tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29938804375531881092024-03-13T02:37:21.337-07:00Mindrender: All Things Kinda Sorta'Kinda Sorta' is a thing, not a description of a thing - meaning that what I say here is the absolute, unvarnished truth . . . but only as I *see* the truth . . . kinda sorta.KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-10082191502120610932018-07-08T14:16:00.000-07:002018-07-08T14:16:08.830-07:00Christians have new, logical spokesperson, say Christians everywhere.You could call it infiltrating the enemy, I suppose, but I call it compromise. Some things have happened in my life recently that I rather choose to prescribe to God than coincidence. That's really all it comes to anyway, right? Whether or not shit in your life (and I have sworn off cussing, btw, except for the word, "shit," which I refuse to give up...and it has nothing to do with religion, so get that out of your heads now.) is good or bad, right or wrong, evil or clown-schtooping evil is irrelevant. What you (we) need to concern yourself with is community. For whatever reason, most of the world's population still subscribes to a religion. I say it is our approach to religion in general, rather than a belief in it, that is the true problem.<br />
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What I have found in my bout with at first atheism and then agnosticism is, well, nothing. There is no culture, no joy, and the only community I found was populated by people who were so angry at Christians and religion in general that they were completely incapable of rational thought. As much as they go on about evidence, they're in short supply of it individually, as people. They are quick to lampoon literally anything that doesn't have a scientific modifier, and any theory posited that doesn't fit squarely and snugly into their view of atheism is summarily and soundly trumped and ridiculed . . . much like . . . religious people? In my atheistic experience, I would have to say that I dealt with people who were easily as intolerant of any views counter to their own as any Christians with whom I've dealt. Atheism is the antithesis of community, from what I can see.<br />
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I used to say to myself often that I would throw my lot in with the Christians if they would simply admit that the Bible was flawed. Then suddenly here I have my best friend, a Christian, saying just that. The Old Testament is fucked up. His words. But he will also proudly tell you he's a Christian.<br />
So I asked m y friend one day, (a civil engineer and no dummy) why should I align myself with these hypocrites? He says...."you shouldn't. But you <i>should </i>align yourself with people who will lift you up. Always." But where was I to find that? I couldn't readily drop everything I knew to be right and good - because I've <i>always </i>wanted to be right and good in my actions - then hand it all over to this invisible being. I mean, I totally support the fact that Christianity will survive me. Question is, has Christianity <i>earned </i>its ability to survive. I, Pam, will compel <crush> you into submission. "No, Archer, no, wait - Archer, stop, nooo----"<br />
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"Goddammit." Cyril says grumpily.<br />
<br />KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-48491137939429351072018-05-14T23:21:00.001-07:002018-07-08T13:52:53.628-07:00Experts say religious texts are not wholly asinine, say experts<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">All of these ancient religious texts so many of us subscribe to today were written by men (and some women) as wisdom to be carried down through the ages. They didn't have the "noise" that the vast majority of us have grown up with today, in this age. There was no television, no Internet, no video games nor movies and movie stars. No news, no publicized violence, and very little distraction. It isn't the authors' faults for having their words mistranslated, misused and misunderstood. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">There is wisdom in the Bible, if you know how to read it. For instance, the "sin" of sex outside of marriage was a fundamentally pragmatic decision. Sex caused pregnancy and disease back then, as often as not. And women had at least a 30% chance of dying during childbirth. A pregnancy without an income to support the child was seen as a terrible burden. Disease was rampant, as there were no treatments or cures. Sex itself was not the sin. Irresponsible sex, even then, was viewed as terribly impractical. And therefore, from a philosophical perspective, immoral, i.e., sin.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Some people <i>need</i> to believe these words were directly from God. I tend to think they were, if not in the way that most people do. But those words <i>simplify</i> things for them because, let's face it, most people are simple. It was a way to govern the ignorant. The problem we face today is that even though most of us can read, we still do not truly <i>comprehend</i> what we read. For most of us, reading and writing are simply forms of communication. For others, they are the ultimate transference of thought and mind. Reading and understanding are not even remotely the same animal.</span><br />
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One can imply much in a sentence that is seemingly innocuous and banal. But to a scrupulous reader, there is much more information that goes unsaid, literally. One has to have the capacity to gather that implied information without prompting or explanation. This is very often - if not always - the case with religious texts.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">That said, religious leaders - who only questionably understand the texts from which they teach - have no business dictating policy. That isn't to say that science and faith cannot collude and comingle. Quite the opposite. I can verifiably say that I have seen this work - faith coexisting with reason. Scientists, however, seem unable to admit they cannot yet understand a thing, despite their insistence otherwise; and religionists (I coined that term and now use it liberally) seem to think that anything that is perceived as against faith is somehow unholy. The very basis for both their <i>faiths</i> . . . is preposterous. Both of these institutions should be working <i>toward </i>meeting in the middle, yet they both seem determined to destroy one another. What neither of them seem to understand is that knowledge <i>nor </i>faith are going anywhere, anytime soon. If ever. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">We are creatures of both reason and non-reason. We are intellectual and emotional beings, and I would daresay equally so. And to try and separate the two is madness. Faith is emotion-based. Intellect is mind-based. Keeping that in mind, there was a time not too long ago that if you told someone in the U.S. they could communicate with someone in China and have that communication translated instantaneously, without the aid of another human being, they would have called you a fool. And rightly so. If you had said 50 years ago that most of us would possess devices that would make the "communicators" on<i> Star Trek</i> look simple by comparison, you would likely think they were daydreaming, at the very least. And now we're on a very clear path to real androids (Sorry, Data), bio-mechanics, and - don't laugh - faster than light (FTL) travel. Whether or not you think it is possible, it is being actively studied, with big bucks backing it. And human beings have a tendency to do <i>precisely</i> what they set out to do. Say I'm wrong. I dare ya. π</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-753369402831704812018-04-15T19:20:00.000-07:002018-04-15T19:20:34.266-07:00Baby hands throw the best tantrums, say Washington insidershttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/10/10/president-trumps-temper-tantrums-are-coming-at-an-accelerating-pace/?utm_term=.73bea1d4c27f<br />
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The article is a few months old, sure, but it is no less true today than it was when it was written. If anything, it has been further substantiated on a nearly daily basis. As the Facebook page, "The Other 98%," hilariously named him, "President Fucktweet" has put on public display his irrational behavior, his thin-skinned rebuttals, his inability to take criticism, and his utter lack of regard for the truth. And it all comes off as rather . . . toddler-ish.<br />
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<br />KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-89778748674878465552017-10-21T00:08:00.001-07:002018-04-15T21:00:17.425-07:00I don't believe God listens to *every* prayer. . .but He listens to mine!We cling to the God Concept because it is very real to us. Even to a nonbeliever such as I. I don't have any problem admitting that I <i>want </i>there to be a god. I <i>want </i>there to be this Benevolent Being watching over us, daily, making us better, delivering a daily hand in all our affairs. Truth is though, I don't believe in such a being. I believe there is a force out there who may listen in your darkest hour, but that same force gave us the substance, the fortitude, to stand firm against whatever comes our way. We have the intellectual capacity, the creativity, the will to stand in the way of anything that threatens us.This Being expects us to use that which was given to us to prove ourselves. And yes, he/she/It may listen sometimes, but I don't think it is infinitely listening to all of our whining.<br />
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Update 4/15/2018:<br />
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All of the aforementioned said, I have recently come across some knowledge, and have had some experiences, which may contradict that stuff-n-stuff I said several months ago (more accurately put, six months, but time is a rather fluid concept for me, as it happens to interfere - <i>often </i>- with the things I enjoy doing . . . more on that later). Truth is, I went to jail, and some things happened subsequently which I cannot explain, not <i>fully </i>on an intellectual level at least. And before you say or think that jail is just a place where the truly desolate seek desperately for any outlet, any saving grace they can in order to deal with their predicaments . . . it is. <br />
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No question there. But that is not the case for me, because I was only there a month. 27 days to be precise.<br />
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I have very likely not "rended" anyone's mind since the inception of this blog.<br />
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I was hoping to, certainly, but profundity is always accompanied by something learned - usually a powerful lesson - and learning is something of which I have been in short supply as of late. But somehow, solitude (i.e., jail) seems to be a stark progenitor of new ideas. And as my life has spiraled utterly out of control since my recent divorce in March, 2017, being open to new ideas, philosophies, and esoteric concepts did not any longer seem so alien to my fragile psyche.<br />
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Simply put, I got "saved" in jail. I put the word in quotations only because I do not yet understand precisely what that means. <br />
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I opened myself to God, to the idea of the Christian God, and felt a presence. Then I tried prayer - meaningful, faithful prayer - with every expectation that it would come to fruition. And it did. So far, all of them. For instance, I was waiting for a ride from a friend one day and it was supposed to storm (I have a car, just not one where I was) a full two hours prior to my friend's arrival; tornadoes, 40 - 50 mph winds, lightning, thunder, the whole, big, bad enchilada. 90% chance, and there I am, sitting outside with the wind bending trees nearly double, reading a book. I got annoyed, so I prayed for it to die down - willed it to, even, arrowing my thoughts directly at the skies with a feeling in my chest much like sadness, only I wasn't sad - and as soon as I was done, the wind died down dramatically. Chance, right? So thought I.<br />
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Then the wind picked up again. So I prayed again just as before . . . and the wind died down again. I turned my attention back to my book - Dan Brown's <i>Lost Symbol</i>, in case you're wondering - and I heard thunder. Then lightning and more thunder. I began to doubt again. The wind picked up yet again, and so I prayed that the storm would hold off until 2:45, as my friend was supposed to arrive at 2:30. The rain and wind - thunder and lightning as well - held off for another hour and a half until my friend arrived, then for the next 20 minutes it took for us to reach my house. It took me a few minutes to unload my things, speak to my sister and make it back to my bedroom before I looked at my watch. It was exactly 2:45, and just then the bottom dropped out.<br />
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I am a pretty creative guy. I write both prose and poetry, I write music, songs, and I'm also not sucky with some pencils and a sketchbook.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not perfect, but not terrible either, no?</td></tr>
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Suffice to say, if I were going to make up some fantastic story, it would be about something a whole lot more interesting than a storm. But wait . . . there's more!<br />
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Before I continue, let me say that I have reread my old arguments against religion and religious tenets, and I have to say . . . they still hold water. Lots of it. Which is why I think, based on empirical evidence, that my newfound belief is a mixture of both science and faith (re: <a href="http://noetic.org/about/what-are-noetic-sciences" target="_blank">noetic science</a>). I don't think I have ever believed that Man's belief in mysticism (religion, philosophy, esoteric knowledge) - literally as old as recorded history and more researched, studied and dissected than any other concept - was founded on fantasy and fever dreams. I knew there was a basis in fact. I knew that miracles were simply sciences that we did not yet understand. That is also why I know that things we cannot explain today are sciences we cannot yet understand. The word, "science," simply means 'to know'.<br />
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Singing to a plant has been scientifically proven to improve its growth rate and health, as does sending positive thoughts at it consistently (re, again: noetic science). There are certain particles that can only be seen if we <i>expect to see them</i>. Otherwise, they do not exist. That is, quite literally, mind over matter on an atomic level. And sure, I may be creative, but I'm no physicist; as in, there's no way I could make that stuff up, and it's all verifiable.<br />
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I discovered <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/cassandra-vieten/what-is-noetic-science_b_287779.html" target="_blank">noetic science</a> about a decade ago. I tried reading about it, but honestly, the concepts were way over my head. I only understood the basic, fundamental ins and outs, and even those with only the most rudimentary comprehension. Rationalists (of which I consider myself a member, so to speak) call it "bullshit science," only I have seen every bit as much intolerance, vitriol and condemnation from atheists as I have from any religious group. True story. So no, I did not come across noetic science in <i>Lost Symbol</i>, but I <i>was</i> delighted to see it crop up again, because it interests me even more today, especially regarding some of the experiences I have had lately. There is also much more <a href="https://www.compellingtruth.org/noetic-science.html" target="_blank">available information</a> today than when I first came across it. <br />
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<i><u>The Pit Bull</u></i><br />
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So, a couple weeks prior to the storm incident, I went on a sabbatical of sorts shortly after I got out of jail. The place where I was staying was out in the country where the people just sort of let their dogs run wild. Generally, I don't think it's much of an issue, but in this case, there happened to be a couple of really <i>strong </i>dogs running loose around the area. One was a very large bull mastiff, and the other was a pit bull terrier around 6 - 8 months old (is my guess, and although I'm no expert, I have owned a pit bull in the past and figure my guess is fairly accurate).<br />
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There were some men working on a house near where I was staying, about a hundred yards away, and the mastiff begins barking at the house. So the foreman (we found out later) sent one of his helpers out to run the mastiff off, and as he does so, the pit bull runs up beside the mastiff and begins barking at the young man too. He panics, drops the hammer that was in his hand, and begins to run. Before he can get far, both of them are on him, biting him. His yells bring out the rest of the crew - about five men total - and as this was happening, I hopped into the back of the truck where I was and three more of us were speeding down the road to help him. Before we even got halfway there, the incident was over. The young man was lying on his back wincing in pain and the dogs had run off at the sight of the truck and the men coming toward them.<br />
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The very next day, the little, tan pit bull returns. We found out a little later that another dog, Ginger, who hung out around the house we were staying in, was in heat. Ginger was (I think) a setter/shiba mix and she was of a size with Biscuit, the pit bull - so I named him soon after because of his coloring.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">very close approximation to "Biscuit"</td></tr>
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Initially, I ran him off with a big stick . . . until Ginger got scared and ran under a flatbed trailer, as did Biscuit, who quickly began wagging his tail at me. He was plainly frightened, but it was obvious he was also quite friendly. It didn't take much persuasion to get him to come out (after, of course, I checked on Ginger), and as it turned out, he was just a sweet little guy with no guile in him whatsoever. I can only assume he was merely copying the older and larger mastiff when he attacked that young man, because everyone else at the house got to know and like the dog, and there were no more incidents at all.<br />
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Anyhow, the proprietor of the house where I was staying did his diligence and called the sheriff's office, who promptly responded and asked him to take photos if he saw the dog back on the property. I ran into Biscuit's owner a few days later who told me that she had found a new home for him and to contact her if I saw him again. I was unable to do so before the sheriff's deputy returned, showing me photos the proprietor had sent him. This dismayed me terribly as I had grown attached to Biscuit, and he in turn had shown me nothing but love and sweetness and playfulness for the last several days. I didn't want to see him wind up in the pound, so I decided to pray for him at prayer group that night. It was an unusual request, and I admitted as much, but the leader of the group reluctantly said a prayer for the little guy. On my part, I prayed just as I had for the storm (remember, this was prior to the storm, and one of the instances in which I can no longer deny the power of human thought . . . or prayer, if you will), with a sad feeling in my chest. Again, I wasn't sad, only concerned, because I knew Biscuit's fate if he was picked up by Animal Control, and it seemed inevitable that he would be.<br />
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The very next morning, the deputy came by again, showed me the photos of Biscuit, and asked if I'd seen him. I answered honestly that I had not. A few hours after the deputy left, I saw Ginger. No Biscuit. Now would be the point in the story where I should tell you folks who don't have a lot of experience with dogs that if there is a female dog in heat, literally every male dog who is able within the vicinity of a mile radius will be hovering nearby. Also keep in mind that Biscuit had become quite happy out our little ranch, and had made some good friends besides Ginger. He was getting treats - of both the edible and sexual variety (several people had seen the two dogs coupling) - and had every reason to stick around. Long story just a tad longer, it turns out his owner was able to catch him and get him to his new owner before the deputy returned again. Was it prayer? I think so. Can I prove it? Meh . . . probably not. But these two instances, and half a dozen others just in the last month or six weeks have moved my belief needle way over to the other side of things. KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-33305445897556260112017-10-06T10:51:00.000-07:002018-02-03T17:36:00.179-08:00Just so you understand . . . I do know what I'm doing, says inside source<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I thought I might share a couple of demo reels I produced at WLBT, a
news station in Jackson, MS. Hope I'm not breaking any rules by putting
this out there. But I wanted you, my readers, to know that the majority of the stuff those anchors read off the teleprompter, we, the producers, write, rewrite, and edit. And we even design all the graphics (i.e., names and occupations, dates, etc.)<br />
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In time I will also share some of my <i>real </i>news articles; not nearly so entertaining as the articles and insights you'll find here, but just to show that I am indeed the real deal. I use the fake headlines for humor, yes, but also because of my background in journalism - as an homage, if you will.<br />
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<br />KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-54463851141699189212017-08-07T17:41:00.001-07:002017-08-11T00:09:32.352-07:00Agnostics are easily the smartest and most compassionate people in the world, experts say.You could call it infiltrating the enemy, I suppose, but I call it
compromise. Some things have happened in my life recently that I rather
choose to prescribe to God than coincidence. That's really all it comes down
to anyway, right? Whether or not shit in your life (And I have sworn off
cussing [not 'cursing, which is completely different] btw, except for the word, "shit," which I refuse to give
up...and it has nothing to do with religion, so get that out of your
heads now.) is good or bad, right or wrong, evil or clown-schtoopingly
evil is irrelevant. What you (we) need to concern yourself with is
community. For whatever reason, most of the world's population still
subscribes to a religion. I say it is our approach to religion in
general, rather than a belief in it, that is the true problem.<br />
<br />
What
I have found in my bout with at first atheism and then agnosticism is,
well, nothing. There is no culture, no joy, and the only community I
found was populated by people who were so angry at Christians and
religion in general that they were completely incapable of rational
thought. As much as they go on about evidence, they're in short supply
of it individually, as people. They are quick to lampoon literally
anything that doesn't have a scientific modifier, and any theory posited
that doesn't fit squarely and snugly into their view of atheism is
summarily and soundly trumped and ridiculed . . . much like . . .
religious people? In my atheistic experience, I would have to say that I
dealt with people who were easily as intolerant of any views counter to
their own as any Christians with whom I've dealt. Atheism is the
antithesis of community, from what I can see.<br />
<br />
I
used to say to myself often that I would throw my lot in with the
Christians if they would simply admit that the Bible was flawed. Then
suddenly here I have my best friend, a Christian, saying just that. The
Old Testament is fucked up. His words. But he will also proudly tell you
he's a Christian.<br />
So I asked my friend one day, (a civil engineer
and no dummy) why should I align myself with these hypocrites? He
says...."you shouldn't. But you <i>should </i>align yourself with people
who will lift you up. Always." But where was I to find that? I couldn't
readily drop everything I knew to be right and good - because I've <i>always </i>wanted
to be right and good in my actions - then hand it all over to this
invisible being. I mean, I totally support the fact that Christianity
will survive me. Question is, has Christianity <i>earned </i>its ability to survive?<br />
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[more later] KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-64011399356033855272017-04-22T12:03:00.001-07:002018-07-08T16:21:15.612-07:00Why Our Nation is BROKE(n)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;">Read the entire essay if you desire to comment.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think they left out the part about multi-billion dollar corporations unwilling to pay a living wage. </td></tr>
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General Electric made $26 billion in profits in 2010 and paid $0.00 in taxes, we have the largest military industrial complex in the world with a $250 billion budget, and people wonder why our government is broke. Who are we fighting? The terrorists? Does anyone remember a time before 9/11, when terrorists were underfunded, radical, militant fringe groups who blew stuff up from time to time? Yeah, well, that's what they're still doing, what they still are, and that's all they will ever be. Does anyone remember a time when it was believed that <i>everyone</i> paid taxes. What was the adage? "Nothing is certain but death and taxes," unless you're a multi-national corporation (a personhood, if you will), claiming absurd deductions for which they are busily lobbying Congress for even more as I write these very words. <br />
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These terrorists had to use a plane as a missile on 9/11 because they lacked the funding and the expertise to do anything more than that. It was tragic indeed, but 3,000 dead isn't even a drop in the bucket when you consider that the Iraqi people - most of them civilians - have suffered more than a million casualties since the Iraq War's inception. I am not proposing that there should not have been terrible consequences for the attack on September 11th, 2001. But in the grand scheme, the terrorists never were a real military threat to begin with, no more than the backwards, flyspeck nations who harbored them were. Afghanistan has about as much of a chance at defeating "the Great Satan" as I do defeating Anderson Silva in an MMA match, i.e., none. The real threat is the corporate-tit-sucking Congress we continue to reelect into office, over and over again, because we are too lazy to demand a better choice. We are content to choose between "the lesser of two evils" as if that were a sufficient basis for electing who will decide the future of our country.<br />
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In other words, we no longer care enough. We are complacent, fat and lazy. We are content to let these fools and degenerates do our thinking for us, and actively choose to believe the lies and propaganda perpetrated and perpetuated by the news media each and every day. Did you know that elected office is one of the very few government jobs for which a requisite degree or certification is not required. Let me say that again: <i>The most powerful people in this country are not even required to be legitimately, or even adequately, qualified for their positions.</i> And we CHOOSE this! We know they are lying to us - we have all been told, and even when faced with irrefutable proof (Dubya lying about WMD's, Obama lying about repealing the USA PATRIOT Act, Trump lying about . . . well, everything), we CHOSE to ignore the dire implications, and now we live in a country where it is perfectly acceptable for our government agents to raid anyone's home they choose, to write their own warrants, and search and seize property without your consent. Because it is inconvenient.<br />
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Complacent, we are, and cowardly. How can we stand against a government - a Congress that would legislate itself salary raises for the "fantastic" job they are doing and turn a blind eye when Dubya called for war on a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 - when all we really care about is still getting to go home and play World of Warcraft at night? Actually <i>doing something</i> would interfere greatly with Mad Men and Game of Thrones, and we might have to give up the MMO night playing Call of Duty with our buddies. Damn....social consciousness is just too damned inconvenient. How 'bout them Bulldogs?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"What do you think you're doing with my sippy cup, bitch?"</td></tr>
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And when we do muster up enough give-a-damn to care, it is dictated by right- or left-wing radio and/or television personalities whose sole job is to shape public opinion and sow discontent. They had one liberal, Alan Colmes (R.I.P.). That's all. But perhaps that is why Fox still thinks it can tell us it is fair and balanced. But how? Because they cater to the right wing and most other major media outlets cater to the left? That doesn't make them fair <i>or</i> balanced. Yet we continue to allow this major news outlet this blatant and audacious lie. Conservatives should be <i>particularly</i> offended. Their primary flag bearer flaunts its contempt of the truth behind a mantra that would be noble if it weren't so patently false.<br />
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But worse are the conservative heroes and pundits, each and every one of whom is a firebrand dedicated to inciting fear, paranoia and dread. Rush, Hannity, Ingraham, O'Reilly, <br />
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and the really ignorant ones like Brian Kilmeade and Neal Boortz - these people are <i>poison</i>. These nimrods stood by and defended Bush Jr.'s every mind-numbingly ignorant decision. They rationalized his failings, blamed liberals (somehow) when his unerringly bad decisions ended up . . . badly. And they have seamlessly transferred that same blind, irrational loyalty to the Trump administration, all the while producing wider audiences and higher ratings. How, you might ask? Because media may not control how you think, but they very decidedly control <i>what you think about</i>. And if these buffoons - pundits - are good at anything, it is spinning the truth. Let me clarify by saying that I am not simply ostracizing conservative pundits here. I am fully aware that leftists are at it just as hard, only they have a slightly more intelligent audience with which to deal, and it's a bit more of a challenge, although not by much. And I was exposed to those conservative guys more than most. As a journalist in the South, I was inundated with republican ideals. The vast majority of politicians I have interviewed have been republican conservatives. And conservatives are all you hear on talk radio. So unless your parents like NPR, if you're a child growing up in the South, you're not going to be presented with too many alternative or opposing views to conservatism - much the same as it is with religion.<br />
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All the mainstream media outlets these days are controlled by corporate/political (because there is no distinction anymore) entities. But at least NBC doesn't feel the need to argue before each commercial break that they are "the most trusted news source" because they are unbiased. They're not. They're just cleverer about it, and they don't feel the insecurity of standing behind a motto that is so ludicrously, blatantly and obviously horseshit. Anyone ever listened to the "J.T. Show?" This ignorant fool has a political talk show, such as it is, every day on SuperTalk Mississippi, 97.3, for those of you who aren't familiar with him. He is, to reuse a word from the above paragraph, *very* decidedly one of the most ignorant and brainwashed individuals I have ever had the displeasure of hearing on the radio. His diatribes (such as they are considering his limited vocabulary, his atrocious grammar and diction, and his tenuous grasp on the political climate in general) are mindless rants about how liberals are ruining the country <yawn> that have no basis in reason or fact. He was doing Trump before Trump was doing Trump. How he has managed to stay on the air, in the slot he was given, as long as he has, is a complete mystery to me. This fool pronounces 'nuclear' like Dubya pronounced it: "Nuke-U-lar." Whether he is just deliberately ignorant or he just wants to be like his hero (Trump, Reagan or Bush, take your pick) is unclear. The fact is, he is a radio personality, to the extent that he has a show - not that he is in fact a "personality" of any note - and he has the ear of thousands of people every day. And he is not only paid to perpetuate (there goes that word again) his ignorance, but the good people of Mississippi encourage it. <br />
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So why are we broke again? Because our government pays for entitlement programs it cannot afford or because G.E., along with dozens of other one percenters, pay zero dollars in taxes? "But they will ship our jobs overseas!" some might say. And the Fed should fine the holy hell out of them if they do. That's what China does. They're doing pretty okay these days. Our government is broke because it lacks the will to tax corporate "personhoods." Because even Facebook thinks that word is wrong, if the red, squiggly line underneath it indicates anything. Our government is broke because its money is tied up in special interests our illustrious Congress has decided are more important than our national welfare. Our government is broke because they no longer give two shits about the American people, but spend 80% of their time in office fundraising for their next campaign. Our government is broke because it depends on, and is beholden to, an independent Central Bank that is NOT beholden to the government which houses, shelters and defends it. And our government is broke because its citizens are too lazy and too frightened to do - or not do, in certain cases - the things necessary to effect a change. <br />
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It used to be that only educated people were encouraged - or even capable - of practicing the art of journalism. Only now, with mediocrity the only height to which most aspire these days, journalism has become something much less than what it once was. People crave - thanks to the conditioning served up by the advertising media - nothing so much as what will entertain them, and care very little about factual accuracy or unbiased relaying of those facts. <br />
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And again, if you want to respond to this, please read the whole damned thing. I'll know if you did simply based on your comments. This took me a long time to write, and I am not going to repeat something that was already covered in this essay. I welcome intelligent conversation and debate, but I don't have the time or the inclination to respond to dick-ish repostes and rebuttals. Be civil, in other words, or don't say anything at all. <br />
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And guns. Leave my damn guns out of this conversation. I'll delete it in a heartbeat if one single mention of fun - I mean....gun control comes up. It's off-topic and just dumb. And a subject for another essay....KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-18573913035794538642017-02-14T01:15:00.001-08:002018-04-15T19:23:59.385-07:00Owning property makes you a property owner, not a good businessman, say Washington insiders<span style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; letter-spacing: 0.125px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yBtVohHr2Qc/WKLJakFm6_I/AAAAAAAABDM/2GJiZdN2gJkBbj21vsdaLflQpODe3AfagCEw/s1600/Trump%2Blist%2Bof%2Bcriminal%2Bactivities.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/12/1630197/-Trump-has-transformed-the-lush-landscape-of-conservative-principles-into-a-magnificent-desolation#comment_65508631</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">I want his fall to be slow, though. And deeply humiliating. He should be in </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">prison</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">, but that tangerine, racist man-baby sits in the Oval Office instead. I want him to fall dramatically. Slowly, painfully and dishonorably. I believe the conclusion is</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"> foregone, inevitable, but he should be made to suffer as he has made the majority of this country suffer . . . </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">through his tirades and lies, his infantile tantrums and his hypocritical insults. His calling Clinton </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βCrooked Hillary</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">β makes me cringe even worse than when I hear the phrase, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βFox News. Fair and balanced.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">β </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">Again, he belongs in an orange jumpsuit (okay, maybe not orange because that might aid in his escape) on a work farm in Kansas somewhere, pickax in hand. Tax dodging, sexual assault, and fraud are just a few for which he has openly admitted </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">β</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"> nay, boasted </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">β</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"> committing. He </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">brags </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">about skipping out on a billion dollars in unpaid taxes, </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">brags </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">about grabbing women by the genitals and forcing his pasty lips on them without their consent (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βI don</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βt even ask. I just kiss them.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">β), and </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">brags </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">about stiffing contractors out of what he owes them and calls it good business; and this utter fool is the leader of the free world? He is a </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">terrible </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">businessman. The only thing in which he has succeeded</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"> is his persistence in insisting that he </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">is </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">as wonderful as he thinks he is</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">, to the point that enough simple-minded fools believed him enough to give him a reality TV show. A scripted show in which multiple takes were allowed to make him look smart/savvy and powerful. And frankly, when was the last time they made a reality show about . . . <i>anyone </i>with even a thimbleful of class?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">But he is a failure in every regard. He isn</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βt smart, he isn</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βt successful (U</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">nless you consider a master bullshitter a success story, except he isn</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βt even any good at that </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">β</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"> anyone paying attention knows when he</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βs lying . . . which is, quite literally, most of the time. Either that, or he simply starts saying words he thinks sound good, without thought or care to their accuracy or impact. Kellyanne Conway has to reach deep every time he missteps, and tries to paint him as this multilayered, cerebral guy, when it is plain as the screen I</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βm staring at that his </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">vocabulary</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"> isn</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βt even multilayered, much less his personality and intellect. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">), he isn</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βt handsome or knowledgeable, or even likable. </span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MOEtrHNamtI/WKLKTBsvrmI/AAAAAAAABDY/ZwT7cB9qBts6_H6gmH2VqDjKIFT_sq0JwCLcB/s1600/Trump%2Bfailures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MOEtrHNamtI/WKLKTBsvrmI/AAAAAAAABDY/ZwT7cB9qBts6_H6gmH2VqDjKIFT_sq0JwCLcB/s320/Trump%2Bfailures.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">Even now, four months later, I am still baffled. And a bit nauseated. He inherited $120 million from his father (and still only worth about that much on paper, so I</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βve read) and then convinces everyone he is successful because he</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βs rich. He</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βs even gotten many to believe he is a self-made man, although it behooves me to ask how you can be self-made when you were born wealthy?</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"> And owning property does not make a person a good businessman. It makes you a property owner, nothing more. All of his actual profit-making endeavors have failed dramatically, i.e., Trump Casinos, Trump Steaks, and Trump University. Paying someone to buy and sell property for you doesn</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βt make you business savvy. It</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">βs acknowledging that you do not have the business acumen to make those decisions yourself, which is </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">kind of </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">smart</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">. But also</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"> lazy. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">I thought the American people had a </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">little </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">more sense than this. Not much more. But surely more than enough not to take a scumbag like Trump seriously as a presidential candidate. I mean, every time he has run in the past, everyone considered it a joke. </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c3736; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">Because it was. </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;">Unfortunately, the joke is now on us. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3736; font-family: "open sans"; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"><br /></span>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-74899436648330511102017-01-10T04:21:00.000-08:002018-01-21T18:46:07.194-08:00Your religion is dying, say religious leaders<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="1ikg1" data-offset-key="3ben4-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="3ben4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I'm fairly and equally intolerant of most religious tenets - particularly those which have no place in the modern, Internet-dominated world. Particularly those that have no relevance to a culture genuinely headed toward moderate - private - belief in whatever the hell you choose to believe in. I'm all for you believing it. Just keep it the hell to yourself and don't try to make it *everyone's* truth, okay? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnqFy7jsmhw&feature=share" target="_blank">Sam Harris isn't preaching hate</a>. He is the only person (besides myself, ahem) who calls Islam on its bullshit without condemning all Islamists . . . but at the same time, yeah, condemning them for their hellish, war-like beliefs. Seriously! Don't show me a turd and try to explain to me it isn't a turd. It's a fucking TURD! I can see it! Smell it! Touch it.....if I want to. Which I don't..............or do I...?</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="7metu-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Every time I see someone write, or hear them say, "Islam is a religion of peace," I want to scream at them (and sometimes do), "Have you read your f----ing Quran lately?" But I don't discriminate - and you'll never accuse me of doing so - because the Big One in the Christian world is also argued to be "a religion of peace." But you don't need to look far to read about a genocide, pedophilia, rape, torture or just utter nonsense happening in large amounts in the Bible. Seriously. Open up a random passage in the Old Testament without looking. My money is on God is killing some folks in said passage for not being scared enough of him. </span><br />
<span data-offset-key="7metu-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Not saying that *some* wisdom cannot be found in these old tomes. I'm saying that we are beyond it now, creating our OWN wisdom because we have access to so much more than they did. (And for the record, NO, they did not have access to heavenly beings. Their "miracles" are either completely fabricated by those who came after, or charlatans' tricks. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(FYI the Bible as a complete text wasn't written or compiled until 400 YEARS after the death of Christ.) Still some HOLY shit though, right??? If you think the Bible, the Quran, the Torah or any other religious text is the inspired Word of God, good on ya, pal. You go and believe the holy hell out of that shit! But when that same text tells you to do bad shit to me and mine, simply because we don't agree with you? That's where you fucked up big time. That's where your ENTIRE way of life screwed you in the ass, pal. Because I. Will. Fuck. You. Up. Without remorse, without hesitation, without guilt and without reservation. I will fucking OWN you. You let that sink in, noble Reader.
I am the nicest fucker you will ever meet, but when you let your religious bullshit deliberately try to influence MY little girl? I will fuck you up. Let there be no mistake, no miscommunication. I ain't your typical tree hugging liberal. I'm that fucking weirdo with all the guns and the attitude. I'm that badass who went and studied martial arts because he wanted to know how to defend himself against assholes like you, the rabid Trump supporters. Sadly, I thought you fucking douchebags were in the minority! Now I got my work cut out for me, apparently. But mistake my kindness for weakness.....please.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e3hor-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">My point - all these desert religions you guys are still grasping onto have literally NOTHING to do with the world today. As my brother used to point out to me in his unexpected wisdom, you can read literally any horoscope from the newspaper and relate it back to yourself. Go ahead. I'll wait. And frankly, astrology makes more sense to me than all the major world religions, even though I know for a fact it's horseshit. </span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vKFsF1HI7Hs/WHSmFV1oXcI/AAAAAAAAA4s/apIxazD1Lhs0RRV4Kk079tepA_g5NZyDgCLcB/s1600/Lucretius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vKFsF1HI7Hs/WHSmFV1oXcI/AAAAAAAAA4s/apIxazD1Lhs0RRV4Kk079tepA_g5NZyDgCLcB/s320/Lucretius.jpg" width="233" /></a><span data-offset-key="68mol-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">They - these ancient, desert religions - cannot coexist comfortably in a world in which language barriers are all but nonexistent. They cannot exist comfortably in a world in which all of the world's information is literally seconds away, at the touch of a fingertip. No wonder all the televangelists are preaching "End Times!" Because it truly is for them, hah. We are outgrowing religion, y'all. And the priests, preachers and imams all see it. They <i>see it </i>and it absolutely terrifies them. That's why televangelists having been saying for nearly half a century that the world is ending. That's why imams are requiring their most avid, shit-crazy soldiers to step up and "prove" whatever the fuck it is they're trying to prove. They're <i>scared. </i>The Information Age does <i>not </i>agree with them, their ideology. I mean, obviously, the answer ain't Scientology, but if we are going to persist in believing in religious dogma, we need to come up with a belief structure that fits US, not desert dwellers who lived two millennia ago. We are beyond that nonsense in every way. We're better than they were. We live longer. We're more knowledgeable, we're smarter, and LITERATE. We can read these religious tomes for ourselves - if you bothered to - and see them for what they are. Utterly ridiculous fairy tales predicated on the idea - no, the strongly held belief - that everything in them is true and goddamn rational! It. Is. NOT. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHHVNCDJrcc/WHSoEQDO45I/AAAAAAAAA44/xUYMwXOqOPcBx7OK52ARSujEixfaYGc4ACLcB/s1600/Einstein%252C%2Bthis%2Bmeme%2Bis%2Bbullshit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHHVNCDJrcc/WHSoEQDO45I/AAAAAAAAA44/xUYMwXOqOPcBx7OK52ARSujEixfaYGc4ACLcB/s320/Einstein%252C%2Bthis%2Bmeme%2Bis%2Bbullshit.jpg" width="320" /></a><span data-offset-key="8h8v9-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And that's another thing that makes me want to pull my hair out. So, so many educated people who still buy into it, too afraid to say what they really think about it for fear of being persecuted by their fellow Muslim/Christian/Jew/Hindu - and I use slashes instead of commas because they are all pretty much the same to me. I admit that I DO want to offend you with this missive, but only enough to make you think. I don't want to offend you so much that you want to kill me. For some, I'm sure it's probably too late. You'll be dancing on my grave after everyone leaves the service. Which is another funny thing you may not know about me - I am perfectly willing to have a Christian burial. I'll do this for my family, for the handful of people that love me, because it will make *them* feel better, and I want them to be happy. I will go to my deathbed knowing that it won't make two shits difference in the grand scheme of things, but if it makes those I love happy, then so be it. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-moqgrTksIT4/WHSpC-UlVFI/AAAAAAAAA5M/UOvtCTYU70MJvHipCH1guhUJEDDv77W6QCLcB/s1600/baby%2Bloves%2Bmama%2Bfunny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-moqgrTksIT4/WHSpC-UlVFI/AAAAAAAAA5M/UOvtCTYU70MJvHipCH1guhUJEDDv77W6QCLcB/s320/baby%2Bloves%2Bmama%2Bfunny.jpg" width="211" /></a><span data-offset-key="81i4c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">One last thing, when my mom was on her deathbed, I told her I had rediscovered Jesus, that I knew I was going to Heaven. Yes, I lied to her. But to see that smile on her face, I would say that same lie a thousand times over. She died, a contented smile on her face, believing that my soul would be alright. She was correct. It will be. I'm a pretty good dude once you get past that religion stuff. Assuming I have a soul. Assuming, if there is a god, that fucker isn't ANYTHING like the terrible beast it's depicted as being in all these ancient desert tomes (sidebar - I find it more than a little hysterical how some lost, ancient manuscripts are considered Bible canon, yet others - just as validated and ancient - are immediately rejected by the Catholic church....which, guess what, Evangelicals? Everything you believe, pretty much, was created by the Catholics....that's funny as hell to me), then yeah, I think I'll be pretty smurfy. And whatever you may think of me, my mom died "knowing" I would meet her in Heaven. To my atheist and agnostic friends who insist they make their parents miserable because mom and dad "just don't get it?" I say, Fuck You, you selfish, insensitive asshole. Costs you nothing. </span></div>
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KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-64008914844223177952017-01-04T06:53:00.001-08:002017-01-05T19:52:40.094-08:00Trump denies allegations of narcissistic personality disorder until he's told it's desirable - now says he's the best NPD in the world, say Washington insiders<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OQK1QqaBpA4/WG0MCVpAOAI/AAAAAAAAA3k/qZ4oFSkeClgJHWVpVLVERyMwQZ4ZY9m3gCLcB/s1600/trevornoahtrumpvotersracistsexist-1280x720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OQK1QqaBpA4/WG0MCVpAOAI/AAAAAAAAA3k/qZ4oFSkeClgJHWVpVLVERyMwQZ4ZY9m3gCLcB/s320/trevornoahtrumpvotersracistsexist-1280x720.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So I'm watching an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMswKahYug" target="_blank"><b>interview with Trevor Noah on CBS</b></a>. And of course the conversation leads to Trump, and Noah's interview with Obama. But I took issue with Noah early in 2016, after discovering he was not who I believed, and to be truthful, wanted, him to be. <span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">I like Noah, I do. He has a genuine sweetness to him, he is ostensibly a really humble guy, and he seems for the most part honest. But as intelligent as he is, he absolutely </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">had</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to know Hillary was the </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">wrong</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> person to run against Trump. She did not have the popularity or the moral fortitude to win. The news media couldn't let go of the ridiculous emails, and Noah couldn't stop gushing over Hillary even when she was well behind Sanders in the polls. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KxRFZ8wYBYA/WGz-mlhy-vI/AAAAAAAAA2s/0oM6cqFKOf85122F0jyPyjmh-lKnlwSMgCLcB/s1600/fox-news-rich-people-paying-rich-people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">And it isn't because I was a Sanders supporter (I was, unashamedly - still am, actually) that Noah's constant <a href="https://mic.com/articles/143309/trevor-noah-tears-down-bernie-sanders-supporters-who-would-vote-for-trump-over-clinton#.UjXLKLr1f" target="_blank">kissing of the hem of Clinton's dress</a> bothered me. It was because it was done so blatantly, and the audacity with which he did it made it clear to me he was being influenced, or outright ordered, by those higher up the food chain to support Hillary publicly. The Democratic National Convention apparently has far more influence over its members than does the Republican National Convention, because the DNC got the establishment candidate they wanted, and the nimrods at the RNC were apoplectic when Trump took the nomination. Indeed, it would not have surprised me all that much if they had rescinded his nomination. Indeed, they had a fucking moral obligation to do so because Trump, simply put, is a </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">bad person</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">.
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forget all the other synonyms with which Trump is commonly - and accurately - associated; words like "xenophobic," (the most Googled word of 2016, incidentally) "racist," "misogynistic," "bigoted," etc. Surely those alone should have disqualified him with the American public. But what really flies in the face of reason is that none of his millions of supporters seemed to mind that <i>he is an admitted sex offender</i>. They did not mind that 12 different women - TWELVE!!! - came forward to testify that he had made inappropriate sexual advances toward them. I can see someone paying off one, maybe even two - but 12??? </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">They did not mind that he made a mockery of the public debate by defending his dick size - repeatedly - on national television. Or the childish and very un-presidential name-calling he can never seem to get enough of. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">They did not mind that he is cripplingly insecure (very likely the source of his name-calling). They did not mind that he has been caught in more lies </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">during his campaign </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">than any other president in history in their entire term(s) in office. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">They did not mind that he was almost </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">literally </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">born with a silver spoon in his mouth - apparently they still believed he knew and understood the problems of the American working class, despite the fact that the man has never done an honest day's work in his life. (Sorry, but merely owning real estate and hiring other people to buy and sell more of it is not </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">work.</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">And they did not mind that he is a textbook asshole. He did exceptionally well with white women in the polls, sadly, and shockingly well with African Americans, considering his natural propensity for offensive language . . . and, you know, that thing he did on the bus that he bragged about . . . the thing which makes him </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">an admitted sex offender</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KxRFZ8wYBYA/WGz-mlhy-vI/AAAAAAAAA2s/0oM6cqFKOf85122F0jyPyjmh-lKnlwSMgCLcB/s1600/fox-news-rich-people-paying-rich-people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KxRFZ8wYBYA/WGz-mlhy-vI/AAAAAAAAA2s/0oM6cqFKOf85122F0jyPyjmh-lKnlwSMgCLcB/s200/fox-news-rich-people-paying-rich-people.jpg" width="195" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Nobody knows the system better than I do," Trump boasted again at the the RNC - which would be insanely laughable if he were not about to be running that same system he knows literally nothing about. One thing he knows about the system very well indeed? How to pander to the fearful. (And how to toot his own horn, of course.) And <b><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201104/conservatives-big-fear-brain-study-finds" target="_blank">conservatives have been clinically proven to be more fearful and aggressive</a> </b>to that which is uncommon or unfamiliar, and they also have a higher tendency to blame others (sadly, it's the poor and downtrodden conservative politicians so shamelessly blame for this country's woes) when things go south. Or rather, fearful, aggressive people who like to blame their problems on others overwhelmingly tend to be conservative, if that makes you feel better. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which brings me to my second point: He literally cannot take criticism. Worse, he does not have the ability to admit any lack of ability or knowledge of, or about, <i>anything.</i></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> According to Trump, he ties his shoes the best, and he is 'amazing' at brushing his teeth. Speaking of teeth, despite any formal training, I am only slightly joking when I say I think he would probably contend that he was the best dentist as well. Hate to keep reusing this word, but here, it is the only one that works, and that is . . . he is </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>literally</i></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the most thin-skinned person I have ever seen. He is bizarrely infantile, or as Jon Stewart put it, "he's like a man-baby." Very appropriate in this context, few could honestly deny. He rants at anyone who disapproves of him, and his is a case of textbook, clinical, <b><a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/basics/definition/con-20025568%EF%BB%BF" target="_blank">narcissistic personality disorder</a>.</b> And it is closely related to sociopathy. </span></span><br />
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KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-34659860520864183992016-12-30T05:14:00.001-08:002017-01-04T07:03:02.519-08:00Corporations still can't afford to pay a living wage despite making record profits, say bankers<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I've said it before, but it deserves repeating. "A house divided cannot stand." I believe that was Thomas Jefferson....one of the founders, anyway. And it is profoundly true. Our leaders want us divided. It makes us easier to control.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cCJllYPnzak/WGZZy6GkfxI/AAAAAAAAA2E/yAe4P_sB8osV-dRwJ8Wukn-LO21Idh8QACLcB/s1600/Record%2BCorporate%2BProfits%2B-%2BO%2527Reilly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cCJllYPnzak/WGZZy6GkfxI/AAAAAAAAA2E/yAe4P_sB8osV-dRwJ8Wukn-LO21Idh8QACLcB/s320/Record%2BCorporate%2BProfits%2B-%2BO%2527Reilly.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">We live in a country dominated wholly by corporate interests, in which almost every legislation enacted by our duly elected corporate cronies is aimed at providing those same corrupt, corporate entities with yet more power, more control over ou<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">r economy, and thus our lives. They're the same people who lobbied Congress for "Corporate Personhood." Go ahead and look that up. I'll wait. These evil white men are making RECORD PROFITS, people. Easily researched. In fact, I'll do a little of my own to support my claim, although I have been doing so for years. And I say, "evil," because the whole scheme has a sinister quality to it unlike anything I have ever seen or imagined. The control they exercise over the direction of the U.S., and indeed, the world, is so complete that they literally control every facet of our lives. Without them, we cannot cook, see, or stay warm. Without their drugs, we would die. And our Federal Bank is privately owned, which is another subject entirely, but worth at least a footnote here.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But if that's the case, and it very decidedly is, why do they refuse to pay a living wage? That's the question we need to be asking. Probably the <i>most</i> important question of all. Besides, it is a sociological fact that happier workers are more productive workers. And how do you make an employee happy? You don't give him a honey baked ham at Christmas or throw a party. You pay him what he's worth. It is amazingly simple, bigly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Again, if they are making <i>record profits</i>, which is, again, easily researched and confirmed, why do they still refuse to pay a living wage? Why are we having to work two and three jobs just to get the mortgage/rent paid? It wasn't that long ago when one household income could support an entire family. They're making record profits strictly BECAUSE they refuse to pay a living wage. Well, maybe not "strictly." They're far more sophisticated even than that. They have screwing Americans out of a dollar down to a science.</span></div>
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KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-25136120332291397622016-12-30T01:53:00.000-08:002016-12-30T01:53:08.315-08:00PUBLIC NOTICEI would like to continue this blog. It is relevant, funny, and I don't need confirmation to know my experiences - and my unique ability to articulate those experiences - reflect volumes of thoughts and adventures worth sharing. Even moreso, I hope it resonates with you, my treasured readers. However, having said that (even bragged a little), I find that I have less and less time to manage it. Sure, I can tap out the words pretty quickly, but putting together the photos, keeping things consistent and noteworthy, compiling it in a way that grabs readers' attention is the real time killer.<br />
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I am looking for volunteers. Someone(s) who may or may not agree with me on everything, but who likes my delivery of it nonetheless. I don't get all of the mechanics available to me on Blogspot, first of all. I know I can add buttons, advertisements, other stuff, but I don't really know how to go about it, and I don't really have time to do it, to search for photos, gifs and other media, or the attention span to learn it all. But I'm betting there are a few readers out there who do. Because I do not imagine there are many - if any - of my readers who are uneducated. I don't write for the uneducated. I don't write to change people's minds. I write to confirm your own ideas, to articulate them, to put proverbial pen to proverbial paper for <i>you</i> - not me. And for the record, <i>all</i> education is voluntary. Being educated is a matter of <i>choice, </i>not upbringing or class. I am educated not because I attended college but because I <i>chose </i>to verse myself in those things which interested me. I sailed through college with an A average. Wasn't hard. I have an awesome short-term memory. Yay for me. Took good notes, read them 20 minutes before an exam, and viola! Aced it. Wanna put money on how much of it I actually retained, though? Yeah, only the parts I gave a shit about. That's what I remember from college. Stuff that interested me. Not one whisker more or less.<br />
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And I do not contend that I am smarter than you simply because I know how to put words together, or that I have a bachelor's degree - which equates to what an associate's degree was 15 years ago. I am no smarter (or stupider) than a cabinet maker, an accountant, a dog groomer, a doctor, a cashier or a machinist. In fact, I know people in all those aforementioned professions, and they are among the most intelligent people I have ever met. Indeed, the richest man I know - a vascular surgeon - is also the most foolish, reckless piece of shit I know. We all have a set - or sets - skills. Mine just happens to be putting words (and on an equally important level, music notes) together to make a <i>thing. </i>Makes no difference what you do for a living these days. It doesn't reflect your intelligence or who you are as an individual. We're all just trying to survive. Took me way too long to come to that (now) very obvious conclusion. We do what we must to carry on. Let your career define you and . . . you let your <i>job </i>- that thing you get up in the morning dreading - define who you are as a person. That's just lame, dude. Your family, your goals, your expectations, your art, your mind - let that define you. But if you're digging ditches at a waste management facility, I'm hoping you don't let thoughts of work keep you up at night. Just saying. <br />
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Of course there are exceptions. If you're an artist, I completely understand if your work defines you. I'm an artist, and my work <i>as </i>an artist defines me as well. Unfortunately, no one has bothered to mention that I should be <i>fucking paid for it!</i> Ahem, but I digress. If you work for a charity, or you're a physician (<i>not </i>a douchebag vascular surgeon), or you're a teacher - yeah, your work defines who you are, and it damn well should. But hell, I did floor covering (tile, carpet, hardwood) for 20 years on and off (mostly on), but it sure as shit didn't define me. I had to virtually fight my way out of it, still fighting that construction worker stigma - not that there's anything wrong with it - and when you're trying to change career fields when your body simply refuses to do the same shit you used to do without thinking, well, believe me when I tell you, it ain't easy. Thing is, since leaving that line of work, I haven't made even remotely the kind of money I made back then. Back then, I had more money than I knew what to do with, but I was miserable. Now, I am poorer than I've ever been, but also the happiest I've ever been. Funnier still, the whole time I was in school, I was persecuted by my coworkers who never tired of calling me "college boy," although they said it with love. But there is an organic (dunno why I used that word because I hate it...soooo overused nowadays....but it fits, here) resistance to transitioning from blue collar to white collar work. I haven't yet been able to put my finger on it, but it's there. Oh, it's there, goddammit. Kind of feels like you're trying to walk forward but someone has a hold on your shirt collar. Like, "Where do you think <i>you're </i>going, bitch boy?" That's the voice in my head. Always calling me a "bitch boy." Bastard. I'm on to you, Boy Bitch.<br />
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So! If you like what I'm doing, if you're pickin' up what I'm puttin' down, please be kind and message me. I need, and would very much like, your assistance in keeping this thing going. And I will proudly credit you for your contributions.<br />
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Thanks in advance - Hat.KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-20852618822638711712016-12-30T00:39:00.000-08:002016-12-30T00:39:25.245-08:00"I'll take Eastern gods for $800, Alex."So, this conversation grew into a <i>thing. </i>You know, one of those <i>things. </i>But unlike most of them, it didn't go nuclear, no anger directed at anyone - except for some very mild anger from myself at some well-perceived condescension - but seriously, it was quite possibly the most calm and rational religious debate I've ever had. And in fairness, I will include the counter arguments. Well, there's a little mirth mixed in with the fairness, but no one will be able to say I wasn't. Fair, that is. Unless by "fair" you mean that we were all equally intelligent and educated. To that I would say, ask them....behind a shitty, toothy smile. Oh, and please read through to the end. Or skip to the end. That's the best part.<br />
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Thus, my original post:<br /><br />
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Okay, just so I have this straight. I can rape who I want, kill who I want, rob who I want (I don't want any of these things, for the record), and I'm forgiven and justified just so long as I ask Jesus to forgive me, right? And after I ask for forgiveness, I can go back out, do the same thing over again, and I'm forgiven once again, correct? So...pretty much anything goes? I come to you and kill your daughter. I'm forgiven - because I'm a Christian - and you have to forgive me as well? Because YOU'RE a Christian?</div>
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It's a flawed system we're working with here, people. So far as I can see at least. Regardless of what I do to you, I'm forgiven. That isn't holy. And it certainly isn't justice. It's called murder, rape and robbery. And it isn't just a sin, it is against conventional law. And those laws weren't based on a religious text. They are based in simple human interaction. Ego. Era. In Bible times, it was perfectly acceptable for a man - a MAN ONLY - to have more than one wife. Why is that, though? Why was it cool for a dude to have two wives, but not so much for a wife to have two husbands? It still blows my mind that the Vatican still tries to justify the Old Testament.</div>
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You literally CANNOT be a Christian and believe in ANY of the teachings or prophecies put forth by the Old Testament. The very concept disallows, delegitimizes everything put forth as LAW from the Old Testament.</div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">That was me. Here are some of the responses. And please believe me, these are the most intelligent ones.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Amanda G. - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You said murder and rape</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was speaking to a " imaginary" person on some of the response</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Amanda G.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One gauge would be not to use the Lord's name in vain</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Ten Commandments </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">I still am guilty of even that sometimes </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Not perfect by any means just sharing my belief</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Amanda G. - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think God gave you a beautiful and healthy, sweet daughter. Wife seems to be also... Maybe that's two things to thank him for. Love you always. Good night <span class="_5mfr _47e3" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle;"><img aria-hidden="true" class="img" height="16" src="https://www.facebook.com/images/emoji.php/v6/fce/1/16/1f600.png" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: -3px;" width="16" /><span class="_7oe" style="display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; width: 0px;">π</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hat Thomas</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Think so, do you? Is that why God is taking that wife away from me in two months?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Amanda G. - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No didn't know </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sorry</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anger, bitterness and doubt are emotions. I feel them too. I'm sure we all do. I am truly sorry you are going through a very difficult time. Again, I love you Uncle Joshua. Also, you posted about this I thought you wanted feed back. I didn't attack just made a statement. I won't bring it up to you ever.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hat Thomas -</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Actually? I've never felt freer. Looking forward to doing things on my own, my way. Looking forward to this new adventure. Change is good. I will always love my wife, what we had, but it's time to move on, and we both know it.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">"</span></span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Bob M.</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ok dude,cold truth,,,,you have never been weak,,,,this seems a matter of self opinion ,,, I've always held your personal strength and wisdom in the highest regard,,,,may I suggest you view yourself in the same manor?"</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Hat Thomas - </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm sick of it, Bob. The constant appeals of, "You should come to my church." Like that's going to show me the way. You know how many churches I've been to? Yeah, me neither. I lost count. Hundreds, likely. Because I *wanted* to believe in something. T</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">hing is, I just got sick of that ONE thing they kept wanting me to believe in. Turned out, that Eastern desert religion didn't really fit my way of thinking. You guys know that Christianity - the religion that dominates Western culture and that 70% of Americans subscribe to - is an ARAB religion, right? Those guys were ARABS. The same people our government seeks to eradicate worldwide? The same people most right wing, Christian conservatives wish would simply go away? Their very morality is made up of an ARAB religion. Sorry, but if I'm going to subscribe to a religion, I'd prefer it be one my own ancestors came up with. Just saying. I don't. Don't get me wrong. But if I were to commit my life to some kind of faith, it damn sure wouldn't be one from a region where women are doormats and the wages of sin is death.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Amanda G. -</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Death in a spiritual sense. That's what that means. The man should love his wife more than he loves himself because to love his wife IS to love himself. They are one in Christ.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">^^ Because that explains everything we just discussed, of course ^^</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Hat Thomas -</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Did you not read any of it prior to the part about women being doormats?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Bob M. -</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's about being right with you,,,,god may or may not be part of your life,,,, but you must live,correct ?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Hat Thomas -</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's about being honest, and yes, right. I want to live right, morally, And to do so, I CANNOT follow the Arab Bible.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Hat Thomas -</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm not saying it's wrong for everyone - plainly that isn't the case - but it is very decidedly wrong for me.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><u>And here's where I go off:</u></span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Hat Thomas -</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't personally commit acts that require forgiveness, Amanda. Like, rarely, if not never. I just don't engage in that kind of behavior anymore. So now it falls upon me to seek out these so-called sins where there are none to be found. But, as Christ</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">ians, you go DEEP. You make sins out of literally nothing. Impure thoughts? What is the definition of impure (sexual? human thought?) and who defines it ultimately? Not the Bible, that's certain. At least the Catholics have a system by which they gauge such things. Protestants cannot even boast that one simple thing. Who decides which thoughts are bad and which aren't? </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="UFICommentBody _1n4g" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">For that matter, who decides whether or not thought itself is bad? I think therefore I sin? Such horseshit! Whoever came up with that ideology was either rutted in guilt or trying to control others who were. I have a thought. I have sinned. That makes no fucking sense. You ask me to believe what you believe....when I know for truth what you believe is based in lies, deceit and utterly contrived nonsense. Don't ever ask me to believe what you believe, because I have this handy little pocket tool. It's called *reason*. And it has served me well. Don't ever ask me to believe what you believe again (don't even bring it up in conversation) because I will - without hesitation or remorse - take it apart, bit by ridiculous bit. I have no patience for it anymore. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">You know the final answer I get from people now? "Well, I guess the lord will have to show you in his own way." Or some such nonsense. You know why, though? Because faith can never stand against reason. Never. Never has been able to, never will be able to, and until you or someone else can say one, clear, definitive thing worth saying, I stand by reason and reason alone. Faith has done absolutely shit for me, and believe me, I have lived as a person of faith. To no avail, of course. Those who seek comfort in God, Jesus, Allah, more power to you. If it makes you feel better to believe in some imaginary guy living up in the clouds who has nothing but love for you, bully for you. But I have a newsflash for you: What has Santa Claus ever done for you? Name one goddamned thing.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">"B</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">efore you pray for my soul, consider this. I am not doomed. I am one of the very few who has moved away from religion, but closer to God. I cannot see Him in the pages of the Bible - a book which has no direct bearing on me - and I cannot see Him in the same places you see him....because you are told where to look for Him. I wasn't. And in that light, I was made to see. My mind is clear, open, untroubled by sin and guilt and regret. My path was not easy - indeed, it has been uniquely difficult - but I am at a place where I find your concern for my spiritual well-being just a bit condescending. As if you know something, or are in touch with something I am not. Let me reassure you, that isn't the case. If anything, it is the other way around. I walk free of guilt, of regret, free of fear and recrimination. I stand tall and proud in my uniqueness, my oneness. I live how I have always imagined I should live. I am happy, most of the time, and I fear nothing. Because there is no challenge that I have faced yet which I have not overcome, soundly.</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span><br />
<br style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">But if it makes you - any of you - feel better to lament for my soul, by all means, go ahead. But please do so on your own time. I am whole. I do not need, nor want, your god's assistance, provided he ever even offered it. Which I highly doubt. I am good. No thanks to him, but in large and grateful thanks to you, my family and friends.</span></div>
KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-11520890089490331632016-11-03T03:26:00.001-07:002016-11-03T03:26:19.467-07:00Ebonic dialect say you stupid, say source<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Because classrooms should teach children about the importance of self esteem, not rip it from them . . ." John Oliver, <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8yiYCHMAlM#t=748.01434" target="_blank">Last Week, Tonight</a>. </i>Says the guy from England who literally had </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">one</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> black kid in his entire school . . . Seriously though, I don't have any problem with my kid going to a racially diverse school. I strongly encourage it, in fact. We desperately need diversity in our schools, if for no other reason than that it gives us one of the few opportunities to understand one another, in a culture that is still racially segregated, only because it's more convenient and comfortable than it would be otherwise. Or so we all seem to think. "Diversity," however, is the key word. If my daughter were the only white kid in a majority black school, would I be concerned if she came home speaking Ebonics? You betcha. And here is where I get into some very . . . sensitive territory. But if I don't address it - as eloquently and with as much dignity as I am able - then who will? Fox News? Bubba Jethro's Blog? (I'd bet my next paycheck there is indeed such a blog . . . or one so similar in name and scope that it makes no difference.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Is the Ebonic dialect inherently wrong? Well, that depends on who you ask, actually. The vast majority of educated people, I believe, would say that it is, if only on a grammatical level. Personally, having been a writer for a living, I would have a problem with it because I have striven since my daughter first began to speak to teach her proper English. I wouldn't be worried about her safety, and I don't honestly care what the ethnicity is of the man (or woman) she eventually falls in love with. I <span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">do</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> care, very much, about her future, however.
And as liberal as I am, I would also have a problem with how people would identify her in public if she spoke Ebonics. Not because she's white, not because she's a girl, and not because she's a <i>white girl. </i>Regardless of how open-minded a person is, there is a disconnect that happens when you hear a white kid talking like he or she grew up in the ghetto. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with Ebonics (other than the fact that it seems to be deliberately removed from the common American dialect, and improper English to boot). I am saying that when my daughter graduates college and goes on her first job interview, I want to ensure that she impresses whoever is interviewing her. And while nearly all of us use slang to one degree or another, I want to know that all these years I have been teaching her proper grammar and word usage hasn't been for nothing. For that matter, I want her to </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">graduate</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> college, and she has little chance to do so if she cannot use, or refuses to speak, proper English.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I didn't write it...but I admit that I have thought it. And apparently I am not the only one. Is it racist? I hope not. But I am quite certain there are some who would view it as such. What say you, Spike Lee? {answer below}</td></tr>
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Go ahead, get along with calling me a racist. Only, I've had this same conversation with my black friends - yes, I have many. I live in the Deep South. And believe it or not, we Southerners - blacks and whites - get along a hell of a lot better than Hollywood would have you believe. Indeed, I'd guess that we're a shit-ton more diverse than the rest of the country (for instance, Mississippi has the highest interracial marriage rate in the country, per capita . . . go figure). </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Oh my . . ." says George Takei</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">My friends and I agree on one thing for certain - whatever the reason is, and I am by no means trying to define that reason, people who speak with the Ebonic dialect, regardless of skin color, are largely viewed in the professional world as under- or uneducated. I have friends who slip between Ebonic English and proper English effortlessly, depending on who they're around. Nothing wrong with that either. I've noticed my Southern accent thickens and thins depending on who <i>I'm</i> around. I think we do this subconsciously. But to disregard proper English in a society in which education is viewed as an invaluable priority is called <i>deliberate ignorance</i>. We are all taught how to speak properly in grade school. Whether or not we choose to speak properly has a lot to do with the environment in which we live, I am aware. However, the way you speak quite literally can define your level of education, particularly in the eyes of a potential employer. We <i>do </i>control how we speak. The way you speak is a <i>choice.</i> I can tolerate ignorance, to an extent. But </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">deliberate ignorance</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to me, is intolerable.ο»Ώ</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And here I thought <i>I </i>was the asshole? Nope. Spike, you da man...da asshole, racist man, that is. Oh, and your movies suck. Just thought I'd throw that out there.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-12044436761045545362016-10-24T01:50:00.000-07:002016-10-24T01:50:12.509-07:00Police aren't military and military aren't police, says pundit<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think it's very telling that people get so incensed when cops are threatened, but no one - until recently - seemed to think it mattered much when people felt, or were, threatened by cops. I'm a white guy, and I've been beaten severely for literally no reason whatsoever. I was sober, I wasn't belligerent, aggressive or sarcastic. I was asked a question that I did not take as rhetorical, "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to, boy?" said in an unprovoked, aggressive tone. I answered simply, and hesitantly, "You?" And the runt cop and three of his buddies dragged me out of my friend's car and proceeded to beat me mercilessly with their Mag Lights. Cops </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">want</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to be feared. They proudly state now that it isn't their job to protect or serve, but to enforce the law. Since when are the two separate?
In a separate case, I was at a road block and they told me to pull over to the side. I said simply, "Why am I being pulled over?" The cop at my window turned to his buddy and said, "Do we need to teach this fuck a lesson?" My own elderly mother, before she died, was protesting the cops beating the shit out of my brother, who was merely trying to protect our niece from a violent boyfriend, and they threatened to take her to jail. Furthermore, they beat him so badly that his arm got </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">split</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> open from the force of their baton blows. It got infected and the doctors were not able to sew it up as a result. He had to keep gauze stuffed in it for months and eventually got sepsis from it, which subsequently weakened his heart. He died a few months afterward from a massive coronary. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looked a little something like this...only more human.</td></tr>
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Point being, people fear cops with good reason. They're not trained to investigate anything anymore - so we can just dispense with the whole idea that they're the "investigative arm of the government" nonsense. They're hired guns, plain and simple. Worse, their training is far more akin to that received by paramilitary units than that of traditional police work. Worse still, by all evidence I've seen, they enjoy it. Most of them don't seem to be doing it because they feel like they're giving back to their communities. The few that do are the exception, not the rule. And they sure as hell aren't doing it for the pay. No, they do it because of how powerful it makes them feel. And believe me - ask any politician, business owner, or corporate executive, and if they're being honest, they'll tell you there is </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">nothing</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> more intoxicating or more addictive than power. And frankly, other than becoming or drug lord or the like, becoming a cop is one of the very few avenues in which a largely uneducated, middle class redneck can ever achieve power. </span><br />
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And before you respond with the predictable, "What the fuck do you know about it?" or "Not all cops are like that" yada yada, my brother-in-law is a cop, three close friends of mine are cops, my next door neighbor is a cop, and my ex-girlfriend's best friend dated at least five cops during the two years we dated. And those don't even number among the countless cops I have interviewed as a reporter for the last ten years. Suffice to say, I've had ample experience with them, and with the exception of my two friends (yeah, the third is pretty typical, but he's hilarious so I keep him around), my experiences have been largely negative. And while I don't fear them anymore, it's because I have spent so much time around them, and most of them in my community know who I am. The last thing any cop wants is to piss off a journalist. If he has any sense, that is. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">All that to say, if a middle class white man with no criminal record has reason to fear them, you're a goddamn fool if you think blacks have no reason to fear them. Beat cops are not </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">trained</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to ask questions first. They are trained to control a situation, then, if they happen to think about it, they </span><span style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">might</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ask questions. But that's usually reserved for the detectives. And sadly, people in poor communities are often not only unaware that that is how cops are trained to handle a situation, they are also taught very young that cops are bad and not there to help them at all, to treat them as the enemy (which they very decidedly are) and never to trust them.
Lastly, a militarily trained police force is not equipped to "police" anyone. The military is a machine designed for one purpose - to kill. Just as marines should not be required to police occupied countries because of their training - and they'll tell you quick that they aren't trained to do so - neither should police be acting as a military unit. You don't send a dentist in to treat pneumonia anymore than you would send a regular doctor in to fill a cavity. Yeah, their training is vaguely similar, but neither is qualified to do the other's job. Capiche?ο»Ώ</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you tell the difference?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah, me neither...oh, wait, those other guys are wearing green. But isn't that army col---? Nevermind...</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-74325013643479781682016-10-22T19:22:00.000-07:002018-07-08T14:23:13.315-07:00Tiny hands can find their way under skirts easier, boasts Trump<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trump's biggest problem - aside from being a racist, xenophobic, insecure, mean-spirited, ignorant, misogynistic, infantile, petulant little man-baby with extraordinarily tiny hands (I </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">really</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> noticed them that first debate. I mean, his fingers are shorter than his palms! Look at your hands. Are your fingers shorter than your palms? No! Because you're normal, lol.) - is that he cannot seem to resist hiring vapid, empty-headed, blonde pretty-girls to speak for him publicly. I'm not saying or implying that </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">all</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> blonde-haired pretty-girls are vapid and empty-headed. Just the ones he favors hiring.ο»Ώ</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What's that you're about to say, Dumpster? Starts with an F...</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Trump: win, lose or draw, I will be happy," the news ticker on CNN stated. Thing is, Dump, most of us don't </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">want</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> you to be happy. Most of us know with certainty that you are the very last person who deserves happiness. You are an evil man, Dumpster, a petty, vicious, spiteful, little man-baby who is the very definition of sociopath, who has made it plain that the only happiness with which you're concerned is your own. Again, the very definition of a sociopath. And while I admit that your low cunning has brought you to the realization that you can appeal to Man's baser motivations (i.e., fear, xenophobia, hate, misogyny, pettiness and greed) to further your own ends, what you have done for the thinkers among us is to make us more acutely aware of how much further </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">we</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have to go in order to thwart despicable monsters like yourself. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Eww.....is this for real? This is sick. I mean this from the very bottom of my soul: If you believe Hillary deleting some emails somehow equates, or even bigger fishes, Trump's crotch grabbing and sexual assault, you're morally bankrupt and should be banned from voting altogether. You're just a bad person. If there is a Hell, you will </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">certainly</span><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> wind up there, without doubt. And if there is no Hell and you end up voting for Trump anyway, there is no justice in the universe.
He is a </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">BAD</span><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> person, philosophically, intellectually, personally, and fundamentally. Sure, Clinton is a liar - as are literally </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">ALL</span><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> politicians - because no one, not a soul gets to that level of power without having fucked a few people over. But she isn't a rapist, to my knowledge. She isn't a pedophile, a philanderer, a grossly insecure, egomaniacal man-baby. Nor is she openly racist, nor is she xenophobic (for you Trump dummies, that means fear of anyone who "ain't lahk you..."), nor is she misogynistic, nor is she wholly insensitive to...well, every goddamn thing he disregards. The Dumpster cares about no one but The Dumpster. It is so painfully obvious that I cannot help but doubt your mental grasp on reality if that isn't also exceedingly plain to you. But go ahead and vote for that bombastic fool. If he's elected, you will get </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">precisely what you deserve.</span><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;">
P.S. Please, I beg of you, if "big, scary words" such as 'bombastic' and 'fundamentally' intimidate you, feel free to do a quick Internet/Google search of the terms. We smart liberals didn't go through all the trouble of making literally </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">ALL</span><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> available human knowledge accessible to your very fingertips for nothing...fucking ingrates.ο»Ώ</span>
All politicians lie, and they get away with it. Anyone who pays even the slightest attention to politics can pick that up in just a few short moments on the evening news, and a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">nyone who acts like it's something new or something that just cannot be tolerated is delusional</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">. As distasteful as that is, we have unfortunately learned to live with it and, if not accept it necessarily, at least deal with it. But liars do not necessarily make bad leaders. Few can argue the advantages Americans enjoyed during the first Clinton administration, and we </span><span style="background: rgb(255 , 255 , 255); border: 0px; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">all</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> know he was a liar. No, if you want to go after a true liar and criminal, why isn't George W. Bush in jail? He lied about WMD's and bogged us down in <i>the longest war in our nation's history! </i>Conservatives are quick to say, "Well, he really believed Hussein did have WMD's." No he didn't. And they know he didn't. He wanted to stimulate the Military Industrial Complex and the billions he and his daddy - and his VP - could make fueling that war. </span><br />
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No, what makes a poor leader is poor judgment, poor temperament, and a blatant disregard for anyone who thinks or believes differently from he or she. What makes a fascist leader is someone who threatens to silence the press, as you have done repeatedly, Dumpster. What makes a dictator is someone who would jail - or even kill - his or her opposition once he or she has reached power, which you have threatened to do.
People who would vote for such a man for the highest political office in the world are either woefully ignorant of facts, history and basic ethical principles, or are so steeped in right wing religious dogma that they literally cannot see beyond it . . . or they're simply evil. They may not even know they're evil - few people believe they're actually evil, even those African dictators in the Congo and elsewhere who torture and castrate anyone even suspected of opposing them. Most people in that vein believe that what they're doing is right and good, or at least they are very good at convincing themselves that that is the case.</span><br />
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Trump is an evil man, plain and simple. A truly ugly man, both inside and out. And I sincerely believe he knows it, which is likely part of the reason he is the way he is. But I don't think he believes he is evil - indeed, he has convinced himself, or he would like us to believe at least, that literally every single thing he does is deliberate, great, and without flaw in result or execution. Again, he is a textbook sociopath who, if he single-handedly launched World War III, could easily convince himself of the righteousness of his actions and the perfection of his plans, and try heartily to make everyone love him still - which is notable in particular, because he spends such an inordinate amount of time telling everyone how great he is, how great his business is, how successful he is, how many beautiful women he's slept with, how flawless <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">he</span> is in general, that it all just screams of his crippling insecurity. Maybe it all stems from those tiny little hands . . . and that other tiny appendage generally associated with short fingers and small hands. Who knows? Who actually cares, at this point? He has hit the self-destruct button on his Oval Office designs (thank all the gods throughout time), sabotaged <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">any</span> chance he might have had for a political career in the future (let us hope), all because he could not stop being Trump long enough for Trump to win. He is his own worst enemy, but he literally cannot stop himself. His insecurity simply won't allow for it.ο»Ώ<br />
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Update: I regretfully, woefully, and tragically must eat my words. Ignorant Americans got just what they deserved. Good luck with that. I'm moving to Canada.KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-31259712911559830822016-10-14T08:55:00.000-07:002016-10-15T03:06:01.437-07:00Homosexuality is part of natural selection, religious objection is sick, expert says<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">The only logical argument against homosexuality is that two men or two women cannot produce children together. Proliferation of the species. I get that. But as I have stated before, our planet is currently overpopulated. We are rapidly running out of resources. And just as most of us men were born with an innate attraction to women, so were homosexuals born with an innate attraction to their same sex. It isn't perverted, it isn't wrong, and it isn't an aberration. In fact, it's natural selection at its most acute. Evolution has a way of balancing itself out, and what is more plainly evidence of that fact than homosexuality? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">We were not, every single one of us, put on this planet to procreate. If that were the case, we would have hit ten billion of us 100 years ago. A full 10% of the world's population is homosexual. So to say it is a sin is to say that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1w-K4DbJMk" target="_blank"><i><b>God erred</b></i></a>, because homosexuals are <i>born</i> that way. It isn't - it never has been for any of them - a choice. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">My friend, who is a lesbian, said she started to feel attracted to women at age <i>five</i>, long before she even understood what it meant to be sexually attracted to <i>anyone</i>. And despite her parents best efforts, she remains that way to this day. She didn't <i>choose</i> to be attracted to women. My God, who would willingly <i>choose</i> to be a pariah? I am myself a pariah, through no fault of my own, simply because I am not a Christian in an overwhelmingly Christian-dominated region. It sucks being a pariah. It's not fun. Hell, I didn't choose to think the way I think. I didn't ask anyone for the clarity I now have. I didn't pray for "discernment," as the Charismatic Christians called it back in the church where I grew up. But boy, howdy, did I get it! In spades! And the attention isn't anything approaching positive attention . . . that might actually be desirable. But the current version, let me assure you, sure as hell ain't fun. And my quickly-dwindling friends list on Facebook tells me loud and clear that my stances and ideas make people uncomfortable (which is <i><b>kinda sorta</b></i> fun, actually).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">I don't say all this just to see my own words in print. I don't say it because people want to hear what I have to say. But <i>clearly</i> they/you desperately <b>need</b> to hear it. "Hate the sin, not the sinner," my ass. That's pretzel logic. Because what you deem to be sin is only sinful in <i>your</i> eyes. What you think is sin cannot even be agreed upon by your fellow Christians, much less taken as a universal truth. Thus, your idea of sin is relative! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">The Christian Bible is the most hypocritical religious tome ever penned, yet somehow scholars and leaders for the last 1500 years have managed to use it to their ends unfailingly and unflinchingly, and even worse, a U.S. politician cannot even hope to get elected without professing affiliation and allegiance to Christianity. And all any of it has brought us is ruin. Were it not for religious fear of the unknown, science and technology would be far more advanced than it currently is; re: Coepernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Newton, et. al., all of whom were persecuted for thinking outside the box, as it were. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">Again, I did not choose to think the way I think. Logic and rationale made me what I am. It is a miserable acceptance of being, who I am today. I am not a happy person, likely because I cannot un-know the things I now know . . . among other things. It would be far more pleasant to accept the hypothesis that some divine, all-knowing, omnipotent being existed who could evaporate all my problems with a nod and a smile. I wanted more than anyone I know to be a good Christian, to praise God and be accepted among my brethren. Instead, what happened is when I got turned inward, which is where religious thought invariably leads a thinking person, I realized that the things that were being preached to me were inherently <i>wrong</i>. I could not accept the idea that I was a member of some special club and that everyone with whom I identified and called friend who didn't happen to be in that same club were condemned to eternal suffering. That's what really killed it for me. Eternal. Not just a year or two. <i>Forever</i>. <i>For</i> <i>all time</i>. For the really dumb reason that they were not raised the same way as I was. As my best friend, Anleigh, would happily interject here, "That's sick."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">And so it is . . . sick, that is. It is effectively saying that a man raised in an African tribe his whole life, never having known the religion of the White Man, believing in his native gods and traditions as anyone would who is raised in a particular religious culture, is doomed to suffer an eternity in hell-fire. What kind of sick, twisted, psychotic god would inflict that kind of punishment on one of his creations? This same man who has done nothing but work hard and provide for his family, who's done exactly as he was expected to do by his community . . . he's screwed because he doesn't belong to the same club as me? That's some sick shit. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">And that same, sick belief is encased in a religious tome which says expressly <i>that.</i> I cannot get behind that kind of belief structure. I understand those who do so out of fear. I understand those who do so because they were raised that way. But I will never understand someone who comes to that kind of belief clear-eyed and cognizant of all the consequences.</span></span>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-1858890022817205542016-10-08T19:11:00.003-07:002016-10-08T19:12:07.954-07:00Trump will appoint self as cabinet members, says Trump"I have a good brain. I've said a lot of things." Trump on <a href="http://www.cc.com/video-clips/hg1z7s/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-imagining-president-trump-s-cabinet" target="_blank">who he will consult</a> once he's president. More later.KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-23034201777376273412016-10-08T01:26:00.001-07:002016-10-08T01:26:32.914-07:00Hat Thomas - Knight in Shining Armor<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NvNg9yx7iO4" width="459"></iframe>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-90478256100636506112016-09-28T02:38:00.002-07:002016-10-28T12:13:43.976-07:00Trump is a poster-child of honesty . . . according to Trump<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Well, here it is election time and, unfortunately, most of you have no idea who it is you're voting for. Well, friends, I am here to save the day. I know . . . most of you think that "this guy is just a shill Hillary supporter and his opinion doesn't mean shit." In this instance, among most others, however, you would be wrong.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">According to Mr. Donald Trump, he respects women, race, and all those things that liberals take for granted . . . or </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alicia-machado-donald-trump_us_57431d11e4b00e09e89f8aa4" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">does he</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">? </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But don't take my word for it, just ask the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html?_r=1" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">numerous women he has objectified over the years</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. I feel like I shouldn't even have to bother with this . . . that's the problem. I shouldn't, but I must. Because despite the fact that there are multiple legit operations touting his absurdly inappropriate leanings, there still exists this massive fan base who seem to think he can do no wrong. To those people, I feel overwhelmed to ask, "WHY?"</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Who exactly IS Trump that he can make you toss aside your morals, your sense of making the world a better place? Is it because he promises peace where none exists? Prosperity where none can be had? Why do you believe his poorly-laid lies? Seriously, the vast majority of the things he says are <i><a href="http://www.liberalamerica.org/2015/12/02/13-groups-donald-trump-alienated/" target="_blank">regularly and routinely denied</a> </i>by the institutions by whom he indicts. Does that surprise you? Literally every person, place, industry or institution - and they are legion - who have come against him publicly have done so<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/27/politics/donald-trump-insults-groups-list/index.html" target="_blank"> </a><i><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/27/politics/donald-trump-insults-groups-list/index.html" target="_blank">at his own behest</a>. </i>Furthermore, he makes claims about his own worth which are simply untrue. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">His net worth, for instance. He has yet to produce a tax return, which says - or should say - an abundance about his dealings as a businessman. Only, Mitt Romney, his contemporary, never produced his own tax returns until the last minute, and lost by a landslide. With that in mind, Donald, PLEASE withhold your tax return. Please! </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Is Hillary Clinton our savior? Probably not. I hope she is, certainly, but I have no deeply ground hopes that she will fix all our problems as a nation. That said, our nation CANNOT be "fixed" by a single individual, regardless of that individual's powers. <i>We</i> must come together, as a nation, as a <i>people</i>. We are <i>more </i>than the sum of our parts. We, as Americans, lead the world in Morality. Yes. We do. For several reasons, but for one, because we lead the world in <i>entertainment.</i> It is up to us, as Americans, to lead by example.<br /><br />By all means, Donald, keep those facts </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">to yourself.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">factcheck.org, </span></span>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-12631388152693889082016-09-28T02:38:00.000-07:002018-07-08T14:15:46.264-07:00Trump is a poster-child of honesty, says Trump<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Well, here it is election time and, unfortunately, most of you have no idea who it is you're voting for. Well, friends, I am here to save the day. I know . . . most of you think that "this guy is just a shill Hillary supporter and his opinion doesn't mean shit." In this instance, among most others, however, you would be wrong.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">According to Mr. Donald Trump, he respects women, race, and all those things that liberals take for granted . . . or </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alicia-machado-donald-trump_us_57431d11e4b00e09e89f8aa4" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">does he</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">? </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But don't take my word for it, just ask the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html?_r=1" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">numerous women he has objectified over the years</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. I feel like I shouldn't even have to bother with this . . . that's the problem. I shouldn't, but I must. Because despite the fact that there are multiple legit operations touting his absurdly inappropriate leanings, there still exists this massive fan base who seem to think he can do no wrong. To those people, I feel overwhelmed to ask, "WHY?"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Who exactly IS Trump that he can make you toss aside your morals, your sense of making the world a better place? Is it because he promises peace where none exists? Prosperity where none can be had? Why do you believe his poorly-laid lies? Seriously, the vast majority of the things he says are <i><a href="http://www.liberalamerica.org/2015/12/02/13-groups-donald-trump-alienated/" target="_blank">regularly and routinely denied</a> </i>by the institutions by whom he indicts. Does that surprise you? Literally every person, place, industry or institution - and they are legion - who have come against him publicly have done so<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/27/politics/donald-trump-insults-groups-list/index.html" target="_blank"> </a><i><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/27/politics/donald-trump-insults-groups-list/index.html" target="_blank">at his own behest</a>. </i>Furthermore, he makes claims about his own worth which are simply untrue. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">His net worth, for instance. He has yet to produce a tax return, which says - or should say - an abundance about his dealings as a businessman. Only, Mitt Romney, his contemporary, never produced his own tax returns until the last minute, and lost by a landslide. With that in mind, Donald, PLEASE withhold your tax return. Please! </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Is Hillary Clinton our savior? Probably not. I hope she is, certainly, but I have no deeply ground hopes that she will fix all our problems as a nation. That said, our nation CANNOT be "fixed" by a single individual, regardless of that individual's powers. <i>We</i> must come together, as a nation, as a <i>people</i>. We are <i>more </i>than the sum of our parts. We, as Americans, lead the world in Morality. Yes. We do. For several reasons, but for one, because we lead the world in <i>entertainment.</i> It is up to us, as Americans, to lead by example.<br /><br />By all means, Donald, keep those to yourself.<br />factcheck.org, </span></span>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-37900275850110051182016-09-22T20:53:00.000-07:002016-09-23T00:04:29.814-07:00Editorial - Obama dun got hisself in a heap a trubble!<span style="background-color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So there's this feller, Lew, who is apparently not an Obama fan (his profile photo is a guy in a cowboy hat and sunglasses . . . go figure) was a commenter on the Funny or Die video, Between Two Ferns with Zach Galiafinakis, and the guest was, of course, President Obama. I felt it my editorial duty to give ole Lew a little backup. You know . . . for posterity. I relate the conversation to you here, verbatim.
<b><u>Alliee</u></b>: I gotta give Obama props he's the only president/political figure who isn't awkward and can actually do well in a comedic situation</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Run that sumbitch over with mah Chevy..."</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Lew</u></b>: lmao he's a clown... ringling bros. should hire him as the ass clown and have you follow him around with a </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">roll of tp</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Darren</u></b>: coolest president ever</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Lew</u></b>: lmao what meds are you on...</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'm gonna faith heal the shit out of you...with my coat!"</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><u>Yours truly</u></b><span style="color: yellow;">: Hyuck hyuck, that's right, Bubba Lew! You tell 'em! He </span><i>must</i><span style="color: yellow;"> be own sum shiit if'n he thinks that thar black feller is cool. Obama is a terrble <'i' left out intentionally> president 'cause he's...um...black. Yeah. Black. Oh, and he put into law that thar bill that no longer allows insurance companies to deny coverage to people with preexistin' conditions. And he legalized gay marriage (fuckin' faggits think they kin git married like good, honest Christian folk?),</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hinn house (hint: belongs to the guy who can evidently knock people unconscious with his coat)</td></tr>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and lifted the ban on stem cell research (and fuck what advances we've had in medicine becawz uv it!). What a cotton pickin' asshole! It don't matter none that mah mama can afford to get her chemo now, cuz Obummer (See there how clever I am? Oh, a bunch a pundits done started it? Aw shiit, that's raht! I dun heard that </span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">genius... what'zisname...Lars Larson! say that a bunch a tahms on late naht radio), Obummer ain't waht, he weren't no Republican, and I cain't wait to tell our buddy Dubya what that sumbitch did in Iraq! Goldarn spearchuckin' ijit! Mah sister-mama 'bout spit her beer out when she found out he done got reelected!</span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="60h1r-0-0" style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: yellow;">I was one of <i>them</i>, a conservative, and believed just as wholeheartedly as most conservatives seem to, but with my own weird spin on things, because . . . well . . . I'm a weirdo. Then my eyes got opened. It began by reading the simple definitions of two perhaps not-so-simple words. I used to write for a living, so to a guy like me, <i>words really do mean things:</i></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4b5f5-0-0" style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Conservative</b> - disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change; not liking or accepting changes or new ideas.</span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="5ourr-0-0" style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Liberal</b> - favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, especially as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties; favoring or permitting freedom of action, especially with respect to matters of personal belief or expression.</span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="erboh-0-0" style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: yellow;">Conservatives, by definition, either like things how they are currently, or would like to return things to the days of yore, when everything was "better" (i.e., okay to lynch black people, beat up and/or kill gays, force a woman to bear the child of a rapist, see minorities as lesser people, and *not* okay for women to have positions of authority, and better that they stay home and take care of children . . . despite the fact that Reagan's trickle down economics made that literally impossible as wifey HAS to work in order for the family to survive and remain clothed and housed). The only way things were better in our past was that we got paid more - and conservatives killed that as well by giving corporations free reign to do as they pleased. And yeah, maybe we did get paid more, but we also were far fewer in number, we all shared pretty much the same religion, and it society was accepted by the voting majority at the time to be largely white and wholly male dominated. </span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="5qin8-0-0" style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: yellow;">And that was okay with everyone because that was how it had always been . . . until, again, greed caused women to have to work, which in turn allowed them to have positions of authority, which in turn showed them that being a housewife pretty much sucked ass, which in turn ---- you get the idea. We can no longer live that way. We cannot go back, only forward. Black people will never go back to being second class citizens, women will never depart from the workplace, and we WILL eventually have to accept that Christianity is NOT the national religion of the United States. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a8r9l-0-0" style="background-color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: yellow;">I just don't see what's so complicated about that. By saying idiotic things like, "If we raise taxes on businesses, they'll send jobs overseas/raise prices." Not if we ban trade within the U.S. if they try it. It really is that simple.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Yeah, let's do that thing with the stockings and . . . I'm rich. Do you know how rich I am?"</span></td></tr>
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KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-90421175609448096652016-09-21T23:44:00.000-07:002017-01-05T20:00:25.183-08:00Conservative pundits champion liberty but also USA PATRIOT Act?<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="esg5i" data-offset-key="1d14p-0-0" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="1d14p-0-0" style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To start, let me just put it out there: Our freedom isn't threatened, and our liberties will be preserved regardless of who's in office. Yep, I said it. We are too well-informed today for it to be otherwise. If you believe your liberties (distinctly separate from "freedoms") are threatened and that a few radical maniacs from flyspeck, dirt farm countries in the Middle East are a real threat to the most powerful military in the history of mankind, then you are a precise example of that to which <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/a-neuroscientist-explains-what-may-be-wrong-with-trump-supporters-brains/#.V969lqvVjoo.twitter" target="_blank">this article</a> refers. Your fear response quite literally dictates your beliefs and actions. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FQvfDj_B9qY/V-N8OifbWoI/AAAAAAAAAL8/S9auE-KoouIpa2xxQMNL6hVlIOvSsA9kQCLcB/s1600/USA%2BPATRIOT%2BAct%2BAustin%2BPowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FQvfDj_B9qY/V-N8OifbWoI/AAAAAAAAAL8/S9auE-KoouIpa2xxQMNL6hVlIOvSsA9kQCLcB/s1600/USA%2BPATRIOT%2BAct%2BAustin%2BPowers.jpg" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There isn't a country on Earth that would dare attack us openly. The 9/11 bombing - if indeed it was carried out by Islamic terrorists - was the single worst instance in the last 15 years, which says a lot about our intelligence network and the measures we already have in place (that could be carried out </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">without</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the </span><b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">USA PATRIOT Act</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, by the way, which was signed into law by </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">conservative</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> policy makers who were interested in little else aside from absolute power). But it says even more about the capabilities of these impoverished, insane zealots - that is to say, they don't really </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">have</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> anything in the way of capabilities. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9s5qp-0-0" style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me start with solutions, then I'll address everything else. Here are two solutions that will fix pretty much everything wrong with our current government (there are others, but I'm just going with these two for now, because they're the most potent):</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Term limits. With term limits, we can get those old geezers out of Congress who are incapable of seeing things any other way but the way they've always seen them. We can have new ideas and a fresh approach to our current problems. And we get rid of the corporate cronies who have had their elections bought for them for decades. And most importantly, people who aren't worried about getting reelected will be more likely to focus on<b> <i>long term</i></b> issues, and perhaps actually care about the future of their nation instead of their future stock options. It might also help eliminate the two-party system. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5mc8e-0-0" style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Raise the minimum wage. Conservatives use the same tired argument I referenced above, "if you do that, they'll send our jobs...blah blah blah." But they won't, for the exact reasons I already stated. Their interest is to make as much profit as they can, in as short amount of time as they can. That is demonstrably impossible without the contributions of American consumers. I think there are likely very few multinational corporations on Earth that don't have an enormous percentage of their vested interests in the U.S. I doubt there are ANY that don't do a large percentage of their business in the U.S. It wasn't that long ago that a single-income, middle class family could survive in this country. That is unthinkable today. $7.25 an hour at 40 hours per week is $290 a week, $1160 a month, before taxes. The average two bedroom apartment in Mississippi - which has one of the lowest monthly rental averages in the country - is $800 per month. That leaves a single-income family with $360 (less taxes) to pay utilities, purchase groceries, gas, insurance, incidentals and entertainment. For a month. Hell, $15 an hour isn't enough, either. But it's a start. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4q7nf-0-0" style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And frankly, if a corporation's board is so greedy it would rather pack up and leave the U.S. in order to do business elsewhere than pay its employees a living wage, then why in the hell would we even want them here in the first place? </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="d7qr3-0-0" style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To address the fear response, let's look at it this way. Most terrorists of Middle Eastern descent (likely most terrorists, period) are extremely poor, and not nearly as well-funded as conservative pundits would have us believe. I have yet to hear or read one who made the claim that Al Qaieda (sp?) and ISIS are well-funded refer to any evidence or authoritative statements to that effect. Show me the evidence and I will rescind that assertion. Seriously, I would like to see it. I keep hearing the pundits and news media reference it, but offer no evidence to back it.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="80d5f-0-0" style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their weapons are relatively primitive compared with ours. Relatively? More boldly (coldly?) put, their Kalashnikovs (which the Russians <i>gave to them</i>, hahaha) are about as high-tech as they get. They lack the capability, intelligence or resourcefulness to get any substantial WMDs into the country. And on the off chance they did, they could cause a tragedy, sure, but all that would serve to do is change policy . . . for the worse . . . by the same sort of lawmakers who signed into law the USA PATRIOT Act, which is inarguably the most UNpatriotic, UNAmerican, most privacy-invading law in U.S. history. In other words, Trump and his ilk would stop at nothing to try and rob us of yet more freedoms, privacy and liberties. They can already listen to your phone calls, read your emails, and federal law enforcement officers can already sign their own search warrants. Next, they'll be searching our homes, placing cameras on every light post, random strip searches in malls, and who knows what else? And we'll put up with it and believe them when they say they're just doing it to protect us, that sometimes we must sacrifice liberty for security. Because we really are that gullible and stupid. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1oief-0-0" style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're concerned about liberty, then conservative ideals are anathema to your beliefs. Thing is, conservative pundits are VERY good at making you believe the opposite. Because they're paid to by their corporate overlords. Do you really believe corporations would pack up and send all their jobs overseas if we don't comply with their demands and tax breaks? It's called an EMBARGO, my man. And if those corporate douchebags were regulated as they should be, they would be banned from doing any business in the U.S. - the largest and wealthiest consumer population in the world - if they even THOUGHT about taking those jobs overseas or paying anything less than a living wage. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1oief-0-0" style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sidebar: The <b>USA PATRIOT Act</b> is an acronym, "<b>U</b>niting and <b>S</b>trengthening<b> A</b>merica by <b>P</b>roviding <b>A</b>ppropriate <b>T</b>ools <b>R</b>equired to <b>I</b>ntercept and <b>O</b>bstruct <b>T</b>errorism." When you think of how awful it is and how it is the antithetical enemy of patriotism and liberty, you can begin to see why it is. Then again, acronym or not, I am fairly certain the word, "patriot," was the honey that coated that bitter little pill and made it easier to swallow. But every time I read that so-called acronym it is like the first time I read it, because it gets no less jaw-droppingly, bitterly, and audaciously outrageous.</span></span></div>
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KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993880437553188109.post-5122888997285261302016-09-20T19:25:00.001-07:002016-09-21T03:19:46.379-07:005,300 fired for doing what they were told says MA Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) <span style="font-family: "pt sans"; font-size: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">βWhen it all blew up, you kept your job, you kept your multi-million-dollar bonuses and you <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/20/news/companies/wells-fargo-ceo-apology/" target="_blank">went on television </a>to blame thousands of $12 an hour employees who were just trying to meet cross-sell quotas that made you rich,β Warren asserted. β<a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/watch-elizabeth-warren-owns-gutless-wells-fargo-ceo-for-firing-employees-instead-of-resigning/" target="_blank">You should resign, you should give back the money that you took while this scam was going on and you should be criminally investigated by both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.β</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "pt sans"; font-size: 18px;"><span style="color: yellow;">βThe only way that Wall Street will change is if executives face jail time when they preside over massive frauds,β she said. β<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/20/494738797/you-should-resign-watch-sen-elizabeth-warren-grill-wells-fargo-ceo-john-stumpf" target="_blank">We need tough new laws to hold corporate executives personally accountable</a>, and we need tough prosecutors who have the courage to go after people at the top.β</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "pt sans";"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Even more mind-numbing, perhaps, is the fact that many Wells Fargo customers during this time were often forced to withdraw money from their legitimate accounts to pay fees levied on them from their <i>unauthorized</i> Wells Fargo accounts. These high level executives - despite <i>numerous</i> and proven instances of fraud, knowledge of fraudulent actions by lower level employees, and worse, incentivizing, i.e., threatening, those same lower level employees by requiring them to commit fraudulent activity - have almost never suffered a single, negative consequence. You can literally count on one hand how many corporate-level executives sit in federal prisons today. And by that, I mean those executives who were in full control of these operations that cost the public billions and padded their own bank accounts with millions of dollars in stock options and bonuses.</span></span><span style="color: yellow; font-family: "pt sans"; font-size: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "pt sans";"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130;">In short, those white collar scumbags are regularly </span><i style="background-color: #4c1130;">rewarded</i><span style="background-color: #4c1130;"> for screwing over the public. If it weren't so utterly tragic and unfair, it would be hysterical satire. And do you care to take a guess which side of the aisle not only protects those same buffoons (Trump is </span><i style="background-color: #4c1130;">one of them</i><span style="background-color: #4c1130;">, by the way), but also works tirelessly to lower their taxes and deregulate their trading practices? </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: "pt sans";"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 18px;">"Oh, silly Elizabeth. You're just a woman, so . . ."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: "pt sans"; font-size: 18px;">Starts with a 'C' and ends with an 'assholes'. Oh sure, there are plenty of Democrats in corporate pockets, but by and large, the luxury of what is essentially diplomatic immunity that these executives enjoy is engineered almost entirely by those in the Republican party. And you are more than welcome to challenge me on that. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "pt sans"; font-size: 18px;"><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></span>KindaSortahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01694297058644312625noreply@blogger.com0