Uncategorized

Blame Storm

67 Comments

Today’s post comes from Congressman Loomis Beechly, representing Minnesota’s 9th district – all the water surface area in the state.

Beechly Ice shark copy

Greetings Constituents!

I’m in Washington, DC, where I almost never am in the days that separate Christmas from New Years. But I have to be here in case we’re called on to vote on some kind of deal to address the “fiscal cliff“, which is a silly but very effective name for a scary thing that you can’t see.

It is quite entertaining to be here for the hand-wringing and running around, the closed door discussions and the breathless predictions about what will happen if we actually do go flying off our self-made “cliff” into a canyon of despair.

The whole town is charged with a kind of tense excitement – something kind of bad is about to happen. A storm is coming in, and people are stocking up and taking cover.

It’s a blame storm. We’re going to get buried in it, and the only question left is who will be able to dig out and who will be buried?

I feel fortunate because I happen to come from a part of the country that is guilt-rich and I’ve been slogging through stubborn waves of blame since the day I was born and the doctor slapped me. My mother hauled off and punched the doctor, then she kissed me, then I cried, and she slapped me too. I had just put her through quite a lot of trouble, so I understood and forgave her immediately.

But the point is, I know how to dig out when I’m getting deluged by blame. And believe me, there’s lots on the way.

Forecasters say there will be jobs lost, investments ruined, gains rolled back and fortunes diminished. The recent glimmers of economic hope that we’ve seen will be snuffed, and economic despair will make a resurgence. That kind of massive collision of high expectations and low performance always produces a huge blame storm, and the contest now is to find out who is best prepared to weather the onslaught?

Speaking only for myself, I know I didn’t do anything wrong. You can’t blame me because I wasn’t part of the non-negotiations and as a representative of a largely overlooked district with no newspapers or media of any kind, my statements on the issue have gone largely ignored.

Not that I’ve had much to say except “It’s not my fault.”

So I don’t think the Blame Storm is going to be too terribly bad in the 9th district. Famous last words?

At least I’ll be famous!

Your loyal Representative,
Loomis Beechly

Some wishful thinking from the Congressman? I’d like to be able to say I’m never troubled when the blame starts flying, but it only takes a little bit of it to totally bog me down. How about you?

67 thoughts on “Blame Storm”

  1. Morning all. I’m combining yesterday’s topic with today’s topic. I would personally love to never see the words “F—– C—-” again. I’m sure I’ll feel safe and be able to keep my head down through whatever blame game is afoot without every having to hear these two words combined EVER AGAIN.

    Teenager and I do “anti-resolutions” on New Year’s Eve. We write down two or three bad habits that we don’t want to take into the new year with us — on flash paper. Then we read them out loud and them burn them. Kinda fun. I am seriously thinking of writing “F—– C—-” and burning it this year.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Sherrilee
      I don’t think that using language like that while dale is on the radio doing his day job is ok. He trusts us to behave and I think the choice you made here is a bunch of s—

      Like

      Reply

  2. Good morning. Yes, I more or less live in the canyon of despair. We can’t go off the cliff because we are already deep into that canyon. We have to learn to live with despair or find a way out of the canyon. Are we ready to do that? Not so far. Thus, despair it is. You think I’m paranoid? Maybe I am and maybe there is a good reason for that. I think what I need to do is buy some mountain climbing gear and get out of that canyon of despair. Of course, I have been living in that canyon for a long time so I should be able to put up with living there shouldn’t I? Does the canyon have an entrance where I can just walk out? I don’t think it will be that easy to get out of this mess.

    Like

    Reply

  3. The guy that Dale interviewed yesterday on the Morning Blend mentioned the problem of the canyon that he said we might needs to build a bridge over it so we can get across. If we are already in the canyon we might need to make a hole in the wall that has been built across the entrance to keep us from getting out.

    Like

    Reply

  4. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    When it comes to dishing out blame, I am quite skilled, but no one has ever topped my mother. She was the master of finger pointing. And that finger never pointed at herself. As a result, if someone lapses into old-fashioned finger-pointing at me I become defensive and hostile in a flash. Then I will turn on you. Clearly Mom’s blaming was a source of considerable pain during tender childhood years.

    Political Blame-Fests from the People can be fun because one is rarely held responsible for this. The Blamees are far away in Washington and will never hear/read the rant. It also appears that they don’t much care what we say about them, either. I for one, have decided to blame our lovely MB for all of this grandstanding and irresponsible financial management (FC). Her rigidness and Tea Party Line are the stuff of standoff. Her tendency to point her finger at anyone but herself reminds me of a certain parent who created a lot of resentment during my childhood. Her recent and unexpectedly close election is the first political event that appeared to shut her up. I find that incredibly satisfying, But I am hoping to hear more ridiculous blaming pearls falling from her lips so that the next election actually ends her political career.

    AAAAHHHH. This was a satisfying rant. Now, I must decide. Do I hit the “Post Comment” button, or be a balanced adult who can see both sides? NNNAAAHHH.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Well, Jacque, I have already violated by resolve from yesterday to think before I speak. I think it is good that you pushed the “post comment” button.

      Like

      Reply

    2. The pointers should be aware that when they point one finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back at them.

      Like

      Reply

    4. Jacque I have often noted similarities between your views and mine, and I mean similarity of such things as morality, compassion and self-awareness. Pardon me for flattering myself by comparing myself to you! I now think I understand some of this. You and I had the same mother, and we were largely shaped by that.

      Like

      Reply

        2. dont forget jews and chinese. if josha bell palys a song and the forest and a tree falls on him does it make a sound? and who do you blame?

          Like

      2. I certainly concur with your view of our mother! She was so prolific at guilting that early on I learned to feel instantly angry when she did this, leaving me forever prone to resenting being guilted as opposed to actually feeling guilty. I’ve felt plenty of guilt over the years and used it myself far too often on my own kids, but heaven help anyone whom I sense is pulling this on ME! Fortunately, I’ve entirely ceased using this tactic years ago. I think that sometimes we “earn” guilt and genuinely regret having done or said something which has hurt another, but guilt used as a manipulation is quite different! There are also times when I think I “should” feel guilty but really don’t. Of course, “shoulding” IS guilting oneself. I think I’d best quit writing in circles for now?

        Like

        Reply

  5. It is an interesting time in history that my favorite author Kurt Vonnegut predicted 30 or 40 years ago where the guy with the best hair gets to be the president . Obama chose to let his go salt and pepper while mitt chose to have his died to look like Johnny quests dad
    The fact that one party is all about spin and creating a smoke screen to mask its padding the pockets of the grand pubas who finance the show is a glorious thing to watch. To actually feel sorry for John boehner is a surprise to me. I expect those basset hound eyes to begin welling up with tears as he comes back to Obama and tells him his party turned down what their representative negotiated on their behalf and that they should start over this time with the wishes of the election losers being put ahead of the winners. Can’t blame John boy but who do we blame Grover? Fear of invisible hands plucking you from office for doing something against darth vaders GOP? Bring farther in after he and boehner decide to nix another meeting . I love that Obama went on vacation why bother to show up at a meeting that goes backwards. His goldfish could do the negotiations. I do think Sherrilee starting today off with the f word and the c word was poor but not as poor as washingtons nightmare these days

    Like

    Reply

    1. Be careful what you say about eyes, tim! I just saw an opthamologist to get relief from a nasty eye condition. She took one look at me from 12 yards away and cried out, “He has BASSET HOUND EYES!” I don’t enjoy being lumped together with John Boehner.

      Like

      Reply

        1. Yes. The normal cure is plastic surgery. They do this all the time to make aging actors look young. But my eyelids are so inflamed and swollen they can’t even look at them very well, so they’ve given me creams to smear on them to reduce the swelling. I saw my eye doctor again the other day. She was astonished at how much better my eyes are, just because of the cream. I told her, “I’ve gone from a Basset to a Beagle in one week. Give me two more weeks with these creams, and I might hit Fox Terrier yet!” We are in that process now.

          Like

    3. vonnegut envisioned a time nt he future when presentation mattered more than substance and that is what the gop has evolved into. it is all about making sure the sound bites ring correctly no new taxes, ever for any reason. no tax increase only tax ciuts. this sounds good but it has been shown tat a balanced attack at spending and taxation vs the w tax breaks for jilionaires trickle down your leg theory is needed. i agree with sherrilee. its dales fault he started it

      Like

      Reply

      1. I have to admit worrying about the GOP’s latest catch phrase “trickle down government” and hoping it didn’t catch on or become part of the national narrative. Fortunately, it hasn’t.

        Like

        Reply

    4. I must, I really must quibble here.
      Dr. Quest had reddish, rather messy hair and a beard (he was, after all, an academic). He looked nothing like Mr. Romney.

      tim, if Dr. Quest ends up with a more “establishment” image after this, I blame you.

      Like

      Reply

        1. you are right but if mitt dyed his hair red instead of black and gray and he grew a goutee hed look just like jonny quests dad.
          i wonder whose sideburns i am remembering

          Like

        2. I believe you are thinking of “Race” Bannon-who was remarkably “chiselled” in appearance and whose actual role in the family was somewhat ambiguous and yet, ubiquitous. Very satisfying, using those 2 words in the same sentence. thank you for the opportunity.

          Like

        1. and now I find myself wishing for the capacity to photoshop a beard and 70s era moustache onto any given picture of Mitt Romney. It would also be nice to just once see Mr. Romney before the stylist set up his hair for a day.

          Like

  6. Morning–

    I’d like to blame *somebody*! I’m trying to do tax planning for the farm and I don’t know if I’m planning for taxes as they are now or as they might be next week. Grrrrr….

    Speaking of Mothers and Farthers and violins, I forgot to remember when we were talking about lost things, my Mom, if she couldn’t find something would say ‘Yehudi must have taken it’. Now my mom is 86 and doesn’t listen to classical music and the only yehudi I know is Yehudi Menuhin, the classical violinist, but she says no, it was just a phrase her Mom used to say.

    Like

    Reply

        1. likely same group brought him in. she said the wonderful performers that came through was fantastic and the fargo crowd enjoyed it enough to keep it going for years.. she got cultured right there on the prairie.

          Like

        3. That recording, Renee, was done almost by accident. But now the recording you refer to is a classic jazz album. It is thought to be the best recording of an Ellington concert when his band was in its absolute prime.

          Like

    3. how much difference will it make to your planning if we have it one way or another. do you plan differently. buy different stuff because its deductable vs non deductable? are you affected because you are a millionaire land owner that has gone undetected on the seldom used millionairebaboonometer?

      Like

      Reply

      1. “…millionaire land owner…millionairebaboonometer” Ha ha ha ha… that phrase made me laugh. -Thanks.
        But I plan – and buy- what I can. The last few years with crop prices so high I have already bought next years seed and fertilizer, filled the diesel barrel, got a ton of chicken feed and yes, trying to spend ‘farm deductable’ expenses for the current year.
        The problem is we’re fairly small farmers so while we’re making a profit it’s enough of a profit to give me tax problems but not so much I can run out and buy another tractor for $250,000. I work with a real nice salesman at my local John Deere dealership and we talk often about how maybe I can make the down payment with this years crops… but not sure how I’m making the rest of the payments!
        So I do a lot of used equipment and shop wisely.
        I was teasing our banker that I need to talk to Mitt and find some tax shelters.

        Like

        Reply

    4. I remember older folks, when I was a boy, referring to anyone who was particularly adept or clever as “a regular Yehudi”. Now that’s a phrase I haven’t heard for over fifty years, but it was common then. Yehudi Menuhin was a boy prodigy on the violin before he became the adult master, and he must have made a deep impression back then. Maybe it was because radio was still relatively new and culturally influential and a common point of reference for much of the population.

      Like

      Reply

  7. Off the topic, not off the cliff: saw a sight yesterday which is still moving me. A man whom I knew as my mechanic at a local dealership was eating at Wendy’s last night. He was in his work clothes with is daughter. She was a sweet adorable 11-12 year old. Then I realized she was a girl with many special needs. Clearly had been born with a cleft pallet, which is a common disorder on my mother’s side of the family. But she had deep brain dysfunctions as well. She went from happy to agitated in a flash several times. She had trouble saying her words and then clearly. But his relationship to her was overwhelming to watch. He was perfect. He guided her back from agitation flawlessly. Attended her carefully. Joked and sang with her. It was love in the hand that wiped her mouth and helped her arrange her food and waited patiently while she ate and then picked up the spillage from the floor. I naturally thought of Ben and his daughter. And how he speaks of her with such love. I only knew the mechanic as a man who worked on my car. Now I knew some of his real story.
    Those people in Washington with their thousand dollar suits, those arrogant know-it-alls who reject the very idea do compromise should come watch this. But I fear they would learn nothing. Nothing of the human condition and what we should share in common. It’s called love no matter how you slice it, no matter how you fund it. If we do not start with love like these two had (at least 1/4 of the words thew girl said were “Daddy”) and dare I say we all feel between Ben and his daughter, then where do we end up. No matter how we tax and spend or cut, we need to blame no one and love.
    (Sorry for the rant. but I needed it for my own sake. Not that anyone here will disagree.)
    Have friends from TH walking in the door for the day.

    Like

    Reply

    1. thanks clyde. touching moments are what we need to get us back on the correct path. the politicians all pick one or two to illustrate their points because we all care so much about people not so much about the other sides political platform but even the bad guys can have good examples joe the plummer was the best they could do? its nice to get to know someone on a level that is touching rather than simply the day to day stuff we all deal with. perfect clyde thanks

      Like

      Reply

    4. Aw, Clyde…
      Kelly had to work today so Amelia and I spent the day together. Started with her getting a haircut (I just delivered; Kelly didn’t trust me to tell the stylist what to do – rightfully so – Kelly met us there and supervised that. ) but I had a good time sitting there watching everyone else. And that’s where I was, reading the blog on my phone and you made me tear up.
      Thanks – all of you.

      Like

      Reply

  9. My brothers voted for Mitt. Like always, I avoided discussing the economy and politics over Christmas. My brothers, however, must be feeling sore because they kept making snide comments about my bumper stickers and “Obama Care,” and they joked that Mark Dayton’s surgery should be above the cervical area. I was annoyed but only said that I like Mark Dayton very much and that the surgery he’s having is common now and will go well.

    While discussing my current living situation and my recent job change, we touched on the economic situation of many of the families in Waterville. Both of my brothers are very successful. We were raised in an upper-middle class home and my brothers are very well educated. Of course, they have put effort into what they have; of course, they both work hard and make sacrifices. But one of my brothers said that people in other countries will work themselves to exhaustion for $8 a day and that people here should be willing to do the same. They said that people here expect hand-outs and “entitlements.” My brothers don’t want to pay for all of these “lazy” people. They think there is something wrong with 47 percent of the country, and me, for thinking differently.

    I guess it’s no wonder that I get the blues at this time of year. Every year I feel a little lonelier, a little less connected from my own family. I want to stop going but I don’t feel like I can because of the guilt I feel when I think of my mom. She doesn’t want to let any of us out of her sight and insists that we be together for the holidays, dysfunctional as it feels for me. I don’t tell her how upsetting these ideological differences are for me. She agrees with my brothers.

    The Joni Mitchell song, “River” is perfect. Thanks for posting it, Linda.

    Like

    Reply

    2. So sorry you had to put up with that noise as part of the holidays, Krista.

      I also have news for your brothers. There are plenty of people in this country who do indeed work themselves to exhaustion for $8/ hour (or less) and plenty of them are unarguably “native born”. Your brothers don’t realize this, because they do not “see” these people.

      Like

      Reply

      1. 8 dollars a day not an hour. her brothers are michele bachmann clones with the sentimetality of joe mc carthy.
        krista why dont you go christmas eve to have a nice time with your mom and then leave when goebel and himler show up. or have a coffee with them and go read a book until it blows over. they think its funny to get you going. ill bet you could do a number on them with some practice but do you really want to sink to their level?

        Like

        Reply

        1. ah, my mistake. I also believe the housing costs and vagrancy laws are probably different in places where one gets paid $8/day, so one would have to do a lot of math to figure out equivalencies – in my experience, people with a rightwing agenda don’t care much for math.

          I agree with tim, Krista. I’d even go so far to tell Mom exactly why I am not showing up for the bashfest. You have a right to a peaceful Christmas. They can either respect that right or do without your presence.

          Like

    3. You’re not alone, Krista. When asked if I am going home for the holidays, I often respond “Why spoil a perfectly good holiday by spending it with my family?” Despite being raised by the same parents, my two sisters and I are vastly different and spending time with them isn’t all that enjoyable.

      Like

      Reply

      1. I know exactly what you mean, vs. In her Christmas card my sister informed me that she has booked a trip to NYC the week of my 70th birthday. For good measure she has invited her two grandkids along, her Christmas present to them. Between them they have a list of 18 things they want to see (and I have no idea what they are), but she thinks Hans and I should join them in NYC for a dinner on my birthday! Isn’t that nice? She never inquired about how this might fit into any plans I might have, just made her arrangements. She’s a piece of work, and must think I have money to burn. Need I tell you we’re not going?

        Like

        Reply

    4. Thanks, everybody. I feel like I belong here and that helps a lot. I miss it when I’m not able to be here every day. There was a lot of stress and negative energy built up in me. I’m sorry about unloading some of it here. My brothers aren’t my best friends but they’re not total monsters. Both of my brothers are fiscal conservatives but Eric has fixed minor car problems for me without asking for anything in return and Kurt voted no on the marriage amendment. Kurt and I used to be closer and found time for each other. It’s been a long time since either of us tried to get together. The holiday season is a hard time when your only family is your childhood family and you realize how amazingly different you are.

      Like

      Reply

  10. I’m not ready to avoid unpleasant topics because it might seem that the blame game is being played. Change is needed. Our politicians are not doing what they should do. We share some of the blame because we are not putting enough pressure on them to do the right thing. However, we can’t ignore bad behavior just because we might be accused of taking part in a blame game.

    Like

    Reply

  11. The reality is that it’s not been since the 1940s we’ve had a worse or more dysfunctional Congress. And, it’s not the Democrats hoisting this upon the population, it’s the Tea Party extremists. I watched our president in his press conference today and have to say that I’ve never seen him more ragged, irritable, and clearly fed up with the recalcitrant right wing. That they’ve repeatedly pushed governing to the edge of the envelope is unconscionable, IMO. This cancer on the body politic has not been seen since the McCarthy communist-under-every-rock era. But then – who am I if not a inveterate liberal? Although most see the GOP as causing these repeated fiscal crises, everyone’s fed up with it. I am. I may eve stop watching cable news – a radical cahnge in my lifestyle. I’m sick of it. I see what’s happening, who’s to “blame”, but am nearly out of tolerance. I can only imagine how Obama feels.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I know it’s not the longest light anymore… I have already noticed the turning. I hope the folks in Washington can notice it, too.

      Like

      Reply

  13. OT – Anyone see the full moon come up tonight??
    We (California guests and all) got the flu over Christmas, just now getting back to normal. Will catch up some day… Been fun lurking a bit here and there. See you later, baboons.

    Like

    Reply

  14. My first impulse is to try to avoid blame, but if I have time to think about it, I’m more likely to take the blame preemptively.

    There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has a right to blame us.
    – Oscar Wilde

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to tim Cancel reply