts and necessities to the citizenry. but, if continued indefinitely, it will lead to the endless pursuit of unnecessary things.” ~~ adam smith, 250 years ago
this year i spent thanksgiving in one of my favorite ways: cooking a big spread for those whom i care the most and who in turn (i hope) care for me. i stuck to my budget. the day after, i was a good little worker bee, toiling away and tending to the happiness of others, and they were sincerely grateful for all of our efforts. win-win.
the financial squeeze got me earlier than many others and i jumped through flaming hoops to save my home. i'm no longer so alone in my income bracket weighing want vs. need with every paycheck. it gets easier, i swear. exhale, and think what really matters.
i couldn't really place this in today's earlier post, but it's been bugging me since i heard it the other day: palin's being pranked by those canadian dj's.
taken alone, the call was funny enough. she sounded like a junior high school girl getting a call from the captain of the varsity hockey team (local jab for her, wink, wink.)
there is the complete lack of thought on the part of her staff to vet the call. she has professional shoppers and make-up people, but nobody screening her calls? her folksy informality of "hi, this sarah!", her ignorance of ANY of the give-away references that should have been her dime to the clue bus. johnny halladay, ffs!
as it's percolated for me though, what really bothered me was her in-the-dark hubris. all of france, and much of the world, is orgasming over the possibility of obama in the white house. why on earth would sarkozy call her to FUCKING CHAT?
they make me boiling mad.
record numbers of people have registered to vote this year. the last 2 presidential elections i woke up the day after to very bad news. i'll hold my breath til wednesday, tyvm. all i can do is vote.
(wow--it's been awhile, lol.)
previously i've posted about willing myself away from most media during these last throes of the election. my residence in a non-swing state, tivo and npr limit my exposure to the worst of it. but some has leaked through:
a telemarketer in wisconsin by the name of mr. zoromski was prepared to interrupt people during their dinner hours to encourage them to vote republican. but when he got the script saying “you need to know that barack obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist bill ayers, whose organization bombed the u.s. capitol, the pentagon, a judge’s home and killed americans,” he packed it in. paid to make nuisance calls, this guy got sent over the edge.
at a town-hall style meeting, mccain told an audience member who said she thought that obama was an “arab,” “no, ma’am, he’s a decent family man.” we'll skip lightly over obama actually being an american, but being an arab precludes this? this dialogue was repeated enough to bring colin powell out of the woodwork steaming mad.
palin's flogging small-towners and branding them as "real" americans, and us city-folk as "something else". "the others". does she or her mullet-headed fans realize that nearly 80% of americans live in urban areas now? until 2002, her 1st-dude of a husband was a member of a group that wants alaska to secede from the union. very pro-america, that.
libby dole's tv ads proclaiming her opponent for her north carolina senate seat to be "godless". the woman to whom she is likely losing is a former sunday school teacher.
representative robin hayes, (also from north carolina -- besides winstons, what else are they smoking down there?) who prefaced his comments by saying it was important to “make sure we don’t say something stupid, make sure we don’t say something we don’t mean.” republicans, he reminded the crowd, were kind people. plus, he added, the liberal media had shown itself eager to distort such remarks. with the crowd duly chastened, he accused obama of “inciting class warfare” and said that “liberals hate real americans that work and achieve and believe in god.” this is the same guy who claimed the only way to victory in iraq was to convert all them muslims to christianity.
rush limbaugh: "it is striking how unqualified obama is and, and how this whole thing came about with, within the democrat party. i think it really goes back to the fact that nobody had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy." limbaugh continued: "i think this is a classic illustration here where affirmative action has reared its ugly head against them. it's the reverse of it. they've, they've ended up nominating and placing at the top of their ticket somebody who's not qualified, who has not earned it."
in nh, a woman who'd voted early yesterday said she wouldn't vote for obama because he "is a communist."
dopy voters have always existed. slimy attack ads are nothing new, nor is negative smearing, so as disheartening as it to me (yeah, i remain a softie progressive, can't-we-all-get-along, but stay-the-hell-out-of-my-bedroom kinda gal) i accept its reality. but the willingness, the eagerness, to stoop to racism and feed people's fears makes me sick. in this, the 21st century, republicans are stirring up witch hunts, anti-american committees and dragging their hapless god through their fetid muck. the aggressive ignorance, combined with the damning of intelligence and thoughtful discourse of and by the far-right loonies who seem to be taking over the republican party make me wistful for the insight and mental agility of men like buckley and goldwater. creationism? are you fucking kidding me? (in this land of opportunity, and there's a monkey trial on tv --b.b.)
alberto gonzales is the only guy i can recall resigning from the administration under duress. even then bush praised him as "a man of integrity, decency and principle” and then complained of the “months of unfair treatment” that preceded the resignation.“it’s sad,” bush said, asserting that gonzales’s name had been “dragged through the mud for political reasons.” other than giving his cronies free reign, bush had no economic policy. lookie there! selling pencils and apples on the street corner likely won't cut it these days. although barrel-wearing might work as bold fashion statement. his fierce cowboy determination to go it alone in this increasingly connected world has isolated and shamed us in ways previously unimaginable.
there is an arrogance in the air surrounding the bushies that is suffocating. nobody has walked the plank admitting failure, and in a show of frat-brother loyalty, bush has called out not a one. a senate leader, an m.d. (!) who could diagnose a comatose woman via videotape better than her own personal physicians; george tenet’s wmd “slam-dunk,” cheney’s “we will be greeted as liberators,” rumsfeld’s avidity to promulgate a minimalist military doctrine, together with the tidy theories of a group who call themselves “neo-conservative” (not one of whom has ever worn a military uniform) have: de-stabilized the middle east; empowered north korea, iran, and syria; unleashed sectarian carnage in iraq among tribes who have been cutting each others’ throats for over a thousand years; cost the lives of over 4,600 american soldiers, with another 32,000 seriously injured troops saved only by very modern triage and 160 journalists also killed. but not to worry: democracy is on the march in the middle east. just ask hamas. and the neocons—bright people, all—are now clamoring, “on to tehran!”
“the trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.” ~~ paul valery
let's hope this is as true tomorrow as it was yesterday.
this is the most important election of my generation, and possibly since world war II. let's rock the vote, everybody.
