Friday, March 20, 2009
Hints Not Habits
In case I caused alarm, the last post detailing a helpful hint was just a piece of wisdom acquired over the years, not a reaction to an unfortunate amputation or mishap in current times.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Helpful Hints #000001-420
Avoid cooking, especially if frying and/or using large sharp knives, naked.
For those who hate it when I talk revolution and freedom
OK, so the tennis/teakology elbow and wrist are getting a break today. Tomorrow I will try my luck playing tennis where they keep score and you have to know which side to be on. It isn't a league or million dollar tournament, just a friend or two and someone I never met. I was hoping it would be all women. Oddly, it is easier to take losing to them. This event will be a mix. It is hard to be the most macho guy on a tennis court when everyone else there is twenty times more experienced and better. Even the chicks are mas macho.
Maybe I can compensate; rent the biggest Hummer made and drive it there, or get and extra large, very long, macho racket. Or I could just divert their attention by wearing a tinfoil hat and periodically mumbling into my lapel.
Because my work is only done when the client is long gone, my present project is on hold for about a week. People there. The new job, no excuse. I'll start in earnest on Saturday. I like working weekends.
Maybe I can compensate; rent the biggest Hummer made and drive it there, or get and extra large, very long, macho racket. Or I could just divert their attention by wearing a tinfoil hat and periodically mumbling into my lapel.
Because my work is only done when the client is long gone, my present project is on hold for about a week. People there. The new job, no excuse. I'll start in earnest on Saturday. I like working weekends.
Domestic Threat to The State
According to some things I've seen, tips on how to spot The Enemy---I'd be considered a domestic threat. Not because I advocate violence, which I do not, generally, but because I vote third party almost always, I suggest that the IRS is a terror group and should be abolished, and I think the UN is an evil collection of corrupt dictators, warmongers, and freeloaders. I oppose the draft, support any state's right to secede. I think most drugs ought to be decriminalized, and traffic laws should not be a source of revenue obtained through sneaking around in bushes, entrapment or photographic processes. It ought to be illegal to be dangerous to others and that ought not be reasoned and extrapolated into the stratosphere the way it is now.
Those beliefs are considered dangerous in many circles, and more and more they could get you put on a list. I believe I should be able to carry a weapon, concealed or not without permission. To me, concealed makes more sense because a bad guy doesn't know what he has to defeat. Either way it should be OK. The drug thing would reduce a lot of the need.
Although some of it may have been blown up a bit, I read the report, and according to Missouri law enforcement, I could very well be a militia member or sympathizer. I'm not big on groups, especially if they are all dressed in cammo and have racial issues.
I watched the Freedom to Fascism movie on line. That is supposed to be a sign. Aaron Russo was not a nut case. He was a film maker and did a good little documentary. If you love the IRS, their tactics, and that system of things, then you're OK. Missouri thinks anyone who displays anti-IRS, anti-UN, or anti government symbols or materials may be a member of a secret militia and a domestic threat. I think it is just a sign of the times; those who object to the state of the state are the enemy and painted as kooks, lumped in with groups that have yet to kill as many people as hospital mistakes every year, or gangs and all that. I don't support the groups.
If they make it sound like these people are skulking about in the woods all around us, then lump people who don't accept republican and democratic politics in with them, they discredit by association, sidestepping the issue of a growing police state, nanny state, and general over abundance of rules and twits creating them.
Maybe those, who looked askance much of my life, and still do, when I divulge the essence of my beliefs and the passion behind them, are right. It could be I am too much of a simpleton and pathological rebel, or oppositional disordered miscreant to understand the finer points of living a civilized ordered life. Obviously, I think those people are seriously misguided and full of it.
That's because they are.
It is no longer as comfortable as it once was to freely state one's opinion, or the truth, but I suspect more people are beginning to see the truth of it than in times past. On the down side, I feel a sense of a somewhat hostile split in this country. That's because people buy into cults of personality. Instead of philosophy they look to people. When power is the game the only safe thing is definition. We've lost that so people go for who they feel will wield it to their advantage or liking. Missed the goddam point, they did.
It is really crazy. Because I think Obama is not a supporter of freedom or the Constitution. some assume I must be big on Bush or republicans. I think we have been given progressively dangerous presidents for some years now, and that the potential for all out martial law and nationalization of any or all business has increased dramatically over that time. The rules are in place. Not saying it is going to happen or not, but it easily could. Look how hard it is to disagree any more, how insanely hollow and one-sided news is, and how many people look at what is going on now, saying, "well we had to do something", even though they see the sacrifice is in terms of one freedom or another. If the market ain't free then neither are the buyers and sellers. You cannot be a free country without a free economy. It is impossible.
I'm rambling. May as well spout off while it is still legal. Since I'm not in Missouri and I'm blissfully ignorant of most laws in California, I figure I can type out my radical domestic threat drivel. The only militia I'm joining is one that has comfortable tanks they'll let me drive, or jets they'll let me fly without the license.
Those beliefs are considered dangerous in many circles, and more and more they could get you put on a list. I believe I should be able to carry a weapon, concealed or not without permission. To me, concealed makes more sense because a bad guy doesn't know what he has to defeat. Either way it should be OK. The drug thing would reduce a lot of the need.
Although some of it may have been blown up a bit, I read the report, and according to Missouri law enforcement, I could very well be a militia member or sympathizer. I'm not big on groups, especially if they are all dressed in cammo and have racial issues.
I watched the Freedom to Fascism movie on line. That is supposed to be a sign. Aaron Russo was not a nut case. He was a film maker and did a good little documentary. If you love the IRS, their tactics, and that system of things, then you're OK. Missouri thinks anyone who displays anti-IRS, anti-UN, or anti government symbols or materials may be a member of a secret militia and a domestic threat. I think it is just a sign of the times; those who object to the state of the state are the enemy and painted as kooks, lumped in with groups that have yet to kill as many people as hospital mistakes every year, or gangs and all that. I don't support the groups.
If they make it sound like these people are skulking about in the woods all around us, then lump people who don't accept republican and democratic politics in with them, they discredit by association, sidestepping the issue of a growing police state, nanny state, and general over abundance of rules and twits creating them.
Maybe those, who looked askance much of my life, and still do, when I divulge the essence of my beliefs and the passion behind them, are right. It could be I am too much of a simpleton and pathological rebel, or oppositional disordered miscreant to understand the finer points of living a civilized ordered life. Obviously, I think those people are seriously misguided and full of it.
That's because they are.
It is no longer as comfortable as it once was to freely state one's opinion, or the truth, but I suspect more people are beginning to see the truth of it than in times past. On the down side, I feel a sense of a somewhat hostile split in this country. That's because people buy into cults of personality. Instead of philosophy they look to people. When power is the game the only safe thing is definition. We've lost that so people go for who they feel will wield it to their advantage or liking. Missed the goddam point, they did.
It is really crazy. Because I think Obama is not a supporter of freedom or the Constitution. some assume I must be big on Bush or republicans. I think we have been given progressively dangerous presidents for some years now, and that the potential for all out martial law and nationalization of any or all business has increased dramatically over that time. The rules are in place. Not saying it is going to happen or not, but it easily could. Look how hard it is to disagree any more, how insanely hollow and one-sided news is, and how many people look at what is going on now, saying, "well we had to do something", even though they see the sacrifice is in terms of one freedom or another. If the market ain't free then neither are the buyers and sellers. You cannot be a free country without a free economy. It is impossible.
I'm rambling. May as well spout off while it is still legal. Since I'm not in Missouri and I'm blissfully ignorant of most laws in California, I figure I can type out my radical domestic threat drivel. The only militia I'm joining is one that has comfortable tanks they'll let me drive, or jets they'll let me fly without the license.
Pep Talk, and nausea treatment
First a word on the nausea issue. If you were one of those who had an early education in the principles involved with the idea that inherited royalty and the attendant power have no place among people who believe in freedom, you don't seek saviors in "the public sector" (I hate that term).
The phrase "all men are created equal" is meant in the context of not being born to a caste; having the right to make the most you can of what you have. It does not mean all are born, or should be, to a level playing field. The kid down the street might be stronger, faster, better looking, smarter, etc. The "advantaged" youth may even be richer. But you have as much right to try for whatever goal you choose as anyone else. Many of the most successful people came from humble beginnings, poverty, and weren't considered exceptional in early life. They chose and they persevered. I guess they somehow managed to avoid the brainwashing and propaganda in the process.
That's how free people do it, which is why these alleged town meetings make me sick. Here's a guy living on public money, ragging on those who supply the majority of the public money, telling the little people what He is going to do for them. HE cares. And worst of all, these star struck nincompoops actually believe not only that it is the job of government to do these things, but that HE is somehow going to bestow upon them a miracle of healing. This is mass hysteria. It truly is sickness. It is also the psychology that has kept the world at war, kings and dictators in power and great civilizations destroyed.
Somehow I thought things would get bizarre beginning a few years ago. I wonder how much of that influenced my move. It didn't hurt, although motives were more personal than that.
Wow, I almost used all my space on the barf factor. The pep talk part is that, regardless of anything you hear, despite the destruction of the monetary system and value of the dollar, as long as there are people, there will be needs to meet, skills that can be traded, goods produced, etc. I know the implicit mantra which has become internalized belief, like the pull of gravity, is the idea that government makes these things happen; they design fuel efficient engines, power plants, mouse traps, and Gulfstream jets. People make those things, and it all starts with someone's need or passion or both. What is happening is that those who don't create are believing that all things come miraculously forth if you legislate it, or if you march in unity or come together, stand up, and all the other fool's games that give the warm fuzzies to so many.
I feel OK because I was lucky enough several years ago to make it a point to get out of debt and to stay that way. I own what I need and very little that would be easy to take away. If I owned large tracts of land, buildings and the like, I'd be nervous. But not that nervous. People are compelled to produce and survive. We may have created huge segments of the population that haven't moved past the stage of crying loudly to get what they want. Even very dimwitted folks can comprehend the truth when it is stark enough, simple enough and obvious enough. It has to be pretty clear before that happens, but it does sometimes. So, when the crying to get the warm milk fails, after awhile they'll catch on.
The phrase "all men are created equal" is meant in the context of not being born to a caste; having the right to make the most you can of what you have. It does not mean all are born, or should be, to a level playing field. The kid down the street might be stronger, faster, better looking, smarter, etc. The "advantaged" youth may even be richer. But you have as much right to try for whatever goal you choose as anyone else. Many of the most successful people came from humble beginnings, poverty, and weren't considered exceptional in early life. They chose and they persevered. I guess they somehow managed to avoid the brainwashing and propaganda in the process.
That's how free people do it, which is why these alleged town meetings make me sick. Here's a guy living on public money, ragging on those who supply the majority of the public money, telling the little people what He is going to do for them. HE cares. And worst of all, these star struck nincompoops actually believe not only that it is the job of government to do these things, but that HE is somehow going to bestow upon them a miracle of healing. This is mass hysteria. It truly is sickness. It is also the psychology that has kept the world at war, kings and dictators in power and great civilizations destroyed.
Somehow I thought things would get bizarre beginning a few years ago. I wonder how much of that influenced my move. It didn't hurt, although motives were more personal than that.
Wow, I almost used all my space on the barf factor. The pep talk part is that, regardless of anything you hear, despite the destruction of the monetary system and value of the dollar, as long as there are people, there will be needs to meet, skills that can be traded, goods produced, etc. I know the implicit mantra which has become internalized belief, like the pull of gravity, is the idea that government makes these things happen; they design fuel efficient engines, power plants, mouse traps, and Gulfstream jets. People make those things, and it all starts with someone's need or passion or both. What is happening is that those who don't create are believing that all things come miraculously forth if you legislate it, or if you march in unity or come together, stand up, and all the other fool's games that give the warm fuzzies to so many.
I feel OK because I was lucky enough several years ago to make it a point to get out of debt and to stay that way. I own what I need and very little that would be easy to take away. If I owned large tracts of land, buildings and the like, I'd be nervous. But not that nervous. People are compelled to produce and survive. We may have created huge segments of the population that haven't moved past the stage of crying loudly to get what they want. Even very dimwitted folks can comprehend the truth when it is stark enough, simple enough and obvious enough. It has to be pretty clear before that happens, but it does sometimes. So, when the crying to get the warm milk fails, after awhile they'll catch on.
California Dreamin--part 420 or so
Just a few observations:
Almost every day the traffic report includes a caution that one or another of the major highways has a ladder, couch, lawn furniture, stove or the like in one of the lanes "so use caution".
My thought on that is, why do so many people around here not think to secure their cargo? Couches seem to top the list of things that end up in the road. It's puzzling.
In speaking about the highways, and I may have mentioned this previously, not sure if I only discussed it verbally, they always use the word "the", as in "the 5" or "the 67". That wasn't the custom in Florida, North Carolina or Tennessee. It was, "highway 40" or just "40". Like, take forty west to Nashville. Here they would say, "Take the five north to LA." Sounds funny to me still.
I see almost no out of state license plates. That is surprising. I've seen more Mexican plates than out of state, and not too many of those.
That's it for now. It is no illegal to smoke in parks in San Diego. I wonder if that covers medicinal cannabis?
Almost every day the traffic report includes a caution that one or another of the major highways has a ladder, couch, lawn furniture, stove or the like in one of the lanes "so use caution".
My thought on that is, why do so many people around here not think to secure their cargo? Couches seem to top the list of things that end up in the road. It's puzzling.
In speaking about the highways, and I may have mentioned this previously, not sure if I only discussed it verbally, they always use the word "the", as in "the 5" or "the 67". That wasn't the custom in Florida, North Carolina or Tennessee. It was, "highway 40" or just "40". Like, take forty west to Nashville. Here they would say, "Take the five north to LA." Sounds funny to me still.
I see almost no out of state license plates. That is surprising. I've seen more Mexican plates than out of state, and not too many of those.
That's it for now. It is no illegal to smoke in parks in San Diego. I wonder if that covers medicinal cannabis?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Power Tool Heaven and Home Depot review)
Good excuses to acquire more power tools are actually far and few between, if one is clinically logical and honest about the matter. Since I am the rising star of teakology among the rich and famous, it is only reasonable that I have the right tools for the job. Also, anything that reduces the amount of hand sanding is useful considering the onset of tendonitis here and there.
The new job for the Duke of Earl(not real name) more than justifies the acquisition. Although I am as much a magician with a belt sander as there is, it is not the best thing to use and it can only be used for the very first rough sanding. By rough I mean to take off the remaining surface varnish and such. Then I have to do two more passes by hand.
All the literature on the subject strongly discourages belt sander use. They pretty much say, "Absolutely, under no circumstances ever use a belt sander in the practice of teakology!!!!". If you are good, you can ignore that but if you are good you only use that machine to the extent you can without causing trouble. That leaves a lot left to do by other means. I'm satisfied I now have the proper stuff to make the job go quicker.
When I was at the Pt Loma Home depot, they did not have the Milwaukee unit I wanted for the random orbital unit. I have no idea what is random about it. It's not obvious. I needed a finish sander too.
What luck. On my way home today, and it is a great drive, I detoured over to the Poway Home Depot. I should add that I checked some prices and such at my favorite hardware stores as well. Anyway, I entered the Poway Home Depot, the A team of Home Depots.
First I noticed that the parking lot was not the California equivalent of running a gauntlet, or a mine field. People were more laid back and traffic was polite and unhurried. Not too crowded. The people in the store weren't hiding and they knew where everything was. I did misunderstand some directions given by a girl whose first language was valley speak, but she was pleasant so I won't deduct points. I figured it out.
Not only that, but the sander which was unavailable elsewhere was right there for the taking. I also liked the Dewalt finish sander so I bit the bullet and shelled out the dough. By the time I loaded up on some other supplies I spent just about what I figured in the Duke's job for materials. Since he is known to be a nitpicker and possibly has magnifying glass vision, I figure I want to restore his sadly screwed up teak to a level only a psychopath would believe possible.
I like new tools, and old ones. What's really great is that I actually find uses for them. Generally I do not get things like this unless there is good reason. I'm used to never having all the stuff I need which forces me to try harder and make more than maximum use of what I have. I think it is good to not have each and every possible item that can be applied to a task. It ensures use of the imagination and craftsman skills. But having the basics and a few specialty items makes it all go well. Overcoming the tendency to worry about spending any money on such things is a task unto itself.
Today was just too perfect and the Poway Home Depot too fine an example of what all Home Depots should be for me to leave empty handed. Given the choices, I think I chose the best ones for the money and for ongoing teakological studies. While I was at it, I added to the drop cloth stash as well. Tarps and drop cloths are well worth having if you have to work in stone paved courtyards.
I could have been a brain surgery, or a lawyer, I suppose, but I am actually very happy to be doing what I am doing. When I'm rich and famous I'll probably long for these days or at least remember them fondly.
Today was good. I had a very nice long conversation with a pirate, as well. That was a treat. Maybe there is some teak that needs an artist's touch on that vessel. Pirate ships need attention, too.
The new job for the Duke of Earl(not real name) more than justifies the acquisition. Although I am as much a magician with a belt sander as there is, it is not the best thing to use and it can only be used for the very first rough sanding. By rough I mean to take off the remaining surface varnish and such. Then I have to do two more passes by hand.
All the literature on the subject strongly discourages belt sander use. They pretty much say, "Absolutely, under no circumstances ever use a belt sander in the practice of teakology!!!!". If you are good, you can ignore that but if you are good you only use that machine to the extent you can without causing trouble. That leaves a lot left to do by other means. I'm satisfied I now have the proper stuff to make the job go quicker.
When I was at the Pt Loma Home depot, they did not have the Milwaukee unit I wanted for the random orbital unit. I have no idea what is random about it. It's not obvious. I needed a finish sander too.
What luck. On my way home today, and it is a great drive, I detoured over to the Poway Home Depot. I should add that I checked some prices and such at my favorite hardware stores as well. Anyway, I entered the Poway Home Depot, the A team of Home Depots.
First I noticed that the parking lot was not the California equivalent of running a gauntlet, or a mine field. People were more laid back and traffic was polite and unhurried. Not too crowded. The people in the store weren't hiding and they knew where everything was. I did misunderstand some directions given by a girl whose first language was valley speak, but she was pleasant so I won't deduct points. I figured it out.
Not only that, but the sander which was unavailable elsewhere was right there for the taking. I also liked the Dewalt finish sander so I bit the bullet and shelled out the dough. By the time I loaded up on some other supplies I spent just about what I figured in the Duke's job for materials. Since he is known to be a nitpicker and possibly has magnifying glass vision, I figure I want to restore his sadly screwed up teak to a level only a psychopath would believe possible.
I like new tools, and old ones. What's really great is that I actually find uses for them. Generally I do not get things like this unless there is good reason. I'm used to never having all the stuff I need which forces me to try harder and make more than maximum use of what I have. I think it is good to not have each and every possible item that can be applied to a task. It ensures use of the imagination and craftsman skills. But having the basics and a few specialty items makes it all go well. Overcoming the tendency to worry about spending any money on such things is a task unto itself.
Today was just too perfect and the Poway Home Depot too fine an example of what all Home Depots should be for me to leave empty handed. Given the choices, I think I chose the best ones for the money and for ongoing teakological studies. While I was at it, I added to the drop cloth stash as well. Tarps and drop cloths are well worth having if you have to work in stone paved courtyards.
I could have been a brain surgery, or a lawyer, I suppose, but I am actually very happy to be doing what I am doing. When I'm rich and famous I'll probably long for these days or at least remember them fondly.
Today was good. I had a very nice long conversation with a pirate, as well. That was a treat. Maybe there is some teak that needs an artist's touch on that vessel. Pirate ships need attention, too.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A Sucker Play (minding the business of others, continued)
It surprises me that while our version of kings and queens enjoy retirement health care, and numerous perks for a job that never should have become a profession, republicans, democrats, and people of all ilks are up in arms because of executives for companies getting bail out bucks are receiving bonuses.
Something tells me the whole story is not out there. Apparently some lawmakers signed a bill which allowed bonuses for bail out recipients if they were in place prior to some particular date. It may also be that, by contract and prior agreement, that was part of the payment package.
Whatever the case, the public at large has allowed themselves, for reasons of class envy and a feeling of power, to take for granted that it is OK to play arm chair CEO and decide who should be paid what in corporations whose business few of us understand any better than the tax code or our utility bills. The more we find and are given excuses for making the lives, pay, and conduct of others our business, the more we erode the philosophy that is essential for a free society, and one that is bound to be most innovative and fair. Of course, my idea of fair is not the same as the Castro definition or that of many trade unions.
The first big scam was to pretend that this gigantic spending frenzy was not a feeding frenzy for the well connected special interests, those who placed those in power who hold elected offices of all kinds. The next big joke was to convince the public that now it is OK to hate "the rich". Now it is up to the public to dictate how corporations run seminars and conventions. That is not a positive thing.
But, can't say I never railed against the dependence of so many upon grants and government contracts. They couldn't resist that piece of the endless pie made up of tax dollars. Right wrong or indifferent, if it is legal people convince themselves it is OK. Now it is time to reap the real consequences of that game which has become bigger over the last century.
In many ways, today's disregard for freedom,. privacy and free market are merely the culmination of a path taken many years ago, before I was born. It is not the result of Bush or Obama or that shameless charlatan Barney Frank.
Just in case no one heard, Cuba was not fun as the onset of the communist regime began implementing policies, neither was the USSR and other such places. What they have in common with today's USA is that atmosphere of finger pointing and hypocritical self righteous indignation over supposed breaches of the "better good". The better good changes at will. the will of those calling the shots.
Maybe many of the various hated "rich" executives are bad guys. Having worked white and blue collar jobs, let me tell you, being a bad guy and a thief is not a condition confined to the rich. Buying into the encouragement to single out a class of enemies is a serious mistake and very dangerous. That is the same tactic many dictators and totalitarian regimes employed. Facts are always either irrelevant or only partial. It works because people would rather have a sanctioned target to judge than know facts which would mitigate their feeling of power.
It also works because in an atmosphere of blame and witch hunts, no one wants to be the witch getting blamed. The same people who have been running things for years and have to bear some responsibility for trouble we now have are using these tricks to keep light off of themselves and to stifle any efforts to implicate them. They are instead parading before the public people on which they've declared open season. It's OK to criticize these evil executives, but those in political power are more and more off limits.
I don't care about bonuses. I do care that none of this is a proper function of government. I do care that they pass bills without disclosing what is in them, and I do care that they tag little favors for specific interests onto bills which have nothing to do with such pork. That adds up to so much more than these bonuses or big partying conventions, it is laughable those creeps have the nerve to feign outrage. They are playing the public. People are oddly upset, saying "they are having fun and getting rich on our money".
Well, where the hell was the outrage when they were blowing billions upon billions on things equally useless to the citizens of this country over the last fifty or a hundred years? How many dictators, insane holy men from religious states, etc. have received millions and millions of our dollars while we cheer? How many companies have been put out of business while our government negotiates on behalf of specific companies abroad?
Get some damned perspective and make up your mind USA. Either you want to be a totalitarian state of absolute control over enterprise and resources, or you want to be a place where people can live free and kick ass. It would require a lot of live and let live. The "let live" part is what is sorely lacking.
Something tells me the whole story is not out there. Apparently some lawmakers signed a bill which allowed bonuses for bail out recipients if they were in place prior to some particular date. It may also be that, by contract and prior agreement, that was part of the payment package.
Whatever the case, the public at large has allowed themselves, for reasons of class envy and a feeling of power, to take for granted that it is OK to play arm chair CEO and decide who should be paid what in corporations whose business few of us understand any better than the tax code or our utility bills. The more we find and are given excuses for making the lives, pay, and conduct of others our business, the more we erode the philosophy that is essential for a free society, and one that is bound to be most innovative and fair. Of course, my idea of fair is not the same as the Castro definition or that of many trade unions.
The first big scam was to pretend that this gigantic spending frenzy was not a feeding frenzy for the well connected special interests, those who placed those in power who hold elected offices of all kinds. The next big joke was to convince the public that now it is OK to hate "the rich". Now it is up to the public to dictate how corporations run seminars and conventions. That is not a positive thing.
But, can't say I never railed against the dependence of so many upon grants and government contracts. They couldn't resist that piece of the endless pie made up of tax dollars. Right wrong or indifferent, if it is legal people convince themselves it is OK. Now it is time to reap the real consequences of that game which has become bigger over the last century.
In many ways, today's disregard for freedom,. privacy and free market are merely the culmination of a path taken many years ago, before I was born. It is not the result of Bush or Obama or that shameless charlatan Barney Frank.
Just in case no one heard, Cuba was not fun as the onset of the communist regime began implementing policies, neither was the USSR and other such places. What they have in common with today's USA is that atmosphere of finger pointing and hypocritical self righteous indignation over supposed breaches of the "better good". The better good changes at will. the will of those calling the shots.
Maybe many of the various hated "rich" executives are bad guys. Having worked white and blue collar jobs, let me tell you, being a bad guy and a thief is not a condition confined to the rich. Buying into the encouragement to single out a class of enemies is a serious mistake and very dangerous. That is the same tactic many dictators and totalitarian regimes employed. Facts are always either irrelevant or only partial. It works because people would rather have a sanctioned target to judge than know facts which would mitigate their feeling of power.
It also works because in an atmosphere of blame and witch hunts, no one wants to be the witch getting blamed. The same people who have been running things for years and have to bear some responsibility for trouble we now have are using these tricks to keep light off of themselves and to stifle any efforts to implicate them. They are instead parading before the public people on which they've declared open season. It's OK to criticize these evil executives, but those in political power are more and more off limits.
I don't care about bonuses. I do care that none of this is a proper function of government. I do care that they pass bills without disclosing what is in them, and I do care that they tag little favors for specific interests onto bills which have nothing to do with such pork. That adds up to so much more than these bonuses or big partying conventions, it is laughable those creeps have the nerve to feign outrage. They are playing the public. People are oddly upset, saying "they are having fun and getting rich on our money".
Well, where the hell was the outrage when they were blowing billions upon billions on things equally useless to the citizens of this country over the last fifty or a hundred years? How many dictators, insane holy men from religious states, etc. have received millions and millions of our dollars while we cheer? How many companies have been put out of business while our government negotiates on behalf of specific companies abroad?
Get some damned perspective and make up your mind USA. Either you want to be a totalitarian state of absolute control over enterprise and resources, or you want to be a place where people can live free and kick ass. It would require a lot of live and let live. The "let live" part is what is sorely lacking.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Waiting for the windshield to cure
They came up here to put in the windshield. Apparently this remote dirt road and community are well known as far west as El Cajon. They knew where it was as soon as I mentioned the address.
I'm waiting for it to cure awhile before driving, as suggested by the tech who performed the work. So this is post N approaching infinity. Mass production is marvelous thing. Even though I don't like the expense, it is far less than I would have thought. It would take me forever to laminate and shape pieces of glass together, then find a location and actually install the thing.
It may not be abundantly clear, but that is another reason to thank "the rich".
In light of the present climate which validates class envy and the misguided notion that your lack is somehow because of what someone else has, I may start doing a series on why the rich (or those perceived as rich) should be publicly thanked, supported, and treated as a national treasure.
I'm waiting for it to cure awhile before driving, as suggested by the tech who performed the work. So this is post N approaching infinity. Mass production is marvelous thing. Even though I don't like the expense, it is far less than I would have thought. It would take me forever to laminate and shape pieces of glass together, then find a location and actually install the thing.
It may not be abundantly clear, but that is another reason to thank "the rich".
In light of the present climate which validates class envy and the misguided notion that your lack is somehow because of what someone else has, I may start doing a series on why the rich (or those perceived as rich) should be publicly thanked, supported, and treated as a national treasure.
WOW. Abandonment Issues
I just looked and noticed I now have 0 followers. I used those links to navigate to other places. Was it something I said?
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About Me
- John0 Juanderlust
- Ballistic Mountain, CA, United States
- Like spring on a summer's day
