It seems apparent to me that they have 13 year olds creating all the commercials these days. Who else would think a Staples ad featuring a moron screaming "WOW! That's a LOW price!" over and over would be a good idea? And must I rehash my disgust and loathing of Flo from the Progressive commercials?
Did you know that you can return beer if you are unsatisfied with it? Well, perhaps it depends on the location and how well customers are treated there. Earlier in the week I purchased some Schlafly beer from my favorite local liquor store. I bought two different styles - Kolsch and the Summer Lager. I have had both previously and knew what they should and should not taste like. Unfortunately when I got home and tried each kind, I found that both tasted like cider and were rather flat. A cidery taste is often the result of adding too much sugar in the final conditioning stage. This often happens to home-brewers (yes, it happened to me). Because it happened with two different styles, the only thing I can figure is that Schlafly operates their process with a universal conditioning/bottling unit. In non-engineer-speak -- the different styles are brewed separately, then the liquid beer flows out of each tank and fills bottles. These bottles then travel along a conveyor belt along parallel or even the same path. Then they pass under some device which deposits a little extra sugar or other fermentable into each bottle which reacts with the leftover yeast to give beer that wonderful bubbly carbonation we all love. (And for the CO2-obsessed out there, this is naturally created CO2 from the chemical reaction. Large breweries like Budweiser actually pump CO2 straight into the bottle. Now, which one is more carbon-neutral and "green?" Can we consider beer bottles to be sinks for CO2? But aren't all large corporations like Budweiser evil? So pumping CO2 into beer from the surroundings must be evil...right?)
Speaking of CO2 - I haven't shared my simple idea for fixing the whole CO2 emissions thing. First, I'd like to once again point out that there are more than sufficient reasons for finding new energy sources and cleaning up pollution without even touching the CO2/climate change thing. The CO2/climate change thing has become nothing more than a politicized bulldozer for pushing through some factions' agendas. It's all about power and control. Create fear, push through the agenda that you want, and gain control. But I digress....
If we really want to get rid of CO2...why not create plants that have accelerated photosynthetic cycles to consume the excess CO2? We can genetically manipulate plants to grow faster, taller, resist disease, produce hybrid fruits, sing songs, and scare away burglars. Why not just make super-ravenous plants? Then we wouldn't have to have Cap and Trade, or bring America's economy down to the level of the rest of the world, or punish people for being successful, or have one world government, or have a massive federal government involved in every aspect of each individual's life. Just make the damn plants and let them do what God meant for them to do: Consume CO2 and produce oxygen. Oh...and let's also stop clear-cutting the Amazon while we're at it. Thanks.
Oh, just a reminder from our fearless leader -- information is a distraction. Yes, we wouldn't want people having too much information...they might get confused...better to just let the government decide for us which sources of information are true and accurate. (Psst....in case no one else is noticing, the feds are moving to make internet providers public utilities. This means they can regulate the internet without having to institute Net Neutrality. Ah, but I digress again...)
Has Orwell's 1984 been banned yet? I figure it's a little like a football team having it's playbook left on an airport bench.
Wait a minute...wasn't I talking about cidery beer? So, my beer was nasty. I didn't think there was anything that could be done other than complain to the brewery (like they were really going to throw out an entire production line of beer because someone got their flowrates wrong) and let the liquor store know of the problem. Yesterday I went in and explained to them what happened. They said they hadn't gotten any other complaints and seemed a little skeptical. They even asked if maybe the beer is supposed to taste that way. Kolsch and Summer lagers are NOT supposed to taste like flat cider. You know what IS supposed to taste like flat cider? Screwed up batches of beer that need to be thrown away. I was pleasantly surprised when the manager said I could bring the rest in for credit. Hopefully he doesn't forget that between now and the next time I can get in there with my cidery beer. The lesson: While Schlafly is one of my favorite micro-breweries -- steer clear of their products for the time being.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
If someone else wrote this, you'd be laughing right now
Hey, let's just call it a year already.
This has been the windiest 4 months in western KY I've ever experienced. I want to see WPSD mentioning this and acknowledging that it has been unusually windy. And I don't want to hear any reference made to global warming. This is far greater than any overly-politicized issues --- this is nature straight up laughing at me. Nature knows I don't care for windy days (a breeze is nice, but gusty winds - especially on a cold and/or rainy day are just misery-inducing). Nature is being extra-extra-windy around here, but in such a way so that nobody except myself seems to notice. THAT's how insidious nature is!
How about that swine flu? Having just read most of Stephen King's "The Stand" in the last year, the flu coverage keeps filling my head with thoughts of 99.9% of the earth's population dying out and the rest having one last good vs evil battle royale.
Then we have the back-up Air Force One making unannounced photo-op flyovers of Manhattan. So much idiocy and only so little attention span within which to point out said idiocy. Why do we need to have this photo-op in the first place? Are these pictures going to have real live aliens in the foreground? Then are we going to sell the pictures to magazines across the globe and use the profits to pay off 1/29874000182363927256481238dkwudsjk02387377y29dfjer7uj77829th of all the massive debt we've racked up in the last 3 months? Hey - you know what? My cash flow is pretty bad right now (in fact, - seriously folks - I need a job post-haste), I think I'm gonna take a page from our government's playbook and just start crippling myself with massive credit card debt and loans from shady guys in bad suits down at the docks. Eventually my debt will be so large that I'll have no choice but to indefinitely keep pouring more of my income into paying off that debt (rather than keeping my hard-earned future income and spending it as I see fit -- but what do I know, it's probably better if I just let someone else decide these matters for me. Maybe someone at a central planning office can tell me what to do with my money...and maybe make my healthcare decisions for me...and tell me what to wear and what to say and what to think...life would be so much better that way...we could all get along and be happy and all the mean people in the world would start being nice....). Yep. No better way to jump-start one's financial situation than to burden oneself with massive, crippling, worry-about-it-next-year debt.
Oh, I mentioned healthcare....here's a tip: if things keep going the way they're about to be going -- buy some medical textbooks and as many medical supplies as you can get your hands on and practice on your friends and relatives. Because soon you'll be treating yourself. Or just hope you don't get sick. OR....be like the Buddhists and the Jedi and learn to "let go" of all that you fear to lose - including your health and/or life. Wouldn't that be awesome? To just live without being so afraid of death... To calmly accept that at any given time you might be leaving this life... And to not be upset in the least...
Yes, nature is an insidious and devious entity - a tormentor and a charmer - a lover and a fighter. One day she's making you shake your fists in frustration as winds blow 40 degree rain into your face and your tax returns across a flooded parking lot. The next she sparkles you with one of those life-affirming spring evenings when the sky is majestic and the trees are proud and green and deer look up from their secret distillery in the woods as you walk by, oblivious with your smiling face lost in the grandeur of one of life's rare, but sweet moments.
What really matters in life? Spending 8-14 hours a day at a job? Or being at home and around the ones you love, doing the things that interest you, appreciating the little things in this world - like the way skunks pay very little attention to humans when they're rooting around in the grass for whatever it is that skunks eat? Ah geez...here I go again...I'm about to segue into my rant about the insanity of the modern working world (or as the guys at school know this rant as: "Mindless, hopeless, soulless, life-sucking.....") with all it's obsessing over image and protocols and procedures and policies and regulations and formatting and gladhanding and preening and talking in circles and talking and saying nothing at all (like politicians, the poor soulless wretches). But I should stop myself here because all of you either a) don't care, b) don't get what I'm saying and just think I'm raving about something silly and that I'm thus wrong for raving about it, c) have been so succumbed by society that you are unable to see my point, or d) don't get that while I'm trying to make a point and express my strange view of the world, I'm also trying to amuse and entertain in some fashion.
And yet there's something about my delivery that differs from others who make similar comments/observations. Something that makes people laugh hysterically at others and just shake their heads at and dismiss me. And that makes me angry. Angry and petulant. Love that word. Petulant. It just leaps off the lips.
You know what's fun? Being an English major in engineering school and throwing your massive verbal intellect around with all the guys who love calculus and see the world in x-y graphs. A bird flies by -- I see a bird and think of ways to describe it, wonder where it's heading, give it a personality, name it Phil.... They see points on an x-y plane with a curve depicting the flight-path of the "object" as it moves in the x-direction. And throw in some sine and cosine mumbo-jumbo and some coulombs and derivatives and exponential letter "e's" and hyperbolic functions and partial derivatives and other made up crap for good measure. It's a BIRD!!!!!
We're all running out of time. Our bodies are oxidizing every day that we live, asteroids are conspiring to wipe us out, terrorists (oh wait....we don't call them that anymore - I FORGOT - how insensitive of me!) are eager to cause their "man-made disasters," (idiocy...just idiocy) influenza mutates and contorts itself into new and improved versions each year, the world's climate is warming...no wait, now it's cooling....no, it's warming...no, cooling...now it's just "chill-axing," artificial sweeteners, swimming in the ocean, breathing air, red meat, being married, being alone, tacos, long walks in the park, semicolons, and Jack Black movies all cause cancer and will kill you; Yellowstone Park is actually a giant underground volcano and will explode and wipe us all off of our couches and back to Fred Flintstone's happy stone-age family; earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, the Cloverfield monster, mass hysteria and hero-worship; and let's not forget nuclear armed countries that could very well fall under the rule of radical muslim extremist terrorists (what was the PC term that the government insists on using now? I forgot...) literally any day now. Basically there are - always have been - and always will be things that are either killing us or are actively trying to kill us (especially those dastardly asteroids....out there in space, plotting...scheming). We're always running out of time to live...to make the most of what we're given. So - RUN! Run outside and frolic with your loved ones and your pets and your car and your favorite plant! Do the things that mattter! Don't save it up for the day that comes conveniently AFTER the asteroids hit and the term-the-government-no-longer-uses-to-describe-terrorists 's attack and the socialized health care physician tells you you have 5 different types of cancer - after you wait in line for 49 business days and bribe the right folks at central planning. Get out there and spend your life wisely. Don't be like Donovan at the end of The Last Crusade and choose "poorly." Because then your body will instantaneously (and horrifically - especially if you're 9 years old and watching it happen to someone else) rot and turn to dust as your lovely (albeit traitorous) Austrian cohort shrieks in terror.
It just occured to me that this blog is almost coming across like it's the last one I'll ever write. What with the urging people to live life thing. Hopefully by pointing this out I will reverse whatever trick fate had up its sleeve.
So, let's just call it a night then. I'm sure there's a House or Family Guy on somewhere I should be watching.
This has been the windiest 4 months in western KY I've ever experienced. I want to see WPSD mentioning this and acknowledging that it has been unusually windy. And I don't want to hear any reference made to global warming. This is far greater than any overly-politicized issues --- this is nature straight up laughing at me. Nature knows I don't care for windy days (a breeze is nice, but gusty winds - especially on a cold and/or rainy day are just misery-inducing). Nature is being extra-extra-windy around here, but in such a way so that nobody except myself seems to notice. THAT's how insidious nature is!
How about that swine flu? Having just read most of Stephen King's "The Stand" in the last year, the flu coverage keeps filling my head with thoughts of 99.9% of the earth's population dying out and the rest having one last good vs evil battle royale.
Then we have the back-up Air Force One making unannounced photo-op flyovers of Manhattan. So much idiocy and only so little attention span within which to point out said idiocy. Why do we need to have this photo-op in the first place? Are these pictures going to have real live aliens in the foreground? Then are we going to sell the pictures to magazines across the globe and use the profits to pay off 1/29874000182363927256481238dkwudsjk02387377y29dfjer7uj77829th of all the massive debt we've racked up in the last 3 months? Hey - you know what? My cash flow is pretty bad right now (in fact, - seriously folks - I need a job post-haste), I think I'm gonna take a page from our government's playbook and just start crippling myself with massive credit card debt and loans from shady guys in bad suits down at the docks. Eventually my debt will be so large that I'll have no choice but to indefinitely keep pouring more of my income into paying off that debt (rather than keeping my hard-earned future income and spending it as I see fit -- but what do I know, it's probably better if I just let someone else decide these matters for me. Maybe someone at a central planning office can tell me what to do with my money...and maybe make my healthcare decisions for me...and tell me what to wear and what to say and what to think...life would be so much better that way...we could all get along and be happy and all the mean people in the world would start being nice....). Yep. No better way to jump-start one's financial situation than to burden oneself with massive, crippling, worry-about-it-next-year debt.
Oh, I mentioned healthcare....here's a tip: if things keep going the way they're about to be going -- buy some medical textbooks and as many medical supplies as you can get your hands on and practice on your friends and relatives. Because soon you'll be treating yourself. Or just hope you don't get sick. OR....be like the Buddhists and the Jedi and learn to "let go" of all that you fear to lose - including your health and/or life. Wouldn't that be awesome? To just live without being so afraid of death... To calmly accept that at any given time you might be leaving this life... And to not be upset in the least...
Yes, nature is an insidious and devious entity - a tormentor and a charmer - a lover and a fighter. One day she's making you shake your fists in frustration as winds blow 40 degree rain into your face and your tax returns across a flooded parking lot. The next she sparkles you with one of those life-affirming spring evenings when the sky is majestic and the trees are proud and green and deer look up from their secret distillery in the woods as you walk by, oblivious with your smiling face lost in the grandeur of one of life's rare, but sweet moments.
What really matters in life? Spending 8-14 hours a day at a job? Or being at home and around the ones you love, doing the things that interest you, appreciating the little things in this world - like the way skunks pay very little attention to humans when they're rooting around in the grass for whatever it is that skunks eat? Ah geez...here I go again...I'm about to segue into my rant about the insanity of the modern working world (or as the guys at school know this rant as: "Mindless, hopeless, soulless, life-sucking.....") with all it's obsessing over image and protocols and procedures and policies and regulations and formatting and gladhanding and preening and talking in circles and talking and saying nothing at all (like politicians, the poor soulless wretches). But I should stop myself here because all of you either a) don't care, b) don't get what I'm saying and just think I'm raving about something silly and that I'm thus wrong for raving about it, c) have been so succumbed by society that you are unable to see my point, or d) don't get that while I'm trying to make a point and express my strange view of the world, I'm also trying to amuse and entertain in some fashion.
And yet there's something about my delivery that differs from others who make similar comments/observations. Something that makes people laugh hysterically at others and just shake their heads at and dismiss me. And that makes me angry. Angry and petulant. Love that word. Petulant. It just leaps off the lips.
You know what's fun? Being an English major in engineering school and throwing your massive verbal intellect around with all the guys who love calculus and see the world in x-y graphs. A bird flies by -- I see a bird and think of ways to describe it, wonder where it's heading, give it a personality, name it Phil.... They see points on an x-y plane with a curve depicting the flight-path of the "object" as it moves in the x-direction. And throw in some sine and cosine mumbo-jumbo and some coulombs and derivatives and exponential letter "e's" and hyperbolic functions and partial derivatives and other made up crap for good measure. It's a BIRD!!!!!
We're all running out of time. Our bodies are oxidizing every day that we live, asteroids are conspiring to wipe us out, terrorists (oh wait....we don't call them that anymore - I FORGOT - how insensitive of me!) are eager to cause their "man-made disasters," (idiocy...just idiocy) influenza mutates and contorts itself into new and improved versions each year, the world's climate is warming...no wait, now it's cooling....no, it's warming...no, cooling...now it's just "chill-axing," artificial sweeteners, swimming in the ocean, breathing air, red meat, being married, being alone, tacos, long walks in the park, semicolons, and Jack Black movies all cause cancer and will kill you; Yellowstone Park is actually a giant underground volcano and will explode and wipe us all off of our couches and back to Fred Flintstone's happy stone-age family; earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, the Cloverfield monster, mass hysteria and hero-worship; and let's not forget nuclear armed countries that could very well fall under the rule of radical muslim extremist terrorists (what was the PC term that the government insists on using now? I forgot...) literally any day now. Basically there are - always have been - and always will be things that are either killing us or are actively trying to kill us (especially those dastardly asteroids....out there in space, plotting...scheming). We're always running out of time to live...to make the most of what we're given. So - RUN! Run outside and frolic with your loved ones and your pets and your car and your favorite plant! Do the things that mattter! Don't save it up for the day that comes conveniently AFTER the asteroids hit and the term-the-government-no-longer-uses-to-describe-terrorists 's attack and the socialized health care physician tells you you have 5 different types of cancer - after you wait in line for 49 business days and bribe the right folks at central planning. Get out there and spend your life wisely. Don't be like Donovan at the end of The Last Crusade and choose "poorly." Because then your body will instantaneously (and horrifically - especially if you're 9 years old and watching it happen to someone else) rot and turn to dust as your lovely (albeit traitorous) Austrian cohort shrieks in terror.
It just occured to me that this blog is almost coming across like it's the last one I'll ever write. What with the urging people to live life thing. Hopefully by pointing this out I will reverse whatever trick fate had up its sleeve.
So, let's just call it a night then. I'm sure there's a House or Family Guy on somewhere I should be watching.
Friday, April 10, 2009
A Dose of Sanity, Please
Last night I had one of those dreams that single people (and those who may not be entirely satisfied in their current relationships) often have. The one where you meet someone and fall in love -- you know, that initial unstoppable excitement and euphoria that envelopes you during those first few days/weeks/(months?). It could be someone from real life, or just a made up lovely figment of your imagination, or some random person you passed in a hallway. But then you awake and reality is standing over the bed, laughing and dripping scalding hot coffee on your head.
Has anyone else noticed those ADS alarm system commercials where guys dressed in black kick down the front door while someone is home only to be "scared off" by the sound of the alarm? My problem with these ads is the false sense of logic they propose. For example, in one there is an attractive young woman walking on her treadmill while listening to her Ipod. The treadmill is set up in a well lit room in front of a bank of windows - which conveniently have a row of thick rose bushes on the outside. Next the camera reveals two sinister-looking fellows lurking in the bushes and gazing menacingly at the woman. They skulk their way through the landscaping and proceed to kick the front door down. Now I would think that if two guys who took the time to buy matching black outfits and toboggans knew that the house they were about to break into was not empty, then they must be a) highly motivated to break in, b) have alterior motives, c) are professional mob hitmen, or d) are on drugs or otherwise lacking in rational coherent thought. As such, in real life these men would likely not be scared off by a mere alarm. They would know that a certain response time exists before any help could possibly arrive. Neigbors or the potential presence of other people in the home is also of apparently no consequence. I'm sorry. But in reality, something bad is going to happen to this poor woman regardless of whether the alarm goes off or Scott from ADS is "there to help" on the other end of the line. If this woman really wants to be safe and protect herself while at home walking on her treadmill in skimpy outfits in front of huge bay windows, well then she should buy and learn how to properly use a firearm. Or adopt a couple of dogs and have them professionally trained to defend her and her home from invaders. Or marry a Navy SEAL.
Speaking of Navy SEALs and dogs......the other day I was listening to Glen Beck and he told the emotional story of former US Navy SEAL, Marcus Latrell (sp?). Marcus is a Medal of Honor recipient and has experienced things most of us could not survive physically, mentally, or emotionally. From what I could gather, he's a man in constant conflict and turmoil, struggling to find peace in his life. While recovering from wounds during a now-famous battle against the Taliban he was given a dog to help him through the process. As Beck described it, the dog has been more than a pet or friend to Marcus, the dog has been a lifeline and they have both taken care of each other. Then recently Marcus awoke one night to gunshots in his front yard. Outside he found a group of local thugs who had just shot his dog - for fun. Apparently these walking human cancers had been killing dogs in that county for months. Marcus somehow restrained himself and did not shoot them right there. They fled but he chased them down in his truck and held them at gunpoint until the authorities arrived. Still these soulless scumbags taunted Marcus and threatened his life. This story about sums up the world. These thugs will now be processed by an inept justice system - perhaps get off completely or maybe only do a few years and then be back out in the world actively serving as agents of evil, eating away at what good exists. In a rational world, individuals who serve no good - who only detract from the lives of others, would not be allowed to continue existing. You don't make a person healthy by leaving a cancer in their body. You cut it out. If you cannot see that some people in this world are soulless cancers then you are either blind, in denial, or asleep. WAKE UP!
Sigh....
Oh. How about this pirate business. Enough already! Send in a SEAL team and wipe them out! Apparently this morning the (American) captain had to resort to trying to escape by jumping overboard - only to be recaptured by the pirates. This is insane! America is not supposed to negotiate with terrorists (not much different from a pirate) or be overly concerned with making sure no harm comes to those who threaten our people. (I heard a report yesterday that our administration warned the American crew not to harm the pirates or they would be held accountable. If true - it's really mind-blowing. Just insane.) We have the technology, we have the skill, quit worry about policy and politics and the ways other countries might paint us as bad guys and do the right thing! Save the captain and then go find the pirate mothership and SINK it. Then send a squadron of F-18s to strafe their bases on land. This is why we get hung up in wars that take years to finish and crippling political debate --- we get wrapped up in worrying about politics instead of fighting bad guys.
Well, I've got a lot of work to do today, so I can't sit here pointing out the world's insanities any longer. I wish I could do something to help, but I'm no messiah.
Has anyone else noticed those ADS alarm system commercials where guys dressed in black kick down the front door while someone is home only to be "scared off" by the sound of the alarm? My problem with these ads is the false sense of logic they propose. For example, in one there is an attractive young woman walking on her treadmill while listening to her Ipod. The treadmill is set up in a well lit room in front of a bank of windows - which conveniently have a row of thick rose bushes on the outside. Next the camera reveals two sinister-looking fellows lurking in the bushes and gazing menacingly at the woman. They skulk their way through the landscaping and proceed to kick the front door down. Now I would think that if two guys who took the time to buy matching black outfits and toboggans knew that the house they were about to break into was not empty, then they must be a) highly motivated to break in, b) have alterior motives, c) are professional mob hitmen, or d) are on drugs or otherwise lacking in rational coherent thought. As such, in real life these men would likely not be scared off by a mere alarm. They would know that a certain response time exists before any help could possibly arrive. Neigbors or the potential presence of other people in the home is also of apparently no consequence. I'm sorry. But in reality, something bad is going to happen to this poor woman regardless of whether the alarm goes off or Scott from ADS is "there to help" on the other end of the line. If this woman really wants to be safe and protect herself while at home walking on her treadmill in skimpy outfits in front of huge bay windows, well then she should buy and learn how to properly use a firearm. Or adopt a couple of dogs and have them professionally trained to defend her and her home from invaders. Or marry a Navy SEAL.
Speaking of Navy SEALs and dogs......the other day I was listening to Glen Beck and he told the emotional story of former US Navy SEAL, Marcus Latrell (sp?). Marcus is a Medal of Honor recipient and has experienced things most of us could not survive physically, mentally, or emotionally. From what I could gather, he's a man in constant conflict and turmoil, struggling to find peace in his life. While recovering from wounds during a now-famous battle against the Taliban he was given a dog to help him through the process. As Beck described it, the dog has been more than a pet or friend to Marcus, the dog has been a lifeline and they have both taken care of each other. Then recently Marcus awoke one night to gunshots in his front yard. Outside he found a group of local thugs who had just shot his dog - for fun. Apparently these walking human cancers had been killing dogs in that county for months. Marcus somehow restrained himself and did not shoot them right there. They fled but he chased them down in his truck and held them at gunpoint until the authorities arrived. Still these soulless scumbags taunted Marcus and threatened his life. This story about sums up the world. These thugs will now be processed by an inept justice system - perhaps get off completely or maybe only do a few years and then be back out in the world actively serving as agents of evil, eating away at what good exists. In a rational world, individuals who serve no good - who only detract from the lives of others, would not be allowed to continue existing. You don't make a person healthy by leaving a cancer in their body. You cut it out. If you cannot see that some people in this world are soulless cancers then you are either blind, in denial, or asleep. WAKE UP!
Sigh....
Oh. How about this pirate business. Enough already! Send in a SEAL team and wipe them out! Apparently this morning the (American) captain had to resort to trying to escape by jumping overboard - only to be recaptured by the pirates. This is insane! America is not supposed to negotiate with terrorists (not much different from a pirate) or be overly concerned with making sure no harm comes to those who threaten our people. (I heard a report yesterday that our administration warned the American crew not to harm the pirates or they would be held accountable. If true - it's really mind-blowing. Just insane.) We have the technology, we have the skill, quit worry about policy and politics and the ways other countries might paint us as bad guys and do the right thing! Save the captain and then go find the pirate mothership and SINK it. Then send a squadron of F-18s to strafe their bases on land. This is why we get hung up in wars that take years to finish and crippling political debate --- we get wrapped up in worrying about politics instead of fighting bad guys.
Well, I've got a lot of work to do today, so I can't sit here pointing out the world's insanities any longer. I wish I could do something to help, but I'm no messiah.
Monday, April 6, 2009
"We Can Work It Out"
"life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend" - The Beatles
So, the F-22 Raptor program was cut today, effectively handing over future air superiority to the Russians and likely China. History has shown that those who win wars, successfully defeat invaders, and remain thriving nation-states are the ones who have the better technology. The cavemen from the river kept the cliff-dwelling cavemen from stealing their food, cave-drawing chalk, and mammoth-hide underwear thanks to their development of the hollowed-out-massive-turtle shield. Oh, but I'm sure it probably wasn't very "fair" of them to have all that food or chalk or underwear while the poor cliff-dwellers went without.
North Korea launched their little ballistic missile the other day. Fun times. Meanwhile, our nation's Missile Defense Shield has been axed. Yeah. We don't need defense from missiles. Especially not when such trustworthy and admirable nations as North Korea have them.
The European Union has mandated that all emails and websites visited on every single computer in its countries must be archived. (apparently they already do this for phone calls) In a bold strike for that classic (and under duress) American ideal of "rugged individualism" the Swedes have decided to completely ignore this edict. At least one European country hasn't totally bought-in to the one world government idea. I find it interesting that the folks who hated the idea of the US tapping phone-lines and internet communications of suspected terrorists a few years ago are typically big fans of the EU (and/or the ethos that Europeans know what's best for all of us) and yet here's the EU being a big, scary, personal-privacy-devouring monster.
Speaking of one world government.....the fire-sale continues on America's sovereignty. For those youthful voters out there, this is the concept that our nation decides its own laws and cannot be controlled, dictated to, or shackled by another nation or group of nations. Yet that appears to be just what we are allowing to happen. Slowly and surely and sickeningly. Now someone other than the US government will be dictating the financial rules our country uses in our banking industry. Agreeing to international legislation that allows an international body to govern all bankings firms - even those in the US - does not sound like protecting American sovereignty to me. Sounds like...gutting it.
Hmm...what other joyful things are happening in the world...
Here's a quality I feel all leaders must have. Whether that leader is the CEO of a corporation, manager of a sports team, a Cub Scout leader, or the head of a nation -- they should always portray their organization in a positive light. As the head of that organization it is their JOB to be the world's biggest supporter, cheerleader, advocate, and defender of that organization! A leader is not going to be successful and is certainly not helping his/her organization by pointing out all the negative aspects of that organization when they are out and about in the public eye. I certainly don't want my Cub Scout leaders or Caveman chiefs going to tribal councils and saying "you know what, we're not very good, you guys are better than us and should tell us what to do."
Oh. I suppose the term caveman is offensive. The PC police will be out to get me.
If humanity survives long enough into the coming centuries (and is not too hindered by global war and tyranny) I foresee an eventual migration of Pilgrim-like "rugged" individuals to Mars. A group of oppressed people united by their desire for freedom and equality and seeking to escape tyrannical and/or fascist rule. People seeking religious freedom, the right to keep the fruits of their labor, and holding to the idea that there ARE such things as right and wrong - not moral relativism and justification for any and all misdeeds. Colonies will be established and eventually break away from their distant and totalitarian would-be masters. A New World will rise and become the beacon of liberty and opportunity, like America long before. And other nations will be jealous and spiteful and envious of the great things that the Martian nation embodies. But after a time, history will repeat itself again, and the people of Mars will grow apathetic and disconnected. Minds who thirst for power and control will find a way to sow their seeds, translating their message into whatever disguise is required to bring the pendulum back in their direction. The Martians will give away their freedom, just as the generations before them through all time have done. And thunderous applause and greedy smiles will snuff out the beacon of lady liberty. But though the pendulum may linger a bit longer on one side for a time, it will always find a way back.
So, the F-22 Raptor program was cut today, effectively handing over future air superiority to the Russians and likely China. History has shown that those who win wars, successfully defeat invaders, and remain thriving nation-states are the ones who have the better technology. The cavemen from the river kept the cliff-dwelling cavemen from stealing their food, cave-drawing chalk, and mammoth-hide underwear thanks to their development of the hollowed-out-massive-turtle shield. Oh, but I'm sure it probably wasn't very "fair" of them to have all that food or chalk or underwear while the poor cliff-dwellers went without.
North Korea launched their little ballistic missile the other day. Fun times. Meanwhile, our nation's Missile Defense Shield has been axed. Yeah. We don't need defense from missiles. Especially not when such trustworthy and admirable nations as North Korea have them.
The European Union has mandated that all emails and websites visited on every single computer in its countries must be archived. (apparently they already do this for phone calls) In a bold strike for that classic (and under duress) American ideal of "rugged individualism" the Swedes have decided to completely ignore this edict. At least one European country hasn't totally bought-in to the one world government idea. I find it interesting that the folks who hated the idea of the US tapping phone-lines and internet communications of suspected terrorists a few years ago are typically big fans of the EU (and/or the ethos that Europeans know what's best for all of us) and yet here's the EU being a big, scary, personal-privacy-devouring monster.
Speaking of one world government.....the fire-sale continues on America's sovereignty. For those youthful voters out there, this is the concept that our nation decides its own laws and cannot be controlled, dictated to, or shackled by another nation or group of nations. Yet that appears to be just what we are allowing to happen. Slowly and surely and sickeningly. Now someone other than the US government will be dictating the financial rules our country uses in our banking industry. Agreeing to international legislation that allows an international body to govern all bankings firms - even those in the US - does not sound like protecting American sovereignty to me. Sounds like...gutting it.
Hmm...what other joyful things are happening in the world...
Here's a quality I feel all leaders must have. Whether that leader is the CEO of a corporation, manager of a sports team, a Cub Scout leader, or the head of a nation -- they should always portray their organization in a positive light. As the head of that organization it is their JOB to be the world's biggest supporter, cheerleader, advocate, and defender of that organization! A leader is not going to be successful and is certainly not helping his/her organization by pointing out all the negative aspects of that organization when they are out and about in the public eye. I certainly don't want my Cub Scout leaders or Caveman chiefs going to tribal councils and saying "you know what, we're not very good, you guys are better than us and should tell us what to do."
Oh. I suppose the term caveman is offensive. The PC police will be out to get me.
If humanity survives long enough into the coming centuries (and is not too hindered by global war and tyranny) I foresee an eventual migration of Pilgrim-like "rugged" individuals to Mars. A group of oppressed people united by their desire for freedom and equality and seeking to escape tyrannical and/or fascist rule. People seeking religious freedom, the right to keep the fruits of their labor, and holding to the idea that there ARE such things as right and wrong - not moral relativism and justification for any and all misdeeds. Colonies will be established and eventually break away from their distant and totalitarian would-be masters. A New World will rise and become the beacon of liberty and opportunity, like America long before. And other nations will be jealous and spiteful and envious of the great things that the Martian nation embodies. But after a time, history will repeat itself again, and the people of Mars will grow apathetic and disconnected. Minds who thirst for power and control will find a way to sow their seeds, translating their message into whatever disguise is required to bring the pendulum back in their direction. The Martians will give away their freedom, just as the generations before them through all time have done. And thunderous applause and greedy smiles will snuff out the beacon of lady liberty. But though the pendulum may linger a bit longer on one side for a time, it will always find a way back.
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