and another thing....

When I get fired up I can't sleep and I have to get things off my chest.

I've made similar statements on previous blogs but I'm going to repeat some things. Bear with me. 

We Americans, and this is particularly true for my generation known as Generation X, who grew up idolizing Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, have been spoon fed this idea of rugged individualism since birth. We were taught to believe in capitalism and hate anything different. Government was evil and encroached on our freedoms and I wasn't just drinking that kool-aid I was stirring it and handing it out particularly as a member of the Libertarian party. 

European and in particular Scandinavian countries like Finland figured out long ago that capitalism needs to be held in check. You need a strong social safety net. It's not that capitalism is broken,  it's being exposed. 

America was built on slave labor. White heterosexual males (and some women later on) have been in charge for centuries. It's starting to change. People of Color, women, the LGBT community and immigrants are starting to have a voice. And the white heterosexual "Christian" community is scared. That's why they've latched on to Donald trump. They know he's a crook. They know he's a womanizer. They may even know he's mentally ill. They don't care. He speaks to them. He lies. But he speaks to them. They relate to him.

They come up with conspiracy theories that I have to listen to from customers and coworkers and I can't say anything because my job is on the line.

Did y'all know Nancy Pelosi, the Clintons and Barak Obama went to China and brought the coronavirus to America in order to turn it into a socialist country? Or that Bill Gates created it so he can put microchips in the vaccines? How about the one a FedEx driver told me, that Joe Biden was going to nominate Hillary as his running mate then resign when he became President? 

They believe this BS too. It makes the world make sense to them because they can't believe there's other opinions and ways of viewing the world. 

Ok I think that's it for now. Time to try to sleep again. 

Uncle Joe is in trouble. Is Aunt Elizabeth still available?

I donated to 2 presidential campaigns before each dropped out. Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. I was kinda holding out hope for this for a while. 

Now we have these allegations against Joe Biden. He has a history of questionable behavior towards women to begin with and the right is having a field day. I read an article online tonight that made sense but may be hard to swallow. The easy way out of this is for Joe Biden to drop out. The democratic establishment does not want Bernie Sanders to be the nominee. Somehow,  they don't seem to object as much to Elizabeth Warren. 

I know she has the 'Pocahontas' tag to deal with. Nominating a woman, however,  rules out any sexual harassment questions. Maybe that's a double standard and don't put it past Republicans to try to stir something up but it won't stick. I would also love to see Mayor Pete take on Mike Pence in a debate. 

Another solution would be to make Mayor Pete the nominee, he has no skeletons....he's not really old enough to have any. I thought he was the best candidate of them all anyway. 

I see no other way forward. I'm fairly certain the Democrats will hold on to the House and pretty sure we'll take the Senate. I am terrified, however, that even if those things happen, maybe even getting rid of Mitch McConnell and/or Lyndsey Graham in the process, the electoral college could give trump another 4 years.

And do you think he'll stop there?

I'll take the Coronavirus with a slice of Lyme disease.

After finally, after some controversy after 1 failed attempt, Greenville county council "sunsetted" the 1996 anti-gay ordinance.  Is that the end of it? No because now an attempt is being made to put a question on the November ballot basically asking citizens of Greenville county to reaffirm their hatred of the LGBTQ+ community. 

I had a glimmer of hope when an openly gay man announced his intention to run for my district's county council seat. Then after being friends with him on Facebook for a few days and having my Facebook feed flooded with disrespectful and dismissive memes targetting Bernie Sanders. While I am supporting Joe Biden as the best candidate to lead us to victories all the way down the ballot,  and while this person was perfectly respectful to me, his attitude towrds Bernie..referring to him as a communist in one post....just strikes me as not being the kind of open minded individual i want represtenting me.

Just a few hours ago, i had a FedEx carrier not only deliver the wrong package to my house, but decided to share with me his conspiracy theory about Joe Biden picking Hillary Clinton for his running mate then resigning so she could become President.

Meanwhile we've got the coronavirus canceling sporting events,  which makes me worry about the Lady Gamecocks being able to pursue a championship. As I'm about to post this, the notification came that the NCAA tournaments have been canceled. I've also got customers getting mad at me because i can only sell them 2 bottles of hand sanitizer or packs toilet paper; which people are hoarding for a virus that doesn't cause diarrhea. 

We have people getting mad at Joe Biden for telling a gun nut he's "full of shit" when our "president " curses all the time while golfing and tweeting between covering up affairs with porn stars, all while the religious right praises him.

It's just a constant struggle here in the upstate of South Carolina and while i would love to stick my middle finger up and say goodbye to Greenville and hello to a more progressive city like Columbia or Charleston, I'm financially unable to do so. 

I was born in Columbia, SC but my family moved to Greenville county when i was still an infant. We moved to Taylors when i was about 6 years old and apart from a short stint at a friend's cabin in Columbus, NC, I've lived out here ever since. This is my home, yet i constantly feel unwelcome in my own backyard. I feel like an outsider even among other outsiders. I am just getting fed up. I'm tired of fighting for things that I shouldn't have to fight for.

I just realized this is a very gloomy blog. I'm trying to come up with something positive to end on but nothing comes to mind. I'm ok, I really am, I'm just really down right now. I'll carry on as usual. 

Uncle Joe is back!

So I've been home from the USC Furman baseball game for a few hours (South Carolina broke the 1-1 tie with a waa run shot in the top of the 12th and won 3-1.I was following some Super Tuesday results so I was already aware that Uncle Joe wa see having a good night but it's really getting fascinating. 

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I'm a progressive. I was the proverbial "Bernie Bro" in 2016. I really didn't have anything against Hillary Clinton- when she won the nomination I expected her to win and I was disappointed when she didn't. 

I've seen the arguments against Bernie Sanders winning the nomination and the counter arguments in favor of him and I see merits to both arguments. There's a reason why we refer to him as "Uncle" Joe. He's beloved by most of the electorate. Bernie is polarizing. I absolutely agree with both Bernie and Elizabeth. We need universal Health Care. We need to at least bring the cost of college down. We need to eliminate student debt. But this idea of rugged individualism; this sink or sink capitalism; this "pull yourself up by your bootstraps (which is actually a physical impossibility) is so engrained in the American psyche that some people will never in a million years vote for someone who self-identified as a socialist, even if they add "democratic" to the term.

The superdelegates are going to ensure that Joe Biden is the nominee if they can. The "Bernie Bros" are going to be upset. So how do you placate them?

On election night in 2018 I started to turn my attention to 2020 and my first thought...and I posted it on Facebook...was a Biden/Warren ticket. Bear with me here.

If Uncle Joe is the nominee (or Bernie for that matter) it's almost a foregone conclusion that a women will have to be the VP nominee to try to make up for the disappointment of not having our first female president. 

Other possibilities are Kamala Harris,  who challenged Joe in an early debate,  and don't forget the original rumor that Joe was going to announce before hand that Stacey Abrams who be his running mate. 

Or how about a real longshot....Michelle Obama. You could really but the Obama/Biden collilisio back together,  only it'd be Biden/Obama this time. A little far fetched I'll admit but I can dream.

THIS blog is not made of recycled materials.

I've been wanting to write a blog because it's been a while, but I didn't want to repeat myself.

I thought about writing about the upcoming South Carolina primary and why I like all the candidates and even though I'm a progressive at heart, I'll be voting for Mayor Pete, but I decided not to.

We're  on the the road to Wrestlemania. I thought about doing another wrestling blog, but no. I need something else. 

I thought maybe I'd blog about the shows I'm watching now, but that would just be recycling and old idea. 

Recycling? I've been making some environmental changes recently. AH HA!

I live in an unincorporated area of Greenville and I don't get city garbage or recycling services. We have to pay for our own. When my family first moved out to Taylors,  we had to take our trash to the dump ourselves, but private trash services started popping up. I used to take my trash to my parents bin, then when I got more financially stable I started paying for my own service. I also used their recycling service which is every other week whereas the trash is weekly. Our pickup day is Thursday barring a holiday during the week occasionally shifting it to Friday. 

The price for their recycling service went up recently,  and my bill at the beginning of the year was almost $100. They also changed the frequency of billing which explains some of the increase, but it was too high. I stopped my recycling service with them and started investigating local recycling centers. I found one in Greer that seems easy for me to get to, but I have had so much else to do on my days off lately, I haven't found the time yet.

I had already started to make some small changes. I have a tumbler from the Human Rights Campaign that I try to take with me and just have ice water with my lunch. The tough part is remembering to take it home after work or take it with you went I walk from the parking lot to my car. I try to take it to my car on my break as it's in my hand on on my mind.

When I do forget it, or I want something else, I buy aluminum cans and not plastic. This limits my choices on zero sugar drinks, the normal choice is Sparkling Ice caffeine. 

I bought a camping fork and tried to use it instead of plastic but I left 8t somewhere. Perhaps I should buy one and take it with me to work as well.

I'm also starting to investigate more environmentally friendly products I use every day.i frequently get ads in my Facebook feed for these products and I've ordered a few.

The first one that caught my attention was "Dr. Squatch" soap and shampoo. Most commercial soaps and shampoos are made with the same chemicals that are in dish and laundry detergent. "Dr. Squatch" is also in natural bars which eliminates plastic bottles. I have made my first order but I missed that they have a starter kit. 

Another product that caught my eye was "Who gives a crap?" toilet paper. It comes in a box with individually wrapped rolls using 100% recycled paper., no plastic wrappers. They also make other products like paper towels which I will get in my free trial. I have also for several years used bath poofs, which wear out and have to be thrown out. I am going back to washcloths, and I need new ones....an excuse to shop! Also in the comments a suggestion was made that the paper wrapping makes funny gift wrap. I'm a bagger not a wrapper but it could do instead of tissue paper, but which lead to funny ideas about my nephew's birthday presents. (It's not until Cinco de Mayo but I'm a planner when it comes to gifts).

I've looked at laundry detergents. I'm currently using pods and my latest purchase was Myers which is plant based. It doesn't smell bad but it's not very fragrant. It also doesn't fully dissolve and it leaves little chunks which sometimes make it into the dryer and rattle. I need to do more investigating on that issue. I've read that powder is better than anything else. 

I don't have any more thoughts on the matter. I'm contemplating breakfast and whether to go shopping before work at the Publix closer to me or wait until closer to my shift at my store and shop then. It may be IHOP then shopping at Publix at Thornblade closer to my shift at 10:30. Have a good day and if you recycle any of this, some credit would be nice.

Vote for the person not the party.

I don't normally like writing two blogs so close together,  mainly because I've learned I'm only allowed two a month but I've had an epiphany today.

So often I criticize Republicans for putting party above principle. I think it's an apt criticism with so many Republicans in Congress particularly the Senate refusing to be impartial and supporting Donald trump even though the evidence against him is overwhelming. I was about to commit a similar transgression. 

I've blogged previously about my plans to vote in Greenville county's Republican primary for sherriff despite being a pretty solid Democrat. I voted absentee on Thursday for Darrius Hall, the only Republican African American in the race. Democratic candidate Paul Guy spoke today at the North Greenville Democrats meeting and I was going to vote for him in the March 10th election simply because he is a Democrat. 

I found Paul Guy to be inarticulate. He made a joke about former sheriff Steve Loftis,  who's son was just wonderful to me when I first started working at Publix. His wife was a frequent customer,  I often helped her to her car with her groceries. 

Paul Guy also repeated the popular misconception that Marijuana (along with cigarettes and alcohol) are "gateway drugs". I smoked cigarettes for 10 years, I've smoked marijuana a handful of times and while I've never been a heavy drinker,  I've had my share of alcohol. And I never once even thought about trying anything else. It's true I've never really put my self in a position to be faced with such temptation, but I disagree strongly with this characterization of drug use.

I looked up Darrius Hall's Facebook page and within hours he accepted my friend request. There will most likely be a runoff in the Republican primary. I'm hoping if it comes to that, I can vote for Darrius again.  A.T. " Tommy" Smith is likely to be the eventual nominee. Even though I think there some dirty doings going on with other candidates signs and acting sherriff Johnny Mack Brown, Tommy graduated from Wade Hampton High School and USC. (That's the real USC--South Carolina if anyone in other parts of the country are reading this.)

I hope people will heed my advice. Don't just vote for someone,  especially a local candidate,  on whether they have (R) or (D) beside their name. Do your research on candidates you are considering voting for. Go to local events if you can, I know it's hard for us working folks but when you have a chance, go. I hadn't been to a NGCD meeting in a long time but I went to hear Paul Guy speak and yes, I was disappointed but I learned. I'm making a more informed decision now.

Why $15/hour is not "burger flippers owning yachts".

So with my "Santa" money I was able to get my oil changed today but that's about all. I had to stop them from the almost $900 in recommended maintenance. I was given a laundry list of maintenance I need to have done on my car. Here's the thing..

I'm certain that if i were able to afford to have more regular maintenance done on my car, not as much would have to be done the next time.

I saw a meme i really liked on Facebook recently.  It's  about the difference between a poor man and a wealthy man buying boots. A wealthy person can buy one expensive pair of shoes and it will be the best and last a long time. A poor person, however, has to save up to buy a new pair of shoes and has to buy a cheaper pair, which wears out sooner so they have to buy new shoes more often.

I've even heard coworkers of mine in political conversations use the "burger flippers owning yachts" analogy when discussing a proposed $15/hour minimum wage saying it's too much. That's not the case at all. It's about things like my current situation,  not being able to have regular maintenance on my car leads to more costs down the road. Being low income is expensive. My tax refund is most likely all going to go to maintenance on my car. 

And when did we decide in America that some occupations are more "worthy" of a living wage than others? There was a time in this country when a fast food job was just a job after school to earn extra money but that's not the case anymore. Those jobs are now how people earn their living. This idea that somehow,  for example,  the fact that I'm "just a cashier" means I'm lazy or did something in my life to deserve to have to struggle to make ends meet is ridiculous. It took me a long time to find my calling in life but I believe I have found it. I like my job as a cashier. I don't see myself doing anything else for a living. Does that mean I should have to struggle to pay my bills? Does that mean someone sitting at a desk is more worthy of a good life than me? I don't think so. 

The cost of living has skyrocketed since the 1970s but our wages have remained stagnant. I used to drink the Libertarian Kool-aid on minimum wage laws but not anymore. Our minimum wage needs to be raised not so "burger flippers can own yachts" but so that people can live a decent life, can afford basic necessities and not "just get by" but thrive.