Liberals hate private sector leaders.
In their world, a world very much created by Marx and Engels, government (or better said "the state") must have the exclusive and exhaustive leadership role. CEOs, corporate presidents, religious officials (especially bishops and the Pope!) are all seen with skepticism and fear as rivals. In the statist vision of the world, only the state has the true vision and altruism to properly order mankind. All competition must be eliminated.
As Milton Friedman said to Phil Donahue about 30 years ago "Where in the world do you find these angels who are going to organize society for us? I don't even trust you to do that". Here's the clip. It's worth watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
So because today's American left, liberals, statists, Obamists, socialists, etc hate non-government leaders, they take the necessary steps to destroy them. (There are many ways to do that- read Saul Alinsky for some tips in case you want to play the home version.) One way to destroy these leaders is through direct government attack.
I think of Hank Greenberg the former CEO of AIG. Greenberg was basically told by former N.Y. Attorney General (turned disgraced prostitute loving embezzling Governor) Spitzer to resign "or else". Repeated calls to the AIG Board, threats of indictment, of penalties, of fines, all empty hallow threats caused Greenberg to step aside. Spitzer used his status as AG to hold press conferences aimed at maligning Greenberg. Spitzer ruined his reputation and character. Spitzer behaved like a complete and utter extortionist, mafia thug. Greenberg was forced to step down. He was never charged, indicted, or to my knowledge, even investigated for any misdoings.
So why the need to get rid of him? He was too powerful. He controlled too much money. He had more power than Spitzer, and in Elliott's statist-worldview, that is a bad thing. Only government officials should have such power. (By the way... I am waiting for Elliott to get charged with something).
I forget... after Greenberg stepped down 3 years ago, how has AIG done as a business? Is it still making money for it's shareholders?
And just today, Kaiser Obama had Rick Wagoner step down at General Motors. Now, Obama can "appoint" the right person to restructure GM according to his (Obama's) vision. Obama and his task force can decide the product and the financial make-up of this behemoth and iconic corporation. They can decide what kind of cars are made, how much they cost, how much the employees make, how much Ron Gettelfinger gets paid...
I forget.... how much experience does Obama have running a corporation? Did his years as "community organizer" give him the financial and corporate acumen to overhaul this company? Did his years in the Illinois legislature gift him with automotive know how and experience? Did his 2 years in the Senate provide him with industry vision and labor-relations capabilities?
Rick Wagoner is just the latest victim of a soon-to-be common trend. Obama is a statist. He believes in complete state control of all sectors of society: education, healthcare, employment, production. Any leader who tries to remain free of state control will be subject to death- industry death, power-death, responsibility-death. Not actual "death". Not yet, at least.
What? Am I saying that soon Kaiser Obama will actually KILL people? No. But all totalitarian regimes begin small... go read up on the Reign of Terror in 19th century France, the beginning of Bolshevism in early 20th century Russia, the birth of Fascism in Italy, Communism in China, Hitler in Germany. Totalitarianism doesn't begin with murder. It begins with "the state" taking control of:
industry: banking, mortgage
the private sector: automobiles, healthcare
religion: eliminating conscience clause and tax-exempt status, imminent domain legislation
the press: fairness doctrine, newspaper bailouts
The state does this for your good. They care. But this lust for control grows and grows. Soon, as Orwell reminds us, you cannot tell the men from the pigs as they all look alike.
Do I sound alarmist? Good. I'll keep ringing that alarm bell. Didn't another statist, Lula Da Silva, just blame the global recession on "blue-eyed white people"? Now ask me again if I am going to far in my comments... Hitler did not begin his powergrab with dissimilar attitudes.
Greenberg, Wagoner- who is next? Steve Jobs? Warren Buffett? He criticized Obama recently- maybe Berkshire Hathaway should be under state control. Should the state appoint university professors and deans? All this is coming. Look at which industry is under Kaiser Obama's attack: oil, pharma, healthcare, energy, transportation, banks, "Wall Street" (the guy is so inept he talks about "Wall Street" as if it were a specie and not a genere. Plato would be happy to see his beliefs are being codified into metaphysical legislation.)
Watchout Exxonmobile, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, CSX. Wells Fargo and Ford are being FORCED to take TARP funds. What will Kaiser Obama FORCE upon you, Pfizer?
Maybe AstraZeneca can make a pill to counter the effects of American Fascism.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Where does Football rank on the importance scale?
What goes on in those hallowed halls? What happens in those vapid heads? Is the current political system such that the most truly narcissistic and haughty interlopers are elected?
Legions of men and women spend their days telling us, the American people, how to live their lives. As Chuck Schumer said upon his election "I was born to legislate".
So now the colossal morons who sit in power chairs on the Hill and rape the public of their resources and trust are now investigating (drum roll please....) College Football.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9759GG00&show_article=1
What the hell is with these people? They passed a $700+ billion stimulus without reading it, allowing 8,000+ earmarks, included corporate bonus clause, denied it, feigned indignation, tried to ex post facto tax it, all while okaying a Treasury Secretary who failed to pay their taxes. And that shit show of a process allows them to move on to another area where they can stick their noses and screw things up beyond repair.
College football? With inflation soaring and the dollar plummeting and North Korea launching weapons... you want to get involved in College Football?
Let me ask you this, bastards, what RIGHT do you think you have to regulate college football? Are you going to regulate what student gets "homecoming queen" and "most likely to succeed"?
I just don't understand what these elected officials do in those offices. There must be some stupid pill they have to take every morning. We've got Mexican drug lords turning Phoenix into another Mogadishu. Russia is sending bombers to Cuba. Yet you focus on... football.
No wonder we are heading in the wrong direction. When the martians land and say "Take me to your leader" I'd be embarrassed to show them who's in charge. The aliens will know their invasion of our planet will be like Hitler's march on France but with better hygiene.
Legions of men and women spend their days telling us, the American people, how to live their lives. As Chuck Schumer said upon his election "I was born to legislate".
So now the colossal morons who sit in power chairs on the Hill and rape the public of their resources and trust are now investigating (drum roll please....) College Football.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9759GG00&show_article=1
What the hell is with these people? They passed a $700+ billion stimulus without reading it, allowing 8,000+ earmarks, included corporate bonus clause, denied it, feigned indignation, tried to ex post facto tax it, all while okaying a Treasury Secretary who failed to pay their taxes. And that shit show of a process allows them to move on to another area where they can stick their noses and screw things up beyond repair.
College football? With inflation soaring and the dollar plummeting and North Korea launching weapons... you want to get involved in College Football?
Let me ask you this, bastards, what RIGHT do you think you have to regulate college football? Are you going to regulate what student gets "homecoming queen" and "most likely to succeed"?
I just don't understand what these elected officials do in those offices. There must be some stupid pill they have to take every morning. We've got Mexican drug lords turning Phoenix into another Mogadishu. Russia is sending bombers to Cuba. Yet you focus on... football.
No wonder we are heading in the wrong direction. When the martians land and say "Take me to your leader" I'd be embarrassed to show them who's in charge. The aliens will know their invasion of our planet will be like Hitler's march on France but with better hygiene.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sexual Dysfunction
This is a tragic story.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090322/NEWS01/903220312/-1/TODAY
Jessica sent a nude photo of herself to her boyfriend who forwarded it to a friend, so on and so forth, it appeared online and the entire school saw it. Jessica was ridiculed to the point of suicide.
What a tragic end to a young life. Her parents are rightly angered, overcome with grief and looking for an explanation. I am sure they feel that something else- some external force- is to blame. And they are right.
But legislation preventing kids from sending or posting nude photos, or, as it is called "sexting", will not change anything. Sexting is just a symptom of a greater societal problem.
Jessica is of the generation that read "Heather has two mommies" in kindergarten and learned about "the blue dress" by 4th grade. Jessica undoubtedly watched "Sex and the City" since she was 10, saw Tony and his gang at the "Bada Bing" and has seen self-proclaimed "pan-sexual" Madonna grab her crotch every time she gets on a stage.
What happens to a group of children who are told, often times under legally procured rules and methods, that there is no taboo about sex? Nothing is out of question, nothing is private, nothing is even wrong. Condoms and abortions are offered free of charge to minors in schools. Snap bracelets are worn by 8th graders. And sexual conversation is as commonplace as any other topic like sports or the weather.
Recently, at a cocktail party, a woman felt compelled to tell my mom that her son was experimenting with his sexuality. "You have several children. I'm sure you know what that phase is like". My mom didn't know how to respond. I wish I could have seen the look on her face.
In the 1970s a great Italian thinker prophesied in his book "On Human Life" that the overacceptance and overindulgence of sex outside of a committed married relationship would be devastating to mankind. Rather than make us a more tolerant and loving society, it would bring out the selfishness of man, often at the expense of women, and lead to higher abortion rates and more out-of-wedlock births. It would victimize women in domestic violence and rape and the banality of sex and it's proper context would lead to an overall moral decline.
Real prophets are dead-on. Recent studies show that 40% of births in America are out-of-wedlock. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4733330.stm. That is staggering. But back to Jessica and her family.
There are things parents can do to protect their children. Legislation is not the answer.
Don't give your children camera phones. That's a quick, simple start. No one NEEDS a camera phone. Don't give your children phones that can receive photos either. This is not because you don't trust your children- it's because you don't trust other people children. Sorry.
Computers, especially with internet connections, should be in a common room of the house: a home office, a corner in the family room, a hallway. A teenager, alone in his room with unlimited internet access is just not prudent. Same with cable TV or DVD players. Not in a private bedroom- it's just imprudent. When thousands upon millions of predators, sexual, financial, whatever kind you imagine, are out in cyberspace and on TV and cable looking for your kid you've got to take necessary preventative measures.
But that's just not enough. More importantly we as a society need to control what our children are being taught and what is being fed to their minds through social communication. Our kids are bombarded by sex at a very early, very young age and we have become immune to it. How sad is it that my dad, my brothers and our nephews cannot watch the Superbowl or the World Series without Viagra after Levitra after Go-Daddy after God know what other breasts in your face and penis won't work commercial. And 8 year old Peter asks "what's an erection". (Following in the footsteps of thousands of generations before us, we respond "Go ask your mother".)
And where is the modesty of a young boy who receives a nude picture of his "girlfriend" and shares it with the world? Sure guys in locker rooms have always talked about girls and what they did/did not do and what we did/did not do. But usually, rather, always, when conversation switched from "girls" to "my girlfriend" the questions, and the jokes, ceased. Guys will talk smack about girls- but not about their mother or their girlfriends. Some things are sacred. Were sacred.
But here is a young boy who was 8 when he learned about oral sex from a House Committee. Sex was no longer something you talked about (but weren't supposed to) or experienced with a cheerleader (but wasn't supposed to). Now, you are SUPPOSED TO. And if you don't something is wrong with you.
Why is it fun to make fun of the Jonas Brothers who wear their purity rings, but Angelina Jolie, who is in all lay terms a homewrecking whore, is cool? We make fun of Eli Manning who married his High School sweetheart and is faithful to her but Tom Brady who impregnates one, dates another, now a third is some sort of hero?
And that is the switch-a-roo that has me concerned. What is good is stupid; what is bad is cool. What is moral is nerdy; what is immoral is awesome. "And Eve saw the apple was appealing to the eye". What amazing twists in life that turns goodness into wrongness and makes what is bad a necessity.
My heart goes out to Jessica's family. I don't blame them, I don't blame the way they raised their little girl. But they had tremendous opposition since the day she was born. And my fear is that other parents will not learn from this tragedy and see the enemies of their children as real, intentional, coordinated and calculated.
"Boys will be boys". I agree. We always will. But parents should be parents. I hope Jessica's tragic death will remind other parents about the tremendous responsibility they have before them. Maybe we can reverse the prophesy before it becomes fully true.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090322/NEWS01/903220312/-1/TODAY
Jessica sent a nude photo of herself to her boyfriend who forwarded it to a friend, so on and so forth, it appeared online and the entire school saw it. Jessica was ridiculed to the point of suicide.
What a tragic end to a young life. Her parents are rightly angered, overcome with grief and looking for an explanation. I am sure they feel that something else- some external force- is to blame. And they are right.
But legislation preventing kids from sending or posting nude photos, or, as it is called "sexting", will not change anything. Sexting is just a symptom of a greater societal problem.
Jessica is of the generation that read "Heather has two mommies" in kindergarten and learned about "the blue dress" by 4th grade. Jessica undoubtedly watched "Sex and the City" since she was 10, saw Tony and his gang at the "Bada Bing" and has seen self-proclaimed "pan-sexual" Madonna grab her crotch every time she gets on a stage.
What happens to a group of children who are told, often times under legally procured rules and methods, that there is no taboo about sex? Nothing is out of question, nothing is private, nothing is even wrong. Condoms and abortions are offered free of charge to minors in schools. Snap bracelets are worn by 8th graders. And sexual conversation is as commonplace as any other topic like sports or the weather.
Recently, at a cocktail party, a woman felt compelled to tell my mom that her son was experimenting with his sexuality. "You have several children. I'm sure you know what that phase is like". My mom didn't know how to respond. I wish I could have seen the look on her face.
In the 1970s a great Italian thinker prophesied in his book "On Human Life" that the overacceptance and overindulgence of sex outside of a committed married relationship would be devastating to mankind. Rather than make us a more tolerant and loving society, it would bring out the selfishness of man, often at the expense of women, and lead to higher abortion rates and more out-of-wedlock births. It would victimize women in domestic violence and rape and the banality of sex and it's proper context would lead to an overall moral decline.
Real prophets are dead-on. Recent studies show that 40% of births in America are out-of-wedlock. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4733330.stm. That is staggering. But back to Jessica and her family.
There are things parents can do to protect their children. Legislation is not the answer.
Don't give your children camera phones. That's a quick, simple start. No one NEEDS a camera phone. Don't give your children phones that can receive photos either. This is not because you don't trust your children- it's because you don't trust other people children. Sorry.
Computers, especially with internet connections, should be in a common room of the house: a home office, a corner in the family room, a hallway. A teenager, alone in his room with unlimited internet access is just not prudent. Same with cable TV or DVD players. Not in a private bedroom- it's just imprudent. When thousands upon millions of predators, sexual, financial, whatever kind you imagine, are out in cyberspace and on TV and cable looking for your kid you've got to take necessary preventative measures.
But that's just not enough. More importantly we as a society need to control what our children are being taught and what is being fed to their minds through social communication. Our kids are bombarded by sex at a very early, very young age and we have become immune to it. How sad is it that my dad, my brothers and our nephews cannot watch the Superbowl or the World Series without Viagra after Levitra after Go-Daddy after God know what other breasts in your face and penis won't work commercial. And 8 year old Peter asks "what's an erection". (Following in the footsteps of thousands of generations before us, we respond "Go ask your mother".)
And where is the modesty of a young boy who receives a nude picture of his "girlfriend" and shares it with the world? Sure guys in locker rooms have always talked about girls and what they did/did not do and what we did/did not do. But usually, rather, always, when conversation switched from "girls" to "my girlfriend" the questions, and the jokes, ceased. Guys will talk smack about girls- but not about their mother or their girlfriends. Some things are sacred. Were sacred.
But here is a young boy who was 8 when he learned about oral sex from a House Committee. Sex was no longer something you talked about (but weren't supposed to) or experienced with a cheerleader (but wasn't supposed to). Now, you are SUPPOSED TO. And if you don't something is wrong with you.
Why is it fun to make fun of the Jonas Brothers who wear their purity rings, but Angelina Jolie, who is in all lay terms a homewrecking whore, is cool? We make fun of Eli Manning who married his High School sweetheart and is faithful to her but Tom Brady who impregnates one, dates another, now a third is some sort of hero?
And that is the switch-a-roo that has me concerned. What is good is stupid; what is bad is cool. What is moral is nerdy; what is immoral is awesome. "And Eve saw the apple was appealing to the eye". What amazing twists in life that turns goodness into wrongness and makes what is bad a necessity.
My heart goes out to Jessica's family. I don't blame them, I don't blame the way they raised their little girl. But they had tremendous opposition since the day she was born. And my fear is that other parents will not learn from this tragedy and see the enemies of their children as real, intentional, coordinated and calculated.
"Boys will be boys". I agree. We always will. But parents should be parents. I hope Jessica's tragic death will remind other parents about the tremendous responsibility they have before them. Maybe we can reverse the prophesy before it becomes fully true.
Friday, March 20, 2009
As stupid as lili ladaga
That's a new expression I'd like to coin. Acceptable mutations of this expression could include (to your dumb coworker) "stop being a lili ladaga" or "your idea is about as smart as a lili ladaga".
Why my dislike of lili ladaga (who's name I refuse to capitalize)? This article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl267
Read it first- then read my anger over lili ladaga's relativism and broad strokes.
Finished? OK- so what's the difference between Obama's "special education" comments and all the others she references in her article (3 for Bush, 1 each Palin, Quayle, Reagan and Biden. 6 republicans, 1 democrat but that doesn't surprise me as lili ladaga is probably too dumb, too lazy and too biased to research any additional democrat faux pas). The difference is that their errors are GRAMMATICAL. They made mistakes in spelling, in syntax and in pronunciation.
Obama disparaged an entire class of people, and the least fortunate class at that.
Show me the "slip of the tongue" is which Reagan mocked Jews or Bush mocked the Chinese? Did Palin ever make a crack about the blind? Probably not as her son Trigg hopes to participate in those "Special Olympics" which our President finds so comical.
To paint with such a broad stroke, lili ladaga, and to once again excuse Obama with the "everyone does it" justification, is intellectually, journalistically, morally and humanistically SHAMEFUL. For that reason, lili ladaga is now synonymous with dumbass.
Why can't this freaking 4th estate just call him out once? The cabinet appointments, the tax evaders, the AIG debacle, walking through the window, whacking his head on the Marine I door, thanking himself in the teleprompter or even APPEARING on a late-night talk show have not earned Obama the slightest criticism from his adoring journalist fans.
Instead we get more lili ladagas circling the wagons, reminding us that "it's Bush's fault" and telling us to be courageous and take the Obama pledge.
lili ladaga- you are such a lili ladaga.
Why my dislike of lili ladaga (who's name I refuse to capitalize)? This article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl267
Read it first- then read my anger over lili ladaga's relativism and broad strokes.
Finished? OK- so what's the difference between Obama's "special education" comments and all the others she references in her article (3 for Bush, 1 each Palin, Quayle, Reagan and Biden. 6 republicans, 1 democrat but that doesn't surprise me as lili ladaga is probably too dumb, too lazy and too biased to research any additional democrat faux pas). The difference is that their errors are GRAMMATICAL. They made mistakes in spelling, in syntax and in pronunciation.
Obama disparaged an entire class of people, and the least fortunate class at that.
Show me the "slip of the tongue" is which Reagan mocked Jews or Bush mocked the Chinese? Did Palin ever make a crack about the blind? Probably not as her son Trigg hopes to participate in those "Special Olympics" which our President finds so comical.
To paint with such a broad stroke, lili ladaga, and to once again excuse Obama with the "everyone does it" justification, is intellectually, journalistically, morally and humanistically SHAMEFUL. For that reason, lili ladaga is now synonymous with dumbass.
Why can't this freaking 4th estate just call him out once? The cabinet appointments, the tax evaders, the AIG debacle, walking through the window, whacking his head on the Marine I door, thanking himself in the teleprompter or even APPEARING on a late-night talk show have not earned Obama the slightest criticism from his adoring journalist fans.
Instead we get more lili ladagas circling the wagons, reminding us that "it's Bush's fault" and telling us to be courageous and take the Obama pledge.
lili ladaga- you are such a lili ladaga.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Obama thanks himself
He needed a "me" moment.
Yesterday, our popular President welcomed Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen to the White House for Saint Patrick's Day. (For the political neophytes tempted to exclaim "what a cool idea! Obama is AWESOME" calm down- it's an annual tradition). At the welcome reception (Hmm, the Irishman gets one but the Brit does not. Maybe Obama is an O'Bama after all....) the President, known for his amazing rhetorical ability, welcomed the Prime Minister with an eloquent and warm address that he read off the teleprompter.
But the teleprompter made a mistake.
The ever obedient Obama, a master of situational awareness, astute, sharp, brimming with political acumen and, as Oprah decried "A GENIUS!" began reading the Irish leader's speech. And in the opening line of that speech he, Obama, thanked himself, Obama, for inviting himself, Obama, to visit his own house (Obama's).
It was at this point President Obama realized a mistake had been made by the damn teleprompter. Not WHILE he was reading or BEFORE he read the remarks. But AFTER.
Let's hope that Doctor Pepper and Mister Clean never use the same shape bottle.
Now I'm not saying Obama is not allowed to make mistakes. We all remember the multiple oratory errors uttered by our past President. But that's just my point. I wonder... had President Bush thanked himself because he read mindlessly off the teleprompter, when oh when would Keith Olbermann STOP airing that footage? And Mr. Letterman, would this not be in your opening monologue? What about you Chris Matthews, Rachel Madow, and of course JOHN STEWART?
Nothing about President Obama's gaffe. No late night humor, no Toles cartoon, no Colbert Report.
After all, it was the teleprompter's mistake.
I wonder if the teleprompter also wrote the budget bill.
Yesterday, our popular President welcomed Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen to the White House for Saint Patrick's Day. (For the political neophytes tempted to exclaim "what a cool idea! Obama is AWESOME" calm down- it's an annual tradition). At the welcome reception (Hmm, the Irishman gets one but the Brit does not. Maybe Obama is an O'Bama after all....) the President, known for his amazing rhetorical ability, welcomed the Prime Minister with an eloquent and warm address that he read off the teleprompter.
But the teleprompter made a mistake.
The ever obedient Obama, a master of situational awareness, astute, sharp, brimming with political acumen and, as Oprah decried "A GENIUS!" began reading the Irish leader's speech. And in the opening line of that speech he, Obama, thanked himself, Obama, for inviting himself, Obama, to visit his own house (Obama's).
It was at this point President Obama realized a mistake had been made by the damn teleprompter. Not WHILE he was reading or BEFORE he read the remarks. But AFTER.
Let's hope that Doctor Pepper and Mister Clean never use the same shape bottle.
Now I'm not saying Obama is not allowed to make mistakes. We all remember the multiple oratory errors uttered by our past President. But that's just my point. I wonder... had President Bush thanked himself because he read mindlessly off the teleprompter, when oh when would Keith Olbermann STOP airing that footage? And Mr. Letterman, would this not be in your opening monologue? What about you Chris Matthews, Rachel Madow, and of course JOHN STEWART?
Nothing about President Obama's gaffe. No late night humor, no Toles cartoon, no Colbert Report.
After all, it was the teleprompter's mistake.
I wonder if the teleprompter also wrote the budget bill.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Save the phone booth!
Phone booths are an icon of American livelihood. Remember the joy of depositing a coin and hearing the "ching-ching" of the bells? Holding the sticky receiver, you could smell the lunch of whomever used the phone before you on the mouthpiece. Oh the joys of finding spare change in the return slot and jiggling the handle after your call to see if Ma Bell would refund any spare cents.
Available on street corners, hotel lobbies and every sort of waiting room, phone booths and their folding glass doors are part of Americana. Think places "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". Remember Michael Corleone and the foreshadowed image of shutting Kay out of the phone booth to call home. And of course, we remember the nerdy Clark Kent who preferred phone booths as his locale for the life saving costume change. Surely Lois would have fallen to her death if there were not a phone booth right outside the Daily Planet.
In recent years, with the advent of cell phones, phone booths are becoming less and less visible.
Despite any market factors or cost/benefit analysis, I call on the Justice Department to save phone booths. Surely, somehow in the bailout or with a study of anti-trust laws, the DOJ can find reasons by which Verizon and other phone providers are obligated to keep phone booths open to the public.
House Speaker Pelosi makes a similar argument in her open letter to the DOJ about saving the newspaper industry.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/16/MNIA16GCBO.DTL
I'm sure that Mrs. Pelosi is deeply concerned about the many constituents who may lose their jobs should the San Fran Chronicle go under. But really, we know that she is dependent on the left-leaning paper's support of her liberal policies and the left-leaning AP and Reuters favorable stories. Saving them is like a lousy basketball team who plays in an empty gym lobbying to save the cheerleaders.
Newspapers are businesses and the success of the business is contingent on the quality of the product. When the value of the product is deemed weak by the public, they discontinue their purchases. Or, when the business is poorly run and managed making the product too expensive, the public discontinues their purchases. Either way, businesses sometimes fail. And we have to let them.
These past 2 months of Obama-mania has lead to a strange belief that government is the guarantor and insurer of American businesses. AIG, banks, cars all deemed by government "too important" and "too big" to let fail. Add newspapers to this list of rescues.
And phone booths. And typewriters. And 8 trak players. And the TV show "Arrested Development". That one was worthy of a bailout.
Available on street corners, hotel lobbies and every sort of waiting room, phone booths and their folding glass doors are part of Americana. Think places "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". Remember Michael Corleone and the foreshadowed image of shutting Kay out of the phone booth to call home. And of course, we remember the nerdy Clark Kent who preferred phone booths as his locale for the life saving costume change. Surely Lois would have fallen to her death if there were not a phone booth right outside the Daily Planet.
In recent years, with the advent of cell phones, phone booths are becoming less and less visible.
Despite any market factors or cost/benefit analysis, I call on the Justice Department to save phone booths. Surely, somehow in the bailout or with a study of anti-trust laws, the DOJ can find reasons by which Verizon and other phone providers are obligated to keep phone booths open to the public.
House Speaker Pelosi makes a similar argument in her open letter to the DOJ about saving the newspaper industry.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/16/MNIA16GCBO.DTL
I'm sure that Mrs. Pelosi is deeply concerned about the many constituents who may lose their jobs should the San Fran Chronicle go under. But really, we know that she is dependent on the left-leaning paper's support of her liberal policies and the left-leaning AP and Reuters favorable stories. Saving them is like a lousy basketball team who plays in an empty gym lobbying to save the cheerleaders.
Newspapers are businesses and the success of the business is contingent on the quality of the product. When the value of the product is deemed weak by the public, they discontinue their purchases. Or, when the business is poorly run and managed making the product too expensive, the public discontinues their purchases. Either way, businesses sometimes fail. And we have to let them.
These past 2 months of Obama-mania has lead to a strange belief that government is the guarantor and insurer of American businesses. AIG, banks, cars all deemed by government "too important" and "too big" to let fail. Add newspapers to this list of rescues.
And phone booths. And typewriters. And 8 trak players. And the TV show "Arrested Development". That one was worthy of a bailout.
Finally, the truth about soccer
A brilliantly funny article about soccer, a most unskilled, noncompetitive and effeminate sport.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123680101041299201.html
In addition to the author's well articulated arguments against this stupid pastime, I'd like to add my own major complaint: offsides.
In contact sports (football, basketball, lacrosse, hockey) the great moment is when one player is bold enough, brave enough, cocky enough to fall into the backfield and hope his defender is unable to keep up or falls for a head fake. In basketball it's the "fast break". In football, it's when a wide receiver loses the corner who is guarding him and makes a catch for extra yards.
It's always a risk. if a basketball player makes a run down the court, and his team loses possession, they opposing team has a 4 on 5 advantage. If the wide receiver goes far, the QB is waiting longer in the pocket putting more pressure on his offensive line to hold off a sack. But the pay offs are tremendous not just in points but in confidence and rattling your opponents. Watch a great wide receiver outrun his corner, make a catch for 20, 30, 40 yards and see the way it rallies the entire team.
Soccer eliminates this potential. "Off-sides". The inability, by rule, of the offense to get ahead of the defender takes away that propulsion of excellence. It punishes risk. It handicaps the brave by containing them. And most of all it prevents the better team for beating the weaker team. In a nutshell, it is unmanly and noncompetitive.
What is the purpose of sport if risk and skill and speed and power are limited by rules?
If soccer would eliminate the offsides rule and allow for fastbreaks and solid offense, it might make the sport more palatable. Might.
In the meantime, I stay in the camp that soccer is an awful sport. Kids need to stand at the plate and strike out or stand at the free throw line and shoot a brick. Eventually, with practice and time and more time, they will get a hit and make a basket. And that is a moment they will never forget.
I didn't.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123680101041299201.html
In addition to the author's well articulated arguments against this stupid pastime, I'd like to add my own major complaint: offsides.
In contact sports (football, basketball, lacrosse, hockey) the great moment is when one player is bold enough, brave enough, cocky enough to fall into the backfield and hope his defender is unable to keep up or falls for a head fake. In basketball it's the "fast break". In football, it's when a wide receiver loses the corner who is guarding him and makes a catch for extra yards.
It's always a risk. if a basketball player makes a run down the court, and his team loses possession, they opposing team has a 4 on 5 advantage. If the wide receiver goes far, the QB is waiting longer in the pocket putting more pressure on his offensive line to hold off a sack. But the pay offs are tremendous not just in points but in confidence and rattling your opponents. Watch a great wide receiver outrun his corner, make a catch for 20, 30, 40 yards and see the way it rallies the entire team.
Soccer eliminates this potential. "Off-sides". The inability, by rule, of the offense to get ahead of the defender takes away that propulsion of excellence. It punishes risk. It handicaps the brave by containing them. And most of all it prevents the better team for beating the weaker team. In a nutshell, it is unmanly and noncompetitive.
What is the purpose of sport if risk and skill and speed and power are limited by rules?
If soccer would eliminate the offsides rule and allow for fastbreaks and solid offense, it might make the sport more palatable. Might.
In the meantime, I stay in the camp that soccer is an awful sport. Kids need to stand at the plate and strike out or stand at the free throw line and shoot a brick. Eventually, with practice and time and more time, they will get a hit and make a basket. And that is a moment they will never forget.
I didn't.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Sam Brownback's Shameful Road to Oz
I've never thought much about the scarecrow Senator from Kansas, Sam Brownback.
I always thought he road the coattails of Rick Santorum who did the dirty work of floor debates and suffered the subsequent character assasinations in the name of principle. Sam would then run as a "champion" of these same issues hoping to be Profiles in Courage without having made the legislative sausage. Maybe it's lazy; maybe it's brilliant. It's not the way leaders work. Even Ted Kennedy got in the mud and fought. But, this hands-off and take the credit approach has kept Sam free of the baggage that plagues other "social conservatives".
Sam never wants baggage.
That's why, in my opinion, he fought to kill the Romney campaign back in 2008. He should have bowed out, thrown his weight behind Romney and fought for a Republican victory on election day. Instead, he (along with Mike Huckleberry) took out Romney and ensured Obama's victory. Had he supported Romney, the best Republican candidate, Sam would have had to face the temper of John McCain. Imagine poor Sam shaking in his boots at every roll call vote. "Mr. President I'd like to yield the remainder of my time as I have soiled myself". So, Sam did what was best for Sam, not what was best for the party or the issues he claims to hold so dear. Supporting Romney, standing up to the wrath of McCain, would require political courage.
When it comes to courage, Sam is the cowardly lion.
That is why it does not surprise me that this Catholic champion of the life issue is supporting Obama's HHS Plan B: Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/god-and-country/2009/03/06/brownbacks-political-explanation-for-supporting-kathleen-sebelius.html
The Brownback spin hacks are out in full force pacifying the pro-life community telling us how, in the long run, it's a GOOD thing for a pro-death loon to control roughly 33% of the federal budget, the FDA and all issues regarding sex, pills, condoms and kids, etc.
Are you buying their drivel?
That's like convincing Jewish people that Obama will really be a friend of Israel... oh wait, that already happened.
Let's be blunt- something my writing is all about because neither Guffman nor Godot are coming so it's imperative to answer questions rather than wait (or hope) in a myth- Brownback did this for Brownback. He wants to be governor of Kansas. Sebelius resigning is better than a flying house crushing the wicked witch of the east. His path is clear.
Sam yearns for the power of red sequined pumps.
I can hear Sam singing "If I were the king of the forest" as he thinks to himself "oh boy! oh boy! I might can be governor and then run for President in 2016! Boy oh boy! If I'm lucky I'll have some natural disasters to make me look serious and commanding. I can summon the national guard. They salute me- I like to be saluted. And I'll need to look compassionate, too. I should roll my sleeves up when I visit tornado destroyed neighborhoods. Maybe I can pull a dead puppy from the wreckage and cry a little....I like pudding...I hope I can have some for lunch".
So Sam, on your yellow-brick-road to the governor's mansion, I hope you can pick up some courage and brains. You have a heart- you just forgot how to use it.
And Kansas- don't vote for this man. You can do better. Starting now, every time 5 year-olds in public school learn about oral sex and Catholic institutions are laden with lawsuits because they won't provide abortion material and Planned Parenthood gets more federal funding to continue their holocaust of America's unborn... think of Sam Brownback.
I will.
I always thought he road the coattails of Rick Santorum who did the dirty work of floor debates and suffered the subsequent character assasinations in the name of principle. Sam would then run as a "champion" of these same issues hoping to be Profiles in Courage without having made the legislative sausage. Maybe it's lazy; maybe it's brilliant. It's not the way leaders work. Even Ted Kennedy got in the mud and fought. But, this hands-off and take the credit approach has kept Sam free of the baggage that plagues other "social conservatives".
Sam never wants baggage.
That's why, in my opinion, he fought to kill the Romney campaign back in 2008. He should have bowed out, thrown his weight behind Romney and fought for a Republican victory on election day. Instead, he (along with Mike Huckleberry) took out Romney and ensured Obama's victory. Had he supported Romney, the best Republican candidate, Sam would have had to face the temper of John McCain. Imagine poor Sam shaking in his boots at every roll call vote. "Mr. President I'd like to yield the remainder of my time as I have soiled myself". So, Sam did what was best for Sam, not what was best for the party or the issues he claims to hold so dear. Supporting Romney, standing up to the wrath of McCain, would require political courage.
When it comes to courage, Sam is the cowardly lion.
That is why it does not surprise me that this Catholic champion of the life issue is supporting Obama's HHS Plan B: Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/god-and-country/2009/03/06/brownbacks-political-explanation-for-supporting-kathleen-sebelius.html
The Brownback spin hacks are out in full force pacifying the pro-life community telling us how, in the long run, it's a GOOD thing for a pro-death loon to control roughly 33% of the federal budget, the FDA and all issues regarding sex, pills, condoms and kids, etc.
Are you buying their drivel?
That's like convincing Jewish people that Obama will really be a friend of Israel... oh wait, that already happened.
Let's be blunt- something my writing is all about because neither Guffman nor Godot are coming so it's imperative to answer questions rather than wait (or hope) in a myth- Brownback did this for Brownback. He wants to be governor of Kansas. Sebelius resigning is better than a flying house crushing the wicked witch of the east. His path is clear.
Sam yearns for the power of red sequined pumps.
I can hear Sam singing "If I were the king of the forest" as he thinks to himself "oh boy! oh boy! I might can be governor and then run for President in 2016! Boy oh boy! If I'm lucky I'll have some natural disasters to make me look serious and commanding. I can summon the national guard. They salute me- I like to be saluted. And I'll need to look compassionate, too. I should roll my sleeves up when I visit tornado destroyed neighborhoods. Maybe I can pull a dead puppy from the wreckage and cry a little....I like pudding...I hope I can have some for lunch".
So Sam, on your yellow-brick-road to the governor's mansion, I hope you can pick up some courage and brains. You have a heart- you just forgot how to use it.
And Kansas- don't vote for this man. You can do better. Starting now, every time 5 year-olds in public school learn about oral sex and Catholic institutions are laden with lawsuits because they won't provide abortion material and Planned Parenthood gets more federal funding to continue their holocaust of America's unborn... think of Sam Brownback.
I will.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Equality in Education- liberal style
"Do as I say, not as I do" should be the subtitle of the Obama Administration and his Congressional flunkies. It is, after all, an appropriate leitmotif for any royalty or demigod.
Pay your taxes... but we don't pay ours. We make "IRS mistakes"- repeated, costly mistakes. Who knew summer camp for the kids wasn't tax deductable?
Conserve energy... but I like the thermostat at 78. I prefer not to wear a blazer in the oval office.
Support public education.... but we send our kids to private schools. Sure, we'd like to send our kids to public schools- but have you SEEN the state of public education? So let me refrain that- we'd like to send YOUR kids to public schools.
Our kids deserve better.
Sasha and Malia attend the prestigious, uber-obnoxious Sidewell Friends school in NW Washington DC. Think "The Facts of Life" without Joe and a few more Tooties. Two Tooties (and Tootie is defined as the black kid given a special scholarship because he/she's got the brains but not the bucks- that was Tootie's character, guys, I'm not saying anything racist so put the hatemail down) will not be returning next year. Why?
Barack Obama.
Yesterday's passage of the $410 billion omnibus "Spending Bill" (didn't we just spend like $85 gazillion last week?) included a hard-fought and narrowly-victorious amendment that will strip $15 million for the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. This program provided 1700 kids in the nation's capital with vouchers to attend the school of their choice. Two of these students attend Sidewell Academy... until June.
Choice? There's no choice in the liberal agenda! Unless you choose to kill your unborn baby. Liberals LOVE that choice. But SCHOOL CHOICE? Ha! "We will tell you where to go to school black, hispanic, poor inner city youth. You are too dumb to know what is good for you" is what the liberals are saying by stripping this program.
So next year, 1700 (mostly black) kids will return to their inferior, dangerous, schools. And this is good...why? Maybe these two kids were a bad influence on Sasha and Malia.
The program cost $15 million- spending less than $9,000 per student. That is $6,000 less than the DC per capita cost in public schools. So let's recap:
-1700 kids get to go to the school of their choice
-it is $6,000 cheaper per student than public schools
-the kids learn rather than get shot
NO! NO! NO! This cannot be! End the program!
My congratulations to you, Mr. Obama and all you other liberals who want to continue to screw inner city kids, compelling them to go to schools that you would not even subject your own kids to attend.
And to the 1700 parents of the kids who will now leave St. Peter's on the Hill and the many private schools around the district: I implore you, I beg you- RISE UP AND MARCH ON THE WHITE HOUSE. See the sickness that is liberalism and fight for choice for your children.
Because Barack Obama will not fight for your children. Unless you want them aborted.
Pay your taxes... but we don't pay ours. We make "IRS mistakes"- repeated, costly mistakes. Who knew summer camp for the kids wasn't tax deductable?
Conserve energy... but I like the thermostat at 78. I prefer not to wear a blazer in the oval office.
Support public education.... but we send our kids to private schools. Sure, we'd like to send our kids to public schools- but have you SEEN the state of public education? So let me refrain that- we'd like to send YOUR kids to public schools.
Our kids deserve better.
Sasha and Malia attend the prestigious, uber-obnoxious Sidewell Friends school in NW Washington DC. Think "The Facts of Life" without Joe and a few more Tooties. Two Tooties (and Tootie is defined as the black kid given a special scholarship because he/she's got the brains but not the bucks- that was Tootie's character, guys, I'm not saying anything racist so put the hatemail down) will not be returning next year. Why?
Barack Obama.
Yesterday's passage of the $410 billion omnibus "Spending Bill" (didn't we just spend like $85 gazillion last week?) included a hard-fought and narrowly-victorious amendment that will strip $15 million for the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. This program provided 1700 kids in the nation's capital with vouchers to attend the school of their choice. Two of these students attend Sidewell Academy... until June.
Choice? There's no choice in the liberal agenda! Unless you choose to kill your unborn baby. Liberals LOVE that choice. But SCHOOL CHOICE? Ha! "We will tell you where to go to school black, hispanic, poor inner city youth. You are too dumb to know what is good for you" is what the liberals are saying by stripping this program.
So next year, 1700 (mostly black) kids will return to their inferior, dangerous, schools. And this is good...why? Maybe these two kids were a bad influence on Sasha and Malia.
The program cost $15 million- spending less than $9,000 per student. That is $6,000 less than the DC per capita cost in public schools. So let's recap:
-1700 kids get to go to the school of their choice
-it is $6,000 cheaper per student than public schools
-the kids learn rather than get shot
NO! NO! NO! This cannot be! End the program!
My congratulations to you, Mr. Obama and all you other liberals who want to continue to screw inner city kids, compelling them to go to schools that you would not even subject your own kids to attend.
And to the 1700 parents of the kids who will now leave St. Peter's on the Hill and the many private schools around the district: I implore you, I beg you- RISE UP AND MARCH ON THE WHITE HOUSE. See the sickness that is liberalism and fight for choice for your children.
Because Barack Obama will not fight for your children. Unless you want them aborted.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Why does Obama love death?
The man of "hope and change" has ushered in a new era of death for the innocent, unborn, and today- the embryonic.
His strong beliefs in infanticide were well known... that's not true. The media did their best to cover-up, distort and downplay his wild and radical beliefs that children who survived abortion should be given spartan exposure. Obama promised to pass FOCA and press for abortions overseas all at taxpayers expense.
Maybe someone should remind him that proportionally, black americans are the biggest victim of domestic abortion. MLK's niece has been a champion of this cause; I didn't see her get an invite to any inaugural balls.
And today Obama has allowed for federal funding of embryonic research. ABC T.V. News in Washington DC called this "new hope for many Americans". WAPO was quick to point out Nancy Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger's support.
So we begin to use tax dollars to kill embryos. Yeah us.
This is the paradox of the left: bioethics, life values, families values, these are all ridiculed and debased and destroyed.
Welcome to the Obama administration. Nancy, your Bishop should be calling you soon.
His strong beliefs in infanticide were well known... that's not true. The media did their best to cover-up, distort and downplay his wild and radical beliefs that children who survived abortion should be given spartan exposure. Obama promised to pass FOCA and press for abortions overseas all at taxpayers expense.
Maybe someone should remind him that proportionally, black americans are the biggest victim of domestic abortion. MLK's niece has been a champion of this cause; I didn't see her get an invite to any inaugural balls.
And today Obama has allowed for federal funding of embryonic research. ABC T.V. News in Washington DC called this "new hope for many Americans". WAPO was quick to point out Nancy Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger's support.
So we begin to use tax dollars to kill embryos. Yeah us.
This is the paradox of the left: bioethics, life values, families values, these are all ridiculed and debased and destroyed.
Welcome to the Obama administration. Nancy, your Bishop should be calling you soon.
Protect the king
In Cuba, criticism of Fidel or Raul or any other septuagenarian ruling Castro is not tolerated.
Chairman Mao had similar policies, as did Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini.
Mugabe, the Taliban and Kim Jung Il are likewise protected from public scrutiny.
It's nice to see the Obama-lama-ding-dongs adopting this practice.
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91114
After all, what good is democracy with a variance of opinions? Pretty soon people may believe different things and no good can come from such shenanigans... just ask the judges on America Idol.
Mr. Obama's political guardians should realize he's a big boy and they can remove the training wheels.
Chairman Mao had similar policies, as did Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini.
Mugabe, the Taliban and Kim Jung Il are likewise protected from public scrutiny.
It's nice to see the Obama-lama-ding-dongs adopting this practice.
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91114
After all, what good is democracy with a variance of opinions? Pretty soon people may believe different things and no good can come from such shenanigans... just ask the judges on America Idol.
Mr. Obama's political guardians should realize he's a big boy and they can remove the training wheels.
Which way is the wind blowing?
What is it about principles that makes politicos so uncomfortable?
Joe Lieberman (why was he at the GOP Convention in '08?) has become Mr. Obama's newest cheerleader.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090309/D96QFPAG0.html
Little late for that bandwagon, aren't you Joe? Are you going to start wearing Green Day tee shirts and mention your affinity for "that new-fangled email"?
If Obama was bad for America in September, he is bad for America in March. Actually- he's worse now. As Iran continues to win the war of time and North Kore makes more threats, Obama offers candy and flowers to win their hearts. Makes me wonder if Joe's concerns aren't about what's bad for America- the real question, at the heart of most politicians, is: what's good for me?
Joe Lieberman has changed positions on many issues. On affirmative action he coined the stupid slogan: I don't want to end it, I want to amend it (as if rhyming makes the reversal any more palatable) during the 2000 campaign. Principles can be such a nuisance when you are trying to win an election.
What is most upsetting about Joe is not the lane changing but his relentless support of a party that tried earnestly to defeat him in 2006. Why not really leave the democrats, Joe? Jump ship- stop caucusing with the DNC, stop electing their members to leadership. You will argue that you lean more to the left than the right- but any more so than Snowe, Collins or Specter?
Poor Joe- principles are buzzing all around his head like bees out of their hive. Let's hope some begin to stick.
NB this isn't just a democrat issue. Check out this article about Sam Brownback (one of my least favorite Republicans):
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/554277.aspx
Remember Sam- don't let those principles get in the way on your search for higher office!
Joe Lieberman (why was he at the GOP Convention in '08?) has become Mr. Obama's newest cheerleader.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090309/D96QFPAG0.html
Little late for that bandwagon, aren't you Joe? Are you going to start wearing Green Day tee shirts and mention your affinity for "that new-fangled email"?
If Obama was bad for America in September, he is bad for America in March. Actually- he's worse now. As Iran continues to win the war of time and North Kore makes more threats, Obama offers candy and flowers to win their hearts. Makes me wonder if Joe's concerns aren't about what's bad for America- the real question, at the heart of most politicians, is: what's good for me?
Joe Lieberman has changed positions on many issues. On affirmative action he coined the stupid slogan: I don't want to end it, I want to amend it (as if rhyming makes the reversal any more palatable) during the 2000 campaign. Principles can be such a nuisance when you are trying to win an election.
What is most upsetting about Joe is not the lane changing but his relentless support of a party that tried earnestly to defeat him in 2006. Why not really leave the democrats, Joe? Jump ship- stop caucusing with the DNC, stop electing their members to leadership. You will argue that you lean more to the left than the right- but any more so than Snowe, Collins or Specter?
Poor Joe- principles are buzzing all around his head like bees out of their hive. Let's hope some begin to stick.
NB this isn't just a democrat issue. Check out this article about Sam Brownback (one of my least favorite Republicans):
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/554277.aspx
Remember Sam- don't let those principles get in the way on your search for higher office!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Extreme Makeover: HUD Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a big ball of T.V. cheese. It is kitschy and corny and usually makes me get a little teary eyed- especially when they build a house for some kid who was born without a head. Those lame families "we sold everything we have to take care of stray cats and now our house is falling apart" make me a little mad. They don't need a house- they need a life.
I hate cats.
Anyway- I'm always impressed at how they build, paint and furnish a house in one hour (30 minutes for me- I watch on TIVO). Before they MOVE THAT BUS they've got college scholarships and a life supply of toilet paper. It's a great community effort- and by community I mean people, neighbors and businesses.
Why does it work so well? NO GOVERNMENT.
If HUD had an Extreme Makeover show, it would began in the public affairs office getting clearance from the Chief of Staff to propose the project. That proposal would get lost in inter-office mail. Three days later, when a new request was sent, it would be rejected by the Chief of Staff's chief of staff because it was not formatted according to internal memo codes (use the template on the J drive...).
After the idea gets approval from the Chief of Staff, an EO study is performed to insure that no racial, sexual, gender, physical, cultural, ethnic or fashion discrimination has occurred. This study takes about 4 weeks and passes through 2 separate committees that have complete juridical oversight.
Having selected a family, an environmental impact study is ordered by the joint Interior/EPA committee on residential urban development.
Noise permits are ordered in ensure that the bullhorn "Goooood morning Jones family!" is shouted within regulated decibel allowance.
You get my drift...
I'm glad that Mr. Obama wants government to take control on more aspects of my life. Going to the DMV once every five years was just NOT enough. And the post office? How much fun is THAT? Once the government brain trust takes over my bank, my mortgage, my health care- I will have the joy of spending whole days of my life in lines before rude, unfulfilled morons who tell me to go stand on another line.
No more MOVE THAT BUS, ABC. You are showing the government up. And when you consider it, it is not fair that some families get chosen on ABC and others don't. We need equality in America- everyone should be equally miserable.
ABC should be forced to stop that show. And the HUD should be in charge. They've done such a good job so far, right? I look at the housing projects in my neighborhood and think "we need more of this".
I hate cats.
Anyway- I'm always impressed at how they build, paint and furnish a house in one hour (30 minutes for me- I watch on TIVO). Before they MOVE THAT BUS they've got college scholarships and a life supply of toilet paper. It's a great community effort- and by community I mean people, neighbors and businesses.
Why does it work so well? NO GOVERNMENT.
If HUD had an Extreme Makeover show, it would began in the public affairs office getting clearance from the Chief of Staff to propose the project. That proposal would get lost in inter-office mail. Three days later, when a new request was sent, it would be rejected by the Chief of Staff's chief of staff because it was not formatted according to internal memo codes (use the template on the J drive...).
After the idea gets approval from the Chief of Staff, an EO study is performed to insure that no racial, sexual, gender, physical, cultural, ethnic or fashion discrimination has occurred. This study takes about 4 weeks and passes through 2 separate committees that have complete juridical oversight.
Having selected a family, an environmental impact study is ordered by the joint Interior/EPA committee on residential urban development.
Noise permits are ordered in ensure that the bullhorn "Goooood morning Jones family!" is shouted within regulated decibel allowance.
You get my drift...
I'm glad that Mr. Obama wants government to take control on more aspects of my life. Going to the DMV once every five years was just NOT enough. And the post office? How much fun is THAT? Once the government brain trust takes over my bank, my mortgage, my health care- I will have the joy of spending whole days of my life in lines before rude, unfulfilled morons who tell me to go stand on another line.
No more MOVE THAT BUS, ABC. You are showing the government up. And when you consider it, it is not fair that some families get chosen on ABC and others don't. We need equality in America- everyone should be equally miserable.
ABC should be forced to stop that show. And the HUD should be in charge. They've done such a good job so far, right? I look at the housing projects in my neighborhood and think "we need more of this".
Dear Seth Myers,
It's been a few weeks now since Mr. Obama was sworn into office and many more weeks since the November election.
I'm waiting for a classic SNL skit. You know- one of those tongue in cheek, ad hominem bits of sketch comedy that makes your show famous.
George H.W. Bush (Dana Carvey): Stay the course, a thousand points of light, stay the course.
Michael Dukakis (Jon Lovitz): I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!
Or those three thousand six hundred and twenty five (roughly) Sarah Palin skits last September.
Or January 2005- the first SNL after W43 was sworn in (again), your opening skit was the Bush twins drunk in their White House bedroom after the inaugural balls. Dick Cheney put them to bed. Okay the Obama girls are much younger and it's good you leave them alone. But...nothing?
Nothing???
No, not Solid, solid as Barack or the Cool sketch- all they do is tell us you love the guy. That's not comedy, that's called being a brown nose. Even last night's The Rock Obama didn't come close to the harsh, albeit funny, character attacks on political figures. Even in the spoofs on Hillary you treated her as our comedic equal.
"I was under the impression there would be no math." said a confused Gerald Ford.
But I'm not one to just wait (read the About Me section). So, I've already written a skit for you: you get a bunch of actors dressed for business in a classroom setting with a sign "Commerce Secretary Vetting Room". In walks Obama and his VP. After an introductory speech (off the teleprompter, of course) on the importance of ethics in government and how this will be the cleanest administration in history, he tells the candidates to prepare for some difficult questions:
Obama: If you have an illegal immigrant cleaning your house, raise your hand.
A few raise their hands.
Obama: Okay, you can go.
They depart.
Obama: Anyone being investigated by the FBI, FEC, SEC, IRS or DEA?
Hands go up.
John Hader: What about the DOJ?
Obama: Yes, DOJ too- thank you for pointing that out.
Hader raises his hand.
Obama: Damn. You can go.
etc...
You get it, Seth, right? Get where I am going with this?
Anyway, I just hope you don't run from comedy out of fear of taking on Obama. Channel the spirit of your comedic ancestors. Think of George Carlin and Richard Pryor. Push the envelope, Seth. That's what SNL does, regardless of political party. Right?
Sure, Obama is popular. But he's human, Seth, and he's given you great material for some funny sketches. He's cluncked his head on Marine One and tried to walk through the Oval Office window. Half his cabinet has not paid their taxes. And the Russian "reset" button? That has a spoof commercial (a la Staples) written all over.
Don't let us down, Seth.
I'm waiting for a classic SNL skit. You know- one of those tongue in cheek, ad hominem bits of sketch comedy that makes your show famous.
George H.W. Bush (Dana Carvey): Stay the course, a thousand points of light, stay the course.
Michael Dukakis (Jon Lovitz): I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!
Or those three thousand six hundred and twenty five (roughly) Sarah Palin skits last September.
Or January 2005- the first SNL after W43 was sworn in (again), your opening skit was the Bush twins drunk in their White House bedroom after the inaugural balls. Dick Cheney put them to bed. Okay the Obama girls are much younger and it's good you leave them alone. But...nothing?
Nothing???
No, not Solid, solid as Barack or the Cool sketch- all they do is tell us you love the guy. That's not comedy, that's called being a brown nose. Even last night's The Rock Obama didn't come close to the harsh, albeit funny, character attacks on political figures. Even in the spoofs on Hillary you treated her as our comedic equal.
"I was under the impression there would be no math." said a confused Gerald Ford.
But I'm not one to just wait (read the About Me section). So, I've already written a skit for you: you get a bunch of actors dressed for business in a classroom setting with a sign "Commerce Secretary Vetting Room". In walks Obama and his VP. After an introductory speech (off the teleprompter, of course) on the importance of ethics in government and how this will be the cleanest administration in history, he tells the candidates to prepare for some difficult questions:
Obama: If you have an illegal immigrant cleaning your house, raise your hand.
A few raise their hands.
Obama: Okay, you can go.
They depart.
Obama: Anyone being investigated by the FBI, FEC, SEC, IRS or DEA?
Hands go up.
John Hader: What about the DOJ?
Obama: Yes, DOJ too- thank you for pointing that out.
Hader raises his hand.
Obama: Damn. You can go.
etc...
You get it, Seth, right? Get where I am going with this?
Anyway, I just hope you don't run from comedy out of fear of taking on Obama. Channel the spirit of your comedic ancestors. Think of George Carlin and Richard Pryor. Push the envelope, Seth. That's what SNL does, regardless of political party. Right?
Sure, Obama is popular. But he's human, Seth, and he's given you great material for some funny sketches. He's cluncked his head on Marine One and tried to walk through the Oval Office window. Half his cabinet has not paid their taxes. And the Russian "reset" button? That has a spoof commercial (a la Staples) written all over.
Don't let us down, Seth.
FOCA Footloose: a game of chicken
A few weeks ago, priests were encouraged to use their Sunday homilies to talk about the Freedom of Choice Act which is now stewing in the Congressional pot much the way Three Witches hovered over their cauldron, burning and bubbling.
It's a veritable showdown between the pro-abortion crowd that holds the strings and the Church that has been slow to act with consequence. The pro-abortion crowd has revved its engine. They don't believe the Catholic Church is capable of bold action.
I'll be the first to admit the Church in America has recently lacked leadership in moral crisis (we miss you Cardinal O'Connor). The pedophile priests and bishops aiding and abetting made God himself angry. Plus there is the the unwillingness to enforce Ex Corde Ecclesiae in schools and universities and call out rogue politicians.... you get my point.
(Instead I think some bishops meditate on their example of Christ who saw the money changers in the Temple and, sitting down with them, He listened to their concerns and and asked how they could work together. Is that how it goes?)
Catholic hospitals are 16% of our nation's healthcare facilities. FOCA would compel these hospitals to perform abortions. Freedom of religion... goes out the window. The conscience of a pro-life health care provider.... goes out the window. What's the proper answer when the Church is threatened by such overreaching legislation? Shut down the hospitals.
I'm holding out for a hero.
The way I see it, the Catholic Church has to call their bluff. Close every hospital, every health clinic, every facility. Fire every Dr. Cox, Carla, Elliott, J.D. and Janitor at Sacred Heart.
Then tell Mr. Obama et al to come up with a contingency plan for the roughly 80 million people treated at Catholic hospitals. Don't forget the rural communities, native American communities, inner city communities who are all treated by Catholic health care services.
My advice to the bishops: don't play with the buckets.
Drive straight- head on- into an impending collision. Be ready act boldly. If necessary, ties your shoelaces to the brake so you don't jump. It worked for Kevin Bacon.
Someone has to stand up to tyranny, Bishops. Take the lead on this one. We will follow.
It's a veritable showdown between the pro-abortion crowd that holds the strings and the Church that has been slow to act with consequence. The pro-abortion crowd has revved its engine. They don't believe the Catholic Church is capable of bold action.
I'll be the first to admit the Church in America has recently lacked leadership in moral crisis (we miss you Cardinal O'Connor). The pedophile priests and bishops aiding and abetting made God himself angry. Plus there is the the unwillingness to enforce Ex Corde Ecclesiae in schools and universities and call out rogue politicians.... you get my point.
(Instead I think some bishops meditate on their example of Christ who saw the money changers in the Temple and, sitting down with them, He listened to their concerns and and asked how they could work together. Is that how it goes?)
Catholic hospitals are 16% of our nation's healthcare facilities. FOCA would compel these hospitals to perform abortions. Freedom of religion... goes out the window. The conscience of a pro-life health care provider.... goes out the window. What's the proper answer when the Church is threatened by such overreaching legislation? Shut down the hospitals.
I'm holding out for a hero.
The way I see it, the Catholic Church has to call their bluff. Close every hospital, every health clinic, every facility. Fire every Dr. Cox, Carla, Elliott, J.D. and Janitor at Sacred Heart.
Then tell Mr. Obama et al to come up with a contingency plan for the roughly 80 million people treated at Catholic hospitals. Don't forget the rural communities, native American communities, inner city communities who are all treated by Catholic health care services.
My advice to the bishops: don't play with the buckets.
Drive straight- head on- into an impending collision. Be ready act boldly. If necessary, ties your shoelaces to the brake so you don't jump. It worked for Kevin Bacon.
Someone has to stand up to tyranny, Bishops. Take the lead on this one. We will follow.
The Tropicana Dilemma
budgets, thrift and personal responsibility in the grocery store
January 20, 2009 had been on my mind since the day I started working for the Bush administration a few years ago. Like many D.C. politicos, campaigners, contractors included, my new career had an expiration date. Surely, I thought, as a senior level person with an advanced degree and serious accomplishments under my belt, I would be scooped up by January 21st. Ah, to be young and naïve.
So I find myself some weeks into unemployment, working a tight personal budget. (open invitation to any Senators who want to see how it’s done…). And I head off to Safeway for my weekly food shopping.
I walk to Safeway- I don’t own a car. Between the payments and the taxes, gas, insurance and parking, I am convinced I save more money walking and taking the metro (and the occasional cab) than owning my own car. Sure grocery shopping means white knuckled fingers and deep crevices in my hands as I lug plastic bags to and fro… but a little pain is worth the savings.
Safeway’s own brand orange juice is on sale. Simply Orange- the Rolls Royce of orange juice- sticks his nose up at me. He knows he’s too good for me. At $5.95 a container he’s right. I hate him. I pick up Safeway’s own brand instead. But, you know, I don’t even really need orange juice. Sure I like it- but I don’t need it.
No orange juice.
Safeway’s own butter is 2 for 1. I buy 4. Butter freezes perfectly. Mom taught me that. See ya, Land o’ Lakes and your $4.29 per lb. price tag. I give it the finger.
Meat section. Beef is out- chicken is fine… skip the Tysons, skip the Purdue… too expensive. Pork chops half price value packs- sure I don’t need 12 pork chops but I can eat two tonight, and freeze the others in 5 separate pack. Score!
My successes are mounting. I’ve got coupons for chicken stock and I convince myself that small onions will taste just like shallots. Whole canned tomatoes are on sale. They aren’t San Marzano, but they will do. I need something for breakfast. I love cereal. I’m an American boy- we all grew up on cereal. It was the first breakfast we could make all by ourselves. But at $4.99 a box I tell the cereal, sadly, it cannot be. A box of Frosted Flakes looks at me as the cart passes by- like a train pulling out of the station leaving one lover on the platform. Tony calls to me: “They’re grrrrrrrreat”. Sorry pal. I will miss you too.
I do need to eat breakfast. Oatmeal…hmmmm…it’s cheap and fills you up. My grandmother used to make us this stuff called Maypo- it came in a green box with a picture of something from New England like a… tree? A well? A goose? I forget. Do they make Maypo anymore? I search, telling my heart that nostalgia for my Grandmother will be better a better breakfast companion than Tony and his magical flakes. No Maypo- but regular oatmeal with brown sugar and some cinnamon it will be fine. Quaker Oats is fifty cents more than Safeway’s own. No brainer which one I buy. Raisons would be good until I see the price… I don’t need raisins.
Check out time- I have to get home and continue to thumb through my contacts. I’m tired of asking for favors- but this is D.C. The people I ask only got their job because they asked before me. I swear when I am in the spot to help someone get a job I will remember this feeling. Note to self: remember feeling unemployed and help when you can.
I don’t feel sorry for myself nor am I nervous…yet. My unemployment routine is active- there’s the temptation to watch west coast NCAA games until midnight and wake up in time for The Price is Right at 11:00am. Sloth will not help me get a job. I get up at 9:00. (ok- I sleep in a little), gym by 9:20 (the gym is in my building and free). Shower, coffee and oatmeal sans raisins. Work. Mass at noon. More work (work is code for “job search”. A neighbor asked me if I have begun working from home. I liked the way it sounded). Thursdays I run errands- you know, to mix it up a little.
So here I am in Safeway kicking full price butt with my smart shopping and nerd pack of coupons. Luckily few single women shop at 1pm on a Thursday. And hey… the type of woman who will fall for me will find my coupons endearing. Yeah. Endearing. Maybe even cute. Maybe she thinks coupons are sexy… ok, I’ll stick to endearing.
The woman in checkout ahead of me has a who’s who of groceries. Doctor Pepper. Captain Crunch. Jell-o pudding cups (a box of instant pudding is seventy-nice cents, 3 cups of milk and 4 minutes of mixing. She buys the pre-made for $2.79. Go figure). Beef tenderloin? Tropicana- no pulp. What is she shopping for Easter already? Such designer labels. My generic groceries are ashamed to be on the same belt. No-name salt tries to hide behind the buy-one-get-one free Barilla rigatoni boxes. Her organic avocados laugh at my frozen peas. The plastic “place divider between check-outs” acts as a food bouncer segregating her A-listers from my poor food. It’s like the people who can’t get into a cool club because they don’t have the right look. I would never go to a club like that. I got better things to do than wait in a rope line because my jeans are from the Gap and not D&G.
Paris Hilton swipes a debit card. She has no Safeway card or coupons. The card doesn’t go through. A discreet “FS” appears on the digital screen.
FS. I feel my jaw clench. It always does when I get mad. I know what FS means. For a person who’s not actually paying she’s got great taste.
“You can’t buy Starbucks Frappuccino with this- you gotta put it back”, notes the cashier. Another swipe- still invalid. “You got cat food here? No cat food”. Not just cat food: it’s Fancy Feast. The cashier swipes the card now- still invalid. It’s gotta be the Tropicana- I’m sure of it. The system knows that Safeway’s own brand is $1.50 cheaper. Some green grocer god of frugality will not allow such injustice. It was the Pinot Griggio. She puts it back and the card goes through. Groceries are bagged, Tropicana and Green Giant steam-in-a-bag vegetables with it. The woman departs and my groceries come out of hiding.
I hand over my Safeway Card and my clipped coupons. $55.29 is my total- and I saved over $17. I take a few seconds to glow in my talent and wonder, again, why I am unemployed. That 2 foot long paper receipt is like a blue ribbon. Now for my little ritual of repacking everything so I can carry it without a bag breaking. Ideally, they won’t cut the circulation in my fingers. But if I have to, I’d choose the latter. Blood flow will start again and that’s better than breaking an egg.
I’ve given up on looking cool on my walk home. I look like an urban Sherpa. At least if I am mugged, by the time I put down my bags to hand over my wallet the robbers will have grown old and confused. I don’t care if I look like a pack mule. I just saved over $17 and…what the hell? I stop…it can’t be…the Elizabeth Taylor of grocery choices is loading her bags into a silver SUV.
Maybe the food stamps helped her to save enough for the car, I think to myself. I admit- my thoughts are cruel. I remind myself I don’t know this woman’s plight. Maybe she needs the food stamps. But I answer myself back: did she need the Tropicana? I debate myself- so glad this happens in my head and not aloud. Bad enough I look like a bag man- if I start talking to myself someone from D.C. services will pick me up and bring me to a shelter.
But I still feel a sense of injustice. I sacrificed- she didn’t and it’s not even her money. Somehow this is just wrong. I feel socio-economically violated. Even my saved $17+ doesn’t help.
I call my life coach. “Mom”, I ask “did you ever buy Tropicana when we were kids?”. “Never” she assures me.
Dad always warned me of a society that distributes free anything: healthcare, education even orange juice. The virtues associated with stewardship: prudence, moderation, upkeep, are predicated on ownership. Without being the owner of that thing, that object, that home or even that money, a person can never be a proper steward. Entitlement breeds flippancy, immaturity and indifference.
I hope that woman had a pleasant ride home and a good meal. I wish her well, honestly, because despite her car and her cuisine she is much poorer than I will ever be. She doesn’t have ownership of anything. She will never know that feeling of victory over a store when you use a coupon on something already on sale. There is a triumph in taking advantage of a sale at Macy’s with the all-day pass combined with a Macy’s credit card. And I wear Polo boxers- who cares if I bought them at TJ Maxx?
I am the owner of my money and I spend it more wisely than anyone else. Frugality, thrift, bargain shopping: these are wonderful tools, wonderful virtues and my unknown shopper friend will never know how much financial freedom and peace of mind these virtues bring a poor guy like me.
So my groceries are ugly and my boxers aren’t from the Ralph Lauren store. In my self-inflicted poverty I am pretty rich. You know, for an unemployed guy.
Now I feel bad for that woman. She is given everything and she owns nothing. What a sick system. Using my money, welfare is designed to help her when in actuality it keeps her prisoner. I think of the irony that we checked out together and wonder what she is like.
Now I have to make some calls and find a job. No more dwelling on social injustice and the evil of a welfare state and a President who will make things much worse for people like my checkout partner. Maybe I could change the system somehow. Note to self: do something good with the job you get.
And then I’ll also buy raisins for my oatmeal. If I have a coupon.
budgets, thrift and personal responsibility in the grocery store
January 20, 2009 had been on my mind since the day I started working for the Bush administration a few years ago. Like many D.C. politicos, campaigners, contractors included, my new career had an expiration date. Surely, I thought, as a senior level person with an advanced degree and serious accomplishments under my belt, I would be scooped up by January 21st. Ah, to be young and naïve.
So I find myself some weeks into unemployment, working a tight personal budget. (open invitation to any Senators who want to see how it’s done…). And I head off to Safeway for my weekly food shopping.
I walk to Safeway- I don’t own a car. Between the payments and the taxes, gas, insurance and parking, I am convinced I save more money walking and taking the metro (and the occasional cab) than owning my own car. Sure grocery shopping means white knuckled fingers and deep crevices in my hands as I lug plastic bags to and fro… but a little pain is worth the savings.
Safeway’s own brand orange juice is on sale. Simply Orange- the Rolls Royce of orange juice- sticks his nose up at me. He knows he’s too good for me. At $5.95 a container he’s right. I hate him. I pick up Safeway’s own brand instead. But, you know, I don’t even really need orange juice. Sure I like it- but I don’t need it.
No orange juice.
Safeway’s own butter is 2 for 1. I buy 4. Butter freezes perfectly. Mom taught me that. See ya, Land o’ Lakes and your $4.29 per lb. price tag. I give it the finger.
Meat section. Beef is out- chicken is fine… skip the Tysons, skip the Purdue… too expensive. Pork chops half price value packs- sure I don’t need 12 pork chops but I can eat two tonight, and freeze the others in 5 separate pack. Score!
My successes are mounting. I’ve got coupons for chicken stock and I convince myself that small onions will taste just like shallots. Whole canned tomatoes are on sale. They aren’t San Marzano, but they will do. I need something for breakfast. I love cereal. I’m an American boy- we all grew up on cereal. It was the first breakfast we could make all by ourselves. But at $4.99 a box I tell the cereal, sadly, it cannot be. A box of Frosted Flakes looks at me as the cart passes by- like a train pulling out of the station leaving one lover on the platform. Tony calls to me: “They’re grrrrrrrreat”. Sorry pal. I will miss you too.
I do need to eat breakfast. Oatmeal…hmmmm…it’s cheap and fills you up. My grandmother used to make us this stuff called Maypo- it came in a green box with a picture of something from New England like a… tree? A well? A goose? I forget. Do they make Maypo anymore? I search, telling my heart that nostalgia for my Grandmother will be better a better breakfast companion than Tony and his magical flakes. No Maypo- but regular oatmeal with brown sugar and some cinnamon it will be fine. Quaker Oats is fifty cents more than Safeway’s own. No brainer which one I buy. Raisons would be good until I see the price… I don’t need raisins.
Check out time- I have to get home and continue to thumb through my contacts. I’m tired of asking for favors- but this is D.C. The people I ask only got their job because they asked before me. I swear when I am in the spot to help someone get a job I will remember this feeling. Note to self: remember feeling unemployed and help when you can.
I don’t feel sorry for myself nor am I nervous…yet. My unemployment routine is active- there’s the temptation to watch west coast NCAA games until midnight and wake up in time for The Price is Right at 11:00am. Sloth will not help me get a job. I get up at 9:00. (ok- I sleep in a little), gym by 9:20 (the gym is in my building and free). Shower, coffee and oatmeal sans raisins. Work. Mass at noon. More work (work is code for “job search”. A neighbor asked me if I have begun working from home. I liked the way it sounded). Thursdays I run errands- you know, to mix it up a little.
So here I am in Safeway kicking full price butt with my smart shopping and nerd pack of coupons. Luckily few single women shop at 1pm on a Thursday. And hey… the type of woman who will fall for me will find my coupons endearing. Yeah. Endearing. Maybe even cute. Maybe she thinks coupons are sexy… ok, I’ll stick to endearing.
The woman in checkout ahead of me has a who’s who of groceries. Doctor Pepper. Captain Crunch. Jell-o pudding cups (a box of instant pudding is seventy-nice cents, 3 cups of milk and 4 minutes of mixing. She buys the pre-made for $2.79. Go figure). Beef tenderloin? Tropicana- no pulp. What is she shopping for Easter already? Such designer labels. My generic groceries are ashamed to be on the same belt. No-name salt tries to hide behind the buy-one-get-one free Barilla rigatoni boxes. Her organic avocados laugh at my frozen peas. The plastic “place divider between check-outs” acts as a food bouncer segregating her A-listers from my poor food. It’s like the people who can’t get into a cool club because they don’t have the right look. I would never go to a club like that. I got better things to do than wait in a rope line because my jeans are from the Gap and not D&G.
Paris Hilton swipes a debit card. She has no Safeway card or coupons. The card doesn’t go through. A discreet “FS” appears on the digital screen.
FS. I feel my jaw clench. It always does when I get mad. I know what FS means. For a person who’s not actually paying she’s got great taste.
“You can’t buy Starbucks Frappuccino with this- you gotta put it back”, notes the cashier. Another swipe- still invalid. “You got cat food here? No cat food”. Not just cat food: it’s Fancy Feast. The cashier swipes the card now- still invalid. It’s gotta be the Tropicana- I’m sure of it. The system knows that Safeway’s own brand is $1.50 cheaper. Some green grocer god of frugality will not allow such injustice. It was the Pinot Griggio. She puts it back and the card goes through. Groceries are bagged, Tropicana and Green Giant steam-in-a-bag vegetables with it. The woman departs and my groceries come out of hiding.
I hand over my Safeway Card and my clipped coupons. $55.29 is my total- and I saved over $17. I take a few seconds to glow in my talent and wonder, again, why I am unemployed. That 2 foot long paper receipt is like a blue ribbon. Now for my little ritual of repacking everything so I can carry it without a bag breaking. Ideally, they won’t cut the circulation in my fingers. But if I have to, I’d choose the latter. Blood flow will start again and that’s better than breaking an egg.
I’ve given up on looking cool on my walk home. I look like an urban Sherpa. At least if I am mugged, by the time I put down my bags to hand over my wallet the robbers will have grown old and confused. I don’t care if I look like a pack mule. I just saved over $17 and…what the hell? I stop…it can’t be…the Elizabeth Taylor of grocery choices is loading her bags into a silver SUV.
Maybe the food stamps helped her to save enough for the car, I think to myself. I admit- my thoughts are cruel. I remind myself I don’t know this woman’s plight. Maybe she needs the food stamps. But I answer myself back: did she need the Tropicana? I debate myself- so glad this happens in my head and not aloud. Bad enough I look like a bag man- if I start talking to myself someone from D.C. services will pick me up and bring me to a shelter.
But I still feel a sense of injustice. I sacrificed- she didn’t and it’s not even her money. Somehow this is just wrong. I feel socio-economically violated. Even my saved $17+ doesn’t help.
I call my life coach. “Mom”, I ask “did you ever buy Tropicana when we were kids?”. “Never” she assures me.
Dad always warned me of a society that distributes free anything: healthcare, education even orange juice. The virtues associated with stewardship: prudence, moderation, upkeep, are predicated on ownership. Without being the owner of that thing, that object, that home or even that money, a person can never be a proper steward. Entitlement breeds flippancy, immaturity and indifference.
I hope that woman had a pleasant ride home and a good meal. I wish her well, honestly, because despite her car and her cuisine she is much poorer than I will ever be. She doesn’t have ownership of anything. She will never know that feeling of victory over a store when you use a coupon on something already on sale. There is a triumph in taking advantage of a sale at Macy’s with the all-day pass combined with a Macy’s credit card. And I wear Polo boxers- who cares if I bought them at TJ Maxx?
I am the owner of my money and I spend it more wisely than anyone else. Frugality, thrift, bargain shopping: these are wonderful tools, wonderful virtues and my unknown shopper friend will never know how much financial freedom and peace of mind these virtues bring a poor guy like me.
So my groceries are ugly and my boxers aren’t from the Ralph Lauren store. In my self-inflicted poverty I am pretty rich. You know, for an unemployed guy.
Now I feel bad for that woman. She is given everything and she owns nothing. What a sick system. Using my money, welfare is designed to help her when in actuality it keeps her prisoner. I think of the irony that we checked out together and wonder what she is like.
Now I have to make some calls and find a job. No more dwelling on social injustice and the evil of a welfare state and a President who will make things much worse for people like my checkout partner. Maybe I could change the system somehow. Note to self: do something good with the job you get.
And then I’ll also buy raisins for my oatmeal. If I have a coupon.
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