The Infidel Express

Asshat Quote of the Day

2012-01-28T22:08:00.002-06:00

Neurotic Liberal Tom is a real interesting case. I get a kick out of his silly comments, and rarely respond to them because they are so inane that they don't deserve responses. - Douglass "I've got a secret" Gibbs

This is actually a re-post because I just love it so much. Doug keeps deleting off my rebuttal to posts where he references me, because any time the truth contradicts his propaganda, it must be erased from existence.

I'm reminded of the time when Doug referred to the George Orwell book, 1984, and claimed to have read it, while completely missing the point of the whole thing. He simply doesn't understand it at all. In terms of "inanity", that takes the case - or actually my preferred word(s), "stupid as fuck".

In the two or so months I took off from reading Doug's blog when I wasn't feeling very well, I sort of missed it and sort of didn't. I'm conflicted. He's not the slightest bit entertaining, but he says some of the dumbest shit you will find anywhere and that's worth capturing and commenting on.

I try to be at least a little bit entertaining while trying to make a broader point about some issue, but Doug is just a broken record.. and the recording is of one song that never made the charts. It just skips the needle back to the beginning and starts again.

One thing that hasn't occurred to Doug is that I also try to carry that entertaining flavor to the comments I leave on his blog. I don't just write "you're wrong and really stupid" - I try and be a bit more snarky than that, and occasionally I think they're damn funny even if I'm patting myself on the back with that.

The point is.. when you're doing the same thing for years and not getting anywhere with it.. and your content is dryer than Ann Coulter's cooch, stirring up controversy and debate can get people engaged. Think Rush Limbaugh doesn't want liberals calling him? Hell if he doesn't because he flames back with the best of them, and does it in a way that entertains the Loon Brigade. If all he was doing is talking to people that kiss his ass, it would be boring as fuck and he wouldn't be able to afford hookers and oxycontins in the Dominican Republic.

Catholic Nazis

2012-01-28T21:26:00.003-06:00

... from an article describing unpublished color photos at Adolf's house. Notice the guy in the red dress.

Judging by the appearance of the guard, I'm guessing that's where the term "dick head" comes from.

I Have a Dream

2012-01-26T14:29:00.003-06:00

There's a nearby dealer that specializes in lease returns and high end cars. I keep an eye on their inventory on a fairly regular basis. That particular car is an '07 911 Turbo, with numerous after-market upgrades including a $6k sound system, exhaust system, and wheels. It's got a ton of options included, and is rather low in miles.

It is absolutely stunning and is exactly what I want.

They've already sold it.. not that I have the money right now since I put a large chunk into the development of a video game. Even if I hadn't, it's still probably out of my price range. My guess is that it sold for about $85k or so.

It's difficult to decide to buy something like that when you're not stinking rich. Sometimes you just need to go for it, and sometimes it's just stupid especially considering how expensive that thing would be to maintain.

Gah.. I want one.

Slightly Less Cowardice

2012-01-25T13:10:00.005-06:00

Well, hell hath entered an ice age. Doug has actually argued against something I've actually said, rather than paraphrasing me as an anonymous liberal. He takes exception with a point I left for him a while back;

Who are the Republican primary voters again? Let's see.. liberal Democrats? No.. that doesn't sound right.. Oh.. I know.. Republicans. That's right. It's the Republicans that will not vote for Cain and instead put Romney up against Obama to get his ass kicked. But hey.. if it makes you feel better to blame the Democratic party.. then by all means.. have at it. Strange you've lately been defending child rape enablers and perpetrators of sexual harassment. I'm sure Jesus would approve.

Doug then goes on to embrace the central failure of christianity; that simply asking for forgiveness grants blanket immunity to the moral failure. Or, as Doug puts it;

I placed this comment here to show the ignorance of the liberal mind, the vitriol of the average liberal, and to address the final sentence because it truly reveals how ignorant the secular liberals are. He added at the end, when it came to me being willing to defend "alleged" child rape enablers and perpetrators of sexual harassment as he put it, "I'm sure Jesus would approve."

Actually, Tom, Jesus would approve. Christ encouraged us to see the best in people, to forgive them of their transgressions (not justify or condone, but forgive), and to accept repentance as Christ would rather than hammer someone over the head over their past mistakes in life. People do change. People can turn away from their wicked ways and become new creatures in Him. This is why, to the dismay of the Jewish leadership, Jesus forgave the prostitute Mary, and why even a murderer, after truly realizing the error of his ways and submitting to the love of Christ, can even receive salvation from the Lord.

I believe Cain when he said he did not harass those women. I believe Paterno died regretting he didn't do more when it came to bringing Sandusky to justice but also died knowing that he had not purposely done anything wrong, and I am at peace with that. And I believe Newt when he says he has seen the errors of his past and he has turned over a new leaf thanks to his Faith in God.

Besides, as I said before, which should I prefer? A person that has struggled with his morality and has cried out to God for forgiveness? Or a liberal leftist that desires to intentionally destroy the nation as it was founded?

I'll take my chances with the repentant sinner every time.

What you describe as "Jesus' forgiveness" is actually the supreme failing of Christianity. It's the "Get out of hell free" card. People who have "sinned", have done so against real people.. not against the Magical Sky Wizard. It doesn't matter what Jesus thinks of Newt's adultery, because Newt wasn't married to Jesus.. he was married to a woman. Does she forgive him? Or the other wife he also cheated on?

Does Paterno deserve any forgiveness from those children that were raped due to his inaction? I'm sure they couldn't care less what Jesus thinks about Paterno's motivation - but rather his moral failure.

Granting blanket immunity for the consequences of ones' action through contrition to a mythical entity does nothing for the real living breathing victims. Granting someone absolution through such a mechanism is itself highly immoral.

It is the greatest failing of Christianity by far. It strips real responsibility for ones' actions, which is what conservatives seem to think is important.

Your accusation of Obama's "intentional destruction" of the nation is just silly rhetoric, and inconsequential to the central issue.

.....

Doug still refuses to publish comments because they contain links back here.. as well as refusing to link here when he references something I've said. This is because Doug is fundamentally immoral. I never fail to link to him.. because I want people to read exactly what it is he's saying. He makes the case against religious conservatism better than I ever could. The more people read that, the better it is for our cause.

.....

Oh, this is interesting. Doug approved a dissenting comment on one of his rants, pointing out the many factual errors he makes. In the comment, the gentleman asks;

Mr. Gibbs, either you are a deliberate liar, or a dupe of the worst disinformation sources possible.

That's an elegant way to phrase my oft asked question, "Stupid or Lying?"

And as always.. my money is on stupid, as evidenced by Doug's use of "well known" - ya.. well known by who? Propagandists who Doug reads and is dumb enough to take at face value.

Ugh

2012-01-24T21:27:00.002-06:00

Holy crap, Obama's speech sucked.. lies wrapped around cutting every tax possible. It's as if raising a tax to actually fund government is the kiss of death. It's bizarre.

The unfortunate thing is.. the republicans are so bad that Obama is likely to win the election. You work really hard to get into the privileged class and so you might as well just vote for the fuckers that want to impoverish everyone else so your maid is cheaper.. right? The wealthy don't give a fuck about illegal immigration anyway, because the guy that's fixing some broken shit on another house I own is illegal as fuck.. but cheap.

And ya.. flat tax rates, bitches. We know that'll substantially raise taxes on the poor and middle class.. but fuck them for allowing these shitty politicians we have now. Maybe they need to suffer some more before they get off their stupid asses and demand something different. In the meantime, cut our fucking taxes down to 13% like Mitt Romney pays so we can afford more illegal alien servants. We actually drive our own Mercedes now.. fuck that.. we need a full time driver so we can get hammered on vodka and pain killers and enjoy the ride.

It really is amazing how fucked up this shit is.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2012-01-23T23:08:00.004-06:00

The thing about Paterno is that I don't think he truly understood what he had done, or failed to do. As far as Joe was concerned, when he was told about Sandusky's shower room abuse of young boys he went to his next higher up. He used his chain of command, and his hands were clean. He didn't think he should have done more because he expected the people above him that he told to do what needed to be done. - Douglass "it's not like Sandusky was raping little girls" Gibbs

Good to know that Doug's morality ends at the bare minimum when it comes to what society considers one of the most heinous criminal acts imaginable. Ya.. Paterno's hands were "clean" - so the fact that if Paterno had simply picked up the phone and called the police department, preventing more kids from being raped is not a big deal.

Paterno was not a member of the military, which has it's own judicial system. Paterno had a job at the university. If somebody came to me with allegations of criminal conduct, I wouldn't for a second consider only reporting it to my manager. That's just fucking ridiculous, and no sane person would do that.. much less in a situation where children were in danger. I'd be dialing fucking 911 the moment the conversation is over.

Again, Doug is the perfect example of the immoral "christian" right wing loon. He makes excuses for the worst abuses imaginable when he thinks those responsible have the right religious or political ideology.. but when it's the political enemy that is at issue, he'll make a huge issue out of nothing. Remember the abuse he hurled on Michelle Obama when interpreting lip reading during a flag ceremony? That must be a lot more fucking serious to these nutjobs.

That's Doug's basic immorality, and it is exactly how the christian right wing is defined. The uniformity of their depravity is perfect.

And not a single word about the victims of the abuse.. just an essay trying to white wash the utter failure of a human being that Paterno turned out to be. Think those kids that were raped give a fuck that Paterno reported Sandusky to his boss? Really?

Fucking scumbags...

and the inevitably deleted comment;

So if you were notified that someone under your responsibility was raping children at the job site, you wouldn't call the police?

Doing the "minimum required" is all that's needed to keep one's hands "clean"? I'll bet the kids that were raped after Paterno was notified agree.

Good to know where you stand on that one, Doug.

....

Oh.. and I just noticed this bit;

And there is evidence that Marianne is unstable. One can almost understand Newt's frustration with her.

Ya.. her husband cheated on her and then dumped her, so Doug understands the husband's frustration.

atidc;

Ya.. she's "unstable".. and we get why Newt is frustrated.. after all, all he did was cheat on her and then dump her for a newer model.

It's weird the way bitches get angry like that.. isn't it Doug?

It's always better to attack the spouse that got cheated on.. especially when it's a woman... she must not have been servicing Newt in the right way, otherwise he wouldn't have been looking for some on the side.

Heck, I'll bet if your wife started cheating on you and then demanded a divorce, you'd be cool with that.

Oh.. and Jesus probably approves of bagging on the dumped wives. If they aren't willing to be slutty for their husbands and have 3 ways.. Jesus says to kick them to the curb and get a new one.

.... and you wonder why I think your morality is twisted..

Almost There

2012-01-22T23:41:00.002-06:00

The ringing in my ears is lower than it's been since the onset of the illness, sounding distant and the volume easily masked by just about any nearby noise. I think I'm getting close to being back to normal.. maybe another month for the rest of the ringing to fade completely.

It's hard to articulate how sick I felt when the problems were at their strongest. It was a mess.. I know I need to start picking up my activity levels, but I'm still a bit off on the motivation. I've been walking the dogs at a near jog pace several days a week, and I'll try and get back into the gym. It's been months since I've gone.

Hopefully when I start discontinuing the meds, the problems stay gone. All things considered, I feel pretty fortunate.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2012-01-21T01:16:00.004-06:00

We believe Newt's experience, leadership, knowledge, wisdom, faith and even humility to learn from his failures (personal and public) can return America to her glory days. And he is the best man left on the battlefield who is able to outwit, outplay and outlast Obama and his campaign machine.

If you're ready to keep fighting the good fight and once and for all restore our republic, then I invite you to join my wife, Gena, and I by endorsing, rallying behind and voting for Newt Gingrich as GOP nominee and then president of the United States. - Chuck "his ex wives were bitches and deserved what they got" Norris

You know what's really funny? When complete morons like Doug "the bitches lie" Gibbs claim that "democrats have no shame" - when it his party's Presidential candidate that cheated on, and divorced, two women.

The thing that Doug's demented mind can't grasp is the concept of hypocrisy. Bill Clinton didn't make a living out of pointing the finger of moral condemnation at other people. He wasn't trying to enshrine prejudice in the US Constitution over such a trivial issue as sexual orientation. He's still married to his FUCKING WIFE YOU FUCKING MORONS.

When you go out of your way to judge other people, and it turns out you're a serial offender, doing what you condemn other people for.. then it's a BIG FUCKING DEAL YOU STUPID FUCKING MORONS.

You wouldn't think that's such a difficult concept to grasp. But then, with people like Doug.. it's sometimes hard to tell if they're just stupid, or if they're evil. Stupid is not understanding the concept of hypocrisy. Evil is understanding it, but pretending they don't so that they can blame everyone else but the stupid fucker that got caught.

That's why I sometimes ask the eternal question... Stupid or evil? My money is on stupid.

....

oh.. and he's still deleting off the quotes from MLK that completely contradict his assertion that MLK was a republican, and it was the democrats that opposed the Civil Rights Act - that was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a DEMOCRAT YOU STUPID FUCK.

... there.. got that out of my system. I feel better now.

One Little Victory

2012-01-20T12:52:00.002-06:00

For the first time ever, all 100 firms on Fortune's Best Companies To Work For list this year have non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation.

John is on my MegaCorp sponsored health plan. It's not the greatest plan in the world.. we still have deductibles and 10% co-insurance fees, but we can get really good care and not be hammered with costs that have completely ruined people.

Everyone should have at least that quality of care, and employers shouldn't have to pay for it, but rather give me that $15k that it costs in a year. Health insurance companies add no value to the system.. none. All they do is drive up costs.

The way to fix it is to provide an improved version of Medicare to everyone. Everything is simplified, and there is no profit for the administration. Providers still get paid.. nobody ends up living in the park, surviving on cat food, because medical bills erased a lifetime of saving.

It's all so obvious, so obviously won't happen. I hear Canada has a good system.

Maroons

2012-01-19T13:47:00.003-06:00

I really want Obama to lose the election, but I can stop laughing at the Republicans.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed Newt Gingrich, adding a fresh layer of unpredictability to the campaign two days before the South Carolina primary.

"Newt's not perfect, but who among us is?" Perry said. He called the former House speaker a "conservative visionary" best suited to replace Barack Obama in the White House.

....

ABC - Newt Gingrich lacks the moral character to serve as President, his second ex-wife Marianne told ABC News, saying his campaign positions on the sanctity of marriage and the importance of family values do not square with what she saw during their 18 years of marriage.

In her most provocative comments, the ex-Mrs. Gingrich said Newt sought an "open marriage" arrangement so he could have a mistress and a wife.

She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a Congressional aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to Gingrich.

"And I just stared at him and he said, 'Callista doesn't care what I do,'" Marianne Gingrich told ABC News. "He wanted an open marriage and I refused."

bahahahhahah
hahah
hhahahhahahaha

Asshat Quote of the Day

2012-01-18T22:42:00.004-06:00

Martin Luther King Jr. was a registered Republican. He was a member of the same political party that was created to abolish slavery, the same party that was instrumental in passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 while the Democrats tried to filibuster it, and the same party that believes the way to defeat poverty is not to pay people to stay poor with entitlement programs. - Douglass "facts have a well known Liberal bias" Gibbs.

Doug is arguing that MLK was a Republican.. and continues his lying about the opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Martin Luther King III said, "It is disingenuous to imply that my father was a Republican. He never endorsed any presidential candidate, and there is certainly no evidence that he ever even voted for a Republican. It is even more outrageous to suggest that he would support the Republican Party of today, which has spent so much time and effort trying to suppress African-American votes in Florida and many other states."

....

MLK;

In a 1958 interview, he expressed his view that neither party was perfect, saying, "I don't think the Republican party is a party full of the almighty God nor is the Democratic party. They both have weaknesses ... And I'm not inextricably bound to either party."[31]

....

And the inevitably deleted comment;

Who was the Democrat that filibustered the Civil Rights Act? He set a record for the longest filibuster in history. What was his name, Doug? I know that you know it.

How come when you mention that Democrats tried to defeat the act, you never mention who they were?

Why do you not mention, ever, what those Democrats did after the Civil Rights Act passed? You know what they did. You're well aware of it. You never actually write down what it is they did.

His name was Strom Thurmond. Those Democrats were referred to as "Dixie-crats" due to their Southern heritage.

After the Civil Rights Act passed, they changed parties to Republican.

You know that is the truth. You will not admit to it. The truth means nothing to you.

And I'm feeling much better, thank you.

I haven't read Doug's blog in ages. It hasn't changed. Pick a random date from the archives and each entry is the same today. I have to give him credit for being consistent.. as a serial liar would be.

MLK;

Actually, the Negro has been betrayed by both the Republican and the Democratic party. The Democrats have betrayed him by capitulating to the whims and caprices of the Southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed him by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of reactionary right wing northern Republicans. And this coalition of southern Dixiecrats and right wing reactionary northern Republicans defeats every bill and every move towards liberal legislation in the area of civil rights.[32]

Is there any bigger liar on the interwebz than Doug Gibbs?

Good Luck With That

2012-01-18T11:27:00.004-06:00

After years of complaints in African-American circles about the lack of attention paid to missing black women in this country, a U.S. cable network dedicated to black programming begins a revolutionary series this week.

The program, called " Find Our Missing," is scheduled to begin airing tonight on TV One, a black cable network available in 56 million homes.

The network is working with the Black and Missing Foundation, a group of black professionals who keep track of missing black Americans - cases that are often ignored or unreported. The sheer number of faces that peer back from its website is startling. Most of the missing are from New York, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and Florida.

According to FBI figures, nearly 40 percent of all missing persons are people of color, but critics say that the most media attention is reserved for white women.

Craig Henry, executive in charge or production at TV One, says the presumption in this country is that "black people live in impoverished conditions, so there's not the same sense of outrage" when black Americans disappear.

"We are also accustomed to seeing stories and news reports of black people involved in criminal activity, and not very often the victims of crimes," he said.

They're not getting the point of why it's only pretty young white girls who get face time on the teevee. It's all about sex.. as weird as that sounds. Nobody wants to have sex with a black kid.. so they don't get the endless discussion.

If Jon Benet Ramsey had been a black kid instead of a white children's beauty pageant contestant, nobody would have heard about her murder.

Somebody should start an organization promoting the value of missing ugly white kids, because they get ignored as much as the black kids.

....

Amusing this came up a few days after it popped into my head that we haven't had a missing white girl story in a while.

Duh

2012-01-17T23:38:00.002-06:00

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney acknowledged Tuesday that his income tax rate is "probably closer to 15 percent than anything," suggesting that one of the wealthiest people to ever run for U.S. president pays a much lower rate than most Americans.

That's never going to change because the wealthy own the government, and the rest of America has just enough to not risk a revolution over it.

My ex has a Canadian partner. They're moving to Canada this spring, where they'll get married and my ex will able to take advantage of the Socialist hell-hole of a health care system.... which is better than he's getting in the US.

I wonder if we can just pay a flat fee to become Canadian citizens or if we'll have to marry a couple of Canadian lesbians? Heck, they should just give us refugee status and grant citizenship straight away.

....

But hey.. I'm going to support Romney, and make a symbolic contribution of $50 to his campaign. I hope he wins, but considering how dry his personality is, I kind of doubt it.

I figure he'll lower that 15% rate to those of us that aren't worth a quarter billion dollars. Why the fuck should I care if the government goes broke? Yes, the top 5% should get the super low taxes, not the top 1%.. and the 95% should pay through the nose as a penalty for sucking at making money.

It's only fair.

SOPA

2012-01-17T19:09:00.002-06:00

It looks like the "Stop Online Piracy Act" is going to pass. Basically, it'll allow American corporations to decide which web sites, world wide, get blocked from anyone residing in the US. It's kind of like the Great Firewall of China, except that it doesn't block political issues but rather movies, music, and games. It's seriously going to fuck some shit up...

... that and it increases the penalties for people who pirate. Download 10 songs, go to prison for 5 years. That's fucked up.

The way American politics works, there's nothing that individuals can do about it. Once the law limiting campaign contributions was over turned by the US Supreme Court, it ensured that all of our politicians would be owned by corporations, and therefore all legislation is written in that regard. The interesting part about SOPA is that it pits companies like Google against the pharmaceutical companies, MPAA, etc. The side with the bigger campaign contributions wins, and there's nothing bigger than Big Pharma in the US. There really is no difference between the two parties in the US anymore. Any claims to the contrary is just semantics.

It was just a matter of time before the RIAA and MPAA won the internet battle. They weren't satisfied with just a few thousand dollar fine from some college student downloading some songs. They have to fundamentally change the way the internet works, and they will. Everything that happens in Congress and with Presidential elections is all about making sure corporations continue to drain everyone else dry. We've seen with the "occupy" protests that they never achieve anything.

I'm really over the US. We need to move to Canada asap.

American Justice

2012-01-14T02:59:00.002-06:00

It seems that courts in the UK are deporting English citizens to the US to face criminal charges, even though they've never been to the US, and the crimes they are accused of are not crimes in the UK.

The American police state is growing exponentially. Shit is fucked up and bullshit.

Deep Thoughts

2012-01-13T12:22:00.001-06:00

We haven't had a pretty young white girl go missing for a while. We're due!

Super High Me

2012-01-13T10:46:00.003-06:00

Saw the neurologist again a couple days ago. I like him. His nurse reminds me of the nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest though.

Net result is that I'm on another med, this time to help with the ringing in my ears (it's a benzo), and added a B complex vitamin supplement. I also got a batch of Lortabs which are fun. It helps a lot with the toxic sensation and generally just makes life better. It doesn't make sense that human beings have opioid receptors in our brains if we weren't supposed to be ingesting the stuff.

The idea is that the meds treat the symptoms while I just naturally get over the cause of the problem. Then the meds can be gradually stopped. The side effects aren't that bad, not something I'd like to have forever but it's okay for now. Needless to say I'm not having any anxiety issues anymore, which are not an uncommon result for people that have a constant headache and constant ear ringing. I defy anyone not to get a little anxious about that.

Anyway.. I had been getting better but seemed to have plateaued. The ear ringing is the major issue now and while it has decreased, it seems to have leveled off at a still-annoying volume.

....

I was thinking last night about how much it must have sucked to be alive prior to this medical revolution we've had in the last 100 years or so. No antibiotics.. no real surgical interventions.. no cancer treatments... not even anti-depressants. People just suffered and then died.

I'm sure 100 years from now, medicine will be even better, but I highly doubt it will be as dramatically improved from today as today is from 100 years ago.

Vroom Vroom

2012-01-10T18:14:00.004-06:00

Formula 1 is coming back to the US. Austin Texas is building a brand new, state of the art, racing facility. It should be finished this summer for the F1 race in November. I think we'll want to get really good tickets and road trip it out there for the race. I've never been to Austin, and I'm sure it would be very nice in November. We'll make a weekend out of it.

It would be neat to get the track into the racing game that I've invested in the development of. I do have a certain amount of pull with the developers.. which, of course, irritates the peons.

American Justice

2012-01-10T15:05:00.003-06:00

STARKVILLE, Mississippi (Reuters) - Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour pardoned four convicted murderers who worked at the Governor's Mansion, releasing them from prison in the final days of his term in office, state officials said on Monday.

In all, Barbour pardoned four men convicted of murder and another convicted of burglary and robbery, all serving life sentences. In the executive orders Barbour signed, he wrote each "proved to be a diligent and dedicated workman."

The pardoned inmates included David Glenn Gatlin, who was denied parole in December on his conviction for shooting dead his estranged wife while she cradled their baby in 1993.

"He shot her in the head while she was holding a baby. He's a cold-blooded murderer," said Tiffany Ellis Brewer, the victim's sister.

Strange that he didn't release a bunch of murderers that weren't working at the Governor's Mansion. My guess is that they stumbled in on him blowing a guy, and that was the condition for their silence.

I'm also guessing none of Mississippi's pot heads were released.

Republicans are so awesome..

Self-Image Fantasy

2012-01-10T01:27:00.003-06:00

Americans like to believe we live in the best meritocracy in the world. It's not true. In fact, the Socialist hell-holes of Europe (and Canada) create a better environment to reward effort than America does.

That's not to say that someone poor can't become successful in the US. The point is that, on the average, it happens more in European nations because they're not hell bent on punishing poor kids for being born to poor parents.

The obvious question then becomes, if I think America sucks, why do I stay? Because it's easier to be wealthy in America than it is in other nations - assuming you're born with all the advantages (being a white male with a decent intellect is key). In fact, if you have some money, America is a great place to be.

Not sure I'll retire here though.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2012-01-09T01:16:00.006-06:00

My answer is simple. Religion survives because it answers three questions that every reflective person must ask. Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live? ... You can take science, technology, the liberal democratic state and the market economy as four institutions that characterise modernity, but none of these four will give you an answer to those questions that humans ask. - Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

Who am I? I'm the product of the neurons in my brain, and the cells of my body
Why am I here? Because we're here
How then shall I live? Eat, drink and be merry

It's not that fucking difficult.

....

I've obviously been out of the loop for a while. Just needed a break. Still feeling a little better every day. Next Dr. appointment is on Wednesday.

....

Saw this bit linked from the Grandasshat, Sullivan.

I'm guilty of the propagation of dumb stereotypes about mental disorders. I immediately leapt to my own defense against the prospect that my current medical problem might be linked to a mental disorder considering a couple of the meds I'm on, and the apparent lack of a specific diagnosis for my issue. I'm absolutely sure there is a physiological component to my condition, but then there is for mental disorders as well. There's really no difference between depression and a brain tumor. Both are physiological. Neither is a moral failing.

As an engineer, I'm always looking for the cause to an effect. I thought it absurd when the neurologist told me he had no idea what was causing my problem. My issues are interconnected and there must be some mechanism behind it all.

I have a few theories.

The first is a slow cerebral spinal fluid leak. My symptoms seem to line up with an article I read in the July issue of the Journal of Neurology. It is possible that my improvement in the symptoms could be related to a gradual sealing of the leak.

The second is a simple chemical issue, such as a vitamin deficiency or something along those lines. I've been trying to eat more and more diversely. I haven't had much appetite the last couple months. It might be helping.

The third is rather far fetched. Shortly before the headache, ear ringing, digestive disrupting, toxic sludge feeling exploded on me in October, I got bit up by mosquitoes while walking the dogs in the local park. At least I thought the bites were caused by mosquitoes. There are about 7 welts. They are still not completely healed now, which is highly unusual for mosquito bites.

The really strange thing is that the healing of a welt seems to reverse and get more aggravated without any particular reason. I've never had a mosquito bite not fade in a few weeks, and certainly never had a bite get worse after nearly being gone.

The marks are nearly gone now, but there is still some red discoloration on the skin. It seems like the severity of the wounds tracked proportionally to how bad the headache was, the intensity of the ear ringing, and so on. I'm betting that when they are completely gone, the last of the ear ringing will be gone as well.

That really seems odd, and I did explain this to my PCP and the neurologist. They both dismissed the bites out of hand. What if they weren't caused by mosquitoes? Is West Nile the only thing mosquitoes can transmit? I definitely don't have West Nile, at least not by it's description of symptoms.

Anyway.. it's apparent that the symptoms are abating, and I see no reason why I won't be completely over it pretty soon. I'd just like to know what the fuck this shit is.. because it sucks... and because I don't like having an undiagnosed condition.

Work It, Honey

2012-01-03T19:24:00.001-06:00

Put some high heels and makeup on him, and he could be lip-syncing It's Raining Men.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T23:34:00.002-06:00

Hopefully 2012 is better than 2011.. looks like it could wind up better anyway. I'm starting to actually make some progress with my health problem, so hopefully that continues to get better.

We went to the dog park today.. saw a pair of male miniature Schnauzers. I think a standard Schnauzer female will work for a 3rd dog. It would be a nice fit with Riley and Token.

I need to learn how to groom the dogs. It would save a lot of money, might be fun to do.. or a huge pain in the ass..

All in the Family

2011-12-29T14:31:00.003-06:00

That's Riley's sister, Mae. She has the proper Wheaten cut. The woman that grooms Riley apparently doesn't know how to do it. He looks like a homeless Cylon right now, so I'm not even going to post a current pic.

The groomer basically did a rounded fall, but it's supposed to be cut inwards from the side like Mae has, so the fall hangs down between the eyes like that, with just a little on the inside edge of the eyes. Even after we took a printout of a pic I found online last time he went in, his fall is wrong, and his muzzle is out of control.

I'll print that pic out and show her on Riley where it's wrong. Hopefully she can get it right next time.

I think there's going to be a wedding next year in Austin that we're supposed to go to, and Mae will be there along with a couple other Wheatens, so Riley will get to see his sister again. They look very alike, except the gray on Riley's ears is darker, and the gray extends to the top of his head.

We've talked about getting a 3rd dog... maybe when we move into a new house. I'm not a big fan of dogs sleeping in the bed, but John always has, and it works okay now. Riley sleeps at the foot of the bed between us, and Token is small so he just lays in the middle, so it doesn't disturb me at all most times. I'm not sure where a 3rd dog the size of Riley would go.

I'm not sure if we'll get another Wheaten or not. It would have to be a hypoallergenic breed though. The Wheaten breed is tremendous, but it might be nice to have a different breed of dog, and maybe a female. A standard Schnauzer could be a good choice. They are similar to Wheatens but have a different coloring.

It's a Start

2011-12-28T16:04:00.001-06:00

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Wednesday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.

The ancient church, built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, is shared by three Christian denominations — Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. Wednesday's fight erupted between Greek and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing each other of encroaching on parts of the church to which they lay claim.

Nutter fight!

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-12-27T19:41:00.002-06:00

In the progressive era, there was an understanding that men who impregnated women should marry them. It didn’t always work in practice, but that was the strong social norm. Today, that norm has dissolved. Forty percent of American children are born out of wedlock. This sentences the U.S. to another generation of widening inequality and slower human capital development. - David "BoBo" Brooks

Brooks is a highly paid columnist at the NYT. He's a moron on economic matters, and pretty much everything else but figuring out how to be a highly paid columnist at the NYT. Every column is a "why, back in my day", or a "get off muh lawn" diatribe.

He's also completely wrong.

Morons like Brooks think it's better for two people who don't want to be together get married because of a pregnancy. The conservative dip-shits can't grasp the concept that it's not the number of parents that counts, it's the quality of the parenting.

I live in Texas. I've seen how bad it can get. Many of these kids would be much better off with a single parent that can raise them with the right values than the horror of being stuck with parents that can't stand each other.

The really funny thing is that Brooks' column was about economics.

Local Warming

2011-12-27T12:40:00.005-06:00

It's supposed to be in the 60s all week, and up to 67 on Saturday. That's pretty nice.

I think today is one of those days where I feel almost normal. They're rare. I still need to figure out if I'm going to go see a nutritionist or wait until the 11th to talk to the neurologist about a possible vitamin/mineral deficiency type situation.

....

I took the dogs to the 500 acre park by the house. There were more people there than usual, but oddly not that many kids. After the walk in the park, we went to the neighborhood playground so I could let them off leash and run around. There wasn't a kid to be seen. Why... back in my day, there would have been kids all over the place. They're probably all inside playing video games. Shame.

I did get to see one little kid on an 80cc dirt bike.. moments later face planted.. it was great.

I need to get a decent video recorder.. like I've said about a million times but still haven't got yet. Riley was doing his power-run thing around the slides and such. He makes his own agility course. It was very amusing.

Toil and Trouble

2011-12-27T12:06:00.001-06:00

(AP) WASHINGTON - Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

"Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too `rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty.

That's half of all Americans. That's stunning... and probably explains why inflation stays low despite the massive expansion of the US monetary base (the Fed printing money). I'm sure it includes retired people that live on fixed incomes, and may be skewed by the baby boomers. A more useful measure would be the shift of Americans into that category over time.

Of course, the way the "safety net" programs are setup, it encourages people on the margin to stop working to qualify. Much of the increase in US debt is due to those programs, which are obviously vital. It seems to me that it should scale better to relatively higher incomes... and ya, changing the tax rates back to what they were during the Clinton administration, or even the Reagan administration, would help.

Half of all Americans are low income or worse. Unbelievable.

Deep Thoughts

2011-12-24T22:59:00.002-06:00

If Tim Tebow credits Jesus after making a great play, does he blame Jesus when he screws up?

The War on Christmas

2011-12-23T11:50:00.009-06:00

... is being won via porn.

I read an article the other day that made the argument that Christmas gifts should be limited to those 12 and under. I'd say maybe 18 and under, but the point was valid. Everyone seems to find it a hassle to go and spend money and time on something we already know the other party really doesn't want. Exchanging cash isn't a great idea either. Better to tell each other to save the money and go buy something for themselves instead.

The other side is that there is some emotional attachment with going through the entire process. It seems to validate relationships I guess.

John and I, with the exception of Christmas eve at his dad's house, are skipping Christmas this year. Neither one of us are really up to it. Hopefully next year we'll be in a better situation.

/update

Matt Yglesias makes a good point;

The problem with presents is that you’re never going to do a better job of satisfying the gift-recipient’s preferences than she could do herself. But preference sets aren’t fixed. If someone had handed me $10, I never would have spent it buying the Cults album, for the simple reason that I hadn’t heard of the band. When it was given to me, I immediately checked it out and loved it. When you step outside the circle of things you know for sure your gift-getter likes, you risk creating a massive deadweight loss. (You give her a ticket to Las Vegas, without knowing that she hates gambling.) But with the greater risk comes a greater potential reward. You may introduce the recipient to something marvelous she would otherwise have never encountered.

I've used the TDA forums (for those that know what that is) to find things worth having that I wouldn't have found on my own. It's just getting slower and slower there. I'm a terrible facebooker, and I don't think I have any gamers on my friends list anyway, so it's not that helpful.

My guess is that as people get older, they have fewer friends, and thus less exposure to current culture. One of our goals when we both get healthy again is to socialize more. I haven't even been to a gay bar since.. um.. 2009 or something like that I think.

By the way.. every hetero should have a gay friend and go to a gay bar on occasion. They're a lot of fun. I took my nephew to one when I lived in Phoenix, and it was great.. particularly because he had such a great sense of humor. He was a bit upset that he wasn't getting hit on though.

/update 2

Riley hates it when Chaquitas Maximus vacuums the house. He's under my desk, between my feet. Not the bravest dog in the world, but certainly the sweetest.

The letting his hair grow out thing isn't going all that well. With a traditional Wheaten groom, you hardly see their eyes at all. The cut has very short hair on the top of his head but the long tuft of hair coming from just above his eye brows hanging over his eyes and snout. It's called a "fall"... I guess because it falls over his face.

He used to have longer hair at the top of his head, and shorter around his face so his eyes were very visible. I don't think we have any pictures of how it looks now.. so I'll take some and post the old versus new style. The fall hasn't completely grown out yet though. I don't think the groomer knows how to style it properly even after giving her a picture of another dog with the traditional cut.

I should learn to speak Spanish..

Ringing in the New Year of My Ears

2011-12-22T17:08:00.003-06:00

I've found a rather objective metric to evaluate my condition. The amount of ringing in my ears is directly proportional to the problems with everything else. Once the ringing is gone, I'll know that I'm likely healthy again.

One of the drawbacks to being an engineering type is that you think you can solve every problem simply by applying the rules of cause and effect that govern your normal work. I can solve just about any software problem by analyzing the code, sometimes one command at a time. It doesn't matter how odd the problem is, if you go back far enough in the tree of logic, you'll eventually find the error. Human bodies don't work like that.. which, of course, sort of invalidates my hypothesis that the tinnitus is the key to how I'm doing. Basically.. I have no idea really.

So I woke up today not feeling that great, and had the jitters again. I guess I haven't adjusted to the increased serotonin med and the decreased anti-headache med. It seems like the headache is creeping back due to the reduction in of the Nortryptaline to half of its minimum dossage. Despite that, my eyes are still dilated, and slightly unequal to boot.

I took two Excedrin, which are basically the go-to OTC headache nuker for me. I don't like taking them all that often because they have caffeine in them, but they work. Right now I feel nearly human again.. with a dull ring in my ears, and just a slight headache.. with decreased jitters. I even took the dogs to the local park, and went went the long way this time. Hopefully I trend to getting better instead of the status quo so I can get back to going to the gym. I think that would help me a lot.

... and maybe I'll stop being such a bore on the blog. I haven't even read Doug's blog (bar one quick glance where he asked readers to pray for me) in like 2 months or some shit like that... and you know there's probably been some monumental stupid that we could all point and laugh at that we're missing.

Almost Human

2011-12-21T13:38:00.003-06:00

For those that care (which is 2 of you apparently :) an update on my medical saga. It's kind of interesting I guess.

I saw the neurologist last week. He put me on a med that was supposed to help with my chronic headache and it has. It has dampened the ringing in my ears a bit, but maybe that's not due to the med. I don't think it's supposed to help that.. just the headache, but who knows.. I'm still having that feeling of just being completely toxic. It's a weird sensation that's hard to describe, but it's not pleasant.

The odd thing is that I woke up Sunday and felt.. rather okay. That toxic sensation was nearly absent, the ear ringing was low if noticeable at all, and the headache gone. As it got later in the day, it all started creeping back up on me and by the evening it was just about back to the level I've had. Monday I felt toxic, Tuesday was again feeling better then back to toxic in the evening.

Even stranger, over the weekend my eyes started to dilate.. huge pupils. I called the neuro doc on Monday morning, his nurse called me back at 4:45pm (not cool) and I was instructed to take half of the Nortriptyline and see my eye doctor. It's not easy to take half a capsule. You can't really cut them in half.

So, yesterday I saw the eye doctor.. they say my eyes are normal and think the dilation is due to the meds. I have no idea what that's all about. At least they're reactive and equal so it's not like there's a major brain malfunction.

The interesting part of the eye doctor visit, though, was that I talked to the tech about my symptoms and she said that she went through an episode of really bad headaches for months.. consulted with a neurologist who couldn't figure out what was going on. They wanted to do some study on her that involved putting her in a drug induced coma for 7 days and running tests with different meds and such.

Instead, she went to see a nutritionist who did some blood work on her, wrote her up a list of nutritional supplements to add and the headache went away quickly. She's been normal since then.

Naturally that got me to thinking. We haven't been eating all that well. I haven't had much appetite. Maybe that's causing my issues? I'm going to write up a note for my PCP and ask her what she thinks. She did something similar for John and figured out he had a vitamin B3 deficiency, which got fixed up with a cheap supplement.

If it turns out my issue is related to food, or some vitamin issue, I'm going to be really irritated with my PCP and the neurologist. If that's all it is, that would be nice though. I've been fixated on reading about cerebral spinal fluid leaks. The neurologist is sure I don't have one, but there is a form of leak referred to as "second-half-of-the-day headache" that has symptoms that pretty much match up to mine. It's a slow leak, so doing something like laying down doesn't immediately resolve the headache as in a conventional leak.

I'm taking a med for a possible serotonin imbalance, and it's been 2 weeks, which meant that last night I took the entire pill instead of half. It's made me feel wired on caffeine. Combined with the toxic feeling, it's just nasty. I don't think I even need that one, but I figure I might as well go at least the month with it. If I don't notice any effect, then that might imply that I don't have a serotonin issue.

So that's where I'm at now. I really hope to get it all resolved soon because I'm going back to work after the first of the year and it'll be really hard to code with this condition. I don't want to do much of anything, which I suppose is part of the problem. At least I'm getting the sense that my problem really isn't something drastic.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-12-19T12:19:00.003-06:00

Yes, he acknowledged the torture and the chaos and the failure. But his hatred of religion and tyranny overwhelmed his pragmatism. There were times when he relished violence against the violent and evil - and even believed in its virtue. I cannot. My faith prevents me. But I understood his secular good faith and realized how big and sudden a leap he had made from "left" to "right" and the difficulty of admitting, in retrospect, that the left had been right, in this seminal case, if for almost all the wrong reasons. - Andrew Sullivan

Sully is responding to critics of Hitchens' view on the Iraq war.

I get the point he's trying to make. I often encourage the religious extremists have an all out fight to the end, and leave the rest of us out of it. I don't mind when confirmed terrorists get Bin Laden'd when it's not possible to capture them. I understand the concept of revenge. However, as Sullivan points out, Hitchens never repented as many, including Sullivan, later did.

What's really annoying about the paragraph, though, is Sullivan's continued hatred of the "left" for being right. Of course the dirty fucking hippies couldn't have had the foresight or wisdom to see Iraq was going to be a giant cluster-fuck. They only got lucky when they opposed the invasion!

They were "right for the wrong reasons"? What fucking reason did he think lefties opposed the war? What a complete asshole.

Gorak Welcomes

2011-12-16T07:28:00.014-06:00

Christopher Hitchens

I was a great admirer of his, and read most of his on-line essays from the last 5 years or so. I sometimes think about reading his books, but I figure it would just reinforce my own point of view. I suppose I should reconsider. After all, I really don't think of myself as an atheist.

In a way, you have to admire how he lived his life. I doubt he played a single video game. He pursued his work and his passions, which included expensive scotch and cigarettes. He knew he was gambling with his life, and he lost that wager. Ultimately, that was something he regretted. 62 years of age is just sadly young, but I know how hard it can be to not be the worst part of ones self.

I'm really sorry to see Hitch gone. I wish I was a bit more like him in many ways, and glad I'm not in others.. but there can be no doubt that in the years he did have, he really lived them.

He spent a great deal of his life contemplating the ultimate question. I guess now he has his answer, or not, as the case may be.

....

Many of the obits I've read have made the crucial point. Hitchens was the last of his kind. He wrote as sort of a love affair with the English language, and was obsessed with the literature. The world does not breed that type anymore. It's all about twitter, and blogs, and the capitalistic side of writing - the money.

....

I try my best, now, to avoid news of tragedies and such.. anything negative, because it doesn't help with the situation of my current health problem. I'm not, by nature, a depressed person but it has occurred to me that the current problem I have will not ever change. It could be far more serious than the doctors let on.

I know other people have to live with debilitating illness, with no chance for a normal life. Just look at Stephen Hawking. I'm sure he'd love to have my problem instead of his.

Simply reading about the end of Hitchens hasn't helped my mood at all.

/update

Greenwald has an essay on the canonization of the recently departed. He makes a valid point.

Let's Just Guess

2011-12-14T17:05:00.002-06:00

I saw a neurologist yesterday. I'm now on two meds that alter brain chemistry. The ringing in my ears is definitely not as loud or as biting. The headache is still there but the doc says it can take up to two weeks before I notice that change. It's not as severe as it was originally though.

He didn't want to do a lumbar puncture test because every other diagnostic test I've had done has come up negative. He doesn't know what has caused the problem but thinks that because all of the symptoms have been getting progressively better over time, if the symptoms are treated then I'll just get better on my own and the meds can be stopped. I have a follow up appointment in a month and if I'm not significantly better, he'll do the tap. It's not fun.

There are certain signs that tell you that you're rapidly aging. One is that your health starts to fall apart, and the other is that the doctors are younger than you are. This neurologist looked about 30, but is obviously the brainy type. He's one of those US born to Indian immigrants that went to expensive US schools and such types.

So this is how he explained neurology. If diagnostic testing indicates a known disease, it can be treated. If not, it's comes down to a voodoo witch doctor's attempt to mitigate the severity of the illness. I don't show any classic symptoms of something like meningitis and such.

He did tell me that he's had other patients that have had a weird set of symptoms and they simply get better on their own. He assures me that will be what happens. I guess we shall see.

Being sick sucks when you don't know what it is causing it, and it just drags on and on. It's worse when the person you live with is ill also.

Victory is Mine!

2011-12-12T18:51:00.004-06:00

I scored zero points in a game of Hearts. It took 3356 games* to do. You cannot imagine how many times I've come close, only to take points on the last hand.

I'll bet none of you can do it..

* I didn't play complete games.. I restarted the game as soon as I took a point.

This is a rather big deal to me.. heh

....

I also play some FreeCell. My usual routine is to play one FreeCell and a few Hearts games just before bed. It helps clear my head and all that.

It's probably not a big deal to have a perfect record in FreeCell. There are some difficult hands that can take a while, and there's one impossible hand. The odds of getting the impossible hand is very low.. obviously.

American Justice

2011-12-09T14:20:00.001-06:00

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A jury on Friday convicted one police officer and acquitted another of lying about their role in a civilian's killing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Cops are considered liars until proven otherwise.

Hope this one has fun in prison.

Gorak Eyes

2011-12-08T18:46:00.000-06:00

... Christopher Hitchens.. who likely doesn't have long.

He's turned himself into a radioactive pin cushion.

...

but I am still alive

Dogs on Credit

2011-12-07T15:42:00.004-06:00

I got a new debit card, and thought it replaced my existing card, but was in fact a new card for a different account. I cut up the old one without thinking - so now I need to replace it.

The weird thing is that on the bank's web site, you can't order a new debit card, but you can order a customized card for free. I went ahead and got a new card with Mr. Riley on it.. I know.. smarmy sentimentalism.

I still want to get Pedobear on one of my cards.. maybe my regular Visa. What are the odds that the minimum wage lacky that reviews the card image submissions knows what it is?

.....

Actually.. the really weird thing is that one card doesn't control all my accounts, but is in fact linked to a specific account. I guess it's that way because if you use the card, it needs to know exactly which account to debit.

Deep Thoughts

2011-12-07T13:25:00.002-06:00

Most IT "help desk" Nerd Herders are complete jackasses. They stick "MCSE" after their name on an e-mail signature as if they've just passed the fucking medical boards for an MD.

And no matter what your job is, they assume they are superior in IT skills and intellect. Combine that with a generally condescending personality, and you have a group that is singularly the most irritating on the planet.

They are IT geeks exactly because they're not smart enough to join the engineering group. It's about god damn time somebody explain that to them.

American Justice

2011-12-05T22:45:00.004-06:00

Fascist edition;

The amount of force the government uses to uphold a given law is no longer determined only by the threat to public safety posed by the suspect. Now, it appears to give an indication of how serious the government is about the law being enforced. The DEA sends SWAT teams barreling into the offices of doctors accused of over-prescribing painkillers not because the doctors pose any real threat of violence, but because prescription drug abuse is a hot issue right now. The feds sent SWAT teams into marijuana dispensaries not because medicinal pot merchants are inherently dangerous people, but because officials believe the dispensaries are openly defying federal law. It is, to put it bluntly, a terror tactic. Sending a couple cops with a clipboard to hand out fines and shut down a dispensary doesn't convey a strong message. Sending a bunch of cops dressed like soldiers to point guns at dispensary owners and their customers certainly does.

Ya'll know I'm not a big fan of; "why, back in my day" posts, but sometimes they do have some relevance.

When I grew up in the 70's and 80's, we just never saw these wannabie ass kicking' military style police units all that much, unless armed bank robbers were holed up in a bank with hostages. Now, it's a common occurrence.

There's two reasons for this. One is that the police have spent a lot of tax payer money training and outfitting these robocop wannabies. Second, if they weren't sent out after dime bag pot dealers, they'd have nothing else to do. Real violent crime is trending downward just as the police as beefing up their image via establishment of paramilitary units within their ranks.

It used to be you'd see the same cops every day, and you might even know them, or wave at them as they patrolled the neighborhoods (and particularly surrounding schools), and they looked like uniformed officers with a hand gun on their hip.

Now it's the ego and narcissism of police force employees who feel inadequate unless they're totting a fully automatic AR15 around. The escalation of police into paramilitary does not have a corresponding escalation of criminals into Mexican drug cartels.

They have the money to do it, the psychology pathology to do it, and so they do. Meanwhile, real community police work that used to contribute to the deterrent factor of the police presence is gone.

It'll be a self-fulfilling machine though. As the police militarize, that will cause a corresponding militarization in the average criminal and so it will escalate. Aha! say the police. Good thing we have a Navy Seal style commando unit ready to break up that hippy pot smoking cartel!

....

There are trends in American culture that you can see are immutable and irreversible, and others that are just a fad. Jersey Shore is a fad. The erosion of American civil liberties and the dominance of the military fetish in the police forces is not reversible. The police like it too much. Strapping on a cod piece and an assault rifle validates a man's masculinity.

Virtually every writer I read takes a broad view of such things, such as Greenwald, who really is the foremost critic of these trends. I respect and admire that, but while Glenn is very macro about American culture, I'm micro. I don't think what Greenwald is doing is going to mean anything, nor affect anything, other than to inform our discourse and inflame our passions. I'm more about the practical.

What can an individual do about what has become of the American culture of crime, a criminal law enforcement apparatus, and a culturally accepted norm of ruining every individual who gets caught up in it?

That's the easy part.

You get a lot of money, and you automatically become immune to the vast majority of it. Unless you shoot somebody in the face, or are famous and caught for a DUI bust with some coke in your purse, you're going to be fine.

If if you manage to get a significant amount of money without actually becoming "rich" (which is realistically possible) - then you can geographically determine your own fate. There are still pockets in the US where the police haven't gone completely bonkers. They're typically smaller towns, and so you lose the benefit of big city living.

The other alternative is to get the fuck out of Dodge. Canada represents the best alternative. Vancouver and Toronto represent a sane alternative to American big cities, and you feel a sense of freedom there.. a relief from the pressure of knowing you are one small stupid thing from being royally fucked over by the American judicial system.

Other people think that simply stockpiling guns is the answer. It's not. It only gives the military police more incentive to declare war on you. You can't win that war. There will be no great uprising of the American people, to wrest liberty and justice for all back from the hands of corrupt governments and police forces. The most you will ever see from the American public is "occupy Wall Street" type protests. The majority of their fellow citizens will side with the police.

There is no American Guy Fawkes. You can control your own little corner of the world though.

/update

Bonus American Justice;

A man on a train refuses to answer a cop's question, demanding to know the man's country of origin because he has an accent. The man refuses, and is arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. The prosecutor wants the man to spend time in jail if convicted.

My advice is not to antagonize the cops by pointing out that their conduct is illegal. It's easier just to answer just to stroke the cops ego and get out of the situation.

Then move to someplace where the police are not jack booted thugs. This will likely require leaving the United States.

Gahzirrah

2011-12-05T17:53:00.003-06:00

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's crippled nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from a purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean.

The leak is a reminder of the difficulties facing Tokyo Electric Power Co. as it tries to meet its goal of bringing the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to a cold shutdown by year's end.

A pool of radioactive water was discovered midday Sunday around a decontamination device, TEPCO said in a statement on its website. After the equipment was turned off, the leak appeared to stop. Later, workers found a crack in a concrete barrier leaking the contaminated water into a gutter that leads to the ocean.

TEPCO estimated about 300 liters leaked out before the crack was blocked with sandbags.

If I owned the rights to Godzilla, I'd have a movie in production right about now.

I'm not sure where the sushi we eat on a regular basis comes from.. but I'd imagine it would take a massive fuck-ton (and in technical terms, that's a lot) of radioactive water to affect much considering how massive oceans are. Locally, of course, it's a different story.

Those fuck-tards working with white bunny suits on are LOL. They're totally headed for a cancer ward in about 5 years.

/adding

I love that pic of Godzilla.. I need to work that in to the blog graphics.

Doctor Doctor

2011-12-05T12:34:00.002-06:00

Going to the ENT this afternoon. Still not feeling right. I doubt he can help with much. There's something else wrong. The ringing in my ears are just a symptom of it.

/update

So ya.. the ENT said "you need to see a neurologist". Duh.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-12-02T14:48:00.001-06:00

Krugman is being proven right. - Andrew Sullivan

Two years ago, Sullivan was referring to him as “Kthug”.

Well – guess all the Dirty Fucking Hippies are “being proven right” on most everything.. and while Sullivan loves to bask in the glory of his own ability to admit “mistakes”, like his fantastic “sorry about Iraq” mea culpa, it never, ever, occurs to him that what he’s writing about right now is just fucking wrong.

God damn, what a wanker.

Quote of the Day

2011-12-01T19:38:00.001-06:00

It used to be that I got home from work and the only thing I’d want to put in my mouth was the cold barrel of my grandfather’s shotgun. Then I discovered Sonia Allison’s Chicken Tetrazzini, and now there are two things. - Michael Pemulis

Bonus Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-11-30T23:48:00.001-06:00

"If I were president, we wouldn't have an American embassy in Iran." - Michelle "why do you have cock breath, Marcus?" Bachmann

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-11-29T23:46:00.001-06:00

"If a decision is made, different than to plow ahead, you all will be the first to know." - Herman "hoes to the left of me, hoes to the right" Cain

... he said in response to an allegation of a long-running affair.

The Sudden

2011-11-28T14:38:00.004-06:00

A political writer blogs on the same day of his wife's unexpected, during her sleep, death.

Life ends, but certainly you don't expect your 41 year old wife to die suddenly in the middle of the night. The same was true when my sister died suddenly at age 38. I have a hard time visualizing memories of her now. That was about 25 years ago. I do know that she was one of those people that never had a negative thing to say about anything.

It's awkward.. the whole blogging thing, and what you share and what you don't. John nearly died a couple years ago (a fact he seems to forget sometimes) when he had a heart attack. He was at home, as was I as I was working - and on a business call. I basically blew him off when he was saying he wasn't feeling well. He had his assistant take him to the Baylor heart hospital ER, which isn't all that far from the house.

There's two reasons why I didn't take it seriously. First, John can sometimes be.. dramatic, at least as it appears to me. Second, you never think anybody you care about actually has a serious problem. It's denial as a self-defense mechanism.

Had the outcome been different, I'm not sure I'd be posting blog entries about it.. because that seems.. bad form. But writers write, and the blog has become a significant writing medium for a lot of people - me included.

It can be incredibly depressing to be inundated with other people's sorrows, but sometimes it's necessary. We need a reminder of our mortality, and take it seriously.

Virtually everyone has tragic stories of loss. It's rarely talked about. Maybe it's a cultural thing. Many times they are the very worst possible thing that could happen, and people are supposed to go on living afterwards. How do you do the practical things that need to get done? How do you tell a young daughter what happened? How do you accomplish everything that needs to get done when you are dazed, as if smashed in the head with a baseball bat? How do you figure out how to do things that the other has always done?

I don't think most people prepare for the unthinkable. Maybe it's better not to.

American Justice

2011-11-25T23:06:00.003-06:00

A six year old boy plays "doctor" with a 5 year old girl, and is charged with first-degree sexual assault, a class "B" felony. If convicted the child will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The girl is the daughter of a powerful political figure and is thus not charged with any crime.

Really starting to hate this country. Well, "starting" isn't the right word.

Duck Duck Goose

2011-11-25T14:27:00.001-06:00

A picture of Riley, taken with the broken camera in John's android phone.

And yes, that's his duck he's resting on.

Your New America

2011-11-23T12:20:00.003-06:00

Taibbi;

The UC Davis incident crystallized all of this in one horrifying image. Anyone who commits violence against a defenseless person is lost. And the powers that be in this country are lost. They’ve been going down this road for years now, and they no longer stand for anything.

All that tricked-up military gear, with that corny, faux-menacing, over-the-top Spaceballs stormtrooper look that police everywhere seem to favor more and more – all of this is symbolic of the increasingly total lack of ideas behind all that force.

Oh.. Can-a-da..

Sociopaths

2011-11-22T12:15:00.002-06:00

Victim One, the first known alleged victim of abuse by former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, had to leave his school in the middle of his senior year because of bullying, his counselor said Sunday.

Officials at Central Mountain High School in Clinton County weren’t providing guidance for fellow students, who were reacting badly about Joe Paterno’s firing and blaming the 17-year-old, said Mike Gillum, the psychologist helping his family. Those officials were unavailable for comment this weekend.

The name-calling and verbal threats were just too much, he said.

I really do think there has been a huge cultural shift into immoral depravity and narcissism with younger people in America. It could be that the anonymous nature of the internet fosters and enables tortured individuals to lash out at others without consequence, but it seems to have crossed over into "real life".

True story - when I was 15, I told a friend, in confidence, that I was gay. It quickly got around to pretty much everyone else. It wasn't pleasant by any means, and I lost some friends and gained some new ones.. but I was never.. ever.. harassed about it. I even continued to play on some athletic teams without a single issue.

In hind sight, I should have never said anything, but ultimately it didn't make much difference in my life either way. Today, kids are just viscous, and I really don't know why.

Sometime in my 30s, my best childhood friend from the age of 5 until 15 called me to apologize. I still have the memory of the very first time I saw him, and no, it was nothing romantic or anything like that. It's just a memory that stuck. When he called, I basically ignored him. I'm not sure if that was because I was basically betrayed at an important time in my life, or because I tend not to talk about things I'm not comfortable with. It was probably the latter.

I just looked him up on facebook. Two of my sisters are friends of his.

Politically Unplugged

2011-11-22T00:44:00.003-06:00

I haven't been reading about politics lately. I don't give a fuck. I already know that Obama is an asshole, only concerned about perpetual war, enriching people who fucked up the economy, and turning the US into a police state.

The Republicans are worse.

I'm more concerned about health issues that are dragging everything down. I think the tinnitus is getting worse.. my mood isn't any better, and the antibiotics and steroids aren't doing anything because I probably didn't have a bacterial infection in the first place.

If this is my new normal then I'm going to need psychiatric meds. I guess I try the ENT next.

A Beautiful Mind

2011-11-17T19:13:00.001-06:00

So now I know that I'm not a cyborg, sent from the future. I really do have an organic brain... at least if they haven't substituted the images to hide it from me.

My doc thinks the sinus thickening may be an infection, so I'm taking a nuclear bomb of an anti-biotic that's going to kill off any infection, along with all my digestive bacteria. I've also got a steroid series which should help me feel better (including the tinnitus).. along with another pharmaceutical cannon.. for the mood.. wheeeeeeeeee

I'm also going to make an appointment with my ENT for 3 weeks. If it turns out that the anti-biotics fix everything, then I'll just cancel the appointment.. or maybe not.. I do have basic hearing loss and so I might as well at least get tested. We've hit the deductibles for the year anyway..

Hopefully it won't be long before this shit is behind me and I can go back to writing about stupid people.

Oh.. and John is having knee replacement surgery before long. When it rains...

It's Not a Toomah

2011-11-16T15:27:00.003-06:00

And I'll live!!11

My doctor has new newfangled computer thingamajig and she can send me a message that I can read off their web site.

Brain MRI no sign of mass , tumor in inner ear, goodnews!
only some sign of left ethmoid sinus thickening. Do you feel any symptoms of sinus infection? i know you use the astelin. Watch
for green drainage, facial pain, fever.
Normal MRA of brain. No sign of aneurysm as well !

So ya.. wtf is causing my problematic symptoms then.. eh? I'll bet she just sends me to the ENT.

I've started taking 5-HTP on a recommendation. It's been 3 days I think, and I don't really notice any change. Maybe it takes longer to kick in.

....

I was absolutely sure I had a tumor.

Zzzzz

2011-11-16T09:15:00.002-06:00

I fell asleep in the MRI machine. Apparently it took about an hour and fifteen minutes to do the test.. but seemed much shorter to me.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow if I'm going to live or die (soon).

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-11-14T19:09:00.002-06:00

President Obama is thrilled that Boeing has struck a deal with NASA, which will create about 550 jobs in the State of Florida. I am not going to argue. New jobs are a good thing, even in this case where the jobs are being reconstituted after the space shuttle program shut down. - Douglas "Red Rocket" Gibbs

So Doug has just admitted that government spending that creates jobs is a "good thing".

He's so stupid that he can't even keep his own propaganda consistent.

Staying Put

2011-11-14T15:29:00.002-06:00

I've turned down the recent job offer. It was in the range that I would accept, but for some reason it wasn't feeling quite right.

The other issue is that I still have a medical problem, have an MRI and MRA scheduled for tomorrow, and if the results are not good, then switching jobs would be a very bad thing.

I was really torn about the whole thing.. but things always work out.

Quote of the Day

2011-11-12T12:09:00.002-06:00

Maybe we would actually have been better off with Rick Perry, who might have left good government programs in place because he couldn’t remember what they were. - Prof K

Mitt Romney wants to "privatize" the Veterans Administration healthcare system.

Umm.. not.. gonna.. happen.

It's really strange the way the Loon Brigade thinks that a government agency is automatically wasteful and inept. Social Security, Medicare and the VA actually do a really good job, even if not perfect.

Why does the republican party hate American soldiers and veterans?

Make Me an Offer I Can't Refuse

2011-11-11T12:54:00.004-06:00

Been having a significant amount of interest in my services lately. Just spent about an hour on the phone with a guy I used to work for who is working for another company now. He wants me to work on an implementation team that he's managing - which is way different work for me. I'm used to creating the product, not getting it up and running in a hospital. It would be much easier work for me.

It's going to involve significant travel, and I'm not a big fan of that. I don't mind once or twice a year, but this would be more often. There's two hospitals as beta sites, one in Phoenix (where I'm from originally) and one in some town I've never heard of in New Jersey.

He wants me to take the job right now so I can give notice and be in Phoenix the first week of December. The offer will be landing in my inbox soon, but should be significantly more money than what I'm getting now... plus bonuses and all that.

The company is MiniCorp as opposed the MegaCorp I work for now. I don't dislike MegaCorp, even though they froze raises for a few years while still turning a profit and shit like that. My current manager at MegaCorp is not my favorite, by far, but that's trivial in the equation. I've worked there for some 10 years and I have nearly unlimited job security.

So here's the scenario. The question is.. would you switch jobs?

I'll pick an arbitrary amount.. say you're making $100k. You've got a nice full package of benefits.. good health insurance, matching 401k, 3 weeks vacation a year. Your job is easy, and if you apply yourself, you can probably get your stuff done in about 20 hours, leaving quite a bit of time to web surf and such. Nobody hassles you, and it's just a really good job.

You get an offer from a small company for $120k. They have equivalent health insurance, don't match 401k but do annual bonuses that would more than make up for it. You'll probably work more hours, and have to travel a pretty good amount. You'll be doing something that's pretty easy, and is in fact considered a step below the engineering position you currently have. You only get 2 weeks vacation, but your manager tells you that you can just take a day off here and there when you want to make up for it.

You'd also be cutting out on your current project, where you are the only developer, and the rest of the team will lose their minds if you quit. You'll still be supporting the same client, but in a different division so you could probably help a new guy get situated in your old job.

What do you do? What.. do.. you.. do?

/update

Just got a call from the HR person at MiniCorp.. she says the president of the company has to sign off on offers and he hates back and forth negotiating and wanted to know what would be required for me to say yes. I told her a number, and through some mumbling and grumbling, she had in mind something about 20 grand less. Soooo.. I dunno.

My guess is that they're going to split the difference and make it difficult for me to decide.

I'm not exactly sure how the gov is pricing this stuff anymore. It used to be that they'd assign a contract for.. say.. 4 developers, 3 SQA, 1 project manager, 1 tech writer and so on. Each job would have a fixed price that got billed by the hour. They'd know how much they could pay somebody based on what they were going to be paid by the gov and still make a profit. I think that the gov now awards contracts for the entire bucket of people, so.. just X dollars for the group. You wouldn't be able to determine how much each job was worth, but if you had a cheap tech writer, you could throw somebody else more money.

The other thing is that if I agree to join their company, I'd have to spend a week on the road in early December, and I'm not feeling so hot. What if I changed jobs and all of a sudden my condition is serious, and my health insurance is all fucked up? What if they deny treatment as a "pre-existing condition". I'm pretty confident that I'm not having that serious of a problem.. but the timing just isn't any good.

Ultimately, I guess I'm flattered that other people want me to come work for them. A small company might want to hire me even if they don't make any money off me. When you can offer the gov very highly skilled and experienced engineers who have a reputation, that can make the difference between winning and losing a contract. It's hard to compete with the MegaCorp I work for now because of that.

Gun Lovin' Jesus Worship'n Loons

2011-11-11T08:57:00.003-06:00

There's an article on Yahoo News about Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the forehead last year by a lunatic who killed 6 and injured 19.

what a great punishment for the Traitor Gifford's.. sentence.. you will have the brain and thoughts of a 5 year old..here is your sippy cup.

hey mark dont worry about her acting up..My 5 year old does the same thing.. So can she grasp the concept of a shoe lace yet?

I still think I should be granted the powers of the Super Geek, where I could electrocute someone over the internet by merely pushing a button.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-11-10T19:00:00.001-06:00

EPA: As with education, energy is not something the federal government is constitutionally authorized to regulate. - Douglass "hey there sailor!" Gibbs

Doug, commenting on Rick Perry's most recent debating gaff.. where he couldn't remember the 3rd of the 3 federal agencies he'd like to do away with.

EPA /= Energy

Doug is dumber than Rick Perry.. which is a remarkable achievement of stupidity.

Ruh Roh

2011-11-10T14:53:00.007-06:00

Saw my M.D. today, and she wants me to get a brain MRI done. It's scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Apparently if you have multiple symptoms related to your brain, it's just standard procedure to have one done. I have the headaches, tinnitus in my ears, and personality changes (weird waves of depression), so into the expensive machine I go. She said the word "tumor", but also spent a great deal of time and effort to tell me that this is just a precaution and that she's sure my issues aren't serious and we'll get it all fixed up soon.

In other words.. it's not a toommah. har

Also had some blood work done because my digestive issues have coincided with the onset of these other symptoms, and so it would make sense that it's not likely a brain problem because that wouldn't have caused my digestive system to get whacked.

A few weeks before the onset of these symptoms, I got bit up by (I think) mosquitoes. The bites have taken ages to heal, so I thought maybe the problems are related to that. The doc tells me that it's not likely related, and to test for something like West Nile virus would require a procedure similar to a spinal tap. So, that's not happening for now, but may be on the menu for later if I continue to have these problems and she can't nail down the cause.

One other issue is that I'm pre-hypertensive. That means my blood pressure is typically higher than most, but is not in the range of exactly having "high blood pressure". The diastolic had been floating around the 85-90 range which is too high. I've been on 100mg of Losartan (BP lowering med), and the last time I saw her (which was prior to these symptoms showing up), my blood pressure was something like 103/71 which is really low. She asked me to take half the Losartan tab a day thinking that because I had lost some weight recently (intentionally trying to do that), the blood pressure had gone down naturally. Today my BP was 128/85, which is getting back into the pre-hypertensive range. So now I'm going back on the full 100mg of Losartan.

Thing is.. Losartan is one of those meds that has to build up in your body to have an effect, so taking 100mg today won't likely make any changes for a while. If you just start it, it takes about 2 weeks for your BP to settle in, but since I'm already on 50mg, going back to 100mg shouldn't take 2 weeks for full effect. Hopefully my BP will go back to the lower range.. my headaches and tinnitus will fade, and all will be good. I haven't had any side-effects from taking Losartan, so it's just one pill a day and no problems.

I'm rather nervous about the MRI, but.. you know.. kind of glad I'm having it done. Early diagnosis is often critical with serious conditions, and even having the test come up normal will be worth knowing just for the peace of mind.

My eldest sister died due to a brain aneurysm when she was just 38, and the doc says the condition is hereditary. She had been bugging me for a while to get a diagnostic test for that specific issue done, and I'd been avoiding it. I'm not sure if the MRI would identify a potential aneurysm or not, but I'd imagine it does. It's kind of the grand daddy of all brain imaging. That's a good question for the doc when I go back to see her next week after the test.

Oh.. and she wants me to see an ENT once we work through the current issues, even if the tinnitus eases up. That makes sense, so I'll be doing that in a few weeks I guess. I'm not sure if their medical group has ENTs (didn't see any on their web site), but I saw one that works out of Baylor back in 2007 who fixed some sinus issues for me, and he's very good. The benefit of going to one of the docs in their group is that they have computerized medical records now, and so she could see the other docs reports and stuff easily. If I go to the Baylor doc, that kind of thing isn't available.. but the Baylor doc is highly rated.. so that's something to consider.

Anyway.. that's the update on my medical condition. Judging by the comments when I last posted about it, that sort of thing is interesting to people. If it weren't happening to me, I'd find it interesting as well. I think M.D.s are a lot like software engineers. It's the same sort of deductive reasoning and information processing that we do when coding and debugging.

The platform an M.D. works on is probably more complex than a computer, which is ultimately just a binary system, but I think the comparison is valid.

Quote of the Day

2011-11-09T17:04:00.006-06:00

It’s horrible to have no money. It’s horrible to have no money and then lose it. It’s horrible to have money and be constantly afraid of losing it. It’s horrible to have money and to be envious of the people who have more money. It’s horrible to have so much money you can’t possibly be envious of anyone and yet you get sick and it was all for nothing. On top of it, the process of making money can be torturous. I’m not good at dealing with people I don’t like. Pretending to like them. Paying their bribes. Listening to their stories. Laughing at their jokes ...

None of it matters. The only goal is freedom. And then happiness. Happiness compounds. I know that today, if I focus on it, I can be a little bit happier than yesterday. I can do the Daily Practice. I can watch a movie that makes me laugh. I can avoid all the people who bring me down. I can be creative.

I can be a little happier each day. Until one day I love all the people who twisted me into the pretzel I still am. - James Altucher

Takes money to have freedom... unless you consider a homeless person "free".

....

I understand that most times when I post a quote, it's enough. It's worth reading the links this time.

Apparently the guy is some sort of self-help guru. He does have good advice for happy and healthy living. It's kind of depressing to read it and realize I don't do most of that. I'm one of the worst procrastinators.. ever.

I'm actually trying to do better. I have an appointment with my doctor for tomorrow. I'm better but not back to normal. It's hard to do much when you don't feel well or have low energy.

I don't know anybody who does everything on his list. Most don't have the time. I've got all kinds of time, I just don't have the will.

Set Sail on the Fail Boat

2011-11-08T18:32:00.002-06:00

I can't tell you how many times I've given Doug tips on how to "dress for success" - but obviously being a dismal failure at 45 is a pretty good indication that he just doesn't get it.

$15 jeans and a pirate shirt are not going to get you taken seriously...

Don't Be That Guy

2011-11-08T18:10:00.002-06:00

In other news.. I was just looking at a copy of Chiquitas Maximus' green-card, and she's been legal since 1990, and doesn't speak English.

How is it possible to be in a neighboring country for over 20 years and not speak the language? I realize that if I moved to Quebec, and lived only with and around English speakers, it would take a while to learn French.. but I'd learn it.

Quote of the Day

2011-11-07T18:31:00.002-06:00

PETA Germany has issued a statement decrying the ability to kill animals in Battlefield 3, specifying an incident where the player stabs a rat with a combat knife. They mention the "brutalizing" effect this can have on the game's "young male target audience", and note that cruelty to animals has been shown to lead to violence toward people. It seems this ignores that the game itself is centered around violence toward other people. - Blues News

Everyone knows I'm about as pro-animal rights as you can get for a non-vegetarian (quite conundrum, eh?).. but PETA doesn't do itself any favors by being ridiculous.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-11-06T19:02:00.003-06:00

If a democracy cannot adequately investigate credible concerns that it accidentally killed three prisoners while experimenting with new torture techniques, then it really isn't a democracy any more. - Andrew Sullivan

I think it's becoming clearer that it's never been a "democracy". If the office has power.. real power.. then your choice of candidates amount to the same thing. Such will be the case with whoever the next President is.

Sure.. there are some net positives that come out of politics occasionally.. such as Social Security and Medicare.. but you have to consider that in a broader sense, it's just staving off a French style revolution.

Americans are to blame, of course. Nobody wants to know about murders at Gitmo, or drones blowing kids to pieces in the Middle East.

.... but if you stick your dick in the wrong place.. well.. now that's completely different.

Team America

2011-11-06T09:57:00.003-06:00

A day in never-ending wars;

Among the group was Tariq Aziz, a quiet 16-year-old, who had come after he received a phone call from a lawyer in Islamabad offering him an opportunity to learn basic photography to help document these strikes. . . .

Tariq was proud to be part of this meeting. About 18 months earlier, in April 2010, his cousin Aswar Ullah was killed by a missile fired from a drone as he rode a motorcycle near Norak. . . .

What none of us could have imagined was that 72 hours later, this football-loving teenager would himself be killed by a CIA drone, along with his 12-year-old cousin Waheed Khan. . . .

Tariq and Waheed’s death brought the total number of children killed in drone strikes to 175, according to the Bureau’s own findings. As part of an ongoing investigation, the Bureau has documented 306 strikes from remotely piloted drones that have killed between 2,359 and 2,959 people. Over 85% of them have been launched by the administration of President Barack Obama.

Tariq came from a poor community on the border with Afghanistan. He was the youngest of seven children. His father, Mumtaz Khan, was away working in the United Arab Emirates as a driver to support his family. Waheed’s family was equally poor – the 12-year-old worked in a local shop for a salary of just Rs 2000 a month (roughly £15 or $23)

Shooting missiles at kids has become the new norm for America.. from the "liberal socialist" President of all people..

I wonder what would happen if instead of firing weapons at the brown people, we actually dropped food and medicine on them. It stands to reason that if you're killing all these people because they might kill one of us, you might get better results if you instead gave them a reason to stop hating us.. and maybe actually help change their culture away from the sickening religious fundamentalism.

But then.. we're told this is some sort of ideological struggle that can only be resolved if one side or the other is eliminated. We happen to have the better guns.

.... oh, by the way, food and medicine costs less than predator drones. Just a thought.

Quote of the Day

2011-11-06T09:32:00.002-06:00

If people can’t comprehend what it means to work for larger goals than their own interest, if they actually consider any deviation from self-service somehow a sign of phoniness, we, as a nation, are lost. - Paul Krugman

But.. but.. Atlas Shrugged!

Krugman's point concerns our ability to advocate policy against our own self interest. A lot of liberal's do this out of a sense of empathy. Conservatives do it because they're really fucking stupid.

I've pretty much given up on the whole thing, because, as Krugman points out, "we, as a nation, are lost". I think that's true, which is why I drone on and on about how important it is for you (and I don't just mean "you" in a generic sense, I mean those of you I know who read my blog) need to get some money stockpiled. Sure, you might get hit by a bus and all that saving would have been for naught.. but odds are you're going to get old, and you're going to need financial stability.

It took me a long time to figure that out. I never got much in the way of sound advice from anyone, and when you're younger, retirement seems like an esoteric idea that you can worry about later. It's getting to the point where you have to work on it before you leave school, and make it a life long habit.

Remember.. something like 68% of Americans don't have $1000 in emergency cash to rely on. Those people are going to get old. Who is going ensure they don't end up in a park, surviving on cat food?

Heckuva Job

2011-11-05T14:38:00.001-05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America's unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.

Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America's 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.

Congress is expected to decide by year's end whether to continue providing emergency unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks in the hardest-hit states. If the emergency benefits expire, the proportion of the unemployed receiving aid would fall further.

Obama didn't cause this.. but then he didn't do much of anything to address it. The solution to the problem was pretty simple. It's too bad he turned out to be a terrible president.

Chiquitas Maximus

2011-11-05T08:34:00.004-05:00

Last month we held a Chiquita deathmatch to see who would be our new housekeeper, since Methadone Chiquita had contracted cancer and had to quit. The winner never showed up for work.. apparently some emergency in the family that dragged on, so we got a new Chiquita via recommendation from a friend.

We always append or preceed the Chiquita name with another in order distinguish between them. They tend to be like the drummers from Spinal Tap, so it makes sense to do it that way.

New Chiquita is probably the best we've ever had. The other day I came out of the study, which is adjacent to the dining room, and looking out the window I saw Chiquita cleaning the outside of the window. We've never had one do the outside of windows before. We're not even taking our dress shirts to the dry cleaner anymore. Chiquita can do the shirts exactly like the dry cleaners. She's like a house cleaning super hero or something..

... and is therefore known as Chiquitas Maximus.

Unfortunately, her English is not very good, so what we do when we need to explain something is type it into freetranslation.com, and print out the results. Works pretty well.

Numbers > Weapons

2011-11-04T23:54:00.003-05:00

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A former U.S. Army Ranger and Occupy Oakland protester was in intensive care on Friday after a veterans' group said he was beaten by police during clashes with anti-Wall Street demonstrators this week.

Kayvan Sabeghi, 32, was arrested and hospitalized about a week after another U.S. military veteran, former Marine Scott Olsen, was badly injured in a confrontation with police that helped spark the latest round of unrest.

I don't get why the cops keep putting people in a hospital. The US Constitution protects speech and assembly rights. Unless the Ranger instigated the confrontation, the cop should be charged with a felony.

I suspect that the "authorities" have hoped that the whole "occupy" thing would simply fizzle out, and maybe if they just stopped beating people and waited for winter it might turn out a bit better.

Seems like Oakland has some fairly recent history of rioting, and when they get going, bad things happen. Of course, when that happens, the cops will run and hide.

Quote of the Day

2011-11-04T09:26:00.003-05:00

Far from being dragged into poor neighborhoods and forced to give out home loans to jobless black folk, companies like Countrywide and New Century charged into suburbs and exurbs from coast to coast with the enthusiasm of Rwandan machete mobs, looking to create as many loans as they could. - Matt Taibbi

"Rwandan machete mobs"....

only Taibbi

....

He goes on to explain how the American "housing bubble" happened. I remember those days.. when you just needed to fog a mirror to get a very large mortgage... the so-called "stated income" loan where you didn't actually have to support your ability to pay the mortgage with any documentation of income or assets. John called them "liar liar loans".

Funny shit...

....

More Taibbi on what the OWS shit is all about.

It's an amazing scam, the likes of which has never before been seen in the world.. with nobody going to jail and the tax payers of America guaranteed to pay for it all.

And a nice chart from Krugman;

What I find funny as fuck is that millions of middle class "conservatives" applaud this.. even as they drive their dirt hauling trucks around southern California. The only reason why the entire United States population hasn't descended into Rwandan machete mobs is because being poor in the US is actually a better standard of living than most other people in the world have.

It's become okay to slave your life away for 40+ hours a week for 50+ years before you can rest and do something for you. At least.. that's how it is for most Americans.

My advice.. figure a way out of it. John works crazy hours, but he owns the company and his income is directly related to his effort. The point of that is that he is determining his own future and not beholden to the benevolence of somebody else.

I haven't followed my own advice.. I'm just a code monkey for a big corporation but I've got the easiest gig in the world and get paid well for it. John wants me to quit my job and go work with him in his business, but we're getting my income basically for free.

Some of the anxiety and depression symptoms I've been experiencing are somehow related to this though. It's great to have an easy job that pays well.. "working" from home and all that. It's just not very satisfying personally.

My personal chemistry is better, but it's still not right. I think I must have picked up some kind of weird viral infection that completely whacked me. It's not the flu, because I haven't had sinus drainage or anything like that. It's just weird.

Vikings!

2011-11-03T22:48:00.003-05:00

Turns out that Vikings actually discovered America several hundred years before Columbus.

Seems we need to do away with the Columbus holiday and have a Viking holiday instead.

Kick His Ass

2011-11-03T09:58:00.003-05:00

So ya.. the news of a Texas judge beating the shit out of his disabled 16 year old daughter is making the rounds.

I'm more interested in the sociology of events like this. It's exactly the same type of deal as when people are only interested in adopting a dog when comes out of a gas chamber alive, but weren't interested when it was headed in.

There's more than 300 million people in this country. To think that one incident is an aberration is laughable. Nobody gives a shit about it until you actually see it on video, and then we're all in a rage and want that fucker to go to prison so he can be properly sodomized by gangs of black guys with massive dicks over and over.

I'm simply fascinated by this reactionary human behavior. I wonder if there's any way it could become pro-active. I know people try.. especially as it relates to dogs and cats, but what about homeless people.. and drug addicts and mentally disordered people?

Is this the best we can do?

Uh

2011-11-02T15:50:00.002-05:00

Jan 26 | Badfish - A Tribute to Sublime | House of Blues Dallas

I had no idea Sublime was popular enough to have a tribute band.

....

Over a decade after Nowell's death and the band's breakup, Sublime remains immensely popular throughout North America, especially in its state of origin, California. Its songs have been featured via soundtrack in a variety of media. Los Angeles alternative rock radio station KROQ has listed Sublime at #3 in their annual "Top 106.7 biggest KROQ bands of all time" list for the past six years in a row[clarification needed], behind Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana,[21] and #81 at the "Top 166 Artists of 1980-2008" list.[22] With over 17 million units sold worldwide, Sublime is one of the most successful ska-punk acts of all time influencing many modern reggae and ska acts.

Shows how much I know.... and I generally know a lot about music.

Seems the vocalist/guitarist was 28 years old when he died of a heroin over-dose.. missing by 1 year the immortal 27 club.

Banned

2011-11-01T18:28:00.003-05:00

John and I have banned Chik-Fil-A for years because they're a hardcore fundi owned company that does whatever they can to make some people's lives worse.

At our CHL class, some title company or other brought us breakfast.. which included these little Chik-Fil-A chicken breakfast sandwich things. We were hungry and we ate some of them. I don't consider that a violation of the ban because we didn't pay for them.

Still.. Chik-Fil-A can go fuck themselves.. or their chickens.. whichever they prefer.

American Justice

2011-11-01T17:56:00.002-05:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A reduction in federal prison sentences for crack cocaine took effect on Tuesday in a move that could let an estimated 12,000 inmates go free early.

The changes reduce federal penalties for more addictive crack cocaine to bring them more in line with those for powdered cocaine. The sentencing disparity had long been criticized as racially discriminatory because it disproportionately affected black defendants.

Up to 1,800 inmates are immediately eligible to go free and prison officials are processing a growing number of release orders, said Chris Burke, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

"The pace has picked up in the last couple of weeks and we don't expect it to abate any time soon," he said.

I'm shocked.. truly... no really.. in all the time I've been posting stories about the American judicial system, I think this is the first one that has been a positive development.

Now, if they would just release all persons imprisoned on drug possession charges, we can maybe get a more sensible policy in place. Maybe spend the money on drug education and treatment instead?

Just a thought.

.....

Of course.. those are federal laws.. federal prisons and have nothing to do with states. I don't get why there are any federal drug laws at all.

Quote of the Day

2011-10-31T15:00:00.003-05:00

Trying to use willpower to overcome the apathetic sort of sadness that accompanies depression is like a person with no arms trying to punch themselves until their hands grow back. A fundamental component of the plan is missing and it isn't going to work. - Allie Brosh

I've never had any symptoms of depression.. that seems to be changing. I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet. I really don't have anything to be depressed about, but it kind of comes in small little waves. Plus the minor case of tinnitus I've had for years has suddenly amplified itself. I need to go see an ENT. Could be an issue with my chemistry that is out of whack or something. I think we get more sensitive to it the older we get.

I do have one bit of anxiety.. after all these years, I've realized that even though I've had a solid profession and written a lot of good code, and done some nice things for people, and been generally a nice person (despite how it might seem from my blogging).. I still haven't accomplished anything meaningful.

Are any of you guys going to do anything that stands out in any way? How would you feel if you never do?

That's a serious question by the way.

I normally don't share shit like that on this blog. I might change that.

Don't Breed

2011-10-31T14:46:00.002-05:00

Not likely;

The combination of rising oil prices and declining water could lead to a perfect storm where suddenly all these things lead to human catastrophe around the planet. A report that came out in the last couple of months by two biologists looking at global biodiversity has shown that biodiversity is declining globally and the 100,000 preserves that have been set up are doing nothing to protect biodiversity. Spreading human habitation is systematically reducing the life support system of our planet. Cutting down large rainforests is a major aggravator of climate change. It took 3 billion years of evolution to make our planet habitable for humans. Setting up large zoos – which is what reserves are – isn’t going to protect us. We are risking the long term habitability of the planet. Some scientists think that humans could be extinct by the end of the century.

Humanity will not go quietly... but surely will fuck up the planet in the process.

Exponential growth is simply unsustainable. The only question is when it all comes apart. I kind of think those of us on the planet right now won't experience it.. so think of it this way.. in all the ages of humanity, this one.. today.. is the greatest there has ever been. We were fortunate enough to be born at exactly the right time.. and for some of us.. white and male, and at least above average intelligence.

That is the ultimate lottery win.

Nearly Armed and Dangerous

2011-10-30T16:48:00.006-05:00

LOL;

A radio ad for a handgun training class that bars Muslims and Obama voters has sparked an investigation in Texas.

"We will attempt to teach you all the necessary information you need to obtain your [Concealed Handgun License]," the ad says. Then towards the end, it adds: "If you are a socialist liberal and/or voted for the current campaigner in chief, please do not take this class. You have already proven that you cannot make a knowledgeable and prudent decision under the law."

And then: "If you are a non-Christian Arab or Muslim, I will not teach you the class with no shame; I am Crockett Keller, thank you, and God bless America."

The ad ran for six days on KHLB, Mason's local station. It's also been heard tens of thousands of times on Youtube.

Last Friday, John and I completed our training for our concealed handgun license in Texas. One would have figured that in Texas, all we would need to do is fog a mirror and then we could pack heat (heh). No.. we had to do 10 hours of classroom instruction and firing range time. I aced the 50 question written test, and scored a 245 out of 250 on the firing range using a glock 9mm. I brought the target home.. should have John photo it so I can brag some more.

John also did well on the written test, and fired the weapon quite well.. I think he had a 235. Neither of us had fired a handgun in probably 20 years or more. The first few rounds, I didn't account for the recoil but once I started aiming a few inches low, it worked pretty well.

The instructor was rather red-necky as well but nice enough. It probably occurred to him that most of the 10 or so of us in the class were gay.. but he did throw in some references to "libruls" and "obama". No big deal - everyone gets an opinion. And just like that guy that was advertising to exclude liberals and muslims, that's cool too. We don't do business with that type of person.. we would never associate with them, and I'm a big advocate of actually segregating the ideologies by geography.. not just based on patronage.

So.. now we need to actually fill out the application to the state, and send in our paperwork in order to get the CHL. That's if we're actually going to do it. We're not paranoid, and the odds that we'll ever need a gun at the ready is exceedingly low. John has more use for it since his business takes him into rough parts of town. For me, unless some bitch goes crazy at a country club, I should be fine.

Interesting factoid that I did not realize about handguns and Texas. If you do not have a CHL - you cannot carry anywhere except your home and your car. Your car is treated as an extension of your home. I was very surprised by that, because where I'm from, Arizona, you can strap a 44 magnum to your hip and walk into a grocery store and it's all perfectly legal. In Texas, that's a Class A misdemeanor.

Seriously.. you can't just walk around in public with a gun in a holster in plain view anywhere in Texas - with very limited exceptions, such as battle re-enactments. You can, however, walk around with a "long rifle" in plain view - which includes semi-automatic assault rifles without a license. Texas is a very strange state.

The other odd thing about the CHL is that if you do carry a weapon per your concealed carry license, it always has to be concealed. It can never be seen by anyone else unless you're actually deploying the weapon to deter a threat. You can't even have the shape of a handgun be seen through your clothing, and you cannot have it visible in your vehicle. Our instructor told us that when he's driving, his gun is under a towel on the passenger seat, and when he leaves the vehicle, he uses the towel to mask the gun as he holsters it. Failing to conceal your handgun is.. once again.. a class A misdemeanor in Texas. Everything is a class A it seems, unless it's related to guns going off.. which generally graduate to felony levels.

The other consideration is the caliber of hand gun to carry. Obviously the larger the caliber, the larger the gun. A .22 just won't do the job. A .45 is huge and would be difficult to conceal. Most people seem to carry 9mm or 380s. At the range, I saw some rather small 380s that I could probably pocket holster in my jeans if they're a bit baggy. Something like a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard might do the trick. I'm just not sure what use there would be for laser sighting. In a confrontation, it's typically point and click as fast as possible.

As you can see in the picture, it has a safety on it. Our instructor, being the red-necky paranoid type, thinks that a CHL weapon should not have a safety, and further, a round should be chambered at all times. He thinks that the operator should have a finely honed ability and skill in handling, drawing, and deploying a weapon with a chambered round and no safety. He says that the holster must have the proper trigger guard so it would be impossible to accidentally discharge the weapon. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm not so sure how much riskier it would be to yank the slide to chamber a round and flip a safety off before shooting someone to death.

Of course, being a librul.. I'm also aware that having a firearm is far more likely to result in an accidental injury or death than it actually be used in a life or death situation successfully.

I think the real trick would be to constantly evaluate circumstances and test your ability to judge situations of when force or deadly force is allowed. If you use deadly force in a situation that the law defines only force be allowed, you could end up convicted of a homicide. I'm not sure how well a 10 hour class prepares a person for that decision making.

Someone attempts to rob you by demanding your wallet. They do not appear to have any weapon. Can you draw your weapon and shoot them if they do not retreat?

It's also highly important what you tell a 911 operator after an incident, and what you say to the police when they arrive. What I've always said about cops applies in all circumstances - even when you had to confront a bad guy. Imagine the emotional distress of being in that situation and then being faced with the police immediately afterwards. Of course, the worst case situation with the police is better than the worst case situation with a bad guy. Still - the moral of the story is that even when you did everything exactly right, just state the very basics of the situation, say only that you had to stop the threat, and politely decline to an interview at the police station without your lawyer. Then give the statement as per the lawyers advice. The police and the D.A. will not hold that against you, nor attempt to cook up some nefarious plot.

To see a fun example of how not to do it, see Joe Horn. We actually listened to the entire 911 call during class and I was astounded by it.

Another fun video we got to watch was

Badass DEA agent.. legendary skillz.. total "professional".

Knowing whether or not a gun has rounds in a clip, or a round in the chamber is obviously a big deal.

Anyway.. pretty sure John is going to be carrying. I haven't decided yet. I have a natural aversion to guns, but firing at the range was rather fun. There's some thinking to do about it.. and once you get your CHL, you have a CHL and that is pretty serious shit in Texas in terms of the law and all that.

Fun question on the test.

You attend a Cowboys football game and when approaching the entrance gates, you realize you have your firearm with you. You should.

A. Make sure it's loaded.
B. Tell the attendant that you are carrying.
C. Say nothing about your weapon.
D. Immediately return to your vehicle to safely store the weapon.

Selective Caring

2011-10-30T01:40:00.003-05:00

I saw a very sad story yesterday (mostly sad) about a dog that somehow managed to survive a euthanasia attempt at an animal control facility. It was apparently a 6 year old beagle that was unscathed.

Now there are hundreds of people asking to adopt it. The dog is not any different than it was before they tried to put him down.

There are literally thousands of animals that are euthanized every year around the country that people could adopt. I don't get why all of a sudden they are interested in one when there is some publicity around it.

Is it because they just want to get on teevee or something?

Fucking

2011-10-28T02:45:00.003-05:00

Rangers...

That is all....

.....

no wait.. one other thing. I don't really fucking care. In a pinch I couldn't tell you one of the player's name. I don't know the manager. I don't like American League baseball. I've lived in Dallas nearly 10 years now and I've never been to the ballpark.

I can - however, tell you the entire starting roster of the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks. I can tell you who the manager was and the pitching coach. I can tell you who was on 3rd base when Luis Gonzales choked up on his bat and blooped a single over Derek Jeter's head to win the series.. hitting it off one of the most dominant closures ever to pitch in the MLB.

Has a team ever come within one strike of winning the World Series and then lost it?

Epic

YaY

2011-10-27T14:48:00.002-05:00

I have 95 pages of documents to sign in front of me and I'll own my second house that I don't live in.

John did all the work on this.. and had some remodeling done, and it looks fantastic. He's showing a potential renter in an hour, and it should easily rent out quickly and cash flow pretty well.

The other house that I have is the one that I used to live in, and still have a bunch of stuff there that I need to do something with. It needs some remodeling and such as well before it could be rented out, but I've been slacking on it.. going on years now. That house should be paid off in.. 8 years, but maybe I can step up the mortgage payments a bit.

Maybe we'll use rental income on paid-for houses to supplement the retirement income, or maybe just sell everything and bail to Canada with a giant pile of cash. Either way.. not so sucky.

We're really lucky and know it.

Sigh

2011-10-27T14:38:00.001-05:00

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Iraq War veteran injured in clashes between police and anti-Wall Street protesters felt so strongly about economic inequality that he wanted to do something to change it, his roommate said Thursday.

Scott Olsen, 24, joined the protests as he worked his day job as a network engineer and left his apartment each night to sleep alongside protesters in San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., Keith Shannon said.

Olsen apparently suffered a fractured skull Tuesday during the clashes.

....

Haywood33 minutes ago
Oh boy...what a hero.....NOT !!!!!!!! Just another idiot that shouldn't have been there !

Who cares? Just remember there still are STUPID veterans....what a freaking dolt !!!!

Changey

2011-10-27T06:14:00.002-05:00

Democrats propose cutting Medicare benefits;

It calls for between $200 billion and $300 billion in new economic stimulus spending that would be paid for with lower interest payments from reducing deficits.

It also seeks around $400 billion in Medicare savings, with half coming in benefit cuts and the other half in cuts to healthcare providers. Details of that proposal were scant but tackling the popular Medicare program is always politically risky for politicians.

I don't give a fuck as long as it locks in immunity for anyone over age, say, 45.

Well.. actually.. I do give a fuck.

Obama is without a doubt the Worst President Ever. He makes George Bush look like FDR.

The Greatest of all Evil

2011-10-26T10:49:00.002-05:00

Christian Universalism is an unorthodox, unbiblical, erroneous, and heretical doctrine that states that God will eventually bring everybody who has ever lived into a saving relationship with Him. It is the fanciful belief that everybody will eventually be saved because God is too kind and loving to condemn anyone to Hell. - Douglass V. Gibbs

Doug is arguing that even if you lead an atheists or agnostic.. heck, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, or any other religious life beyond his flavor of christianity, and on your death stood before God - there is no second chance to change your mind. You were expected to make a complete investment of your soul into something that you've never seen.. never heard.. never saw one shred of evidence in support of.. lest you find yourself damned for all eternity in Hell.

Sure, you may have committed your entire life to God.. but if it was not done in the proper way of Jesus Christ, then you are no different than a mass murderer and are cast into the pit.

This is why Doug, and people like him, are truly the root of all evil that exists in this world today.

The Right Priorities

2011-10-26T10:26:00.002-05:00

There's been record flooding in Thailand recently. The price of hard drives for computers is going way up.

The woman in the photo understands what is important.

.....

Token and Riley are at the groomers today. Riley's fall is continuing to grow out, but we'll see how this goes. John likes being able to see Riley's eyes easily, but the fall is the traditional Wheaten style.

The dogs like New Chiquita.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-10-26T09:19:00.002-05:00

“tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history.” - Barack Obama on the summary execution of Osama bin Laden.

Typically, that type of rhetoric is reserved for when we land a human being on another celestial body, rather than a spec ops guy putting a round into the forehead of crazy man.

I know I sound like a broken record, but it really is remarkable how fast and how far this nation has fallen. Cancel technological programs, unless they lead to more effective ways to remote control kill people.

All you can do is control your little slice of the world, and hope you don't get caught up in the bullshit that goes on around us. In the process, you can heap as much scorn and ridicule on fuckers like Obama as possible.

There's nothing that can be done about our two tiered system of justice though. All you can do is stay away from it as best you can.

Bit of Good News

2011-10-25T04:49:00.003-05:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A red-tailed hawk that rescuers said was shot in the head with a nail gun was recovering Sunday at a Northern California wildlife center.

The hawk, captured in a San Francisco park by rescuers Saturday, was doing "very well" while being cared for at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley in San Jose, said Rebecca Dmytryk, executive director of the Monterey-based group WildRescue.

"The nail dislodged and dropped out during transport with no sign of additional trauma and no bleeding," Dmytryk said.

Now if they could just find the guy that did it so he could be publicly shamed, that would be a proper end to the story.

Fun With Headlines

2011-10-24T08:07:00.005-05:00

Lack of jobs leaves more suburban, middle class sliding into poverty

And what is the economics lesson we have learned here at the Infidel Express over the course of the past couple years, boy and girls?

That's right.. wealth is relative.. and if you stay the same, but most everyone else is doing worse, that's just like getting a big fat raise!

Fourteen months ago, Aurora resident Prentiss Bailey was going about happily living his life as usual.

He was employed at a printing company where he’d worked for 10 years—a job that paid $17 an hour and that with the consistent overtime and $4,000 and $5,000 annual Christmas bonuses he got, enabled him to take care of his family and enjoy what he considered a middle income life.

Today, he and his 10-year–old daughter live in a homeless shelter.

You'd think that the consequence of that would be that people would stop having kids, but really it's the younger professional types that are mostly unaffected that are not having kids. You know the type.. like our very own Steve K... dating a girl for years on end.. not getting married.. not having any kids.. pulling in a decent check from his software dev job.

The odds he ends up in a homeless shelter are fairly low. Everyone else.. it's a crap shoot.

And of course.. the best part..

maxed out cable packages
high car payments
6 cell phones.....( dude has a chickenhead on the side )
rimms for the escalade
etc, etc.........
ohyes.....the 90 inch 1080 p plasma t.v.............
not....1......but.....new ones in each room.........
play stations & x- box's........with a library of 100 games at
$60 a pop.....

.....

Despite frosty relations with the titans of Wall Street, President Obama has still managed to raise far more money this year from the financial and banking sector than Mitt Romney or any other Republican presidential candidate, according to new fundraising data.

Obama’s key advantage over the GOP field is the ability to collect bigger checks because he raises money for both his own campaign committee and for the Democratic National Committee, which will aid in his reelection effort.

As a result, Obama has brought in more money from employees of banks, hedge funds and other financial service companies than all of the GOP candidates combined, according to a Washington Post analysis of contribution data. The numbers show that Obama retains a persistent reservoir of support among Democratic financiers who have backed him since he was an underdog presidential candidate four years ago.

Remember when Zombie Steve Jobs said that Obama was going to be a one term president because of his draconian policies toward corporate America?

That cancer is a bitch.

Sociopath

2011-10-23T06:22:00.009-05:00

Some jackass shot this hawk in the head with a nail gun. Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be fatal and a vet will try and fix him up.

It would be okay with me if they found the guy.. tied him up naked, spread eagle, in a park and left a nail gun lying next to him with a big picture nearby of what he had done.

After all, I generally have more empathy for animals than I do human beings.

.....

Whenever I say or write something, I try not to sound, or be, hypocritical or inconsistent. Sometimes we're just hypocritical on something and we simply have to accept that.

I read Andrew Sullivan's blog pretty regularly.. for two reasons. One, it's a similar situation to why I read Doug's blog. It's always nice to be able to make a point by demonstrating how someone else is wrong. If you only read people you agree with, that doesn't do much good. The other is that Sullivan has a staff that is good at finding and linking other stories that are interesting and entertaining.

Anyway.. Sullivan has some new feature or other where readers submit a question and he picks one out to answer in a video. Don't ask me why they add a special effect to it to make it look cartoon-ish. That's pretty silly.

So the question was how some can reconcile having a pro-animal rights view point, and still eat meat. Sullivan's answer is that he really doesn't have a good answer. I feel the same way.

Animal abuse makes me absolutely insane, and the way that most meat in the world is harvested is barbaric. Sullivan is right that future generations will look back at the way our society treated animals with revulsion.

While the animal ends up dead and cut up into servable portions no matter how they are treated before they are killed, it does matter, from a moral sense, how they are treated before they are slaughtered.

We went out for dinner to a very high end restaurant last weekend, and had Kobe beef and an Australian lobster tail. The Kobe cows are the most expensive in the world and they are treated exceptionally well, and fed the best food. That has a lot to do with why they are Kobe. The Lobsters were trapped in Australia, and flown to the US in crowded buckets, and then boiled alive when we order it. I'm not sure how much awareness a lobster has to understand what is happening to it, or if it senses pain.

Still, chickens are often not treated well, and pork farming is disgusting.

We almost never eat pork, and our red meat consumption has dropped off dramatically over the last year. We do eat some chicken and sushi though, even as we're trying to add more veggies and fruits.

Ultimately, I don't have a very good excuse for continuing to eat meat. I just do. I will, however, go out of my way or pay more for meat that is harvested in more humane ways, such as free range chickens and such, and definitely want to avoid meat that is riddled with antibiotics.

....

Speaking of animals.. Riley's coat is growing out nicely. I'm spending a lot of time combing him out pretty much every day now to keep it untangled. Token seems to not be developing any mats, which is odd because he's typically prone to it.

We went to the dog park last weekend, and there was a young dog there that was a bit bigger than Riley, and it was just hyper and over aggressive. It got Riley into a corner and the other dog's owner was standing right by me and I told him to get control of his dog. He said the dog was just a puppy and was only playing. I looked at him with my "I'm not fucking around with you look" and said "I'm going to start doing that to you in 5 seconds if you don't get control of your dog".. which he did.

I really was going to start wailing on this guy because of his dog. It's not the dog's fault. It clearly hasn't had any training and you can't just take a dog to a dog park without it having some training. Dogs are always a reflection of it's owner. This guy was a dick.

The vast majority of the time we have no problems at all at the dog park, but it's not uncommon for there to be at least one jackass there.

Riley doesn't have any aggression in him at all. I think it's part personality and that we had him socialized in a training environment when he was a puppy. He definitely is all about the running around and having fun. He doesn't do well with a dog that is aggressive.

/adding

I sent in a question to the "Ask Sully" address;

"How does it feel to be a knee jerk advocate for a war in Iraq that was based on deception and lies, and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children, all typed from your cottage on the beach in Province-town?"

Needless to say, he did not reply.

Asshat Quote of the Day

2011-10-21T13:46:00.003-05:00

"You're headed for a one-term presidency," - Steve "I don't need no surgery" Jobs

Jobs argued that Obama was jeopardizing his re-election prospects because of what Jobs took to be a pervasive anti-business climate in his administration. Jobs cited excessive federal regulations and operating costs for businesses as harmful legacies of the Obama White House.

Except, you know, corporate profits are soaring during the Obama presidency.

I've never thought much of Jobs. I've never liked Apple products.. nor cared for the culture that thought that inferior products were somehow cool and trendy. My PC has always been orders of magnitude more powerful than any Apple piece of shit. I don't give a fuck about their MP3 players.. you can get better for less money. I don't want a fucking ipad just to be hip.

And I'm sure as fuck not going to ignore the advice of an oncologist when he says that I'm going to fucking die if I don't get treated.. because they tend to know what the fuck they are talking about.

Steve Jobs always was a tool.. and while he might well be right that Obama only serves one term, his reasoning has to be the result of a cancer addled brain. It's simply not true.

If you're a corporate type.. you love Obama.. you've got high revenue and ridiculously low taxes. That's why corporations shovel money at Obama, and if he does win re-election, it'll likely be because of the corporations.

Blood for Oil

2011-10-21T12:31:00.002-05:00

President Obama will announce today that the United States is pulling all its troop from Iraq by the end of the year.

According to a White House official, “this deal was cut by the Bush administration, the agreement was always that at end of the year we would leave, but the Iraqis wanted additional troops to stay. We said here are the conditions, including immunities. But the Iraqis because of a variety of reasons wanted the troops and didn’t want to give immunity.

“So that’s it. Now our troops go to zero,” the official added. “We will have a very robust diplomatic presence. But it will be a normal diplomatic presence like we have in many countries.

“This country also wants to have its independence. They’re producing 2 ½ billion barrels of oil a day. They just paid something like $1.6 billion for something like 20 F-16s. They have a deal now with GE. By the end of next summer they will surpass Iran in oil production. They could surpass Saudi Arabia in a few years. This will impact the whole equilibrium in the Middle East.

“We want to have a new relationship with this country.”

At approximately 11:30am today, President Obama convened a secure video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to talk with him about this news, a source said.

That's what it's always been about. Thousands of Americans, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died so that we can have cheap gas.

But, you know.. the financial cost of the war will soak up most of the benefits from an increased oil supply driving down prices.

I feel rather badly for all the soldiers that deployed to Iraq, thinking there was some noble purpose behind it. There never was. There was only enriching the defense industries and opening up more oil availability.

Oh.. and Qaddaffyduck is dead. Libya has oil also. Of course, the war was illegal from the outset, Obama has made sure that the President has no checks on waging war or assassinating American citizens.. even if the collateral murder extends to 16 year old boys.

Pretty amazing shit.. that's fucked up and bullshit.

American Justice

2011-10-21T09:28:00.003-05:00

Some prisons in Texas have stopped serving lunch to inmates in Texas to try to shave off $2.8 million in food expenses. "About 23,000 inmates in 36 prisons are eating two meals a day on Saturdays and Sundays instead of three," The New York Times reports. The state cut special-request "last meals" for death row prisoners last month.

Or... they could stop putting casual drug users into prison.

Just a thought.

....

It's just another one of those things that makes me embarrassed to be an American, and in general, have a great deal of disgust for this society. America imprisons more citizens per-capita, by far, than any other nation on the planet. This is because there is money to be made by doing that.. not because Americans tend to be immoral criminals.

....

Henry James maintained his innocence all during the 30 years he's spent in Angola prison in Louisiana after he was convicted for the rape of his neighbor. Today, he will finally walk free, his conviction overturned by a Jefferson Parish judge.

The way it works in America is that the cops and the prosecutors are graded on sending people to prison. Because most people are corrupt and immoral, it doesn't make any difference to them who it is that pays the price. They convince the victim who the perpetrator is and then a racist jury sends them away for life.

Hopefully with the advent of DNA testing, this becomes less prevalent, but it won't stop. Cops are still corrupt. DA's still base their careers on the victims of their heinous pursuit of success.

No matter the situation or the individual, never believe the words of a single person. Lying is second nature to human beings.

Deep Thoughts

2011-10-20T13:50:00.001-05:00

I just completed the enrollment for the 2012 benefits with my MegaCorp employer. The total value of the benefits is $14,407.60. I didn't think it was that much.

The medical plan costs $12,672.44.

Imagine not having a job as is the situation for millions of Americans. I can see why people have to have a job until Medicare kicks in. Can you imagine writing a check for that much money every year?

If we retire early, and we have been planning to retire early, we're going to need a fuck-ton of money saved up. In technical terms, a "fuck-ton" is a lot.

....

In mostly unrelated news.. the winner of our recent Chiquita Deathmatch was forced to resign due to health issues in her family. We didn't go back to the runner up as he had pretty much dyed every white thing we owned a peculiar shade of pink. Instead, we have a completely new Chiquita that was recommended by a friend.

The new Chiquita is extremely thorough.

We also have held a mini personal trainer deathmatch in that we've interviewed a couple of guys who would come out to the house and train us and such. We need to pick one. Both would be good.

Liar Liar

2011-10-20T01:09:00.002-05:00

A couple days ago I posted a bit about Doug slagging on Democrats for proposing a law that would criminalize impersonating the TSA. I called him out on blaming the Democrats in Congress when it was, in fact, the Republicans that sponsored the bill.

So he changed the post...

....

LOL.. you changed the post, but still haven't got it right.

Originally...

Talk about the democrats doing whatever they can to protect their Gestapo operation.

Becomes..

Talk about the liberals doing whatever they can to protect their Gestapo operation.

When the truth is that the bill's sponsors are all Republicans.. and you know it.

You're such a fucking liar Doug. Over and over. lie after lie. Delete delete delete..

You know that the Republicans are the bill sponsors and still you let your defamation stand unchanged. That's because you're nothing but a rank propagandist and a liar.

And most of all, a scumbag coward for Christ.. I'll bet he doesn't even rapture you.

Flash Robs

2011-10-19T10:42:00.003-05:00

Interesting.. organizing online to commit acts of theft. I admit, I had not foreseen such a thing.

Can it be stopped? Criminals hide behind VPN's with no logs, instruct many people into a flash crime spree, and there cannot be any police intervention with such a short warning. Criminals are encouraged to participate because with many simultaneous crimes, the odds of being caught are drastically reduced.

The internet might be the ultimate tool of complete anarchy, which is probably why Obama is having an "off" switch installed in the American networks.

Tea Bagging Tax Rates

2011-10-19T07:04:00.002-05:00

An analysis of Herman Cain's "999" tax proposal.

I know.. awesome, right? I wonder what we could do with the extra $25,000? Sure, it would suck to be the "middle class" and see your tax burden go up.. but fuck them. It's their own fault they're not in the top income brackets.

A middle income household making between about $64,000 and $110,000 would get hit with an average tax increase of about $4,300, lowering its after-tax income by more than 6 percent and increasing its average federal tax rate (including income, payroll, estate and its share of the corporate income tax) from 18.8 percent to 23.7 percent. By contrast, a taxpayer in the top 0.1% (who makes more than $2.7 million) would enjoy an average tax cut of nearly$1.4 million, increasing his after-tax income by nearly 27 percent. His average effective tax rate would be cut almost in half to 17.9 percent. In Cain’s world, a typical household making more than $2.7 million would pay a smaller share of its income in federal taxes than one making less than $18,000. This would give Warren Buffet severe heartburn.

So the simple idea is that you just need to make more than $2.7 mil a year. Easy enough.. right?

Oh.. and you know when you actually start making that kind of money, it's so much easier to cheat on your taxes because there is typically no W2 and you can manipulate your costs much easier. Your effective tax rate becomes even lower.

The idea here being that the smart people should have all the wealth, and everyone else should be more along the line of slaves. Sure.. the slaves will have teevees and basic cable and such, so it'll be much better than slaves used to have it.

Be sure and tell some kid that's graduating from high school that they'll get to spend the next 50 years working 40+ hours a week in order to make somebody else wealthier. That's if they're lucky and can find a job.