Interlude: Barbara Bush died, but so did Don Menking

My Facebook feed was lit up today with a bunch of people saying what a saintly old lady Mrs. Bush was because of her book program or whatever, and a bunch of others saying good riddance to her because she and her family dynasty systematically dismantled US education and human rights for decades.

In the meantime, my man Aaron shared a sad little story from his home town, where his daughter’s school bus driver passed away.

We don’t have regular bus route drivers in Finland, they rotate a bunch. It’s a hard job, and bus drivers are much maligned. I’ve done my share of maligning. And yes, they can be grumpy and obnoxious and I’m sure they brake hard on purpose to make passengers fall over.

Mr. Menking worked all his life and it didn’t seem like sick leave or retirement were economic possibilities for him. How much of this was Barbara Bush’s fault, I don’t know. It sure was somebody’s fault.

And yet, now they’re both in the same place. The morgue.

And if there’s an afterlife, I hope Barbara is driving a bus full of screaming smart-mouth kids from one side of it to the other. And okay, Don can also be a passenger and she gets to hit the brakes and make him fall over occasionally. Just to keep it interesting.

But mostly I just hope they were both happy and free of pain at the end of this life. Because this life is the one that actually counts, and bus drivers and the wives (and mothers) of monsters deserve to leave it with dignity.

– Posted from my Huawei y’know.

About Hatboy

I’m not often driven to introspection or reflection, but the question does come up sometimes. The big question. So big, there’s just no containing it within the puny boundaries of a single set of punctuationary bookends. Who are these mysterious and unsung heroes of obscurity and shadow? What is their origin story? Do they have a prequel trilogy? What are their secret identities? What are their public identities, for that matter? What are their powers? Their abilities? Their haunted pasts and troubled futures? Their modus operandi? Where do they live anyway, and when? What do they do for a living? Do they really have these fantastical adventures, or is it a dazzlingly intellectual and overwrought metaphor? Or is it perhaps a smug and post-modern sort of metaphor? Is it a plain stupid metaphor, hedged around with thick wads of plausible deniability, a soap bubble of illusory plot dependent upon readers who don’t dare question it for fear of looking foolish? A flight of fancy, having dozed off in front of the television during an episode of something suitably spaceship-oriented? Do they have a quest, a handler, a mission statement, a department-level development objective in five stages? I am Hatboy. https://hatboy.blog/2013/12/17/metalude-who-are-creepy-and-hatboy/
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6 Responses to Interlude: Barbara Bush died, but so did Don Menking

  1. Well said. I’ve never seen anything in particular from Barbara Bush that makes her despicable, though I am an open-minded guy. So I too wish she is at peace, which she is because she’s not anywhere, hell or heaven, so mission accomplished there. As for the bus driver, I’m fairly confident he and his progeny have harmed the country and American people less than her and hers, so all the best for his survivors. I hope they use his story to activate and show where our country falls far too short.

    Thanks for mentioning our bus driver!

    • stchucky says:

      From a friend on Facebook:

      I’ve seen at least a half dozen “friends” of mine post heartfelt messages about how great they think Barbara Bush was today and if I see another I’m going on an unfriending spree as soon as I can clean up the vomit.

      “Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? I mean it’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?” –Barbara Bush’s response to the war her son had just started, March 18, 2003.

      This monster personally enjoyed opulent wealth gained at the hands of the lobbyists who dismantled our institutions. She raised a son who she proudly stood behind as he ravaged Texas, looted the public Treasury, and then told as many outrageous lies as were needed to exterminate over a million innocent people in an illegal war of imperial aggression all while torturing people not for any strategic purpose (because torture never serves a strategic purpose), but simply because he enjoyed causing suffering. She raised another son who turned Florida into a third world country.

      Oh, and taking credit for a literacy program that didn’t do one percent of what public schools used to do before she and her family permanently defunded them all so they could take the money and give it to churches to teach kids to hate gay people and that everyone who has sex outside of marriage deserves to die is not in any way praiseworthy.

      It’s me. I’m the one who speaks ill of the dead. Because unlike you death-worshippers, I don’t magically forget all the irreparable harm people cause just because they finally died 92 years after they should have.

      Admittedly very harsh and more than I would have said … but this is an established-ly dramatic friend.

      • Mostly blaming her for the deeds of the son she raised, which I already said I wasn’t comfortable doing. Also, yeah, I knew her views but she didn’t make policy.

        “Oh, and taking credit for a literacy program that didn’t do one percent of what public schools used to do before she and her family permanently defunded them all so they could take the money and give it to churches to teach kids to hate gay people and that everyone who has sex outside of marriage deserves to die is not in any way praiseworthy.”

        How did she defund anything, I’d like to know. I understand, these were their GOALS and remain Republican goals, but Barbara didn’t defund shit as far as I know.

      • stchucky says:

        I tend to agree.

      • Again I will say, in case this person reads your blog, that I am fully open to actual actions she took, if anyone has any to present. But thoughts and words and “that shit what her son did” will not make me speak ill of the dead.

      • stchucky says:

        I don’t think he does, unless I specifically share a post on Facebook. But yeah.

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