A Valley community's decision to change the way trash is picked up provided further proof of how deeply the nation's anti-government, "tea party"-fueled sentiment is running.
A decision by the Fountain Hills Town Council to hire a single trash hauler and begin a curbside recycling program has been met with angry protests from residents who accuse town leaders of overstepping their bounds and taking a leap toward socialism.
Some even likened it to "Obamacare" for garbage, calling it "trashcare."
An Arizona website affiliated with the Alexandria, Va.,-based Campaign for Liberty, azc4l.com, features an intimidating, cigar-chomping man standing in front of the town's famous fountain next to a story about the issue.
And last week, a flier was circulated around Fountain Hills with an ominous icon and the phrase, "The Hills Will Have Eyes," and that claimed the "Fountain Hills Green Police" checked residents' garbage and recyclables, and as a result, "you are wanted for questioning."
On Thursday, a divided council approved a five-year contract with Allied Waste Services to be the single hauler and begin a recycling program. Residents currently can choose among five haulers and the town has no curbside recycling.
That single issue generated a nearly five-hour public hearing and council debate that went past midnight ...
From Talking Points Memo and the Arizona Republic.
Come on! Anyone of any kind of conscience would have to be thinking that these guys are seriously off their nut. Right? Socialist garbage collection. You have got to be kidding me. If this is the kind of substantive work they will be doing, progressives have nothing to worry about.
I'm almost looking forward to the next couple of years for entertainment value alone. Here's hoping that Michele Bachmann gets a leadership position in the new Republican Congress.
12 comments:
The question is whether they will recognize the mess they've made as things deteriorate further and further? I suspect that no matter how much influence they have, they'll never take responsibility for their actions; they'll continue to blame every bad thing--to eventually include global warming, I wager, when even the brain dead cannot deny it--on Democrats.
I'm afraid of them acting like a trapped animal - the more they feel threatened by people proving them wrong, the more they'll fight back to prove they're correct - even if they know they're wrong - just to save face
I'm hoping that they are given enough rope that they'll hang themselves out to dry with their crazy schemes. After two years it should have become obvious that they are unfit to govern anything.
That's funny, almost all of your comments I just read have been said about the Democrats when Obama took office. I heard the EXACT same crap from Rush, Hannidy and Savage. Same words, same mind set. Seriously, it's time for people to stop picking sides and just fight for what you *really* believe in. Quietly.
" ... it's time for people to stop picking sides and just fight for what you *really* believe in" -- Like keeping our trash collection from those commie bastards! Having one company collect our trash and recycling?! The horror!
My contention is that if that is what they "really believe in", then their cause is already lost. Whatever noble intentions (if there are any) the movement may have originally had have been drowned out by the wingnuts that have been accepted into the tent. I can speak of these wingnuts because I see them on a daily basis. I have several clients in Fountain Hills and the attitude displayed by the residents described here is all too common in Arizona.
No, I'm not saying the Tea Party is any kind of example of what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people maintaining this us vs. them mentality to the destruction of the country. I hate partisan rantings from anyone. If you're not part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.
It's not Democrats vs. Republicans. It's not Tea Party vs. Everyone it's not Liberals vs. Conservatives...it's got to stop. And the rantings I see in these comments on your post are part of the problem: Democrat/Liberal elitism.
"Democrat/Liberal elitism" -- Using a pejorative exclusively spoken by conservatives is not exactly elevating the discussion and is definitely not "part of the solution".
It's not "us vs. them". It's rationality and reason vs. fear. I almost never write about politics or politicians specifically. I write about issues that affect me on a daily basis: education, immigration, the environment, etc. I posted this article because it was local and it is exactly what is wrong with politics -- injecting political partisanship into an area it has no business being.
I'm unapologetic about speaking out about stupidity, hypocrisy and those that use fear. If people are looking for socialism in their garbage-service, then this generation's Joe McCarthy is not far behind.
dbackdad said: this generation's Joe McCarthy is not far behind.
He (or she) has probably just been elected.....
Truely the people in the US who talk about Socialism have *no* idea what they're talking about - at all.
"all of your comments... have been said about the Democrats when Obama took office"
This hardly makes the comments equivalent. Indeed, this is one of our entertainment-driven media problems, this idea that 'balance' means nothing more than point-counterpoint coverage. An article about evolution must be countered by the wish-thinking of someone with their head in the sand concerning biology--and our media think they've thus done their duty; they've given the "other side."
But in this case there is no other side. One side is right and the other wrong, plain and simple.
Sure, there are irrational people on the left too, but I would argue that irrationality is not intrinsic to Democratic political thought; and it has become so for a big segment of the American political right.
For my part, I will not react to an angry froth of lies and misinformation and bad ideas by sitting quietly by.
CK -- Indeed. Most over here have no clue and use "socialist" and "fascist" to describe the same people with no apparent sense of irony.
Wunelle -- You pegged it. Hats off to FOX News for somehow fooling a large part of the population into believing that "fair and balanced" means giving two viewpoints of unequal validity equal time. That's almost understandable considering who runs FOX. But the fact that they scare networks like CNN and the classic networks into repeating it is unforgivable. And because of threats to get rid of the Center for Public Broadcasting, NPR and PBS often go too far out of their way to present an unequal viewpoint.
dbackdad said: Most over here have no clue and use "socialist" and "fascist" to describe the same people with no apparent sense of irony.
Anyone here of my age has lived under several Socialist governments and survived. Indeed I have helped vote in several of them! I stopped voting Labour because they turned their backs on Socialist ideology so I have a reasonable idea what Socialism is. Luckily for those on both sides of the 'Pond' we know nothing of living under a Fascist government - though I do have the uncomfortable feeling that you guys might find that out sooner rather than later... and I don't mean Obama.
I agree that in chasing this bogus idea of "balance" the non-Faux media have thrown out their BS detectors. They don't dare call BS on something which another major network will happily promote as "true," for fear that they will seem biased! How's that for the tail wagging the dog?! Truth for the media has become what most people want it to be.
This is why the Juan Williams thing so pained me, because I utterly dread that NPR should be infected with the same poison as has ruined most of our other news outlets.
If NPR constitute a "leftist" outfit to the Faux News crowd, then I will seek out "leftist" news coverage.
Post a Comment