Fucking Tiger Woods

I guess I shouldn't be suprised that the soap opera Nation we call America wasted little time tearing down yet another superstar sports hero back into just the shell of a mortal man, but who does it any better than us? Now I really tried to avoid the circus which is the mainstream media as they went straight to all-Tiger all the time coverage. It is definitely true however that enquiring minds need to know, proved yet again by a ringing phone hours after the story broke (hours being a lifetime in tabloid media terms). The call came from an aunt who was just dying to be the one to tell me all about it. "Did you hear about Tiger?" she screamed! Blah....blah...blah... was all it sounded like to me. First of all, how could I not hear about him. Secondly, who gives a shit?

I feel mostly for my elderly grandmother who just loved Tiger and watching him play. She continuously extolled on his greatness and how much she loved him. Well sorry Nana, shit happens. I also mourn for the loss of legitimate news covergae in this country as I watched in horror the major news networks leading their nightly news with this garbage. Afghanistan will just have to take a backseat on this one. Afterall, this is the mother of all scandulous, juicy gossip stories, apparently? I visualize the fucktards in the backroom of Augusta National rejoicing in the demise of the black guy they not only had to allow to walk through the front door of their precious golf club, but who also had to post his name in perpetuity as the winner of their little tournament. This so-called "scandal" at least delays the day which they will have to actually allow black members, but that is another discussion for another day.

It seems one can't go anywhere without running into someone who has an opinion on the matter. Maybe it's just me but I fail to understand why any of this has any relevence on the lives of everyday, ordinary people? I can understand the guy who cheated on his wife and has since been forgiven now having to face rekindled feelings from a distraught spouse but why are my fellow co-workers suddenly experts on the subject, and on a construction sight no less? Turn off the fucking Nancy Grace and do something productive with your time, I say!

So CNN has turned into TMZ and E! Entertainment News is enjoying a ratings bonanza and I am just a lone voice saying please STFU!!!! We simply shouldn't take such delight in this guy's fall from grace but it seems we just can't help ourselves as a populace. Then we have to do it all over again when Tiger finally tucks tail and comes back to do what it is that he does, namely play a game that entertains us all slighly less than the tidbits and gossip provided by the human condition.

Labcoats For Hire

We see it all too often and don't even know it. Science begins to reveal to us what it is that harms our species and our environment and the anti-science forces, secretly funded by massive corporate enterpises, step up their disinformation campaigns into high gear. Really all you need these days to discredit legitimate scientific research is a group with a fancy name, preferably with the words "science" and "coalition" in the title, and a boatload of money from those making a fortune off of whatever is creating the problem that science is trying to remedy. For instance, you might remember The Advancement For Sound Science Coalition, also known as The Advancement For Sound Science Center (We have facilities now so look how legitimate we are!) This organization sure does sound like they serve a very legitimate purpose, wouldn't you agree? Well if that purpose is accepting millions of dollars from Philip Morris and working feverishly to discredit the science demonstrating links between exposure to cigarette smoke and the development of cancer and lung diseases then you would be correct.

The latest sciency sounding pseudo-organization to make news is the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition. Well New Zealand sounds like an exotic place and anyone involved with a climate science coalition certainly must be all about accurate research data for the well being and protection of such a lovely and precious land? Pay no attention to the fact that they are funded by Exxon-Mobil or that they have been endlessly trying to contradict for years the findings of legitimate climate researchers who are creating a warming and increasingly unstable climate model based on said data. The NZCSC is just as concerned over these climate models as the rest of science, but for very different reasons. If they had their way it would all go away and life would continue without another word ever being said about melting ice shelves or rising sea levels or average global temperature increases.

Did I forget to mention that this so-called New Zealand Climate Science Coalition hasn't a single climate scientist included within the ranks of it's membership? However the climate change skeptics and professional nay-sayers are quick to quote this "scientific entity" upon which to base their endless propoganda, half-truths and outright lies. Believing anything these "sciency" coalitions tell you would be the quivalent of having open heart surgery in a hospital staffed not with experienced professional doctors and surgeons but instead in a warehouse full of talented and fully funded marketing and public relations professionals who do one hell of a job convincing the public that the actual hospital is one giant conspiracy intent on milking every last healthcare dollar it can from what will be your cold, dead hand.

Truck For Sale

Everyday I look for reasons to renew my faith in humanity and am almost always disappointed. This week was no exception. It started when I put my old GMC truck up for sale. The very first call I received on my voicemail went something like this:

A-hole: Yeah, what's up with this truck?
A-hole: I want to know the year and what's wrong with it.
A-hole: Hello...?
A-hole: You must not be home.
A-hole: Well then screw you!...click.

Very nice, sir. Patience is a virtue, but you must not have time for virtues? I guess he hasn't a clue about voicemail either? Oh well, who has time to dwell on such trivial matters?

So by day two there is a guy who agrees to my asking price, saying the vehicle is everything he is looking for. I take him completely through the truck and tell him every little problem I can think of, to which he seems much obliged. I even offer to get a new muffler on it since I have a lifetime warranty, if he wants to cover the costs. He then asks if I will have the pickup inspected also. I am hesitant to put money into the vehicle but he assures me he will pay for the improvements. He asks if I would like a down payment but I tell him he looks trustworthy and that it wasn't necessary. I spend two hours of my time getting the muffler and waiting for new parts needed to pass the inspection, while spending nearly $200 out of my own pocket. When the guy comes over to pick it up, we fill out the title and he hands me a check. When he asks for the keys I tell him I will need to wait until the check clears before I can give him the vehicle. He grabs the check from me and says if "I don't find him trustworthy enough to take his check, drawn on an account that could buy the truck ten times over, then I am not trustworthy enough to buy it from and that he doesn't want it." Do I have "sucker" written on my face or something? You can fuck right off, sir. Plus you entered a contract and have signed the title so you will lose in court if I choose to sue your cocky, self-centered ass. He agrees to pay for the new title, with A CHECK! I tell him I don't need his measley check, that I have enough in my checking account to buy a new title a thousand times over, and get off my property. That felt good.

So now I'm out a few hundo and need to retitle the vehicle. I do the DMV thing and put the "for sale" sign back in the window. I later get a phone call at work from a young kid interested in buying and he does a pretty good job of lowballing me. If I had only listened to my voicemail before talking to him I would have heard his offer of a few more hundred dollars, but what can you do? I let him take it for a test drive and I can hear him two blocks away grinding the gears trying to get it in four-wheeled drive, obviously ignoring my detailed instructions. Oh well? When the kid returns he wants the truck. He gives me a hundred bucks to show me he is serious and then asks for the rest of the keys. I ask him why and he responds "to take my new truck home." What? I just laugh to myself. Since the kid paid me mostly in fives and ones I tell him he can take it home if he puts down half of the money now and the other half when the new title arrives. He comes back with $200 more dollars, which I take, give him a receipt, and then he asks if he can use the license plate off of my other vehicle to drive the truck home? Holy shit, I think to myself. What planet are these morons from? I just walk away. An hour later he calls me and says he will have the rest of the money when the title arrives. Yeah, no shit you will.

I am thinking I just might put the new truck in the garage and drive the old one through the winter. It would much more satisfying to even burn the damn thing than to deal with these dolts who haven't the slightest clue about how business works. Match, anyone?

Peace be with you, but not for Obama

Well we've all seen the news and experienced the surprise of a sitting president, namely President Obama, being awarded the Nobel Prize for peace. Granted the man is serious about nuclear proliferation and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as re-establishing the Middle East peace talks, but this award is only partially about the fact that Obama has captured the imagination of the world with such grand ideas. Surely the Nobel award is just as much about providing momentum for peace as it is about celebrating it, but in this case the award also signifies the complete disdain the rest of the world had for President Bush and his policies.

What is less surprising than Obama being named the Nobel recipient is the reaction by American conservatives, which is ironically more severe than the reactions had by the Taliban and Hamas. Can you imagine that? Well, you don't have to imagine. It was less than a year ago we were being told to support our president and be patriotic in a time of war or be labelled a traitor. Now that the shoe is on the other foot we get a first-hand view of hypocrisy at it's finest. These same people cheered when Chicago was eliminated from consideration to host the summer Olympics in 2016. These people who preach "country first" are happy America lost just so they can imagine in their own little minds that the president has a political "black eye" from it all. It is reminiscent of the Texas schoolchildren who applauded when informed of President Kennedy's assassination. One has to wonder what they had been taught and how they had been conditioned to react in such a manner? I guess Kennedy got what was coming to him for calling them "nuts" in the first place. That'll learn him.

Apparently American politics has become so divisive that something that should make every American citizen step back and be proud, to once again accept our role on the world stage as the great nation of diplomacy and leadership, would instead decay into partisan bickering and downright hatred for your political opponents first and foremost over consideration for cause and country. Perhaps our own ignorance as a populace is to blame? Perhaps we cannot move past the debates about who's side is right, and we cannot individually and collectively" advance beyond the notion of "our side" versus them (liberals, conservatives, communists, fascists, populists, anarchists, dog lovers, cat lovers, or whatever the fuck you are not that really sucks ass). Maybe American stupidity and selfishness have become so entrenched into our daily lives that it has rendered us completely ineffective at self governance? We can no longer agree on anything, including agreeing on the fact that we cannot agree. That would require too much of a concession from either side.

Internet Know-It-Alls Who Are Not Me Are Idiots

Unless you live under a rock or have been smoking them then you have heard of the death of Senator Edward Kennedy. Regardless of your opinion of his politics or of his history there is no doubt that Ted was a master at fostering bipartisan consensus. That doesn't stop however the right-wing lunatic fringe from dancing on the man's grave before the body is even cold. Who cares about his accomplishments of providing insurance for million of uninsured children and elderly people? Who cares about his legislative efforts to jumpstart aids research, or to provide safeguards against bioterrorism or for his stance on civil rights and voting rights? Instead what we hear is that he was a liberal so therefore was a socialist and a communist bastard, and we hear this from the so-called television and radio partisan operatives who pose as "journalists" let alone the morons who make up the majority of the internet posting community. At least I expect this type of behavior from the dopes on the web but millions of people really do think that FOXNews is a news outlet and not a mouthpiece for Rupert Murdoch, and that flaming homos like Limbaugh and Beck are anything more than just that. Many of the followers of those just mentioned would take some serious convincing that Saddam Hussein wasn't behind 9/11. Holy shit do I digress, but it doesn't make it any less true.

Anyway, I can't even log into a site as benign as a fantasy sports website without some asshole beginning brand new threads with "I shed no tears for Ted Kennedy. The World is better off without him." No, the World would be better off without you and your severely retarded logic, your complete lack of etiquette and social skills, and certainly nobody would miss your very average brand of douchebaggery. And no discussion of Kennedy would be complete without some prick asking the perverbial question "What about Mary?" Mary, huh? Did you know her or something? Was she a personal friend of yours? No? Well shut the fuck up then.

Of course this same antagonist who polluted my fantasy site was the same guy who proclaimed Ian Plimer as the foremost authority on climate change. When I pointed out that Plimer held an antiquated degree hardly applicable to the subject and that the vast majority of his book "Heaven And Earth" is filled with unsourced "facts" and that he refuses to debate experts on the subject and his diversionary tactics have long since been exposed by actual scientists and that this is turning into one whale of a run-on sentence, well naturally I was simply labelled and attacked. Who gives a fuck if any given internet content is true or not if cutting and pasting it to whatever websites you frequent will bolster your own pathetic argument? It reminds me of Dick Cheney's lies being quoted by the New York Times and then Cheney claiming his nonsense must be true since it was printed in such a prestegious newspaper. (And speaking of dick, why is Dick Cheney not in prison? Even conservatives hate that asshole.)

What I am saying is that the world wide web needs the vasy majority of it's contributors to covert to readers and to stop ruining forums, to stop making fucking assinine comments on Youtube about someone's appearance or sexuality or whatever else their puny little minds can barely conjure, and to do the world a favor by just smashing their computer keyboards altogether. It is the intelligent who question whether they are correct and have a sense of doubt about their views and beliefs, whereas people like I have described above are quite convinced they're right and nothing will prove any different. I have news for you, though. You are not funny. You are not witty. You are not insightful. You are not educated and you are not the least bit open-minded. In your defense however you are incredibly annoying, so you have that going for you.

You are NOT a poker pro. You are a retard.

If I only had a dollar (actually I do, and then some) for every time I found myself sitting across from some young, fresh-faced, clueless punk who has the naive belief that he is on the path to becoming some famous gambler, then I would basically be in the same finanical position that I am now because I take these bitches' cashish. There is no free lunch, kiddies! Just reading Super System and posting in an online poker forum doesn't mean shit. I see you know all of the chip tricks and have a pretty cool counterclockwise muck maneuver but please explain to me why I constantly have your chips in my stack? Maybe you should try a lot less pot smoking before you join the game? Your bloodshot eyes are the biggest tell in history.

Now I know you kids have been coddled since birth and have absolutely no fucking idea what the terms "work ethic" and "hard work" even mean. Just because there were no cuts after tryouts in school and everyone made the team doesn't mean you don't suck. You didn't play for a reason and it wasn't because the coach was an asshole. Now you need get out of your mother's basement and get a job. You are killing her with your grand delusion and self-righteous near certainty that you are simply "awesome at poker." No, you're not. As a matter of fact, you regulalrly make my car payments for me and haven't the slightest idea what the poker life entails. Turn off ESPN and Norman Chad and go flip my burgers already. That will not be you on television, ever. You failed math twice because you thought it was stupid and that you would never need it. Doesn't it suck being wrong all of the time? Those of you who do have jobs can't even do the math to make change once the cash register tells you to give me $1.92 and I hand you another quarter to avoid getting all of that change back, yet you think you can crunch the numbers in real time to calculate probabilities and implied odds? You might as well just cut out the middle man and come work for me washing my cars because you give me your money anyways.

Did I mention that you were clueless about life already? Now I know that you think you know everything you need to know because I was once your age. But guess what? When I was your age I was a fucking retard too. Just accept this as fact because being in denial doesn't make it any less true. You have this false notion in your head that you'll be driving fancy cars and have a sweet mansion and chics hanging off of both arms, and you won't. If you're lucky you will get to play poker every waking hour of every day and maybe break even. That leaves little time for jet-setting with those you idolize, who incidentally make the bulk of their fortune selling you books and videos and owning the online poker sites that you pay enormous rake to daily. I bet you thought they made all of that loot just playing the game? I did mention you were stupid, right? My apologies if I sound redundant, however I know you refuse to listen when I make this point so it's repetition is of the utmost importance.

I know you are a terrible player when I hear you says shit like "Oh, I hate Omaha." Of course you do. You cannot operate out of your comfort zone, and said zone entails barely knowing the ins and outs of a single poker variant (yes retard, were talking hold 'em) that is so over-popularized that even the top pros are struggling to extract profit from the ever-improving competition. You have failed to go to where the easy money is found, therefore further proving that you don't know what the fuck you are doing. You've been playing for a few years now and your biggest win is maybe eight hundred bucks? Good luck being a hold 'em only pro. You'll be the first, that isn't broke at least.

Teabaggers

The right-wing propoganda machine has it's rank and file all hot and bothered over the deficit spending of the current administration. Certainly it is fair to be concerned over such spending, even though Obama inherited this mess and federal spending is needed to avoid a collapsing economy, at least according to Keynesian economists. However one has to ask the question of where were these protesters thirty years ago, or even eight years ago for that matter?

If you subtract military expenditures and the money spent on homeland security, the Bush Administration was still the biggest spenders since the New Deal. They ran record-setting deficits while cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans. The Reagan Administration incurred massive amounts of federal debt and placed that burden of the backs of future generations, yet where were the protesters then? Under both of these administration the size of government grew substantially along with our national debt. Now three months into a democratic presidency and suddenly it is time to be concerned and to place blame?

I watch ignorant mouthpieces of the right like Glenn Beck misrepresent and outright lie about the beliefs and attitudes of our founding fathers for political gain. Mr Beck, Thomas Paine was not an anti-taxation conservative minded hero as you claim. He actually advocated estate taxes on the rich to finance a public education system, which is entirely contrary to your portrayal and betrayal of the man. I mean if Beck could be bothered to do the slightest bit of research then he would realize that Paine's most famous work was "The Age of Reason," which was a book against religion. Yet somehow douchebags like Glenn Beck somehow manage to turn such a great thinker into some god-fearing, quaking in his boots at the thought of hell, pussy. When will idiots like Beck realize that people came to this country to escape conservatism and the status quo, which history demonstrates quite well as the natural progression of empires, but every generation conservatism is repackaged and sold to the masses as what the founding fathers would have wanted.

The United States is in a terrible financial position in the early 21st Century and it has been a long time coming. We as a people have been lulled into a false sense of security and have grown fat on prosperity. Few people understand the complexity of such things as the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, demanding that we let these companies fail under their own weight. However few realize these two companies are the largest companies on the planet and their failure means you will be using the money from your savings as kindling in your fireplace when they do. Entire nations and the world economy are directly tied to the financial matters of these entities. Bailing them out at least buys us time as opposed to the world economy already gringing to a halt. I know this concept seems impossible to those who find their store shelves full and their gas stations always fully stocked but this is a fact whether you care to believe it or not. Even the staunchest of economic conservatives understand the need to prop up our struggling financial system.

Having concern over excessive government spending is fine, but I believe what we are seeing is sour grapes from the right-wing over losing power. People have taken to the streets to protest taxes on a day when tax cuts were signed into law for ninety five percent of working families. Soundbite nation has ignored our reality and wants to return to a simpler time, which they naively believe are the great days of Reagan or even Bush. On could definitely argue that these were the times when the heat was turned way up on the stove and our fate was sealed. Regulations were eliminated on everything from utilities to Wall Street and what resulted was a floundering utility system, ever-rising electrical rates, Enron and now the complete failure of our financial system at the hands of the greediest of the greedy. Those who are ignorant of history now wish to pound down the White House door out of frustration fostered by those who know better but have no direction, no plan, no prospects for regaining power, and no shame. They demanded we support one of the most unpopular presidents in history and the day after he was gone they came for the new guy, completely revealing their hypocrisy in the process.

I have respect for many conservative principles, mainly the ones abandoned by the last few republican presidents, but I also understand that these same politicians were downright enemies of labor and the working man. Someday when I have a few more zeroes in my bank account I may think differently, but in the meantime I get up at the crack of dawn everyday to head out and rebuild this country one brick at a time and I don't need some filthy rich politician continually pushing to reduce the costs to the wealthy when those bricks come crashing down on my head so as to add another penny to their stock dividend.

Only A Theory

You will hear the proponents of Creationism belittle evolution as being "only a theory." They are quick to belittle scientific knowledge and contend that evolution cannot be proven and is speculation at best. Now the irony is that their beliefs are upheld by absolutely no evidence whatsoever, and by very definition require complete dedication and "faith" in what equates to nonsense, but its the smugness that gets to me.

Of course evolution is only a theory. Everything we know about anything at all is only a theory. Scientists humbly and readily admit that what can be "proven" can always be disproven by new information and knowledge gained from further discovery and study. Science encourages others to disprove what it is science postulates. It is complete open-mindedness and an excercise in debate and discourse. The polar opposite can be said about religion. The religious arrogantly dictate to others what the truth is and hold fast to their beliefs no matter what evidence or lack thereof is produced. The chant the Nycene Creed every Sunday in church, which is full of nonsense and ridiculous claims. They will however defend these beliefs to the bitter end, ignoring any rational debate on the subject or any scrutiny by rational thinking non-believers. One could make the case that religion is the complete abscence of the scientific method.

If the Bible is indeed the words of an all-knowing and all-powerful god then it seems remarkably devoid of any concepts more advanced than the primitive men of the time could comprehend. Why no mention of antibiotics or electricity? Why no insights into the realm of physics or chemistry? I mean this book is the work of the smartest entity of all time, right? What we instead have are made-up examples of acts that defy the know science of the time such as walking on water and changing water into wine and virgin births, which by the way seemed to be a requirement of any and every polarizing figure. Born of virgins also were Buddha, mercury and a host of other "gods," as well as Ghengis Khan. Apparently this was a prerequisite in order to be "somebody." It would be no different for Jesus, who wasn't a god and admitted so but was converted to one anyway by the Christian church. Just a single mention in the Bible of an automobile and I would be much more inclined to believe all of the hocus pocus. Now they tried to indoctrinate me at birth and forced me to serve the church, putting me in harms way (see pedophile priests). Fortunately for me I discovered reason and logic and escaped the bonds of servitude.

Now I do not contend that church-going people are bad, rather they are just delusional. They pray to an invisible man in the sky and ask for a whole host of things. They insist god has cured someone's cancer, yet why are the prayers of any and every amputee for the return of a limb never answered, ever? How do they account for this discrepancy? There are examples in the Bible of god appearing to people all throughout history. In Mark's gospel he writes that when more than two people join together in prayer then the lord shall answer them. If they pray for god to appear why is it that he never does? The Bible says this prayer will be answered. It is utter nonsense and the archaic beliefs of primitive desert tribes. The fourth commandment says that anyone who labors on the sabbath shall be put to death. That is what it says. Should I go into the market on a Sunday morning and kill the cashier for working on the lord's day? This is ridiculous. You will notice modern versions of the Bible conveniently leave the part about killing the infidels out, as if the "word of God" can be edited to suit our needs. If it is the word of god then it must be followed to the letter rather than being manipulated to not appear absolutely insane.

There is no doubt that the religious have done plenty of good deeds to improve the human condition. This is fact. Many also derive utility from attending mass and enjoying the social element of their group. This is their right. I must draw the line however when they insist on forcing their beliefs on my children in school, when they use their influence to impose laws on me that impinge my freedoms and right to pursue happiness as I so choose, and in any other situations where religion is forced upon society. This includes forcing "In God We Trust" onto our money, insisting "under God" remain in the pledge of allegiance when it was only added during the Cold War, demanding abortion be totally illegal, denying birth control accesibility to those who need it most, and any and every other instance. They want their religion publicly recognized above all others, while even denouncing the religion of others as untrue. When the religious begin quoting the founding fathers to justify their claims make sure to remind them that not all of the founders were religious and that they were secularists above all else. This nation isn't a "Christian nation" such as there are "Islamic nations." It is a free nation first and foremost, with liberty and justice for all.

The Macintosh Religion

You've all seen the religious fanatics standing on the street corner prothletising their beliefs unsolicited to all who pass by. Why is it then that every Apple computer owner I know elicites this same behavior when the subject of computers arises? Apparently they are no longer happy with their minority status and they must spread their religion to all who will listen? Make mention of some subtle computer issue and it inevitably results in being told to "just buy a mac." This is beyond arrogant in my opinion but mac users in general feel it is the other way around, that pc users are somehow the arrogant ones.

The truth is that pc users don't give a shit about the subject. We don't care that there is finally software we have been using for years available for the mac. We don't care that the mac video cards have finally caught up to the pc. We also don't buy the lie that macs don't crash. They crash all the time, however this is not due to defective and malicious code from third party sources that tend to crash pc's, rather mac crashes are a direct result of a faulty operating system. We don't care that there are no viruses that affect the mac since this is not true. Macro viruses attack macs just like pc's and since Apple has such a small market share, the hackers can't be bothered to target them. This is why I can't help but wonder why the big push from mac users to get more people to use apple computers? Don't they realize they enjoy the relative safety of such a small number of users? I guess they realize fewer sales means higher prices.

Now I know that macs are superior to pc's in a number of different areas and those who have built businesses around these advantages swear by their computing platforms. One cannot argue this point. What seems to be fact however is when trying to discuss the clear advantages pc's have over macs it's like you just insulted someone's mother. The mac users I know will just not accept my silly "facts" and literally take it as a personal attack. What is wrong with these people? Stop trying to brainwash me into buying a computer like yours so you feel better about yourselves. If yours is so great then enjoy it. What I know is that I enjoy gaming and I want every bit of computer power dedicated to the game at hand. I don't need yet another conversion program like Virtual Windows running in the background and sapping my frame rate. Doesn't running Windows defeat the purpose of owning a mac anyway? But they will have an answer for this because they cannot concede a single point. You are a pc owner so you are wrong.

I don't think I have ever witnessed a shittier program that Quicktime, and you'd think by their description that iPhoto was the greatest thing to ever come along, except that pc users have been enjoying the same features offered for years. Much of it is even offered for pc as freeware and shareware, as opposed to paying Apple for the product and then paying for the upgrades. Maybe someone can explain to me why this subject is so personal to the mac-heads? Why do they get so hot and bothered when you just don't want to hear their preaching? I'm sure they own fine machines but it is reminiscent of someone demanding that Pepsi is better than Coke. It is purely opinion based, unless you are using the Coke to remove the rust from your car's small engine parts. Then you have established a clear advantage of one over the other. However that will do little to sway the dedicated Pepsi fan because they will defend their beliefs no matter what, and mostly just because those beliefs are indeed theirs and so need defending.

They Must Be Communists?

That is what anyone is branded who dares resist the right-wing propoganda machine. When hard working families fight against anti-union policy and legislation they are labelled socialists who want to destroy America. When years worth of work safety measures are rolled back with the stroke of a pen it is the lowly worker who is chastised for standing up for their right to a safe workplace. When governments operate solely for the benefit of the money interests at the expense of ordinary people, those that believe all on the left and all liberal thought is evil just fall in line and stand behind the notion that anything their party does must be a good thing. They simply cannot see their own bias and therefore can never be wrong.

I will give an example to demonstrate this truth. One only has to look as far as the Bush Administration's appointees. A right-wing lackey was installed to head the Department of Labor, lacking any experience or know-how needed for the job. The DOL then sets it's sights on the mining industry. The corporate interests who own U.S. mines and that own hundreds of millions of dollars of mining stocks are pressuring the government to allow them any method possible to increase their profits. Therefore the DOL rolls back decades worth of mine safety provisions to cut the costs associated with doing business. Now these were safety guidlelines that were implemented by intelligent people who understood the need for such regulation. These were not policies that were just enacted to destroy capitalism by some socialist element hell bent on waging war against the American dream. However that is what the right-wing would have you believe.

So safety regulations get removed and the mining companies are allowed to enjoy the savings and pad their pockets. The result that seems to be of little concern to these corporate entities is the increase in mining accidents and fatalities to record levels not seen in decades. Safety measures that were proven to save lives and preserve the health and welfare of the poor folk who work in those mines to feed and clothe their families were apparently impediments to an even greater profit stream. So the financial wealth of the few is more important than the well-being of the thousands of workers who's safety has been sacrificed in the name of greed? If you are fortunate enough to be in the position of owning millions of dollars in mining stocks then you probably disagree with this position, however I think most of us have more in common with the miners. I am guessing this is just the price we have to pay to keep the baby killers from taking away our guns, huh? We remain distracted by the traditional right-wing nonsense issues while everything this country has is sold off by someone to make a buck, regardless of who or what gets sacrificed in the process.

Now I Remember Why...

Whenever you run into an old acquaintance from your high school days, inevitably someone suggests that you need to keep in touch and/or get together with the "old gang." This most often seems like a completely legitimate and rational idea. I guess it would be nice to chew the fat with some of those with whom we grew up? However now I remember why I never kept in touch with some people, or even hung out with them regularly back in the day for that matter. Thanks, Facebook!

I approved a friend request of a girl I attended school with and for a few days we exchanged pleasantries and small talk, etc.. Then late one evening I am surfing the net and notice this girl has posted an entry about this unconventional group attempting to educate young women about the dangers of breast cancer. Fair enough, I think to myself. That is certainly a serious and important subject. However the advertising slogan of said group reads "Squeeze Your Boobies. Are You squeezing Them?" Now one would gather that this campaign is meant to be light-hearted and to make comfortable those who feel uncomfortable about such a subject. At least that's the way I took it. I innocently made a remark that there had to be a joke in there somewhere and left it at that. Well apparently this was a heinous enough statement to awaken the self-righteous bitch I have long since forgotten?

In no uncertain terms I was informed my humor was not appreciated and that breast cancer is "NO JOKE." Okay, I can understand such reasoning and I was prepared to make a retraction and offer an apology. Then I notice a further comment about how people "can be so ignorant!" Now I may not be the most sensitive guy but isn't it fair to construe the use of the term "boobies" as containing an element of humor? Suddenly I am portrayed as the posterboy rooting for cancer. I mean, what the fuck? Is it "ignorant" to poke a little fun at such an innapropriate marketing slogan or is the ignorance immediately declaring me some sort of sadistic bastard for simply pointing out the attempt at humor by the breast cancer awareness group? Cancer has certainly had an effect on my own family but I see some people deal with it differently that others.

I guess I learned my lesson about rekindling old relationships? Some people just can't get over themselves and move past their self-importance. I guess I should have known better than to have said anything at all? There is a reason people remain friends throughout life and there is equal reasoning why some do not. Well I did in fact apologize because it needed to be done but in reality this bitch can eat it as far as I'm concerned. Life is too short to take yourself that seriously and it's diseases like cancer that are testimony to that fact. Feel free to mope and be miserable all the rest of your days but at least try to give others the benefit of the doubt before you condemn them for simply trying to be social as per requested.

Sears Pisses Me Off

Well it's now been five days since Sears removed my old refrigerator from my kitchen and replaced it with a $2000 piece of shit that doesn't work. They sure are quick to take my money but trying to resolve this issue though telephone operators located in India is enough for me to take my business elsewhere indefinitely. Customer service seems to be a concept foreign to anyone outside of America. If I say Saturday is not an acceptable delivery date, as I won't be home and I need a fridge now and not four days from now, the correct answer is not "We can deliver it Saturday." You fucking said that already!

So today Sears sends out a technician to "fix" a brand new appliance, so before I explode and demand a new unit I'll let this guy have at it. After wasting all day waiting for him to arrive and then for him to do his thing, he informs me in his impossible to understand Balkan accent that the parts needed will take a week to arrive. So the operator tried their hardest to convince me to accept a fix instead of a replacememt appliance, obviously so as to not inconvenience the sham that is Sears-Roebuck and Company, and as a courtesy I did so thinking if the fix works then my problem is solved. So instead of just replacing my item whenever they can get to it I now have to wait even longer for the parts needed to fix an appliance that should be replaced anyway? Holy Shit! Have you people ever heard of overnight delivery? Put the fucking parts on a plane and fix this damn icebox before I load it in my truck and drive stright through the front door of your crappy store and put it back right where I found it!

Now my wife is expecting so obviously she cannot eat any of the food that hasn't been properly refrigerated, therefore I have lost it all. Now I need to go to the store everyday to buy perishables like milk and eggs and ice and every fucking thing that should be in my new refrigerator. When I ask customer service what am I supposed to do for a refrigerator until they finally get off of their asses and bring me a replacement they just say the same thing. We can deliver it on Saturday. So now I can't use my 15th row tickets to the Syracuse vs. Notre Dame game or I won't get the fridge until a week from Thursday? Fuck you, Sears! Fuck you! I am in the market for a new washer and dryer, dishwasher and stove as well and you can rest assured that the very last place I will consider buying them is from your shitty and completely indifferent outfit.

Update: After making arrangements to have somebody at my house on Saturday to help me take care of this clusterfuck so I can go to the ball game, I get a call from the Sears automated phone service telling me my new refrigerator will be delivered on Sunday. WTF? So now my playoff football plans get fucked just like last Sunday? I'll be taking this gripe straight to the friggin' CEO!