The most anti-Constitutional President ever.

With each new controversy, I’m beginning to sense more than a pattern. I’m seeing an out-right breaking of Constitutional safeguards, designed to prevent such gross government intrusion. Let’s start with the First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof“. We see in ObamaCare how those religious institutions that do not wish to participate with abortion were set to be punished.

“Abridging the freedom of speech”, the IRS scandal involving the suppressing & intimidation of donor groups towards elections.

“Abridging the freedom of the press”, well Obama has had most of the media in their pocket since the beginning, yet he still spied on them and the opposition i.e. Fox News & James Rosen.

“Abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble”, what is the PRISM & Meta-data from Verizon et al about? The government gathering a massive database of peoples’ phone records, to what end? To look at “patterns”? Um, who’s writing the algorithms? Can we look at them too? Otherwise it is “guilt by association”, looking at a target phone number of a political enemy and see who’s their constituents.

So suppose in the last year I called or emailed Senator Hornblower, for whatever reason. Since Sen. Hornblower is a Republican, Obama could look at who’s called, oh I’m on the list. I wonder why.

This also violates the Right to Privacy, as well as the Fifth Amendment, whereupon if there is any and all court proceedings I have a right to face my accusers, as well as Lois Lerner pushed, I can’t be forced to incriminate myself. However those records aren’t being used for criminality, other then the fact that they are criminalizing politics.

If you recall in 2009 Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, released who they considered was the “threat” that they were going to investigate.

“Paralleling the current national climate, rightwing extremists during the
1990s exploited a variety of social issues and political themes to increase group
visibility and recruit new members. Prominent among these themes were the militia
movement’s opposition to gun control efforts, criticism of free trade agreements
(particularly those with Mexico), and highlighting perceived government infringement
on civil liberties as well as white supremacists’ longstanding exploitation of social
issues such as abortion, inter-racial crimes, and same-sex marriage. During the 1990s,
these issues contributed to the growth in the number of domestic rightwing terrorist
and extremist groups and an increase in violent acts targeting government facilities,
law enforcement officers, banks, and infrastructure sectors.”

So anyone they see as disagreeing with them. Notice who the IRS targeted? “Abridging the freedom to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

He’s gone after the Tenth Amendment when sued Arizona for daring to enforce Federal law. He’s going after the Second Amendment after every tragedy. The PRISM violates the Fourth Amendment which protects against Search & Seizure. His drone attacks on Americans violates the Sixth and Seventh Amendments. The ObamaCare, which was held Constitutional only because “it was a tax” is a violation of the Eight Amendment, which talks about prohibiting excessive fines. Which Amendment is next?

The promise and the victim.

I realized something yesterday. I was wondering why Latinos & African-Americans continue to see themselves as “the victims”. This continued to be a dis-connect from reality, yet this election showed that there are a large number of people that believe this. Then it came to me.

America has a promise, that’s what makes it so great. But what exactly is that promise? As it turns out that’s the key here. The actual promise is that everyone has an equal opportunity. However some are selling it as everyone has an equal outcome, of prosperity. That’s a high hurdle, everyone? Prosperous?

So obviously not everyone is going to reach that, especially if the work, effort, & even sacrifice is not put in first.

“I didn’t get what was promised, you’re at fault!”

Well now did you work for it?

“Doesn’t matter, I didn’t get what was promised!”

Now, a Democrat happens to walk by, “you didn’t get what you were promised? Vote for me & I’ll take it from him, (with a ‘small’ fee of course)”

Then a short time later ….. “I’m still not getting what I was promised!”

“Oh well they must have made you a victim then, but I’ll protect you from them so keep voting for me.”

This is the lowest form of snake-oil salesmen, to prey on another man’s suffering, feeding him poison to keep him suffering, and then benefit from that pain. “Want the pain to stop? Oh well that won’t happen if you vote for them. Sucker.”

So how do you combat that? When you’re dealing with pain and denial, what can cut through that?

Well for starters the “rebranding” will always fail. Right now the left has convinced these people that they have the cure that ails them. Looking back through the centuries at the “norms” of that time it was considered medically sound to use leaches and drill holes in the head to “release the evil spirits”. In a hundred years, hopefully, the fallacy of Socialism will be considered the equivalent of drinking Mercury. http://www.cracked.com/article_15669_the-10-most-insane-medical-practices-in-history.html

The question then is: what forces were there at those times in history that moved the society in general away from the “norm”? What will be our equivalent of discovering Penicillin?

What are you looking at me for? Damned if I know, pft.

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

Looking for my next book.

Anyway I’m nearing the end of this book I’m reading, “Arguing With Idiots – Glenn Beck”, and looking toward the next book to read. However I’m kinda deciding which direction I want to go. Here’s what I’ve read so far.

• In The Garden Of Beasts – Erik Larson (If you want to see where we’re heading today, spooky parallels)
• Mugged – Ann Coulter
• Demonic – Ann Coulter
• Boss Tweed – Kenneth D. Ackerman
• Liberal Fascism – Jonah Goldberg

I also read a couple of Star Trek books around there as well (Kirk, all the way, baby) so I’m going back and forth on what I want to read. Go to the next political book, I have dozens. Go onto so something light, like maybe Lord of the Rings or Sherlock Holmes? A mix of the two, like re-reading 1984? Heck, I have a couple of Alton Brown’s cookbooks I can read. Then there’s what I downloaded on the Kindle, about a couple of hundred there. Just not sure what next.

It’s like looking at a buffet with only a small plate and trying to figure out what I’m hungry for. meh.

Case in point….

So yesterday I went to one of my local Outback Steakhouse restaurants, I usually go once a week, and I order the same thing, the Filet Wedge. It’s simple, it’s iceberg lettuce with dressing and a side of steak, what’s not to love? (The higher-plane-thinkers at Corporate though took it off the menu for some reason, however the manager here still makes it for me, nice guy.)

Anyway, I have an issue with onions, a bit of an allergy. Garlic too, sigh I miss garlic. Well yesterday I get this waiter who just does not listen. First I tell him outright that I want my order without onions, and I use the word “allergy”. Not a hard concept, it’s not like I’m asking to have the croutons taken off, I have an “a l l e r g y”. I also tell him that I have a lunch rush since I happen to need to be at work for a mandatory meeting, so I can’t be late.

So, I’ve been in restaurants where I tell them I’m in a bit of a rush, sometimes it helps and other times not. It still takes a while for my order to come out, another server brings it, and ….. it has onions.

I admit I was pissed, still am actually. How hard can this be? No onions, and raw onions at that. I make it perfectly clear to the server that I don’t want them to bring it back and just flick off the onions, then serve it to me. However I also chastise him because now it’s going to take longer to make a new set. I timed it, I received the “new” order in eight minutes. At one point the manager did apologize to me, but it still took extra time.

Now here’s where I’m super-pissed. How long does it take to “cook” a salad? And if the chef tells me personally he cooked a new filet I’ll call him a liar to his face, the steak I had though cooked was cold. So it had to have come from the last order.

The waiter did come out and talk with me, I had told the server that I wanted to talk to the person who specifically put the onions on and find out why he ignored it, so the waiter said it was his fault and not the chef’s since he didn’t put the “no onions” in the computer. Then the chef is an idiot too, ‘cause I order the same thing every week, on various days, this is not new. I order it the same way each time, no onions and regular seasoning instead of the wood-grilled seasoning. “Oh, it’s that guy, he’s back, sure I know exactly how it’s done. Wait, it doesn’t say ‘no onions’ are you sure? Go check, he said there’s an allergy involved, I don’t want to call 911 today.”

So the waiter screwed up my order, he didn’t fill my drink, and I had to ask him twice for extra dressing. Time-wise? Well, to be safe I left for lunch 15 minutes early, however even after that I ended up getting back late. I made my meeting, however that was only because I went early. I still had to wolf down my meal, it was cold, and I ended up having my stomach in knots for hours because of this.

Anyway as I was leaving I talked to the hostess at the front and told her what happened, and asked her to do me a favor and not sit at his table again. I also called the corporate headquarters and left a voicemail about it and suggested the waiter just do dishes, that’ all he’s suited for.

But this is what my earlier post was about, the managers of these restaurants have to realize their customers are not there for hours, they have a finite time for lunch, and if there is a request for a change especially when it involves an allergy that needs to be emphasized. How hard can this be?

Not trying to be a “foody”, but….

I figure I might as well mention a few places I like around the Phoenix area, at least my opinions of them, so take what you like from this.

The first place is “The Parlor”, which is on Camelback across the mall by the 51. From what I’m told it used to be a beauty parlor, hence why they kept the name. My wife and I have had three meals there, different on each one. The first time was a simple meat and cheese platter with a pizza split between us. It was pretty good (although I’m originally from NY, so I admit I go by that standard, have yet to see anything like that here.) The second time we each had our own individual pizzas, which you can custom make to how you want it. Next time I have to remember to ask specifically for cherry tomatoes. The last time we had the shrimp and calamari, which was quite tasty, and we both did pasta dishes. I had this Pappardelle Bolognese dish with large pasta, which was quite good, my wife had a ravioli dish with white bean puree and mushrooms, I tried it and it was quite creamy.

We also tried “The Vig”, nice place but the food we both felt was a bit bland, the appetizer and the main dish we had.

Lastly we tried this tapas place by us, the “Timo Wood Oven Wine Bar”, very nice décor, the patio with a fireplace, quite stylish. We tried several different tapas, cheese course, bruschetta, and a couple of the lamb chops (mmmmmm meat lollipops, ahem, sorry.) So far we’ve only been there once but we’re looking forward to the next time.

Anyway I’m not sure if I’ll do regular entries here on restaurants, maybe. We’ll see. I do want to mention something off of my chest here. I often go out to eat for lunch, some of the restaurants around me are good, some so-so, the usual gamut. The one word of advice I really wish I could impart on restaurant owners: please remember that people on their lunch break are often trying to get back to work, so please please pick up the pace. There are places I’ve stopped going BECAUSE the service is so slow, I may like the food but if I’m getting back late from lunch what happens? I either have to wolf the food down, which means I’m not enjoying it, or I’m leaving bad tips for the wait staff. Dinner time is completely different, usually that’s after work is done. But lunch time I usually estimate 20 minutes from sit down to signing for the check. If that’s a problem then mention it at the door with the Maître D. Otherwise, I’ll stop going there.

 

Edited 2/28/13

Sorry I realized I didn’t mention where the other two were. The Vig is on 16th St., I think close to Bethany Home. The Timo Wood is on Central Ave. up close to Dunlap.

Lessons from working at an airport.

I just read some tweets about how we shouldn’t engage in Hollywood since they’ll never accept Conservatism. I admit I get that point, however I also had an equally opposing view from when I worked at an airport mumblemumble years ago. So I thought it might help to clarify.

I used to work at JFK airport, way back at the TWA terminal. My job was working on the baggage sorting computer, so I fix from that system up to the wall, that’s it. From there Building Maintenance  is supposed to work on things: photo-eye misalignments, motors not running, belts slipping, etc. The problem often would be if there was anything wrong with the system, “it’s the computer’s fault”, meaning I need to fix it. Didn’t matter if flights were delayed, I had to prove it wasn’t me, it’s them.

Now of course I was not allowed to go into their arena, take a look in this cabinet or anything. Yeah, those are high voltage cabinets and I’m not rated, also it’s a union shop, so I have every reason to say “not my problem”. But what would I do? I would go into those cabinets and show them where the problems were. “It’s this relay, right there, see? Says so on the diagrams and everything”.

What I learned is that it doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, just get the bleepin’ thing fixed. Something is in your way? Go around it, under it, or what the heck, through it. Get it working, now.

So yeah, Hollywood is 100% biased against us. We will never, ever, change their mind. Screw it. Go around them, under them, over them, even through them. They are not the only media outlet. There’s a reason they are no longer the gold standard, that it’s going to other media outlets around the world. When you look at ticket sales from Conservative movies, like D’Nesh D’Sousa’s 2016 ($5.8 mil in opening weekend), when there is a market for it there will be a new “Hollywood”. Maybe in Houston or Omaha or wherever, we can build it.

And so what if we don’t get an “Oscar”, let’s create our own awards show. I wonder what we can call the statue…..

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

Random stuff I’ve said.

I basically just went thinking of all the random stuff I’ve said over the years, figured I’d write it all down. In no particular order.

• If at first you don’t succeed, use a bigger hammer. (Works in all sorts of situations, tax audits, guy cuts you off…)
• They say that Road Rage is a problem. It’s not a problem. It’s a solution. If it gets people out of my way so I can get where I need to go, it’s a good thing.
• If you’re the only sane man in an insane world, does that make you Anti-Social?
• He’s as subtle as a case of herpes.
• If there is any justice Bill Clinton & Sandra Fluke would be locked in a phone booth.
• I watch Judge Judy for my daily affirmation: “I am not this loser that stiffed this woman.”
• Every time someone re-tweets me an angel gets his wings. Or follow me. Or something, I don’t know. Do it or the puppy gets it!
• Every sarcastic tweet you make a puppy dies……why do you hate puppies?
• “The Means Justify the Ends.” No, the Means Define The Ends.
• I can’t believe today was completely wasted. All I did was work, not one bit of twitter. feh.
• Is it me, or is it weird seeing a 65 year old woman at Costco thumbing through 50 Shades of Grey? It’s just me then.
• Sigh. I am so far behind I can look back and see my own birth.
• I was wondering, if the Pope sneezes what do they say? “It’s ok, you don’t need to ‘bless me’, I’ve got the hat & the ring, so I’ve got it.”
• Can you imagine if everyone in the Vatican had a cold? I can see the memo, “until further notice the term ‘bless you’ will be suspended”.
• I just once want to see video of the Pope motorcade with the theme from Shaft going in the background. Just once. YouTubing the theme from Shaft now. “The Pope baby, can ya dig it?”
• I just had a thought…..nope sorry, false alarm, as you were.
• Definition of Wisdom: The art of taking “Ow, dammit, that was really really stupid” into useful information.
• Salad is just a means of eating dressing.
• It is never moral or appropriate to take from someone else to fulfill your own feelings of compassion for another, do it yourself!
• Republican definition of charity: Here, let me help you up to be as successful as I am, here’s a little something to help with that.
• Democrat definition of charity: Oh, you poor thing, it must be those people who took away from you, here take his wallet. Money from me? pft
• Every night I give my cats treats, to bribe them so they won’t smother me in my sleep. Cute furry little death machines.
• Coming this fall on NBC: Are you smarter than a Vice President?
• Someone actually asked me what I was going to do for the holiday. Really? I’m a simple guy: Sleep, Eat, Crap, Repeat.
• I find it funny that the New York New York hotel in Las Vegas has authentic homeless guys at the entrance.
• Arizona has two seasons: Hot, and Not-So-Hot.
• Fourteen out of ten people say math is hard.
• I’m a Master at Fung Shway Anything, where the mouth and the mind are totally separated.
• I must say ladies, I am amazing in bed. But then I wake up.
• Want to know the secret to losing weight? If you eat twice as fast it’s in you half as long.
• You know you’re getting old when songs your parents hated, like ACDC, Madonna & Twisted Sister, become elevator muzak “Hmm, isn’t that ‘Big Balls?’”
• I don’t consider myself a Calvinist, Hobbes was much better anyway. Gotta love those imaginary friends.
• I used to think the number of years gauged a man’s age, now I see it’s the number of pills you need to take in the morning. “I’m up to 4.” “Eh, you’re young. Talk to me when you’re in the teens.”
• Life is too short for grudges. So get your revenge early.
• Sarcasm is my mutant super power.
• Tomayto potahto
• Ever notice there isn’t enough evil laughter at inappropriate times? “Hey Gramma, wanna go to the lake? Mwwawawaaa.”
• I find it funny that the Left is opposed to death penalty, for assisted suicide, yet put Sandiuski on suicide watch.
• The saying “if you can’t beat em, join em”, now said by Unions “if they don’t join? Beat em!”
• I think this solves Arizona’s Immigration problem, we just ship all the illegals to Chicago.

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

We’re All Gonna Die!!!!!!……reposted.

I posted this at the beginning of this year, figured I’d repost it. While I still can……{creepy organ music ensues}.

I wish I can remember where I read this, but I saw a cartoon about a year-ish ago. It was a two-panel piece, the left side had an archeologist reading some Mayan hieroglyphics and says “according to this the world is going to end in 2012!”. The right-side panel has the Mayan guy writing on the stone tablet….” Tink tink tink… please remember to order next year’s calendar”.

Democrats: Still the party of slavery

Ever since this nation’s founding there have been two sides, usually falling between two political lines. Whether the names change, from the Know-Nothing party and the Whigs to the current iteration of Democrats and Republicans, certain philosophies have remained at their central cores. For Democrats, the history has shown them to be the party of the subjugation and suppression of an entire populace for their own benefit.

From the Civil War, to Unions keeping “the negros out”, to the passage of the Jim Crow laws, the “back of the bus” laws, school segregation, all policies were created and enforced by Democrats. Each time there has been attempts at redress, Democrats have blocked it; the creation of the Klu Klux Klan (violence and intimidation), blocking the Civil Rights act of 1964, bodily blocking schools and announcing “Segregation today and segregation tomorrow”.

Oddly though there was this weird game of Musical Chairs. Long ago there was a chair labeled “racism”, which Democrats sat gleefully. They drew power from it, they got elected by using it, so they enjoyed a lofty perch. KKK Grand Kleagle Robert Byrd won election after election on this platform. Lestor Maddox and Bull Connor used attack dogs and fire hoses with impunity.

Republicans though never sought that chair, they instead fought against it with passages of the Civil Rights laws and taking on Unions and KKK members. Over time their power began to grow, newly freed slaves voted Republican in droves. Until….

Democrats saw the writing on the wall, got off the racism chair, pushed the Republicans into it and told everyone they were the non-racists all along. A bit of re-writing of history, and Republicans did all the crimes that they themselves did. That story-line is in effect today, still using the racism chair but not actually sitting in it, they don’t need to since their followers believe the switch. “We’ve always been good, it’s those mean Republicans that were the racists all along.”

This allows them to use the exact same methods of intimidation, violence, and subjugation towards the means of slavery. Their “logic” is simple. They view the Republicans, without evidence, to be racist, they’re Fascists, they’re coming to take away your rights. Therefore that gives them license to use violence, intimidation, whatever Fascism is necessary to take away the Republicans’ rights. “Bush is Hitler, Republicans are Fascists, so that means we can beat them down!” That’s subjugation and suppression, justified in their view. Even the current talk of tax increases is another means of their subjugation.

Let’s take an example. Which is larger, $100,000 or $1 million dollars? $1 million right?

So now pull back to the “bigger picture” for the context of that question. Just for math’s sake, let’s suppose Mitt Romney made $10 million a year. And because he’s a greedy Capitalist with friends in the Congress he’s able to skate with say 10% income tax rate. That would be a bad thing, right? After all he should pay his “fair share”. Of course Jeffrey Immelt and GE paid $0 taxes BECAUSE they do have friends in Congress. They also have all their companies overseas for cheap labor to evade those taxes, but Romney has a few mil in the Cayman Islands and we hate that, but Google’s ok, move along.

Ok Romney of course hates people. He found out that Congressman Blankity passed a law that gave everyone a minimum salary, along the lines of the minimum wage, of oh say $100,000 a year. That’s a good deal of money, that’s more than double what I make now, cool beans. So eeeeevil Mitt Romney calls up his boys in Congress, “curses, foiled again. I know, let’s raise their taxes, how about 100%, that’ll show them!” Now that $100,000 you’re making all goes to Uncle Sam instead of you. Well that’s not fair!

However, even at that rate, who still pays more in taxes? “Which is larger, $100,000 or $1 million dollars?” The amount of money from Romney is still ten times more than if they were to confiscate every penny from you.

“But it’s the rate, it’s the rate!”

Fine, we’ll put you back at his 10%, that’s $10,000. Which is larger, $10,000 or $1 million dollars? He’s now paying 100 times more, how is that fair?

“But having the taxes at 100% for me isn’t fair, how can I live?”

That’s true, and no one is actually suggesting that, on the Republican side that is. Forcing someone to work without compensation is, what class? “Slavery”, that’s right. To expect someone to work for you, to provide for your needs, wants and comforts, without providing an adequate compensation for that work is not only illegal (we went to war, passed some laws, maybe a Constitutional amendment or two, but who can keep track) but it’s also immoral. This week we saw Unions protesting that they want a decent wage. I, as the employer, would be acting immorally to have those workers provide for me without pay.

Now my raising that tax rate to 100% is no difference. In that example the government would be benefiting from slavery of a group of people, and as the bloated bigot Michael Moore says, there’s only 400 of them. Wouldn’t that make them a “minority”? Guess subjugating a minority is cool then.

“They need to pay their “Fair Share!”

What’s fair? How is it fair for a man to be forced to pay 100 times more then the next guy? Does he get 100 times more benefit from the government then you do? Does he magically grow 100 times bigger? Is his life 100 times better that he somehow needs to atone for daring gasp to achieve the American Dream?

How about the other direction, what about the 50% of the country that pays 0% in taxes? How is that fair? By what right do they have to then say “we’re poor, therefore that gives us the right to have you be our slaves to work hard without getting your fair compensation”? How about finding out how those people made all that money and try it for yourselves?

I, as a worker, have value. My time is valuable to me. My skills, experience, intelligence, motivation, full-on sweat, bone and sinew, all have a value that I decide to place on the market. I go to an employer, here is my value. The employer then decides if those skills, experience, and sweat will allow him to make him money. If he uses my value without compensating in equivalent amounts (i.e. slavery) then I walk. If I over-reach and expect that the employer to give me more then he’s willing to provide, he won’t hire me. I need to be able to show that the addition of my value will benefit that employer more then what I am costing, otherwise the business ultimately won’t be able to pay for other costs, such as other employees, rent, utilities, etc., and have to shut down.

“But the employer shouldn’t make money, that’s greedy.”

And that’s your problem. You are insisting that he work for free, that he needs to work under slave wages. Just because a man opens a business doesn’t mean that physics stops, that he doesn’t need to pay his own mortgage, utilities, food, gas, “Lisa needs braces”. Should he tell the supermarket that they should work for him for free and just give him food? Wouldn’t that be passing along slavery onto others?

“Yeah, we don’t want to be slaves to the man, we’re all just a slave. Freedom man!”

We all are, yes. We all have needs, some wants, and a few healthy desires. In theory. If none of us had zero needs, then yes we could unleash all of those shackles. I tend to still need to eat though. I need to have a roof over my head so that I can keep the rain off of my Xbox. I want to have entertainment on this magic box every night, and those super zippy messaging over those ‘puters too. However that does not mean that my wants become a need at someone else’s expense. My own wants, needs and desires are my own responsibility, no one else’s.

That unfortunately means that I have a value on those things. Other people that wish to provide them also value them, so they will trade that with me for the appropriate compensation. To not do that would be immoral as that is theft and slavery. The appropriate response then becomes “yeah, we’re all slaves, until Star Trek becomes real and we get personal food synthesizers and teleporters.” Otherwise, no matter what, if you want to call it that then yes we are all slaves to ourselves.

The ultimate “slave states” BTW are the Communist nations, people in work camps, making stale bread for people to wait on long lines for the basics. That’s the Democrat party’s wet dream.

“Well shouldn’t they just make what they need? Why does he need to $10 million, why not $5 million and give the rest to us?”

Again, that’s the same trap. He’s now getting less for his labor for your benefit, that is not moral. Besides who is to say that his needs are no more or less than mine, or yours? I think you don’t need a computer……. so why aren’t you getting rid of your computer? It’s the exact same thing, I get to determine what your needs are if you get to determine what Mitt’s needs are. Maybe I should say your needs are to live in a six by eight room eating only Ramaan noodles. By what moral or legal right do I make that determination? I don’t. And neither do you.

So Romney and others work hard to earn their millions, they provide a service to the company that benefits from that work and skill so that it, and the employees along with him, are able to get their compensation. If he goes to a company and says “ten million, right here”, he better perform such that the company not only earns that to pay him, also the employees in the company, the lights have to be paid for, gas for the trucks, and on and on. He needs to in essence produce more then he’s worth, we all do.

I may think that my skill-set is worth ten times more then I’m getting now, you may think yours is twenty times. Ultimately there is always going to be the loss, you never get twice as many crops as the work you put into it, you never get more than a dozen eggs at the store, there’s no way of changing it. The “solutions” of the Democrat party are meant to artificially unbalance it so that somehow it does allow more energy out then put in, which always leads to, repeat after me class, subjugation and suppression. In any given electric circuit the power-in will never equal the power-out, there is always a loss, unless you take from another source. In order to create that type of “economic circuit” some have to have their resources tapped so that others can have that benefit. However it’s always parasitic, it never benefits the “source”.

Ultimately this type of policy fails in the long-run. Con men throughout the generations try to bring out “perpetual engine”, snake oils, Ponzi schemes, and so on to create that false sense of “you’ll get more coming out then you put in, trust me”. Eventually enough people see through it and walk away, always happens. Unfortunately it doesn’t mean that it stops people from trying, they just change the card on the side of the truck to something new. “Oh no that wasn’t us, that was Johnson’s snake oil. We’re Frederick’s tonic.”

It’s going to take time. I read an interesting article about the medical practices over the centuries, from a few decades ago on to a couple of hundreds. From sawing off limbs and leeches, drilling holes in the head, to drinking water laced with radioactive pellets, if any of these were even suggested today people would recoil in horror. However if you were to talk to each of those doctors they would swear that they were doing what was best for the patient, they are so ingrained with that belief as those that believed the sun rotated around us. Yet if you were to time-travel any of them to today to show them the error of their ways I’m sure they would also recoil in horror at what damage they’ve done.

The current political climate is no different. The Democrats are true-believers. They are of the same mind-set as those that torched Galileo, they are so ingrained that what they’re doing is the right course, unfortunately oblivious to the damage it’s causing. Hopefully it won’t take a hundred years for them to see, maybe a single generation. Conservative philosophy does work and has shown to be the cure for what ails, we just have to convince them to put down the leeches.

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

A book review of Boss Tweed by Kenneth D. Ackerman

I’m originally from New York, Long Island for most of my life, then on to the big city, and lastly to Phoenix for the past six years. However I still see myself as a NewYawker, probably always will. There were always great names of people, always in the background though. Like, who was LaGuardia? Robert Moses? Some guy named Tweed, really? (Hey New York educators, maybe if you stopped warehousing kids and try teaching them about NY? Aw who am I talking to, Randi won’t let ‘em.)

So considering the current political climate I decided to read up on the infamous Boss Tweed, where I found Kenneth Ackerman’s book. I found it well written with great historical context, giving not only the characters but the events surrounding them. The book is a great illustration of how corruption in politics has always been something that’s surrounding big money, and that ultimately had to be fought back.

The book goes into great detail of the rise and fall of the hero of Tammany Hall. I’ve heard that term on occasion, “Tammany politics”, but never knew where it came from. As a side-note, it’s on par with the Chicago-style of politics that we’re seeing from the current administration. Tweed was the “Mayor Daley” a hundred years earlier. In fact I find it interesting that Tweed’s party, which was Democrat, and Daley’s party, also Democrat, were using the exact same tactics that the current Democrats use today. As I’m reading this book I could easily substitute any number of names into it as synonyms: Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barak Obama, take your pick.

There’s also great detail about Tweed’s protagonists, such as the New York Times and Thomas Nast. I found it ironic that originally that paper was Republican-leaning and a lone voice against the corruption, completely unlike today’s leftist cheerleader for the corruption. Interesting how they’ve turned into the very same people, tactics and all, that tried to run them out back then, hmm.

Thomas Nast of course was the brilliant cartoonist that put the entire Tweed Ring into simple images, such as the Tammany Tiger and the Tweed Ring stealing from the State Treasury. In fact at one point Tweed had escaped prison and was later found and identified from one of Nast’s cartoons. I think that’s actually a key point, the effective use of humor and ridicule against this administration, to point out how the Emperor has no clothes, distilling each and every corruption to its undeniable essence.

Lastly there’s not only the theme of political corruption and the cost that it creates on the body politic, but also the story of eventual redemption of the city itself. After all it’s been 140 years since Tweed’s death, and we can see New York City is still shining bright. The book details how the Tweed Ring bilked (at today’s dollar’s-worth) possibly over a billion dollars, racking up enormous debt on the city from European investors. Sound familiar? When the scandal was uncovered it wasn’t until a change in management when European banks would begin to trust New York again. Maybe we should try that.

To compare and contrast, New York City under Tammany rule did see benefit to the graft and corruption, for example property values tripled in Manhattan as construction boomed. Today we see massive graft and corruption with Solyndra et al, yet we’re seeing an economy in distress. Graft was considered at that time to be part of normal business, the grease that made the machinery move. Another example the author at the end hints that were it not for Boss Tweed there may not have been a Brooklyn Bridge, which is debatable. It was however the extreme level that Tweed engaged in that caused his downfall. Today’s analogy is that graft is an acid to the machinery, damaging the entire body politic.

So I took from this book that corruption in politics is going to be around, that it has to be fought back each generation, we just have to work at recognizing it and standing against it. Tweed used dishonest means for what he felt were honest ends. Tweed’s “weapons of choice” were voter repeaters, paid-off judges, paid-off legislators that ultimately “legally” voted his city charter to essentially “legally” bilk millions. He used intimidation, bought-off newspapers, and attempted bribery to fight against his enemies such as the Times.

Of course nothing at all like today’s Democrats, who claim voter suppression when voter ID laws are discussed, which allow people to vote for Republicans? No, Democrats. Judges who create law instead of following it, laws that benefit Republicans of course. No, Democrats? Wow. Legislators that create entitlements that essentially pay off votes, votes for Republicans too right? No, Democrats. Say anything against this? Well then aren’t those Republicans protesting on the front lawn? All those Republican-leaning newspapers reporting all this?

Yeah, Tammany Politics still lives, and that’s what we have to stand against. The saying “The Ends Justify The Means” isn’t really true, the Means Define The Ends.

The Parable Of A Dog Named Spot

There once was a dog named Spot. He was your basic mutt, a mix of breeds from all around. His owner was as conscientious as any other owner, regrettably though over the years he fell into the usual routine. Spot would yelp for food, so he would get the food whenever he wanted. However the owner wouldn’t watch over how much he gave. Over time Spot would get heavier and heavier, to the point where just walking would make poor Spot lethargic and wheezing. Where in his youth he would bark enough to cause ner’do’wells to pass his house by, now they openly mock him.

It’s of course quite apparent that something has to be done. Spot’s health is getting worse by the day, some even warned the owner of the urgency. Yet the owner, although still caring for Spot, simply did not see the danger.

“Perhaps if you just put Spot on a diet?” some suggested.

“And starve my poor dog? Surely he will die! You fiends!”

“No no, just do with a little less, that way he gets back to his youthful size and he can run and play and not sound all wheezy, ok?”

“That will make him skin and bones, he’s working just fine as he is, I will never listen to anyone who hates dogs as much as you do!”

The point of course is that our government, whom we as a society have entrusted for a specific purpose, has grown past that purpose. It is bloated and wheezing, a mockery among the international community. Every time there are serious people who suggest one dollar less to the government there’s a reaction as though they’re suggesting a complete and total dismantling of the government.

“Close that office? (That’s obsolete, redundant, and duplicates three other offices) Why you want to shut down all of the entire United States?!? Good day Sir! I said ‘Good Day’!”

The idea that every dollar sent to government is a) beneficial, b) efficiently used, c) used for its stated and intended purpose, d) used in a manner that cannot in any way be duplicated in the private sector in a more beneficial and efficient manner, is as cruel as feeding a dog more and more without limit.

Liberalism, a psychological discussion

Well, I think the first thing we have to realize is that Liberalism could be classified as a mental disorder, albeit one that is learned instead of caused by a malignancy. There are many cases where once a Liberal is hit with facts, truth and logic that they simply cannot refute they ultimately break from that fantasy world and move back to reality.

The manner in which this manifests itself could be analogized as a parent/child dynamic. Conservatives are often called the party of “No”. That’s often true, at times you have to be told No. “Can I have some candy?” No, you’ll spoil your appetite. Now go wash your hands for supper. In all aspects of life there has to be boundaries, that’s unavoidable. But the child often disregards the boundaries, even when it’s for their own good. “I want to do drugs”, um, No that’s bad.

Liberalism is the philosophy of the child. “I want, therefore I get it. What do you mean I have to pay for it? My parents do that, other people do that, not me.” Any time you actually attempt at logical discourse you get the result of a child: tantrums, name-calling, twisted and inane “logic”, and often the refrain of “I hate you!”.

This also leads to secondary issues. First is the fantasy world that’s created: Global warming exists, tax cuts harm the poor, Democrats were always for civil rights & never oppressed anyone, standing up for your own rights therefore means a war on [Fill in here]. Attempts at “intruding” on that fantasy world often get the reaction of a child: tantrums, name-calling, twisted and inane “logic”, and often the refrain of “I hate you!”

Next is the projection. The “child” develops reasoning through emotion, not logic and fact. “I feel I should have a cookie, therefore it’s true. I didn’t get the cookie, therefore it’s unfair!” You then get that “bad man” absolutism, where if you’re not with me you’re automatically against me and you’re automatically “bad” for all time. As with all emotional extremes, if you have passionate love for something the opposite can also happen, passionate hate. “Oh look at those cute fuzzy bunnies, oh I just wuv you to death. Those bad meanies want to hurt you so I really hate them!” Hence the projection, since in their world they easily get into the love/hate modality, if you don’t agree with X, which means you’re not passionate in-love with it, well then you must hate it. “I wuv blacks, and I’m going to give them all this candy, oh they’ll just eat it up. Candy doesn’t give them cavities, you must hate blacks, you bad man!” The result: tantrums, name-calling, twisted and inane “logic”, and often the refrain of “I hate you!”.

Lastly you get the simplification of the child. If you were to explain why it’s good to eat broccoli because of the health benefits or it will lead to better eating habits in the long-run, it’s not going to be understood. So you tend to give quick and simple answers. “Because I said so.” “There are starving children in China.” At some point though children are supposed to develop reasoning abilities that allow them to get past that. However if that reasoning ability is suppressed, you remain in “sound-bite” mode. “Bush lied people died!” “No blood for oil!” “I know you are but what am I?” etc.

This last part alone I think could be classified as a learning disability, and pretty much a purposeful malpractice on children in general. If it was the sole problem it could be corrected, but unfortunately we have an ideology that’s modus operendi is to not only enforce this lack of reasoning, but also inflict infantilizing its constituency. An enforced child philosophy as public policy.

How to overcome it. Well unfortunately the Republican party has had a dalliance with this philosophy, mostly the “try to be friends with your child” attitude that allows their kids to do sex and drugs without responsibility. “We need to cross the aisle, be friends, bosom buddies, bi-partisan, all the world will love us then”. Yeah, that’s worked for 50 years now. So now the house is a mess, the kids are running around screaming and making trouble, the neighbors are complaining, and the parents are hiding in the basement.

It’s now time to say No. The child needs to have a time-out. The adults need to clean up and restore sanity.

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

On Public Sector Unions

On another blog I posted this in response to someone’s post on Teacher’s Unions, these were two responses I had.

The problems aren’t that the unions are or are not protecting the workers that they represent. First off it’s the means of representation what’s got a lot of the people rightfully concerned about, i.e. beating a black man daring to speak his mind. The leadership of these unions are using tactics that would make into the Great Fascists Hall Of Fame yearbook. They have in the past been great forces of increasing safety in the workplace, bringing workers’ rights and benefits, just to name those few. However the Means Define The Ends.

Using a different analogy, a man rapes and murders a woman, the cops eventually catch the guy and it is the right guy. However the cops beat the stuffing out of him to get a confession. Should the confession stand? After all, it’s where the just thing would eventually lead to, right? No, it’s thrown out because the means to get to that were tainted.

The same with all the union intimidation and violence. They may have the valid and moral high ground, 100%. But once they pass that line then forget it, out you go.

Then there’s the main reason that unions are in big trouble today, and that’s the public unions. FDR knew it way back when that they were a bad idea, that’s why he fought against them. In a private business the workers have a grievance, say work hours. A union would represent them to the management where there is either an agreement or there isn’t. Each side then has their own options, one side can strike, the other side can lock out, all sorts of things. In between all that, which is forgotten every time, is the customer, who represents them? All they can do is either go to someone else, wait it out, or maybe even side with their chosen team to add sway in the negotiations. Ultimately, hopefully, a compromise is reached because the union needs to recognize that management has the jobs that they need and management needs the workers to create the product or perform the service.

Public unions are a completely different dynamic. The management are the elected officials whom are supposed to be entrusted with the money of the customers, the taxpayers. The unions and management are often in collusion with each other since they mutually get their power, taxpayer money goes to unions which the dues are contributed back to the officials/management. Heck if you want you can ban that completely, all unions are no longer allowed to donate to any political party or individual candidate.

“But what about companies that donate to Republicans??? See??? You guys just side with Big Business and screw the workers!!” Again it’s two different dynamics. The private sector donates to both parties but the legislator, in theory, are not interfering with the negotiations between the union v management. The donations are pretty much a protection racket at that point and have nothing to do with the union/management dynamic. Public unions have an outright collusion between management and unions. Sever that tie and I will guarantee that there will be a sea-change in the view of how Americans see unions.

The second response:

Unions at one point were necessary and did drive alot of the work safety and benefits that we enjoy today. However like many things the Democrats often find a source of power of it’s been corrupted and twisted.

Republican line of thought – Give a man a fish and he eats for a day but teach a man how to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Democrat line of thought – Nah we’ll just take the fish from you every day you greedy bastard

Look around you, the problems that we’re facing today, where did they originally stem from. I bet that the initial response was of compassion but it was eventually twisted by Democrats. Food stamps, minimum wage, pensions, unions, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, even more I can’t think of had at its core an attempt to address a real problem with compassion. Yet over time they were corrupted into the evil old hag sister at the end of the movie that needs to get killed. “But we can’t kill it, you uncaring prick!” So what do we do to solve the problems then? “oh…..I don’t know…..got any fish?”

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I were King For A Day – Pitchmen

The next thing I would do is go after the U.S. Congress. For too long both parties have shown they cannot be trusted with the People’s money. As Jackie Mason once said “we should put them on commission”. So we’re taking that away from them.

First thing we do is they can no longer vote themselves pay raises. They no longer get paid from the U.S. Treasury. Instead the State that they represent will pay for them, and that amount will be voted for by the people in the State. If Representative John Johnson wants a raise, he should put it on the next ballot and list all his accomplishments. Then the People can decide if he’s worth it.

Now the way that a bill passes into law is: an idea is given either by a Constituent or by the Representative. It goes to a Committee where they vote to put it to the floor. Debate and amendments later it goes to a full vote, where it then goes to the other side to vote, any differences and there’s a Committee that works on that. Eventually after passage it goes to the President to sign or veto, then there’s the whole dance there. And of course 100 years later the Supreme Court eventually says blahblahblah.

I’m going to add another layer to that: the People’s voice. Yeah, you guys forgot us, only when you want our vote to keep your sorry behinds in office do you talk to us. But once you get into that shiny office you never think about us. So here’s what we’re going to do. That whole part that you do where you put a bill through Committee and to the floor, that’s fine. But before it goes to the President, it comes to us next.

Every Election Day there will be special ballot initiatives where you can list all the wonderful things that you want forwarded, what it does, that way we can decide whether we want it or not. Send us a 2600 page bill? Better fit it all on one page in readable type for us to understand it, cause we’re voting on that as though it’s a binding contract, only what’s in the four corners of that paper is valid, NOTHING else. And not “referencing to bill of on page 2,643,232”, nope. The top of the bill will show which part of the Constitution allows for that, otherwise it is invalid. After its majority-voted passage in each of the States and then the majority of the States, it then goes to the President. After all, Congress is supposed to be the saucer where the coffee is to cool. Yet you’ve been doing bad things with that coffee, passing bills that we “have to pass it before we can see what’s in it” and being astonished that we would dare expect you to read the bill. Fine, don’t, but we will.

Annual budgets will be the same thing. You’ll also have to make that streamlined ‘cause that’s eventually going to be Redlined as well. No budget, like you’re doing now? We can have it five ways, your choice. First, make the budget due-date right before Election Day. Second, a total and complete tax holiday for everyone until you get the budget, after all how are we to know how much to send to you if you don’t know. Third, say the budget is due on March 1st, so if there is no budget in 90 days then there is an immediate recall election, at your complete personal expense. Fourth, you don’t pass a budget you don’t get paid. Fifth, you don’t pass a budget then we’ll treat it like you get a ticket where your license (to run for office the next Election) is suspended until it’s paid.

So the Congressmen will change their roles into Pitchmen, explaining to us why we should pass their phony-baloney bill. That way they will no longer take us for granted again, they will remember that we are their employers, not the other way around.

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

If I were King For A Day – Redlining

So the other day some guy came up to me and said “You!” Me? “Yes you. You have to fix all this, we’ll do anything you say but it has to be done by today.” Really, you must be digging the bottom of the barrel then. “Come on we’re serious, say you’ll take the case, please.” ……Fine, ok but we’re doing it my way right? “Yeah whatever you need.” ooookay.

First thing we do on the local level is something I call “Redlining”. Often times I get really annoyed at politicians who use Police and Firefighters as hostage in budget negotiations. “We can’t spend one penny less otherwise you’re firing Police and causing more houses to burn!!!” Um, I think we can look at the budget and pare back a bit of fat. “Hey everyone he’s firing teachers now!” The solution to this is to Redline the budget.

Every dollar that is spent in the budget will be listed and put under the office or budget or whatever. Some aspects of that budget that is under the Redline will be LAST for review for budget cuts. Police and Firefighters will automatically be Redlined. So supposing there are say 500 budget items before Police and Firefighters, are you telling me that each one of those offices has zero fat to trim before we get to the blue and red? Do you think we can maybe do with a few less limousines in the government?

So how do I get my office on the Redline? It will be put on the ballot, the people of the State will decide if the local zoo really needs to have gold-plated toilet seats or not. This isn’t to say that they’re voting to cut that budget item, just whether or not they will be first or last on the budget cutting block should that need to arise. Redlining is affording them a bit of protection, basically put behind a firewall as the last ones to fall instead of the first. The voters will then decide that.

Now when you’re Redlined that doesn’t mean you’re free and clear. Your budgets will undergo even greater scrutiny, everything is reviewed either annually or semi-annually, whatever the voters decide when this first becomes enacted it will be passed as a ballot initiative for them to decide. If you’re a Redlined budget office and you do something screwy, like buy $200 hammers or such nonsense, then you’ll be taken off Redline status and won’t be allowed on for two full years, and then the next election day you can petition to be put on the ballot for Redlining, but you’ll be listed as someone that was taken off for XYZ.

Notice that I did not put schools as an automatic “put on the Redline list” like I did Police and Firefighters. That I believe the local voters will decide that, they know the local schools best, not the people over in the next county. So for the purposes of their property taxes and whatever other local means of payment are used, the local ballot initiative will list the schools and ask whether such-a-such school is to be Redlined. In the ballot literature they’ll list the cost per student, test scores, whether they have problems with drop-out rates or if they have spectacular school bands, whatever is needed to show why they should be last on the list instead of the first. The schools of course will be reviewed every, say, four years on whether to retain on the Redline list.

Of course any office can be taken off Redline voluntarily if they don’t like to be scrutinized. After all their everything will be plastered on websites and in mailing literatures. If they feel their budget is so necessary they can go with the odds that they won’t be cut back or chopped, that’s their option. However, other people will be way behind you on the list. It will be a firing squad where you all will line up in single file, the Redlined people will be on the tail end.

This way when you eventually do have to cut things and the “they’re firing Police again” we can say “no, they’re Redlined, they’re safe. “Oh, well they’re firing Firefighters too”. “Nope, they’re Redlined too”. “The schools? They’re coming after the teachers!”. “Sorry no, 90% of them are Redlined. How about we cut those gold-plated toilet seats?” “……………..” “Oh wait, aren’t they your contributors?” “Why, I never been so uh insulted uh….I yield back my time.”

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

And now, the Socialism post.

Yeah, someone had to write it, might as well be me. I want to preface that this is my opinion, so anyone reading into this as though I am singling anyone out, I’m not. I am speaking in generalities based solely on my observations, which admittedly may be flawed. Void where prohibited.

So, Socialism sucks, Socialism is evil, Socialism fails every time it’s tried. Bad bad bad.

Now that either has people skipping to the next blog post or not, might as well just keep going.

Let’s start with a caveat to the Left about Socialism: Socialism works. And now I’ve lost the other half reading this. Please allow me to explain.

A few years ago I visited my father who at the time lived on Hawaii, Kona island I think. We did the tourist thing, driving around here, seeing this beach there, the usual. One thing he pointed out was that there was this area of the island that had a Commune. Really? I thought they all faded away. He described how they had no electricity, no running water, so it’s like one big camp ground. I see, they’ve turned Amish. Or Gilligan’s Island.

That was when it hit me. Socialism works. Small scale. A group of people with like-minded goals come together and follow the same philosophy, sort of like those that follow the philosophy set forth by the Constitution, but I digress. It would seem it worked for them, with maybe a degree or two of difference among them. (Not sure if it did or if it’s a great experience, I like my AC in the summer. Oh and penicillin and showers too, those are nice. Chocolate, nuff said.) So if you want to live that lifestyle then enjoy, it’s your life.

This of course led me to further flesh out my thoughts on Socialism, hence this post. It does work small scale, but like many experiments that go from small scale to full scale it tends to fall apart. We see the prime examples around the world in China, North Korea, Cuba, even in Europe where their attempt at Socialism-lite is crumbling. Cities here in the US that follow Socialistic policy are often the areas with the most poverty and crime, so we see that even going to city-size it fails. The one leading reason falls under one word: Utopia.

Often times those that seek out Socialism have in mind an ultimate goal of what they see as the end point of their dream, how the world would look like after all their hard work. (At least I hope they do.) Much like an architect has drawings and to-scale mock-ups of a building, the Socialists see the entire big pictures with all the levers in place and how it runs. They can actually tell you how the trains will run on time because …. So they see it, it’s right there, don’t you see it too? Turn around it’s right right there. Oh it’s so beautiful. It’s Utopia.

That unfortunately is why it begins to fail. What exactly is Utopia? Or more to the point, what is Utopia, to YOU? Nope, that’s not it. And you over there? Nope not even close. The problem is that your vision of Utopia is different than mine. So then who wins? Heck we can’t decide on what baseball or football team to rally behind. Do we have a single national beer or soda drink? How about a single definition of art? There is no natural way that as a human species we can all agree on one single concept, and that’s actually a good thing. When we look at totalitarian nations like North Korea we see them all monotone and uniform, without an ounce of individuality or imagination allowed to show. (I remember watching Star Trek and seeing how everyone on a specific planet would all dress exactly the same….eh.)

So then who’s vision of Utopia comes true? The Environmentalists? The Vegans? How about the complete removal of all technology and go back to an Agricultural society, like the Amish? Or in Afghanistan? What about my vision of Utopia, can we try that too? No? Well that’s not fair. So who’s vision wins out?

That ultimately shows the beginning failure of Socialism. In the end Socialism is a gun. It is power. And only one person can hold on to it. There are those that think they might get a turn, doesn’t work that way. I’ve got it, no one else, and what I say goes. So the others think at least they’ll be in the immediate circle to have power-lite, these are what Stalin referred to as “Useful Idiots”. When it finally hits the fan, and it always does, they’re the first ones to get it. All these college students that believe they’re part of working towards this glorious Utopia are really the ones that go under the tank treads first. “To die for the Socialistic Utopia!” But hey, they could be the lucky one that gets that gun first. Notice it’s never the guy that has the gun that gets it in the shorts?

What happens to the rest of us? Let’s take as a hypothetical that I actually believed that everyone had to wear boxing gloves. After all, it’s safe for everyone. And no excuse, every person in the country. Ridiculous right? People would come up and explain the impracticality of that, how it’s not effective for the purposes I originally stated, and gosh darn it we’re not gonna take it.

Well. I have the gun. Too bad. Bang. At first I try to show reason and explain why I want this, but there are still people that refuse. Don’t they see the good this will create? I’m going to have to silence them, after all if you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem. Oh they think they have a right to protest? We’ll see about that, put them in jail, and don’t worry about being nice about it after all they’re not working with me so I don’t have to work with them. I’ll take over the media so the only information about it is what I want people to know. They’re still resisting? That’s because they know otherwise, so they’re a lost cause. I’ll get to the schools and teach the kids who don’t know otherwise that it’s always been my way. Yeah, that’ll work.

We see in every totalitarian regime where they silence the opposition with intimidation and violence, where are there “political prisoners”? Not in Maui. The press is harshly controlled, the schools are rigidly controlled, and the elderly are either starved out or killed off outright. (Tea Parties vs. OWS, Leftist Media, indoctrination in schools “Barack Hussein Obama mm mm mmmm”, and “Death Panels”. Never happen here, pft.)

What ends up happening, what always happens, is that the system turns to sadism to strip away the rights of people, making it harder for them to speak against Utopia (Oh it’s so beautiful…). We see this happening now, people being shouted down for daring to disagree with ridiculous concepts like Global Warming or “99%”.

Throughout history in one form or another there are a group of people that feel they have lofty goals, they truly feel that they’re out to help the people. Yet each time they fall into the same trap, they end up burning the house down with the people in it to save them. The system then devolves to a tyranny, with only a select few that eat at the table on Filet Mignon while the rest, even the ones that helped the cause, end up in poverty eating only rice.

This eventually leads to the Cult of Socialism, where it in effect becomes a religion. There’s the Promised Land, the Utopia, where they can just see it, it’s right there. The writers of “The Word” become elevated to “Prophets” status, where whatever Lenin, Stalin, Marx, Che, every utterance is totally gospel without question. (“we kind of agree with Mao that ‘political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun.’” Ron Bloom, “Manufacturing Czar”, “Workers of the World Unite” Andy Stern, former head SEIU) This also leads to a Good versus Evil paradigm, after all Utopia is always good, those people keeping us from Utopia (oh it’s so beautiful), must therefore be evil. Anything that is used to fight evil, no matter what the means are, is justified to get to that Utopia (oh it’s so beautiful!) There starts a tunnel-vision aspect, where facts, reason, logic and historical data is not seen or registered. Therefore they are unable to see the pain and death that their philosophy, their religion, creates. The sole focus is getting to Utopia (oh it’s so beautiful!), where all sins are forgiven despite the sins they engage in to get there, after all, they’re pure. The Ends justify the Means. And after all, it is Utopia (oh it’s so beautiful!)

That’s why whenever you tell them how Socialism has failed every time it’s tried, that it creates a total dystopia where human civil rights are non-existent, that every regime ever has had the blood of millions of people, they don’t see it. They can’t. All they see is it’s up ahead, next exit and down the road and we’re there (oh it’s so beautiful!) They’re so close. All the sadism they invoke, the deaths of the past, it never makes them bad people, after all their intentions are so pure that surely this time it’ll be different. “All those other people, they were monsters. But we know what we’re doing, and we’re much more pure at heart to go that way, because we say it won’t. So shut your bleeping pie hole! We’ve been wandering the desert for 100 years, Utopia (oh it’s so beautiful!) is right there, and well you’re in the way.” Who’s going to win on that scale?

There’s also an air of condescension and arrogance with those who study and believe in Socialism, as though they understand some inner truth that no one else can see. If you refuse to see it, well it’s your fault. You’re either willfully blind because you’re too stupid to get the point, it’s right there in black and white, or you must hate everyone, you stubborn jerk you. You’re just denying the birthright of Socialism from becoming fulfilled, so you’re the one causing all the problems (that occur because of the Socialism policies) so you’re at fault. (Ignore the man behind the curtain.)

In the end Socialism is not an intellectual exercise where they’ve figured out “the truth”, a mathematical proof is not true if you disregard portions of the formula because it’s inconvenient. It becomes completely emotional with a mask of “I’m smarter then you so there” where all the rules are emotion based. “It’s about fairness!” How is it fair that you make the winner lose so that the loser can win? “Well gosh darn it, it’s all about fairness!” So then you’re purposefully taking sides? “No that’s being closed-minded, you’re not being fair!” Well you cannot mandate fairness in the result, all you can do is try to be fair in the circumstances. “Well we didn’t win so it’s not fair, so someone cheated!” So the outcome did not fall to your favor therefore it’s not fair? No, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. This is the philosophy of the child, of pure emotion.

And yet they act smug and superior, twoo intewwectuwalls. “Well, I’ve read Nietzsche and Scchhhhhnabel, what have you read, Spider-Man? Hohohoo..” If a man standing before you puts a dollar in a machine and he loses it, would you then walk up and put your dollar in? No, that’s a sign of intelligence, where you gain a piece of knowledge through observations of another person’s attempts. To have a whole line of people that continuously keep trying that dollar machine is not intelligence at all, just because you “feel” it’ll be different “this time”. It is not smart, wise, “Avant-Garde” or “Nouveau Riche”, it’s a pull-the-string-and-the-cow-goes-moooooooooo.

The funny thing I often see is that those who believe in Socialism often claim it’s the cure for Capitalism because of all the flaws that Capitalism has. Yet these same people gloss over the inherent flaws that Socialism brings to the table. They talk about the greed of the corporations, like there isn’t any greed in a big government that they’re running? Really. There’s subjugation of the populace with the 1% of 1% of the people benefiting for “the glory of the Socialist paradise”. At least with Capitalism you work hard, you get a bit of luck, and a whole lot of determination you can make it. None of that is possible in Cuba et al. You look at China and all the innovations that they’re having is because they’re stealing the technology from us.

The problem I have in general is that I understand those that believe fervently in the goals and precepts of Socialism. I disagree with them, and I don’t hold those who do believe in them any malice (yet they hold us in contempt), however there is a difference in idea talk in the faculty lounge and implementation in the real world. Just as this and other posts are my opinions, those on that side of the philosophical divide forget one key point: the views and philosophies of Marx, Stalin, et al, were all their own opinions. If they had a theoretical formula in Physics or Math that can be proven with logic and experimentation that would be one thing. However their “expertise” was based on the human experience, which is fundamentally flawed to begin with. Therefore their positions in philosophy, sociology, politics, or any other human-based precepts could potentially be flawed as well. And as we’ve seem countless times in history the formula they proposed, when brought out of theory and into practice, fails miserably. Every. Time.

But the Cult of Socialism has to have its own Bible, its own preachers, martyrs and saints, and of course angels and devils. Any attempt to disagree with “The Word” gets the same reaction as discrediting the pious. And they call us “Bible-thumpers”. Pft. How about we try some Separation of Socialism and State?

In reality “Utopia” is a circle around you that is whatever you make of it. Period. It has nothing to do with anyone else unless you invite them into that circle. You have no right to increase the circle to circumspect my circle. As the saying goes, “Your right to swing your arm ends at my right for my nose to be there”.

Ultimately how do we handle it? That’s very hard, their thinking is binary, you’re either with them and become “saved” (oh it’s so beautiful) or you’re against them and there are no restraints in how they deal with you. I know how your life may be, you work hard, you come home and all you want is to relax. “Five minutes. Hey world, piss off, all I want is five minutes.” Problem is, that’s what they’re hoping for. “Community Organizers” do this 24/7 I’m afraid. So what is the solution? That hopefully is what we’re all here to find out. And rather quickly I’m afraid. I’m hoping I’ve defined the problem, which at least allows a starting point for discussion. So let’s roll up the sleeves and start talking.

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

Since the US Congress last passed a budget.

The last time the US Congress passed a budget was in April of 2009. I wanted to give a short list of all the things about that time in American history.

• Gas was on average $2.06. A movie ticket: $7.20 popcorn: $4.75. Gal of Milk: $2.49
• News Events: Sweden Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage, North Korea Launches Rocket, Defies World Leaders
• Kim Jong-il Takes 3rd Term, Iraq Suicide Bomb Kills Five US Soldiers & Two Iraqis http://www.infoplease.com/world/events/2009/world_apr.html
• Dow Jones closed at 8,168.12. Gold cost $890.70/ounce, silver $12.305/ounce. US unemployment 8.9% (Spain’s was 24.4%)
• OMG! The movie “Fast & Furious” with Vin Diesel premiered April 3rd! Oh and Hannah Montana: the movie
• Oh and of course: It was Barak Obama’s third month in office, Sen 59 Dem 41 GOP, House 255 Dem 179 GOP.
• According to Wikipedia, the annual births for 2009 were 4,130,665 and 2010 were 4,000,279 (no numbers since then, so let’s just take 2010 times 2.5, also only taking 3/4 of the 2009 numbers) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States) . I get a little over 17 million births in the U.S. since the last budget was passed.
• Taking the same tact for deaths (2009 1,827,872 / 2010 2,465,936) it comes to 10.5 million for the number of people who died in the U.S. since the last budget.

And The Conservative Of The Year Award Goes To……

                       

 Al Gore.

Yes, I have to thank Al Gore, former Presidential Candidate, Vice President and Senator. He once said that he was the creator of the internet, a move that was much lampooned throughout Conservative circles. However today there is laughter no more. Those of us on the Right for decades felt we had no voice, no means of sharing our point-of-view. Newspapers, t.v. news, movies, academia, all were leaning Left. We had very few means to get our message out, a couple of magazines here, the start of AM radio as an outlet over there.

But then, Al Gore invented the internet.

Slowly Conservatives came to realize that it was a fast medium to express our opinions. From Blogs and Facebook, to a rapid response with Twitter. Bloggers helped to expose a false claim from the Left media about a sitting President prior to an election, and Twitter allows us an almost instant communications medium that helps to fight against the constant barrage of misinformation and propaganda that the Left continues to spread. With humor and facts, point after point after point, we have found our voice.

No, we are no longer laughing. We are uniting. We are finding community. And we have Al Gore to thank. So please join me in a round of applause for our benefactor, Mr. Albert Gore, Jr.

WWBD? What Would Breitbart Do?

The interview I would like to see some day:

“Mr. Gates! Mr. Buffet! A moment of your time, thank you. John Johnson from the Sunny Times paper. You both advocate an increase in the income tax rate for those making over a million dollars. Do you both agree with the manner on which the money is spent?”

“Well, uh, we feel that it is our patriotic duty to support the country in whatever it needs.”

“I see, so since you’re both strong businessmen if I were to propose that you invent in say Solyndria, knowing what you know now about it, would you invest?”

“Oh no of course not, that’s not good business after all.”

“Certainly, how about investing in countries like Greece or Spain?”

“Um….well right now the market in Europe is considered unstable, so I don’t believe it would be prudent, at this time.”

“And the fact that the current administration is enacting policy on a parallel course to them doesn’t concern you?”

“Well I don’t think…..um….I’m sure that they uh….”

“So what you’re saying is that you wouldn’t invest your money in unwise ventures such as Solyndra or governments that enact policy that borrows more than their GDP such as Greece, but you’re willing to insist that your taxes be taken from you for the exact same thing?”

“……………”

“Thank you gentlemen, that’s all I have.”

Why not call it what it really is?

All the talk about the increase in the student loan interest rate misses a key point, besides the fact that as students your payments are deferred, so since you’re not paying it what does it matter? It could be increased 100%, who cares? Regardless.

All you students, let me ask you a question. Where do you get the loans from? Increasingly it’s been moved away from the banks and to….the government. Of course that was because the government can run it without prejudice and all that. So you’re now in debt, to who? The government.

Who controls the interest rate that you’re paying? Not the banks, they have to follow what the Fed tells them. It’s Congress that’s currently passing laws that are changing your interest rate. How was this done? Well in 2007 the Congress was led by the Democrats, they passed the law that was set to sunset in, now follow me, 2012. Why? I don’t know, go ask them.

So then let’s call it what it really is: an expiring tax cut, which means that it’s a tax increase. Well congrats kids, you’ve now had your first lesson in how the government taxes you. And how Democrats rig the game to increase taxes when you’re not watching. Welcome to our world.

Business 101 for Presidents.

I again want to preface that I am not a business-person, I do not have an MBA nor have I even ran a lemonade-stand. This is all bouncing from what I remember from Economics 101 in college cough-cough years ago.

So this tweet from the President really bothered me, and it took a while to finally get my conclusion on this enough to write it. To me it showed a total lack of basic bare-bones understanding of business and economics. He uses this as a weapon against Governor Romney as though this proves a failing in character, therefore the President is morally superior. This to me is trying to drown a fish by pouring a pitcher of water. In the ocean. With the fish in another ocean.

Let’s start with the basic premise and assume everything that is said about Romney is true, that he went into Bain Capital and all these other companies, slashed jobs with a gleeful grin and twirling mustache, and took all the money in two large sacks with a dollar sign on them. So what?

That makes Romney a heartless sonovabitch that will come into a company (or a government), look at all the deadwood employees (and there are a lot of them in government) and fire them. Thus the government size will shrink to a more efficient and less costly size. Yeah, we need that right now, so Mitt be that sonovabitch.

So going back to my Econ 101, here’s my take on what a good business does versus what government does. First someone has an idea, of either selling a product or performing a service. Hopefully it will be something that is currently in demand, so if I wanted to sell spoiled cabbage I’m fairly sure I won’t be able to move that very far. (Well, a good entrepreneur would call it Sauerkraut, but that’s another discussion. Dang I really shouldn’t write this before lunch.)

Anyway I take what I’m selling and, assuming it’s something that people want to buy, I gather up my resources. I’m taking a huge gamble: what if no one wants what I’m selling? What if I’m selling at a bad time, either for the economy at large or it’s a seasonal thing? Is there someone else out there doing it at a cheaper price? So I take my doubts and concerns and yet I still get my start-up cash, either by saving it or taking out a loan, and open up the business. Whether I go for the brick-and-mortar type of storefront or I do it online, doesn’t matter, I’m still going to be expending at first a large amount of start-up costs. It’s all a gamble that ultimately I hope pays off. A thousand things can and often do go wrong, so we want people to have an incentive to take that leap, such as making a profit.

Now we compare that with government. By definition the government doesn’t create anything. It doesn’t create a product that people want to buy, all it does it provide services that they themselves mandate that people need to use, for example the Post Office or the DMV. They do justify the reasons for these government programs, every one of these agencies have someone that says it’s a good idea to have. We want to make certain that people that drive are operating without harming other people, so we’re told we need to be licensed, cars registered, and insurance purchased. Yet we still have accidents, even with people who have all three, let alone those that don’t follow the rules and skip on any or all of those steps.

As an aside, my belief is that those on the Left see that creating the law solves the problem, then become surprised that it doesn’t so they create a new law to solve THAT problem. The sheer act of law creation is what’s all important, the actual results are irrelevant. Those on the Right see the problem and create a law that will essentially punish those that act in the bad behavior, but allow people to still engage in what they’re doing. Live your life but when you go past this line we’ll smack you. Taking my car analogy, the Left would make Rube-Goldberg laws to make sure everyone MUST do all three things, but then get in the way of enforcement. “Drivers license for illegals? Sure, that will never cause a problem.” Another prime example is the number of pages the tax code spans: 72,536 pages (http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2011/07/2011-number-of-pages-in-us-tax-code.html) The Right would say do what you will, if you cause an accident you will have to pay for all of it. Well at least that’s how I see it.

So government writes its own rules of conduct, passes a law to tax people to pay for their own budget, and yawns at requests to use that money in efficient manners. A business has to have a good conduct, otherwise people won’t walk in the door. (Ever go back to a restaurant where the service was rude or the food tasted like dish soap? I certainly haven’t.) How about the line at the DMV? Or Post Office? Ever go to a government agency and say “I really hope to go there again.” Any time you have anything to do with a governmental agency, even if it’s something you need like food stamps, it’s an arduous and time consuming task.

A business must operate within the constraints of its budget, which means they have to use that dollar as efficiently as possible, or they go out of business. Efficiency = life. Government doesn’t have that constraint, if they run out of money they just tax more or borrow more, which is paid for by taxing more at a later time. If the money actually came out of their own pockets I’m sure they would treat it with more urgency.

Lastly a business has to be accountable, even if it’s a publicly-traded entity. If there’s evidence of malfeasance people go to jail, the business is shut down and the customer-business trust is lost. A government doesn’t act like it’s accountable, yeah there’s the idea that we’ll vote them out, but has there ever been a government agency that’s been closed down either due to duplication or redundancy? The current economic crisis, oddly enough, happens when businesses cozy up to government to get a special advantage that others can’t afford to receive, then when the whole deal blows up the government swoops in to save the day while acting as though they were just spectators. That’s Crony Capitalism, which is bad for everyone, and it goes the exact same way each and every time. (I find it interesting that the Left insist on a separation between Church and State, how about a separation of Business and State?)

This also leads to a vicious cycle. Those businesses that get into governmental business and vice versa start to erode the customer-business trust. The businesses that weren’t part of that initial “sin” either abandon their principles and go along with the cronies, or they have to cut costs to compensate for being undercut. This tends to increase the erosion of the customer-business trust, where the customers begin to see all businesses, even the ones that don’t misbehave, as just part of the cabal. Then there’s talk of more regulation, which oddly enough never touches the businesses that are with the government that’s writing the laws, look at GE. We saw this almost a hundred years ago, in Germany, Italy, even here in America with the NRA.

In the end the President can talk all he wants about the alleged immorality of a candidate. The direction that he advocates, though he cloaks it with talk of “social justice” and sweet platitudes, has been done before. Ultimately each time it’s tried leads to death and totalitarianism. How is that moral Mr. President? I take Mitt Romney’s “immorality” any day, thank you, at least I’ll be able to keep my freedoms.

Definition of Wisdom

Wisdom is the art of taking “Ow fuck, that was really, really stupid” into useful knowledge.

Obama’s Pink Whale

“Captain! Captain! We’ve struck an iceberg, what do we do?”

“Well first, we uh need to get health care passed. And then uh solar panels, yes we need solar panels. We’ll get this ship going with Green Jobs.”

“But Captain, the decks are flooding fast, we don’t have the time or the resources.”

“Oh now you’re acting stupidly. Look look, it’s the gay marriage whale!”

Racism origins revisted.

OK for the last few weeks another blog has been posting some of my submissions that I’ve had on here, the one specifically for here was the one I had on Racism. There was one guy that challenged me, I responded, and here’s a portion of my response which I think encapsulates the divide. The post is found on Misfit Politics, where it’s found here:

 http://misfitpolitics.co/2012/05/while-were-discussing-racism/#comment-40449

So here’s the relevant portion:

“So apparently there once was this game of musical chairs, where one of the chairs was labeled “Racist”. The Democrats sat in that chair, as you’ve conceded they have historically, and enjoyed all the perks that came from sitting in that chair until those perks dwindled. They then engaged in the game of musical chairs whereupon the Republicans chose the Racist chair? They did so because they’ve always coveted that chair? After all if they were always Racist they wanted that chair all along. Yet, each time they did anything, like Abolition and the Civil Rights Act they would get even more power, so why would they feel they needed to covet the chair of a dwindling constituency?

Now I do believe that game of musical chairs took place, only I see it as the Democrats enjoyed the Racist chair until they saw that the Republicans were winning. Historically blacks voted for Republicans in huge numbers. However that did change, that’s indisputable. Today we see that a minimum of 90% of African-Americans vote Democrat. As TruthX mentioned (thanks for the help) there was the Southern Strategy that was started by LBJ, a Democrat. He of course started the Great Society, which I essentially feel was “buy votes with government (i.e. taxes paid by others) money”.

Republicans were on the winning side of history, behind the Civil War, abolition of slavery, and breaking down barriers for African-Americans to gain footing towards parity in society. All the while Democrats kept putting roadblocks, Jim Crowe laws and back-of-the-bus-you-go, KKK, and denying Civil Rights. The Republicans of today are still that party, of Civil Rights for All, Democrats are the party of denying Civil Rights. Affirmative Action is just Jim Crowe 2 but on a different target. Disagree with their views and their (we-can’t-call-it-the-KKK-but-we’ll-still-use-the-same-tactics) groups move in to intimidate and shout down. I can give a long litany of violence in American history where it’s been done by Democrats.

So ultimately I see the Dem leaders saw they were on the wrong side of history. Instead of learning their lesson and admitting they were wrong, they shoved the Republicans off of their seat and stole it, then told everyone that they have to HAVE to take the Racist seat. They then used the exact same tactics they used while sitting in that chair before and blamed the Republicans for all the bad results, after all they’re sitting in the Racist chair, those damned Racists. “Oh don’t listen to their protests, they’re lying, we’ve always sat in the good chair, how can you listen to a Racist anyway? Those lying Racists!” That’s what’s called a lie.”

An Open Letter To McDonalds, Coke, and Others Being Bullied

I first want to tell all these business, small to large, that I understand the climate that we’re all currently in. On the economic side we’re in a crunch where every dollar has to count. Consumers are becoming less inclined to go to your business for any number of reasons so you might try to avoid even the appearance of being unreasonable.

This unfortunately gives an opening for some to believe they can take advantage over any business, to force a specific policy agenda that may be against your business’s best interests. “Do as we say or we’ll shop elsewhere”. Usually those individuals are political, with hidden agendas they would never express aloud, so they use a false-flag to present to your company. Currently the “bad guy” is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) membership. Next week it’ll be Chef Boyardee.

The ultimate goal is the same. During the 1920’s and 30’s this was the means for Germany and Italy to move towards Socialism. A small group would intimidate businesses to fall to their side. Neutrality wasn’t an option. Even here in America businesses were forced to be approved by the National Recovery Administration (NRA), where they had to put the Blue Eagle in their window and accept price controls. In the end many businesses had to capitulate or be forced, by threat of mob rule, to close.

So am I writing this letter to say “now do as I say or I won’t go to your business”? No. I like your products, it’s why I keep going. I will still buy your wares even if you do decide to take the path of least resistance. Unfortunately I do understand why you feel you have to. Some may even think my acceptance of this is naive. “The business won’t care what you say, you’re still going no matter what so they’ll just take you for granted”. Yeah, possibly.

The difference is that I believe in the market of ideas as well as the market of products and services. I will not fault you and take it out on you for the poor decisions you make, so long as you do not harm your customers in the process. However I do hope that ultimately these decisions to capitulate will, not possibly, not coulda, will harm everyone in the end, so you might want to re-evaluate the underlining position again in the future.

The main point of this is simple: I will stand by your company, in good weather and bad. At times there will be down-turns, happens to every business. This faux-boycott by professional rabble is a minor tick. If you stand strong against them you will find that businesses by-and-large will follow. They will then move on to their next easy victim and leave you with your core customers. If you turn the wheel over to them instead in the end all business will crumble, so it won’t matter whether I’m staying or not. So the smart move would be to tell these people you’re not buying the acid they’re selling. Know who your true customers are, the ones that want what you’re offering and will stand by you, or the ones telling you to change for their sole benefit.

The decision is yours.

Oh, yes I want that super-sized please.

WWBD? – What Would Breitbart Do?

Jesus Heart Baseball

There was something that’s been rolling around my head, like socks in a drier, ever since the “Reason Rally” the other week. So it’s 2 am, always a good time to get a good blog post out, I highly recommend it. I just got it: baseball.

Now if you’re reading this and you happen to be an atheist, we can have a conversation, on life, the universe, philosophy, all manner of stuff. We may agree on some things, disagree on others, but I would hope that throughout we’re respectful to each other. Some of the images I saw from that rally though tend to be disrespectful to the point of being purposefully offensive, and that I find destroys that side of the argument. If your point is valid why insult the opposing side?

This leads to baseball.

So who’s your favorite team? Any favorite members? Who do you think will win the World Series? oh, pft, you’re way off, mine is….. That’s a conversation I’m sure you’ve had countless times. You may have hosted your own party, maybe gone to a few games, heck maybe even worn that #1 finger. But in the end, say six months, everything that’s said up until that moment won’t matter until the umpire says “play ball!” and the final score is read.

So what’s your favorite religion, Jewish, Protestant, Methodist? Oh, you’re Episcopalian? Well, that’s nothing, mine at least offers wine…. You may have hosted a fund raiser for a disaster relief, gone to church a few times, heck maybe even worn a “Jesus Saves” t-shirt. But in the end, when we all get to that finish line, we’ll finally have that answer. You may be right, or me, or neither, we’ll never really know until that moment, right?

It all boils down to where you put your passion. Yours, mine, who’s is more real? But now my take on the way that the Atheist were doing at that rally:

So, you’re into baseball? Why, it’s just a game. A bunch of prima donnas tossing around a ball for nine boring innings all to pad some fat-cat’s wallet, who needs it? And for what, a ring? And it all starts all over again six months later. pft. I have better things to do with my Sunday afternoon.

Now I’ll be honest, I’m not a sports fan. gasp, I’m a Y-chromosome, I have to it’s the law. I never could get my head around facts and figures, who had the most rushing or TD’s, the MVP of such-a-such league, what the hell is a balk? I can get all rah-rah at say the last Super Bowl, but to be honest I watched the commercials more and fast-forwarded past all the talktalktalk to the actual play. (Jesus heart TiVo). So if I were to equate it in terms of religion-speak I’d say I’m a Baseball Agnostic with the open mind to at least go to a game. Better have the right mustard though, not that watery yellow crap.

But let’s have the discussion. Some of the posters I saw were that they relied on fact and reason, not myth. I draw my faith from the same source but get a different result. If for the moment I concede the fact that there is no God, how about the universe? When we look at galaxies billions of light years away we can see certain events that are common, how some galaxies swirl similar to ours. hmmm…so physics happens. Even for things waaaaaaaaaaaaay over there the same physics apply. One thing I have not heard from any scientist is what physics cop is there that keeps the law of say gravity here also the same as that galaxy over there? Not saying God, or angels, or string cheese….mmmmmm string cheese….hey it’s 2 am.

I am saying though that the universe is a great machine that at its core creates life. Even out of death there’s still the creation of life, I mean consider out planet. We’re basically living on a graveyard, not only on the bones of long lost civilizations, but the planet had to have been created from the explosion from a previous star that spent its fuel to create all the hard and heavy material we’re made from today. We’re star stuff.

A hundred years ago we were just beginning to figure out how to detect and measure X-Rays, radio signals from stars, a wide array of energies that to the naked eye we never knew existed. Didn’t just start right when we became clever, it was always there but we didn’t know. A hundred years from now what new energy will we find? For centuries there were stories of people, mystic, precogs, “the Sixth Sense”, who could possibly detect that specific frequency that others couldn’t. Or they could be bat-bleep nuts.

The point is that I don’t know everything that is out there. The universe is an amazing thing. Maybe there is a God, maybe not. But to deny Him just because He didn’t come up and shake your hand is no different than accusing those of faith of denying Evolution because it was on some dead tree.

But at least that’s a discussion. For when I’m awake.

An assignment for sci-fi fans.

I admit I’m a sci-fan fan, however I’m mostly a tv and movie fan, not really a book fan. So I never really got into alot of the authors, and to be honest after watching The Prophets of Science Fiction I never knew some of the movies and stuff I liked were by such-a-such author. “Really? He wrote that one?”

I did look to see if there was a Dummies Guide to Science Fiction Authors, no such luck. So I would appreciate it if you could tell me what your favorite sci-fi author is and maybe throw a book title or two my way. Heck maybe even on Kindle would be nice. Thanks.

I can’t applaud loud enough.

This article explains perfectly the idiology that’s currently aciditic to our nation.

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/27/the-plot-to-get-rush/print

 

A couple of medical thoughts

Just wondering, what does the inside of my nose smell like? I mean I can smell my hand, I can smell my hair, I can certainly smell my armpit and breath, ew. But if I wanted to put a label on body part smells what would the inside of my nose be?

Another thought, do we have an inside? Suppose you took your finger and put it onto your cheek. Your finger will now stay firmly on the “outside of the body”, right. You move it to your head, outside, your neck, outside, your whatever it’s outside. Now obviously this part isn’t physically possible, but assume you could. Run your finger into your mouth, never lifting it at anytime. You’re still touching the “outside. Down the gullet it goes, through the stomach, intestine, and, well…. You back to the outside again. So does that mean you don’t have an inside? We’re all essentially torus’ or donuts? If it were possible to stretch the human body so that all that inner stuff is pulled into one straight line you could look at one end and see the other, right?

Yeah, these are the thoughts I get from time-to-time.

How about this one….Could it ever get so cold you’d stop hearing? Since the interior of your ear is liquid, at what point would that freeze and you could no longer hear? Of course the answer to that is you’d be dead by that time, but if you were a Mr. Freeze type of scenario could that be possible?

Camera rejoinders.

For a couple of decades now I’ve had these going on in my head every time I hear on the tv or something. “Oh this photo doesn’t matter, the camera adds ten pounds anyway”. And I keep my mouth shut because I know how much trouble I’d get, but….

“Eh the camera adds ten pounds….”

So how many cameras do you have on?

“Eh the camera adds ten pounds….”

I’m sure the cheeseburgers had nothing to do with it.

“Eh the camera adds ten pounds….”

And what they don’t tell you is that the camera doesn’t take it off too.

“Eh the camera adds ten pounds….”

And that camera would be the one circling you?

 

Another science hypothetical – Time Travel

Ever since I was a young boy I had this thought that I can never square, which involves Time Travel. You have the movies and tv programs that show someone creating a machine that whiz and you’re in 1922 or 7575. Besides the fact that “how does the machine know it’s 2012 right now????” there’s a fundamental part that I don’t get.

So you’ve built the machine. You rev it up and to test it you go back in time for one hour. Here’s the part I don’t get. You press that button and move back one hour, why don’t you physically move over across state lines to the next time zone? Point being : the planet is rotating, so if you wink out and wink back in again the planet isn’t where it was.

“Well the momentum of matter should keep you in step with the matter of the planet.” True, if I were to move forward in time an hour, I should keep in line with the rotation of the planet and stay in that relative position, but not if I move backward in time. In fact the momentum should be working against me.  Also, the planet itself is moving at phenomenal speeds in orbit around a star, which also is moving at phenomenal speeds in an orbital pattern around the center of our galaxy. Are you going to be able to be in the same relative position to all that? If you’re traveling in a car say a 100 miles an hour while holding a coffee mug on the window, then turn a curve but let the mug go will the mug follow your curving or go in a straight line?

My thought is I take that time machine and move a hundred years in the future, that’s a hundred years in that specific point in space even accounting for the momentum shift of matter, I’ll still wink back in and suck vacuum. The Earth is long gone many hundreds of thousands of miles away from where I started. (oh wait forgot to carry the two…..)

Or am I wrong?

GE is such a scam (or Check your warranties)

Shortly after last Thanksgiving, as I’m sure many of you as well, we did Christmas decorations. I did the whole outside, nothing too spectacular though. I did buy three sets of the GE LED lights that have those solar panels. Throughout the holiday I didn’t have a single complaint, they worked fine, and I didn’t have to plug them in.

After the New Year, again as many do, I started to put all the decorations away. However I decided to take those lights and put them along the back wall for some added illumination. Two of the three worked fine, looked great, but the third for some reason didn’t work. Hhmm…. So I tried some basic trouble-shooting. I took the solar panel from one of the working ones and tried it on the non-working string, as well as taking the “suspect” panel and put it on the working string, no joy on either set.

Now here’s the WTF? moment. I put the original equipment back where they were, and the working set no longer works. I tried all sorts of things to get it going, even connecting it to a volt-meter to see if there’s any output, nothing. I checked to see if the connector was loose, was there a short on the bad line, I couldn’t find anything.

So almost three weeks ago I called the GE Christmas light hotline, spoke to a woman on the matter. I had already chucked completely the bad line and I’ll probably purchase another to replace it (on back-order, go figure). She said she was going to send a solar panel to help trouble-shoot. “Want me to send in the old one?” No that’s ok, we’ll send that out but it is on back-order.

Since it’s been close to three weeks I called yesterday to get a status on that order. I get a different woman who at first could not find the order, however she was telling me that she ordinarily requests that the old one be shipped back first. Well that seemed reasonable, however before I asked about sending it in she said she realized that I’m intending on using this all-year-‘round on my back wall. So? Well Sir, that voids the warranty. “No, there’s a two year warranty on this, I remember reading that on the box.” No Sir, because it’s “seasonal” it only has a 90 day warranty. “Well first of all I bought it near the end of November and had this problem at the beginning of January, so that alone is about 45 days which is half that warranty. Secondly there is supposed to be a two year warranty”.

Now I just checked, Home Depot website, where I originally purchased the lights, has a listing that it has a Two Year Warranty:

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/ge-100-light-led-white-solar-mini-light-set-254818.html

The upshot is that she finally did see that there was an order placed, so she’s not going to cancel that. Since it is on back-order they’re not going to be getting them until the end of this month to the beginning of April. So hopefully I’ll get that going soon. However she said that she’s putting it in the notes that I’m running them all year long so the warranty is voided.

Anyway I’ll still get the third set of lights, and the same brand to keep the same look, which I’ll do all that after I get the replacement solar panel. But that warranty is total BS. “Oh sir, your car may have had a five-year warranty, but only if you keep it in your garage for four years.” What they’re really saying is they don’t stand behind their product if the combined usage in its life is 90 days which is essentially two Christmases-worth. That to me is such a scam, so check your warranties, on anything really, before you buy.

A really bad bad movie.

Ok a couple of years ago I actually watched….shudder….Transmorphers : The Fall Of Man. I know, I was young and foolish. Work with me here.

Anyway the first ten minutes of the movie starts out with a woman driving down the California highway talking on her cellphone, arguing with her boyfriend. Bruce Boxleitner, local-town sheriff, pulls her over and tells her how dangerous it is to talk on her cellphone but lets her off with a warning. She drives off and immediately gets back on the phone to yell at the boyfriend, where the phone turns into a robot and shoots her in the face.

The movie might as well be a PSA:

“Hi, I’m Bruce Boxletiner. What you saw could have happened. So before you answer that phone while you’re driving, stop and think. You could be distracted and not see that child. Or hit that car. Or even have your face ripped off by a robot and start the robot apocalypse. Is it really worth it?”

The movie doesn’t get any better after that.

A town called Paradise.

During my college years, oh mumblemumble years ago, I remember reading a story I wish I could recall the name or the author. So if anyone reading this happens to know of the story I’m referencing here please let me know. I have seen the story-line often portrayed in various iterations in tv and movie programs since then so I believe it’s a well-known tale. Anyway…

There once was a town called Paradise. All the people were happy and healthy, enjoying life as any other town would. However they had a special edge that no other town had, for it was that for one full day one member of the town would be visited by all the sorrows of the town so that the rest of the town would have joy and remain sorrow-free. The choosing was done by simple lottery, and since there were many people in the town the likelihood that the same person received the sorrows was perhaps months in-between.

One day there came upon a man who said “surely those that are young of age, who have not known sorrow in their lives, should not be made to experience such grand sorrow so soon”. The people of the town  talked about it and finally agreed that the children would not be part of the lottery.

Another man spoke up, “surely those that have lived for so long, that have already seen their fair share of sorrow on their own, should not continue such grand sorrow.” Again they talked and agreed that those of ongoing years have earned their rest and not be put into the lottery.

A third man rose to speak, “surely those that are lame, who have suffered disease and pain, should not be made to take on so many others’ grand sorrow”. Some disagreed but they finally relented lest they be called cold of heart.

So as time continued as time does, the number of people in the lottery became fewer and fewer. Those that remained began to receive the sorrow more often than they had before. Over time other people rose and gave reasons to have names removed, and more often those that remained continued the sorrow to the point it was almost daily. When they complained their cries were ignored, after all it was a fair price for everyone else’s joy they were told.

Ultimately these few could no longer sustain the sorrow and decided to leave Paradise. Without them the spell was broken and all in the town were visited by their own sorrows.

We see these lessons today where we demand some people to pay for the leisure of others and yet cry they aren’t paying their “fair share”. We see businesses leave over-taxed states or even to other countries to flee burdensome governments, whether local or federal. It has become a fetish in this country to insist on killing the golden geese instead of recognizing and respecting the good they do, all the while shouting down complaint.

I also find it amazing how, to take a recent-in-the-news example, if Senator Blowhard was to introduce legislation for say require teenagers to require parent’s permission for birth control that’s decried as “the slippery slope!!”, yet an imperious President orders private businesses to pay for birth control, that’s ok. What if, using the same mechanism that President Obama set up, I were to use that same logic to shut down abortion, it’s the same switch and lever.

During the 2000 election, the actual Election day in fact, I had an argument with a friend. I explained that the machine that the left was creating at some point will be manned by someone they don’t agree with, so would she still support creating such a behemoth. Of course George Bush won, and she stopped talking with me, I wonder why.

The lesson of the town of Paradise is that we as a nation can lift a mountain with hardly any effort at all, yet it is this compulsion that some have to exclude essentially themselves from the normal everyday consequences of life. At times those “grand sorrows” are more for some then others, yet we all get them and we all deal with them. The thought of “well we can manage that another way” is what ultimately causes the decline of a town, a state, a country, to the point where a few need to lift that mountain and it becomes impossible. This becomes  no longer “fair” and Paradise ceases to be.

I’m more patriotic then you are, neener neener

So Timmy “Arnold Horshack” Geitner, who never met a tax he liked to pay, says that the “Rich Need to Pay for ‘Privilege of Being an American’.” Really? Number one: You first. Number two: There is an estimated 47% of the American people that do not pay taxes, and as Joe “there ain’t no shoe big enough for this mouth” Biden also says “it’s the patriotic” thing to do, does that mean that there are millions of unpatriotic people living in this country essentially living rent-free? We should revoke that “privilege” then, right?

 Do I get a sticker like that “I Voted” I get when I vote if I pay more in tax just so I can say I’m more patriotic then you are? Actually no, I get kicked in the teeth and told I need to pay more, even when I’m not in that bracket.

My home fiscal plan, Obama style.

So I’ve decided I can get ahead by maxing out my credit cards, taking a fourth on my mortgage, and even have a chat with Benny the loan-shark, then take all that money and put it on the lottery, after all it’s at a 100 million now. Surely that will solve all my problems.

So they’re angry, again, about burned Korans.

Tell ya what, I’ll get on beating those guys myself when you beat on all those guys that burn the American flag, howzabouthat?

You know you’ve been playing too much Skyrim when…..

Yesterday my boss and I were moving computer equipment around when he found a couple of cases that, though they were unlocked, had a set of padlocks on each. So, he locked them. When he was talking with other people about them he realized he needed to get back in them but no one had the key. My initial reaction was “well I have a 73 rating on Lock Picking in Skyrim, I can take care of that…..nah better not say that….”

Rejoinders to “What’s that Lassie? Timmy’s stuck in the well?”

• I’m sorry you had to find that. Blam!
• Pa, Lassie’s been digging by the “play room” again!
• Two words. Ring 3. When you see  the ring Timmy appears.
• Good thing Lassie didn’t find the sister yet

Quickie in abortion

So the HHS is going to force Catholic hospitals and schools to provide contraception and abortion despite their objections. “Well, they’re taking federal money”!

So when we complained about ACORN and tried to investigate them, they refused and had Democrats defending them hourly.

But that’s different right?

Boys!

Vicky has discovered them

Inches and Miles

I might as well be one of the many blog posts talking about the Prop 8 decision this week, so here goes. As I’ve mentioned I believe that the natural societal evolution is that Gay Marriage will become as normal as inter-racial and inter-religious marriages, see my previous posts why I feel that. However I do see that the ruling this week has done what I’ve warned, gained the inch but will lose the mile.

First I want to discuss a bit of history, which upon Googling I found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_California

Here it shows that the people of California have attempted to address this issue and have in enough margins to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Prop 8 wasn’t even the first Prop that was overturned by the same court. There were also Legislative actions which were turned down. So this isn’t the first time that the Ninth Circuit has done this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8

The Prop also made an amendment to the California Constitution, so then the court couldn’t find it un-Constitutional because it’s now in the Constitution.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is renowned for its activist nature, with an over-turn rate over 90%. This means that they are often out-of-step with Constitutional questions as well as the law, society and reality. If you disagree and enjoy a court deciding societal questions like this then sure we can leave it that way, only how about we take judges from Texas and move them to California, would you like that? Didn’t think so.

This then leads me to believe that this ruling is not done in a Constitutional manner. If you heard of a doctor that 1 time out of 10 the patient lives would you go? So no I do not believe this court is objective, I do not believe in the ruling as Constitutional and believe completely the opinion they gave is made-up.

“…using their initiative power to target a minority group and withdraw a right that it possessed, without a legitimate reason for doing so, the people of California violated the Equal Protection Clause [of the federal Constitution].

First off there is no Right to Marriage granted or taken away by the State. As I’ve said I was very offended that the activists went on bended knee to the State in that manner, but you guys chose that path. If it happens to rain every day along that path complain to the original tour guides. So because you forced it down that way means you must abide by that reality: The State does not grant or remove Rights, ever.

Next point, who did you get that Right from? The court? The court doesn’t have the authority to grant Rights, they only determine Constitutionality of a law. So the fact that you felt that you had a Right that was given to by someone not authorized, like buying a car from some dude on the street, doesn’t mean it’s legitimate.

So what these judges are saying is that “we didn’t have the power to give you a Right, however even though we did which is extra-Constitutional now they cannot take that illegitimate Right away. Sorry, we lied, oops.” Turns my stomach.

Lastly someone in an interview said that the courts, the bastion of the courts, the integrity of the courts, is the last hurdle to protect the civil rights of those people who are infringed by an un-Constitutional law. True, however that isn’t what happened here. Once again, and this is what I said previously, the activists have shown they cannot win a fair fight, they have to have a rigged game.

But that also leaves a very good point. What about the civil rights of those that voted for the Prop? What about the rule of law? I know, in the next election we can solve this whole government crisis. Since California fairly sure is going to go to Obama we’ll discount their Electoral votes completely. After all we’ll need Mitt (assuming he’s the guy) to fix things. And since the people of California are used to having their voices squashed like this daily they won’t mind, they keep voting people in that do this to them regularly, they must like it. Two guys in a robe tells an entire state, “just bend over…and…breathe….”

Now I have no idea how this is going to end, if it gets to the US Supreme court and which way it will go. However what has happened every time there are extra-Constitutional maneuvers like these the States eventually tighten down with passage of amendments to their respective Constitutions. Currently there are 41 States that have some form of ban on same-sex marriages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_constitutional_amendments_banning_same-sex_unions_by_type

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States

So guys, knock that shit off! If you were shooting yourselves in the foot I wouldn’t listen to you complaining but instead you’re shooting your constituency in the foot. That I have a problem with.

While we’re discussing racism….

I first want to preface this that I am not a psychologist, sociologist, anthropologist or anything like that. These are my opinions and nothing more, nor are they anyone else’s. This is just what I believe, you can take from that or not, your choice.

In today’s society Racism is a big word, often times it’s used in areas where it clearly shouldn’t be. Other times when it’s blatant other people make excuses to dismiss it.

So this is what I take from all this. Should someone, say a Klu Klux Klan member, starts saying something about this or that I just remember a Discovery Channel show I saw a few years ago and smile. Basically there was this massive famine, possibly caused by an ice age, which killed off a great deal of the wildlife including the “people” at that time. So essentially the “human race” at that time ended up living in a small area where it was the most temperate and life-sustaining: Africa. Eventually once things got better they started to migrate to Europe, Asia, etc. So when Mr. KKK stands up and talks about such-a-such nasty-name I smile and say “hey dude, we’re all Africans.”

To me the lesson of that is we’re all the same. Often when I get upset about someone it’s not because of race or gender or religion, it’s what that person is doing or saying. Usually I see those on the Right that follow that same belief.

Let’s continue though with a bit of history. When the human race began it was solely about survival. Man killed for food or to prevent being killed. If another tribe over the hill, who’s instincts and needs were the same, came over usually it was survival vs. survival. The instinct that was developed was “not us? Bad, they’re going to kill us”.

Over time they learned that they can develop food with grains and livestock, so they no longer needed to hunt as much to survive and land became more important. The survival instinct then changed to “not us? Bad, they’re here to take my land”. So you had farmers versus say the Mongols for example.

Eventually they created communities to better their survival, which in turn led to leaders of those communities (War Lords, Kings, Popes, Governors, Presidents) that could provide protection to “my people”. This in turn led to borders, nations, states, and countries. The survival instinct changed to “not us? Bad, they’re going to invade my country”. You then have the French not liking the British, not liking the Saxons, not liking the Turks, as well as Catholics, Protestants, Islamists, Jews, and on and on.

But then you had something develop. As the people of these lands grew they found they could create their own goods and trade with others that before they feared, and then get stuff they wanted. This helped to defray fears and allow for alliances and commerce. Capitalism, who knew. This created incentive to have product that others wanted to trade, everyone could benefit.

To be fair this also led to an ugly side, which is slavery. People were treated as product and used as cheap labor to create other product. Even though slavery has been practiced throughout the world (still does) using people of all races (still does) the one that stands out is the slave trade between Africa and America in which a war was fought to cease. Since the sole recipient of that experience were bourn on those that were from Africa the result of that is said to be of Race. This, among other factors, led the survival instinct to “not my race? Bad”.

Unfortunately this also led to bad political and societal issues, such as the introduction of the Klu Klux Klan (Democrats who used terrorism on freed African slaves), Jim Crowe laws (created and enforced by Democrats on freed African slaves), just to name a couple. Now I mention that in specifically that way for a reason. At a certain point in history politics became a useful tool, and eventually a weapon, if you belong to a specific group which unfortunately went down racial lines. They followed the third instinct I mentioned “Irish need not apply”, ghettos such as Little Italy, Unions forming to keep freed African slaves from working in the area. This eventually led to a war that displayed the end-result of this un-checked political instinct. The problem though wasn’t that they learned that using Race as a means for politics is bad, just “going that far” is. So the survival instinct changed to “not my party? Bad”.

Again the reason why I am specifically mentioning Democrats is because that is their history which they want people to forget. If I started to say how my beliefs were formed by listening to David Duke and that I believe that all African-Americans should be sterilized would you continue to listen to me? I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t, yet if I told you that I actually lifted that from Margaret Sanger, creator of Planned Parenthood and renowned racist, is that ok? If you’re a Democrat reading this now, and I used to be one too, I would ask why you would allow these tactics to continue then? In your name.

Somewhere along the line Democrats changed their clothes and started saying they were for African-Americans and the other minorities all along, yet they still use the politics of race as those that Bull Conner did. They engage in policies that sound sweet to minorities but end up impoverishing them and keeping them down, Lester Maddox would be proud.

My point is that from the beginning we’ve been taught this reflex, “don’t talk to strangers”, that make us flinch just a little when we meet the unknown. However over time (survival to land to country to party) that “unknown” has changed its name. As we’ve progressed as a species it’s gone from life-and-death-struggle to sticks-and-stones-may-break-my-bones. Currently though one political party is using that in-grained reflex for political power and gain, to silence opposition and push their agenda forward over reasonable objections, all because they cry out “Racism!!” They take a political opponent’s every word and action and say that it must be “Racism!!” (Exactly what is a macaca anyway?) He sneezed. “Racism!!” She has a pulse. “Racism!!”

So lastly let me state, I do not have a problem with Barak Hussein Obama because he’s black. Or, wait, half-black? Quarter? I forget. I have a problem because he’s wrong. I have a problem that he’s arrogant and condescending despite mounting evidence that he’s wrong, so he ignores it. I have a problem that he believes he’s above the will of the people and the rule of law to force a flawed and wrong system on everyone. I have a problem with an entire political party and culture that continuously prop him up based on flawed premises all the while blaming those that are rightfully showing the flaws. The Emperor has no clothes, yet instead of saying to the little boy “you’re right, I’ll get his robe”, they’re billy-clubbing the obviously Racist kid. That is what I have a problem with.

We’ve been found out

It’s time to come clean. Juan Williams and others have caught us, might as well admit it. Everyone, I am sorry. I’ve been lying to you all, using “code words” to subliminally show my racism without showing it, and I am appalled at myself. So in order to wash away my sins, my crimes, I am going to release the codex of racist words we use, it’s all found here. Whenever you hear anyone use any of these words those on the Left can correctly say that we are racist. Please, I beg you, use this knowledge as what it’s intended, as a way to assuage my own deep regret at what I have done and forgive me and those that unknowingly use these harsh words.

 

Again, if anyone on the Left calls upon anyone, anyone as racist because they used a word from this book, please understand they are doing it from love and truth, so never question it.

Bumper Sticker Philosophy

I once saw a bumper sticker that said “Visualize Peace”. At that point I had a “moment of clarity”. I understand what the Left is trying to do and say. I had the natural rejoinder: “Of course we can have peace, it’s real easy and we can do it now. Everyone must agree with me.”

That essentially is what Democrats, whether in power, the media, the activists, whatever, they’re all saying that everyone must agree with them. We have to give up what we want and what we need and what we desire so that we can go along with that vision of THEIRS, of world peace.

We can have world peace today but you need to agree with ME. No? hmmm…. How can I get you to agree with me…. Well I can talk with you, explain the wonders of agreeing with me, anecdotes, facts, statistics, maybe have it in iambic pentameter just to be silly. Still no?

I know, bribery, I’ll pay you to agree with me, but I don’t have a lot of money, do I look like George Soros? I know the Federal Treasury has plenty I can just tax everyone and then give it to you so you can agree with me. Still no?

Maybe I’m telling it in a way that’s off-putting to you, after all it’s a pretty sweet deal in my eye, so maybe I’ll say it in a different way. What do you mean I’m lying, of course not, I don’t need deceit and trickery, although that isn’t a bad idea after all we are trying to get to world peace.

So I’ve tried everything I can think of to get you to agree with me, it must be that you’re at fault then. Couldn’t possibly be my ideas are bad, you’re just a hater. Hey, no one listen to this hater!!! Hater says what? Hater says what? Neener neener hay…ter…

Oh now people are listening to him instead of my wonderful ideas? I already told them that he’s a hater, so they must be haters too. And haters, well, they get what they deserve, after all hate kills. Since we can’t have hate ruin our world peace it’s appropriate to use whatever means we can to get them to go away and be quiet. Look, a black man in a wheel chair…… people peacefully protesting……didn’t you know you never bring a knife to a gun-fight? After all world peace is at stake and you’re in the way.

Yes, funny how that always happens, doesn’t it. Nice car by the way, fits your sticker well.

Ever notice there’s never enough evil laughter?

A long time ago I realized something, and that there’s not enough evil laughter at inappropriate times during every day conversations. It can’t just be a mu ha ha either, it has to be a full-throated and with-effort mwahahahaahaaaaaaaa. Take the following conversation as an example:

“Hey Grandma, would you like to go out to the lake?” Mwahahahaahaaaaaaaa.

“We’ll have a great time, going out far into the deep areas.” Mwahahahaahaaaaaaaa.

“And then you can show us all how good you are at ‘fishing’” Mwahahahaahaaaaaaaa!

So the next time you’re talking to your patient or on the phone with your Aunt, maybe even at a traffic stop for the third time, just belt one out in the middle of the discussion and really liven things up. Trust me, mwahahahaahaaaaaaaa!

What Hollywood doesn’t understand.

Last night I’m watching the Sy-Fi channel’s new series “Lost Girl”, The basic premise is :woman who was abandoned by her parents learns that she’s Fey, has abilities, and thrust into a new world where magic and myths are real. Love interest is a werewolf who can transform at will. That about sum it up?

So then I started thinking. True Blood: woman who was abandoned by her parents learns that she’s Fey, has abilities, and thrust into a new world where magic and myths are real. Love interest is a vampire, but there are also werewolves who can transform at will. Hmmm……

Let’s see if there’s a pattern. Sanctuary: guy finds a woman and thrust into a new world where magic and myths are real. Love interest not so much but there’s flirting, used the blood of vampires to become immortal, and has an employee who is a werewolf who can transform at will.

Of course they use the vehicle that the main character is completely new to the entire “new world” so that they can bring us, the audience, to also learn who’s who and what’s what. Now I grant that you can’t start a series with established storylines/personalities/histories without some means of the audience figuring out things. It’s just the cliché that I’m not impressed at.

Let’s take the upcoming Super-Bowl as an example. I admit I am not a sports fan, I never could get all those figures and people and all that in my head. I can get all rah-rah about a game but I have no idea what a touchback is or any of that. I do admit I am a fan of Women’s Volleyball, ‘cause I’m really impressed by their athleticism. No really, here’s what I mean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hj9sDPFPII&feature=player_embedded

So Sunday I am able to watch the game, without knowing who’s doing what, and figuring out the main players all on my own, I just pick it up as the “story” unfolds. You don’t need to have this cliché so stop treating me like a child.

Hey Hollywood? Don’t you get why you are losing ticket sales and Neilson ratings? You haven’t had an original thought in decades! Here’s a quick list of 2011 movies just to prove my point:

•  The Green Hornet – remake of the TV series
• No Strings Attached – how many times do we have to have a Boy Meets Girl stories?
• The Mechanic – remake of the 1972 film, with Jason Statham so it’s really The Transporter 3
• Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son – a second helping of the same shtick?
• The Roommate – Single, White, Female
• The Eagle – 300
• Just Go With It – Same as No Strings Attached
• Ok, there’s Justin Bieber – oh wait, Hard Day’s Night by the Beatles, Madonna’s bio movie Truth or Dare
• I Am Number Four – a guy with abilities is thrust in a….wait didn’t I talk about that one….I forget.
• Drive Angry – Death Wish meets Death Race 2000
• Battle: Los Angeles – basic War Of The Worlds
• Mars Needs Moms – Invaders From Mars
• Paul – E.T.
• Hop – The Chipmunks
• Insidious – The Exorcist meets Rosemary’s baby
• Source Code – 7 Days and the Matrix-ish
• Arthur – remake of the 1981 movie, I’m sure no one notices if we just take a thirty year old movie and redo it.
• Born To Be Wild – take a rocking song title and just go with it, hey the movie just writes itself. Next movie idea: Helter Skelter
• Scream 4 – Because the first three movies left me so unfulfilled with plot and storyline I need a fourth one
• The Hangover Part II – Really? I need to get into this one? You guys didn’t learn your lesson the first time?

Breaking the list here, notice that tv series now have to do that Hangover plot where no one remembers the night before and they have to re-create all the bizarre details? Smallville, Psyche, these writers just can’t come up with anything new. Ok back to the list, and I’m still in April, yeesh.

•  Bad Teacher – Teachers
• Horrible Bosses – 9 to 5
• Friends With Benefits – No Strings Attached
• Final Destination 5????
• Conan The Barbarian – The summer’s not complete without steroids
• Fright Night – remake of the 1985 movie
• Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark – It’s so good to see that Gollum has kept going with his career in film after the trilogy, way to go!
• Apollo 18 – Moontrap

Man, I’m reading the Wikipedia list and I’m starting to get blurry-eyed, but I think I made my point. I don’t mind so much if they make a movie that’s a remake of another movie given that special effects and other technologies can improve it, sort of like hearing a remake of a song. But doing it just to do it, like auto-tuning that song, just sucks. The last movie I went to see was the Deathly Hallows, before that I can’t remember, certainly wasn’t in 2011.

My Gay Marriage post.

So as I mentioned I’m going to post what I really think about the issue of Gay Marriage. As I alluded to in the previous post, I think it’s a natural evolution, it’s gonna happen eventually. However it also isn’t what everyone keeps thinking it is.

Let me give an example. A few years ago I was in NYC with my brother, we were doing the tourist thing, went to this museum which had windows instead of walls for the main floor. So we could see the people walking by and all that. There also happened to be a crowd of children there, probably a school outing I guess, when they noticed something on the sidewalk and started to giggle. There were two people kissing.

Now guess what the genders were.

I phrased this example specifically this way not to trap you but to help illustrate a central point. I believe that, just as at one point a black man and a white woman would’ve sparked a certain reaction that now today hardly bats an eyelash, that the “rank-and-file” GBLT ultimately want the same thing. To walk down the street, hand-in-hand with a loved one, and no one sees it as “abnormal”. On some level today I think we have that, but I also feel that for some in that community don’t believe they are, which is what’s causing the friction.

As I’ve said I’m a Conservative. I do not have a problem with the Gay lifestyle. My Uncle is gay and has a long-term partner. (I actually have more of a problem with him trying to say Socialism is good then the fact that he’s gay just so you know.) I call the partner “Uncle” as well, because in my eyes they are married, I don’t need to see a damned piece of paper, I can see it between them that they are.

I have a problem with the activists in the community, not the rank-and-file who just want to live their life and be left alone. I firmly believe that it is these activists that have made it worse. I am on their side, but I was very offended that they went, on bended knee to the altar of the court, to ask “please please let me get married”. It never should have gone that route. Once it entered the political realm the way they did they gained the inch but lost the mile. And pissed off people who are supportive of them.

When this first started I told people that I knew in this community, friends of mine I’ve known for a few years (as I mentioned there was a prior discussion, these posts were a result) that if nothing was done, just live your lives and educate people that gay people are not the boogie-men that Falwell et al (and no he does not speak with me, hey Jerry, shut the fuck up ok?) and in about thirty years (at that time) no one would have a problem with it. That was about fifteen years-ish ago I’d say.

Instead with all these court cases they add ten years every time to that schedule. How many states have Constitutional amendments? How long will it take to have each one reversed?

To be honest I support those amendments. Way back when the activists went court shopping to find the most friendly court so their cause would pass. How do I know? They bragged about it. How would you like it if the Right does that on their cause célèbre? We’ll have all gun control cases in Texas, abortion cases in North Carolina, I can keep going… What that told everyone is that the gay lobby cannot win unless they rig the game. So the states made certain that the game can’t be rigged. Constitutional Amendments.

This is why I have a serious problem with the activists, they are not looking out for anyone. They go up to you and say “You have to accept me” pop in the nose. “No really, you have to accept me” pop in the nose. “It’s ok, I’ll be good, but now you have to accept me” pop in the nose.

Actually, no I don’t.

Let me ask you, the reader, say I advocate everyone wearing a clown nose, morning noon and night. Everyone, no exception. Silly proposition, but suppose I give very good logical reasons for it. Do you accept that position? No? Why not you hater? pop in the nose.

Here’s the way I live my life. “I wear a clown nose every day. You don’t accept that? Who fucking asked you?”

Alright, all you gay people, I don’t accept you so stop being so gay. No really stop it. C’mon, it’s an order. Please? How come no one is listening? Because “who the fuck are you?”

“Yeah, but married people get benefits and stuff!”

Ok, that’s a separate issue, but are you getting married because you love that other person or to get stuff? I see my Uncles as married, period, not because a judge or minister or a guy wearing a pointed hat says so. It’s like that end scene in “Joe versus the Volcano”.

http://www.hark.com/clips/jmhhvhbngg-youre-married

As I just alluded to here, I also have a problem with the way that it’s portrayed that if you so much dare to have a degree off of an opinion of theirs, well you must hate, that’s the only reason. Can’t be that you have an differnt belief, no you’re a bigot.

When I first started hearing about all this I really didn’t have an opinion on it either way. However if they came up to me “you, me?, yes you, only you can decide this for us, aw shit we’re really digging the bottom of the barrel but ok…” first thing I would do is sit them all down and tell them for the next ten hours why both sides are right and both sides are full of shit. After all that I would lean towards the gay marriage, reasons being

• Love is love no matter the package
• We don’t go to government to seek approval of what we eat, say, fuck or die, we don’t need it for getting married.
• My life is not so big or small that it’s dependant on what that guy down the street allows me

So lastly let me expand on one point I just said, “first thing I would do is sit them all down and tell them for the next ten hours why both sides are right and both sides are full of shit”. That’s what drives me nuts, that as I said if you disagree you must hate according to the activists. No, the other side has equally valid reasons, to dismiss them out-right leads to non-compromise. That’s what the amendments were. Why should I try to come half-way, you’re bopping me in the nose?

Which leads back to the stuff. If you’re only interested in “the stuff” then why not go with the civil unions? Mainly because it was never about the stuff, or love for that matter, it’s about forcing acceptance which you can’t do, never can do. Hell there are still problems with inter-racial and inter-religious marriages, you’re thinking you’re going to get instant acceptance if you somehow show a bunch of Neanderthals how wrong they are by shoving sweetness and light down their throats? Glitter-bomb them to like you?

Here’s a thought, and I know it’s out-right insane, here let me put on my clown-nose….how about try talking? Find out each point they have? You don’t have to agree with them, just understand them. Then explain your point. Maybe have a dialogue. Their side gives up a little something, your side gives up a little something, then each side goes their separate ways and actually enjoys life.

At the end of the day that’s what everybody wants. You go to the store and you give a little money and they give a little of their product. You work for some time and the boss gives you money for that time. Some guy takes a little space right in front of you rather closely and quickly and you give an indication of his IQ to him.

Live life. Like the Will Smith song goes, “hate in your heart will consume you too”.

Happy Pretty People Killing Happy Pretty People

Actually the original title of this post was going to be “TV Mystery shows”, fooled ya mwaahahaahaa.

A few months ago I realized something about these TV shows, like Monk, The Mentalist, Bones, etc. and that is you only see the victims and murderers as these svelte, beautiful, Hollywood bimbo-himbo types. Law and Order did occasionally have “real” people, but not by much. However they at least had realistic scenarios.

Scene Opens: Living Room Floor – Beautifully dressed beautiful person lying on her front with a knife on the floor.

Act 2: Opens in police headquarters – Beautifully dressed beautiful person, without a lawyer and didn’t run, is telling police all about why he killed her. Of course the confession is never thrown out, no technicalities or anything, bad guy always goes to jail forever.

Oh and if it happens that the series, which evidentially MUST, has a serial killer, it’s always a white male. (I thought the left constantly complains that the prisons are unjustly holding a larger percentage of African-Americans, not according to these shows, nearly every one is white.)

About Bones. Apparently ALL crime happens in DC. And they all involve a murder, where there’s some completely unbelievable cause of death. (It appears the victim was pushed off the balcony. Never mind nothing to see.) And the FBI can’t solve it on their own because they only have five people in the building. And at no point does the victims, murderers, or witnesses have anything at all to do with Congress, the White House, Lobbyists, or anything at all related in any way to politics even though they are in DC. I’m definitely not going to be visiting DC any time soon, it’s too dangerous, how about Rwanda?

Another thing I noticed is the pattern for Bones.

• Body is found
• Dr. Brennan and team come in, give cursory tech-nese
• Booth talks to victim’s family, usually in the FBI office (oh and they’re never the murderer, suspects maybe but never did it)
• Once the investigation starts outside of the lab or FBI headquarters the very first person they talk to ends up the murderer.
• The rest of the show meanders around trying to figure out the who and how, I usually sit back and wait for the end to say “yep, that’s the first guy”. Well, also to see how the “King of the Lab” moment happens. I miss Zack, sigh.

 

2/7/2012 Addendum

Last week I saw an episode of The Mentalist, where the victim was a high fashion designer, the murder weapon was a pair of scissors with a feather shoved in his mouth. The murderer ended up being a model who did it because the guy said “she was too old” to wear his clothes on the runway. She ended up saying, and this is priceless, while in the police station interview room “can I go now? I have a show to do in two hours.” Happy Pretty People Killing Happy Pretty People.

What is a party?

I often find it interesting how those on the left say “the Republicans need to do X in order for voters to accept them”. Hmmm… So this actually begs the question: Do you know what a political party is?

This of course seems like a no-brainer, sure that guy is a Democrat because he says this and that guy is a Republican because he’s against the Democrat. So let’s get into what a party is, not defining where each stands, but the general concept.

A political party is short-hand.

It really is that simple. When you have a “Legalize Marijuana” party you fairly understand what they’re looking to do. How often though does anyone go to them and tell them they should lay off the munchies? “You need to get those voters, dude, so how about backing away from the Doritoes…..”

So how do you like your Crème Brule? With extra wheat grass and roof tar? What are you talking about, that’s what a Crème Brule is right?

A label of something has a specific definition, a political party is no different. When you say you believe in X Y Z you then can compare and contrast with the current labels to see where you just about match. There’s never going to be an exact fit, never can be, otherwise there would be a “you” party of one. So when you say your values, opinions and beliefs are such-a-such you’re going with a standard that’s been set. You don’t change the standard to suit you though, it’s like saying I can’t run the mile so I’ll change the measurement to 30 grunyos. (Made that up.) It’s still a mile. (A Pluto is still a planet pinheads!) The labels are immutable, it’s how you try to fit to those standards is what you need to figure out.

Now how come the Democrats can’t be more like Republicans? Often Democrats often allude that something said is “racist” for example, yet when Democrats actually do things that are racist it’s ignored. What if I were to say then that Democrats should be less racist like the Republicans? That entire paragraph is total bullshit by the way.

Then why is it any less when Democrats say Republicans should be more like them? Because that’s not the objective. What’s really being said is “you don’t agree with me so no one vote for this guy!” Often it’s meant only to go to people’s emotions and not to their intelligence, which in-of-itself is an insult.

“He’s a racist!!!” Doesn’t even have to have any evidence, just the charge, and you get a knee-jerk reaction to stay away from “that guy”.

So when the Democrats keep saying someone needs to do this it’s never in the best interest of that person, it’s a means to silence the opposition. It’s actually an offensive tactic that should leave everyone saying “you first”.