My point of view on News and Commentary

What is our fascination with kicking things?

I was watching a program the other day and I watched as one of the characters went out of his way to kick a can that was in the road.  When I saw this, I felt myself kind of chuckle at it and think that what he did was silly.

Then it dawned on me… that this was something that I did…  Not just years ago when I was a child, but now.

Since watching that show, a show that I am now completely unable to recall the name of, I have been paying more attention to this, and I am now noticing more people that will kick stuff while walking.  Not just the obvious things, like cups, cans, etc.  But these people are kicking rocks, bottles and things like that.  So the condition is serious, it would seem.

I think that I shall try a little experiment.  Several people walk through the parking lot where I work on a daily basis.  I see people walking to and from lunch, walking for some exercise whilst on their breaks, walking to get the mail.  I wonder… if I were to buy a box of cheap golf balls, and place one strategically in the middle of the driveway, how long would it be before someone kicked it?

I think I will start this once the weather warms up. Maybe in May.

If I do this, I will post the pictures I take on here and keep all of you informed.

Do you have purpose in your life?

I am not asking this from a religious point of view, though I am also not ruling that out as a possible answer.  Nor am I playing on that old Steve Martin joke, asking you about your “Special Purpose” and what you use it for.

When you look at what you do throughout the day and what you are trying to accomplish, is it for a special reason or are you just making it through the day?

I am not trying to put you on the spot, or anything… I am just curious about how many people that might read this, have a life goal that they are working towards.  Whether this is a spiritual, emotional, financial or other… what are you working towards?

Personally, I am working toward a couple goals.  First is to make myself more spiritually aware… not really to be more religious or anything like that, but to “understand” more in life.  Secondly I am teaching myself carpentry… so that when I retire, hopefully at or around 55 years old, the wife and I will be able to retire to Oregon… hopefully somewhere along the coast, and I can start a little business doing some wood working and carpentry.  Anything but computers for the rest of my life.

So… tell me your story, goals or desires… I am interested in hearing them.

Thanks.

When you sit down and think of organizations within the federal government that are run smoothly and efficiently, not many really come to your mind, or at least not many come to the mind of most of us.

Now… if I told you that the IRS is going to be the watchdog for the new health care system that Chairman Obama and his lackeys want to put into effect, the first thing you should be thinking is something along the lines of: “WTF?  The IRS?”

But, unfortunately, this is not a joke.  As you will see in the links I will provide at the end of this piece, the proposals in play right now have the IRS playing a key roll in determining who has health care, who does not and if the health care you have is “adequate”, going so far as to use their own determination as to what “adequate” means.

They, the IRS, will also be responsible for levying fines if you are determined to not have the right or enough health insurance, at least enough by their standards.

Do we REALLY want an organization as top heavy as the IRS already is to be put in the position of being the official Obamacare Gestapo?  People that already have too much to do with your income right now to also have their feet dipped into what kind of medical coverage that you do or do not have?

I would say no.  A BIG freaking no!

Here are the links:

From the Washington Examiner

From the Marketplace Public Radio

From USA Today

When I was growing up, I was never led to believe that anything would just be handed to me.  I never had any suspicion that I was “OWED” anything other than the support and love of my family.

As I grew, I learned that while my family was there for me, I was no longer “entitled” to anything that I did not work for.  Unlike when I was younger, I now had to start working for things.  Any allowance that I received was based on what I did to help around the house.  If I chose not to help around the house, doing things like washing dishes, cleaning up, doing laundry, running errands, then I simply did not get any money.  Just like a real job.  Cleaning my own room never counted, as it was one of those things that I was supposed to keep clean on my own.

When I got my first job, mowing lawns for a couple friends of the family, my Mother began charging me a “rent” of sorts.  It only worked out to be about 20% of what I made mowing, but it was enough for me to learn that when I earn a paycheck, it is not all mine.  The same held true when I started my first REAL job, working for a company called GEMCO.  I had, at this point, learned that I needed to keep aside a portion of my pay for rent.  Granted… I did not enjoy it, but I learned long before I went out on my own that I needed to do this.

This philosophy that my mother instilled in me translated very well into my adult life.  I had no misunderstandings when I first went into the workforce, I knew that I had to work for my pay.  I expected no special favors or handouts.  If someone gave me a second chance on something I failed at, it was because they wanted to, not because they owed it to me.  If I was promoted, it was because I had worked for it.

So… Why is it that today, more and more, I see people that think that they are owed something simply by showing up or by being alive?  There seems to be this attitude that no matter what they have or have not done, they expect to make top dollar and not have to work that hard to do it.

When I watch people on TV, or hear people of the radio, that say things like “The government owes this to me.” or when I hear people say that they are upset because their welfare ran out and the government owes that to them, I am truly perplexed.

It amazes me that people have somehow grown to this opinion that anyone owes them something, when they have, in many cases, done nothing to work for it.  Yes, an employer owes you a paycheck and a safe place to work if you are working for them and doing your job well.  If you are not doing your job well, then they would owe you a warning or two, and then, if you do not clean up your act, they would owe you a pink slip and an escort out the door.  It return, you owe your boss a good day’s work with some decent level of productivity.  That is it, nothing else.  If you lose your job through no control of your own, the state owes you a certain period of unemployment, you pay into that, so that also, within reason, is owed to you.

I do not deny that things are different now than they were twenty or more years ago.  People rarely find a job that they will spend the rest of their lives with, as was once the case.  But the point is that when you go to work for a person or company, while you are there, you should still give the best you can.  For that and ONLY that, you are owed a paycheck and whatever other benefits you are provided.

If you recieve public assistance (Welfare, WIC, etc…), then do not… EVER… think that you are “owed” that.  Yes, there may be a very valid reason you are on public assistance, and it may or may not be entirely your fault for having to use it.  But if you are able bodied or so much so that you can still work, and are not making a concerted effort to get off of assistance, then you are owed nothing.

Before you come down on me for my opinion on this, you need to know that I am no stranger to public assistance.  When my mother and I first moved to Bakersfield back in 1974, she had no job and the little that she was getting for child support for me was not enough to pay the rent let alone pay for a full month’s food for us.  So she applied for and got both food stamps and welfare.  But she was going out on a regular basis and looking for work, and after a couple smaller jobs and the birth of my brother, she eventually, ironically enough, started working for the Department of Health and Human Services… the “Welfare Department”.  So she used the system the way it was supposed to be used, to get back up on her feet again.

It was partially because of growing up with a history of welfare that I have always chose not to use any public assistance.  There was only even one period in my life that I used my Unemployment Benefits.  Even though that IS something that we pay into, I am still hesitant to use it.

I understand that there is nothing wrong with getting something for free from time to time or having something gifted to you.  But I do not expect it.  Likewise people should not expect that anything is going to be given to them.  No one should think that they are entitled to that which they did not earn through hard work.  Anything you get through the course of your life should be earned otherwise there is no incentive to apply effort to do better.

If you are a person who sees yourself as a “giver”, then understand that you are a noble person… I will not say that you are doing wrong by committing the act of giving, but I will say that you should make sure that you are giving to the right people and for the right reason.  Do not give to those that do not need it and do not give for the sake of making yourself look good to those around you.  Give to the ones that are really needing it and give because it feels right in your heart.

If you are a “Taker”… one of those people that feels that simply by being born and living in the United States, you are owed something with no effort or desire to work for it on your own and there is no correctable physical or mental reason why you cannot be out there earning a paycheck, then you should be ashamed of yourself.  You are a good part of what is wrong with the United States and, more than likely, part of the reason we ended up with Mr. Obama as a president.

Can you believe it?

2010!

I can remember being a kid and thinking how far away that sounded.  Thinking that I would be 41 years old and then thinking; “Man, that is old.”

Then, quite suddenly, I was 41 and then, almost as suddenly, I was wishing everyone Happy 2010.

Can you remember all the things that we were supposed to have accomplished by this year?  All the advances that we were supposed to have made by now.

Instead we go into 2010 with a bad economy… a president that seems hell bent on suffocating the very system that got him elected and screwing the rest of us in his personal quest for a universal medical coverage program that a growing majority of Americans are objecting to.

I sincerely hope that this year ends better than it is beginning, and that come November, the PEOPLE stand up and take back THEIR country from these hacks.

I like Wikipedia.  I really do.

There is something kind of neat about an encyclopedia that the “People” have some control over and can edit.  You might call it a “Leuteenzyklopädie” of sorts, if you will.

This is a tool in which people from all over the world can create, edit or dispute articles and use the provided information in the same way that you would any other encyclopedia.  There is a caveat, however, and that is what I have decided to write this piece about.

The problem lies in the fact that it IS a “open source” encyclopedia.  As such, you should use the information that you get from Wikipedia with the understanding that you should accept it as information that you would want to double-check or verify before accepting it as the gospel truth.

Now… I say that with no malice towards those that run or administer Wiki or Wiki itself.  I say that with the understanding that because of the nature of the system, it is possible for people to get in there and add information that is not quite correct or a flat out lie and this information being distributed before anyone has had the chance to edit, correct or delete it.

I will not go through and list all the examples that I found links to for the various errors that were posted to Wiki over the years.  Most of them Wiki was already made aware of and have corrected.  I will, however, direct you to the official Wikipedia links for how they approach that which I am discussing here.  I will list them at the end of this article.

The main point here is that the old standard applies the same now as it always has.  Verify your sources… do not just rely on one source, such as Wikipedia.

Use it, but do so with the understanding that people just like you and me have the access to go in and add and edit information on that service.  People that may or may not know enough to intelligently write about the topic in question.

Just remember… “Caveat Lector”

Links to Wikipedia’s policies on Reliability and Criticism.

I just listened to Mr. Obama’s statement regarding the attempted terror attack.

Funny… without digging up the recording from George Bush and going strictly from memory, does his goal not sound similar to both George Bush’s and Bill Clinton’s resolve to flush out and hunt down the people who perpetrated both the 1993 WTC terror attack and the 9/11 terror attack?

Hmmm…

Just sayin’.

Mr. Obama…  You have spent a great deal of time throughout the first year of your duties as the alleged “Commander in Chief” visiting countries and throwing us, the United States, on the sword for whoever would listen.  But I have a few things I would like to share with you and anyone that cares to read this.

My “Am Not’s” and “Do Not’s”.

I am not sorry that we used “persuasive” measures to obtain information from combatants and non-combatant sympathizers during times of conflict (war or police action) in which the lives of other Americans and the lives of our allies is at risk.

I am not sorry that we went into the European and Pacific theaters in World War II and kicked ass.  There are many men and women, Americans and otherwise, that were injured or gave their lives to protect what we were fighting for.  Imagine what would have happened if we had chosen to sit it out? I am sure that even you, Mr. Obama, would agree with me, so do not presume to apologize for what they did with honor.

I am not sorry about what you refer to as American arrogance; I think perhaps you might be thinking, instead of our PRIDE, while some would suggest that this is a “deadly sin”, I disagree. We are a truly great country, capable of great things and have accomplished great thing in spite of what you are trying to do to it and what you are trying to educate us and others regarding it.

I do not apologize for those faults that we DO have.  Ever person, every country and every culture has faults, what we learn from those faults are what make us better people.  Every mistake makes us stronger and smarter and more prepared for our next challenge.  It is not your place to travel the world, advertising our failures and apologizing for them.

I do not apologize for my personal stance against those that practice Radical Islam… a stance that I share with many people, even friends of mine that are also Muslim and do not support the efforts of these radicals that give other Muslims and practitioners of Islam a bad name and make life hard on them. <Link> There are enough other reasons out there to hate one another and while I will admit that the Radical Islamic movement has me concerned, I work each day to know that there is a difference between the two.

I do not apologize for America “Dictating Terms” when we have been asked to go in and help in countries that have asked for our help or in cases where we have gone in and provided assistance even when we were not asked but the situation required intervention on our part.  Terms control what happens after the troops and diplomats have gone home, they are a way of making sure that we were not wasting our efforts.

I do not apologize for slavery…  I’ve never owned a slave nor have I ever had a desire to do so… though I would like to hire a house-keeper to come in once or twice a month.  Yes, slavery was a black mark in our history, but it is nothing new and certainly nothing strictly Euro/American.  In fact, you will find that the black slave trade was in effect IN Africa itself before the white man started exploiting it.  There are still stories of people being sold into servitude in that country to this day.  Does that make the Euro/American participation right? Of course not! But I will not apologize for that which I had no control over, nor should you, on my behalf.

I am not sorry for the United States’ policies towards other countries in the Americas.  We are a sovereign nation; we have the right to protect our borders and to make sure that our neighbors are not acting in ways that cause harm to this great nation.  This requires us to take a strong stance to defend our borders and our policies against those that would do wrong by us.  Mexico cannot and appears unwilling to even try to keep their own people and illegal drugs from crossing into our country, yet if we try to stop it, those that are trained and assigned to do the job are taken to task for it, just look at Officers Ramos and Compean.

We treat countries with respect when they act in such a way that deserves it.  When dignitaries like President Calderon of Mexico and “President” Chavez of Venezuela, among others, start acting like they respect the policies and sovereignty of the United States… THEN, we can begin to ease our policies towards them.

I would like to wish all of you out there that celebrate it, a Merry Christmas.

It has been a tough year and I hope this holiday… no… this CHRISTMAS season finds you well and healthy.

What is it with these people that put stickers on their cars that have curses on them?  Do people think that this is cute or make them seem “rebellious”?

While I will not contest the legality of doing this, since it appears that in these cases the First Amendment overrides state and local laws that have attempted to curb this trend, as is pointed out in great detail on the site First Amendment Center.

That being said, I still have to complain about it myself because of the way I was raised.  People just do not swear, unnecessarily, in public.

I can understand if you are in a group of people and you smash your finger in a drawer or stub your toe.  Sometimes, especially if you curse as a regular part of your nature, these things slip out.  We have all seen situations where people have hurt themselves and words fly, often without even thinking about it.  Sometimes they are mild, like the people that say “Fiddlesticks” or the like.  Then there are people like me that have been known to utter a long string of expletives when I once, accidentally, hit my index finger with a sledge hammer.

Situations like that, while still not what I would consider “Appropriate”, are excusable.

Now… when you put a bumper sticker or ANY sticker on your car, bike, etc… you are advertising profanity only for the sake of uttering it.

As an example; the other day I saw a sticker in a car window that said “F*ck Dat”.  Obviously the “*” was not on the sticker.  To me, this is no different than walking down the sidewalk and saying the same thing to anyone that looks at you.  It is rude and, in my humble opinion, inappropriate.

Now… how this is protected under the First Amendment is beyond me.  I see the protection of free speech as protecting people’s right to stand up and protest a perceived wrong.  To speak out for or against something that needs to be changed or eliminated.  It should not be used to protect someone from putting profane language on their car or clothes only because they want to do so for no reason.

Sorry… just a mild rant.  Thanks for listening and/or commenting.