Wednesday, November 29, 2006, 06:33 PM - Random Thoughts
To put Bush's mishandling of the Iraq war in context, let's imagine how he'd do as a tour bus driver instead of as a president.There's a bus with 100 people on it. Two of them are millionaires, while the rest are middle class or working class. All of the passengers have paid the bus fare in order to ride the bus, and Bush's salary comes out of that bus fare.
At some point, there's a fork in the road. Bush gets out his map, but he's just not quite smart enough to read the map in order to determing the right direction. Without telling the passengers this, he simply guesses and then turns hard to the RIGHT.
Before long, the road gets bumpy. Someone pushes a huge boulder down the side of the mountain and it hits the bus really hard -- killing one of the passengers. Bush could have swerved out of the way, but he was asleep at the wheel. He spends the next half hour saying that anyone who accused him of being asleep at the wheel is lying and traitorous.
Meanwhile, the road continues to degrade. Some of the passengers start grumbling and a few of them ask Bush if he took the correct turn at the fork. Bush replies, "I've made up my mind. We're going to STAY THE COURSE!"
Then an hour later, huge potholes appear in the road. Bush radios ahead and asks maintenance crews to fix the problem. Unfortunately, he sends almost EVERY repairman to the WRONG ROAD. It turns out that there isn't even anything wrong with the other road. But because of bad instructions, the repairmen destroy the other road while allowing the current one to keep degrading.The people who live alongside the other road start killing the repairmen out of anger.Bush, however, says that he won't recall the repairmen either. He says, "I've made up my mind. We're going to STAY THE COURSE!"
At this point, Bush decides to give a big refund to the millionaire passengers, but makes the middle class passengers pay out of their pockets for the refund. Bush says this will somehow make the view better.
Three hours later, the bus starts careening down a really steep hill. The brakes start making noise as the pads begin to overheat. The passengers are now getting really upset. They start murmuring about wanting to CHANGE DRIVERS. Bush recruits one of the passengers to kill some of the other passengers who are making too much protest. Then he briefly stops the bus to let in 20 OUTSIDERS who haven't paid their fare to ride the bus for FREE. Now the bus is cramped and overloaded. The brakes are now about to fail as the bus heads down an incredibly steep incline.
At the base of the mountain, a sign reads "Bridge Out" and "5000' drop". The passengers scream for Bush to change directions, but Bush simply says, "I've made up my mind, and I'm going to STAY THE COURSE!"
As the bus careens into the mile-deep abyss, Bush jumps out of the bus into his daddy's SUV. the rest of the passengers plummet to their doom.
[ 2 comments ] ( 1053 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 1197 )Sunday, November 26, 2006, 10:59 AM - Random Thoughts
If I called the shots, things would be a whole lot better in this country almost overnight. Here are my ideas:
Convert the Middle East wars into a psychological warfare campaign. Basically, our CIA operatives could infiltrate the opposing Muslim factions and stir up enough hate for the Muslims to kill each other in mass quantities. Muslims Killing Muslims is NOT a tragedy.
Use “theatre” nukes when pulling out of Iraq. Unlike strategic nukes, theatre nukes only destroy small pieces of land. This allows the Military to cauterize certain trouble spots without contaminating the entire country.
Redeploy our military for border patrol. While this would be bad for Wal-Mart, we could be rid of illegal aliens very quickly. The Military could be given the authority to shoot intruders on site.
Employ the Charter of Workers’ Rights. That piece of legislation would end outsourcing and poverty overnight.
Revoke tax-free status for “Social Disease” religions. Some religions only inspire hate, fear, and violence. Those religions should NOT have tax-free status. Islam, Mormonism, and the Assemblies of God are examples of social diseases because they only inspire their follows to act violently and to hate others. Members of these religions should also be overseen by social workers (at their expense) when raising children in order to prevent the children from being brainwashed.
Impose yearly fees for gas-guzzlers. Depending on the price of the vehicle, any SUV that gets under 25 MPG should have a yearly fee of $1,000 to $5,000 for ownership. The fees would be used to develop advanced hybrid and electric vehicle technology. People who insist on owning SUVs would have to have red license that bears the caption “this driver supports terrorism”. Moreover, there should be a 14-day “cooling off” period between applying for a SUV and actually signing the papers for ownership. All SUVs would hare to be registered with the FBI as “Weapons of Environmental Destruction”.
[ 4 comments ] ( 26 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 1165 )Sunday, November 26, 2006, 10:58 AM - Random Thoughts
Proposal for a Workers’ Bill of Rights
Preface
Our country was founded on the premise that all human beings have the right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Until the 1990s, this universal dream was one in which all Americans could follow. In what historians will undoubtedly call the Age of Corporate Feudalism, the major corporations and their allies in the Republican Party began embarking on a curious path of legislation and tax incentives that have created a work environment in which the working class experiences a spiralling degradation of income and benefits while the executives of major corporations become exponentially wealthy.
This document outlines suggestions for correcting this pattern of corporate exploitation while there is still time to remedy the problems caused by the Republican-Corporate alliance. To do nothing will invite a new era of feudalism in which a handful of individuals will ultimately control close to 100% of the available wealth while the working class will be relegated to poverty and serfdom.
Articles of Workers’ Rights
I. Fair Wage Ratios
Currently, the executives of major corporations pay themselves exorbitant salaries and bonuses while cutting their employees’ pay and benefits. In a fair compensation system, no employer shall be able to set up corporations for the sole purpose of robbing the employees and customers. To this end, there shall be limits on executive compensation. The highest paid employee shall not be permitted to be paid more than 1,000 times more than the lowest paid employee. If the executives desire more money for themselves, they merely have to give their employees a raise first. It is the employees, not the executives, who earn money for the corporation.
II. Limitations on Corporate Size
The advent of Wal-Mart and other “Big Box” stores has brought the leading edge of modern feudalism to America. These mega-stores drive down wages, stifle competition, depress innovation, and eradicate local cultural. “Big Box” stores cause smaller, local business to go bankrupt. These mega-stores then rehire the people whose businesses have been destroyed – at pennies on the dollar. This is how Wal-Mart and their ilk “create” jobs. To protect workers from predatory capitalism, no business shall have more than 100,000 employees. Companies already above this limit shall be broken into regional companies of 100,000 employees or less. Mega-corporations deemed to have destroyed local culture shall be assigned a monetary penalty, with the proceeds going toward community revitalization.
III. Penalties for “Off-Shoring”
Currently, the executive-class fattens their own accounts by sending high-paying American jobs to Third World countries like India and Costa Rica. The Americans whose jobs are replaced often end up with a steep decline in income while the executives earn multi-million-dollar bonuses. For America to remain competitive in computer science, manufacturing, and technology, the practice of off-shoring must stop. To that end, American employees whose jobs are off-shored shall be paid a full-year severance pay. The corporation in question must pay a $250,000 fine, per employee, adjusted for inflation.
IV. Limits on Corporate Bribes
To prevent future “corporate wars” like the Iraq war (in which America started a war with a Third World country, followed by a corporation favoured by the Administration being awarded an exclusive contract to rebuild said Third World Nation), there shall be legislative restrictions on corporate executives who later become politicians. No elected politician may vote either for or against any bill, act, charter, amendment, or edict that pertains to any corporation that he/she has ever served as an executive. Moreover, said politician may not accept campaign donations from the corporation that he/she once served.
V. Limits on Predatory Profit-Taking
Given the current climate in which executives plunder their customers for the enrichment of themselves alone, there shall be limits on profits by corporations that act as either a monopoly (i.e. the cable television industry) or collectively (i.e. the oil industry). In these cases, the corporation(s) in question shall be limited to 200% profit. Any additional profit must be either reallocated into higher payroll for non-executive employees (i.e. workers), or into community revitalization programmes.
VI. Special Taxes for Very Rich
Contrary to reasonable logic, taxing the poor is not a good way to raise revenue for the government. And yet, the Bush Administration created a huge tax cut for the very wealthy while at the same time giving the middle-class and poor only a single, one-time, $300 tax refund. Because this tax break for the wealthy came at the expense of Federal-State fund-matching programmes, many states had to raise taxes to compensate. It was the poor and middle-class that paid the brunt of these tax increases. Thus, the President effectively commanded the poor to give huge sums of money to the rich. This predicament must be reversed. To accomplish that end, any American earning more than $1 million per year must pay 70% tax on the excess income. At income above $10 million per year, the tax rate shall be 90%. By levying the tax burden on those most equipped to pay, the taxes on the middle-class and poor shall be then reduced. No American citizen who makes under $25,000 shall pay a penny in tax. (These figures shall be adjusted yearly for inflation).
VII. Tariffs for Predatory Third World Nations
Part of how the executive-class has enriched themselves at the cost of American Workers is by running factories in Third World nations that essentially practice slavery. Wal-Mart and other “Big Box” stores import their wares almost exclusively form China and other nations that have appalling human rights violations. To level the playing field for local manufacturers, the tariffs on good imported form Third World countries shall be 250% of the value of the product. These fees shall be used to revitalize Social Security.
By enacting these seven articles, the trend towards American Corporate Feudalism may yet be abated.
[ 1 comment ] ( 10 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 1121 )Saturday, November 25, 2006, 09:28 AM - Random Thoughts
I was enraged at Bush yesterday when I was at the gym yesterday and I saw an ad for 5th anniversary Twin Tower gold coins. It got me thinking how lazy, incompetent, and misguided our so-called President has been (and continues to be).
911 would never have happened in the first place if Bush actually did his damned job once in awhile instead of hanging out at the “ranch” for weeks on end (and his “ranch” is in actuality a suburban multi million dollar mansion).
Instead of doing the smart thing- closing our borders – Bush just keeps letting terrorists slide right in through Mexico and Canada. He figures that the terrorists are good for some cheap labor until they get around to killing another 5,000 Americans in one fell swoop. See, Bush has been in the back pocket of Corporate since the day he vote-scammed his way into office. In Bush’s paradigm, it’s much more important to let illegal immigrants steal American jobs at pennies on the dollar than to secure our country against foreign invaders. But when the GOP gets their Kickbacks from Corporate, money talks and the Constitution walks.
Of course, most of our military has been bogged down in Iraq for three years. We could have been fighting terrorism, but Bush had to “finish Daddy’s war”. So our “coalition” of forces (90% American, 10% British and no one else) has managed to kill over 600,000 civilians while stoking up terrorism to the boiling point. The world is a much less safer place today than in 2000, and there is no way that Bush can possibly give a damn.
Meanwhile, Al Qeda is in ascendancy once again.
Bush is also completely incapable of learning from his mistakes, and even admitting he’s made any. I can just see Bush as a truck driver who made a wrong turn at a fork in the road. The signs read “Steep Grade”, “Road Ends”, and “Bridge Out” and Bush would just say “I made my decision and I’m going to STAY THE COURSE.”
Of course, Homeland Security is a joke. It’s just away for Bush to pass out bloated no-bid contracts to his cronies. Sure, the Department of Homeland Security is great at illegal wiretaps and opening private citizens’ mail, but have they ever caught one single domestic terrorist? Or are they just Bush’s secret police?
January 20, 2009 is Bush’s last day in office. It can’t come too soon!
[ 1 comment ] ( 3 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 1211 )Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 11:59 AM - Random Thoughts
Doug and I voted today. We did our anti-Republican vote, since no one who is not a millionaire should EVER vote Republican.
The touch-screen system workers well. I was happy that it had a high-contrast zoom feature so that I could make the text really big.
I gave Erhlich and Steele their walking papers. Anyone who is against gay rights and against stem cell research (while trying ram gambling down our throats) deserves early retirement.
[ 3 comments ] ( 23 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 1159 )Saturday, October 7, 2006, 09:45 AM - Random Thoughts
The Halloween List
I got tagged, so here’s my answers!
1. What's the scariest movie you've ever seen? “The Ring”. It took mea couple of weeks to recover from that one. People with dissociative disorders should NOT see that movie.
2. What was your favorite Halloween Costume from childhood? I didn't have a favorite that I can remember.
3. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your Fantasy Costume be for this Halloween? A very authentic “Lord of the Dance” outfit.
4. When was the last time you went Trick Or Treating? Age 15. I dressed as an angry Viet Nam Vet.
5. What's your favorite Halloween Candy? Miniature Reces Peanut Butter Cups.
6. Tell us about a scary nightmare you had. I had a dream that the color was draining from the world and as everything faded to grey, the spirit of life died in everything living: I remember looking at the slate-grey ocean and knowing everything was dead.
7. What is your Supernatural Fear? I fear that I will somehow become the Incarnation of Darkness and Death Magic.
8. What is your Creepy-Crawlie Fear? I really don’t like flies.
9. Tell us about a time when you saw a ghost, or heard something go Bump in the night. After seeing The Ring, I had for two weeks the irrational notion that mirrors connected to the spirit realm and that malevolent entities were going to emerge through then at night.
10. Would you ever stay in a real Haunted House overnight? No.
11. Are you a traditionalist (just a face) Jack O'Lantern Carver, or do you get really creative with your pumpkins? I’m pretty bad at carving.
12. How much do you decorate your home for Halloween? We’re pretty minimalist, thanks to vandalism.
13. What do you want on your Tombstone? Pepperoni and Sausage! Yum!
Now, I tag Choir-Joan, Jeff, Jay, and Matt.
[ 1 comment ] ( 2 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 2.9 / 1190 )Sunday, August 13, 2006, 12:33 PM - Random Thoughts
It looks like I got tagged with another LIST! This one is a book list from Doug's site. So, without further ado....
1. One book you have read more than once: There are plenty of books I've read more than once. One in particular is "Doctor's Orders", a Star Trek novel.
2. One book you would want on a desert island: I'd probably want a book on survival skills.
3. One book that made you laugh: My friend Dana's story, called "School for the Gifted and Telented". It featured a sadistic, telekinetic killer named Larauna. Favorite line (after the mnain character sees Laurana use her powers to mow down 20 or 30 people in a dark alley: "He had never seen such a gruesome, wanton slaughter of human life. But he new something else now about Laurana: He loved her."
4. One book that made you cry: The Sleep of Stone. It featured a shape changer who was the last of her kind. She fell in love with a nobleman. But he loved another. So she turned the guy's fiancee to stone and took her place. When she was found out, it was discovered that the only way to undo the spell was for her to turn to stone instead. It was pretty sad.
5. One book you wish you had written: I wish I had written "The Missionary": better than I had. Yeah, it got published, but it's got more rough edges than I would have liked. It is a flawed product.
6. One book you wish had never been written: any book by the crazed, lying hate-monger Anne Coulter. Conservatives lap up her swill, even though it's absolute trash.
7. One book you are currently reading: Surak's Soul (yes, another Star Trek novel)
8. One book you have been meaning to read: More Agatha Christie.
9. One Book That Changed Your Life: The Gunslinger saga by Stephen King. Roland, as the Gunslinger, is a magnificent character that progresses from being a cold emblem of Law into a fully functioning and fully realized human being.
[ 1 comment ] ( 12 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 1222 )Tuesday, August 8, 2006, 09:29 PM - Random Thoughts
This latest "Big List" comes from Hanuman's Blog. Fun stuff!
-------------------------------------------------------------
1. How tall are you barefoot? 5'10" (5’11” if I don’t slouch)
2. Have you ever been cheated on? Yes (by my first partner, but never by Doug)
3. Do you own a gun? Yes – a Browning Buckmark 0.22 semiauto pistol.
4. If you had a mental disorder, what would it be? Alas, I have two for real: depression and dissociative identity disorder.
5. How many letters are in your crushes name? The only one for me is Doug.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? It’s hard to get a really good one, but far too easy to get one that doesn’t taste good.
7. What's your favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells (since we ring that one in church every year).
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee.
9. Do you do push-ups? No, but I jog a lot.
10. Have you ever done ecstasy? Not just “no” but “hell no”.
11. Do you have a boyfriend? Doug! And we’ve been together 7 years!
12. Do you like the rain? Only if it’s a thunderstorm too.
13. Do you own a knife? A Swiss Army knife.
14. What do you smell like? Whatever cologne I spray on that day.
15. Do you have A.D.D.? I don’t think there’s such thing as ADD. It’s a drug company conspiracy.
16. Full initials? CPT.
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: 1) I’d like to finish writing Chapter 40 in “I, Construct”. 2.) I want to upload the latest five monster drawings to my RPG web site (www.gaianar.com) 3.) I hope that I can slim down to 175 pounds by Christmas.
18. Name the last 3 things you have bought today. Sushi for lunch, a smoothie at the gym, and an iced latte for Doug.
19. Name five drinks you regularly drink. Coffee, water, iced tea, smothies, martinis.
20. What time did you wake up today? 6:00AM. Ugh!
21.Can you spell? Mostly, but I do rely on a spell checker for important things.
22. Current worry? I need to fix the roof above the mud room, but I can’t afford to.
23. Current hate? Ann Coulter., George Bush, Rush Limbaugh, the Religious “Right”, radical islam.
24. Favorite place to be? On a cruise ship with Doug.
25. Least favorite place to be? In an arts & crafts store (I don’t know how to make anything.)
26. Where would you want to go? Ireland and Wales.
27. Do you own slippers? No.
28. Where do you think you'll be in 10 years? Hopefully I will be promoted to Case Agent or Case Manager.
29. Do you burn or tan? Burn. Yeah, there’s nothing like the Irish complexion.
30. Yellow or Blue? Blue.
31. Would you give up your current life to be a pirate? I’d think about it.
32. Last time your cell rang? 30 minutes ago – it was my friend Ed calling.
33. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don’t sing in the shower.
34. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? The two biggest ones: being abandoned and being visited by evil spirits that wield Death Magic.
35. What do you have in your pocket right now? I emptied my pockets when I came in from the gym.
36. Last thing that made you laugh? Cutting in front of a Hummer H2 and making him miss the green light.
37. Favorite bedsheets as a child? I don’t remember
38. Worst injury you've ever had? The worst was a psychic injury when the original personality became fragmented into five main parts.
39. What is your GPA? 2.89
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? Two that we use. There’s a third little one that hasn’t been turned on in years.
41. Who is your loudest friend? Joel Tyler.
42. Who is your most silent friend? Matt Hannum (also known as Matthias, Lord of Handguns)
43. Does someone have a crush on you? Yeah, right. A low-level civil servant who’s broke and has a dissociative disorder. Sure.
44. Do you wish on stars? No.
45. Do you believe in magic? I think it exists in other realities, just not this one.
46. What song represents how you feel at the moment? Nothing is coming to mind (sorry!)
47.What song did you last hear? The Booby-Woogy Bugle Boy from Company B.
48. What song do you want played at your funeral? I’m not planning on having a funeral. I’ll be forgotten within a few days of my death anyway..
49. What were you doing 12AM last night? Sleeping.
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? “I hope I don’t get too many domestic violence cases today.”
[ 3 comments ] ( 27 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 1245 )Saturday, August 5, 2006, 10:48 AM - Random Thoughts
I have to say that I am very glad that Israel decided two weeks ago that it has had enough of enduring terrorists. I am glad that Hezbulah is getting blasted back into the Stone Age. But it cracks me up when the Talking Heads of the news start yammering on about how there needs to be "peace talks" between Israel and Hezbullah, and how they "need" the intervention of a NATO task force.
Sure.
By that logic, the United States "needs" to have peace talks with Al Qaeda. Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen.
The leaders of Israel have finally realized that fundamentalist islam [purposefully left lowercase to show lack of respect] is not a true religion, but is actually a widespread social disease. Fundamentalist islam is a sociopathological phenomenon that destroys every society it infects. Fundamentalist islam is a mutagenic pathogen that transforms functioning civilizations into barbaric, murderous, impoverished hellholes.
In my humble opinion, the life of a Jew is worth 100 times that of a muslim. Thus, for every Jew killed by a terrorist, Israel should kill 100 muslims. A show of ruthless force is the only thing these barbaric subhuman mutants understand anyway. You just can't have peace talks with muslims because they don't understand peace and they don't want peace. Their religion is nothing more than a murder-cult.
Viva Israel!
[ 1 comment ] ( 2 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 2.9 / 1377 )Monday, July 31, 2006, 10:00 PM - Random Thoughts
1.WHAT MADE YOU SMILE TODAY? Telling a beggar to get off his ass and get a job!
2. WHAT WERE YOU DOING AT 8 THIS MORNING? I was drinking a cup of coffee at work.
3. WHAT WERE YOU DOING 15 MINUTES AGO? Reading a eBook on my Palm Pilot.
4. SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED TO YOU IN 1985? I can't think of anything unusual for that year.
5. LAST THING YOU SAID ALOUD? "I'm getting a drink, Doug. Do tou want one too?"
6. HOW MANY DIFFERENT THINGS DID YOU DRINK TODAY? Coffee, Juice, SlimFast, a Misto, and a smoothie.
7. WHERE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND(s) RIGHT NOW? He's watching Mildred Pierce
8. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR TOOTHBRUSH? Pink
9. WHAT IS OUT YOUR BACK DOOR? My back yard.
10. LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? A pizza w/ ham and pieapple.
11. LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY? Doug gave me these cute "Cube" people for work.
12. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR FRONT DOOR? Green.
13. WHERE DO YOU KEEP YOUR CHANGE? In a big urn.
14. WHATS THE WEATHER LIKE TODAY? Hot and oppressively humid! But the Dumb Cowboy says global warming is a myth, ha ha.
15. BEST ICE CREAM FLAVOR? (Rice or Soy "Ice Cream") Peanut butter
16. SOMETHING YOU'RE EXCITED ABOUT? Getting another raise in four months!
17. LAST RAINBOW YOU SAW? About two years ago.
18. WHAT SIZE SHOE DO YOU WEAR? 11
19.DO YOU HAVE ANY SISTERS? One, younger.
20. ARE YOU VERY RANDOM? No. I follow a set routine --a lot!
21. DO YOU WANT TO CUT YOUR HAIR? Probably in another week.
22. ARE YOU OVER THE AGE OF 22? Yup! 36.
23. DO YOU TALK ALOT? I'm very chatty.
24. DO YOU WATCH THE OC? The what?
25. WHAT DAY DOES YOUR SCHOOL END THIS YEAR? Beats me. In Baltimore, most of the kiddies drop out in 9th grade.
26. DOES YOUR SCREEN NAME HAVE AN '' X '' IN IT? No.
27. DO YOU KNOW ANYONE CALLED STEVE? Two. One goes my the nickname "Mister Pretrial" and the other is a friend from college.
28. DO YOU MAKE UP YOUR OWN WORDS? Not exactly. I create new definitions for existing words.
29. ARE YOU TICKLISH? Only somewhat.
[ 1 comment ] ( 2 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 2.9 / 1507 )Back Next
