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.
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( 3 / 1170 )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”.
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( 3 / 1127 )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.
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( 3 / 1084 )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!
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( 3 / 1177 )Friday, November 24, 2006, 08:16 PM - Cool Stuff
This month was pretty good for me, at least in terms of my workout plan. Today, I had my fastest 5km run: 27m 02s. I also had my longest distance in one day: 8.2 miles![ add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 1179 )Thursday, November 23, 2006, 10:07 PM - Cool Stuff
Oddly enough, Thanksgiving was mostly stress-free this year. Doug and I usually either eat Thanksgiving with our lesbian friends (Gail and Ro), or eat at the Nautiloid. But this year Doug and I were invited to my Uncle Blake’s house. It was pretty nice. My cousin Christy had her new baby over (Taylor) who is only 5 weeks old and cute as a button. Although legally separated, Blake and Marylou were surprisingly civil to each other.
The funny thing is that I’m not actually a big fan of turkey. But I like all the other stuff that comes with a Thanksgiving meal: stuffing, corn casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry bread, and more! Yummie!
I was happy to see all my relatives getting along (for a change!) All in all, it was a nice holiday.
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( 3 / 1390 )Sunday, November 12, 2006, 02:56 PM - halo's thoughts
I don't know why I become a skin of evil during the darkest months of the year. I don't know why my soul radiates death magic into the spirit realm. I also seem to radiate a field of entropy in the physical realm. The death magic makes other people sick and fatigued. The entropy makes things fall apart.
This week has been bad. My death magic has accelerated one of my co-worker’s diabetes. She’s starting to lose her sight now. Another co-worker got diagnosed with infertility. Doug has had really bad allergies and has had a lot of fatigue. One of the choir members had to get her hip replaced. Another got diagnosed with MS. I don’t know why my spirit projects death magic, but I absolutely cannot forgive myself for the harm my existence has caused so many innocent people. The fact that I am too cowardly and selfish to commit suicide just proves how evil I am. People suffer terrible illnesses because of me, and yet I continue to allow myself to exist.
My entropy effect has caused a lot of damage in the material realm. The catalytic converter in my car failed. Doug got a big dent in his car. The cat knocked over (and destroyed) a statue that Doug liked. I wore Doug’s watch a few times and now it runs backwards. The living room chair is starting to fall apart. The keypad on my cell phone failed. My TabletPC has had to be reformatted twice in the past two weeks.
I am one of the most evil people alive today.
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( 3 / 1192 )Friday, November 10, 2006, 12:08 PM
Things I'd like to see changed
Now that the Democrats have come to power (even despite the Republican vote-fraud procedures), it looks like there is finally an opportunity to put our country back on track. Here are my ideas of what the Democrats should do:
-- Investigate Bush's corrupt activities for the past six years. From the CIA torture camps, to the Haliburton contracts, to the lies about Iraq, Bush (and company) should have to face the music. Whether the Bushites are fired or simply resign is of no concern, so long as Bush's crooked cadre get their walking papers.
-- Review the legality and constitutionality of the Patriot Act. Personally, I don't see what's so "patriotic" about a set of laws that allow the government to open mail, tap phone lines, and deny due-process to American citizens.
-- Revise the Bankruptcy laws. While it can be argued that the old bankruptcy laws were too lenient, few Americans would think it fair that an elderly widow should lose her home after her husband dies of a long illness and leaves high medical bills that cannot be paid. Some compromise law should be enacted instead that would retain protections for first-time filers but make it difficult to file a second time.
-- Reverse the tax cuts for the rich. Because Bush spent money like a drunken sailor for six years and gave great economic boons to the wealthies Americans (at the expense of the middle class), it is only fair that the millionaires have to pay their dues. The huge, $10 trillion debt must be paid somehow, and the mega-millionaires have the money required to pay.
-- Reverse the "outsourcing" trend. Corporations should pay stiff fines for sending American jobs overseas. The fines should be so high that it should offset any possible savings that greedy CEOs could glean from sending jobs to India and Costa Rica.
-- Extend the hybrid tax credits indefinately and penalize gas guzzlers. Any vehicle (hybrid, diesel, or otherwise) that can boast 40 MPG highway should receive an incremental tax credit based on the amount over 40 MPG the car achieves. Likewise, any vehicle that gets less than 25 MPG highway should pay stiff yearly fees. The Bush tax credit for expensive guzzlers (currently $25,000 for a Hummer H2) should be immediately abolished. Car companies failing to employ hybrid or clean-diesel technology in a significant way (10% of vehicles produced) should also pay a stiff penalty.
-- Protections for gay citizens: We need a federal law that supercedes all of the anti-gay constitutional ammendments. For gay couples, there should be a nationally recognized Civil Union law that provides a set of rights and responsibilities that parallels heterosexual marriage. States that have enacted anti-gay laws would have those previous decrees nullified. Gay couples already legally married would have their marriage converted to a civil union at no cost.
-- We need to vacate Iraq: We need to set up an undisclosed time-table that would ensure an orderly, phased withdrawel over a 6-18 month period.
-- Fix Social Security, but not through priviatization. I don't have any advice on how to do it, but it needs to be done so that people my age won't be handed IOUs at age 65 instead of cash.
-- Anti-corruptipon Initiative: There should be a law that states that no president, senator, or representative and vote on or sign any piece of legislation that involves any corporation that he/she owns stock in or was ever employed by.
-- Green Grants: There should be a fund that would accelerate research into solar and wind power that could augment electricity production in cities with insufficient reserve power. This would also have the net effect of reducing coal use during non-peak hours.
-- Locate and deport illegal aliens. While this would be a tremendous undertaking, it must be done. Illegal aliens bring crime, disease, and poverty to our country while providing nothing but cheap unskilled labor for mega-corporations. Illegal aliens already put a tremendous strain on ER wards in hospitals across the United States (and we, the taxpayers, pick up the tab). Even if it takes ten years, the illegal aliens must either apply for citizenship through the appropriate means or go back to their country of origin. Companies found to be employing illegal aliens should face stiff civil and criminal consequences.
If these things were accomplished, the Democrats will hold on to power for the forseeable future!
--
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( 3 / 1142 )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.
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( 3 / 1131 )Sunday, November 5, 2006, 11:07 AM - halo's thoughts
One of the downsides of being a ghost that inhabitants a dead person's body is that I seem to emit an area-effect of entropy. I know that I am nothing but a shadow-copy of the original personality who is either dead, lost, or incapacitated. I am what is *left* of that person, but I am not that person. Since I am an unnatural creature, I suppose that's why I emit entropy.
What does entropy do? It makes things break down faster than they should, makes food spoil faster than it should, and makes people get sick.
It's my fault Doug gained a bunch of weight. My entropy effect saps his strength so he can't excercise. I made my co-worker's diabetis get a lot worse and now she's starting to lose her sight.
Our groceries always spoil too fast. The milk, particularly, never makes it to the expiration date.
Yesterday was a particularly bad day for entropy. The wireless router burned out, so I had to buy a new router. Once I got it plugged in, the printers stopped working. I had to reinstall the drivers. Then the touch screen on my computer stopped working, so I had to recalibrate the screen. Then my Rhapsody music service stopped working. After an hour on tech support, the technicians could not get it fixed. I had to cancel my account.
I knew I had to make a payment to the universe for my unnatural existence so that the entropy would go into remission for a while. Usually, I just take a pair of scissors and cut my wrists. Blood pays for sins. But Doug doesn't like me to cut myself. So instead, I slapped myself in the face and kept doing it until I could no longer feel the blows. Then I took a belt and struck myself on the thighs a dozen times.
I hate myself. I am useless.
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