The Ghost In The Machine

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Einstein said there were only two things which were infinite--the universe and human stupidity, and he wasn't sure about the universe. According to the above linked article, the blame for this lies within technology.

Our kids are stupid. Evil demons inside the technology contraptions have done this to them. Somebody call the Ghostbusters.

Susan Maushart, a mother of three, says her teenage daughter "literally does not know how to use a can opener. Most cans come with pull-tops these days. I see her reaching for a can that requires a can opener, and her shoulders slump and she goes for something else."

Teenagers are so accustomed to either throwing their clothes on the floor or hanging them on hooks that Maushart says her "kids actually struggle with the mechanics of a clothes hanger."

Many kids never learn to do ordinary household tasks. They have no chores. Take-out and drive-through meals have replaced home cooking. And busy families who can afford it often outsource house-cleaning and lawn care.

"It's so all laid out for them," said Maushart, author of the forthcoming book "The Winter of Our Disconnect," about her efforts to wean her family from its dependence on technology. "Having so much comfort and ease is what has led to this situation — the Velcro sneakers, the Pull-Ups generation. You can pee in your pants and we'll take care of it for you!"

When I was a child, I had only ever used a conventional can opener. One year we went on vacation. We bought some corned beef hash. My dad handed me a P-38 can opener and asked me to open the can. I didn't know how to use it. Rather than allow me to stare blankly and starve to death, he did the unthinkable--he showed me how to use it!

True story.

OMG, Tron! A can! How will we ever open it???

Where are we as a society when we really believe technological advances are a bad thing? What has happened to us that we blame technology for bad parenting and the obvious consequences which follow?

Velcro was made to make things easier. One of its many uses is to keep shoes on your feet. It's easier to strap your shoes on with velcro than it is to tie your shoes with laces. This is called an advancement.

Ignorance is not stupidity. Ignorance is the lack of knowledge. Therefore, the child is ignorant because he hasn't been taught. The parent is stupid. Stupidity is the lack of quickness or keenness of mind to understand ordinary concepts. It also means you lack the power to teach these ordinary (simple) concepts or rules to others. There's a cure for ignorance; it is called Education. There is no cure for stupidity; as a wise sage once said, it is forever, and some say it should hurt.

There is a little thing, that apparently is widely unheard of, called Learned Behavior. The idea is, that certain behavior is learned. More importantly, there is certain behavior which has to be learned. If you always have had velcro shoes, or your parents have always tied your shoes for you, you're not going to know how to tie your shoes.

It generally takes five to ten minutes of your precious time to teach your child how to tie their shoes...assuming they have laced shoes. You may, in some cases, have to show them more than once, but eventually, they'll figure it out. Sure, this may take up your shopping time, perhaps even your drinking and partying time, but in the end it will pay off. Trust me.

When I was a child, technology had changed. There was really no need for me to know how a well pump worked; we had a house with modern running water. I didn't really need to know about an outhouse, or the application of corn cobs in such situations. Yet, I knew because my parents did and they relayed it to me.

So, you might come to the conclusion that you're dealing with a bunch of bad parents. This is closer to the real cause; however, what we're really dealing with are stupid people who are so overwhelmed with the latest technological advances and consumed with nostalgia, that they are blaming the new hotness for the old and busted.

Technological advances are a good thing. I can't wait to reach the future generation where all they know is that you defecate into the porcelain bowl and the glowy red laser disintegrates it. Trust me, I won't be whining about how I remember when you had to flush or use paper, and how the kids today are morons because they don't know how to wipe.

Today we are in a special moment. We are in that moment when it's out with the old and in with the new. We should not only appreciate and revel in this moment, we should rejoice in it. Instead, we're condemning it and blaming it on our inability to conform.

That is completely shameless, and dare I say: STUPID!

Cosmetic Brain Surgery...I Thought Of It First!

There is violence in The Congo. Ashley Judd wants to believe it is caused by The Smarty Phones. She also wants to believe that someday they will have cosmetic brain surgery, and then she can be as smart as she is pretty. I haven't decided if I want to break the news to her or not.

In a featured article on the CNN website, Ashley Judd and John Prendergast go to some links (Yes, welcome to the 3D age) to dramatize the brutal gang rape of Kika, a local Mother Theresa type, by the local militia. It also details how when her brother tried to intervene, they first tried to make him rape her as well, and when he refused, they stabbed him to death.

Even though it sounds like the opening five minutes of a Sylvester Stallone movie, it doesn't change that it is definitely on the more gruesome side of human interactions. It also doesn't change the severity of it.

However, where Ashley jumps the fence and flies off to Alpha Centauri, is when she then blames this behavior on Electronics. Apparently, these evil militia types are being funded and given their power over this region by all of the money they are making from mining rare minerals which are used in electronic components.

So the issue isn't that one human being would behave this way and commit atrocities on another human being. It isn't that people who would act in such a fashion would do so over a doughnut (Bran Muffins probably aren't appealing enough). They only do it because they can mine rare minerals and sell them to Intel.

Wow, this really is starting to sound more and more like a Sylvester Stallone movie, but I'll be nice to Sly and say Van Damme.

So we can't be as bold and brash as Mad Mel and say all the troubles of the World are caused by the Jews--and trust me, she wants to. No, monkey see, monkey do. Obama talks out against technology and electronics, so let's just blame all of our troubles on the iPad.

Steve Jobs and Hitler, like peas in a pod...an iPod.

Let's face it, anything those people could get their hands on to make a buck would go to funding a dictatorial regime to oppress the people. So it's tungsten and tantalum today, but when the market falls through that, you know they're going to do whatever they can to keep it going--even bottle water.

MmmMmm. Good ol' CongoWater. It tastes just like wholesale rape and murder. Every Hollywood Celebrity will have a bottle in their hands on the red carpet within a week, but don't worry, I'm sure they'll leave the iPhones at home.

Pay It Forward

More than likely, not even God knows where my mind was when I wrote this, but I was going through some of my accrued poetry and found this:

Grim Inheritance

Broken perceptions
linger in an afterglow
of humiliated defeat.

Persecuting a withered intellect.

A soul is left hollow by
a hastened amputation
of self-worth.

Generating a lack of remorse.

Punishment is bestowed
upon an innocent bystander
in a vindictive wrath.

Terminating all hope.

An immediate smirk came to my face when I read it. Perhaps it's a bit melodramatic, but the precision and minimalism it was written with made me feel good about it. Even the title seemed appropriate.

Death And Taxes

"The only things certain in life are death and taxes." -- Benjamin Franklin

"Death and taxes may be certain, but we don't have to die every year." -- Unknown

Today I received a newsletter from my Congressman:

I wanted to share an update with you on the potential effects of allowing significant provisions of the current tax code to expire.

As you know, Congress passed a series of pro-family and pro-growth tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. However these tax cuts expire at the end of 2010. I strongly support making these tax cuts permanent because a massive $3.8 trillion tax increase would hurt families, seniors and retirees, and cripple job creation efforts.

Families that benefited from an expansion of the child tax credit and the end of the marriage tax penalty will see their taxes go up dramatically. Thirty-one million families will pay more than $1,000 per year in taxes if the child credit expires, while 35 million families will pay on average nearly $600 more annually from a return of the marriage penalty. The income tax increases affect every taxpayer but also impact 75% of small businesses. Small businesses create nearly three-quarters of all new jobs and employ more than half of all workers – they can’t afford this tax hike.

Additionally the capital gains and dividend tax increases will affect investors and business, but also seniors. IRS data shows that seniors earned 48% of dividend income and 30% of all capital gains income in 2008. Massive tax hikes on fixed income retirees is the wrong prescription.

Finally, the death tax will be reinstated at 55%. The federal government should not have a right to half of your assets when you die, and Congress should keep its promise by permanently eliminating this tax, which costs billions of dollars in compliance. In fact, I led the floor debate in favor of permanently eliminating this tax in the House.

Uncertainty over tax levels is one significant factor holding back our economy. Businesses, families and investors are facing tremendous hurdles. Congress should fully and permanently extend these tax cuts to help our economy recover and help families and seniors keep more of what they earn.

Congressman Dean Heller - Second District of Nevada

Raising taxes at the present time, whether it's through imposing new taxes or letting old tax breaks expire, is possibly the most insane idea they could have. Notice I said possibly, because it's obvious someone was completely bat-shit crazy when they thought up a Death Tax in the first place, but the guy who decided to make it 55% must have been huffing the same glue Michael Moore is.

Don't nibble on the barrel...

These people in Washington aren't simply out of touch with Americans, they're out of contact. They don't just live in their own world, they're on a completely different planet some 3,000,000,000 light-years away.

The worst part, is that voting them out isn't an absolute. It's a great start, it's our best choice at this point in time, but it doesn't guarantee it will change anything. These people didn't go to Washington and get contaminated and corrupted by the system; these people were like this before they ever got to Washington. That means there are more where they came from. How do we know that the people we replace them with aren't just version 2.0 from the same Communist Meth-lab we got these brain donors from?

"The taxpayer -- that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination." -- Ronald Reagan

Thankfully it's Friday, so I can forget about all of this until Monday, when we find out what new bills Congress had to pass so we can find out what's in them. Have a nice weekend.

Yeah, Yeah, I'm Still Here.

If only I had time for the long-winded sigh that I feel like letting out right about now. If there is one thing you could tell anyone who actively takes part in political and social discourse, it would be: Dude, go get a hobby. As it turns out, that's what I did.

I could go on and on about how hectic life has been lately, or various other matters I have been dealing with over the last few months. Obviously, they would all be lame excuses. The simple truth is, I have just found other things I have been more interested in than writing endlessly about how stupid the World has become.

Even more to the point, it is a lot more fun playing with guns than it is words. Between working on personal writings such as short stories and screenplays, and buying and shooting firearms, I've just given a pass to the ol' Blog.

It doesn't just look badass...it is.

No, that doesn't mean I'm any less polarized against society, it just means .45 ACPs and Shotguns beats you. That's right Society--Checkmate.

Then when you add into that reloading ammunition and everything that's entailed in that, it's just too tempting to pass the office and head outside.

My love for writing has not waned; however, so it's time for me to start pushing myself and writing this Blog once again. So, beyond my personal stuff, sports shooting, writing, and my dog, I will have to begin once again to come up with interesting daily articles. Don't worry, today is exempt from the "interesting" status. Don't be surprised if I skip a day for hunting.

Webspace Oddity

The lack of editing and editorial control in the media often makes me shake my head. As much as a lot of these people are being paid and given the amount of them, you'd think a typo or boo-boo would be the exception rather than the rule. Today's strange anomaly has me wondering just what is behind it.

This morning, I followed my regular routine of sitting in front of my computer and sifting through the headlines via Google News. That's when I came across this:


After the jaw-dropping double-take, I clicked on the link:

**http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/07/obama-wes-still-headed-in-the-right-direction/1**

Even though the headline on Google News from above read "We's" and it was in the link itself, the articles' headline was different:


Google News, the link, and the article itself have since been changed as of about 9:30AM PST.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/07/obama-on-jobs-we-are-headed-in-the-right-direction/1

All of this begs to question: Is this an incident of blinding racism that slipped through the cracks, or just a blunder of cosmically unlucky coincidence? In either event, I think I can speak for all of us when I say, we's all very interested to find out.

Chinese Arithmetic

I was going to entitle this article: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Speak to the Voices In Al Franken's Head, but that was just too long-winded. Much like any thought that has ever come out of Al Franken's brain. It also was too all-encompassing and perfect. With a title like that, there's little room for a story. You might as well cut and print, cause you said it all. Runners-up were: Who Didn't See That Coming? and Vaseline Sales Skyrocket, Experts Say: 'No End In Sight.'

With a week which included a massive disaster of an oil spill, The Audacity To Tell A Mexican "No", The Great Elena Kagan Scare of 2010, and 75% of Washington, D.C. running scared for their jobs, it's little wonder the Democrats got winded this week, giving a small victory of sorts to the Republicans.

John Boehner got to tell everyone I told you so this week when the Congressional Budget Office reported that the Health Care Bill will cost an additional $115 Billion. This would bring the original $938 Billion bill to over $1 Trillion, as was predicted by Republicans, but furiously denied by House Democrats.

So take a moment to let this sink in...the Democrats lied to us.

NOW it makes sense!

Now, normally this would be the part where we scream "NO!" and fall down the exhaust shaft. However, the response was more of: "Hey, slow news day, let's check out The View." In all seriousness, who was surprised at this?

If you're a conservative-minded American and are opposed the Health Care Bill, as most Americans are, you knew this already and were just waiting for the moment when the Democrats would have to come clean. If you're a liberal-minded American who is for the Health Care Bill, you don't care that it's going to cost more, because it's not your money being spent anyway.

So as the Spin Doctors start crawling out of their crevasses like cockroaches, let me spare you a lot of time and trouble. This isn't a political move by Republicans. This information is true. The information is not being misinterpreted, over-exaggerated, or skewed. The Democrats lied. The End.

Now, some of you may be thinking this is an unfair summation. You may also be wondering how I came to this conclusion. Well, unlike the Chinese Arithmetic used to concoct the numbers on the Health Care Bill, this equation was as easy as 1+1=2.

The Democrats always lie, because they have to. Their political views and agendas are so completely off base from that of the American people, that they have to lie. They have to lie, cheat, steal, conspire, connive, and anything else that their corrupt, diseased minds can think of, because there is no other way for them to pull off their endgame. In their minds, the American people won't buy it any other way.

Which is perfect, because it completely plays into their entire ethos of elitist tripe. After all, anyone who is not one of "them" is so stupid and uneducated, there's no way they wouldn't be stupid and gullible enough to fall for it. We're like mushrooms to them. If they keep us in the dark and feed us full of manure, we'll just keep soaking it up.

Everything they stand for is 180 degrees from anything American or what America is about. They are the enemy of the American people. More so than the Terrorists or any other threat we face, they are the enemy within. While we fight wars abroad in a vain attempt to keep the enemy at bay, these Progressive Socialists are right here in this country, and they are trying to destroy us and our way of life by using our own rules against us.

Sorry Liberal Leftists, I just outed you. Do you think we can still be friends?

Now, don't get me wrong, this is not an endorsement for the GOP in any way. If you think you're going to solve this problem by hanging your hat on the Republican ticket, think again. The RNC is in shambles. They have completely forgot who they are and what they stand for. There isn't a single eligible Republican Candidate out there who has the cojones to be a real Conservative and stand up for the American people and against their own party. At this point in time, I would frankly be leery of any one of them who did, because the odds of it being a sheer political ploy to get elected so they can continue with politics-as-usual would be 20-1 and the fix is in.

So what is the answer? The only answer to our current problems is obvious and crystalline in nature. We need to completely clean house. We need to boot out every incumbent and replace them with new blood. What we can't replace in this election, we need to replace in 2012--including Obama himself. Regime change, American-style.

The American public needs to send a message to Washington, clearly and succinctly--we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore. We're done with you. Goodbye and good riddance.