I'd been sharing my random thoughts on twitter almost a year by that point, and I had the sudden (maybe not-so) bright idea that maybe my twitter followers would want to hear my thoughts about the stories I was reading. Yes, narcissistic, I know. But it didn't stop me.
Today, I had another inspired idea. I thought, "I wonder how accessible some of my snarks are? How could I make them more accessible?" Accessible, as in, "more understandable". Like the euphemism?
So we'll see where this goes. I was pretty religious about Sunday Snarkies for a while. Maybe the desire to explain them will help me be more regular.
Enjoy my first installment of #SundaySnarkies Explained.
...and we're off. #SundaySnarkies
This is how I've decided to open my Snarkies sessions. It's intended to give my followers a warning that I'm about to spew about 10 tweets whose only relation to each other is that I saw something in the Sunday paper that inspired them.
During an emphasis patrol in my county, 69 DUIs were issued. Not 68. Not 70. 69. I love my county. #SundaySnarkies
I live in Thurston County, WA, and law enforcement ran a DUI emphasis patrol from August 19 to September 5. That's 17 days, if you do the math. It's not three weeks. It's not three business weeks. It's not a month. It's not half a month. It is SEVENTEEN days. They could have run the emphasis for three weeks or a month and gotten more than 69 DUIs. But they didn't. They stopped at 69 DUIs. Think someone overseeing the "emphasis patrol" has a twisted sense of humor?
I'm all for "rekindling national unity", but why do we need 911 as an excuse? #SundaySnarkies
I mean no disrespect to the families of the 911 terror acts. To the contrary, my heart goes out to the victims, their families, their friends; to the cities that bore the brunt of the attacks. Most of all, my heart goes out to New York City's Firefighters and Police Officers and all the aid personnel that helped save lives, or worse, gave their own lives.
What I find ironic about the headline I took this quote from is that implies we, as United Statesians, need some emotion-evoking event--one so etched in our collective psyche and so extreme--to give us a reason to behave as if we like each other and as if we all have a common reason to unify. It seems to say we all have a commonality that is somehow transcended by the monstrous acts that took place on September 11, 2000.
Why can't we treat each other the way we would like to be treated without hiding behind 911 as the excuse?
It takes a bomb going off at a US base to remind us there's still a war in Afghanistan? Meanwhile, GOP debate gets airtime? #SundaySnarkies
Yes, the headline literally reads, "Bomb at US base reminder of war raging in Afghanistan." And yes, we all got to suffer through a GOP debate last week. Which one do you think is more newsworthy?
I've been lobbying for months (albeit intermittently, and not real formally) that the death toll from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq be on the front page of every paper. It should be an opening line in the nightly news of every network that runs a nightly news.
Instead, we're treated to the debacle that is today's politics. Actual airtime is devoted to what is more steadily becoming a representation of plutocrats. And they get to tell us what they think. I find that a little bit sickening.
Apparently in our school district, if you stay off the NCLB Needs Improvement list, your pay gets cut. That's incentive. #SundaySnarkies
The connection here is admittedly obscure. NCLB is the No Child Left Behind Act; an enduring legacy of the intellectual giant, George W. (Pardon the sarcasm.) If your school gets put on the Needs Improvement list, the educators in that school get to jump through a lot of not-so-small government hoops to prove they are doing their jobs.
In the school district my kids have attended since kindergarten, our educators have done a sufficiently good job to keep all of our schools off the list (at least I couldn't find them on it). However, those same educators are now facing a salary cut. Granted, it's "only 1.3%", but come on, really? These are the people with whom we've entrusted the education of what should be or most precious resource--our children. And how are we rewarding them? How are we incentivizing keeping our schools off the NCLB List? That's right... a salary cut.
"Ports Brace for More Action" headline very misleading. I thought it would be about a sex ring run by Longshoremen. Damn. #SundaySnarkies
Let's just blame this one on my #innerteen.
Wow. 66 out 147 #WA lawmakers have waived their pay increases. Only 81 (55%) to go. It's not the $. It's the symbolism. #SundaySnarkies
Our state budget is a mess. For various and countless reasons, it is what it is. But our legislators in Washington State have been making or agreeing to expenditure cuts all over the place, and some of our biggest hits have been absorbed by Washington State employees. I get the whole finding efficiencies thing and cutting costs through organizational optimization. I've performed enough of those kinds of activities myself to understand why businesses (and yes, I think government is a form of business) undertake them.
But when you're writing and passing the laws that are taking dollars out of pockets of the employees on whose shoulders you're standing, I just think you need to lead by example and take a pay cut yourself.
Just saw a McDonald's BOGO ad. Seriously? Is the food so bad they have to give it away now? #SundaySnarkies
Seriously. All over the web edition of my local paper. This is wrong on so many counts, I wasn't sure where to even start. I'll just leave this one as it is, accessible or not.
"Groper" described as "tall, gangly, and white". I'm shocked. #SundaySnarkies
There's some dude running around Yakima copping feels. Yes, he runs up behind women and grabs whatever body parts he can get his hands on. Before I even got to this line in the story, though, "tall, gangly, and white" is exactly the picture I had in my head. The only thing they left out was "greasy-haired". Call it stereotyping, but that's just the image I get of a guy that would do this.
I don't want to underestimate the seediness potential of other statures or ethnicities, however. I'm sure there are several members of other groups who have done the same thing. They're just not my go-to mental picture. Sorry.
And if you think that last tweet was weak, cut me some slack. I'm barely half-way through my second cup. #SundaySnarkies
I'm occasionally self-snarkie. I hope you appreciate the self-deprecation.
Feel Good #SundaySnarkies 1: If you're looking for a way to commemorate 911, try this link http://www.familiesofseptember11.org/donate.aspx
Feel Good #SundaySnarkies 2: Poor habits sent Dad in for bypass. 911 video effects kept him 2 extra days. Consider AHA. http://www.donate.americanheart.org/ecommerce/aha/…
I'll explain the last two together. Since I started Snarkies, I've always tried to end on a positive note. Sometimes there was a feel-good story I saw, an op-ed piece I thought was well-written, or a cause that I could tweet about. Then I saw the good that came of the tragic loss of Rachel Beckwith and her dream. Since then I started including two charities in my Sunday Snarkies. Yeah, you have to wade through my obscure, sometimes-immature, usually left-leaning Snarks, but if you hang around my tweet stream long enough you'll get a chance to do some good.
That's it for today. Back to inane chatter about #homebrew and other random thoughts.
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