I've changed my mind about supporting NPR with government funding.
I love NPR. I think NPR is one of the few places that one can get a balanced perspective on the state of the world, today. But, because they receive a large part of their funding from the government, it is easy to criticize them for their political stance.
The fact that neo-conservatives are going after NPR has very little to do with the deficit. Yes, spending money on public radio is a part of the discretionary spending the government does, and does contribute to the deficit. Just as corporate loop-holes do, though there is a wide margin between which contributes more to our debt.
So take away the funding. NPR won't go away. They get about 25% of their funding from the government, so they will have to cut back. They'll have to do more beg-a-thons. And, I will start supporting them with my own money, which I've never done before. The fact is, I've been lazy about NPR, expecting it to just be there when I turn on the dial.
And, if NPR put a much more liberal spin on their reporting due to the fact that neo-conservatives knocked the pegs out from under them, then so be it. In fact, I hope it happens. Then, our congressmen can say nothing about what NPR might have to say. They will no longer have any skin in the game.
Besides, MSNBC is figuring out that heavy liberal spin on the news is profitable.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
A note for you Blue Collar Conservatives
What's happening in Wisconsin should wake up my blue-collar brethren to the fact that the Republican party isn't on the side of Johnny Paycheck or Jane Six-pack. They want you to be responsible for the debt that too-big-to-fail institutions caused.
Hopefully, those on the fence, will see corpratism behind these moves. And if any of you think, "It's just the govenment workers, and they're paid too much," just kick back and wait for a minute. If they get away with stripping the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions, they will move on to the next item on their agenda.
I can't wait to see what that might be.
Hopefully, those on the fence, will see corpratism behind these moves. And if any of you think, "It's just the govenment workers, and they're paid too much," just kick back and wait for a minute. If they get away with stripping the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions, they will move on to the next item on their agenda.
I can't wait to see what that might be.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Mexico, not Canada
The Nazi Cheese-head union-busting freshman governor in Wisconsin got me to thinking about who we want to be as a country. It seems that we are always asking ourselves this question. It's obvious from the 2 wars we fought against it (Korea and Vietnam) we don't want to be communists.
So, who are we?
While the debate dragged on and on over Obama Care; as the Obama administration gave in and gave in to the hard right conservatives just to get something passed, I kept hearing that his bill was 'socialist' or 'communist'. That making sure every American had health care was foreign and bad thing to do.
We shouldn't want to be like Canada or England or Germany or France or, god forbid, like China.
Who should we wanna be like?
How about Mexico?
I wanna get back to Mexico, but first I wanna talk about a tiny blip of news I'd heard sometime last year.
Something that had nothing to do with America.
This little blip of news; this little factoid, was that China has passed Germany as the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods.
Let that sink in for a minute.
China has a population of 1.3 billion. Germany, less than 82 million. China's population is 16 times larger than Germany's, yet it was only last year that they exported more than Germany.
As an aside, Germany guarantees health care to all of it's citizens, and their economy is very strong. The same with China. In fact, China owns a huge portion of our American debt.
What this says to a trucker in the mid-west is that the United States might be looking in the wrong direction. It looks to me like we are looking towards being like Mexico, and not Canada.
But ya know, a funny thing about that . . . I don't wanna insult Mexico, but, when that thought first occurred to me, it was the worst thing I could imagine. And yet, this year; 2011, Mexico will be providing Universal Health Care to all of it's citizens.
What does that say about us if we don't wanna provide universal health care, or allow unions the right to collective bargaining?
Who do we wanna be?
So, who are we?
While the debate dragged on and on over Obama Care; as the Obama administration gave in and gave in to the hard right conservatives just to get something passed, I kept hearing that his bill was 'socialist' or 'communist'. That making sure every American had health care was foreign and bad thing to do.
We shouldn't want to be like Canada or England or Germany or France or, god forbid, like China.
Who should we wanna be like?
How about Mexico?
I wanna get back to Mexico, but first I wanna talk about a tiny blip of news I'd heard sometime last year.
Something that had nothing to do with America.
This little blip of news; this little factoid, was that China has passed Germany as the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods.
Let that sink in for a minute.
China has a population of 1.3 billion. Germany, less than 82 million. China's population is 16 times larger than Germany's, yet it was only last year that they exported more than Germany.
As an aside, Germany guarantees health care to all of it's citizens, and their economy is very strong. The same with China. In fact, China owns a huge portion of our American debt.
What this says to a trucker in the mid-west is that the United States might be looking in the wrong direction. It looks to me like we are looking towards being like Mexico, and not Canada.
But ya know, a funny thing about that . . . I don't wanna insult Mexico, but, when that thought first occurred to me, it was the worst thing I could imagine. And yet, this year; 2011, Mexico will be providing Universal Health Care to all of it's citizens.
What does that say about us if we don't wanna provide universal health care, or allow unions the right to collective bargaining?
Who do we wanna be?
Monday, March 7, 2011
Nazi Cheese-head
Fox News channel commentators have all called Obama a Nazi, at one time or another because of the Affordable Health Care Act. I didn't agree. I thought such a thing as the Affordable Health Care Act was more communist than fascist. More like France than Germany.
I was listening to one of my soft-headed, tree-hugging liberal podcasters, when someone brought up the point that, what Scott Walker is attempting to do in Wisconsin, is union busting. And, one of the things that Hitler the uber-Nazi did, was to outlaw unions.
I'm only 48; born long after Hitler was dead and gone, but I'm old enough to have heard the old activist allegory, "When they came for the Jews, I said nothing, because I wasn't a Jew. And when they came for the trade-unionists, I said nothing, because I wasn't a trade-unionist."
Where are my Nazi baiters at Fox News? We have a governor who is acting as a Nazi; as a little Hitler, yet they are not calling him a Nazi. Why not? Oh yeah, because Scott walker is not acting like a communist. So a governor acting as if he is a fascist dictator is okay?
What ya gonna do when Scott Walker comes for you?
I was listening to one of my soft-headed, tree-hugging liberal podcasters, when someone brought up the point that, what Scott Walker is attempting to do in Wisconsin, is union busting. And, one of the things that Hitler the uber-Nazi did, was to outlaw unions.
I'm only 48; born long after Hitler was dead and gone, but I'm old enough to have heard the old activist allegory, "When they came for the Jews, I said nothing, because I wasn't a Jew. And when they came for the trade-unionists, I said nothing, because I wasn't a trade-unionist."
Where are my Nazi baiters at Fox News? We have a governor who is acting as a Nazi; as a little Hitler, yet they are not calling him a Nazi. Why not? Oh yeah, because Scott walker is not acting like a communist. So a governor acting as if he is a fascist dictator is okay?
What ya gonna do when Scott Walker comes for you?
Friday, February 25, 2011
!!!TEENAGERS!!!
I woke up at 4:27am to my 19yr old daughter talking on her phone in the bathroom. She wasn't answering a call to nature. She'd been up all night, so she was tired. Maybe she was confused.
The fact that she was talking to someone on the phone meant another teenager had been up all night.
She'd moved back in with me a few weeks before Christmas, after a bumpy year and a half with her mom, while I finished divorcing my 2nd wife: her step-mother. My daughter had lived with me all of her life until she was 18. She got into a few bad habits living with her mom that I've been trying to ween her off of.
Sigh.
Like herding cats.
My teenager has a good friend who is 17, who is struggling for her independence from an over-protective mother. I've been asked to lie to this woman for the sake of teenagerly antics, but I refused.
The relationship between parent and child is sacred.
No one should come between parent and child unless the child is being abused. Restricting a child from something is not abuse. Kids have been living without things since the dawn of time.
The friend's mom is nuts. She's raising two teenage girls, on top of seeking her own independence from a husband who self medicates with alcohol.
But I understand why she's nuts, considering I've only just paid off my divorce lawyer within the last few weeks.
And I understand what the teenaged friend is going through, having been 17 once, a very long time ago. 17 is when God tells us we know everything, and forces us to assert ourselves to the world. At 17, the only thing standing between you and the world is your parents; for some, just one.
Before a child comes into the world, it's parents are the architects. They create the blue-print for how it will live. Where it goes to school. Who it's friends are going to be.
As our construction projects reach completion, we discover that not everything went according to plan. Anyone who's worked construction can tell you, blue-prints are the ideal, but they change to fit reality, on a daily basis.
Subcontractors have to be dealt with. People with differing opinions on how to run the water lines and where the emergency exits should be.
Sometimes the architects disagree and one of them moves off-site, to a cozy, air-conditioned office, where they attempt to hold onto some kind of influence over the project, when what the on-site manager really wants is a silent partner. Someone who helps fund the construction, but keeps their opinions to themselves.
When the project is complete, your job as site-manager and architect is finished. The drafty little trailer you directed the subcontractors from is dragged off site. You're left with nothing to do but maintenance.
The job of raising a child is all consuming. You forget about things you enjoyed doing. A guitar will sit in a closet for 20 years while the strings get rusty and the neck twists and bends. Your old Mustang sits under a tarp for so long it's thought of as an obstacle and a pain in the ass, and boxes of books and old toys are piled on top of it.
Man! That would be great. I still have 2 little kids to raise and I'm 48. If I did have a Mustang in my garage it would be a pile of rusty dust by the time I'd got around to rebuilding it. My guitar itch never went away but, with a bit of ointment, has been reduced to the size of a ukulele.
If you're an empty nester, I envy you. I don't wanna hear any bitching about how the kids never call or come by to visit. I'm raising my second generation of feral monkeys and I can't watch my favorite show without fighting a gang of poo-flingers for the remote!
But I love 'em! Ahem.
The fact that she was talking to someone on the phone meant another teenager had been up all night.
She'd moved back in with me a few weeks before Christmas, after a bumpy year and a half with her mom, while I finished divorcing my 2nd wife: her step-mother. My daughter had lived with me all of her life until she was 18. She got into a few bad habits living with her mom that I've been trying to ween her off of.
Sigh.
Like herding cats.
My teenager has a good friend who is 17, who is struggling for her independence from an over-protective mother. I've been asked to lie to this woman for the sake of teenagerly antics, but I refused.
The relationship between parent and child is sacred.
No one should come between parent and child unless the child is being abused. Restricting a child from something is not abuse. Kids have been living without things since the dawn of time.
The friend's mom is nuts. She's raising two teenage girls, on top of seeking her own independence from a husband who self medicates with alcohol.
But I understand why she's nuts, considering I've only just paid off my divorce lawyer within the last few weeks.
And I understand what the teenaged friend is going through, having been 17 once, a very long time ago. 17 is when God tells us we know everything, and forces us to assert ourselves to the world. At 17, the only thing standing between you and the world is your parents; for some, just one.
Before a child comes into the world, it's parents are the architects. They create the blue-print for how it will live. Where it goes to school. Who it's friends are going to be.
As our construction projects reach completion, we discover that not everything went according to plan. Anyone who's worked construction can tell you, blue-prints are the ideal, but they change to fit reality, on a daily basis.
Subcontractors have to be dealt with. People with differing opinions on how to run the water lines and where the emergency exits should be.
Sometimes the architects disagree and one of them moves off-site, to a cozy, air-conditioned office, where they attempt to hold onto some kind of influence over the project, when what the on-site manager really wants is a silent partner. Someone who helps fund the construction, but keeps their opinions to themselves.
When the project is complete, your job as site-manager and architect is finished. The drafty little trailer you directed the subcontractors from is dragged off site. You're left with nothing to do but maintenance.
The job of raising a child is all consuming. You forget about things you enjoyed doing. A guitar will sit in a closet for 20 years while the strings get rusty and the neck twists and bends. Your old Mustang sits under a tarp for so long it's thought of as an obstacle and a pain in the ass, and boxes of books and old toys are piled on top of it.
Man! That would be great. I still have 2 little kids to raise and I'm 48. If I did have a Mustang in my garage it would be a pile of rusty dust by the time I'd got around to rebuilding it. My guitar itch never went away but, with a bit of ointment, has been reduced to the size of a ukulele.
If you're an empty nester, I envy you. I don't wanna hear any bitching about how the kids never call or come by to visit. I'm raising my second generation of feral monkeys and I can't watch my favorite show without fighting a gang of poo-flingers for the remote!
But I love 'em! Ahem.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Change The Channel
I poked around the internet looking for corporations that paid zero taxes in 2009. It's easy to do, just ask Google.
Not only are there many corporations that paid NO federal taxes, but General Electric got a billion dollar REFUND!
I ran across an article featuring Google, stating that their effective tax rate, in the USA, is 2.3 percent. Worse than that, in the same article, it was stated that Facebook is preparing to structure their corporation the very same way in order NOT to pay their fair share.
The reason the corporate tax rate is so high in this country, compared to the UK and China, is because so few are paying their fair share. So lets look at what Obama talked about: let's close those loop-holes and lower the corporate tax rate.
What really pisses me off is that I'm told that I have to pay my fair share when corporations, classified as individuals in this country, are not paying their fair share.
I was asked by someone who thinks I should be forced to pay my fair share of income taxes, what I paid. The person who asked me, is a card carrying democrat who watches Glenn Beck; an oxy-moron.
If I paid anything, it wasn't much.
I'm raising 2 little ones, and have a 19yr old teenager living with me, and make about $35,000 a year. I don't have cable, or a car payment. My truck has 216,000 miles on the odometer.
AND I don't take ANY government assistance.
This is no one's fault, but mine, and I'm not complaining. And I DO get many allowances because of this and I happily take them.
But I don't have a lobbyist, or a PAC, or roving bands of tax lawyers that went out and got those allowances for me. I got online, fired up Turbotax, and whatever is there I take it, but I wasn't looking for a hand out and I wasn't looking for loop-holes.
What you CANNOT DO is look at me and believe that I am the problem. If you DO think I'm the problem and that forcing a guy like me to pay more taxes is going to fix it, then you need to change the channel.
Not only are there many corporations that paid NO federal taxes, but General Electric got a billion dollar REFUND!
I ran across an article featuring Google, stating that their effective tax rate, in the USA, is 2.3 percent. Worse than that, in the same article, it was stated that Facebook is preparing to structure their corporation the very same way in order NOT to pay their fair share.
The reason the corporate tax rate is so high in this country, compared to the UK and China, is because so few are paying their fair share. So lets look at what Obama talked about: let's close those loop-holes and lower the corporate tax rate.
What really pisses me off is that I'm told that I have to pay my fair share when corporations, classified as individuals in this country, are not paying their fair share.
I was asked by someone who thinks I should be forced to pay my fair share of income taxes, what I paid. The person who asked me, is a card carrying democrat who watches Glenn Beck; an oxy-moron.
If I paid anything, it wasn't much.
I'm raising 2 little ones, and have a 19yr old teenager living with me, and make about $35,000 a year. I don't have cable, or a car payment. My truck has 216,000 miles on the odometer.
AND I don't take ANY government assistance.
This is no one's fault, but mine, and I'm not complaining. And I DO get many allowances because of this and I happily take them.
But I don't have a lobbyist, or a PAC, or roving bands of tax lawyers that went out and got those allowances for me. I got online, fired up Turbotax, and whatever is there I take it, but I wasn't looking for a hand out and I wasn't looking for loop-holes.
What you CANNOT DO is look at me and believe that I am the problem. If you DO think I'm the problem and that forcing a guy like me to pay more taxes is going to fix it, then you need to change the channel.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Blame-Storming the Budget Deficit
Obama released his budget this week and Republicans are having a fit because he didn’t touch Social Security or Medicare.
Here’s the beautiful, ironic and humorous fact of Obama’s budget proposal: he left it to the Republicans to propose cutting benefits on the largest pool of voters they have; the elderly. C’mon, cut their benefits, I dare ya!
What blows my mind is how conservatives have taught blue-collar people to cut their own throats; telling them the deficit is the fault of too many entitlements for the poor and elderly and that the only way to fix it is on the backs of those who’ve already paid their fair share.
We could get far more revenue by closing the loop-holes in the tax-code and eliminating subsidies for oil corporations.
YOU are paying for low gas prices in the form of tax-payer funded subsidies to oil corporations. Not only are you PAYING for low gas prices, but you're making it easier for corporations to ship manufacturing jobs over seas, because it is SOOOOOO cheap to import manufactured goods from China and all other points of the globe!
If you weren't subsidizing oil companies, who are the most profitable of the American corporations, there might be a reason to manufacture stuff right here in the good old USA.
ExxonMobil has been the most profitable corporation in America for several years running and I can find no proof that they've paid a penny in taxes, and they’re not volunteering that information, because, legally, they don’t have to.
It was a blip on the radar of the main-stream media that General Electric and K-Mart paid not ONE penny in corporate taxes . . . how long you gonna let conservatives blame us blue-collar Joe Schmoes for the deficit?
Here’s the beautiful, ironic and humorous fact of Obama’s budget proposal: he left it to the Republicans to propose cutting benefits on the largest pool of voters they have; the elderly. C’mon, cut their benefits, I dare ya!
What blows my mind is how conservatives have taught blue-collar people to cut their own throats; telling them the deficit is the fault of too many entitlements for the poor and elderly and that the only way to fix it is on the backs of those who’ve already paid their fair share.
We could get far more revenue by closing the loop-holes in the tax-code and eliminating subsidies for oil corporations.
YOU are paying for low gas prices in the form of tax-payer funded subsidies to oil corporations. Not only are you PAYING for low gas prices, but you're making it easier for corporations to ship manufacturing jobs over seas, because it is SOOOOOO cheap to import manufactured goods from China and all other points of the globe!
If you weren't subsidizing oil companies, who are the most profitable of the American corporations, there might be a reason to manufacture stuff right here in the good old USA.
ExxonMobil has been the most profitable corporation in America for several years running and I can find no proof that they've paid a penny in taxes, and they’re not volunteering that information, because, legally, they don’t have to.
It was a blip on the radar of the main-stream media that General Electric and K-Mart paid not ONE penny in corporate taxes . . . how long you gonna let conservatives blame us blue-collar Joe Schmoes for the deficit?
My Lawyer, Jim
I met my divorce lawyer, Jim, when I’d separated from my first wife. He was a tall, well groomed and affable man, who, at the time, sported a few dozen extra pounds. He’s since become a lean, mean legal machine!
I don’t remember how I found him. It may have been my girlfriend who got his name for me. She was anxious to have my divorce done, since she’d already divorced her spouse. (That’s a very long, very embarrassing story, that I’m reluctant to tell.)
The girlfriend, who eventually became my 2nd wife, went with me on my visits with Jim. My divorce wasn’t getting done quickly enough to suit her. (During one of our visits, as a joke, I told her Jim offered me his services for half-price on my second divorce. If only I’d known then, what I know now. If only that had been true!)
I wanted sole-custody of my daughter. He agreed to try, but said it was unlikely, unless my first wife admitted to doing drugs in front of our child.
So Jim went to work, filing documents with the court and setting up meetings with soon-to-be 1st ex-wife’s lawyer.
When the day of the deposition arrived I was nervous. It didn’t help that soon-to-be 1st ex-wife’s lawyer turned out to be insane. Her lawyer was a fat woman, with short, straight, straw-colored hair and piggy little eyes. And she was loud!
The deposition is where all the issues between the 2 parties are brought, literally, to the table, in front of lawyers, with a court reporter to get an accurate record of everything said. Like a trial without a judge.
While her lawyer grilled me, Jim stood by my side. When I’d raise my voice he’d place a hand on my shoulder; a signal to keep a cool head and a civil tongue.
He'd told me the deposition would take 2 or 3 hours. He was off by a smidgen. When all was said and done, more than 5 hours had passed.
A few hours in, when it was obvious we weren’t going to wrap it up quickly, we took a break. Outside, Jim asked me where I thought she’d gotten her lawyer. “I think she drew a pentagram on the floor, lit a few candles and ‘poof!’, there she was.”
In the end, she did admit she’d been doing drugs, in the house, while my daughter was there. With our lawyers listening. And a court reporter.
With all the other stuff she’d been doing, I hadn’t suspected she was doing drugs in the house while my kid was there, but Jim got her to say it out loud.
Jim got me custody of my little girl.
Then I got married again and everyone lived happily ever after!
Sigh.
If only . . .
I won’t bore you with the details of my marriage to the woman who helped me end my 1st marriage. Let’s just say that, when my skills for choosing a life-partner exploded in my face, again, I called Jim to bail me out.
And, again, he got me custody of my kids.
It wasn’t for exactly the same reasons, this time, but, I told him what I wanted and, with his hard work and persistence, (and maybe a pinch of magic) he made it happen. I don’t think another lawyer would have been able to do that.
He even got me a beautiful piece of furniture that I’d wanted, but X2 said I couldn’t have.
I’m writing this ‘appreciation piece’ about my lawyer, Jim, because I just got the smart-ass paid off. When he’d received the check he sent me an email saying, “Thanks Elvin, call me when you get divorced again.”
Working with Jim was a good experience, setting aside his sense of humor. He got me more than I expected to get, out of both divorces.
I didn’t realize how I’d felt until my friends kept asking me about him. They’d have a friend going through a rough patch in their marriage, and, because of how I talked about my lawyer, they would call and ask for his number.
His secret? He didn’t sell me pie-in-the-sky promises about what he could do, filing things he knew he couldn’t get done, consequently billing me for a bunch of unnecessary hours. On many occasions he’d talk me out of things, for that very reason.
I suck at choosing wives, but I know a good lawyer (now) when I see one.
Thanks Jim.
Elvin and family.
I don’t remember how I found him. It may have been my girlfriend who got his name for me. She was anxious to have my divorce done, since she’d already divorced her spouse. (That’s a very long, very embarrassing story, that I’m reluctant to tell.)
The girlfriend, who eventually became my 2nd wife, went with me on my visits with Jim. My divorce wasn’t getting done quickly enough to suit her. (During one of our visits, as a joke, I told her Jim offered me his services for half-price on my second divorce. If only I’d known then, what I know now. If only that had been true!)
I wanted sole-custody of my daughter. He agreed to try, but said it was unlikely, unless my first wife admitted to doing drugs in front of our child.
So Jim went to work, filing documents with the court and setting up meetings with soon-to-be 1st ex-wife’s lawyer.
When the day of the deposition arrived I was nervous. It didn’t help that soon-to-be 1st ex-wife’s lawyer turned out to be insane. Her lawyer was a fat woman, with short, straight, straw-colored hair and piggy little eyes. And she was loud!
The deposition is where all the issues between the 2 parties are brought, literally, to the table, in front of lawyers, with a court reporter to get an accurate record of everything said. Like a trial without a judge.
While her lawyer grilled me, Jim stood by my side. When I’d raise my voice he’d place a hand on my shoulder; a signal to keep a cool head and a civil tongue.
He'd told me the deposition would take 2 or 3 hours. He was off by a smidgen. When all was said and done, more than 5 hours had passed.
A few hours in, when it was obvious we weren’t going to wrap it up quickly, we took a break. Outside, Jim asked me where I thought she’d gotten her lawyer. “I think she drew a pentagram on the floor, lit a few candles and ‘poof!’, there she was.”
In the end, she did admit she’d been doing drugs, in the house, while my daughter was there. With our lawyers listening. And a court reporter.
With all the other stuff she’d been doing, I hadn’t suspected she was doing drugs in the house while my kid was there, but Jim got her to say it out loud.
Jim got me custody of my little girl.
Then I got married again and everyone lived happily ever after!
Sigh.
If only . . .
I won’t bore you with the details of my marriage to the woman who helped me end my 1st marriage. Let’s just say that, when my skills for choosing a life-partner exploded in my face, again, I called Jim to bail me out.
And, again, he got me custody of my kids.
It wasn’t for exactly the same reasons, this time, but, I told him what I wanted and, with his hard work and persistence, (and maybe a pinch of magic) he made it happen. I don’t think another lawyer would have been able to do that.
He even got me a beautiful piece of furniture that I’d wanted, but X2 said I couldn’t have.
I’m writing this ‘appreciation piece’ about my lawyer, Jim, because I just got the smart-ass paid off. When he’d received the check he sent me an email saying, “Thanks Elvin, call me when you get divorced again.”
Working with Jim was a good experience, setting aside his sense of humor. He got me more than I expected to get, out of both divorces.
I didn’t realize how I’d felt until my friends kept asking me about him. They’d have a friend going through a rough patch in their marriage, and, because of how I talked about my lawyer, they would call and ask for his number.
His secret? He didn’t sell me pie-in-the-sky promises about what he could do, filing things he knew he couldn’t get done, consequently billing me for a bunch of unnecessary hours. On many occasions he’d talk me out of things, for that very reason.
I suck at choosing wives, but I know a good lawyer (now) when I see one.
Thanks Jim.
Elvin and family.
The New World Order IS Coming!!!!
Why would I say that? I don't even know what the New World Order is.
It's because Glenn Beck and Alex Jones agree.
On the surface they seem to be on opposite sides of the fence: Beck believes that individuals fighting for the elimination of a dictator will lead to the New World Order.
Alex Jones believes that individuals fighting for the elimination of a dictator will lead to additional layers of government control to prevent such a thing from happening again in other places, such as the United States, which will lead to the New World Order.
And though Beck and Jones might have philosophical differences, they use the same tool to get their points across: fear. Naked, slimy, stinky, mysterious, hot and cold running . . .
!!!FEAR!!!
The beauty of the New World Order is that NOBODY knows what it is. Nobody knows why it's bad. Like using the bible to prove something, the New World Order is the perfect substitute for something one might really need to fear, such as fear itself.
Fear is dangerous.
Fear caused an asshole in Arizona to kill people. Fear causes irrational people to arm themselves against . . . something, anything that might be coming to get them. Fear causes the irrational to go looking for the bogey-man.
So, before you go running to the nearest K-Mart to arm yourself against the almighty, all consuming fear of an unknown future, take a breath. Walk an old lady across the street. Stick your tongue out at a child. Wave at your neighbors. But for fuck's sake, calm down.
It's because Glenn Beck and Alex Jones agree.
On the surface they seem to be on opposite sides of the fence: Beck believes that individuals fighting for the elimination of a dictator will lead to the New World Order.
Alex Jones believes that individuals fighting for the elimination of a dictator will lead to additional layers of government control to prevent such a thing from happening again in other places, such as the United States, which will lead to the New World Order.
And though Beck and Jones might have philosophical differences, they use the same tool to get their points across: fear. Naked, slimy, stinky, mysterious, hot and cold running . . .
!!!FEAR!!!
The beauty of the New World Order is that NOBODY knows what it is. Nobody knows why it's bad. Like using the bible to prove something, the New World Order is the perfect substitute for something one might really need to fear, such as fear itself.
Fear is dangerous.
Fear caused an asshole in Arizona to kill people. Fear causes irrational people to arm themselves against . . . something, anything that might be coming to get them. Fear causes the irrational to go looking for the bogey-man.
So, before you go running to the nearest K-Mart to arm yourself against the almighty, all consuming fear of an unknown future, take a breath. Walk an old lady across the street. Stick your tongue out at a child. Wave at your neighbors. But for fuck's sake, calm down.
Egyptian Revolution First Step Towards The New World Order
. . . according to Glenn Beck.
Most of the time, when I see a clip of Glenn Beck spewing some half-baked notion from his facial anus, my first thought is, “What an idiot.”
I'm usually right.
That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw a clip of the aforementioned idiot talking about the events in Egypt: people protesting in the streets and Hosni Mubarik being forced from power.
I didn't see the entire rant: I have a weak stomach, but he concluded the piece by saying the Egyptian revolution was, “the coming of the New World Order.”
Now, I don't know what the New World Order is supposed to be, or what the signs of it's coming are, but my impression from what I'd heard and what I read on Wikipedia, is that it is a conspiracy involving well connected billionaires.
I thought, as I have many times, “Glenn Beck is an idiot.”
Then I realized, if you take the phrase literally, Beck might be correct.
The Egyptian revolution was facilitated by people connected through technology. By cell-phones, Facebook and Twitter. All of which is new technology. And is world wide. And, in an some sort of orderly fashion, is beginning to chip away at the castle walls.
So, Glenn Beck, maybe on that night, you were prescient: receiving signals from the future. Maybe, God forbid, you were right! A New World Order is coming . . . and you said it first.
Most of the time, when I see a clip of Glenn Beck spewing some half-baked notion from his facial anus, my first thought is, “What an idiot.”
I'm usually right.
That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw a clip of the aforementioned idiot talking about the events in Egypt: people protesting in the streets and Hosni Mubarik being forced from power.
I didn't see the entire rant: I have a weak stomach, but he concluded the piece by saying the Egyptian revolution was, “the coming of the New World Order.”
Now, I don't know what the New World Order is supposed to be, or what the signs of it's coming are, but my impression from what I'd heard and what I read on Wikipedia, is that it is a conspiracy involving well connected billionaires.
I thought, as I have many times, “Glenn Beck is an idiot.”
Then I realized, if you take the phrase literally, Beck might be correct.
The Egyptian revolution was facilitated by people connected through technology. By cell-phones, Facebook and Twitter. All of which is new technology. And is world wide. And, in an some sort of orderly fashion, is beginning to chip away at the castle walls.
So, Glenn Beck, maybe on that night, you were prescient: receiving signals from the future. Maybe, God forbid, you were right! A New World Order is coming . . . and you said it first.
Kissing the ASS goodbye, at Knuckleheads
Last night my besty, Gary, took me to see The Asylum Street Spankers (ASS), at a place called "Knuckleheads" that was was once a boarding house for railroad workers, then a motorcycle shop that had a "free beer" day, once a week, to get people to take the extra effort to find them, since they were tucked away in an older, out of the way industrial part of town.
The small clutch of buildings that make up Knuckleheads is set next to several sets of railroad tracks. We were made aware of this several times throughout the evening as trains crawled by, blasting their horns at the crossing.
It's not the most acoustically solid place, considering it was once a boarding house. Nor is it the easiest to navigate when one has had a few of the high octane beverages offered for sale there, with little wooden ramps between rooms indicating the next is at a different elevation than the last one you were in. More than once, I entered the next room stumbling.
Because it's still officially winter, though our current February weather is springy and mild, we saw The Asylum Street Spankers inside. Stepping outside for a smoke I saw that there was an outdoor stage as well, with canned lights hanging from the rafters.
The music The Asylum Street Spankers played was a mix of blues, vaudeville, bluegrass, hillbilly and country, played on traditional instruments. There were several guitars, dobro, ukulele, banjos, a whiskey jug, a double bass, fiddle, a few mandolins, slide whistles, a small drum kit and, something not commonly known as a musical instrument, but used quite well as one: a short length of log chain.
It was a PG13 show, for the blend of adult humor and a blue word bandied about from time to time. I wanted to see the ASS because of one song, in particular; a blue collar anthem from a working musician who might have to get a “real” job, called “Fuck Work,” but the song that's stuck in my head, today, is “Scrotum, scrotum, my wrinkly crinkly bag of skin. Scrotum, scrotum, it's what I keep my testes in.”
Last night we saw them on their “Farewell tour.” The ASS was missing a significant portion of their line-up with the absence of Wammo, one of their founding members. We'll never have a chance to see The ASS at Knuckleheads again.
The small clutch of buildings that make up Knuckleheads is set next to several sets of railroad tracks. We were made aware of this several times throughout the evening as trains crawled by, blasting their horns at the crossing.
It's not the most acoustically solid place, considering it was once a boarding house. Nor is it the easiest to navigate when one has had a few of the high octane beverages offered for sale there, with little wooden ramps between rooms indicating the next is at a different elevation than the last one you were in. More than once, I entered the next room stumbling.
Because it's still officially winter, though our current February weather is springy and mild, we saw The Asylum Street Spankers inside. Stepping outside for a smoke I saw that there was an outdoor stage as well, with canned lights hanging from the rafters.
The music The Asylum Street Spankers played was a mix of blues, vaudeville, bluegrass, hillbilly and country, played on traditional instruments. There were several guitars, dobro, ukulele, banjos, a whiskey jug, a double bass, fiddle, a few mandolins, slide whistles, a small drum kit and, something not commonly known as a musical instrument, but used quite well as one: a short length of log chain.
It was a PG13 show, for the blend of adult humor and a blue word bandied about from time to time. I wanted to see the ASS because of one song, in particular; a blue collar anthem from a working musician who might have to get a “real” job, called “Fuck Work,” but the song that's stuck in my head, today, is “Scrotum, scrotum, my wrinkly crinkly bag of skin. Scrotum, scrotum, it's what I keep my testes in.”
Last night we saw them on their “Farewell tour.” The ASS was missing a significant portion of their line-up with the absence of Wammo, one of their founding members. We'll never have a chance to see The ASS at Knuckleheads again.
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