Drive-By Muthings: December 9, 2012

* OK, if in return for getting people to give you their business card/contact information you give them a raffle ticket and tell them the winning number will be posted on your Facebook page sometime after 2 pm on Friday…maybe you should, you know, post the winning number on your Facebook page sometime after 2 pm on Friday rather than blow off any goodwill you’d have otherwise earned?

Not that I’m mentioning any names or anything (Downtown 3rd Farmers Market).

* Vacation News: For Gia’s (fill in the blank using a “5” and a “0”)th birthday, I surprised her and the kids with a short (and surprisingly inexpensive) 4-day Carnival cruise to Ensenada. Wow, you should see all the Mexicans who live there!

* Our tour guide, Juanita, was great and made good-natured fun of us gringos; pointing out the local Home Depot and telling us that’s where you can find Americans hanging around looking for work. It was funny. We all laughed. But can you imagine an American tour guide saying the same thing about Mexicans on a tour past a Home Depot in Las Vegas? Ay, caramba!

*Oh, and get this: I won a medal for “Best Dancing Father” in the parent-child dance contest with my six-year-old son, CJ! Of course, Gia brought me back down to Earth by pointing out that I was the ONLY father who entered. Killjoy.

* Back to the Real World: While running for office in 2010, Nevada State Sen. Michael Roberson (R-Nominally) promised the voters of his district that he would oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes. In fact, he put that campaign promise in writing. But then, after getting elected, “Moderate Mike” broke his word and now supports Gov. Brian Sandoval’s new $620 million tax hike re-imposition.

Sen. “Moderate Mike” Roberson (center/pink shirt) yukking it up with new best pals from PLAN

And in continuing his leftward march, “Moderate Mike” went to a PLAN (Progressive Liberal Alliance of Nevada) meeting over the weekend and promised them he wouldn’t cut a dime from education.

“You can take that to the bank,” he pledged in no uncertain terms.

And we all know how good Sen. Roberson’s word is, right?

* Conservatives such as Grover Norquist and me take tax hikes off the table in budget battles, including the current (over-hyped) “fiscal cliff” “crisis.” As such, we’re accused by the enablers and promoters of bigger, more expensive government of being rigid, obstinate, pigheaded, close-minded ideologues.

On the other hand, you have folks such as “Moderate Mike” Roberson and Rep. Lynn Woolsey, California Democrat (“Any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits are unacceptable.”), who have taken an identically rigid, obstinate, pigheaded, close-minded ideological position against spending cuts to politically popular government programs but are never similarly attacked.

I wonder if the mainstream press will ever get around to pointing out this double-standard? Or are some rigid, obstinate, pigheaded, close-minded ideological positions more equal than others? Actually, I don’t wonder at all. I think we all know the answer to that one.

POLITICALLY INCORRECT JOKE

OK, since Juanita our Mexican tour guide (see vacation item above) told us so many American jokes while we were in Mexico, here’s one I offer in the same good-natured spirit. It was forwarded to me by a good friend last week while we were away.

A U.S. Navy destroyer stops four Mexicans in a rowboat rowing towards California. The captain gets on the loudspeaker and shouts, “Ahoy, small craft. Where are you headed?”

One of the Mexicans puts down his oar, stands up, and shouts, “We are invading the United States of America to reclaim the territory taken from us by the U.S. during the 1800’s.”

The entire crew of the destroyer is doubled-over in laughter. When the captain is finally able to catch his breath, he gets back on the loudspeaker and asks, “Just the four of you?”

The same Mexican stands up again and shouts, “No, we’re the last four. The rest are already there!”

Oh, come on! That’s funny. Lighten up, will ya.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“God put the Republican Party on earth to cut taxes. If they don’t do that, they have no useful function.” – Robert Novak