Won't change, don't complain

Hokay as I mentioned briefly in a FB post, while out shopping for last minute stocking stuffers at the local Dollar General (Blatant plug, think its a great chain of stores) I encountered an EXTREMELY obese Caucasian lady who was chatting on her IPhone while walking through the candy isle with a buggy. She was going on and on about her health. How she had Diabetes and couldn't get her blood sugar under control "No matter how hard she tried." and how she might have to go on Dialysis because of it all. She mentioned that her Doctor probably didn't know what he was doing since she just kept getting worse. All this time she was slurping down a Bargs Rootbeer (Non-diet) and "grazing" (Most folks would call it stealing) on a jumbo bag of M&Ms.

Now folks, I am a firm believer that every person has the right to live their life the way they want regardless of the consequences. Long before warning labels on Cigarette packs, my Daddy smoked two packs a day for 70+ years and knew damn well they were bad for him. He told me once "Bobby, I don't give a darn if they are bad for me, I'll smoke them till I die from it." As far as I know, he did exactly that. He did something and accepted the risks there of.

For the record for those who do not know me or haven't read earlier blogs. Not too long ago I weighed 356+ pounds and ate like a pig. I drank 2 or more energy drinks a day and lived off of regular Coke products. Needless to say I contracted Diabetes. Since then I have dropped down to around 220 pounds and I am proud to say my blood sugar and A1C levels are good and getting better. I realized when I was diagnosed that I had well and truly fudged up and took steps to correct those things because I didn't want to die.

Now that said, that was my choice. This lady obviously refused to make that choice, refused to listen to the advice of her doctors and kept living the life she wanted. Which is why she had rolls of fat hanging down her legs over her ankles (Ewww) was wheezing while moving very slowly down the aisle while leaning heavily on the buggy and basically looking like she was about to die right there. That was her choice and that's cool too. But if you are going to kill yourself with calories and chocolate, don't whine about the side effects. Your doctor isn't responsible because you eat a side of beef for lunch garnished with an ice cream sundae. Society isn't to blame because your idea of a midnight snack might be a rack of ribs smothered in honey BBQ sauce. The only person that is responsible is you.

Now I can hear the whiners and bleeding hearts pointing out that she might have a glandular condition that makes her obese. I can hear others whining that she might have been predisposed towards Diabetes and the complications that come with it. In response I refer you to the very first paragraph of this rant and even repeat, "All this time she was slurping down a Bargs Rootbeer (Non-diet) and "grazing" (Most folks would call it stealing) on a jumbo bag of M&Ms." just in case it was missed the first time around. Like I said, If you can't change then don't complain.

Pardon my rant

okay for those who follow me on Facebook, you know by this point that I had several hundred dollars worth of meat stolen from my deep freeze this morning so you can well understand that my opinion of humanity was already running at an all time low (and that is saying something for me) before I went out to the local Wal-Mart to attempt to replace at least part of the meat lost to me. I really wasn't expecting to have that opinion shot any lower, but life never ceases to surprise me.

Now before I go any further, let me state that this rant is not about the current Welfare System and the myriad of abuses that people perform using the government funds given to them for food, medicines and other essentials that everyone needs. No, this rant is about just how rotten people are. Read on for my example.

So I buy what little food that we have extra money for and I pull my buggy up to the "20 items or less" line. (Needless to say that I easily met this requirement.) Ahead of me in the line was a middle aged Caucasian Woman surrounded by four children between the ages of 2 and 6. Her buggy is literally filled with cases of beer, chips etc and several bottles of wine.

The youngest girl reaches out and snags a "2 for a dollar" KitKat and holds it up. The next largest immediately does the same. The woman scolds them both and says, "We can't afford candy so put it back." The girls complied with the youngest crying her eyes out. (Already you can see why this was getting me grumped off but read on.)

The cashier rings up $300.00+ worth of booze and junk. The lady immediately pulls out the Benefits card that you can use to purchase anything (Forget what it's called.) and uses it to pay for the booze and junk. She then drags the still crying little girl out of the store.

Now I am already insulted that this woman paid for alcohol with her benefits card that should only be used to food, clothes, medicine. The fact that this piece of trash wouldn't buy her kids/grand kids a dollars worth of candy while she was buying herself a cart of junk just pisses me off. I should have picked up the candy paid for it and given it to the girls, but I was already in a foul mood so it didn't occur to me till the drive home.

So like I said, my already low opinion of people has reached an all time rock bottom level just in time for Christmas. Here's hoping that yours turns out a lot better than mine has so far.

Blame game

http://news.yahoo.com/congress-may-try-blocking-cuts-debt-panel-fails-084414921.html

Well, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the Super Committee has failed (So far, technically they still have a day or so) to reach any sort of budget agreement to prevent the automatic budget cuts from kicking in. Now, in fairness, I believe that there have been honest attempts from both parties to reach some sort of understanding, but because of both sides "my way or no way" no real agreement ever had a chance. Damnocrats refused to touch their sacred cow of support programs and Reboobicans refused to offer any sort of real Tax Increases. (Again I have to give the Reboobicans some props, they did offer up a couple of proposals that would have offered some tax increases, but since these amounted to increasing the taxes on middle and lower class peoples while giving the wealthier Americans even more tax breaks, they never really had a chance of passing.)

But believe it or not, my ire isn't really aimed at the Super Noncommittals. They pretty much did exactly what I was expecting them to do, nothing. No, my ire/amusement (oftentimes the same thing with me) is aimed at Congress/House members who are already making moves to block the activation of the automatic budget cuts that are supposed to go into effect if the Committee can't reach some sort of agreement.

For those who don't know, the Automatic Budget Cuts were supposed to be so awful and destructive that no one in their right minds would want them to kick in so the Committee members would be forced to work together to prevent them. However, being typical politicks, no one could so now "disaster" is on the horizon. And once again our esteemed peeps in Washington are working hard as they can. Not to prevent the problem but to ignore the problem or at least postpone it.

Amazingly enough, the President and the Leaders of the various branches have declared that they will not work towards blocking the cuts. The President has even declared that he will veto any attempts to block it. Now how long this lasts once the public starts screaming is anyone's guess, but right now they are talking a good fight.

Now for the record, I am not a "tax the rich to pay for everything" or a "Cut the programs that help the poor and needy" person. I believe that there has to be a happy medium where both sides are served. (I also believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny too but that's another story entirely.) Yes, in a properly balanced budget, the rich will have to pay their share of taxes instead of hiding behind multi-billion dollar shelters and tax laws. In that same vein, all of these support programs that so many people assume to be their right have to be reined back too. Programs like Social Security and Medicare were never designed to be people's main source of income or support. Welfare was never meant to be a life time income. As much as it bugs a lot of people, even Unemployment was never meant to keep paying you money till you found a job no matter how long it takes.

I'm no financial expert and Gods know I am not expert on the US government and how it works. I am fairly intelligent and read to damn much for my own good. Everything I express in my columns and books is my opinion nothing more. Most of the time I try to make my opinion as well informed as possible and other times I just say how I feel. Today, I feel disgusted with our government even though I knew this was coming. I feel angry that even in the face of catastrophe, our elected officials can't reach some sort of agreement, even if its a bad one. I am angry and all I can do is sit back and watch the blame game start up. (which I have to admit will be at least moderately amusing.)

My Mythos or Yours?

Okay boys and girls, sit down around the fire and I will tell you some really tall tales that are sure to amuse and thrill you. Comfy? Good, let's get going!

Here's a dandy little tale about how a young man in the early 1800's prayed to Big Happy Sky Man for a sign on which direction his faith should go. BHSM appeared to the man in a Pillar of Light and told him that all the churches were BAD and that he needed to start a brand new one that would teach people the true ways of the BHSM. A decade later, the BHSM even sent down some solid gold plates with all the teachings the young man would need to write his own extension of the Holy Writ.

Now our second little story takes place...Oh about 2000 or so years before that. A young, unwed mother announces that she is pregnant. She tells everyone that she was visited by an agent of the Big Happy Sky Man who told her that she was going to bear the son of BHSM who would then go on to fix all the things that had gone wrong with mainstream religion and she would bear the child while still remaining a pure, untouched virgin.

Wow, aren't those two of the craziest stories you ever heard? It's hard to tell which one is more preposterous? Thank the BHSM that no one actually believes these crazy stories except maybe some crazy cultists!

Okay, silliness aside, I am sure everyone recognizes the "origin" tales of the Mormon Faith and Christianity. I promise all of you that I am not mocking either faith or its beliefs but was using the "tall tale" style to shore up a point I am about to make.

http://news.yahoo.com/perry-camp-anti-mormon-message-011400919.html

Now I don't like Mitt Romney. Course any regular readers will know I am not too fond of the current crop of GOP candidates except Paul and I gotta admit Cain's getting my attention too. I personally feel that electing Romney would be one of the largest mistakes we have made in awhile. However this focus on his religion (and its not just this election) is a non-issue. The horse being beaten isn't just dead, it is dust.

Since America doesn't have an official National Religion (Thank God!) there are no requirements that a candidate be Christian, Jewish, Mormon or even Muslim. A person can follow his or her religious beliefs and still have a chance at being elected. So this focus on the fact that Romney is a Mormon has absolutely no bearing on his qualifications for President.

Now on to the second part of this rant. David Lane, a conservative Christian power broker and one of Perry's strongest supporters, calls Mormonism a "cult." He considers them to be non-Christians. I really don't know. I don't really have enough background in religion to say Yay or Nay. I do know this though, at one time or another, every single religion in the world was probably considered a cult including Christianity.

Anytime any new faith starts going against or even just adding to the old ones, the Old Wise Guys in charge brand it a cult. Matter of fact, I bet if you were to poll the majority of people in the world, they'd define "cult" as any religion other than their own. It is all a matter of perspective.

So base your choices on skills, records or even how well the candidate spins a lie, but ignore the people that preach against someone simply because their faith is different. Heck, I am looking forward to the first Druid running for president. Let's put a real "tree hugger" into office!

Random thoughts and Confuzlements

These are just some random things that have occurred to me over the past few days. There is no real depth to them and they aren't really meant to spark any sort of debate or controversy, just things that I thought of that made me go Hmmm.

The Reboobicans are starting (finally) to trot out their plans for what they will do to fix the country's ills if they are elected. The two main touts in all of them are trash the EPA's ability to protect the environment and keep toxic substances out of our food and water and Expanded Oil Exploration. Now I will ignore the first one because I have no evidence that reducing the EPAs powers will harm us or the environment. However, this idea that allowing encouraging Oil Companies to drill and drill and drill will help our economy is laughable. Big Oil already has hundreds if not thousands of already drilled wells sitting in the oceans, but do not use them. Even if new Exploration would create a few thousand new jobs, there will be no oil boom to brighten our economic future.

I for one am very proud of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the fact that it is going global this weekend tells me a lot about just how peeved off people are. Even if it accomplishes nothing dramatic in the long run, it shows that Americans are finally reaching a very nasty breaking point. Now, with that said, I would like to point out the difference between a Protest and a Mob (as one Republican called them) is adherence to the laws of the land. The OWS members were recently informed that they would have to vacate the Privately owned park they have been using so that it could be cleaned and when they returned they would have to follow the rules of the park and the laws of the city. (No tents, no sleeping on benches etc.) Now this park is PRIVATELY owned and most of the regulations cited are CITY and STATE laws, but the protestors have vowed to stand their ground "linked arm and arm" to prevent Police from doing their jobs. Sorry folks but that's breaking the law. If you do that, you are only proving the naysayers are right.
(As a side note, the powers that be have temporarily stopped the park cleaning in order to avoid a riot.)

Final thought. Does anyone else find it annoying and so very pathetic that both political parties are doing the same darned thing? Example: Obama introduced his Jobs bill which he knew damned well would never pass the Reboobicans. Heck even some of his own people bailed on it. He knew it would never pass, but pushed it through anyway. So needless to say it died an ignominious death quickly. Now the Reboobicans are putting out their own such bill that anyone in their right mind (Leaves out politicians doesn't it?) can see will never sail past the Damnocrats. Neither side is even vaguely interested in actually accomplishing anything before the 2012 elections, just in looking good and making the other side look bad.

Now this is nothing normal. Hells, its the way politics is played, but this is not the time for it. Our country is rapidly approaching the event horizon of a massive black hole. We have to act now, not next year or the year after or we will lose everything. The time for oneupmanship and games is way past. The fact that our "leaders" cannot see that or if they see it choose to ignore it truly confuzzles me.

Anyway, Like I said in the beginning, these are just random thoughts and confuzzlements that I pondered this week. If they have made you think, swell. If they have confused you, Sorry. If they have peeved you off in anyway? Well, that is just the way things go.

Let them eat Cake (Preferably Devil's Food)

Back in Septemberish, I wrote a blog that talked about all the revolutions going on over in the Middle East and what it would be like if and when these types of events started happening here. Needless to say, I got a lot of emails from people saying that it could never happen here, that this is America! Some people used extremely offensive language to try to make their points. (As an aside to one person, you know who you are. I am pretty sure that the human body is incapable of doing what you suggested even with decades of yoga and massive surgery, but I do applaud your creativity. I may steal the idea for a future novel.)

Well all I can to these naysayers and doubting types is this:
http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-protest-expected-widen-071005045.html
There are dozens of more articles running around the InterWebz covering this and similar protests occurring all over the country. These people are sick and tired of all the BS being thrown at them by the Damnocrats, Reboobicans, Tea Beggars, Liarberals, Dodderates, and CONservatives (Sorry haven't come up with a clever nickname for Conservatives yet, any suggestions that can be put in a family blog are welcome). Now they are trying to let their voices be heard and make a difference.

"Now hold on a minute," you might say. "These protests are peaceful, not violent like the ones in the ME." To this, I reply "The vast majority of the protests over there were peaceful until the ruling powers escalated the situation with violence." (There I am glad we had this conversation.) Anyone with any sense knows that starting an armed rebellion against an entrenched force is difficult and even more difficult to win. Plus it lets the Standing Government paint you as evil. Only when you are the underdog fighting just to be heard do you get sympathy from the world. Well, here in the US the underdogs are barking.

Right now the protests (for a nation the size of the US) are small. The aforementioned article says that perhaps 2000 are expected at the next big protest and a mere 700 were involved in the whole Brooklyn Bridge thing. (Another side note here. The organizer that thought it was a clever idea to hold a massive march across the bridge during the height of rush hour was either a clever SOB or nuts. Even if the march hadn't proceeded to block traffic, this was an idea doomed to problems.) But lets look at some of the numbers: Unemployed Americans 14 Million, Americans living in Poverty 46.2 Million, 500,000+ homes facing foreclosure. That is an awful lot of fuel for a really big bonfire.

For a very long time, Americans have been content to listen to their elected officials. They accepted that even if times were hard, that they could and would get better if America just let the Politicks do their job. Well, We did let them and things are simply getting worse and worse. While the Parasites in Washington keep playing their little games, a growing number of Americans are getting fed up. They are tired of the lies, BS and game playing. They are ready for a change and if Washington won't change, I have a hunch a very powerful force will change it.

I believe in our nation. Hells, I believe in our government but unless our representatives take off their blinders and actually start working together, things are going to get ugly. You can only push even the weakest person so far before they start fighting back and if we aren't very careful, other countries are going to start reporting about Our Revolution.

The times they are a changin'

(Not 100% sure that this blog doesn't violate my "No political punditry before the elections" vow, but hey if I lied it fits the theme of the blog.)

I am about to share a well kept and very dark secret with you all. It may shock you so small children and those with weak constitutions (Hey that's a pun!) should leave the room. Go ahead, I'll wait. (Hums the Banana Boat song) Okay everyone clear that needs to be? Good, cause here comes the bombshell.

Politicians Lie!

Yep there it is, out in the open for everyone to finally see. Probably going to have hit squads coming after me for revealing that secret, but it was worth it to get the truth out. Hope you folks can live with the truth.

Now, most of you who read my blogs (all three of you) are prolly expecting me to start some long, cranky rant against peoples named Bachmann or Perry or (God help us) Gnewt and usually with that sort of lead in you'd be right, but not today. Today, I am talking about all the Politicks and a great difficulty that these poor souls are facing in the modern era.

Not that long ago, these men and women could lie to their hearts content. They could and often did change their stories and promises from one town to another telling each group exactly what they wanted to hear and then changing things around for the next one. They could lie about their military service, public service and even their funeral service with impunity and generally get away with it. Most people had no way of checking and, especially in smaller towns, people only read the local paper. The Ticks could spin webs of pure fancy and no one would know.

Now enter the modern, electronic, instant access world where three year old kids can surf the web and find stuff. Where everyone carries a cell phone that doubles as a video camera. Where anyone with any interest can type a candidate's name in a search engine and find out if he really did lead the charge in the decisive battle of "insert impressive sounding battle here." A world where even the smallest town in Small Town America is wired into the world around them.

Suddenly the Obamas, Perrys and Romneys of the world are faced with a scary world that they really don't seem to understand. The old saw of saying one thing then saying another three days later just doesn't seem to work any more. They can't (Well okay they can and do) deny they said something in Moosehill, Az that made them look like liars or idiots because someone in the crowd has already posted the video they took on Youtube.

If they wrote a politically embarrassing book, they can't take back the words they said in it even though the vast majority of America has not read it because the News Programs prattle on about it 24/7 every time the Politick speaks. If a place they stayed at has an racially insulting name, they can't avoid it because someone has snapped a photo of it and posted it on FB. (Honest I am not picking on Perry this time, I promise!)

Politicks are doing their best to become more and more savvy about the modern information age, but let's face it most of them (Like me) were born well before all of this techno stuff really caught on so they still use the age old tactics of their forebears and expect it to work. Sure, some of them hire "experts" to help them deal with the Tweeters and...Twitters...Woofers? out there, but most of them are just about as old as the candidates so mistakes keep happening.

(As a side note here, let me say during all of my research for this, I really only found one of the current crop of politicals that is actually efficiently using the modern mediums and seems to be keeping his stories straight and consistent. The funny thing is he's like the oldest of the crop, Ron Paul. Something funny about that.)

So unless the Politicks catch on and start getting things straight, I don't think we are going to stop seeing someone preaching about what a good man they are while we are reading about how they served divorce papers on their wife while she was in the hospital with cancer. We are probably going to have to wait till the younger generations get older and start running to see any sort of effective use. Course by then, people will probably be using their virtual reality electro-esp head bands to check out all the lies being told. Which beggars the question, can Politicians ever catch up?

My revolution or yours?

A most excellent blog by my brother in all but blood has got me thinking. (Don't worry, it won't last) In http://porkbrainsandmilkgravy.blogspot.com/2011/09/and-swimming-down.html he talks about fear mongering and food which of course got me thinking of revolutions. Lot of that going around right now and it seems like a sexy subject to dribble on about for awhile.

The past year, we have had many major revolutions where powers that be who have run things for decades and seemed unbeatable have been flung from their thrones. We have watched as our politicians and pundits have praised these revolutions and welcomed the fledgling governments into the "Family of Democracy." All this flag raising and such has got me wondering, "What happens when it happens here?"

Conditions in the US are rapidly deteriorating to the point where we could easily find ourselves in a revolutionary state of mind. Job loss is at record highs, homelessness is right up there too and poverty is rampant. All of our politicians (Damnocrats Reboobicans and Tea Beggars) talk the good fight about improving conditions, but that is all they are doing. (The recent Debt Limit talks prove that.) There is a rapidly growing underclass that is getting more and more angry. If this isn't grounds for a revolution, then it is damned close.

Which, in my usual round about way, brings me back to "What happens when it happens here?" America has a long history of fighting what we believe to be the righteous cause...as long as it is our cause or one that benefits us. However, when the tables are turned, it is all out war.

Example: We (the country not the individuals) decided that Great Britain was being mean and unfair so we decided to kick them out of our sandbox. We yelled that we had rights and that no one had the right to infringe upon those rights. Skip forward a few years (Okay more than a few), a group of these same Americans decided that their rights were being infringed upon and their way of life was threatened by what they felt was an oppressive government, so they decided to do the same thing. What did the US Government do? Well, it is a little thing called the Civil War.

(Side note here: I am in no way supporting the horrors that occurred on both sides during the Civil War I am just using this as an example.)

So now with things slowly going to Hell without even a handbasket, what happens when the "revolution against an oppressive government" is here?" Well, you can bet that the same people that are currently praising the people of Libya et al will be screaming for the federal troops to put down the uprising. They'll be doing the same thing as Kadaffy did, blaming "foreign instigators" and "alien agents" for the rebellion. No one is going to admit that their failed policies and disdain for their fellows brought it about.

If the political hacks can get off their asses and work together, this problem can be fixed. Hells, with a little bit of hard work and sacrifice, it can prolly be fixed fairly quickly. Now history shows that the odds of that happening are somewhere between Slim and None. So that brings us full circle (Oblong?) to my original question. "What happens when it happens here?"

Okay before I get started on the actual rant, let's study a little history first. The Poem, The Defense of Fort McHenry was penned by Francis Scott Key in September of 1814 while he viewed the British Attack on Fort McHenry. When the handbills for the poem were published, the song To Anacreon In Heaven (A British Drinking song BTW) was suggested as the tune to be played if the verses were sung. This poem would become known as the Star Spangled Banner. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson ordered that it should become the National Anthem played by the military and naval services, but it wasn't until March 3rd, 1931 that it was officially designated as the National Anthem by act of Congress.

"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward. Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, Pikes Peak, first published in the Fourth of July edition of the church periodical The Congregationalist in 1895. At that time, the poem was titled America for publication.

Ward had originally written the music, Materna, for the 19th century hymn O Mother dear, Jerusalem in 1882. Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled America the Beautiful. The song is one of the most beloved and popular of the many American patriotic songs.[1] From time to time it has been proposed as a replacement for The Star-Spangled Banner as the National Anthem, including television sign-offs.

Everyone caught up? Excellent, now on with the rant!

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Indiana-college-not-playing-the-national-anthem-?urn=ncaab-wp4428

As the article says, Goshen College in Northern Indiana has opted not to play the Star Spangled Banner at their sporting events. They feel that the very militaristic air of the song (Bombs bursting, rockets red glare etc) does not set well with the pacifistic beliefs of the Mennonite faith. Instead they have decided to play America the Beautiful. Needless to say, this has sparked all kinds of heated discussions.

The general air of the rants directed at this decision are that Goshen is somehow being unAmerican by refusing to play SSB. Lots of "Well, that is the way it has always been" and "they have to" comments are floating around. Instead of supporting and praising these people for sticking to their beliefs and still trying to show their patriotism, people are considering them to the bad guys.

Now folks, I'd understand the rage if Goshen was playing the Russian National Anthem or even if they were refusing to play anything at all, but that's not what is happening here. They have chosen one highly patriotic song (As noted above, one that has been many times considered to replace the SSB) over another. Just because the one they chose isn't the same as the one everyone else uses doesn't mean they are doing anything wrong.

There is no law or even hard set rule that states the SSB or any sort of music has to be played at public events (Non-military). It's a tradition and a tradition that is less than a hundred years old so it hasn't always been a tradition. Hells there are people alive today who were around before the tradition started.

Goshen is just doing its best to fit both sides of a coin together. We should applaud them for doing this, not rage against them. I love the SSB (Even with that particularly hard note towards the end) and still feel my heart fill with pride every time I hear it. I also love the song America the Beautiful and feel that it also is a fitting tribute to this great country. "Let each person celebrate this great nation in a manner that befits their beliefs and cultures."

No new taxes! Oh wait you are poor...never mind.

http://news.yahoo.com/gop-may-ok-tax-increase-obama-hopes-block-124016578.html

Okay so the Reboobicans don't want to let the tax cuts for the rich established during Bush's run expire because that would raise taxes. (Technically by the way, that is not "raising" taxes. It is simply letting the taxes return to their previous rate, but that's splitting hairs.) They say it would put harsh strictures on Corporations and Businesses and prevent them from creating new jobs, hiring more workers etc. (Never mind that corporate hiring and jobs actually decreased under these tax cuts) However, they are more than willing to let a very small tax cut that benefits the average joe on the street lapse.

Here we have proof that the Reboobicans don't really give a damn about the poor and middle class. They are only interested in helping the super rich because those are the forces that feed their coffers. Bush tax cuts cost the country billions of dollars a year with no evidence of any kind to show that it actually has helped do anything but make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

It is time that we stopped putting up with this crap and took the country back from the fat cats (Reboobicans and Damnocrats combined) and set things straight.

Of Reporters, Truths and Friendships...not nessecarily in that order.

This one is part musings on reporting the news and part supporting of friends. I have always believed that any reporter, no matter the venue, should always report the fair and unbiased truth as soon as possible to as many people as possible. Whether you work for a multi-national newspaper conglomerate or a small town paper with a readership consisting of people you go to church with on Sundays, reporters should always be the "Firstest with the mostest" when it comes to accurate and truthful reporting.

This morning, a reporter who I have the greatest respect for dropped what could only be considered a major bomb. He printed the complete and unvarnished truth about a major closing in his area that could affect hundreds of people. He sought to get this news out as quickly and as accurately as possible to as many people as he could so that his readers and friends could be informed of the event and maybe be prepared for it. He did this out of his incredible sense of duty to the truth and his admirable concern for the community around him. So how was he rewarded for this effort?

Well, judging from the responses when he posted the news on FB, he was berated for springing this bomb on people without warning. The overall attitude I got from the posts was that "Am I placing blame no, but I do think it could have been handled better and I don't love that I found out on facebook. I know you have a job to do but it just seemed cold" or "You are the Editor of the Wiregrass Farmer not Facebook! Bad timing and cruel! Printing the report in the Wiregrass would have been sufficient! Putting it on fb was not your job." There are more, even a few in support, but that seems to be the overall gist of it.

A reporter can never "handle things better" except by reporting the truth as soon as possible. Reporting the truth is always "cold." Even in a small community such as my friend lives in, a reporter cannot and should not let his job be influenced on how happy or unhappy his reports will make the people around him. He cannot shade the truth or even omit parts of the truth just to make himself popular.

Reporting quickly and accurately will always seem like "bad timing and cruel" because 9 times out of 10, the people involved in the news you are reporting really don't want the news reported. Whether they are the ones causing the news (In this case, the closing of a school) or the people being effected by the news (Losing their jobs, classes etc) neither side wants the truth to come out. One side is afraid people are going to be pissed and mob them and the other side really just would rather not hear the bad news until later.

"Printing the report in the Wiregrass would have been sufficient! Putting it on fb was not your job" is another good one and my friend's response tops anything I could come up with. "Putting it on FB is my job. I edit the WGF FB page. This is an extension of the WGF and a recognized part of the newspaper.

If I had put it on the Wiregrass Farmer website under the Breaking News category and tweeted it, that too would be part of my job. As to how it affected you and you friends, again speak to the MTC leaders." It is the job of a great reporter/editor to get the news out to as many people as possible ASAP and in this modern era, it is easy to push the news out to literally millions of people very quickly.

So even though my friend was only doing his job and doing it well, he is being berated for it. The things I have quoted are only the responses to his FB post. I can just imagine the phone calls, emails etc he is received and the "letters to the editor" he will get in the days to come. Still, I have no doubt that my friend will continue his journalistic excellence and not compromise his values. As I have said many times in the past, he is a far better writer than I and a better news reporter than I could ever be.

As a closing note (B flat), think on this. In the future, when you read in your newspaper, E-paper etc an article by a reporter who reports the truth, no matter how painful it is, instead of griping because you didn't want to hear the news give that reporter a mental pat on the head. Better yet, send a letter to the editor saying thank you.

Whatever happened to Customer Service?

Okay, most of you probably don't know this, but I am an Ass, A Jerk and even a real Neener at times. Generally this only occurs when something really honks me off. It can be anything from some stupid peeples article I read or the actions of some idiot I meet out and about. I generally try to reserve these snarky moments for times that truly call for them. Whether I succeed most times is anyone's guess. However, every now and then something happens that truly, truly PISSES me off and I feel the need to vent. This, in case you haven't guessed yet, is one of those times. So bear with me while I vent.

Yesterday afternoon around 6-ish, I called our pharmacy in the Russell Parkway Krogers to get refills on my insulin, one of my wife's meds and my test strips. I told the man on the phone that I would be by to pick it up in the morning. He said that was fine and we ended our little chat. Now, today around 4-ish, my wife drops by said pharmacy on the way home from work to pick up our prescriptions and is told that, not only are they not ready yet, but she will have to wait till 7 to get them. When she complains, they revise their estimate to 5:30.

Now when I go back out in the rain to pick up our prescriptions at 5:15 or so, I politely inquire as to why we had to wait TWENTY FOUR HOURS to get our prescriptions filled. I was a little miffed since I was directly behind a lady who had just dropped hers off (Saw her do it) and she was told that there would be a 30 minute wait. Now instead of being apologetic or even polite, the ladies in the pharmacy get a really serious attitude and inform me that it wasn't their fault because the tech who took my order had set it to be filled at SEVEN PM that evening. Now keep in mind, I told the tech on the phone that it'd be picked up in the morning and he agreed. I was not told 7pm.

So then, to top things off, when I finally get my prescriptions, the tech lady taking my money informs me that the needles that I use to take the insulin are out of stock and they will have to order me more. Now besides the fact that I cannot take insulin without the needles, why didn't they tell me this half an hour before? Better yet, why didn't they tell my wife that when she was there an hour before? So I am forced to choose from having to drive across town to get needles or wait to get some tomorrow. Since I had a couple of needles left from the last box and really didn't feel like driving, I said to go ahead and rush order them for tomorrow.

Now what really honked me off wasn't the mistakes they made or even the wait. What pissed me off was their attitude. From all three women, I got the attitude of "We didn't mess up, you did." and "Well that's not our problem." A simple "I'm sorry Sir we made a mistake" or a "I'm sorry for the trouble Sir." would have done wonders for my anger management issues. Instead they get all snarky and royally cheese me off.

Customer service is a dying art form caused by so many people not giving a damn. It's time we stopped taking crappy service and bad attitudes and reminded these people that we basically pay their salaries. That is what the SIOTBAA Society is all about. Come on folks!

Define Unnatural?

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-bachmann-faith-20110808,0,2495054.story Mighty Bachmann is at it again and in her usual fine form. As I have stated in the past, I don't like this woman. I think she is a lying twit with less than two brain cells to rub together and her very presence on the campaign trail is setting back women at least 100 years, but believe it or not, this rant isn't about Bachmann, its about a word and how it is defined.

I have heard time and time again, Homosexuality (Hells most forms of sexuality that don't involve one man/one woman in the classic position) as "unnatural." The pastor in the above article uses it and hundreds of people have used it and I have to wonder exactly what they mean when they use it.

Dictionary.Com defines Unnatural thus,
unnatural
[uhn-nach-er-uhl, -nach-ruhl]   Origin
un·nat·u·ral/ʌnˈnætʃərəl, -ˈnætʃrəl/ Show Spelled[uhn-nach-er-uhl, -nach-ruhl] Show IPA
adjective
1.contrary to the laws or course of nature.
2.at variance with the character or nature of a person, animal, or plant.
3.at variance with what is normal or to be expected: the unnatural atmosphere of the place.
4.lacking human qualities or sympathies; monstrous; inhuman: an obsessive and unnatural hatred.
5.not genuine or spontaneous; artificial or contrived: a stiff, unnatural manner.

So according to these definitions, Unnatural can be simply defined as something that does not occur naturally in the world around us. So that means if Homosexuality is unnatural, then it cannot possibly exist outside the actions of men. It has to be an artificially contrived state, going against the "pure" world around us. Whelp, if that is the argument that Bachmann and her ilk are using then they are way off base.

Homosexual activity exists aplenty in nature. Our closest genetic cousins the Apes and Chimps do it all the time. When a friendly female isn't around they engage in very "friendly" activities to pass the time. (BTW this one can also be used in support of masturbation if one so chooses.) Moving further away, we have the Dolphins who have been observed to engage in just about every sort of sex known to man including multiple partners and homosexuality. There are more examples, but those two alone disprove Bachhy's point.

Now, when I have pointed these things out in the past, many people have used the argument that "These creatures are animals" as if to imply that simple beasts cannot be used to prove a point. Of course this one comes back to bite them because if these creatures are truly simple beasts incapable of making moral choices, then that means that their actions are the purest form of innocence. Thus making their "gay" actions completely natural.

Now I am not making arguments for or against homosexuality. The people that know me know how I feel on the subject. This is purely a semantic argument over what I feel is the improper use of a perfectly good word. Oh yeah, and the fact that Bachmann is an idiot.

Freedom for all, but not when we don't like you.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/herman-cain-backs-mosque-bans-152052930.html

Herman Cain, one of the many less than inspiring people attempting a run at the highest office in the land, has come out on the side of proposed bans on Mosques. He like so many xeno-phobic people argues that Mosques are breeding grounds for terrorists and that Islam wishes to use the Mosques to foist Sharia Law off on us poor, unsuspecting Americans. Cain also told Fox (Not surprised it was Faux News) host Glenn Beck in June that he would appoint Muslims who pledged loyalty to the U.S. Constitution--and conceded that we would not require the same pledge from believers who have faced past charges of divided loyalties in U.S. politics, such as Catholics.

Now I have problems with this. Besides the fact that the arguments people are using today are the same exact arguments people used to make about Judaic Laws, Protestant Laws, "Insert name of religion that we don't like" Laws. Besides the fact that this man and so many others want to demand that a certain sub section of Americans ie Islamic followers be made to follow laws that others aren't. No what bothers me most is this man, who wants to be president one day, seems completely ignorant of one of our most basic freedoms.

Freedom of Religion applies to every religion practiced in this country. It cannot be granted to some and not to others. It really is that simple. Making the argument that this Mosques and Community Centers might be used as training camps for terrorists or used for Unamerican activities is an empty one. There is NO evidence that Mosques in the US are being used on a grand scale as staging bases for the destruction of America.

Now some argue that some of the terrorists captured visited certain mosques both here and overseas. That's true as true can be. That doesn't prove that the mosques were their bases. That's like saying all Christian Churches are breeding grounds for Serial Killers because Jeffery Dahmer attended services once or twice. As far as we know, these individuals are the exceptions not the rule. When it is PROVEN otherwise, then I will gladly change my tune.

People argue that Islam preaches that it is the only way to Heaven and that unbelievers should be put to the sword etc. Since I haven't finished reading the Koran as of yet, I really can't say if this is true one way or the other. I can say that most of the followers of Islam I have known over the years were very peaceful and well educated with a high degree of tolerance towards others. What I can point out is that there are any number of points in the Bible where Christians show those same attitudes including wiping out entire cities because "God" told them these people were evil. (Not dissing God or Christians, just making a point that all religions since the dawn of time have preached that theirs is the only way and that all disbelievers are bad.)

So what it boils down to is simply this. Muslims have the right to worship how they like, where they like and when they like. They have the same right to build their Mosques as others have to build their Churches, Temples etc. It is guaranteed to them by same things that guarantee it to everyone else. Our United States Constitution. Freedom for everyone or freedom for no one.

Turn out the lights, the party is over

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/07/12/house-turns-out-lights-bulb-ban

Okay far be it from me to quote Faux News on anything but this seems like a fairly safe subject since there is no footage to be doctored or photos to mix up. I mean, even those dimbulbs (Get it the blog is about light bulbs so I called them Dimbulbs as a kind of clever play on words? Get it?) can't mess this one up. If it turns out they fabricated, exaggerated or other kind of -ated this report I will offer a full apology.

Now as my good friend pointed out when he brought this article to my attention, we are facing an economic crisis of unparalleled proportions where all attentions should be focused on keeping us afloat and our politicians have time for this crap? Still, let us ignore that little tidbit and actually focus on the issue at hand. Light bulbs.

Here is a fact, the incandescent light bulb, which has existed pretty much unchanged since Edison threw the first switch well over a century ago, is woefully inefficient. For the meager amount of light each bulb produces, it also produces a hell of a lot more heat. The average bulb lasts a few months then burns out and we have to run around in the dark trying to find another one. They use way to much electricity for the job they do.

Here is the other side to that story. Compact Fluorescent Bulbs contain some small amounts of toxic chemicals (although newer models are correcting that) and cost much more than a IB does. They are difficult to make in lower wattage and tend to be funny looking. (Always remind me of pig tails or curly fries)

On the other hand, they use far less electricity and tend to last forever. I have CFB in certain parts of my house that have burned pretty much 24/7 for 5 or more years. Sure I paid $6.00 for one back then (They are much cheaper now) but if you figure $6.00 for 5+ years that's about $1.20 per year. I can promise you that replacing IB during that same time would have cost a lot more.

Briefly, the new Next generation LED bulbs coming out have all the benefits of both IB and CFB with none of the negatives except for price. They are still very expensive, but just like CFB, those prices will come down in time.

What the argument seems to be is, "Why should we change? This (insert product here) works just fine and has worked just fine since I was a boy/girl." Our Poli-tickans are stopping progress that will save money, energy and resources simply because they grew up with the IB illuminating their school books. Well, it is time to start changing and start rethinking. You can't stop progress, not matter how hard you try. The best you can do is slow it down a little. Green it and mean it, guys!

Don't pay 'em!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-cannot-guarantee-benefits-checks-paid-debt-deal-183025203.html

Obama and other key figures have warned that if an agreement on the budget cuts/tax increase/debt ceiling isn't reached in time that Social Security checks and other forms of assistance won't be paid because of lack of funds. Some have even gone so far as to hint that certain other groups won't get money either ie Medicare and even pay for our armed forces and this (like so many things do) has got me pondering life, the universe and everything. After much musing, I have come to the decision that this is a GREAT idea! Lets not pay certain groups of people, especially non-productive groups that are worthless and a drain on the precious resources of our country! This will save us billions! What a clever plan! I am proud to be a part of this plan!

So here is what we will do. Come August, if a new agreement hasn't been reached, we stop paying the government! Cut out the fat paychecks to the White House, Senate and Congress. Cut out payments to all the benefits that they receive (Health Care, Retirement, Transportation, Housing etc) and just imagine the oodles of bucks we can save. Sure it might not be enough to balance the budget, but I can promise you it will be enough to make sure SS, Medicare etc get paid on time and maybe even enough to start putting money back into the SS fund that the bullies in Washington have so baldly robbed over the decades. It will certainly be enough to keep our brave men and women in the Armed Forces paid.

Now as an aside, let me state that I recognize Obama's statement for what it is just like I recognize all the statements made by the Damnocrats, Reboobicans and Tea Beggars (Thanks for that one Benjy) for what they are. All this flaming rhetoric is nothing more than posturing. As much as I would love to see us forced to live within our means by the Debt Ceiling not being raised, I know that it will be by the deadline because neither side wants to be responsible for the Fiscal Chaos that will happen if it isn't raised. The Ceiling will be raised, one way or the other and nothing will be fixed until everything falls apart and we are forced, like Greece and Ireland, to fix it.

I love this country. There is a reason why one of my nicknames used to be Captain America. I truly believe that the USA is the greatest country in the world and easily the best place to live. We can be a great country with great people in it. However, we can also be self serving, greedy and not too bright. This whole Debt Ceiling Disaster topic is an excellent example of that. One side blames the other. We blame the government. This disaster is always "their fault."

Well, it is time we all woke up and realized that it is not "their fault." It is not the Damnocrats or Reboobicans fault. It is certainly not the Tea Beggars fault, they just got there. Our money problems and the events leading up to them are everyone's fault. Yours, mine and every other person of voting age's fault because even if we did nothing to encourage this disaster, we sat back complacently and let it happen. Well, the time for complacency is over. It is time we stood up, took to the streets and tried to fix things. If we don't fix them now, our children and our grandchildren are screwed. Are you up to the challenge?

Okay we could be well and truly screwed here.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/could-obama-ignore-congress-refuse-raise-debt-ceiling-142136726.html

Short and sweet, there is an apparent movement towards considering the Debt Ceiling of the US unconstitutional. The attitude is that if we fail to raise the Debt Ceiling by the deadline, the government can simply ignore it and keep selling and borrowing as much as it needs to keep going and not default on all of its loans.

In my opinion this is a recipe for complete and utter financial disaster. The Debt Ceiling was imposed to keep us from borrowing and borrowing until we owed more money than we brought in. It's a safety valve to keep us from going the way of Greece and other bankrupt EU countries.

Okay some might argue that we keep raising the durned thing anyways so why not just do away with it or ignore it? To me there is no surer way to screw us over than giving the Damnocrats and Reboobicans (Tea Baggers and Independents too) the ability to borrow and borrow money indiscriminately trusting that they won't get us in over our heads. That's like trusting the fox to not only guard the hen house but to make sure that no one takes more than they need.

Here's an idea, Politicks. Figure out ways to decrease spending and fix what is wrong with the country. If you do that, then the already astronomical Debt Ceiling will be more than high enough.

Obsolete or Evolution?

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/113047/disappearing-middle-class-jobs-forbes is just one of dozens of articles I have read lately on jobs that have been lost and are probably never going to come back. Forbes lists jobs like Clerical and certain Production line jobs. Some of these jobs have been lost because of the economy and others simply because they aren't needed anymore. The recent economic downturn has forced companies to change the way the way they do business or produce items and they are realizing that the new way is much more efficient than the old way.

I also read about people bemoaning the loss of jobs because companies refuse to do things the way they were done before. They insist that the companies have a duty to the people and are wrong to take those jobs away even it is more efficient and cost effective. I say, "Poppycock!" (I actually do say that which should frighten people)

When I was reading the Forbes article with my morning coffee I was reminded of the incredible movie, "Other People's Money" with the incredible Danny Devito. He has an incredible speech at the very end where a company that is facing extinction is voting to keep going. The speech is kind of long, but basically he is trying to explain that it is against common sense and good judgment to keep forcing a company doomed to failure to keep going.

His example is "You know, at one time there must have been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw.

Now, how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company?"

and that is kind of the way I see this situation. A hundred years ago, I am sure teamsters were yelling because the motorized trucks were stealing their work. When Hydraulic and Electric Drilling entered coal mines, I am sure the thousands of workers they replaced yelled at the top of their lungs. I could give dozens of more examples but you get my drift.

Technology and innovation have displaced workers since time began. People have had to evolve and adapt to the new situation or suffer. The way the world does business and produces is changing and we either have to change with it or be stuck.

As a side note, this blog has nothing to do with jobs being lost because companies are sending their work overseas to people willing to work for much less than we do. It is simply a statement on technology and innovation. The other is a subject for a future blog not todays.

Wake up and smell the impending disaster!

Okay once again the nation of Greece is in the news as talks go on over more bailout money from the other nations of the EU and the IMF. Usually I cite some article or post here but there are really too many to cite this week/last week. The basis of all the fuss is Greece's less than adequate attempts to trim the fat from their budgets and the peoples' uproar over the government teat drying up.

If that sounds a little harsh, I apologize but it is accurate. For decades, a large number of the European nations have created this fantastical, Never Never Land existence with low taxes, early retirement ages and impossible pensions for their people. During these same decades, most of the nations completely ignored the fact that these fantasies were completely unsustainable over the long run. Much more money was going out than coming in, but that didn't matter because everyone was happy.

Recently, the magic well finally ran out. Greece and several other nations admitted to the world that they were more than broke, more than busted and if they didn't have immediate help, they would go bankrupt. The EU and the IMF agreed to loan them money to keep them afloat in return for cutting the fantasy money well off and beginning to work to fix their problems. Sounds great, right? Simple, right?

Enter, the public. The public who has for decades demanded more and more from the government without ever wondering where the money was coming from. They are in an uproar (Even been occasional riots) because their magic money machine doesn't work any more. Of course, they claim and there is some truth to the fact that government corruption accounts for a large amount of money lost every year instead of pensions and entitlement programs. Still, even if you trim all the corruption funds, there is still not enough money coming into the government to cover all the perks that they want. What it comes down to in these countries is that the people want all their perks, all their goodies and really don't give a damn if the government goes bellyup in the process.

Now, you might ask, what has this to do with the US? Simple, we are all heading down the same path as those countries. Our national debt is in the TRILLIONS of dollars and keeps going up. Instead of actually fixing the problem, we make noises about budget cuts and then try to increase our debt ceiling so we can borrow more money. People on all sides from Reboobicans to Damnocrats to TeaBaggers (Still trying to come up with a name that is more insulting than their actual tag but failing miserably. Any suggestions?) all want the budget fixed and balanced. They want all the systems to be solvent again and they want more for the American people.

That's what everyone wants. What they don't want are higher taxes, higher prices or longer wait periods to reap their just rewards. (As a side note here, I personally feel that the raising of the retirement/SS age is a harsh blow, but also unavoidable at this point) Everyone points out that if the government hadn't so badly bungled things over the past few decades, that none of this would be necessary. They claim, quite accurately, that many of the programs were more than solvent until greedy politicians started dipping into the honey jar. Unfortunately, these facts don't change reality.

The time when our budget/debt issues could be fixed simply are long since gone. Just like the Greeks, Americans suckled at the government teat convinced that the milk would never dry up. Americans ignore the warnings of people who saw these disasters coming because the politicians kept telling them everything was just fine. Now, no matter who's fault it is and no matter how we got to where we are, we are all going to have to suck it up and work towards fixing this disaster before we become the next Greece. We have to all step up before it is too late. Remember the old saying, "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem."

Sorry nothing bad to say today

Spent the entire day fishing with an old friend so too mellow to gripe about anything. Try me Tuesday, Tuesday is always a good day for being an Ass.

Okay let me get my gun...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110609/us_yblog_thelookout/fake-foreclosure-notices-panic-some-detroit-residents

Okay so imagine this scenario. In these troubled financial times when Banks are foreclosing willy nilly on just about anyone, including (believe or not) on some people who don't even have a mortgage, you come home from work and see a notice stuck to your door that reads in bold print EVICTION NOTICE. How quickly do you start to freak out? Sure your loans are up to date. Sure you've never missed a payment, but that still is a terrifying thing to see.

Well, that's what happened to a bunch of people in Detroit recently when a group fighting the construction of a public bridge spanning the US and Canada posted a bunch of these fake fliers on their doors. The group, secretly funded by billionaire Koch Industries executive vice President David Koch, is set to resist the construction of the bridge. Republican donor Manuel (Matty) Moroun is also lobbying against the proposed bridge because it would siphon traffic and tolls from his privately owned Ambassador bridge that traverses the same span between Detroit and Ottawa. Moroun would like a second bridge--but one that he would own.

Now forget for the moment that this bridge would bring in billions of dollars a year in revenue. Forget the fact that the only reason Koch and one of his puppet organizations is lobbying against it is because it would take money out of his cronies hands. Forget any of the good reasons or bad reasons for building this bridge. (Wow that's a lot of forgetting!) Never mind that that the organization might have had the best intentions (Yeah right!)

The issue here is these people thought that the best way to get their point across was to scare the crap out of a bunch of people who hadn't done anything to deserve it. What's next, a note saying "We have your wife, kids and dogs?" I can promise you that if some schmuck ever tries that with me, I got an immediate response for him/her/it. Like a friend of my mine always says, "Watch for the flash."

And she wants to be president?

http://beta.news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/sarah-palin-version-paul-revere-famous-ride-facebook-161453631.html

This ones gonna be short and sweet, but right up the SIOTBAA Society's alley. (T-shirts and coffee mugs available) Since time immemorial politicians and their gaffs have been the subject of editorials, commentaries etc. Anytime any elected or want to be elected official makes a boo boo, the press generally leaps onto it like a hungry dog going after Alpo. Generally, the target either ignores the attacks or comes back and tries to clarify what their comments actually meant.

Sarah Palin has become famous/infamous for her "unusual" comments and for her amazing ability to justify what she said. The famous "Don't Retreat/Reload" comes to mind. (Which I actually admired her for until she waffled under pressure that it was too antagonistic) Just a short time ago, she did it again with her "interpretation" of Paul Revere's famous ride which I can assure you had absolutely nothing to do with the actual events. She had Revere riding to warn the British and ringing bells when in fact he was warning us that the "British" were coming and there were no bells involved.

(As an aside here, Revere's part of the famous ride was actually the shortest of the route and no one ever remembers the other men who rode before him, but that's just sour grapes.)

Now anyone with more than a handful of brain cells to rub together would have come back later and admitted that they had made a slight error in all the excitement of their speech. Heck, I can easily see how a person might make a verbal mistake. It's a small blooper and could be easily forgiven. But that's not what dear Mrs. Palin is doing. Instead of saying, "Hey, sorry I actually meant to say..." She is proudly announcing that her version instead of history's version is correct. This oh so intelligent woman is basically trying to rewrite history instead of just admitting she made a mistake.

Even more amazing is that her followers are defending her version and even attempting their own "revised" version of Revere's ride. Is lunacy contagious? Do brain cells degrade when exposed to Palinite Radiation? I am all for supporting the people you like but don't support their idiocy.

Still a part of me hopes she does run for President and a part of me actually hopes she wins. With her in the office for 4 years, anyone after that will seem like a blessing.

Definitely a WTF?!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110601/ts_yblog_thelookout/handcuffed-by-policy-fire-and-police-crews-watch-man-drown

Okay it's a long header, but connect and read the story. It will tell you how dozens of people, including emergency responders and firemen stood idly by while watching a man commit suicide by drowning. That's right, they just let him die without even attempting to help him? The reason? None of them were trained in water rescue efforts and were simply following policy to prevent any possible legal actions that might ensue. That's right, a man died (albeit at his own hands) and people just watched out of fear of getting in trouble.

My mind simply boggles at the idea of people, especially ones that are trained to do this sort of thing, not doing anything to help someone. Even if you somehow excuse the EMT/Firemen/Rescue Workers, what about all the other bystanders who weren't under policy restraints. It wasn't like the man was floundering in dangerous and deep waters. He was wading out from shore and even occasionally looking back. (As a side note here: Generally people who truly want to die don't do it in such a public location or look back at their audience while they are dying.) Someone or someones could have easily waded out after him and dragged him back to the shore. So why didn't they?

Have we really become so uncaring as a culture that we would be willing to let someone suffer or die simply because we are afraid we might get in some sort of trouble? Back in the early 80s, one university conducted a study where a small child was placed on a street corner in a major city. The girl, who was a talented young actress, was told to stand there crying and asking for help from people passing bye. During the day long experiment, not a single person stopped and tried to help this "child in distress." When questioned about it, some people simply said that they didn't want to get involved. I guess this new event, which was not staged, proves that such an attitude still exists.

I'm no hero. Even if I didn't need them, I'd probably still wear glasses to keep people from hitting me. I am not just a card carrying member of COWARDS ANONYMOUS, I am it's founder. Still, I am damned sure that if I saw a man, woman, child or other drowning not more than a few yards away from me, I would do everything in my power to help them. Letting someone die because you are unwilling to get involved should never happen.

An excuse from Justice because of health

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/us/26loughner.html tells us that proceedings against the man who opened fire at a constituent event for Representative Gabrielle Giffords in January, killing six and injuring her and 12 others have been temporarily suspended due to his outbursts in the court and that it is possible that he may never be judged mentally capable of "understanding" what he has done and help in his defense. That really honks me off.

Now lets forget the fact that dozens of witnesses saw him do it. Hells, one cameraman even got pictures of him doing it. Let's just say for the moment that it is not blatantly obvious that he did it. (Okay I know its a stretch but work with me here.) He still needs to go trial. The very idea that this man may get a literal "Get out of Jail Free" card because he "might not understand" what he has done should get everyone riled up. Schizo, Nutso or simply Psycho, he must stand trial for his actions.

Oh I can hear the molly coddlers out there whining about how if the man wasn't in his right mind (I mean come on folks, no one in their right mind decides to gun down a bunch of people that they have never met before) then he shouldn't have to pay for his actions. My response to that is an old truism about the law in which it states, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." If he committed the crime, he should suffer the consequences of it. (Please note I am being kind and saying if.)

Over my 40+ years, I have seen way to many people who were judged "Not guilty by reason of insanity" and it has always pissed me off. If a person has 12 personalities and #3 decides to take a shotgun and gun down a bunch of people, then the personality's host is guilty. If some kid gets hopped up on Acid and takes a knife to a bunch of other kids, he or she is still guilty. Saying these people weren't in their right minds is bull.

If this nutter is guilty of the crimes arrayed against him then he deserves to have punishment meted out to him to the fullest extent of the law. It doesn't matter if he is Schizophrenic or not because when all is said and done, he still committed the crime. To use an old quote, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."

Right of Way: Wrong in the head

Okay, as today proves, I lead a very interesting and seldom boring life where things happen to me that seem to never happen to anyone else. Today is my latest example.

As most of my friends and those people who read my blogs know, I do a varied amount of exercising to help reduce my blood sugar and lose weight. I usually alternate between walking, jogging and riding my bike. My bike riding has led to several previous posts and to the subject of today's.

I was out for a short ride today (about half an hour for the curious out there) and had just turned onto the second leg of my shorter route. Now Kimberly (St) is not a busy street but has decent amounts of traffic on it from time to time. I had just passed CVS and was going about 20 mph down the right side of the road next to the curb. (Speed limit here is 25 BTW) Suddenly I heard this load honking and before I could even turn to look, a gray Mazda whipped around me at probably twice the limit. A woman yells out the side window something that sounded like "...asshole...sidewalk." and then keeps on going.

Now I encounter my fair share of rude people on the road and promptly forgot all about it until I got to my next turn and there sat the car at the turn with the woman waiting beside it. This is when I knew things were going to get interesting. I was soo right.

She flags me down (Yes I could have just kept going but wheres the fun in that?) and proceeds to harangue me about my riding. This very foul mouthed petite Asian woman tells me that I was riding down the wrong side of the road and blocking traffic because I was going to slow. (Keep in mind that Kimberly is a very wide two lane street with a wide passing median in the middle.) She goes on to say that if I had to ride on the wrong side of the road, I should ride on the sidewalk like I was supposed to and not block traffic. She states that my "blocking traffic and slowing her down" has made her late for work. She then proceeds to say several things in what I believe was Chinese which I doubt were very complimentary and left.

Now folks, I have several major issues with her statements even if they were colorfully delivered. A bicycle is considered a vehicle by the DMV and when on the street, it is to follow the same rules of the road as a car. (Now in my actual neighborhood I switch out as the whim hits me, but on the actual roads and streets I follow this rule precisely.) So since I was on the right hand side of the road, I was not on the "wrong" side.

Secondly, Sidewalks are for pedestrian traffic only IE people using their feet to get to and from places. This is one I seldom fudge on while riding since you can never tell when you are going to turn a corner and find someone right in front of you. So once again, her suggestion that I use the sidewalk was a little confuzzling.

Now ignoring all of that, the fact that this woman was "late for work" and decided to pull over on the side of the road and wait for me just so she could yell at me for making her late to work is a little ludicrous. I have never seen her before so she had no way of knowing for sure that I would turn at that street. I could have just as easily turned around and rode back up the street. This makes me think the very loud lady was either stupid or as my Pawpaw would have said, "Teeched in the head."

Since I am guessing that the woman has a driver's license then she had to have at least glanced at the little handbook they give you that covers the rules of the road for vehicles, bikes and pedestrians. So her screams about me breaking the law and hindering her were more than a little bizarre. I suspect she is the type that ignores "no parking: fire zone" signs because they can't possibly apply to her. Still it made an otherwise boring ride a little more interesting.

Like I said, my life is seldom boring and often times more interesting that many movies. I have yet to decide if this is a blessing or a curse for some previous events in my life. What do you guys think?

Enforcing the law

Webster's Online defines LAW as a (1) : a binding custom or practice of a community : a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority (2) : the whole body of such customs, practices, or rules.

Wikipedia defines it as Law[4] is a system of rules and guidelines, usually enforced through a set of institutions

(Now I bet all of you are thinking that this is about the guy who was ganged up on and handcuffed by police because he was legally wearing his sidearm. Nope, think again and keep reading.)

Now there are dozens of different definitions I can quote that pretty much agree on one thing. Calling something a LAW means that someone, somewhere decided that it was a good idea, codified it and enforces it. In other words, Laws are made by sentient (Most of them anyway) beings to give structure to their lives. With me so far? Hang on it gets a little bumpy.

A man I greatly admire, Stephen Hawking said in a recent interview that he believed that the afterlife (Inset your preference here) is a fairy tale. Here's the entire article for those of you who are interested. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110516/us_yblog_thelookout/stephen-hawking-says-afterlife-is-a-fairy-story

In earlier works, Hawking used the existence of God as a metaphor saying, "What could define God [is a conception of divinity] as the embodiment of the laws of nature." However, he himself does not believe in the existence of a Deity of any kind. He likens people to computers that eventually run down and quit working (I'd prolly be an abacus.) and that there is no afterlife for old computers.

In this interview he states that it would be possible for the solar system to have formed without the aid of God because of the Law of Gravity so it wouldn't have needed God's help. And this segues into my rant for the day.

The Universe is filled with Laws, Gravity, Lightspeed etc. The Universe is so carefully organized that most things (Cells, stars etc) undergo processes so regular, so precise that we can actually set our clocks by them (Atomic Clocks anyone?) These Laws are the very basis for all things in all of the Universe Well as far as we know at this point.) So if these Laws exist and are so powerful, my question is, who came up with them?

If we use humanity as a comparison, the idea of the Universe simply wandering into these laws on its own and keeping them going all this time is kind of silly. From the first days of man, we have codified our lives to give structure to the world around us and to protect us from each other. Anytime you find more than four or five people banding together for whatever reason, there will be some form of rules. Hells, even so called Anarchists create guidelines for themselves even though they supposedly hate such things. So if there are Laws governing the Universe then someone, some force had to create them and enforce them. To me that sounds like God and if you accept the existence of God then Afterlife kind of automatically follows.

Don't get me wrong, I don't claim (most days) to have all the answers. I have no "proof" that God exists and that some form of afterlife follows our death. I believe so with all of my heart and to me that is enough. However as a closing statement to Dr. Hawking, I am reminded of a quote. I can't recall who said it or the exact quote, but the gist of it was "One day Scientists will reach the most distant parts of the universe and find all the answers they seek. When they do, they will find God already there and waiting for them. Peace everyone and God bless.

He's Dead Jim

A good friend of mine posted an article on FB called 7 Deceptions About Bin Laden's Killing Pushed by the Obama Administration which goes into great detail about how the original "facts" of the raid (team size, firefight duration, human shields etc) were either exaggerated or outright fabricated. This article is so much claptrap to me for two very basic reasons.

Reason the first: All of the initial "facts" that were released by the members of the press and a lot of the ones in the first few hours/days afterward were received almost entirely by "confidential sources wishing to remain anonymous due to..." How many times as a culture have we seen entire stories written citing such sources? Due to the fact they are unnamed, the sources have no strength of creditability, but we absorb and accept the information like it is handed down from on high. Something wrong with that.

I know many highly honorable and trustworthy journalists. One of whom I am proud to call Brother. I know that a lot of journalists, even when citing unnamed sources, strive to make sure the information they receive is accurate and up to date. I also know that there is a huge section of the news business that truly doesn't give a damn as long as it makes news. These people get "information" from the Relief Overnight White House Janitor Second Class that Bin Laden was armed with a Planet Busting Death Ray and they will run with it. Later, when the truth comes out (Whatever that may be) they blame the White House for disinformation.

Here's what a lot of people don't realize about situations like this. The White House (Government) doesn't have to clarify anything. They could have claimed John Wayne rose from the dead, teamed up with Chuck Norris and Bruce Willis to go in to take down Laden with their bare hands while drinking Coca Cola. Sure the press might have had a problem with that but nothing could force the WH to "correct" itself. The fact that the WH is willing to correct earlier misinformation, including parts that might not make them look so good, is a good sign of a good government. Give them chops for that.

So now you are probably asking what is Reason the Second? Well that ones not quite so profound and a little indelicate.

Reason the Second: Why do I feel this article is claptrap and unnecessary? Simple, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if Osama was heavily armed, wearing Iron Man Armor with dozens of human shields or if he had just gotten ready for bed, drank his warm milk and put on his pink bunny slippers. It doesn't matter if the team of SEALS that took him down was a 25, 50, 75 or 1500 man team with a legion of attack werewolves. It doesn't matter if he resisted with all of his might or crawled on the floor on hands and knees begging for his life. Because in the end, we got him.

Some might argue that he should have been taken alive and brought to trial. Some might say we violated his rights. I say Horse Hockey! The man was directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. His actions and direction are the cause of pain and suffering for thousands more suffering from the ill effects of living and working at or near Ground Zero during the clean up. We know he did it. Hell we have videos of him admitting to it and more. "The only thing you can do with a rabid dog is shoot him," is a quote from my brother who is one of those honorable journalists I mentioned earlier.

Its not very Christian of me, but I am personally glad the son of a bitch is dead and pray that whatever form of punishment meted out to him in the hereafter is eternal and painful. Like I said not very Christian, but that's the way I feel.

Okay I need about thirty guys with big guns and bikes...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/mexicocrimeprostitutionchild, I want you to read it and then get very angry. Now I have written dozens of articles in the past about children and young adults being forced into prostitution here in the US. Over the years a lot has been done to halt this horrendous practice. (Not nearly enough, but at least folks are trying.) We actually have some very powerful laws on the books now to help with this tragedy. Now I read this article and I understand that we still have a lot to do.

Now I hear a lot of you saying, "That's not our country. We shouldn't get involved because it is none of our business. Don't we have enough troubles at home with a recession and three foreign wars going on?" The only one of those questions that I deem worthy of a friendly response is the last one. Yes, we do have serious problems going on here at home. Yes we are committed (Apt word that) to three wars that are draining our resources and getting our people killed. I will respond to that part later. Let's handle the first ones first.

"Its not our country." Yep, okay you got me on that one. Mexico and the rest of Central America is not our country. We are global neighbors and somewhat allies with most of the parts of CA, but it isn't part of the US. "We shouldn't get involved because it is none of our business." Reminds me of that wonderful scene from A Christmas Carol where Scrooge compliments Marley for being good at business and Marley moans, "Mankind was my business!" It shouldn't matter where it happens or who it happens to when children are horribly abused. Mexico or Mars, it should always be our business.

People might point out that we have no right forcing our ideas onto other people, other cultures. The problem with that line of thought is this. We aren't talking about a difference in politics or even philosophy. What is happening to these children is wrong, even illegal there. If it weren't wrong by their standards you wouldn't get such amazing quotes as ""Yes, there's people trafficking but not in an alarming manner," Mendez admitted in his office in the border town of Tapachula.
"There is a lot of prostitution, particularly of minors."

A lot of people will tell you that "Wrong is just wrong" for pretty much every single moral, political and even religious argument in the world. I don't necessarily agree with that idea. I believe that many of the ideas/concepts/beliefs that each group considers to be set in stone or absolute are purely cultural and situational. (Hmm, maybe grounds for another blog one day) However, if we are to survive as a race, our first priority must be the protection of our children. What is happening in CA and other parts of the world is wrong and its time someone did something about it.

Unlike a lot of naysayers, I look at the human race and I see so much potential. We have the capacity to grow beyond ourselves and walk amongst the stars (Figuratively and literally) if only we try hard enough. But if we are going to be worthy of this, we have to stand up for ourselves and our fellows. To paraphrase a great TV show's main tag line, "Save the children, Save the world." Any volunteers?

okay we know you risked your lives but...

Sometimes you read about legislation that is stupid. Sometimes you read about legislation that is insulting and sometimes you read about legislation that is both combined. Yahoo News released an article http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110422/us_yblog_thelookout/9-11-first-responders-to-be-checked-on-fbi-terror-list that states that, due to some whizbang wording added to a bill to recompense First Responders who suffer illnesses during their incredibly heroic actions during 9/11 passed, any First Responder who tries to get a part of the allocated funds must pass a background screening to make sure they or members of their family are terrorists.

Now there is already a lot of controversy over this bill because a lot of people felt that the First Responders who dealt with horrific events of 9/11 didn't deserve the extra compensation since they were just doing the jobs they were paid to do. I have opinions about that emotion, but will not go into it here since that isn't exactly the subject of the blog. I will just say this to those people. Thwwpppttt! (That's writerish for a very loud and rude raspberry)

Now I am not saying that some super sneaky member of a terrorist organization couldn't get a job as a fireman, EMT, National Guardsman using false credentials. Perhaps with some evil intent of carrying a bomb into the local Starbucks and ending the evils of Lattes forever. However, unless I completely misinterpret the idea behind terrorists, you don't usually stick around for hours afterward wading through collapsed buildings and breathing in toxic fumes while trying to rescue the Starbucks customers you just tried to blow up.

So using that logic, any First Responder who is now suffering the horrific effects of breathing in smoke, asbestos, chemical fumes etc while they risked their lives to save as many people as they could, then it kind of stands to reason that they aren't terrorists. This moronic and highly insulting rider to the legislation is just a way to keep people who desperately need the money now from getting it and you can bet some gifted soul in our government will do his/her/its damned best to find good men and women ineligible because they read the wrong book in preschool or sold unlicensed lemonade on the street corner when they were 12.

Work with me here on this one, guys. Make a fuss and raise a stink over this insulting piece of trash. The people already have enough to worry about without having to worry about being disallowed because they might be "terrorists." You got a blog? Talk about it. Got a Facebook page? Talk about it. Join the SIOTBAA Society! Make some noise!

Freedom of Speech

Okay before I start what may be one of the most important blogs of my writing career let me give you guys a little quote.

"The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances."

In my own not so humble opinion, this is the most important bits of wording ever written because it gives all of us the right to say and believe what we think is right without fear of persecution.

Now onto the subject that prompted this particular blog. One of my best friends and a far better writer than me called last night to fill me in on the details of a truly amazing event. He entrusted me with writing a blog telling the story and letting people know about the dangers of telling the truth. I really don't think that I am better suited for this than him, but here goes.

My friend runs a local newspaper and is one of it's chief reporters. The other day, early in the morning, he received a phone call from local law enforcement that something big was about to happen. When he arrived at the headquarters, an impressive list of whos who of law enforcement were waiting including Secret Service and GBI officials.

Benjamin rode along as these powerful figures went to serve various warrants. The first house they visited, a woman was served with 99! warrants for identity theft. Let me repeat that just in case you missed the first line. NINETY NINE! She was handcuffed and taken away by the officers. My friend took pictures of the incident which is his job.

After finishing the warrant rounds, Benjy called his office and told them to "Stop the presses." He rushed back to his office, wrote the story and published the picture. Hours later, the paper was published and a very short time later, he received a phone call. The caller identified himself as the son of the woman who had been arrested for the 99 counts. He proceeded to tell Ben that he didn't have the right to publish these pictures of his mother. Of course, Ben pointed out that he did (See above note about 1st Amendment rights) The caller than proceeded to say that "He had something for You and the 1st Amendment"

Keep in mind here that being arrested does not make you guilty. Having your picture in the paper being arrested doesn't make you guilty. No matter what a lot of people seem to think, the only time you are proven guilty of a crime is when you are tried by a jury of your peers and found to be so. Even then, the conviction can be overturned and your innocence restored. Ben didn't accuse the woman of anything or imply that she was guilty. He simply reported the fact of her arrest.

(Let me make another aside about general stupidity. Threats against a person are one thing since you can actually physically assault a person. However the 1st Amendment, 2nd, 3rd etc cannot be physically assaulted unless you try to burn the actual document. They are a concept, an idea and a sense of spirit.)

Since I have known Ben for a very long time I can tell you right now threatening him is about as safe as tap dancing in a land mine. He doesn't get scared and he doesn't back down. As a journalist, he firmly believes in telling the truth no matter what. He has been this way for as long as I have known him. Hells in college, he was known as the heaviest armed man in the state.

The reason I mention that is because what happened next is very typical of that. Whereas many people would have hidden in their homes or offices worried that some angry individual was coming after them, Ben drove home, opened up his well stocked gun safe, pulled out a Mossberg 500 shotgun and slung it across his back. He then proceeded to take a ride through town on his motorcycle. (Note he did call the law enforcement people to tell them of the threat and to tell them of his show of force before doing so.)

Now a lot of people would say that Ben was over reacting. They would imply that he was asking for trouble by riding through town with a gun. They might say that Ben should just keep quiet and let the police handle the situation. Ben did exactly that by informing the police of the situation. He didn't find out who the guy was and where he lived (Child's play for him) and go beat the crap out of him. All he did was show that he would not be intimidated by some dipstick who was too cowardly to confront him face to face.

http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/datasets/journalists-killed-by-country-since--3/versions/1 is an excellent website that tracks the number of journalists killed while doing their job. It shows why no journalist should ever take lightly a threat against their lives. For the most part (Ignoring Faux News right now) reporters struggle everyday to drag the truth out of the darkness kicking and screaming whether people like it or not and a lot of very powerful people don't like it. Sometimes these brave men and women pay for this effort with their lives.

Our freedoms are never free and standing up for them has never been safe. All of the people who fight to do this (Military, Police, Journalists etc) deserve our undying gratitude for having the courage to brave the "slings and arrows" (Bullets, hand grenades) to protect them. The next time you read a story in your local paper that exposes crime, graft and corruption please take a moment to say thank you for the people that made it possible.

Frack me!

In a recent article The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talked about what is going on with all the "fracking" being used to pull natural gas out of hard to get places. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11108/1140094-84-0.stm is just one of dozens of articles I have seen ever since this all started and as usual these articles got me thinking.

Okay I am all for using our own natural resources instead of shipping in oil/gas/guano or whatever from overseas. I am all using new techniques to access these resources. Hells, I am even for deep sea off shore drilling despite the horrors of the Gulf Oil Spill. What I am not for is using questionable and often times extremely hazardous methods and materials in the process.

To backpedal a minute and use the Gulf Spill Disaster as an example. The spill and others like it didn't occur because deep sea drilling is inherently bad. It occurred when a bunch of people decided that expediency and profit was more important than taking the necessary precautions. The Spill occurred because of the gigantic Cluster Flock that the owners/operators/financiers created to make a little more money. If drilling off shore is done properly and with the proper safety measures in place, it is about as safe as drilling on land.

Okay back to the present. For those who are not yet aware, Fracking or Hydraulic Fracking is the process in which vast amounts of liquids is pumped down a pipe and used to crack apart shale and other types of rock to release the natural gas trapped inside of it. This process has opened up thousands of acres of gas deposits that had been inaccessible. Some estimates put the amount of natural gas that could be made available through this process at of 87% of our current production. Sounds awesome doesn't it? BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!

The first reported problems people started having with fracking (besides the massive amounts of air pollution produced where ever these plants set up) is that natural gas and other contaminants are seeping into their ground water supplies. The Gas Companies deny any correlation between fracking and the problem, but when you turn on your outside tap and then light the water coming out of it with a lighter, that throws red flags up in my book.

But hey, I am feeling magnanimous today so lets give the Frackers the benefit of the doubt on that one. I mean, for all we know, these communities could have always had high octane drinking water. Probably saved millions of buying Red Bulls. So lets move on to the disposal of the Fracking Water. Since this is a brand new process there are no real guidelines for the disposal/cleaning of the water/chemical mix produced. Some companies send their waste liquid to water processing plants that are set up to decontaminate the liquid and make it safe. Others "recycle" their liquids by pumping it back down the holes again. Still others have been caught simply dumping the liquid directly back into the rivers and streams. As of yet, no one in the governments (Local/State or Federal) have made any real attempts to regulate this issue.

Now my final point. As the above article mentions, "Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in Pennsylvania and more than 12 other states from 2005 to 2009." These companies are pumping chemicals into the ground that most countries wouldn't even use during a time of war. They are doing this with little or no oversight and keeping very few records of exactly what they are pumping into our water tables. With practically no oversight, they are "self regulating" their actions and are pretty much answerable to no one.

All of the above ranting is because everyone wants easy answers and quick solutions to our problems. "Grab as much as we can and the hell with tomorrow" is pretty much the universal attitude among most companies and politicians. Never mind, things like fracking and strip mining are destroying our ecosystem and will create a very bleak tomorrow if these things aren't reined it. As long as our lights stay on now and our cars keep rolling for the next decade or so, tomorrow can be dealt with soon enough.

Well, I have news for the politicians, CEOS etc. Tomorrow is rapidly becoming TODAY and all of the past due bills created by greed are about to come due. It's time we stopped pushing things off till tomorrow and maybe, just maybe start working on making things right today.