This letter writer is Seattle passive-aggressive through and through:
Burner family’s pets not just “stuff”
While I am thankful that Darcy Burner, her family and their dog, Bruce Wayne, escaped unharmed, I was taken back by her remark: “We lost stuff. It’s just stuff” [“Screams of Burners’ son led to family escape,” Local News, July 2].
How about Charlotte, their cat, who died in the fire? I do not consider a companion animal “stuff,” and it’s unfortunate that her remark was printed.
I think or hope that she was still in shock when she said it. Indeed, if some of her possessions are “irreplaceable,” such as photos and mementos, I hope Charlotte the kitty will also be missed.
A companion animal is not an object, not “just stuff,” but a furry little friend, and part of the family.
— Claudine Erlandson, Shoreline
You know what? I’m a cat guy. Given the choice, I’d rather have a cat than a dog. But in all my years of owning, loving, and caring for cats, I know one thing to be true.
Cats are stupid little fuckers.
Seriously. They spend their entire lives not giving two shits what their owners think, only showing up for food and to sit on the heat vents. They sleep in your linen closet, crap in your house plants, destroy your toilet paper, and eat all your towels. (Well, sometimes they eat your towels.)
Whenever I read about a house fire, the article usually says “everyone got out OK, including the family dog. Sadly, the families two cats perished.” Article after article. Every fucking time.
The letter writer has her heart in the right place. I loved every cat my family ever adopted. But you know what? They ain’t human, and for 75 bucks, they’ll give you a brand new one down at the animal shelter. Yes, the cat didn’t make it. That’s sad. But the people are OK, and that’s what’s important.
“Cats are stupid little fuckers. Seriously. They spend their entire lives not giving two shits what their owners think, only showing up for food and to sit on the heat vents. They sleep in your linen closet, crap in your house plants, destroy your toilet paper, and eat all your towels.”
Sure you’re not writing about Republicans, Goldy? This sounds a lot like the average Republican.
GOP = screwing millions of workers at a time
How did you train yours to crap in the house plants? I wish I could train mine to crap only in the house plants.
@1…RR…
Talk about stoopud…Goldy is a dog guy – this thread was authored by Will.
Dogs have owners – cats have staff.
“A cat will look down to a man. A dog will look up to a man. But a pig will look you straight in the eye and see his equal.” – Winston Churchill.
Why is it on our national holiday, loony left posters only complain about the country – they never express appreciation for freedom and liberty and those whose blood secured it and who secure it now?
The Piper
@4
I’d appreciate it if folks on the right would stop F’ing up my freedom. The war on terror and the war on drugs are really just cover for the war on civil rights and for corporate control of everything fucking thing.
As to the blood that secured our freedom. My dad’s a vet, a couple of my uncles are vets (Marine Corps!), my grandfathers were too old for WWII, but I’ve got great uncles that served in WWI and WWII. My ancestors fought in every major fight all the way back to The Revolution. And yeah, I’m really fuckin’ proud of that.
But, I don’t feel the need to prattle on endlessly about it my families service. The country asked for help and they helped. And I don’t see a correlation between what my ancestors did and what the the post Viet Nam military is doing. My ancestors fought for freedom (my roots are, largely, southern, but everyone fought for the north in the Civil War) Our current military fights for empire not freedom or liberty.
One of the things you’ll find in my family and the left (most of my family vote big D) is that the don’t talk much about their service. There’s no need to prove anything.
Had the right not taken patriotism and twisted into a F’d up form of xenophobic jingoism you’d probably hear more about it from folks on the left. When you folks on the right are done shitting on our flag those of us on the left will take it back, clean it up and return it to its proper place.
4 PS
My “I love this country” post is at http://www.horsesass.org/?p=5132#comment-790556
My “you’re an idiot” post is right here.
You mean like what I am sure are your multiple Labor Day posts expressing “appreciation” for labor organizers, union activists, and, yes, Socialist and anarchists whose blood secured for us the forty-hour work week, workplace safety laws, comp for injiuries, and the like? Thanks for those.
But here’s my issue:
The blood of our brave armed forces is NOT “securing our freedom and liberty” now, and especially not in Iraq. In Iraq our armed forces are the military arm of an imperial occupation, complete with the Band-aid cover of a puppet government and even a UN mandate “legitimizing” our occupation after the fact of the massive military invasion in violation of the UN Charter.
We do have brave troops on guard in various dangerous places, and their willingness to sacrifice is noble and should be applauded. But the FACT is that the US as a nation in not in any particular existential danger right now, nor has it been since the end of the Cold War.
Where something more closely approaching an actual danger exists, such as the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, the US cannot maintain is current troop levels and is losing NATO allies because of our belligerence, ack of cooperation, and yes, our immoral and fruitless occupation of Iraq. The troops we sent to Iraq in the sham “surge” we should have sent to Afghanistan to resist the resurgent Taliban who are even now consolidating their gains, and to pursue the Al Qaeda fighters raiding out of Pakistan. But no, we can’t and won’t, because the president and John McCain are blindly obsessed with “winning” our Iraqi occupation in some unknown and unknowable way. We thought it amusing when the USSR was slowly bled dry in a similar unwinnable occupation shoring up their puppet Afghan government, but now we’re on the other end of that stick.
Until we elect president Obama and begin to realign our priorities in line with the realities of the world we face, our troops will be bravely but foolishly throwing their lives away for their country rather than protecting it.
@6
Right on!!!
I believe that the family initially thought that both of their pets escaped the fire, only finding out later that their cat succumbed. It’s entirely possible that when Darcy made that statement she was not aware of Charlotte’s demise.
I think at that point Darcy didn’t know that her cat had died. So sad. Only 3-4 minutes before the whole thing collapsed. We are all this far away from a tragedy. Everyone- get a firesafe, scan in your papers, photos and anything other papers you wish to survive a tragedy like this. We can’t save everything, but some of our treasures.
I lit a cross for Jesse Helms today.
Two hundred-some years ago, a bunch of guys fought hard to make this country special. It’s our fight now, to make our country back into the leader and beacon of hope it ought to be.
I take a short break from listening to Ray Charles to check out what’s going on here, and, sure enough, I see that it doesn’t take long before someone on the right questions the patriotism of the folks on the left.
Piper, whatever little respect I had left for you is now completely gone.
Darcy asked people who offered to help her family to send donations to their local Humane Society in memory of their cat, Charlotte. I am a Humane Society volunteer and donor, so I made an extra one for Charlotte.
It doesn’t sound to me like she is ignoring the loss of the cat. I wish people would make an attempt to get all sides of the story before jumping to conclusions. (And, yes, that’s an anti-wingnut rant.)
I heard a shriek….that you Mommy Love? It must be hard to be a woman trapped inside a man’s body.
14 M1
Are you still hiding under the bed afraid of the big bad Iraqi “terrorists?” After all, they’re coming for you when president Obama brings our troops home.
Why does John McCain want to keep us in Iraq forever? I think it’s because he loves war. Maybe something, you know, happened to him in the prison camp. Something that four homes, $100 million and spending $750,000 per month on the credit card can’t seem to buy away. Only sending our young men out to die for a lie will ease the itch.
I’ve had cats and dogs. And when the shit hits the fan, dogs are easier to find.
@11
Yup!
Samuel Johnson famously wrote in 1775 that “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” In The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce made the appropriate correction: “With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first.”
@12…DJ…
Didn’t realize you had any to begin with…
Still, you give me a non-denial denial…but never refute my point.
There’s still a lefty litany of laments about how rotten the USA is, what rotten things it does, and how rotten it’s regarded around the world.
Tell that to all those new citizens sworn in today. Don’t see too many Americans going to Swaziland or Ceylon or even Luxembourg to seek citizenship in those or other countries.
People come here because we’re free, this is an opportunity-rich land, and because the American flag still stands for something…
This even applies to illegals, but they miss one essential point: in a nation governed by the rule of law, everyone is expected to obey the law, and that includes the law that says you enter the United States via a set process, not a dash across the border.
Let’s hear it from all you liberals out there…Prove me wrong…Brag on being an American and what that means to you…What those liberties and freedoms – paid for with the blood of fallen patriots over the years – give you that is unavailable in any other country on earth.
Talk about how America is truly the last, best hope for mankind…How you regard the United States as the greatest country on earth…How you believe absolutely in the ideas expressed in the Pledge of Allegiance and The American’s Creed, which states:
Tell us how you defend the honor of your nation against all who attack it…How you stand whenever your national colors are paraded before you…How you remove your hat, put your hand on your heart and sing with gusto whenever The Star Spangled Banner is heard…
Tell us how you take delight in the great stories of our national heritage…How you weep when hearing of those who’ve fallen or been brave beyond our ability to understand, such as the story of Desmond Doss, a WW II MOH recipient who was a conscientious objector who nevertheless served as an army medic during the Battle of Okinawa. Or the story of Fr. Vincent Capodanno, the “Grunt Padre,” who gave his life in the service of a squad of Marines during the Vietnam War…
And irrespective of your view of the Iraq War, how about navy SEAL Petty Officer Michael Monsoor who threw himself upon a grenade to save the lives of others in his unit.
All of them…better men than any of us, and exemplary Americans.
They’ve set the standard for us – raised the bar to the height to which we should all aspire in service to family, nation, and humanity.
Tell us how you joined in honoring America by celebrating our Independence Day – our national holiday – in the spirit of how John Adams said it should be celebrated:
Rejoice in America…Celebrate America…Exalt America…Praise America…Proclaim the glory of America.
On at least one day of the year, be a proud American.
The Piper
@ 20
Still, you give me a non-denial denial…but never refute my point.
Oh. My. God.
Let me guess. Given a choice between listening to Ray Charles singing America, the Beautiful and listening to bag-pipes playing America, the Beautiful, you’ll take the bag-pipes.
Yeah, Will, cats are cheap and disposal. According to you, they can be replaced for seventy-five bucks.
I’m sure Darcy and her family would be aghast at your comments. I’m sure Darcy and her family miss Charlotte a lot.
Go fuck yourself, you insensitive bastard.
Your presence on this blog wasn’t missed one bit while you were away. Just go away, you fuckin’ asshole.
@20
Yup, you got that right. And then you went on and on about how everyone that doesn’t think exactly like you is a second class loser and is some how, in the land of the free, not doing it right.
We’re free to be what ever we want, to think of our country however we want, to celebrate or not celebrate as we wish. My mom’s favorite uncle lost a lung to mustard gas in France to ensure that right. From the Revolution to Viet Nam members of my family paid in blood so that people could think, pray, worship however they liked. Or not at all.
I celebrated my fourth of July by noting my personal independence. I ate food that I grew in my garden. I baked some of my own bread. I went for a bike ride and tuned up my bike myself rather than taking it to a shop. I smiled at the thought that in two weeks I’ll own my car outright, no more beholden to the bankers.
Piper, you forgot the story of Tomas Fuson who left the south to fight for the north in the civil war. Never heard of him? I’m not surprised his story isn’t well known. I know it because I’m a Fuson.
And I’ll think, do, say and celebrate however the fuck I like.
@20
I read this morning about the heavy handed restrictions China is taking for the Olympics and it made me appreciate the freedoms we often take for granted in America. We should all take pride in being American today.
However our country was not made great by patting ourselves on the back. We should also remember it was our dissent with England that led us to independence. Those voices who oppose our own keep us and our government on the correct path.
20 PS
I’ll prove you wrong.
Tell that to the president you cheer on. His administration has never seen a law they didn’t spit on.
They violated the law when they politicized DoJ hiring.
They violated the law when they mobilized government agencies to aid Republican candidates.
They violated the law to eavesdrop on Americans without a warrant.
They violated the law by declaring US citizens to be ‘enemy combatants.’
They violated the law when they planned torture sessions at the highest levels of government and the president personally approved the plans.
And for some reason you think we’re wrong to insist that the administration should be “governed by the rule of law” or “expected to obey the law.” Which tells me you’re no patriot.
From Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary:
PATRIOT, n.
One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.
PATRIOTISM, n.
Combustible rubbish read to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name.
I feel sorry for her cat, but Darcy still could enhance her weak resume by serving me that cup of coffee.
“We lost stuff. It’s just stuff” is just a single quote. For all we know she could’ve broke down in tears on the reporter’s shoulders lamenting the passage of her cat.
Newspeople like short snappy quotes and soundbites. Their coverage shouldn’t be taken as gospel.
Cats are fucking retarded, just like the America haters on this board. Some cultures eat them. Is that cannibalism, because they’re part of the family?
Kill millions of unborn babies and it is a ‘civil right’, but a cat dies in a fire and the whole fucking world crumbles. You people have some seriously fucked up priorities.
Darcy Burner only asked people to do two things to help after the fire:
1) donate to their local animal rescue and/or shelter organization in memory of Charlotte the cat, and
2) donate to the firemen’s benevolent fund in support of the first responders that responded so quickly for her family and to protect the neighboring homes.
I know *some* cat lovers would like to have seen Darcy kneeling in her driveway tearing at her hair, crying and distraught about Charlotte, but you are crazy. First, public displays of grief for cats are considered really weird in our society, although private grief is respected. Second, death of a cat has always ended up feeling deep and personal to my family, not something for the entertainment of the masses. Our cherished memories of our cats are ours, not fodder for ridicule from people like Will. Why would Burner want to give anyone ammunition for lame attacks?
Do you hold the same disdain for people like george soros and some of the rich democrats? You only whine about rich republicans so it’s hard to tell if you are jealous of rich people or hold republicans to a higher standard.
By the way, that “sending our young men” crap that didn’t work against bush certainly isn’t going to work with mccain having a kid in iraq and obama never serving his country.
I hear Daddy Love was voted most popular name by nambla. Kudos for the most excellent choice.
There’s nothing passive-aggressive about that at all. Annoying, sure. But not passive-aggressive. It does not mean what you think it means.
Right if she was on the scene and didn’t tell Darcy what she thought in person, just went behind her back and only wrote a letter to the paper, that would be passive aggressive. But if not, to write the newspaper and offer the opinion that cats are not stuff, saying Darcy is wrong, is not passive agressive.
However, when you just her doing so is annoying or dumb or wrong, and instead you call it passive aggressive, that’s YOU being passive aggressive.
I think this post is passiv
My late cat, Betty-Mabel, was smarter than all the trolls here, and over half the libs. She was fluent in three languages, was a celebrated detective, and could tell you to fuck off more ways than you could ever possibly imagine. So, on behalf of Betty, fuck off, Will.