Category — Rants and Raves

I was watching a program on the History Channel the other day that talked about how, during World War II, we were able to construct the Alcan in eight months, versus the projected two years that the Army Corp of Engineers had originally planned for.  So I started thinking; Could we accomplish this kind of feat today?

Let’s take, for the most recent example, the World Trade Center.  The official groundbreaking for Tower 1 was August of 1966 and both towers were completed in 1971.  So it took five years to build two of the tallest buildings in the world.

Going further back, let’s look at what happened during World War II.  Specifically, the construction of the Liberty Ship fleet between the years of 1941 and 1945.  During that time there were 2751 Liberty Ships planned and 2710 built, floated and sent into action.  That works out to be almost a whopping 46 ships a month from all the shipyards.  This is assuming that they started building these on Jan 1st, 1941 and stopped Dec 31 1945.

Not so much looking at the economy today, but at the nature of our nation and the way our current business, legal and production models work, could we accomplish this kind of engineering or manufacturing feat today?

Personally, I do not think we could.  I think that business’ and industries have become so mired down in rules, laws, union vices and EPA restrictions, that were there suddenly a need for a large quantity of ships, planes, tanks, etc…  we would just not be able to accomplish it.

A lot has changed over the years, and in spite of what some may say, it is not all good.  Sure, we have better medicines, better electronics, better hospitals (in spite of what the Obama administration might be telling us.) all in all, many things have gotten better.  Including the legal system.

As I see it, the problem these days is that we have burdened ourselves so far down with laws, rules and guidelines that many of the things we once could have done, are no longer possible because their are so many restrictions.  While some of these restrictions and laws are needed to insure the safety and well-being of those involved… but there are some that I think just hinder instead of help.

Back to the original question, though.  Could we do it again?

It took a little over a year to build the Empire State building and the Chrysler building took about a year and a half…

… Five years to build the Hoover Dam…

… just over four years for the Golden Gate Bridge…

… Lastly…  The world trade center took about four years per tower to build.

On that last item, consider how long it took to build the towers and now, today, how long it has been since the towers were destroyed?  Now why has it taken so long to build a replacement or suitable memorial?

Could we build these amazing things today?  Again, looking at how inundated most companies are from the beaurocrats, unions, lawyers and laws, could we build another World Trade Center building in four years?  Another Empire State building in a year?  Anything like that?

We are too busy arguing over who wants what, fighting over how many hours this employee should work, why THAT employee should not get the same benefits, etc…

It boils down to one thought that I have on these things…  Shut up and get it done.  If it needs to get built, build it… if it need to be fixed, fix it.  Just don’t sit around and talk about it.

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.

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.

OK…  I do still go to McDonald’s from time to time, so you will have to excuse me for a moment while I rant about a recent decision that they, McDonald’s, has made.

I have to admit that I do like their “McSkillet” breakfast burrito and a extra large diet coke for a breakfast option, and the price really is not that bad either.  But recently there has been some changes afoot at the old McD that kinda leaves me scratching my head, and that is what they have done with their drinks.

A few weeks ago I stopped in my local McD and ordered my usual breakfast, only to be told that they had recently decided to stop carrying the extra large drink size.

This intrigued me, so I asked why they decided to do this.

The young lady at the store I always go to said that this was part of McDonald’s effort to help people start eating more sensibly.  TO help people start watching their portions and live healthier.

OK… so while the above is not a direct quote, I will attest to the fact that it was pretty much right on with what she told me, and I even thought at the time that it sounded like she was reading from a prepared statement, so I feel that McD had prepared their employs for such a question.  But I doubt she was prepared for the next questions I asked her.

1.   If that is the case, is McD also reducing the size of their burgers?

2.   Are they switching to a lower calorie mix for their ice cream and pies?

3.  Are they offering more non-beef options like more chicken, fish and/or vegetarian patties?

All of the above was answered with a couple laughs and several “No”s.  It was times like this when I am glad that I know a few of the people at the McDonald’s that I go to on a regular basis.  Otherwise I probably would have been asked to leave shortly after the second question.

So… the question that I have for McDonald’s, that only they, at the corporate level, appear to be able to answer, is Why?  I know that McDonald’s had a ongoing issue with trying to please the health conscious masses with eliminating the Super-Size meals and the drinks, then bringing the drinks back, and things like that.  You can find this info on the net almost any time you do a serious search for it.

But why are you getting rid of the extra large drinks, using the excuse that you are trying to be health conscious, when you are not doing anything about the other items on your menu that are more at guilty of being unhealthy short of pulling super-size meals from some markets?

Why are you now selling “Sweet tea” at the same time that you are eliminating the extra large cups?

If you are making ALL drink sizes $1.00, then why bother having smaller drink sizes at all?  Are there really people out there that will go in, see the new pricing and say, “Aw darn it, I am gonna get the small!  Screw conformity!”

I guess the point that I am getting to is this.  If you are going to change something in your menu in an effort to be more healthy, then there are many items you can change that make more sense than eliminating the extra large cup size from your menu.

How do we end racism?

Can we end racism?

My opinion on this may be quite simple. You may even call it naive or short-sighted but it is my opinion none-the-less.

I feel that the biggest way in which to end racism is to stop teaching and promoting it.  That is, for us, the older generation, to stop giving the new generation a reason to dislike each other.

Look at the current “civil rights” leaders, the ones that appear in the news and the papers today.  While they may hide behind this front that they are trying to teach the new generation about the past in order to prepare for the future, they are not.  In fact, they are actually teaching them that because of what happened to their great-great-grand-fathers, they should, in some way shape or form, be eligible for some kind of handout.  You see, they seem to think that the only way that we will overcome racism is for someone to be a victim and for someone else to suffer.  This accomplishes nothing but creating more hate. Hate does nothing except breed and feed further hate.

I do not believe that anyone is naturally born with prejudice to one another… though there are those that will try to tell you differently, but I cannot see that as being so. When I was growing up, I was not aware that there was anything more than a difference in skin color between me and some of my friends… and that was not as important as, say, who was playing with what toy and when were they giving it back or if they were going to share.  That is not to say that I did not notice the color or hair difference, I did, but it was never important until I grew older and started to be influenced by the adults around me.

My Mother was the best about preventing me from being influenced by the “wrong thinking” out there, but there was only so much from which she could prevent me from being exposed.  There came the time that we were, as a family, attacked for being Jews.  That was, as you might say, first taste of prejudice and hatred.  Granted… I will not pretend that being singled out for being a Jew is the same as being singled out for being Black, Indian, Oriental, etc…  at least as a white Jew, growing up in Taft, California, my religion was not written on my skin.

This was, however, when I first remember starting to notice the differences between people.  Not in myself and how I acted towards them, but in the way that Non-whites where treated in Taft.  You see, this was in the early 1970s and at the time Taft College had a pretty impressive course offering for potential students and the football team was equally impressive.  Taft College drew in students from all over and as long as the non-white students stayed on the campus and kept winning football games, the citizens of Taft did not mind them being there.  There were several times my Mother, who was a student there, would take me to the campus with her.  I met all her teachers and her friends.  They were of all colors and ages, so I had a very rich experience with the people I met through her.  But to this point, even with the experiences I had had with the people who hated us because we were Jews, I had not had any experience with hatred because of race.  That would come later, when my mother and I would move to Bakersfield, Ca.

For me, growing up in Bakersfield was not easy.  My mother was newly divorced, we were in a town where we knew no one and on top of that we were had a limited income.  The apartments in which we lived were in what was then the outskirts of town and the school that I went to had a healthy mix of races in it, something that I had not experienced in Taft.  The funny part about this was that my teachers, whether or not they knew it, were the ones that started teaching me about racism.  The way they treated the white students versus the non-whites, had a small but cumulative affect on me.  I started seeing the differences more and more and I can even recall a substitute teacher once telling me that “black people do not bleed red, their blood is black.”  Something that I learned was incorrect a few years later when I picked a fight with a black kid and scored one lucky bloody nose on him before he laid me out.  Nope… his blood was as red as mine.

I guess that leads to the point I am trying to make here.  All our blood is red… we all have the same hopes and dreams and wants.  We all want to succeed and be better people.  What does color have to do with that?  It only matters because there are people out there who WANT it to matter.  There are teachers, parents, politicians, etc… that feel that we have to keep digging up the past and our failings for the sole purpose of keeping that divide there.  They push for the racial divisions and clashes because they know it will keep them in a job.

Do you really think that Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton and their ilk want to rid the world of racism?  Do you think that they, or those that are like them, would benefit from a world where people do not look at one another as races but as fellow humans?  I would humbly like to submit the answer as NO.  They would be out of a job if there were suddenly no further hatred based on the color of one’s skin.  There would be no more money coming into their various causes to be paid to the people that help them or their special interests.

This might have been part of the reason, among others I am sure, that Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated.  I do not think that his ideals for the future of the civil rights movement were the same as those of the people that worked with him and I firmly believe that he, King, would be very disappointed with where the civil rights movement has gone today.  People like King and like what Jesse Jackson USED to be, were the idealists, the people that might have truly helped to eventually end the need for such organizations.  Yes… history will always paint people in a better image as time goes by, but the effects of the civil rights movement on the late 1960s and early 1970s is still fresh enough that many of us who are willing to really pay attention, can see these people for what they really were and not for what the contemporary historians are portraying them.

Going back to my own experiences and looking at my life growing up.  I see that among the many gifts my mother gave me was the ability to not care what color you are to consider you a friend, enemy, lover, etc.  I have had many friends though my life, and their race has never meant anything more to me than a side note in the friendship, something that only ever came up if someone else mentioned it.  I have dated various colors and they have loved, laughed and lived no differently because of their color or nationality.  I married a woman who happens to be of Cuban/Hispanic descent and the only reason her race has ever made a difference is on the rare occasions that someone has pointed it out to me.

While the political climate today has made the term cliche and almost a joke, I DO consider myself colorblind to people.  Yes… I do see the difference between people, but the only time you will see me make a judgment based on a person’s race is if they are one of those people that feel that they need to live into the stereotype that has been created for them.  I will chose not to go into the details about the type of people I am speak of or the stereotypes, but I think that all of us know or have met someone in our lives that fits that mold.  They are an unfortunate lot and we can only hope that they will, one day, stop believing in what others expect of them and start believing in themselves.

So… my message to this and future generations.  Stop listening to those that will profit from you being a racial statistic.  Don’t accept that you are any less a person or any less capable because you are Black, Brown, Yellow, Pink, White or Olive.  Start living above your racial classification and stop labeling others by their race.  We should see ourselves as all being humans, nothing more, nothing less.  We all share better than 99% of the same genetic material so we are all brothers and sisters.  Once you look beyond the skin, we are all the same.

As always… thank you for your time and it is my sincere hope that this has touched or meant something to someone… anyone.  If even one person can take what I have said here and try to practice it, then maybe… just maybe there is a better world coming.  Maybe not for me in my lifetime, but for the generations that will follow.

Since I am keeping the topics for this month music, I figure I would get a quick slam in on the Jackson family.

Is it just me, or is that family whoring out the death of MJ in order to gain attention?  The other day I watched  hook on TV (these are the little things they show you in the hopes of keeping you from changing the channel… it did not work for me) where they were discussing the fact that Joe Jackson was hyping his own business in the wake of his son’s death.

Then I am hearing all this BS about the “Reverend” Jesse Jackson and that hack, Al Sharpton, consoling the family.  These are nothing more than two more people sucking on the teats of Michael Jackson’s demise for their own personal gain.

You know that there will be some massive tribute and they, Joe, Jess and Al, will all be part of it.  They will probably charge huge sums of money for people to get in, under that guise that it will all go to some charity somewhere… probably the “Get Joe Jackson another face lift”, you can already tell that he and Michael were going to the same doctor.

This whole things stings with the makings of some conspiracy story, to me.  I see a made for TV movie in the near future.  I see that this is going to be built up into some twist plot by a subversive group that wanted to take Michael out because he “escaped justice”, as two people I talk to on a regular basis have already told me they believe.

It just amazes me that people cannot let the dead rest.  On that note, I will cease to discuss MJ any further…

No matter who you listen to or what you read, it is painfully obvious that the nation and the state of California are experiencing financial difficulties.  There does not seem to be any disparity between the various news agencies about this.  For once they are almost all in agreement about it.

What bothers me, however, is not the media’s take on this, though they are not all doing anything to set the record straight, many times, but the fact that the various government agencies seem to be treating this like we, the tax-payers, are somehow to blame for the problems we are seeing.  The steps that are being taken, here in California for example, are being done in such a way that makes one feel as though the tax-payers themselves are being punished for the state of the State.

In reality, this is not our fault, unless you count the fact that we voted for many of these people.  This is the fault of mismanagement on the part of the state and local governments.  That is not to say that they are all to blame, not all of the the leaders are as inept as, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jerry Brown.  There are those that really seem to be making a real effort to make things right.

This morning, for example, I read a list of the various state projects that are being closed down.  These are programs that benefit people and give us things to do through the course of the summer.  Programs that benefit more than harm.  I am curious why we are taking the money from these programs when there are other things we can take it from.

I have often wondered why we, California, could not make more use of what appears to be one of this state’s biggest natural resources… prison inmates.

What can we not take this people, the low to medium risk offenders and put them to work replacing many of the road crews and road maintenance tasks that are assigned to CalTrans?  Why not the same for the Parks system or the various other public works projects.  These are people that are supposed to be “paying their debt” to society, yet many of them languish in cells, watching television, excersizing and getting an education, all at the tax-payers expense, yet in many cases doing nothing to truly contribute.

Why not make all state-elected officials take a 50% (or more) pay cut until the financial crisis is over with and we are back on track?  Why not eliminate the “Per Diem” that California legislators receive completely.  Let them travel to and from work on their own dime, like most of us have to, instead of you and I paying not only for our own travel to and from work, but also theirs as well?  All this instead of forcing correctional officers and other state employees to take furloughs and cuts in pay.  Why take the money away for the people that earn it and let ones that are responsible for the budget not pay for their actions?

It is apparent to me that the people that should be running the state and local governments are not the ones that we are electing.  We need people that are successful business men and women.  People that have a proven history of financial responsibility and success.  Not actors or career politicians.  Not people that are in bed with special interest groups whose election is thanks to a well purchased victory and not because they knew what the hell they were doing.

Yes… I voted for Arnold… At the time, he was better than another term with someone that wanted to fill in where Gray Davis left off.  There for a while, Arnie did alright… then he fell into the same routine most others did.

This is also the problem with the national goverments as well.  There are too many that are in it for their own benefit and not the betterment of the nation.  That is not to say they are all bad, but the ones that are bad tarnish the reputation of those that are trying.  This, in turn, makes them all appear to be a corrupt band of “back-patters”, whose only goal is to make themselves look good and get rich doing it.

I will be the first to tell you that I love this Nation and could not think of anyplace better to live… but I will also be the first to tell you that there is a lot of changing to be made.  Starting with all the members of the house and senate being fired or otherwise ousted.  Put rules in place to make it so that anyone attempting to run for the offices has to take some kind of aptitude test to show that they have some idea what is best for the people and not themselves.

Altruism… that is what government is missing.  The understanding that their position should be self-sacrificing and not meant for personal gain.  They are there at our will… the will of the people.  They should fear for their jobs because of us.  We should not fear what happens to us because of them.

As I have quoted many times before.  “People should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of their people.” That is not to say I support violence, that is to say that I believe that we have the right to stand up and show our disapproval with the only strong, legal action we have available to us.  Our voice… either by voting or by publicly, peaceably, speaking out.

I am sorry… this was meant to be a commentary on the mismanagement of the State government and I have turned it into something more.

As always, I thank you for reading and I urge your to share your commentary with me and the others that read this Blog.

There are a great many things in life that annoy me to no end.   The list is, in fact, to long for me to place here without losing you, my loyal readers, before I get to my point.

Last night I had dinner with the wife and folks at Applebee’s.  First off, Applebee’s is not a BAD place… I consider them to be something akin to Denny’s younger, hipper, brother.  The one that makes all the friends and stays out drinking all night, but who has poor taste in food and eating habits.

One annoyance that seems to be a constant is the ever-present birthday.  Of all my pet peaves, this is one of the worst, and they always seem to congregate around me.  It’s like there is this sign over my head that says, “Have your birthday celebration next to this guy!”

It is not the celebration itself, that I can accept.  It is this desire that people have to hear the restaurant staff attempt, very badly, to sing “Happy Birthday” to you.  Add to this that if you really look at the faces of the staffers that are singing, you see that they are really not enjoying themselves either.  There are, more often than not, pained looks on their faces, covered with the mock show of appreciation for your “Special Day.”  Sometimes these looks have the appearance that the singer is trying to push out a turd that they have been hanging on to for the last three days with lots of fiber and little water.

On top of this, they always… without fail… choose to sing right in the middle of the most important part of whatever I happen to be talking about at the time.  Just as I am about to drop that pearl of wisdom that my captive audience, at my table, is waiting for… “Happy Happy Birthday”.  Concentration is then broken… and I have to wait for the humiliation of both the Singers and the Recipient of the song to pass.  Then, if I am lucky, the point of my story or conversation will not be lost.

Just remember.  Friends don’t let friends tell waiters or waitress’ that they are having a birthday.

While walking around work today, I noticed something that just really had not struck me before.  It is the way that there is one set of rules for one group of people, yet an entirely different set for others.

What do I mean?

If I were to put pictures up in my work area of women wearing bikinis or underwear, it would not be long before one of two things would happen.  First, I would probably be written up for something along the lines of sexual harassment.  Second, I would probably be looking for work elsewhere, since most companies have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to things like this.

All this being said, why is it that when I walk through my work, there are several people that have pictures of people like Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp with their shirts off or similar?  How is a guy with his shirt off or just wearing a towel any less of an offense to the company policies on things like this than if I put a scantily clad picture of, for example, Gigi Edgeley or Tyra Banks?

Am I supposed to accept that it is right for the ladies in my office to enjoy the sight of their favorite actor in a semi-clothed state, yet if I put up a picture of an actress, model or any other picture of a lady with the same amount of clothing on, it is considered wrong?  Are the rules really that skewed in favor of women that they are exempt, or are people just afraid to stand up and say anything about it to someone?

To be fair… it is not just my current job, but this is something that I have seen at a couple of my other jobs too.  There was one office that I worked at where a woman had her desk littered with pictures of various men, not only in various states of undress, but in some provocative positions as well.  Yet I would be willing to BET you that should one of her male counterparts put up a picture of Jessica Alba in a bikini, SHE would be one of the first ones to raise a stink about it, and HR would be all over him, say little or nothing about her desk.

Is it just me, or does anyone else notice these little contradictions in life?  I am sure that I cannot be the only one out there that sees things like this.

A couple weeks ago I wrote a piece where I bashed the new Jason Statham bomb, in theaters now, for being a very weak effort to draw in money for using a fairly big name action actor, in an already weak plot to make a few more dollars.

Now, we see that it does not stop there…  it gets worse.

Watching TV the other day, I see an ad for a “new” series called “Roommates”.  Supposedly about a bunch of people sharing the same apartment in a large city.  Then all manner of zany antics ensue… bullocks!

OK… I am already not a big fan of sitcoms.  I have never been able to tolerate programs that take and mentally molest you with things that are supposed to be funny… and to try and sell that point to you, they include a “laugh-track”, so that you can be reminded of the funny parts and remember to laugh yourself.

Examples of programs like this are “Two and a Half Men”, “Frasier” and “Full House” are some examples… ones that I actually had to look up on a list and then think about if I had ever seen an episode or not.  Most of the time, no… I have not, but I recall a few that Naty liked to watch, and those are the ones I listed.

To be fair… there was one episode of “Frasier” that I watched that was actually funny.  The only reason that I saw it was it was on while I ate dinner with my wife.  Otherwise I would not have seen it.  I tried watching a couple more episodes, but was not impressed.  I was able to tell everything that was going to happen and even knew how it would end before the show was even a quarter of the way in.

I am sorry.  I like to be surprised.  I do not like to be able to figure a program out before the opening credits have finished rolling.  This is why I like shows like “CSI: Las Vegas”, “CSI: New York” and “The Eleventh Hour”.  These are all shows that keep you guessing.  I cannot stand “CSI: Miami” for one reason… yeah… David Caruso.  He should have ended his career with the role of “Kit Kat” in “Hudson Hawk”.

I digress…  Almost all sitcoms these days are predictable from the start.  You know where they are going, what is going to happen and how it is going to happen.  There is no surprise, no excitement, nothing to look forward to.  The same is also true of many other programs that are on TV today, but I think this is more-so with sitcoms.

Now… back to my original example… the new program called “Roommates”.  I have never seen “Friends”, but I suspect that there is not much to that show beyond what I have been accosted with by the previews and the coming attractions spots they show on TV… you know, the little segments that start with “On the next exciting episode of Friends… so and so meets who’s a what’s its and they fall into a thing-a-ma-jig.”  Then they proceed to show you a thirty-second spot of the show.

Looking at the preview for “Roommates”, I suspect that someone found a box of leftover “Friends” scripts that never got used, renamed it and ran with a new series.

Problem is that there are idiots out there that are dumb enough to watch it and not realize that they are watching the television version of vomit.  Something that was filtered through the system, set aside, forgotten, filed, refiled, forgotten again, thrown away, used as a birdcage liner, then placed on the desk of some washed out producer with nothing better to do than make a show out of it.  Face it… this is “Friends” with a new cast, fresh coat of ugly paint and a different set of names.

Creativity, in Hollywood, is gone.  I am not sure where it went, exactly, but it is gone.  I can only assume it might be prostituting itself on some dark corner on a back street in Bangkok or someplace of equally poor reputation.

We will be subjected to shows like “24″, “Roommates”, “House”, “Two and an half men” and <enter your favorite sitcom here>

I will stick with the History Channel and Discovery Channel.