Litterbug, litterbug, shame on you
The train is coming, you can see it making the turn two miles down the track. The woman next to me is holding a water bottle. The train is a good 1-2 minutes from getting to our station. She turns around and chucks the water bottle over the fence behind us, onto the grass on the other side. There are two trash cans not 20 feet away. There are trash cans as soon as you get on the train. "You really didn't have to do that," I say, pointing out the garbage cans. She responds with a consonant. I think it was an "A". That's all she could/would muster. But she has time to walk down to the next train car, so she doesn't have to sit in the same car as the guy who pointed out her shit. Which took more time, by the way, than it would have for her to pick up the fucking bottle.
I love people.
I try. We recycle. We mulch. We wash our clothes in cold water. We use CFLs. We use public transportation. We still create a crap-load of waste, but at least we make an effort.
Yesterday, there was an amazingly quick trip with the SwiftBoatExpress. A heretofore unknown public interest group/think tank sprang out of nowhere to claim that Al Gore was a hypocrite for his home power usage and his use of private jets. Within hours, the "story" was picked up by Drudge. And once there, it was fair game for the MSM to repeat. Repeating is what the MSM do best. Reportage is no longer a requirement of "news". Especially on Fox News.
Luckily, there are still those who will investigate. The Nashville Tennessean fact-checked the story. Yes. Gore uses a great deal of electricity and natural gas. But he also pays for over 1/4 of his power to be supplied using solar or other green power sources. He also buys carbon offsets and drives a hybrid.
Gore doesn't claim to be an absolute purist on energy conservation. He espouses that everyone take the steps that they reasonably can to reduce their energy usage. You could quibble about how much he "walks the walk", but at least he's walking.
A full day later, I had the Sean Hannity show on the radio. He reported, as if it were a verified news story, the same allegations that Drudge had aired. Even though two full news cycles had passed, and the report was, if not refuted, put in context.
Of course. Why share a balanced story with listeners, when you can offer them a "red meat" attack story, free of fact-checking?
I'm sorry, but I'm really running out of polite ways to call Hannity a hate-spewing, disingenuous fuck head. I'd appreciate suggestions.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 at 8:59 PM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
10:25 PMI hate lies! Hate lies! Hate lies!
Just hug sysmidgets and feel better about the world.
10:35 PM
Is it okay to litter if it's not a water bottle, but the freshly severed head of Sean Hannity? I say 'Yes'.
8:08 AM
you should have thrown her over the fence and told her that garbage begets garbage.
Also what is MSM, that's the 2nd or 3rd time I've seen it and I don't know what it means.
8:09 AM
Also: Litterbug.
8:35 AM
Nick - MSM = Mary Skylar Moore
8:36 AM
Actually, the Litterbug reference is from an educational cartoon (pictured at the top of the post) that was shown yearly in my grade school.
10:38 AM
I learned a new term this weekend, seppo!
11:53 AM
a) the Gore jet story is old. Drudge indeed.
b) "A" is a vowel, not a consonant.
c) unless both your radio tuner and iPod are broken, I can't fathom why you're listening to Sean Hannity.
d) you're my hero for calling bullshit on that litterbitch.
12:41 PM
This comment has been removed by the author.
12:57 PM
Dr. S. - duly noted. Again, English is not my native tongue. What I know of English was learned from watching Fox News. Their fact checkers insist that "A" is, in fact, a consonant - and they'll have none of your Nancy-Pelosi-Hillary-Clinton-Gay-Marriage-Bleed-the-Troops-Dry guff.
On the litterchick - I got up early today to make sure that I caught the same train. The water bottle was still there, and I hopped over the fence to get it. I planned to hand it to the woman, saying non-chalantly, "Hey, I think you dropped this." Sadly, she was not on the platform. So I threw the bottle in the trash. (If this were the Drudge report, this is where they'd take me to task for not bringing the bottle home to recycle it.
The train car was crowded, so I moved through to another car. There she was. Drinking a Dunkin Donuts coffee with a crumpled bag lodged between her and the seat next to her. I was SO looking forward to busting her on littering again. But, this time, she cleaned up after herself.
I take great pride in my role as the Central Scrutinizer.
1:16 PM
I was so hoping that "a crumpled bag lodged between her" was going to go someplace else entirely.
1:33 PM
Man! It's too bad she wasn't on the platform. Handing it back to her would have been classic.
1:55 PM
i hate watching people litter. it happens ALL THE TIME in LA, and people just throw things on the ground when there's a garbage can right there! once on the bus i saw a grown woman throw her half eaten ice cream cone on the floor.
le sigh.
3:41 PM
I do not understand people who can't be bothered to use garbage cans. How hard is it, really?
4:35 PM
I want to smother you in kisses, then punch Sean Hannity in the neck.
» Post a Comment