Sorry man, anyone who doesn’t get how horrifically disgusting Mitt Romney’s comment was about the 40-something percent of Americans that he considers to simply be Living off the government teat really doesn’t understand the world around them. First off – those of us who are paying income tax… but then get it all back in the form of a tax return at the end of the year? You’re not ACTUALLY paying income tax! And for those of us who WOULD pay income tax except for all of our deductions? We’re NOT REALLY paying income taxes!
But guess what! We’re STILL not just Living off of everyone else. We’re still paying into social security, we’re paying payroll taxes, we pay taxes on every financial transaction we make through sales tax and gas tax and the taxes on our cell phones and the tolls we pay on the roads – the list goes on and on and on. Let’s not get into who ACTUALLY is completely drawing off the system (often the elderly)… if Mitt really believes they’re so useless maybe he should’ve INSERTED those fictitious Death Panels into Romneyca… oh… I mean “Obamacare” (modeled off of Romney’s program).
The belief that almost half of the nation is some useless, non-productive segment of society is disturbingly myopic. I also think it’s telling that there aren’t many complaints that it’s being taken out of context or that it’s been forged or anything – but there are a lot of people who are agreeing with him full-heartedly. Fool-headedly too. Both sides of the race have been positively disgusting me – and Obama’s racking up almost as many Pinnochios as Romney is nowadays, but I feel like the tactics and goals of the current Republican party (party ahead of country, again and again and again) need to be put down.
Vinnie Valerio 
Charm City Social Club.
I’ve filed for my absentee ballot… waiting to receive it in the mail and I grow more and more annoyed as it is delayed further and further. In Maryland I think there’s no real danger about that (I don’t think the wording of the ballot is anywhere near finalized) – but in so many states I’d be worried that it was willful obstruction as politicians stoop lower and lower to entrench their positions. The new voter laws in Virginia even – very close to home and theoretically oh so easy to comply with – spend hundreds of man-hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to correct a problem which frankly has proven to have only afflicted about 10 people across the country. (i.e. voter fraud through stolen identity).
Ugh. The whole thing makes my head hurt.
, Matt Boyer joined me for a bit on stage for Slight Departure and took it in a dramatically different direction. 
it was a killer lineup for the night: from left to right – Amanda Lee (it was fun to see she was also rolling with her Takoma Park Folk Festival thermos), Craig Cummings, Jason Ager, Matt Boyer there in the back, the illustrious Justin Trawick, Katie Fisher, Adryelle and I… who knows where Don Kim had gotten to!
