To the lovelorn who mock Cupid as stupid and can't wait for another Valentine's Day to pass: Relief is closer than you think.
For most, there is no crueler day of the calendar year than that of
Valentine's Day. While a tiny fraction of the population can look
forward to a holiday of wine and roses, poetry and song, the vast
majority of us can anticipate a day of nausea and grimacing, trauma and
grief. A day in which minutes seem like hours, and hours like days, as
we reflect sorrowfully on yesteryear's romantic indignities, today's
loneliness, and the unknowable but certain heartbreak that will be
visited upon us repeatedly in the years to come.
The primary motive behind Valentines
is MONEY. And plenty of it! Hallmark is cleverly cashing in on
the sales of Valentines Day greeting cards. The same with people who sell
flowers, Candy and cute cuddly bears. They all do this under the guise
of something called Love.
Valentine's Day is like herpes: just when you think its gone for
good, it rears its ugly head once more. No wonder some people prefer to
call it VD.
Whether you got dumped on New Year's Eve or were
stood up in Central Park, you can still get in a last dig at that
not-so-special person on the Internet, where bitter candy hearts and
testimonials to romance lost abound.
On anti-Valentine's Day sites across the Web,
the lonely commiserate over breakups and the lack of movie-perfect
romance. Some sites suggest pranks for that heartless "ex." Others
lambaste the faux-holiday as a marketing enterprise that portrays love
as being all chocolates and roses.
"For a long time, I wasn't in a relationship and
it was a really a torturous holiday," said Megan Green, 35, a graphic
designer in New York. "You are surrounded by people who are expecting
all this stuff and you go home to nothing."
This year, instead of bon-bons, Green bought two boxes of BitterSweets, an anti-Valentine's candy from Despair Inc., a cynics' novelty retailer.
Shaped like the ubiquitous chalky "I Love You"
hearts, these candies are inscribed with slogans like "Do My Dishes"
and "Pre-Nup Okay?" Green shared some with friends at a party where
guests felled a Cupid-shaped pinata.
"Almost everybody, no matter how happy they are
in their relationship now, has been through an unhappy, dysfunctional
and toxic relationship at one point in their lives," said Despair Inc.
founder E.L. Kersten.
"I'm actually surprised at the amount of
reactionary movements that are popping up — you don't see it happening
with Christmas, Easter or Halloween," said Marc Leonard, a Black Hearts
Party producer and co-editor of the Internet site.
He cited protests by hardline Hindu groups in
India — where heart-shaped greeting cards were set ablaze last year —
who say the Christian saint's day encroaches upon their culture.
"Valentine's Day is intruding on people's
personal lives...(Love) should not be mandated by the marketing
division of Hallmark and the idea that everyone in the world should
celebrate that specialness at the same time strikes us as false,"
Leonard said.
I wonder if there were shots involved prior to the shooting? Rough sport. Driving around in an Escalade that has a wet bar in the
back. Stopping to get out and shoot farm raised birds that come when
called. Brave men!
Did any of you tune into the afternoon press conference at the Christus
Spohn Hospital (Corpus Christi Memorial), where Dick Cheney shooting
victim Harry Whittington is being treated? It wasn't as exciting as the White House briefing earlier this afternoon.
Peter Banko, the hospital administrator, and Dr. David Blanchard,
director of emergency services, stuck to their main talking points:
Whittington is definitely not croaking; he's in stable condition, not serious or critical; he's being moved out of the ICU, although
he's not being released today; and he's in good spirits, even cracking
jokes. (Banko and Blanchard declined to share any of Whittington's
jokes.)
Then came the press questions — which turned out to be as silly as those posed at the White House conference that we blogged about
previously. After Banko and Blanchard rehashed their talking points
about four times, Dr. Blanchard slipped up and deviated slightly from
the script: he admitted that not all of the shotgun pellets would be surgically removed from Whittington (who was hit in the face, neck, and torso).
The White House said today that President Bush was informed Saturday evening that Vice President Dick Cheney
had shot a fellow hunter in South Texas earlier in the day, although
the news was not disclosed publicly until Sunday afternoon.
The shooting, which occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, left a
prominent Austin lawyer and Republican campaign supporter, Harry
Whittington, wounded by shotgun pellets in the neck, shoulder and chest.
"Chief
of Staff Andy Card called the president around 7:30 p.m. to inform him
that there was a hunting accident," a statement released today by the
White House said. "He did not know the vice president was involved at
that time. Subsequent to the call, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove
spoke with Mrs. Armstrong. He then called the president shortly before
8 p.m. to update him and let him know the vice president had
accidentally shot Mr. Whittington."
In a contentious news
briefing with White House reporters earlier about a subject that
captivated the capital today, Scott McClellan, the president's
spokesman, said he himself did not learn until about 6 a.m. on Sunday
that it was Mr. Cheney who had shot Mr. Whittington, 78, when the two
were on a weekend quail hunting trip along with several others at the
Armstrong Ranch.
I'm thinking the shooting victim is trying really hard not to let loose on Cheney... Look at the following statement...
"Whittington sent word through a hospital official that he would have no comment on the incident out of respect for Cheney."
It
sounds like a nice thing to say, but it really isn't. If he were being
a pal, he'd say, "Darn! My fault! shoulda told him I was behind him"
Just maybe
Cheney wasn't tippling, and maybe his pacemaker or defib device
(whatever it is) didn't malfunction; maybe the adultery angle is not an
issue. Maybe it was just pure chickenshittedness. Cheney didn't want to
deal with a misdemeanor investigation and that bad PR. If so,
chickenshittedtness may be what finishes him off as VP. That would be
poetic justice. I think that sums up a lot about this case, including
the shooter trying to put all the blame on the shootee. I think that
sums up most people's gut reaction that they will not be able to avoid
no matter what their politcal leanings: "What a chickenshit!"
If
this is true, he would have had a far better chance of surviving this
if he had just dealt with the laws and regulations like a stand up
responsible type of guy.
Burr was a good VP while wanted for murder in two states. Maybe Cheney would have seen the error of his ways and shaped up.
How
many wingnuts will be able to say "Geeez, it was just *shooting* some
guy!" Or, "Well, if he had done everything according to those overly
burdensome regulations, then the liberals would have...." Or blame it
on the "feminization" of society, you know, getting all upset over
knife wounds and gunshots and sissy things like that.
For most, there is no crueler day of the calendar year than that of
Valentine's Day. While a tiny fraction of the population can look
forward to a holiday of wine and roses, poetry and song, the vast
majority of us can anticipate a day of nausea and grimacing, trauma and
grief. A day in which minutes seem like hours, and hours like days, as
we reflect sorrowfully on yesteryear's romantic indignities, today's
loneliness, and the unknowable but certain heartbreak that will be
visited upon us repeatedly in the years to come.
Did any of you tune into the afternoon press conference at the Christus
Spohn Hospital (Corpus Christi Memorial), where Dick Cheney shooting
victim Harry Whittington is being treated? It wasn't as exciting as 
