Government Tastes Like Diarrhea

Alright, so maybe there are things that happen politically that can jolt me out of boredom.

I don't think I've ever been more upset by any political act than I am over this tax cut extension stuff.

RUbublicans: "Millions of people out of work? Families on the verge of losing their homes? Poor people with hardly anything right before the holidays? Extend unemployment benefits? Only if you keep the tax breaks going for me and my golf buddies!!! If you don't like it, watch the people STARVE!! SCREW YOU!!!"

Seriously, it makes me think I'll just vote straight ticket Democrat for the rest of my life. Republicans were all thowing little hissy-fits about reducing the deficit and cutting back government spending. But suddenly, when some legislation came by that might cut a little bit into the wallets of their campaign contributors, it was all "up yours, America!"

Not letting those tax cuts expire will increase the deficit by 700 BILLION dollars. At least I can rest easy, knowing that my children's future taxes will have gone toward the creation of a bustling economy and a productive, honorable government.

Bored

Is anybody else feeling a little bit burnt out on politics? I was really into paying attention to what was going on for a while there. From the election in '08 onward I was reading news articles, watching TV, tuning in to the first segment of SNL, arguing with my friends. It was fun.

Now I kinda feel like I used to feel about girls after going out on one or two dates with them. (I'm talking about every girl but my wife. Let's keep that clear.)

I would get all interested, notice things I like. Maybe I'd even mention those things to people I knew. Then I'd get a little bit invested and get to know her a little bit and I'd realize that she just wasn't worth the effort to pay attention. They were usually dramatic and boring at the same time. If they were pretty, they were also annoying. If they weren't pretty, they had other issues.

Maybe politics and I need to "take a brake." Kind of like Ross and Rachel. Maybe in the interem, I'll hook up with...oh, I dunno...soap operas? I've flirted with reality TV before, that could be amusing. Business? Or maybe I could concentrate on my homework. That could be interesting...

Divided We Fall

I wish I could feel optimistic about this last election. I think the idea of divided government is hypothetically good. It keeps one side from pushing through a whole bunch of policies that may not be good for the country.
However, in our current political climate, where compromising with the other side brings you the label "traitor," I'm afraid that having a divided government just means that even less is going to be accomplished. Two years from now, both sides are going to be pointing accross the aisle and saying, "All our problems are THEIR fault! They said they'd fix it and they DIDN'T! And they're friends with CHILD MOLESTERS!"
I'm in a bad mood.

My Cute Nerd

This is my daughter:

She's five years old and she just started kindergarten last month.
As you can see, she's a very attractive young lady and she's bound get even more attractive. That's worrisome all by itself. But beyond the troubles that come upon good-looking individuals in our society, I have the additional worry that she's very, very smart. She's already reading. She's not doing chapter books yet, but she can sound out the majority of words in the picture books we have, and she's even reading road signs and advertisements from the car.
The other day, my wife and I went to a kindergarten planning meeting. The teacher talked about some of the "learning activities" they would be doing at the class parties. Things like "walk around on the pictures and then when the music stops, say the "beginning sound" of the picture.
I worry that my very smart little girl is going to stagnate. If we keep helping her improve at home, she'll only get that much more ahead of her classmates and be even more bored. She's already one of the youngest in her class so I don't think that bumping her up a grade would be good for her.
I heard a guy on the radio talking about a documentary he did about our education system. While he was making it, he recognized that he was part of the problem by taking his wealthy, smart kids to a charter school. The public schools, being underfunded and poorly staffed also end up with the students who aren't as academically gifted. Average test scores go down, and teachers get blamed for poorly performing students.
We can't afford to put her into a private school, but even if we could, is that the best thing for her? Is that the best thing for the system? Do I care about the system more than I care about her academic success? I plan on continuing to be an active participant in my daughter's education, and I don't doubt that she'll be a top student in her class. I just want for "top student in her class" to be something she can be proud of.
By the way, it makes me pretty sick that the teacher's union voted against disbanding. They would have gotten DOUBLE their salaries. That would have given so many good people incentive to become teachers. Yes, it would have made it easier to fire crappy teachers, but you people are teaching my kid. If you do a bad job, I don't want you there.
I would have been a teacher if it had paid enough. I would have been a good teacher, and I'd have been able to spy on my daughter in high school to make sure she wasn't hanging out with any unsavory goons.

Burning the Koran

This jerk, Terry Jones is getting quite a bit of attention. In case you don't read or listen to anything but my blog, he's planning on burning the Koran on September 11. Mostly, people are voicing their concerns that this act will make radical Muslims really upset and it will put the United States and her troops overseas in greater danger.

I think this man's actions are insulting and disrespectful to millions of peaceful followers of Islam.

However, I find myself a little bit annoyed by the media coverage. I seem to recall a little while ago that there was some upset over Proposition 8 in California. Lots of evangelical Christians voted to outlaw gay marriage and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the more vocal supporters of the bill. During and following the vote, I heard that numerous people burned the Book of Mormon, a text that is every bit as holy to me as the Koran is to a Muslim. They also vandalized Mormon places of worship.

Why didn't this get more press? Why didn't talk shows and pundits sit around tables and talk about respect for other's beliefs?

I'll tell you why. It's because no matter how many Book of Mormons you burn, a person of my faith is not going to strap a bomb to him or herself and kill a bunch of innocent people in "vengence." Members of the Mormon Church use legal, democratic processes to state their beliefs. If other people don't like those beliefs, and even if the democratic process is overturned, Mormons will not pull out guns to change people's minds. They will keep living and doing as they believe without destroying.

So really it comes down to the violence. This hateful Terry Jones fellow might be getting a call from the president of the United States asking him to reconsider because a small minority of horrible Muslims have made the whole world afraid. How sad that hatred and death have become the language of religion.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Terry Jones went ahead with his burning of the Koran and no reporters or cameras were there to document it? Let him burn it all by himself and let Al-Qaida wonder if they'll get into heaven by blowing him up.

That "Gay" Thing

About this whole "gay marriage" thing:

I believe that homosexuality is a choice. Come to think of it, I believe that ALL sexuality is a choice. I do believe in God, and looking at the human form, I think His designs for the species' procreation are fairly obvious.

I also believe that there are variations in humans, genetically, hormonally, and socially that make some of them more prone to abnormal behaviors. Are these behaviors contrary to what the God I believe in intended? Yes. Are these people accountable for these behaviors? I don't know. That's up to Him.

But now to return to marriage. Should these people, whose love for one another is undoubtedly very genuine much of the time, be allowed to get married? Do two guys giving one another rings somehow diminish or nullify the commitment I've made to my wife? I don't think so. Will their marriages be valid in the eyes of my God? I doubt it, but I also believe that other religions aren't completely valid in the eyes of my God. That doesn't mean that people shouldn't be allowed to practice them.

I'm much more bothered by people smoking or swearing or wearing immodest clothing around me than I am by same-sex people holding hands around me.

So as I'm writing this, I'm finding myself convincing me to disagree with the vast majority of people that practice my religion. I don't care if gay people get married. I don't agree with their lifestyle, but I don't think their lifestyle should be restricted by the government. I find it interesting that the same people who are screaming that the government needs to back out of their lives in regards to taxes and healthcare are screaming for it to stick it's big foot into the lives of others.

My religion and lifestyle isn't exactly what the rest of the world calls "normal." In fact, one of its tenants is that we "claim the privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of our own conscience. We afford all men the same privilege. Let them worship how, where, or what they may." Does that tenant extend toward letting people marry who or what they may? I don't know, but I'd rather allow other people more freedom to be different if it means that my freedom to be different will be maintained.

The Body Legislative

I think we should abolish the senate. I'm kinda serious here. We have two legislative bodies, each of which is maintained by billions of taxpayer dollars for the legislators themselves, their staffs, the facilities, transportation and who knows what else.

The two houses were made originally to balance the power between the less populated and more populated states. Well, why don't we do this: combine the two legislative bodies so that South Dakota has a slightly louder voice in relation to their size compared to California. Then fire half of them.

The unfortunately named Anthony Weiner got rationally upset because Republicans voted against a bill that would have given health care to 9/11 responders. It would have been paid for by closing a tax loophole that has been allowing wealthy people and corporation to hide money overseas without being taxed. So the Republicans are screwing over people who put their lives on the line in order to protect wealthy tax cheats. Nice.

Of course, the bill would have passed if the Democrats hadn't insisted on forbidding any amendments to the bill (They only would have needed a simple majority). Apparently, they didn't want any Republicans to have any input because it's an election season and they wanted to hog the glory for themselves.

Nothing gets done if it's important because nobody wants anyone else to win. We are represented by childish bastard pricks.

I do agree with this guy, though.

Well, do ya? Punk?

My thoughts on guns.
I don't have a problem with people owning guns, as long as those guns aren't pointed at me.
I think that people should have to register their guns. That way, if someone buys a gun, and then lets their convicted murderer/rapist/moose molester cousin borrow that gun, the weapon can then be traced back. Having a license to own a gun means you'll be responsible, just like owning a car, or being a nurse. All those licenses are issuable and revocable. I'm OK with that.
I'm a little bit torn on the whole "assault weapon" issue. I myself have considered the possibility that I might own a hunting rifle someday. It would be nice to be able to obtain protein after the collapse of civilization. I can't imagine a circumstance in which I would need an automatic weapon. Then again, it might be nice to have something impressive to point toward the mob when they show up to steal our food storage.
And handguns? There are just too many stories about kids finding daddy's handgun and blowing out little sister's brains accidentally. Yes, I'd prefer to have a gun if somebody broke into our house in the middle of the night, but it's just not worth it. In order for a handgun to be of any use in that kind of situation, it would have to be loaded and ready. "Excuse me, Mr. Prowler, I'm just going to walk past you to get up into my attic where I keep the ammo for this pistol. Wait right here."
I'll stick with my fake vampire teeth/nun-chucks combo.

Tips

Don't be cheap. I'm going to break down a pizza man's wages for you:
In the store, a pizza man makes $7.25 per hour.
When he makes a delivery, he checks out on a computer and while he's out driving, he makes $4.25 per hour. Every delivery order includes a delivery fee of $1.99. The pizza man keeps $1.50 of that. So, if he spends half an hour making a delivery, and he doesn't get any extra tip, he'll continue to make $7.25 per hour, or minimum wage.
So tip your pizza man. If you don't feel like tipping, get in your car and go pick up your pizza from the store, or move your fat butt into the kitchen and make your own damn pizza.
And never say any of these things to your pizza man:
"Could you count that to make sure I'm not overpaying you?"
"Don't you wish you were doing somthing else?"
And after a 25 cent tip: "Happy Birthday."

You won't get any pizza delivered to your mansion in heaven.

Relief

I got a job. I'll be a nurse case manager at Crossroads Hospice starting July 12. I'll keep delivering pizzas until then. Being desperate for work really sucks. I only experienced that stress for about a month. I can only begin to imagine what it must be like to be unemployed for months and months and even years.
Anyway. I'm tired of ants.

A Statistic

It's surprising to learn how much of your ego is tied up into your employment.

I remember having a hard time finding a job during one of the summers between years at college. It's worse when you have a wife and 3 kids depending on you.

Every day, there's this gnawing. It's this slow, rumbling panic that bubbles and festers behind every thought and conversation. Every expenditure that's made is accompanied by the realization that there isn't any money coming in to replace it. Every interaction with your kids comes with the thought, "I wouldn't be here if I had a job." Suddenly you find yourself envious of every other person in the world who has a workplace. You even find yourself wondering if your family would be better off with a husband/father who wan't unemployed.

There was definitely an arrogant part of me that thought before, "I'm a nurse. I can get a job anywhere, anytime I want." Turns out, that isn't really the case. I've sent out about 60 applications.

This blog is read by about 2 people, so I'll say that neither of you need to worry. I have a sure-fire interview tomorrow. After that, I'll be a pizza delivery driver, the same job I had 9 years ago during the summer between semesters.

Slick

So I guess we're not going to need to drill for oil anymore since it will just be occupying the space where the Gulf of Mexico used to be. We can just walk right down to the shore line and scoop up as much as we want.
I've been reading and listening and watching this thing off and on. I've heard that the birds are going to be harder to save than the penguins that they had to clean off a few years ago because penguins have lower metabolisms and don't need to be fed while they're in cages waiting to get cleaned up.
I've heard that there could be as much as 200,000 gallons of oil spilling out of the ocean floor on a daily basis.
I've also heard that BP is offering fishermen 5,000 whole dollars in exchange for a promise to not sue them for destroying their livelihood.
Nice, eh? It's not only nice that they're trying to pre-emptively take advantage of the people that are going to be hurt most by this, but it's even MORE nice to realize that BP is apparently having meetings and assigning lawyers and paying them money to go out ot these fishing towns to screw people over. I have an idea, BP, how about you take your lawyers and fill up their pockets with gravel and old bike chains and drop them out of helicopters over the spill site and maybe they'll happen to plug up the hole in the world that you made. Eh?

Absolutely Nuthin.

I've heard people argue that pulling our troops out of Iraq and Afganistan would only make things worse for the Iraqis and the Afghans. I've heard that since we've "messed up" those countries, we have a responsibility to help them recover.
When does that responsibility end? I think we were justified in going into Afghanistan to capture the man who claimed responsibility for 9/11, but we haven't found him, and last I heard, he probably isn't even there. I recognize that the basis for the Iraq invasion was shaky at best, so I can see that we could be held responsible for bombing the hummus out of their capital. The United States certainly has killed more bystanders than anybody would like to acknowledge.
My problem with the whole situation is that our presence in those countries doesn't seem to be doing anybody any good. Our troops are dying. Their troops and police are dying. Their civilians are dying. The infrastructures that we keep pouring money into keeps getting blown up. And all those deaths and all those explosions are being used to recruit more lonely souls who can be convinced to blow themselves up. I did a quick google to try and figure out how much money the United States has spent on these wars. The estimates vary, but it sems to be around 4 TRILLION dollars. I'm pretty sure that would be enough money to pay our healthcare, or college for every child, or an elevator to the moon.
So here's my idea:
We tell both governments that all of our troops will be leaving in 6 months. ALL of them, not just "combat" troops. They have 6 months to get their act together, crack down on the corrucptions, settle things amongst the tribes or factions or whatver, and then we're gone.
"BUT, JON, IF WE DON'T FIGHT THEM THERE, THEY'LL COME HERE!!!"
Well, nonsense. But if it makes you feel better, for a fraction of the cost, we'll deploy one tenth of them to the borders and the airports to shoot anybody that looks like they might have a bomb in their van. Come to think of it, just shoot anybody driving a van.

No Soy La Migra

Almost every Mexican I've ever met has been a wonderful person. Every Puerto Rican and Hondureno, too. I've met some very nice Vietnamese immigrants, and I even played chess with very cool Sikh gentlman who had short-term memory loss.

Anyway, I just wanted to say to all my immigrant readers: Welcome. Welcome to America. We embrace you just as our forefathers were embraced by the people who welcomed them to America (right before our forefathers killed them). I ask only one thing of you.

No, no. I don't care if you know what the 3 branches of government are, nor do I care if you can recite the Pledge of Alligance. Most citizens can't do those things either. No, I don't want you to take a stupid test. I would just ask you to pay some stinking taxes.

You can even send the money you earn back to your family in Peru or wherever. I don't mind. Heck, they can come, too! As long as they PAY TAXES. When you and your employer start paying your taxes, I'll stop getting those little feelings of resentment as I see your kids using my tax dollars to get educated, and then again as you take Abuela to the emergency room because her corazon hurts.

I'm even, believe-it-or-not, hunky dory with you all becoming citizens. Why not?

If you pay, you can stay, and this country will be just as much yours as it is mine. Simple as that. Bienvenudo, and pay your taxes.

The Tiger

There's been quite a bit of press lately about the doings of one Mr. Tiger Woods and whether his inability to avoid roadside hazards should keep him from being a respected member of the golfing community. There's been all kinds of talk about the guy "disappointing all the young people that looked up to him."
I'm a nurse, and I've worked with quite a few nurses who have personal lives. I honestly don't think that their conduct at home makes them a better or worse medical professional. Likewise, Mr. Woods is still a great golfer, just as he was a great golfer during all this time when he was putting around.
So why has he lost all his sponsors? Why does he no longer get paid to pretend he loves to shave with Gillette razors or dress up in Nike dresses or eat Sony televisions? It's because he's now more famous for being a guy who cheats on his wife than he is for being a golfer.
Well, maybe that's unfair. He's famous for being a golfer who cheats on his wife. . . a LOT.
The same thing is true about politicians. If a politician gets caught cheating, people stop liking or voting for him. Why is that? It's not like people can't do their job and be unfaithful at the same time.
Well, I think it's a matter of trust. When you're a public figure, with responsibilities that impact the lives of other people, you have to a least appear to be good person.
Honestly, that's one of the things that made me prefer our current president over his opponents in both the primary and general elections. That Hillary lady stuck with he unfaithful husband for what seemed to me to be political reasons. That McCain fellow dumped his wife after he got back from war for a much younger, buxom beer-heiress. That Obama guy seems to be a fairly devoted husband and father. That might not make him the best president that ever lived, but it's a step toward being a good person.

Hoorah for Death Panels

Welcome and Hello.
This will not likely be read by very many people, and I'm not certain that I'll keep it going very long, but my good friend, Danny, inspired me to have an online exhaust for some of my opinions. To see our lively discussion centered on prescription drugs and free will, go here.
I'm starting it off with a few words of support for death panels.
There were a few people who used the term "death panels" as lightning rod for anti-reform anger-making. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what they were talking about or what the specifics of the bill were.
This is what I think a death panel is: a guy comes in to the ER because he can't breathe. Turns out he has COPD. He smokes. He's admitted to the hospital, given oxygen treatment, IV steroids. Perhaps he has a touch of pneumonia so he gets some very expensive IV antibiotics. He gets better. The doctors say, "You have to quit smoking or it's going to kill you." The guy lights up a cigarette on the way home and he's back in the hospital with the same problem and the same treatment 2 weeks later.
Whether this guy has his own insurance, or he's using medicare/medicaid to pay for his hospital stay, his own poor decisions are draining the system of resources that could be used to treat people who aren't killing themselves. The "death panel" is when the ER doctor pulls up the guys file on the computer, discovers that the guy has been treated three times already in different hospitals and hasn't quit smoking, so they say, "I'm sorry, but your insurance company (or medicare) won't pay for you to be admitted again." He has to go home and die.
I don't think alcoholics should get liver transplants. I don't think people who eat themselves into horrid masses of fat should get to have open heart surgery (because they won't do well afterward anyway).
I also think that people with advanced dementia shouldn't receive life-saving treatment of any kind. Sorry, folks, but everybody dies. If grandma doesn't know who she is, can't feed herself, and can't use the restroom, it's time for her to move on to a place where she can do those things. (Do we pee in heaven?)
She doesn't get CPR, she doesn't get antibiotics, and she doesn't get to go to the $5000/night ICU. She can have morphine. All she wants.
It would make a lot of people mad, but maybe people would start taking care of themselves a little better if they knew that the system wouldn't support their bad choices forever.