Today’s post is brought to you by morons who think that Jesus wants them to kill police officers and then set off bombs at the funerals of the officers. Really? In case you haven’t heard, 9 idiots were arrested this weekend and charged with sedition (revolt ... kinda like “almost treason”) ... apparently these geniuses thought that they were preparing for the end days and their plan was to kill a few police officers and then bomb their funerals to start a war against the government. They had formed a militia and the most inclusive sphere on earth, the American militia movement, completely rejected these nuts a couple of years ago for being crazy. That’s the sign, in case you were wondering, if the militia movement thinks your crazy ... go ahead and check yourself in. What super spy equipment did the FBI use to catch these pillars of the community? None, the leader of the group sent out e-mails diagraming his plans to the members and they responded by e-mail and by talking in great detail on recorded phone lines. They deserve to be in prison just for that ... c’mon, that’s breaking the law 101, get it together you nut jobs. And yes, you read it right, the nine of them were going to go to was against the United States of America ... I’m sure that would have worked out great.
As an aside to all that, the group’s leader, David Stone’s ex-wife was called to testify to a grand jury about the activities of her former husband ... fellas, if you drive your wife to leave you by being a gun toting, bible mis-interpreting screw ball ... she will testify against you and ex-wives do not make good witnesses for the defense.
Second aside, all of the anti-government maroons selected to be represented by federally funded public defenders ... I guess the government ain’t so bad if you’re looking at life in prison.
And also this weekend, in apparent attempt to regain relevancy, Ricky Martin decided to announce something that we all already knew ... that he’s gay. I heard it on the radio and the first thought to enter my mind was, “Didn’t he admit he was gay 10 years ago?” Well, I looked it up. He did not. So, you were right when you saw the “Livin’ la Vida Loca” video and thought to yourself, “What’s that gay guy dancing with all those women for?”
And now it is time for the lightning round; the catholic church is under attack as investigations in the sex scandal cover ups now are reaching all the way to the pope (I’m completely shocked, aren’t you?), Greece went belly up and Germany floated the Greeks a “couple a bucks” to get them to payday ... which we’ll be doing for Germany when Greece proves unable to pay, the Somali Navy (pirates) has asked the international community for money to fight the pirates ... so they want money to commit suicide? And the country that the New York Times declared to be “fixed” with the accent to power of Laurent Kabila in 1997 (now spends his time in Paris counting the money that he stole from the Congo) was the sight of another massacre at the end of 2009. I’m just glad to see other people get along so well, way to go Zaire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo! Now if you pick one name, it’s way easier!
Happy Monday!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
My Favorite Places
I was inspired by my lovely Wife's use of pictures and the post of a really good blog that i follow to include this. The blog post in question is about how wonderful cemeteries are, and while i do not necessarily think that all of them are wonderful, the cemetery in St. Remy, NY where my mother's family has been laid to rest is one of my favorite places on earth.
Click HERE to see my lovely wife's use of pictures and HERE to see the other cemetery post.
Happy insomniac Thursday!
The front gate is just perfect.
It is quiet there, St. Remy, NY has about 15 houses, a church and a volunteer fire department ... and this perfectly serene old cemetery.
The grass is lush and green in the summer time, the grounds are kept up by volunteers, it is quiet and peaceful and calming.
I met many of my relatives there, my mother read me the names and told me their stories. Who they were, how we were all related.
My heart smiles thinking about it. I've only ever seen my Grandfather there, my sweet Gram is there ... it's where i go when i want to talk to them, to see them. So while i do not love all cemeteries, i do love the little cemetery in St. Remy, NY.
Click HERE to see my lovely wife's use of pictures and HERE to see the other cemetery post.
Happy insomniac Thursday!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Rebels of the World Unite!
There was a time that I was very out spoken against Rush Limbaugh. That he is an ideologue is obvious to everyone, he is a broken record of anti-“liberal” ramblings who grabs on to sound bites and plays them and tells his audience that whatever they just heard proves he is right. Sometimes they are taken out of context, sometimes he IS right. What I specifically criticized him for was not appearing in public, for never going on other shows, for never debating his opinion. I used to argue that this proved his position was weak and that he could not defend it. I argued this until this week. One thing that slowed my criticism is that currently, he is right, the country is opposed to what the Democrat party is doing, the country agrees with Limbaugh. And then came the epiphany ... I attempted to debate the proposed health care bill with people on both sides of the issue ... I now know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, why he does not emerge from his cocoon to debate issues.
I am not a Republican, I am not a Democrat, I am not a Libertarian ... my views diverge from every organized group of people I have ever met. I have called myself a communist for most of my life, but that stems from academic study of Political Science and no actual interaction with “communists”. While in college I met some “communists” and realized that I did not know how to classify myself, but I was not whatever they were. I agree with Steve Krug, Karl Hess and if you really listen to what he says, Glen Beck. I believe that government is inherently corrupted, I believe that people are smart and are able to govern their own lives, I believe that freedom is the single most important value on this earth. I believe that government has too much power, I believe that government has given corporations too much power, I believe that decisions should, (with the exception of the common defense) be made at a very local level. I believe that only minimal taxes are necessary and the revenue should remain locally. I believe that people do actually care about each other and that, given the opportunity, will make decisions to benefit the group (if it is small enough). I believe in the supreme power of the community ergo I called myself a communist.
The “Health Care Reform Act” may or may not do many things, but what it does do, with out a shadow of a doubt, is strengthen and swell a swollen federal government and feed private insurance corporations 26 million new customers. Health care related stocks are up, and you need no further proof that this law is good for corporate America, and when it comes to corporate America and the American people it is almost always a zero-sum game. In the past week I have heard people I respected say some of the most morally repugnant things I have ever heard ... and by morally repugnant I mean things that go against all that I aspire our nation to become. Politicians who lie cheat and steal their way into office (I mean all of them) and then spend their entire term lying and making smokey back room deals to maintain their power, all the while ignoring the will of the American people ... and let’s just forget about one of them having a sliver of respect for what the people have intrusted them with ... well, Jesus said it best in Matthew 7:17-18 “Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. A good tree can not produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit.”So when a body of corrupt law makers get together to pass legislation that is supposed to be good for their nation what comes out of the process is corrupt, evil. They justify it all to themselves, it’s ok for special exemptions and considerations for unions, Nebraska, Louisiana, Florida, they rationalize that it’s fine to go against everything they have ever stood for to “pass the bill”. Those whose electorate demanded true government run healthcare back down, those whose electorate demanded that the sanctity of life be taken into consideration reverse course and when millions of Americans stand together and protest with a unified voice, the politicians and the news media paint them as loons who are too stupid to understand how great it all is. And yet there are those who think it is a great leap forward ... people who claim to despise corporations are gleeful that insurance corporations are getting new mandated customers, people who reject Nazism are calling for more government control ... they don’t think it goes far enough. People who have spent no time researching what the law actually contains argue that it is great for their nation. It is not without it’s positives, and maybe you think that the negatives are outweighed by them, maybe you think it is great that the law nationalizes student loans. I don’t know, I just know that the reason that this is the greatest nation on earth has nothing to do with people’s standard of living ... it is true that our poor enjoy great comfort (when compared with other nations) ... what makes this nation so great is the basic principles that are its foundation. Corney quotes you hear all the time, “... we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ...” or the purpose of our government “... to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity ...” When the Constitution was done the states rejected it, no debate, just a simple no. Why, you ask? Because the document allowed for the future possibility of a central government that was too strong, so the bill of rights were added. Read them. Read them and understand the fears of the people 230 years ago. They trusted their neighbors with guns, guns to defend them against the government, they demanded rights for the accused, churches, dissenters and individual states. That is what makes this nation great, and every step away from a castrated central government, every reduction in freedom, every assault on liberty, every attempt to control the great people who make up this great nation robs us of the once secure blessings of liberty that were to be bestowed upon us and then granted to our posterity. In America you were to be free to make your own way, to succeed or fail of your own efforts ... you were not to be servant to the nation or corporations. Anything is possible, and acceptable, if it honors the principles our nation was founded upon. You want to be an atheist? A Christian nation that believes in freedom and liberty says that you can be of any faith you wish, even no faith at all. But it is still a Christian nation. And to those that say the principles of our founding are corrupted by the times, or by the misadventures of the founders ... Albert Einstein was a womanizer and the theory of relativity is no less true. Their purpose for establishing this great nation was true and their motivations were honorable, they formed a good tree and good fruit, we dishonor them and their purpose and we hand our liberty to men and women not worthy of the honor. Our nation’s survival is tied forever with the individual liberty of our citizens, so debate all you want but remember, please, to not trust a powerful government, restrict them at every turn, make them afraid to try to control you, afraid to ruin our collective futures ... let us all agree that things can improve without empowering the federal government, that we have the power to enact meaningful, positive change upon our nations healthcare and countless other areas and that we can maintain our liberty and our individual power at the same time. I now believe that Rush Limbaugh speaks only on his radio show because it is impossible to debate someone who believes something fundamentally different than you do. You cannot explain your opinions to someone who shares none of your values, and America I pray that you will remember the rebellious spirit that was forged on July 4th 1776 and has been the cornerstone of each and every one of our great moments as a nation.
I am not a Republican, I am not a Democrat, I am not a Libertarian ... my views diverge from every organized group of people I have ever met. I have called myself a communist for most of my life, but that stems from academic study of Political Science and no actual interaction with “communists”. While in college I met some “communists” and realized that I did not know how to classify myself, but I was not whatever they were. I agree with Steve Krug, Karl Hess and if you really listen to what he says, Glen Beck. I believe that government is inherently corrupted, I believe that people are smart and are able to govern their own lives, I believe that freedom is the single most important value on this earth. I believe that government has too much power, I believe that government has given corporations too much power, I believe that decisions should, (with the exception of the common defense) be made at a very local level. I believe that only minimal taxes are necessary and the revenue should remain locally. I believe that people do actually care about each other and that, given the opportunity, will make decisions to benefit the group (if it is small enough). I believe in the supreme power of the community ergo I called myself a communist.
The “Health Care Reform Act” may or may not do many things, but what it does do, with out a shadow of a doubt, is strengthen and swell a swollen federal government and feed private insurance corporations 26 million new customers. Health care related stocks are up, and you need no further proof that this law is good for corporate America, and when it comes to corporate America and the American people it is almost always a zero-sum game. In the past week I have heard people I respected say some of the most morally repugnant things I have ever heard ... and by morally repugnant I mean things that go against all that I aspire our nation to become. Politicians who lie cheat and steal their way into office (I mean all of them) and then spend their entire term lying and making smokey back room deals to maintain their power, all the while ignoring the will of the American people ... and let’s just forget about one of them having a sliver of respect for what the people have intrusted them with ... well, Jesus said it best in Matthew 7:17-18 “Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. A good tree can not produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit.”So when a body of corrupt law makers get together to pass legislation that is supposed to be good for their nation what comes out of the process is corrupt, evil. They justify it all to themselves, it’s ok for special exemptions and considerations for unions, Nebraska, Louisiana, Florida, they rationalize that it’s fine to go against everything they have ever stood for to “pass the bill”. Those whose electorate demanded true government run healthcare back down, those whose electorate demanded that the sanctity of life be taken into consideration reverse course and when millions of Americans stand together and protest with a unified voice, the politicians and the news media paint them as loons who are too stupid to understand how great it all is. And yet there are those who think it is a great leap forward ... people who claim to despise corporations are gleeful that insurance corporations are getting new mandated customers, people who reject Nazism are calling for more government control ... they don’t think it goes far enough. People who have spent no time researching what the law actually contains argue that it is great for their nation. It is not without it’s positives, and maybe you think that the negatives are outweighed by them, maybe you think it is great that the law nationalizes student loans. I don’t know, I just know that the reason that this is the greatest nation on earth has nothing to do with people’s standard of living ... it is true that our poor enjoy great comfort (when compared with other nations) ... what makes this nation so great is the basic principles that are its foundation. Corney quotes you hear all the time, “... we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ...” or the purpose of our government “... to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity ...” When the Constitution was done the states rejected it, no debate, just a simple no. Why, you ask? Because the document allowed for the future possibility of a central government that was too strong, so the bill of rights were added. Read them. Read them and understand the fears of the people 230 years ago. They trusted their neighbors with guns, guns to defend them against the government, they demanded rights for the accused, churches, dissenters and individual states. That is what makes this nation great, and every step away from a castrated central government, every reduction in freedom, every assault on liberty, every attempt to control the great people who make up this great nation robs us of the once secure blessings of liberty that were to be bestowed upon us and then granted to our posterity. In America you were to be free to make your own way, to succeed or fail of your own efforts ... you were not to be servant to the nation or corporations. Anything is possible, and acceptable, if it honors the principles our nation was founded upon. You want to be an atheist? A Christian nation that believes in freedom and liberty says that you can be of any faith you wish, even no faith at all. But it is still a Christian nation. And to those that say the principles of our founding are corrupted by the times, or by the misadventures of the founders ... Albert Einstein was a womanizer and the theory of relativity is no less true. Their purpose for establishing this great nation was true and their motivations were honorable, they formed a good tree and good fruit, we dishonor them and their purpose and we hand our liberty to men and women not worthy of the honor. Our nation’s survival is tied forever with the individual liberty of our citizens, so debate all you want but remember, please, to not trust a powerful government, restrict them at every turn, make them afraid to try to control you, afraid to ruin our collective futures ... let us all agree that things can improve without empowering the federal government, that we have the power to enact meaningful, positive change upon our nations healthcare and countless other areas and that we can maintain our liberty and our individual power at the same time. I now believe that Rush Limbaugh speaks only on his radio show because it is impossible to debate someone who believes something fundamentally different than you do. You cannot explain your opinions to someone who shares none of your values, and America I pray that you will remember the rebellious spirit that was forged on July 4th 1776 and has been the cornerstone of each and every one of our great moments as a nation.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Project Children
"Show Us Your Life" favorite charity edition- Ireland is near and dear to the hearts of my parents ... as it is with many Irish-Americans. My grandfather told people he was Irish (born in New Jersey) even after he served his nation proudly in the European theater of WWII. I’m not sure what it is about the Irish in America, wether the circumstances that brought them here bind them to their ancestral homeland ... or is it possible that there is some truth to what I heard from the time I was very young, that Ireland was in my blood? A famine that starved millions brought the Irish to our shores in droves, and the escalation of a violent conflict that had waxed and waned for 800 years divided the country in the early 1920's. The aftermath of the division was sectarian violence, civil war and mahem.
As “the troubles” (as the conflict was called) raged out of control in the 1960's in Northern Ireland, Irish America watched closely and longed to help, to stem the tide of violence, to bring peace to their homeland. Some chose to involve themselves financially (both sides in the war were funded from private American donations) and then in 1975, as the nation decended into bombings and assinations, two brother’s who themselves had immigrated from Ireland to the United States came up with an idea. Denis and Patrick Mulcahy were New York City police officers and the situation in Northern Ireland broke their hearts. The plan that they came up with was to find families in America that would agree to take in Irish children from neighborhoods touched by violence for a summer. The first six children arrived in the summer of 1975 and stayed in Greenwood Lake, NY. They were careful to chose 3 Protestant children and 3 Catholic children to not only show them that there was a more peaceful place in the world, but that they could get along and befriend one another. A year later my parents volunteered to take in a child and Mark McAuley came to stay for the summer. There were others over the years, but Mark was loved by everyone in the small village my parents lived in. He came back three times, once the Fire Department raised the money to pay his way, and eventually he settled in New York City as and adult. He is my oldest brother as he was 8 when he came and my parents first born was only 9 months old. In the ensuing years Project Children has taken 14,000 children from the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, shown them another way of life and touched as many American Families as they have in Ireland. Their goal when it all began was to get the children away from the violence, their hope was that by removing them from it that they would become champions of peace. I do not think that it is a coincidence that 23 years after those first 6 children returned home that the first serious peace talks began and that those talks have evolved into a lasting peace. The children whose lives were touched by Denis and Patrick’s vision had come of age, and a new way of thinking and relating with “them” had dawned in Ireland. There are many charities that do great things, but Project Children touched my life and the lives of everyone in my family, it touched the McAuleys of Belfast, and it was an important part of ending a war that had raged for almost 900 years. Project Children continues to this day to break down walls in the minds of the Irish, they still bring over 600 children to America every summer, they sponsor internships for Irish university students on Capitol Hill and they put on programs that bring Protestant and Catholic families together in Northern Ireland. To read more, check out their web site HERE. And click HERE to check out Kelly's Korner who sponsors all this, and from there you can check out all the other favorite charities.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Back by Popular Demand
And the Wednesday conversation with Winky returns! For those of you that are new to Pinko’s World, Winky is my 4 year old middle daughter. She has a unique combination of talents, exceptional verbal skills and what can only be described as “instant creativity”. If you want to get a feel for her style, scroll down and check out the old Winky posts.
Today i had to come home from work early due to some not so severe head trauma, the short version is that i’m tall and i wasn’t looking where i was walking and my head slammed into a truck that was up on a lift and i knocked myself foggy. So, after sleeping for a couple of hours, my lovely wife had to go to work and i made dinner for the girls. In between mouthfuls of lasagna Winky said to me, “Daddy, you don’t play with me all the time.”
Me - “I don’t?”
Winky - “Well, you do go to work a lot.”
Me - “Yeah, I know.”
Winky - “You should play with me more.”
Me - “Well, I’m trying to get paid for writing so that I can write for work and not sell tires and then I would be home more.”
Winky - “I can write you a song, would that help?”
Me (laughing) “It might.”
Winky did not pause for so much as ten seconds before she began to sing her new song ... as far as I know the first song she has ever written.
“When the chicken crossed the road, a bear followed him,
The penguin chased the penguin,
The polar bear chased the squirrel,
When they have to go,
They have to go, go, go.
When the frog chases the cow,
moo, moo, moo
moo, moo, moo
The panda goes after the frog,
And the penguin chases the squirrel,
Wee-ha, wee-ha, wee-ha
And the moose didn’t chase his babies.
Taaaaaa Daaaaaaa!”
Me (again laughing) “That’s a great song buddy.”
Winky - “Daddy! I’m not done!”
Me - “oh ... I’m sorry, go ahead and finish.”
Winky - “a-hem ... Theeeeeee Ennnnnnddddddd! There, now it’s done”
So there you have it ... Happy Wednesday!
Today i had to come home from work early due to some not so severe head trauma, the short version is that i’m tall and i wasn’t looking where i was walking and my head slammed into a truck that was up on a lift and i knocked myself foggy. So, after sleeping for a couple of hours, my lovely wife had to go to work and i made dinner for the girls. In between mouthfuls of lasagna Winky said to me, “Daddy, you don’t play with me all the time.”
Me - “I don’t?”
Winky - “Well, you do go to work a lot.”
Me - “Yeah, I know.”
Winky - “You should play with me more.”
Me - “Well, I’m trying to get paid for writing so that I can write for work and not sell tires and then I would be home more.”
Winky - “I can write you a song, would that help?”
Me (laughing) “It might.”
Winky did not pause for so much as ten seconds before she began to sing her new song ... as far as I know the first song she has ever written.
“When the chicken crossed the road, a bear followed him,
The penguin chased the penguin,
The polar bear chased the squirrel,
When they have to go,
They have to go, go, go.
When the frog chases the cow,
moo, moo, moo
moo, moo, moo
The panda goes after the frog,
And the penguin chases the squirrel,
Wee-ha, wee-ha, wee-ha
And the moose didn’t chase his babies.
Taaaaaa Daaaaaaa!”
Me (again laughing) “That’s a great song buddy.”
Winky - “Daddy! I’m not done!”
Me - “oh ... I’m sorry, go ahead and finish.”
Winky - “a-hem ... Theeeeeee Ennnnnnddddddd! There, now it’s done”
So there you have it ... Happy Wednesday!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Birthday = Inability to think?
So here’s a conundrum, if a democrat congressman resigns in shame after it comes to light that he groped male staffers, and that same congressman decides to bash the administration on his way out the door, can you believe a single word he says? I mean the guy’s a loon, but to be honest, he sounds like he’s telling the truth.
Quick review of the last couple of days, NJ women were hospitalized after paying a stranger to inject their butts with hardware store calk and Vaseline (sounds like a good idea to me), a Korean couple went to an internet café to play an on-line game where they nurtured a virtual child for 12 hour stretches at a time ... only problem being that their real infant died at home of malnourishment and neglect while they were out ... they say that they’re sorry (I say starve them to death in isolation), Dan Rather said that President Obama “couldn’t sell watermelons on the side of the road even if he had a state trooper stopping traffic for him” on national television (holy latent racism batman!), and there were a bunch more earthquakes which I’m sure Pat Robertson thinks are caused by secret devil pacts (Hawaii and Turkey, we’re on to you and your devilish ways!).
So that’s all on the news front, it’s been a slow week, what can I say. I could probably rant for hours on the whole Korean parents story ... or any of them for that matter, I just don’t feel like it.
Winky has had a funny couple of days ... after watching a couple of strong men break bricks, rip phone books and bend steel, she told me, “Hey Dad, those guys are strong like me.” She was completely serious. Today at school she slipped on a dustpan, smashed her head into the corner of a table, was sent to the nurse’s office and didn’t mention it to anyone. Her injuries were discovered when my wife found a note from the nurse in her school bag ... I asked her, “Winky, did you fall and hit your head today?”
“Yeah Dad, but it’s ok, I didn’t break the table.” She has a big lump on the back of her head and could not possibly care any less.
And in personal news I turned 31 today ... and I don’t feel anything about it, it doesn’t depress me to be 31, and I’m not excited to be 31. I do not feel compelled to buy either a motorcycle or a corvette, it feels like another day, like nothing will be different tomorrow, like I’m a day older rather than a year older. Frankly, I’m much more concerned with my impending baldness than I am with my increasing age. I refuse to try to hide or reverse the fact that I’m going bald, I’m just not sure how to embrace it with out looking bad during the in between time.
I realize that this post has been all over the place, but my brain is all over the place right now, I can’t seem to create a thought and see it through ... which equals really bad writing. So that’s my apology if you hated this post, but maybe it’s honest enough to have some value. Either way, we’ll be back to normal tomorrow with a quality Wednesday post for your reading pleasure!
Happy Tuesday and Happy Birthday to me.
Quick review of the last couple of days, NJ women were hospitalized after paying a stranger to inject their butts with hardware store calk and Vaseline (sounds like a good idea to me), a Korean couple went to an internet café to play an on-line game where they nurtured a virtual child for 12 hour stretches at a time ... only problem being that their real infant died at home of malnourishment and neglect while they were out ... they say that they’re sorry (I say starve them to death in isolation), Dan Rather said that President Obama “couldn’t sell watermelons on the side of the road even if he had a state trooper stopping traffic for him” on national television (holy latent racism batman!), and there were a bunch more earthquakes which I’m sure Pat Robertson thinks are caused by secret devil pacts (Hawaii and Turkey, we’re on to you and your devilish ways!).
So that’s all on the news front, it’s been a slow week, what can I say. I could probably rant for hours on the whole Korean parents story ... or any of them for that matter, I just don’t feel like it.
Winky has had a funny couple of days ... after watching a couple of strong men break bricks, rip phone books and bend steel, she told me, “Hey Dad, those guys are strong like me.” She was completely serious. Today at school she slipped on a dustpan, smashed her head into the corner of a table, was sent to the nurse’s office and didn’t mention it to anyone. Her injuries were discovered when my wife found a note from the nurse in her school bag ... I asked her, “Winky, did you fall and hit your head today?”
“Yeah Dad, but it’s ok, I didn’t break the table.” She has a big lump on the back of her head and could not possibly care any less.
And in personal news I turned 31 today ... and I don’t feel anything about it, it doesn’t depress me to be 31, and I’m not excited to be 31. I do not feel compelled to buy either a motorcycle or a corvette, it feels like another day, like nothing will be different tomorrow, like I’m a day older rather than a year older. Frankly, I’m much more concerned with my impending baldness than I am with my increasing age. I refuse to try to hide or reverse the fact that I’m going bald, I’m just not sure how to embrace it with out looking bad during the in between time.
I realize that this post has been all over the place, but my brain is all over the place right now, I can’t seem to create a thought and see it through ... which equals really bad writing. So that’s my apology if you hated this post, but maybe it’s honest enough to have some value. Either way, we’ll be back to normal tomorrow with a quality Wednesday post for your reading pleasure!
Happy Tuesday and Happy Birthday to me.
Friday, March 5, 2010
"Show Us Your Life" - A Kelly's Korner Carnival
My day starts at 5am, I get up, pour a bowl of Raisin Bran and eat it while checking facebook and my e-mail. By 5:30 I’m stretching my back out (a daily requirement since herniating 2 discs and being diagnosed with spinal stenosis) and at 5:45 I get into the shower, shaved and dressed by 6:15 I head out to work. And that’s when the fun begins. Every morning my friend Carlo gets to work before I do, and every day he complains that I am late and that he doesn’t know why he got out of bed so early. “Denny,” he’ll say, “if I knew you were going to be so late I would have gone and had breakfast.” I laugh, but I don’t think he’s kidding. We open the store (money counted, coffee made, lights on, doors open, etc) by 7:30 my boss will find the one thing I didn’t get done the day before and want to know how it is possible that couldn’t do whatever it is the previous day. I will apologize. Once he’s gone Carlo will mock him, “Denny, how come you can’t do your job?” By 8 one of the other guys will come to complain that he didn’t get paid properly the previous day which will result in the one millionth explanation of how their pay system works, "Denny, why can't you pay me right?" while all this is going on we are taking in customers and getting their cars fixed/maintained/tires replaced, by 8:30 something will go terribly wrong. Some days tires are sold that we don’t have, some days parts are delivered late, some days parts are not delivered "Denny, where are my parts?", some days someone forgets to order a part, some days someone forgets to tell me that a car has arrived, some days we brake something ... and I deal with that. Basically between 7am and 6pm I am involved with the servicing of 50 cars/trucks/SUVs, (talking to technicians, talking to customers, talking to sales guys, ordering parts, figuring out what needs to be done when) at some point during the day the sales guys will complain to me about each other, they will complain about the technicians, the technicians will complain about each other, and they will complain about the sales guys ... I always agree with them and at some point EVERYONE will come to me to complain about Carlo (because he delights in aggravating anyone he can), and I will agree with them then too. Every day I am amazed at how much work the guys can do ... they really are incredible and I’m lucky to work with them.
By 6pm (if nothing goes wrong late in the day) I will finish up paying the bills for the parts we ordered, let the late guy know what’s going on in the shop and head home. Once home, my wife Angela and I will do dinner/bath/bed with my three beautiful daughters ... who will each find 5 different reasons to get out of bed (potty, more hugs, more kisses, “I need a glass of water”, etc) and then we’ll clean up the house. If I’m lucky enough to not have a project going on in the house I’ll either read or watch TV while Angela blogs (link HERE)/facebooks/reads e-mail ... unless the Bachelor is on, then we switch and I use the computer while she watches TV. By 11:30 or 12 we’re in bed and it all starts up again 5 hours later. Some where in all that I watch Philip DeFranco on youtube (he is really funny, link HERE), write my own blog and I think I even have some friends I keep in touch with.
So that’s pretty much a day in the life ...
Only YOU can Fix California!
Government is expected to perform certain functions. I’ve never seen someone go to the store and buy concrete, mix it up and fill in a pot hole in the street. Fire departments, police departments, military defense, snow removal, disaster relief and schools. Most of us expect that those things will be there when they are needed and even though the idea of public school is fairly new (first public school in US was Boston Latin founded in 1635, but it wasn’t until the middle of the 1800's that it even reached all of Massachusetts) it may be the government function we feel the most strongly about. It effects our children, and any changes that are viewed as negative bring a strong response from one end of the spectrum or the other. Which brings us to the recent meeting between the state of California and reality. It’s not something that happens often, but in true California fashion, when met with reality ... the Californians have decided to protest ... and be violent. “If I smash the windshield of a random stranger’s vehicle then the government will listen to me and do what I want!” Or, you might go to jail.
BASIC CIVICS LESSON: States and municipal governments are not able to print currency ergo, cannot operate beyond their means and must balance their budget every year. The federal government, on the other hand, sees a couple a trillion dollar budget shortfall as mere details to ignore.
So, in California they are about to go bankrupt. Tax revenue has declined tremendously and the demand for the state’s resources has not waned ... and so after two years of the “recession” they’re broke. California operated budget projections off of the notion that revenue would continue to climb for eternity and so that they could pass spending increases to their hearts content. Projected 2010 revenue was $113 billion, and when 2010 rolled around their actual revenue was $75 billion. Oops. The trend will continue into the rest of this year and they’ll end up $60 billion in the hole ... which they can’t actually do, so the Goven-ator suggested some ideas to save money and the ballot referendum to enact them was defeated. Basically California voted to destroy itself. Here we are, 4 months later and tough choices are being made ... and the Californians are protesting. I get it, I mean I don’t want my kids to go to a school with no resources and no teachers either, but if you pass a law saying that 40% of the state’s revenue has to go to schools (prop 98), where do you think the cuts are going to come from .... maybe 40% from schools? Crazy, right!
So, I’d like to hear from you on this. Where do you think that the money should come from? Cuts (what would you cut?”) or extra taxes (what would you tax?). I’ll use your comments to fix California in the Monday post. Stay tuned ... oh, and happy Friday.
BASIC CIVICS LESSON: States and municipal governments are not able to print currency ergo, cannot operate beyond their means and must balance their budget every year. The federal government, on the other hand, sees a couple a trillion dollar budget shortfall as mere details to ignore.
So, in California they are about to go bankrupt. Tax revenue has declined tremendously and the demand for the state’s resources has not waned ... and so after two years of the “recession” they’re broke. California operated budget projections off of the notion that revenue would continue to climb for eternity and so that they could pass spending increases to their hearts content. Projected 2010 revenue was $113 billion, and when 2010 rolled around their actual revenue was $75 billion. Oops. The trend will continue into the rest of this year and they’ll end up $60 billion in the hole ... which they can’t actually do, so the Goven-ator suggested some ideas to save money and the ballot referendum to enact them was defeated. Basically California voted to destroy itself. Here we are, 4 months later and tough choices are being made ... and the Californians are protesting. I get it, I mean I don’t want my kids to go to a school with no resources and no teachers either, but if you pass a law saying that 40% of the state’s revenue has to go to schools (prop 98), where do you think the cuts are going to come from .... maybe 40% from schools? Crazy, right!
So, I’d like to hear from you on this. Where do you think that the money should come from? Cuts (what would you cut?”) or extra taxes (what would you tax?). I’ll use your comments to fix California in the Monday post. Stay tuned ... oh, and happy Friday.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Kid Takes over JFK, Greece is Broke and Betty White is Dead?
Today’s post is brought to you by the International Olympic Committee and the European Union, who both apparently hate Greece. After Greece was conned into hosting the Olympic games for the sake of some sort of nostalgic ancient Greece moment, and the global economy collapsed leaving Greece between a rock and an Olympic sized debt ... the EU swooped in and demanded that Greece cut their national debt in order to remain a member state. So Greece announced today that they have cut spending and raised taxes ... and the unemployed people of Greece cheered because they enjoyed hosting the Olympics so much that they want to pay extra taxes FOREVER.
In celebrity news, Betty White (from the Golden Girls) died Tuesday. No, I’m kidding, she’s fine. No, really, she’s dead. Drug overdose. It’s tragic. No, she’s alive and well ... or ...a website called “Oh No They Didn't” posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a TMZ story stating that Betty White had died of a drug overdose and foul play. And it hit all the major news networks. It’s nice to know that the legitimate news outlets use gossip spoofing websites’ parody bits spoofing other gossip sites to get their information. Tonight on NBC Nightly News “This just in, The Onion reports the Nancy Pelosi has climbed to the top of the capital dome and is refusing to come down ... more at eleven.” Oh, and Betty White is fine .... really.
Following Vice President Gore’s lead from yesterday, President Obama is also ignoring facts and the desires of the American people and today urged Congress to schedule a vote on health care reform in the "next few weeks," declaring Wednesday that it's "time to make a decision" on the package. The president described the “bipartisan” summit held last week in Washington (the one where he ignored everyone who disagreed with him and talked a lot and accused Sen McCain of campaigning) as the last leg of the health care reform debate. He said all arguments have been exhausted and that Congress owes the American people a final "up-or-down" vote. "We can't just give up because the politics are hard. I know there's a fascination, bordering on obsession, in this media town about what passing health insurance reform would mean for the next election and the one after that. ... I will leave it to others to sift through the politics. Because that's not what this is about. That's not why we're here," Obama said. "They are waiting for us to act. ... I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it's right." I assume by “they” he means us. And if he know that “they” are going to vote all of his friends out of office if he passes this, how is it possible that the same “they” want them to act? Well, I want all of them to act ... I want them to act like responsible adults who know that all the money they are spending ($50,000 for flowers in Rep. Pelosi’s office) does not actually belong to them ... I want them to act like they serve at the pleasure of the people ... I do not want them to act like the treasury is a bottomless pit and I do not want them to act like they know what’s best for us, we’re just too stupid to know what we want.
The following is an excerpt form a transcript recorded in the JFK air traffic control tower. I tried to post the audio (I tried to figure out how to post it here because it’s priceless, but alas I am a techno-idiot). So, the gist of this is it’s a little kid, in the tower, talking to airplanes on the runway, and they’re talking back.
Child: "Jet Blue 171, clear for takeoff."
Pilot: "Clear for takeoff, Jet Blue 171."
Child: "Jet Blue 171, contact departure."
Pilot: "Over to departure, Jet Blue 171, awesome job."
Child: "Aeromex 403, contact departure, Adios."
Pilot: "Contact departure, Aeromexico 403, Adios."
The story everyone else is running is the terrible things that could have happened. "How dare they let a child in the tower? Don’t they know what could have happened?" And on and on and on. I say NO! That child was perfectly competent ... what’s my proof? He spoke to the Mexican pilot in Spanish. Did you catch it? He never missed a beat, that kid (whoever he is) is at the top of his game! I agree with Jet Blue 171, awesome job junior!
Happy Wednesday!
In celebrity news, Betty White (from the Golden Girls) died Tuesday. No, I’m kidding, she’s fine. No, really, she’s dead. Drug overdose. It’s tragic. No, she’s alive and well ... or ...a website called “Oh No They Didn't” posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a TMZ story stating that Betty White had died of a drug overdose and foul play. And it hit all the major news networks. It’s nice to know that the legitimate news outlets use gossip spoofing websites’ parody bits spoofing other gossip sites to get their information. Tonight on NBC Nightly News “This just in, The Onion reports the Nancy Pelosi has climbed to the top of the capital dome and is refusing to come down ... more at eleven.” Oh, and Betty White is fine .... really.
Following Vice President Gore’s lead from yesterday, President Obama is also ignoring facts and the desires of the American people and today urged Congress to schedule a vote on health care reform in the "next few weeks," declaring Wednesday that it's "time to make a decision" on the package. The president described the “bipartisan” summit held last week in Washington (the one where he ignored everyone who disagreed with him and talked a lot and accused Sen McCain of campaigning) as the last leg of the health care reform debate. He said all arguments have been exhausted and that Congress owes the American people a final "up-or-down" vote. "We can't just give up because the politics are hard. I know there's a fascination, bordering on obsession, in this media town about what passing health insurance reform would mean for the next election and the one after that. ... I will leave it to others to sift through the politics. Because that's not what this is about. That's not why we're here," Obama said. "They are waiting for us to act. ... I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it's right." I assume by “they” he means us. And if he know that “they” are going to vote all of his friends out of office if he passes this, how is it possible that the same “they” want them to act? Well, I want all of them to act ... I want them to act like responsible adults who know that all the money they are spending ($50,000 for flowers in Rep. Pelosi’s office) does not actually belong to them ... I want them to act like they serve at the pleasure of the people ... I do not want them to act like the treasury is a bottomless pit and I do not want them to act like they know what’s best for us, we’re just too stupid to know what we want.
The following is an excerpt form a transcript recorded in the JFK air traffic control tower. I tried to post the audio (I tried to figure out how to post it here because it’s priceless, but alas I am a techno-idiot). So, the gist of this is it’s a little kid, in the tower, talking to airplanes on the runway, and they’re talking back.
Child: "Jet Blue 171, clear for takeoff."
Pilot: "Clear for takeoff, Jet Blue 171."
Child: "Jet Blue 171, contact departure."
Pilot: "Over to departure, Jet Blue 171, awesome job."
Child: "Aeromex 403, contact departure, Adios."
Pilot: "Contact departure, Aeromexico 403, Adios."
The story everyone else is running is the terrible things that could have happened. "How dare they let a child in the tower? Don’t they know what could have happened?" And on and on and on. I say NO! That child was perfectly competent ... what’s my proof? He spoke to the Mexican pilot in Spanish. Did you catch it? He never missed a beat, that kid (whoever he is) is at the top of his game! I agree with Jet Blue 171, awesome job junior!
Happy Wednesday!
Monday, March 1, 2010
After experimenting with some personal stuff we get back to the NEWS
Today’s post is brought to you by Vice President Al Gore who today won the Nobel prize for sticking to your guns even in the face of irrefutable evidence that you are wrong. The research that “global warming” was based on has been proved to be fabricated, the scientist whose research provided all the projections of future catastrophes has admitted that the earth has not warmed at all since 1995 and the current winter filled with record cold and snow all over the world is not enough for Mr. Gore. On Sunday Gore had his response to all this published in the New York Times, he states that we should ignore all that “evidence stuff” and not miss the “climate change for the snow storm”, and idiotic play one the old expression “do not miss the forest for the trees”. The difference is that in the forest there are trees and in the snowstorm there is no climate change. Way to go Mr Gore, a captain should always go down with the ship ... sink away good sir.
In financial news, the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has decided that he is going to continue to throw caution to the wind and print massive amounts of money. He has joined ranks with the President on this, the two men believe that there will never be another day of reckoning, that we can just live in irresponsible bliss for eternity. Of the many ways that an economy can be stimulated, our leaders have chosen increasing the money supply and inflated government spending as the way to go. And that will probably work out just fine ... right up until the value of the dollar collapses on the world market and the government goes bankrupt. Here’s the brief overview of those two concepts ... when the rest of the world decides that our currency isn’t worth the paper it is printed on, it will “devalue”and for a country that imports EVERYTHING this is a major cause for concern. If our money becomes worthless all the stuff we used to make here (that is now made all over the third world) will be so expensive that we can’t afford it. Imagine a $400 dollar Barbie doll, or a $600 pair of Walmart shoes. The government will go bankrupt when foreign countries and private banks decide to stop lending them money ... so that’ll be fun.
In global disaster news, Haiti is still in ruins and they’re having rain induced flooding, there is massive flooding in France and there was a 8+ Richter Scale earth quake in Chile (which prompted tsunami warnings all over the pacific rim). Pinko’s World tried in vein to reach Pat Robertson for comment. I guess he was busy, but we’re assuming that LOTS of countries made deals with the devil at their founding ... maybe all of them.
And finally tonight in insane genocidal maniac news, wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, defending himself against charges of Europe's worst genocide since the Holocaust, told judges Monday he was not the barbarian depicted by U.N. prosecutors, but was protecting his people against a fundamentalist Muslim plot. He claimed that his actions (slaughtering over 100,000 Bosnian Muslims) were “holy and just”. He went on to say that the Muslims started it and so what else could he do but kill all of them to “defend his people”. Clearly he’s not a threat to anyone and is very remorseful. Wow! I hope that they don’t waste any time putting that loon to death.
Happy Monday!
In financial news, the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has decided that he is going to continue to throw caution to the wind and print massive amounts of money. He has joined ranks with the President on this, the two men believe that there will never be another day of reckoning, that we can just live in irresponsible bliss for eternity. Of the many ways that an economy can be stimulated, our leaders have chosen increasing the money supply and inflated government spending as the way to go. And that will probably work out just fine ... right up until the value of the dollar collapses on the world market and the government goes bankrupt. Here’s the brief overview of those two concepts ... when the rest of the world decides that our currency isn’t worth the paper it is printed on, it will “devalue”and for a country that imports EVERYTHING this is a major cause for concern. If our money becomes worthless all the stuff we used to make here (that is now made all over the third world) will be so expensive that we can’t afford it. Imagine a $400 dollar Barbie doll, or a $600 pair of Walmart shoes. The government will go bankrupt when foreign countries and private banks decide to stop lending them money ... so that’ll be fun.
In global disaster news, Haiti is still in ruins and they’re having rain induced flooding, there is massive flooding in France and there was a 8+ Richter Scale earth quake in Chile (which prompted tsunami warnings all over the pacific rim). Pinko’s World tried in vein to reach Pat Robertson for comment. I guess he was busy, but we’re assuming that LOTS of countries made deals with the devil at their founding ... maybe all of them.
And finally tonight in insane genocidal maniac news, wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, defending himself against charges of Europe's worst genocide since the Holocaust, told judges Monday he was not the barbarian depicted by U.N. prosecutors, but was protecting his people against a fundamentalist Muslim plot. He claimed that his actions (slaughtering over 100,000 Bosnian Muslims) were “holy and just”. He went on to say that the Muslims started it and so what else could he do but kill all of them to “defend his people”. Clearly he’s not a threat to anyone and is very remorseful. Wow! I hope that they don’t waste any time putting that loon to death.
Happy Monday!
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